Chapter 179

Chapter 179

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 179Personally, I thought I had done a good job hiding my identity until now.

The reason Father had wanted my identity to remain undiscovered at the Academy in the first place was because he had judged that I wouldn't be able to withstand the pressure and attention that would come from outside.

Within the Republic of Korea, the Calione Family was uncharted territory.

An existence that couldn't be approached carelessly, and one that always had to be watched.

That was why, in preparation for any unforeseen situation, even while handling Family business, I naturally used 【Clown Makeup】 when dealing with others to alter my face little by little, or, when I couldn't do so in time, made sure the organization could take measures afterward.

Just as Father had said, there were still almost no people at the Academy who properly knew about me, so I'd thought I'd keep hiding it until the end...

That was definitely the plan.

“Huh?”

“Ah.”

Why is Yuli Rodman here?

“Hm? What's wrong?”

Seeing his daughter suddenly stop, Dwich frowned as though finding it strange.

Yuli shook her head as though it were nothing.

“N-no, it's nothing. But Father. The person here is...?”

“Ah, you mean this gentleman?”

And when the subject returned to me, he smiled and spoke.

“Greet him. He is the man who will become the next head of Calione.”

At that, Yuli's eyes widened so much they looked ready to split, and even her closed mouth fell open.

“C-Calione, you say?”

“Yes. The crown prince of Calione said he has great interest in our family, so we were having a brief conversation. Haha!”

Leaving the laughing Dwich behind, she looked at me and frantically moved her eyes, trying to send some kind of signal.

She clearly wanted to say something, but how was anyone supposed to understand speech from nothing but the movement of someone's eyelids?

In the end, Yuli sighed and looked toward her father.

“He seems to be around my age, so what an incredible coinci.

dence.

Would it be all right if I spoke with the heir of Calione for a moment?”

“Hm? You?”

“Yes. Would that be all right with you as well, Lord Calione?”

“Of course.”

Perhaps Dwich sensed something from our exchange.

He nodded and placed a hand on Yuli's shoulder.

“Yes, what an extraordinary connection this is. Go and keep him company for a while.”

“I will. Father.”

After bowing to Dwich, she extended her hand toward me.

“Would you escort me, gentle.

man?”...

I know that expression.

It meant the mischievous Yuli was enjoying this situation right now.

With her father standing behind us, refusing to escort her would amount to disrespecting the Rodman family.

In the end, I sighed, took her hand, and slowly led her somewhere quiet.

“When you said you were going home this weekend, the place you were coming to was a party? And not just any party, but ‘Walpurgis Night,’ where the major figures of the world's underworld gather? I heard you can't come here without an invitation. How the hell did you get here?”

I had known the Rodman family would attend, but the reason I'd assumed there wouldn't be any problems was precisely because of that.

She wasn't an underworld heavyweight.

“...

Walpurgis Night allows direct family members to accompany an invitee as long as you notify them a few weeks before the event. If anything, showing up together on the day itself like you did is what's unusual. It's only possible because your family is Calione! No, more importantly, what the hell do you mean you're the heir of Calione?!”

She asked as though equally dumbfounded.

“Exactly what you heard. Eugene Han Calione. That's my name.”

“Ha.”

I'd merely answered honestly, but she let out a hollow laugh with an expression of disbelief.

“You were so openly hostile toward the student council president and didn't show any fear of the Pendragon family, so I thought it was just because you had the Hanwol Group's blood... but you had something else to rely on?”

I shrugged in affirmation, and Yuli grabbed her forehead.

“Aah! Now everything else is starting to make sense! Why the spending records for your club were all from your personal money, how a freshman could go around beating up upperclassmen like that. Why your club's name is ‘Familia’! Isn't that last one basically deception? It's like you're bragging, ‘I'm in the mafia!’”

“Uh... yeah?”

But nobody figured it out.

Was it too blatant?

“Seriously... I thought there had to be something hidden about you, Junior, but I never imagined it would be a nuclear bomb this huge. Who would ever think some first-year Academy student was the son of Vito Calione, an existence who inspires respect and fear in people all over the world!”

“Oh, that sounds like the title of a novel.”

“I'm not joking!”

Saying that, she dropped onto a bench right behind her and stomped her feet.

“Then everything I've done in front of you until now is so embarrassing I could die! What do I do! What do I do!”...

Yuli had certainly done quite a few things in front of me that could be considered embarrassing.

Bragging about her family, or talking as though she were giving me some enormous sponsorship.

“Aaaah! This is so annoying!”

As she sat on the bench furiously kicking her feet to vent her frustration, her dress fluttered wildly.

“...

Senior.”

“What!”

“You're kicking up dust.”

“...

This is so annoying, seriously!”

Eventually, she stopped stomping and raised her head to look at me standing in front of her.

“This is seriously ridiculous.”

“Do you think I expected to meet you here either, Senior? If I'd known this would happen, I would've at least changed my face before coming.”

“...

Seriously. Compared to how you look at the Academy, you've already put a ton of effort into your face and hair, so what are you talking about?”

“Does it not suit me?”

At my question, she sharply turned her head away.

“...

It's not that.”

