The Support Ate it All

I spoke in my Go Hyeon-woo impression.

“Hoho, Miss Seo. You accepted the Challenge—where do you think you’re going?”

“Giving up and going home…….”

“Regrettably, giving up is not possible.”

“I’ll do it later…….”

“Then I suppose I must let you go. But is that really fine? You’ll have to leave your pillow behind.”

Because the Kim Ho pillow was staying here.

Seo Ye-in froze for a moment, then grabbed my arm and started tugging.

“Come with me.”

“Your rightful place is here, my dear. Alas, it seems we must part ways.”

“……I’m not going.”

She flipped her attitude like turning over a hand.

Right after that, Dang Gyu-young peeked this way with eyes full of curiosity.

“Why’s the vibe suddenly like this?”

“……I got hit.”

“With what?”

“Challenge.”

Seo Ye-in answered while pointing at me.

Dang Gyu-young let out a low sigh.

“In the end, you got hit too, by bad Kim Ho.”

“Bad Kim Ho.”

“Luring innocent people in left and right.”

“Scammer Kim Ho.”

Their scolding poured down nonstop, but I maintained my usual dignified posture.

“It looks hard because it’s the beginning. You’ll adapt quickly.”

“Wow. Look at that shamelessness.”

“And this isn’t even [Austerity]. It’s a trait quest with a Challenge added.”

I couldn’t call it easy, but it was true the difficulty was relatively lower.

Apparently finding that reasonable, Dang Gyu-young furrowed their brows.

“Is that so? Let me see.”

Seo Ye-in shared the quest details.

[Sub-Quest – Sailboat] (In Progress….)

▷Objective: Move along the flow and evade (0/1,000 times)

▷Upon being hit, subtract 20

▷Equipment deactivated: Immortal Kim Ho Kim Ho Pot

▷Random high winds occur

Dang Gyu-young narrowed their eyes and shot me a look.

“Hey. That’s hard.”

“Looks manageable.”

“What do you mean one thousand evades? And if you get hit it drops by twenty?”

Meaning—even if she reached 500 evades, letting 25 attacks land would reset her back to the start.

On top of that, the pot that served as sturdy armor was deactivated, and there was the added variable of random high winds.

I could understand, at least a little, why Seo Ye-in wanted to go home.

‘Still—she has to do it.’

You can’t exactly stop a Challenge once it’s started.

So I said, perfectly calm.

“Then don’t get hit. Clean finish: one thousand consecutive evades.”

“No, is that easy?”

“At least I did it. And in a much harder way than this.”

“When?”

“When I got [Distortion].”

“……Oh. Right?”

Dang Gyu-young’s eyebrows lifted.

The condition to acquire [Distortion] was stacking invisible “evasion stacks.”

1,000 stacks was the minimum, and in practice I’d had to stack 4,000 to 5,000 or more.

Stacks built faster against higher-rank opponents—but the risk was higher as well.

Because getting hit didn’t subtract twenty.

It wiped everything.

That was how I got [Distortion]—continuing that brutal evasion, stacking without any guarantee, knocking on the door of probability until it finally opened.

So I asked confidently.

“I proved it with skill, yes?”

“……You really leave me with nothing to say.”

“And you two are sharing that rare trait with a single [Bond].”

“…….”

“Feeling grateful?”

Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in glanced at each other, then spoke to me.

“Thank you, little sovereign.”

“Thanks.”

Since I was already taking credit, I also pulled out the [Challenge Book].

“This is a pretty valuable item too. It’s A+—and it’s a consumable.”

It was a book made by binding dozens of challenge scrolls together, which meant if you kept using it, it would run out someday.

“I’d like to save it if I could, but I’m making a bold investment for world peace. You all have potential—and we’re in the same boat.”

“…….”

“And if you keep complaining like that… wouldn’t I feel a little hurt?”

Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in looked at each other again.

At the same time, they grabbed my hand.

“Sorry, baby sovereign.”

“Sorry.”

I finished by coaxing them gently.

“I know it’s tough too, but since you already took it, let’s do our best.”

“Okay.”

I successfully suppressed the Ye-in-and-Gyu rebellion.

Next, I shared the quest details with the Hyeseong Group staff.

Ahn Jeongmi nodded like they’d expected it.

“As I thought, it turned out to be an evasion-related quest.”

“Yes. It’s gotten a bit tricky with the Challenge added, but I’ll make her work hard.”

“I’ll trust you, Kim Ho. We’ll do our best to help as well.”

“That’s why we came,” they added.

Seo Ye-in took her place in the center of the training grounds, and the four Hyeseong Group staff spread out to encircle her from all sides.

Then each of them drew a handgun.

They looked like toys—made of something like plastic, and the shape was unmistakably toy-like.

But they seemed to function as at least a basic mana gun.

Maybe to show the performance, Ahn Jeongmi pulled the trigger toward empty air.

TIK-KONG.

A round mana BB pellet vanished into the distant sky.

“Since the point is evasion, we minimized the power.”

In this quest, whether it was a powerful sniper shot or a toy bullet, it was the same thing: one bullet, one evade.

So they brought these to eliminate the risk of accidents.

And firing alternately from four directions would be plenty annoying.

Dang Gyu-young had to keep doing Challenge Austerity, so they continued sparring with the Twin Heroes of the Dang Family.

