The Support Ate it All

The training center.

The training room.

Seo Ye-in aimed her magic gun at the approaching iron dolls.

The muzzle continuously spewed bursts of blue fire.

Ratatatatata!

The magic bullets struck the iron dolls, triggering small explosions upon impact.

However, their bodies didn’t bear so much as a scratch. Their durability had been set to an extremely high level after all.

The iron dolls that seemed to be unaffected by the barrage marched steadily forward with their large arms swinging toward Seo Ye-in.

Of course, she wasn’t someone who would fall victim to such crude attacks.

Ratatatatata!

I thought to myself as I watched her.

At least the direction is clear now.

Through the match against the assassin duo, Seo Ye-in’s strengths and weaknesses had become even more obvious.

Her offensive power was strong enough to take down any first-year student, but it was meaningless if her attacks didn’t land.

Even against Jang Moo-geuk, none of her shots had landed squarely, with only a few grazing him lightly.

This highlighted a critical issue. Her utility was still lacking.

This weakness could be compensated for by acquiring secondary weapons, accessories with bonus effects, or by learning new skills or traits.

But there’s no need to rush.

Bullet Time or Ghost Dance-level utility skills weren’t exactly easy to come by, and as for a secondary weapon, it was already in production by Hye-sung Group.

It would take about two weeks, they said.

For the time being, the direction was clear.

Rather than increasing variety, focus on building a solid foundation.

The priority was on ranking up existing skills.

Most of the skills Seo Ye-in had learned were stuck at C-rank, so consistent training would eventually allow her to reach B-rank, one skill at a time.

With that in mind, I added a few new traits to the iron dolls, such as enhanced durability and knockback resistance.

If she kept fighting them repeatedly, she’d be able to train a wide range of skills and traits evenly.

Ratatatatata!

She’s got a lot of energy today.

Seo Ye-in kept moving without pause.

Normally, her sloth-like stamina would have given out long ago, leaving her collapsed on the ground, but today she was lasting much longer than usual.

As expected, pitting her against promising students had proven effective.

Even Jang Moo-geuk, by the end of the match, seemed to have fired up his competitive spirit.

Next time, I’d try pairing her against Cha Hyeon-joo if the opportunity arose.

Meanwhile, my thoughts drifted elsewhere.

The plan’s gone a bit off track.

[Stamp Coupon (C)]

▷ Stamps: 9/10

The original plan had been to use up all the Random Rank Ups and complete the Stamp Coupon.

Unexpectedly, though, [Monarch] had ranked up to B.

Of course, this kind of surprise was a welcome one.

Obtaining another Random Rank Up wasn’t exactly difficult.

Maybe I should ask the butler.

I hadn’t yet contacted Ahn Jeong-mi.

If I told her that Seo Ye-in mastered Ghost Dance thanks to me, she would surely offer a generous reward, and perhaps she wouldn’t mind throwing in a Random Rank Up as well.

Of course, the “generous reward” was another matter entirely.

Should I ask for more poisonous herbs, or maybe….

I pondered the matter for a while.

***

The next day.

It was time for the strategy battle class.

Seo Cheong-yong, as always, conducted the lesson with his warm and amiable smile.

The good news was that the class was finally nearing its end.

The bad news was that he had assigned homework right at the end.

“—So, everyone, pick an F-rank boss dungeon and take some time to analyze it.”

“I heard Teacher Jo Ok-soon assigned a similar homework recently, so you can tackle both at the same time and finish it faster, right?”

Just as Seo Cheong-yong mentioned, Jo Ok-soon had given us an assignment in the Monster Ecology class not long ago to investigate and analyze a boss monster.

Now, with the addition of the boss dungeon analysis, one couldn’t help but wonder if this was mere coincidence.

Those with sharp intuition seemed to have caught on to the topic of the next strategy battle session, and their eyes flashed with realization.

Seo Cheong-yong’s smile appeared especially meaningful.

“Well then, that’s it for today’s class. Enjoy your lunch!”

When Seo Cheong-yong left the classroom, the students stood up in droves to follow.

But then, Song Cheon-hye and Han So-mi stood and addressed the room.

“Everyone, stay seated.”

“We will be checking your belongings right now!”

The bustling noise in the classroom, which had been growing louder, quickly shifted into hushed murmurs.

The students quickly checked the classroom door and windows, and sure enough, a translucent barrier had been set up.

It was a large-scale barrier spell cast by the academy.

This was a clear sign that an inspection, or the so-called “Ban Wave” was underway.

They’re starting early this time.

Typically, the second ban wave was carried out closer to the final exams.

That was when the highest number of students resorted to tricks to boost their grades.

But with about a month left before finals, this timing was unusually early.

This way, it’s more effective.

Inspections were supposed to be unannounced.

If students could predict when they’d happen, they’d only be cautious at those times.

Meanwhile, a frantic whisper came from Shin Byeong-cheol who was seated diagonally across from me.

“Hey, hey, hey, help! Help!”

“What help?”

“Do you have anything? Something to hide?”

Back during the first ban wave at the start of the semester, I had hidden a bunch of high-grade prohibited items in the Cube of Life for him.

It seemed he was hoping for similar help this time, but I could only shake my head.

“I don’t have any way. You know that.”

The Cube of Life had long since been transformed into a private villa for Bum.

And even if I still had it, it wouldn’t be easy to use now.

The disciplinary committee members were keeping an extremely close watch nearby.

In particular, Song Cheon-hye seemed to have marked the two of us as persons of interest with her gaze fixed on us the entire time.

“Are you really sure? Seriously?”

“Give it up. The guilty should submit quietly.”

