Chapter 65

Chapter 65

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 65“Aura Style. That's the technique you'll be learning from me from now on.”

I felt a shiver run through my entire body at the feat unfolding before my eyes.

Of course, this wasn't the first time I'd seen that technique.

Kwak Chun-sik's wide-area skill [Solitary Evergreen], which I'd seen several times in the game.

A technique where he thrusts out a sword shaped from aura, then covers the surroundings with his own aura and annihilates every being within its range.

In the game, I'd thought of it as nothing more than a technique with flashy effects, but seeing its majesty right before my eyes surpassed my imagination.

Had I ever actually seen a technique this powerful before?

No, I could say with certainty that I hadn't.

After all, Father and Parnello had never had any reason to display their abilities in front of me.

In other words, the technique I'd just witnessed was the strongest technique I'd ever seen.

“Ha, judging by your expression, you seem quite surprised.”

The stern face of a grandmaster from just moments ago returned to that of an irritating old man.

“I'll admit I was surprised. But that wasn't one of your secret techniques, was it?”

“Ha, you think I'd teach you my secret technique from the very beginning? I'll keep it tucked away so you can't run off, then teach it to you when the time comes, so don't worry too much.”

“Why would I run away?”

I hadn't even extracted anything worthwhile from him yet.

Swallowing the rest of the sentence as I spoke, Kwak Chun-sik chuckled.

“Fine, as long as you don't run away. First, let's see if there's anything worth taking, grab only what we need, and leave.”

Saying that, Kwak Chun-sik walked toward where the Kobold Queen was.

After entering the boss room, we looked around to see if there were any unusual items, but unfortunately, as expected of a dungeon that had only recently formed, there wasn't anything particularly worth taking.

“Does the Association collect things like byproducts?”

“Yes. Normally, the Association collects the byproducts, deducts a fee, and sends the rest to my account. Why, since you contributed this time, should I give you a share?”

“I have plenty of money.”

“...

Rich young masters really don't know the value of money. Tsk, tsk.”

They're only byproducts from a kobold dungeon. How expensive could they possibly be...

“Instead, could you do me one small favor?”

“...

A favor? So it wasn't that you didn't know the value of money. You were aiming for something more valuable. Fine, let's hear it.”

“So...”

_______________

When we retraced our path and exited the dungeon, the two Association employees and the employee who had brought us here hurriedly came running out of the tent.

“Are you already finished?”

“Yeah. There wasn't much to it. Keep up the good work.”

“Good work, sir. And you as well, disciple. Then I'll immediately transport you back to the residence where you were staying.”

The employee reached out to grab my hand and Kwak Chun-sik's, just as he had when we'd arrived.

At that moment, Kwak Chun-sik pulled his hand back and shuddered.

“I'm fine. My stomach can only take so much churning... I'll walk back like I used to.”

“I... see. In that case, that's fine. Will your disciple be walking as well?”

“No. Sir put me through the wringer inside the dungeon because he wanted to see my abilities, so I'm a little tired... I'd like to rest for a bit before leaving. If it isn't too much trouble, could you wait for me for a moment?”

The employee paused briefly at my words.

But soon, he nodded.

“Well, sure. Helping with your transportation is my job, after all.”

“Then we'll go inside to organize and investigate the byproducts. Thank you very much, both of you.”

The two employees headed toward the dungeon to carry out their original duties.

And when Kwak Chun-sik headed down the mountain first, leaving only me and the employee behind.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“...

Elusive. Did the Miner arrive safely?”

“Pardon?”

The sudden, incomprehensible words made his eyes widen.

Words that could never possibly come from the mouth of a Hero Academy student.

Elusive.

One of South Korea's famous villains, who used his teleportation ability to commit robberies and vanish without a trace.

After disappearing for several years, he was now standing before me disguised as an Association employee.

How did I know this?

It wasn't anything particularly impressive.

The moment I faced him and saw him use his ability, his identity appeared before my eyes.[A new person has been added to the <​Character Encyclopedia>!]<​Character Encyclopedia (N)>[Name: Gong Gyo-won][Affiliation: Republic of Korea, Hero Association, Villain Association][Age: 34][Specialty: Spatial Magic, Long-Distance Spatial Movement][Description: A spatial mage from the Gangwon Province branch of the Hero Association and the villain known as Elusive, affiliated with the Villain Association. He has accumulated a massive slush fund using his long-distance movement ability.]

“The sun hides behind the clouds. Since it's just the two of us now, there's nothing to hide, is there?”

To prevent him from immediately suspecting me and fleeing, I first spoke the Villain Alliance's coded phrase.

It was the code phrase they used around this point in the game, so it should still be the same now.

Sure enough, the man who had been tense and preparing to bolt visibly relaxed.

“How does the disciple of Kwak Chun-sik know that...”

“Don't you think it's a little late to find that strange after working as Kwak Chun-sik's handler yourself? Shadows exist everywhere. Do you really think an ordinary person could become Kwak Chun-sik's disciple?”

I smiled as I said that.

Perhaps because I'd caused so many incidents at the Academy lately, my notoriety had been converted into charm through the trait 【Bad Boy】, instilling a sense of trust in people I met.

But apparently that alone wasn't enough, because he was still looking at me suspiciously.

That was probably simply because his personality was so cautious.

He was the kind of person who would tap on a stepping stone first before teleporting across it.

That was Elusive.

Of course, that was probably why he still hadn't been caught.

I sighed and continued.

“Covert Shadow. That's my villain name.”

“Y-you're Covert Shadow? I heard Covert Shadow never shows himself to anyone...?”

“Do you really think the person standing in front of you is my true appearance?”

When I spoke with force in my voice, his body flinched.

The Villain Alliance's legendary assassin, ‘Covert Shadow.’

