Chapter 20
The sports field at the Seoul Hero Academy was already in a festival-like atmosphere with numerous clubs setting up booths to recruit new students.
“Come on, if there’s a romantic academy life, it’s the Baseball Club, so let’s go get some counseling!”
“True romance comes from cards! Welcome to the Dueling Club!”
“The swordsmanship club is holding a test for new students, come and watch!”
“Wow, so many clubs. What the hell is the Dueling Club?”
“That’s right…… Wow, there’s even a mock stock investment club!”
“I can’t believe there are so many clubs.”
The three of them were busy walking through the club booths and looking around.
They are all freshmen after all. As they look around in wonder at the booths and club recruitment activities around them, they all stop in place when I stop walking.
“Jin-woo, are you ready?”
“Yeah? Of course I am, but are you sure we’re allowed to do this? I mean, I know I trust the boss, but I’m honestly nervous…….”
Jin-woo, who was warming up by moving his shoulders and neck, looked at me suspiciously.
Since leaving the International Trade Club, I’ve only asked Jin-woo one thing, to enter the fund investment club, show interest, and act like the real deal.
“It doesn’t matter, we’ll all intervene in the middle anyway.”
“Seriously…….If you ditch me, I’ll really curse you for the rest of my life.”
“…… Just get the hell out of here.”
“I’m going boss!”
With those last words, Jin-woo walked straight to his target club’s booth and I decided to keep a casual distance and watch him.
“Welcome. We’re the fund investment club! Are you interested in fund investment?”
Unlike other clubs that focus on activities, this one focuses on practical work.
The man smiles at me as he approaches his booth, which is no more popular than the other clubs’ booths.
Jin-woo, who looked a little surprised by the hospitality, glanced in my direction, coughed, and then looked at the man with a serious expression.
“No, I’m not interested.”
“What?”
The manager, not sure if he’s embarrassed by Jin-woo’s demeanor, or if he’s embarrassed by his bluntness, stares at him wide-eyed, as if he’s dumbfounded.
“What.”
“Oh, no. Are you, by any chance, not a freshman?”
The man shakes his head, looking at his expression, wondering if he’s been misled by Jin-woo’s overly confident demeanor, and then asks nicely again but Jin-woo just stood firm and fulfilled his role.
“You must be a freshman.”
“That’s right, hahaha, but……why are you half-witted?”
The man glared at Jin-woo with a furrowed brow as if he was offended, only after hearing the word freshman once again.
“Why, if it’s funny, I’ll do it too.”
“Are you crazy?”
The other members of the club start to gather around as if they’ve already realized something is amiss, but Jin-woo continues to glare at the man in front of him without a trace of fear.
I’m glad I gave him this job.
“Ha……There are some crazy people in this academy.”
Perhaps remembering that there are other club booths and new students around, the man doesn’t lose his temper right away and tries to strike up a conversation with Jin-woo somehow but that’s not what he wants.
“So, why did you come to our club’s booth if you’re not even interested?”
Jin-woo blurted out like it was no big deal.
“I thought you said this place makes money?”
“Apparently, since we’re a trading club, the pay is a bit higher than other places. Is that what you heard?”
“Then you must have a lot of money. Give me your money.”
“What?”
“Give me the money.”
“Ha! Are you crazy? Do you think a Gold Club is your pocket money?”
The atmosphere was getting nasty. Jin-woo realized that the mood was changing and looked at me.
‘Hurry up!’
Jin-woo points in my direction and asks for help.
It was funnier than I thought, and I wanted to watch a little longer, but the mood was already set, so I decided to walk over to where Jin-woo was.
“Assaulting a freshman during club tour time, this must be the Academy’s Gold Club.”
“What? Who are you?”
Was it the harsh atmosphere? A man greets me with a half-hearted greeting despite being a newcomer.
“I’m a friend of that guy over there.”
“What? The crazy guy over there is your friend? No, why would you be friends with that crazy guy in the first place?”
“Well, why did you say no at first?”
“……what?”
“If you treat me like a crazy person for talking back to you at first…… doesn’t that mean I can treat you like a crazy person?”
How to piss someone off? It’s not that hard. You can make someone feel humiliated and angry by simply repeating back what they said to you while you’re still angry as hell.
And indeed, the face of the guy in front of me began to turn red in real time.
“What do you guys think you’re doing?”
“Can’t you tell by the color of our nametags, we’re freshmen.”
“I’m not asking because I don’t know that, I’m asking why you’re hanging out at our club’s booth.”
Ho-ho, you’re still saying you’re curious about why we’re doing this?
After all, he’s a member of the Gold Club, so he should be able to keep his cool.
Still, I figured this was enough, so I stepped in front of him and said.
“I don’t understand, because all I’ve seen is seniors trying to use violence against freshmen.”
“This asshole──”
“Are you going to hit me? If you hit a freshman here, it won’t just be you, but your entire club.”
