I Become a Mafia in the Academy

Chapter 91

"Hello."

Youngje couldn't help but feel a surge of joy inside at the sight of Choi Yeon smiling warmly at him, as if she was glad to see him.

Currently, the group was made up of only mages, an unstable combination. However, now one of the top swordsmen from the academy, known for his exceptional skills, had appeared right in front of them.

"......Uh. Hello."

But in this situation, if he showed his joy, he might be treated as a strange person, so Youngje decided to suppress his current feelings.

Until the guy arrived, that is.

"Really......! Why......! Only me......! Alone......! Left behind...... Ooooooh?! Choi, Choi Yeon?"

Seah, who had been running after Youngje, let out a shrill scream when she saw Choi Yeon, having chased him down with heavy breaths.

"Huh? You seem familiar......"

"Ah! Have you forgotten already? You asked me to deliver the challenge letter to Yoojin!"

"......Oh. It's that girl. Hello."

Choi Yeon awkwardly smiled and waved her hand. Seah rushed over and hugged her tightly.

"......Huh?"

"I'm alive! I was so anxious with only two mages, but meeting you like this is such a relief!"

Seah shouted confidently, as if voicing Youngje's inner thoughts.

But Choi Yeon just tilted her head in confusion.

Youngje, understanding the situation, held his forehead and shook his head.

"Choi Yeon. Do you know what kind of situation we're in right now?"

"Right now? Hmm, I'm not sure. I was definitely sleeping before the morning assembly, but when I came to, I was here. Those two suddenly attacked me with knives, so I dealt with them."

Youngje glanced at the two people lying on the ground after hearing Choi Yeon's words.

No matter how you looked at it, it seemed more like she played with them rather than dealt with them.

"So, what's going on that's caused all this commotion?"

Choi Yeon blinked and asked first. Then, as if she had been waiting for this, Seah confidently explained everything.

"The Villain Alliance attacked the academy. We're right in the middle of it."

"......An attack? Are you saying we're here because of an attack?"

"Yes. Since Youngje said so, it's probably certain, isn't it?"

After their conversation, Youngje couldn't help but sigh and give a brief explanation of the current situation, seeing the two of them staring blankly at him.

The song that played from the speakers in the morning, the transition to the dungeon, and the villain's attack.

"Oh, so the people who attacked me just now were villains."

"......Choi Yeon. Did you not know they were villains and just fought them off?"

"My family taught me not to hold back against someone who draws a sword on me."

While it was a very natural teaching according to martial arts doctrine, for some reason, it sent shivers down the spine.

"So, do you two have a plan?"

Seah froze at Choi Yeon's following words. She then turned her stiff neck to look at Youngje.

"Here, it's up to Youngje, the brain of the group, to step up...!"

Seah's confident statement that she wasn't the brain of the group left Youngje shaking his head in disbelief.

"......For now, the first thing to do is to join as many people as possible. Even if they are villains, they won't dare to touch a group of awakened students. And more importantly...... there's a chance the instructors got caught up in this too, so if we find them, it's an added bonus for safety."

Choi Yeon tilted her head, not understanding.

"If we go to the instructors, we won't be able to fight the villains. Are you still saying we should look for the instructors?"

To Choi Yeon, who only had sparring with strong opponents on her mind, this event was nothing less than a special event just for her.

And to miss out on a battle in such an event to seek safety......

It was understandable that she might not be pleased from her perspective.

"As you said, we won't have to fight the villains. Our bodies will be safer too. So I've thought of a second plan."

"......A second plan?"

"A second plan?"

Both of them were filled with great curiosity about the 'second plan' that Youngje mentioned.

In response, Youngje raised his index and middle fingers with a slight smile.

"Find the president."

Yoojin?

"Yoojin...?"

Youngje nodded at their questions.

"Right. We're going to find the president. With Yoojin and Jinwoo's personalities...... they'll definitely try to take out the leader of the terrorists first. And...... the president probably has another plan, don't you think?"

Seah nodded at Youngje's words.

"That sounds good! And in the process, we might find people being attacked by villains like just now. Helping them could be a big help to Familia later."

Though they might end up fighting villains in the process, Seah nodded, trusting in what she had learned and the teachings she had received from many people, and the two reliable figures standing before her.

And Choi Yeon, who had been quietly listening to the conversation......

"Will we meet other villains?"

Her eyes sparkled at the prospect of another opportunity.

"......Looks like everyone agrees. Shall we move out?"

And so, the three of them began to move again.

As Seah scanned the surroundings with her radar, three more lights began to flicker on.

"Ah. Detected! Just go straight from here."

Choi Yeon, seeing the spatial mage's detection ability for the first time, poked at the purple magic flickering in the air.

But the spread-out magic, like a map, only scattered like smoke when poked and then gathered again.

"......This will be convenient. It doesn't seem like we'll get lost."

Choi Yeon continued to poke at the flickering part, and Seah watched with a look that found it cute.

"Do you get lost often, Choi Yeon?"

"......Yeah. So someone from my family always comes to get me. I was late on my first day of school because I got lost."

