I Became a Mafia in the Academy - C.294

~An abandoned steel mill in Pohang~

The members were gathered here to take responsibility and punishment for the failure of today's mission, the ‘deer hunt'.

"No, he's the one who let the Vanishing Zerag get away with it, what can we do about it!"

The guy next to me grumbled and kicked a bucket that was red with rust.

-Dang!

The bucket lets out a harsh clang and flies off into the distance.

Another coworker, who was watching the scene from the side, sighed and nodded.

"Certainly……who could have predicted that Ji-hyun would contract with the zoo, but I never thought it would involve Academy students. If it's due to a lack of information, isn't that the fault of the higher-ups?"

His words resonated with me.

How the hell were we supposed to know this was going to happen, of all things?

"……And that freaky villain guy Magical Rogue."

A man dressed like a psychopath and wielding a great deal of force.

Zerag, who was considered a strong enough mercenary, was smashed in an instant.

Hit him, hit him, hit him, only to suffer. His torture methods to keep his opponent unharmed were horrifying to imagine.

"Really……I'll have to escape soon and take care of myself. When do we get to eat something good?"

The guy who kicked the bucket mumbles as he slumps to the ground.

He's right. The dozens of ‘naturalists’ gathered here are all guys who've joined the organization because they're not good enough and need to get stronger somehow.

It’s the last chance for those of us who've spent our lives breaking the law.

If we succeeded in this mission, we could have at least eaten a shard of Shinrok…….

"Damn little bastards……!"

My fists clench as I think back to what happened this morning.

If I really put my mind to it, I could have eaten as many of those guys as…….

Zap-zap-zap-zap

Just then, the lights in the warehouse we were in started flickering.

"Shit, it's an abandoned steel plant, and the lights are shitty."

Was I getting emotional? The guy who kicked the bucket spat on the floor and glared at the light bulb in the ceiling.

"Hey, if there's an electrician here, fix that! It's killing my eyes──"

──Bang!

The light bulb exploded and shattered instantly.

In an instant, the warehouse was plunged into darkness.

"Why did that thing break?"

"Hey, is that you?"

"It's not me, I didn't even use my power."

"So that thing just blew up on its own?"

A murmur takes the place of the light, and at the same time, anxiety threatens to rise.

Hiss──

The tightly closed warehouse door swung open, the faint moonlight illuminating the warehouse.

"……Who the hell is that?"

A man was standing with his back to the red moon.

Although it was hard to see him in detail with his back to the light, it seemed that he was the one who opened the warehouse door.

"Hey. Can't you hear me? Who are you?"

The first to approach the man was one of the guys standing near the door.

The man was wearing a black suit, not the uniform of "naturalists" like us, and he seemed wary.

Then I heard a clear voice.

"I heard you need an electrician."

"……what?"

I asked and blinked for a second.

Crackle──

It sounded like a machine breaking down.

Just when I thought, what the hell is that?

"Grrrrrrrr!"

I approached the man and suddenly his eyes rolled back in his head and he started shaking violently, then collapsed in a heap.

"Uh, uh, what……."

But he didn't seem to mind, looking down and cupping his hands to his ears as someone collapsed in front of him.

"Oh, this is the A-2 warehouse or something. I came in here for something and there were a bunch of ragtag people…………Yeah. I'll just take care of it and head over there."

It was only then that we realized what was happening.

"Intruder."

"Intruder!"

"Damn it! I thought we were supposed to be safe here!"

An outside organization had found out where we were and busted in!

"But……that guy, is he alone?"

"I don't see any other guys around."

"No way, he actually came in here by himself?"

But they quickly realized that he was the only one and laughed.

Despite the fact that one of their own had just fallen in front of them, there was no fear in their eyes.

They'd been living rough for so long, they'd gotten used to this sort of thing.

It probably also had something to do with the fact that the opponent was much younger, and the one who had just fallen was the weakest.

And was it possible that he found it quite curious? The man smiles, intrigued.

"You're really……just going to attack me, even after seeing what I did?"

He asks, stomping on the guy on the ground with his heels.

The other guys snicker as if it doesn't matter.

"You know that?"

"The guy you're kicking is the weakest among us. Don't you realize that?"

The man's eyes widen as if he's finally realized.

"Oh, that concept? Well, it's not bad."

And with that, he slowly pulled his foot back and kicked him to the ground, as if kicking a bucket.

Thud, thud, thud.

The impact sent the stretched out body flying and slamming into the metal wall with a huge thud.

"I'd love to play with you some more, but alas, we don't have much time."

