After the twins left, Dang Gyu-young kept grinning with a flushed face.
“Hehehe.”
“Are you that happy?”
“Hehehehe.”
Well, it made sense. “A relationship with marriage in mind”, “I’m serious”, and “no intention of canceling” all came one after another.
After giving her a moment, she took a deep breath and asked,
“How were they? My oppas.”
“They seemed fine.”
“They were a bit harsh on you though. I mean, it was your first time meeting them.”
“They’re probably just worried about their cousin.”
“They’ve always taken good care of me. I wondered if they might’ve changed… but thankfully, they’re still the same.”
Dang Gyu-young looked relieved.
Being hated by people you were once close to is hard for anyone to endure.
Even if she had prepared herself, it must have still left a mark on her heart.
That was probably why she had cut off contact with the Dang Clan all this time.
Fortunately, the twins seemed to be on our side. But this was only the beginning.
So far, we had only met a handful of people: some family members, the clan leader, and a few cousins.
Compared to the entire Dang Clan, that was barely anything.
And most of the remaining members would likely fall into the “negative” side we were worried about.
Dang Gyu-young seemed aware of this, but she simply shrugged it off.
“Let’s go inside for now.”
As expected, the annex interior was extremely clean.
Comparable to a high-end resort or hotel suite.
After picking one of the rooms, Dang Gyu-young said,
“This is our room.”
“Why is it ‘our’ room?”
“What’s wrong with calling it our room?”
“I think it’d be better to split them up. My room, your room, and the sloth’s room.”
At that, Seo Ye-in and Dang Gyu-young looked at each other, then answered at the same time,
“Our room.”
“Our room.”
“That’s our bed.”
“And you’re our pillow. I want to use you as one too. She’s been using you all this time, right?”
They’re already plotting, huh.
It wasn’t like there was any reason to refuse, since this was how things usually went. But I felt a bit contrary for no reason.
In a concerned Kim Ho tone, I said.
“Your cousins warned you, didn’t they? No promiscuous behavior.”
I think they also said they’d demonstrate the Dang Clan’s ruthless hidden weapons on my body.
At that, Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in looked at each other again.
With a tone like they genuinely didn’t understand, they went back and forth.
“What’s there to be promiscuous about? What are we even doing?”
“Nothing.”
“We’re just sleeping together, holding hands. Totally wholesome.”
“Rated for all audiences.”
Maybe because they shared the common goal of securing the Kim Ho pillow, they were perfectly in sync.
I pushed back one more time.
“Even if we think it’s wholesome, wouldn’t it look different to a third party? I think it’d be better to be mindful for the time being.”
Of course, it didn’t work on Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in at all.
“Those people will see it differently no matter what we do. If you worry about it, you lose.”
“Bold mindset.”
“Rather than trivial things like that, sleeping well is more important.”
“Good sleep comes first.”
“Business as usual, then?”
“Kim Ho pillow.”
A perfectly coordinated combo that even the Dang twins wouldn’t dare challenge.
I nodded as if I had no choice.
“Alright. If that’s what you both want.”
“Since we’re on the topic, lie down for a bit.”
Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in laid me down on “our bed” and each took a spot beside me.
Then, in voices that suddenly grew drowsy, they said,
“Hey, what is this pillow made of? Just touching it makes me sleepy.”
“Getting drowsy…”
“I suddenly don’t feel like doing anything. Should we look around later?”
“Schedule canceled…”
Dang Gyu-young looked at me and started rationalizing.
“I already told you all the important restricted areas, and we’re just going to go back and forth between the training ground and the annex anyway.”
“That’s true.”
“What’s left is the smithy or the medical hall. Do you have any business there? Like making something?”
“Not right now.”
“Good. Let’s rest.”
“Sounds good. I’ll just stay like this.”
I took out a rolled-up parchment from my inventory.
It was covered in magical patterns, but the contents themselves were completely blank.
[Blank Trait Scroll]
The two immediately showed curiosity.
Dang Gyu-young’s eyes sparkled as she spoke.
“Are you going to create a trait?”
“Yes, I’m planning to get it done now.”
I had obtained it right after finals, but I’d been holding onto it for a while instead of using it immediately.
Since it was even rarer than a blank skill book, I needed to use it carefully.
But now I had a general direction figured out.
And since I’d be starting training soon, it was best to create it now if I wanted to work on ranking it up.
Dang Gyu-young asked again,
“Is it okay if we watch?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
Even between close people, it’s usually best to keep skills or traits hidden.
There’s always the risk of someone exploiting your weaknesses.
But we weren’t just close.
Dang Gyu-young grinned as she looked at me.
“Because we formed a [Bond]?”
“You could say we’re one body now. Even without that, I trust you.”
“Hehe, I liked that just now.”
Most importantly, the trait I was about to create wasn’t the type that had any real weaknesses.
So, with Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in watching, I used the blank scroll.
Flaaash—
The parchment glowed blue with mana, and the empty space began to fill with text.
Being annoying is the basic premise.
That was the role and identity of a support.
Next was deciding how to make that happen.
My current main attributes are wind and ice.
Going a bit deeper, that meant “forced movement” and “slow”.
Slow is already strong enough as it is.
With Frozen Burst Shot, chain explosions, Mutual Destruction Eye, and most importantly, the ability to stack Mysterious Yin Jade Demon Finger.
On the other hand, forced movement feels a bit scattered.
There are many linked skills and traits, but in reality, only a few directly affect Wind Force.
Aside from the rank bonus from Blessing of the West Wind, and the “Weathering” status effect from Mutual Destruction Eye, that’s about it.
