The Support Ate it All
Chapter 360: 1stWeek Rematch Part 3

[Hong Yeon-hwa 100%]

[Hong Yeon-hwa 88%]

She didn’t know how many times she had rolled across the ground.

Though she wanted to just lie there as her head spun, Hong Yeon-hwa reminded herself that she was still in the middle of a battle and looked toward the direction the grenade had come from.

“Ah.”

And her face turned pale.

Seo Ye-in was standing there, having apparently disabled her invisible ghillie suit at some point.

Aiming her magic rifle directly at her.

The muzzle flared blue.

Tutututututu!

It was such an urgent situation that Hong Yeon-hwa had no choice but to trust her instincts.

R-Roll!

Just like she had a moment ago, and like she had rolled toward Kim Ho’s pillow during the final exams, she tumbled across the ground.

Still, she hadn’t lost her skills as a promising student; even in the chaotic state she was in, Hong Yeon-hwa quickly began casting magic.

Then, with all her strength, she swung her wand—

Kwoooooom—!

A pillar of fire surged up right in front of Seo Ye-in, blocking her view.

Thanks to that, Hong Yeon-hwa had a brief moment to catch her breath and barely managed to get back on her feet to continue casting.

Defense spells are useless.

The magic bullets were far more powerful than expected. Weak shields would simply be blown through.

So, for this match, she had no choice but to change her strategy.

Let’s go with an all-rounder style.

A strategy relying on mobility to avoid being hit at all.

Even though her current trajectory leaned more toward a battery-type mage, Hong Yeon-hwa had originally aimed to become an all-rounder until the middle of the first semester.

The experience she had accumulated until then hadn’t vanished, so she could still make use of it.

[Overheat]

Fwoooosh,

Absorbing fire magic to enhance her physical abilities, Hong Yeon-hwa moved swiftly while continuing to cast spells.

Kwoooooom—!

Once again, pillars of fire erupted in front of Seo Ye-in.

And that wasn’t the end of it.

From the places where the fire pillars had been cast, three-headed serpents were born, launching fireballs at the enemy.

Boom-boom-boom!

“……”

Seo Ye-in responded by stepping lightly with feather walk.

With light yet swift steps, she darted through the rain of fireballs.

Even as she moved, the muzzle of her gun remained fixed on her target.

Tutututututu!

“Waaah!”

Hong Yeon-hwa threw herself to the side, desperately trying to avoid the barrage of magic bullets.

Some of them grazed her shoulder or thigh, and even that was painful enough to bring tears to her eyes.

[Hong Yeon-hwa 84%]

[Hong Yeon-hwa 81%]

Still, the battle didn’t seem entirely hopeless.

As she continued to increase the number of Hydras, they had multiplied significantly. Thanks to the fireballs they fired to keep the opponent in check, she had managed to catch her breath a little.

On top of that, the flames were spreading with incredible momentum, and it felt like the tide was beginning to turn in her favor.

Hong Yeon-hwa saw a glimmer of hope.

If this keeps up…

She thought she might actually win.

But then, Seo Ye-in who had been standing across from her suddenly vanished.

Did she go invisible again?

Her first thought was that Seo Ye-in had used the invisible ghillie suit.

But really, what was the point of that?

Once the flames spread across the battlefield, the invisibility would naturally be undone anyway.

No matter how she looked at it, it seemed like a poor move.

If anything, this works in my favor.

It would only make it easier for her to win.

Just as Hong Yeon-hwa began to smile in confidence—

Huh…?

A sudden chill ran down her spine.

She tried to turn around, thinking “No way…” but before she could, a heavy impact struck the back of her head.

Claang—!

A clear, ringing thud echoed from whatever hit her.

Why… always me…?

Darkness filled Hong Yeon-hwa’s vision…

***

[Kim Ho Win] vs [Son Hyeong-taek Lose]

[825+14 points in the duel battle match]

Throughout the entire match, I completely toyed with the clumsy trickster Son Hyeong-taek, showing him what a real trickster looked like.

