The Support Ate it All-Chapter 545: The Disciplinary Committee Club Wants You

There weren’t just one or two benefits the disciplinary committee club would get by recruiting me.

Han So-mi was leaving at the end of this year, which meant there’d be an empty seat. With my skill, I’d more than fill it.

Just the forbidden Skills alone put me at second-year level or higher, and I still had plenty of room to grow.

And if [Caw?] was on their side, that meant Gwak Seungjae’s biggest anxiety factor disappeared, too.

More than that, since I could even block the opponent’s space magic, the risk of losing someone would drop sharply.

On top of all that, there was [Cube of Life]—and a decent number of Hidden Pieces I knew about. Yeah, it made sense they’d want to keep me in their grasp no matter what.

Dang Gyu-young knew all that too, but maybe they didn’t like the situation, because they cut in with a scowl.

“Hey. You’re seriously making a recruitment pitch here?”

“I believe you attempted it several times yourself, Senior.”

“So you knew, and you still did it right to my face? What kind of attitude is that?”

Gwak Seungjae answered with a courteous tone.

“On the contrary, I judged that calling him aside separately would create even more hostility. The two of you aren’t merely close—inevitably, it would have reached your ears anyway.”

“...So you do know.”

At the part about how we weren’t “merely close,” Dang Gyu-young’s eyebrows lifted.

Looks like their anger cooled a little.

Gwak Seungjae continued.

“Isn’t it better to do it when a setting like this has naturally been created? And, though it may be presumptuous of me.”

“What.”

“Since you will soon graduate, Senior, you will, at the very least, be more distant from club matters than you are now. We would appreciate being given a chance as well.”

“.......”

Dang Gyu-young looked like they wanted to say, No I’m not? I’m re-enrolling immediately? Their mouth practically itched.

But they exercised patience and spoke.

“I get that you tried to be considerate. Still, it’s kind of abrupt, recruiting into the disciplinary committee club.”

“Internally, it has been mentioned from time to time for quite a while. There simply aren’t many candidates who meet the conditions.”

Basically, you had to be strong, and either not belong to any group—or if you did, you had to prioritize the disciplinary committee club.

And you couldn’t have any particular disqualifying issues.

At that part, Dang Gyu-young made a strange face and flicked their eyes toward me.

“Hold on. You’re saying this kid has no disqualifying issues?”

How many times had we stormed a temporary storage facility together? How many times had we gone down to the underground floors?

As if they’d expected that point to come up, Gwak Seungjae answered smoothly.

“It’s true he violated school rules, but we judged his disposition itself isn’t problematic. Didn’t he move with the Thieves’ Club in order to obtain forbidden items?”

“So you’re saying it’s fine to entrust it to him?”

Wasn’t that like putting a fish in a cat’s paws?

Like they couldn’t understand what the hell we were thinking, Dang Gyu-young looked at Oh Sehun, but Oh Sehun only smiled faintly.

Meaning they’d already finished discussing it amongst themselves.

Gwak Seungjae replied.

“It doesn’t matter. And to be precise, it’s not entrusting—it’s transferring.”

“...!”

“There will be cases where it’s impossible depending on the item type, but for most things, we’ll make it possible at the discretion of the next disciplinary committee club president.”

“People are going to talk. They’ll call it special treatment.”

“We’ll have to bear it, if we want to bring in Inferno Fist.”

They were probably calculating that even if they handed out a few forbidden items, what they’d gain was far bigger.

Gwak Seungjae looked me straight in the eye.

“If there’s more you want, we can try to negotiate. Well?”

“I’m grateful you offered such generous terms.”

“...But it seems you’re refusing.”

“Yes. Since it would restrict my freedom of movement, I want to avoid belonging to a group.”

No matter what they offered, the benefits I got by moving on my own were bigger. Why would I shackle myself?

Gwak Seungjae looked indifferent, like they’d expected the refusal.

Still, they left a little room.

“The disciplinary committee club’s door will always be open. If you change your mind later, let’s talk again.”

“I’ll remember that. May I also say something?”

“What.”

“Separate from whether I join, I think it’s entirely possible for us to cooperate as needed.”

“Like this time.”

“Like this time.”

And the price can be forbidden items—like “this time.”

Gwak Seungjae returned my words exactly as I’d said them.

“...Fine. I’ll remember it.”

*****

Next, we headed for the principal’s office.

Because there was still a deal to tie off on this side as well.

If we successfully finished the temporary storage facility defense, we were supposed to receive necromancer magic tomes.

The Principal—apparently briefed not just on the result but on the contents of the deal with Gwak Seungjae and Oh Sehun—let out a dry laugh as they looked at me.

“You’re vicious, you know that? Vicious. How do you manage to grab one more thing in the middle of all that.”

“You have to grab everything you can. World peace is on the line.”

“You’re making it hard to respond. Every time, it’s world peace.”

Then Dang Gyu-young put a hand on my shoulder.

“He’s always like this. With other stuff, too.”

Like that “great senior” who’d graduated over two hundred times?

I didn’t answer that and pushed the conversation forward.

“Anyway, you’re giving it to us, right?”

“I have ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ to. A promise is a promise. But.”

The Principal pulled out a booklet tinged with purple and continued.

“If possible, I want to see you use it directly. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but it’s better to be sure, right? And I’ve got a bit of personal curiosity, too.”

“That’s fine.”

If we built trust here, it’d be easier for them to accept similar requests later.

It’s not even some Hidden Piece that needs to stay sealed tight.

To begin with, you needed a slot Skill in the necromancer line to make real use of it, so it wasn’t exactly universal.

There was practically no chance someone could copy it, and the chance we’d take a loss was the same.

