Chapter 1

Chapter 1

I Became the Academy Mafia, Chapter 1[City of Seoul]

The thought that came to me the moment I first played this game was this.

This game was insane.

Graphics so realistic that, unless you looked closely, you couldn't distinguish them from reality.

An insane degree of freedom that let you do anything.

Of course, there were some crappy parts because of that damned freedom, but if anything, that only drove people even crazier.

It had already been quite a long time since I started enjoying [City of Seoul], commonly called CS.

I even quit a game I'd been playing for nearly five years because of this one, so that said it all.[Welcome to City of Seoul]

As always, the game began with flashy effects.

This game had only one defining feature.

If a character died, that character was simply deleted.

Because of that, you had to make countless attempts, and every single run inevitably demanded extreme caution.

Of course, even then, surviving wasn't easy.

Average survival time, 30 days.

And yet, considering how many people were obsessed with it, this game really was something else.‘Saber Crowd’[Survival Time: 1,652 days 7 hours]

A middle-aged character holding a revolver in one hand with a cigar in his mouth stood in the character window.

Of all the countless characters I'd created and deleted by now, this was the one that had survived the longest, and he was also my pride and joy.

“It was really tough at first.”

Back when I knew nothing, I'd tried playing as a villain and gotten brutally killed by guys from something called the National Intelligence Agency.

I'd enrolled in the Hero Academy hoping to live out a school-life story, only to become an outcast and drop out, and I'd even been assassinated immediately after becoming Chairman of the Hero Association, one of the most powerful positions in the setting.

There had been more than a few times when I'd wanted to smash my computer, only to restrain myself after remembering my bank balance.

But in a game where countless veterans became obsessed and fell away, simply maintaining a place among the very top ranks gave me such an immense sense of accomplishment that I couldn't give it up.

“Phew... Today, I'm seeing this through to the end.”

And right now, there was only one thing I was aiming for.

World Rank 1.

At its core, this game was a single-player game.

That was why it had a ranking system based on achievements and completion percentage, and there was only one bastard above me.[1st. ImDOG]

This guy was ahead of me by just a single achievement.Even third place had only managed 74% in this game, while both his and my current achievement completion rate was 99.8%.

But because that bastard had reached 99.8% first, I was still in second place.

And coincidentally, the one achievement that both he and I had left was this.[??]

It was a hidden achievement.

There wasn't even a hint about what you had to do to clear it.If even the first-ranked [ImDOG] hadn't managed to clear it, that meant it was an achievement beyond imagination.

Today, I resolved that no matter what I had to do, I would finally get that remaining 0.2%.

When I logged into the game, another reality indistinguishable from the real world unfolded inside my monitor.

By now, I'd done hundreds, thousands of things in an attempt to clear this 0.2% achievement.

Become a hero praised by everyone.

Turn an entire city into a ghost town.

Conquer the National Police Agency naked.

Assassinate the president with a cotton swab, and so on. It had truly been a parade of insanity.

But the reason I was making another attempt today was because I'd finally found a clue.

[ImDOG: I saw your YouTube. You've been trying every desperate stunt imaginable to get 1st place, but you'll never clear the last achievement. Give up.]

It was a message that had arrived yesterday.

It was from the guy currently ranked first.

After reading it, I asked whether he knew how to do it, and he sent me a reply that seemed like nothing more than a joke.

[ImDOG: Could you actually live according to your own nickname? hahaha I don't think you'll ever clear it.]

“What the hell is he talking about?”

I was baffled when I saw his message, but I sent him a reply.

[UnderworldMasterminditis: What's wrong with my nickname? Wanna get a taste of mastermind-itis? hahaha]

It was a message I'd sent with the thought, Yeah~ screw you~.

But after receiving my message, the guy left me with something ominous.

[ImDOG: Really? Then go ahead and try it hahaha You'll probably understand when you log into the game tomorrow.]

That was the end of the messages.

In the end, just as he'd said, I logged into the game.

And the instant I entered the game, a huge burst of celebratory cannon fire rang out, a fanfare sounded, and a message appeared.

[Hidden Achievement Unlocked!]

[The contents of the achievement will be revealed once you begin the challenge.]

[You may attempt the challenge only once, and if you fail, you will never be able to clear this achievement.]

[Only one person may possess this achievement.]

[Would you like to challenge the achievement? Y/N]

“Wait, only one person can get this achievement?”

