Chapter 51

Chapter 51

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 51“We received intelligence that someone at the Academy is targeting you, Young Master.”

“...

Me?”

No, what is this supposed to mean right from the start?

“There must be more than one or two people at the Academy targeting me. Is that related to this mission?”

When I asked Parnello out of pure curiosity, he shook his head.

“Of course, if it were only that much, neither you nor Calione would have had any reason to intervene directly. We would simply have thought it the prank of immature children. However, wouldn't the situation be different if a request targeting you came into an organization under Calione's influence?”

A request targeting me came in.

“From an Academy cadet?”

“That is correct. The request was ‘to inflict injuries requiring at least twelve weeks of recovery upon Han Eugene, a cadet of Seoul Hero Academy.’ It seems you have accumulated quite a number of grudges at the Academy as well, Young Master.”

Seeing Parnello smiling at me as though he were rather proud made me feel somewhat strange.

I'd prepared myself to live this kind of life from the moment I decided to walk this path, but I hadn't expected something like this to make someone proud of me.

“The request was received by the Gangbul Office located in Jongno. They are not directly affiliated with Calione, but they pay us protection money while operating, so they are something akin to a private investigation agency.”

As Calione could be called the ruler of the underworld.

Most organizations in South Korea's underworld had established cooperative relationships with Calione even if they weren't directly under us.

And it seemed the guys who received this request had that kind of relationship with us as well.

“Since the request targeted an Academy cadet, they asked Calione for assistance, and that is how we discovered it. So in a way, you could say we were fortunate.”

“Then what am I supposed to do? Surely you don't mean I should injure myself badly enough to need twelve weeks of recovery just like the request says.”

Parnello burst out laughing at my joke.

“Unfortunately, I don't think that will be possible. The moment a request targeting you entered Calione's hands, this became the equivalent of commissioning ‘that’ Calione to arrange an assault on Calione's successor.”

In other words, Calione would handle this matter. And the reason he'd called me here like this was...

“Normally, the mission assigned to you would be to punish the client who commissioned an assault on the successor... but considering your position as someone concealing your identity at the Academy, I thought it would be right to ask for your opinion.”

Parnello was right.

The moment I went to punish them as a member of Calione, it would effectively mean increasing the number of people within the Academy who knew my identity.

So I came up with a better idea.

“...

What is my cover identity at the Academy currently registered as?”

“As far as I know, you are registered as the heir to an affiliate of Hanwol Group, which was run by Madam.”

“Then is my personal secretary, Han Seo-jun, also registered as being with Hanwol Group?”

“That is correct.”

Then this would be easy.

“How much did they receive as the commission fee?”

“They received fifty million credits. And Calione's fee is twenty percent, ten million credits.”

“Ten million credits... not bad. You said it was the Gangbul Office? Let them do whatever they want.”

“...

Pardon?”

“Wouldn't it be a waste of money? If they took the money, they should at least do the job. I'll simply defend myself in my own way.”

And I thought there was no need for me to personally step in for this matter.

“Please select a few members who handle security and arrange for them to be transferred to the Hanwol Group security team I'm supposedly affiliated with.”

I'm basically the son of a chaebol family too, so shouldn't I make use of the security team's help at times like this?

“If they have any sense, they won't touch me inside the Academy and will try to do the job outside... Ah, are those Gangbul Office guys useful to Calione?”

At my question, Parnello shook his head.

“They're expendable. We can use and discard them whenever necessary.”

“Good. If we deal with them instead, they'll tuck their tails between their legs on their own.”

And if we obtained information about the person who commissioned this in advance and used it as leverage, we could definitely gain a great deal from it.

“Information on the client?”

“Here it is.”

As expected of Calione. All the information about him had already been organized into a file.

“Hm? Look at this.”

And naturally, there was a face I knew attached to the file.[Name: Kwon Su-hyeop][Age: 24][Son of the guild master of Hunters Guild, a guild specializing in dungeon exploration. Currently enrolled at Seoul Hero Academy and president of the ‘Ranger Club.’ Presumed to have developed his skills by entering dungeons from a young age.]

And judging by the alarm from the <​Character Encyclopedia>, the contents written in this file seemed to be true.

“So he was the heir to a guild. No wonder his pride was like that.”

Perhaps it was the last remnants of his conscience. The fact that he'd commissioned only an assault rather than an assassination was amusing in its own way.

“Then does that mean there's no mission for me today?”

“Yes. Originally, the mission was to abduct him somewhere no one knew, ask his purpose, and educate him so he would not speak carelessly... but since it seems you already have something in mind, there should be no need to go that far.”

Educate him... Just hearing the word made me feel a chill.

For now, all I could do was pray that they would give up on the commission on their own...

_______________

Four days passed.

Over the past four days, the kids underwent high-intensity training in the club's training room, sparring room, and dungeon, filling in each of their shortcomings.

As a result.

“Aah... Boss. Right now, I feel like I couldn't lose to anyone.”

“You got beaten up by the president yesterday too. Still, today wasn't bad.”

Today, I trained together with the kids inside a dungeon.

Even though it had only been a few days since we'd visited, countless insects had already respawned.