"That's quite a struggle...... But Youngje, why are you frowning like that?"

Seah asked, glancing at Youngje's expression while talking to Choi Yeon.

Youngje, who had been leading at the front, looked deep in thought.

"Huh? Oh, it's just that we're in a dungeon, but strangely, there are no monsters in sight."

"Oh? You're right? We haven't seen any monsters yet, have we? What about you, Choi Yeon?"

"I haven't seen any either."

"Right?"

After hearing Choi Yeon's response, Youngje stopped in his tracks and sorted out his thoughts.

A dungeon without monsters?

It didn't make sense. It was like saying a red bean bun had no red beans.

The absence of monsters in a dungeon meant......

"Could it be......"

Youngje recalled the stories he heard while hunting bugs with Yoojin in a dungeon.

'President. You said this was the first floor, right? So, how many floors are there in total?'

'Here? As far as I know, there are ten floors...... but it's practically an eight-floor dungeon.'

'Eight floors?'

'The ninth floor is a preparation floor before going to the tenth floor to fight the boss. And I know that the tenth floor only has the boss. So you could say monsters only appear up to the eighth floor.'

Yoojin had said that monsters don't appear on the ninth floor.

If, as Seah said, the coordinates here are similar to the club booth dungeon, and if the structure is similar......

"Is this the ninth floor?"

Everything was explained.

"......If this is really the ninth floor, it seems hopeless to expect reinforcements."

It seemed that as the dungeon overlapped, people were scattered everywhere.

Although it was possible for people from the eighth floor to come up to the ninth floor, as Yoojin had said, the difficulty increases with each floor, so they wouldn't be able to come up quickly.

'So, are we supposed to take down the tenth floor boss with our own strength?'

The only ways to escape the dungeon are to exit normally or to defeat the boss and cause a collapse to create an exit for everyone.

But in a situation where it's unknown where everyone is in the dungeon, the only way for everyone to get out safely is to conquer the dungeon.

Youngje's heart began to feel heavy.

"Everyone, I have something to say."

Youngje stopped walking and began to share his thoughts with the other two.

That there might be no reinforcements and that if we conquer this dungeon, everyone might be able to escape.

Both of them looked dazed at first but gradually showed signs of understanding.

"There's no other way, right? From the start, the only way out of here is that, isn't it?"

"The tenth floor boss is strong, you say? I like it."

Having unified their opinions, the three decided to head towards the three people who were just detected.

Youngje's judgment was that if they were academy students, they should join forces, and if they were villains, they would be blocking the way to the tenth floor to hinder the dungeon conquest.

The party, following their destination, eventually managed to reach near the target location.

"What should we do? If they're villains, it would be best to ambush them."

"Should I go first?"

The two were devising a strategy in case the opponents were villains.

In response, Youngje said he would use magic to check first and immediately activated his magic.

"saltato (hopping like a bunny)."

A pitch-black rabbit emerged from the fountain pen that Youngje wielded.

"If the people over there aren't wearing the same clothes as us, shake your ears. Got it?"

Youngje, hunched over, was giving orders to his summoned creature.

The rabbit, understanding, nodded its head and began hopping towards the presumed location of the enemies.

"Youngje, your summoned creature doesn't quite suit you, does it?"

"...What kind of summoned creature would suit me then?"

"Hmm... A spectacled monkey?"

"Apart from the glasses, there's nothing in common. ...Just keep an eye on the rabbit's ears."

The rabbit, almost reaching its destination, would soon be able to see the three people once it turned the corner.

As the rabbit reached the corner and turned to face the group to send a signal, it looked at the scene unfolding before its eyes.

Thud!

An ice spike flying from around the corner pierced through the rabbit, turning it into ink.

"...It's the enemy."

"...It's the enemy."

"...They killed the rabbit."

Both were getting riled up about the fact that it was the enemy, while Choi Yeon was expressing her anger over the rabbit's death.

"They must have noticed us too, right?"

"They must have. Anyone could tell it was a summoned creature. I didn't think they'd notice so quickly, though."

Now that it was confirmed the opponents were villains, there was no need for the three to hide any longer.

They had to break through them to conquer the dungeon.

The three, each equipping their unique armaments, slowly approached the corner where the enemy was, filled with tension.

"Did you properly attend the mentor's lessons?"

"Do you know Instructor Ji Soohyun? I'm confident I could beat you even with my bare hands right now."

"...Do you think I was playing around during the mentor's lessons?"

"...Rabbit."

As they turned the corner, a vast cavern revealed itself.

The enormous stairs that led to the next floor.

And in front of it stood a gigantic snowman with a person riding on top of it.

"...Why do all villains seem so eager to express their individuality?"

"I know, right. Huh? Isn't that a snowman? If there's a villain who controls snowmen among the escaped ones, it could only be Snow Girl's gang..."

"...Villain."

Disgusted by the clear display of individuality, Youngje gripped his fountain pen and drew in the air.

"Shall we start? marciale (in the style of a march)!"

The march signaling the start of the battle echoed through the cavern.