Chapter 209

Chapter 209

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 209The next morning.

As usual, we were gathered around one table eating breakfast.

“Huh.”

Father, who had been eating with the morning news on, let out a hollow laugh.

-Breaking news. Last night at noon, the estate of the prestigious magic family, the Podish family, who immigrated from Britain, was completely wrecked by a righteous thief.

A righteous thief? I turned my head as well to check the news.-[CCTV Footage] Last night at noon. Suddenly, with a tremendous explosion, smoke began rising from the Podish family estate.-[Mosaic Voice] Catch him! He's getting away!-[Mosaic Voice] Magical escape.

-An unidentified man and employees of the Podish family's security company chasing him. Just what happened?-[Podish Family Representative] It was merely an unfortunate accident that occurred while developing new magic.

-The Head of the Podish family claims it was an accident that occurred while developing magic.

However, police investigations discovered grenades and smoke bombs of untraceable origin near the Podish family estate.

Eventually, the Podish family reversed their claim and testified that a thief had broken in. According to them, all of these explosives belonged to the thief.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk...”Father clicked his tongue and shook his head while watching the TV.

“To bear the name of a prestigious family and still fail to catch a single thief. What an amusing world we live in.”

Looks like what happened yesterday had made the news.

Of course, I had slipped out of the estate without anyone knowing, and I had escaped along a route discovered by compiling all of Calione's internal intelligence, so no one within Calione knew about this either.

At most, Haru, who helped deliver the donation, might know.

Honestly, Magical Girl Magical.

It was also a character I'd made purely for fun, and since it had been a while since I'd acted according to that concept, it was exciting... but you know? It's kind of embarrassing. I couldn't help being ashamed to reveal it to other people.

Well, that was also what allowed me to maintain the concept of a mysterious phantom thief and righteous thief.

-It is even said that, at the time of the crime, a large donation was made to an orphanage under the name ‘Magical Rogue.’ Experts presume the donor to be the suspect and are tracing the funds, but because the source is connected overseas, tracing the money is extremely difficult, and they expect the investigation to face difficulties.

As expected, since Haru handled it personally, even the government seemed unable to properly trace it.

At this rate, maybe I could continue operating as ‘Magical Rogue’ without much trouble.

After all, the more embarrassing it was for me, the greater the humiliation it inflicted on the other side.

It was a concept I couldn't give up.-...

Due to these actions, it seems the public has begun calling the culprit a righteous thief. That concludes──Father changed the TV channel immediately.

“A donation to an orphanage... still, there's romance in that.”

“Right?”

“Yes. Hm? Eugene, you seem a little happy. Did something good happen?”

“Haha, no, nothing.”

As expected, my father was a man who understood romance.

______________

“Boss! Bossbossbossbossboss! Did you hear? Did you hear about that?!”

Jin-woo's fussing had now become part of the daily routine.

I sighed and looked at him.

“What now.”

“Come on, you know, that! The Treasurer bastard's house got robbed.”

So that's what it was today.

“Did you know the student council Treasurer didn't come to school today? I heard from someone I know that he got caught up in what happened yesterday and his face got completely smashed. Kikikikikik!”

No wonder the punch had gone in so smoothly back then. Looks like the Falcon Punch landed perfectly.

“You're talking about what was on the news this morning, right? What was the name, ‘Magical Rogue’? Seriously, how does a thief end up with a name like Magical Rogue?”

Se-ah had apparently seen the news this morning too, because she knew about the incident.

And if these two knew, then most people probably already knew that the bastard's house had been thoroughly robbed last night.

“To get robbed by some guy using a ridiculous name like Magical Phantom Thief. Guess the Treasurer's family isn't much after all.”

I casually threw that out, and Se-ah nodded in agreement.

“Exactly. When they first came to Korea, they were on every broadcast talking about how they were some prestigious British family or whatever, and now they've been completely exposed. Seriously?”

Someone else's humiliation was always another person's festival.

Now I'm starting to wonder how the student council is reacting.

Just as I thought that.

“Kihihihihik! Hey! Did you guys see TV?! Look at thiiis! Ah!”

Ji Su-hyeon entered the classroom clutching her stomach, then started playing WeTube at the podium and projected the video through the classroom projector.

A video about what had happened last night and the Treasurer bastard being loaded into an ambulance.

And the Head of the Podish family wearing a devastated expression.

“Those student council bastards. They always walked around with their heads held so high. Isn't this satisfying?”

Watching her laugh loudly enough to shake the classroom, I couldn't help letting out a hollow laugh.

I wondered if a faculty member was allowed to act like that, but thinking about it, the student council wasn't exactly on good terms with the faculty either.

In that case, her reaction wasn't impossible to understand.

More than anything, Ji Su-hyeon was also our club adviser, so maybe she was enjoying the humiliation of the student council that had targeted us even more.

“Idiiooooots──!! Wahahahaha!”...

Or not? Maybe she's just naturally like that.

“Haa... I was dying because there hasn't been anything to laugh about lately. It's been so long since I've laughed like that. Whew... ahem. Ahem.”

Perhaps realizing how she'd been laughing until now, she turned off the video and suddenly cleared her throat, returning to her usual self.

“First, an Academy announcement. Due to the recent terrorist incident and other events at the Academy, the field trip originally scheduled for the first semester has been postponed to the second semester. It hasn't been canceled, so everyone should keep that in mind... good work. I'm going to watch more videos.”

Then she vanished instantly using her ability.

Using abilities on campus for personal reasons violated school regulations... and as expected, Ji Su-hyeon casually ignored that too.

