The Support Ate it All

There was hardly any information known about Lucky Charm’s luck.

Whether to open a random box or not, who should open it, and when…everything was left entirely to her whim.

Still, because every result so far had exceeded expectations, I thought there must be a reason for the delay in opening the chaos box.

And finally, after several months, she gave the go-ahead.

Maybe she had been waiting for this very moment when the enhancement scroll would be ready.

I made a gesture of placing the scroll onto the Chaos Box.

“Should I use it?”

“Mhmm.”

[‘Random Box Enhancement Scroll’ has been used.]

Fwoooosh!

[Even More Chaotic Old Sapphire Temple Random Box (B+)]

The rank had been boosted with a bonus.

I handed it to Seo Ye-in with great courtesy.

“Here you are, young miss.”

“……”

With Go Hyeon-woo, Hong Yeon-hwa, and me all watching intently, Seo Ye-in stared at the random box for a long time.

Then she looked up and asked,

“What do you want?”

“Would you actually pull it if I said?”

“I’ll give it a try.”

Could that really be something you can just “try” to do?

Even for someone as lucky as her, that seemed like a stretch. But no harm in voicing a wish.

And dreams are best when they’re big.

“I want equipment materials. So I can finish making [Crow Branch].”

“Request accepted.”

Seo Ye-in slowly nodded her head up and down, then turned her gaze back to the random box.

And with great deliberation, she opened the lid.

Fwoooosh!

The next moment, everything went dark.

No matter where I looked, it was pitch black.

I couldn’t have suddenly gone blind, so I tried calling out into the void.

“Guys?”

“Kim-hyung.”

“Huh…?”

Go Hyeon-woo and Hong Yeon-hwa responded right in front of me.

Then I felt something groping around in my direction. It was obviously Seo Ye-in’s hand, so I quietly held onto it.

Once I confirmed everyone was in place, I understood what was happening.

“It’s the random box effect. Let’s wait it out.”

Random box effects vary depending on the item’s type or grade.

Usually, you can guess the outcome by the color or intensity of the light, but sometimes special effects occur. Like when we drew the Cloud Bracelets and the whole area was filled with clouds.

And when it’s not just dark, but so black you can’t see a single step ahead—

That means jackpot.

I stared straight ahead with rising anticipation.

Soon, the darkness began to fade, and the surroundings returned to normal.

Where the random box had been, a single leaf as black as charcoal lay on the ground.

But when I recognized what it was, I couldn’t help but gasp.

This… came out of that?

[Leaf of Chaos (S)]

An S-rank equipment material.

And it perfectly matched my request. Something usable for crafting the Crow Branch.

She said she’d “try” but she actually pulled it off?

Maybe Shin Byeong-cheol only kept getting teacups because he didn’t try hard enough?

Go Hyeon-woo and Hong Yeon-hwa also looked thoroughly astonished.

“Miss Seo’s luck never ceases to amaze. I believe this is the first time I’ve seen an S-rank pulled.”

“Wow…”

“Very lucky.”

In contrast, Seo Ye-in’s attitude was as indifferent as always.

Of course, she didn’t show it much, but she did seem satisfied.

Then she looked at me and said,

“Praise me too.”

She didn’t show it outwardly, but I guess she was secretly a bit jealous of how Hong Yeon-hwa had been showered with praise in this dungeon.

Well, that much I could definitely do.

Especially since she’d pulled such an incredible item.

I shook Seo Ye-in’s hand back and forth.

“As expected of our lucky charm, you’re the best. You’ve got amazing luck, you fight well, you listen well, you sleep a lot, you sleep soundly, you sleep all day.”

“I don’t sleep all day.”

“Okay, you sleep just the right amount.”

No matter how shameless it sounded, everything the lucky charm said was true this time.

Even after all the praise I gave her, it seemed Seo Ye-in still wasn’t done making requests.

“When are we going out?”

“We’ll go sometime soon. I promised, didn’t I?”

