Chapter 89: Became a Mafia in the Academy

As if waking from anesthesia, the vision that had been completely obscured slowly began to recover, becoming hazy.

“What the… is this?”

The unpleasant sensation covering my entire body was very similar to the feeling of being teleported by a space mage, but it was far more dizzying and the shock was much greater.

“Ugh, Uuuuugh! Uuuuugh!”

From behind, the sound of someone vomiting reached my ears.

Rubbing my blurry eyes and slowly turning my head, I saw a figure with their head on the ground, vomiting.

“Damn, Uuuuugh! Uuuuugh!!”

Short blonde hair.

As far as I knew, there was only one guy with that kind of hair who would vomit and curse like this.

“…Jinwoo. Jinwoo Bifalt.”

“Ugh… Boss? Is it really you…?”

Jinwoo, whose eyes were glazed over from repeated vomiting, slowly turned his head toward me.

“What is this, what’s going on? What was that shock just now and why is my stomach Uuuuugh!!”

“…I’m still figuring it out.”

My vision had not yet fully recovered.

[Would you like to switch to Night Mode?]

[ Y / N ]

After switching my [Smart Lens] to Night Mode, I waited for my vision to gradually clear, and the surroundings began to come into view.

“…Where are we.”

“Why? Why? Where are we?”

Water droplets were dripping from stalactites on the ceiling, and the stalagmites rising from the ground were very familiar.

“…A dungeon.”

“What? A dungeon?”

Hearing my answer, the guy lifted his head and slowly looked around.

“What, what? It’s really a dungeon? But Boss, we were just in class… is this even possible?”

Jinwoo, rubbing his eyes, muttered in disbelief.

There was only one way this could have happened.

“…Terrorism. The Villain Union must have carried out a terrorist attack.”

“Terrorism? You mean we were brought here by terrorism? That… makes sense?”

“Theoretically, it’s entirely possible. We learned about it in our Dungeon Studies class a while ago.”

“Dungeon Studies?”

The method of creating a dungeon artificially by applying strong power to top-tier mana stones.

When a dungeon is artificially and suddenly created, the spatial coordinates are severely distorted, and nearby life forms are sucked into the dungeon.

This must have been the method the villains used to target the Academy.

But if it followed the original story, the villains should have carried out their attack on the day of the Freshman Welcome Party.

“…It’s been thoroughly distorted.”

Because Shin Chulgi died? Or did Lath escape successfully?

It seemed that something had changed since I started interfering with the villains' activities.

Even so, I thought there wouldn’t be any major issues since the event in the game always took place on the day of the Freshman Welcome Party.

Who would have thought they would attack the day before.

‘If that’s the case, it might be an individual act… or perhaps they were aiming for something else.’

“By the way, Boss… doesn’t this place look familiar?”

At that moment, Jinwoo, who seemed to have recovered from his nausea, slowly got up and looked around.

“Familiar?”

“Yeah, take a closer look. The shape of the rocks, and those bugs crawling over there.”

Following Jinwoo’s advice, I focused more on the surroundings.

“Indeed… it does feel familiar.”

Suddenly, the construction site I saw on my way to school came to mind.

Do they need to excavate the ground for construction?

…Could it be?

“They must have entered through the construction site.”

“What?”

The pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall into place.

“Jinwoo, you must have seen the construction when you entered the main building, right?”

“Oh, my stomach… What? Construction? I did see it, didn’t I? They started about two days ago, right?”

As Jinwoo said, the construction site was always surrounded by a fence, making it impossible to see the inside clearly.

I hadn’t paid much attention to it because the stage construction in the game at this time was always a minor detail.

“The villains must have infiltrated the Academy disguised as construction workers.”

“But even if that’s the case, the Academy wouldn’t have failed to notice them.”

Right, so there are two possibilities.

One is that the guy in the Villain Union used his ability to deceive the internal surveillance at this time. And the other is…

‘No, let’s not think about that for now.’

It’s still just a guess.

First, we needed to deal with the current situation.

“Anyway, it’s clear that the villains dug a tunnel under the Academy to get here.”

“Tunnel?”

The distance between the construction site and our classroom in the main building was about a 5-minute walk.

Of course, the Academy wasn’t so easy to fool with such a simple plan.

The special materials surrounding the area were sturdy enough to prevent mere tunnels.

So, there was only one person who could have done this.

The Miner.

A villain with the special ability to destroy any mineral, regardless of its hardness.

Only he could have executed this plan.

“Among the recent Niflheim escapees, there’s a villain miner. He could have dug a tunnel to the basement of the main building in just two days. And… he must have created a dungeon artificially right under our feet.”

Originally, in the original story, the villains would infiltrate the Academy by disguising themselves as heroes invited with invitations and then create a dungeon during the welcome party.

This would cause most of the Academy’s students and instructors to be swept into the dungeon, and the player would be tasked with rescuing the students and dealing with the villains.

But who would have thought they would twist the plan like this.

It was a complete surprise.

“Hey? Boss, where are you going!”

As I started moving, Jinwoo, who was standing behind me, hurriedly followed.

“First, we need to find the other kids who were swept here. In situations like this, it’s best to gather in one place.”

“Huh? Oh, right.”

“Stay focused. Jinwoo, this is a real situation.”

After giving him a brief warning, I started moving again, and as expected, monsters began to appear, fitting for a dungeon.

“Boss, those…!”

“Yeah, I see them too.”

───! - -! ──!

A worm-like monster crawling leisurely on the ground.

Ah, could it be?

