The Support Ate it All-Chapter 512: Settling It with a Squeaky Hammer

Training kept going through the entire duel-battle week—and it was still going now, on the weekend.

SQUEAK!

I planted the squeaky hammer on top of Song Cheon-hye’s head.

The moment I stepped back on a diagonal, lightning skimmed past me by a hair’s breadth.

KRA-KOOOOM!

Song Cheon-hye opened her gloved hand.

Current crackled and gathered on the topaz, then stretched out like taffy and turned into a whip.

In the next instant, the lightning whip traced an irregular trajectory.

BZZZT—

I dodged twice, then cast ★Blink★ right before the third strike could land.

At that, Song Cheon-hye immediately bent down, and as the squeaky hammer grazed past, it made an ambiguous—

“Pff—”

sound.

“You dodged well.”

With the praise, I stuck close and started hammering her with rapid strikes.

SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!

BZZZZT!

Then I had to back off again as current burst outward like recoil.

“.......”

Song Cheon-hye steadied her stance and chained her magic.

She packed the current into several baseball-sized spheres and scattered them, while also manipulating two hummingbirds.

BZZZZZZT!

The spheres linked up and resonated, carpeting the entire training room in electricity.

‘No need to dodge this.’

The wider the area, the weaker the power—so weak it was basically nothing.

I advanced straight toward Song Cheon-hye.

Not just the current, but even the hummingbirds couldn’t reach me—they got blocked by my barrier.

“......!”

Song Cheon-hye’s eyes sharpened as she tried to pull out her next move—

And then compressed air exploded around her shoulder line.

BANG!

It was Wind Force, prepared in secret.

The instant her posture broke, I charged in like a madman and beat her head, face, shoulder—head, face—indiscriminately with the squeaky hammer.

SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!

For the finisher, I swung the squeaky hammer in a big arc.

Even Song Cheon-hye, who’d taken countless hits, seemed to sense this one was different—she hunched up and squeezed her eyes shut.

But I only pretended to strike, then pulled the hammer back.

“That’s it for now. Let’s eat lunch, then continue.”

“......It’s already that time. Good work.”

Song Cheon-hye let out a deep sigh and tidied her rumpled clothes.

Next, I called to Seo Ye-in, who’d been rolling around in a corner of the training room.

“Miss Seo. Up. Let’s go.”

“Mm.......”

Seo Ye-in moved slowly, delayed by a beat.

Watching that, Song Cheon-hye’s expression looked half dumbfounded—half jealous.

‘And she’s still building mana like that.’

Most people had to hold proper posture and focus with their whole mind to circulate mana.

But the idle-mode sloth could do it sitting or lying around, thanks to terrifying mana control.

If she really wanted to, she could probably do it while walking, too—though personality-wise, she wasn’t the type to work that hard.

When I first told Song Cheon-hye about it, she obviously didn’t believe me.

But after seeing the sloth rolling around for days on end, she had no choice but to accept it.

If there weren’t results, her steady upward trend in duel-battle points would be impossible to explain.

When we all left the training room together, familiar hammering sounds drifted in from far away.

CLANG, CLANG, CLANG—

Kang Byeol was completely absorbed in carving the massive statue.

Maybe °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° because they’d worked day and night for several days straight, the progress was significant.

The iron pillar that had been nothing but crude now had a real outline, and the upper body was recognizable as the principal.

It looked noticeably younger and more “prettified” than the original, but that’s how art works, isn’t it?

What mattered was that the person involved was satisfied.

Cheering them on in my head, we left the training center and headed for the student cafeteria.

Lunch was build-your-own sandwiches.

A buffet-style spread of ingredients was laid out.

On one side sat a grill that looked like a waffle machine—meant for making paninis.

While Seo Ye-in and Song Cheon-hye looked around with curious eyes, I started loading my plate like clockwork.

I spread sauce evenly on rye bread, added chicken breast and cheese, then piled on a few vegetables.

Then I put it in the grill and pressed it down.

Wait a bit like this and it’s done.

But then Seo Ye-in sidled up and held out an empty plate.

“.......”

“What exactly is this plate implying?”

“Give me.”

“I made it.”

“Looks good.”

“Just because it looks good doesn’t mean you demand it. That’s something a bandit does.”

“Bandit sloth.”

At this point, making one more was no big deal, so I decided to give in.

I placed the finished panini onto the empty plate.

“Only this once.”

“First-rate butler.”

I immediately stacked the same ingredients again and put it in the grill.

Then, when I glanced to the side, Song Cheon-hye was standing there awkwardly with an empty plate in her hands.

“.......”

“You want one too?”

“......No? I was just watching because it was interesting.”

As if to prove her words, Song Cheon-hye scampered around the ingredient corner.

Then she came back and asked me:

“......What all did you put in there? Chicken and cheese, and...”

“Hey. Bring your plate.”

“It’s fine. I can make it myself.”

“This is faster. Just bring it.”

Song Cheon-hye gave me her plate like she couldn’t win the argument.

And like that, we ended up eating lunch with three identical paninis.

Still, it must’ve been good, because everyone chewed diligently.

Meanwhile, Song Cheon-hye looked like she’d fallen into thought.

Then she looked at me and asked:

“We’ve been doing this almost a month, right?”

