Chapter 42

Chapter 42

I Became the Academy Mafia, Chapter 42Fortunately, I didn't die.

Black blood continued pouring out of my body, while the potion caused new blood to be produced.

Realizing that coughing up blood was only natural during that process, I continued coughing up blood even now.

“Young Master, you are no ordinary person. You are the legitimate heir of Calione.

There is no way you would die merely from consuming a poison pill like this.”

“Feel the poison being absorbed into your body. Move your energy and circulate the poison throughout your entire body.”

“You can do it, Young Master.”

My entire body turned cold, as though ice water had been poured over me.

Then, before long, it grew hot as though I had stepped into a fire.

My entire body stung as though I had been thrown onto a bed of needles, only for me to feel absolutely nothing, as though my sense of touch had been completely erased.

And so, how much time had passed?

After confirming that the energy rampaging inside my body had calmed down, I quietly opened my eyes and saw Parnello's face wearing a faint smile.

“You've worked hard, Young Master.”

The black blood that had been soaking the floor just moments ago had already disappeared completely.

“...

How much time has passed?”

Hearing my question, Parnello took a pocket watch from his pocket and checked the time.

“Approximately nine hours have passed since you consumed it. Breakfast time has long since passed.”

“...

That much time has passed?”

I had thought that, at most, only about an hour had passed, so hearing that nine hours had gone by was quite surprising.

Perhaps reading my expression, Parnello chuckled softly.

“To think you would be so surprised, Young Master. If anything, I was the one who was surprised.”

“Hm?”

Parnello was surprised? Why?

“In all my decades of life, this is the first time I've ever seen someone bleed so much after consuming an elixir. If it had continued much longer, the entire room would have become a sea of blood. Of course, I've cleaned it all up now.”...

I had coughed up that much blood? I had no memory of it.

“More importantly... most elixirs that grant poison resistance merely increase one's resistance... but you seem to be a little different, Young Master.”

“Are you talking about my natural healing ability increasing?”

“...

You knew?”

Of course I did.

I had done this with that very result in mind from the beginning.

“I could feel it partway through. My body was no longer being healed by the effects of the potion. It was healing itself.”

“Hahaha! At this level, even minor wounds will probably disappear in no time from now on. If I had my way, I'd like to experiment with that combination myself... but the elixir you brought and the elixirs I can obtain won't necessarily be exactly the same, so I would have to be careful about attempting it recklessly.”

At my age, a single mistake might even kill me, after all.

“Hahahaha!”

Parnello burst into laughter, apparently finding his own joke amusing.

I couldn't even imagine someone like Parnello dying from consuming an elixir.

A hitman of Parnello's caliber must already possess considerable resistance to poison.

“Ah, by the way, would you like to test whether you've truly developed resistance?”

“A test?”

Parnello took two small bottles from inside his clothes.

“The one with the red cap contains the deadly venom of an African black mamba. The one beside it with the blue cap contains the antidote.”

“You want me to... try experiencing it firsthand?”

“Wouldn't it be best to conduct the test inside the mansion, where we can immediately respond if an emergency occurs?”

I wondered why there was black mamba venom in the mansion, but the moment I remembered what kind of household this was, I quickly accepted it.

Well, he had an antidote too.

“...

Not a bad idea. You said the red one was the poison?”

Parnello nodded.

I picked up the bottle without hesitation and was about to swallow its contents when.

“Wait.”

Parnello stopped me just as I opened the cap.

“...

Why?”

Just as I wondered whether he was worried about me.

“Black mamba venom is most effective when injected directly into the bloodstream rather than swallowed. Allow me to help you.”...

Apparently, he wasn't worried about me.

As though he had prepared it beforehand, Parnello took a syringe from his pocket and filled it with venom.

“If anything happens to you, Young Master, I'll inject the antidote immediately.”

Along with a sharp prick, I felt the black mamba venom entering my body.

“...

How do you feel?”

