Is It Wrong to Seek Treasure Chests in a Dungeon? (1)

The first week at Cheonmu Academy was drawing to a close — Friday at last.

Everything I'd been through since the entrance ceremony had set my academy life with the heroines on a solid trajectory. Tuesday, I'd spent my free period with Cha Eunju in the secret library, deepening our little arrangement. Wednesday, I'd stayed glued to Do Yoonchae's side morning to night, building intimacy. Thursday, I'd helped Han Sora with her archery training, ratcheting up the skinship one careful notch at a time.

And starting Monday, Basic Self-Defense would put me alone in a classroom with Kim Isabel, handing me the perfect excuse for natural, sanctioned physical contact. Today was Friday, though — so that particular treat would have to wait three days.

Once the roster grows, scheduling is going to be a full-time job in itself.

Even burning through all seven days of the week, there'd be times I couldn't give a single one of them a whole day to herself. And if I wanted to use my spare hours to discipline vain little villainesses like Min Yewon or Yoon Selena on top of that, things would only get busier.

But there was no stopping now. Honestly, the whole reason I worked so hard to build a good image with these girls in the first place was the vulgar, crass ambition of getting every last one of them into my bed.

Running this kind of operation with a mental-type ability like Suggestion instead of physical enhancement made even me feel like a lunatic some days — but a harem plan is a harem plan. No way in hell was I chickening out halfway through.

"Yoonsung, what are you up to today?"

"...Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering. Fridays are usually free, so why are you getting ready to head out this early? Don't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tell me you have Friday classes too."

"...Club activities. If I rot in the dormitory every rest day, my body will stiffen."

"A club? Which one? A swordsmanship club?"

"A sparring club. If you want to improve quickly, crossing blades with opponents of similar caliber is the fastest path there is."

A perfectly Do Yoonchae answer. In the original story, she'd probably joined a sparring club too.

And as I recalled, Seo Woojin had joined the same one — then spent the early chapters getting beaten black and blue by her practically every day.

Woojin at this point in the timeline did have some skill, buoyed by the affection of Han Sora and Kim Isabel, but he was nowhere near a match for Do Yoonchae, who had poured everything into the sword with the single-minded obsession of one day beating her family's chosen heir at the Cheongun Do Clan. He simply wasn't there yet.

Right now he probably can't even land a touch on her.

After all, I'd intercepted every ounce of Sora's and Isabel's affection that was supposed to flow to him. Far from getting crushed in sparring, the two of them would almost never share a blade at all — sparring clubs typically matched people of similar skill, and their levels were worlds apart.

If I were a physical-enhancement type, I'd have forced my way into that club no matter what.

With my current body, joining Do Yoonchae's club would earn me almost no chance to clash with her at all. All I'd get was another unpleasant encounter with that smug Woojin bastard's face. Hard pass.

I'd love to follow the original route where I could, but events with no realistic chance of happening are best cut loose early. Properly pursuing Do Yoonchae could wait until the second semester of freshman year, once we'd gotten reasonably close.

"Shame. If you'd joined an academic club or something, I was thinking we might do one together."

"...I-I have no idea why you'd assume I'd join the same club as you. We merely attend some classes together and share the occasional meal. Nothing more."

"Come on, friends join the same club sometimes."

"F-Friends? I... I do not yet consider you that close. Do keep that in mind."

"...Right, got it. Then I'll just go on believing we're friends, I guess."

"......Hmph."

Flustered by my remark, she hurried out of the dormitory with her ears practically glowing.

If a mere 'friend' gets that reaction out of her, I couldn't help wondering — would she simply freeze solid the day that word became 'lover'?

Smiling to myself at how starved for affection Do Yoonchae really was, I got ready to head out for my own club activities. It was about time I picked up a skill or two actually suited to 'Combat Support' work, after all.

Just as every game role comes with a defined job, dungeon conquest assigns each position its own set of duties. Melee fighters attack and shield their allies; archers prioritize long-range fire on the most dangerous monsters; mages sweep packs clean with area spells; priests mend wounds with holy magic and cleanse curses.

And Combat Support, being its own position, has its duties too — nearly all of which, in practice, amount to 'grunt work.'

Baggage hauling. Scouting. Potion management. Monster butchering. Trap disarming. Mapmaking. Camp layout and tent setup. Fire building. Cooking. Night watch. Party morale management. And so on, and so forth.

It's the position that gets stuck with every chore anyone could technically do, Combat Support or not. Which is exactly why support types tend to go unnoticed, dismissed as less important than every other role.

That's the theory, anyway. In reality, almost nobody can do everything listed above — anyone who actually could would have parties lining up to recruit them.

Which is why Combat Support members so often end up on bad terms with their own parties. The party assumes the support exists to do 'what's obviously their job'; the support quietly decides they've 'done enough.' Resentment builds, and things come to a head.

By position, I'm Combat Support too — but without Suggestion, I'd be the first name on the replacement list.

I doubted anyone would cast me aside at this point, but coasting entirely on borrowed strength didn't sit right with me. My standard was simple: even from the Combat Support slot, our party should never be left wanting in any area.

