Chapter 13

Chapter 13

I Became the Academy Mafia, Chapter 13After finishing my entire conversation with Jin-woo and returning home, I was checking my status window and weapons in preparation for tomorrow’s event.

At the same time as I sensed someone outside my room, a knock sounded.

“Eugene, may I come in?”

Father’s voice.

I couldn’t understand why Father had come to see me at this hour, but I couldn’t exactly tell him no like some middle schooler going through puberty either.

“Yes, that’s fine.”

Still flustered by the sudden event of Father visiting, I composed myself, answered him, and sat neatly on the bed.

“Good. Then I’m coming in.”

Father entered the room with a cigar in his mouth, wearing a black coat and fedora.

Judging by his clothes, it seemed he was about to head somewhere.

“Are you going out?”

“Yes. I received information that they found a hideout where the remnants of Blunte are hiding.”

Father shrugged with an expression saying it couldn’t be helped and sat in the chair across from the bed.

Because of events in the past, the Foreign Area was a place the government’s influence practically did not reach.

That was why public order there was, in reality, maintained by the Calione Family.

“You must be busy.”

“What can be done? The government’s hand does not reach the Foreign Area. So this father of yours has to work hard instead.”

Father smiled and stroked my head.

The hard, rough hand I felt atop my head wasn’t particularly unpleasant.

“Ah, right. I heard you met the successor of the Vivald Family today? I had vaguely heard that Antonio’s son attended the Academy, but from the looks of it, he seems to be in the same class as you.”

So the report had gone straight to Father after all. I naturally removed Father’s hand and nodded calmly.

“Yes, that’s how it turned out. We even sparred today.”

Father’s eyes widened at my words.

“Oh? Is that so? How did it end?”

“...

The spar ended less than three seconds after I pulled the trigger. It was so one-sided that Instructor Ji Su-hyeon even said she wanted to see me fight without my unique weapon next time.”

“Hahaha! Ji Su-hyeon. That sounds just like her.”

Since the subject of Instructor Ji Su-hyeon had come up, I decided to ask Father something I had been wondering about at the Academy.

“Um... Father. May I ask what sort of relationship you have with Instructor Ji Su-hyeon? She called you ‘old man.’”

“Hm? That girl? Well... if you ask what kind of relationship we have, before she became a teacher at the Academy, she clashed with me several times. We simply have a bit of history because of that.”

“Ah...”

So she had clashed with Father back when she was active.

I already knew from the game that Ji Su-hyeon had taken down numerous criminals while working as a hero in the past, but I had never imagined she had even clashed with Father.

“More importantly. To think Antonio’s son went down in three seconds. It seems you acquired quite a fine weapon, Eugene.”

Father said that with a kindly smile.

Apparently Parnello had told him, because Father also seemed to know about my unique weapon.

“Yes, I was lucky.”

“Luck? Obtaining the item you want is also a skill. You may be proud of it.”

The relic. [Al Capone’s Tommy]

was something that could truly be called the holy grail of Mafias.

It was understandable that Father would be so pleased that his son had obtained such an item.

Well, that kind of reaction was probably only possible because, to Father, [Al Capone’s Tommy]

must look like a toy.

“But Father, why did you come to my room...?”

“Ah, yes. I nearly forgot. There’s something I wanted to give you.”

Saying that, Father rummaged around in his pocket, took something out, and handed it to me.

“You completely dealt with the Blunte Family, didn’t you? If you successfully completed a mission, you should receive a reward befitting it.”

What Father took out as he said that was an ordinary-looking, colorful cube.

“...

What is this?”

“You can’t exactly carry that heavy gun around every day, can you? So I prepared a subspace artifact for you. Do you like it?”

A subspace artifact.

I thought I had seen that design somewhere before, and it was one of the inventory items I had seen in the game.

“They said each square of that cube contains about 1cm³ of space, so in total you should be able to use 6.4m³ of space.”

The cube passed from Father’s hand to mine. The moment it touched my hand, information about how to use it entered my mind.

A 64-slot inventory appeared before my eyes.

As a test, I picked up the pillow beside me and placed it into the inventory, and the pillow went inside while occupying eight slots.

“How is it?”

Father looked at me with a smile, seemingly curious about my reaction.

“Yes, I really... really like it.”

“Haha! Right? I heard its size can also be adjusted, so people normally wear it around their necks.”

Saying that, Father handed me a necklace that seemed to be part of a set with the cube.

Apparently, the cube could be shrunk and attached to the end of the necklace.

“I’ll use it gratefully.”

“Good, seeing that you like it makes me happy as well.”

Buzzz, buzzz. My smartphone vibrated. It seemed the item’s information had arrived.

“Hm? Did a friend contact you?”

“Yes, I think so.”

Then another vibration sounded.

This time, the source of the vibration wasn’t my smartphone but Father’s pocket.

“...

It seems I received a message too, so I should get going.”

Saying that, Father walked toward the door.

“Be careful.”

“Good. Thank you.”

After Father left the room like that. I picked up the smartphone that had been lying face down and checked the newly arrived alert.[You have acquired a new item!][Name: Four-Dimensional Cube][Grade: Relic][Type: Item][Description: A subspace relic created by the artisan of the artifact workshop ‘Cube.’ The cube consists of a total of 64 slots, with each slot possessing 10cm³ of space, allowing items to be stored in a total of 6.4m³ of subspace.

