Chapter 51
“We’ve gotten word that someone is targeting you at the Academy.”
“……me?”
I didn’t know where this was going.
“There are more than a few people in the Academy who are targeting me. Does that have anything to do with this mission?”
I ask Parnello out of pure curiosity, and he shakes his head.
“Of course, something of that magnitude wouldn’t come directly to you or Corleone, they’d think it was just a prank by a bunch of kids, but if it came from one of Corleone organizations, that would be a different story.”
A request targeting me.
“You mean from an Academy cadet?”
“Yes. The request reads, ‘Injure Eugene Han, a cadet at the Seoul Hero Academy, for at least 12 weeks.’ It seems you’ve earned quite a bit of resentment at the Academy.”
Something about the way Parnello was smiling at me, looking rather proud, made me wonder.
I had to realize that this was the kind of life I would lead when I decided to follow this path, but I never thought I would be able to make others proud.
“The request came from the Kangbul office in Jongno, which is not part of Corleone, but it’s a kind of entertainment center that pays us protection money.”
Corleone is the master of the underworld.
Most of the organizations in South Korea’s underworld have a working relationship with Corleone, even if they don’t necessarily fall under its umbrella and it seems that the guys who received the request this time also had such a relationship with us.
“Since the request involves cadets from the Academy, it’s probably a good thing that we found out about it while they reached out to Corleone for help.”
“So what am I supposed to do?”
“As a request for your services has come into Corleone this is a case where Corleone has been entrusted with the assault on the heir of Corleone.”
In other words, this job is on Corleone. And the reason he called me here is because…….
Parnello was right.
After all, if I were to condemn them here as Corleone, it would only increase the number of people in the Academy who knew my identity.
So I thought of a better way.
“……Now, what is my cover story at the Academy?”
“As far as I know, it’s supposed to be the successor to the Hanwol Group affiliate that the lady used to run.”
“In that case, is my executive assistant, Han Seo-joon, also affiliated with the Hanwol Group?”
“Yes.”
That’s easy, then.
“How much did you receive for your services?”
“Fifty million credits, and the commission that goes to Corleone is ten million credits, which is 20%.”
“Ten million credits……not bad. Did you say it’s a strong-arm office? Let them do what they want.”
“……?”
“If you get paid, you should do your job. I’m just defending myself.”
And then I realized I didn’t have to be the one to do it.
“I’ll see if I can get a few of the guys in the organization who are in charge of security to transfer to the Hanwol Group security team, which I’m a part of.”
After all, I’m the son of a chaebol, so shouldn’t I have a bodyguard team?
Parnello shakes his head at my words.
“They can be used and discarded at any time.”
“Good…if I turn them against each other, they’ll curl their own tails.”
And if I could get information on the man who had paid for this job and use it as a weakness, I’d have a great advantage.
“What about the client?”
“Here it is.”
It was Corleone after all, and all the information about him had already been organized and filed.
“Hmm? Check this out.”
And sure enough, there was a face I recognized in the file.
[Name: Kwon Soo-hyeop]
[Age: 24]
[Son of the president of the Hunters Guild, a guild specializing in dungeon exploration. A student at the Seoul Hero Academy and the head of the Ranger Club. Presumed to have developed his skills by going in and out of dungeons from a young age.]
At the same time, the alarm of the Character Book went off, so it seemed that what was written in this file was true.
“He’s the heir to a guild, so his pride must be high.”
Still, I wonder if this is his remaining conscience. The fact that he’d only paid for assault, not murder, was laughable.
“Does that mean I won’t be getting any more assignments today?”
“Yes. My first request was to kidnap him to a place where no one knows him, question his purpose, and educate him, but since Master……seems to have it all figured out, that won’t be necessary.”
Education, huh…….I felt a shiver run down my spine.
For now, I can only pray that they will give up the request on their own terms…….
* * *
Four days have passed and during this time they have been putting themselves through intense training in the training grounds, training rooms, and dungeons, while working on their individual deficiencies.
The result.
“Aah……boss, I don’t think I can lose to anyone now.”
“Yesterday, I just got beaten up by president, but today wasn’t so bad.”
Today, I trained in the dungeon with the kids.
Many of the bugs had regenerated even though we hadn’t been in the dungeon for a few days.
Unlike the first time, when they had panicked and fumbled around, the three of them, including Young-jae, managed to get through the first floor of the dungeon quite smoothly.
“What do you think, Eugene, do you think we have a chance?”
Se-ah asks.
There are three days left until the all-out battle with the Ranger Club. In the meantime, the kids had done their best, but they were still nervous.
