The Support Ate it All

Chapter 325: Just the Three of Us?

If I linked Octopus Limbs with Hardship, I could assign quests to multiple people at once.

Three people should be just right.

The cooldown for Hardship was six days.

Casting it three times in a row with Octopus Limbs would result in a penalty multiplier of nine, meaning the total cooldown would be 54 days.

If I used it now, it would be ready again just in time for the second semester.

Four would be too many.

Using it four times consecutively would increase the penalty multiplier to sixteen, extending the total cooldown to 96 days.

That meant I’d have to wait a long time even after the second semester started, which was a loss.

So, I had to narrow it down to three candidates.

There were a few conditions that had to be met.

They needed to have a skill level and potential that met my standards.

They had to possess a firm determination to overcome any adversity and grow stronger.

And finally, they had to have built a certain level of trust with me.

Considering all that, the choices narrowed down to Seo Ye-in, Go Hyeon-woo, Dang Gyu-young, and Hong Yeon-hwa.

Among them, the top priority is Dang Gyu-young.

As a third-year student, most of her skills and traits were in a stagnation phase, making Hardship the most effective for her.

Seo Ye-in is the exact opposite.

She had the fewest acquired skills and traits but possessed monstrous talent.

Even without Hardship, she had endless potential for growth.

Besides, we were already going to spend half of the summer vacation at Hye-seong Group, meaning there would be more than enough opportunities to train her.

It would be wiser to invest Hardship in the other candidates whom I wouldn’t be able to see for a while.

I’ll use it on Go Hyeon-woo and Hong Yeon-hwa.

***

The next morning.

After idly passing the time with Dang Gyu-young, I called the two of them over.

The first to arrive was Go Hyeon-woo.

When his gaze met Dang Gyu-young’s, he politely bowed his head.

“Good morning, senior.”

“Morning. Want something to drink?”

“I’m fine, thank you.”

Go Hyeon-woo declined with a gentle smile.

The atmosphere between them was decent enough.

They had crossed paths several times, and they had even tackled the Gathering of Villains together.

Still, there was an unspoken wall between them. A sense of distance that neither seemed eager to close.

As if they intended to keep things that way.

As long as they get along, that’s enough.

Brushing it off, I casually exchanged a few words with them about the upcoming final exams.

Then, I asked a question.

“What are you doing over summer break?”

“My original plan was to visit my master.”

“And now?”

“I received a letter. He told me not to waste time traveling back and forth and to focus on my training instead. So I intend to do as he said.”

The training center was certainly one of the best places for that.

It allowed for customized mock battles, tailored to any preference.

Besides, the season pass for the special training rooms would be valid until the end of the break, so it would be wise to make the most of it.

At that, Go Hyeon-woo added,

“I also plan to take part in the mentoring program when the opportunity arises.”

“Sounds productive. Good.”

I nodded in approval.

Not long after, Hong Yeon-hwa arrived.

She hesitated from a distance before approaching timidly. She first bowed her head to Dang Gyu-young.

“Hello…”

“Hey.”

Unlike Dang Gyu-young who responded casually, Hong Yeon-hwa seemed visibly uneasy.

It was likely because she was both her senior and mentor.

On top of that, after countless one-sided beatings during their mentoring sessions, including the sticker battle, she had probably come to understand the pecking order.

She does have a bit of a habit of being tough on the weak and submissive to the strong.

Pushing that thought aside, I asked Hong Yeon-hwa the same question.

“What are you doing over summer break?”

“Me…? Um, not home… training at the Magic Tower…? And, um… mentoring?”

After stammering through her answer, Hong Yeon-hwa cautiously glanced at me, as if she was silently asking, “Are you doing mentoring too?”

Feeling mischievous for a moment, I firmly shook my head.

“I’m not doing it.”

“Ah…”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s lips parted slightly.

The atmosphere sank in an instant, and a heavy shadow fell over her face.

