Week 16 PvP (2)

Once class let out, most students chose to stick with their existing partners, but a fair number took the opportunity to shuffle their rosters.

Naturally, the latter crowd converged on the Thieves.

"Hey, hey! Team up with me!"

"Shin Byungchul, you don't have a partner yet, right?"

"Roll with me and we're guaranteed to win!"

Depending on the variety, stumbling into a trap could inflict direct damage or saddle the victim with debilitating status ailments. For anyone unlucky enough to trigger one, neither outcome was pleasant. Pairing up with a Thief class significantly mitigated the headache of navigating hazards, so it was only natural they were in high demand.

Shin Byungchul's popularity in particular was astronomical. Whatever his other shortcomings, his proficiency with mechanical devices rivaled that of second- or third-year upperclassmen. Back when dealing with the Black Snake Clan, he had dismantled every single mechanism and formation in their path, and he had served as the vanguard of the Thief Club during the break-in at the Temporary Depot.

Yet for reasons known only to him, Shin Byungchul brushed past the deluge of desperate recruitment calls and strutted over to our side.

Watching his approach, Ko Hyun-woo murmured with an appreciative nod.

"Brother Shin's mastery over mechanical contrivances is truly peerless. It is only natural that thou art in such high demand."

"My era has finally dawned, you hear?"

Shin Byungchul puffed out his chest and chuckled before his expression settled into an uncharacteristically solemn cast.

"Yet I, Shin Byungchul, am a man of loyalty and chivalric romance. I have no intention of turning my back on a brother who offered his hand when times were lean."

Back during past PvP duels and the midterm exams, when Shin Byungchul had been universally shunned as dead weight, Ko Hyun-woo had steadfastly stood by him as his partner. In other words, Shin Byungchul was offering Ko Hyun-woo right of first refusal for the upcoming match. I had fully expected him to dart off the second a lucrative prospect presented itself, so this was an unexpected touch of grace.

A pleasantly heartwarming atmosphere blossomed between them, until Ko Hyun-woo offered an awkward, apologetic smile.

"I am deeply grateful for Brother Shin's generous offer... but I must beg thy forgiveness."

"...Come again?"

Never having entertained the possibility of rejection, Shin Byungchul's face froze solid.

"I have already committed to a prior engagement. I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shall keep thy goodwill in my heart."

"Wait, with who?!"

The answer drifted in from across the room.

"Hurry up! Come on, hurry!"

Han Somi was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠standing just beyond the open doorway, waving her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠arm with frantic enthusiasm. Our eyes collectively drifted toward her before pivoting back to lock onto ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ko Hyun-woo.

"How on earth did you end up saddled with her?" I asked.

"Verily... matters have a curious way of drifting in unintended currents."

"Just get going before she makes an even bigger scene."

"Understood. Let us reconvene anon."

Ko Hyun-woo beat a hasty retreat, practically fleeing down the corridor. Left stranded, Shin Byungchul turned his pleading gaze on me, but my availability had been off the table from the very start.

"..."

My lucky charm had already clamped both hands around my arm. As if to make it abundantly clear that she had no intention of loaning me out, she began tugging me steadily toward herself.

Letting myself be dragged a step or two, I offered Shin Byungchul a solemn nod.

"You have acquitted your honor as a true gentleman. Go forth, brother, and seek out new destinies."

"...It cannot be helped, then. Yet mark my words, you shall rue the day you spurned my hand!"

Shin Byungchul delivered the vow in the tragic register of an exiled wandering swordsman, then spun on his heel. The onlookers, instantly realizing that prime real estate had returned to the open market, swarmed him like a school of starving piranhas.

I watched the feeding frenzy for a moment before looking down at Seo Ye-in.

"Shall we head out?"

"Depart."

The moment we stepped into the Arena, I tapped my student ID against the reader terminal. While waiting for the matchmaking queue to resolve, I pulled up the weekly sub-quest interface.

Maximum achievement means taking first place in both matches.

It wouldn't be a walk in the park. A two-man Three-Way Battle meant six combatants sharing the field, introducing countless erratic variables. On the flip side, higher difficulty meant the baseline rewards were calibrated far above the usual weekly rate.

The haul should be quite lucrative.

