Week 14 PvP (1)

'So it really is a no-go after all.'

All weekend long I had alternated between swallowing poisons and running mana cultivation cycles — poison, drill, poison, drill — until my entire stockpile was spent. Even so, it seemed I still fell short of achieving Thousand Poisons Immunity.

'I was hoping it would pop at least once.'

A tiny sliver of me had wondered whether, lucky-mascot style, it might slip through in a single stroke — but no such luck. Turns out I couldn't just swallow everything whole.

That said, both my poison tolerance and my internal energy had been built up nice and solid, so it was hardly a wasted effort. Keep sourcing poisons and eating them, I was confident, and Thousand Poisons Immunity wouldn't stay out of reach for long.

If there was one regret amid it all—

'It's already Monday.'

Buried in mana cultivation, I had gone and deleted my entire weekend. Regrettable or not, class was class, so I sent Seo Ye-in a message.

We met in front of the student cafeteria. Seo Ye-in had thrown an oversized hoodie over her uniform — a good two sizes too big — the very same one she'd been wearing when we first met on the train.

"Haven't seen that thing in a while."

"..."

Seo Ye-in slowly extended both arms toward me. The sleeves were so baggy her hands had vanished from view entirely.

"Trade."

"For mine?"

"Yeah."

And there it was — a 1:1 exchange demand, issued with total confidence. Not that the hoodie in question looked like any ordinary hoodie. It was an item that gave a glimpse of Hyeseong Group's technical prowess; at the very least, I'd peg it B-rank. Even so, a trade was laughably out of the question, and I refused in no uncertain terms.

"Not a chance."

"..."

Seo Ye-in swayed her outstretched arms back and forth, as if to say come on, trade with me. The loose sleeves wobbled along in time.

'Well, when she pulls this—'

I seized both sleeves and tied them into a knot. Seo Ye-in looked down at the knot, then lifted her head and stared at me, unblinking.

"..."

"..."

"...Untie it."

I obligingly undid her arms, then strode on ahead.

"Let's eat."

A sly change of subject. Seamless.

Breakfast was made-to-order omelets. You picked your way down a long lineup of ingredients — eggs and everything besides — loaded your tray to taste, carried it to the egg station, and they folded your omelet right there on the spot.

I'm a man who believes in the fundamentals, so I went eggs and a double helping of cheese, finely diced ham and bacon, and just a scattering of vegetables. Seo Ye-in studied my tray with keen interest.

"..."

"The same?"

"Yeah."

I assembled Kim Ho-mlet No. 2 to her exact specifications and handed it over to the cook, who began shaping the eggs into a tidy rugby ball with practiced hands.

Midway through, I felt eyes on the back of my head and turned to find—

"Oh, um, hi..."

Hong Yeon-hwa, waving with the timidity of a startled rabbit. Apparently she'd spotted us while picking out her omelet ingredients.

I waved back and asked, "Here by yourself?"

"Yeah, today..."

"Then eat with us, if you don't mind."

"...!"

Hong Yeon-hwa visibly brightened. Out of courtesy, I checked with Seo Ye-in as well.

"You're fine with it, right?"

— Nod.

Seo Ye-in and Hong Yeon-hwa had survived the deserted-island midterm together, after all, so they were on passably familiar terms. They'd even built up a healthy rivalry in PvP, trading wins and losses in step with their training gains. All of which led me to judge that sharing a breakfast table would strain no one.

By then both Kim Ho-mlets were finished, so I tipped my chin toward an empty table.

"We'll go grab seats."

"Okay, be right there."

We settled in, Seo Ye-in and I side by side. She kept her fork moving at a steady clip — the Kim Ho-mlet recipe seemed to have won her over proper.

Before long Hong Yeon-hwa arrived with a coffee and her own omelet and took the seat across from us. The coffee was her usual: a jet-black extract with a heavy espresso load.

And then—

'Why on earth is that thing so red?'

Whatever she had put in it, a crimson rugby ball now sat on her plate. The spicy fumes reached us clear across the table.

"..."

While Seo Ye-in scooted away by stealthy increments, Hong Yeon-hwa dug into her omelet with total, unbothered naturalness. I acclimated to the fumes soon enough myself, prised a corner off my Kim Ho-mlet, and opened with—

"You rest up okay after that day?"

"Uh, uh? Y-yeah, I rested fine! Yep!"

Hong Yeon-hwa babbled, eyes rolling every which way. Apparently the assorted embarrassing episodes from her mana-drained state were replaying behind them. Judging by how her mouth kept opening and shutting, she had plenty she wanted to say and no hope of getting it out.

When that happened, the best play was for me to steer. Besides, I had questions of my own.

"Did you open the random box?"

"Yeah... I even used an enhancement scroll on it...?"

"Did you, now."

I hadn't wanted to believe it, but she really had burned an enhancement scroll on a D-rank box. What a waste. It was her call, of course — not mine to second-guess. Then her next words caught me off guard.

"I got Rank Boosts. Two of them."

"Two?"

"Yeah..."

A pair of Rank Boosts was practically a B-rank-or-better haul. So Hong Yeon-hwa wasn't quite on my lucky mascot's level, but the girl had real luck of her own.

"And the other thing?"

"From there... this."

So saying, she produced a tiny keychain for my inspection.

In some respects it was an item even worse than the tea set. At least the tea set had a household function; this was a straight-up souvenir. Still, those two Rank Boosts from earlier were good enough that, all told, she'd come out miles ahead.

Hong Yeon-hwa jabbed at her Yeonhwa-mlet a few more times, then fidgeted her way into speech.

"Um... so, you see..."

"Mm? What is it?"

"Th-the next one — when are we... going down...?"

