The Support Ate it All

When special items appeared from the random box, they were often accompanied by unique effects.

Judging by the clouds, it must be something in a similar category.

Considering the effect of the surprise magic box, I anticipated a high possibility that the Fluffy Cloud and Storm Cloud bracelets would be replaced with a different bracelet set.

However, perhaps reflecting Lucky Charm’s wish, it seemed that the “cloud” theme remained the same.

From beyond the dense clouds that blocked all visibility, I could hear Seo Ye-in’s voice.

“…Where?”

“Here. Give me your hand.”

Seo Ye-in gently took the hand I offered.

When I shook her hand lightly as if in a handshake, the clouds gradually began to clear.

A pair of bracelets lay where the surprise box had been. They looked almost identical to the previous set.

They resembled thin strands of golden thread connecting small, fingertip-sized clouds.

The only noticeable difference was the addition of a relatively larger cloud among the smaller ones.

When I checked the item effects, it showed:

[Fluffy Cloud Bracelet (A+)]

▷ Summons fluffy clouds.

▷ Fluffy clouds protect the user from magical damage.

▷ Fluffy Fluffy (Cooldown: 1 hour)

▷ Upgradeable

[Storm Cloud Bracelet (A+)]

▷ Summons storm clouds.

▷ Storm clouds protect the user from physical damage.

▷ Soft and Cushy (Cooldown: 1 hour)

▷ Upgradeable

Not bad at all.

The usefulness of the Fluffy Cloud and Storm Cloud bracelets had already been proven in several duel battles and strategy battles.

Now, each had gained an active skill and even an upgrade slot.

Depending on what was added, they could potentially reach S-rank.

As Seo Ye-in examined the item descriptions, she tilted her head in curiosity.

“Fluffy Fluffy?”

“Let’s test them out here before we go. Give me your hand.”

“Mhmm.”

I secured the Fluffy Cloud Bracelet around Seo Ye-in’s wrist, while I wore the Storm Cloud Bracelet on mine.

With a soft pop, a fluffy white cloud and a small storm cloud, each about the size of a fist, appeared. They began darting around and chasing each other as if playing tag.

As I watched them for a moment, I gave Seo Ye-in a subtle signal with my eyes. She promptly activated her skill.

“…Fluffy, fluffy.”

Boom!

The fluffy cloud instantly expanded. It swelled in size until it looked like a thick white smoke bomb had gone off.

So that’s how it blocks magic.

Previously, the small fluffy cloud could only absorb individual spells one at a time, and even then, it couldn’t handle too many at once.

Now, however, its size had temporarily grown so large that it could almost form a wall, providing much wider coverage.

Soon, the fluffy cloud shrank back to its original size. This time, it was my turn to use a skill.

“Soft and Cushy.”

Boom!

The storm cloud expanded and started growing to the size of a large pillow.

While “Fluffy, fluffy” spread wide and thin, “Soft and Cushy” had a more compressed form. It covered a smaller area but with greater density.

The fluffy cloud had the property of absorbing magical attacks, while the storm cloud absorbed physical attacks which explained the difference in their skills.

Seo Ye-in who was interested started poking the storm cloud with her finger.

“Soft and Cushy.”

“Why not lean on it for a bit?”

Seo Ye-in then replaced her finger with the palm of her hand, cautiously leaned her head against the storm cloud, and soon hugged it with a satisfied look.

“…Soft and cushy.”

She looked as though she might fall asleep right there, but her bliss didn’t last long.

The storm cloud quickly shrank back to its original size.

“…….?”

Seo Ye-in turned her gaze toward me with a questioning expression as if to ask, “Why would you ruin this?”

I shrugged and answered casually,

“It wasn’t me. That’s just how long it lasts.”

Both “Soft and Cushy” and “Fluffy, fluffy” provided immense physical and magical defense, but their duration was short-lived.

On top of that, the cooldown was an entire hour, meaning they could only be used once per battle.

