The First Mentoring Period Ends

A full week of booting Gwak Ji-cheol across the practice floor and tormenting the Ogre with Point Explosion had finally paid off.

I'd managed to drag it all the way up to C. Two of the three prerequisite skills for Spiral Explosion were now in hand. On top of that, I'd put in a fair amount of rank-grinding on my other wind-attribute skills as well.

Most of them were parked at C-rank, that notorious plateau, so there was no dramatic jump in the numbers to show for it just yet. But if I kept steadily stacking proficiency, they would cross into B-rank one by one.

And so, having squeezed the mentoring event dry right up to the final drop, the month-long first mentoring term at last came within sight of its end.

Just as I'd predicted, the Hong Yeon-hwa–Song Cheon-hye duo pulled off a perfect game, holding their health at a full 100% against the Ogre. Gwak Ji-cheol had taken a few hits along the way, but apparently he too cleared it with a perfectly respectable score.

With a distinctly satisfied air, Dang Gyu-young gave the four of us a slow, thorough once-over.

"You've all worked hard this past month. Not a single one of you fell behind—well done keeping up."

The truth was, Dang Gyu-young had set the difficulty higher than most mentors, with all her self-imposed rules and the like. In the sticker PvP, for instance, she'd shown no mercy whatsoever, leaving Hong Yeon-hwa barely managing to peel off a single one; and in this crystal assault, she hadn't handicapped the Ogre with anything beyond Enfeeblement. Even so, everyone had seen it through to the end without giving up—and posted solid results on top of that.

"That said, this is only the beginning, so keep pushing yourselves. Let's keep the farewells short. Rest up over the weekend, and do well on your midterms next week."

"Thank you for all your hard work, Senior."

"Thank you."

The group members bowed at the waist in gratitude and filed out one by one. Dang Gyu-young watched their retreating backs in silence for a long while.

I asked her, "Why are you staring like that?"

"I was just thinking this must be what it feels like to have disciples of one's own. Relieved, proud... a little wistful, all at once."

"Apparently the job suits you better than you expected."

"Yeah. Who knew."

Originally, Dang Gyu-young had never intended to go anywhere near mentoring. But weeks' worth of disciplinary penalties had piled up from the storage break-in, and when the Disciplinary Committee offered to wipe the slate clean, she'd had the job shoved into her hands half against her will. She could easily have coasted through with a token effort, yet she'd seen it through to the very end with a real sense of responsibility—and watching her mentees grow had apparently stirred up all sorts of feelings along the way.

And that right there is the taste of raising them.

That pride was precisely why I'd raised a full thousand S-rank heroes in my past life.

Once the group members had vanished from view, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Dang Gyu-young finally tore her eyes away and stretched with a long, luxuriant arch of her back.

"Aaand~ it's over. You're not heading out?"

"I am. I just need to hear your plan for tomorrow first."

"Oh, right—you did say you'd lend a hand."

Tomorrow—the weekend—marked the opening of the Black Market, and in exchange for securing banned items for me in advance, I'd agreed to pitch in a little.

Dang Gyu-young broke into a mischievous grin. "You actually remembered. Aren't you basically a full member at this point? Just fill out an application while you're at it."

"I'll pass."

"Tch."

When I flatly cut her off, Dang Gyu-young clicked her tongue once and then answered my original question. "We open at noon. You don't need to show up for that—we'll just be feeling things out early on."

The Thief Club had six buildings lined up for use as Black Market exchanges, A through F. But to start, only Exchange A and Exchange B would open their doors, with the rest on hold while they watched how things developed. How many customers came through, how the Disciplinary Committee reacted—those were the variables. Two exchanges wouldn't stretch their manpower managing them, which meant they had no need to borrow the hands of someone who wasn't even a club member.

"Then what time should I come by?"

"Around six in the evening? We can grab dinner together then."

"Understood."

"Spend the daytime going around the market, too."

"Will do."

Where there is shade, there is bound to be light as well. If the Black Market dealt in banned items, then naturally a marketplace where ordinary goods changed hands existed too.

Truth be told, this was the main event.

With mentoring concluded, the graduating seniors were obligated to leave Dungeon Island within the next few days. Wanting to clear every last unneeded thing out of their inventories before departure, they would flood the grandly reopening Downtown Market with a massive wave of items up for sale.

"Therefore, tomorrow, the three of us are going to tour the downtown district together."

I declared this with Go Hyeon-woo and Seo Ye-in seated before me. Go Hyeon-woo nodded along gravely.

"Indeed. This seems a fine opportunity to go and see the place for myself."

This was Go Hyeon-woo, the living training machine who devoted every waking hour not spent eating or sleeping to his sword. But he was human, and a student besides, and it seemed the downtown district had quietly piqued his curiosity all the same. Now that the market's opening had handed him the perfect excuse, he burned with resolve to take part without fail.

"But tell me—what manner of items will be on offer in the district?"

"We'll find out when we get there."

It was hard to point to any one thing worth hunting for. Not just the graduates but the second- and third-years would be digging out heaps of unused items to sell, so the volume hitting the market would be staggering and the variety enormous.

