Chapter 150

Chapter 150

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 150Jin-woo sat on the sofa, fidgeting and shaking his leg anxiously.

Perhaps worried by the sight, Young-je, who had been fiddling with his phone beside him, spoke.

“Jin-woo.”

“H-huh? Yeah?”

“Don't shake your leg. You'll shake your luck away.”

“Ah.”...

As expected of our club.

It was truly heartwarming to see everyone worrying about each other's luck.

At that moment.

-Knock knockSomeone knocked on the club room door.

“Eek! She's here! That person is here!”

“Mr. Jin-woo. Stop overreacting.”

Se-ah said what I had been about to say and approached the entrance.

“Yeees~ Coming!”

Her voice was an octave higher.

Se-ah opened the door with a bright smile completely different from usual.

Then the face of a smiling woman appeared behind the door.

“Hello? Familia friends.”

Black bobbed hair tied half-up and a refreshing smile.

A black off-shoulder blouse and denim pants.

Even though this was practically the first time seeing her face-to-face, it was the moment I understood how she had managed to create a fandom called the ‘Moonlight Corps.’

With looks like that, she could definitely outshine most idols.

“H-hello! I'm Kim Se-ah of Familia!”

Startled by her appearance, Se-ah hurriedly bowed and greeted her, and Han Yeo-eun answered with a smile.

“Right. I'm Han Yeo-eun of Artemis. And... I'm the mentor of that guy trembling over there. Jin-woo, your mentor is here. Aren't you going to greet me?”

“G-good evening! Mentor! I hope your day has been peaceful and uneventful!”

“Yeah. I'm glad you seem peaceful and uneventful too, Jin-woo? Looks like you're working hard on your midterms as well.”

Only after seeing Jin-woo spring to his feet and shout did she nod in satisfaction and slowly step into the club room.

Then she looked around, and her eyes widened in surprise at the club room environment.

“Wow. This is really a club room? Even back in my day, there weren't club rooms with facilities this good. The Academy must really be supporting you a lot?”

She looked around everywhere with a bright smile like a child visiting a department store, then eventually turned her gaze toward me.

“I heard you were a Bronze Club. How did you manage to get this much support?”

Does everyone who comes here wonder about that?

“I bought it with my own money. And we're a Silver Club now.”

“Your own money? You must be pretty rich yourself.”

“Yes. My family is fairly well-off.”

Too well-off, if anything.

“Huh? Boss. We're a Silver Club?”

“We got promoted?”

“Hm. That's the first I've heard of it too.”

“...

Didn't I tell you?”

Come to think of it, after Yuli told me we'd become a Silver Club, I hadn't separately told the others.

Because I'd gone straight to Jeju Island.

“Anyway, the important thing today is that we're receiving special training from Guild Master Han Yeo-eun. Let's talk about that later.”

In fact, she was already looking at the other kids with great interest.

“First, I know this girl here is Ji Su-hyeon's disciple, and you were with Old Man Kwak Chun-sik last time, right?”

“That's right.”

Apparently referring to the Academy freshman welcome party from before, she smiled.

“Then whose disciple is the other boy?”

At her smiling question as she turned her head, Young-je lowered his head deeply and answered.

“...

I'm currently receiving instruction from Loti.”

“Loti? Oh my, you have that crazy woman as your mentor. You must have it rough too. And that girl over there... she's the Sword Saint's granddaughter, right?”

Ignoring Jin-woo grumbling in the corner.

Choi Yeon nodded at her question.

“Good. You'll all be worth teaching.”

Saying that, she looked at her wristwatch and checked the time.

“At this hour... we should probably get started. I can't leave the guild unattended for too long either. Where should we train?”

As expected of the head of a guild, it seemed she didn't have much time she could spare for us.

Old Man Kwak Chun-sik had plenty of free time because he'd left the martial arts hall to his son, but normally this was probably what you'd expect.

“There's a training room used by the club members this way.”