Originally, our “hangout promise” was made back during stage 1 of hardship training.

But then we ran into the Witch of Death while wandering around the new city, ended up fighting, and later got caught up in training again. So our plans had been postponed for a while.

Still, we couldn’t keep putting it off forever.

If I wanted her to keep her promises, I had to keep mine too.

So I made a suggestion.

“Let’s go when the auction opens.”

“Auction?”

“It’s happening in a few weeks, in the downtown area.”

…

But it seemed the word Seo Ye-in focused on wasn’t “auction” or “downtown”. It was “a few weeks.”

Judging by her slightly displeased expression.

“That’s too long.”

“Then when would you prefer?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow’s too soon.”

Then Seo Ye-in quietly pulled a rope out of her inventory and started wrapping one end around my wrist, emphasizing her point once again.

“Tomorrow.”

“You’re saying you’ll drag me there if you have to?”

“Kidnap.”

“And where’d you learn that one? The butler?”

– Shake shake.

Meanwhile, Go Hyeon-woo was watching our little scuffle with great interest.

Hong Yeon-hwa, too, was sneaking glances our way, unable to resist the temptation, even as she averted her eyes like she was seeing something she shouldn’t.

Needless to say, I had no intention of meeting any of the three’s expectations.

As I untied the rope, I gently tried to reason with Seo Ye-in.

“Just hold out a little longer. We’re going down into the dungeon together this week.”

“Dungeon?”

“Yeah. We’ll sneak in.”

The raid period lasted two weeks.

But we cleared the dungeon in just a few days.

With time to spare, we were planning to sneak in at least a couple more times and collect the hidden pieces.

Seo Ye-in was intrigued and spoke up.

“I want to go too.”

“Sure, let’s go together. I think you’ll especially like this dungeon.”

“……?”

Seo Ye-in tilted her head in confusion.

So I added an explanation.

“We’re going into a randomized dungeon.”

The underground dungeons each have different narratives, rules, and objectives.

And among them are “random-type dungeons”, where a large part of the strategy relies on luck.

Up until now, we’ve only chosen the reliable ones.

Neither I nor Go Hyeon-woo were particularly lucky, and Shin Byeong-cheol was destined to be a future tea shop owner.

With that kind of luck, challenging a randomized dungeon would’ve been asking for trouble.

Not to mention, our skills were a bit lacking.

In the first semester, our skills and trait combinations weren’t complete, and our ranks were mediocre at best.

Even a small variable could have quickly turned dangerous.

But of course, it’s different now.

All of us had grown far stronger compared to the first semester.

Even if the worst-case scenario happened, we had the ability to push through with skill alone.

Besides, we’re taking along our lucky charm. Would things really go that badly?

As expected, Seo Ye-in showed strong interest in the randomized dungeon.

“I want to go.”

Go Hyeon-woo and Hong Yeon-hwa also looked quite intrigued.

“So it’s a different style than what we’ve done before. Are you all participating too?”

“Not just yet, but soon.”

Even with our lucky sloth in tow, we weren’t about to jump headfirst into our first randomized dungeon recklessly.

The plan was to start with somewhere relatively short and easy and gradually raise the difficulty based on how it goes.

“There’s no need for all four of us to rush in together right away.”

“True. Then I’ll wait for now.”

Then I turned to Hong Yeon-hwa.

“We need to go down sometime too.”

“Mhmm.”

Going into the dungeon with Hong Yeon-hwa was mainly for training [Aqua Flame].

So, we chose dungeons like Winterhalt Fortress or the Sapphire Temple, where water and ice-type enemies would keep coming in waves.

Just a bit more, and she might even reach B-rank.

“It’s better to fully master Hydra first. Let’s focus on the grind for now.”

“Alright.”

Hong Yeon-hwa nodded without complaint.

***

After disbanding the group, I called out Dang Gyu-young separately.

She had been busy with other things, so it took her a while to show up at the meeting spot.