And feeling even more refreshed, I stepped outside.

But not far off, I spotted some familiar faces.

Standing side by side were Seo Ye-in and Hong Yeon-hwa.

It was a rather rare pairing, so I approached them and struck up a conversation.

“What’s got you two together? Especially on the first day of the semester.”

“……”

Seo Ye-in just stared at me blankly instead of answering.

Well, that was typical of her, so I let it slide.

What was different from usual was Hong Yeon-hwa.

“……”

Normally, she’d either flinch or dart her eyes around nervously when she saw me. There’d always be some kind of reaction. But this time, she was just gloomily staring at the ground.

One hand rubbing the back of her head.

What happened to turn her into Gloom Boss again?

Thanks to Dang Gyu-yeong and me treating her warmly during the second round of mentoring, Hong Yeon-hwa’s acquired gloominess syndrome had improved significantly.

But whatever had happened, it looked like it had taken a turn for the worse.

Of course, just looking at the two of them standing together made it easy enough to guess.

I asked Seo Ye-in,

“You two got matched?”

“Mhmm.”

Well, it made sense if it was those two. A rematch wasn’t surprising.

How many times had they faced off in duel battles during the first semester?

The more matches they’d had, the higher the chance of a rematch.

Judging by their attitudes, the outcome was just as obvious.

“You won, didn’t you?”

“Clang.”

“You hit her with the pot again?”

– Nod.

So that’s why she was rubbing the back of her head.

Looked like I needed to dig a little deeper into this.

Might as well offer some mental support while I was at it.

I spoke to Gloomy Yeon-hwa.

“Hong Yeon-hwa.”

“……?”

Up until that moment, Hong Yeon-hwa had been blankly staring down at her toes, but when she heard my voice, she lifted her gaze.

And the moment she saw me, she flinched and shrank back even more.

I asked,

“Why are you so startled? I didn’t do anything.”

“Ah, n-no…”

“Wanna go get some coffee?”

“……?”

Hong Yeon-hwa glanced around subtly, shifting her eyes back and forth between me and Seo Ye-in.

Still, maybe coffee sounded good to her, because in the end, she gave a faint nod.

Soon after, the three of us headed to the snack bar, each grabbed a drink, and sat around a table on the second-floor terrace.

I had a regular coffee, Seo Ye-in got juice, and Hong Yeon-hwa picked an espresso-heavy, oil-like coffee.

“…….”

For a while, we quietly sipped our drinks in a peaceful atmosphere.

Thanks to that, Hong Yeon-hwa seemed noticeably calmer than before.

Thinking she was ready to talk, I finally broke the silence.

“So how did the fight go? Let’s take a look.”

“…….”

Though she hesitated, Hong Yeon-hwa eventually showed me the replay.

Not long after the match began, the sound of an explosion rang out, followed immediately by Hong Yeon-hwa’s dying scream.

“Gkk—!”

Then came the sight of her rolling around to dodge magic bullets.

Hong Yeon-hwa quickly bowed her head in embarrassment.

Her face had turned as red as her hair.

Honestly, I wanted to tease her a little more but decided to hold back. I spoke in a deliberately casual tone.

“This one’s better kept private.”

“M-Mhmm…”

There was her reputation as a promising student, and the image Hong Yeon-hwa had built up over time….if this replay were to get out, all of that would come crashing down.

However, to keep it private, both sides needed to agree.

So, I gave Seo Ye-in a subtle look, and she nodded without hesitation.

She honestly didn’t care in the slightest whether the replay was made public or private, or whether it got sold and earned points.

Still, with one last replay left to watch, we decided to keep going.

Fwoosh.

Inside the crystal orb, Hong Yeon-hwa escaped the crisis with some quick thinking and switched to an all-rounder style to continue the fight.

I nodded in approval.

“That was a good call. If you’d used another defensive spell, you probably would’ve lost.”

“……”

Maybe it was the praise, but Hong Yeon-hwa’s expression brightened a little.

