I Become a Mafia in the Academy [Novel] Chapter 25

As I made my way down the steps, I could feel more and more eyes turning toward me.

But that didn’t matter. Right now, the only person here who posed any kind of threat to me was the man standing before me.

Kang Seungtae, Head of the Incheon Branch of the Korean Hero Association.

“Bwahahaha! It’s been a while, Yujin!”

The moment I stepped onto the stage, Kang Seungtae greeted me with a hearty laugh, patting me on the back.

Judging by the way he spoke, it seemed we’d known each other in the past. For the time being, I simply responded in kind.

“…It’s been a while, sir.”

The others might find it strange that Kang Seungtae and I already knew each other. Still, it wasn’t much of an issue.

Considering the wealth I’d already displayed, it wasn’t all that surprising that I had connections with someone like him.

“Well then, looks like all the class representatives are here.”

Classes A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, and Z.

All ten class representatives stood before Kang Seungtae. From where Jeong Ui-hun was standing, it seemed he was representing Class C.

After slowly sweeping his gaze across all of us, Kang Seungtae gave a satisfied nod and began explaining the event.

“The game you’ll be playing against me is… an arm-wrestling match.”

“…Arm wrestling?”

One of the students couldn’t hide his confusion. After gathering all of them here, this was the challenge? Kang Seungtae simply nodded and gestured toward the back of the stage.

A moment later, four students walked over carrying a massive steel table.

“That’s right. Arm wrestling. Simple, isn’t it?”

As the table was set down on the stage— THUD! A heavy metallic sound echoed throughout the hall.

Kang Seungtae casually took a seat behind it, already preparing for the match.

“As you all know, my ability is ‘Fair Play’—the power to match my opponent’s physical abilities. I’ll be using that ability during our arm-wrestling matches.”

At his explanation, murmurs spread throughout the audience.

If both sides possessed identical physical abilities, then victory could no longer be decided by raw strength alone.

“And during the match, no matter what abilities or techniques you use, I promise I’ll do nothing but defend myself. Well? Sounds fair enough, doesn’t it? Hahahaha! Now then, with the rules out of the way… who’s the first youngster brave enough to challenge me?”

The first to raise his hand was the representative of Class D, a student who stood out from the others with his exceptional height and imposing build.

“You look like you’ve got some muscle! Go on, take the seat across from me and grab my arm.”

Following his instructions, the representative from Class D sat down opposite him and clasped his hand.

“Are you really saying I can use any ability I want?”

“If you can.”

The moment Kang Seungtae gave his permission, thick white steam began billowing from the student’s body.

“Graaah…!”

As his muscles gradually swelled, a flicker of interest crossed Kang Seungtae’s face. But—

“Didn’t I tell you? Our physical abilities are equal. Besides, arm wrestling isn’t won by brute strength alone.”

With a sharp grunt, “Hup!” Kang Seungtae twisted his wrist. The student’s arm was slammed onto the table in an instant, ending the match before it had truly begun.

“Not bad. Though you would’ve done better if you’d put your pride aside and focused on disrupting me instead of trying to overpower me.”

Rolling his neck from side to side, Kang Seungtae curled the corner of his lips into an amused grin.

Perhaps inspired by his surprisingly sincere feedback, the remaining representatives stepped forward one after another to challenge him. It didn’t matter what methods they tried. Every single one of them was crushed.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk… I expected more from the representatives of this generation. What a disappointment.”

Only Jeong Ui-hun and I remained.

As I wondered whether I should go next, Jeong Ui-hun stepped forward first.

“I’ll go next.”

“Oh? Good. It’s you, Ui-hun. Someone of your caliber ought to give this old man a bit of entertainment.”

“I’ll do my best.”

Without hesitation, Jeong Ui-hun took his seat and gripped Kang Seungtae’s hand. The very next moment, he drove his knee into the underside of the table, trying to tip it sideways.

“Ugh!”

The table didn’t budge an inch. It remained firmly planted where it stood.

“You were trying to move the table so my hand would hit it instead, weren’t you?! Khahahahahaha! Clever! I’ll give you that! it was certainly entertaining!”

“…I’m not done yet.”

Realizing the table wouldn’t move, Jeong Ui-hun immediately shifted his focus and began attacking Kang Seungtae directly.

Yet Kang Seungtae merely yawned, watching him with complete ease while Jeong Ui-hun struggled to catch his breath.

“Still want to continue?”

“…I concede.”

