Chapter 56
That’s right. I forgot for a moment.
The Corleone family is a worldwide organization that took many people under its wing and made them feel like family.
Their hallmark was that they considered people from families like……their real family.
“Eugene, do you remember your uncle? I’m the one who drove you around when you were little!”
“Hey, how old were you when that happened, do you remember? Eugene, do you remember how your uncle used to give you pocket money?”
“You rotten bastards, can’t you see my Eugene’s expression is stiff, shut up and stay still!”
The dinner hall instantly erupts into a frenzy at my appearance and I’m too flustered to do anything about it.
Clap, clap, clap!
I hear the sound of applause dominating the noisy banquet hall.
They were light but overwhelming and wept across the room in a flash, but there was no one who didn’t hear it.
Silence suddenly descended.
“Enough.”
There was no way he was going to let them make this much noise in front of him.
“‘Don’t you think you’ve frightened my Eugene enough? Sit down here, Eugene, you must be hungry, let’s eat.”
“……Yes.”
I push through the awkwardness and sit down next to my father, in the empty seat.
At the same time, Parnello, who has moved behind father, claps his hands a couple of times, and the doors open on either side as carts with food begin to roll in.
The feast had finally begun.
One by one, the food is brought to the table, and soon the entire table is filled with food.
My father tapped the glass in front of him with his spoon a few times to get everyone’s attention again.
“Thank you, everyone, for coming to celebrate our little Eugene. It’s been a long time since we’ve all been together, so I’m sure you all have stories to tell and questions to ask, so feel free to open up and get comfortable────”
“──Papa, Jiyun is hungry!”
Jiyun burst into the dining room while father was speaking and as the other family bosses made adorable faces at the sight, father, who had a satisfied look on his face, pulled Jiyun, who was running towards him, into his arms and said.
“Let’s eat.”
At the same time, the atmosphere at the dinner table transformed to the level of relatives meeting on a holiday.
“Hey, Don. Kids these days say that if you talk too much, you’re a jerk.”
“Uh-huh! How does this person talk to Don? More than that, Don, do you mind if I give Jiyun a hug?”
“Jiyun, don’t be mean and come to your uncle!”
Jiyun’s cuteness couldn’t be surpassed so most of the attention that had been directed at me just a moment ago flowed to her.
As I ate my meal, I looked at her with satisfaction.
“Funny, isn’t it, how the boss of the family is treated like that.”
I heard my father’s voice next to me.
“It’s more like meeting close relatives, I’m comfortable with that.”
It was true.
I never thought a family dinner would be like this and I was prepared for a solemn and heavy meal, with credentials to be verified, and even some digestive medication but……it was so light.
“Actually, they are not light-hearted either. They’re bosses, in charge of their families more than anyone else, whether it’s a recent Executive meeting or a job but a ‘dinner party’ like today is different.”
It was a place for people to meet, eat, and talk, not a work-related affair, but a celebration.
“We were all part of a family before we were part of a business.”
Most of the bosses in the room had worked with my father in the past to build their organizations, and they were a family that had overcome adversity and hardship together.
“They’re here to celebrate you, not work, and I want you to be comfortable around them.”
I knew what my father was worried about.
He’s worried that I’m seeing Corleone as just an organization, that I don’t understand why “family” is family so I wanted to ease his worries.
“I think of everyone as family.”
“……Then that’s it.”
He patted me on the shoulder.
A few moments later, after Jiyun, who had been gorging herself on food at the hands of her uncles, muttered, “I’m full…….” and walked out of the dinner hall so everyone’s attention returned to me.
“I heard you’re in the same club as my son.”
The first person to speak to me was the boss of the Bevalt family, Antonio Bevalt, the man who is Jin-woo’s father.
“Yes, you have a great son and just today, Jin-woo was a great help to me.”
He smiled at my words.
“He suddenly demanded to know how to use his bloodline abilities, so there’s a reason for that.”
“Oh, of course, I didn’t push him or anything.”
“Hahaha, I can tell by the way he talks, that dullard still hasn’t figured it out yet……Perhaps, after watching you around, he’s realized or done something himself, and since he’s so talented, he’ll be of great help to you as well.”
Antonio smiled as he spoke to me so I decided to ask him something I’d been wondering about.
“By the way, I have a question.”
“If it’s something I can answer, of course I’ll answer it.”
“May I ask why you didn’t tell Jin-woo about my identity?”
Before Jin-woo was an Academy cadet, he was the heir to the Bevalt family and a child of Corleone.
