The Support Ate it All-Chapter 339: Death (1)

From the moment I assigned Stage 1 of Hardship to Seo Ye-in, I had expected this. It seemed like moving on to the next stage would be a bit difficult.

Of all things, Stage 1 had to come with a sleep restriction.

There was no guarantee that Stage 2 would have the same condition, but there was no guarantee it wouldn’t either.

It might even get harsher, reducing daily sleep from nine hours to eight.

Just the fact that such a possibility existed was enough to make Seo Ye-in hesitate.

Well, nothing I can do about it.

For now, we had no choice but to proceed without a Hardship quest.

Thankfully, Seo Ye-in didn’t particularly need it.

With her overwhelming talent, I figured she could reach EX-rank just by continuing her training as she had been.

And who knows what will happen later.

If the right opportunity came along, she might even volunteer to take on Stage 2 herself.

There was no need to rush.

Saying she needed to make up for lost sleep, Seo Ye-in ended up sleeping through the entire day.

She would occasionally wake up to nibble on some light snacks, chat with me for a bit to help digestion, and then promptly flop back down and fall asleep again.

She stuck to the Kim Ho pillow like glue the entire time, which meant I had no choice but to rest with her.

And since taking a break meant we had to make up for it with training, we went back to our usual routine for a few days.

Crafting with the Underworld Dragon King, making clocks, and ranking up through sparring with Seo Ye-in.

As a result—

[The rank of ‘Time Share’ has increased. (D→C)]

▷ Share Ratio: 20→20%

▷ Cooldown Reduction: 0→5%

C-rank was when the efficiency of Time Share really spiked.

Even a small cooldown reduction had kicked in now.

It meant that even if 25% of the total cooldown was deducted, the skill could be used again after only 20% of the time had passed.

Looks like C-rank is the end of the road this time.

Since there wasn’t much time left to stay in the city, reaching B-rank was out of the question. It seemed I would need help from the Underworld Dragon King when we met again or find another way to rank up.

Still, this much was already an incredible gain.

There was one more piece of good news.

[The rank of ‘Twister’ has increased. (C+ → B+)]

Twister had also broken free from its long stagnation period and reached B-rank.

With that, the third skill in Spiral Burst was now complete.

Meanwhile, Seo Ye-in had also achieved B-rank in [Ejection], and the power of her magic bullets had increased significantly.

At this point, her attack power could be considered top-tier among first-years.

As for defense, evasion, and utility skills…that would be worked on step by step moving forward.

That should make her more than capable of holding her own against other promising students.

***

After several more days of intense training, it was finally my turn to keep my promise.

In exchange for using Hardship, I had agreed to go out and have fun with her. And to bake cookies together.

That was why, at this very moment, Seo Ye-in and I were standing in the middle of a kitchen.

According to Ahn Jeong-mi, this was the kitchen of a rather well-known bakery in the city, and they occasionally cleared it out whenever Seo Ye-in wanted to bake cookies.

Rich people really do think differently.

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Rather than go through the hassle of building and maintaining a private kitchen, they’d rather just borrow a well-managed one when needed.

Honestly, even I had to admit that it seemed like the easier route.

As expected of a famous bakery, the kitchen was fully stocked with all sorts of ingredients and tools used for baking and pastry-making.

I slowly looked around and checked out the ingredients.

“Doesn’t look like there’s anything spicy.”

“A shame.”

Fortunately, it looked like we were going to bake normal cookies this time.

There were plenty of ingredients, so there was no need to insist on anything spicy.

I casually asked a question.

“Should we make them together or separately?”

“…Separately?”

Seo Ye-in hesitated for a moment, then tilted her head slightly and answered.

So, we decided to each make our own first cookie and then swap to taste.

We each placed a mixing bowl in front of us and started adding ingredients.

As I stole a glance to the side,

She’s putting in the ingredients just fine.

Didn’t look like she was doing any weird experiments this time.

Even the cookies she had baked before didn’t taste particularly bad.

As I stirred the mixing bowl, thinking about that, the dough came together quickly.

Next is shaping.

I stole another glance and saw Seo Ye-in shaping the dough by hand, piece by piece.

Into bizarre, unrecognizable shapes.

For example, the one she was shaping now—

…A stag beetle?

At least the spicy Inferno-flavored cookies had looked somewhat recognizable.

Was it that once the flavor got normal, the shape became a problem?

Come to think of it, I’ve been curious about that for a while.

To solve that little mystery, I rummaged through the shelves.

And then I held something out to Seo Ye-in.

“Shall we use tools, like civilized people?”

“……?”

It was a set of cookie cutters.

No effort needed. Just press down and you get a shape.

There were all kinds, too. Cats, hearts, shells, elephants.

But Seo Ye-in stared at the cutters for a moment, then shook her head.

“Amateur.”

“Using cookie cutters makes you an amateur?”

“Mhmm.”

Then she held out both hands and added a single word.

“Handmade.”

“So if you use cutters, it’s not handmade?”

“Mhmm.”

“I see.”

It seemed like her standards for handmade cookies were extremely strict.

At this rate, I won’t be able to use cookie cutters either.

If I did, then by Seo Ye-in’s standards, I’d basically be baking factory-made cookies.

It looked like shaping them by hand was the only option.

Of course, I had some skill in cooking as well.

I’m good at everything except the things I’m not.

As I skillfully shaped the dough into forms, Seo Ye-in who had been watching widened her eyes a little.

“Expert…!”

“Can you feel the difference in skill?”

“Strong.”

“Do you admit defeat?”

“I’ve lost.”

Sensing an opportunity, I tried to persuade her again.

“Then shall we try using the cutters?”

