Chapter 15

Chapter 15

I Became the Academy Mafia, Chapter 15After returning to the classroom and taking my seat, Jin-woo dragged his chair over to my desk.

“Boss, where did you go?”

“I went to offer Instructor Ji Su-hyeon the position of club advisor.”

“What? You really asked her that? So, what did Ji Su-hyeon say? Did she tell you to get lost?”...

Just what kind of person was Ji Su-hyeon inside this guy’s head?

“She told me to bring her three club establishment consent forms by tomorrow. If I do, she said she’ll personally take responsibility for getting us through the Student Council review as well.”

“What?! That crazy bitch really said that?”

Because he suddenly shouted, every gaze around us turned in this direction.

“...

How about lowering your voice.”

“Ah, sorry. So, that crazy bitch really said she’d get us through the Student Council review if we bring her three consent forms?”

I nodded at his question.

“Wow, seriously. She’s crazy. She probably only said that because she thinks there’s no way you can do it, right?”

“Rather than that, she probably thinks there’s no need for her to look after me if I can’t even manage this much. Instructor Ji Su-hyeon is a thorough meritocrat.”

“So she’s playing really hard to get.”

Was that another way to put it?

Well, he wasn’t wrong, so I didn’t correct him.

“So, to get three consent forms, that means we have to raid a Bronze, Silver, and Gold Club before today ends. Can you do it?”

“If I couldn’t even manage that much, I wouldn’t have tried in the first place.”

“Wow... as expected of Boss.”

I had already planned from the beginning to obtain all three consent forms, so getting them wouldn’t be particularly difficult.

The problem was... I had to recruit those two first.

Then, shall we move on to the next stage?

I looked at the two people who would soon become my comrades, no, whom I would make into my comrades.

Then I immediately stood and approached Kim Se-ah.

“Kim Se-ah.”

“Yes? Huh? Han Eugene?”

Apparently she hadn’t expected me to speak to her, because Kim Se-ah looked at me with a fairly flustered expression. At the same time, I could feel the surrounding gazes gathering on us.

Well, it wasn’t something I needed to hide, so it didn’t matter.

“Kim Se-ah. Do you have any thoughts of joining a club?”

“A club? Yes. Originally, I was planning to join the Hunter Club...”

The Hunter Club was probably the club that used the Academy’s name to reserve dungeons and made profits from the byproducts obtained there.

I had joined it a few times when playing as a Ranger, so fragments of memories about it remained.

“The Hunter Club is a Platinum-rank club, isn’t it? You’d have to take a separate test to get in.”

“Of course I know that. I was planning to take the test today.”

Kim Se-ah blinked and answered as though it were nothing.

Her spatial detection ability and the techniques she had shown during the spar would definitely be necessary for a future event, so I recalled the information written about her.

The reason she wanted to join the Hunter Club was probably financial.

Then I just had to target that point.

“I know a club where you can earn more than there. Interested?”

“...

What? There’s a club that pays better than the Hunter Club?”

The moment money entered the conversation, Kim Se-ah showed interest and her eyes sparkled.

“Yeah, and there’s no entrance test either. It’s a club where you even receive bonuses according to how hard you work.”

“Th-there’s a club like that? When I researched them, there wasn’t anything like that...”

“Yeah. Not yet.”

“...

What do you mean, not yet?”

“I’m planning to create a club. One with quite a profitable income.”

“What? You’re creating a club? Don’t tell me that’s why you asked the instructor about it in class?”

“Yeah, I’ve already finished discussing everything with Instructor Ji Su-hyeon. She said that as long as I bring her three club establishment consent forms, she’ll personally serve as our advisor and even make sure we pass the Student Council review.”

“Th-the instructor really said that?”

“Yeah, so I’d like to make you an offer.”

Right after yesterday’s spar. If the alert on my smartphone was accurate, Kim Se-ah was one of the people who had felt at least a small amount of fear toward me during yesterday’s spar.

If that was the case, the subsidiary effect of my trait,【Heir to the Underworld】. [An Offer You Can’t Refuse]

would automatically apply.

When I subtly checked the notification, I could see an alert saying [An Offer You Can’t Refuse]

was currently active.

Then all that remained was to make the offer.

“If I bring back three consent forms by the end of today, I’d like you to join my club.”

“What? Me?”

Kim Se-ah looked around nervously, flustered by the recruitment offer.

I used that momentum to present conditions that would benefit her.

“As far as I know, a freshman in the Hunter Club earns about four million credits a month.”

“Uh... yes, that’s right.”

“Then you probably don’t know that Hunter Club freshmen have to give up 50% for introduction fees, equipment rental fees, and the club development fund.”

“What? 50%?”

Fifty percent of four million credits a month. That left two million credits per month, about the same as what an ordinary person earned from a part-time job.

The Hunter Club was practically a mercenary club, and accordingly, it came with considerable restrictions and regulations.

It would be hard to believe that after all that suffering, they only received that much.

It was a loophole created by the information imbalance caused by the rule that once you joined, you couldn’t leave until the school year ended, and that freshmen could only obtain fragmentary information about the club.

