Chapter 172

Chapter 172

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 172“For now, just like you said, I told the Academy I'd be a little late before coming... but what is it this time?”

Kwak Chun-sik dug at his ear as he asked why I'd called him to an abandoned warehouse first thing in the morning.

At first, he'd asked why I had to do mentoring on a day when there were Academy classes, but...‘This unworthy disciple thinks he may need his master's help.’‘Oh? Where is it?’As always, he'd completely fallen for the word master and come to find me.

“The Academy's first-years are all away because of the Reformation Program anyway, so you'd probably be lonely. Isn't this much fine?”

“You brat. That's exactly why it's great. I was planning to sip coffee brought by the juniors and watch that YouTube or whatever, but I came all this way because you said you were having trouble.”

He grumbled as though annoyed, but he'd still come in the end.

It was proof that he genuinely cared about me.

“It's exactly as I told you over the phone. There are some kids who need your help, Master.”

“Hm? Other than you? Other kids?”

“Yes.”

I turned my head toward the abandoned warehouse.

I'd already instructed Ratte to hand over the work to Han Seo-jun before heading to the café.

Han Seo-jun, who belonged to the secretarial office and had formerly worked for the National Intelligence Service.

How exactly was he handling the kids?

I'm curious.

“I'll at least treat you to some coffee. Let's go, Old Man.”

I led the still-confused Kwak Chun-sik into the warehouse, where the enormous interior greeted us.

There was one difference, though.

Unlike yesterday, when it had been excessively noisy, the inside was strangely quiet.

Just as I went a little farther in, wondering whether nobody was there.

“Ah, you've arrived. Young Master. Elder Chun-sik.”

Han Seo-jun, who had been standing in front of the kids, turned toward us and bowed.

The kids then bowed toward us in exactly the same manner.

As I stared in confusion at the completely different atmosphere from usual, Han Seo-jun spoke as though it were nothing.

“The children were more obedient than expected. Agent Ratte must have worked hard last night.”

“You didn't do anything?”

“I'm not sure. I only gave them a little education according to what I was taught.”

The moment Han Seo-jun shrugged and answered, the kids began trembling violently.

I have no idea what he did... but at least they seem to listen well, so that's good.

“Good work. Go rest in the car for a while.”

“As you command.”

Han Seo-jun bowed and left.

Standing before the kids, I spoke as though delivering an announcement.

“I'll start with the important part. First, the place you called your circle has now been dismantled.

“...

Pardon?”

“Dismantled?”

“What does that mean?”...

These kids were more serious than I thought.

“It means it's gone. You don't have to pay activity fees to the circle anymore.”

Only then did they understand, reacting with surprise.

Some of them dropped their jaws, while others covered their mouths.

It was pretty amusing.

“A-all of those people are gone?”

“No, h-how?”

“You don't need to know the details of how. Anyway, that place is gone now, so you don't have to be afraid anymore.”

And that isn't even the truly important part.

“...

I understand that the circle is gone. But who is the person behind you? I feel like I've seen him somewhere before.”Han Ji-yeon, wearing a tracksuit with the Number 1 tag attached, was the first to recognize Kwak Chun-sik and asked.

“Huh? You're right. He looks familiar.”

“Is he a celebrity?”

Apparently pleased that the kids recognized him, the Old Man began chuckling.

“Eugene, did you see that? I'm this famous. There aren't any kids who don't know me. Hahahaha.”

“Of course. You're not just anyone, you're a hero of the Republic of Korea.”

After giving the Old Man a vague reply, I looked back at the kids and continued explaining.

“This is my master, Aura Master Kwak Chun-sik. I didn't bring him here for anything special. I invited him to give you some education.”

“Pardon? Education?”

“Aura Master? Ah, don't tell me that old... mmph mmph!!”

“Oh my god, does that mean I get to learn that Aura Style or whatever too?”

Hm? What are they all talking about?

“Why would you learn Aura Style?”

That's mine.

“What you're going to learn isn't Aura Style. It's etiquette education.”

“““Ah.”””

The three kids' expressions instantly stiffened at my words.

“Old Man. These guys used to beat people up and extort money from them. Could you inject some manners into them your way?”

“Hm? How did you know? People call me some kind of Etiquette Injector out there.”

Of course I'd know.

Do you have any idea how many people have been hit by your Etiquette Injector?

“These guys are the targets of my Reformation Project. There's still about an hour before they need to go to school... could I ask you to handle it?”

“You only ever make me do troublesome things. Still, you're asking for help with an Academy activity, so I can't exactly complain... tsk.”

As he said that and rolled up his sleeves, compressed muscles and bulging veins hidden beneath his clothes began proving themselves.

“All right then. Let's start simply with the Four Books and Three Classics.”

“Hiiik!”

“Hyung! I'll seriously live properly from now on! Okay? Please!”

Yeah. Not happening.

There was another reason that man was called the Etiquette Injector.

It was because he enjoyed it more than anyone else.

