Chapter 203

Chapter 203

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 203“What do you mean, they’re in danger?”

I already knew from the beginning that this was a student council trap.

But if she’d heard the results of today’s club battle, shouldn’t she know?

“Familia is different from the other clubs.”

“I know. But I’m saying this because I don’t think that alone is enough.”

Unlike her usual mischievous expression, she looked serious.

“Senior. Did something happen?”

“...

I think the President noticed that we joined hands.”

“That bastard did?”

“Yeah. During today’s meeting, he warned me that we should bury everything we’d done wrong so far and start fresh. Well, I guess he thinks you and I only plotted together a little.”

My goal isn’t something that minor, though.

After saying that, Yuli turned her head with a bored expression.

At the same time.

-ClickA plump ball of fur entered through the pet door attached to the door.

A guinea pig carrying a tray on its back had brought in our drinks.

“Haa~ Seriously. Looking at these balls of fur is the only reason I’m barely hanging on. Really.”

Is this why people keep pets?

Her expression immediately relaxed upon seeing something cute.

As expected, this business idea was bound to succeed.

“Still, Senior. You never intended to hide it from the President in the first place, did you?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

At my words, Yuli shifted her gaze from the guinea pig back to me.

“The Academy is crawling with student council eyes everywhere, after all. Whether in your normal form or as a bat, you must’ve moved around like that because you thought it didn’t matter if you got caught.”

“Me? Why would I?”

“Because... that’s how you make the President afraid of you.”

She froze at my words.

“A rising first-year faction holding the clubs’ purse strings joins hands with the second-year vice president. From the President’s perspective, there’s probably nothing more frightening than that. It’s a blade that could point at him at any moment. That’s why you deliberately guided things into this flow, didn’t you? A flow where the President tries to hold on to the Vice President.”──By offering you even more carrots so you won’t come over to me.

“What happens next is obvious, isn’t it? He puts an enormous carrot in your hand and says something like, ‘Don’t trust me. Trust my family. I’ll give you even greater wealth and glory. Think of your family!’ Am I wrong?”

After saying that much, I drank the espresso the guinea pig had delivered...

Maybe it’s because I’m half Korean after all.

Americano still suits my taste better.

“So, Senior, what did you answer?”

“...

You have someone else planted in the student council besides me, don’t you?”

I shrugged at her question.

“Secret.”

At that, she burst into a hollow laugh and shook her head.

“Fine, I won’t ask. You have your secrets too. But... I’m one of the few people in the Academy who knows your secret, aren’t I?”

Her eyes slowly sharpened.

“With the legitimate heir of Calione sitting right in front of me, why should I care about some candidate heir of Pendragon?”

In other words, she had simply chosen the Calione family over the Pendragon family.

“I thought you’d ask for time to think. That’s unexpected.”

“I’m pretty quick when it comes to decisions. Well, I think the ideological screening is over now. How about we get to the point, Junior?”

By the point, she meant what she’d said earlier.

That ‘Familia’ was in danger.

For now, I nodded in affirmation.

“You know about the clubs you’ll be fighting tomorrow, right?”

“Yes. I heard it was two small groups and one club.”

“To be precise, the small groups ‘Domino’ and ‘Freeze Tag.’ And the club ‘Paper Airplane.’ Those three.”

That much was all information I already knew.

Domino was a place that did exactly what its name suggested, dominoes.

Freeze Tag was a small group that developed ice cream.

Paper Airplane... was probably a club that made the strongest paper airplanes?

But Yuli continued speaking.

“Among them, Domino and Freeze Tag hired mercenaries. External mercenaries, not Academy students.”

“...

External mercenaries?”

“Yes. According to the school rules, non-combat clubs are allowed to use representatives up to E-rank Hero level.”...

This trap has a little spice to it.

“Up to that point, you could still let it slide. But the real problem is──.”

“Those mercenaries might actually be D-rank Heroes who are deliberately delaying their promotion, right?”

“...

Exactly. The President used his connections to bring in Heroes who are practically D-rank.”A D-rank Hero was someone actively working as a Hero in the field.

They were at the level of full guild members in various guilds.

In Academy terms, that meant roughly an upper-middle-tier second-year.

And if it was that President, then rather than finding them by chance, there was a good possibility they were people deliberately postponing promotion for this kind of work.

“If you do the same thing tomorrow that you did today, you might get badly burned. I asked to meet you because I wanted to warn you about this.”

“Hmm...”

Her warning was extremely helpful.

If I hadn’t known this, the kids would’ve had to fight D-rank Heroes without realizing it.

But...

“Well, it should be fine.”

“What? Didn’t you hear me? Tomorrow, D-rank Heroes──.”

“──The kids in Familia are stronger than you think, Senior.”

Because the members of our ‘Familia’ weren’t the kind of kids who would fall apart at that level.

Even Se-ah had performed beyond expectations today.

She could now naturally usurp an opponent’s magic and modify it before firing it back, and although still inexperienced, she could even use CTC.

Objectively speaking, her combat strength was absolutely not inferior to a D-rank Hero.

And.

“If I’d only planned to win, I would’ve done that. I have both the money and the connections to hire mercenaries too.”

Even within Calione, there were Heroes with B-rank-or-higher combat ability who were classified as E-rank on paper.

If I wanted to take the easy route, I could do so as much as I wanted.