So that was why there hadn't been any information about it, and that message could only mean one thing.The guy in first place had attempted this achievement and failed.

In other words, if I cleared this achievement, I could reclaim first place.

“A man goes for it even if he gets nothing!”

I confidently pressed the Y button.

And at that exact moment, I.

Lost consciousness.

________________

An empty room with no one inside.

From the illuminated monitor came the notification sound announcing the arrival of a message.

[ImDOG: LOL You actually did it.]

[ImDOG: Then go on]

[ImDOG: Have fun]

At the same time, all the messages began disappearing.

[User does not exist.]

[User does not exist.]

[User does not exist.]

[Ranking]

[1st: UnderworldMasterminditis]

[2nd: HelloGlutinousRiceCake]

[3rd: YouSpicyPigTrotterBastard]...

_______________

“Mmm?”

Even in that situation, the first thought that came to mind was this.‘Why does the ceiling look unfamiliar?’It was exactly the sort of thought you'd only see in a novel, so I chuckled and sat up.

“Did I fall asleep while playing the game?”

Rubbing my bleary eyes, I stretched and looked around, and only then did I realize something was strange.

“...Where am I?”

One thing was certain: this wasn't my room.

First there was the bed, whose softness was on an entirely different level, then the wallpaper made of luxurious material. And the size of the room.

A room at least three times bigger than the studio apartment I'd been living in stretched out before my eyes.

Knock, knock, knock.

“Are you awake, Young Master?”

A rough voice came from beyond the door.

I still hadn't grasped the situation, so I didn't answer.

“I definitely heard his voice...”

The voice came from outside the door once again.

Soon after, I heard the sound of footsteps gradually fading away.

“...What the hell is going on?”

The first thing that caught my eye was the computer placed on one side of the room, so I rushed straight over and turned it on.

On the antique-looking desktop were three folders and one recycle bin.[City of Seoul][Brown-eared Bulbul][Game Collection]

The folder named Brown-eared Bulbul bothered me, but something more familiar caught my attention.[City of Seoul]

Certain that it had something to do with this situation, I immediately clicked the folder.

Inside were the game icon I recognized and [Must Read!]

There was a single notepad file with that name.

As though entranced, I clicked the file.『[City of Seoul]

Thank you to all the closed beta players who played in advance!

The place you are currently in is ‘New Seoul,’ the city that serves as the setting of ‘City of Seoul,’ also known as NS.

This service is provided exclusively to the single closed beta player who achieved the greatest number of achievements, allowing that player to experience CS firsthand.

The game may only be ended after you see the game's ending.[GAME OVER]

does not count as an ending, so please keep that in mind.

We sincerely hope you enjoy your playthrough!※As a special benefit, an interface will be provided!

-The game's interface can be accessed through electronic devices.』

“You crazy bastards...!”

As I spat out the curse, CS automatically launched on the computer.

[City of Seoul][Loading...]

[Synchronization complete. Welcome, Player UnderworldMasterminditis.]

At the same time, a character window appeared.

Standing there was a character I'd never seen before.

【Name: Eugene Han Calione】

[Gender: male]

[Description: A person of mixed heritage born to an Italian father, Vito Calione, and a Korean mother, Han Wol-young. He is the heir to the Calione Mafia organization.]

“What?”

Eugene, Eugene Han Calione?

Suddenly, I saw my face reflected in the black screen.

Unable to believe it, I quickly went to the mirror in the room and carefully checked my face again, and only then was I able to grasp reality.

“Ha, haha... This is me? This is... that guy, isn't it?”

The same face as the character on the computer was reflected in the mirror.

Naturally, I'd never created a character like this.

Of course I hadn't.

“I'm seriously screwed.”

Eugene Han Calione. I was now inside the body of that character.* * *It wasn't particularly difficult to figure out the situation.

When I launched the game as the character, a tutorial and various UI elements appeared.

Through them, I learned how to check my own status and how to find out what kind of person this body belonged to.

And how to link these UI elements to a portable device.

【Name: Eugene Han Calione】

[Gender: male]

[Occupation: Heir to the Underworld]

[Traits: ]

“...I never imagined the nickname [UnderworldMasterminditis] would be interpreted as ‘I'm the mastermind of the underworld.’”

Fortunately, this character named Eugene Han Calione was one I knew.

