I Became the Mafia in the Academy — Chapter 16
The most urgent task of recruiting club members was completely finished.
Since the minimum requirement for creation was 4 people, the only thing left now was to obtain consent forms from other clubs.
I plan to utilize the upcoming club tour time to get the consent forms as efficiently as possible.
“Umm…… but is it really possible to get 3 consent forms by today?”
Before we left for the club tour, Kim Se-ah, one of the members gathered at my seat, carefully spoke up.
“Just listening to what the instructor said, it doesn’t sound like getting consent forms is easy. Is there any way I can help?”
It was understandable that Kim Se-ah would think that way.
Because up until now, there had never been a case of someone getting 3 consent forms in a single day at Seoul Hero Academy.
However, I possessed an ability that put me on a completely different level from other ordinary students.
The very fact that I was the player of this game. And the fact that this body belonged to Yu Jin Han Callione.
If I used these two conditions, obtaining 3 consent forms in one day was entirely possible.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ve already laid out a plan to get the consent forms.”
And the reality they would witness would only elevate their trust in me even higher.
“Since the boss is going this far to say it, let’s just watch. The boss will take care of it. Right?”
As if catching on to the lingering worry in Se-ah’s mind, Jinwoo spoke brightly, raising the tension and smiling playfully.
Quick-witted guy.
Thanks to that, Kim Se-ah’s expression brightened a little.
“Yes!”
“Yeah, I’ll prove it to you again this time. Then, we should slowly…….”
When I checked my wristwatch, the hour and minute hands were pointing at 8:59. The academy’s 1st period was about to start soon. The club tour.
Hearing the bell ring just as I stood up from my seat, I spoke to the club members.
“Let’s go.”
“Alright! Show us your skills, Boss!”
“I just need to stay in the back, right?”
“Let’s see just how our club president does his work.”
As the students in our class started filing out of the room for the tour, I mingled in with them and stepped out, immediately directing my steps toward the first club I had targeted.
“Yujin. Where are we going first? I still don’t know my way around the academy very well…….”
Kim Se-ah, who was trailing behind us like a baby duck following its mother, quietly asked me a question.
“The first place we’re going is the Board Game Club. It’s a Bronze-ranked club located in the basement of the Club Hall.”
“A board game…… club?”
“Yeah, since board games are a minor genre in the first place, it’s a club with no popularity. It’s not too far from here, so we’ll arrive soon.”
“It’s good that it’s close. Ah, is it that one over there?”
The building was far too massive to simply be called a hall. The other kids couldn’t close their mouths at the gigantic scale that looked like a department store.
“This is the Club Hall. Most of the clubs in the academy have their clubrooms in this building.”
“Th-this is a building where all the clubrooms are gathered?”
“Wow, it’s seriously huge. Boss, are we getting a clubroom in there too?”
“……The scale is on a different level.”
Then, as if something suddenly felt off, Kim Yeong-je looked at me and asked.
“By the way, for a club tour period, aren’t there way too few people around the hall?”
“Normally, they set up booths to attract freshmen. Most of them will be gathered at the sports field or the auditorium.”
“Then shouldn’t we go there too?”
Hearing that most clubs were somewhere else, Kim Se-ah raised a question.
“The guys in the Board Game Club don’t promote during this period. Because there are too many rival clubs. So they usually target freshmen who couldn’t get into a club and try to recruit them.”
“Ooh, Boss, you sure know a lot?”
“I definitely did my research in order to make a club.”
Right after entering the hall building, we headed for the basement, and the kids’ expressions changed drastically.
“It’s a lot darker compared to the 1st floor.”
Yeong-je muttered while looking around.
Unlike the 1st floor, which was brightly lit by lighting, he had quickly noticed that the atmosphere was different the moment we stepped into the basement.
Flickering lights and a damp basement smell. And even trash scattered in every corner of the hallway, as if no one ever cleaned it.
If someone saw this sight, they’d ask if this place was some kind of slum.
“The basement floor is a place mainly used by lower-ranked clubs, so they have no choice but to have their clubrooms in an environment like this.”
Hearing my explanation, Kim Yeong-je nodded as if he understood.
After walking for about 4 more minutes like that, we finally arrived in front of a room with the Board Game Club’s nameplate hanging on it.
“Wow, it seriously looks gloomy right from the entrance.”
“What are you going to do if they hear you saying things like that right from the entrance? Why don’t you quiet down a bit?”
The moment we stood in front of the entrance, Jinwoo spat out venomous words.
When Kim Yeong-je frowned and said a word in response, Jinwoo grumbled to himself and approached the door.
“Boss, I just need to open this, right? I’m opening the door?”
When I nodded to tell him to go ahead, Jinwoo threw the door wide open. At the same time, the interior scenery of the Board Game Club unfolded before our eyes.
Countless board games were lined up on numerous display shelves that reminded me of a library.
“Ugh, smells like dust.”
As we walked in, waving our hands through the air, we heard a murmuring sound coming from behind the display shelves.
-……Let’s do Tteok.
-……Should we do it.
