Chapter 46

Chapter 46

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 46The reason I sighed when I first received the challenge letter was simple.

Because I knew there was only one person in the Academy who would write a challenge letter in Chinese characters like this.

Choi Yeon.

There was no doubt she was the one who sent this challenge letter.

“Even so, I didn't expect her to take an interest in me this early.”

“Pardon?”

Choi Yeon was someone who sought to grow stronger on her own so as not to betray the expectations of her family and grandfather.

Since she came from a family headed by the Sword Saint, they placed great importance on sparring and actual combat, so whenever the player became strong, she was a character who would immediately challenge them to a spar.

Sending this [Challenge Letter]

to students she considered equal to or stronger than herself was one of Choi Yeon's defining traits.

Because of that, the community even called her the Academy Freshman Cutter.

But that only applied to opponents she personally recognized as strong.

I knew that rumors about me had recently begun spreading throughout the Academy because of the club affairs... but I hadn't expected her to approach me already.‘Then does that mean she currently sees me as being on her level or above?’Judging by the fact that the challenge letter event had started, that seemed certain.

Well, her judgment wasn't wrong...

“Are you not going to read it?”

Se-ah twisted her body as she asked, looking as though she was dying of curiosity.

“There probably isn't anything special in it. At most, it'll say when and where to meet.”

As I answered and opened the challenge letter, exactly what I'd expected was written inside.[I'll be waiting during next Monday's sparring period.

-Choi Yeon]

“...

As expected.”

“It really is. Ah, so the pretty blue-haired person who gave me the challenge letter and disappeared was named Choi Yeon?”

Se-ah reacted as though she were hearing Choi Yeon's name for the first time.

“Didn't you see her during the entrance exam? She's the top student of this year's class, so you must have seen her at least once.”

“Ahhh. I was pretty busy back then because I had a lot of part-time jobs... I took the exam quickly and went straight home to make food for my younger siblings.”...

Now I feel bad for no reason.

“Anyway, does that mean you'll be sparring with that Choi Yeon then? First place against second place?”

Was it because of the titles of first and second place?

Se-ah looked at me with an expression full of anticipation.

A spar with Choi Yeon...

It would certainly be ideal if I could establish a connection with her through a spar... but the problem was her personality.

“I plan to refuse.”

“Ehh? Why?”

Her intense competitive spirit was also one of her strengths, but considering the Academy events that would happen later, accepting a spar with her would only exhaust me.

It seemed like there would be more losses than gains.

So...

“Just because.”

Rather than sparring, it would be better to establish contact with her in some other way, preferably one that benefited us.

“Ugh?! Hm? What, class is over... Boss, aren't you going to eat?”

Jin-woo, who had been sleeping face-down beside us, rubbed his eyes and got up.

Good, now that this guy was awake too, it was probably time to move.

“Let's go. We'll eat.”

We had guests coming, after all. We should eat our fill and use that strength to properly entertain them.

Hopefully, they would be satisfied.

_______________

“President. Is there really a need for all of us to go like this?”

The Ranger Club's club room. Inside, the members had gathered wearing personal equipment as though they were about to enter a dungeon, preparing to head somewhere.

“They declared war on us when their club hasn't even existed for a week. Are we supposed to just sit still?”

Kwon Su-hyeop, president of the Ranger Club.

He clenched his fist as he recalled what had happened not long ago.

The recipe they had obtained from the Recipe Development Club.

They had gone through the trouble of learning a recipe for food that permanently increased physical abilities just by eating it, but in the end, even that recipe was incomplete.

For the revival of the Ranger Club, and for better facilities and investment, Kwon Su-hyeop needed that recipe, so he kept sending members to find out the complete recipe, but...

“How dare some freshman look down on a senior? And on a club with me, Kwon Su-hyeop, in it?”

The club those guys had hired to protect them, ‘Familia.’ They were the problem.

Of course, Kwon Su-hyeop did not underestimate the strength of ‘Familia.’

Even if they were a newly formed club, the fact remained that they were skilled people who had annihilated the Gold Club, ‘Fund Investment Club.’

That was why Kwon Su-hyeop had decided to pressure ‘Familia’ in a different way.

“Don't be too nervous. We're just going to say hello.”

No matter how much they were an emerging rising star, in the end they were still nothing more than a newly formed Bronze Club.

Kwon Su-hyeop intended to go properly armed with the club members and pressure them under the pretext of offering greetings.

To show them that this was what a combat-oriented Bronze Club, and one of the influential clubs, looked like.

He had no intention of starting a fight.

Because he never wanted to feel the humiliation he'd experienced when one of his members had been defeated by them last time.

That was why he intended to use his position and status to slowly pressure them, then swallow up ‘Familia.’‘If we can properly absorb those guys, becoming a Silver Club won't just be a dream.’In fact, Kwon Su-hyeop was convinced that the ‘Ranger Club’ would be the next club promoted to Silver.

“Are all the interns who joined gathered too?”

As he said that, he thought of the freshman who had joined last week.

The freshman ‘Kim Young-je,’ who freely wielded four elements despite his young age and showed off his abilities to the fullest.

His performance in the dungeon had also been extremely impressive, so Kwon Su-hyeop wanted to make sure he recruited that freshman.

A magician that flexible and full of potential was an extremely valuable existence.

“Uh... I don't see that mage intern.”

“Young-je?”

“Yes. According to the others, he didn't even come to the club room today.”

“...

Really?”

It was a little strange for someone so diligent to suddenly do that, but Kwon Su-hyeop didn't think much of it.

How many things had they already given him in hopes that he would stay here?