"Of course, an unused item is not always a bad item."

"Well spoken. With fortune on our side, we might even unearth a pearl in the mire."

"Right. With fortune on our side."

Go Hyeon-woo and I turned our heads at the exact same moment to look at one particular spot—because the luckiest lucky charm in all of Dragon Slayer Academy was sprawled face-down right there.

I addressed Seo Ye-in. "Young miss, how does your schedule look?"

"Going."

Until the moment I opened my mouth, her eyelids had been hovering at half-mast, but the word downtown banished her sleep in an instant, and her eyes went bright and sparkling. Our last trip down must have been quite the good time.

"Game center again too?"

"It's not exactly on tomorrow's itinerary."

"Gunslinger Adventure."

Her gray eyes fixed on me, unblinking. She'd hopped right in without a second thought and gotten herself completely hooked.

I let out a wry chuckle at Seo Ye-in, then turned my gaze to Go Hyeon-woo. "Should we head out ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a little early tomorrow?"

"Any hour suits me fine. I'd been curious about that game center of yours besides, so this works out all the better."

"Then we leave in the morning."

Going early to browse at our leisure and stopping by the game center with whatever time remained—nothing wrong with that. There might even be a decent item or two on the prize list.

At that, Seo Ye-in gave a short nod and rose from her seat.

"Heading out?"

"Mm. Gonna go sleep......"

It wasn't even properly evening yet, but we saw her off without bothering to point that out. Go Hyeon-woo voiced his guess.

"Her design, I take it, is to stockpile her strength in advance."

"Probably?"

"A sound notion. I ought to get in some training of my own as well—we shan't be back until well after dark tomorrow."

"Suit yourself."

Once Go Hyeon-woo had tidied up his things and departed as well, Ahn Jungmi—who had been watching from a distance—came over to me and bowed with impeccable courtesy.

"Thanks to you, Kim Ho-nim, the mentoring concluded a success. Please accept my sincere gratitude once again."

For the previous three weeks, I had steered Seo Ye-in into listening to Ahn Jungmi and following her training regimen, and I'd played the decisive role in keeping her motivation burning. It had been the same in this week's crystal assault. After we'd put up our score together—

A few casually dropped hooks like those, and Seo Ye-in's motivation caught fire. Sure enough, despite having already posted her score, she apparently ground through practice mode over and over right up until today. Without me, Ahn Jungmi couldn't have taught even half of what she'd prepared as a mentor—which was exactly why she reiterated her thanks every single time she laid eyes on me.

Then Ahn Jungmi held out a single business card. Unlike the ceremonial one she'd handed over when we first met, this one bore her personal contact information.

"If it is you, Kim Ho-nim, I believe I can entrust the young miss with full confidence. If you're willing, I would like for us to stay in close contact going forward."

Ahn Jungmi had only come aboard temporarily as a graduate mentor, so like every other graduate, she had to leave Dungeon Island. She could hardly leave her post as head of the Future Strategy Office vacant indefinitely, after all. Hence the direct line—so that she could keep receiving reports on the young miss's doings ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the person closest to her.

"So long as you prove a source of strength to the young miss, Hyeseong Group, in turn, pledges you its very finest support."

"I'll do my best."

Ahn Jungmi and I exchanged a soft smile. Then my expression hardened into something grave, and I spoke.

"Then—though this may be rather forward of me—there is something I'd like to ask of you, Team Leader."

"......!"

My serious face, and the fact that I'd said Team Leader instead of butler, seemed to tip Ahn Jungmi off that something unusual was afoot.

"Please, tell me."

"I'd like you to keep watch on this location tomorrow."

I passed Ahn Jungmi a slip of paper with a time and a place written on it. The coded message we'd discovered scrawled on a wall in the downtown district while scouting the Black Market in advance—the time and place on that slip were the very ones the cipher had pointed to. I had cleverly doctored the cipher so that the two parties would arrive at cross purposes. Of course, there was every chance they'd caught on and changed their arrangement—but if they hadn't.

"...Then at least one side will show up there, won't they."

"That's how I read it."

Ahn Jungmi pondered this with a grave face, then asked, "Would it not be better to notify the academy?"

"That's difficult—when I'm in no position to reveal most of what I know."

From Ahn Jungmi's perspective, all she'd received from me was a time, a place, and the claim that someone of unknown identity would appear there. I insisted those people were villains, but if they weren't, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠academy could end up detaining perfectly innocent people on a whim. By the same token, even if I did report it, this much information alone would hardly be enough for them to act. To prove that the unknown figure posed a threat to Dragon Slayer Academy, I would have to dig up my own buried secrets and then shoulder the risk of the academy's full scrutiny settling squarely on me afterward. My room to maneuver would shrink to almost nothing—a net loss, in other words. So if I wanted help, privately petitioning Ahn Jungmi like this was the only road available.

"So please observe the situation as it unfolds, and lend me a hand if things go wrong."

In short, this was a form of insurance. Ahn Jungmi accepted my request without prolonged deliberation.

"If your words prove true, Kim Ho-nim, then I would be obliged to step in even without being asked. Let's keep watch."