Chapter 74

Chapter 74

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 74

Fighting against the wolves that had turned red, while sniping shots and magic continued to rain down on her from behind.

Even so, Blanca did not give up.

The sight of her somehow pulling herself together, personally tearing apart the wolves she had summoned, and slowly approaching me was rather moving in its own way.

“I'll kill at least you with my own hands no matter what...”

Blanca looked like someone who could only be described as consumed by rage.

However.

“Seems like you wasted too much time for that?”

A silver knife embedded itself in front of her as she tried to approach me, and a deep voice came from the hole in the ceiling.

“──I apologize for being late, Young Master.”

A man holding a limp man in one hand and a gleaming knife in the other.

It was Parnello Ramici.

“...

Judging by appearances, it doesn't seem like you had that difficult a time.”

Parnello dropped the unconscious man through the ceiling as though throwing away trash, then came down himself.

Looking at the face of the man who landed with a thud, I could tell it was Jackal, another villain I had seen in the game.

As expected of his reputation, it seemed he'd dealt with him easily.

In fact, looking at Parnello, his clothes were only slightly torn and scorched. There were no visible wounds or signs that he was tired at all.

Did he notice my gaze on his clothes? Parnello swept his hair back and gave an awkward smile.

“My, they had set up so many traps here that capturing him in one piece was difficult. Honestly, even I was startled when the anti-personnel mines and explosives started going off one after another.”...

Anti-personnel mines and explosives? Was that the explosion I'd heard earlier?

It was enough to make me wonder how on earth he managed to come out of there with his clothes still retaining their original shape.

“Why the hell is Jackal... Wait. Don't tell me, the Hound...? Calione's Hound came?”

Meanwhile, at Parnello's sudden appearance, Blanca, who had been consumed by rage until just moments ago, faltered and stepped backward.

Parnello turned his head and looked at Blanca.

“Jackal said the other villain was torturing Ratte... then that one over there must be the one called Blanca.”

Then, as though she were nothing, Parnello ignored Blanca and looked back at me.

“You've worked hard rescuing Ratte, Young Master. As for finishing this... would you like to continue?”

The battle with Blanca was already practically over.

Even if she attacked again here, the aura that had already been strengthened to its limit was still inside my body.

“She was my prey, so naturally I'll finish it.”

“Excellent. ”

And at the sight of Parnello smiling and stepping behind me, Blanca ground her teeth.

“Y-you... you damn Calione bastards!!”

Feeling as though she was being toyed with, Blanca exploded and charged at me.

“Who! Who's whose prey? You're the prey!!”

Her charge continued like a flash of light.

If it had been me from just moments ago, my throat would've been cut before I even noticed, but now that my body had been strengthened by the continuously accumulated stacks of opponents, I could clearly track her movements.‘As expected, this ability is way too much of a slow starter.’Recalling the time I fought the ‘Ranger Club,’ I concentrated aura into [Midas's Gloves]

.

The image I brought to mind was the red knuckles I had summoned onto my hands back then.

Because I was forcibly pouring mana into it, I could feel the repulsive force growing stronger and stronger, but the amount of aura flowing through my body right now was more than enough to forcibly compress all of it.[Bloodline Ability: 「Calione」 dominates 「Midas's Gloves」.]

Once again, red knuckles appeared over my hands.[Midas's Gloves]

had transformed into knuckles, and red sparks leapt from them while unstable aura was forcibly packed inside as though it might explode at any moment.

“You still haven't come to your senses.”

Aiming at Blanca's stomach as she tried to swing her claws at me, I drove my fist in with all my strength.

“You were finished a while ago.”

More precisely, from the moment I completely erased your Phase 2.

Thanks to a tiny difference in reach, my fist struck Blanca's abdomen first.

“Ghk──!”

With a sound like striking a giant drum, her body bent sharply.

Even so, she still reached out, trying somehow to strangle my neck.

If it had been an ordinary punch, her hand probably would've reached me... unfortunately, my attack wasn't over yet.─────!!

The suppressed repulsive force exploded once more, and a massive roar rang out as it churned up her insides.

At the same time, Blanca went limp.

If anyone else had taken that blow, their lower body would've disappeared entirely.

Fortunately, Blanca's defense was so high that it seemed she hadn't died.

After shoving her aside.

“I'm dying...”

After confirming that Blanca had collapsed to the ground, the tension left me and I dropped down onto the floor.

This was effectively my first battle against a close-combat villain similar to myself.

Of course, I had received help from the organization members midway through, but honestly, for a first-year Academy student, this was practically a fantastic achievement.[A new story has opened!]

“Hm?”

Just as I was trying to catch my breath, a system window appeared before my eyes as though on cue.

