The Support Ate it All-Chapter 557: Finals Week 17–18 (12)

Group A main base.

Moyong Jun had a sparkling stack of cards in their hand.

After fighting through the morning’s volcanic eruption and monster wave, they had gathered up the dropped crystals and item cards.

As they checked each card’s effect one by one, a strange light flickered in their eyes.

“......!”

[Recon]

▷Shows the scene at a designated location.

[Observe]

▷Shows the scene of a designated target.

▷The target can recognize the activation of [Observe].

‘So it really exists. A way to secure vision.’

They’d already been getting more and more frustrated.

For a dungeon that only lasted a few days, it was huge, and the elevation was irregular, so it was impossible to take in much at a glance.

Worse, the most important bases were positioned on top of hills, making it almost impossible to look inside.

So they’d been wondering if they had to keep playing defensively the whole time, or if they’d have no choice but to ram into things blindly—

But there were item cards for it.

‘If I’m going to use [Recon], now is the right time.’

The other groups would have gone through the monster wave too, and they’d all be gathered at their main bases without a single person missing.

Meaning: you could squeeze out the maximum amount of information.

So Moyong Jun called their key combatants to one place.

Disciplinary committee club member Lee Seul-bi and Geum Johan, the promising Cha Hyeon-ju and Hong Yeon-hwa, Jang Chundong (Jang Mu-geuk), and others.

Then, after briefly explaining [Recon], they said,

“First, we’ll check Group B.”

Since they’d gotten several of them, they planned to look around everywhere anyway, but their curiosity about Group B was stronger.

After all, they’d been heavily looted by Kim Ho’s group on the first day.

FWASH—!

A card flared brightly and vanished, and in front of everyone, a huge screen rose into the air.

The angle looked like an aerial view staring down at Group B’s main base.

“.......”

“.......”

Everyone scanned every corner with intense focus.

Then, when the duration ended and the screen disappeared, they spoke {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} one by one.

“Looks like there’s no damage at all.”

“They must’ve blocked it insanely clean.”

They had been confident they’d cleared the monster wave without too much trouble themselves.

Thanks to Lee Seul-bi’s water and ice magic and Hong Yeon-hwa’s shocking wide-area firepower.

Even so, it was unavoidable for some members to get hurt and for a few facilities to be destroyed—

But Group B didn’t seem to have even that kind of minor damage.

It looked like the monster wave hadn’t even reached the base, maybe it couldn’t properly climb the hill at all.

Someone else added,

“Their overall facility level looks high too.”

“If that’s the case, they’re one or two ranks ahead of us.”

“They stole that many crystals, so... tsk.”

Whatever else was true, one thing was clear:

Group B was ahead of them.

Moyong Jun took out another [Recon] card.

“This time, we’ll look at Group C.”

Then they’d know who was in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place at this point.

FWASH—!

The screen unfolded before them again.

And low, heavy sounds of dismay burst out from all sides.

“Ah....”

“Huh.”

“That’s....”

Group C’s situation was far worse than even theirs.

The main base was practically a ruin, and there were visibly fewer people moving around.

Meaning the damage had been massive.

Moyong Jun’s gaze deepened.

“This is rather strange. Each group’s strength should be roughly similar, yet the results are this different.”

“Did they get hit by something on the first day too?”

“They must have. But that alone doesn’t explain everything.”

If they got beaten up by Kim Ho in the same way, shouldn’t their situation be similar?

‘......Looks like they used additional moves.’

Moyong Jun recalled what Kim Ho had said during the preparation period.

If third place gets locked in for one of you.

Then the nonaggression pact might go past meaningless and become a shackle.

And would they really bother lending their strength? They’d probably look for something more realistic.

Starting with breaking the nonaggression pact.

And judging by what they’d just seen, Jeong Jin-myeong’s Group C was falling far behind in the race.

It meant Kim Ho’s plan was steadily coming true.

‘At this rate, we might really get blindsided.’

In that case, just like Kim Ho had told them, the best move would be to strike first before it was too late.

