Chapter 212

Chapter 212

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 212The moment Breath covered the surroundings, I activated the ring.

The flames of Breath all transformed into Black Flame and began greedily devouring every trace of light around them.

But even then, the bastard tried to charge at me...

“Ghk, Galahad!”

At Ray's voice from behind him, the bastard immediately turned around and spread a barrier.

Right, of course you'd do that.

These flames aren't called ‘Breath’ for nothing.

The power of a Breath at least equivalent to that of a dragon species was enough to easily inflict ‘serious injuries’ even on Ray Pendragon.

Only when the entire space had finally been swallowed by darkness and not a single trace of light remained inside the vault did I begin to move.

My target was the place where the items I'd just seen inside the vault were gathered.

I'd only swept my eyes over them once, but recalling the layout I'd seen in the game, I moved straight ahead.

A blunt sensation caught against my fingertips.

“Found it.”

I swept everything into the Cube as though scraping it clean.

With that, the initial objective was complete, so all that remained was escaping.

-Young Master! Be careful!

The instant Haru's urgent voice came through the in-ear device, I first wrapped my body in aura.

But for some reason, the feeling that I shouldn't be satisfied with just that began dominating my entire body.[「Engraving Skill: Dragon Scales」 activates.]

Pitch-black scales rose over my clothes. Dragon Scales, one of the finest materials in the world when it came to defense.

The moment I thought that this should be enough to endure it.

Kagagagagak───!!

A slash of light pierced through the darkness and struck my body directly.

The bastard's attack slammed into my body with a horrifying sound.

Crack──! Crackle!

The scales shattered or flew away and vanished, but in the end, the attack disappeared without piercing through my body.‘To think he'd immediately fire a slash just from the sound.’Enduring the excruciating pain that felt as though it would sever my body, I turned and ran toward the open vault.

The reason I'd come here was not assassination or combat, but to retrieve the items. There was no reason to continue fighting them here while taking even more damage.

“Hahaha, goodbye!”

Of course, as I left the vault, I placed most of the mana-stone bombs I'd brought today inside.

Even Galahad wouldn't be able to chase after me after taking this much firepower.

-Retreating was a good decision, Young Master. Even for you──“It's not a retreat! It's a reverse charge!”

-Ah, yes.

A real man never retreats.

Just as I began heading back toward the surface, tremendous explosions began erupting from the direction of the vault.

Massive vibrations and explosions shook the surrounding ground.

I forced my way through the shaking that made it difficult even to stay upright and reached the first floor, only to make eye contact with Pendragon family employees who realized something was wrong.

“I-it's the intruder!!”

“The intruder came up from the basement!”

At their shouts, police officers, security personnel, and Pendragon family servants came rushing out in a swarm.

“Right, this is how you should all come swarming at me.”

Otherwise, how would I get fired up?

As the number of enemies increased, I felt power boiling up from within my body.[「Bloodline Ability: Calione」 is active.]

“Catch him!”

Starting with one bastard's shout, countless people rushed toward me.

-Young Master. The second floor is empty right now!

Is that so?

I pulled the pins from the smoke grenades hanging all around my waist and smiled.

“──Magical Cloud.”

Hissssss────Pink smoke swallowed the surroundings in an instant.

Coughing and shouts searching for me came from all around, and I put strength into my legs and jumped toward the floor above.

The ceiling?

Why would I care? It's not my house.

With a crunch, I broke through onto the second floor and glanced out the window.

A horde of enemies was rushing in like a pack of dogs. As expected, escaping through the rooftop seemed the cleanest.

This was the only escape route.

-The rooftop stairs are on the left if you run straight down the rear hallway.

Apparently thinking the same thing as me, she gave me the route to the rooftop.

“Thanks.”

There was no time to hesitate.

I had no idea when that monster still somewhere beneath this mansion might come charging out.

I sprinted down the hallway, found the stairs Haru mentioned, and ran all the way up.

Moonlight, which had hidden behind the clouds until now, poured down in pure white light.

“Perfect stage.”

A spotlight shining on the protagonist of tonight.

As I stared blankly at the moon as though enchanted, the sound of helicopter rotors began approaching from far away.

-Young Master. You need to jump now.

Listening to Haru's voice in my ear, I filled my legs and Black Mist with aura.

My target was the mountain ridge I'd descended from.

I kicked off as though running through the air and shot into the sky.

While hearing a distant shout behind me.

“Uwaaaaaah! Magical Rogue! I'll definitely catch you!”

This is exactly why I can't quit this.

______________

-The authorities have expressed their condolences regarding this incident...

Morning at the Academy.

As I sprawled over my desk, utterly exhausted from the aftermath of last night, the sound of the kids in class listening to the news reached my ears.

-There are currently discussions about designating the newly emerged villain, ‘Magical Rogue,’ as A-rank.

-Breaking news. ‘Magical Rogue’ has once again made a donation, this time toward scholarships for university students. In response, Ray Pendragon of the Pendragon side protested to the Korean government, saying, ‘It is money stolen from our family, so return it.’ The Korean government dismissed the claim, saying, ‘How do you know this money was stolen from the Pendragon family?’

