Chapter 166

Chapter 166

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 166“I'm home.”

By the time I returned home after finishing the Aura Style General Assembly, the sun had already set.

Thanks to the elixir, my body itself felt light enough to fly, as though I'd been reborn. But I couldn't help being mentally exhausted.

After all, far too much had happened over the course of the day.

As I trudged into the estate, the servants came out to greet me as usual.

“Welcome back, Young Master.”

“Welcome back! Young Master!”

Several servants who happened to be gathered on the first floor, including Alessia, bowed their heads and welcomed me.

I lightly replied, “Hi,” and slowly walked past them.

The servants giggled happily as usual. Then Alessia tilted her head as though something seemed strange, widened her round eyes, and asked me.

“Young Master. Did you perhaps grow taller?”

“...

Is it that obvious?”

I stood there awkwardly, not expecting her to notice immediately, and she sighed.

“I've heard children grow quickly these days, but I didn't expect you to grow this much in a single day. Did you go somewhere and consume an elixir or something?”

“Huh? How did you know?”

She guessed that just from me getting taller?

I asked because I couldn't understand how she'd figured out I'd taken an elixir, but.

“Because it wouldn't be particularly strange if it were you, Young Master.”

“...

Is that so?”

The moment I heard that answer, I understood.

I had certainly been bringing back all kinds of strange items from everywhere lately.

“In that case, we'll need to extensively alter the clothes you currently own. I'll come by your room later to collect your clothing.”

Just as she said, my clothes had become somewhat short after I grew taller.

I couldn't keep wearing them like this, so I'd have to replace or alter all of them.

“Sorry.”

“Why should the Young Master apologize? The Young Master's growth is a joy to the Family, so you don't need to worry.”

Alessia smiled as she answered, then left.

Watching her go, I let out a small sigh.

When I first realized I'd gotten taller, I'd been extremely flustered too.

Growing taller after consuming an elixir was rare, but not unheard of.

In fact, it fell under the kind of thing wuxia novels called ‘Marrow Cleansing and Bone Transformation.’

That was why I'd asked the Old Man, ‘Didn't I undergo Marrow Cleansing and Bone Transformation?’... but he immediately flicked my forehead as if telling me not to talk nonsense.‘Do you think Marrow Cleansing and Bone Transformation is something just anyone can do? Looks like your muscles and bones realigned and made you taller, so it's nothing serious.’In other words, I'd undergone an extreme posture correction.

I had no idea what kind of posture correction was this extensive, but good things were good.

After returning to my room, I changed into DisPater, which was practically my formal uniform.‘Hmm... this is still fine.’I'd been a little worried before putting it on, but as expected of Maestro's work.

Even though my body had grown, it adjusted to fit perfectly.

I'd worried I might not have anything to wear immediately, so that was fortunate.

Then...

It was time to spend the hours of the mafia.

______________

“Consiglière. It's Eugene.”

-Yes. Come in.

The lessons I'd recently been receiving from the Consiglière were about how to handle the organization's work.

Distinguishing what needed to be prioritized and what needed to be rejected.

In a way, it was both the most basic and the most important core of running an organization.

“Consiglière. A document arrived from the Muve Family asking us to increase their budget for bleach purchases.”

“Reject it. Honestly, it's because they always buy expensive branded bleach. There are plenty of cheap, good bleaches at supermarkets...”

Of course, most of it was still things like this for now.

“By the way, Eugene. It seems your father's return will be delayed a little.”

While quietly checking documents, the Consiglière casually brought up Father.

“Father? Did something happen in Russia?”

He wasn't exactly someone who would have something happen to him in Russia, so his return being delayed?

Perhaps noticing my expression, the Consiglière hurriedly waved his hand.

“It's nothing serious. Apparently something happened in Europe too? He said he'd pick up a present there as well, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about. Here. Look.”

Saying that, the Consiglière displayed a photo on his tablet.

On the screen was Father standing atop a bear the size of a house.

He was holding vodka and smiling brightly.

“...

I'm glad he seems to be enjoying himself.”

“Right? Leaving all this work piled onto me. Hah...”──Crack.

The two glass spheres he'd been rolling in his hand instantly turned to powder.

“...

Oops.”

But as though accustomed to it, he wrapped the powder in paper, threw it into the trash, dusted off his hands, and picked up a new pair of glass spheres.

Beyond the rim of the trash can, I could almost see the remains of all the objects sacrificed to his stress...

Ah.

“Let's get back to work.”

“...

Yes.”

I decided to think it was fortunate that at least I could help him with the workload.

______________

“What's with your face this time?”

The next day, when I arrived at the Academy as usual, Jin-woo greeted me with one eye swollen black.

“Well, you see──.”

“Ah, I beat him up. He needs to know when to stop bragging, seriously.”

Se-ah, sitting in the seat in front of him, grumbled as though it were nothing.

From the way she said it, I immediately understood why he'd gotten hit.

“You must've started saying weird stuff again, like being the owner of a dragon-made weapon.”

“Oh, Mr. Eugene heard about it too? Then why didn't you hit him?”

“I was just about to when I got called away for mentoring.”

“Aah~ so that's why you weren't here yesterday?”

Se-ah nodded as though she finally understood, while Jin-woo frowned in confusion and kept rubbing his swollen eye with an egg.

Come to think of it, I was curious about something.

“So how did you get that dragon-made weapon?”

What exactly had Antonio said when giving Jin-woo the weapon?

“Aah. So Boss was actually curious too? Well, you see~ Hehehe. Hehehehe.”

For a moment, I considered making his other eye match, but curiosity came first, so I decided to hold back.

I could always hit him later.

“So, I was sitting in Father's study at night, dozing off, when suddenly I felt this really eerie killing intent. So I snapped my eyes open! And Father was standing over me holding a knife?”

