Week 5 Mentoring, PvP Assessment (4)

"So what made you decide to take up mentoring, anyway?"

"Fufufu. Surprised? You're surprised, aren't you?"

Dang Gyu-young let a delighted laugh spill out.

"They wipe your disciplinary penalties if you sign on as a mentor. The more I thought about it, the more this seemed like the better deal."

"How much did they knock off?"

"All of it."

I nodded. If they were wiping the slate clean, the job was worth doing. I'd broken into the Temporary Confiscation Storage and made a feast of the banned items stashed there, so for all I knew the penalties had been steep — but if every last one was erased, then the nuisance of mentoring was more than worth putting up with.

Still, I hadn't expected an across-the-board pardon. Apparently Disciplinary Committee Chief Oh Se-hun was the type to cut a deal even more boldly than I'd given him credit for.

"Let's finish the rest later. The kids are waiting outside."

Only Hong Yeon-hwa had been sent out of the arena so far, which meant the longer I lingered here alone with Dang Gyu-young, the more the three waiting outside would start to wonder. Wrapping up quickly and getting out was the smart play.

Before we began, though, I decided to make one more request.

"I'd like you to turn off the replay, if you would."

After watching me this long, there was no way Dang Gyu-young would miss what I meant. Killing the replay meant I was offering to show her what I couldn't reveal in any official setting.

She looked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tempted, though also a little torn.

"Honestly, I am curious... But I'm your mentor right now, you know? I have to turn in every single replay."

If it were only the PvP assessment, that would be one thing — but the mentoring was running alongside it. Because the academy wanted a read on each student's progress, recording and submitting every replay was the recommended practice. Not strictly mandatory, but it counted toward Dang Gyu-young's mentoring results, so it paid to cooperate as much as possible.

So I made another offer.

"Then let's call this one unofficial, and run the official match over again once the replay's back on — with one of the others."

"Why not?"

The sub-quest's objective was to 'peel off the stickers.' Once I'd pocketed the reward, I could take the PvP assessment itself as leisurely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠as I pleased.

From Dang Gyu-young's side, too, the proposal cost her nothing — it meant she'd still have an official replay secured to submit to the academy.

She collected the replay orb, then beckoned to me with a crook of her finger.

"Go on, then. Show me."

Her eyes were swollen with anticipation over what she was about to see. But contrary to that anticipation, I didn't plan on putting on much of a show. I intended to end this fast and clean.

I cast Inferno Fist, then drank the flames roaring off my fist into Overheat. The mightier the fire skill it absorbed — or the higher Overheat's own rank — the greater the payoff. I'd stacked B-rank Overheat on top of Inferno Fist, so the result was—

Fwoooosh—

A heartbeat later, a colossal force came boiling up from within me and began to run wild. It was more than my vessel — this body — could comfortably hold at its current level, and reining it in would take some doing. All the more reason to finish this in a flash.

I set my stance and kicked off the ground hard.

Fwip!

In a single breath, Dang Gyu-young was suddenly several strides closer. Another kick, and I was right on top of her. She had braced herself to a degree, but her eyes shot wide — she hadn't counted on this.

"Wh-what?"

Rrip! My body brushed past Dang Gyu-young in an instant, trailing the sound of something tearing — and before I knew it, a sticker was stuck to my palm.

Dang Gyu-young stared at the sticker, then dropped her gaze to her own waist. Her flank hung bare and empty.

This is exactly why you raise your rank.

Right now, the bracelet Dang Gyu-young wore capped every skill and trait she had at C-rank. The Thief's Step I'd copied off her, meanwhile, was B-rank to begin with, and with the bonus from the shoes Seo Ye-in had given me, it sat at B+. That alone opened a staggering gap in speed — and Overheat had cranked my physical abilities up on top of it. Even at D-rank, I'd played tag with the Black Snake Chamber Master without losing so much as a single hair; at B-rank, the less said the better.

I firmed up my stance at once.

