The Support Ate it All-Chapter 547: Finals Week 17–18 (2)
After a bit, there was no need to walk around asking who was in which group anymore.
Because the roster for each group had been posted.
If I picked out only the people I recognized—
[Group A]
Moyong Jun, Hong Yeon-hwa
Lee Seul-bi, Geum Johan
Cha Hyeon-ju, Jang Mu-geuk
Kwak Ji-cheol, Baek Jun-seok
[Group B]
Kim Ho, Seo Ye-in
Song Cheon-hye, Park Nari
Bukgung Hansol, Son Hyeong-taek
Jeong Su-ji, Shin Byeong-cheol
[Group C]
Lee Seong-hyeon, Jeong Jin-myeong
Han So-mi, Go Hyeon-woo
Jo Byeok, Sagong Uk
Wang Chun-sam, Dam Dae-han
‘So Hong Yeon-hwa got shunted to A.’
The moment that thought crossed my mind, a message flew in.
[Hong Yeon-hwa:(a sulky puppy emoticon)]
[Kim Ho:It can’t be helped]
[Kim Ho:Hang in there]
[Hong Yeon-hwa:Yeah....... ]
‘We’re all scattered.’
Maybe this Side Quest was going to be trickier than expected.
Since it came up, should I check it again?
For the record, it was in its strengthened state from the Challenge Book.
[Side Quest: Finals Week 17–18](In Progress....)
▷Condition: Fail upon retirement
▷Objective 1: Eliminate competitors(-/20 people)
▷Objective 2: Eliminate dragon-tooth soldiers
▷Objective 3: Destroy an enemy team’s Crystal Tower(-/1 time)
▷Objective 4: Your team takes 1st place
▷Reward: Distributed by completion rate
Maybe because it was the last one of first year—there was a whole pile of stuff glued onto it.
Fail upon retirement meant you only had one life.
If that was all, I would’ve chosen the safest approach possible, but—
‘The other objectives won’t let me.’
I had to take down participants from other teams and dragon-tooth soldiers, and on top of that, even destroy a Crystal Tower.
‘But I can’t just wander off alone either.’
Because Objective 4 was making our group take first place.
If I ignored our main base too much, we could fall behind in the race.
In the worst case, our Crystal Tower could get destroyed.
‘Gotta balance it well.’
A Challenge that demanded you pay attention to multiple objectives evenly.
Annoying, but that also meant the reward would be huge if we pulled it off.
After sorting through my thoughts, I looked at Song Cheon-hye.
“Better to finish role allocation first, right?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I was going to say.”
Lee Soo-dok hadn’t said “make good use of the preparation period” for nothing.
This finals was the largest practical evaluation we’d had so far, out of all of them.
Each group had dozens of students, after all.
To move a huge crowd like that efficiently, the best thing was to coordinate in advance and decide roles ahead of time.
If we handled it within the two-day prep period, we wouldn’t go in and waste time.
I pointed at Seo Ye-in and asked,
“Can we say what we want to do first?”
“You’ve earned that right.”
We were top-tier in both PvP and raid battles, and when it came to midterms and finals, our results were on an entirely different level—so no one would complain even if we claimed the roles we wanted.
If we performed well, it benefited the team too.
So what roles were there?
‘About three, broadly.’
First: staying at the base, running facilities, and defending the Crystal Tower.
Second: searching for item cards and crystals, and charging them.
Last: fighting monsters, dragon-tooth soldiers, and other participants.
Of course, the answer was already decided.
“We’ll do the last two. Not base defense.”
“I figured you would.”
Song Cheon-hye nodded easily.
And I added,
“Two people is way too unstable, so I’m bringing one more.”
“If it has to be that way, then I’ll go with you.”
“Sorry, but not you.”
“...Excuse me?”
Song Cheon-hye—who’d been puffing herself up—froze for a moment.
She fumbled her way through the rest of the question.
“If not me... then who...?”
“Park Nari. She’s perfect.”
Druid class.
She rode around on Beomi the tiger, so her mobility was great, and thanks to Chaemi the eagle, she could secure a wide field of vision.
On top of that, she had healing and all kinds of buff skills for reinforcement.
Song Cheon-hye looked like she was desperately spinning her brain, searching for something to argue with.
“But...... she isn’t an aggressive type...... right? Wouldn’t base defense suit her better.......”
“It’s fine. We’ll handle the attacking anyway.”
“.......”
Maybe she ran out of things to say—she shut her mouth, but she looked a little sulky.
And I kept going.
“Looking at the roster, you’ll have to be the leader again this time.”
“Of course.”
No one absolutely had to be leader, but having a center point was an advantage.
It reduced conflicts of opinion, and even if they happened, it made quick mediation possible.
Song Cheon-hye had built up reputation as well as skill.
She’d led a large expedition in <Craft Haven>, too.
In the end, it collapsed because it couldn’t withstand the enemy’s offensive—but that wasn’t because of leadership issues. The force was just nowhere near strong enough.
If she held command again, I figured everyone would willingly follow.
“But you can’t leave your post.”
Because she had to manage the base continuously.
If she got taken out by the enemy, there was also the huge risk that the command structure would crumble until she could re-enter.
That was part of why I’d picked Park Nari.
Maybe Song Cheon-hye realized that far too—she let out a small sigh.
“...Understood. I’ll stay at the main base.”
“We’ll drop by in between, and we rest in the evenings. Let’s talk then.”
“You’re making it sound like I’m desperate to talk to you over there.”
“Did it sound like that? I meant base operations.”
“...You know I know, right? Me too.”
Song Cheon-hye grumbled, but I could practically feel the invisible sulking gauge dropping fast.
Then Seo Ye-in, who had been silently looking back and forth between us, tossed out a short line.
