Chapter 126

Chapter 126

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 126Perhaps she hadn't expected me to swing the shotgun, because Choi Yeon's body was launched into the air after taking the blow.

But she quickly twisted her body, planted her feet against the ceiling, bent her knees to minimize the impact, then charged toward me.

“What are you, a cat?”

Moving like that in midair was something I couldn't even imagine doing.

It was a feat only possible because she was incredibly light and possessed exceptional flexibility.

I raised the shotgun toward her in preparation for the counterattack that would follow.

-Stop.

Ji Su-hyeon's voice came through the speakers, and I felt the spells covering the sparring arena field disappear.

It wasn't difficult to guess why Ji Su-hyeon had stopped the spar.

“Ah.”

Choi Yeon let out a sigh as she looked at her sword, whose blade had completely disappeared.

She had blocked Billy the Kid's Shotgun

at close range, and on top of that, repeatedly forced herself into strenuous movements to create variables.

Her sword had shattered into pieces.

“Are you okay with your sword breaking? It looked pretty good.”

“...

Yeah. Grandpa said it was one he used a long time ago, but maybe it was weak because it's old.”

No, I don't think it simply broke because it was old.

This was only my guess, but judging by how not even fragments of the broken blade remained, I suspected some kind of defensive spell cast on the sword itself had failed to endure the impact and shattered.

“If it belonged to your grandfather, won't he scold you?”

“Yeah... maybe nag me a little?”

So you will get scolded.

“It's a shame, but I guess we'll have to stop here for now. It's not like we can spar by grappling with each other.”

“...

We still haven't decided the winner.”

“What do you mean? If a swordsman's sword breaks, that's a loss. Isn't it?”

At that moment, the door to the sparring arena opened and Ji Su-hyeon entered.

“Look at the state of this arena. How is this a fight between freshmen? It looks like a war happened here.”

The inside of the sparring room was dented and broken all over from Choi Yeon's sword marks and my bullet impacts.

A single press of a button would restore everything, but the scene was certainly pretty brutal.

“By the rules, Choi Yeon loses because her weapon broke first. If you don't like the result, you can bring another sword and continue.”

Popcorn crumbs were stuck all around the corners of her mouth.

She must have thoroughly enjoyed watching our spar.

But Choi Yeon shook her head.

“No. If I use a sword I hurriedly got, I don't think I'd be able to settle the match properly.”

“Really? I think the same. Who would've thought that antique gun would have that much power?”

Ji Su-hyeon looked at ‘Billy the Kid's Shotgun,’ still in my hand, and shuddered.

“That weapon really is as crude as it looks. Bullets that shave away defenses entirely... All right, everyone out now. I need to restore the arena.”

At her words, Choi Yeon and I left the sparring arena, and Se-ah, who had been smiling, held out a tablet PC toward Choi Yeon.

“Here, sign here, and please sign here too.”

“...

Hm?”

Choi Yeon looked confused at the tablet suddenly placed in her hands.

Se-ah smiled and spoke to her.

“It's Familia's club application form. You heard the Instructor, right? By the rules, you lost. So you're joining us now, aren't you?”

Jin-woo muttered in disbelief at the sight.

“Why do you look like you're the happiest one here? Were you close with Choi Yeon or something?”

“Of course I'm happy. I was the only girl in a club with three guys. Isn't this a hundred, a thousand times better than being stuck with an idiot like you, Jin-woo?”

“What? I-idi──”“──All right, Choi Yeon, sign here too. Good~ Let's get along from now on!”

Se-ah neatly ignored the pointless noise and only said what she wanted to say, causing Jin-woo to shriek while Young-je covered his mouth.

Around then.

“Eugene.”

Apparently finished signing, Choi Yeon had already come up in front of me and called my name.

“Next time, when the sword made from the materials you gave me is finished. Let's fight again then.”...

So she really hadn't given up.

“Well, depending on the situation, I might do it. But is that enough?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“Once you join the club, you'll be able to spar with me whenever you want anyway.”

“...

Ah!”

Choi Yeon looked genuinely shocked, as though that thought had never occurred to her.

“Then definitely next time. Definitely.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

There was nothing wrong with sparring appropriately.

Now that Choi Yeon had joined our club, her growth could be considered a direct increase in ‘Familia's’ combat power.

“Of course, it'll be difficult if I'm busy.”

“Ah...”

“I'm joking.”

Anyway, our workload was going to increase from now on, so for a while we'd probably have to focus more on work than sparring.

“Welcome to our club, Choi Yeon.”

I'll work you hard── no.

I'll raise you well.

______________

In the end, by getting Choi Yeon to join the club, we successfully filled all five slots, the maximum membership for a Bronze Club.[Name: ‘Familia’(Calione)][Rank: Bronze][Family Members: 5 / 5 (Rank Promotion Required!)][Subordinate Organizations: 5][Environment: Very Good][Club members are very satisfied!]

