Chapter 99: Week 6 of Mentoring — The Conquest Run (6)
“…….”
“…….”
Seo Ye-in was naturally a woman of few words, and Song Cheon-hye, for her part, seemed a little awkward and ill at ease dealing with someone so quiet. So the two of them simply kept biting into their bagel sandwiches in silence, while the conversation was carried entirely by Han So-mi and me—neither of whom cared in the slightest.
Trivial question number one.
“You eating the candy alright?”
“Yeah, it's so good! Super good! Where'd you buy it?”
“Had to venture into an extremely dangerous place with my life on the line to get it. A great many people were sacrificed along the way, you know.”
“No way!”
Han So-mi feigned exaggerated shock, then immediately broke into a giggle. She'd apparently taken my words as a joke. Well, naturally—who would guess I'd actually gone into the Black Snake Chamber to procure candy?
“It's tasty, but there's a lot of it too, huh?”
“Yeah, I haven't even finished half!”
“That's because I gave you extra on purpose. It's a bribe. Next time you break a school rule, look the other way for me once?”
“Nope.”
“No luck, huh. Shame.”
“I'll still spar with Go Hyeon-woo sometimes!”
“That's all I needed.”
The bribe had been half a joke anyway, and my real objective—getting Han So-mi and Go Hyeon-woo to spar—had long since been achieved. That was enough for me.
Trivial question number two. I tipped my chin toward Song Cheon-hye and asked.
“One more thing I'm curious about. Between Song Cheon-hye and you, who's eaten more of the candy?”
“……!”
As it happened, Song Cheon-hye had just taken an enormous bite of her bagel sandwich, and at the question her pupils dilated wide. She immediately began working her jaw frantically to empty her mouth—but, cruelly, Han So-mi showed no inclination to wait.
“Cheon-hye's eaten way more.”
“Really? How much more?”
“Dunno. A lot, anyway!”
I nodded as though this explained everything.
“Figures. I could tell back when she said 'please hand them over to me instead.' Pure self-interest, all of it.”
“Cheon-hye loooves sweets!”
“……!”
Song Cheon-hye, reeling under the combined assault of Han So-mi and me. By the time she finally managed to swallow and open her mouth in protest, the conversation had long since moved on to the next topic. A belated excuse would only make her look desperate. She let out a silent sigh, somewhere between aggrieved and resigned.
In any case, it was about time to talk about the conquest run, so I turned to Song Cheon-hye.
“Did you review yesterday's attempt?”
“Yes, I did.”
“You failed with a minute left on the clock, so I'd say the overall framework is fine as is.”
“I think so too.”
Having failed with nearly the full ten minutes used up, there was no need to overhaul the strategy on the spot. Repeating the same approach while raising our proficiency was the better choice. We'd only attempted it twice so far, and there was still plenty of room for improvement.
“The main thing is handling the Beheader properly. Don't you think?”
“…….”
At the word Beheader, Song Cheon-hye flinched. For a moment, yesterday's scene must have flashed before her eyes—the mana-laden kitchen knife whirling through the air and slamming into the statue's waist with a crack, blasting it apart.
“I asked Dang Gyu-young afterwards. She said it wasn't on purpose.”
“It would have been far too coincidental to be intentional.”
Song Cheon-hye's voice was composed, as if she'd already suspected as much. But her expression was visibly softening with relief.
“Still, something like that could happen again anytime.”
“…….”
Song Cheon-hye's expression, half-relaxed, stiffened right back up. From what we'd learned last week, Dang Gyu-young showed no mercy whatsoever when it came to mentoring. The moment a weakness was exposed, she would ruthlessly gouge at it until it was fixed. Or, to put it another way, she raised people strong. So in a situation similar to yesterday's, she would issue the exact same order without fail. Meaning the Beheader was guaranteed to hurl its cleaver again.
“You didn't bring up the Beheader for no reason. It sounds like you have a countermeasure.”
“Well, obviously.”
“…….”