Unlike Jinwoo, who was repulsed by the sight, I felt a slight smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

“To think this would happen….”

“Still, it’s a good thing.”

“Huh? You think this is a good thing?”

Jinwoo, tilting his head in confusion at my words.

“Yeah, look at it. Doesn’t it feel familiar?”

Hearing this, Jinwoo, who was examining the approaching worm, seemed to realize something and exclaimed.

“Ah, could it be?”

“Yeah. This place… it seems different, but it’s probably our dungeon.”

Our dungeon was also in the basement of the Academy, and the dungeon created by the miner was also in the basement of the Academy.

So, it seemed the two dungeons had merged.

The strange rock formations visible here and there clearly showed the influence of both dungeons.

But the fundamental nature wasn’t much different.

“No need to worry about the other kids getting hurt on the first floor. If we cooperate properly, we can handle it, and if an instructor is with them, they can move around freely.”

At least, we wouldn’t have to worry about the monsters.

The artificial dungeon created by the seniors’ club was for training purposes, so while it had some difficulty, it wasn’t lethal on the first floor.

Most importantly, it meant that one of the things the villains were aiming for, the monster terror, had been thwarted.

They probably never imagined there would already be a dungeon in the Academy’s basement.

So, now there was only one thing we needed to be cautious about.

“…Prepare for battle.”

“Suddenly?!”

Jinwoo’s voice rose in panic, but thanks to the recent classes and training, he quickly drew his weapon and took a defensive stance.

Thud─ Thud─ Thud─

The sound of footsteps echoing through the cave from a distance.

I took out Tommy from the cube and held it in my left hand, aiming at the darkness ahead.

The approaching footsteps.

Jinwoo, crouching and ready to pounce at any moment, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and curled his lips.

“You caught that? Boss, your hearing is monstrous….”

Jinwoo must have heard the footsteps too.

“With that level of footsteps… it sounds like about five adult men. The way they’re making noise, they don’t seem to be ordinary Academy students… Boss, are they really villains?”

“There’s a high probability.”

Probably the villains who entered this dungeon with us.

Their goal was clear: to target Academy students or instructors who were fighting monsters.

So, we had to act first.

“I’ll start with suppressive fire. You look for an opportunity to ambush.”

I said this and rolled up my sleeves.

I didn’t want to do this in front of the other kids, but given the situation, I had no choice.

“Got it… Wait, what’s that baby bracelet-like thing?”

“…Training equipment.”

A device that solidifies the flow of aura.

Using this, I could move my aura more densely and accurately, but that wasn’t what I needed right now.

“I’ll finish this quickly.”

The aura spreading widely and strongly. What I needed now was my original aura.

“Just confirming what’s around is enough.”

I brought my unarmed hand close and focused my senses.

[Skill: Aura Sonar activated.]

With a slight feeling of fatigue, the aura burst from my palm.

The red aura spread widely over the dungeon floor, revealing the surrounding terrain, monsters, and giving me a rough idea of what was in which direction.

“─Ready.”

Jinwoo, holding a dagger in reverse grip, ready to charge at any moment.

I wouldn’t give a signal.

The sound of the gun itself would be the signal.

────!! ────!! ────!! ────!!────!!

The dark cave was instantly filled with flashes of light.

“Ambush!!”

“This isn’t an ordinary gun! Get down!”

None of the guys seemed to know how to cast a shield, as they lay flat and crawled forward.

A few of them, who seemed to have enhanced bodies, tried to stand up.

“Shh.”

Of course, Jinwoo immediately took care of those who tried to stand up as soon as I stopped firing.

The other guys, caught off guard by Jinwoo’s sudden appearance, tried to counter, but as soon as I fired precise shots with [Al Capone’s Tommy], their bodies started convulsing.

And Jinwoo, not missing a beat, lunged at one of the guys and slashed his throat with a dagger.

“Gurk──.”

A red line appeared on the guy’s neck, and he clutched the wound.

“Yeah, that’s right. You need to hold it tight to stop the bleeding.”

Kicking the guy’s body in a mocking manner, Jinwoo immediately charged at another.

“I guess… I don’t need to step in.”

Hadn’t he started taking classes with the Bifalt Family recently?

Whether it was the effect of the mentorship and family training, or because the opponents were villains, Jinwoo’s movements were ruthless and unhesitating.

In this regard, he might even be better than Youngjae or Seoa.

“Jennerd! You damn brat!!”

Another guy, seeing his comrade fall, charged at Jinwoo.

The blade came right up to his face, but Jinwoo, with a completely indifferent expression, turned his head to avoid it and then slammed the guy to the ground.

“Kyaah!”

“Are you guys really villains? The guys who trained us were much stronger…”

The “guys” he was talking about were probably the regular members of the Bifalt Family.

Given that the Bifalt Family was primarily composed of combatants, it was a reasonable statement.

Most importantly…

“Looks like you’re just a bunch of back-alley scum. They must have hired a lot of low-level villains to bulk up their numbers.”

“Is that so?”

Even if a first-year could handle them, it wasn’t the case here… but the recent training and mentorship seemed to have helped Jinwoo.

“Boss, what should we do? Should we search the area?”

Jinwoo, who had just finished off the last guy lying on the ground, turned back and asked.

The dark red blood dripping from the dagger’s blade.

Jinwoo, who always seemed carefree, showed clear signs of growth today.

“Let’s do that.”

I don’t like being on the defensive, so we should give them a taste of their own medicine.

“Come on, let’s move. We need to find the other kids.”