"Here comes the next one."

"Hey, hey, hold on. Wait just a second."

"There's no such thing as 'just a second' in a match."

Fwip! I compressed the space again and dove in. Dang Gyu-young backpedaled in a hurry, slashing a hand through empty air, and a host of shadow hands and feet surged up from below to bar my way.

I pooled mana over my hand and hammered down hard on the oncoming shadow limbs.

Bam!

The shadows burst apart, and a solid shock seemed to carry through to Dang Gyu-young as well — enough to lock her body up, if only for an instant. In that sliver of an opening, I skirted around the shadows and slipped into her flank.

"..."

Experience banked all the way to third year doesn't simply evaporate; Dang Gyu-young was already clawing back her composure. She batted aside the hand reaching for her sticker and moved to seize it in turn — but I'd only feinted, my hand already withdrawn, leaving her clutching at empty air.

I reached out again; she countered. With less than a single step between us, our hands crashed together and tangled in a furious flurry. Then I abruptly bounded backward —

THUD!

A shadow hammer slammed down where I'd just been standing. I watched it land, kicked off the ground hard, and charged.

Fwip!

Dang Gyu-young reacted on the spot, but her body wouldn't quite keep pace, and her guard came up a hair late.

Rrip!

Riding that sliver of a difference, I tore away the second sticker. I put distance between us and slapped the stickers onto my own body one after another, and Dang Gyu-young gave a hollow laugh.

"Wow, you've already ripped off two. But Kim Ho, at least give me a little time to prepare."

"The more I give you, the worse it gets for me."

"Well, fair enough."

The main reason I'd peeled off two stickers so easily was that my speed left bracelet-bound Dang Gyu-young far in the dust — though catching her off guard and then never letting up had counted for plenty too.

The third and final one, however, didn't look like it would come so cheap.

Dang Gyu-young gave a smooth wave of her hand, and the shadows at her feet began to roll like waves, swelling outward and widening their reach. She was wringing her skill's performance up to the very ceiling of C-rank.

"Looks like I got too relaxed with the ones before you. Come to think of it, all I walked out of the Black Snake Chamber with was a hurt hand. The last one at least deserves a proper fight."

The ever-spreading shadows soon wove themselves into a square garden plot.

In place of flowers, limbs wrought of shadow jutted up here and there, and above them three butterflies flitted about like scouts on patrol. Even with her specs capped at C-rank, she was fielding domain magic on top of three butterflies — a glimpse of just how deep Dang Gyu-young's reserves ran.

And yet, at the same time, it was a remarkably foolish play. With that much magic spread out at once, her mana drained away in real time just to keep it all aloft. What's more, Shadow Garden was an intensely defensive spell — as long as I didn't set foot inside the domain, Dang Gyu-young couldn't deal me any damage either. Watched from a safe distance, she would simply wear herself out and be forced to fold the spell back in.

But did Dang Gyu-young truly not know this? She was the one casting it, after all. She met my eyes and flashed a knowing smile.

"What are you waiting for? Get in here."

Both her eyes gleamed with anticipation. The look said, You're not seriously going to just stand there after I've gone this far, are you?

Truth be told, in moments like this I was the type to wait it out from a distance — ideally while garnishing the wait with a little trash talk. Nothing grinds an opponent's gears quite like it. But with Dang Gyu-young across from me, it seemed wise to skip that approach for the sake of our long-term relationship.

I suppose I'll give her what she wants.

Boldly, under my own power, I walked into the Shadow Garden. The instant my brisk steps crossed the boundary line, shadow hands and feet came surging at me from every direction at once. Clenched shadow fists swung, feet kicked and hooked at my legs, hands reached out to seize me.

I slipped the fists, leaning and twisting this way and that, hopped over or sprang off the feet, and pooled mana to hammer the grasping hands head-on.

Bam!

