Chapter 110

Chapter 110

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 110The bastard's head, which had turned to the side, slowly returned to its original position.

His eyes were no longer trembling, as though he had finally grasped the situation.

As expected, the saying that slapping someone whose brain had frozen from shock was the best medicine was practically established fact.

“Judging by your eyes, it looks like you've got a lot of questions. Right?”

The bastard nodded at my words.

Leaving the three, who for some reason looked excited, behind, I entered the president's office with Lee Jeok-gwon, and the moment we stepped inside, he spoke first.

“...

How exactly is the president of Familia, a freshman, a disciple of Grandmaster Kwak Chun-sik?”

Grandmaster Kwak Chun-sik...

For Kwak Chun-sik, who liked organizations structured this way, it felt like a very fitting title.

“What do you mean, how did I become the old man's disciple? An old connection, a fortuitous encounter, and talent. Things like that made it pretty easy to become his disciple.”

I said that and comfortably leaned back, sprawling against the seat where I'd been sitting before.

And Se-ah, who had watched all of this from behind, looked at me as though she couldn't understand what had just happened.

“E-Eugene. What exactly is going on?”

“Well, I benefited a little from our mentor. As you know, old man Kwak Chun-sik is extremely famous. And by an incredible coincidence, that Lee Jeok-gwon over there just happens to come from the martial arts hall the old man founded.”

Judging by his reaction, it seemed this guy hadn't attended the freshman welcome party either.

It wasn't as though he lacked skill... considering how obsessed those fist-crazed guys were, he'd probably skipped the freshman welcome party and been off breaking boards somewhere.

“...

If you'd just attended the freshman welcome party, I wouldn't even need to explain.”

At my words, Jin-woo clapped his hands as though he'd understood and stood up.

“Ah! So, if we compare it to those master-disciple and junior-sister relationships in wuxia novels, Boss is basically his grand-senior?”

“Exactly. And not just some ordinary elder. An elder from way, way above.”

Roughly speaking, I was at the level of a direct disciple of a previous-generation sect leader appearing before a second-generation disciple.

In other words, the current director of the martial arts hall, Kwak Chun-sam, whom that bastard revered like the heavens, and I were of the same generation in the lineage.

“But Jin-woo. How do you know that?”

Calione probably didn't separately teach this kind of etiquette.

It was fairly surprising that Jin-woo, rather than Se-ah or Young-je, knew about this sort of thing.

“Hm? I just read a lot of wuxia novels when I was in school.”...

I understood instantly.

When you're goofing off at school, there really isn't much better than that.

Anyway, I turned my gaze back to Jeok-gwon, who seemed to be organizing his thoughts, and pointed at the seat across from me.

“Why don't you sit? Have some dessert too.”

When I glanced at him and asked, he slowly approached and sat across from me.

“So, martial nephew. You came to collect the Ranger Club's debt?”

“...

It seems I was mistaken.”

Apparently having finally sorted out his thoughts, he answered respectfully.

As expected of someone from the martial arts hall called the Dosan Seowon of CS. What a beautiful sight.

Even so, his tightly clenched fists seemed to insist that while his head understood, his body still refused to accept it.

Interesting.

I figured I should give him another shock around now.

“So, whose orders did you come under?”

“...

Orders? I didn't come because someone told me to.”

“You weren't ordered to come?”

As if.

I could already smell it from here.

An organization trying to bother us at this point in time.

And an organization connected to the Ranger Club... was it that place?

“The Hunter Club── those rats.”

For an instant, he flinched and his eyes trembled.

“Looks like I'm right?”

“I don't know what you're talking about.”

“Fine, so you're saying I need to kindly explain it one piece at a time.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I tapped the table with the tip of my index finger, pretending to think for a moment, then raised my head and stared into his eyes.

“From now on, I'll explain one by one why the ‘Hunter Club’ sent you. And the moment you'll regret most in your entire life will gradually draw closer.”

Even after I'd said this much, the bastard still kept his mouth shut.

As expected, with ignorant guys like the ‘Ares Club,’ it seemed more important to make them understand with their bodies rather than words.

“One. The Hunter guys submitted an extremely suspicious request to our club. They call it a three-day mercenary hire, but in reality it's a request where I'd have to enter a dungeon alone with Hunter Club members. You should understand what that means.”

An outsider joins a party where everyone except him knows and trusts each other?

And inside a dungeon, at that?

Those were perfect conditions for disguising something as a mysterious accident.

From the start, it was practically a request openly intended to keep us in check.

“Two. You came to pick a fight with our club of all places.”

Among the clubs, ‘Familia’ was like a hot potato.

A club created by a freshman only one day after enrollment.

A club that sank the Gold-ranked ‘Fund Investment Club.’

A club that defeated the Ranger Club, which had been counted among the top Bronze Clubs in combat strength, in an all-out war.

And a club that brought the Academy terrorist attack to an end.

“No matter how I think about it, there's no way you don't know the rumors about Familia. No, even if you looked down on us, with rumors like that floating around, it makes no sense for you to come pick a fight this openly. Then the answer is obvious.”

Someone overwhelmingly stronger than us was backing them.

“And if you ask what club among those strong enough to do that has reason to get involved with us, right now there's only the Hunter Club. I think that explains things well enough, don't you?”

Even after I'd explained it so kindly that even Jin-woo could easily understand, the bastard merely kept his head lowered in silence without answering.

Well, understandable.

“...

So you're exercising your right to remain silent?”

Then shall I tell you one more interesting fact?

At my words, his eyebrows twitched.

