The Support Ate it All

“Stop.”

At that single word, Song Cheon-hye withdrew her storm-like offensive all at once.

The Thunder Lord continued speaking.

“Replenish your stamina.”

And with a light wave of his hand through the air, the surrounding area filled with a faint static electricity.

To the lightning mages of the Topaz Magic Tower, this static was no different from compressed mana.

So, Song Cheon-hye settled in one spot and slowly began absorbing the static electricity.

“……”

The Thunder Lord watched her in silence, wearing the same expressionless face as before.

Until now, she had always resumed sparring immediately after restoring her stamina, but this time, she looked at the Thunder Lord and spoke.

“Grandfather, there’s something I’d like to ask.”

“Go ahead.”

“I’m curious… how much have I achieved?”

Song Cheon-hye had run and pushed herself relentlessly throughout summer break.

Her goal, as per Kim Ho’s advice, was to build a solid foundation and make up for her lack of control.

She could’ve done it while attending mentoring sessions, but she had chosen not to.

The reason, of course, was the exchange of messages with Kim Ho right after the final exams.

– How did you do the Hummingbird?

-Just practiced hard.

-I still can’t do it, though.

-Then you didn’t practice hard enough. I did it.

If he can do it, so can I…!

Her clenched fist trembled.

She knew he had said it half-jokingly to tease her, but for some reason, it fired her up.

She wanted to prove that she could do it too.

However, she knew that if she had improved her control during mentoring, that annoying guy would have definitely made a fuss about it.

He would’ve said, “You only managed it because I helped you, right?”

So, to avoid giving him even the slightest excuse, she had shut herself away in the Topaz Magic Tower to train alone.

It had been good up to the point where she trained diligently for about two months.

But then the question arose…”How much have I actually improved?”

She couldn’t tell at all.

While she had worked on ranking up to some extent, her main focus had been on improving her control.

And control was something that couldn’t be quantified.

On top of that, her sparring opponents were all far more skilled than she was, making it hard to gauge how effective her attacks really were.

Most of them were at least graduate level, some were elders of the Magic Tower, and in most cases, her opponent had been the Thunder Lord himself.

In the end, her curiosity piled up so much that she decided it would be better to just ask directly.

Of course, from the Thunder Lord’s perspective, it wasn’t a difficult question at all.

He could tell her skill level at a glance and understood better than anyone how much she had grown during that time.

Uncharacteristically, he even offered praise.

“You were born with rare talent, not only by the standards of the Topaz Magic Tower but also within our Song family. No one at your age has achieved what you have…not even I did.”

“……!”

“And someone like you, after devoting two whole months of hard effort… do you really think your skills wouldn’t have improved?”

Though he didn’t mention it outright, it was also worth noting that he himself had been her teacher.

How many better mentors than an S-rank hero could there even be in the world?

He would’ve bet on that point with full confidence.

So, with certainty in his voice, he said,

“I’ve heard there are many outstanding talents in your year, but if you’ve grown this much, you’ll find few true rivals.”

“Thank you, Grandfather.”

Song Cheon-hye bowed respectfully to her grandfather while, in her mind, she recalled the faces of a few people.

Kim Ho, Seo Ye-in, Hong Yeon-hwa…

She had once had the chance to face Kim Ho during the placement test, but he had forfeited in the most absurd way.

At the time, she had dismissed him as someone unremarkable, but repeated encounters forced her to revise that judgment.

She had always intended to face him properly one day and test their skills against each other.

Seo Ye-in had been the first person to make her feel a sense of crisis after entering the academy.

What’s more, in just a single semester, her skills had improved so drastically that there were moments in replays that sent chills down her spine.

As for Hong Yeon-hwa, they had been rivals even before entering the academy.

Had she not joined the disciplinary committee, the two of them would have been considered the top prospects of the Magic Tower Society.

People were most curious about which of the two was stronger.

Eventually, that question would have to be settled.

I’ll probably run into them in the second semester.

All three of them were rising at a terrifying pace.

Before long, they would meet in a direct duel.

I’ll never lose!

With her resolve hardening once more, Song Cheon-hye resumed her sparring session.

Then, cloaking her entire body in electricity, she charged toward the Thunder Lord.

Fzzzzzzzzzzzt!

As always, Song Kyung-wook calmly received the attacks without any difficulty.

His face remained a blank mask.

But in his mind, he was thinking of something else.

Grandfather, huh…

He recalled when his granddaughter was just a little girl.

Tiny Song Cheon-hye, not even tall enough to reach his waist, would come running toward him with little footsteps, grab his arm, and bounce up and down.

– Gwampa! Let’s play!

– Did our little Cheon-hye want to play? Alright then, what shall we do?

– Aiwr! Pwane!!

– You want to ride an airplane?

Then, Song Kyung-wook would lift his granddaughter high into the air and pretend to fly her like an airplane, and Song Cheon-hye would burst into peals of laughter.

This kind of thing happened countless times, day or night, without warning.

– Gwampa! Let’s play!

– Not today, sweetheart. Grandpa has things to do too.

– Pway!!! Nowww!!!