She looked as if she had just heard that the Ruby Magic Tower would collapse tomorrow.

When she remained frozen in that state, Go Hyeon-woo who had been watching finally stepped in.

“Haha, Kim-hyung, you’ve got a mischievous side, don’t you? Miss Hong here looks quite dejected. How about ending the joke here?”

“Yeah, her reaction’s more intense than I expected.”

I quickly turned to Hong Yeon-hwa and corrected myself.

“I was kidding. I am doing mentoring.”

“Ah…!”

Only then did Hong Yeon-hwa snap out of her daze and let out a sigh of relief.

“….…?”

Meanwhile, Dang Gyu-young’s gaze was somewhat peculiar, as if she had picked up on something unusual.

She seemed to be wondering why my decision to participate or not would affect Hong Yeon-hwa so much.

Still, perhaps deciding to just observe for now, she kept her mouth shut.

With everyone gathered, I glanced around the group and got to the main point.

“I called you all here to give you a summer assignment. That’s why I was asking what you’d be doing over the break.”

“A summer assignment from you? Now that’s interesting. Of course, I’m more than willing to make time for it.”

Though Hong Yeon-hwa remained silent, her eyes showed she was just as curious.

As for Dang Gyu-young who was already aware of everything, she didn’t react much.

I continued my explanation.

“It’s not just a simple task. I’m giving you actual quests. Since your classes are all different, you’ll each receive a different quest.”

“Huh, something like that is possible?”

“There’s a skill for it.”

I then began explaining [Harship].

It was a skill that granted customized quests, with an insanely high difficulty level.

On top of that, the difficulty would continue to increase over time.

“That’s why I want to confirm one last thing. Your own willingness to do this is the most important factor.”

I looked at Hong Yeon-hwa first.

Dang Gyu-young, of course, would accept without question, and Go Hyeon-woo was likely to do the same. If that happened, there was a chance Hong Yeon-hwa might simply go along with the flow.

Before that, I needed to confirm her own intentions.

“…….”

Naturally, it didn’t take Hong Yeon-hwa long to decide.

When it came to determination for self-improvement, she wasn’t lacking compared to anyone.

She would go down to the underground floor at every opportunity just to rank up her skills and traits.

There was no way she would pass up a chance to grow stronger, no matter how difficult the quest was.

No, if anything, the fact that it was difficult made it even more irresistible.

After all, greater difficulty meant greater rewards.

Soon, Hong Yeon-hwa looked at me with a resolute expression.

“…I’ll do it.”

“Good. That’s the right choice.”

Turning my gaze to the side, I saw Go Hyeon-woo smiling.

“Of course, I’ll do it as well. I look forward to seeing what difficult challenges await.”

To actually look forward to hardship…. his mindset was truly different from most people, befitting a living training machine.

Last was Dang Gyu-young’s turn, but instead of asking her, I explained to the other two.

“Senior Dang is already at Stage 3.”

“Hmm, I did think her reaction was a bit dry. So she started earlier than us.”

“That’s right. Alright, here we go.”

[Activated ‘Octopus Limbs’.]

[Activated ‘Hardship’.]

[Granted ‘Stage 3 Hardship’ to ‘Dang Gyu-young’.]

[Granted ‘Stage 1 Hardship’ to ‘Go Hyeon-woo’.]

[Granted ‘Stage 1 Hardship’ to ‘Hong Yeon-hwa’.]

[Cooldown: 53 days 23:59:58]

“……!”

“……!”

Everyone fixed their gaze on the air.

They were probably checking the quest details.

Soon, Dang Gyu-young furrowed her brows. No doubt, more glowing spheres had appeared.

Still, clearing Stage 3 or 4 would earn her the exclusive trait, [Shadow Marker], so the struggle would be well worth it.

Of course, even greater hardships awaited beyond that.

Go Hyeon-woo and Hong Yeon-hwa also had serious expressions. It seemed like they had received some tough quests as well.