No, there was no way I wouldn't know him.

Because whenever you started the game as a player character, he was a third-rate villain NPC who always picked a fight with the player character.

An NPC who always relied on his father and his organization while harassing the player.

He kept pissing me off while I played, so I killed him in a fit of anger, and then I remembered my third run, when the mafia members who came rushing in afterward brutally killed me.

Back then, I'd shouted about what a garbage game this was, but in my current situation, things were different.

“This might actually be better than I thought?”

A character who appeared right when players thought they'd finally stopped being newbies and showed them what true despair was.

Eugene Han Calione's father, a character called ‘Don Vito Calione,’ was one of the most ridiculously overpowered characters in the entire game.

Even I had only managed to defeat him after dozens of attempts, memorizing all of his patterns by heart, which said everything that needed to be said.

When I'd played with a mafia concept and observed him from up close, he'd been nothing short of a monster.

That NPC was now my father, and I was the heir protected by both that father and his organization.

In this game, because of the nature of its setting, your own combat power and the faction supporting you directly translated into strength and authority, so this was an enormous advantage.

If that were all there was to it, he could easily be called a top-tier character...

There was one problem.

“This character has an amazing backing, but if you look at what he can actually do, he's a complete trash character...”

If you followed the Academy route, you encountered this ‘Eugene’ often, and he was, quite literally, a shitty character.

A hero's traits were supposed to emerge through various dangers and self-improvement, but perhaps because he'd always lived comfortably, he didn't have a single trait.

That was why, during normal gameplay, he usually ended up becoming a villain in order to obtain power.

And then he'd die at the hands of his father, other heroes, or me, the player.

“My future looks bleak. Seriously.”

As I said that and sighed on the bed, I heard a knock.

“Young Master, there is one hour remaining until the Academy entrance exam.”

It was the voice of the man who had knocked on the door a while ago.

Since I was basically Eugene Han Calione now, I decided to act naturally.

“Let's go.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

As I recalled, Eugene was fundamentally an ill-mannered character.

So if I acted rude, they probably wouldn't suspect much.

Still, I never imagined that my very first day after entering the game would be the day of the Academy entrance exam.

Of course, according to the game's story, entering the Academy was the standard route.

The problem was that I hadn't taken the Academy route very many times.

Maybe around 23 times?

First, I went to the bathroom attached to the room and took a quick shower.

Wow, do rich people have showers in every room and use shampoo and body wash like this every time?

It smells incredible.

After roughly drying my hair and leaving the room, a delicious smell stimulated my nose. It was coming from downstairs.

I went down the stairs and followed the smell, and a huge dining room greeted me.

And.

“You're late.”

The man sitting at the head of the table opened his mouth, and at once, the refreshing morning atmosphere suddenly grew heavy.

Tick, tock.

The sound of the grandfather clock in the dining room seemed unusually loud.

Along with a pressure that seemed to crush my entire body, my shoulders sank on their own.

It felt as though I should prostrate myself before him at any moment.

A fear unlike anything I'd ever felt in my life seized my entire body.

Forcing myself to raise my head, I looked at the person who had been waiting alone.

A pitch-black fedora, a cigar held between his lips, and a thick beard.

That man was the ruler of the underworld, the man everyone feared.

Don Vito Calione.

The man who was now my father.

“I'm sorry, Father.”

When I said that and took my seat, Father stared at me with his eyes widened in surprise.

“Polite speech, which you never use, and you're even calling me Father. How unexpected. Did you finally mature because it's the day of your Academy entrance exam?”

Don't tell me this guy was rude even to his own father, the godfather of the underworld?

I never imagined that one apology would make that monster react like that.

“I'm practically an adult now, too. Shouldn't I change a little?”

“Hahaha! I'm glad you've finally thought that way, even if only now. Still, perhaps because it's the first time you've called me Father, it feels rather distant. I'm a little disappointed.”

At his bittersweet smile, I gave an awkward smile of my own and replied.

“...Won't we get used to it soon?”

“Hoho, yes. In the end, I suppose we will. The rest of the family has already finished eating, so you should hurry and eat as well.”

After saying that, Father stubbed out what remained of his cigar in the ashtray and rose from his seat.

And so I was left alone in the dining room, and as I looked around at the still-unfamiliar scenery, I let out a sigh.

Could I really adapt to life in a mafia family?