The Support Ate it All

Chapter 159: The Swordsmanship Club (2)

Mak Dae-wong left Jegal So-so’s office.

He seemed to be exchanging messages with someone, then he soon began to move somewhere.

The training center was noisy with students in the midst of practice and sparring.

Mak Dae-wong walked straight ahead, and as he went, the crowd thinned out and the noise gradually subsided.

He soon entered the special cultivation room area and stopped in front of a firmly closed door.

“…”

Normally, he would have pounded on the door with his fist as big as a cauldron lid, but he knew he had to consider who was inside.

The person beyond the door extremely disliked having their concentration disturbed, and Mak Dae-wong didn’t want to upset him at all.

Moreover, the person would have already known he was there, even without the need for a vigorous knock.

After a while, the door slowly opened on its own.

The room inside was so dark that it was hard to distinguish objects.

However, Mak Dae-wong approached a corner of the room without hesitation.

This was not his first visit here.

Indeed, there was a man sitting with his back turned, and from his posture, it seemed he had just opened his eyes after meditating.

The man asked a question without turning around.

“Why did Jegal call for you?”

“She wanted me to bring someone.”

“Is this related to the Black Death dungeon?”

“It seems that way.”

The vice president of the swordsmanship club had personally visited the thieves club.

There had been no recent contact between the two clubs, so if the vice president went there, it was likely a matter concerning the club’s interests, and most probably it was about the issue of priority bidding rights infringement.

And if Jegal So-so wanted to have a private conversation with someone afterward,

It was highly likely that it involved the Black Death dungeon.

“Who?”

“A guy named Kim Ho. A first-year.”

“… A first-year?”

“I thought I heard it wrong at first.”

The Black Death dungeon was a B-rank dungeon in name.

If Mak Dae-wong himself entered it, he wouldn’t stand a chance and even the man in front of him would struggle.

But the idea that a mere first-year had entered that terrifying dungeon?

It was hard to believe.

And so, their thoughts naturally led to,

“Did they use him as cannon fodder?”

“It seems that way to me too.”

Their thoughts drifted towards the idea that someone was behind Kim Ho.

After breaking into the priority bid dungeon, they used this first-year as cannon fodder while secretly dealing with Jegal So-so.

It was a plausible story.

The fact that Kim Ho was unaffiliated added weight to the cannon fodder hypothesis.

“But after investigating a bit, it seems that first-year kid frequently visits the underground floors.”

For a first-year student who had only been enrolled for two months, it was a bold move.

If that was the case, wasn’t he more of an accomplice rather than just cannon fodder in the Black Death incident?

The man asked,

“What does she plan to do after calling him?”

“The orders I received were just to bring him. It seems she wants to hear his story first.”

Mak Dae-wong added a remark, “She also told me not to use forceful means.”

“……”

The atmosphere in the special cultivation room grew tense.

The man began to show signs of discomfort.

“Still living in a fantasy world, Jegal.”

Allowing an intrusion into the priority bid dungeon was essentially an invasion of the swordsmanship club’s territory.

And now she wanted to call him in and hear his side of the story first?

It was a method he found extremely displeasing.

The matter was still kept within the swordsmanship club, but no one knew when it might leak out.

And when it did, Jegal So-so’s utterly foolish handling of it would certainly be exposed as well.

“I don’t care how those White Faction bastards handle their affairs, but we can’t afford to become a laughingstock.”

“You are right.”

“Bring him to me. And before that…”

There must be consequences for coveting what belongs to others, whether he’s an accomplice or cannon fodder.

Call him in to hear his story? No, it’s better to show him a bit of heat first. The story will come out more easily that way.

Mak Dae-wong was in full agreement with this thoroughly Black Faction way of thinking so he nodded his head and asked,

“Understood. Who should I take with me?”

However, Mak Dae-wong couldn’t act directly. Except for extreme cases, it was a serious violation of school rules for an upperclassman to lay hands on a lowerclassman.

And so, subduing Kim Ho was the task of another first-year. The question was who would be assigned this task?

Before the man answered, he uttered a single word,

“Replay.”

Mak Dae-wong quickly threw two crystal balls, and the man who still had his back turned caught and checked them.

They contained two recent replays of Kim Ho.

One was this week’s crystal strategy battle against the ogre.

The other was a crystal duel battle against Jo Byeok from the disciplinary committee club.

The man silently looked into the replay crystal balls for a while.

Then his eyes glimmered with interest.

“…He does have a knack for evading. His skill set is also quite troublesome.”

Kim Ho was shown to have dodged all of the attacks from the ogre and Jo Byeok. He even finished both the strategy battle and the duel battle with perfect games.

Especially impressive was the way he dealt with Jo Byeok’s finishing move towards the end of the match.

His skill set which involved pushing and pulling the enemy seemed quite difficult to counter.

“However, he isn’t without weaknesses.”

Jo Byeok who was a member of the disciplinary committee had balanced abilities across all stats but lacked the top-tier speed expected of the best in his grade.

And since he let Jo Byeok catch up with him, Kim Ho’s speed should be lower.

And so the conclusion was,

“We just need to overwhelm him with speed.”

