The Support Ate it All

At the echoing sloth voice, Dang Gyu-young let out a short, incredulous laugh.

“It’s not sad enough to be sad about. It was kind of amazing how crisp and sharp you were, but I think I like you better when you’re slow.”

Then Ahn Jeongmi and the Hyeseong Group employees crowded in around them.

“My lady.”

“Butler…….”

Seo Ye-in pointed at me like she was tattling.

“Cancel it for me…….”

“……You really did come back.”

Even on Ahn Jeongmi’s face, conflicting emotions floated up.

They wouldn’t be seeing their young lady speaking neatly and decisively anymore, but it also felt like they were thinking this deep down.

Yeah. This is our young lady—she only feels like herself when she’s being stubborn!

And hadn’t I already heard the most important true feeling?

Inside Ahn Jeongmi’s head, I’m grateful was probably replaying on an infinite loop.

They just didn’t show it. As always, they admonished her in a calm, businesslike tone.

“I heard from Kim Ho that quest cannot be canceled.”

“Cancel it for me…….”

“Since he went to the trouble of placing it on you, I hope you’ll work hard.”

“No one’s on my side…….”

“Loner…….”

Depresso-Depresso-Sloth chimed in with one word at a time.

At that point, wasn’t that basically the same side?

Meanwhile, the Twin Heroes of the Dang Family were watching Seo Ye-in with openly intrigued eyes.

Before long, they shouted toward one corner of the training grounds.

“Eunbi! Get over here and take a look.”

Dang Eunbi suddenly poked her head out.

After getting caught trying a few tricks, she’d stopped coming around as often—probably because even she thought it was shameless.

Still, she apparently hadn’t stopped wanting to see Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in, so she’d been sneaking in here and there.

Of course, there wasn’t a single person in the party who didn’t know that.

Before Dang Eunbi could even start making excuses, Dang Hanbi kept firing questions at her.

“That medicine from last time—can you brew it again? Or even something similar.”

You never knew when it might become necessary. There was no harm in preparing in advance.

But just like before, Dang Eunbi shook her head with a skeptical look.

“I can’t make it anymore. The gold…… the gold…….”

“The True Gold Spirit Pellet?”

“That’s it! The True Gold Spirit Pellet! ……I used it all up.”

“I have some.”

At Dang Hanbi’s words, Dang Eunbi’s eyes lifted.

But she quickly returned to that skeptical attitude.

“I used up the stuff that changes randomly, too. I don’t even know what it really was, exactly.”

Something she’d bought a long time ago from some unidentified peddler.

It had only been a small handful at best, so she’d dumped it all in when she made her special poison.

Which meant it was gone for good.

I’ve got a guess, though.

There weren’t many items that could add randomness to a potion in the first place.

But even if you tried to recreate a Dang Eunbi potion, odds were it would be a waste of effort.

Even if you used the exact same materials.

Because the effect is random.

Out of all the possible effects, the chance of landing “less annoying” again was vanishingly small.

Of course, if it was Lucky Charm’s luck, who knew—

—but there’s nothing good about relying on that.

So I soothed Seo Ye-in in a gentle tone.

“It doesn’t have to be a potion. Something similar might show up someday.”

“…….”

“For now, let’s do our best as you are. Don’t be too disappointed.”

“……Okay.”

Seo Ye-in slowly nodded up and down.

Then, dragging their feet, she trudged off to one side of the training grounds.

Watching her for a moment, I pulled up the quest window again.

[Sub-Quest: Stage 13 Austerity] (In progress….)

▷Objective: Subdue your mirror image

Unlike the dodge duel and the throwing duel, there were no conditions attached, but the difficulty was higher instead.

Because you had to defeat yourself.

“…….”

Two sloths stared at each other without a word.

Then Seo Ye-in let the mana gun droop toward the ground.

“Annoying…….”

“I can’t give up…….”

“I’m not pathetic…….”

Maybe she got a little provoked, because the muzzle that had been drooping without end or reason lifted again and pointed at the opponent.

“……Eliminating.”

Blue mana BB pellets began to pour down across the training grounds.

Seo Ye-in swayed as she stepped into [Featherstep].

And with [Sailboat] added on top, she actually picked up a decent amount of speed.

Of course, Depresso-Depresso-Sloth could use everything Seo Ye-in could use.

The distance between them repeated a cycle of closing and opening at ridiculous speed, until—whether intentional or an accident—they ended up close enough to touch if they reached out.

Seo Ye-in gripped the Immortal Kim Ho Kim Ho Pot.

“Clang.”

She swung it at the opponent, but Depresso-Sloth lightly evaded, then countered with a hologram pot.

For a moment it sounded like heavy air-splitting impacts were landing over and over—

Then the two pots collided in midair.

The two fighters abruptly stepped back and retreated.

Then, at the same time, they tossed white lumps of light at each other.

[Capricious Trap].

Maybe Space Fold was mixed in, because the traps touched each other’s shoulders and waists with no time to dodge.

The next moment, a tiny toy flower bloomed from each one.

Are they doing that because it’s Lucky Charm versus Lucky Charm?

It looked like their luck canceled out.

Seo Ye-in seemed to think the same thing, because she raised the mana gun again and aimed it at the opponent.

Meanwhile, Dang Gyu-young watched the match with a deeply interested look.

“It’s totally neck-and-neck. This is gonna take a while, too.”

“Someday it’ll end.”

The mirror image’s specs would stay the same, while Seo Ye-in would keep growing.