Our subordinate organizations were steadily increasing, and we'd already filled the limit for Family Members.

At this point, all that remained was truly promotion to a Silver Club.

Judging from our current performance score, promotion to Silver was nearly guaranteed, but just in case something happened, I'd even used my connection with Yuli and told her to contact me if anything came up.

In other words, I'd already taken every measure I could right now.

From here on, all I had to do was hunt down every jackal that tried to target us.

“President. President?”

“Hm?”

“Didn't you hear? First period is Practical Physical Education. They said to come outside.”

“Ah, right.”

Then I suppose it's time to focus on school life too.

Today's first period was Practical Physical Education.

It was a class created to measure physical ability and improve athletic performance, and all first-year students participated.

After changing into the Academy's gym uniform and heading outside, I saw students from other classes also dressed in gym clothes.

“Is it because it's PE first thing in the morning? Everyone looks miserable.”

“Midterms aren't far away. The instructors probably want to assess the students' abilities before the exams.”

And the Academy did actually use this data to assign appropriate opponents to each student and determine score distribution, so in truth, it was a more important event than it seemed.

We leisurely crossed the field.

When we walked beneath an awning set up unlike the other areas, I saw the students from our class warming up.‘Choi Kang-hyun isn't here today either.’He's taking his time coming back...

It had already been three weeks since he'd been dragged away by Busan's ‘Young Hoem.’

At this point, I was starting to wonder if he'd died during training.

Well, there was a chance the opposite was true.

“No, bend lower than that!”

“My muscles are tearing! They're tearing! Aagh! Aaaaaagh!!”

In the corner, Jin-woo was still doing something bizarre while Se-ah looked at him pitifully and nagged him.

Apparently the other students were also pairing up in twos and helping each other stretch.

Meanwhile.

“Urgh...! Ughhh...!”

There was one student warming up using only her own ability without anyone else's help.

Marie sat on the ground with her legs and arms stretched straight forward, while a golem pressed down firmly on her back.

I quietly approached and pressed down on her back as well.

“W-wait, I didn't tell you to press that hard... e-eek?! E-Eugene?”

“Why are you stretching by yourself?”

“B-because this is easier—aaagh...! I-it hurts! It hurts!”

“Ah, sorry.”

I thought I was pressing gently, but apparently it hurt Marie quite a bit.

When I removed my hand from her back, Marie groaned and slowly sat upright.

“Seriously, I'm a ‘Puppet Master’ who fights using summons. I don't understand why I have to undergo physical fitness tests.”

“Because a Puppet Master who can run around and perform evasive maneuvers is stronger than one who can't do anything themselves?”

“Th-that's prejudice! If I'm protected by my puppets in the first place, there's no reason for me to run away, is there?”

“Is that really so?”

It really was.

After graduating from the Academy, she would actually become a ‘Puppet Master’ known by the title the Immovable

Army.

But if her physical abilities were better, maybe she'd have been known as the Swift Army instead of the Immovable Army.

“Even if you're allowed to use abilities during the fitness test, you never know what kind of situation might happen in real combat. It's better to build up basic physical ability.”

“...

If Eugene says that much, I'll try.”

Of course, since she was in my class, I planned to keep watching over her, so I wasn't particularly worried.

I'd raised Puppet Masters several times before too.

More importantly, she also needed to become stronger for the ‘Second Class Ranking Match’ in the second semester.

Even now, unlike the other classes stretching under the scorching sun, our class was stretching beneath an awning.

Small privileges like this helped the students in other classes burn with even more motivation.

-Focus.

At that moment, a voice came through the speakers attached to the field platform.

-All freshmen who have finished warming up, gather in front of the platform now. Execute.

“““Execute!”””

The voice belonged to Bear Grizzly, the Instructor who had handled the survival class not long ago.

The students began gathering in front of the platform one by one.

Once all the first-years were gathered, he nodded and lifted the microphone in his hand again.

-Today, as announced beforehand, we will conduct physical ability measurements. There are four categories to be measured in total. Power, Mana and Aura (Energy), Speed, and defensive

power. Students should find the instructor responsible for each field and undergo measurement. Execute!

“““Execute!”””

The hellish assessment known on the community as PESD.

These tests measured the limits of a character, and because they squeezed characters to their absolute extremes and demanded tremendous mental endurance from players, they'd earned that nickname.

Of course, now that I was actually doing it rather than playing a game, I'd have to solve it with my own strength rather than mental endurance.

Remembering that the most efficient order for PESD was Aura, Defense, Power, then Speed, I immediately headed toward the E measurement station for mana and aura.

A long line had already formed, with glowing aura and mana flickering at the front.

But.

“You call this garbage aura? Tch, tch.”

“Your mana control is passable, but your output is lacking. Next!”

“Huh? Get lost!”

For some reason, a familiar voice was coming from the testing area.

If there was someone I knew who spoke like that, then it had to be...

“...

Old man?”

Why is the old man here?