As for me, I decided to play the role of human fan—using the chance to practice wind magic.

After summoning Sylphid, I lightly jostled Crow Tree and spoke to Seo Ye-in.

“Ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Then the wind blows.”

WHEEEEE—!

A whirl of wind started blowing toward Seo Ye-in.

As it did, I threw her a line.

“First, let’s read the flow.”

Just like the word Sailboat—she had to understand the wind’s direction and move as if drifting along with it.

Evasion came after.

“…….”

Seo Ye-in slowly scanned her surroundings.

She seemed to track something with her eyes, then took one step, two steps.

And she used Featherstep in the direction the whirlwind pushed.

‘She got it immediately.’

I thought it would take hours, if not days.

But she caught the feel the moment she started.

Maybe her eyesight was so good she could actually see the flow.

WHEEEEE—!

As Seo Ye-in walked in a wide spiral, she flicked her eyes my way.

Like she was asking what now.

So I said it.

“Let’s start evading.”

It was earlier than planned, but if she was ready, we couldn’t not do it.

I signaled with my eyes, and the Hyeseong Group staff began firing one after another.

TIK-KONG, TIK-KONG,

Round mana BB pellets came flying in from all directions.

Seo Ye-in kept moving with the wind, but she stepped diagonally, then tilted her body ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) slightly.

Every time a pellet grazed past, the quest updated in real time.

▷Evade (1/1,000 times)

▷Evade (3/1,000 times)

……

▷Evade (11/1,000 times)

‘A decent start.’

She could probably hit 1,000 like this, but then she wouldn’t learn much.

And since she’d have to train even after learning the trait, doing it all at once now would actually be better.

So I’d already discussed with Ahn Jeongmi that we would gradually raise the difficulty.

‘But first, one more thing.’

We had to confirm the final variable to judge the real difficulty.

Only then could we adjust.

So for a while, the slow-paced mana gunfire and evasion continued.

And then—

WHOOOOSH!

A sudden updraft lifted Seo Ye-in’s body high into the air.

I sprinted over at once, cast windforce, and caught the bewildered Seo Ye-in.

WHEEEE—!

“……?”

“Guess this is the ‘random high winds.’”

The Challenge condition—the “final variable” I’d been waiting for.

I set Seo Ye-in down and said,

“She just floats right up.”

“Wind strong.”

Featherstep made her body lighter, and made her easier to push around by wind.

Of course, even aside from that, it was still strong.

And it wasn’t like only updrafts would occur.

“It’ll probably blow sideways too.”

“Random.”

“Be careful you don’t get carried off.”

“Yes.”

“Let’s continue.”

I went back to my original position and cast Twister again.

WHEEEE—!

Seo Ye-in stepped along the spiral the wind drew.

While watching her, I exchanged a glance with Ahn Jeongmi—

TIK-KONG, TIK-KONGTIK-KONG, TIK-KONG,

The rate of mana BB pellets increased.

Even with the difficulty raised, Seo Ye-in kept using Featherstep with an indifferent face.

▷Evade (36/1,000 times)

……

▷Evade (47/1,000 times)

……

▷Evade (89/1,000 times)

The evade count was approaching three digits.

Seo Ye-in noticed two pellets flying in from the side and tried to twist her body diagonally.

But then—

WHEEEEE—!

A sudden gust shoved Seo Ye-in hard in that direction.

So the pellets that should’ve missed by a hair hit cleanly—

▷Evade (91/1,000 times)

▷Evade (51/1,000 times)

The evade stacks she’d built dropped sharply.

Seo Ye-in’s motivation seemed to drop with them as she looked at me.

“I want to go home…….”

“You got here fast. You’ll do it again fast.”

After coaxing her like that, training resumed—

TIK-KONG, TIK-KONGTIK-KONG,

And Seo Ye-in smoothly used Featherstep again, dodging the BB pellets.

▷Evade (83/1,000 times)

……

▷Evade (95/1,000 times)

Just like I said, she recovered the lost count quickly.

‘This is going a little too easily.’

I felt mischief rise up for no reason.

So while maintaining the whirl, I gave Seo Ye-in a light shove with windforce.

WHEEEE—!

“…….”

Seo Ye-in slid sideways and barely managed to brace herself.

Those gray eyes turned toward me.

“You.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s you.”

“Impossible. That’s the ‘random high winds.’”

“……Suspicious.”

Seo Ye-in stared for a few more seconds, then looked away.

Next time I should blow harder.

If I go gentle, it’s obvious.

Of course, I didn’t even need to prank her.

Not long after, the “random high winds” struck again.

WHOOOOSH!

Seo Ye-in went flying in a clean arc through the air.

She landed with a flop right in front of Ahn Jeongmi.

Unfortunately, she also got hit by three mana BB pellets in the process.

▷Evade (115/1,000 times)

▷Evade (55/1,000 times)

The evade count was cut in half in an instant.

Her motivation seemed to drop below half as well—Seo Ye-in stayed sprawled out, showing no sign of getting up.

“…….”

“Miss.”

“…….”

“Miss?”

“…….”

Maybe because there was no answer, Ahn Jeongmi looked around, gauging the mood.

Then they aimed their gun at Seo Ye-in, who was still face-down.

TIK-KONG.

▷Evade (55/1,000 times)

▷Evade (35/1,000 times)