“Why’d you call me?”

“I’ve got a favor to ask.”

“What kind?”

“I need to borrow Byeong-cheol.”

When sneaking into the lower floors, it’s much better to have a guide.

It greatly reduces the risk of getting caught by the disciplinary committee or the staff.

Dang Gyu-young furrowed her brows slightly.

“That’s fine, but you could’ve just asked him directly. I’m really busy today.”

“I wanted to give you this too, while I’m at it.”

I returned the camping gear I’d borrowed.

As she stored each item back into her inventory, Dang Gyu-young asked,

“Wasn’t the tent a bit cramped?”

“We slept all huddled together.”

“Well, it is a two-person tent. I bought it to lie down snugly with someone, you know.”

“Still, we got good rest.”

When I smiled, she pouted and asked again,

“Who are you going down with this time? Go Hyeon-woo? Hong Yeon-hwa?”

“Seo Ye-in.”

Dang Gyu-young blinked, pausing for a moment.

“…Didn’t her family disapprove?”

“I got permission over break.”

“So you went and took care of everything, huh? I guess you’ll be with her all this week?”

“That’s the plan.”

“When are you going with me, then?”

“Next time.”

“When’s next time?”

“Next time.”

Dang Gyu-young leaned in close to my face.

“Kim Ho, it’s not okay to keep treating only me like this.”

“As you know, I’m not doing it on purpose.”

“I don’t know about that. When are we going down together? Hurry up and tell me before I really get upset.”

I replied in a calm tone.

“You’ll need to keep up with Hardship first.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It has everything to do with it. You’ve finished Stage 7, right?”

“Mhmm, just the other day.”

“Then let’s activate it and talk.”

To be honest, calling Dang Gyu-young out was partly because of Hardship.

You have to meet in person to activate it.

[Activated ‘Hardship’.]

[‘Stage 8 Hardship’ has been granted to the target.]

I continued explaining.

“Stage 9 will probably be the final stage for laying the foundation.”

Stages 1 to 3 were about maintaining the shadow in any environment and even in light.

Stages 4 to 6 took it a step further, reinforcing the shadow’s structure so it wouldn’t collapse easily.

Stages 7 to 9 were about learning to control multiple reinforced shadows and getting used to operating at a legion scale.

Dang Gyu-young’s eyes sparkled.

“Really? What comes after that?”

“You start building anew.”

Now that she could manage shadows on a legion scale, there was no reason to only drag around a bunch of butterflies.

So starting from Stage 10, she’d rebuild her setup with skills and traits far more powerful than before.

“You can think of it like a class advancement quest.”

“…Looks like I’ll have to work hard.”

Excitement filled Dang Gyu-young’s face.

I added,

“And from then on, you’ll be going down with me so much you’ll get sick of it. I’ll drag you along whether you like it or not.”

“You’ll drag me even if I don’t want to? How?”

“There you go pretending not to know again.”

“Really? I seriously don’t get it. Show me, just once.”

With that, Dang Gyu-young quietly held out her wrist.

Looks like she was caught up in another roleplay again.

Times like this, it’s best to just play along.

If not, she might actually sulk. Just like she said earlier.

Putting on the most forceful expression I could muster for the sake of perfect method acting,

I suddenly grabbed Gyu-young’s wrist, yanked her toward me, and commanded in a low serious voice:

“Qyu, cancel your entire schedule for the week. We’re going down.”

Dang Gyu-young’s cheeks flushed slightly, and she answered in a faint fragile voice.

“But… I have classes… and I need to manage the club too…”

“World peace comes before all those trivial things. Am I wrong?”

“You’re right… For world peace… hehe!”

She couldn’t keep the act going any longer and burst into laughter.

She kept slapping my shoulder over and over as she giggled uncontrollably.

“Pffffthahahahaha!”

“Wow, you’re really loving this, huh?”

It took a good long while before Dang Gyu-young’s laughter finally settled down.