The shadows scattered for a beat, opening a gap, and I darted forward — only for shadow limbs to come swarming in from all sides right behind it. It felt like facing ten, twenty opponents at once. Everywhere I looked, pitch-black shadows writhed thick enough to freeze the blood.

But I was far too grizzled a veteran to be cowed by something like this. And the odds weren't entirely stacked against me, either. They say one hand can't beat ten — but the gap in skill rank still sat on my side. If a single hand could put out the force of ten, it was more than worth a try.

Calmly dodging, slipping past, and shaking free, I edged forward, little by little. After several rounds of it, I measured the distance to Dang Gyu-young at the garden's heart. I could jump now. I was close enough to reach her with one big leap.

I drove power into my legs and kicked off the ground hard.

Fwip!

As if she'd been expecting it, a knowing smile curled Dang Gyu-young's lips. At some point she had called in all three shadow butterflies that had been flitting about the garden, gathering them right in front of her. The butterflies detonated as one, and a rain of blades came pouring down with a soft hiss.

Nope. Cancel that.

Fwip! I kicked off again and fell back to my previous spot. Dodging and hammering the shadow limbs that swarmed me without a moment's rest, I thought: Now I really can jump. All three butterflies were spent; replenishing them would take a little time.

Fwip! I leapt right in front of Dang Gyu-young once more.

Watching me come and go through her own domain as if it were my living room, Dang Gyu-young looked utterly dumbfounded. Even after playing the best card C-rank had to offer, the rank gap was simply beyond her — all the more so with me holding the advantage. And yet her fighting spirit held, and she thrust a fist at me.

I slipped aside and shoved the grazing fist further out, reaching for the sticker as I did. She moved to catch that hand; I knocked it away; she blocked again — a lightning exchange of offense and defense unfolded in midair. And the longer I stayed planted in one spot trading blows, the worse it got for me. Dang Gyu-young had countless extra hands to call on beyond her own two.

Shaking the shadows closing in from behind, I changed position yet again.

Fwip! A single footprint bit deep into the floor — and the next instant, I appeared on Dang Gyu-young's opposite flank. First I hammered the shadow hands away to clear them, then stretched my arm straight out, as if going for the sticker.

"...?"

A flicker of puzzlement crossed Dang Gyu-young's face — even if she let my hand hang there, a fair stretch of distance still lay between us. But in the very next heartbeat —

BOOM!

Compressed air detonated behind her, shoving Dang Gyu-young's body toward me in a flash. It was Wind Force — the one I'd been quietly preparing, bit by bit, from the moment I first set foot in the Shadow Garden.

"!!"

Dang Gyu-young's eyes flew wide with shock. She scrambled to salvage her stance, but before she could, I closed the last step and reached for her chest.

And the instant the sticker's edge caught on my fingers, I pinched it and ripped with everything I had.

Rriip—thock.

"?"

A question mark floated up over my head. The sound of the sticker tearing, fine — but what on earth was that thock?

And that wasn't the only strange thing. In the same breath as the thock, something the size of a fingernail came shooting out, aimed dead ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at my face. Now what was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠this? A hidden weapon of the Dang Clan? I snapped my head aside to dodge it, then retreated a good distance.

And when I looked at Dang Gyu-young —

"..."

Her face was twitching. Considerably. Profoundly displeased. Both her cheeks looked faintly flushed, too. Was there some other reason for it, beyond having all her stickers peeled? Wondering what I'd missed, I looked closer — and saw Dang Gyu-young clutching her shirt collar shut with one hand. As if letting go would unleash catastrophe.

Only then did it dawn on me what had happened. Ah. The button. I'd torn the sticker off her chest so hard that the button on her uniform shirt had popped clean off. The thing I'd dodged, half-convinced it was a Dang Clan hidden weapon, had been that button...

Did I overdo it? I took a moment for quiet reflection.

And into my ear came Dang Gyu-young's voice.

"Hey."

Lower and icier than her usual tone.

I bowed at once.

"I'm sorry."

Next Chapter

[82] The Support Ate It All