Song Cheon-hye watched me with grave eyes, waiting for my next words. I spoke in the most portentous tone imaginable, as though divulging a matter of the gravest secrecy.
“Watch closely. And block it.”
“……I'm sorry?”
“You watch closely, and you block it.”
“That's the countermeasure?”
“A time-honored, highly effective solution. Right?”
When I appealed to Han So-mi for agreement, she clapped right along, her hands snapping through the air—swish swish!
“That's right! Swish, watch—wham, block!”
“…….”
Song Cheon-hye's face went sour. She seemed to be thinking, I should have known better than to expect anything from these people…. But then she glanced back and forth between Han So-mi and me, realized we hadn't been joking after all, and returned with a serious expression.
“Setting the swish-and-wham aside, could you explain in a little more detail?”
“Remember? What the Beheader did right before it threw the cleaver.”
Song Cheon-hye stared down at her bagel sandwich for a moment, then began racking her memory. She must have replayed the statue shattering dozens of times, but she'd never thought deeply about what came before it. Her furrowed brows slowly lifted.
“Now that you mention it….”
— Graaaaagh!
The Beheader Goblin pours every last drop of its mana into the cleaver in its hand, then hurls it at the statue with all its strength.
In other words, "watch closely and block it" meant exactly this.
“There was a wind-up motion.”
“Exactly.”
Right before the cleaver-throwing pattern, there was a fairly large, telltale movement. Read it and react, and a disaster like yesterday's could be avoided.
“Understood. From this attempt on, I'll do exactly that.”
Song Cheon-hye nodded, checked the time, and exchanged a look with Han So-mi. Then the two rose from their seats together.
“We have Disciplinary Committee business, so we'll head out first. See you in class.”
“Byeee! See you later!”
Han So-mi waved her hand in bright, cheerful circles, just as she had when we'd first met, and left.
“…….”
Seo Ye-in had been silently focused on her breakfast the whole time. Since her bagel sandwich hadn't been stacked in any ordinary way, even eating at her slow, nibbling pace without a single word, she still wasn't finished. She gazed blankly at the two departing figures for a while, then turned her head toward me and asked,
“Who do you think will win?”
“Hm. If you and Song Cheon-hye fight again?”
“Yeah.”
“Hard to say.”
This was one question I genuinely couldn't answer. On paper—skills, traits, raw specs—Song Cheon-hye was far ahead. Seo Ye-in was growing at a frightening pace, but Song Cheon-hye's talent was more than enough to rank among the prodigies as well. The gap between them wouldn't close overnight.
“So there's no way to know until you actually try.”
“Yeah….”
“But one thing's for certain. Keep training hard, and someday, you'll win.”
Not overnight—but as long as she never stopped and simply kept moving forward, one day she would inevitably overtake Song Cheon-hye.
Seo Ye-in met my eyes, then gave a small nod.
“Train hard. Got it.”
Ahn Jung-mi's presence still couldn't be sensed anywhere nearby, but I could almost picture her somewhere out of sight, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye in gratitude.
Song Cheon-hye remained lost in thought even as she walked, murmuring to herself what she'd just heard.
“Swish, watch, and… shak, block…?”
“Swish! Watch, wham! Duh!”
Han So-mi corrected her, as if she'd gotten it slightly wrong. That's not going to be much help.
Song Cheon-hye turned Kim Ho's advice over in her mind. 'Watch for the wind-up, and block.'
The fact that the Beheader Goblin's movement grew larger just before hurling its cleaver was an unexpectedly blind spot. It was such simple information that she wondered how she'd ever missed it—yet if Kim Ho hadn't pointed it out, it might have taken her far longer to realize.
That said, blocking after reading the wind-up was, for now, only theory. Who knew how it would play out in actual combat?
'Swish, watch, wham….'
Easy to say. But could she actually do it? To be honest, Song Cheon-hye's mind had been a complete blur throughout the entire conquest run yesterday. There had been far too much to keep track of. Pumping mana into the magic circle nonstop, casting one spell after another, controlling each of those spells to actually land, plugging every gap so not a single goblin slipped through, trading blows with the Beheader….
