Chapter 108

Chapter 108

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 108After finishing survival class and returning to the classroom, we heard the Academy's notice that club activities could resume starting after school today.

“I'm saaaaaaved!!”

Even though it was only the resumption of club activities, Jin-woo somehow dropped to his knees on the floor and began praying toward the sky.

As I watched him and wondered what the hell he was doing, Young-je approached as though he'd read my thoughts and explained.

“Apparently he had mentoring scheduled for today. But he's been like that ever since he realized he could use club activities as an excuse to skip it.”

“Ah.”

He must really hate mentoring class.

Well, even I would choose club activities over Han Yeo-eun's training...【Main Story】[You, who brought a new wind to the Academy! By founding a new club, you have begun writing your own new history! Successfully lead your club and promote it to a Silver Club!][Completion Requirement: Complete 5 club requests!][Requests Completed: 4 / 5][※Completion rewards may vary depending on the result.]

There was only one request left before completing the Academy's Main Story.

To clear this, club activities ultimately needed to proceed, and fortunately, the restrictions on club activities had been lifted today.

“Come to think of it, haven't quite a few requests piled up this time?”

Recently, the club had been receiving requests not only in writing but also through the Academy community, and thanks to that, quite a few requests had piled up there.

“Ah, yes. But after sorting out the random junk and the ones we don't really need to do ourselves, there were about three worth considering.”

The titles of the requests Se-ah showed me were as follows.[1. Collect King Crocodile Hide from the Mangrove Dungeon - ‘Rutungbitung’ Tailoring Club][2. Help Test Potion Performance Experiment - ‘Alchemist’ Club][3. Three-Day Mercenary Contract - ‘Hunter’ Club]

“A material collection request, human experimentation, and a mercenary contract...”

The requests were fairly ordinary, if you could call them that.

The one that especially stood out among them was the Hunter Club looking for mercenaries.

“Is the Hunter Club preparing for a raid?”

The Hunter Club was the club Se-ah had originally tried to join, as well as one of the few massive Platinum Clubs in the Academy.

If guys like that were recruiting mercenaries, it definitely wouldn't be an ordinary-scale raid.

“I saw this too and asked some of the Hunter Club interns in the class next door. Apparently they're attempting a raid on a newly formed B-rank dungeon at Bukhansan this time.”A B-rank dungeon was difficult enough that at least two parties of active heroes would normally need to be deployed to clear it.

If it were Academy cadets, I figured around five parties would probably go in.

In that case...

“Then the purpose is probably successor training and collecting byproducts.”

“Yes, that's what I think too.”

I had no idea where they'd gotten raid rights to a B-rank dungeon, but one thing was certain: if it was a B-rank dungeon, it could be dangerous for someone with ordinary skill.

“Were there any separate conditions attached?”

“Yes. They said they'd prefer someone for the front line.”

“...

Front line?”

Did our club even have anyone suited to standing on the front line?

Jin-woo used a sword, but because he was an assassin by nature, he wasn't suited to the front line. Se-ah and Young-je were mages, which left the one who used martial arts...

“So they basically want to sign a mercenary contract with me.”

“That seems to be the case.”

They might simply trust my skills and genuinely want to hire me for mercenary work... but my instincts told me with certainty that there was something more to it.

“...

For now, I think we should look into it a little more. We should hear what the others think too.”

“Yes, I also think it'd be better to approach this cautiously.”

Then it would be better to hold the meeting in the club room.

“Let's go to the club room for the first time in a while. We can clean up while we're at it.”

______________

The basement of the club building.

As we walked down the hallway with the club members, Jin-woo grinned and muttered.

“Wow, why does it feel like it's been forever since we went to the club room?”

Young-je nodded as though agreeing.

“Well, if you call it a long time, I guess it has been a while.”

We hadn't been able to do any club activities since the terrorist warning video went up, so it had probably been about a week.

“Still, it's nice being able to use that comfortable club room again. Honestly, our club room is way better than the Academy training grounds, isn't it?”

Perhaps she'd already become completely immersed in ‘Familia's’ welfare facilities, because Se-ah spoke with a satisfied smile.

As expected, good company benefits were what raised employee loyalty.[Name: ‘Familia’ (Calione)][Rank: Bronze][Family Members: 4 / 5 (Rank promotion required!)][Subordinate Organizations: 4 ][Environment: Very Good][The club members are very satisfied!]

The kids really were extremely satisfied too.

As I was about to enter the code to go into the club room, I suddenly realized I could hear some kind of sound from inside.

“...

I think someone's inside.”

“Inside? Huh! D-don't tell me, a thief? My Another String!!”

It was true that our club room contained plenty of expensive equipment.

However...

“There'd be no way to secretly move equipment that large inside the Academy without getting caught. So rather than a thief, wouldn't it be someone who knows the club room code?”

“Was there anyone besides us who knew the code?”

“About two people?”

One was Ji Su-hyeon, the instructor advising our club. And the other was...

“Ah, Young Mas── President. I heard voices outside and wondered if it was you, but you've arrived.”

Lee Haru, president of the International Trade Club.

It was her.

“What brings you here?”

“Ah, I heard that club activities could resume today, so I had the club room cleaned through a company I know. Did I perhaps do something unnecessary?”

Looking through the open door, I saw people busily cleaning.

Judging by their uniforms, they seemed to belong to a company connected to Haru's family.

“No, if anything, I'm grateful.”

I'd been thinking I might need to call a company to clean anyway, so there was no reason to refuse this kind of help.