Sting──

And then again

"I wish we could do it all at once.

A red current flows over the man.

An ominous feeling flashed through my mind. I'm not the only one who senses it, and everyone's faces stiffen.

"Ha, all at once!"

Dozens of people charged to kill just one.

Clearly, he was overwhelmingly outnumbered, and yet…….

"Dig in."

With a single flick of his foot, the ground shook in an instant, causing the guys ahead of me to fall to the ground.

"Oops."

"You shouldn't have jumped like that."

A thud follows, and one of them is immediately smacked in the head.

As if that wasn't enough, the man looks at the other guy on the ground and pulls a pistol from the holster on his thigh, an ancient weapon, surely one that would have been relegated to the dustbin of history with the rise of the Awakened.

However, as if he didn't care, he pointed it at the fallen man's back and pulled the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three shots, to be exact.

The red trajectory of the bullets pierces his back, knocking him unconscious in an instant.

"What do you think you're doing? That's what happens when you don't attack at once!"

A shout from someone who's been watching brings them back to their feet and they begin to lunge again.

Icy fists swinging, acidic spit spewing from their mouths, their abilities intertwined and directed at him.

But

BANG!

A short, cutting jab that comes out with a popping sound of air hits him squarely in the jaw, and he stumbles backwards as his legs give out.

BANG!

In that short time, the pistol in his left hand fires a round, hitting another one in the forehead.

"Gotcha!"

At this moment, the other fellow, who had seen the opportunity from behind, raises his sword to split the man’s spine, but the man is quicker than that, spinning around and delivering a spinning kick to the attacker's head.

──Quang!

Despite all the violent movements, the man's eyes don't waver, and his breathing doesn't falter.

It's so fast that you wonder if it's a human being like us.

Did they finally realize the difference? The others began to back away, slowly taking steps backward.

But what could I do about it, the only way out of here was blocked by that man.

"Why are you doing this? We're just ordinary members, nothing to show for it!"

Is he trying to survive this situation somehow?

One of the guys who's been sitting in the corner stands up and yells at the man.

The man glances over at him and gives him a bland reply.

"The order has been given, and I'm just carrying it out."

"Orders, orders? Who, who, who!"

"Corleone."

The mere utterance of the name caused the atmosphere in the warehouse to chill. The warehouse became as cold as a freezer.

"Cleanse the peninsula of all naturalists who set foot on it, that is the order of Don Corleone."

And with that, the last of my hope was dashed.

Corleone……! The man who wants to clean us is none other than Corleone.

"……I can't die, I can't die in this place!"

He mumbles like he's trying to escape his desperate situation. He began to run frantically, swinging his enchanted dagger as if he were having a seizure.

"Get out of the way!"

But the man just stared at the charging member and snapped his fingers with a light ‘snap'.

Hwoargh─

"Aaah……! Aaah?!"

It was just a single flick of his finger, and the member's body was engulfed in black flames.

The flames swallowed up the red moonlight that had just illuminated his body.

"Executive of the Corleone Family. Eugene Han Corleone."

In the blink of an eye his entire body stiffened for a moment as the man’s body disappeared.

The pain that followed was excruciating but his muscles are paralyzed, and his vocal cords don't even move to scream.

All he can manage is a muffled, meaningless sound.

The red moonlight that had been leaking through the door had now filled the darkened warehouse floor.

* * *

The electric auras in my grip spread out around me, and at the same time, the electrocuted men fell to the ground, stiff and rigid.

It looked like a thunderbolt had struck in the middle of nowhere.

Clearly, this aura variation of AoE is effective against these shamblers.

Is this the end of the sweep?

Once I was sure there were no more that could resist, I flicked my disheveled hair back to the side and turned away.

The operation was still in progress.

-Master. We're done clearing the perimeter. Only the main building remains, shall we enter first?

I brought my hand to my in-ear and answered.

"I'm done here. Send Move Family to Warehouse A-2……I'll be with you in two minutes, all hands on deck."

-Yes, sir.

As I walked out of the warehouse, the eerily silent scene of the abandoned steel mill unfolded before me.

The dark night and the soundless silence was a battlefield fit for Corleone.

Shoving my hands into my pockets, I strode toward what was called the main building.

Reports said they'd come into contact with a Cadre while dealing with the others.

Apparently, most of them had fled to what they called the ‘main building'.

"……Got to make this quick."

There was a lot to clean up after this mission.

Pulling back my loose Midas gloves, I looked at the line of black-suited men in front of me.

"Are you all ready? We will now execute the Don's order."

All for the family.