Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Back to the Academy (3)

On the opposite side of the Training Hall, Park Seohu was vigorously whacking a training dummy.

We watched Park Seohu train for a while.

Jo Seongung began rambling and bragging.

"Look at our Seohu's form. Perfect, right? Who would think that's an Academy student? That kid's level of polish doesn't fall behind even high-ranking Heroes."

"Ah, yes."

"You know what's even more amazing? That's still the starting phase. I've been having him train exclusively on fundamentals to build a perfect foundation."

"I see."

"Yeah, yeah. Normally, even the most talented kids need at least a year of learning before they can move to the next phase, but our Seohu is so perfect that I'm about to start transitioning him to the next phase......"

I felt bad for Jo Seongung, but this was a topic I had zero interest in.

What was I supposed to do with information about how fast Park Seohu learned what technique?

Come to think of it, this was actually annoying.

I had plenty of students to brag about too.

"What good does that do? He still lost to our Seolhwa."

"What?!"

I'd said it half as a joke, but Jo Seongung's eyes spun wildly.

Jo Seongung drew a firm line, as if he would not tolerate any comparison with Park Seohu.

"That was just a team difference!"

"What kind of argument is that? It's not a one-on-one arena — dungeon raids are done as a party."

"Agh, come on! Swap the swordsmen and try again! Our Seohu would definitely win!"

"The balance of individual skill is well-matched across all parties. Seohu just lost because his ability to lead a party is lacking."

"Anyway, in terms of pure skill, our Seohu is absolutely on top! He's not the valedictorian for nothing! The best at the Academy is Seohu!"

Since Jo Seongung maintained his stubborn stance, my competitive streak kicked in too.

"And yet Park Seohu's A-team placed fourth."

"Seohu is a genius that comes once every thousand years! This kid is just a masterpiece born of the Sword Saint himself!"

"And he placed fourth?"

"Just give him ten years and he'll turn the world upside down!"

"What good is that? He's still fourth."

"...That damn fourth, fourth, seriously!"

"If it bothers you, maybe don't place fourth."

"Ugh, then what about that Seolhwa girl? Let me tell you as someone who was once called the Sword Saint. That kid has no talent. She's done for, I tell you, done for!"

Realizing this wasn't working, Jo Seongung changed tactics.

Jo Seongung began badmouthing Baek Seolhwa.

"What's wrong with our Seolhwa?"

"At best, she'll be at the bottom of S-rank! She's reckless and her swordsmanship is sloppy, so she'll never amount to anything big! She's just a child the Sword Saint discarded. You're telling me a kid like that beat Seohu? Ridiculous."

Some of it was true.

In the game, Baek Seolhwa wasn't at the bottom of S-rank as Jo Seongung claimed, but she couldn't crack the upper tier among Playable Characters.

Park Seohu, on the other hand, was universally acknowledged as the strongest in the game.

Among Playable Characters, his potential was overwhelmingly superior.

"It's true that Park Seohu is more talented."

"Yeah, that's right!"

"And yet Seohu placed fourth, while Seolhwa placed first. Where do you think that difference came from? It's effort."

"E-effort?"

"Yes. Seolhwa trained until her bones ached and surpassed her own limits."

But Baek Seolhwa had surpassed the limits set for her in the game.

At this point, even I couldn't predict how she would grow.

Jo Seongung's face turned beet red.

"A-are you saying our Seohu doesn't put in the effort?"

"Comparison is relative, so if you insist on interpreting it that way, Professor Jo, then I suppose it could mean that."

"You... you don't even know how hard Seohu works......"

"Um, what are you two doing here?"

"Hm?"

Park Seohu, who had been training far away just moments ago, was now standing right next to us.

He was looking at us with an awkward expression.

"...Let's stop."

"...Agreed."

And so ended a fight that left nothing but wounds on both sides.

***

Park Seohu, having been briefed on what happened, wore a dumbfounded expression.

"That's so trivial. Why would you fight over something like that?"

"Shut it, you punk! This is all because you keep losing to Baek Seolhwa!"

"Who loses because they want to?"

"Always talking back!"

"Yeah, yeah. It's all my fault."

He said that, but Park Seohu looked rather pleased.

Jo Seongung's words were rough, but affection oozed from every one of them.

Just watching him fervently brag about his student moments ago made that clear.

"You know what Professor Cha said about you? He said you're so lazy you're completely useless! So pull yourself together and train!"

When did I ever say that?

Even if the nuance was similar, words could mean entirely different things depending on how you said them.

That was a complete fabrication.

"Why are you selling my name like that?"

"It's not a lie."

"It is."

"No, it isn't."

"Yes, it is."

"I told you it isn't."

I was about to keep going but stopped, worried I'd end up looking like I was on the same level as this man.

Retreating was the winning move in this fight.

"Anyway, setting that aside... Seohu, you're not satisfied with A-team's results, are you?"

"Um... no."

Park Seohu cautiously opened his mouth.

It was only natural.

Park Seohu, the entrance exam valedictorian and top of his class, could never be satisfied with a mere B.

Park Seohu was starving for an A+.

"Let's go."

I took Park Seohu and Jo Seongung to my office.

To fix a problem, you first needed to understand specifically what the problem was.

"Watch it yourself and analyze the issues. Everything starts from there."

I played the footage of the third dungeon raid and showed it to the two of them.

A-team's performance played out in full.

After the footage ended, Jo Seongung spoke.

"Now that I've seen it directly, it's clear. As expected, Seohu is beyond Academy level. This is just a team problem."

"No. If I'd just done a little better......"

"Come on, you moron! A swordsman did that much and you want to do more?"

Jo Seongung's credibility was questionable, but he was right.

