Time for a Scolding

Above a sky where clouds drifted lazily to and fro, Gwak Ji-cheol stood atop one of the floating platforms and stared up at the scoreboard. His expression was anything but bright.

"Whew... what a draw."

He had faced Seo Ye-in twice now in PvP, and lost both times — once picked apart by her sniping, once sent flying by her shotgun.

The last time was about a month ago, wasn't it.

Roughly five weeks. In that span, how much had their skills changed? Had the gap between them widened, or narrowed?

Either way, I'm not going down as easily as I did before.

Gwak Ji-cheol had recorded that black history at the midterms and felt his own inadequacy bone-deep. So he had thrown himself into training far more aggressively than before, even seeking out advice from the Emerald Magic Tower seniors. Thanks to that, his skills had climbed visibly over the past few weeks. At this level, wouldn't it be fair to say he had at least a fighting chance?

One more piece of good news: Seo Ye-in's teammate was Jeong Su-ji.

I know that girl inside and out.

Gwak Ji-cheol and Jeong Su-ji belonged to the same Emerald Magic Tower and spent plenty of time together, so each knew the other's strengths and weaknesses down to the bone. And Jeong Su-ji's single greatest weakness was—

Her physical stats are garbage.

He couldn't exactly boast about his own physical abilities either, but Jeong Su-ji was close to the weakest of the weak. If he prodded at that weakness and took her out fast to set up a two-on-one, then even with a skill gap between himself and Seo Ye-in, victory would be within reach.

His calculations complete, Gwak Ji-cheol turned to Kang Hee-chan.

"We take out Jeong Su-ji first. Get in close and she'll fold in no time."

"...Yeah, sure."

Kang Hee-chan answered offhandedly. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠From the moment they had entered the arena, his gaze had been nailed to Seo Ye-in on the far side.

Pretty. Beautiful. Lovely.

It wasn't as if beauties were scarce around Kang Hee-chan. Cha Hyun-ju, for one, had quite the face — a horrendous personality, granted. But even among all those beauties, Seo Ye-in stood in a league of her own. Disheveled hair and drowsy eyes, squatting down to poke at clouds — on anyone else, any of that would have read as a little ridiculous, yet on Seo Ye-in even those were charming.

Gwak Ji-cheol could understand why Kang Hee-chan was staring so slack-jawed. But that was that, and PvP was PvP. So he tossed out one more remark.

"I'd appreciate it if you focused."

"...Sorry."

Only then did Kang Hee-chan flinch and collect himself, turning his analysis from her looks to her combat strength.

He had crossed paths with Seo Ye-in once before, in the Volcanic Zone three-way battle. She had gone into stealth the instant it started, though, so they never actually fought, and he had been the first eliminated after a one-on-one against Hong Yeon-hwa. Later, when he checked the replay, he learned that Seo Ye-in had gone on to beat that very Hong Yeon-hwa and take first place.

The mage-versus-gunner matchup must have played its part, but it also meant her skill was every bit that superior.

Then I'd better take this seriously too.

Kang Hee-chan stowed the small hand shield strapped to his forearm into his inventory and drew out a massive tower shield in its place. His mobility would suffer, but against a gunner, taking one hit fewer was the best policy — and it would make fending off Jeong Su-ji's harassment easier too.

Gwak Ji-cheol and Kang Hee-chan exchanged a look and nodded at the same time.

Meanwhile, Seo Ye-in remained crouched in place, poking at the clouds, letting Jeong Su-ji's rambling strategy session wash right over her.

...Couldn't get her.

She had been hoping Hong Yeon-hwa would come out, but she'd drawn a completely different pair instead. And since it was already Friday, Hong Yeon-hwa had most likely finished her quota of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠three matches.

Nothing for it, then, but to scold those two instead.

Before long, Seo Ye-in rose from her spot — and as if that had been the signal, the countdown began.

The moment it hit zero, Seo Ye-in blurred and vanished. She had thrown the transparent ghillie suit over herself and slipped into stealth.

"Huh?"

Jeong Su-ji abruptly found herself all alone.

Across the way, Gwak Ji-cheol and Kang Hee-chan were already advancing, leaping from cloud platform to cloud platform.

"Um, hello? What about the plan...?"

Jeong Su-ji called out as she glanced around, but there was no chance of an answer coming when none had come before the match either. All the while, the enemy pair kept closing the distance, and Jeong Su-ji's panic spiked.

I have to run. Now.

Staying put would mean nothing more than offering up her own neck. So she pounded across the cloud platform with everything she had, clambered onto the one above, and hurled herself upward again with all her might.

"Heh."

Kang Hee-chan and Gwak Ji-cheol scoffed at the sight — because the speed at which they crossed platforms was on another level entirely.

Kang Hee-chan was a sword-and-shield warrior. A melee class to begin with, his physical abilities were exceptional from the ground up.

Gwak Ji-cheol's physicality was only marginally better than Jeong Su-ji's, but the sand swirling around him made platforms of the air. He had recently bent his path toward sand-attribute magic, hauling masses of sand in his inventory and pulling it out to use exactly like this whenever the need arose.

And so the distance between the three of them did nothing but shrink. The smaller it grew, the more Jeong Su-ji's desperation curdled into despair.

"S-stay back!"

Flailing, she flung out volley after volley of dirt bullets, but Kang Hee-chan blocked every last one behind his tower shield. Then he bounded high and landed on her cloud platform.

"Ah..."

Kang Hee-chan took a step forward; Jeong Su-ji took a step back. Unfortunately, the cloud platform was not wide enough to retreat across for long. Soon driven to its very edge, Jeong Su-ji thought:

Should've exercised more.

- Thud!