As I said that, I looked around and noticed the crowd that had already gathered in the area.
With the eyes of the new students and other club members gathered around, assaulting a freshman who hadn’t even been in school for a week?
I could see the damage it would do to his reputation, as well as to the fund investment club he was a member of so I gave him a way out of the situation.
“Why don’t you stop here, you’re not in a position to do anything violent against us anyway.”
“…Do you have a death wish?”
“Funny you should say that……Do you think your skills are up to it?”
“You bastard-───!!! Do you even realize who you’re trying to make an enemy out of!?”
I already knew who they were and that’s what I was hoping for.
“So, you seniors know who this guy is and you’re doing this?”
“What?”
I casually put my hand on Jin-woo’s shoulder and looked around at the Fund Investment Club members surrounding us.
“This guy is the heir to the Bevalt Family under Corleone; do you think you can handle him?”
“Corr, Corleone?”
“He’s a Corleone official?”
As soon as the word “Corleone” comes out of my mouth, the surroundings instantly turn into an uproar.
Jin-woo, who was standing next to me, also looked at me in confusion, as if he hadn’t expected me to mention Corleone’s name first.
“Bo, boss, it’s embarrassing to say that out loud…….”
“It’s not like you’re hiding it anyway, you’re worthy of your name, so let’s show those guys who sell their club name what it’s like to actually have a real name.”
This should have reduced the animosity towards Jin-woo. My next move was to redirect it to me.
“Of course, you’re not going to lynch my friend from Corleone, I understand that, so you’re going to have to settle this with me……seniors.”
“What?”
He frowns at the idea of me taking full responsibility.
“A freshman junior wants to ask the seniors to teach him a lesson by dueling. Can you help?”
The academy’s rule is that if a junior asks a senior to teach them through dueling, they must accept.
It was a rule that was used to punish characters in the game that they didn’t like, and it was mostly used by those who were playing against each other in the academy.
Of course, it was the opinion of the community that the academy created these rules so that juniors could challenge seniors at any time.
In fact, when I asked them to teach me, they stiffened.
“Ha, where did you hear that, it’s that easy…….?”
“No, it’s just a bunch of empty-headed people sitting around making money.”
“What?”
“Oh, did you hear that? It doesn’t matter because I told it so you could hear it, but…….”
Seeing their pathetic state, I grinned at them, hoping to provoke them.
“What?”
The guy’s face finally contorted.
“Fucking freshman asshole…….I want you to follow me to the training room right now.”
Another member stops him as he fumbles with his tie in frustration.
“Hey, calm down, what kind of duel is this with a freshman!”
“That asshole is asking for a fight right now!”
“No matter what, there are people around him───”
“That’s why I’m going to fight him in the dueling arena! It doesn’t matter if we fight in the dueling arena anyway!”
And here’s where I throw in a few more words to get the other guys involved.
“I don’t care if you all go at it together, I’ll be there if you do.”
“You……cocky bastard.”
Corleone’s blood begins to heat up. It meant that [Bloodline: Corleone] recognized everyone in front of me as an enemy.
“Follow me, freshman. I’ll deal with you as you wish.”
The group of four or so people, not counting the few people guarding the booth, started walking towards the arena, as if they had decided to duel me after all.
Jin-woo sees them and looks at me with a determined expression.
“Boss, don’t worry too much. I’ll fight with you.”
As he says this, he reaches for the scabbard at his waist.
“I’ll help you too!”
“Since it’s our club leader’s job, it’s only right that we help.”
What follows is a touching moment, as even Se-ah and Young-jae vow to fight with the Fund Investment Club, but…….
“What are you talking about? I’m going to the duel by myself as planned.”
“Huh?”
“What?”
“Huh?”
I had planned to finish this fight by myself from the beginning.
“No, boss, you’re really going to take on those four by yourself?”
“I know Eugene is strong, but he’s up against seniors, and there are four of them!”
“I’ll be fine, don’t worry too much.”
……are they really worried about me?
Now that I think about it, they don’t even know that I’m the young master of Corleone, let alone that I’ve already executed an organization.
I don’t think it would be a good idea for them to fight with me…….
It was obvious that if I took a bunch of newbies who hadn’t even fought together yet, let alone coordinated, to fight them, they would only be a distraction.
For now, I said something nice.
“I appreciate your concern for me, but……I can take care of myself. If you’re so worried about me, you can stop the fight when you think I’m in danger.”
In any case, if I were to fight in the arena, there would usually be an instructor present.
In this case, the advisor instructor of the Fund Investment Club would be an observer. So…….
“This is how it should be. Se-ah, can you call instructor Lee Ji-hyun to the training center?”
“What? Instructor Lee Ji-hyun?”
“She’s probably resting in the staff room at this time anyway. If she doesn’t want to come, you can tell her that we already have two agreement forms.”
Kim Se-ah gives me a meaningful look.
“Uh……are you sure the instructor will come for that reason?”
“Of course.”