“Then I'm glad. Ah, most of it was finished before you arrived, so you should be able to go in right away.”

Following Haru's guidance, we entered and saw the club room as clean as it had been when we first left it.

“I'll repay the favor later.”

“I haven't even repaid my debt yet, so couldn't you just deduct a little from that?”

I'd meant it sincerely, but Haru responded as though it were a joke.

At that, I chuckled and nodded.

“I'll reconsider it.”

“Thank you. Ah, it looks like the cleaning is finished now. Then I'll return to the ‘International Trade Club,’ so please rest comfortably.”

After seeing Haru off as she bowed and left the club room, I returned inside.

“Jin-woo. You can add three more. Let's do it.”

“I'll die! I'm seriously going to die!”

“You think it's called Another String for nothing? You won't die, so let's add more! One!”

“Kyeeeeeek!!”

Jin-woo and Young-je were busily lifting weights in the training room.

“Ah. This is almost expired. Eugene, can I take this home?”

Se-ah was organizing the refrigerator to make room for the new desserts we'd received.

Seeing all of that finally made it feel like the club was properly running again.

Just as I leaned back on the sofa, enjoying the leisure I hadn't felt in a while.-...

Is... that?-...

Here.-...

Maybe.

Murmuring voices could be heard outside.

The Z Room we used as our club room was so large that there were no other club rooms nearby, and aside from people coming specifically to visit our club, there shouldn't have been anyone around. Had someone come outside?

“Are they clients? I'll go check!”

Apparently Se-ah had also heard the voices outside, because she quickly finished organizing the refrigerator and opened the club room door before stepping out.

“Hello. Are you perhaps here looking for ‘Familia’?”

Through the open doorway, I could see yellow name tags. Judging by that, they seemed to be second-years.

When Se-ah cautiously asked them, the man standing in the middle of the three adjusted his glasses and spoke.

“Are you a member of Familia? And the one behind you is... President Han Eugene?”

His tone wasn't friendly.

The fact that my name had come up in that tone bothered me, so I rose from the sofa and headed toward the entrance.

“That would be me... but would you like to come inside and talk first?”

Judging by their appearances, expressions, and voices, they didn't seem like they were here for either a pleasant or short conversation, so I stepped in front of Se-ah and spoke first.

At that, the three looked at one another and nodded.

“Shall we?”

What an unpleasant smile.

I entered the club room and brought the three of them inside, but their movements stopped.

“Wow... what is this? This is really a club room on Basement Level 1?”

“Hey, hey, this is seriously luxurious. This is a rookie club? Guess the rumors were true.”

“What is this place, why is it so huge...? It's probably several times bigger than our club room.”

Apparently they were all surprised by the facilities in our club room.

“Se-ah, I'll take the guests to the president's office, so please prepare some tea and snacks.”

“Ah... yes! The Recipe Development Club packed some macarons separately for us this time. Would those be okay?”

“That's more than enough.”

With that, I entered my office marked [President's Office]

, seated the three of them immediately, then sat across from them.

“Judging by the look of things, I don't think you're here because of a request. What brings you here?”

Most people who came to our club to make requests were students trapped in difficult situations or with nowhere left to turn.

But the expressions of the guys who had come to our club now?

They looked so relaxed and arrogant that they almost seemed amused.

And in my experience, guys like this came in two types.

They were here to pick a fight.

Or they were here to pick a fight.

Either way, they were annoying.

“Ah, why are we here? It's nothing much. Oh, right, it's fine if I speak casually, right? I'm your senior.”

The bastard adjusted his glasses with a smirk.

As expected, he had definitely come for the first reason.

“If I told you not to, would you stop?”

“What? Hahaha! Of course not. I only asked out of courtesy.”

“Really? Then I'll speak casually too.”

The moment I boldly declared that and dropped the formal speech toward them, all three of their expressions twisted.

“No matter what, we're still your seniors...”

Since the guy with glasses kept speaking first, he seemed to be the person in charge of this group.

I sighed and looked at him.

“So you don't even have basic manners, but you still want to be treated like a senior? Amusing.”

When I returned the same thing to him, the guy with glasses crossed his legs and spoke.

“Right, we should introduce ourselves first. We're ‘Ares,’ a Silver Club on the second floor. It's a club where fighters from every year gather.”

Ares? If I remembered correctly, it was the club where all the guys in the Academy who were known for using their fists gathered.

The fact that guys like that had come looking for me caught my interest, since I primarily used my fists as well.

“So what brings the great ‘Ares’ to our ‘Familia’?”

The bastard smirked after hearing my question.

“It's nothing that impressive. We're here because of the ‘Ranger Club’ guys you beat in the all-out war recently.”

“The Ranger Club?”

Ah... there were guys like that.

So many major incidents had happened that it somehow felt like a long time ago.

“Those bastards owe our ‘Ares’ a bit.”

Ah, I think I understand.

These guys were definitely here to pick a fight.

Seriously, the moment things calm down a little, this happens... still, you don't avoid a fight that's coming to you.

I smiled faintly and met his eyes.

“I think I know what you're going to say without hearing the rest. Something like, ‘Pay the Ranger Club's debt in their place,’ or, ‘You'll take over the work they used to do.’ You came to say something like that, right?”

The bastards' eyes widened at my guess.

“Wow, exactly right? As expected, even though you're a freshman, you've already started a club───”

“──Get out.”

“...

What?”

“I said get out.”

Where the hell do these bastards get off trying to threaten me?