“Pretty much.”

“I’ve been working hard, in my own way...... but I can’t really tell if I’ve improved.”

“You’ve improved a lot, from what I can see.”

The instant I answered without hesitation, confusion surfaced on Song Cheon-hye’s face.

“How can you tell?”

“I’ve been raising the difficulty little by little. Matching it to your level.”

“Wait—so that’s what it was?”

From Song Cheon-hye’s perspective, it probably felt like she was stuck in place.

A month ago or now, she was still the one getting hit.

But I’d had to hit her harder and harder, so I could feel it—her skill was increasing day by day.

“If you keep going like this a little longer, you won’t exactly ‘graduate’ close combat, but you’ll be able to afford shifting your focus to something else. Like control.”

“......I’ll work hard.”

Life returned to Song Cheon-hye’s face.

We soon wiped out our paninis, sipped coffee, and chatted about this and that.

In the middle of it, the cafeteria doors opened, and a familiar redhead stepped inside.

‘Hong Yeon-hwa.’

Hong Yeon-hwa found me like she had a sixth sense and trotted right over.

“Ah, hi......!”

But when she was about halfway there, she spotted Song Cheon-hye and hesitated.

“......What are you doing here?”

“Eating lunch.”

“I know. Why are you eating together?”

“We sparred this morning. Is there a problem?”

The two stared each other down.

It reminded me of a puppy baring its teeth and a hedgehog raising its spines like a chestnut burr.

I was about to step in and mediate, when a good idea popped into my head.

“Hong Yeon-hwa.”

“Huh......?”

“If you’ve got time, you should join us too.”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s face brightened—

But right before she agreed, she suddenly hesitated, like something occurred to her.

“Um.......”

She was probably worried.

With the core gap as it was, if she fought Song Cheon-hye now, it’d obviously be unfavorable.

Even if the win-loss wasn’t public, losing would still sting her pride.

I answered casually.

“I get why you’re hesitating, but it’s fine. Just come first.”

“Okay.......”

Hong Yeon-hwa slowly nodded.

*****

After lunch, we returned to the training room.

I faced Song Cheon-hye and Hong Yeon-hwa toward each other and spoke.

“For this spar, we’re only checking close-combat skill. Turn off all skills and traits. Take off all equipment, too.”

Then I put a squeaky hammer in each of their hands.

“You can only attack with this. Three minutes. Whoever hits more wins. Got it?”

“.......”

“.......”

They nodded without a word.

I could already feel the fighting spirit burning off them.

I stepped back, leaned against the training-room wall, and sat down—

And Seo Ye-in, who I hadn’t even noticed coming over, set her head on my lap.

Like that, I spoke again.

“I’ll count to three, then start. One, two...... three!”

The two immediately rushed at each other.

The first hit landed by Hong Yeon-hwa.

SQUEAK!

But in the next moment, the squeaky hammer cut through empty air, and Song Cheon-hye counterattacked right after her dodge.

SQUEAK SQUEAK!

“......!”

Hong Yeon-hwa’s brow tightened slightly.

She stepped around to the side, and Song Cheon-hye mirrored her steps, maintaining the proper distance.

And the two blended together like a dance.

SQUEAK SQUEAK, SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK!

The sound effects were pure children’s play, but still.

I watched them closely as they swung their squeaky hammers.

‘Miss Song’s a bit ahead.’

They were nearly even, but putting a turret-type mage against an all-rounder in close combat—of course the latter had the advantage.

‘And I’ve been hitting her a lot more.’

Over the last month, I’d been “tempering” her with the squeaky hammer in spare moments, and her close-combat skill had risen sharply.

That result was showing clearly in the spar happening right in front of me.

SQUEAK SQUEAK! SQUEAK!

If Hong Yeon-hwa landed five or six hits, Song Cheon-hye landed six or seven.

But that one or two hit difference kept accumulating with time, widening the gap.

When the three-minute limit ended, I gave the verdict.

“Song Cheon-hye wins. Good work, both of you.”

“......You really have improved.”

Song Cheon-hye looked deeply fulfilled.

Only now did she realize her skill had actually grown.

In the Fix Zone tournament, she could barely even hit Hong Yeon-hwa in close combat—

But in a squeaky-hammer spar, she’d held a slight edge.

“.......”

For similar reasons, Hong Yeon-hwa looked gloomy.

So I encouraged her.

“You’re a turret-type mage. Don’t get too disappointed just because you lost in close combat.”

“Mm.......”

She nodded, but her expression stayed dark.

At that, Seo Ye-in—still using my lap as a pillow—looked up at me.

“Me too. Squeak.”

“You want to spar?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s gotten into you, all of a sudden?”

“Revenge.”

Seo Ye-in got up, walked over to Hong Yeon-hwa, and held out her hand.

“Give me the hammer.”

“Yeah, here.......”

I thought that was the end of it—

But then Seo Ye-in grabbed Hong Yeon-hwa by the hand and tugged her over to where Seo Ye-in had been lying a moment ago.

She sat Hong Yeon-hwa down there.

And then she made Hong Yeon-hwa rest her head on my lap.

“Pillow is comfy.”

“......???”

Hong Yeon-hwa could only roll her eyes in bewilderment.