We would experience deployment next in the Guild Experience Program. Deployment referred to heroes intercepting monsters that invaded civilian territory. However, such occurrences were rare in Seoul, so we took a portal to Essence of the Strait’s Gangwondo branch.

“Park Sangho here. I just arrived in Chuncheon. Let me know first if there’s any incident nearby. Ah, I have cadets with me, so anything above intermediate rank, grade 4 will be difficult.”

Park Sangho informed the branch of our arrival and turned to us with a big smile.

“Let’s eat while we wait. I know a good restaurant nearby.”

Park Sangho took us to a fancy, traditional Korean restaurant.

“Four people, please.”

The employee led us inside. While we waited for our food, Park Sangho glanced at me and asked.

“Hajin, how tall are you?”

“Me? I’m 174.”

“So not that different from me,” Chae Nayun interjected.

“What? I’m a lot taller than you. You’re 166.”

Chae Nayun was exactly 166.3 according to my setting. I needlessly attached a decimal unit because I was 174.3. Most main characters had 0.3 attached to their heights.

“What.”

Chae Nayun reacted strangely to my thoughtless statement. She narrowed her eyes and asked, “How do you know my height?”

I froze at her question and couldn’t explain how I knew without being a stalker. I had blurted it out because she poked at my pride.

“Ca, cadet profiles are public.”

“Yeah, but still…”

Drrrk—

The door opened and interrupted our awkward conversation. The server placed several dishes on the table. Korean braised short ribs, grilled fish, steamed egg, octopus sashimi… my jaws dropped at this royal lunch. Everyone else looked completely indifferent.

“Now, let’s eat.”

I picked up my chopsticks at Park Sangho’s words and savored every dish while the other three leisurely talked.

“Do you have a girlfriend, Sangho?”

“I don’t. What’s your ideal type, Nayun?”

“I… like tall guys, so he would have to be at least 185.”

Chae Nayun’s words struck me hard, but I didn’t think it was any different from how guys liked beautiful women. Except for one problem…

“Yeah, my ideal type is someone tall.”

She kept staring at me as she spoke.

“He would have to be at least 15cm taller. Mmm… yeah, 15 cm… 20cm would be too much.”

What did she want me to do about it? Chae Nayun looked away when I frowned. A voice rang out from Park Sangho’s smartwatch in the middle of our meal.

— Deployment order for high-intermediate rank hero, Park Sangho. The coordinate is…

“Let’s go.”

Park Sangho stood up. Yoo Yeonha, Chae Nayun, and I quickly followed after him. We ran out of the restaurant without even paying as Park Sangho kicked off the ground and stormed away. Yoo Yeonha and Chae Nayun similarly chased after him. However, I quickly fell behind even though I ran as fast as I could.

“Is this a wuxia novel? They’re inhuman!”

They practically flew as I realized my lacking stats. It was impossible to catch up to their decades of hard work in just six months.

“Huu… huu…”

I ran without stopping. Thankfully, my thousand-mile eyes kept track of them, so I didn’t get lost. A fight broke out after three minutes. Five limestone golems shot up from the middle of the street. Limestone golems were at least low-intermediate rank, grade 5. They posed a great threat to civilians and smashed the buildings with their huge arms. However, Yoo Yeonha’s whip flew in to restrain them. The golems grew angry as they failed to cut off her whip. Meanwhile, Park Sangho charged in with his spear and thrust at a golem’s core.

“Huk… huaa….”

I continued running to the scene.

After 10 minutes, I finally spotted them with my naked eyes. A short golem around 2 meters tall approached Chae Nayun. She put away her bow and pulled out a sword. Perhaps she thought she could take it on with her sword since it was shorter.

However, limestone golems had a special ability called self-compression. They became sturdier and stronger the smaller they transformed.

Koong—!

Chae Nayun’s sword clashed with the golem’s fist as dust scattered in the air. She fought normally and aimed for the golem’s weak point after parrying its fist to the side. However, the golem intelligently responded by kicking Chae Nayun.

“Uk!”

Chae Nayun covered herself in qi reinforcement, but still flew back and grabbed her stomach. However, the golem gave her no time to rest as it bolted towards her and slammed its fist down. Chae Nayun froze from the fear of close range combat and her lack of experience. Something grabbed her by the waist when the golem’s fist almost made contact.

It took me a moment to realize that aether coiled around her waist and pulled her towards me. It must have read my mind, which screamed, I need to help her!

“…”

I found Chae Nayun in my embrace before I could fully comprehend what happened. I silently stared at her. Honestly, I couldn’t think. Aether… did the right thing. Chae Nayun would’ve been critically injured, but… aether did things a bit awkwardly.

— Gulp.

Chae Nayun swallowed hard. I felt like I had to say something.

“Don’t go near the enemy if you’re going to freeze up.”

I wasn’t in any position to say that since I chose a gun out of fear of close range combat.

“Just fight from afar. Your sword can grow longer than a spear.”

Chae Nayun’s gift was Sea of Magic Power. It increased her innate mana capacity by several tens of times compared to an average hero. Of course, it took a long time to fill up her mana, and she was also limited by how much she could use at once. However, this limit disappeared when she used a sword as a conductor for magic power. That was the true reason why Chae Nayun had to be a swordsman.

“… Let, let me go.”

Chae Nayun pushed me away. She tucked her hair behind her ear and held up her sword once more.

“It just caught me off guard. Take a good look.”

Chae Nayun confidently spoke. Suddenly, I felt someone watching me. Somewhere… above. I looked up and saw a girl looking down at me from the roof a nearby building.