“Really? Then shall we go there? By the way, may I ask what kind of special training you wanted that made you specifically request me?”

She asked with purely curious eyes.

The answer itself wasn't difficult, so I spoke confidently.

“We have a mental strength test tomorrow. I heard you're an expert in that field.”

“Hm? Really? Then you came to the right person. In that case, there's one more person we'll need. Can I call her over?”

I could roughly guess who she intended to call, so I nodded and answered.

“Of course.”

______________

While we were lightly warming up after arriving at the training room, a woman in a pure white coat arrived with a bright smile.

“Ah. Looks like I made it properly. I'm Hick, the medical team leader of the Artemis Guild.”

A white-haired woman with round glasses.

Her coat had a name tag reading [Gangnam Hick Plastic Surgery Clinic]

.

“Plastic surgery...?”

Young-je looked puzzled by the mismatch.

At that, the woman flinched in surprise and covered the name tag.

“Ah. Hahaha! I have another job on the side too.”

Saying that, Hick naturally moved behind Han Yeo-eun, then spotted Jin-woo and smiled brightly as though happy to see him.

“Ah! Mr. Jin-woo is here too.”

“H-hello.”

“Mr. Jin-woo is always so diligent~ Keep it up!”

“Ah... yes. Thank you, as always.”

Since he was someone who normally never said thank you, the other kids tilted their heads at Jin-woo's behavior.

I knew why he was acting that way, so it didn't seem particularly strange to me.

Well, the others would find out soon enough too.

“All right, then. I'll start helping you train the ‘mental strength’ your president requested... but the training method I taught Jin-woo is a little intense. Still, you don't need to worry too much. That white-haired woman over there may be a little airheaded, but she's good at her job, so don't worry.”

At that, Se-ah clenched both fists and nodded.

“I'm confident I can endure your training anytime, Guild Master!”

“Really? You said you're Ji Su-hyeon's disciple, right?”

“Pardon? Ah, yes!”

“If you're Ji Su-hyeon's disciple, you should be able to endure well enough.”

“...

Pardon?”

At the same time, a small dagger appeared in her previously empty hand.

“This is a sword called Carnwennan. When it attacks, it only transmits pain without causing a wound. Something like that. It'll be faster to confirm the effect yourself, right?”

And in an instant, she disappeared from sight.

And.

“Hngh?!”

At the same moment, Se-ah, who had been standing in front of me, collapsed while clutching her side.

“Oh my, if you go down from this much, it'll be difficult.”

Han Yeo-eun had moved beside Se-ah in an instant and stabbed the knife into her side.

Shhk.

The blade slid out from her waist.

Se-ah instinctively clutched the attacked area, but no blood came out.

“I-it hurts so much...!”

“You have to endure even if it hurts. In a real battle, are you going to sit down saying it hurts after getting stabbed like that? Get up right now.”

At her cold words announcing the start of training, Se-ah grimaced and stood up.

Han Yeo-eun nodded at the sight and spun the dagger around in her hand.

“The training method is simple. From now on, I'll attack all of you at full power for ten minutes. And you defend with everything you have or endure until the time limit. Simple, right?”

At those words, Jin-woo took a stance as though familiar with it, muttering, ‘At least she's not using a real blade today.’

Young-je and Se-ah still looked confused.

Choi Yeon silently drew the sword at her waist.

“Hick. Time it.”

“Yep yep. Stopwatch is out. Ah, and if anyone gets injured or faints during training, I'll somehow keep you alive, so don't worry. Juniors?”

She said ‘I'll keep you alive even if you die, so get beaten as much as you want’ with such a cheerful tone.

“J-just what kind of mental strength test is it that you're going this far?”

Se-ah, still wearing an expression of lingering pain, asked in disbelief, and Young-je answered in her place.

“I heard they inflict pain through mental magic and judge how you respond... with this method, it'll definitely be a piece of cake.”

“That's right. I trained this way too and got a perfect score. Then, staaart.”

