The Support Ate it All

A meeting was in full swing inside the Disciplinary Committee room.

The members were reporting the outcomes of their respective assignments and discussing the direction going forward.

Normally, the one to lead such a meeting should be the Disciplinary Committee President Oh Se-hoon. But he simply sat among the regular members, quietly listening and occasionally nodding or smiling faintly.

The one holding the reins was Kwak Seung-jae, a second-year student.

And no one seemed to find that strange.

He had already proven his leadership over the course of the semester.

Receiving everyone's attention, he spoke in a calm, composed tone.

"You're all aware of the scheduled start for the Ban Wave."

Right after Duel Battle Week would come the Fixed Zone Tournament.

That's why they needed to clean things up in advance.

Besides, the tournament operated under [Fixed Zone] and [Slot] rules, so using banned items would offer little benefit and would be easily detected anyway.

And yet, history had proven that there were always fools who tried something stupid. This time would be no different.

The best course of action was to leave no room for such nonsense.

The Ban Wave was already a given.

And once banned items were seized in bulk, one thing would naturally follow—

The disciplinary committee members exchanged comments.

"Thieves will try to strike again."

"Don't they ever get tired of it?"

"Why would they? If they succeed, the payoff is huge."

"Yeah, but we caught them all last time, didn't we?"

"Not all of them. They still made off with a good number of items."

During the first infiltration of the temporary storage this year, most of the thieves' club members had been caught.

Except for the masked figure who had cast Inferno Fist.

That person had vanished without a trace, along with a bunch of banned items and hadn't been seen since.

In the second infiltration incident, they managed to destroy the thieves' control tower and round up all the clubs involved.

However, critical banned items like the [Book of Chaos] ultimately weren't recovered.

Considering all that, it would be more accurate to call it a half-victory.

Kwak Seung-jae spoke again.

"This time, we'll take even greater precautions so that not a single item is stolen."

"You sound pretty confident. Got a plan?"

"Yes. I'll explain it now."

Kwak Seung-jae soon began explaining the operation while attaching several reference materials.

The disciplinary committee members listened with interest, gradually nodding along and chiming in.

"This definitely puts us at an advantage."

"Junior Seung-jae really came prepared, huh?"

"I'm in favor."

As the votes of approval continued, one third-year member cautiously raised his hand.

"Who's going to deal with Dang Gyu-young?"

"Does it matter who? With our level of skill, it'd be weird if anyone lost to her."

Despite the dismissive response, the member who asked the question remained serious.

"No, she's improved a lot over the break. I nearly lost to her in the last duel battle match."

"I even got hit once. I won in the end, but still."

Another third-year agreed, rubbing the spot on his head where he'd been struck by a shadow bat.

What they didn't know was that the match they "almost lost" to Dang Gyu-young had taken place in the fourth week.

By the current point in sixth week, she had already advanced to a new class and even secured powerful shadow boss minions.

This meant even the disciplinary committee leaders couldn't guarantee a win in a one-on-one fight with her.

Of course, they'd only realize that after getting thoroughly beaten. Because for now, Dang Gyu-young's true strength was still seriously underestimated.

But Kwak Seung-jae didn't dismiss the concern.

"As I said, this operation will be complete with no gaps and no unknown variables. I'll revise the deployment plan based on your input."

"Good thinking."

The others readily agreed.

The committee continued the meeting, improving the protection plan for the temporary storage from every angle.

***

Monday.

Lee Soo-dok appeared in a foul mood that morning, visibly more irritable than usual.

As students held their breath and watched his mood, he began the class.

"As I've repeatedly mentioned, the tournament will begin after this week's duel matches. Once it starts, you'll no longer be allowed to change your slots…so choose wisely what you register."

Immediately, the rules and setting appeared on the system panel:

MAP: [Random]

RULE: [Deathmatch] [Fixed Zone (C)]

[10 Slots] [10-Minute Limit] [Underdog Rule]

"The basic rules are the same as in the Fourth Week, so I'll skip explaining them again. Let's move on to this week's special rule: [Underdog]."

[Second Years: 67%]

[Third Years: 33%]

"If you get matched, your opponent will be decided based on those probabilities."

"E-Excuse me?"

A male student in the front row raised his hand.

He seemed to have raised his hand out of sheer surprise, but the moment he met the teacher's sharp gaze, he flinched and quickly lowered it.

Lee Soo-dok stared at him for a few seconds before speaking in a hard, cold tone.

"Don't interrupt."

"I'm sorry…"

"I already know what you were going to ask. You're wondering if you can get matched with another first-year, right?"

"Ah, yes…"

"Of course not. At least not this week."

"……."

The mood in the classroom seemed to grow even heavier.

That meant they'd be fighting upperclassmen from second or third years. No exceptions.

However, Lee Soo-dok spoke as if it was no big deal.

"I don't understand why you're all so scared already. Once the tournament starts, you'll be fighting upperclassmen anyway. If anything, this is a good chance to test yourselves. See how far your skills really go."

Some students seemed to stiffen, as if their competitive spirit had been stirred.

Go Hyeon-woo, for one, had been buzzing with excitement from the start with his eyes gleaming.