Even when distributing food in the dungeon, they gave him extra, and when dividing loot, they treated him not as an intern, but as a proper member.

Not only that, Kwon Su-hyeop had even given him a ten-year-old polygonum multiflorum that he had luckily gathered in the past. At this point, an ordinary freshman would usually have already sold them their soul.

He had successfully recruited several people like that before, so he was confident.‘Was he too busy to come today? Anyway, I suppose I can wrap things up soon.’Unless the guy was the son of some chaebol family, all he had to do was offer a few more conditions and he'd join immediately.

There was no problem.

“So basically everyone is here?”

“Yes, President.”

“...

I wanted to show that guy our club's prestige too.”

Tsk, it would've made finishing his recruitment easier... But what could he do if the guy hadn't come?

In the end, Kwon Su-hyeop decided to head to Basement Floor 1, Room Z, where the ‘Familia Club’ was located, with these members.

“Let's go. We'll show them exactly who they picked a fight with.”

Every single member was dressed heavily enough to be called fully armed.

If they stormed in looking like this, even those guys would have no choice but to feel pressured.‘Familia Club's’ Room Z was located in the deepest part of the basement where the Bronze Clubs gathered.

They had only recently been given a place that had been used as nothing more than a warehouse, so it was obvious what kind of environment they would be in without even needing to see it.

Convinced that they would be sitting around talking to one another in a dust-filled space, Kwon Su-hyeop stood in front of Room Z and immediately flung both doors wide open as he entered.

“We heard a new club had been formed, so we came to congratulate yo...

u?”

And Kwon Su-hyeop froze at the completely unexpected interior, utterly different from what he had predicted.

The room boasted a scale that couldn't even be compared to other club rooms. That much he could understand. Club rooms varied in size depending on location, and basement spaces were originally used as warehouses, so some of them were large.

But the things filling the room were another matter.

Shiny, luxurious colors and a design that even felt modern.

Something even famous heroes struggled to obtain...

“Another String?”

Why was that here, inside a Bronze Club room like this?

Kwon Su-hyeop had also grown up in a wealthy family, so he knew about the equipment produced by the company ‘Another String.’

Famous-brand equipment used only by top-tier guilds.

Not only was the price beyond imagination, but they were items you couldn't even attempt to purchase unless you had the appropriate status or reputation, and yet now those things were lined up inside nothing more than a Bronze Club room.

“President? Why did you freez── huh?”

The vice president who followed Kwon Su-hyeop inside also froze after seeing the interior.

Because ultra-luxurious facilities incomparable to those of their own ‘Ranger Club’ were spread out before his eyes.

Shower room, sleeping room, lounge, game room, training room.

The sight of those facilities, which wouldn't lose even compared to decent guilds, was a tremendous shock to the vice president of a Bronze Club.

“Oh? Seniors, you're here?”

A man who had been sitting on an exercise machine doing lower-body training put the equipment down and approached them with a bright smile.

“You... you... why are you here?”

Kim Young-je. The freshman he had spared no investment trying to recruit.

Seeing him using the equipment and approaching with such familiarity was completely unexpected.

“Pardon? Why am I here... Because I'm part of ‘Familia,’ of course?”

At the sight of Young-je shrugging and smiling, Kwon Su-hyeop began to understand the entire situation.

A spy. The president of ‘Familia’ had sent Kim Young-je in as a spy.

“Ha, doing cute little things, aren't you... Already playing spy.”

“Playing spy? I was simply genuinely curious about what kind of activities the Ranger Club did, that's all. Ah, the polygonum multiflorum you gave me last time was delicious. Maybe because it was ten years old, the effects were pretty good?”

Kim Young-je wore a refreshing smile.

Others might see it differently, but to Kwon Su-hyeop right now, that smile looked like nothing but mockery.

But he endured it. He hadn't come here simply to pick a fight today.

“Y-yeah. Glad you enjoyed eating the damn thing. So, where's your president?”

“Our president? He's in a meeting.”

“...

A meeting?”

At the same time that question arose, murmuring began from behind them.

Turning around at the sudden commotion, he saw the members slowly splitting apart to either side, and in the middle was a man speaking between two women.

The face of the guy he had seen at the sparring arena last week.

Han Eugene. The president of ‘Familia.’

And that wasn't all.

“This is the payment for the construction work over the weekend. Young Mas── President of Familia, there's still quite a lot left from the amount you gave us. What would you like us to do with the remainder?”

“Hm? Ah, if it's that, keep it for now. I think we'll be using you often in the future.”

“Understood.”

At the sight of the woman on the other side, Kwon Su-hyeop's pupils began trembling.

Because he recognized her at a glance.

How could he not? She was from the place whose stock had been rising the most recently.‘International Trade Club.’ And its president, Lee Haru.

There was even a saying that if there was something you couldn't obtain inside the Academy, you should go to the ‘International Trade Club.’ As long as you had money, they could obtain almost anything you wanted. She was the president of a top-tier distribution club.

Although its rank was only Silver, its achievements already rivaled those of most Gold Clubs, so it was a place that could never be ignored.

On top of that, rumors had already spread throughout the entire Academy that the ‘International Trade Club,’ which had absorbed everything left behind when the Fund Investment Club disappeared recently, might soon become a Gold Club.

So why the hell was the president of a club like that here?

“Oh? I don't think we've met before. What brings you here?”

Eugene finally noticed Kwon Su-hyeop and spoke to him.

He swept his gaze once over the members of the ‘Ranger Club,’ then looked at Kwon Su-hyeop with a broad grin.

The people stood there dumbfounded, wearing blank expressions.

Eugene desperately held back the laughter threatening to escape.

His plan had already begun.