The Support Ate it All-Chapter 555: Finals Week 17–18 (10)

Group C main base.

Go Hyeon-woo and Han So-mi weren’t asleep even though it was late. The two of them were spending time out on the edge of the base.

Staring at the lone volcano burning in the darkness in the distance.

After a while, Go Hyeon-woo spoke in a low voice.

“Looks like Jeong’s been suffering a lot.”

“Right?”

Han So-mi flicked her eyes toward the Lodging.

It wasn’t just the two of them. Every member of their group felt the same.

“Kim Ho’s move was really exquisite.”

“Yeah. He slipped a knife right in.”

It was Day 1, and everyone was busy just figuring out what the hell was going on. But Kim Ho’s crew didn’t seem to have any of that.

They’d boldly infiltrated Group C’s territory, swept up defenseless parties, grabbed the crystals, and left like it was nothing.

“We couldn’t help but shrink back.”

“We spent the whole day tiptoeing around, didn’t we?”

In case they ran into Kim Ho’s crew again, they had to move around in bigger groups than necessary.

Normally, two or three people were enough to search for crystals and charge them, but they went around with double that—five or six at a time.

And just like everyone feared, their intake dropped off a cliff.

Go Hyeon-woo let out a bitter laugh.

“But to think they wouldn’t show themselves at all.”

“We got played so hard!”

Like he was mocking Jeong’s response, nobody crossed into Group C’s zone after that.

If you only looked at the outcome, it meant they’d gotten scared for nothing and wasted the day clustering up.

“Maybe Jeong expected it would turn out like this. Even so, he probably didn’t have any other choice.”

“Because if they come in again, we get hit again?”

Since there was always that one-in-a-million chance, they had no choice but to keep their guard up and keep moving in packs.

They’d gotten caught in a mind game.

Han So-mi tilted her head and asked,

“Then where’d Kim Ho go?”

“Given Kim Ho’s personality, he probably went toward Group A.”

That side had to be just as defenseless, so he could’ve pulled the same kind of raid there, too.

Han So-mi agreed it made sense, but another question popped into her head, and she tilted her head even more.

“Huh? I saw Moyong Jun earlier, and he looked totally fine.”

Around dinner time, the leadership of Group A and Group C had briefly met at a midpoint.

They were exchanging what had happened that day, sharing intel, and—if needed—tightening their nonaggression pact even further.

And from what Han So-mi had seen then, Moyong Jun’s face had been calm beyond belief.

So she’d assumed there hadn’t been any major incident.

Go Hyeon-woo answered with a gentle smile.

“Moyong Jun has a deep temper, too. Even if he got hit, he wouldn’t show it.”

“Really?”

“Didn’t Jeong avoid bringing it up too?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to talk about it? We’re on the same side.”

Go Hyeon-woo thought for a moment before he spoke.

“There are probably a lot of reasons... but one of them is pride, I’d say.”

“Why pride?”

“After getting hit by Kim Ho, you can’t exactly turn around and admit you spent the whole day getting jerked around, can you?”

“Oh! That sounds right!”

An exclamation mark practically popped over Han So-mi’s head.

Go Hyeon-woo added,

“Even if it’s not pride, showing weakness doesn’t help. And from the start, a nonaggression pact isn’t something you can truly trust.”

“They could stab us in the back?”

“Exactly.”

“This is hard... my head hurts!”

“Haha. Leading a group is always difficult.”

Han So-mi clutched her head like she was getting a headache, then tossed out another question.

“Then tomorrow’s gonna be like today, too?”

“I expect it’ll be a little different.”

“How?”

Go Hyeon-woo gestured with his eyes toward the volcanic region.

“Haven’t we already collected all the crystals around here?”

“We did, right?”

“Tomorrow we’ll have to go deeper. The day after, deeper than that.”

“So we’ll fight stronger enemies?”

In both of their minds, the image of “stronger enemies”—dragon-tooth soldiers—flashed past.

Go Hyeon-woo nodded.

“That’s how it’ll go. And if the casualties get too heavy... people will start looking for another method.”

Even dragon-scale soldiers and dragon-tooth soldiers were already tough for first-years. If dragon-turtle soldiers appeared—

Participants would get swept away in droves.

And from that point, they’d turn their eyes to a relatively easier “neighboring district.”

An exclamation mark popped above Han So-mi’s head again.

“So that’s why you said it’ll be different!”

“KIM HO stops being the big problem. Because everyone’s going to end up fighting anyway.”

“Then what about us?”

“For now, let’s do what we were told.”

Back during the finals prep period, Kim Ho had asked them—since they didn’t like the nonaggression pact—if they’d change it, if there was a way.

They’d answered yes without even hesitating, and they’d been carrying out the instructions they’d received.

As part of that, Han So-mi still had charged crystals in her hands.

She hadn’t handed them to Jeong. She’d stashed them away.

She giggled.

“If I get caught, I feel like they’ll scream, ‘Traitor!’ at me!”

“Even if that happens, you’ll have nothing to be ashamed of.”

Go Hyeon-woo smiled back.

Then, in a slightly more serious tone, he continued.

“You were only stuck in another group for a while because luck didn’t go your way. From the start, you were on Kim Ho’s side.”

“.......”

For some reason, Han So-mi’s expression soured.

Her cheeks puffed out like balloons, and Go Hyeon-woo gave an awkward laugh.

“......It seems I said something wrong.”

“Try being that nice to me. You’re always only looking for Kim Ho.”

“I don’t think I’ve been neglectful toward Miss Han.”

“You haven’t been neglectful—just barely!”

Han So-mi spun around and started striding toward the Lodging.

Her cheeks were stuffed full of jealousy and dissatisfaction.

