S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 5

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 5. What Is a Supporter?
“Hah!”
The melee Dealer drove his spear forward in a wide arc, piercing the Goblin’s brow.
Two more Goblins seized the opening to attack, but an arrow from the side protected him.
“Right flank is clear! Regrouping!”
The Tanker, who’d finished off the remaining Goblins, put down those staggering from the arrow fire.
“Thank you for your hard work. I’ll heal you right away.”
The Healer tended to the wounded melee Dealer’s injuries, while the Tanker wiped blood and gore from his shield and checked his equipment.
Everyone had their role. Everyone except one—the Supporter.
“Party Leader.”
“What is it, Supporter?”
“I’m exhausted. Could we rest a bit?”
At the Supporter’s words, a vein bulged on the Tanker’s forehead.
During movement, he stayed at the rear. Once combat began, he lingered at a distance, muttered “Physical Defense Buff applied,” and bolted away just as fast.
And now, after the fight ended, this man—who’d done nothing but walk—claimed he was tired?
This frustration wasn’t unique to the Tanker; everyone felt it. Yet the Party Leader, the melee Dealer, simply smiled and replied.
“Understood. Let’s rest for ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes? That’s too short. Besides, I’ve used all my Mana. I can’t buff anyone now. I need thirty minutes for my Mana to fully recover.”
At the suggestion of thirty minutes’ rest, the Tanker could no longer hold back.
“Supporter. There are over a hundred competitors in this Dungeon besides us. The organizers must have a limited supply of Passing Tokens. We don’t have time to loiter like this.”
“I understand that. But without buffs, you don’t earn Experience Points. And that’s a breach of contract.”
“Hah, contract…”
“Yes. The clause about distributing Experience Points equally—you haven’t forgotten, have you?”
Reminded of the contract, the Tanker’s anger deflated. He rubbed his face.
The Supporter’s buff wasn’t dramatic like in games. There was a difference between receiving it and not, but it wasn’t strictly mandatory either.
The real problem was that when a monster was slain while buffed, a flat ten percent of the Experience Points went to the Supporter.
Rather than accept a meager buff and lose ten percent of Experience Points, it made more sense to skip the buff and level up faster.
This was the standard rule of any party.
“Tanker. Let’s just rest for thirty minutes. Having the Supporter land the killing blow to take Experience Points would waste even more time.”
“We’ve collected seven Tokens so far. There are five of us, but we have seven. To pass the exam, we need at least five points for a safe margin. At this rate, we can’t even guarantee three points per person.”
“Come here a moment.”
The Party Leader pulled the agitated Tanker aside and whispered.
“Look, I’m annoyed about the Supporter being on this team too. But what can we do? We already received a hundred million in signing bonuses, and we’re guaranteed another hundred million when the exam ends. Right?”
“I know. I know, but if he causes us to fail the exam, we’ll have to wait until next year.”
“If you’re worried about Tokens, I have a solution. Don’t worry.”
“What kind of solution?”
“We take them.”
“What? Oh!”
“There was no rule against stealing Passing Tokens from other examinees, was there?”
At the Party Leader’s words, the Tanker’s face twisted into a cruel grin. He nodded.
A few hours later.
They found their prey.
A shaggy-haired Mage in glasses and a scruffy Swordsman. The two looked easy pickings, but their coin purses bulged heavy.
* * *
Chae Mujin, Kim Jiwoo, and Kim Yeoul’s party entered the Dungeon.
Kim Yeoul looked up at the sky and gasped.
“The sun is shining. But it was dark outside.”
More than just the sun hung above them. There was the oppressive humidity of being underwater, the rustle of countless insects.
Even someone who’d never seen a real Jungle could tell this place was one.
“The Dungeon is a separate space from reality. Anyway, Kim Jiwoo—you’ve been to a Dungeon before, haven’t you?”
“Ah, one of my subscribers. You knew I had experience in the Horned Rabbit Dungeon and the Zombie Dungeon.”
“Then why aren’t you maintaining Situational Awareness?”
“Situational Awareness?”
At Kim Jiwoo’s confused response, Chae Mujin’s face fell.
“The moment you enter, there could be monsters right in front of you. Didn’t they teach you that?”
“Well, I know that much. But how often does a monster show up right at the entrance?”
Kim Jiwoo shrugged with a casual wave. Chae Mujin ignored him and turned to Kim Yeoul.
“Since you’re new, I’ll teach you. If you want to survive, never lower your guard inside a Dungeon. Kim Jiwoo is right that the odds of a monster at the entrance are less than one percent. But if you die in that one percent, wouldn’t that be tragic? Especially for a Mage like you—you don’t have survival skills.”
“Ah, yes. Never lower my guard. I’ll remember.”
“There. Lesson done. Let’s move. I want to collect thirty Tokens and rest quickly.”
“Wait.”
“What now?”
Kim Jiwoo turned around, his tone sharper than before.
“This Dungeon is a Jungle field, as you can see. If we go in blind, we’ll get lost and wander aimlessly. We need to scout first.”
“Scout? That’s a pain.”
“Why would you complain? I’m the one scouting.”
“You’re serious? But you’re a Supporter. What Supporter scouts?”
A Supporter stays in the back, watches, and buffs when combat starts. That’s the whole role.