“…”

Our eyes met and I felt like I knew her. She looked just like how I imagined.

“Huaaaap—!”

Chae Nayun charged forward with a strange shout. Startled, I turned and the girl had disappeared by the time I looked back. I felt sorry for her since she was the antagonist who was supposed to be the original owner of aether, Tomer.

“Hey! Help me!”

I heard Chae Nayun shouting.

“The heck.”

Chae Nayun severed one of the golem’s arm and leg, but it grabbed her with its other arm as she dangled like a piñata.

“H-He, help! Ah, uwaaat!”

Chae Nayun screamed for help, but the golem flung her away before anyone could react.

***

“Kuuuu. I’m so exhausted.”

Meanwhile, Yi Jin-Ah stretched after two hours on her computer in Essence of the Strait’s analysis room. Then a colleague approached her.

“Hard, right? You should just make the office clerks do it.”

Yi Jin-Ah analyzed the dungeon’s mana density based on its formation and monsters. She needed to find where the mana density suddenly changed, as well as the traps. It required an entire week even with a team.

“I just need to estimate one last variable. Plus, I’m smarter than them.”

Heroes were superior to ordinary people in every aspect. Yi Jin-Ah believed it was because of superior genes. She was also highly regarded when it came to analysis.

“You said it was a large scale dungeon, right?”

“Yep.”

“And you’re doing that alone? You’re really something.”

The colleague nodded and turned back. Then he spotted a piece of paper on her desk.

“Hey, what’s this?”

Yi Jin-Ah glanced at the paper.

“I don’t know.”

“Isn’t it yours? Ah, but you don’t usually do calculations with a pen.”

“What are you talking about?”

Her colleague curiously scanned the paper. Yi Jin-Ah snatched it out of his hands. It contained several calculations and sentences explaining procedures.

“Oh, he wrote this.”

“Who?”

“Some kid who’s apparently rank 1 in theory. Ha, looks like he managed to write something.”

“You should take a closer look. It looked pretty good.”

“Oh please.”

She snorted as she read the paper to feel a sense of superiority. In her mind, countless cadets thought they were special, but were only mediocre.

However, Yi Jin-Ah’s face stiffened as she continued. The calculations were clean and concise, and every deduction was flawless and persuasive. What caught her attention most was his creativity in approaching the problem.

“The hell.”

She could only utter those two words because the final conclusion was missing. It felt unpleasant, like being interrupted before the song’s highlight.

“Where’s the rest?”

Yi Jin-Ah flipped over the paper knowing nothing was there.

“Let me see too.”

Her colleague reached for the paper.

“Go away.”

Tak. Yi Jin-Ah shoved his hand and carefully folded it into her pocket.

“Hey, you said it wasn’t yours. I found it, so it’s mine.”

“Please, I requested him to do it.”

***

“Ah, I’m so exhausted.”

I returned to the dorm around 9 P.M. Evandel slept on the couch after watching TV. I picked her up and tucked her in bed with a blanket.

“Hmm.”

I thought about showering and sleeping early, but suddenly remembered something important. I headed to the kitchen and took out the butterfly seedling’s dust from the drawer. It still glowed with a brilliant, blue light. There was more than I thought, probably enough for three usages.

“It might be okay for me to use some.”

I divided it into three clumps. As expected, each clump should be enough for its role. I already knew what to use it on. It would be a waste on me because my laptop could already view my status, and I had no hidden potential. However, I could use it on aether.

I condensed aether into a ball and placed it on the table. Next, I grabbed a clump of the butterfly seedling’s dust and sprinkled it on with anticipation. Just like snow, the blue light fell onto the ball and melted into it. Soon, the dust shone in aether’s transparent core. Now, I just had to wait until the light fully spread.

Ding—

My smartwatch rang.

[Hey, thanks for today. By the way…]

It came from Chae Nayun. I stared at her message and waited for her to finish. She didn’t say anything for ten minutes, so I messaged her back.

[What.]

[What.]

Chae Nayun replied instantly.

[What.]

I also replied instantly.

She said the same thing.

[What.]

“Sigh.”

[Just go to sleep.]

[lol No you.]

The conversation ended just like that. I felt somewhat moved by the string of messages. I managed to come this far after starting as an extra with no connection to the main story. If I had to describe myself now, I was undoubtedly one of the supporting characters. A supporting character that could change at any moment with no defined role.

—Ding

I received another message while feeling sentimental.

[There will be a shareholder meeting for Packhorse Master next Friday.]

“Looks like they’re going to announce their next move.”

It wouldn’t be long until I was swimming in money after Packhorse Master conquered the Suwon Royal Devil’s Nest.

—Ding

I received another message from an unknown number.

“What’s up today? I’m getting flooded with messages.”

I frowned when I read it. It came from a certain rude individual.

[Um, cadet Hajin? This is Yi Jin-Ah, you saw me during the day. Can we talk?]

Would you if you were me? That’s what I wanted to write, but she immediately called me. I didn’t pick up. Then I received another message.

[Ah, right, you’re coming to the guild tomorrow anyways. Let’s talk then.]

No, a day was enough to see how a guild operated. I had other things to do, like looking after Evandel and preparing for the story’s next arc. I pulled out Park Sangho’s business card and messaged him.

[Sangho, I’ll be quitting the Guild Experience Program.]

[Huh? Why?]

Park Sangho immediately replied. I was about to say it was for personal reasons, but had a better idea. I could be petty.

[Someone told me to quit because I’m only rank 934. I thought I should allow another cadet the opportunity if I was only going to be berated. Sorry.]