Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Baek Seolhwa (1)

Park Seohu's A-team was satisfying.

Their overall tactical comprehension was lacking.

But by minimizing the other members' tactical roles and leveraging Park Seohu to the extreme, their party management offset every single one of A-team's weaknesses.

One hour before the lecture.

I called only the team leaders in separately and showed them A-team's training footage.

The stated purpose was to have the leaders practice analysis and provide feedback for A-team.

But my real intention was a little different.

Each team's leader was probably full of criticisms to point out when I summoned them.

They probably recalled their own first training sessions.

They'd all improved in many ways compared to back then.

But when the video ended, the shock on every face was unmistakable.

D-team's leader, Oh Jaehak, spoke.

"What the -- how is this even possible? No matter how I look at it, this doesn't make sense......"

I asked Oh Jaehak.

"What do you think doesn't make sense?"

"It's just... these guys are a newly formed team, right? But how is their coordination......"

Park Seohu answered with a humble attitude.

"We were lucky. All the team members are good people with solid skills, so it just worked out that way."

"No, this is on a completely different level......"

Oh Jaehak looked unconvinced.

Naturally, it wouldn't make sense to him.

As Oh Jaehak was thinking, teamwork wasn't something you could build overnight.

Baek Seolhwa spoke.

"Park Seohu's movements are unusual."

Baek Seolhwa was in the same Sword Department as Park Seohu.

Being the same class probably made Park Seohu's movements stand out to her even more.

"Tell me more."

"In the scene just now, Park Seohu appropriately disrupted the Professor's spellcasting. If it were me, I think I would've attacked one more time there."

"There was definitely at least one turn where he had the room to press the attack."

"But Park Seohu used that turn to reposition. By using that turn, the mages in the back were able to attack."

Oh Jaehak cut in.

"Then wasn't it just a mistake? A-team's ace is Park Seohu. It'd be more advantageous for Park Seohu to deal damage."

"Um......"

Baek Seolhwa couldn't answer easily.

She'd pinpointed Park Seohu's movements precisely, but hadn't noticed the organic changes across the entire party.

It was very much like Baek Seolhwa, who markedly lacked the ability to coordinate with her party members.

An Seri answered in her place.

"If he'd done that, the attack would've been effective, but it would've been hard to keep the Professor in check. Park Seohu used that turn defensively."

"Defensively?"

"Yeah. If Park Seohu's attack hadn't landed cleanly there, it would've given the Professor an opening to threaten the rear line. He didn't want to leave that possibility."

"Ah."

When An Seri unpacked the intent in detail, Baek Seolhwa and Oh Jaehak both understood.

Baek Seolhwa in particular seemed lost in thought.

As a fellow swordsman class, watching Park Seohu must have stirred many feelings.

"Right. You all made good observations. To compensate for the lacking teamwork, Seohu moves as A-team's playmaker -- that's A-team's strategy."

Park Seohu was similar to an orchestra conductor.

Just as musicians watch the conductor to keep time, A-team watched Park Seohu and aligned their movements accordingly.

This was the result.

"Now it's feedback time. What are A-team's problems? What needs to be fixed?"

An Seri answered.

"If you lock down Park Seohu alone, the entire party goes limp. Pinning him one-on-one might be impossible, but if the enemy numbers increase and the coverage area widens, or if they encounter a monster with party-disrupting skills, things will get extremely difficult."

As expected of An Seri.

She read the overall picture and pinpointed A-team's problem precisely.

"That's right. A one-man team is comfortable, but its weaknesses are also glaring. So A-team should gradually start sharing responsibilities going forward."

"Yes, sir."

Once A-team's feedback was roughly done, it was time for the lecture.

***

A-team stood out during the lecture too.

What I'd valued most in the interviews was each student's motivation.

Since the new students were the most enthusiastic listeners, it stimulated the other kids as well.

Seeing A-team gather after the lecture to go train together must have lit a fire, because D-team assembled too.

D-team's teamwork was already at a level where individual training would've been more beneficial, but whatever the direction, doing something with effort was what mattered, so that was fine.