“I can see why you warned us, Kim-hyung. Looks like we’ll be busy for a while.”

“…I’ll do my best.”

The three of them exchanged glances and, almost simultaneously, let out wry smiles.

Maybe it was because they all shared the same fate of hardship, but there was an unspoken sense of camaraderie in their eyes.

***

Go Hyeon-woo who was restless hurried off to the training center.

That left only the three of us from the mentoring group.

Hong Yeon-hwa sat hunched in a corner, silently sipping her coffee.

I turned to Dang Gyu-young and asked,

“What about the other two?”

“They’re sitting this one out.”

Kwak Ji-cheol and Song Cheon-hye had opted for home study instead of mentoring.

Of course, it wasn’t just ordinary home study. They would be learning from graduates or elders of the Magic Tower they belonged to.

In fact, that might be even better than learning from school seniors.

Especially in Song Cheon-hye’s case, considering her family’s legacy.

Her older brother, Song Cheon-gi, was a third-year student and the student council president, while her grandfather was none other than the S-rank hero, Thunder Lord.

I hadn’t confirmed it, but there was even a chance he was EX-rank.

On another note, I had a feeling that the messages we exchanged last night also played a role in Song Cheon-hye’s decision.

[Song Cheon-hye: Hey.]

[Song Cheon-hye: Hummingbird.]

[Song Cheon-hye: How did you do it?]

[Kim Ho: Just practice hard.]

[Song Cheon-hye: ?]

[Song Cheon-hye: I still can’t do it, though.]

[Kim Ho: Then you didn’t practice hard enough.]

[Song Cheon-hye: No.]

[Song Cheon-hye: I really did practice.]

[Kim Ho: Then why can’t you do it?]

[Kim Ho: I can.]

Somewhere, I could almost picture Song Cheon-hye trembling with rage.

Since jokes were always best when kept short, I decided to follow up with some sincere advice.

[Kim Ho: Telling you now wouldn’t mean anything anyway.]

[Kim Ho: Even when you watch the replays diligently, you still don’t get it.]

[Song Cheon-hye: I didn’t watch “that” diligently, okay?]

[Kim Ho: Either way, you should focus on building your foundation for now.]

From the moment I first met her, I had already figured out that Song Cheon-hye was a natural-born magical powerhouse.

While most first-years hovered around C-rank, she alone had already reached B-rank in core.

Using that as a base, she had likely been rapidly improving the rank of her skills and traits.

However, given how fast she had grown, she probably hadn’t had enough time to refine her control over each skill.

In other words, she is all size with no substance.

Like monsters or weaker students, she had no trouble overpowering opponents with lower specs than hers.

But when facing opponents of equal or greater specs like Dang Gyu-young in the sticker duels or Lee Soo-dok in the control room, she struggled to hold her ground.

[Kim Ho: Pretty soon, the others will start catching up to you in specs.]

[Kim Ho: It’s only going to get harder from here.]

[Song Cheon-hye: !]

[Kim Ho: So for now, try focusing more on refining your control.]

[Song Cheon-hye: …Alright.]

[Song Cheon-hye: Thanks.]

Not that she needed to go as far as giving up on mentoring.

It seemed she had judged herself to be that lacking.

She would probably spend the entire break holed up in the Magic Tower, training nonstop.

I turned to Dang Gyu-young for confirmation.

“So that means the mentoring will just be the three of us, then?”

“Well, yeah.”

There was a hint of satisfaction in Dang Gyu-young’s expression.

It even looked like the corners of her mouth had lifted slightly.

Not a bad outcome for me either.

With the group shrinking from four to two, the mentoring sessions were bound to become more focused and intensive.

Since this also reduced Dang Gyu-young’s burden, she would likely have more time for her own training as well.

“……”

Meanwhile, Hong Yeon-hwa seemed caught off guard by the news and kept anxiously glancing between Dang Gyu-young and me.

She was always somewhat timid around me, but today, she looked even smaller than usual.