Still, their power made them more than enough as a trump card.

“……..”

Despite the explanation, Seo Ye-in still seemed visibly upset.

It looked like she wasn’t too happy about having a pillow given to her, only to have it taken away.

Of course, it wouldn’t be hard to change the topic.

After all, we were in the middle of the downtown area.

“Shall we go now? To the game center.”

“Mhmm.”

As expected, Seo Ye-in perked up and nodded her head in agreement.

***

The Game Center.

We headed straight for the student-only section.

Nearly two months had passed, but the arcade machines were arranged almost exactly as they had been before.

The games were much the same, too. Over half of the machines were still occupied by <Weapon Master>.

It was popular among students and, more importantly, a sneaky point-drainer which probably explained why it dominated the space.

I exchanged glances with Seo Ye-in.

“Let’s check out the prizes first.”

“Mhmm.”

The right way to do this was to set a goal first and then pick the games that would help achieve it.

So we skimmed through the prize list.

[This Week’s Prize List]

– Majestic Aura Effect

– Giant Banana Plushie

– Random Rank Up *2

– All-in-One Whitening Cream

…

“There’s a Random Rank Up.”

That one was rare to come across.

It seemed like a good decision to have come to the downtown area this week.

The downside was that there were only two available, but considering it could improve skills and even stamp coupons, it had to be the top priority.

“…….”

I glanced to the side and noticed that Seo Ye-in seemed eager to get her hands on a Random Rank Up as well.

Next, we checked the conditions for acquiring it.

[Random Rank Up] x2

▷ Condition 1: Achieve a combined total of 15 kills and assists in Weapon Master.

▷ Condition 2: Die fewer than three times.

“This time, it’s a bit easier.”

Last time, we had to split it with Seo Ye-in getting 20 kills and me racking up 20 assists. But now, the requirement was a combined total of just 15.

We didn’t have to stack everything on one person, and the numbers were lower this time.

It seemed the difficulty had been adjusted down a bit since there were only two Random Rank Ups available.

Of course, the rule about failing if you died three times still applied, so we couldn’t afford to let our guard down until the very end.

We took our seats in the <Weapon Master> two-person seats.

Each of us paid 300 points to purchase tokens and inserted them into the machine.

A silhouette of a person marked with a “?” appeared on the screen, rapidly flickering through different images.

The characters we’d play were being randomly selected.

Seo Ye-in watched the screen for a moment before casually commenting,

“Barbarian.”

“You want to play as that?”

“Strong.”

She must’ve had fun playing as the Barbarian before and wanted to try it again.

Back then, she had torn through enemies like a wrecking ball.

While I had played a sneaky support role as a Poison Dart Barbarian.

But I doubt you’ll get the same one again.

Although the character selection was random, the system seemed to cleverly avoid giving players a character they had already used before.

I assumed some kind of magical mechanism was at work behind the scenes.

Still, I didn’t want to ruin the mood, so I kept that thought to myself.

Finally, the “?” over my character disappeared and its form was revealed.

A man wrapped from head to toe in black cloth, holding sharp, thorn-like daggers in each hand.

He crossed the daggers to produce a sharp, chilling sound.

Shing!

An assassin.

Like most assassins, he was fragile and would collapse after just one or two hits. But in exchange, his attack power was immense, and he could vanish into stealth to hide himself.

My favorite character.

Just when I thought that, Seo Ye-in’s character was also decided.

Shing!

It was an assassin, identical to mine except for a slight variation in coloring.

“Why are you copying me?”

“……?”

Seo Ye-in tilted her head from side to side as if to say she had no idea what I was talking about.

Just like that, we became an unexpected duo of assassins.

Well, that’s not so bad.

The assassin was a character heavily influenced by team composition. If luck wasn’t on your side, you’d often end up out of sync with your teammates.

A prime example was being paired with a mage. Both were fragile, so they couldn’t protect each other, and a poorly coordinated move could easily result in both getting caught in area-of-effect spells.