An option to adjust the size of the cube according to the user’s convenience has been added.]

“...

So it really was made by the Cube Workshop.”

Cube was the name of a workshop that produced high-end brands appearing several times in the game.

You could call it something like a luxury brand.

Items from the Cube Workshop were quite expensive, and subspace relics in particular were said to be difficult to obtain no matter how much money you had, so I couldn’t even imagine how much had been spent on this.

Well, with Father’s name and Calione’s wealth, it probably wasn’t that large of an expense.

In the end, I had obtained an item that was extremely necessary for me.

As I organized my inventory by putting ‘Al Capone’s Tommy’ and various miscellaneous items into the cube Father had given me, another knock sounded from outside the door.

“It’s Han Seo-jun. May I come in?”

Apparently Han Seo-jun, whom I had called before Father came to my room, had been waiting for Father to leave.

“Yeah. Come in.”

After finishing organizing the cube, I spoke toward the door, and Han Seo-jun carefully opened it and entered the room.

The moment I saw his face, I immediately told him why I had called him here.

“Han Seo-jun. I need the power of the Secretary’s Office.”

“...

The Secretary’s Office?”

“Yes. Kim Se-ah and Kim Young-je, who are in the same class as me. And Ji Su-hyeon. Even if you have to use the resources of the Secretary’s Office, gather information on those three and report it to me. The deadline is... tomorrow morning. Can you do it?”

“Um... if you use the Secretary’s Office independently, the Don might───.”

“I’m currently the successor undergoing Calione Family successor training. I should at least have the right to use the Secretary’s Office, shouldn’t I?”

“...

I’ll report by tomorrow.”

“Good, I’m counting on you.”

At my words, Han Seo-jun bowed his head and immediately left.

He was originally a member of the National Intelligence Service, an insider planted within Calione.

Normally, it would have been right to tell Father his identity and let him handle it separately... but I judged that it would be far more beneficial to keep him beside me, watch him, and slowly train him into becoming my own hands and feet.

Because later, he would also be a key card for taking the life of the National Intelligence Service.

Of course, that was a matter for the distant future.

_______________

“Bossss~ You’re here?”

When I arrived at the Hero Academy, Jin-woo, who had arrived first, greeted me by waving happily.

“...

Can’t you greet me a little more quietly?”

“Huh? Why?”

Why do you think?

If I focused even slightly, I could hear murmuring from around us.‘That delinquent just called Eugene Boss, right?’‘Did he lose yesterday’s spar and agree to become his subordinate?’Some unpleasant conversations were going around.

“I’d like you to refrain from loudly calling me Boss.”

“Really? Well, lowering my voice is easy enough... So, are you ready to recruit club members?”

At Jin-woo’s words, I remembered what had happened this morning.

At the same time as I received information from the Secretary’s Office, the Character Encyclopedia entries for Kim Se-ah and Kim Young-je had been newly updated.

A Character Encyclopedia capable of absorbing outside information was an extremely useful ability in situations like this.

“Of course.”

“Really? Then that’s good. What about the advisor instructor?”

“Hm?”

“I mean the club advisor. The instructor who’ll be responsible for the club. Don’t tell me you were planning to create a club with only students?”

“If it’s an advisor, can’t we just ask Instructor Ji Su-hyeon?”

“Hey, you think that woman is crazy enough to be a club advisor?”

Jin-woo waved his hand dismissively at my answer as though it were absurd.

“I’ve only seen Instructor Ji Su-hyeon for two days, but from what I’ve seen, she’s not the kind of person who would do something like that.”

“Really?”

Normally, anyone would think that.

In truth, I had already thought of every way to persuade Instructor Ji Su-hyeon... but there didn’t seem to be any need to explain it in detail right now.

“Morning homeroom is about to start, so let’s do it at lunch. As for Instructor Ji Su-hyeon... I’ll handle it.”

“...

Really? If the Boss says that much, I won’t stop you... Ah, is there anything I can help with?”

“You just need to stay still.”

“Really? Sweet.”

He answered that and returned to his seat. Finally left alone, I turned on my smartphone and looked over the Character Encyclopedia.[Name: Kim Se-ah][Affiliation: South Korea, Academy][Age: 19 years old][Specialty: Excellent spatial magic and spatial perception ability][Family Relations: One younger sister, one younger brother. Both parents deceased.][Description: She is raising her two younger siblings alone. In the past, her father worked as a hero using spatial abilities and died during vigilante activities. Afterward, she was able to grow safely into adulthood with support from the Hero Association, but once she became an adult, she could no longer receive support from the Association, leaving her in financially difficult circumstances.][Name: Kim Young-je][Affiliation: South Korea, Academy][Age: 19 years old][Specialty: Possesses genius-level talent in elemental magic and extremely high intelligence][Family Relations: Single][Description: He lived an ordinary school life in middle school, but his magical talent rose explosively during high school. He currently lives in the Academy dormitory and entered on a scholarship. He has contacted intelligence organizations under Calione several times and is searching for someone.]

As I organized in my head the results created by combining information from the Intelligence Office with the ability of the <​Character Encyclopedia> and thought about how to approach them, the front door of the classroom opened and Instructor Ji Su-hyeon entered with a smile.

“Hmm, having fewer students in the class certainly makes counting easier. Now then, shall we begin the third day at the Academy?”

Something. Something feels ominous.