Chapter 111

Chapter 111

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 111Father gave the order for all executives who could gather immediately to assemble in the conference room.

After quickly changing clothes and arriving at the conference room, I saw the executives and Father seated with serious expressions.

Judging by the nameplates placed in front of each seat, my place was directly beside the Consiglière.

I silently took my seat and waited for the remaining executives to arrive.

At last, the moment every chair in the conference room was filled, Father opened his mouth.

“──I assume you've all heard, but Calione is currently under attack.”

Father began speaking in a voice filled with anger.

“Parnello.”

“Yes. Don.”

“Show them what you've prepared.”

At Father's words, Parnello rose from his seat and turned on the remote control.

At the same time, several photographs appeared behind Father.

Photos of people in suits being brought into a facility.

I could see familiar badges attached to their chests.

“These are photographs of the personnel currently receiving isolated treatment beneath the estate. Most began experiencing chills, vomiting, and dizziness starting around noon today, and not long afterward, blisters began appearing on their skin. They are currently unconscious. And the bigger problem is...”

Parnello switched the screen to the next photograph.

There, an extremely familiar scene appeared.

“Sector C.”

One of Calione's districts formed by Asian immigrants.

And also the place where I had once gone on patrol with Alessia.

“Citizens showing symptoms extremely similar to theirs have begun appearing one after another throughout Sector C. Following reports from our field agents, we have completed the isolation of the entire district.”...

They already quarantined the whole district?

“There are currently two organization members conducting security operations in Sector C. Mikhail Alessia and Ratte. The two reported that Sector C needed to be completely isolated and that they would investigate the situation, and we have been unable to contact them since.”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Father, who had been listening quietly while tapping the table with his finger, swept his gaze over the executives.

“I permit anyone with questions, alternatives, or solutions regarding this situation to speak.”

The first to raise his hand was the Consiglière.

“Judging by the situation, it appears to be a disease-related problem. Is that why Sector C was isolated?”

Father nodded.

“Yes. We believe it is a disease with considerable infectivity. The organization members isolated underground have received treatment and stabilized, but there is no telling what will happen to Sector C. For now, once the situation settles, we plan to summon priests and doctors to begin treatment.”

Father's solution wasn't wrong.Calione donated enormous sums to the Catholic Church every year, so if we asked first, they would surely dispatch priests capable of resolving this situation.

But that would require a great deal of money and time.

So the moment Father finished speaking, I immediately raised my hand.

“...

Yes. Eugene. Do you have a question?”

“──I do. A solution.”

“What?”

At the words that I had a solution, everyone's gaze in the conference room gathered on me.

“You have a solution? What do you mean?”

At Father's question, I rose from my seat, looked around once, then pointed at the photograph of Sector C, where every light had gone out.

“The cause is undoubtedly Plague, an executive of the Villain Alliance. Other than his ability, there is no one capable of creating a phenomenon like this so visibly and in such a short amount of time.”

“...

Plague.”

I'd suspected it, but I never thought this situation would happen already.

I took a USB drive from the Cube and handed it to Parnello.

“Please connect this.”

“Yes. Young Master.”

At that, Parnello displayed the materials I'd prepared on the screen.

Plague's face and information appeared on the projector.

“Villain name: Plague. His ability is to transmit pathogens and viruses accumulated within his own body. I obtained information about his ability from a personal informant connected to the Villain Alliance, and the reliability of this information is extremely high.”

Of course, that was a lie.

He was a sinister and obsessive villain. Because of that, at this point in time, very few people knew his ability with certainty, and not much had been revealed.

But I was one of the people who knew more about him than anyone else.

Yes, at least as far as the amount of time I'd spent playing CS was concerned.

That was why I was revealing the information I knew.‘Thanks to that obsessive personality of his, an excuse like this works too.’Because he obsessively avoided exposing himself, there was no one who could refute whatever I said.

“The disease he spreads has an origin point. We have to deal with that before it can be suppressed and treated. And his ability grows and becomes more resilient on its own as time passes. Dragging this out... works against us.”

After saying that, I looked at Father and continued.

“Before the disease spreads further, we must deploy Calione's elite forces immediately. We need to eliminate Plague.”

Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap.

Father tapped the table with his finger as he thought for a moment, then raised his head.

“You are saying we should send Calione's forces into a place rampant with disease?”

“Yes.”

When I answered firmly, Father stroked his beard and continued speaking.

“If something goes wrong, those sent there may also become infected and die. Even if, as you say, capturing Plague can resolve this, I cannot send them blindly into a deathtrap. Even if this incident is resolved, we don't know what aftereffects may remain. I cannot recklessly deploy organization members into such a place. Rather──”

If I went alone, perhaps.

At Father's quiet mutter, the other executives abruptly shot to their feet and looked at him.

“What are you saying, Boss!”

“The Don going personally is out of the question!”

“We'll go instead!”

“We absolutely oppose sending the Don!”

At that, Father gently raised a hand, silencing the others.

Certainly, an Awakened of Father's level could coat his body in aura and gain immunity to most diseases.

But that couldn't happen.

In an emergency like this, if the organization's highest decision-maker left his post, an even greater problem could arise.

So──“I'll go.”