With any luck, a guaranteed Rank Up scroll or a high-tier Stamp Coupon wasn't out of the question. Right on cue, a chime signaled our match confirmation.

Under blind evaluation rules, all opponent information, from names down to point totals, remained entirely redacted. Within similar rating brackets, the player pool was small enough that knowing someone's exact score practically gave away their identity. Since I had anticipated this, I stepped onto the teleportation circle alongside Seo Ye-in without complaint.

The magical transit deposited us inside a cramped room enclosed on all sides by blank stone.

"...?"

Seo Ye-in tapped inquisitively at various sections of the masonry, but they were ordinary stone walls. It was a staging cell designed to keep participants from probing the labyrinth before the official start. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait long. Once the other two pairs finished loading in, a system countdown flashed overhead.

One of the stone faces dissolved into a shimmering mist, unveiling a corridor barely wide enough for two people to walk abreast. I exchanged a glance with Seo Ye-in.

"Let's keep our heads and take it slow."

"Agreed."

Since this was our first round, our foremost priority was establishing the maze's layout and figuring out where the faculty had planted their traps. We advanced cautiously into the dimly lit passageway.

After a short stretch, we took a turn at a corner, advanced further, rounded another bend, and immediately slammed into a solid stone dead end.

"...?"

Seo Ye-in stared at the obstruction for a few seconds, tilting her head. She raised her mana rifle, aligned the muzzle with the stone, and cast an inquiring glance in my direction to ask if she could blow it open.

Can't hurt to test the boundaries once.

I gave an easy nod, and the barrel instantly erupted in a flare of pale blue light.

R-r-r-rat-tat-tat-tat!

A burst of mana rounds drilled straight into the stone face, sparking continuous azure detonations. Yet far from shattering, the surface came away with nothing more than shallow scuffs. Busting through with brute force clearly wasn't an option.

Short of an ability like the Ethereal Stride used by the upperclassman back in the black market, no current first-year could phase through terrain. In short, the academy intended for us to run the maze as designed. Reaching the same conclusion, Seo Ye-in lowered her weapon without lingering regret.

We doubled back and took a different branch, but before long, our pace slowed once more.

"Here they come."

"Traps."

To an untrained eye, the corridor appeared perfectly mundane, but a keen scan revealed subtle traces of tampering: faint diagonal hairline scratches etched into the stonework, or translucent magic circles faintly pulsing across the flagstones. Most were mechanical tripwires, while a few were arcane runes primed for proximity.

With veteran instincts, picking out hazards of this caliber was second nature. Seo Ye-in's gaze repeatedly settled on the exact same anomalies I had spotted. I had noted it before, but her observational acuity was truly formidable.

"..."

The only real issue was that she had zero interest in simply bypassing them.

Creeping up toward an active pressure plate, she peered down with eyes sparkling with unadulterated curiosity. Then, mirroring the look she had given me before shooting the wall, she shot me a silent plea for permission.

Catching her drift immediately, I arched an eyebrow.

"You want to step on it?"

A firm nod.

"Is there really any need to do that?"

"...A little?"

"Always brimming with pointless curiosity."

She couldn't handle spicy food, yet couldn't resist sneaking a taste whenever it was around; she couldn't climb down from high perches on her own, yet persistently demanded to be tossed up there. This was the exact same impulse rearing its head.

Well, getting burned once is the quickest way to learn.

Experiencing the sting firsthand left a far deeper impression than any amount of dry lecturing. Her health bar might take a minor scrape, but under blind match rules, the opposing teams wouldn't be able to track our status anyway. After a brief pause, I shrugged.

"Go ahead, step on it."

Granted permission, Seo Ye-in gingerly tapped the pressure plate with the sole of her boot. Nothing happened for a split second, and just as she cocked her head in confusion—

CLANK!

Heavy iron jaws sprang from the floorboards, snapping shut around her lower leg. Immobile, Seo Ye-in blinked and locked eyes with me.

"...Help."

"I knew this would happen."

Working together to manipulate the release levers, the contraption yielded with surprising ease. It had clearly been engineered to stall an intruder's momentum rather than inflict lethal trauma. Naturally, devices designed for outright destruction were sprinkled liberally throughout the labyrinth as well.