“Chances? Good enough. If we do this, we won’t lose.”
Having watched them for the past four days, I was convinced that they could win now.
The members of the Familia were trained to be the best they could be, using every training method I knew from the game.
If they were having a hard time, I would enlist the help of the Recipe Development Club to feed them food that would help them heal, and I would even steal some of the remaining elixirs from the mansion to feed them, but it was impossible to lose against a bronze club.
“Until Monday, I want you all to rest at home to make sure you don’t injure yourselves. Next week, you’ll be doing a lot of physical work, so you’d better be well rested.”
“Next week?”
Hearing my words, Jin-woo tilts his head.
I wonder if the Academy has made any announcements about the ‘class ranking match’ yet.
“If we beat the Ranger Club, everyone will be looking for us.”
For the time being, the Academy hadn’t announced it, so I shrugged it off.
It was a crazy schedule: all-out war on Monday and a half-ranked match on Tuesday.
This is all my karma.
Just like that, I finished my usual schedule and was getting into a car driven by Han Seo-joon to go back to the mansion.
“Master, I think we’re being followed.”
“……Again?”
“Yes, but it seems to be a little different than usual. Until now, it’s always been a passenger car……but today it’s a van. No, it seems that other vehicles, including the van, are also following us.”
That meant the number of people following me had changed.
“First of all, turn the car toward the abandoned factory owned by Corleone, not the house. If they’re following us so blatantly, there’s no reason for us to avoid them.”
“Yes, Master, I’ll make a U-turn.”
Han Seo-joon replies as he turns the car around.
The people around us were becoming fewer and fewer but it wasn’t until we finally entered a complex of factories and warehouses that the van that had been following us so quietly pulled up alongside us and opened the passenger window.
The man motioned for us to roll down the window and as Han Seo-joon rolled down his window, the man pointed a pistol in our direction.
“Stop the car over there.”
“Ha.”
I laughed because it was funny to point a gun at a member of Corleone.
After letting out a chuckle, Han Seo-joon glanced at me.
“Do whatever you want.”
“Okay.”
Han Seo-joon follows the man’s instructions and pulls into the parking lot of a shabby-looking abandoned factory.
The cars that have been following us pull up in front of us, stopping us from getting away.
“They’re amateurs. If I were them, I’d have stuck the car perfectly so we couldn’t drive away.”
Han Seo-joon shakes his head as he realizes the level of his opponent.
“Get out.”
Apparently realizing we can’t get away anymore, one of the men rushes out of the car and points a gun at us.
“Who do you think you are to tell us to get out, this car is-”
Two shots are fired simultaneously at the driver’s side window.
The sound was eerily quiet, as if they had done something magical with the silencers.
“Ha, assholes. Bulletproof glass, do you really think you’re going to get away with this?”
The bullets were aimed solely at the window as an open threat.
It was an old-fashioned gun that was virtually ineffective against the Awakened, but they seemed confident that it would scare us enough.
“Interesting.”
“……?”
“Aside from the Academy, this is the first time I’ve ever been intimidated by someone with a gun.”
The Master of Corleone being threatened by a gun. I felt like laughing even now, but I did my best to hold it in.
“You’re not actually carrying that as a gun, are you?”
I put my hand on the cube to show him a ‘real’ gun.
Then, sensing something was amiss, the guy holding the pistol quickly pointed the muzzle at Han Seo-joon.
“Hey, kid, do you understand what’s going on here? Pull out your unique weapon, or I’ll start with your driver, got it?!”
At his shout, a group of men armed with various blunt weapons began to surround us.
Judging by the enchantments on their weapons, they’ve mobilized the Awakened to capture me, an Academy cadet and were even chattering and giggling amongst themselves, as if they had the upper hand.
“I see, you’re still a kid. If only it were this easy.”
“Hey, we don’t want anything big. We’ll just break an arm and a leg and that’s it. How about that, nice and neat?”
The guy standing behind them walks up with a bat slung over his shoulder and states his demands.
An arm and a leg……I guess he was planning to win by injuring me before the all-out war.
“You don’t answer, well, silence is an affirmation…….”
He swings his bat in the air and comes at me.
I let out a sigh and looked at Han Seo-joon.
“Han Seo-joon.”
“Yes. Master.”
“Let’s get started.”
At my words, Han Seo-joon grabs his earpiece and speaks.
“Bodyguard team, let’s go.”
At the same time, dozens of black vehicles rush toward us from the distance.
It was time to stop being Eugene Han Corleone of Corleone and start being Eugene Han, a chaebol escorted by bodyguards.