He was so serious about etiquette education that even posts like this had appeared on the community.[Title: Hey. You guys know what the walking human disaster in CS is?][Author: NicoNicoTinTin][Ta-da! The answer was Old-Man-Chun-sik! No, my character trait is cigarette addiction, so I was smoking in some corner of the road when someone suddenly came up and talked to me, right? I thought he looked familiar, and it turns out it was the Aura Master. I seriously thought it was some new event, so I watched, but fuck lololol he grabbed me right there and lectured me for an entire hour.

Don't know if the devs intended it, but you can't even skip it. Seriously fucking awful.][ㅇㅇ: Ah, apparently that's an official developer setting. If Kwak Chun-sik catches you committing a crime, you get scolded lol][└NicoNicoTinTin: What kind of shitty setting is that?][└UnderworldMastermindFlame: Ah lol if you suddenly die during an assassination request, just know it was Kwak Chun-sik lololol][└ㅇㅇ: Looks like this bastard died on another request again lolololol][└UnderworldMastermindFlame: STFU.][└ㅇㅇ: Lmaooooooo]...

That brought back painful memories.

Though thanks to that, I'd become even more ruthless.

Ah, just watching that makes me feel like my PTSD is coming back.

As I slowly turned around and tried to leave the warehouse.

“By the way, Eugene. This will be helpful to you too, so sit down and listen with them.”

“I suddenly remembered something urgent I have to do──.”

“Tsk──.”

“...

Ah.”

Failed to escape.

______________

After the kids left for school.

Sitting in the passenger seat of Kwak Chun-sik's car, I stared blankly out the window.

“This is unusual. You could've just taken the time off, so why insist on going to the Academy?”

“Even if it's not for class, I have plenty of work to do.”

The support business for clubs that I'd recently started.

Most of the work had been entrusted to Haru and her ‘International Trade Club,’ but not only had all the clubs that had been suffering financial difficulties rushed in at once, even groups that had fallen to the level of informal gatherings had joined in, leaving the workload on the verge of paralysis.

I'd contacted Haru yesterday out of concern...‘I believe I haven't slept for about three days.’‘Am I sleepy? I'm not sure. I think the sensation of sleepiness itself may have gone numb at this point.’‘Perhaps caffeine flows through my body instead of blood. Hoo. Huhu. Huhuhuhu.’I decided she was no longer sane, so today I planned to help at least a little.

Carrying coffee and desserts purchased from Ratte's café, I visited the club room of the ‘International Trade Club.’

“Welcome... to the International Trade Clu... huh?”

An employee wearing an utterly exhausted expression flinched in surprise when she saw me.

“Looks like you're pretty busy.”

“N-no, we're not. I'll call the president immediately.”

I still vividly remembered how she'd looked down on me when we first met, so watching her move so quickly now gave me a strange sense of satisfaction.

There certainly was a huge difference between when I first came here and now.

Back then, I was just some brat who hadn't accomplished anything.

After waiting for a bit, I saw Haru approaching while rubbing her eyes, her face utterly exhausted.

“...

You've arrived. Young Master.”

“You look like you've been through a lot.”

“Still, since the results are visible, I think the work feels worthwhile. But what is that...?”

“Ah, I figured you'd need it.”

As I said that, I handed her the large amount of coffee and slices of cake I'd brought.

Haru's eyes sparkled.

“Indeed, we'd run out of all the coffee we were drinking, so I was wondering whether we'd need to buy more... thank you. We'll enjoy it.”

She bowed, accepted the coffee, and immediately began distributing it to the employees.

Then, like starving hyenas, the employees snatched up the coffee and disappeared in an instant.

Holding the final cup of coffee, Haru took a sip and looked at me with eyes that seemed a little clearer.

“This taste is familiar. It seems similar to the coffee I had at your estate, Young Master.”

“Right? Glad you seem to like it. By the way, where are those documents you said were difficult for you to process?”

“Ah. You mean those.”

She nodded and turned around.

“I organized the documents separately on one side of the president's office. Come with me.”

I followed her into the president's office.

Bookshelves and interior decorations neatly arranged as though reflecting her personality, along with a spotless floor without even a speck of dust.

But unlike the rest of the room, an enormous, disorderly mountain of paperwork that hadn't been there before greeted us atop the desk.

“...

You've been doing all of this alone?”

“This is what's left after distributing the work among the other employees. It just means your plan worked that well, Young Master.”

Saying that, she walked toward the desk.

“Hup.”

Haru lifted the only neatly organized stack among them and gently placed the papers on another desk nearby.

“These are the documents I mentioned.”

“...

All of these?”

“All of these.”...

She'd said it was just a little, but this was quite a substantial stack.

Well, compared to the documents piled on Haru's desk, I guess it was a little.

“Shall we start right away?”

“Let's.”

Maybe it was the result of all the training I'd recently received from the Consiglière, but reviewing the documents didn't take very long.

Looking at them, most of the problems seemed to be clubs that would have difficulty turning a profit even if we invested in them, or clubs that had brought utterly ridiculous plans.

If even a layman like me could tell there wasn't the slightest chance of success, that said everything.

As I sorted through those future bundles of scrap paper one by one.

“Hm?”

One absurd proposal caught my eye along with a familiar club name.

“This is──.”‘On the Development and Application of Strategic Weapons Using Mana Stones.’

It was a title that couldn't help but make my mouth water.