Berserker.
A one-of-a-kind class that consumes stamina instead of mana when using skills. It was a special case where the more blood one shed during battle, the higher their attack power became. Sihyeon had heard that there was a Berserker among the first-years, but this was his first time actually seeing one. He stared at Shin Yijae, who was looking at him with unusually sparkling eyes.
“A Berserker?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t remember seeing you when I went to watch other classes train…”
Sihyeon trailed off as he searched his memory.
“Ah, because of my skill traits, I can’t train with others, so even though I’m not in Class A, I used the personal training room.”
“Ah…”
That explained why he hadn’t seen him. As Sihyeon tilted his head, wondering if maybe he’d missed him during the partner evaluation because he had dozed off, Shin Yijae clasped his hands together like he was praying.
“That’s why I’m really happy I got to meet you, hyung!”
“Hm?”
“You’re the only Healer among the first-years. My class works best with a Healer. I was hoping I’d get to meet you during this evaluation, but I didn’t think I actually would… What do I do… I’m so happy.”
Shin Yijae smiled shyly. Hamin scoffed, but Yijae seemed too focused on Sihyeon to even hear it. Unused to the gaze filled with admiration directed at him, Sihyeon turned his head and changed the subject.
“So what exactly does the Berserker class do?”
“Ah, since it fights by consuming stamina, the risk level is significantly higher than other classes. It also puts a lot of strain on the body. But the advantage is that you can deal powerful attacks in a short time, and when your stamina drops below 50%, your attacks become even stronger. If you use up all your stamina, you can still fight by consuming mana for about five minutes—but if your stamina doesn’t recover within that time, you die.”
“……”
He said the word die so casually. Not only that, he even clapped once and added brightly, “Ah, and I bleed a lot too!”
Dumbfounded, Sihyeon blinked. In his mind, an image formed of Shin Yijae smiling brightly while scattering blood like sparks. It felt as unnatural as snow falling in the middle of summer.
“Wow, that’s seriously cool!”
“Wanna try being my partner?”
Excited by something new, Haeun spoke in an animated tone. Watching Hamin suddenly get sidelined, Sihyeon rolled his eyes and looked over the meeting room members again. Nothing had changed, yet the people before him felt strangely different.
One Quadruple, one Dual, an Assassin, a Buffer, a Swordsman, a Sniper, an Alchemist, and a Berserker. It was a combination that could never be called ordinary. His body shivered slightly.
The members weren’t bad. But somehow, it didn’t feel like things would go smoothly.
Feeling a creeping sense of unease, Sihyeon bit his lip.
“You really don’t want to be partners?”
“Hey, what am I, background decoration?”
“Uh, it’s an honor, but I still have Hajin hyung…”
“Come on, let’s at least try syncing up!”
“Stop shaking the desk!”
The meeting room grew noisy. From that moment, Sihyeon felt a sense of urgency and placed his hand on the table. Thud—he struck it loudly, and only then did the room quiet down. Feeling everyone’s attention focus on him, Sihyeon pulled the discussion back from where it had drifted off.
“Stop chatting and let’s finish the meeting first. We’ve figured out everyone’s classes, so we can roughly estimate our strength, right? We need to decide on the mission.”
“Ah…”
“So, are we going for the Lord, or taking down 20 regular Orcs?”
“Lord.”
“20.”
“……”
Hamin and Haeun answered at the same time, then whipped their heads toward each other. Both raised one eyebrow slightly—it was like looking at mirror images.
“20?”
“No, why?”
“Why bother with something complicated like that?”
“Going for the Lord is super inefficient!”
They were like oil and water. The way they stared at each other, unable to understand the other at all, made Sihyeon shift his gaze to Haru, who had been quietly handling his dagger.
Regardless of the argument, Haru silently wiped his blade with a cloth. There was something faintly eerie about it.
“What do you think, hyung?”
When Sihyeon asked carefully, Haru, who had been more focused on his dagger than the meeting, lifted his head.
“Uh… if we have to pick, I think going for the Lord would be better…”
“Ah, I’m for 20! Fighting a lot is more fun.”
“I’m not sure yet.”
Though Sihyeon had asked Haru, Yijae and Hajin answered as well. With the votes split 2 to 2, Yesol and Ha Yeon said they were fine with either. Naturally, all eyes turned to Sihyeon.
“What about you, Sihyeon?”
Leaning forward with his hands on the table, Haeun pressed him. Saying the outcome depended on his answer, he urged him to decide. Blue eyes moved between Hamin and Haeun.
“What do you think is better?”
“The more evenly the contribution is distributed, the higher the score, right? Then taking down multiple Orcs is obviously easier!”
“Do you really think it’s easier for eight people to evenly split 20 kills? Wouldn’t it be better to just take down one big target and be done with it?”
“So you’re saying we should go for the Lord? When there’s an easier path?”
“Things are more fun when they’re harder.”
“What’s fun about life being hard?”
The clash of opinions was intense. Neither side looked willing to back down, leaving the other students caught in the middle. Sihyeon and Haru were used to seeing this daily, but for the others, witnessing Hamin and Haeun argue for the first time was something else entirely. Their expressions were a mess—confused eyes darting between the two.
Feeling bad for them, Sihyeon decided to step in.
“I agree that evenly splitting 20 kills among eight people would be difficult. But how are we supposed to take down the Lord?”
