Ch.179Everyone’s Doing Well – 4

“No! You can’t do it that way! Are you going to make soup with your dual class?!”

“Is it because of Master Kang? Why are you so obsessed with swordsmanship? Use your magic power, you idiot!”

“Just because your main class is Weaponry doesn’t mean your primary attack has to be with a sword! You can focus on swordsmanship but still use your fire magic at critical moments without any problem! Ugh, so frustrating!”

Hearing just this much, one might think, ‘They’re training quite harshly.’

But what’s happening now is by no means mere training. It’s an actual engagement with monsters.

And in that situation, such sharp criticisms were pouring out.

Many monsters had just poured out from a newly formed A-grade gate.

Facing them were Hyunwoo Lee, Hana Kang, Dasom Yoo, and Soohyun Kim.

These four had formed a team and were hunting the monsters.

To be precise, Rina Lee was also included with the four.

But she wasn’t fighting alongside them; instead, she was marking Soohyun Kim and constantly berating her.

She had no interest in the other team members. The storm of nagging was directed solely at Soohyun Kim.

“Won’t something bad happen if she keeps that up, unnie?”

Dasom Yoo, who was monitoring the battle situation from the rear, spoke with a worried voice.

Even with complete concentration, the battlefield was challenging enough.

But Rina kept making all sorts of harsh comments next to Soohyun Kim.

If her concentration broke and an accident occurred, it would be disastrous.

‘Or maybe not? With Rina nearby, she’d probably take care of any threats before an accident could happen…’

It was natural to be concerned. There was no helping it.

Hana Kang seemed to share this concern as she nodded.

“I’m worried too, but if the examiner really thought there would be a problem, they would have stopped Rina from joining us.”

“You think so?”

“Right now, Soohyun is doing well, and we should just focus on our own tasks. If a problem arises, we can formally raise an objection then.”

As Hana said, Soohyun Kim was performing well despite Rina’s harsh words.

Far from losing concentration and floundering, she seemed even sharper as she cut down the monsters.

“Seriously! Are you going to make soup with your magic?! You could finish them with magic, but why do you keep insisting on using your sword and wasting energy? Use your magic power, your magic! You have plenty to spare!”

…In Rina’s eyes, everything still seemed unsatisfactory.

Initially, she had no intention of following them at all.

Rather, she had only been thinking about how she could go with Seojin Baek.

Then suddenly, an “Oh?” moment struck her as a good idea crossed her mind.

Rina didn’t let that thought slip away and immediately put it into action.

Taking on the role of this team’s insurance in place of the departing Seojin Baek!

Did she make this decision simply to score points with Seojin Baek?

It wouldn’t be entirely false, but it wouldn’t be entirely true either.

There’s no way Rina came with such good intentions.

It wasn’t a profitable business to move based on that reason alone.

‘You’re in for it today. I’m going to strip you down to your soul. Time for some punishment!’

The reason she came all this way following Soohyun Kim’s team on her precious day off:

To legally criticize and torment Soohyun Kim.

While Soohyun Kim might be the most promising rookie at the Superpower Academy, to Rina, she’s just ‘Rookie #1.’

Just a chick following a mother hen, that’s about her level.

That’s why she could claim the justification to give harsh words to such a chick!

“Don’t be scared, just look ahead! There aren’t even any monsters behind you yet!”

“What a coward! You could have cut down one more monster from the front in that time!”

“A-grade? Give me a break! Are you already panicking?! Are you crazy?!”

In Rina’s eyes, Soohyun Kim still had many shortcomings.

Starting with how she kept relegating magic to a supporting role.

How she reacted too sensitively, watching out for enemies that weren’t even close.

And how she failed to minimize her movements to conserve energy!

Just because you have a dual class doesn’t mean your main class has to be your trump card.

Rather, you should train your supporting skills to the extreme until you can handle them like your primary attack.

Only then can you cloud the enemy’s judgment at crucial moments and deliver a fatal blow!

For precisely this reason, Rina treated Soohyun Kim even more harshly.

It’s not that she lacks compassion. If it weren’t Soohyun Kim, she wouldn’t be doing this.

She’s pushing her because she’s annoying and wants to torment her.

‘But… what’s with this girl?’

At first, she expected her to listen silently, but eventually be unable to endure.

She would naturally get angry, or even if she didn’t, accumulated frustration would break her concentration.

Then when mistakes happened, she planned to use them as an excuse to push Soohyun Kim even harder—

‘Why is she so calm?’

Despite Rina’s barrage of nagging, Soohyun Kim didn’t get excited at all.

Wondering if she was just holding it in, Rina increased the intensity of her storm of criticism.