Trying to do all of it at once made her hands and feet tangle on their own. And now, on top of everything, a new objective had been added: read the Beheader's pattern and respond. Granted, the wind-up was large—but in the chaos of a pitched battle, could she really catch that single instant?
'……Even if it's hard, I have to try. No—I have to succeed.'
Song Cheon-hye steeled her resolve. Give your utmost in every situation, no matter what. That was the Thunder Lord's way, and it was her way too, having inherited his will. Everything she had experienced in her life so far had proven that way was not wrong—and this time would be no different.
'Speaking of which, though….'
Song Cheon-hye's gaze slid to her right. Han So-mi was strolling along with a feather-light step, even humming a little tune—what could possibly have her so excited? The look in Song Cheon-hye's eyes cooled rapidly as she watched. The reason: the memory of the ambush she'd suffered the instant she'd taken that big bite of bagel sandwich—Kim Ho and Han So-mi's surprise joint attack.
— Between the candy, Song Cheon-hye, and you, who's eaten more?
— Cheon-hye's eaten way more.
— Figures. Pure self-interest, all of it.
— Cheon-hye loooves sweets!
Song Cheon-hye knew better than anyone that Han So-mi was an untainted, pure-as-driven-snow soul. But even so, wasn't there a line between what you said and didn't say in front of someone you weren't even close with? Was she trying to make me look like some candy-obsessed maniac?
There may have been no malice in it, but it was certainly a matter worth raising at least once.
“By the way, just now, you—”
Just as Song Cheon-hye's lecture was about to begin, Han So-mi rummaged through her inventory and pulled out the snacks she'd received from Kim Ho. A dried fruit assortment gift set.
“Cheon-hye~ wanna eat a dried peach?”
“—I want one.”
Come to think of it, the lecture could wait. In the face of sweets, Song Cheon-hye became endlessly magnanimous.
After classes, we gathered at the Dungeon Hall, just like yesterday. Today, the Gwak Ji-cheol and Hong Yeon-hwa pair had entered the shrine first and were mid-attempt, leaving Song Cheon-hye and me on standby. We'd already settled on our general approach that morning, so there was no need to consult further now—and we weren't exactly on chummy, small-talk terms to begin with. So I idly let my eyes wander here and there while we waited.
“Swish—”
Song Cheon-hye, deep in thought, muttered a single word aloud. What had been playing only in her head had apparently slipped out of her mouth. I stole a glance at her; she had her lips pressed tightly shut, maintaining a flawless poker face. When I kept staring, she asked, as if puzzled.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“—and wham. That's the part.”
“…….”
Song Cheon-hye held her poker face, feigning total incomprehension. But the steadily deepening flush on her cheeks, apparently, was beyond her control. Fortunately, the embarrassing moment passed quickly. The portal opened, and Gwak Ji-cheol and Hong Yeon-hwa walked out. Their expressions were noticeably brighter than usual—the run must have gone well. Even the normally hostile air between the two of them had grown considerably warm and friendly.
Just to confirm, I tossed a short question at Gwak Ji-cheol.
“Success?”
“Indeed.”
The same boy who could barely string words together last week now answered with his chest out. Perhaps a bit of confidence had taken root, backed by the certainty that he was ahead of us. Hong Yeon-hwa hadn't said anything, but she too looked insufferably pleased with herself. The moment her eyes met mine, she became modest for a brief instant—then turned to Song Cheon-hye and put on a triumphant expression.
“…….”
Song Cheon-hye's reaction remained utterly indifferent. Yet to my eyes, she looked like someone straining with all her might to keep her poker face from cracking.
“Shall we go in too? About time we pulled off a success, don't you think?”
When I asked casually,
“Yes. We succeed this time. No matter what.”
As if she wanted to be out of this place a single second sooner, Song Cheon-hye grabbed my arm and hauled me into the dungeon with her.