Park Seohu had done everything that was expected of him as a swordsman.

Park Seohu thought for a moment, then spoke.

"When we faced the third monster, I wasted one exchange. I could've finished it faster."

"And?"

"In the second stage, at this scene, I should have moved downward instead of upward."

"And?"

"In this scene, the angle of my sword path......"

"Stop."

However, as a leader, Park Seohu was not perfect.

Compared to An Seri, his ability to read the overall situation was markedly inferior.

This was Park Seohu's problem.

I'd told him to identify the party's problems, and he was giving feedback on himself.

"Minor mistakes like those are unavoidable unless you're a seasoned veteran."

"But if I recognize them and correct them, I can get better."

"Sure. Fix them and you'll save maybe three to ten seconds per instance on the raid time. So if you eliminated every single one of those mistakes, how many minutes would you shave off total? I'd say less than two."

"Is that... so?"

"Pruning small branches is something you do after the main trunk is complete. You need to fix the main trunk first."

Compared to the last supplementary session, A-team had improved greatly.

Everyone's individual skills had advanced, and the coordination between members was solid.

But there was one problem.

"The main trunk?"

"Do you know what your team's concept is?"

"Um... I do the playmaking and the other party members deal damage?"

"To be more specific, all your party members do is deal damage. Their positioning, their damage angles — everything depends on you. This is definitely not a normal structure."

A-team's concept right now was, to put it bluntly, a Park Seohu one-man team.

Cohesion wasn't something you could build overnight.

So I'd deliberately chosen a tactic that didn't require much cohesion.

"Getting to fifty points is possible overnight. Just like you all did."

All I had to do was give the team members as little to do as possible.

In other words, when there's nothing to do, there's nothing to mess up.

Park Seohu slapped his palms together.

"But that tactic can't aim for anything higher — that's what you're saying?"

Park Seohu easily understood the point I was trying to make.

I nodded with satisfaction.

"That's right. A one-man team has its limits. You need to gradually reduce your role and let the others take more initiative in leading the team."

"But... can they manage it?"

Park Seohu's concern was valid.

The reason A-team had adopted this approach was that they'd had less time than the other teams.

If they tried to do what the other teams were doing at this point, there was a chance they'd fall even further behind.

"If you're worried, you don't have to change."

"...What?"

"At this rate, if you work hard through the remaining time, you'll get a B+ at best. You'd just have to give up on A or higher."

"Give up......"

Park Seohu's expression turned grave.

The resolve not to give up even if it meant walking a thorny path was visible.

"I can't do that. I want to make A-team the best team no matter what."

"Good thinking."

Park Seohu gave exactly the answer I'd hoped for.

I pulled out a file I'd prepared in advance and opened it on the computer.

"Look here. Up until now, your party has operated with one front-liner and three rear-liners."

"Yes."

"When attacking, the front-liner draws aggro, then opens angles for the rear-line dealers. Like this."

I opened the prepared material and showed Park Seohu a visual diagram.

It was an image of Go stones placed on a board.

Six Go stones total.

One black stone represented the enemy.

Five white stones represented A-team.

The material showed exactly what I'd taught during the last supplementary session.

With proper distance management, ample opportunities were created for the rear-line stones — the dealers.

"But in a setup like this, it's not always necessary for you to be the one moving, Seohu."

"Then?"

"If the dealers move like this, the angles open up, see?"

In the next image, Park Seohu's front-line stone remained stationary.

Instead, the stones clustered in the rear scattered outward, enabling attacks from multiple angles.

"Oh. But doesn't that make my role unnecessary?"

"No. You need to use both interchangeably depending on the situation."

"That's hard."

"Yeah. It's hard."

A party where only the front-liner moved would almost always produce worse results than one where both front and rear lines moved together.

The problem was the difficulty.

No matter how promising a tactic was on paper, it was worse than doing nothing if you couldn't pull it off.

Even so, if they wanted good results, they had to try.

"Next is rear-line positioning. Normally, mages keep their distance from enemies for safety, but magic weakens the farther it travels."

"Right."

"So the rear-liners should push up as close to the enemies as possible during safe windows. The difference in burst damage depending on whether you adjust your line or not is significant, so it's worth learning."

Line adjustment was a tactic employed by most parties that included mages.

High-ranking Heroes engaged in razor-thin tightrope walks not just in safe situations but dangerous ones too, but since the students would have no use for that, I left it out.

"Next is a strategy involving the assassin. Like this."

I pointed to two stones.

One was Park Seohu's stone at the very front. The other was Na Jinsu's stone, floating freely at a distance.

"Swapping the positions of the assassin and the warrior is called switching. Of course, since your team doesn't even have a sub-tanker, it'll be hard to use this tactic — but there may be times when you can."

"I see."

I explained various other miscellaneous techniques as well.

Park Seohu painstakingly absorbed each one.

"I didn't realize there were this many areas for improvement."

"It'll be hard to apply all of them. But give it a try. Even applying some of them should make a big difference."

"Okay."

Park Seohu looked satisfied.

Having gotten what he wanted, he'd be eager to test it out.

Jo Seongung laughed heartily.

"Seohu, take Professor Cha's words to heart. The greatest Heroes in the world all listened to what Professor Cha had to say. Edelin Pierce and Lie Xiao never doubted Professor Cha."

"Really?"

"Of course. Consider it a blessing to receive lessons from Professor Cha."

At the mention of famous S-rank Heroes' names, Park Seohu's eyes sparkled.

"I'll definitely get A+ or higher on the next exam."

"Good, that's the spirit."

Jo Seongung watched his student with a contented smile.

From that day on, A-team began intensive training.