“No way.”

Seo Ye-in firmly rejected the idea.

It seemed there would be no compromise when it came to cookie cutters.

Her sense of conviction was incredibly strong.

At the same time, she brought her baking tray closer.

“Help.”

“You want me to teach you?”

“Master teacher.”

I had no reason to refuse.

If helping her now would improve Seo Ye-in’s sense of aesthetics, it would probably mean fewer cookie-shape matching challenges in the future.

I held up a piece of dough.

“Watch closely and try to follow along.”

“Okay.”

My intention was for her to get used to it naturally by copying step by step at my side.

Considering she was a beginner, I purposely chose a simple shape.

A house.

A square building with a triangle roof and just one chimney on top. It looked nice and easy.

Then I checked Seo Ye-in’s version of the dough.

Why does it look like a rocket?

“……?”

Seo Ye-in tilted her head repeatedly and kept looking back and forth between the cookie (house) and the cookie (rocket).

It seemed she didn’t know where exactly things had gone wrong.

I figured it was understandable since it was her first time and let it slide.

“Try following me again.”

“Okay.”

But even after that, similar incidents kept happening.

The fish was reborn as a squid in Seo Ye-in’s hands, and the sparrow turned into a crane.

God really is fair.

He had given Seo Ye-in genius-level talent, but apparently not a single ounce of artistic sense.

“…….”

Seo Ye-in compared the dough I had made with her own and looked a little dissatisfied.

After thinking for a moment, I made a suggestion.

“Let’s try a different method. We’ll go half and half.”

“Half and half?”

“I’ll make one half, and you do the other.”

“Okay.”

Before long, we were shaping one piece of cookie dough together.

Technically I said we’d go half and half, but I subtly crossed the line and made corrections, so about 80% of the work was mine.

Still, thanks to that, the dough ended up looking fairly decent.

Seo Ye-in looked at me with her eyes sparkling.

“Success…!”

“Nice. Let’s keep going like this.”

The half-and-half dough continued.

***

We baked cookies to the point of exhaustion and shared them.

With that, I had kept one promise, but the “going out to have fun” part was still ongoing.

So we left the bakery and headed to the next spot.

Or at least, we were about to—

“…….!”

That was when something caught my eye.

A woman dressed in black stood among the passing pedestrians.

She looked like a tourist, leisurely glancing around here and there.

At a glance, there didn’t seem to be anything suspicious, but I couldn’t help but tense up, because I could see more than what appeared on the surface.

No wonder things have been going strangely well lately.

Who would’ve thought I’d run into something like that just walking down the street?

It was too late to run now, and pointless anyway.

She must’ve already sensed me.

Sure enough, the woman in black slowly turned to look this way.

Her eyes flickered with something strange, and then she began walking toward us at a slow, unhurried pace, as if out for a stroll.

“……?”

As I silently stared at the woman, Seo Ye-in followed my gaze and looked in her direction as well.

I gave her a warning with my eyes, and Ahn Jeong-mi who had been on standby quickly moved to our side.

For now, it seemed the woman wanted to talk, as she stopped a short distance away.

Then, in a calm and quiet tone, she began to speak.

“I’ve heard a lot about you from Corruption.”

“What did she say?”

“She said you were dangerous. That you needed to be cut off before you grew any bigger.”

“So that’s why you came looking for me?”

“That’s not it.”

She—the Witch of Death—smiled gently.

Then she slowly turned her head to take in the view of the city.

“I’m not really interested in that matter. I just came to check out the atmosphere here. Running into you was purely a coincidence.”

“If we have no business with each other, then how about we each go our separate ways peacefully?”

“I was going to do that, but…….”

The smile slowly faded from the witch’s face, and her expression turned rigid, like a statue.

“…Seeing you in person has changed my mind a bit. You do look dangerous, just like Corruption said.”

The next moment, everything inside the area was dyed in black and white.

The ticking of a second hand echoed in my ears.

— Tick— Tock— Tick— Tock—

Time freeze.

Judging by how it activated instantly without any complex casting, she had probably used the power of an item.

Right after, the Witch of Death reached me in an instant.

It was the short-range teleportation spell, [Blink].

“…Looks like I really will have to kill you.”

As she said that, she extended one hand forward, and from her fingertips to her elbow, black energy surged and writhed.

Even in this world of black and white, it stood out as a pitch-black color.

Death’s Touch.

An offensive skill that inflicted massive damage upon contact.

Calling it “massive damage” was generous; it was practically an instant death move.

Immobilize the target with [Time Freeze], close the distance with [Blink], and finish with [Death’s Touch].

Most people wouldn’t even get a chance to react before losing their lives to this skill combo.

But of course, I wasn’t like most people.

Good thing I got it in advance.

I had previously copied [Time Resistance] from the Underworld Dragon King.

If I hadn’t, I would’ve had to remove distortion first before copying it.

Just as her pitch-black hand was about to touch me, my figure began to blur.

Swish…

I had activated Ghost Dance.

In that state, I grabbed Ahn Jeong-mi and Seo Ye-in by the arm and pulled them a good distance away.

“!!”

The witch’s hand sliced through empty air in vain.

Perhaps she hadn’t expected me to move; her eyes widened in shock.

— Tick— Tock— Tick—

Soon after, the duration of the Time Freeze ended, and the black-and-white scene was restored to full color.

Seo Ye-in looked around in confusion as she suddenly found herself in a new location, while Ahn Jeong-mi flinched and adjusted her stance.

And just as the witch turned to me and opened her mouth,

“How did you break through ti—”

Boooom—!

A magic bullet flew in from somewhere and struck the back of her head with a deafening crash.