I Become a Mafia in the Academy

Chapter 86

Wednesday lunch.

Despite it being lunchtime, the children were slumped over their desks, cheeks pressed against them, staring blankly.

"Sparring sucks... It's so bothersome..."

"Why can't we do club activities on days we have sparring... I get so drained after one session that I don't want to do anything else... I just want to eat snacks in the club booth..."

Listening to the whining from beside me was driving me crazy.

I too felt downhearted at the thought of having to go for sparring after leaving just one main story quest unfinished, but hearing others complain made it even worse.

"Jinwoo, where did Youngje go?"

"Youngje? He didn't come to school today because he has mentoring. He's enjoying all the honey by himself..."

Seah got up after hearing Jinwoo's words.

"M, mentoring? That's right! There was a mentoring class! I need to go to my mentor right now... My mentor is Instructor Ji Soohyun!!"

Then Seah slumped back down in despair.

"God is dead..."

"No, God is alive."

"Huh?"

Seah looked at me, surprised by my sudden interjection.

Yeah. The one who sent me here is that so-called God. There's no way the guy I'm supposed to kill later could be dead already.

"So, assuming God is alive... why didn't you go to the mentoring class, Jinwoo?"

"...Huh? Me?"

Jinwoo shuddered and got up at Seah's sudden mention of him.

"...I like sparring."

"Huh?"

"At least sparring doesn't leave scars. That crazy woman... I'd rather just spar."

I couldn't even imagine what kind of activities he usually does to act like this.

"Uh... what about you, Yoojin? You haven't gone to the mentoring class at all this week."

I still hadn't received any contact from Gwak Chunshik.

The 1 next to the message had disappeared, so he must have read it. Why wasn't he replying?

"He said he had something to think about and hasn't been taking calls."

"Ah... everything has a reason, I guess. Sigh, so we're going to spar after all."

As Seah muttered this and started to slump over the desk again,

[Han Yoojin. Student Han Yoojin, please come to the faculty office of the academy. I repeat, Han Yoojin...]

A sudden announcement calling for me echoed through the classroom.

"Boss, did you do something wrong?"

"Do you think I did?"

"I've never done anything wrong?!"

Ignoring Jinwoo's outburst, I stood up.

Being called to the faculty office, was there something that could have triggered this recently?

"Hmm..."

There were too many things that could be the cause, making it hard to guess.

Before I knew it, I had arrived in front of the faculty office. As I opened the door and entered, the instructors' gazes turned towards me.

Why are they all looking at me like that?

...Huh?

For some reason, I saw someone who shouldn't be here.

"...Elder?"

Why was the elder, who should still be in Gangwon-do, in the academy's faculty office?

"My disciple, it's been a while, hasn't it?"

Perhaps my bewildered face amused him, as Gwak Chunshik burst into laughter.

"Why is the elder here...?"

"Didn't you summon me? I've been busy sorting things out, and that's why I've arrived now."

So he had been preparing non-stop since that day, which is why he hadn't contacted me until now?

"Well, there are too many eyes here, so shall we go out? Yoonho, can I take my disciple out?"

Then, he asked Park Yoonho, the first-year student advisor, to take me out.

"Senior, in the afternoon, the first-year students have sparring──"

"Shh──! Ahem!"

"...Senior."

No matter how strict and rigid the student advisor is, the opponent was someone called the hero of heroes, practically a senior of seniors, Gwak Chunshik.

Moreover, Park Yoonho had once trained under him...

Still, it was the first time I'd seen Park Yoonho so flustered.

"You can skip the mentoring class three times a week, right? Can't that be used?"

"That's true, but there's never been a precedent of leaving during class──"

"Then let's make this the first case! If the senior says so, you just say yes! Why are you arguing back and forth?!"

...Wow. There are old men like this.

But since that arrow wasn't pointed at me, it felt so comfortable.

Didn't someone say this? When a powerful old man is on your side, it's the most reassuring thing.

I was feeling that in real-time.

"Back in the day, when seniors said something, you were supposed to listen! In my time, if a senior said they were going to make bean paste out of red beans, you'd say, 'Yes, senior!' That's how it was. Kid!"

"Ah... I understand, senior."

"What?"

"...It seems like we can take Student Han Yoojin out, senior."

"See? You can do it if you want to. Tsk tsk... Let's go, disciple."

"Ah, yes."

Was Park Yoonho capable of making such a face?

He looked utterly helpless, while behind him, Ji Soohyun was biting her lip, trying not to laugh.

The two of them were a stark contrast.

Following Gwak Chunshik out of the faculty office, I asked him as he walked ahead of me,

"Elder, where are we going?"

"To my house."

"Your house, elder?"

"Yes, you rascal. You should tell me what's been happening. And there are things we can't discuss here."

The atmosphere changed suddenly.

I felt a strange premonition and nodded, saying,

"Then I know a good place."

"A good place?"

"Yes, there, no one will hear us, and there's no worry about sounds leaking out."

"Hmm, is there such a place? Let's go there."

"Yes."

I led him, who seemed puzzled, to the Familia's club booth.

The Familia's club booth was a place created from the start to nurture my 'Family'.

From the design stage, it was enchanted to prevent sound from leaking out. Furthermore, the president's office was constructed to be impervious to magical eavesdropping, making it the perfect place for secret conversations.

"This is... the club hall? Are you planning to go to an empty club room?"

Ah, I hadn't told the elder yet.

"My club room is here."

"Huh? Aren't you a first-year student?"

"Yes, but."