Kang Hee-chan charged shield-first, and the impact sent Jeong Su-ji's body flying — straight off the platform and into a plummet.

"Aaaaaaah—!"

But there was something Kang Hee-chan didn't know. In the very instant he had charged at Jeong Su-ji, the platform positioned behind him had rippled, and Seo Ye-in had appeared.

She had tossed Jeong Su-ji out as bait and looped around to the rear.

Gwak Ji-cheol, catching sight of her, shouted urgently for Kang Hee-chan—

"Kang—!"

—but Seo Ye-in pulling the trigger was faster.

- Ratatatatata!

Magic bullets hammered home in a neat line from the back of Kang Hee-chan's head straight down his back. Then, in a neat line, they exploded.

- BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

"Uwaaagh!"

The sudden, massive shock scrambled Kang Hee-chan's senses. His body swayed once, then pitched forward — and he plummeted after Jeong Su-ji.

Unbelievable. This is insane.

Gwak Ji-cheol swept a hand down his face. In hindsight, there had been suspicious signs. He'd wondered why they were giving up their teammate so easily — it had been a trap all along. In effect, they had traded Jeong Su-ji for Kang Hee-chan.

Which left a one-on-one with Seo Ye-in.

"..."

Gray eyes turned toward him. The muzzle followed, leveling at his chest—

- Ratatatatat!

—and magic bullets came spitting out in droves. Not that Gwak Ji-cheol was unprepared; he had already woven his sand into a barrier three layers deep.

She won't punch through that so easily—

The illusion lasted only an instant. Explosions went off in rapid succession, and one whole side of the sand wall came tumbling down.

Magic bullets poured through the gap. Gwak Ji-cheol's HP was hacked away in great chunks.

"Ughk!"

Even with his head spinning, Gwak Ji-cheol shoved the sand back into place to repair the collapsed barrier and cast a long-range spell of his own to strike back.

- Ratatatat!

Sand bullets streamed out. Seo Ye-in danced this way and that atop her small cloud platform with featherlight steps, and the rounds sailed far wide — or, even when aimed true, slipped past her like flowing water.

Dodging all the while, she topped up her assault rifle with fresh rounds and fired back.

- BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

The sand wall crumbled yet again, and the magic bullets wedged their way in and hammered Gwak Ji-cheol.

"Ghk!"

...I can't beat her.

Only then did Gwak Ji-cheol understand. He had prided himself on growing quite a bit stronger — but Seo Ye-in had grown far stronger still. The gap hadn't narrowed. It had widened.

No. It's not over yet.

It wasn't over yet!

Gwak Ji-cheol flung open his inventory and hauled out sand by the armful, layering his walls thicker and thicker. The turtle strategy, pushed to its absolute extreme.

Can she break through even this?

It was true that Seo Ye-in's attack power had grown, but against this much defense, an assault rifle alone would struggle. She would need to switch to her shotgun or her sniper rifle — and as far as he knew, that switch took considerable time. That would be his window to counterattack.

"..."

But contrary to every expectation, Seo Ye-in simply kept firing the assault rifle on full auto, cool as you please.

- BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

Explosions bloomed against the walls — and thanks to the layered defenses, nothing got through.

Relief lasted only a breath. Gwak Ji-cheol felt the ground drop out from under his feet.

Oh, right. Here it comes.

"Cloud blaaast—!"

Instead of breaking through his defense, she had shot the clouds themselves — erasing every place left to stand.

Plummeting fast, Gwak Ji-cheol checked below and, mercifully, spotted a single cloud platform floating there.

Heaven itself is on my side!

Of course it wouldn't end like this. The moment he landed on that platform, he would regroup quickly and carry the fight on.

But the very next moment, he had no choice but to look up.

"..."

Because Seo Ye-in was gazing down at him. And because her muzzle was trained on the very cloud platform he was about to land on.

Gwak Ji-cheol screamed in desperation—

"No!"

- Ratatatat!

—but the magic bullets pounded the platform mercilessly, setting off explosion after explosion. With the cloud meant to catch him scattered into wisps, Gwak Ji-cheol kept right on falling.

"Ughaaaaaah—!"

Seo Ye-in stared down with indifferent eyes and, for the first time since the match began, opened her mouth.

"Yes."

The mage got scolded.

After Seo Ye-in had "scolded" all three of them — her teammate included — I got back in touch with Ahn Jungmi. It was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time to report on the training results.

"—And that's how the D-rank Explosive Bullet proved fairly effective in PvP. At this pace, C-rank shouldn't be far off either."

"I see. You really have worked hard."

Ahn Jungmi sounded thoroughly pleased. With the human sloth joining training of her own volition and even producing results, how could she not be? And since whatever I provided showed good returns, there was a sense of reward in it for her as well.

I carried on with the report.

"I plan to handle the quest scroll during the conquest week. Its contents will require going down into a dungeon."

"I'll leave it in your hands, Kim Ho-nim."

Just then, Seo Ye-in — who had been sprawled face-down on the table, rolling back and forth — cut into the conversation.

"I wanna go down too."

"Agassi, did you not already obtain your underground floor qualification?"

"Deeper."

Seo Ye-in added, shaking her head. She meant she wanted to follow me into D-rank dungeons and below.

I braced for another firm You may not! — but instead, Ahn Jungmi abruptly turned her gaze toward me and asked a rather out-of-the-blue question.

"Kim Ho-nim, there is something I would like to ask you."

"Yes, go ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ahead."

"What are your plans for the summer vacation, if I may?"

"...!"

At those words, Seo Ye-in's head shot up. And with eyes gone bright and sparkling as though she had never once been drowsy in her life, she tugged at my sleeve — swish, swish.

"Come to our house."