“Hmm... I don't feel anything. Did the elixir work?”

I genuinely couldn't feel anything at all.

It just felt like something had been injected into me.

This ability was quite useful...

Then Parnello suddenly looked startled and examined the bottle.

“Oh dear, it seems I injected the antidote instead.”

“...

What?”

“I'm joking. You seemed rather nervous, Young Master.”

Joking about poison... It was undoubtedly the kind of joke no one but Parnello could make.

“Do you feel any soreness around the injection site, or tightness in your chest? Any symptoms like that?”

“Not really. I feel perfectly fine.”

“There is still some time before dinner, so let's wait a little longer.”

And so, thirty minutes passed.

“...

It certainly seems to have been a genuine elixir.”

According to Parnello, someone injected with black mamba venom would ordinarily show symptoms within thirty minutes without fail.

But the fact that I was still perfectly fine meant the elixir was functioning properly.

In fact, while I was sitting there blankly, a notification had appeared telling me that I had acquired new traits, so the elixir's effects were clearly working.

The newly added traits were [Thousand Poison Immunity]

and [Natural Healing]【Thousand Poison Immunity】[1. Thousand Poison Immunity

– Grants immunity to most poisons. Greatly increases resistance to poison.]【Natural Healing (C)】[1. Natural Healing (C)

- Increases the body's natural healing ability.]

With this, I had acquired a total of six traits.【Heir to the Underworld】【Bad Boy】【Hitman】【Enforcer】【Thousand Poison Immunity】【Natural Healing】They were exactly the kind of traits one might expect to see on the leader of some assassin guild.

“Thank you for helping me, Parnello. It would have been difficult without you.”

I stood up and thanked Parnello. At that, he waved his hand dismissively and spoke.

“All I did was nag you from the sidelines. Everything was thanks to your own efforts, Young Master.”

He said that, but it absolutely wasn't true.

Because Parnello had been in front of me, I had been able to feel at ease, and because I could hear his voice, I had been able to concentrate.

If I could, I wanted to repay him somehow, but there was no way someone like Parnello would accept a reward from me, so I merely smiled.

“Ah, come to think of it, Alessia came looking for you while you were concentrating. She said Miss Ji-yoon was looking for you...”

“Ah.”

Alessia was Ji-yoon's personal maid, practically her nanny.

Was there some reason someone like her would come looking for me?

Hmm...

Shit.

I remembered.

“...

I think I should go see Ji-yoon first. Thank you for watching over me while I absorbed the elixir, Parnello.”

“I merely did what I ought to do.”

Parnello said that with a gentle smile before leaving first.

After seeing him off, I hurried straight toward the room where Ji-yoon would be.

Yesterday evening, I had originally promised to play with Ji-yoon, but I had unintentionally broken that promise.

When I hurried upstairs, I saw Alessia waiting outside Ji-yoon's room.

“Young Master.”

“Sorry, Alessia. Where's Ji-yoon?”

“She hasn't come out. She's been inside the entire time.”

“Alright. I'll go in and see her.”

Ji-yoon's room had the words [♡Ji-yoon's Room♡ Knocking Required!]

written in colorful crayons right on the door.

I carefully stood before it, knocked gently, and spoke.

“Ji-yoon?”[Big Brooo...? Huh? U-um... Yees...]

At first, Ji-yoon sounded extremely happy, but her voice soon drooped as she answered.

For now, I tried speaking to her carefully.

“Can I come in?”[...

Yees.]

After hearing her answer, I pushed the door handle inward and stepped into the room. There, I saw Ji-yoon sitting on her bed, hugging a doll even larger than herself and hiding her face behind it.

“...”

Perhaps trying to conceal her face, Ji-yoon clutched the doll tightly without even looking in my direction.

I naturally approached her, sat on the edge of the bed, and stroked her head.

“Are you really angry because I promised to play with you yesterday but didn't?”

“...

Nooo. I'm not angry.”