“...Womanizer.”
“Out of nowhere?”
“Four.”
“That’s not it.”
I was still a long way off.
I avoided those gray eyes and continued.
“Anyway, once the roles for the others get decided, tell me.”
“Okay. I will.”
“We should go see Park Nari.”
Because we had good news to deliver.
With Seo Ye-in in tow, I went straight to the next classroom over, and sure enough—Park Nari was sitting in her usual seat.
“.......”
She wasn’t doing anything, just sitting there.
More precisely, it was that she couldn’t do anything, because for some reason, Beomi and Chaemi were plastered to her face.
Then, maybe sensing our presence, the two tiny beasts turned their heads at the same time.
“MEOW.”
“PEEP—?”
They abandoned their owner and came over to us. Beomi climbed up my leg, and Chaemi landed on Seo Ye-in’s shoulder.
Park Nari thanked us.
“Th-thank you. For saving me.”
“What did we do? And we’re friends.”
Seo Ye-in chimed in quietly.
“Friends.”
“...!”
Park Nari went silent, like she was savoring the lingering echo of that word.
So I let the pause hang for a second, then got to the point.
“You saw the roster, right?”
“Y-yeah, we’re in the same group......!”
“It’s not just that, friend.”
“...?”
“We’re in the same party.”
Seo Ye-in chimed in again.
“Kim Ho’s party.”
“The same...... party? Kim Ho’s party?”
It was sudden—it had to be, hearing it for the first time.
I explained calmly.
We were taking crystal search and combat, but for stability, we wanted to form a three-person party.
Then, the instant Park Nari showed the slightest hint of hesitation, I beat her to it.
“For the record, you don’t have to step into combat. We can handle that ourselves.”
“Ah......!”
“We need your help, friend.”
“...!”
I could feel even that tiny bit of reluctance evaporate fast.
And Beomi and Chaemi added a word each, like they were urging her on.
“MEOOWW.”
“PEEP—”
Park Nari didn’t take long to decide.
“Then...... I’ll try.”
“Good. I’m counting on you, friend.”
“Me too...... I’m counting on you......!”
We shook hands—kind of newly, in a way.
Watching that, Seo Ye-in said one short line.
“Conscription successful.”
*****
A meeting room.
Several students sat around a wide table.
Most of them were heavy hitters with PvP scores above 900.
You could basically call them the core strength of their respective groups in this finals—and the ones representing their group’s will.
If there was anything strange about it, it was that not a single person from Group B was present.
Because this meeting had been prepared for Group A and Group C only.
On Group A’s side, there was Moyong Jun at the head, along with Lee Seul-bi, Geum Johan, Cha Hyeon-ju, Hong Yeon-hwa, and others.
On Group C’s side, there were Jeong Jin-myeong, Jo Byeok, Han So-mi, Go Hyeon-woo, Sagong Uk, and others.
Lee Seong-hyeon wasn’t there—because he thought this kind of thing “wasn’t manly” and refused to participate.
Fair enough.
Jeong Jin-myeong, who had thought that, slowly scanned the room and opened their mouth.
“Looks like everyone who’s coming is here. Let’s start. You all probably guessed why we gathered.”
“Is it not to build a friendly relationship in advance?”
Moyong Jun answered in a lofty tone.
Even if it was a Three-Way Battle, it wasn’t like you were forbidden from joining hands.
If anything, it was an even more scheming, political structure.
Moyong Jun asked,
“However, I wish to ask. What was the trigger for bringing the proposal up first?”
“Do you really have to ask when you already know?”
“I merely wish to confirm whether you had the same thing in mind.”
Moyong Jun smiled faintly.
Jeong Jin-myeong stared at them for a moment, then shrugged.
“...Fine. Better to make it clear.”
“......”
“Because Group B has Kim Ho.”
“I thought so. Same here.”
A person or two might have questioned it or mocked it, but only silence drifted through the room.
Meaning: even if the degree differed, they all agreed.
Jeong Jin-myeong said,
“Doing PvP together last week, I felt a lot. If he’s an enemy, he’s ridiculously annoying.”
“And regrettably, that is what happened.”
“Exactly. If it was just that he was strong, we wouldn’t be making this big a deal.”
Finals was a large-scale group battle. There were limits to what individual force could do.
“But like you all know, he knows... a lot. He keeps bringing weird stuff from somewhere.”
“I have experienced that. During the last midterms.”
As Moyong Jun spoke, they glanced to the side, and Sagong Uk’s face crumpled hard.
Back then, Sagong Uk’s crew had become underlings through a deal with a Wild General Dragon, joined Moyong Jun’s group, and waited for a chance to stab them in the back.
But Kim Ho had used an item called a [Dragon Compass], exposing them—and they got ambushed in reverse, wiped out completely.
‘Where the hell did he even get something like that?’
For Moyong Jun, it had been an incident that left them owing Kim Ho—while also feeling something like awe.
Jeong Jin-myeong continued,
“And it feels like he’s going to pull some absurd stunt and get ahead again.”
“Then fighting a Three-Way Battle by the book would give us no chance.”
“Right. But you can’t just do nothing when you know you’re going to lose.”
“And it’s not a problem that only concerns a handful of us.”
They were both in positions of leading large groups.
Their judgment decided the scores of dozens of classmates.
“So I thought we had to find a breakthrough somehow.”
“And this is the conclusion you reached.”
“Yeah.”
Jeong Jin-myeong nodded.
Then they looked toward Go Hyeon-woo, Han So-mi, and Hong Yeon-hwa, who were sitting off to one side.
“What do you think?”
“.......”
Go Hyeon-woo slowly pulled the corner of his mouth up into a grin.
