Chapter 91: Became a Mafia in the Academy

"Hello."

Seeing Choi Yeon smile at him as if greeting an old friend, Young-je couldn't help but cheer inwardly.

The current combination was only wizards, which was quite unsettling. However, one of the strongest swordsmen in the academy, Choi Yeon, had just appeared before him.

"…Oh. Hello."

But in such a situation, showing too much joy might make him seem strange, so Young-je decided to suppress his current emotions.

Until the guy showed up, that is.

"Really…! Why…! Only…! Me…! Left…! Alone…! Ohhhhh?! Choi Yeon?"

Seo-a, who had been running hard to catch up with Young-je, let out a shrill scream upon seeing Choi Yeon.

"Hmm? You look familiar…."

"Ah! You've already forgotten? You asked me to pass a challenge letter to Yoo-jin, didn't you?!"

"…Oh. That kid. Hello."

Choi Yeon smiled awkwardly and waved his hand. Seo-a, in response, rushed over and hugged Choi Yeon tightly.

"…Hmm?"

"You're alive! With only two wizards, I was really worried! Meeting you, Choi Yeon, is such a relief!"

Seo-a shouted confidently, as if speaking on behalf of Young-je's thoughts.

But Choi Yeon just tilted his head in confusion.

Seeing this, Young-je sighed and shook his head, as if he understood.

"Choi Yeon, do you know what situation we're in?"

"Now? I'm not sure. I was definitely sleeping before the morning assembly, and when I came to, I was here. Those two people suddenly attacked me with swords, so I dealt with them."

Hearing Choi Yeon's words, Young-je glanced at the two people lying on the ground.

They looked more like they had been toyed with rather than dealt with.

"So, what's going on here?"

Choi Yeon blinked and asked. Seo-a, as if she had been waiting for this, confidently explained everything.

"The Villain Alliance has attacked the academy. We're right in the middle of it."

"…Attack? Are we here because of the attack?"

"Yes. Since Mr. Young-je said so, it must be certain, right?"

After this conversation, Young-je sighed and had to give a brief explanation of the current situation.

The song that played over the speakers in the morning, the teleportation to the dungeon, and the attack by the villains.

"Oh, so the people who attacked me just now were villains."

"…Mr. Choi Yeon, did you just casually take care of them without realizing they were villains?"

"I was taught in my family that I shouldn't hold back against anyone who attacks me with a sword."

Although it was a very natural lesson from a martial family, it still sent a chill down his spine.

"Then, do you have any plans?"

Seo-a froze at Choi Yeon's question. She then turned her stiff neck to look at Young-je.

"Mr. Young-je, you're the brains of the group, right…?"

Feeling somewhat ridiculous at Seo-a's confident statement that he wasn't the brains, Young-je shook his head.

"…First, we should try to join up with as many people as possible. Even if they are villains, a group of awakened students would be hard to mess with. And most importantly… we should find the instructors, as they might be caught up in this too. Finding them would be a bonus for our safety."

Hearing Young-je's words, Seo-a nodded.

"That sounds good! We might also find people who are being attacked by villains along the way. Helping them could be a big help to our Familia later."

Although they might end up fighting villains in the process, Seo-a nodded, trusting in what she had learned and the two strong people standing before her.

And Choi Yeon, who had been listening quietly, also….

"Could we meet other villains?"

Her eyes sparkled at the possibility of another opportunity.

"…It seems everyone agrees. Shall we move then?"

The three of them started moving again.

Seo-a, who was searching the surroundings with her radar, detected three more signals.

"Ah! I detected them! We should go straight from here, right?"

Choi Yeon, who had never seen a spatial mage's detection ability before, poked the floating purple mana in the air.

But the mana, like smoke, only dispersed and reformed.

"…This is convenient. I don't think we'll get lost."

Choi Yeon poked the reappearing signals, and Seo-a looked at her with a smile.

"Mr. Choi Yeon, do you often get lost?"

"…Yeah. So someone from my family always takes me. I was late on my first day of school because I got lost."

"That must have been tough… But Mr. Young-je, why are you frowning so much?"