“Yeah, those dirty bastards conveniently leave that out when recruiting freshmen, then show their true colors the moment you sign the club admission form. Why, you don’t believe me?”

As I said that, I pointed out the window.

“If you don’t believe me, go down there and ask them yourself. They’ll probably immediately shut you up and chase you away while telling you not to talk nonsense.”

“W-wait. Then how do you know something like that, Eugene?”

I knew because I had fallen for it in the game when I was a newbie... but I obviously couldn’t openly say I had seen it in the game. I gave the answer I had prepared in advance.

“Someone I know graduated from the Academy. I heard it from that person.”

“...

Someone you know?”

“Yeah. Someone I know.”

I had already gone as far as telling her to go outside and verify it if she didn’t believe me.

If I went this far, she would at least think there was a possibility that I wasn’t lying.

And at this timing, I drove in the final nail.

“Five million. If you join our club, I’ll make sure you get five million credits.”

“What? F-five million credits?”

“Bonuses are separate, of course.”

“B-bonuses too...?”

“What do you think? Interested now?”

Kim Se-ah fell into thought after hearing me. On the surface, she seemed to be seriously considering it, but I already knew.

She had completely fallen for it.

“Y-you said you’d collect three club establishment consent forms, right? Fine! If Eugene really manages to collect all three consent forms, I’ll accept that offer!”

As though she had no choice, she nodded and extended her hand to me, and I took it and gave it a light shake.

“Good.”

“But don’t you need at least four people to create a club? Excluding me and Eugene, the others are...”

“What? Five hundred? Five millioooon?! Boss! What about me? I get that much too, right?”

Jin-woo, who had been quietly watching from behind until now, suddenly became extremely excited at the mention of five million credits and began questioning me.

“...

That makes three with this guy.”

“Ah... so that’s why Jin-woo was calling Eugene Boss. Then what about the other person?”

“The other person? I’m going to ask him right now.”

Immediately after saying that to Kim Se-ah, I walked straight over to Kim Young-je’s desk, which was in front of hers.

“Glasses.”

“...

Glasses? I’m the class president now, so you could just call me Class President.”

Kim Young-je sighed and muttered at my call.

“Really? Then I’ll call you Class President. In that case, you heard everything, so I won’t explain it separately. I’d like you to join the club I’m going to create.”

“You’re trying to fill all four spots immediately? You’re in quite a hurry.”

“As you just heard, Instructor Ji Su-hyeon told me to bring her three consent forms by tomorrow. So, interested?”

“Unfortunately, I have no intention of joining a club. I───.”

“You’re planning to join the Student Council. That’s why you became class president too.”

Of course, it wasn’t because I had actually seen him volunteer for class president and thought, He must be planning to join the Student Council.

I merely knew it because he had joined the Student Council in the game too.

And the reason he wanted to join the Student Council was always just one thing.

Power.

The power to find the person he was searching for.

The power to access the information he wanted. That was why Kim Young-je always sought to join the Student Council.

And the information he sought was always the same.

“You’re searching for your master’s whereabouts, aren’t you?”

“What?”

Kim Young-je shot up from his seat after hearing me.

“How do you know that?”

“...

Is that important?”

Information that wasn’t even written in the Calione Secretary’s Office records.

But I alone knew it.

Kim Young-je. He was originally a dungeon orphan who had lost his family because of a dungeon.

And the one who took him in and raised him was the very master he was now searching for.

“The mage widely known as the Conductor of the Rainbow. Arcobaleno. He is currently trapped inside a dungeon.”

I calmly told him the information he was searching for.

“...

What?”

“One of the dungeons known to be impossible to clear. Dante’s Hell (La Divina)

He’s sealed inside it.”

“Dante’s Hell...? Master is there?”

Young-je’s eyes began to waver. Riding that momentum, I continued pressing him.

“Why, you don’t believe me? Because there’s no proof? Of course. It’s merely information spoken without any evidence, so naturally you can’t trust it. I understand. But I can promise you one thing.”

Buzz── Buzz──The smartphone in my left hand began vibrating violently.

“There isn’t a single lie in what I’ve said.”

My instincts were telling me.

He had started listening to me seriously.

“Your enemy will become my enemy. Your friend will become my friend. Why? Because I don’t abandon my family.”

Buzz── Buzz── Buzz──The smartphone began ringing like crazy.[An Offer You Can’t Refuse]

was being applied.

“If you join the club I’m creating, I’ll accompany you into the hell no one else will enter with you.”

Buzz── Buzz── Buzz──“Join my club. Kim Young-je.”

Buzz──“I’ll go with you.”

Buzz─At last, the vibration stopped, and Kim Young-je slowly opened his eyes and looked into mine.

“Long ago, Master once told me something. A true friend is someone who regards each other as family. And you’re talking as though it’s only natural that friends are family.”

Clasp. He grabbed my hand.

“Eugene. I’ll trust you.”

“An excellent choice.”

With this, I had gathered all four club members.