The match continued.

Hong Yeon-hwa was still on the defensive, but she gradually began to gain control of the battlefield.

“If you’d dragged it out just a little longer, who knows how it would’ve turned out.”

“R-Really?”

Perhaps she had been thinking the same thing because her face relaxed a bit more.

But in the final moment, Seo Ye-in suddenly vanished only to reappear behind Hong Yeon-hwa.

She had cast ghost dance.

Then, without mercy, she slammed the Immortal Kim Ho-Kim Ho Pot right into her.

Claang—!

“So that’s how it went down.”

“Clang.”

Seo Ye-in proudly pulled out her pot to show it off.

Seeing that, a question suddenly popped into my head, so I asked,

“Not using the frying pan anymore?”

“The pot’s sturdier.”

“Fair enough.”

It was an S-rank pot made of adamantite. Far from denting, it didn’t even have a scratch on it.

So she probably meant to stick with the pot from now on.

The rest of its features weren’t bad either, so that was the better choice.

I turned back to Hong Yeon-hwa.

“I bet you’d like to hear about solutions, improvements, that kind of thing.”

“Mhmm…”

“First, you have to acknowledge that you were at a disadvantage.”

By nature, mages and marksmen had a natural counter relationship.

On top of that, the path Hong Yeon-hwa had chosen made her even more vulnerable to marksmen. She was the stationary battery type.

She was bound to be at a disadvantage from the start.

Of course, being weak to marksmen also meant she had an edge against other classes.

Take Bukgong Han-seol from the previous match, for example. She had practically toyed with her.

That’s just how class dynamics worked.

“Still, if you really want to win, you need to invest in utility.”

“L-Like… what…?”

“Things like movement skills. Something like Blink.”

Seo Ye-in’s final pot strike had only been possible because she had a powerful movement skill called ghost dance.

In other words, with something at that level or beyond, she could respond just fine.

Whenever she got a bad feeling, she could just zip away and problem solved.

“Blink…”

“Of course, that’s something for much later. You could try learning other movement or detection spells, maybe even trap magic.”

“Okay, got it…”

“And next is just my opinion, but… I don’t think this is the right time to focus on utility.”

I gave Seo Ye-in a quick nod to indicate her.

“It’s not like you’re going to keep going up against her forever.”

“Well… that’s true, but…”

“Even if you lose, wouldn’t it be better to make the most of your strengths?”

Trying to beat Seo Ye-in by giving up a good Hydra and learning a different kind of magic?

There was no guarantee it would even work, and even if it did, the lack of focus would slow her long-term growth. Meaning it was a net loss.

This was exactly the kind of situation where she needed to stay grounded.

At my words, it looked like Hong Yeon-hwa’s rational thinking had returned. She slowly nodded her head.

“I think… that would be better too.”

“Of course, you’ll need to shore up your utility eventually. We’ll figure that out as we go.”

“Okay.”

“You’re doing well, so don’t let this get you down too much. Let’s go do Match 3.”

***

With Hong Yeon-hwa regaining at least a little of her confidence, and Seo Ye-in starting to look sleepy, we returned to the arena.

Still, I decided to keep Hong Yeon-hwa on standby for the time being. There was a chance she might have to face Seo Ye-in again in a rematch and to make matters worse, there was also the possibility that she could end up facing me.

They say iron gets stronger the more you hammer it, and gems shine brighter the more you polish them. But if I struck Hong Yeon-hwa in her current state, she might just crumble into pieces.

Rather than take that risk, it seemed wiser to wait and have her move later.

So, for this round, only Seo Ye-in and I were matched up.

While waiting, I quietly made a simple wish.

This time, I’d be grateful if Baek Jun-seok showed up.

That way, I could get an easy win three times in a row.

Unfortunately, my wish didn’t come true this time.

Soon, the scoreboard displayed my name and that of my opponent.

[Kim Ho 839 points vs. Song Cheon-hye 1,097 points]

Well, here it comes.