The Support Ate it All-Chapter 538: Week 16 Rank Reversal (4)

Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in had long held a strange kind of competitive spirit and curiosity toward each other.

Both the shadow caster and the marksman were classes with extremely distinct flavors. The Hidden Pieces they needed were different, and the dungeons they had to clear were different too.

Because of that, most of the time, only one of them went into a dungeon with Kim Ho—and the one left behind always ended up carrying a question.

—What did they get?

The level of Hidden Pieces they themselves obtained was already pretty high, so the other one had to be the same.

Just how strong had they gotten?

They’d checked each other’s overall builds through PvP replays, watching tournaments, and occasionally entering a dungeon together, but that still wasn’t enough.

If possible, they wanted to fight each other directly—that was the thought they shared.

But it was awkward to just walk up and say, “Want to duel?”

Yet, as if fate was playing a prank, PvP had laid the stage out for them.

“.......” 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

“.......”

The two faced each other, about to clash.

The black eyes held charisma with a hint of mischief.

The gray eyes looked indifferent, almost sleepy.

Then Seo Ye-in spoke first.

“I have a request.”

“A request?”

Dang Gyu-young’s brows pinched slightly.

It was sudden—and unexpected.

‘What could someone from Hye-seong Group possibly want?’

With one word, she could get anything she wanted.

...No. Thinking about it, there was one thing even they couldn’t easily get.

“Is it about Kim Ho?”

“Yes.”

Seo Ye-in nodded.

Dang Gyu-young thought for a moment about what she could want.

Something connected to Kim Ho, something where the decision was in Dang Gyu-young’s hands, and something you’d ask for now, with the semester ending...

Somehow, she had a pretty good idea.

Of course, figuring out what the request was and granting it were two separate things, so Dang Gyu-young curled one corner of her mouth up as she answered.

“Not sure. This is a negotiation card that finally fell into my lap. I should use it well.”

Usually, negotiation didn’t work at all.

Even when she’d half-jokingly brought up Kim Ho’s “exclusive share,” Seo Ye-in had stubbornly insisted it ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) was 9:1.

Dang Gyu-young flicked her shadow club.

“Let’s finish this first. Come on in.”

“.......”

“If you half-ass it, you can forget the request.”

—Nod.

Seo Ye-in had planned to go all-out in combat from the start.

She immediately drew up mana, loaded a [Flash Bomb] into her assault rifle, and pulled the trigger.

— RATATATAT!

Dang Gyu-young advanced with the Laboratory Director in front.

A blue explosion flared, and the thing’s upper body became ragged scraps—yet the next moment, the wounds puffed up like balloons and new flesh sprouted.

It was the Flesh Golem’s superior regeneration.

— RATATATATAT!

Seo Ye-in kept firing, but the Laboratory Director only absorbed the damage and trudged forward without complaint.

Once the distance closed enough, Dang Gyu-young, who’d been hiding behind it, sprang out and swung the shadow club.

She clung stubbornly to Seo Ye-in, who retreated using Feather Step.

After the club cut through empty air a few times—

— SWISH—!

A sharp tearing-through-air sound came from behind Seo Ye-in’s back.

The source was the Shadow Corps commander.

Pressure from the front, then a powerful stab from the rear—that was Dang Gyu-young’s aim.

“.......”

In that do-or-die moment, Seo Ye-in grabbed the pot and brought it up over her shoulder without even looking.

— CLANG,

The Shadow Corps commander’s dagger, which looked like it could pierce anything, was blocked in the most anticlimactic way.

Dang Gyu-young blinked.

“You saw that?”

“No.”

“Then how?”

“Just... a feeling.”

Meaning: she blocked it by intuition without seeing it.

And it didn’t end there.

A night-sky-like space opened and swallowed the Shadow Corps commander whole.

It was a Skill granted to the Immortal Pot: [Severance Space].

‘Isn’t that item just straight-up cheating?’

Dang Gyu-young complained internally, but the situation wasn’t entirely bad.

Severance Space was notorious for having an absurd mana cost.

If one undead could place that kind of burden on the opponent, it wasn’t a losing trade.

Besides, the Laboratory Director was still here—and she had plenty of other usable cards.

‘It’s been a while. Should I pull it out?’

[Welcoming Flight]

One shadow butterfly, then two, fluttered up from beneath her feet.

Seo Ye-in immediately sprayed her magic rifle.

— RATATATATAT!

But every time one got shot down, three or four were summoned in its place.

On top of that, the Laboratory Director puffed up and took hits for them, making the swarm’s growth rate impossible to control.

Soon, Dang Gyu-young drove in with the butterfly swarm, pressuring Seo Ye-in in a pattern similar to before.

Then she abruptly pulled back and released a Skill.

[Welcoming Earth Dream]

All the shadow butterflies transformed into blades at once and tore the arena apart.

— SHIIK SHIIK SHIIK SHIIK—!

Seo Ye-in said, flat as ever,

“Slide.”

[Ghostly No-Shadow] activated, and her figure blurred.

She slipped out of Welcoming Earth Dream’s range, appeared at the opponent’s flank, and raised her magic rifle.

A clear firing sound rang out from the launch tube beside the barrel.

— THUNK,

‘A grenade.’

Dang Gyu-young instantly put the Laboratory Director in front and made it swell up with its whole body.

But right before the grenade touched it, it flashed and vanished—then appeared right in front of Dang Gyu-young’s eyes.

As if it had passed straight through an obstacle.

‘What.’

— KABOOOM—!

— RATATATATAT—!

Seo Ye-in poured magic rounds into the blue explosion site.

But she soon had to stop firing and raise the pot—

“Ghostly No-Shadow. I’ve got it too.”

Because Dang Gyu-young had appeared out of nowhere and slammed the club down.