At last, Jeong Ui-hun released Kang Seungtae’s hand and rose from his seat.

His head hung low, hiding his expression. Even so, I could easily imagine the look on his face.

“Well then, you’re up next, Yujin. Your father tells me you’ve changed quite a bit. Let’s see just how much you’ve changed.”

“…I’ll do my best.”

Taking the seat opposite Kang Seungtae, I rolled up my sleeve and gripped his arm.

Kang Seungtae looked at me with a broad, eager grin, clearly anticipating what sort of trick I would try.

Unfortunately for him… I had no intention of playing along with his little game.

Taking a deep breath, I tensed my arm and drove forward, putting all of my body weight and raw arm strength behind the push.

There was one thing about Kang Seungtae that none of the others here knew. Only I did.

[Name: Kang Seungtae]
[Affiliation: Head of the Incheon Branch, Korean Hero Association]
[Description: The head of the Hero Association’s Incheon Branch. Having grown up in Incheon, he has forged countless connections throughout the city. The values he holds above all else are “Fair Play,” “Determination,” and “Strength.” Because of these principles, he is widely regarded as a symbol of integrity.]

The important keywords were these: ‘Determination’ and ‘Fair Play’.

Up until now, whenever his opponents relied on their abilities, Kang Seungtae had always activated his own. He never intentionally held back.

But if the contest was decided by nothing but pure ‘physical strengt’, Then he would refrain from using his ability altogether and face his opponent with nothing but his own muscles.

“Khahahaha! Excellent! This is getting interesting!”

Just as I’d expected, Kang Seungtae’s arm began to tremble. He wasn’t using his ability.

He was resisting my strength through nothing but his own physical power.

“So, you thought you could beat me using nothing but your own strength?”

“…Who’s to say?”

It was entirely possible that my raw strength alone would never be enough to defeat Kang Seungtae, whose physical prowess ranked among the very best.

Even so—

“…May I ask you one question?”

“Haha! Go ahead!”

“You’re here today in your capacity as the Head of the Incheon Branch of the Hero Association, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“In that case… if you were to encounter my father while carrying out your duties as the Head of the Incheon Branch—not as Kang Seungtae the man—what would you do?”

“…I’d have to arrest him first.”

“Thank you. That’s all I needed to know.”

The instant those words left his mouth, His arm tilted ever so slightly.

“Hm? What did you do? I didn’t sense you using any abilities.”

“Maybe you’ve just been going easy on me.”

That was what I said. In reality, the moment he’d answered, a new notification had appeared in the corner of my vision.

[Trait: [Enforcer] has been activated.]
[Enforcer]
[1. Enforcer — Those who confront the organization’s enemies. When fighting an opponent recognized as an enemy of the organization, all physical abilities increase by 1.5 times.]

[Enforcer], A trait that activated only against enemies of the Callione family.

Naturally, Kang Seungtae’s physical abilities would also increase as a result of his own ability. But before he could fully adjust to the sudden change in strength, I poured every ounce of power into driving his arm toward the table.

Even so, Kang Seungtae calmly lowered his center of gravity, effortlessly redirecting my attack.

“Ugh… Looks like I’ll have to take this more seriously than I thought.”

…What a monster of an old man.

In that brief instant, he had already gauged the increase in my strength and was now trying to force my wrist back as though he’d adapted to it immediately.

As expected, This alone wasn’t enough to earn his approval.

“You’re not going to interfere or use any other abilities?”

“I don’t believe you’ve been arm wrestling everyone else under completely ordinary conditions, Branch Chief.”

“Hm?”

“You called your ability ‘Fair Play.’ But in truth, it doesn’t simply equalize your opponent’s physical abilities, does it? It synchronizes your mana with theirs.”

At my words, Kang Seungtae’s eyes wavered.

“Did your father tell you that?”

I had learned it through the game, of course. But there was no way I could admit that. Keeping my expression as calm as possible, I answered…

“I could feel your mana flowing into my body. I also noticed you were circulating my own mana through my pathways, letting it flow naturally until it became accustomed to them.”

“…If that’s true, then your talent is remarkable. Even accomplished mages rarely realize that I’ve interfered with their mana.”

“Talent, perhaps. After all, blood will tell.”

A faint smile spread across Kang Seungtae’s face.

“Hah! Put it that way, and I can’t exactly argue with you. Then tell me, do you know the most efficient way to make use of this opportunity?”

“By resisting you with every ounce of strength I have.”

“…Then that’s all I needed to hear. Come on! fight back with everything you’ve got! Haha!”