Seo Ye-in… was asleep.

Apparently having given up on her entirely, Lee Soo-dok didn't even bother acknowledging it and continued his explanation.

"One piece of good news. This week's duel results won't affect your practical evaluation scores. Back in my day, it did, so we had to fight like our lives depended on it. You guys got lucky."

While it was a strong motivator, it probably raised too many fairness issues when it came to grading. The school must have had no choice but to remove it.

Take the simple example of someone running into third-years three times in a row and losing every match. Not because they lacked skill, but just because they got unlucky.

The students let out a collective sigh of relief….until Lee Soo-dok slightly curled up the corners of his mouth.

"Instead, we've prepared a different kind of motivation. Last year's first-years who are now second-years had the following record."

[Win Rate: 21%]

Meaning they won only one in five matches under the same rules.

In other words, they lost all the rest.

Maybe it was the glimpse of their own future, but the atmosphere in the room sank again.

Not that Lee Soo-dok cared. He kept going.

"This year's first-years will also have their win rate tallied after this week's duels. If it turns out to be higher than the second-years' from last year, the entire grade will receive a special reward. Like training buffs, bonus points, and things like that."

"……!"

"But if your win rate ends up lower…"

A faint smile crept onto Lee Soo-dok's face, but his eyes remained piercing.

That contrast only made him look more menacing than usual.

"…After the tournament, a very special curriculum will be arranged to help improve any of your lacking skills."

"….…!"

That alone seemed to be motivation enough.

Judging by how the students were suddenly fired up.

Their grades wouldn't take a hit, so throwing everything they had at the upperclassmen sounded a lot better than going through a "special curriculum".

Then, almost as an afterthought, Lee Soo-dok added:

"By the way. This is just a side note, but this morning, the second-year teachers said something interesting. 'This year's first-years are supposedly a golden generation, right? So naturally, they'll have a much higher win rate, won't they?' That's what they said. So… we made a little bet."

"……?"

"Nothing with big stakes, but still… it would sting the pride a bit if I lost. Of course, I believe in all of you."

The classroom instantly turned ice-cold.

***

After class.

As usual, I headed to the arena with Go Hyeon-woo and Seo Ye-in.

While walking, I pulled up the side quest window.

[Sub-Quest: 7th Week Duel Battles] (In Progress…)

▷ Objective: Complete 3 duel matches (-/3)

▷ First-Year Win Rate: -%

▷ Reward: Varies based on performance

This one's pretty generous.

If you win two out of three, you get the top reward.

The difficulty had been slightly lowered to account for the fact we'd be facing upperclassmen.

One thing that set this side quest apart from others was that the overall first-year win rate also affected the rewards.

If we surpass last year's record, there's a bonus.

Might as well aim for all three wins.

I should at least contribute to the first-years' win rate.

With those thoughts in mind, we soon arrived at the arena.

First, time to update my slots.

I had upgraded [Sapling] to [Crow Tree], so I registered the new one and replaced [Distortion] with the newly learned [Frost Spirit Shot].

While [Distortion] offered powerful survivability like an extra life, it wasn't exactly fit for a tournament where you weren't literally fighting to the death.

Plus, with a full-day cooldown, its usefulness was limited.

The final slot configuration looked like this:

[Slots (10/10)]

▷ Skills: Copy, Wind Force (C), Spiral Explosion (C), Mutual Destruction Eye (C), Ghost Dance, Frost Spirit Shot (C)

▷ Traits: Core (C+), Poison Immunity

▷ Gear: Deep-Root Crow Tree (C+), Storm Cloud Bracelet (C)

Now, let's get matched.

I scanned my student ID on the terminal.

Seo Ye-in had already been matched with some second-year and had gone in.

Next, two names appeared on the scoreboard.

[Go Hyeon-woo vs Jegal So-so]

Go Hyeon-woo's face lit up instantly.

"What a stroke of fortune…! To be able to witness Senior Jegal's swordsmanship firsthand."

"I saw you fight before. You were good. You'll learn a lot from this."

"Is that so? Then, off I go."

And with footsteps light as if floating, he stepped onto the teleportation portal.

Not far off, Hong Yeon-hwa was also waiting. When she spotted me, she slowly approached me like a crab.

Then, as if we had just run into each other by chance, she greeted me.

"Ah, hey…?"

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

"G-Good!"

Hong Yeon-hwa answered immediately.

Though she stammered a bit, she seemed fairly confident.

As if no matter who her opponent was, no matter which upperclassman she faced, she could win.

Unfortunately, however, the name that appeared on the scoreboard next was:

[Hong Yeon-hwa vs Dang Gyu-young]

"……"

Hong Yeon-hwa instantly looked like she was about to cry as she turned to look at me.

As if to say, "What do I do? Can't you fight in my place?"

But there was nothing I could say except to cheer her on.

"Just think of it as a learning experience and do your best. Fighting."

"M-Mhmm… R-Right… Fighting…"

Her footsteps were as heavy as someone being led to the slaughterhouse.

And just like that, the redhead disappeared from view.

Not long after, my match was announced as well.

Didn't expect to see that senior here.

[Kim Ho vs Mak Dae-wong]