But Moyong Jun shook their head.

‘Not yet. It’s still too early.’

They had item cards and crystals now too—just like everyone else.

If things went well, they could not only recover, but even aim for a reversal.

‘Meaning there’s still hope.’

If so, for the time being, Jeong Jin-myeong would try to maintain the nonaggression pact as well.

And that meant there was no reason for them to launch a preemptive strike from this side.

‘We should watch a little longer.’

Instead, wouldn’t it be more beneficial to apply pressure to Group B?

While Moyong Jun was weighing their next move, Hong Yeon-hwa spoke in a flat, unimpressed tone.

“If there’s nothing else to show, I’m heading out.”

“Are you sure? It may be better to rest for a while. You worked hard—no one would complain.”

“It’s just this much. I’m fine.”

Hong Yeon-hwa answered like it was nothing.

And it wasn’t posturing—she really didn’t feel that tired.

Thanks to the Bonded Shared Trait, [Ring of the Great Sage], even after unleashing large-scale magic over and over, her mana refilled quickly.

Under the party members’ admiring gazes, Hong Yeon-hwa started down the hill with Baek Jun-seok and a few others.

Staring at her back, Moyong Jun muttered to themself.

“Her skill is worth acknowledging... but she’s still clumsy at hiding what’s inside.”

Just earlier, when [Recon] showed Group B—

Hong Yeon-hwa’s face, which had been full of dissatisfaction the whole time, suddenly brightened.

So much it felt like a puppy’s tail wagging wildly.

Like someone reunited with their owner after being left at a friend’s house for a week.

The moment the screen vanished, her expression returned to normal, but everyone who needed to see it had already seen it.

Geum Johan and Lee Seul-bi seemed to find it suspicious too, offering a comment each.

“It’s strange that she’s leaving in such a hurry.”

“For someone who acts like she hates everything, she works the hardest out of all of us.”

“It’s right to assume she’s got other intentions.”

Moyong Jun had been thinking the same thing, so they gave the two of them a reminder.

“Keep a close eye on her. Especially where my eyes can’t reach.”

*****

If you gathered up the item cards obtained from the monster wave, it came to this:

[Return] *7

[Observe] *3

[Recon] *5

[Discharge] *4

▷Returns three random targets in front to their base.

[Protection] *2

▷If you become a target of [Discharge] or [Freeze], nullifies the effect.

▷After activating once, it is destroyed.

With over twenty item cards released per group, and plenty that directly affected combat—

It looked like the shape of the fights ahead would change a lot.

Meanwhile, Song Cheon-hye seemed fixated on something else, her brows slightly knit.

“......There’s no [Duplication] or [Bombardment]. Not a single one.”

“I told you they don’t come out often.”

The performance of item cards and how hard they were to obtain varied wildly.

Like how we had seven [Return] cards, but only two [Protection].

In the same vein, truly good ones showed up maybe one out of dozens—if that.

Some could only be obtained through special methods, too.

Seo Ye-in, who had drawn that “truly good one,” looked even more smug.

She opened her arms slightly to the sides.

“Worship me.”

“Ohh, Lucky Charm...!”

I dropped to my knees dramatically and pretended to do a full bow.

Then I pointed with my eyes at the Card Shop.

“Since it came up, let’s pull.”

▷Available cards:3/5

▷Next card in:00:00:51

Since we’d pulled last night and left it alone, it had recharged to three again.

Seo Ye-in trudged over to the Card Shop and pressed the button hard.

▷Available cards:0/5

▷Next card in:00:00:31

CLUNK,

[Bombardment]

[Duplication]*2

Song Cheon-hye’s mouth fell open.

“No, is that even possible?”

“It’s not possible, that’s why she’s Lucky Charm.”

“Isn’t the Card Shop just good? Let me try once.”

“Go ahead.”

Even what we’d just gotten was already a massive hit, so wasting one chance wasn’t a big deal.

Song Cheon-hye stared the Card Shop screen down like she was trying to burn a hole through it, then pressed the button the moment her count ticked up to 1.