"But you have a club... Is it your club?"

"Yes."

"Are you the president?"

"Yes."

After hearing my answers, the elder let out a scoff, looking impressed.

"Hah, I knew you were talented, but to think you'd start a club at the academy right after enrolling... That's ridiculous."

"As you said, I am quite talented."

The old man, showing respect, goes around to the back of the hall and activates the freight elevator.

"......Is there an elevator too?"

"It's one of our club's pride."

After swiping the card at the card reader, we descend to the underground, revealing the Familia's club booth immediately.

"Let's go to the president's office."

"What kind of club has an Another String and even a shower room? They've got everything. We don't even have those at our dojo......."

Gwak Chunshik, while continuing to grumble, diligently looks around.

Thus, the two of us settled in the president's office.

I briefly set tea and snacks in front of him and opened my mouth to start the conversation in earnest.

"What on earth happened? There was no contact, and I didn't hear you were coming. How could you get to Seoul so quickly?"

Gwak Chunshik was a case of entering Silver Town instead of prison for killing a villain.

Moreover, due to the checks from political figures, it would have been difficult for him to get out easily.

Therefore, for him to get out smoothly, he would have needed my help or external help, so it was hard to understand how he could come out like this.

"I can only say I was lucky."

"......Luck, you say?"

"Yes, you remember that Spatial Mage you caught recently, the 'Shinchulgwimol' or whatever. While I was sorting out my thoughts after hearing your story, a call came from the Prosecutor's Office. They asked if the guy was really 'Shinchulgwimol'."

Wait, Shinchulgwimol?

......The pieces were starting to fit together little by little.

To think that saving Kim Seah would have such an effect.

As Seah cleared her name as a suspect, 'Shinchulgwimol' was put back under the spotlight, and that attention shifted to Gwak Chunshik, who was known to have caught him.

"They say 'Shinchulgwimol' brought villains into Korea. The escapees that were on the news. Are you getting a sense of it?"

"Did you propose a judicial deal to the elders?"

"Yes, that's it. The government secretly requested a deal from me. They asked me to help investigate the villains who infiltrated Korea."

"But why go to such lengths for you? There are plenty of heroes in the Association and other guilds who could join the investigation."

There was no reason for the government to specifically choose Gwak Chunshik.

However, in response to my question, Gwak Chunshik smiled slyly and answered.

"At first, they offered a reward, but...... do I look like I need money or goods? So, I made a deal as you suggested last time."

Thanks to that, what could have been rejected due to political issues passed through easily.

"I thought about trying another way if it didn't work out, but it got approved much more easily than I expected. Hmm, I wonder what changed the minds of the higher-ups."

I had a feeling I knew the reason.

"It seems my father intervened."

"Your father? You mean Vito Calione?"

"Yes. Though I'm not sure."

Last time, my father mentioned wanting to have a meal with Elder Gwak Chunshik.

My father must have been interested in Elder Gwak Chunshik since then.

If so, Calione, who has a solid connection with the political world, must have heard about Gwak Chunshik and might have taken action himself.

'With Ratte's matter too...... if the old man steps in, it could be a big boost to our forces.'

Though Gwak Chunshik won't join Calione, he'll be useful as a breakwater for us.

Plus, it could divert some of the government's attention...... it's a three-in-one deal.

"Anyway, it's a good outcome."

"Yes, and the timing was pretty good too."

"Timing...... you mean?"

"From what I see of the Association and the government, they seem extremely short-handed. They need someone like an old relic like me."

In response to my question, Gwak Chunshik took out his phone.

He manipulated his phone and played a video.

"This morning, I got a call from the government and the Association. They said they needed my help."

A short video about a minute long.

When I pressed the play button, the bar moved, and the black screen shook.

[~~~♪]

A song that sounded like a foreign nursery rhyme began to play from the video.

[Ring around the rosie──]

"......This is."

"Do you know this song?"

Ring around the rosie.

One of the Mother Goose rhymes from abroad, closely related to the Black Plague that swept through Europe in the past.

And...... in my memory, there was only one villain who used this song as an intro.

Villain name Plague.

A walking biological weapon called a plague spreader, capable of transmitting the diseases he carries to others.

In the game, he used his abilities to bring down a small country, one of the worst villains and a top executive of the Villain Alliance.

And.

'The main villain of this terrorist episode.'

When the eerie song ended, the screen trembled, and a message appeared.

'Despair will land in Korea.'

This message meant only one thing.

"......They've declared war on the Republic of Korea."

"Yes, they sent this video to the Association."

"Are they not going to release it to the public?"

"It's the first time a high-ranking executive of the Villain Alliance has issued such a warning. They expect public confusion, so they decided to keep it under wraps for now."

......As expected, is this following the original storyline?

In the original, due to such a decision by the government, many civilian casualties occurred.

Named villains with different characteristics executed multifaceted destructive activities one after another.

Villains who held grudges against the government and heroes, those who chose to be villains to fulfill their own ideologies, those who found pleasure in killing defenseless humans, and so on.......

In the end, what they were doing was terrorism. It wasn't just targeting government agencies.

Then, what I had to do was decided.

"Elder. Could you send me this video file?"

"Huh? This one? You, don't tell me......."

At that moment, Gwak Chunshik's eyebrows furrowed as he sent me a meaningful look.

"Are you thinking something strange?"

Strange thoughts? This is all for the sake of justice.

"I...... no, Calione will take responsibility."

Knowing what's going to happen, isn't this the time to use our family's power?