Shin Byeong-cheol was about to say something else when—

Fzzzzt—!

A barrier formed of electromagnetic waves appeared at one end of the classroom.

The barrier swept rapidly to the opposite end, detected every prohibited item, and red warning lights flashed throughout the room.

Some lights activated in the pockets of students’ uniforms, while others activated in their desk drawers.

Additionally, on the foreheads of several students, a red “I” appeared like a brand. This sign meant they had stored prohibited items in their inventories.

Shin Byeong-cheol was caught in both categories.

In particular, the mark on his forehead was so bright it was incomparable to the others. This drew Han So-mi’s curious gaze.

“Wow, his is so bright!”

“Be serious.”

Song Cheon-hye approached Shin Byeong-cheol with a mild scolding and issued her command.

“Take everything out. Don’t leave a single thing.”

The “I” mark on the forehead wouldn’t disappear as long as even one prohibited item remained in the inventory.

With no other choice, Shin Byeong-cheol began to reluctantly pull out his items one by one, while Song Cheon-hye promptly stored them in her own inventory.

By the time the mark on his forehead started to fade slightly, Shin Byeong-cheol hesitantly asked,

“Uh, Miss Song? How about calling it a day with this?”

“I said take everything out.”

Fzzzt.

A hummingbird formed of pure lightning flickered into existence at Song Cheon-hye’s fingertips before vanishing.

It was a clear warning. If he resisted, he’d get a taste of the hummingbird before everything was confiscated.

In the end, Shin Byeong-cheol had no choice but to empty out every last item he had.

He brought so much.

Prohibited items kept coming out endlessly.

To the point where even the onlookers were astonished.

Considering that most of the confiscated items belonged to the thieves club, the damage this time seemed substantial.

It was also easy to guess where Dang Gyu-yeong’s anger would be directed.

Perhaps for that reason, Shin Byeong-cheol pleaded with a pitiful expression on his face.

“Aigoo, if you take everything like this~ how am I supposed to live~? At least leave me a little~”

“Sit down.”

Of course, his plea had no effect.

Song Cheon-hye cut him off firmly and decisively and then began circling the classroom with Han So-mi.

They confiscated prohibited items from the remaining students and scanned their ID cards.

During the first ban wave, there had been those who resisted, but now, perhaps realizing the clear difference in strength between them and the disciplinary committee members, everyone cooperated without complaint.

Once the inspection was complete, Song Cheon-hye addressed the class.

“Depending on the severity of the violations, penalty points and disciplinary actions will be imposed. The details will be sent to you via message.”

“All done! Time to grab lunch~”

She then left the classroom with Han So-mi waving her hand.

Since they were carrying a lot of high-risk items, it seemed they were heading straight to the disciplinary committee room without delay.

– Murmur, murmur…

The students began cautiously whispering among each other, and before long, the noise grew louder.

Most of them didn’t carry prohibited items to begin with, and even if they were unlucky enough to have theirs confiscated, they just shrugged it off as bad luck and moved on.

Shin Byeong-cheol, however, wasn’t in the same boat. He sat in his seat lifelessly, as if his soul had left his body.

After sitting dazed for quite some time, he finally regained a bit of his composure and began furiously grabbing at his hair.

“Wow, they really took everything? I’m totally screwed.”

“That’s why I told you to carry just a little at a time.”

“Dang-noonim is going to rip all my hair out. Am I going to go bald at this rate?”

“Wear a wig.”

It’s not like you need hair to run a teahouse, right?

I answered indifferently while thinking to myself.

For the disciplinary committee, this ban wave had allowed them to confiscate a pile of prohibited items, so they needed to store and manage those items until they could hand them over to the academic side.

However, any task carried out by people inevitably leaves room for small or large oversights, and it’s in the nature of thieves to exploit those gaps.

Simply put,

They’ll be heading to the temporary storage again this time.

The likelihood of a break-in event at the temporary storage was very high.

So the first thing I needed to do was,

I should borrow the cube.

The hidden effect of the Cube of Life.

If you place prohibited items inside, it can evade detection by ban waves or similar detection spells.

Therefore, it was worth seeking permission from the Mother Nature Club to borrow it for a few days.

With that thought in mind, I left the classroom and headed to the neighboring class.

Since the ban wave had been conducted across the entire grade, the atmosphere in the next class was similarly chaotic.

In the meantime, Park Na-ri was dutifully serving as a punching bag for the mini tiger Bum.

Of course, unwillingly.

“B-Bum, stop hitting me, please stop.”

“Meow!”

Bum continued to throw soft paw punches repeatedly.

Whether something had rubbed him the wrong way or he simply felt like hitting something, who could say?

But soon enough, he noticed someone approaching, turned his head in this direction, and spotted me.

“Meow.”

“Hello, Bum.”

Bum leaped down from the desk and approached me but stopped a short distance away before hesitating.

It seemed he recalled the time during the glacial environment duel battle when I had shoved him back with Wind Force and chilled him with Chillwind.

However, as I stood still, he gradually let his guard down and finally came closer, then rubbed his forehead against my knee.

“Meow.”

“I brought snacks.”

By chance, one of the specialties from the Gathering of Villains could serve as a treat for cats.

It was dried fish.

When I broke it into small pieces and offered it to him, he eagerly accepted and gobbled it up.

With him occupied, I brought up the main topic.

“There’s something I’d like to ask you.”

“Meow.”

Bum responded while crunching on the dried fish.

If I were to translate his reaction, it might be something like, “Go on, let’s hear it.”

So I spoke.

“Could I borrow the cube for a bit?”

The dried fish slipped from Bum’s mouth.

He stared up at me with a serious expression as if to say:

– What did you just say?