So I gave a casual nod, and Dang Gyu-young started using the Hidden Piece the way I’d told them to.

They opened the magic tome and flipped through it quickly, then tore out a page with a clean rip.

And holding that page in their hand, they summoned a Kkyurim Shadow Undead.

The shadow beneath their feet stretched sideways, transforming into a man wearing a lab coat.

The thing accepted the magic tome with an excessively respectful gesture, then started chewing it up.

At the same time, Dang Gyu-young pulled up their shadow and focused it into their hand.

The page they’d torn out beforehand crumbled to dust and was slowly absorbed.

“......”

The Principal looked like they couldn’t tell if this was actually right, but they didn’t interfere—only watched.

Before long, two necromancer magic tomes disappeared into the bellies of the Kkyurim Shadow Undeads.

And Dang Gyu-young shared the Skill information.

▷[Shadow Extraction][2/4]

Laboratory Director (A)

Shadow Corps commander (A)

(None)

(None)

The Principal spoke with a somewhat dazed expression.

“...It really works.”

“Would we lie to you?”

“Sure. There’d be nothing to gain from lying. Then we’ll call this done.”

The Principal turned their head and faced Dang Gyu-young.

“Student Dang Gyu-young, can I ask you something?”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“How was it, working together with the disciplinary committee club this time?”

“...?”

At the unexpected question, Dang Gyu-young’s face stiffened as they fell into thought.

Catching the vibe, the Principal smiled and waved a hand.

“Don’t make it too hard. Just tell me honestly what you felt.”

“...I was always on the side stealing, but becoming the side protecting... it felt fresh. And it made sense, too.”

“I see. Hmm.”

The Principal nodded slowly.

Seems they liked the answer.

Then, in a subtly coaxing tone, they continued.

“So, if you don’t feel too much aversion... I was thinking, how about re-enrolling next year and joining the disciplinary committee club?”

“...What?”

Dang Gyu-young blinked.

“It’s sudden, I know. But in many ways, the conditions line up well.”

Skill?

Even among third-years, there weren’t many who could match them.

After re-enrolling, they’d have to seal their shadow Skills in public settings, but even then, they’d still crush every first-year without breaking a sweat.

Affiliation?

They couldn’t go back into the Thieves’ Club anyway.

They’d shared the same space with those members for years—too high a risk of their identity being exposed.

If they didn’t recognize it, wouldn’t that be a problem in its own way?

The former club president now being the junior?

Shin Byeong-cheol becoming their senior?

It was questionable whether Dang Gyu-young could tolerate that. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

They’d rather not join at all than get ground down as the junior.

Disqualifying issues—compared to me, they had plenty, but this was a special case, so set it aside.

I figured the academy would prepare things so they could start clean.

Dang Gyu-young thought for a moment, then answered seriously.

“Thank you for the offer. But if I add disciplinary committee club duties on top of everything, it’s too much.”

“Yeah, I thought so. If schedules overlap, it becomes a problem again.”

The biggest reason they were re-enrolling instead of just getting a guard job after graduation was to secure more free time—and to raid the underground floors with me.

Joining the disciplinary committee club would be like putting a shackle on themselves, so they refused.

The Principal seemed to understand that and didn’t push.

“I just brought it up in case. Don’t feel burdened. And ju—st in case you feel like it, tell me in advance. You know, first-year disciplinary committee club starts with train patrols.”

“Understood.”

“Oh, and think about what alias you’ll use, too. It should be something you like.”

“...!”

For the first time all day, Dang Gyu-young fell into their deepest dilemma.

*****

Soon we wrapped up our conversation with the Principal and left.

Walking side by side with matching strides, Dang Gyu-young let out a dry laugh.

“Seriously, all kinds of things happen. They told both of us to join the disciplinary committee club.”

“Should we just close our eyes and go in together?”

Dang Gyu-young asked back, suddenly tempted.

“If we go in, what would we even do?”

“Bring it down from the inside.”

“And give Seungjae a good smack on the back of the head while we’re at it?”

“That sounds fine too.”

We looked at each other and grinned.

Of course, what we just said was more than ninety percent a joke.

Since there wasn’t much to gain from the disciplinary committee club, I had zero intention of joining.

Dang Gyu-young spoke again.

“What about my alias? I’m going to be using it for one or two years, right? If I’m still around until you graduate.”

“I’ve seen people who change theirs once a week.”

Since it came up, I sent a message to two Black Blade prospects—Jang Mu-geuk and Wang Chun-sam.

Their naming sense was awful, judging by aliases like Jangsam–Wangpil, Jang Cheolsu–Wang Minsu, Jang-oh–Wang-gon, but they were experienced, so maybe listening would spark inspiration.

[Kim Ho: Hey.]

[Kim Ho: What alias are you using these days?]

[Jang Mu-geuk: Jang Chundong.]

[Wang Chun-sam: Wang Boksam.]

“......”

Absolutely no help.

Judging by how confident they were, they didn’t even realize there was a problem.

Dang Gyu-young peeked at the messages too and said with a dead-serious face.

“I want to pick one properly and go with it.”

“I can’t disagree. After seeing that.”

“Yeah. Let’s do this seriously.”

“Are you going for something completely new, or just a slight change?”

Dang Gyu-young’s gaze drifted up toward the ceiling.

“...Should I keep Kkyu?”

“Then one letter’s decided. Let’s solve the surname first.”

If you picked the surname wrong, you ended up with something like Park-Kkyu or Dongbang-Kkyu—just a terrible sound—so we had to be careful.

It was better to avoid prestigious family surnames too.

“How about Dokgo-Kkyu? Or Seomun-Kkyu.”

“I said do it seriously.”

We pressed our heads together and agonized over it for a long while.