The Support Ate it All

I’d cleared once last year.

Back then, the Witch of Decay had polluted the dungeon wing by scattering dark ubleks everywhere, and as part of my disciplinary punishment, I’d been sent around cleaning them up.

At the time, I was just an old hand who knew the method. I didn’t have any way to shut it down, so all I could do was clear it the normal way.

Now, though, I could do a lot more than that.

“No. 833... How did you shut that one down again?”

When the principal muttered that to himself, the vice principal seemed to check the records before answering in a dry voice.

“There is no known method.”

“...Figures. And how exactly did you find something like that out again?”

He looked at me like the whole thing was absurd, but this was exactly the kind of moment where spilling everything right away was amateur hour.

If he listened to the whole story and rejected me afterward, I’d be the only one taking the loss.

So I answered with a pleasant smile.

“If you approve it, I won’t just tell you. I’ll even record the whole thing on a crystal orb and bring it back.”

“No, you little punk! You seem to think I’m some kind of magic club or something, but approvals don’t just pop out like that.”

The current Dragonslayer Academy and the dungeon wing were the result of generations of principals working from every angle.

No matter what position he held, he couldn’t just erase part of that whenever he felt like it.

Of course, that was the answer I’d expected.

And I’d already prepared what I needed to say next.

“Even so, you’re pretty close to being one of those. You’ve got influence, and not a small amount of it.”

“So what if I do? That doesn’t mean I can just throw that influence around.”

“Think of it as an investment. As you know, I’m worth that much.”

It was public knowledge by now that I didn’t get along with witches or the Blood Cult.

And up to this point, I’d never walked away from those clashes on the losing end.

I’d played a major role in the fights against Decay and Starvation, and during winter break, I’d taken down three elder-class enemies.

So if there was even a chance for me to get stronger—

“I don’t think shutting down a single F-rank dungeon is an unreasonable request.”

“Hey, think about your juniors too. If you shut them all down, where are they supposed to go?”

“There are three hundred dungeons on Floor F alone, aren’t there? I don’t think they’ll be short on options.”

On top of that, wasn’t exactly popular.

It was a pain to clear because you had to split into three branches and coordinate as a team.

When there were plenty of simpler dungeons around, why would anyone volunteer for extra suffering?

Once I explained even that point, the principal seemed to be running out of arguments.

“...Seriously, your mouth never stops flowing. Fine. I’ll bring it up at the faculty meeting, but I can’t promise anything.”

“That alone is more than enough. Thank you.”

“When are you planning to go in?”

“In three days.”

According to old-hand big-data, that was when the crow seamstress passed through .

My primary objective was the meteoric iron alloy no matter what, so regardless of whether permission came through, I was planning to enter it anyway.

The principal nodded.

“Fine. You’ll have an answer by the day after tomorrow. Be ready.”

“Understood.”

*****

Two days later,

despite saying he couldn’t promise anything, the principal brought me good news.

Naturally, that news was that permission had been granted.

Like I said, when he needs to get something done, he does it.

He was always moaning about how powerless he was and how he might get fired at this rate, but he was still the principal, and an S-rank former Hero at that.

After thanking him politely, I headed toward the dungeon wing.

This time, I’m just going in alone.

The recommended number for was six F-ranks.

Even if you cut that down, you still needed at least three people for a smooth run.

That is, for a clear.

I was going in to shut it down.

The method was different for every dungeon, but in this case, there was no need to follow the orthodox clear route.

So instead of dragging away Seo Ye-in’s time or Dang Gyu-ri’s, I chose solo play.

Before long, I stepped into the underground floors and headed straight for the nearest elevator.

No. 833 was somewhere around the middle of Floor F, so I planned to ride down in comfort.

I scanned my student ID at the terminal and waited a moment. Then, with a mechanical hum, the elevator slowly rose from below.

It looked like it was carrying someone already—

—WHIRRR—

and that someone turned out, unexpectedly, to be Song Cheonhye.

The moment she saw me, she flinched and asked,

“What are you doing here?”

“What do you mean, what am I doing? Going into a dungeon. You?”

“I just finished patrol and I’m heading back.”

“Got it. Good work.”

I stepped into the elevator with a casual greeting.

But instead of getting off, Song Cheonhye stayed where she was, standing beside me and staring.

“...”

“Aren’t you leaving?”

“I suddenly have something to do.”

“Is that so.”

I shrugged and operated the elevator.

Then, as I felt the slight lift in my stomach, I asked,

“What do you have to do?”

“You said you’re going into a dungeon?”

“Yep.”

Suspicion filled Song Cheonhye’s eyes.

“By yourself?”

“Is that a problem?”

“There isn’t someone waiting for you below, right?”

Looks like she was assuming I was off to do another unauthorized clear.

Fair enough. Compared to moving around in a big group, going down separately and meeting up below did draw less attention.

I understood the logic.

But this time, I was innocent.

So I spoke in a gently admonishing tone.

“Song Cheonhye, I don’t think it’s a good habit to start by suspecting people no matter what.”

“Well, your track record is unusually spectacular.”

“Track record? Have I done anything lately? I’ve been living like a saint these days.”

As I said that and started walking, Song Cheonhye hurried ahead of me and turned around.

“Just a few days ago. With Shin Byeongcheol.”

“Him? What about him all of a sudden?”

“You had him guide you through Floor C.”

She’d caught Shin Byeongcheol at the very bottom of Floor D, and had collapsed due to an unauthorized clear.

So she’d probably concluded that he’d been acting as a guide.

I deliberately put on a baffled expression.