“At the freshman welcome party this afternoon. You probably don't know that the Association President tried to insult old man Kwak Chun-sik, do you?”

“The Association President insulted the Grandmaster!”

The moment Kwak Chun-sik's name came up, the bastard reacted immediately.

“Yeah, he did. Insulted him. He tried to come at the old man, complaining that the old man was looking down on him just because he was the Association President. But there were a few bastards smiling at the time.”

There were people smiling while Kwak Chun-sik, someone practically like heaven itself to him, was being insulted?

“...

Who was it?”

That's right!

Of course he'd have to be curious.

Someone had treated the founder of the martial arts to which he'd devoted everything like that. How could he possibly ignore it?

And with an extremely kind and honest expression, I told him the truth.

“──The Hunter Club president. Bae Gil-woo.”

That was the truth.

From the beginning, Hunter Club president Bae Gil-woo's goal was to create a Hunter Association like the Hero Association.

Even in the original story, he was portrayed as someone who would do anything to establish the Hunter Association, so it wasn't strange.

There had probably been some kind of agreement between him and the Association President.

“Bae Gil-woo was doing something like that?”

“Yeah. Well, there's no evidence left... but do you really think I'd lie about something involving the old man's honor?”

After I put it that way, even if the bastard didn't believe me, he had no choice but to say he did.

If he argued back, it would be no different from trampling on old man Kwak Chun-sik's honor, so in the end he had to accept it.

“...

I'll believe what you said. Of course, I'll investigate it separately on my side as well.”

He'd believe me, but not completely.

The fact that he knew how to leave himself an escape route like this meant he wasn't that stupid.

Just a little hot-blooded.

Depending on how he was used, he might be a decent guy.

“Do what you want. But if proof comes out that I'm right, or a situation where you can be certain of it, just remember this: like I said, you'll regret it for the rest of your life.”

“Tell me... what that is.”

“If you already knew, it wouldn't be fun, would it? Better to save it so you can enjoy discovering it little by little later.”

Saying that, I took the business card case I'd stored inside the Cube and tossed him a card with my number on it.

A personal business card with Familia's name, the club room address, and my number.

“If you get curious or think of anything else you want to discuss about the Hunter Club, contact me anytime.”

“...

That won't happen.”

The bastard never abandoned his pride to the very end. He rose from his seat and began walking toward the exit.

Then he stopped.

“The Hunter Club request. It would be better not to accept it.”

“...

What? I thought you still didn't trust us?”

“I only told you because I didn't want anything to tarnish Grandmaster Kwak Chun-sik's reputation.”

After saying only what he wanted to say, the bastard walked straight out the door.

“...

He's kind of a very fiery yet watery person.”

Se-ah gave her impression of Lee Jeok-gwon.

“Then Eugene. Should I cancel the request sent by the Hunter Club?”

After Jin-woo's community publicity incident, Se-ah had become Familia's internet management person, and she asked me while opening the management tab on the request board.

“No. Don't reject it. Hit accept.”

“What? Accept?”

Young-je looked just as surprised as Se-ah.

“President. You just heard it's a trap, right? And you're really accepting it? Even if you do, who are you going to send?”

At the kids' questions, I smiled.

“Obviously, I'm going.”

“Wouldn't that be too dangerous?”

Se-ah asked worriedly. At that moment, Jin-woo, who had been quiet until now, suddenly shook his head.

“The dangerous ones would be the Hunter Club. What are those guys going to do? If they try to target Boss inside the dungeon, they'd probably be the ones who die instead. Right, Boss?”...

I had no intention of killing them, but as expected, Jin-woo, who'd been hit by me plenty of times, knew my strength best.

“They're definitely not at a level where I'd lose to them. And I have a plan in case things get dangerous.”

If a person had to enter a tiger's den to catch a tiger, then surely I could enter a dungeon to catch the bugs interfering with us.

“Familia, as always, doesn't avoid fights that come to us.”

Because that was Calione's will, and the decision of the Familia I would lead.

______________

After finishing all the club activities and returning home, I looked through the news as usual in preparation for what would happen later.

“...

Nothing about what happened at the freshman welcome party made the news.”

Since so many big shots had gathered there, it seemed the reporters had been kept on a tight leash as well.

I'd thought it was a rare chance to damage the Association President's image, so it was disappointing that the only articles that had gone up were ordinary-looking reports.

“For now, we stopped the Villain Alliance's Academy terrorist attack, and the freshman welcome party ended well... so all that's left is to push through the Main Quests?”

I currently had a total of two Main Quests.

The Academy Main Story and Calione's Main Story.【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]

-Satisfied 2

-Very Satisfied 2[※Completion rewards may vary depending on the result.]【Main Story (Gangs of kalione)】[You, active as Calione's successor and Hitman. You have defeated countless enemies of the organization and begun writing a narrative of your own. Just what lies at the end of it?

Death to our enemies. Glory to the Family.][Completion Requirement: Increase influence within the Family][Target Influence: 2510 / 3000][※Completion rewards may vary depending on the result.]

“The Academy route should be settled with the Hunter Club request this time... and if things keep going like this, maybe I can clear the Calione story soon too.”

Just as I was muttering to myself and thinking.

The sound of hurried footsteps came from the hallway outside.

“Young Master!!”

The one who burst through the door was Han Seo-jun, who should have been preparing to leave work.

“Han Seo-jun? What are you doing here at this hour?”

He was panting heavily and drenched in sweat.

Just as I was startled by a sight difficult to believe from Han Seo-jun, who had always remained calm──“Calione... Calione is under attack.”

“...

What?”

That explained why he had no choice but to look like that.