If they used someone much faster than Jo Byeok, even Kim Ho who dodged like a slippery eel would eventually succumb to their attacks.

The man gave his orders.

“Take Cheol-soo and Min-soo with you.”

The ogre charged forward with terrifying momentum.

“Groooaaa—!”

After it closed the distance to Kwak Ji-cheol with thunderous steps, the creature swung its club down.

Just as Kwak Ji-cheol was about to be flattened down on the ground, fine soil gathered between him and the club and formed an angled wall.

The club struck the dirt wall before sliding off to the side as if on a slide.

Though the miss caused the ogre’s stance to falter slightly, it did not stop its attack and reached out to grab the human in front of it.

The speed of its lunge was alarming, so even just a graze could cause serious damage.

“……!”

However, Kwak Ji-cheol had anticipated this and used a pre-cast spell.

A large earthen hand rose from the ground and struck the ogre’s hand aside with force.

Thwack!

“Groooooo!”

The ogre pressed on and pushed forward with its entire body.

Kwak Ji-cheol quickly moved his feet to get out of the creature’s charging path.

He set up another sand wall to divert the club and prepared the earthen hand spell again.

But the ogre did something unexpected.

Instead of swinging its fist, it lifted its leg and kicked.

Caught off guard, Kwak Ji-cheol was about to be struck by the huge foot,

Thud,

“Urgh.”

I first kicked Kwak Ji-cheol away.

He rolled on the ground and then got back on his feet.

Having been kicked so often, he seemed used to it and continued fighting right away.

Alternating between casting the sand wall and earthen hand spells again,

Flash—!

[Crystal 100%]

The crystal finished charging and the ogre vanished.

“Whew…”

Kwak Ji-cheol sat down heavily on the ground. He could finally catch his breath now.

Though he looked quite defeated, he had actually made a lot of progress.

A few days ago, he was busy getting hit by the club and lying on the ground, but now he could deflect attacks quite skillfully.

Indeed, the fastest way to learn is by taking hits.

Today, the invincible legend of the beating training method continued.

At that moment, Dang Gyu-young suddenly emerged from the shadows to signal the end of the mentoring session.

“Let’s call it a day. Good job.”

“Thank you.”

Kwak Ji-cheol bowed his head in greeting and then sent a grateful glance my way.

Just a little more practice and he should be able to score.

Kwak Ji-cheol disappeared through the teleportation portal, and we followed him outside.

As we walked side by side, Dang Gyu-young started talking to me.

“Hey, did you know that the swordsmanship club came by the club yesterday?”

“What did they say?”

“They asked who infiltrated the Black Death dungeon.”

“You told them it was me, right?”

“Yeah, you said to pass everything to you.”

Dang Gyu-young pursed her lips slightly. She wanted to offer more help but I firmly drew the line.

Since I had insisted on pushing through with the dungeon, it was only right for me to take responsibility and resolve it.

I had no intention of involving the thieves club.

“I’ve prepared for the negotiations. You don’t need to worry.”

“Got it. Also, I told them to keep all the evidence confidential.”

This part was agreed upon separately.

Since the disciplinary committee was still on high alert, we had to hide as much as possible the fact that we entered the depths area that night.

If discovered, we would all face severe punishment.

Therefore, it was necessary to keep the replay and photos of the Black Death dungeon raid, which could serve as crucial evidence, confidential.

The focus of the swordsmanship club was on “who ignored the right of priority bid and entered the dungeon”, so when Dang Gyu-young revealed my identity, they readily accepted the proposal.

“The other side asked for one favor in return.”

“What favor?”

“They said that they’ll be sending a second-year student to you.”

It was much more efficient for Dang Gyu-young to convey the message directly as she did now, and it didn’t matter if it was done through messages.

Nevertheless, the fact that the other side insisted on sending me a second-year student meant,

“Seems like I must not get along with that second-year student?”

“Seems like it.”

It was their intention to use me to get back at them.

There were probably significant political interests intertwined as well.

Of course, there was no need for me to worry about such complicated matters. My task here was very simple.

All I had to do was crush whoever came to find me.

Dang Gyu-young asked cautiously,

“Just in case, should I send some of our guys with you?”

“No, I’ll handle it alone.”

“Tch, suit yourself.”

Dang Gyu-young seemed a bit sulky, probably because I kept refusing her offers.

Anyway, Dang Gyu-young had to handle club-related duties and I had to focus on my mana training, so our destinations were different.

So, it was time for us to part ways.

“Take care, senior-nim.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

After exchanging farewells with Dang Gyu-young and parting ways, I walked straight toward the training center.

Then, I couldn’t help but laugh as I looked ahead.

Speak of the devil.

A male student was waiting at the crossroads.

As I approached, he predictably blocked my path.

He was big, similar in size to Jo Byeok, but he exuded a bandit-like aura for some reason.

I checked his tie pin and saw it was silver. This meant he was a second-year student.

Moreover, his gaze toward me was filled with blatant hostility.

“Kim Ho.”

“Yes, senior-nim.”

“Do you know why I’m here?”

“I do.”

“Follow me.”

The second-year student turned his back and led the way.