I Became a Mafia in the Academy

Chapter 281

The first place prize disappeared immediately after my performance, so I thought it was over without the other kids even tracking her down, but……Fortunately, the class didn't stop. In fact, it became more active.

This is because Ji-hyun used her abilities to move around the academy.

Thanks to this, the number of children who took pictures of Ji-hyun was less than 7, and they worked hard to learn tracking skills.

Did Instructor Bear expect this?

The students were spread out all over the place, and chasing after Ji-hyun, who was fleeing, was a natural way to learn tracking.

"Is Jin-woo still there?"

"Yeah, I don't think he's taken a picture yet."

There was still a little time left until lunch, so those who completed the mission first were gathered in the club room.

I came to the club room first, and Se-ah and I are taking care of club business.

-Is she in there?

A familiar voice called out from outside.

"Whoa, who could that be at this hour? That doesn't sound like one of our club members."

Is there anyone who isn't a member of Familia who would come at this hour?

I questioned myself but Se-ah is the first to stand up and go to open the door.

"Nae~ get out, huh, Vice President!”

“Hello, junior Se-Ah? Did you have a good vacation?”

When the door opened and I turned my head at the clearly audible voice, I saw Julie stroking Se-ah's head.

“…Senior Julie?”

"Ah, junior Eugene. You're here after all? I was on my way to your class to meet you, but junior Jin-woo I met on the way told me you'd be here."

"You met Jin-woo?"

"Yes. I don't know why, but he was running around the hallway so hard, and I saved him from getting a penalty point from the teacher.”

I wonder what the hell he's been up to, getting caught by the teacher…….

"And what are you doing here so early?"

"Oh, by the way. I heard some interesting information this time, so I came to tell you."

"Interesting information?"

Julie nodded at my words.

"Let's go inside, Se-ah, I'm going to talk to the senior for a while."

We went into my office.

I brewed the tea I always prepare for such occasions and set it in front of Julie.

"Mmm. Thank you."

She took a whiff of the tea and smiled.

"After all, you have the best tea in the academy."

"Well, I use expensive tea leaves, and the student council uses some pretty expensive stuff too, don't they?"

"The English tea brought by the president isn't bad, but……I prefer green tea."

After quenching her thirst with the tea, she looked at me and told me the information.

"The president has recently been severely disciplined by his family. Are you aware?"

Ray Pendragon was disciplined?

Several reasons immediately raced through my head.

The first was that someone had robbed him of a piece of Excalibur.

The second was that the Pendragon family mansion in Korea had been ransacked by an unknown thief.

Well, each one was a reason for discipline. That's a lot of serious stuff in less than half a year……..

Huh? Wait a minute. I did all of these things, didn't I?

"Yeah, I think I heard that."

"Well, that makes it easier to talk. So, he’s been falling down the family pecking order lately, and he's trying to get something to make up for it."

"What kind of……."

"The Green Belt. It's an artifact that was once lost by the Pendragon."

"The Green Belt? Who has it?"

Item ‘Green Belt'.

Once belonging to Sir Gawain, the greatest knight of all time, it was a mythical artifact that was said to amplify the user's power according to the height of the sun.

It's not supposed to appear at this point in the game, but it's already appeared?

"From the way you're talking, it sounds like you're familiar with the artifact. I don't know the details, but it’s a prize in some kind of contest."

"A prize for a……contest?"

"Apparently there's a very famous board game, and the organizers of the contest are giving it away as a prize to the winner."

"What does that even mean?"

It's an artifact that would probably fetch an unimaginable price at auction, and they're just offering it as a prize for a board game.

"Well, the organizer of the tournament is a big fan of the game. It was made in Korea, so they're holding the tournament in Korea."

"That's another ridiculous reason."

"Yeah. It's hard to understand how people with money think, isn't it? Anyway, the president is thinking of getting the family's support again by winning this thing."

"……So he's trying to get rid of me before he graduates."

"You'll be a big obstacle in his ‘graduation process' when he needs to hand over the presidency."

In other words, we need to keep this stuff from getting to the president.

The Green Belt was a precious and powerful treasure, enough to turn the hearts of the Pendragon family back to the side that had already turned away.

"This competition, do you know what it is?"

"Bush War Land? I think that's what it was called."

……Bush War Land?

"Ah, that sounds interesting."

"Huh? You know what it is?"

"Yeah. I played it a little bit back in the day."

‘Bush War Land it's one of CS's mini-games, and I've already played it to death.’

"Okay! Then we have a plan! We'll enter the competition and stop the president's ambitions. We can't leave anything up in the air if we're going to implement the Student Council's ‘plan'."

"I agree and I think we need to bring in someone to make it more certain."

"Someone?"

"Yes. You can't play this game alone. It's a 2v2 game."

A "military master" to strategize on the board, and a "general" to listen to the orders and run around the field.

It's a game that can't even be played without two people teaming up.

Hearing my words, Julie looks puzzled.

"Huh? Then, can we two go? Well, since I didn't know much, I should study from now on…….”

Surely someone of Julie's caliber would be able to understand the rules quickly.

She could probably breeze through the main draw, but would that be enough to beat Ray Pendragon?

I don't think so.

‘Ray Pendragon was also known for being a good NPC in the Bush War Land.’

