Chapter 85: Became a Mafia in the Academy

Foreigner Area.

A place that, despite being in the Republic of Korea, is beyond the reach of Korean law.

However, this place also had one of the lowest statistics for violent crimes in the entire country.

The reason was...

"You've got some guts. Attempting a robbery in Callione's territory, of all places."

"G-g-gulp... G-g-gasp...!"

It was because Callione's laws were not reflected in the statistics.

"I-I'm sorry! P-please, just one more chance...!"

A dark alley in the entertainment district of Zone C.

There, a bald man with a tattoo on his face, presumed to be a gang member, was lying on the ground, suppressed by a maid, and desperately begging for his life.

"I don't know your name, but I can guess you're a new face around here. Have you recently come in?"

Alessia, who was restraining the guy, stepped aside at my gesture, and I squatted in front of him.

"I believe you understand why you're in this situation."

"I do...! I do...!"

The guy, trembling, answered.

"There won't be a next time. Tell your friends, your allies, or your boss, that if you ever try something like this again in Callione's territory, you'll end up like a beehive. Got it?"

"...Yes! I'll tell them! I'll definitely tell them!"

That should be enough.

"Go on."

"Thank you! Thank you!"

The guy got up with his remaining hand, bowed deeply, and ran away like he was fleeing.

As I watched his retreating figure, Alessia's voice came from behind.

"Aren't you going to kill him?"

"I don't really want to see bloodshed."

And there was also the intention to use him as a warning.

If we killed him and disposed of the body, today's incident wouldn't be known, but by letting him live, we could better manage the gangs.

A few of our organization members, who had been waiting for my signal, started to follow him.

"Rumors of our arrival will spread on this side, so let's check the opposite side before we head back."

"I will follow."

Still, compared to usual, today was relatively quiet.

The last time I came with Farnello, when a street vendor got caught in a gang fight, Farnello personally swept away all the gang members and then handed over the money he took from them to the vendors as repair costs and compensation.

After dealing with the gang members, the night patrol went smoothly.

Just the drunkards and part-time workers from the entertainment venues passing by and greeting us?

'But the atmosphere seems a bit more subdued than usual.'

There were fewer people wandering around than usual.

The place where the robber appeared just now would normally have a lot of foot traffic, making it impossible for a crime to occur.

Considering the influx of new faces and other factors, the change in atmosphere was noticeable.

"Master."

Just then, as I was lost in thought, slowly patrolling the area.

Alessia, who was leading the way, suddenly stopped.

Did something happen again? But the surroundings were unusually quiet.

When I looked at her in confusion, she pointed somewhere with a serious expression.

"...That."

That?

Looking in the direction Alessia pointed, I saw a small shop.

The name of the shop, [Egg Bread].

"Buy me some."

She... very confidently demanded egg bread from me.

"...Buy it for you?"

"Yes. Actually, I left my wallet at home."

"But you can pay with your phone these days."

"I left it at home."

"Really?"

"It's gone."

...You just want to eat it for free, don't you?

Well, it's not expensive, and I did drive here, so I took a deep breath and bought her a bag.

She then smiled brightly, hugged the bag, and took a big bite out of one of the egg breads.

"Good. They're still warm. Ah, Master, would you like one too?"

She handed me an egg bread as she said this.

I bought it, so did you plan to eat it all by yourself?!

"...Sure. Thanks."

Anyway, since I already bought it, it doesn't matter.

After receiving one, I took a bite.

The taste of ordinary egg bread.

However, Alessia, walking beside me, was eating it with great enthusiasm, as if it were the most delicious thing in the world.

"Did you always like egg bread?"

Alessia tilted her head at my question.

She swallowed the egg bread with a gulp.

"Egg bread? Hmm... I would say I like it. It brings back good memories."

"Good memories?"

"It's a secret. A precious memory."

In response to my question, Alessia smiled and said.

"Alright, we've had enough of this little adventure. We're almost done with the patrol... shall we head back?"

"Yeah, we should head back."

I said that and turned around.

"Master? The motorcycle is this way..."

Alessia was taken aback by my sudden change of direction and the way I stretched out my hand toward the road.

I turned my head to look at Alessia and smiled playfully.

"Taxi."

To be honest, I'm a bit scared of your motorcycle.

* * *

The next day.

"From the research so far, we can say that dungeons are created due to the influence of this 'mana.' Aura and mana were only observed after the dungeons appeared, so the concepts were gradually established afterward."

The students of Class A, who were greeted with a dungeon studies class known as a sleeping pill from the very first lesson.

The gentle voice of the instructor and the extremely boring content of the class were slowly draining the students' energy.

But what could they do? Dungeon studies were a mandatory subject for heroes entering dungeons.

"There is no definitive explanation for the occurrence of dungeons. However, scientists speculate that dungeons are a precursor to the unification (合一化) with the external world. In other words, our world is gradually merging with another world. The increasing amount of mana and aura is evidence of this."

The instructor, 'Park Haksoo,' who was currently delivering a passionate lecture, was one of the authorities in the field of dungeon studies.

"Let's look at some of the representative papers... hmm?"