In that sense, having two assassins on the same team wasn’t such a bad combination.

We could move together, synchronize our actions well, and I could handle the strategy.

Before long, it seemed like all the participants had their characters assigned. The screen flickered, and in the next instant, we found ourselves standing in the middle of a lush forest.

“This is a good start.”

“Plenty of places to hide.”

Huge boulders jutted out here and there, and the trees were thick and sturdy, providing excellent cover.

On top of that, the forest was filled with dense bushes, making it an ideal spot for assassins.

Soon, the countdown began, signaling the start of the match.

[3]

[2]

[1]

[Start!]

[Seo-sassin 0K/0D/0A]

[Ho-sassin 0K/0D/0A]

“Alright, let’s go. Start your engines.”

“Vroom vroom.”

We began moving through the forest, carefully observing our surroundings as we went.

Before long, we stopped in our tracks.

“Guests incoming.”

“Guests.”

Because we saw two shadows walking from the opposite direction.

One of them was large and broad-shouldered, while the other was small and slight.

I gave Seo Ye-in an instruction.

“Hide for now.”

“Mhmm.”

As soon as we activated stealth, the two assassins’ figures turned semi-transparent.

In that state, we hid behind cover and waited.

Before long, the enemies came into view. A Barbarian was leading the way and he was followed closely by a Mage.

I gave another instruction.

“Let’s take out the Barbarian first.”

“……..”

Seo Ye-in gave a slight nod in response.

We kept our eyes locked on the enemies while maintaining a state of heightened concentration.

The moment they entered our range, we simultaneously leaped out of hiding and charged straight for the Barbarian.

Four razor-sharp daggers stabbed into vital points like thorns.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!

“What—?!”

A startled shout came from across the student section.

It must have been the participant controlling the Barbarian.

As expected, the Barbarian died instantly from the ambush.

The Mage flinched and tried to react, but his fate wasn’t much different.

Before he could even start chanting a spell, a dagger buried itself in the back of his neck.

Thwack, thwack.

[Seo-sassin 1K/0D/1A]

[Ho-sassin 1K/0D/1A]

“Strong.”

“Strong.”

By the book, we should have targeted the backline Mage first, but with two assassins, our burst damage was overwhelming.

Even close-combat characters like the Barbarian couldn’t survive a single coordinated attack.

On top of that, it was still early in the match, so we’d correctly guessed that they wouldn’t be prepared to counter an ambush.

After securing an easy two kills, I turned to Seo Ye-in and said,

“Let’s stay here for a while.”

“Good place.”

This spot was perfect for hiding, so rather than continuing to move, staying in the area seemed like the better choice.

Even just dealing with the enemies who wandered in would probably be quite rewarding.

With that in mind, I hid among the rocks, while Seo Ye-in concealed herself in the bushes. Both of us waited in silence.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before some “guests” appeared.

“They’re back again.”

It was the Barbarian and Mage duo we had just taken down earlier.

It looked like they were here for revenge.

The Barbarian swung his sword pointlessly at bushes and trees, while the Mage began chanting a spell, ready to fire at a moment’s notice.

Their spirit was commendable, but their skills were lacking for challenging the “Minigame Demon King”.

As they got close, Seo Ye-in and I leaped out of hiding.

Thwack, thwack, thwack, thwack!

Once again, the Barbarian was pierced by four daggers.

The Mage managed to unleash the spell he had been chanting, but we dodged it with ease. I then quickly took his head just like before.

[Seo-sassin 1K/0D/3A]

[Ho-sassin 3K/0D/1A]

“Agh! Again?!”

The victim’s cries echoed through the student section.

Coming for revenge only to be taken out without even putting up a fight. It was no wonder they were furious.

But then, another thought crossed my mind.

That voice… it sounded oddly familiar.

Isn’t that Hong Yeon-hwa?

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