I raised my hand as though it were nothing and spoke.

Everyone's gaze once again gathered on me.

“You mean you'll go, Eugene?”

“Yes. Don. I'll go.”

“Denied.

Did I not just say so? How could I possibly send you there?”

“I've already prepared every countermeasure.”

“...

What?”──Knock ──KnockAt the same time, a knocking sound came from outside the conference room, and shortly afterward Han Seo-jun entered carrying an armful of boxes and set them down on the table where we were seated.

“The items you requested. I brought all of them, Young Master.”

“Good work. Wait outside.”

“Yes. Then.”

After Han Seo-jun left, I opened one of the boxes, took out an ‘item,’ and showed it to Father.

“...

What's that?”

“A gas mask.”

A gas mask that covered only the lower half of the face.

It was the secret weapon I'd prepared for a situation like this.

“Don't tell me you're planning to head into Sector C relying only on a gas mask? As you know, if what you said is true, then you should understand that a disease caused by an ability cannot be completely blocked by something like that.”

Just as Father said, diseases created by supernatural abilities couldn't be prevented with ordinary gas masks or masks.

They had some effect, but couldn't provide perfect protection.

That was why Plague's biological and chemical terrorism had always been feared as a newbie-killer in the game.──However.

With this, the story was different.

“This is a filter made by blessing charcoal produced from cedarwood, turning it into activated carbon, and placing it inside. With this alone, we can be completely free from Plague's ability.”

This was a crafting recipe I'd discovered back when I played the game, an item made to counter Plague, who appeared with near certainty.

An item commonly called the ‘Improvised Disease Immunity Mask.’

It was an item I'd created in fury after dying to Plague while trying all sorts of concept runs, and it was also the item that first made me truly famous as a named user in the CS community.[Title: Got pissed off because of that Plague bitch, so I made an item.][Author: UnderworldMastermindFlame][I've been doing an underwear-only run lately, but whenever I run into Plague while walking around half-naked I die, so I got pissed and made an item. I seriously don't understand why they made the setting that diseases created by abilities can't be blocked by masks.

I think I stayed up for like five days trying to find the crafting recipe for this, but I'm sharing it because I want at least one more person to kill Plague.「Cedar Charcoal + Priest's Blessing + Gas Mask」This thing works insanely well. Gives complete immunity to most diseases and respiratory poisons.

The downside is that it's filter-based, so you have to replace it? But the cost-performance is fucking top-tier, so everyone on the CS boards should try making one. Go go.][Anonymous: Huh? Those materials give disease and poison immunity? Then the cost-performance is actually insane][CookingKingAssassinationKing: Lmaolol the Schweitzer of CS has appeared lolol][Anonymous: Just made one and came back. This really is insanely cost-effective. Complete immunity to respiratory poisons and disease with these materials is basically free lololol][HotDogCoolDog: How pissed did you have to be to literally create an item lololol And the reason is even so people can kill Plague more lolol So, did you kill Plague?][└UnderworldMastermindFlame: Yeah. Strangled him to death with the elastic waistband of my underwear.][└HotDogCoolDog: This lunatic, so an underwear-only run really meant THAT kind of underwear-only run lolololol][└Anonymous: Seriously insane, look at this level of madness lololololol][└Anonymous: Underwear Man lololol]

Back then, the CS community had even praised me with names like ‘CS Schweitzer’ and ‘CS Medical Prize.’

The item's effects were certain.

I'd wondered whether it could be made in reality too, so I was glad it worked just like in the game.

“...

Since when have you been preparing this many items?”

After touching the gas mask several times, Father seemed to realize they couldn't have been made in a short amount of time and asked.

“I began preparing them as soon as Plague uploaded his declaration-of-war video. I apologize for not telling you beforehand.”

Even I hadn't imagined he would do something like this.

A biological and chemical attack directed not at another organization or some other district, but at Calione's own territory.

It was fortunate I'd remembered his personality from the game and prepared in advance in case he did something strange. Otherwise, this could truly have become a disaster.

“No. If anything, the fault lies with us for becoming complacent and letting our guard down.”

Father rose from his seat, picked up one of the masks from the box, and examined it.

“So, how many do you have?”

“Time was short, so I could only make enough for fifty.”

“Do you have a plan once you enter?”

“Since no abnormal symptoms are appearing anywhere outside Sector C, I believe either Plague himself or something spreading the disease is inside Sector C. I plan to eliminate that first.”

The organization members said to be isolated underground were probably affected when they went out with Father to capture Plague.

Based on that alone, Sector C.

There was a high possibility the cause of this incident was there.

“...

You really intend to go.”

“Yes.”

More precisely, I didn't think there was anyone more suited to this task than me.

If I wanted to save the people in Sector C, I had to go right now.

“...

Very well.”

Perhaps he had read the desperation in my heart. Father lightly tossed the gas mask in his hand to me, then looked around at the executives.

“I will delegate full authority over this matter to Eugene Han Calione. Does anyone object?”

“““No.”””

“Then it is unanimous. Eugene Han Calione will be appointed overall commander of this operation.”

Father placed a hand on my shoulder.

“Return safely.”

Not wanting to worry Father as he looked at me with concern, I gave a small smile and answered.

“I'll be back.”