Regression Guidelines for the Supporting Character

Chapter 23

“Kid.”

As soon as the meeting ended, I ran straight to where the Circle Guild members were gathered and called out to the child. Cha Sahyun, who had been standing exactly where I left him, immediately turned his gaze towards me at the call.

“Oh, baby. Brother’s back.”

“No matter how I look at it, he seems angry. How come the kid doesn’t say anything?”

The Circle Guild members who had looked after Cha Sahyun in my place while I was at the meeting came running to me, looking at the child clinging to me with curious eyes as they exchanged words.

Ryu Sunghyun, who belatedly realized that I had entrusted Cha Sahyun to his guild members, wore a dumbfounded expression. Well. Why. In such a dangerous place, we should help each other out.

While patting the back of Cha Sahyun who was burrowing into my arms, I said,

“As you may have already heard from the conversation, I’m Cha Seo-hu, the supporter who will be acting together with you from now until the end of the conquest. My skill is to replenish energy, so let me know when you’re tired.”

“Haha, yes. Please take care of us.”

“Even if we can manage today, it’ll be tough from tomorrow, so having a supporter with us will be convenient for us.”

“Please take good care of us!”

Go Tae-sung, Yoo Ha-rin, and Kim Su-ho greeted me in order. As members of the Circle Guild, Go Tae-sung and Yoo Ha-rin were B-rank, while Kim Su-ho was a C-rank dealer hunter.

The three people who hung out with Ryu Sunghyun most often would enter dungeons together like this whenever the need arose. Before the regression, I used to join them, making it a group of five.

‘Despite trying to avoid it, we end up gathering like this again.’

I smiled bitterly and turned my head towards Ryu Sunghyun. Ryu Sunghyun, who was cautioning others not to overuse their skills just because they had a supporter, was still the same as before the regression.

As I was looking at Ryu Sunghyun, I felt a gaze piercing the back of my head and briefly checked behind me. As expected, Guild Leader Ronic and his guild members were openly glaring at us.

Ronic Guild. Even before the regression, they were a guild that persistently harassed the Circle Guild.

Not only Guild Leader Choi Jong-hoon, but most of the guild members ground their teeth and were desperate to devour us, as if the Circle Guild had extorted money from them.

Among them, the one who harassed the most was Ryu Sunghyun, and the reason was simple. It was because Ryu Sunghyun had rejected Ronic Guild’s scouting offer.

It seems they were quite irritated that one of the few S-rank hunters in the country had rejected their offer and gone to a weak guild like Circle.

At first, Ryu Sunghyun protested to some extent and ignored the Ronic Guild, but the more he did so, the more persistent the harassment became.

So Ryu Sunghyun had now somewhat given up. After all, the Ronic Guild was much larger in scale compared to the Circle Guild.

‘Maybe it’s because I fought with the Ronic Guild so much on behalf of Sunghyun hyung before the regression, I ended up intervening without realizing it.’

Well, what’s done is done.

In the end, it wasn’t a bad result for me either. We couldn’t afford to slow down the conquest progress more than now for the sake of accommodating the Circle Guild.

[Main Quest: Successfully clear a B-rank or higher dungeon with the villain. (Time remaining: 4 days 1 hour 6 minutes)]

‘It takes about three days to clear this dungeon. To succeed in the quest, we can’t afford any more delays here.’

Given the situation, I need to take care of the Circle Guild as much as possible to build up Ryu Sunghyun’s favorability and succeed in the quest.

* * *

Kieeeek, kiek! Kiiiik!

A monster resembling a praying mantis was pierced by a golden spear and collapsed with a thud.

Kwagagak!

Keuruk, the following monsters were all swept away by the shower of light spears. The dozens of light spears that had pulverized the monsters disappeared with a flash of light at a single gesture from Ryu Sunghyun.

“Whew……”

S-rank Light Materialization skill.

Ryu Sunghyun, who had dealt with the tough-skinned monsters in one go with its power, slowly exhaled.

The number of appearing monsters was still high. In fact, it felt like their numbers were increasing even more as they went deeper.

Even Ryu Sunghyun, who had been fighting at the forefront all day in the battle that had been going on for hours, couldn’t help but gradually become tired.

“We’ll take a short break here.”

Kwon Tae-hyuk, who looked a bit tired like Ryu Sunghyun, announced a break. Hearing this, the hunters each took a rest or received care from the supporters.

However, unlike other hunters, Ryu Sunghyun didn’t seek a supporter and simply wiped off the blood splattered on his skin silently.

It was obvious what he was thinking right now.

Even though he had agreed to cooperate with me, he probably didn’t want to ask for help first. Despite his kind and relaxed appearance, he was the type to put up walls endlessly with unfamiliar people.

‘It’s frustrating every time this happens.’

After entrusting Cha Sahyun to the Circle Guild members once again, I strode over to Ryu Sunghyun.

“Give me your hand.”