But Soohyun Kim continued to engage in battle with a serene demeanor.

She even started correcting the issues Rina had pointed out, one by one.

“Seriously…”

As a result, it was Rina who was taken aback.

At a glance, it might seem like she was acting purely emotionally.

But even this was a carefully calculated action from Rina’s perspective.

Soohyun Kim’s concentration breaking? The team members worried about that?

Of course she knew. She was an S-grade herself, a senior by all accounts.

That’s precisely why she could take such actions.

After all, with her by Soohyun’s side, even if she made mistakes, she wouldn’t die.

She had intended to shake her mentally and make her commit a series of mistakes.

If she showed such vulnerabilities, the plan was to give advice disguised as nagging.

‘This is ridiculous. Is she really Master Kang’s granddaughter?’

Soohyun Kim, as if mocking her, remained completely unshaken.

She was even showing gradual changes by accepting Rina’s opinions.

When some people hear criticism, they just close their ears and ignore it.

Unlike them, Soohyun Kim was accepting all criticism.

“Hey.”

Finally, unable to stand it anymore, Rina stopped her nagging and asked a question.

In response, Soohyun Kim, who had just finished cutting down another monster, glanced back.

“What is it?”

“Why are you putting up with this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you enduring it?”

At Rina’s question, Soohyun Kim swung her sword again to push back a monster.

Then, as if she didn’t understand, she tilted her head once.

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You already knew, didn’t you? That I was nagging you almost provocatively. That I was deliberately trying to break your concentration and create openings, you knew that, right?”

Soohyun Kim’s response was—

“Ah, damn. Don’t smile. I want to hit you.”

She smiled slightly, as if finding Rina ridiculous.

Thanks to that, Rina flared up and raised her fist, but couldn’t bring herself to strike.

Simply making someone mentally distracted versus causing physical harm.

These are completely different issues. Doing the latter would only harm herself.

“Why are you smiling?”

“I know. To make me angry.”

“That’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

“I’m smiling because I’m grateful.”

At Soohyun Kim’s answer, Rina’s expression crumpled once again.

The difference this time was that it wasn’t anger or irritation, but rather tinged with confusion.

“What do you mean… Ah, hey. In front of you.”

“I know!”

Kwararara!—

Following the advice she had been given, this time she used magic instead of her sword.

Thanks to that, the monsters trying to overwhelm Soohyun Kim with numbers began to burn alive.

They seemed to be trying to take away the space for her to use her sword.

But for Soohyun Kim, those gathered monsters were nothing more than kindling.

“What are you grateful for?”

“For everything you’ve done for me so far. You said you were trying to break my concentration, but in the end, what you were saying wasn’t nonsense or useless babble, but actual problems I have. It was a kind of advice, wasn’t it?”

Of course it was. In Rina’s eyes, Soohyun Kim was still lacking.

She pointed out those deficiencies like a senior should, and as a top-tier expert would.

The only problem was that her tone wasn’t helpful but confrontational.

Yet Soohyun Kim didn’t get angry or harbor any resentment.

“So I’m grateful. It’s similar to the examiner’s advice but with a different feel. Thanks to you, I’m absorbing all the areas where I was lacking!”

As she said this, Soohyun Kim giggled again.

Because of that, Rina let out a sigh as if she couldn’t believe it.

“Good job, everyone!”

Finally, they succeeded in closing another gate.

They had also dealt with all the monsters that had emerged, so now they could truly relax.

With the tension slightly eased, Hana Kang and Dasom Yoo sat down.

It’s true that their skills are somewhat inferior compared to Soohyun Kim or Hyunwoo Lee.

Naturally, the tension and fatigue from battle would be more severe for them.

“Do you have anything else to tell me?”

Now Soohyun Kim was reversing roles, asking for more nagging.

In such a situation, there was no way Rina would oblige.

“No! I’m never following you again, you brat!”

“Suit yourself then. Hehehe!”

“Argh! Really, isn’t she a complete witch?! This mischievous thing!”

Meanwhile, Hyunwoo Lee, who had been fighting alongside Soohyun Kim, approached Rina.

Then he started saying he wanted to receive her teachings too, or in other words, he wanted to “get scolded.”

“I said no! Get lost!”

Of course, he had to abandon his intention with a startled reaction at Rina’s rebuke.

‘But what about Seojin oppa…’

As Rina looked around, she burst into laughter.

The extremely unpleasant experience she had when first catching a kraken—

Seojin Baek had now suffered the exact same fate.

“Ah, damn that octopus bastard. Spewing ink like that.”

While wounds could somehow be healed, there was nothing to be done about the ink.

As a result, not only his clothes but also parts of his hair and skin were naturally stained pitch black.