Unlike the first time, when they'd been flustered and clumsy, the three of them, including Young-je, managed to clear the first floor of the dungeon extremely smoothly.

“What do you think, Eugene? Do we have a chance at this point?”

Se-ah asked.

Three days remained until our all-out war with those guys.

The kids had done their best all this time, but they still seemed uneasy.

“A chance? More than enough. If you keep this up, there's no way we'll lose.”

After watching the kids for the past four days, I could say that with certainty.

At this point, we could definitely win. We wouldn't be pushed around at all.

After all, had I trained the kids normally over the past four days?

I had crammed every training method I knew from the game into them and forged the members of ‘Familia’ into an elite force.

Whenever the kids said they were exhausted, I got help from the Recipe Development Club and fed them food that aided recovery, and I even snuck out several elixirs lying around the mansion and made the kids take them. Losing to a mere Bronze Club after all that would make no sense.

“Until Monday, rest at home and make sure none of you gets injured. You'll be using your bodies a lot starting next week, so you should get plenty of rest.”

“Next week?”

Jin-woo tilted his head at my words.

Right, had the Academy not announced the ‘Class Ranking Match’ yet?

“If we smash the Ranger Club, won't everyone start coming after us?”

Since it was something the Academy hadn't officially announced yet, I brushed it aside and ended the subject.

An all-out war on Monday, then the class ranking matches starting Tuesday... it was an insane schedule, but what could I do?

This was all my own karma.

And so, after finishing my usual schedule, I boarded the car driven by Han Seo-jun and was on my way back to the mansion.

“Young Master, I believe we're being followed.”

“...

Again?”

“But it seems a little different from usual. Until now, it was always passenger cars... but today it's a van. No, it seems there are other vehicles following us along with the van.”

In other words, even the number of people following us was different.

“For now, don't go home. Turn toward the abandoned factory owned by Calione. If they're following us this blatantly, there's no reason for us to avoid them.”

“Yes, Young Master. Then I'll make a U-turn.”

Han Seo-jun answered as he turned the car around.

There were fewer and fewer people around us.

Finally, once we entered an industrial complex lined with factories and warehouses, the van that had silently followed us until now pulled up alongside us and lowered the passenger-side window.

A man gestured for us to roll down our window. When Han Seo-jun did so, the guy pointed a handgun at us.

“Pull over over there.”

“Ha.”

Was he amused by the fact that someone was pointing a gun at a member of Calione?

Han Seo-jun let out a dry laugh and glanced at me.

“Give them what they want.”

“Understood.”

Following the man's instructions, Han Seo-jun parked the car in the lot of a shabby-looking abandoned factory.

Then the vehicles that had been following us parked in front and behind, blocking our escape.

“Amateurs. If it were me, I would've parked the cars flush against ours so we couldn't ram our way out.”

Han Seo-jun shook his head, gauging their level just from the way they had parked.

“Get out.”

Apparently deciding we could no longer escape, one of the men who had poured out of the cars aimed a gun at us and threatened us.

“Who are you to order us out so rudely? This car is──”

At that moment, two bullets were fired at the driver's-side window.

Whether they'd installed some magical device on the suppressor or not, the shots were extremely quiet.

“Ha, these bastards. Bulletproof glass? You think you can act tough because you're relying on this?”

The bullets had deliberately targeted only the window as a threat.

They were outdated guns that were practically useless against Awakened, but they seemed convinced they could frighten us enough with them.

“Interesting.”

“...

Pardon?”

“Outside the Academy, this is my first time being threatened by people holding guns like this.”

The Young Master of Calione being threatened by a single gun.

Even now, I felt like laughing, but I did my best to suppress it as I got out of the car.

“You're not seriously carrying that around and calling it a gun, are you?”

I placed my hand on the Cube to show them a ‘real’ gun from inside it.

Perhaps sensing that something was wrong, the guy holding the handgun hurriedly aimed the muzzle at Han Seo-jun.

“Hey, brat. Don't you understand the situation? If you pull out your unique weapon or try anything funny, your driver dies first. Got it?!”

And at his shout, people armed with all sorts of blunt weapons began surrounding us.

Judging by the mana coming from their weapons, it seemed they'd even mobilized Awakened to capture me, an Academy cadet.

They were even chatting among themselves and snickering as though they had complete superiority.

“As expected, he's still a kid. Completely predictable. Wish every job were this easy.”

“Hey, we don't want much. We'll just break one arm and one leg. Then it's over. How about it? Nice and clean, right?”

The guy standing behind me approached with a bat resting on his shoulder and stated their demands.

An arm and a leg... so they really planned to injure me before the all-out war to improve their chances of winning.

“No answer? Well, silence means agreement...”

He approached while swinging the bat through the air.

At the sight, I sighed and looked toward Han Seo-jun.

“Han Seo-jun.”

“Yes. Young Master.”

“Let's begin.”

At my words, Han Seo-jun grabbed his in-ear and spoke.

“Security team, begin.”

At the same time, dozens of black vehicles came racing toward us from the distance.

For now, it was time to become not Eugene Han Calione of Calione, but Han Eugene, protected by the security detail of a chaebol family.