Seo-a, who had been talking to Choi Yeon, glanced at Young-je's expression.

Young-je, who was leading the group, seemed to be deep in thought.

"…Hmm? No, it's just that we're in a dungeon, but strangely, I can't see any monsters."

"Huh? That's true? We haven't seen any monsters so far, right? Mr. Choi Yeon?"

"I haven't seen any either."

"Right?"

Hearing Choi Yeon's words, Young-je stopped and began to organize his thoughts.

A dungeon without monsters?

It didn't make sense. It was like saying a red bean bun had no red beans.

If the situation in the dungeon was such that monsters weren't appearing….

"Could this be the 9th floor?"

Everything made sense.

"…If this is really the 9th floor, it might be unrealistic to expect reinforcements."

It seemed that the dungeons had overlapped, and people were scattered everywhere.

While it was possible for people from the 8th floor to come up to the 9th floor, according to Yoo-jin, the higher the floor, the higher the difficulty, so they wouldn't be able to come up quickly.

'Then, do we have to defeat the 10th floor boss ourselves?'

The only ways to escape a dungeon were to go through the exit or defeat the boss to cause a collapse, creating a path for everyone to leave.

However, in the current situation, where no one knew who was where in the dungeon, the only safe way out was to clear the dungeon.

Young-je's heart grew heavy.

"Everyone, I have something to say."

Stopping, Young-je began to share his thoughts with the other two.

He explained that there might be no reinforcements and that if they cleared this dungeon, everyone might be able to escape.

The two of them, initially stunned, gradually nodded in agreement.

"There's no other way out of here, right?"

"The 10th floor boss is strong? I like that."

With their opinions aligned, the three of them decided to head towards the three people they had just detected.

If they were academy students, they could join forces. If they were villains, Young-je believed they were likely blocking the way to the 10th floor to prevent the dungeon from being cleared.

As they approached their destination, they finally reached the vicinity.

"What should we do? If they're villains, it would be better to ambush them."

"Should I go first?"

Preparing for the possibility that the opponents were villains, the two of them discussed their strategy.

Young-je, however, said he would use magic to check first and immediately cast a spell.

"Saltato (Hop hop)."

A black rabbit sprang from Young-je's fountain pen.

"If the people over there aren't wearing the same clothes as us, make your ears tremble. Got it?"

Young-je gave the command to his familiar, who nodded and began to hop towards the location where the people were presumed to be.

"Mr. Young-je, your familiar doesn't seem to fit you at all."

"…What kind of familiar would fit me?"

"Um… a bespectacled monkey?"

"…Other than the glasses, there's nothing in common. …Just watch the rabbit's ears."

The rabbit, almost at its destination, was about to turn the corner, where the three people would be visible.

As the rabbit reached the corner and turned to send a signal, it was struck by an ice spike.

──Puck!

The ice spike pierced the rabbit, turning it into ink.

"…They're enemies."

"…They're enemies."

"…They killed the rabbit."

The two of them, now aware of the enemy, showed their hostility, while Choi Yeon expressed anger over the rabbit's death.

"They must have noticed us, right?"

"Of course. It was clearly a familiar. I didn't expect them to notice so quickly, though."

Since it was confirmed that the opponents were villains, there was no need for the three of them to hide anymore.

To clear the dungeon, they had to push through them.

Each of them equipped their unique weapons and slowly approached the corner where the enemy was.

"Did you pay attention in mentor class?"

"Who doesn't know Instructor Ji-soo-hyun? I could probably beat Mr. Young-je with my bare hands now."

"…Did I play around during mentor class?"

"…Rabbit."

Turning the corner, a large chamber was revealed.

A giant staircase leading to the next floor.

And a massive snowman with a person on top of it.

"…Why do villains always try to express their unique traits so much?"

"…Yeah. Wait, is that a snowman? If it's a snowman, it must be the Snowgirl Gang among the escaped villains…."

"…Villains."

Seeing the distinctive traits, Young-je, holding his fountain pen, drew in the air.

"Let's start. Marciale (March-like)!"

The march-like music announcing the start of battle echoed through the chamber.