Assuming she worked hard enough to grow, anyway.

Dang Gyu-young shrugged.

“You’re right. Anyway, is it my turn now?”

“That was the promise.”

While she was “less annoying,” Seo Ye-in would take Challenge Austerity back-to-back, and once the medicine wore off, Dang Gyu-young would take them back-to-back.

At least three times going forward—and if Seo Ye-in kept complaining, it could be even more than that.

Dang Gyu-young smiled in satisfaction.

“At last, the age of dangdangdang is upon us! Hey—put Austerity on me.”

“Before that, let’s set the direction.”

“Sure, why not.”

An Austerity quest would automatically identify the target’s strengths—or what they needed to patch up—and present an appropriate objective.

But there was a clear difference between blindly doing what you were told and understanding why that objective came out, and what it was meant to improve.

I held a fist-microphone up to Dang Gyu-young’s mouth.

“What do you think you need to shore up?”

“The numbers problem is solved, and the undead level is «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» pretty high, but it still feels weak.”

A perfect example was when they fought the Blood Sword Squad Leader.

Even when four Gyu-Shadow Undead attacked together, they couldn’t last long before they all got wiped out.

He’d been dragging out a huge amount of power at the cost of his life, sure—but it was still frustrating.

I nodded and asked again.

“If we diagnose why it’s weak?”

“I think it’s because the shadows are low quality.”

A hypothesis that if you strengthened the shadow itself, the shadow undead would naturally strengthen too.

It made sense, so I nodded, and after thinking a few more seconds, Dang Gyu-young continued.

“And I want to raise my own combat power a bit.”

At the very end, they’d fought the Blood Sword Squad Leader with the club, but even after getting a huge [Standing Alone] bonus, they hadn’t lasted long.

I nodded and asked.

“Sounds good. You’re going to keep carrying the club, right?”

“Yeah. At least for now.”

“And when you re-enroll, you’re going to be ‘club warrior Kim Gyu-ri.’”

“……That sounds kind of bad?”

“Be honest. It’s accurate.”

After re-enrolling, Dang Gyu-young had to hide their identity as much as possible.

If they pulled out shadow magic or undead, it would instantly become, Senior Dang Gyu-young, who graduated last year! and they’d spend miserable days among the first-years.

So they planned to disguise themselves as a warrior class, then maintain a presence that was there-but-not-there with appropriately moderate skill.

“Anyway, the direction is good. I was thinking along similar lines.”

“Yeah? Think it’ll work?”

“Absolutely.”

Dang Gyu-young grinned at my firm answer.

“Good. Let’s go—challenge time.”

“Then I’ll place it.”

[‘Austerity’ will be used.]

[Stage 19 Austerity has been bestowed on the target.]

*****

Palun Lodge.

A lodge established in Sichuan—too big to call minor, not big enough to stick “Great” in front of it. An awkward, in-between scale.

Its experts were in-between, too, so when the Blood Cult invaded, it couldn’t mount any real resistance and was taken over.

They’d had to watch, wide-eyed, as those bastards came and went like it was their own home.

Then, somewhat suddenly, the Twin Heroes of the Dang Family and some people who called themselves their juniors paid Palun Lodge a visit.

As if they’d seen through the fact the Blood Cult was occupying it, nearby sects sent support, and Palun Lodge was able to reclaim its freedom.

But there was something the Blood Cult left behind.

Cargo packed tight in the underground training hall and the armory.

Long rectangular prisms, with talismans slapped all over them—each one scribbled in red.

Jongu, a low-ranked guard of Palun Lodge, stared at them with a deep frown.

“This is seriously nasty-level unsettling…….”

Since it involved the Blood Cult, it was highly likely to be something evil, so at first they tried to remove the cargo.

But it didn’t budge at all, like it had fused to the floor.

And they couldn’t recklessly open it or smash it, either.

If it was explosives, this whole area would vanish from the map along with Palun Lodge.

Or it might have some kind of magical or occult processing on it.

The Blood Cult of today inherited the line of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, worshiping the law of the strong—but when you heard “Blood Cult,” the word you originally associated with it was dark sorcery.

There were even rumors they’d joined hands with witches.

So all Palun Lodge could do was post guards and watch it endlessly until someone skilled enough to handle it arrived.

With strict orders that no one was to touch it.

But when you tell people not to do something, it only makes them more curious, and Jongu was no exception.

He leaned in to examine the talismans up close and muttered.

“What the hell is even inside?”

And looking at the shape and size of this cargo… it was just right for a person to fit inside and lie down.

“……Don’t tell me it’s that.”

A foul thought flashed through Jongu’s mind.

That was when it happened.

“Do you want to know?”

A creaky old voice came from behind his shoulder.

He turned his head—and an old man was standing there, as if he’d been there the whole time.

Wearing dark red martial robes, the same one Jongu had seen not long ago.

The old man spoke in the most ordinary tone imaginable.

“If you truly wish to know, I will show you.”

A sinister bell sound rang out from the old man’s hand.

As a martial artist, Jongu recognized what it was immediately.

A soul-summoning bell…….

A device that called and controlled the souls of the dead.

But he didn’t have time to focus on that.

The cargo he’d been staring at just a moment ago began to shudder.

Then the talismans stuck to it fell away one by one, and something opened the lid and crawled out.

A pale hand, half-rotted and decayed.

In his final moment, Jongu thought:

My guess wasn’t wrong.

It really was a coffin…….