But Chae Mujin’s support was different.
“That’s exactly why a Supporter should scout. So the Dealer and Tanker can focus their vitality entirely on combat.”
“But that’s dangerous. Do you have an Escape Skill or something?”
“No, but why does it matter? I’m scouting, not fighting.”
“It’s strange. Everything you’re saying makes sense, but isn’t that just not what Supporters normally do?”
“I’m different.”
Even as he spoke, Chae Mujin bent down and picked something up, then distributed it to the two of them.
“Berries? Master, didn’t you know that most plants in a Dungeon are toxic? You shouldn’t eat them or even touch them?”
Kim Jiwoo, who’d been waiting for a chance to criticize after being lectured so much, pointed this out sharply. Yet Chae Mujin deliberately crushed the green berries in his hand.
“These aren’t for eating. Crush them like this and rub them on your armpits and groin.”
“What are you doing?! We’ll ruin our clothes!”
Green has long been ingrained as the color of poison.
Seeing green berries being smeared onto clothes and skin made both Kim Jiwoo and Kim Yeoul grimace.
“This is Rabbit Cherry. It’s perfectly safe as long as you don’t ingest it. Applied to the skin like this, it completely masks your scent. Goblins have keen noses—they can smell humans from a hundred meters away.”
“How do you know that? Did you graduate from Hunter Private Academy?”
“I studied Dungeon biology as a hobby.”
Kim Jiwoo tried to figure out who Chae Mujin really was, but couldn’t get anywhere.
He was already an formidable Supporter, but also possessed field knowledge like this? Jealousy flared, and he deliberately picked a fight.
“I don’t want to rub it on. Even if Goblins find us, we can just kill them.”
“The moment Goblins spot you two, they’ll call for reinforcements and form an encirclement. Once they’ve closed the distance enough, they’ll barrage you with poison barbs from all sides until you collapse from exhaustion. Do you think you can push through those barbs and kill the Goblins?”
That wasn’t a question, so Chae Mujin continued.
“While I’m scouting, apply the Rabbit Cherry and lie low in that brush over there. Then you won’t be discovered by Goblins and killed, and you’ll preserve your stamina completely. If you have a better option, tell me. If it makes sense, I’ll accept it.”
This time he gave them a chance to respond, but as expected, they said nothing.
“Without a communication method, scouting won’t exceed thirty minutes. Remember that.”
With that, Chae Mujin headed deeper into the forest.
Kim Jiwoo and Kim Yeoul stood stunned for a moment, then flinched at the sound of branches rustling in the wind.
“S-should we do what he said?”
“Yeah.”
Though he’d said to apply it only to the armpits and groin, both of them frantically covered their entire bodies with Rabbit Cherry.
* * *
Fresh air, beautiful harmony with nature. That’s what most people picture when they think of a forest.
But a wild forest is a den filled with unseen threats.
Branches scattered everywhere crack loudly underfoot, and rocks that look solid have slippery surfaces where you’ll slip and fall.
Dangerous insects are small and wear camouflage—easy to miss if you’re not careful—and concentration fades quickly as fatigue accumulates in the eyes.
Yet Chae Mujin moved through the Jungle as though it were his own home.
“When was the last time I scouted?”
In his previous life, he’d scouted personally for the first two years, but after that, he gained party members with Reconnaissance skills and never needed to again.
Eighteen years had passed since his last scout. Yet oddly, the feel of it came back perfectly intact.
“It must be the Akashic Record.”
The EX-rank skill he’d thought merely preserved memories from before regression had also preserved his body’s muscle memory completely.
“It feels as vivid as if it were yesterday.”
He stopped and looked around. A familiar strangeness tugged at him.
“Found it. This is the path the Goblins use.”
Wild animals have paths they travel.
How much more would humanoid Goblins have established routes?
He approached where the underbrush had been deliberately trampled and crouched down, finding short, stiff Goblin hair.
“Still moist. They passed through recently.”
Following this path would lead him to Goblins.
It might also reveal places Goblins used—a river or lake for water, or their settlement. The Passing Tokens were almost certainly hidden nearby.
He could’ve turned back immediately, but something nagged at him. He sat down for a moment.
“Kim Yeoul. How exactly did you become a serial killer?”
In this short time, judging by her personality and demeanor, she was unfit not only as a murderer but as a Hunter.
“Timidity can be corrected somehow, but talent is something that never changes.”
Talent is innate. Not everyone becomes Einstein just by studying science.
He’d told Kim Yeoul with confidence, “You’ll become S-rank,” but that was because he knew future information.
The Kim Yeoul before him now—no matter how hard she tried, B-rank was her ceiling, let alone S-rank.
“It’s obvious without seeing. Her combat sense will be terrible, and her skill execution will be clumsy.”
Learning might fill some gaps, but her limits would come soon enough.
“Kim Yeoul has a secret. Let me uncover it.”
People only reveal their true nature when facing death. So if he put her in mortal danger, she’d show her real self.
“She needs a Gratitude Score for me to levy her, and I can only see her true traits and skills once she becomes a levy target. So I need to build up her Gratitude Score steadily.”
How much Gratitude Score would she accumulate if he saved her from the brink of death? His step felt light as a feather with anticipation.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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