“I intend to.”

With that reply, I finally revealed the real reason I had waited until the very end before stepping forward.

Every representative before me had already been defeated. Which meant that I was now the only challenger Kang Seungtae had left.

In other words, I had become the students’ final representative.

From that point onward, the other students had no choice but to root for me, whether they realized it or not.

And at this very moment, I was pushing Kang Seungtae harder than anyone else had managed to.

That made one thing perfectly clear. I was their last hope, the one who stood apart from everyone else. And that…

Naturally gave rise to admiration.

[Trait: [Heir to the Underworld] has been activated.]
[Heir to the Underworld]
[2. Baby Boss — Your overall abilities increase slightly in proportion to the number of living beings who fear or admire you.]

With both [Enforcer] and [Heir to the Underworld] active at the same time, my physical strength reached a level that couldn’t even be compared to my usual state.

“Huuff…!”

Putting the full weight of my body behind the effort, I slowly forced Kang Seungtae’s arm back. Little by little His arm began to give way. Faced with the unbelievable sight, Kang Seungtae’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Hrraaaaah!”

With a thunderous shout, He overwhelmed my arm in an instant.

…I lost. But it wasn’t a bad outcome.

After all, I’d already accomplished what I came here to do.

“Whew… That was close. Really close.”

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Kang Seungtae rose to his feet and gave my shoulder a few firm pats.

Then, his shoulders began to shake.

“Khaha! Khahahahahaha! Your father was right. You’ve changed more than I ever imagined.”

“You flatter me…”

Smiling faintly as I rubbed my throbbing wrist—still numb from nearly being slammed into the table—I looked back at him. Kang Seungtae broke into a broad grin.

“I haven’t had a scare like that in ages. So then… do you know what changed in your body?”

Of course I did.

There was no way I could miss it with a new notification floating before my eyes.

[A tremendous surge of mana washes over your body.]

[You feel that controlling your mana has become noticeably easier.]

“It seems my mana control has improved.”

“Good. Then you understand! Hmm… Judging by the others, they only made marginal gains. I’ve tuned up each class representative once, so that should be enough.”

This was another ability that had earned Kang Seungtae his position as Branch Chief.

[Mana Shower]

A technique made possible only by his overwhelming mana reserves and absurdly precise mana control.

Its effects were so extraordinary that he couldn’t use it often.

As far as I knew, he only used it on exceptionally talented heroes within the branch. To receive it here, Calling it an unexpected stroke of fortune wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

“Well then, I’ve fulfilled all the favors those old friends of mine asked for. Unfortunately, none of you managed to beat me, so I suppose it’s time to begin the lecture. Hahahaha!”

The students immediately began murmuring again after hearing that the lecture would proceed after all. Seeing that, Kang Seungtae pressed a finger to his lips.

“Quiet.”

His playful demeanor vanished as though it had never existed. The icy authority in his voice instantly silenced the entire convention hall.

“Now that our little warm-up event is over, let’s begin the lecture. Those of you who came up here may return to your seats.”

Gone was the friendly uncle from moments ago. In his place stood a stern superior. Picking up a whiteboard marker, Kang Seungtae walked to the whiteboard.

“You all saw it just now. The gap between me and the others was overwhelming. Even so, each of them tried to defeat me in their own way… and Yujin here actually managed to make my heart skip a beat.”

Using the arm-wrestling matches as an analogy for battles between heroes and villains, Kang Seungtae began his lecture.

“But the villains you’ll face in the future won’t go easy on you the way I did. They won’t laugh because they think you’re cute they’ll laugh while slaughtering the civilians standing right beside you. That’s the kind of enemy you’ll be facing. So today, I want to talk about the mindset you need when confronting people like that.”

In an instant, the atmosphere inside the convention hall changed.

The excitement from moments ago disappeared as though it had never existed. A heavy silence settled over the room as every student stared at Kang Seungtae with tense expressions.

“Well then… Let’s begin.”

What he taught wasn’t particularly complicated.

Most of it consisted of principles and attitudes that everyone already knew. Yet perhaps because the speaker was none other than Kang Seungtae,

Every word that left his mouth carried unmistakable sincerity. Each sentence felt undeniably true.

[Notification: You feel like you’ve become smarter!]

The increase to my Intelligence was merely an added bonus. And so…

After the third day of classes at the academy finally came to an end, I returned home.

“Young Master, all the preparations for the hunt have been completed.”

At last, Night had fallen