While focusing on his lecture, Park Haksoo suddenly realized how quiet the students were and stopped speaking.

"Ah... everyone looks so lifeless. So, dungeon studies are definitely boring, right?"

Park Haksoo muttered with a gloomy expression, and the students shook their heads.

"Really? You find it interesting?"

But when the expected 'Yes~' didn't come, Park Haksoo shook his head with a 'That's what I thought' expression.

"Alright, you're not here for a seminar. I've been talking too much about the class. How about... a story to wake you up? Have you all seen the news about the prisoners who escaped from Niflheim?"

The students, who had been slouching due to the boring content, started to perk up and show interest as the topic turned to recent news.

"Ha, look at you all. Your eyes light up when it's a different story, right? Well, everyone's been talking about this on TV and the internet."

As Park Haksoo said, the current hot topic in the Republic of Korea, both in society and at the academy, was the villains who had escaped from Niflheim.

Although the number of victims was relatively small due to Korea's smaller land area, the dungeons that appeared nationwide required a significant deployment of the few available heroes, and it was difficult to stop them with the still unrefined laws.

"Among the escapees, there was a guy called 'Miner.' His ability was 'Excavation.' He could crush even the hardest minerals as if they were sponge cakes."

At the time, Korea was flooded with dungeons.

While his ability wasn't particularly useful for dungeon exploration, it could have been a significant help if used properly. However, he didn't.

"Instead, he took advantage of the chaos to rob the most secure places. For example... bank vaults."

Korea at the time was in a state that could be described as a dark age.

Although the damage was less compared to other countries due to its smaller size, the few available heroes were deployed nationwide to deal with the dungeons, and it was difficult to stop them with the still unrefined laws.

"But one of the places he robbed was the Korean mana stone storage facility. The highest-grade mana stones, practically treasures, were stored there. Do you know what happened there...?"

As the story became more intriguing, the students started to pay attention, and Park Haksoo, sensing the tension, suddenly clapped his hands and shouted.

"Boom!!"

The students jumped in surprise.

He smiled, clearly satisfied with their reaction.

"Hahaha! That's the reaction I was hoping for. The expensive mana stones were caught in the explosion. But the surprise didn't last long, why? Because mana stones are different from other minerals; they are not affected by ordinary explosions."

They are only affected by attacks using aura or mana, so ordinary impacts wouldn't damage them. Thus, the miner thought:

'Nothing will happen anyway.'

"But the problem was this. The explosion site suddenly started showing signs of a dungeon appearing.

That's how we caught the miner. He was trapped in the dungeon."

He laughed cheerfully. The students chuckled at the story of the extremely unlucky villain.

"Anyway, the miner is quite a famous figure in dungeon studies. The timing was perfect, so everyone focused on the phenomenon. Could a pure lump of mana, when strongly stimulated from the outside, create a crack in reality and become a dungeon? That's what they thought."

In other words, they wondered if dungeons could be artificially created.

One student in the front row raised their hand and asked.

"Then what happened to that hypothesis? Did it succeed?"

"Haha, succeed? Have you ever heard of anyone creating an artificial dungeon?"

Park Haksoo chuckled and gave the answer.

"Of course, it failed. Many people attempted the research, but the hypothesis remained just that. Such a thing never happened, even with high-purity, high-grade mana stones. However, we gained a lot of research results on mana stones, which led to the development of various artifacts. Isn't that interesting? Don't you think dungeon studies can be quite fun when you look at it this way?"

This time, a 'Yes' was heard from the students.

Park Haksoo smiled contentedly at their response.

"Alright, since everyone seems to be more awake now, let's proceed with the lesson. When a mana stone breaks, what effect does it have on the atmosphere? We can look at the paper I mentioned earlier..."

It seemed that everything he had said so far was just a buildup, and he smoothly transitioned into the lesson, much to the relief of the other students.

* * *

*Whirr. Thud. Whirr. Thud.*

A warehouse where the only sound was the repetitive noise of the conveyor belt.

Countless vacuum pistons were working hard, emitting a continuous, repetitive sound, and the white steam they produced was spreading gently in the air.

"Ha... This is troublesome. Very troublesome."

In the midst of the steam, a dark figure began to move.

A man dragging tattered bandages along the ground stopped and looked up at the sky.

"One dead, three missing. Does that sound plausible to you?"

With a swift turn, his face was revealed.

A mysterious man, his entire body wrapped in old, tattered bandages.

At his words, the ground trembled, and the steam began to swirl wildly.

"Advance the schedule. Ensure no further interference. Make sure everyone receives our message."

Those around him, trembling with fear, nodded tightly, their fists clenched to avoid shaking.

In front of his anger, their only freedom was to nod.

In the midst of this cold atmosphere—

"Ring around the rosie—"

The bandaged man began to hum a song.

Ring around the rosie. (Circle around the rose.)

A pocket full of posies. (Pockets full of flowers.)

Ashes! Ashes! (Ashes! Ashes!)

We all fall down! (We all fall down!)

Despite the cheerful tune, the atmosphere grew even colder.

He then solemnly declared:

"—Announce that the great plague has begun."