To manage that, I'd need to master at least half of those 'obviously my job' duties. Even if only to keep from dragging my teammates down, scouting ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and trap-disarming skills were a must. Fortunately, Cheonmu Hunter Academy had exactly one club where you could learn those support-type skills better than anywhere else.

...Honestly, if I weren't Combat Support, I wouldn't have given this club a second glance.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moment I opened the door of the clubroom — a name that somehow felt even more embarrassing abbreviated — I found myself locking eyes with a girl with teal hair that put one in mind of some small, quick animal.

"...Um, who are you?"

She was taller than Cha Eunju, but by my standards still petite — a compact little frame, and a chest that her height made look even more prominent. Her round, cute eyes gave her an air of guileless innocence, and seeing them, I knew I'd come to the right place.

"Sorry to intrude. The sign said you're recruiting year-round, so I came to join."

"A new member?!"

She shot out of her seat at the words, vaulted clean over her desk, and closed the distance in a heartbeat.

"A real new member?! Nobody ever comes to this club! Seriously?!"

"Yes. I'm Combat Support, so it seemed like the best place to learn dungeon fieldwork skills."

"You came to the right place, you came to the right place! This club might look like nothing, but every member's abilities are top-notch! Wow, how long has it been since we got a new member?! If nobody joined this year we were one semester away from getting shut down!"

...I very nearly blurted out that changing the club's name might net them a few extra recruits, and had to swallow it. No sense piling negative impressions on a first meeting.

Besides, by my standards, this 'club president' fell comfortably within striking distance too. I hadn't decided to pursue her or anything. Yet.

Looks alone, she's easily heroine-grade material.

In the original story, she'd been a minor supporting presence who popped up now and then — more precisely, the president of the club one of the 'heroines' belonged to.

Depending on how the late-story arcs went, she might have become a heroine eventually, but I'd call that a long shot. One Combat Support heroine is plenty for any story.

Of course, none of that applied to me. What did party position matter when a beddable woman was standing right in front of me?

"Oh, right — I haven't introduced myself. I'm Im Yujin. Third year, Combat Support Department, and currently the president of our humble Is It Wrong to Seek Treasure Chests in a Dungeon?"

"...Did you come up with that club name yourself?"

"Yep. Renamed it the second last year's seniors graduated. It used to be the 'Reconnaissance Club,' but that's just so bland, don't you think?"

"...I suppose so."

Whatever the original name had been, I suspected anything beat the current one. Between the obvious parody of a title and the manga and anime characters scribbled across the notebook she'd been hunched over moments ago, I could sketch a fairly accurate portrait of her inclinations.

If Cha Eunju is a shut-in otaku, Im Yujin is the socially fluent kind.

At the very least, she looked far easier to approach than Eunju had been. Whether I could leverage that into something deeper remained to be seen.

"I'm Lee Seonho. Freshman this year, Combat Support Department."

"Hm? Seonho? Why does that name sound familiar?"

"...It's a little embarrassing to say, but I placed second overall in this year's entrance exam. First within the Combat Support Department."

"Second overall in the entrance— wait. Aaah!! You're him! The Combat Support kid who took second place for the first time ever!"

"...That would be me."

I hadn't wanted to bring it up, and it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had somehow slipped out anyway, so I answered carefully, letting my reluctance show. Bragging about your exam ranking on day one is a good way to get labeled an insufferable show-off.

"Wow, so that was real?! How does a Combat Support student pull that off?! Do you have some hidden awakened ability or something? Or did you do it purely on technique? Well?!"

"I'll tell you the whole story some other time. It wasn't exactly through my power alone — frankly, I only got the second-place seat because someone yielded it to me."

"Still, that's insane, right? When I heard this year's runner-up was from our department, I honestly thought someone was pranking me. And I never dreamed someone like that would walk into this club."

She paused, then tilted her head. "Oh, right — why did you get interested in our club, anyway? Curious about exploration techniques? Treasure chest collecting? Or did you want to get into cartography?"

"Exploration techniques first, and then one thing at a time from there. I've got two team assignments this semester alone, and the last thing I want is to be dead weight for my partymates as a Combat Support."

"Smart, smart, very smart. I know I don't look it, but I've got plenty of field experience — I can teach you exploration techniques properly. We'll do a dungeon run together and I'll show you the ropes. My ability is literally specialized for teaching people, so it'll be way easier to understand than usual."

"Thank you, Senior Im Yujin."

"Just 'senior' is fine. Oh — and there are two more upperclassmen besides me, both second-years, so say hi when you meet them. One's Han Jaewook, specializes in finding treasure chests and traps, and the other is—"

Creeeak.

Her excited rundown — she'd already decided I was joining, apparently — trailed off naturally as the clubroom door swung open and two people walked in.

"I'm here, Yujin-noona."

"Oh, Jaewook! Perfect timing. We just got a brand-new member, so I was about to introduce—"

So the guy was the 'Han Jaewook' she'd mentioned. Which meant the girl following him in was—

"...New member?"

...The Combat Support heroine of the original story. Ma Nayeon.