The Support Ate it All - Chapter 595: Long-Distance Blackmail

“It’ll be rest soon.”

Seo Ye-in said that and stretched out her hand to the side, then grabbed one of the floating hologram balls and threw it.

Depresso-Sloth immediately used Featherstep to evade—and then counterattacked.

“You’re already way behind. Eight hits.”

Just like in the evasion duel, it was stubbornly digging its heels in.

Seo Ye-in’s brow twitched slightly, but it looked like she planned to prove it with actions instead of words.

She stepped through the cluster of hologram balls with Featherstep, then—WHIP, WHIP, WHIP—snatched and hurled several in rapid succession.

Some flew straight toward the opponent, while others shot off to the side for no reason, and some soared high into the sky.

It wasn’t that Seo Ye-in’s throwing had suddenly regressed.

Every single one of those throws was deliberate.

‘She’s trying to confuse it.’

So it wouldn’t know which ball she was going to use [Space Fold] on.

Depresso-Sloth tracked the trajectories of the balls, then started moving.

For the ones coming straight at it, it shifted diagonally to slip past them,

and for the ones flying as if they’d predicted its retreat path, it stopped briefly and let them pass.

More hologram balls came flying in immediately after.

But then one of the straight-flying balls flashed and vanished—only to reappear far ahead.

Even though it had been a surprise [Space Fold], Depresso-Sloth barely avoided it and kept stepping through with Featherstep.

And then—

A hologram volleyball that had fallen from high overhead went THUNK into the top of its head and bounced away.

She’d been tossing balls upward in the gaps, luring it into that space.

Seo Ye-in spoke in a smug tone.

“Works.”

Depresso-Sloth said that and began hurling hologram balls one after another.

It looked like it was copying her exact tactic.

But it didn’t last long before it got smacked in the forehead by a hologram ping-pong ball.

Next, a basketball grazed past its shoulder.

‘The skill gap is huge.’

The mirror image’s specs and skill were the same as when she first received the quest.

Meanwhile, Seo Ye-in’s ability had shot up steeply through the intense throwing duel.

So even if it used the same tactics, Depresso-Sloth was the only one getting hit in a one-sided beating.

Maybe that was why—because before long, it swept away the hologram balls and slumped.

“It’s because you’re losing.”

“But what can you even do about it.”

It was going to come out again next time, too?

Of course, as things stood, that was entirely possible.

Competing against your mirror image really was the most efficient.

Seo Ye-in tossed out one last line.

“Rival, I’ll be looking forward to it.”

Depresso-Sloth slowly nodded up and down, then dispersed.

Seo Ye-in shared the quest window with me.

[Sub-Quest: Stage 12 Austerity] (Completed)

▷Greatly reduced ‘Space Fold’ cooldown

▷Objective: Win a throwing duel against your mirror image

▷Deactivation: [Distortion], Ghostless Shadow, [Bullet Time]

▷Reward: Bonus to Space Fold growth

Then we checked the notification message that appeared afterward.

“It went up.”

“Space Fold?”

“Yeah. Rank B.”

It had been D, climbed to C during the throwing duel, then rose one more stage from the quest reward.

‘Time to refresh immediately.’

[‘Copy – Skill’ will be used.]

[The target’s skill ‘Space Fold (B)’ will be registered to the slot.]

▷Copy-Skill[4/4]

I bowed and scraped repeatedly toward Seo Ye-in.

“Ahh, thank you every single time.”

“Is the cooldown back?”

“It is. Should we apply it right away?”

“Yes.”

Looks like her “push hard while it’s less annoying” mindset was still intact.

Feeling satisfied, I cast [Austerity].

[Stage 13 Austerity has been bestowed on the target.]

And when Seo Ye-in used the Challenge Book too, just like before, light projected itself a short distance away.

‘Looks like it came out again.’

That stupid “some kind of duel with your mirror image.”

When Depresso-Sloth finished forming, it spread both arms wide.

“Rival, you won’t die.”

Then Depresso-Sloth trudged off toward one corner of the training grounds.

It was trying to start whatever duel it was.

But instead of following it, Seo Ye-in and I turned our heads and looked up at the sky.

The evening glow that had been red was slowly darkening.

“Let’s stop here for today.”

“Let’s.”

“We’re going out tomorrow, so we’ll finish the rest after we get back.”

“Confirmed.”

Seo Ye-in nodded once.

We left Depresso-Sloth behind in the training grounds and headed for the guest annex.

*****

The front-line fortress.

An old castle that looked like it had been dragged out of the medieval era was surrounded by equally old walls.

It looked so unstable it might collapse if you tapped it.

But the truth was the opposite.

The fact that it had preserved its ancient form was proof of the fortress’s sturdiness.

It meant that despite its position on the front line—despite enduring countless foreign invasions—it had never once fallen.

Of course, it wasn’t that the castle itself contained something special.

It was closer to a result of slapping on every cutting-edge facility, piece of equipment, and magic imaginable.

The interior was also built out in an extremely modern way.

And there was a man walking straight through its center.

A huge, muscular hulk—close to two meters tall—with bulging mass all over.

On both hands he wore something halfway between gloves and armor.

He was the S-rank hero, the Fist King.

Following behind him were the Dragonslayer Academy second-years (planned).

Jo Byeok maintained a posture almost identical to his master’s, Go Hyeon-woo wore a faint smile at the corner of his mouth, and Han Somi was grinning ear to ear.

Soon, they stopped in front of a single girl sitting there.

A young, childish appearance that didn’t suit the front-line fortress at all.

But unlike her looks, a curt voice flowed from her mouth.