What an amazing person.

Well, she had some seniority as a teacher, so she'd probably handle it somehow.

And so, while enjoying Academy life as usual...[Senior Yuli: Today, 1:20. Café VIP.]

I received a message from Yuli asking to meet.

I thought she'd said the President had recently become suspicious of her, to the point that I wondered whether it was okay for us to meet this often.

Well, she must have her own ideas.

“Hm? President, where are you going? Aren't you going to the club room?”

Today's club activity was to settle the earnings from the club battles and all-out war so far.

“I'll be at the club room before lunch break ends.”

Since it wasn't something that had to be done immediately anyway, I decided to send the others ahead and headed toward the café, Cielo notturno.

It was still indisputably the Academy's greatest attraction, with people lined up to eat.

Its popularity was so tremendous that even the guinea pigs, who should normally have been inside helping with cleaning and work, were outside handing number tickets to people in line.

Of course, as the café owner and a VIP, I went straight inside, where I saw Ratte busily serving.

-Boss, tissues please!

“Y-yes! Coming right away!”...

She looks busy, so there's no need to talk to her.

I passed the frantic Ratte and headed toward the VIP room.

“Junior, you're here?”

She had already taken a seat and was drinking what looked like grapefruit tea, and stood when she saw me.

“Senior. Didn't you say you were going to get caught by the President and pretend to betray me?”

“Hm? Yeah, I did?”

“Then is it really okay for us to meet this often?”

At my words, she tilted her head as though wondering what I was talking about.

“This is a café, right? I came to a café I like to drink something. Do I need the President's permission for even that? You're the owner of this café, so naturally you can come here too, and if the two of us happen to visit at the same time, that's a coincidence. Eating and drinking something afterward can just be a habit.”

In other words, unless there was definitive evidence, the President couldn't say anything even if we got caught.

“...

That's a shameless method.”

“And reliable.”

“So, why did you call me today?”

“Ah, it's nothing major.”

Saying that, she pulled out her phone and showed me the news.

“...

Magical Rogue. That?”

“Oh, Junior saw the news too?”

“Instructor Ji Su-hyeon projected it with the classroom projector and publicly humiliated him from this morning. Everyone in our class probably knows about it.”

And by now, probably every student in the Academy knew about it.

“Then do you know what the student council is like right now?”

“I was curious. It was an incident where none other than the student council Treasurer was attacked.”

By a thief using a ridiculous name, at that.

No, since he injured someone, does that make him a robber?

“For now, the student council is in chaos. The Treasurer suddenly isn't there. And... the student council president received a threatening letter.”

“...

The student council president?”

“Yeah. Want to see this?”

Saying that, she took a photograph from inside her clothes and placed it on the table.

It showed the contents of a letter that someone had apparently written.[Execution of Justice][I'll put it to good use~★ Nom nom! So sweet~ Then, shall I tell you the next target?!

Magical Rogue's next target is none other than the Pendragon family! The ‘Bloody Monday’ incident that happened in Britain long ago! Magical Rogue will target the ringleaders of that filthy and disgusting incident one by one! For justice! Tremble in feeeear and hide under your bed!

- Magical Rogue]

“What is this?”

“A warning letter from Magical Rogue that wasn't reported in the news. Apparently it was found in the Treasurer's family vault?”

Then she looked at me.

“Just in case. I'm only asking just in case... this isn't you, right, Junior?”

“...

Pardon?”

“No, think about it. The day after you crushed the student council, the Treasurer's house gets robbed, and there's a grudge involved too.”

“I'm not the only one who has a grudge, am I?”

“Sure! There are others... but who the hell can rob the Treasurer's house alone and casually escape? And not just any house, but the Podish family estate.”

Is this what they call a woman's intuition?

Her approach was sharper than I expected.

But.

“Do I look like someone who would write a letter like this?”

“Huh? Yeah?”

“Senior. You know what family I'm from.”

“I do...?”

“Then do you seriously think I'd have nothing better to do than write a letter like that and rob a family much poorer than mine? If they piss me off, I can just bring the organization members and bulldoze the place.”

“Uh... well...”

“More importantly. What the hell is this Bloody Monday? I don't even know what that is.”

You don't have any evidence.

Even if she had suspicions, they were extremely flimsy.

A Magical Girl's identity must remain secret from everyone except their helpers.

Even if that person is an ally...!

“Right? I was joking, joking~ There's no way Junior would do something like this. From what I heard, this Magical-whatever guy broke through the guards while shouting spells so embarrassing just hearing about them makes me cringe... yeah. It doesn't fit your image either.”

As expected, the bigger the gap, the harder it was to make me a suspect.

And.

“More importantly, ‘Bloody Monday.’ I don't believe for even a second that Junior knows about this properly. It's an incident that very few people know about in the first place.”

As expected, the trap I'd inserted was working properly.

A disgrace of the ‘Pendragon’ family known to extremely few people, even in this world, much less ordinary players.

They would never imagine that I knew something like that.

“I just called you today because I wanted to tell you a little about the student council.”

“Then what is that President doing right now?”

“Hm? Ray? The President is... pretty tense after learning that he's the next target.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Because of this, apparently he even requested support from his family and separately asked the government for additional forces. It means someone strong enough to break into the Treasurer's house is coming for him next.”

“Oho...”

Looks like he's preparing properly.

“So. Junior, you should be careful too. This person called Magical Rogue is apparently quite the Awakened. Your family has plenty of valuable things too, doesn't it?”

“Yes. I'll be careful.”

Only careful, that is.

All right.

Then shall we start making the board a little bigger?