– Haha, alright then, just for a little while?

– Aiwr! Pwane!!

Back then, she had been so adorably sweet, and now she no longer called him “Gwampa” or “Grandpa” but “Grandfather”…

And that polite, businesslike tone of voice…

Was this just part of growing up?

Time can be so cruel…

Song Kyung-wook swallowed down the loneliness with effort.

Even an S-Rank Thunder Lord had his share of worries.

***

Hye-seong City.

Training Center.

Ahn Jeong-mi spoke toward a corner of the training room.

“Young miss, it’s time to get up now.”

“……”

In that corner, a human sloth lay sprawled out carelessly.

She was hugging a giant stuffed tiger with both arms.

Her face was hidden beneath a dented pot, making it impossible to see.

But Ahn Jeong-mi was, after all, a veteran butler.

She could instinctively tell that the girl hadn’t fallen asleep yet.

She continued to try and engage the sloth in conversation.

“Just a little more and today’s mentoring session will be complete.”

“I’m… already strong enough…”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to avenge the bakery?”

“They rebuilt it already…”

Just as she said, the buildings destroyed by the Witch of Death, including the bakery, had been reconstructed within a matter of weeks.

In fact, they were cleaner and better equipped than before.

Only yesterday, she had even baked cookies.

Thanks to that, Seo Ye-in’s thirst for revenge had somewhat faded.

But Ahn Jeong-mi didn’t give up and kept trying.

“You said you would protect Hye-seong City with your own hands and punish the witches.”

“Later…”

Seo Ye-in pressed the immortal Kim Ho-Kim Ho pot even deeper over her head.

At this point, Ahn Jeong-mi had no choice but to accept it.

The effects had completely worn off.

Still, this lasted longer than I expected…

She had cleared the third stage of Hardship even without Kim Ho, and had followed the mentoring program pretty well for nearly three weeks.

Thanks to that, her skills had improved tremendously and steadily.

Had she lacked motivation, she wouldn’t have lasted even three hours, let alone three weeks.

For Ahn Jeong-mi, those had been very rewarding and happy days…but now, those good days had come to an end.

She figured she’d have to coax her through the remaining week somehow, even if it meant training every other day just to keep things going.

One thing was certain. Today was a lost cause.

So Ahn Jeong-mi decided to just send Seo Ye-in back.

“Young miss, you might as well go inside and sleep. If you sleep out here, your back’s going to hurt.”

“Too much effort…”

Even so, Seo Ye-in remained unmoving, as if she had become one with the ground.

At that moment, another savior appeared for Ahn Jeong-mi.

It was the Underworld Dragon King.

Even a human sloth like her who never listened to a word anyone said, showed some level of compliance when it came to requests from her father or godfather.

Because of that, Ahn Jeong-mi’s bow contained a subtle sense of respect.

“You’re here, Pluto-nim.”

“No need for such formalities.”

He wasn’t human. Why bother insisting on human etiquette?

Waving his hand dismissively, the Underworld Dragon King trudged over to Seo Ye-in and spoke to her.

“Niece.”

“Godfather…”

Only then did Seo Ye-in slightly move the pot aside.

The Dragon King looked down at her and asked,

“Why are you so down? You weren’t like this just a while ago.”

“Kim Ho… isn’t coming back…”

“There’s no way that young monarch is coming back now. I heard there’s only about a week left before school starts, so just wait and meet him there.”

“A week… too long…”

Seo Ye-in slumped even further.

The Dragon King spoke again.

“Being apart seems to be making your heart grow fonder, doesn’t it?”

“Longing…”

“No matter how you feel, you’re being a bit too dramatic. Next time, just follow him or lock him up somewhere.”

“Lock him up…?”

The Underworld Dragon King had intended it as a human-style joke, but Seo Ye-in looked up with interest.

Then, as if the tiger plushie were a sparring partner, she hugged it tightly.

“That’s a good idea…!”

While Ahn Jung-mi felt a slight sense of foreboding, the Dragon King moved on to the main point without a care.

“This is why I came today.”

He then pulled out a small box from subspace.

The box was thoroughly sealed with various enchantments, making it seem impossible to open unless you were the intended recipient.

Naturally, there was no way to tell what was inside.

“I heard that young monarch wanted this item. What a greedy kid.”

There were plenty of other good pieces of equipment, yet he insisted on creating something from the space category.

Still, since they had decided to invest in him, both the chairman of Hye-seong Group and the Dragon King agreed to support him as much as possible.

“Fortunately, I managed to track it down by asking around in a few ‘neighborhoods’.”

By “neighborhoods”, he meant other dragons and boss monsters.

Some of them were friendly toward the Dragon King, but most were hostile.

Since he had allied with humans, it was inevitable they’d view him with disdain.

The process of “asking around” those types couldn’t have been easy.

He probably had to negotiate…or, in many cases, beat them into submission.

Perhaps that’s why the Dragon King emphasized this point as he handed over the box.

“I’ll make sure to collect on this debt later. Let him know.”

“Mhmm…”

Seo Ye-in carefully stored the box in her inventory.