Hm?

“At first I thought I was having sleep paralysis because my body wouldn't move and I couldn't make a sound, so I was struggling by myself. Then suddenly Father threw the knife right beside my head! It stuck into the wall right next to my ear. I seriously thought I was going to piss myself. Then Father walked out and said.”──I picked it up on the way.

“At first I thought it was a dream, but I was drenched in cold sweat, and there was this dagger dangling beside me, so I knew it wasn't. When I finally managed to move and grabbed the dagger, there was even an appraisal certificate kindly attached to the hilt. That's when I found out it was a dragon-made weapon~ That's what happened~”...

So he really did say, ‘I picked it up on the way.’

It seemed he'd given it in a slightly different way from what I'd imagined, but considering how happy Jin-woo was, I guess it had been successful enough?

“And then? Didn't your father say anything else after that?”

“Not really? I just figured he got lucky on the way home and left it at that.”...

This guy's brain really is pure.

The combination of Antonio, who was terrible at expressing his feelings, and Jin-woo, who didn't possess the concept of thinking, seemed to have created incredible synergy.

Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.──Rrrrk!

At that moment, the classroom's front door opened, and Young-je entered carrying a large stack of handouts.

No, were those booklets?

“Hm? Looks like everyone's here. Perfect timing. Can the people in front pass these toward the back?”

Young-je handed the booklets to the people in the front seats of each row.

As the booklet passed from person to person and finally reached me, I could roughly guess what event was coming.[Academy Volunteer Period (Reformation Program) - Class A Edition.]

“Right, this existed too.”

It was a kind of event held almost routinely after midterms, where Academy students went outside and guided elementary- or middle-school-aged Awakened children.

In short, you had to reform delinquents.

Something about it being the duty of those who would become heroes.

“Instructor said we need to start filling our volunteer hours too, so we should prepare ahead of time. If you look inside, there's a list of kids you can take as mentees, and the points differ depending on the difficulty assigned according to their usual behavior.”

Just as Young-je said, when I flipped through the booklet, it contained information on the children registered as mentees, their usual conduct, difficulty, and score.[Name: Kim Young-woong][School: Solip Middle School][Age: 14][Special Notes: 2 incidents of school violence. 1 incident of extortion.][Difficulty: C]

It was something like this.

“Instructor also said there'll be a separate reward for whoever fulfills the mentor role most perfectly, so it'd be good to look through everything and decide in advance.”

At Young-je's words, the kids opened their booklets and began checking the children they wanted to choose.

Judging from the booklet's title, it seemed our class had earned the privilege of choosing first because we'd taken first place in the Class Ranking Match.

“Wow. Extortion, manslaughter through assault, threats. What's wrong with kids these days? Seriously, it's too scary to live.”

Jin-woo Vivald, who in the past had apparently extorted money from villains at other schools, trembled while looking through the booklet as though he'd forgotten his own history.

“Now that I think about it, didn't you participate in the Reformation Program when you were in elementary or middle school?”

Young-je, apparently dumbfounded by the sight, asked after returning to his seat.

“Hm? Me? I did. I think it was when I was in eighth grade. She was a pretty older girl from some guild...”

Jin-woo smiled dreamily, apparently recalling the memory.

“Then why are you still not reformed?”

Se-ah launched a fact-based bombardment, and Jin-woo shook his head as if asking what she was talking about.

“After that, I only beat up guys who bullied other people, you know? She was the turning point of my life.”...

So that's why he only went around beating villains.

That mentor really must have been an incredible person.

“What difficulty were you back then, Mr. Jin-woo?”

“Me? I heard I was A, I think.”

“A?”

At his answer, I looked through the other A-difficulty students.

Assault, arson, aggravated assault, obscene acts using communication media... their offenses were all quite serious.

Just how much of a delinquent had he been in the past?

“To carry on her will, I'm going to reform an A-difficulty student too! What are the rest of you going to do?”

“Hmm... I think I need to look a little more.”

“I'll probably aim for around A too. A definitely gives more points, and I think I can manage somehow.”

The kids busily chose the mentees they'd be paired with.

Then suddenly Jin-woo looked toward me.

“What about Boss? Have you thought about who you're choosing?”

Well, that was already decided.

“Me? If you're asking whether I've chosen, then yeah...”

“Who is it? Who is it?”

Se-ah bounced excitedly after hearing I'd already chosen.

It wasn't anything that special, so I immediately pointed to the photo at the very front of the booklet.

“These guys.”

At the end of my pointing finger.

There were photos of children with extremely rough appearances, the kind anyone could tell were delinquents just from their expressions.[Violent Circle (Difficulty: S)][Name: Han Ji-yeon][School: Jigle Middle School][Age: 15][Special Notes: 15 incidents of aggravated assault, 32 incidents of extortion, 18 incidents of assault, 2 incidents of arson, 14 incidents of threats, fraud...][Individual Difficulty: A]*Appears to have close ties to an outside organization. Caution advised if selected as a mentee.[Name: Gi Min-ho][School: Jigle Middle School][Age: 15][Special Notes: 23 incidents of aggravated assault, 12 incidents of extortion, 38 incidents of assault, 14 incidents of threats, 8 incidents of fraud.][Individual Difficulty: A]*Appears to have close ties to an outside organization. Caution advised if selected as a mentee.[Name: Kim Hyun-su][School: Jigle Middle School][Age: 15][Special Notes: 2 incidents of aggravated assault, 8 incidents of extortion, 54 incidents of assault, 31 incidents of threats. 2 incidents of attempted murder.][Individual Difficulty: A]*Appears to have close ties to an outside organization. Caution advised if selected as a mentee.

Starting today, you're going to become good kids.