“And what does that have to do with me?”

“You’re still going to deny it?”

“I’m not denying anything. I honestly don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You must’ve met with the captain.”

Looks like she thought Gwak Seungjae had taken Shin Byeongcheol into custody and then caught us too.

In reality, he’d only handed Shin a simplified penalty.

So I kept up the confused act.

“I’m telling you, I never saw him.”

“It’ll all be in the records.”

As if she were about to shove the evidence in my face, Song Cheonhye pulled up the penalty and disciplinary records.

Then she froze like a broken robot.

“No, why is this...?”

“There’s nothing there, right? My name.”

“W-wait a second.”

She checked again. Then again.

Obviously, the result wasn’t going to change.

Panic started creeping across Song Cheonhye’s face.

And seeing my chance, I went on the counterattack.

“It’s good to work hard, but you can’t go around falsely accusing innocent people.”

“That’s not it, Captain clearly...”

“Whatever it was, shouldn’t you confirm it with your senior first?”

There was no rule saying Shin had to guide only us around.

Song Cheonhye seemed to reach that conclusion a beat too late, and she apologized in a slightly deflated tone.

“Um... I’m sorry. There was a misunderstanding.”

“Mistakes happen. Just be more careful next time.”

Since I really had done an unauthorized clear, I decided to let it slide here instead of pressing harder.

But just as Song Cheonhye started heading back up, she seemed to think of something and moved back to my side.

“...Wait a second.”

“What now?”

“That part was my fault, yes. But right now is right now.”

“What about right now?”

“You’re going into a dungeon alone? Solo play?”

“That’s what I said.”

“What number?”

“That one.”

We’d reached my destination by then, so I jerked my chin toward the dungeon in front of us.

[No.833]

The suspicion in Song Cheonhye’s face instantly doubled.

Because she’d gone into that dungeon with me before as part of disciplinary punishment.

“Last time, there were four of us.”

“There were.”

“You’re going in there alone? No matter how I look at it, that’s suspicious.”

She probably thought I was planning to pretend to enter, ditch her, and then use an escape scroll.

So I answered calmly,

“Think whatever you want. I’m operating fully within my authority.”

“Then you won’t mind if I wait outside.”

“Of course not.”

“And if I come in with you.”

“I hate that.”

“...What? Why?”

Song Cheonhye shot her eyes wide.

And I answered with complete confidence.

“I said no because I don’t want to. I haven’t done anything wrong, so why should I?”

“...”

“Wait outside until I come out, if you want.”

“...”

For a moment, Song Cheonhye looked completely stuck.

No matter how suspicious I seemed, she didn’t have enough justification to follow me into a dungeon just to watch me.

And if she forced her way in and I really was innocent?

The backlash would be ugly.

So as she stood there unable to move either way, I waved a hand at her.

“Anyway, I’m really going in now. Don’t follow me.”

“W-wait!”

“What now?”

Song Cheonhye hesitated for a moment, then said in a shrinking voice,

“Let... let me come with you.”

“I told you, everything’s within my authority.”

“It’s not because I want to monitor you. I’m genuinely curious.”

Maybe it was because I’d acted so confident, but all of her suspicion seemed to have turned into curiosity.

I understood the feeling well enough.

So I nodded, then answered in a firm tone,

“I don’t want to.”

“No, why not?”

“You’re the one who needs to give a reason. Why should I take you?”

“Well... that’s....”

Song Cheonhye seemed to rack her brain hard for a while.

Then she forced an awkward smile and said,

“Because... we’re close?”

“What exactly are we to each other?”

“We’re fairly close... and we’ve built some trust...? You even put [Austerity] on me.”

“That’s true. We also split sweet buns together.”

“What? Why are you bringing that up again?”

“So you’re saying that didn’t happen?”

Maybe I really shouldn’t take her.

When I asked that with a straight face, Song Cheonhye forced another awkward smile.

“I-it did happen... splitting sweet buns, I mean...”

“Fine. Since you want it this badly, I guess sightseeing is no big deal between us.”

“Thank you. I won’t get in the way.”

“Let’s go.”

A moment later, we crossed through the teleportation portal one after the other, and a broad, long lake spread out before us.

Under our feet was a crude dock made by roughly fastening wooden planks together.

At the end of it, several small wooden boats were tied up, the kind that looked like they’d fit one or two people at most.

Looking at them, Song Cheonhye asked,

“We can ride the same one, right?”

“Of course.”

We sat facing each other in a single wooden boat and untied the rope. At once, we began drifting slowly along with the current.

As we did, Song Cheonhye quietly looked around.

“This brings back memories.”

“Back then, it suddenly turned into a race.”

Shin Byeongcheol had pulled out some kind of motor and attached it to his boat, and not wanting to lose, Han Somi had rowed like a storm.

Of course, there was no reason to hurry now, so we drifted forward at ease, exchanging ordinary conversation.

How much time had passed like that?

Ahead of us, the lake that had stretched out in a straight line split into three branches.

This was where the real clear started.

It was also where the role split began, so Song Cheonhye asked,

“What are you planning to do now?”

“I’m going straight for now.”

I steered the boat toward the center path as casually as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Then, after drifting with the current for a while, I angled it slightly.

Toward the rock wall that divided the lake into three branches.

Song Cheonhye started looking a little uneasy.

“Are we really going the right way?”

“We are.”

The rock wall drew closer and closer, but I kept going forward. Only when we were almost close enough to crash did I finally dock the boat.

Then I aimed [Deep-Rooted Crow Tree] at the top of the cliff and spoke the activation phrase.

“CAW—!”