Twister and Sylphid add utility, but they don’t contribute much to raw power.
“It still works well against those in the same year, though.”
The main reason is the rank gap of one or two levels and the fact that their builds are still incomplete.
But they will continue to grow.
“And I won’t be facing only people in the same year forever.”
I’ll be tackling higher-level dungeons, and starting from the second year, I’ll also be assigned dispatch missions.
I need to account for the possibility of encountering equally strong or even stronger opponents.
“Once they reach around mid A-rank, I’ll barely be able to push them at all.”
They’ll have at least two or three methods to resist forced movement.
Still, Wind Force is far too useful to give up like this.
There are also plenty of synergy skills I can learn in the future.
Improving and making use of it is the much better option.
So, what kind of trait should I create?
The answer was very simple.
Penetration.
If I make resistance methods meaningless, that’s all there is to it.
[You have learned ‘Movement Command (F)’.]
[Movement Command (F)]
▷ Ignores 1 rank of all forced movement resistance of the target.
▷ Every 3 minutes, ignores an additional 1 rank.
For example, take [Thousand-Pound Weight], a skill learned by martial classes like Han So-mi or Dam Dae-han.
Even if you try to push someone using B-rank Thousand-Pound Weight with B-rank Wind Force, they won’t budge.
However, now that you possess [Movement Command], you are effectively pushing a C-Rank Thousand-Weight Strike by ignoring one rank.
On top of that, with the 3-minute cooldown, you can ignore another rank, lowering it to D-rank.
Also, since it ignores “all” resistance, even if the target has multiple sources of skills, traits, and equipment, they all have 1+1 ranks ignored.
It’s even a scaling type.
The 1+1 with 3 minutes is based on F-rank.
As the rank increases, the cooldown will decrease and the penetration will grow stronger.
The future of a forced-movement support looks bright.
Feeling a sense of satisfaction, I looked at Dang Gyu-young and Seo Ye-in, but they were both giving me rather displeased looks.
They muttered loudly enough for me to hear.
“Made something annoying like yourself again.”
“A bad trait.”
“Who are you planning to torment with that?”
“Bad Kim Ho.”
Since both of them had been on the receiving end of wind magic before, it was no surprise they didn’t like it.
But whether they liked it or not, the creation and even the acquisition was already complete.
I drew out my go-to line and delivered it.
“It’s all for world peace. Please understand.”
“Do you really have to do that for world peace? There are plenty of other ways.”
“There are no other ways.”
“What are you talking about? No other ways?”
“There aren’t. It’s not fun.”
“…Ugh, whatever. Do as you like.”
Dang Gyu-young seemed to give up entirely and focus on resting comfortably.
She leaned her head against the Kim Ho pillow, shifted a bit, and then quietly closed her eyes.
Just as she was about to drift off to sleep,
Tap tap tap tap!
The sound of someone’s footsteps rapidly approached.
They stopped right in front of the room and knocked on the door.
Knock knock knock knock,
Dang Gyu-young frowned and looked at Seo Ye-in.
“Isn’t this seriously the worst timing?”
“Don’t disturb me…”
Knock knock knock knock,
– Unnie, it’s me!
A young girl’s voice came from beyond the door.
I exchanged a glance with Dang Gyu-young.
“Looks like someone’s here for you, noona. Who is it?”
“Not sure. It feels familiar, but it’s a bit hazy. It’s been a few years. Anyway, I should go check.”
It wouldn’t be right to turn someone away after they came all this way.
We grumbled but still got up and opened the door.
Standing in front of the room was a young girl whose appearance matched her voice.
She looked to be around the same age as me or Seo Ye-in, or perhaps a year or two younger.
In some ways, she also bore a slight resemblance to Dang Il-bi and Dang Han-bi, the brothers we met earlier.
Dang Gyu-young who had been quietly observing her suddenly widened her eyes.
“Huh? You’re Eun-bi—”
“Unnie!!”
The girl immediately threw herself into Dang Gyu-young’s arms and began whining.
“Why are you only coming now… I missed you…”
“…Sorry for being late. I missed you too.”
Caught off guard by the sudden action, Dang Gyu-young hesitated for a moment, then gently patted her back.
After a while, once she had calmed down, the two separated.
Dang Gyu-young introduced the girl.
“She’s my cousin, the younger sister of the guys from earlier.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Dang Eun-bi.”
Gone was the childlike demeanor from just moments ago. It was replaced by the proper etiquette befitting a member of a prestigious family.
Dang Gyu-young then gestured toward the two of us.
“They’re my juniors. They’re second-years now.”
“You’ll be my seniors soon. I’m enrolling next year.”
Dang Eun-bi’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Seo Ye-in.
She already seemed to be full of admiration.
“I heard guests from the Hye-seong Group were coming. Could it be…?”
“Mhmm.”
“Wow! I heard the new city is really stylish. What’s it like?”
“…? My home.”
“If you live there, you might not really notice. I’d love to visit sometime.”
Seo Ye-in clearly wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep, but Dang Eun-bi who was oblivious to that kept chattering away with a barrage of questions.
Meanwhile, she hardly spared me a glance, which made Dang Gyu-young tilt her head in confusion.
As if thinking she might just be shy, Dang Gyu-young introduced me again.
“This is Kim Ho. My junior… or rather, someone I’m a bit closer to than that.”
“……”
Only then did Dang Eun-bi slowly turn her head to look at me.
She tried not to show it, but the eyes that had been full of admiration turned noticeably cold.
“…Nice to meet you.”
So she hadn’t been shy earlier. Had she been deliberately ignoring me?
It seemed the Dang cousins didn’t take a liking to me.
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