Right.

There's no way it wouldn't suit me.

The maids of our Calione family spent hours putting this look together.

“Then, do the kids at the Academy know you're the heir of Calione too?”

I shook my head at her question.

“No. None of them. In the first place, only a few people at the Academy even know I'm connected to Calione.”

“What? Then what about Jin-woo Vivald? He's part of Calione too.”

“Do you think that single-celled organism would act the way he does around me if he knew? He's someone who keeps getting on my nerves whenever he gets the chance.”

“Ah. True.”

She immediately accepted my explanation.

Well... Jin-woo was still considered one of the Academy's official delinquents.

“Haa, then does that mean I'm practically the only one who knows you're the heir of Calione?”

“Hmm, I'm not sure. Excluding people who knew me before enrollment, among the students I met after entering the Academy, probably.”

“I like that.”

“...

Pardon?”

At my question, she stood from her seat, walked toward me, and held out her hand.

“Well, they say the more secrets business partners share with each other, the stronger their trust becomes, right?”...

Ha.

So in the end, she was seeing this as another device to strengthen our relationship.

While shaking her hand, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

“Senior.”

“Yeah?”

“I don't know any of your secrets.”

“Huh? Didn't I tell you? My goal is the student council president.”

“Is that the same as this? Back then, you told me first because you were trying to persuade me. Right now, I'm the only one who lost out by having my secret exposed, aren't I?”

“...

Is that so? Then I'll tell you one of my secrets too. When you're talking with me, it's better not to show your nape.”

“Pardon?”

As she said that, she suddenly grabbed and pulled me toward her, pressed herself right beside my head, and brought her mouth to my ear.

“──Because I'm a vampire.”

Clack!

She snapped her upper and lower teeth together, then pulled away from me again and giggled.

“Of course, I won't drink my dear junior's blood, though?”

“...

Please don't say something so frightening. And in the first place, you're someone who transforms into a bat to travel around. You're seriously calling that a secret?”

“Ah, is that so? Anyway, I told you a secret, all right?”

Good grief.

______________

The place Yuli and I headed to was Calione's seating area, which had become a little quieter by then.

Father seemed to have been taking a brief rest, sitting there while swirling a wineglass.

“J-Junior. Are you really sure it's okay for me to go greet him? Honestly, I'm a little. No, I'm really scared.”

“What's there to be afraid of? Just think of him as the parent of your cherished junior.”

“I'm saying that because that parent isn't an ordinary person!”

“Senior, you're the one who said you wanted to greet him first.”

The situation had unfolded like this.

While I was passing time chatting about this and that with Yuli after she learned my identity as a Calione.

She suddenly steeled herself and asked whether she could go greet Father.

When I asked why...‘My most cherished junior is the heir of Calione. Isn't it okay if I benefit a little too?’It was for an extremely realistic reason.

Well, I'd never introduced Father to any of my Academy friends or acquaintances before either, so I figured he'd be pleased and agreed.

“Since you're one of my acquaintances, Father will probably be happy too. You just need to show him your polite side.”

“...

Okay. Let's go.”

Perhaps she'd resolved herself, because she clenched her fist with a determined expression.

I chuckled and began walking as well.

Even though we hadn't reached the area yet, Father instantly seemed to notice me approaching and turned toward us with a smile.

Then he saw Yuli beside me, looked puzzled for a moment, and smiled again.

“I'm back, Father.”

“Yes. Looks like you've been wandering around diligently. But who is the young lady beside you?”

At that, Yuli immediately bowed her head and waist, offering an elegant greeting unlike anything I'd ever seen from her at the Academy.

“I am Yuli Rodman of the Rodman family. It is an honor to meet the great Don Calione.”

“Rodman...?”

At the word Rodman, Father's brow twitched.

His expression seemed somewhat displeased.

I hurriedly added an explanation.

“She is a senior who attends Seoul Hero Academy with me. She's currently the vice president of the student council there, and she's also helped me greatly with my club activities.”

“Ahh, a senior you're close with?”

Only then did Father smile brightly and offer her his hand.

“I'm Vito Calione, Eugene's father. So, you're the vice president of Seoul Hero Academy's student council?”

At Father's question, Yuli, still bowing her head, replied in a demure voice.

“Yes. At the Academy, I receive a great deal of help from your son, Junior Eugene.”

Father nodded in satisfaction after hearing her words.

“Yes, yes. Sit comfortably. You can think of it as meeting the parents of a close friend. I never imagined I'd meet one of Eugene's Academy seniors here at ‘Walpurgis.’ Hahaha! Eugene, isn't she the first Academy student to find out?”

“Yes. I was surprised at first too.”

“Right. Your standing within the Family has been growing lately, and as you attend more events like this, your identity will eventually become known...”

Father's hand landed on my shoulder with a pat.

“But what does something like that matter? You're already a man fully capable of taking responsibility for yourself.”

In other words, he had judged that I had grown enough to endure the waves of public attention even if society began taking notice of me.

Hmm, it feels good to be acknowledged.

“To think you'd bring your girlfriend! You've grown up! My son! Hahahahaha!”

“...

Pardon?”

That's what you meant?!