Ryu Sunghyun narrowed his eyes for a moment at my approaching without hesitation, then smiled awkwardly and shook his head.

“It’s fine. You can start from tomorrow.”

“No, I need to do it now. If we miss this break time, you’ll have to fight for at least five hours without sleep. Can you handle that?”

“I can handle it. Thank you for your concern.”

Seeing Ryu Sunghyun’s persistent refusal, my mood dropped a little.

If it were before the regression… he would have sheepishly offered his hand with an awkward smile. As the image from then overlapped with his current appearance, an indescribable complex emotion arose.

“Vice Guild Leader of Circle. I know I might be uncomfortable, but this isn’t a situation where you can keep refusing like this, is it?”

“Rather than uncomfortable……”

“As you can see, the Yeseong Guild Leader is receiving energy recovery from a supporter. You two need to fight side by side at the front, and the more you can’t fulfill your role, the more burden will fall on the Yeseong Guild Leader.”

“……”

Ryu Sunghyun’s eyes wavered slightly at my words.

‘Oh no.’

In my own anxiety, my words came out a bit stronger than I had intended.

When I should be gently coaxing to become closer, I ended up forcing support while comparing him to Kwon Tae-hyuk. As I clicked my tongue inwardly, wondering if I should apologize even now, Ryu Sunghyun spoke first.

“You’re right. I was being unnecessarily stubborn.”

“No, um……”

“It’s covered in blood and dirty, but if you’re okay with that.”

Ryu Sunghyun carefully extended his hand after wiping it on a towel several times. That consideration he showed me until the end somehow made me feel sad.

‘This is why……”

I liked him. I followed and cared for him like an older brother. This person always thought of others first, so I thought that if I didn’t take care of him, no one would.

Now I probably won’t be able to help him by his side all the time like before. With a bitter feeling, I slowly grasped Ryu Sunghyun’s hand.

Hwak!

“……!”

《Skill: Guardian’s Bond (S-rank) Activated!》

《Representative skill damage increases. (Target: Ryu Sunghyun) (Duration: 4 minutes 59 seconds)》

《Base speed increases. (Target: Ryu Sunghyun) (Duration: 4 minutes 59 seconds)》

《Stability effect applied. (Target: Ryu Sunghyun) (Duration: 4 minutes 59 seconds)》

At the point where our skin touched, a pure white light flashed very briefly, and then Ryu Sunghyun’s energy was replenished at an incredible speed.

He must have felt his halved energy being filled instantly, as Ryu Sunghyun opened his eyes wide and murmured.

“This is……”

Ryu Sunghyun, who had been staring at our joined hands with a surprised expression, raised his head and met my gaze. I too realized that I had made a mistake due to the power being much stronger than I had expected.

[Representative Skill: Guardian’s Bond (S-rank)]

Replenishes the target’s energy through physical contact while enhancing their existing stats. (Buff Duration: 05:00)

└Buff: Increase in representative skill damage

└Buff: Increase in base speed

└Buff: Stability effect

My representative skill had risen from B-rank to S-rank when clearing the previous quest. So I tried experimenting with it this time, but…

‘Even if it’s S-rank, does energy recover this quickly just from holding hands?’

This made things awkward for me. I quickly pulled my hand away, smiling awkwardly at Ryu Sunghyun who was still standing there with a blank expression.

“Haha, how was it? I’m useful, right?”

“Huh? Ah……”

“Well then, please find me again when you need me.”

Smiling as brightly as possible while greeting him, I hurriedly fled before Ryu Sunghyun could ask anything. Fortunately, he didn’t stop me, still seemingly dazed from the exhilarating energy recovery.

It seems I’ll have to minimize contact every time I use the skill from now on. Like just touching one finger to recover energy.

* * *

After that, Ryu Sunghyun, who had his energy replenished by me, was flying around in much better condition than before.

Perhaps because of this, other hunters started hovering around me. They were the ones who had been watching me recover Ryu Sunghyun’s energy while pretending not to.

It was a natural result since supporters who could recover energy were limited. Although I had declared that I would only help the Circle Guild, so they didn’t approach me openly, there are always some who are reckless no matter where.

As if rumors had spread in that short time that I was quite a useful supporter, members of the Ronic Guild kept subtly closing the distance.

Since the Ronic Guild members particularly looked down on the Circle Guild, they were likely to approach at the first opportunity.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

I had no desire whatsoever to use my skill, which had changed from B-rank to S-rank, on such lowlifes when even B-rank was too good for them.

I went to the only person the Ronic Guild members were wary of, pretending to stagger as if all my energy was drained, and clung to him.

“Ah, I pushed myself too hard and now I’m dizzy…!”

“……”

Kwon Tae-hyuk, who reflexively caught my swaying body, raised one eyebrow.

[Main Quest: Successfully clear a B-rank or higher dungeon with the villain. (Time remaining: 3 days 11 hours 57 minutes)]