Because her face was buried in the doll, Ji-yoon's voice came out muffled and still sounded weak.

“Big Brother is sorry. So let's look at each other while we talk, okay?”

When I spoke as gently and carefully as possible, Ji-yoon slowly lifted her face from the doll and looked at me.

Her eyes were still moist, the rims of her eyes were red, and there were even tearstains on the back of the doll's head.

Apparently, she had been so sad about not getting to play yesterday that she had cried her eyes out.

“Were you really sad because Big Brother promised to play with you yesterday and then forgot?”

“...

Yees.”

Ji-yoon answered in a trembling voice, apparently trying desperately to hold back her sadness.

“You should have come to find me first...”

“But Big Brother is... *sniff*... busy... so Ji-yoon... just has to be patient... *sniff*...”

Even then, she had been quietly enduring it because she was worried I might be busy...

I let out a sigh and slowly stroked Ji-yoon's head.

“Were you holding it in because you were worried Big Brother might be having a hard time?”

“*Sniff*... Yees...”

For some reason, whenever I looked at Ji-yoon, memories of the past came to mind, and I didn't know what to do.

I felt as though I had unknowingly committed a terrible sin.

So I thought about what would be best for Ji-yoon right now, and a good idea occurred to me.

“Big Brother is really sorry. So, how about we go out and have some fun together?”

“*Sniff*... Outside...?”

At the mention of going outside, Ji-yoon slowly raised her head and looked into my eyes.

“Yeah. Let's go out together today, eat lots of delicious food, visit some fun places, and play as much as we want. How does that sound?”

“Fun places... delicious food...!”

Only then did Ji-yoon wipe away her tears and nod enthusiastically, trying to shake off her sadness.

“Do you like that idea?”

“Yees...! I wanna go. Ji-yoon wants to go outside!”

“Alright. We can't leave immediately, so stop crying now, okay?”

“Yees...! *Sniff*... I won't cry...! *Sniff*...!”

The sight of her forcibly holding back her tears was so adorable that I couldn't help smiling again.

“That's right, good girl. Big Brother is going to talk to Papa, so you have to listen to Alessia while I'm gone, okay?”

“Yes!”

And so, after comforting Ji-yoon and leaving her room, I immediately covered my face with my hands.

“...

I've gone and done it.”

While trying to comfort Ji-yoon, I had gotten carried away by the atmosphere and ended up promising to take her outside rather than simply play with her inside the mansion.

“I've already said it... What should I do?”

This wasn't just anyone's outing. It was Ji-yoon's.

I had to tell Father that I wanted to take her outside just to play, without him accompanying us and without any special occasion?

In the original story, Vito Calione was a man who generally disliked letting his children go outside because of concerns for their safety.

Of course, that was why he had built an enormous mansion practically equivalent to a large park and invited outside instructors to provide elementary, middle, and high school education... but that only showed how thorough he was about his children's safety.

But what could I do? I had to take responsibility for at least this much.

“...

I'll tell him first. It's not as though there's no way to make it work.”

Surely he wouldn't refuse when I was going along with her.

With that thought in mind, I headed toward Father's study, only to run into him just as he was coming out.

“Ah, perfect timing. I had something I wanted to ask of you.”

“A request... you mean?”

“Yes. And judging by the fact that you've come looking for me, do you have something you want to say as well?”

It was the perfect situation to bring up Ji-yoon.

I nodded and answered.

“Yes. It seems I'm in luck.”

“Haha! Well then, there's no sense talking while standing around. Come inside.”

And so, I unexpectedly found myself entering Father's study.

“Now then, what brings you to see your father?”

Father naturally sat in his chair, placed a cigar between his lips, and asked me first.

After steeling my resolve, I looked at Father and spoke.

“Father, I'd like to take Ji-yoon downtown.”

“...

What?”

Plop. The cigar fell from Father's mouth.

Huh...?

What?

Am I in serious trouble?