“We just divide positions.”
“Positions?”
“Support, main damage dealer, and sub/support damage.”
Hamin glanced at the seven others and explained with a tilt of his head. His concise explanation made Sihyeon blink before letting out a short exclamation. For once, Lee Hamin had a solid idea.
“If we divide positions, then me, Kang Haeun, and Hajin can be support. You and Yijae can be the main attackers. Ha Yeon takes sniper. Haru hyung and Yesol can be sub-damage.”
“You could just include Ban Haru and Kwon Yesol in the main attack group. It’s a cooperation mission, and the contributions need to be similar, right? The four of them can rotate attacks. The sniper can pick off incoming enemies while sharing contribution. Kang Haeun focuses on buffs, and since Shin Yijae is a Berserker, he’ll rack up plenty of contribution. And Choi Hajin’s an Alchemist, right? Have him make healing and explosive potions so he can contribute through both healing and damage. That’s way easier. Do you really think eight people can evenly split 20 kills if you just charge in blindly?”
“Ooh…”
As Hamin laid it all out in one go, the others murmured in admiration. It was the first time they’d seen him talk this much. With such a clear guideline presented, everyone nodded—except Haeun, who sniffled dramatically.
“Our Min… he understands cooperation now…!”
Sniffling, he somehow produced a tissue and blew his nose. Hamin frowned in annoyance.
“Alright, since Min’s gone this far, I’ll give in this time! Let’s go for the Lord!”
“That’s not giving in—you were convinced.”
“Same thing!”
Haeun shot back shamelessly.
“Does everyone else agree?”
Just in case, Sihyeon asked, and everyone in the room nodded. With the decision made to go for the Lord, Sihyeon picked up a pen and paper from the corner of the meeting room.
“Then it’s decided—we’re going for the Lord?”
“Yeah!”
“Let’s divide positions into support, attack, and support-damage…”
Three positions were written in large letters on the white paper. Under each, Sihyeon wrote the names of the team members, then began detailing specific roles.
“Like Hamin said, Kang Haeun and I will take support. Since Hajin can attack with potions, I think it’d be better for him to work with Ha Yeon in support and cover. What do you think?”
“Hm? I’m fine with that.”
“Then Hajin goes to support damage, and the remaining four, including Haru hyung, form the attack team. To make things easier, you’ll need to handle aggro. Lee Hamin, can you tank against the Lord?”
Among the four, Hamin was the only one with tanking abilities. As a Dual engraved with both Swordsman and Tanker, he was the only one capable of both tanking and dealing damage. When asked, Hamin scoffed—as if to say, Who do you think I am?
“I can. But…”
“But?”
It was rare for him to hesitate. As his gaze settled on Sihyeon, Sihyeon blinked. Hamin scrunched his nose slightly before speaking.
“Orcs have low intelligence but strong instincts. They’ll instinctively target the person with the highest mana capacity first. That means there’s a low chance they’ll fall for provocation, and their aggro will inevitably split.”
“…Really?”
If that was the case, there wasn’t much they could do. Whoever drew aggro would just have to handle it. As Sihyeon considered placing a Barrier on whoever the Orcs would swarm, everyone suddenly looked at him. His head tilted slightly.
Why is everyone looking at me?
Just as he was wondering—
“You’ll be okay, Kang Sihyeon?”
Hamin asked.
Blue eyes blinked slowly, then widened slightly. Sihyeon scanned the members of Team B again. Among Class A, he had the highest mana capacity—but here…
His gaze moved from one person to another.
Shin Yijae was a Berserker. His stamina might be high, but his mana wouldn’t be.
An Alchemist was a class with high efficiency relative to mana—they could produce many potions with little mana. Hajin’s awkward smile when their eyes met seemed to confirm that he didn’t have a large mana pool.
Judging by their expressions, Yesol the Swordsman and Ha Yeon the Sniper were probably around average as well…
“……”
A brief silence followed.
Sihyeon slowly closed his eyes, then opened them, letting out a breath.
Orcs targeted the person with the largest mana capacity first. And among them, the one with the most mana… was him—the Healer.
Facing reality, Sihyeon opened and closed his mouth twice before looking at Hamin.
“…I’ll be the one drawing aggro.”
“Yeah.”
He didn’t even try to deny it. Letting out a sigh, Sihyeon rolled his blue eyes before speaking.
“If the aggro splits, it’ll be harder to take them down, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And I might not be able to focus on healing because I’ll be busy dealing with it myself?”
“Yeah.”
“And if the Lord doesn’t fall for your provocation, it’ll come straight for me first.”
“Yeah.”
Hamin answered mechanically, like an automatic response machine. At the unspoken Will this even work?, Sihyeon let out a low hum. Haru suggested guarding him instead, but Haru was part of the attack team meant to deal with the Lord. It wasn’t a particularly appealing option.
As he continued thinking, something suddenly came to mind. Sihyeon lifted his gaze from the paper.
Purple eyes entered his view.
“Lee Hamin.”
“So, it’s too difficult after all?”
“Are you strong?”
“What?”
Caught off guard, Hamin frowned. When Sihyeon asked again if he was strong, Hamin nodded with a dubious expression.
After biting his lip in thought, Sihyeon ran a hand through his hair and spoke as if resigning himself.
“Then carry me on your back while you fight.”
If the aggro was going to split—then they’d just gather it back together.
