Chapter 53

Chapter 53: Replacement Members (4)

The Osung Building, 9th floor lecture hall.

He'd only ever come here on lecture days, but today was the first time he visited on a different day.

"Welcome. I look forward to working with you for the rest of the semester."

"Yes, sir!"

A-team.

Song Seokhwan's A-team was gone, and in its place stood a new A-team.

It was now Park Seohu's A-team.

On paper, Park Seohu's A-team was the strongest of all four teams.

The other teams had divided up the applicant pool, leaving the balance within each party somewhat unstable, but Park Seohu's team had been assembled in the best possible composition.

Their average specs were also slightly better than the other teams.

And the decisive factor was team leader Park Seohu's presence.

An Seri, Baek Seolhwa, and Song Seokhwan were all outstanding kids, but Park Seohu was at least one tier above even them.

"My course has already completed two of its five exams. We're almost at the halfway point. So you'll need to absorb as much as possible from today's special lecture."

But superior specs didn't automatically make a good team.

The current A-team was the weakest among the four.

The other teams, which had been following my class up to now, were far from pushovers. It would take considerable effort to catch up.

"Let's start by quickly going over the theory. Has anyone read my paper?"

Without anyone leading, students began raising their hands.

Everyone except Na Jinsu.

I'd expected Na Jinsu wouldn't have read it. That was very Na Jinsu of him.

He showed this side in the game too.

Less ambitious than most, with modest dreams -- he'd sometimes been called a bit lazy.

Still, since I'd brought him in, I'd need to think about how to motivate him.

In any case, four out of five freshmen had read it.

It really drove home how popular my paper was.

Popularity was a good thing, but it also brought a slightly deflating feeling.

If only my X-Tube back in reality had been even half -- no, even a tenth as popular as this.

"It'd be a good idea to read it. My lectures are based on that paper, so it'll make it easier to follow along."

"Yes."

"Help each other out within your team too. My class runs entirely on team-based exams, so if any teammate falls behind, it's rough on everyone."

CLICK--

When I pressed the remote, the screen at the front of the lecture hall came on.

The slides from previous lectures appeared on screen.

"Let's begin."

I gave a compressed, condensed overview of the previous lecture material.

For the students, it was unfamiliar content that might feel awkward, but the material itself wasn't difficult.

Everyone listened while nodding along.

"Any part you didn't understand up to here?"

Nobody raised a hand.

Up to this point, I'd only laid out the basic framework, so there was nothing to really question.

The real meat was the practical application that came next.

"I'd love to explain things gently, but... we're short on time, so let's go Spartan-style."

"What?"

KIIIING--

When I activated the artifact I'd prepared in advance, mana filled the space.

The ultimate goal of the class was dungeon strategy.

Learning by doing was the fastest route.

"Wh-What's happening?"

The students panicked.

Before long, a circular magic circle emerged from the lecture hall floor and the spell activated.

The surroundings transformed.

A dark cave.

It was the inside of the barrier used during the last practicum.

"Spatial teleportation?"

"No. It's a barrier."

Park Seohu answered.

As expected of Park Seohu. Sharp.

"Like Seohu said, this is inside a barrier. This is where you'll be taking your lessons from now on. Look here."

I had a bell in my hand.

I threaded it onto a string and hung it around my neck like a necklace.

"Take the bell from me and today's class is over. Simple, right?"

I couldn't use the golems from last practicum -- they weren't available.

They were specialized golems that required considerable time to prepare.

So deploying them for this hastily arranged special lecture was impossible from a time standpoint.

So I decided to do it myself.

"Professor, I have a question."

Park Seohu raised his hand.

"A question? What kind of quest-- ugh!"

WHOOSH!

Park Seohu closed the distance in an instant.

He'd exploited the moment my gaze was drawn to his raised hand. A surprise attack that completely caught me off guard.

He immediately reached for the bell.

SMACK!

I barely deflected Park Seohu's hand and leaped away.

I hadn't expected him to launch a surprise attack like this right from the start.

I applauded the brilliant sense worthy of a genius.

"Nice instincts."

"I thought I caught you off guard, but you dodged that way too easily, don't you think?"

If we finished this that easily, what would you learn from the class?

"Everyone, gather round. Let's start by putting a plan together."

Park Seohu gathered A-team in one spot.

A-team huddled in a circle and began discussing.

Park Seohu was a good leader.

He hadn't been professionally trained in party management the way Song Seokhwan or An Seri had, but he had a temperament that meshed well with anyone and an innate Charisma.

On top of that, his overwhelming individual skill meant he could serve as the team's anchor in every situation.

"Let's go."

A-team's formation was 1-3.

Healer at the center, mages flanking on either side, and Park Seohu at the front.

Last, the assassin Na Jinsu played Free Role.

On paper, it was a formation that made no sense.

Every class in the rear line was incapable of close-quarters combat.

Any exposure to the enemy, however slight, would leave the rear line critically wounded. That's why a solid front line was absolutely necessary.

Furthermore, the rear line was entirely magic DPS, so the front line needed to fill a sufficient amount of physical damage.

The warrior's burden at the front was excessive.

An ordinary warrior would quickly overload and collapse. Even an exceptional warrior wouldn't hold out long.

But A-team's warrior was Park Seohu.

Park Seohu's presence would make that impossible position possible.

That was exactly why I believed this was the optimal approach and had picked A-team's members accordingly.

HUMMM--

Buffs poured onto Park Seohu.

They came from the mages and priest in the back.

"Here I come."

Park Seohu charged at me.

I was satisfied from the start.

The scenario A-team feared most right now was me bypassing Park Seohu and wiping out the rear line first.