-……Isn’t it a tradition?
-People…… are…… here.
-……because it’s…… right.
-………Right?
As we slowly walked toward the source of the sound, we could finally see the figure of a group gathered behind a massive display shelf.
A group of 6 people gathered in a circle around what looked like a board game board.
Whether he felt our presence or not, one of them lifted his head and looked at us.
“Huh? Oh…… Why am I seeing illusions…….”
The man made eye contact with me, then suddenly started rubbing his eyes.
And looking at me once again, he recoiled in shock and fell backward.
“P-President! P-people! People are here!”
As the guy who fell backward pointed his finger at us and shouted, the man wearing red glasses also lifted his head and looked at us.
“Huh? Wh-what! Four people?! Foouuur peoople?!”
Only after the president was surprised did the other club members look at us all at once.
“I-it’s real! Real people came!”
“Are they freshmen? Newbies? Real newbies?”
“Everyone calm down for a second! They might have come to challenge us to a club war!”
As the atmosphere turned chaotic, the president stood up from his seat first and calmed the surroundings down.
The atmosphere subsided a little at this. When the murmuring had finally died down completely, the president of the Board Game Club looked at me and cautiously opened his mouth.
“By any chance…… what year are you?”
“I’m a first-year.”
“Hiiik! Th-they’re really freshmen! What do we do?! What do we do?!”
Hearing that we were first-years, the president panicked all by himself, jumping up and down as he looked at the club members.
“President, calm down for a second!”
“Right! L-let’s just ask why they’re here first! They might not have come to join the club! Maybe th-they got lost or something?”
“R-right? That must be it, right? O-okay! I’ll ask them first!”
No, what are you doing talking so everyone can hear you.
The president turned his body back around and looked at us.
“Uhh…… Did you guys perhaps come to join our club?”
“Unfortunately, that’s not it.”
“……I knew it. Then are you really just lost?”
“No. We came looking for the Board Game Club.”
From this point on, perhaps feeling that something was off, the president’s expression changed to a serious one.
“You came looking for us? Why would freshmen come to our club?”
Seeing as how he judged that we didn’t come to join, I chose to cut straight to the point instead of beating around the bush here.
“We came to get a Bronze club consent form.”
“What?”
The air around us sank coldly.
“……You came to ask for a consent form, you say?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Even though you’re a freshman?”
“I told you I’m a freshman.”
“But, you want a certificate?”
“Yes.”
“Pfft─!”
At my answer, the president suddenly burst into laughter.
“Puhaha! A freshman asking for a club certificate, don’t tell me. Are you one of those too? Like those freshmen running around frantically saying they’re going to make a club?”
Bursting into giggles and wiping away the tears forming in the corners of his eyes, the president lifted his head and looked at me.
“You, do you know what it means for us to give out a club certificate?”
“Yes, I understand it’s a concept sort of like a guarantor. If the club created with your consent form fails to maintain itself for half a semester, your club gets abolished right along with it.”
This was another reason why clubs didn’t spring up everywhere in the academy.
In other words, it was also the academy’s intent to only issue certificates to those acknowledged by the clubs.
“And you still want a consent form?”
“Yes.”
“Believing in what about you?”
There it is. The statement signaling the start of that ‘event’.
“I’m seeing you for the first time today, and you want a consent form from me? Honestly, don’t you think that’s too shameless? Therefore────.”
The president, who slumped back into his seat and crouched down, looked at me and smiled brightly.
“────Let’s play a game.”
An aura that made it hard to believe he was the same man who panicked at the appearance of freshmen just a moment ago emanated from him.
No matter how weak the club was, he was the president in charge of a club. It meant he had enough combat prowess to protect one club.
“The conditions are simple. Your friends and our club members will play a board game. We’ll play five rounds like that, and the side that wins three rounds first wins. How about it?”
“Hmm, a match with a board game…….”
“Why? Do you think it’s too harsh? But you’re the ones who are desperate. To put it bluntly, even if we don’t write it for you, we have nothing to lose, so I think it’s a reasonable proposal?”
The guy spoke with a wide smile, as if he was incredibly relaxed.
The guys behind the president were already having a heated debate about what game to play with us.
This is fun. Should I play along a little more.
“You said we get the certificate if we win, but what happens if we lose?”
“If you guys lose?”
Smirk. The corners of the president wearing red glasses tore upward on both sides.
“All of you. Will have to join our club.”
So he’s coming out like this, as expected.
This was none other than ‘Board Game of Darkness’, one of the methods the Board Game Club members used to bring in freshmen.
They would make a bet with their own conditions on the line to force them to join as club members.
“Of course, you could just say you’re quitting the club after accepting and losing, so you have to remain in our club unconditionally for about a year. We’ll let you quit when you become 2nd years. How about it?”
He said it like that, but it wasn’t a condition you could easily accept at face value.
Because that wickedly smiling president over there and the club members behind him would do whatever it takes to teach us the joy of board games within that 1 year.
Therefore, I gave a bright smile and announced the end of the playtime.
“──I decline.”
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