CLUNK,

[Return]

And her expression instantly turned awkward.

“......So it wasn’t.”

Seo Ye-in and I—hell, even Beomi—each tossed in a line.

“Scrub.”

“You’re totally a scrub.”

“Grrrng.”

That low growl sounded like mocking laughter.

There’s no way that was just my imagination, right?

Song Cheon-hye’s face reddened slightly.

“......Fine, I admit it. I’m... I’m...! A scrub! And you just have good luck!”

“If you admit it, show proper respect to Lucky Charm. Kneel first.”

“No, why do we have to go that far?”

“Go that far?”

I put on a dead-serious face and grilled her.

“Hey, Song Cheon-hye. Do you know what you just did?”

“What... did I do?”

Then I shoved the [Return] card she’d just pulled into her face.

“Do you see this? A card that should’ve been [Bombardment] got turned into a bargain-bin [Return] because of your reckless bravado!”

“No, that’s not something you can know—”

“If it were [Bombardment], we could’ve dealt additional damage to Group C’s facilities and crystal stock, right?”

“If you calculate it like that—”

“But we can’t do that now, which means we’ve taken that much crystal loss. Am I wrong?”

Song Cheon-hye was about to fire back with a look like she couldn’t believe this—

When Park Nari, who’d been listening quietly, timidly cut in.

“I think what Kim Ho said... is right....”

“......!”

Song Cheon-hye’s mouth opened and closed over and over.

She probably wanted to snap something back, but doing that to Park Nari seemed to make her hesitate.

In the end, she missed her golden timing, and let out a sigh.

“......Yes, I’m wrong about everything. You want me to kneel?”

“Yeah. And repeat after me. ‘I worship you, Lucky Charm.’”

Seo Ye-in added a word.

“Expert.”

“‘I worship you, Expert Lucky Charm.’”

Song Cheon-hye’s body trembled as she half-knelt down.

Then, with a face like she was about to die of humiliation, she forced the words out in broken chunks.

“I... wor... ship you. Ex... pert... Luck... y Charm.”

“Good. From now on, don’t you dare doubt her.”

Song Cheon-hye took several deep breaths, steadied herself, and changed the subject.

“What are you doing today?”

“I’m going to go deeper.”

When I answered while pointing at the volcano, another question flew in.

“Isn’t it dangerous with just the three of you?”

“Of course we’re not going to force it.”

“Got it.”

I picked up a few empty crystals from the pile that had just dropped.

“Borrowing these.”

“You can leave charging to the others.”

“On the way, while we’re at it.”

“......You’ve got another idea, don’t you. Anyway, be careful out there.”

Leaving Song Cheon-hye’s sendoff behind, we headed out of the base.

Up ahead, Chaemi, flying in the sky, indicated the nearest sanctuary’s location.

BEEEEEP—!

We went straight there and started charging.

Light poured out of a shabby stone tower, and the crystals slowly began filling.

While that happened, I explained to my party.

“Now everyone has item cards. They’ve probably already used [Recon].”

“Then... they’ll use [Observe] on us too....”

At Park Nari’s guess, I nodded.

“Because of what we did yesterday.”

Since there was a possibility they’d come at us again, they’d want to confirm our position before doing anything.

Park Nari made a worried face.

“Then they’ll come to catch us....”

“If our route’s too obvious. But they don’t have endless chances either.”

We had three [Observe] cards in our group right now.

The other groups probably didn’t have wildly different numbers.

Meaning they couldn’t use it frequently enough to predict every movement.

“Still, at least once....”

“Once is guaranteed. Probably soon.”

Sure enough, just as we finished charging the second crystal, mana gathered in the air and formed a huge eye.

So that’s what “the target can recognize the activation of [Observe]” meant.

I gestured to Seo Ye-in and Park Nari, calling them closer.

Then we hooked arms like good friends and pointed at the mana eye.

“Look over there and smile. V~”

“V, V~....”

We raised our hands and formed V-signs.