Go Hyeon-woo immediately followed and asked,

“Miss Han, where are you going?”

“I’m going to sleep.”

“Please wait a moment.”

But then—

WHEEEEEEE—!

A sharp, piercing roar echoed from somewhere.

When they looked up, a sleek shape tore across the night sky as it streaked by.

A fighter jet?

Was there something like that in the finals? And why at this hour? For what reason?

Questions piled up on questions.

They got the answer immediately.

KABOOMKABOOMKABOOM—!

Explosions erupted everywhere, flames blasting up.

That sleek thing that had passed overhead was a bomber.

People who’d been sleeping soundly came scrambling out in a panic.

WHAT IS IT! WHAT IS IT! WHAT THE HELL?!

IS THIS A RAID?!

IS EVERYONE OKAY?!

GROUP UP! OVER HERE!

Jeong hurriedly gathered the group and checked the situation.

And strangely enough, not only was nobody combat-incapable—there wasn’t even a single person with so much as a light injury.

Sighs of relief burst out all over the place.

But that wasn’t the real problem...

Han So-mi screamed, turning pale.

“The base! It’s gone!”

The Lodging and several other facilities had been reduced to ruins.

*****

The next morning.

As I opened my eyes, I thought,

Hope it landed clean.

Last night, I’d used two [Bombardment] cards back-to-back, then went to sleep.

I didn’t know the result, but I hoped they landed on facilities with the highest possible ranks.

Even if they didn’t, I at least woke them up.

I’d made that many people lose sleep, so my objective was accomplished.

While I was thinking that, I suddenly felt tightness in my chest.

The cause was obvious: the human sloth.

Why is she sleeping like this?

Like I was an actual pillow, Seo Ye-in had her head on my chest in a big T-shape.

Honestly, the posture wasn’t that important.

As long as you sleep, you sleep.

The problem is, it’s time to wake up now.

I lightly shook Seo Ye-in’s shoulder.

“Get up. It’s morning.”

“It’s not morning....”

“The sun’s blazing like that?”

Seo Ye-in lifted a hand in her sleep and covered her eyes.

“It’s night....”

“If you keep forcing it, I’ve got ideas too.”

“No ideas....”

Seo Ye-in stretched both hands out again and grabbed onto my body.

She even hooked one leg up, locking me down three times over.

“So you think I can’t go if you do this.”

“Can’t go....”

She put more strength into it, and the bind tightened.

But even so, she didn’t have the ability to stop an A-rank Core holder—Blink Kim Ho.

WHOOSH,

The next moment, I was a short distance away.

With her pillow gone, Seo Ye-in flopped and buried her face into the blanket.

She snapped her head up, then stared over at me with half-lidded eyes.

“......What are you doing.”

“What do you mean what I’m doing. Confiscating the Kim Ho pillow.”

“......Return it. Now.”

“You’ve slept plenty. Let’s get up.”

But instead of getting up, Seo Ye-in pulled out the Immortal Kim Ho-Kim Ho Pot.

It was her way of saying that if I didn’t come back, she’d imprison me with [Severance Space].

So I answered with the crow tree.

“I’ve got nothing to be afraid of.” 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

“Give me the tree.”

“Come with me, and I will.”

Of course, while we were at it, we’d have to eat breakfast, roam the volcanic region, gather crystals, and fight monsters.

Seo Ye-in had been through my nonsense more than once, so she knew that.

She got sulky and rolled around.

But in the end, I was the winner—

RUMBLE......

Because intermittent tremors started to shake the ground under our feet.

As the earthquake grew more violent, I kept my balance and said,

“At this rate, the volcano’s going to blow soon.”

“......I’m angry.”

Only then did Seo Ye-in start getting up.

Between the quake and a volcanic eruption, she realized she was done sleeping.

RUMBLE—!

“Let’s fill our stomachs before it’s too late.”

“......I’m angry.”

“Come on. Hurry.”

We moved to the Cafeteria while constantly catching our balance, then started shoveling the displayed food into our mouths as fast as we could.

“Open up. Ah—”

“I’m angry.......”

“Oh wow, good girl~”

“Mmph mmph.......”

After we finished the meal in the blink of an eye and came outside, Song Cheon-hye was already leading the group.

She looked fully put together from head to toe, like she’d woken up much earlier than us.

When our eyes met, she greeted us first.

“You’re up.”

“Yeah. Good morning.”

She kept shooting dissatisfied looks at me and Seo Ye-in, like she had a lot to say about the Kim Ho pillow.

Last night, we had to retreat for operational reasons.

But now wasn’t a good time for idle chatter—

KABOOMKABOOMKABOOM—!

Because the volcano that had been showing signs since earlier finally erupted.

On a scale that didn’t even compare to the first day’s two eruptions.

KABOOMKABOOM—!

It looked like fireballs were being launched all the way above the clouds.

They leapt the distance and fell all the way down toward the main base.

Alarms and shouts exploded from everywhere, but Song Cheon-hye gave calm instructions.

“Calm down. We have a Barrier.”

WHUMP-WHUMP!

Sure enough, the fireballs only slammed into the blue curtain over and over.

Each time, the Barrier faded a little—but after a certain amount of time, it restored itself.

We were finally seeing the benefit of pushing it up to C rank.

Of course, the fireballs were only the beginning.

KABOOMKABOOMKABOOM—!

The volcano kept spewing, lava overflowing, and monsters fleeing from it all.

Normally, those things were busy tearing each other apart.

Now they were just sprinting blindly forward.

A monster wave.

And on {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the opposite side of the volcano—

Was our base.

Watching the monster horde draw closer by the second, Song Cheon-hye issued another command.

“We’ll stop them. Get ready.”