Park Seohu stuck to me, leaving not a sliver of an opening.

This was a movement as close to the correct answer as it got.

"Good."

I channeled Aura into my training sword and swung at Park Seohu.

Park Seohu met my strike head-on.

His sense showed here too.

Park Seohu was mirroring my footwork, moving in tandem.

Left when I went left.

Right when I went right.

He always positioned himself between me and A-team's rear line.

He was desperate to keep me from reaching the back.

Then let's see how you deal with this.

TAP--!

I took a long step to the left, and Park Seohu followed.

One feint here.

When I reversed direction, Park Seohu tracked me.

During the brief moment Park Seohu's focus was locked on my footwork.

Now was the opening.

"Inferno."

My target had been Park Seohu from the start.

A massive fire demon engulfed Park Seohu.

SLASH!

Park Seohu cleaved the fireball in half.

His reactions were fast.

He followed up with an upward slash as a counterattack.

I parried it lightly and retreated.

Park Seohu's movement, judged solely on his role of marking me, was absolutely flawless.

But as teamwork, it was a mess.

Time to start the lesson.

"Park Seohu, what are you guarding the rear line for?"

"What? So the rear line can operate freely... ah."

His defense -- following my every step, sticking to me like glue -- had perfectly locked down my movements.

But at the same time, A-team's rear line had also frozen.

Because Park Seohu had completely walled off the space between me and them, the rear line couldn't attack aggressively for fear of hitting Park Seohu.

If they'd been well-coordinated enough to alternate their attacks in sync, maybe, but today was A-team's first day together.

Naturally, there was no way their rhythm was in sync.

"I understand what you're saying, Professor."

Park Seohu widened the gap.

He maintained moderate distance while still hindering my free movement.

And with that, the rear line's feet came unshackled.

Magic poured in intermittently, and Na Jinsu's blade, watching for openings to strike, felt sharp.

Good rhythm.

But this wasn't enough.

"What will you do about this?"

This time, I stuck to Park Seohu.

Every time Park Seohu moved, I followed and used him as a shield, throwing A-team into chaos.

Our movements were now the exact opposite of before.

"Tch!"

Park Seohu needed to manage the spacing well for his teammates to operate freely.

So he desperately tried to create distance.

He overdid it.

"Good effort."

TAP!

I let Park Seohu widen the gap, then immediately charged straight for A-team's rear line.

Park Seohu realized his mistake and threw his body forward, but it was already too late.

"Magic Missile."

BOOM!

The mages had just finished an attack and had no means to defend in time.

A-team's rear line was about to be wiped out.

I deliberately aimed slightly off and blasted the ground beside them.

"You just died once."

Park Seohu's expression hardened.

In a real fight, the front liner's mistake would have instantly exposed the rear line, leading to a total party wipe.

Of course, it was an unfair situation for the front liner.

A single warrior expected to handle all the tanking, manage the boss's entire aggro, create clean openings for the dealers to freely DPS, and on top of that, output respectable damage himself.

But A-team was a party where Park Seohu had to do all of it.

"Let's try again. Don't forget -- proper distance management is the key."

Distance management.

He couldn't be too far or too close.

Park Seohu had to keep me within a consistent range at all times while watching my movements.

In boss fights, when the front liner was solo-marking the boss, this kind of close marking was both essential and extremely effective.

If Park Seohu could make this his own, A-team's future would be much smoother.

"You're too close. This way, the rear can't do anything."

"Yes!"

"Too far this time. You need to protect your teammates."

I said it like instruction, but inwardly I was impressed.

I'd expected it to be difficult even for a genius, yet he'd already grasped the basics.

He wasn't called Easy Mode in the game for nothing.

With starting stats that were untouchable, and growth speed on par with Seo Dayun -- this was nothing short of a monster.

Park Seohu had barely just learned this, yet he was absorbing my teaching at an alarming rate.

Proof of that: the Mentor effect triggered.

-- Mentor's effect activates. A small amount of experience acquired. (Target: Park Seohu)

Unbelievable.

Even when I'd first taught Seo Dayun, Mentor hadn't triggered this quickly.

The relationship between effort and skill followed more of a curve than a straight line.

At first, no matter how hard you worked, your skill only inched upward, but past a certain point, the growth rate suddenly turned steep.

Park Seohu had crossed that inflection point.

I might have miscalculated the balance.

"Haah!"

Before I knew it, Park Seohu's distance management was fairly polished.

He clung to my movements like a snake, locking me down completely.

The magic from behind and the edge of Na Jinsu's blade, probing for an angle of attack, both felt sharp.

CLANG!

I watched for an opening against Na Jinsu, and Park Seohu's sword came flying in.

Things were getting tricky.

A-team's coordinated movement like this created immense pressure.

It felt like being an insect caught in a precisely woven spider's web.

A-team's rhythm had improved considerably too.

But what created this situation was Park Seohu's overwhelming individual power.

SMACK!

At last, Park Seohu's blade grazed me.

I pulled back quickly enough to avoid injury, but Park Seohu hadn't been aiming to wound from the start.

His training sword had cleanly sliced the bell in half.

Park Seohu grinned, showing his teeth.

"We won."

"Yeah. You won."

"Yaaaaay!"

A-team gathered together and celebrated their victory.

The team atmosphere seemed quite harmonious.

Park Seohu was an asymmetric force.

A monster among monsters, at least two moves ahead of any other team leader.

Perhaps A-team, with Park Seohu at the helm, would soon become the strongest team in my course.

"This should be a good wake-up call."

That said, my students weren't the type to meekly roll over for Park Seohu.

No matter who the opponent was, those kids would never give up.

I was excited.

What impact would Park Seohu's arrival bring to my course?