“Why are you all swarming over here again?”

At the Sword Empress’s words, the Fist King answered like he was shouting.

“We decided to enter the dungeon!”

“The dungeon—there?”

“If not there, then where else would it be!”

Well, there was only one dungeon in this area.

The Sword Empress seemed to grasp the situation at a glance. She flicked her eyes toward Go Hyeon-woo, then clicked her tongue and glared at the Fist King.

“You ignorant barbarian. You’re that old, and you’re letting kids play you?”

“I’m not being played! And they aren’t ‘kids’ either!”

The Fist King set a hand the size of a pot lid on Go Hyeon-woo’s shoulder.

“I heard the detailed reason from this man! Why he’s so obsessed with that dungeon!”

“I heard too, you know?”

“He says he wants to repay a debt of the heart! He says he wants to help a respected friend!”

“I said I heard.”

“How!! Noble!! It is!! Truly a man—!!”

The Fist King’s voice boomed and echoed.

And as he said, Go Hyeon-woo had already received a strategy guide from Kim Ho.

It was to retrieve the Hidden Piece.

But the dungeon’s grade was A-rank.

He absolutely needed help from either the Fist King or the Sword Empress, and Go Hyeon-woo tried to persuade them even if it meant throwing away his pride.

At first, the Fist King had let it go in one ear and out the other, but once he heard his disciple Jo Byeok’s request and the full circumstances, he changed his mind.

On the other hand, no matter what the circumstances were, the Sword Empress had not even the slightest intention of going through hardship for the sake of “third place in unlikability.”

Shaking her head, she spoke.

“Go by yourselves.”

“Master! Come with us!”

Han Somi had begged like that more than once, but the Sword Empress wouldn’t budge.

“No, you little brat. Seriously—raising disciples is nothing but a waste, a waste.”

Going head over heels for some random guy and handing over your liver and gallbladder—your deeds and house deeds—everything.

At that moment, Go Hyeon-woo—who’d been wearing a bitter smile—carefully opened his mouth.

“I’m only telling you now, but I have a message from Brother Kim.”

“……From that bastard?”

A strange light flickered in the Sword Empress’s eyes.

But the next moment she recoiled and waved her hand like she’d been swatted.

“Ah, forget it. I’m not listening. Don’t say it.”

“Will you be all right with that.”

“…….”

The Sword Empress’s face crumpled.

If it was that bastard, he’d definitely predicted this exact reaction.

And if she ignored it, something horrific might happen.

So, grinding her teeth, she grabbed Go Hyeon-woo by the arm.

“You. Come with me.”

She dragged him somewhere with fewer people, then fired the question.

“What did he say?”

“As you just heard, it seems the Fist King has taken an interest in me and Brother Kim. I answered several questions.”

“……And?”

“He was also curious about what happened during the tournament, so I relayed what I heard from Brother Kim—”

The Sword Empress’s eyes flew wide.

She seized Go Hyeon-woo by the collar and barked in his face.

“Hey! You shameless little punks! We agreed you wouldn’t talk about that!”

“That” meant her getting brutally beaten by Kim Ho in the tournament preliminaries.“

She’d even demonstrated [Graft and Transplant] in exchange for keeping it secret—and now he was bringing it up like blackmail.

But Go Hyeon-woo asked back in a slightly baffled tone.

“What are you referring to?”

“You know! The preliminaries!”

“I heard nothing about the preliminaries.”

“……Really?”

The Sword Empress’s eyebrow lifted slightly.

Did I misread it?

If he broke trust, then blackmail wouldn’t mean anything, either.

Because there’d be no guarantee he’d keep it afterward.

Go Hyeon-woo added one more line.

“Brother Kim also said he would ‘keep what you’re worried about a secret, continuously.’”

“Mm, of course he should……. Wait.”

As if realizing something, the Sword Empress frowned.

“‘What I’m worried about?’ So he’s talking about other things?”

“There was no promise, was there?”

“What are you going to talk about?”

“He said you would know better. ‘Pocket watch,’ ‘a bet,’ ‘mountain ginseng’…….”

Every time a keyword came out of Go Hyeon-woo’s mouth, the Sword Empress’s body trembled again and again.

Because the painful memories replayed in her head.

Going into Dungeon 24, [Falsberry Great Plains], to stop the Witch of Exhaustion—only to unwillingly retrieve the Hidden Piece, a pocket watch, for him.

Watching the tournament and making a bet with Kim Ho—only to take an outrageous loss.

And with the merit of killing the Witch of Exhaustion piled on top of it all, she’d ultimately had to hand over an S-rank elixir, the Snow Ginseng Doll.

What would the Fist King do if he heard stories like that?

It was basically guaranteed he’d laugh until he cried—and there was a high chance he’d drag it out as a drinking-story snack whenever he felt like it.

‘But this is infuriating in its own way.’

It’d been months, and he still had to dig it up just to blackmail her?

Should she just shrug and say, “It’s just embarrassing history,” and throw it away?

But Go Hyeon-woo had nothing to lose.

If two S-ranks teamed up, the clear would simply be easier. Even with only the Fist King, they could still clear it somehow.

After finishing the calculation, the Sword Empress ground her teeth and said:

“Then I’ll go! I’ll go!”

“Thank you sincerely for helping us.”

“You’re not saying a single word—NOT EVEN THIS MUCH—about what happened then!”

“How could I possibly.”

Then Go Hyeon-woo bowed deeply in a polite angle.

“I apologize. My junior had nothing else to offer you, so we had no choice but to use this method.”

“……If only you were at least an asshole.”

The Sword Empress grumbled and turned away.