Idiot. For someone with that much money, he's awfully petty.

From his perspective, all of his slush funds kept in physical assets had been robbed, so I suppose he had reason to feel wronged.

But what could he do?

That money couldn't be traced, so he couldn't prove it was his anyway.

And the Korean government probably didn't want to return money belonging to foreigners for free either.

-The Pendragon family's Korean villa has suffered severe ground subsidence due to the underground explosion, and a massive cavity has formed from the basement upward. It is effectively uninhabitable.

-Magical Rogue. Just who is he? A righteous thief who steals money from the rich and gives it to the poor. Is he truly a villain? Or a hero of the poor? His future actions are drawing attention. That concludes...

“Booooooss~~!!”

Ah.

“...

What are you fussing about now.”

The annoying bastard had appeared, so I calmed the twitching corners of my mouth and sat up.

If it were anyone else, they'd leave me alone and sit quietly without even thinking of waking me... but Jin-woo Vivald was the type to stick beside me and chatter about whatever he wanted whether I was asleep or not.

“Seen this? Seen the picture? Seen this crazy thing?”

Grinning from ear to ear, the bastard approached me and held out his phone.

On it was a picture that looked like the cover of some game.

“...

What's this?”

“Magical Rogue.”

“Hm?”

“It's the photo that made the front page of today's newspaper. Isn't the composition insane?”

Just as he said, I looked closely at the photo.

The Pendragon estate, with flames and smoke from explosions rising into the sky.

And above it, a man stepping through empty air with the pure white moon as his backdrop.

“Huh.”

“Right? It's crazy, isn't it?”

I had no idea how anyone managed to take a picture like this, but the black silhouette in it was unmistakably me.

“This is already becoming the worshipped Magical Rogue image on the internet.”

“...

What? Worshipped?”

“Boss, you didn't know? There's already a Magical Rogue gallery.”

“What?”

I immediately turned on my phone and checked the community site.

I searched for ‘Magical Rogue Gallery.’

For some reason, the Magical Rogue Gallery was already among the ranked communities.[☆Title: Everyone! The Pendragon Estate Is Safe!][Author: Anon][(Scene of Detective Kang Cheol-ha clenching his fist as an explosion erupts behind him)][Boom──!][└Anon: Lmaooooo turns out the safe place was outside where he was lol][└Anon: Ah, the mansion is safe. The people aren't safe lol. Huh? The mansion is sinking?][☆Title: Holy shit Magical Rogue came to my house too.][Author: Anon][I was heading home after my shift watching WeTube, and the moment I opened my front door I suddenly got this weird feeling. You know that feeling, like someone's inside your house.

So I shouted, Who's there? Come out. You're dead, bastard! and went inside...

And right then the TV showed Magical Rogue walking through the air on the news.

Wow, that's when I realized it. Magical Rogue. He stole my heart...][Anon: Phantom thief, damn][Anon: What? Nothing's missing from your house? Didn't he steal your heart?][MagicalGurl: One of the police there is my cousin and he said the guy was a hairy middle-aged man.][└(Author)Anon: Even better.][└ Anon:?][└ Anon:??]

Twitch.

For the first time in a while, the version of me from my veteran-player days that had been sleeping in one corner of my heart awakened.

A dopamine shower swept over my entire body.

It felt like the DNA from back then was coming back to life.

Of course, even back then, ‘Magical Girl Middle-Aged Man’ had been a fairly famous character in the community.

Magical Girl and middle-aged man. And phantom thief.

It was practically a guaranteed-success combination.

But that was all.

It was merely remembered as a unique and funny character.

A strangely efficient character.

It had never been enough to create an entirely new community.

But look at this now.[☆ Title: What? You're asking if I'm Magical Rogue?][Author: Anon][(Image of a robber holding a gun.

jpg) No, I'm just a robber.][☆ Title: This bastard is being reevaluated right now lol][Author: Anon][This bastard is being reevaluated right now lolGot his house robbed but didn't lose his entire fortune lolGot beaten up but his house didn't sink lolPodish. You are truly Britain's ‘GOTY.’]

A community dedicated to Magical Rogue had been created, and countless people were producing all kinds of memes and jokes using my name.

How could this not be fun?

"

Boss. Boss? Is that really that funny?

"

"

Ah, yeah. It's just. Pretty amusing.

"

"

Right? I knew Boss would like it. Damn, it's been a while since we've had a villain this full of romance.

"

I sat down as Jin-woo did and continued browsing the newly posted entries.

Maybe because every single one was about me?

It was genuinely fun to read.

They're really having a good time.

There's a reason Koreans are called the nation of memes.

While I was reading through the posts with that thought.[Announcement from the broadcasting room. Announcement from the broadcasting room. All students, please gather in the auditorium now for the closing ceremony. Once again, all students...]

"

Woohoo! Boss! Let's go! It's finally vacation! Seriously!

"

Ah, right?

I remembered the matter I'd forgotten while having fun.

My first semester closing ceremony at the Academy.

That was today.