She wanted to know when the next dungeon run — and the Aqua Flame training with it — would be. At that, Seo Ye-in began tugging softly at my sleeve.

"Me too."

"That will not be possible. Kindly contain yourself until summer vacation."

I shut it down with firm finality, full Ahn Jung-mi voice. I'd have loved nothing more than to smuggle her along, but I couldn't very well betray the trust Hyeseong Group had placed in me. Then I circled back to Hong Yeon-hwa's question.

"Honestly, let's take our time deciding on the next dungeon run. Things have been a touch unsettled lately, you know how it is."

"Yeah, fair point."

Only recently, our own party had run headlong into a Dark Oublek mid-clear and suffered hardships we could have done entirely without. With a repeat performance entirely possible, caution was the order of the day. On top of that, as confirmed during the Gathering of Evildoers raid, security around the underground floors had been reinforced on a massive scale — the Thieves Club's president and vice-president had only barely punched through by pooling their talents, which meant Shin Byung-cheol would be nabbed on the spot if I ever put him on guide duty. Until the Witch of Decay's threat was eradicated root and branch, dungeon trips were, for all practical purposes, on ice.

Hong Yeon-hwa seemed to follow the logic that far, though a trace of disappointment showed through all the same. I went on.

"It won't drag on long, though. If things break right, it could reopen as soon as next week."

The academy, for its part, had no intention of letting the Witch of Decay keep working her schemes. Ideally they'd want the problem settled this week, while the Dungeon Hall sat locked down, and business back to normal by the next. How it would actually shake out, of course, remained to be seen.

Hong Yeon-hwa gave a slow nod.

"Okay. Let me know once it's decided."

"Will do. And, well, since the subject's come up—"

"...?"

I brought up my message window and showed it to her.

"If something comes up, don't come traipsing all the way to our classroom — just send a message."

A top prospect loitering outside another class's door would only inflate the rumor mill, and Hong Yeon-hwa had no great love for having every eye swivel her way either. That was the thinking behind the offer — but she echoed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠back as if the possibility had never once crossed her mind.

"Th-that's really okay?"

"Of course it's okay. Easier on both of us, no?"

"...!"

Hong Yeon-hwa's whole face lit up bright.

"Save it for after class."

"My apologies."

At Lee Su-dok's single remark, I snapped the message window ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shut. He gave me a leisurely once-over, then swept the classroom with those fierce eyes of his.

"Your recent PvP and raid assessment results have been markedly poor."

"..."

"No need to look any further than the hostile environments for the cause. Am I wrong?"

"..."

It being the plain truth, the students kept their mouths clamped shut and traded wary glances. From where I stood, PvP matches and raids staged in hostile environments differed little from before — if anything, certain aspects were even easier. Of course, that was solely because I happened to possess cheat-tier traits like Elemental Resistance and Hundred Poisons Immunity.

'Most of them don't.'

Which meant most of them were run off their feet — dodging fireballs here, ducking lightning bolts there, scrambling clear of poison fumes — and in the middle of all that, their true abilities had no chance whatsoever of surfacing.

"You still appear to be struggling with the adaptation. Therefore—"

Lee Su-dok brought the rules and environment up onto the blackboard.

"Hostile environments will continue to appear from this point forward. Until such time as you have adapted. Perfectly."

"...!"

"...!"

A bloodless pallor spread across the students' faces. Evidently that displeased him, for Lee Su-dok knitted his brow and ground out:

"I will state it plainly: it is far better to endure and adapt now. If this is still your standard after graduation, your lives will be the forfeit."

"..."

"I need hardly explain the rules."

The Crystal rule had long since been drilled into everyone through any number of PvP matches, raids, and the midterm itself. Two-person teams went without saying.

"Put your heads to work, and diligently. That is all."

With that, and only that, Lee Su-dok strode straight out of the classroom. As the students' buzzing swelled around me, I pulled up the sub-quest that had just arrived.

'Random Rank-Up again, most likely.'

A stamp-collecting opportunity if ever there was one, so this time, too, I intended to clear it at maximum completion. And as always, best to polish it off on day one.

"..."

Seo Ye-in, meanwhile, lay slumped face-down with the hood half-pulled over her head. She napped every single day without a single exception — so reliably, in fact, that even the Human Butcher, Lee Su-dok, had given up on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠waking her. Looked at from a certain angle, wasn't that an achievement in its own right?

Even so, if we were going to go contest our PvP, the human sloth needed raising from her slumber.

"Hey, Ms. Seo. Up. Class is over."

"..."

"Ms. Seo. PvP. Let's go."

"Trade... hoodie..."

Not so much as a twitch. Left with no alternative, I resolved on extraordinary measures.

— Whooooosh—

I cast Chillwind at a whisper of its true strength, and a cold breeze went drifting through. Seo Ye-in shivered faintly where she lay, then slid her head up by degrees.

"...?"

"Awake at last, I see."

"..."

Seo Ye-in looked slowly around, as if piecing the situation together, and finally her eyes settled on me. She had identified, it seemed, the prime suspect behind the cold wind. Then, with unhurried ceremony, she fished the Kim Ho Pot out of her inventory and closed her fingers around it.

Which translated to: very angry. I apologized on the spot.

"I'm sorry."

"Hate cold wind."

"Won't do it again."

An effective solution, admittedly — but one that risked earning the target's lasting grudge, and therefore far from the optimal one. I'd ration this trick for rare occasions only.

The Kim Ho Pot vanished back into inventory, and Seo Ye-in's gaze wandered the room once more. Registering that the classroom was already half empty, she asked:

"It's over?"

"Over — the class. Come on, PvP."

"Yeah..."

Seo Ye-in rose from her seat at a glacial pace.

[250] The Support Ate It All