Once again, she disappeared.

As I heightened my senses to the maximum and surveyed the surroundings, I heard the sound of blades clashing from the right.

“You blocked this?”

“...!”

Han Yeo-eun leisurely swung her dagger with one hand while Choi Yeon barely blocked it with a trembling hand.

But.

“Your instincts are good... but your physical abilities aren't mature yet?”

Bang!

Choi Yeon's sword flew upward.

“──Let's see how well you endure pain.”

She reversed her grip on the sword and drove the blade down into Choi Yeon's collarbone.

Was she serious when she said she would attack at full power?

The moment Choi Yeon took the attack, her body collapsed, and Han Yeo-eun turned toward the back with a twisted smile.

“Azure Sky Sword Clan Young Lady, out. Hurry and treat her.”

“Yep yep.”

Hick trotted over to Choi Yeon as though used to this, while the other kids stared in shock.

Since they knew how strong Choi Yeon was, they probably couldn't believe she'd been taken out that easily.

But this was reality.

The difference between one of the industry's current elites and a sprout.

Then Han Yeo-eun's gaze landed on me.

“Shall we see just how impressive a disciple Old Man Kwak Chun-sik has?”

At the same time, she disappeared again, leaving an afterimage like before.

But I was already fully prepared.

I scattered aura around the area so I could detect her position at any moment and focused my attention.

Then I sensed killing intent from the left and threw a punch.

There, Han Yeo-eun was crouched low enough that her body nearly touched the ground.

“Your senses are insane?”

But she twisted her body and her attack merely grazed past my ankle.

It only brushed me lightly, but because of the weapon's characteristics, tremendous pain raced up my spine and swept through all my senses.

But I was already used to pain of this level.

Gritting my teeth, I planted my left foot into the ground, twisted my body, and swung my right leg toward her.

A powerful roundhouse kick flew toward her upper body.

“A counterattack too?”

She twisted her body like an acrobat and dodged the kick, then smiled.

“So the president really is the president? Good. Let's see how long you can last── hm?”──Ting!

She casually swung her sword into empty air.

At the same time, sparks flew in midair and a dagger embedded itself in the ceiling.

“Good boy?”

She smiled and turned her head toward the direction the dagger had come from, looking at Jin-woo.

Jin-woo raised the corners of his mouth as well.

“I'm just doing what I was taught.”

“Of course you should. What kind of idiot stands still while the enemy attacks their ally? Looks like you really are my mentee after all.”───Huuuuuuum.

Dark blue light began surging around her along with a satisfied smile.

Dark aura reminiscent of the night sky.

There was an indescribable beauty to it, yet within that stillness lay an inexplicable fear.

Meanwhile, Choi Yeon, who had regained consciousness, apparently found it hard to believe she'd fainted moments ago.

She grabbed the sword lying on the ground and immediately charged Han Yeo-eun.

At the sight, Han Yeo-eun smiled so brightly that her teeth showed.

“Right. That's how you should come at me!”

At this rate, Choi Yeon would clearly faint again, so I charged from the opposite side and shouted.

“Attack together!”

A battle(?) between one of the Republic of Korea's top heroes and Familia

was about to unfold right here.

______________

“Mr. Jin-woo. What score did you get?”

The kids discussed their exam scores with hollow faces.

“Full marks. You?”

“...

I got full marks too. What about you, Young-je?”

“Me too. Boss... probably got full marks, right?”

“Yeah. Judging by the message that just came in, Choi Yeon seems to have gotten 98 points.”

Was it the result of yesterday's special training?

Every member of Familia had succeeded in scoring within the top 1%.

Now the only thing left was tomorrow's overall sparring exam.

And for that...

“Oh. Looks like everyone did well on the exam. Eugene, don't you have any ssanghwa tea?”

“Hoho. I would prefer an Americano.”

Two elders had already arrived at Familia's club room...

Ha.

When are these exams going to end?

Seriously.