A-team was fulfilling the role I'd hoped for splendidly.

Everyone was conscious of A-team.

And among them, the one most affected was Baek Seolhwa.

"......"

As I was about to leave after the lecture, Baek Seolhwa grabbed my sleeve.

"Professor, just a moment."

Baek Seolhwa had intense pride.

She knew she was a genius.

She also had the hunger to become the best.

But the enormous wall named Park Seohu was one she couldn't climb over.

Baek Seolhwa saw Park Seohu as a rival.

She didn't show it in front of Park Seohu, but in the game too, Baek Seolhwa had always wanted to surpass him.

Having watched Park Seohu join my class and shine, her desire not to lose would be stronger than ever.

"Do you want to beat Park Seohu?"

"......!"

Caught, Baek Seolhwa's eyes went wide.

Then she gave a small nod.

"What did you feel watching A-team's footage?"

Baek Seolhwa thought for a moment, then answered.

"Watching Park Seohu, I realized just how lacking I've been as a leader."

Leader.

In a typical party, the leader also serves as a commander.

An Seri and Song Seokhwan were natural-born commanders.

But Baek Seolhwa had no talent for command.

So I had recommended that Baek Seolhwa give up the commanding role and operate freely.

Back then, Baek Seolhwa had accepted easily.

The children of major guilds and Baek Seolhwa came from entirely different upbringings.

So Baek Seolhwa had played to her strengths in a different direction instead.

But Park Seohu was different.

He hadn't been trained since childhood either, nor was he a rear-line archer or mage issuing orders from the back.

Yet Baek Seolhwa had failed as a commander, while Park Seohu had succeeded.

"Could I do it like Park Seohu too?"

Baek Seolhwa had no talent for it.

I'd tried it multiple times in the game, but the results had been dismal.

Her hidden stats for command, as verified through Teachings of Seshet, were a mess.

Park Seohu's path didn't suit Baek Seolhwa.

Crushing Baek Seolhwa's resolve would have been easy.

This girl trusted me.

If I said "no" firmly, she'd give up without much fight.

Walking a deliberately difficult path when a proven one already existed would be foolish.

"Hard to say."

But I couldn't bring myself to say it firmly, and my words trailed off.

This could become nothing more than false hope.

Even so, I was curious.

Should I crush Baek Seolhwa's wishes and force her down the path the game had proven?

Was that really the right answer?

The appearance of Bonibatus had changed my thinking in many ways.

A mere conflict with Song Seokhwan had completely twisted the order of the Scenarios.

In all my years of playing the game, something like that had never happened. Not even once.

Perhaps I'd been thinking of this world too simply all along.

The place where I stood was, at the very least, reality -- not a game.

Trivial actions had changed far too many things.

In that situation, could everything I'd believed was the right answer truly be correct? A variable that never existed in the game could emerge at any moment.

"We'll find out by trying."

"...Really?"

"Of course."

Baek Seolhwa paused for a beat, then said,

"Honestly, I thought you'd be against it, Professor."

"Yeah?"

"Yes... To be honest, I don't have talent in that area. I don't mesh well with others. I'm not sure I can cooperate with my teammates."

"True."

Like Baek Seolhwa said, I couldn't picture her getting along with her teammates.

"You'd probably attend lectures alone, spend your free periods shuttling between my office, the dorm, and the Training Hall, you wouldn't participate in department activities, probably no clubs either, naturally no upperclassmen you know, and the only classmate you'd share personal conversations with would be Park Seohu......"

Baek Seolhwa's face turned bright red.

Then she kicked my leg and screamed.

"It's not that bad!"

She was a warrior, alright -- it hurt like hell.

I barely swallowed the scream that climbed to the tip of my tongue.

"That hurts."

"I kicked you so it would hurt."

Baek Seolhwa glared at me with predatory eyes.

I'd thought Baek Seolhwa was a confident loner, but she was surprisingly self-conscious about it.

"Anyway, if you really want to do this, I'll give you every support I can."

Baek Seolhwa nodded with a solemn expression.

"I want to try."

"Got it."