From Antonio’s point of view, he would have been terrified that Jin-woo would do something wrong. But today was no different, and he still didn’t know that I was the Corleone heir.
“I don’t think you’ve told him, so I’ve been hiding it from him, too. I thought you had something else in mind, didn’t you?”
From the way he spoke as if it were a matter of course, I could see the kind of man Antonio was.
“……Yes, thank you for your consideration.”
“Haha, no problem. Of course, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out for him.”
With that, Antonio waved goodbye and returned to his seat.
The next person to arrive was a middle-aged man who was just about to hand Jiyun a million credits for pocket money.
“Hahahaha, nephew, you’re already an Executive!”
Although it was the organization’s official schedule, my father had called it a ‘family’ dinner, not a ‘Corleone’ dinner, so my feelings were not too bad when I heard the word nephew.
“Thank you, Uncle.”
It means I don’t have to be humble either.
For now, I just had to think of myself as my father’s son, dining with some of his closest friends.
The man who spoke to me was named Michel Milano.
He is a family member who is active in Europe and has returned to Korea after being called by father.
“By the way, you were recently admitted to the Academy as a junior, haha! That’s great! I’m proud of you!”
Michel laughed as he patted me on the back, but then he suddenly stopped his arm and stiffened his expression.
“Wait, is this……the suit Maestro made for you?”
A few pats on the suit and he realized that?
I don’t know if it was the suit or this man’s good sense, but what I do know is that his words caused everyone in the dinner hall to turn to look at me.
“Uh……yes. It’s a gift from my father.”
“Hai……That’s crazy. I haven’t even gotten a chance to ask the Maestro for a suit yet, so your father must have put some effort into it.”
“Yes. I heard father used some of his power.”
At my words, Michel glances at father.
“Don, how much do you care about your son to ask Maestro for a custom suit? Didn’t you tell us that Maestro’s health hasn’t been so good lately, and that he recently gave most of his work to an apprentice?”
At Michel’s words, father coughs and looks away.
“Well, the apprentices are good enough, and……we don’t really need them anymore. They should go to someone who needs them.”
“That makes my gift to you look like nothing!”
Huh? A gift?
“We didn’t have anything like that back then, but I heard that when you go to the Academy, you often get to do things like dueling, so this uncle tried his best.”
As he says this, Michel suddenly reaches inside his clothes and a moment later, a large box popped out of his inner pocket.
……What is it? A suit with a subspace artifact?
Hesitantly, I take the box, open it, and see a stack of glass vials inside.
“This is holy water blessed by the cardinals at the Vatican. It’s said to heal sickness and wounds quickly and it has no side effects.”
This was an item I had used a few times in the game.
It was the highest ranked holy water, belonging to the S-rank.
Since it was a rare item in the game, I had a rough idea of how rare it was in this world.
“Thank you very much. I’ll repay you later.”
“There’s no need to repay me, I’m just giving it to you because I’m your uncle, so just say thank you and take it!”
Then, starting with Michel, the bosses of the other Families began handing me gifts one after another.
Most of the gifts were elixirs and potions, which seemed to be a result of the news that I had been accepted into the Academy.
And just like that, the onslaught was over, with a mountain of gifts piled up beside me.
What happened next was uneventful.
The usual conversation: next time I have a job, I’ll call you and you can come help me out. I hope you’re taking care of yourself, let me know if you need anything.
It was really, really just a family event on a different scale.
Of course, the scale of it was a bit overwhelming, and the sheer number of people made it hard to feel tired.
Finally, after the dinner was over and all the family bosses had returned to their respective positions as silence enveloped the mansion.
“It’s been a lot of work for you to keep up with the old men.”
I walk with my father to the study when he suddenly speaks up.
“Though you have met them today as uncles and nephew, there will come a day when they will come to your aid in the name of Corleone so think of them as your people.”
I nodded wordlessly at my father’s words.
The Don of Corleone was one of the positions you must climb to see the ending of this game and as my father said one day they would be the ones to move for me.
“Tomorrow’s the day you go to the Academy again, right? Take it easy today. If I have a favor to ask of you, I’ll send it through Parnello.”
“Okay. You go inside and get some rest, too.”
With that, I escorted my father to the master bedroom then stood in the empty hallway, dumbfounded, as everyone else left to clean up after the banquet.
Once again an event was over but there was no time to rest on my laurels.
Tomorrow, the Academy has another big event coming up.
I sighed as I thought about the class ranking battle that would begin tomorrow.
“No days off, man.”