— CLANG, CLANGCLANG, CLANG,

‘Distortion already got burned earlier, and Ghostly No-Shadow just got used.’

The chance of getting caught completely off-guard was much lower than at the start.

So did she really need to throw out a desperate gambit?

‘Better to lock it down safely.’

Decision made, Dang Gyu-young gestured to the Laboratory Director.

Its upper body shrank down to about a normal person’s size, and only its arms transformed into thick, muscular slabs.

She’d changed it into a form suited for attacking.

— CLANG! CLANG!

She deliberately hammered at the pot so Seo Ye-in would focus only on defense.

Then she piled on with the Laboratory Director, and sprinkled in one or two shadow butterflies at a time for variation.

The plan worked—Seo Ye-in started taking damage little by little.

[Seo Ye-in 94%]

[Seo Ye-in 91%]

[Seo Ye-in 87%]

“......Crisis.”

“You got anything? Like, an overturning move?”

“......!”

At that, a little exclamation mark popped above Seo Ye-in’s head.

Like something finally clicked, belatedly.

Then she started putting her magic rifle away, and Dang Gyu-young’s brow tightened slightly.

‘Don’t tell me she’s just going to turtle up to the end.’

If it ended like this, it would be kind of disappointing.

Thankfully, Seo Ye-in didn’t let her down.

— CLANG, CLANGCLANG,

With one hand, she gripped the pot and reinforced her defense.

With the other hand, she formed a lump of light.

As it gradually took shape, its identity became clear—

‘...A trap?’

Right then, Severance Space was released, and the Shadow Corps commander reappeared.

Looks like she decided there was no need to keep it sealed anymore.

Before Dang Gyu-young could even give an order, Seo Ye-in tossed a trap at her feet and lightly stepped on it.

[Trap Toss]

[Capricious Trap]

— FLAAASH—!

Light burst from the trap and blanketed the entire Circular Arena.

For a moment, it felt like standing inside a pure white world.

The next instant, a massive explosion and shockwave erupted.

— KABOOOOOM—!!

Not only were the shadow undead swept away, Dang Gyu-young herself was suddenly flying through the air.

She barely recovered her posture midair and landed.

[Dang Gyu-young 100%]

[Dang Gyu-young 81%]

‘That luck is actually insane.’

She’d seen that Skill—[Capricious Trap]—often enough to recognize it.

A few people in the club had learned it too.

But none of them could’ve caused a mega-explosion like that.

Maybe because it was a Skill heavily influenced by luck—when Seo Ye-in used it, someone dubbed Lucky Charm, it felt like something entirely different.

‘Still, credit where it’s due.’

Luck was skill.

And trusting that luck and acting boldly was skill too.

So Dang Gyu-young called praise across the arena.

“That was good. You really got me with that.”

“Thank you.”

Her tone was dry, but from what Dang Gyu-young knew of her, that alone counted as being quite polite.

With someone else, she would’ve just given a lazy chin tilt and been done.

“Want to keep going?”

“......No.”

Seo Ye-in slowly shook her head.

She looked fine on the surface, but the damage had to be pretty severe.

[Seo Ye-in 64%]

Because she’d stepped on her own trap and took the explosion’s aftershock at point-blank range.

Dang Gyu-young was about to say, “Then let’s end it here—” when a pointless mischievous impulse tickled her.

So she tossed it out like it was nothing.

“Figured it’d turn out like this, but I won again. Guess I’m the only one worthy of being number one.”

“......!”

It was childish—but effective provocation.

Even now, those gray pupils had widened a little.

“......Match.”

“What do you have left?”

Seo Ye-in didn’t answer. Instead, she raised one hand high above her head.

— SSSSS......

Her gray hair gradually bleached white, and her entire body was covered in dazzling radiance.

Dang Gyu-young felt something dangerous in that.

“That? Your ultimate technique?”

“Yes.”

She’d heard about the power from Kim Ho.

He’d said it overwhelmed the Wild General Dragon, if only briefly.

If a Skill like that was aimed at her, could she withstand it?

The tide could flip instantly.

But there was something she needed to confirm before win or loss, so Dang Gyu-young asked again.

“You’re going to use it now? You said you lose your luck.”

“.......”

It was just one PvP match, and there was no special wager on it.

Was it worth throwing away nearly a week of Lucky Charm luck?

“.......”

Seo Ye-in seemed to reach that thought too. She quietly lowered the hand she’d raised high.

Her hair, white as snow, gradually returned to gray.

“You work hard, butler.”

“That’s true. Good decision.”

Meaning: if her luck disappeared, not only she, but Kim Ho and everyone around her would suffer—so she’d endure it.

‘So she’s not completely selfish.’

She could be considerate, at least.

Dang Gyu-young’s evaluation of Seo Ye-in rose slightly.

Honestly, even if she’d used her ultimate technique, the result wouldn’t have changed.

[Time Remaining 0:10]

The five-minute limit was almost over.

As the two stared at the scoreboard, the match results were displayed.

[Bukgung Hansol Lose]

[Lee Seul-bi Lose]

[Seo Ye-in Lose]

vs

[Dang Gyu-young Win]

With two out of three teammates ruled combat-incapacitated, comparing average HP had become meaningless.

Even in a straight one-on-one comparison, Dang Gyu-young had the advantage—81% to 64%.

Of course, for them, winning and losing didn’t matter all that much.

They were all growing fast, and the upper hand could flip anytime.

They’d checked each other’s skills and satisfied their curiosity—so they’d achieved their original goal.

In a fairly softened mood, the two walked together toward the teleportation magic circle.

Then Dang Gyu-young asked,

“So what was your request?”

“......Break.”

“Yeah, break?”

The gray eyes sparkled.

“I want to go with you.”