Fwump!

ROOOOAR!

Tripwire ballistas firing lethal volleys the instant someone breached their perimeter, or runic matrices turning entire choke points into roaring infernos. With such an exotic variety on display, Seo Ye-in's fascination showed no signs of abating.

This time, she was staring down at a faint magic circle inscribed into the stone floor.

Fine, have it your way.

Adopting the stance of an amused spectator, I leaned back. Attempting some semblance of caution, Seo Ye-in refrained from stepping onto the rune directly, opting instead to poke its center with the muzzle of her rifle.

It was not a wise tactical alternative.

Squelch—!

The solid flagstones instantly liquified into an adhesive mire. Before she could muster a reaction, she sank waist-deep into the muck.

"...Help."

"Had enough now?"

"Yes."

"Are you going to stop?"

"Confirmed."

Only after extracting that solemn promise did I extend my hand. Seo Ye-in grabbed my forearm, and I hauled her out of the quagmire. I stared into those placid gray eyes for a heartbeat, then shoved her straight back in.

Squelch—!

Submerged to the waist once more, Seo Ye-in gazed up at me. Her expression remained utterly blank, yet her eyes practically screamed, What kind of foul play is this?

"Just felt a sudden surge of mischief."

"Mischief bad."

"Fine, fine, I won't do it again. Grab on."

I reached down and hauled her out a second time. Having finally satiated her curiosity, Seo Ye-in gave the traps a wide berth, and we advanced in earnest, weaving through the hazard network. Whenever an area was blanketed by a trap too vast to disarm safely, we treated it as an impassable wall and sought another route.

After navigating the maze for some time, a thought crossed my mind.

We should be crossing paths with someone soon.

Given how long the match had been running, it was high time we bumped into at least one of the other two pairs. Right on cue—

SKRRRRRR!

The telltale shriek of tearing air split the quiet. Turning toward the sound, a volley of arrows was already arcing down the corridor, locked dead onto us.

"..."

A cluster of ink-black storm clouds surged from Seo Ye-in's wrist, swirling into an erratic vortex that deflected the incoming shafts harmlessly into the walls. Rounding the far corner just as expected came Cha Hyun-joo, accompanied by an unfamiliar male student.

Cha Hyun-joo ground her molars, glaring daggers straight through me.

"...Kim Ho."

"Long time no see. Where'd you leave Hee-chan?"

"Dumped him."

"How heartless."

"Shut your mouth."

To be fair, her logic wasn't entirely baffling. Kang Hee-chan's meager combat output could never satisfy someone with aspirations of joining the elite prospects, and it was basic human nature to seek out the most capable partner available. Furthermore, Hee-chan had tanked his rating through a disastrous losing streak; pairing with him would have dragged their team average down, drastically reducing her chances of being seeded against me.

From that perspective, Cha Hyun-joo's gamble had paid off handsomely. She had landed the exact match she wanted. Whether that was actually a wise decision on her part was another matter entirely.

Fixing me with a venomous glare, Cha Hyun-joo snarled.

"Don't you dare run. Let's settle this once and for all."

"Hmm..."

I rested my chin on my hand, putting on an elaborate display of deep contemplation. Both Cha Hyun-joo and her companion leaned in slightly, breath held, waiting for my response. At last, I parted my lips.

"Settle—"

Mid-syllable, a towering palisade of crystalline frost ruptured through the stone floorboards, sealing the corridor from wall to wall without leaving a finger's width of clearance.

"—settle what, you rabid pest? Do you have any idea how many times I've stomped you already?"

"GET THIS DOWN!!"

THUD! THUD!

Cha Hyun-joo's furious shrieks reverberated through the dense glacial barrier, punctuated by violent impacts. Her partner seemed to be hacking away at it as well, but breaking through wouldn't be easy. This was a B-rank Ice Wall copied straight from an executive of the White Magic Club.

I channeled Chill Wind to glaze the glacial barrier with an extra layer of reinforced frost.

Whoooosh—!

"Feel free to settle your grudge with the wall. We'll be taking our leave."

"TEAR—! THIS—! DOOOOOWN—!!"

Leaving her frantic screams behind, I took Seo Ye-in's hand and strolled down the adjoining corridor.