I wanted to see something new -- something I didn't know.

Baek Seolhwa working with a party. Baek Seolhwa as a commander leading her party.

A sight that couldn't be seen in the game.

But this wasn't a game.

Living, breathing people -- not fragments of data. Surely it was alright to believe in that possibility.

***

I brought Baek Seolhwa to the Training Hall.

The training I had for Baek Seolhwa was the same distance management drill I'd done with Park Seohu.

"Watch this."

KIIIING--

I shaped my mana and drew two circles centered on myself.

The small circle had a radius of about 50 centimeters. The large one, 2 meters.

"See the two circles? They'll move with me as the center. Seolhwa, you have to stay between the two circles. Step outside for more than 3 seconds and you're out. Time limit is 10 minutes. Think you can do it?"

"Yes."

Baek Seolhwa answered with confidence.

She was underestimating it. That cockiness would cost her.

"Begin."

WHOOSH!

I swung my sword, and Baek Seolhwa blocked.

Perhaps because she was conscious of the circles on the ground, her swing carried less force than usual.

I clashed with her several more times, but she still felt sluggish.

This wouldn't do.

I pushed Baek Seolhwa harder.

"Ugh!"

As my movements grew fiercer, Baek Seolhwa became more aggressive too.

Good. This was what I wanted.

Her wooden sword, wielded with technical precision and flowing with the grain, rang out with a clear note instead of the usual clatter of wood.

Fifteen seconds of that, and the drill was over.

"Stop."

"What?"

"Look at your feet."

"......!"

Baek Seolhwa had stepped inside the small circle, and 3 seconds had passed.

She'd been so focused she hadn't even noticed.

"This won't be an easy drill."

I'd assigned the same drill Park Seohu had done, but I had no intention of teaching Baek Seolhwa the same perfect distance management.

That wasn't something you could replicate through training alone to begin with.

What Baek Seolhwa needed right now was an expansion of her vision.

When Baek Seolhwa entered combat, her field of view narrowed drastically, and she focused solely on the enemy. That made it impossible for her to pay attention to how her allies were moving.

This was a fatal flaw in teamwork.

The narrow vision was largely caused by her Eruption talent.

An ability that grew stronger the more her emotions intensified.

Some had disparaged warriors without Eruption as "half-baked," but that wasn't really the case.

Eruption was a double-edged sword.

"Focus on the enemy in front of you, but don't pour all your attention into it. If you do, you'll never be able to coordinate with your teammates."

Eruption's possessors had more extreme emotional swings than most people.

No matter what they were thinking beforehand, the moment combat started, those thoughts shut off.

That was why warriors with Eruption were usually assigned the simplest possible roles within a party.

Naturally, it was exceedingly rare for a warrior with Eruption to serve as a commander.

First, she had to overcome that state.

"Again."

Distributing attention appropriately was easy to say but far from easy to do.

After a few exchanges of the sword, Baek Seolhwa was inside the circle again.

This time she didn't even last 10 seconds.

"Again."

This time, 9 seconds.

Baek Seolhwa didn't hesitate and resumed the drill.

"Again."

This time, 7 seconds.

The time was steadily decreasing.

Wait.

Why does the time keep going down?

Steadily decreasing -- so what?

It was so natural I nearly fell for it. This wasn't a speed run -- it was an endurance test.

It seemed to be the effect of Eruption.

The more she fought, the stronger its effect grew, and she appeared unable to keep her emotions in check.

"Let's catch your breath for a moment and try again."

"...Okay."

Baek Seolhwa plopped down on the spot.

It was clearly going far worse than she'd expected.

"Don't take it too hard. It's not that you can't do it -- most warriors with Eruption end up like this."

"This Eruption thing... now that I think about it, it's really inconvenient."

"On the other hand, without Eruption, you wouldn't be able to focus 100 percent of your attention on your opponent like you do now."

"...I was being ungrateful."

Baek Seolhwa picked up her sword again.

But nothing improved. Her first attempt of 15 seconds remained her best record.

It was far worse than I'd initially thought.

In the end, the training continued until evening and wrapped up with no real progress.