The weight carried by that name was enough to make even someone like him feel fear.

Of course, I could only make use of the name like this because it would be quite some time before that person truly became active.

“Why did you come looking for me?”

“Why did I come looking for you? That's amusing. Why I came looking for you...”

I slowly approached him while putting the gloves on my hands.

“It's not particularly important, but I'll answer.”

Slowly approaching him, I stopped directly in front of him and smiled.

“Because if I don't do this, you'll run away, you bastard.”

“You fucking──”

Realizing something was wrong, he immediately turned and tried to surround himself with mana to escape──

“You won't be going anywhere.”

The moment I released all the aura I'd accumulated while confronting him, his mana dispersed.

“...

What the hell is this?”

“I happened to learn something from the old man while leaving the dungeon. Looks like it works perfectly fine.”

Kwak Chun-sik had told me that because I still couldn't properly control my aura, it spread outward and had the characteristic of taking control by tearing apart or pushing away whatever was around it.

Even just looking at the newly added description, ‘Dominates and strengthens the user's equipment and skills,’ I could tell that my aura had the nature of dominating and taking control of something.

The important part here was taking control of the surrounding space.

In other words, as long as I disrupted his mana with my aura, he wouldn't be able to escape freely.

“You said you're a villain too! Then why the hell are you trying to catch me?!”

He quickly backed away and shouted at me.

Why was I trying to catch him?

Naturally, for the reward.

The quest window that appeared in front of me when I first met him.【Hidden Quest】[Hunting the Elusive

Villain][Gong Gyo-won, the villain known as Elusive, is a spy who infiltrated the Association to gather information. Because of his teleportation magic, he is also a villain who has evaded capture for years. As both a student of Seoul Hero Academy and a Hitman, can you capture such prey?][Objective: Subdue or kill Gong Gyo-won, Elusive.][Reward: Enhancement of Trait 【Hitman】.]

There was no way I'd let an important opportunity like enhancing a trait slip away without hunting him.

“I get a reward if I catch you, you trash-mob bastard.”

I charged at him and immediately swung my fist.

He hurriedly raised his mana to teleport, but as my fist drew closer, he watched his mana futilely scatter once again and made a hollow expression.

“You fucking──”

Booom! With a thunderous sound, his body was sent flying backward.

“Kagh!”

He generated wind behind himself to minimize the damage and stabilize his balance.

He had realized that unlike movement-type magic, which required mana to manifest externally, he could still activate magic using the mana inside his body without much trouble.

“You fucking brat! Who the hell are you to stop me?!”

Flames ignited in both of his hands.

Apparently finally recognizing me as an enemy, he contorted his face and swung them toward me.

“Didn't I explain when we first met? I'm Sir Kwak Chun-sik's disciple.”

The moment I wrapped my fists in aura, his magic broke apart and exploded against my fists wearing [Midas's Hand]

.

No, at this point, shouldn't this practically be called an anti-

mage weapon?

Of course, maybe it only worked because he wasn't primarily a combat mage, but one thing was certain: it would be easy to gain the upper hand against mages.

“I'm with the Association! You think you'll get away with doing something like this? You don't even have proof that I'm a villain!”

“Proof? Maybe not proof, but I've got a witness. Right, sir?”

At that, Kwak Chun-sik, who had said he would walk home first, stepped out from between the nearby trees and let out an incredulous chuckle.

“Honestly, I thought it was absurd at first... but after seeing you confess with your own mouth that you're a villain, I have no choice but to believe him.”

“You've got to be fucking kidding me...”

With Kwak Chun-sik's appearance, the man effectively had no chance of winning.

But I didn't want him to completely give up, so I reassured him.

“The old man won't interfere. At most, if you try to run, he'll pierce your throat with aura. For now, you're just a practice dummy to test what I've accomplished today.”

“I'm... a practice dummy?”

“What else would you call someone who's so afraid of fighting that all he ever does is run away? What, does that hit a nerve?”

“You brat... I'm Elusive. I'm not someone a punk like you can use as a practice dummy!”

“Is it because you're a mage? Why are you only running your mouth?”

“I'll kill you!”

Both of his arms pointed toward me.

Even if he was a spatial mage, he was still a proper villain affiliated with the Villain Association.

There was no way someone like him had learned only spatial magic.

Light erupted from both of his arms, and countless purple barrages began flying toward me.

With that speed and density of mana, they would likely strike my body and crush me before they could be dispersed.

Then I had no choice but to minimize the damage through the smallest possible evasions.

After finishing my calculations, I released aura around me and advanced.

Like droplets of water flying toward intense heat, the trajectories of the barrages gradually began bending, and I pushed through the gaps as I slowly approached him.

I knocked away anything that looked capable of landing a solid hit with my fists, while letting the ones I could narrowly avoid graze me as I passed.

Thanks to that, the cadet uniform I was wearing gradually tore and frayed, but I could always buy another one.

“In the end, you're a guy who can't do anything except run away.”

The closer I got to him, the harder it became to evade the barrage, but I moved my aura while recalling how Kwak Chun-sik had used his inside the dungeon.

He had compressed his aura tightly, launched it, then dispersed it toward the positions of each target.

Then what would happen if I tried to forcibly compress my aura when I still struggled just to gather it firmly?

Creeeeeeeeeeak─────!

The red energy wrapped around my fist began trembling violently, making a bizarre sound as it consumed the surrounding space.

Like flames burning away everything nearby.

Then the barrages that touched the aura no longer bent.

They simply vanished.

There was only one unfortunate problem...

“If I hit you with this, I won't be able to subdue you.”

Even I was struggling to control it.

“Please leave at least a recognizable shape.”

Crunch──!

My fist struck his heart, and his body collapsed.