Wait, a new story? If it's the main story, don't I already have the club-related one?【(NEW)

Main Story (Gangs of kalione) Open!】[You, the successor of Calione and a Hitman. You have defeated countless enemies of the organization and begun writing your own narrative. What awaits at the end?

Death to enemies. Glory to the Family.][Completion Condition: Increase influence within the Family][Target Influence: 1500 / 3000][※Completion rewards may vary depending on the results.][A new Main Story has opened! An opening reward will be granted!][Opening Reward: 「Narrative Engraving」]

I'd seen characters whose main stories were divided into several branches before... apparently Eugene Han Calione was also a character with multiple main stories.

The influence within the organization displayed in the window was 1

5

0

0.

Seeing as I'd filled the number 1500 through the missions I'd done so far, it seemed I could reach 3000 fairly quickly.

More importantly, the most significant point was that [Narrative Engraving]

had opened.[Narrative Engraving].

In the original game, [Narrative Engraving]

was such an important system that whether or not a character possessed it was enough to distinguish named NPCs.

Even players judged whether their own character was garbage-tier or god-tier depending on when they obtained [Narrative Engraving], so that said everything.

But... why is everyone staring at me like that?

It's needlessly uncomfortable.

“Young Master. Just now, what exactly was that...”

Parnello, who had been watching from behind until now, approached and held out a hand to me as he asked.

“Hm? That just now?”

“Yes. I mean how you used red aura to create knuckles. Since when have you been able to use that technique?”...

Ah.

I think I understood.

Why the other members of the organization were looking at me with such shocked expressions, and why Parnello was looking at me with such deeply moved eyes.

Without realizing it, they had remembered the past.

The man who had stepped forward for them when dungeons first overflowed in the Republic of Korea.

The man who became everyone's symbol with his red-dyed knuckles and fists.[You have left an impressive image on the other members of the organization!][Influence increases by 500!][Target Influence: 2000 / 3000]

Just like that, my influence rose by 500 in an instant.

No, how many jobs have I done for the organization until now, and just using knuckles raises it by 500?

I felt like I understood just how much meaning the sight of me using knuckles held for them.

They had truly seen Father in me, seen Calione's successor.

“...

It just happened. As I trained my aura, the gloves transformed into this form. I think it might be related to my bloodline ability.”

I couldn't exactly say I'd copied Father's ability after seeing it in the game, so I gave an explanation that would at least sound plausible.

Parnello nodded.

“...

Yes. That was indeed a technique the Don frequently uses. To think the Young Master can already handle aura to that degree. This Parnello has had his eyes opened once again today. Hahaha!”

If this were the Middle Ages, what I had just done would probably be close to an act of solidifying legitimacy.

Of course, that made sense, considering I'd openly shown something identical to Vito Calione's ability.

“...

For now, we've achieved our objective, so let's leave the cleanup of the scene to the Family responsible for such work and head back. Honestly, I'm exhausted.”

As I said that with a forced smile, Parnello naturally supported me.

“I contacted the organization, so the helicopter should arrive shortly.”

“...

That's fortunate.”

Just as he said, a helicopter arrived not long afterward.

I climbed aboard and closed my eyes while receiving care from the healer who had been waiting in advance.

“By the way, what happened to Ratte?”

“Ah, she was transported to a treatment facility first aboard the helicopter we came in. She's been through so much that they say she'll require treatment for quite a long time. Still, I'm glad she's alive.”

Parnello said that with a smile in his eyes that seemed completely sincere.

“All of this is thanks to you, Young Master. If you hadn't taken care of one of them, had I come alone, I would've lost not only Ratte but the others as well.”

I felt like answering, How did you know? but for now, I decided merely to smile.

In the end, everything had worked out well.

When we arrived home, I tried to head straight to Father's study to report, but Parnello told me he would handle the entire report himself for my sake, since I had to go all the way to Gangwon Province tomorrow, and urged me to go rest first.

Honestly, I wanted nothing more than to collapse onto my bed right then, so I gratefully accepted his consideration, returned to my room, took a quick shower, and collapsed onto the bed.

Then I moved my hand toward the new UI floating before my eyes.[(N)

Narrative Engraving]

“...

Well, if only to get rid of the NEW mark, I should press it once, right?”

With my heart pounding, I opened [(N)

Narrative Engraving]

.[Character 「Eugene Han Calione: Narrative Engraving」 has been created!]

A brief silence followed after the notification window appeared.

“Hm?”

Nothing... happened?

Was nothing supposed to happen when you opened Narrative Engraving? Or was it different because I was originally an NPC? Just as I was thinking that──“Ghk?!!”

Suddenly, my left shoulder began burning in vivid red flames.