The reason I still deliberately sent the Familia kids out one by one was simple.

“Our ‘Familia’ has to stand apart from every other club.”

Because we weren’t just some ordinary combat club.

“We have to be overwhelmingly stronger than everyone else.”

Because what we were aiming for wasn’t merely becoming the Academy’s top club.

“Others need to feel awe and fear simply by looking at us.”The children of ‘Familia’...

“That is Calione.”

Were already no different from members of the Calione Family.

“...”

She silently listened to me while drinking tomato juice, and a clinking sound came from her glass.

It was because the ice cubes collided as she finished the entire drink.

She slowly removed the straw from her lips.

Her lips, stained with juice, looked redder than usual.

“...

Calione. Calione inside the Academy.”

And then.

“Khht! Khah! Khahahaha!”

She suddenly grabbed her stomach and began laughing like crazy.

“Hahahaha! So that’s what it was? Seriously? That’s really what it was? You, you, Junior, you’re seriously insane!”

She laughed so hard tears gathered in her eyes, then looked at me with a face still full of laughter.

“Were you seriously planning to establish a Calione branch inside the Academy? No, in this case, should I say you already did?”

Yuli asked while wiping away her tears.

“Haven’t you been watching the results all along, Senior?”

I created a club in a single day, gathered talented kids, and in no time built an organization with influence inside the Academy.

“Calione doesn’t avoid fights that come looking for us.”

And in those fights, Calione’s way was to tear the opponent apart without mercy.

“We’ll continue these duels in the best and most effective way we can, while making it the worst possible outcome for our opponent.”

“And that’s why you assigned one person to each club? Not because of the school rules?”

“Because I believed it was possible.”

And I had been able to carry out this entire setup because I knew the kind of person Ray Pendragon was.

People like him, once they believed their plan was perfect and saw their opponent fall into the trap, tended to get drunk on superiority and arrogance and fail to notice what their opponent was really aiming for.

“The sight of Academy first-years defeating active Heroes. Wouldn’t that be ideal entertainment for the spectators?”

And that sight would gradually spread across the Academy, throughout the Republic of Korea, and eventually around the world.

“Seoul Hero Academy’s Calione branch. Another line will be added to the history of ‘Familia.’ We should truly be grateful to our student council president.”

Saying that, I knocked back the last of the espresso.

It was certainly a bitter liquid, yet the fragrance remained in my throat and mouth after it passed, giving off a heavy yet subtle aroma.

“I understand Junior’s plan now. As expected, choosing to take your hand was the right answer.”

“I’m also glad you chose to stand with us, Senior.”

“Then what I need to do is clear. I’ll openly attach myself to the President’s side and dig up information about you, Junior. Then I’ll slowly earn the President’s trust and approach his side.”

“Isn’t that the best way to assassinate a king?”

And here, once again, we extended our hands toward one another.

“Yuli Rodman. Heir of the Rodman family. Everything I do from this point on will be a betrayal agreed upon with you, Junior. Will you accept it?”

“Eugene Han Calione. Heir of the Calione Family. From this point on, I’ll gladly accept your betrayals, Senior. Of course, it would be even better if the information you pass about me gets reviewed once beforehand.”

At that, she smiled and took my hand.

“Not a bad condition.”

“A generous one.”

Vice President x Academy Mafia.

It was the day we decided to betray one another.

And to act for one another’s sake.

______________

“Water.”

“Yep!”

The next day, the classroom was strangely peaceful.

“Ah, President, you’re here?”

As usual, Young-je was already sitting in his seat and using his phone.

“What are those two doing?”

I asked while looking at Se-ah, who was sitting beside me in an arrogant posture, and Jin-woo, who had just fetched her water from the purifier.

“You know the match Se-ah fought yesterday? Apparently after seeing that, he decided not to mess with her anymore.”

“Ah.”The sight of Se-ah launching unpredictable surprise attacks with CTC flashed through my mind.

She really had been a little scary yesterday.

Looking again now, I could kind of understand that reaction.

“You saw the information I posted in the group chat yesterday, right?”

“Ah, our opponents? I won’t lie, active Heroes do make me a little nervous... but my mentor said this. If I lose today, I’m never to go around calling myself his mentee again. He said he’d hang me from the top of Lotte Tower.”

Uh...

“He means it.”

“...

I know. That’s why it’s even scarier.”

Looks like this match had become a life-or-death matter on this side.

At that moment, I noticed Jin-woo’s back trembling.

“Jin-woo. What about you?”

With his mentor’s personality, she must’ve said something too.

“...

She told me to get ready to be stabbed once for every clean hit I take. Han Yeo-eun is definitely a crazy bitch.”

“How dare you call our goddess a crazy bitch! You crazy bastard! Blasphemy?! Huh?! You wanna die?!”

“I’m sorrrrrry!!”

That might actually be worse than Young-je’s... but well.

Jin-woo had been receiving special training from Antonio and Han Yeo-eun.

I wasn’t too worried.

Han Yeo-eun would definitely stab him safely.

Then the last one remaining was Choi Yeon...‘Yeah. She’ll handle herself just fine.’She was actually the one I worried about the least.

And so I waited for the club battles without much concern...

-Aah! Choi Yeon! A major crisis! Big pinch! Will the pure lily-of-the-valley finally be broken at laaaaaast!