I needed someone who was a regular player of the game, someone who had a very good grasp of the rules, but also someone who could think on their feet.

And I knew someone who fit all of those boxes very well.

Not only was I coveting the Green Belt, but I had to decide who to ask.

* * *

The next day, right after lunch, I set out to woo someone to join me in this competition.

A club room in the same basement as our Familia club room.

As I walked, the bright lights grew dimmer and dimmer, and the air, which had been fresh, turned into a stale, moldy scent.

At the door of one of the club rooms.

[Board Game Club]

I punched the code into the door lock and stepped inside.

The scene before me was completely different from the last time.

The room was once filled with random decks of cards and boxes of paper but now there were neatly organized packages, tables, and even an air purifier and air conditioner, as if it were a new board game cafe.

"Definitely, a different environment makes a different person."

A few months ago, the board game club made a fortune when their homegrown board game became a hit.

They've already succeeded in moving up to the silver club with a number of accomplishments.

Well, the conditions to move to the building directly above were met, but……I think they gave up because it was a bit difficult to move into a larger room than this ‘warehouse’ and the old games could have been damaged during the move.

Instead, they used the money they had left over to upgrade the room.

He must have been influenced by our club room.

‘The upside of having money is that this basement room is bigger than the one upstairs.’

In short, the room is big, but the location is bad, so it feels like a cheap house.

"Who……Oh, Mr. Eugene, how did you end up in this shabby place?"

As I entered the room, the seniors, who were having an intense discussion about a board game, glanced in my direction, then stood up and walked over.

"I'm looking for the head of the board game club, is he inside?"

"Huh? Well, he's in his office as always. Do you want me to call him?"

They were very happy to see me, probably because of my recent help with the Board Game Club and the case I solved against the student council. "No, I'll go there myself."

"Really? Have fun~"

I walk past the display cases on either side and reach the innermost door.

-Tsk. Ding.

I knocked lightly and heard a voice from inside.

-What are you doing? Why are you doing something you don't usually do?

"It's Eugene Han. Senior."

-Eh? Eugene? Come in! Come in!

When I heard his answer, I walked in and saw him writing something down.

His name tag on his chest read ‘Jegal Hyunho'.

This man was the other partner I was going to take to the ‘Bush War Land'.

"Mr. Senior. Are you busy?"

"Huh? No, no, no. I'm just finishing up some work.”

After closing the notebook he'd been working so hard on, he wiped the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief and walked over to me.

"Eugene, how long has it been since you've been in my office?"

"I haven't been here since vacation, so I guess you could say it's been a while. By the way, I think the club looks a lot better than the last time I was here."

I already knew that the board game club had made a lot of money from their homebrew games, but I hadn't expected it to be this good.

"Right? It's still not enough. Look at how expensive limited edition board games are these days. No matter how much money I make, it's just pouring water on the poison."

"Well, at least you look a lot better than you used to."

"Hahaha! That's true, but really, what's Eugene doing here?"

He must have been unnerved by my sudden arrival because he got straight to the point.

I look like a debtor in front of a collector.

"It's not really a big reason, but I'm going to compete in a board game tournament, and I was hoping you could come with me."

"Huh? A tournament?"

Was it too out of the blue to come out of my mouth? He looks at me, eyes narrowed as if he didn't expect that.

"A board game tournament? What the hell kind of tournament is this that you want me to go with you?"

"Bush War Land. I want you to join me in a competition for that game as a ‘soldier' and a ‘general'."

"What?"

He shakes his head, looking even more shocked than he did just now.

"Wait, Bush War Land, you want to team up with me in a competition for that game?"

"Yes."

"Seriously? I don't know, I think that's a little bit……off."

He threw his arms up in the air and put a hand on my shoulder.

"I'm afraid that's going to be a bit difficult, Eugene, you know, and that game is──"

"Well, of course I'm not asking you to do this for free, I'll compensate you."

"Compensation? Are you talking about money or something? You know, we're not that needy anymore, Eugene and I can't let a little money break my club’s beliefs.”

"I'll give you this, not money."

Before he could refuse I pulled out my secret card from my pocket and showed it to him.

"Now, wait a minute. That's……."

"That's right."

Yes, this is one of my secret ‘cards'.

"It's a blue-eyed dragon hologram gold."

An ultra-rare card, said to have only 30 copies in the world and of those, only four are said to be holographic gold!

To the uninitiated, it's just a piece of paper, but to those in the know, it's different.

The rarity is incredible, and the stats to match.

It was a fantasy card that no matter how much money you wanted to spend, you couldn't get it because there were no sales.

Meh, it was a card I found in a drawer while cleaning out the other day…….I never thought I'd use it here.

"Gee, seriously, you're really going to give that to me? Do you know what kind of card it is?"

"Yes. I know more about the value of this card than anyone else, which is why I thought I should bring it to honor you."

How dare he compare the card in my hand to the Green Belt?

"If you can team up with me and win the ‘Bush War Land', I'll give this card to you."

Jegal Hyunho was essential to my plan.

"Huh, if junior thinks that much of me……I can't help it. I've received too much grace so far to ignore your difficulties, huh!"

Jegal Hyunho will be my teammate because he was the founder of the ‘Bush War Land'.