Chapter 104
“Welcome, senior!”
“Welcome, senior!”
“I salute you, senior!”
Even though they’re just old men, they’re greeted by countless heroes just by entering the banquet hall.
However, the man standing in front of me now could only stiffly twitch his mouth as he looked at the old men who were older than him.
“Hey, guys. Everyone is here.”
“Uh……”
“Can’t you speak straight? Do you really want me to go old school?”
“……What are you doing here with all the other seniors?”
Kang Man-seok, whose momentum was even until just now, kills his momentum in an instant and asks back.
This is why he didn’t want to bring Kwak Chun-sik from Gangwon, because he’s his senior, was stronger than him and had the power and influence to match.
“Well, I came to see my disciple.”
“Disciple……you mean?”
Kwak Chun-sik asked, casually walking over and placing his hand on my shoulder.
“This kid you locked up with a soundproofing spell and said strange things to is my disciple.”
“What? Disciple, do you mean the one from the Academy…….?”
“No. He is the heir to my Aura Formula.”
Kwak Chun-sik words stunned the boy.
“You mean……of the Aura Formula?”
“Yes. However, this senior is a bit offended because he feels like a fly has defiled my disciple’s body.”
While Kwak Chun-sik was eagerly pursuing Kang Man-seok, I pressed the corners of my mouth to manage my expression as best I could.
I had seen Kang Man-seok’s stupid expression elsewhere.
‘It must have been when he challenged me to assassinate the association president naked. That’s the face he woke up with.’
But now, given the situation, I couldn’t let myself laugh.
If I laughed here, it would defeat the purpose of bringing Kwak Chun-sik and the other elders here.
“Eugene.”
Kwak Chun-sik called my name.
“Yes. Master.”
“What did he say?”
“He asked me to join…….He asked me why I’m joining the Academy’s side.”
“And?”
“He intimidated me and ordered me to obediently tell him who was behind me.”
As I mutter that, keeping my voice as low as I can, Kang Man-seok looks at me with accusatory eyes.
“No, when did I-─”
“Man-seok, my disciple is talking.”
“Senior. But isn’t he making me look like a strange person right now?”
“Are you saying that my disciple is lying?”
At this, Kang Man-seok takes a step back for a moment, and then he lets out a dumbfounded “Ha!”.
“No way, you planned this all along.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Certainly, you have every right to hold a grudge against me, after all, I’m the one who benefited the most from your departure to Gangwon Province.”
Kang Man-seok looked at Kwak Chun-sik with a very dignified demeanor, as if he had realized that the position of Association President was not something he just got.
“Senior. I am the president of the Association in Korea. Even if you’re a senior, I think it would be better if you kept your manners.”
“Ha, manners? Manners…….”
He snaps his fingers and pretends to think about it, then he opens his mouth again.
“Haha, we’re all looking for civility. I knew it, and I brought it, ladies and gentlemen it looks like we’ve lost our manners.”
At Kwak Chun-sik’s words, the two old men who had remained silent until now stepped forward, raising their left and right hands respectively.
” Man-seok, have you forgotten that these old men’s nickname is Courtesy Injector?”
“There’s been a bit less support coming into Silver Town from the Association lately, have you really forgotten your manners?”
The atmosphere in the banquet hall turned cold in an instant.
It was an atmosphere that wouldn’t be out of place if a fight broke out anytime soon, but only I was able to watch the scene nonchalantly because one of the strongest old men in the country hadn’t come yet.
“Eugene.”
Choi Yeon, who was behind me, tugged at the hem of his robe.
“He’s here.”
“Yeah.”
Just then, the door opens and another old man appears.
Choi Yeon wipes the whipped cream from the corner of her mouth with a tissue and swirls her hands in the air.
“Grandpa, here.”
“Yeon! Grandfather is here, but……Chun-sik, Man-seok what are you two doing?”
Here he comes, another strongest old man, Sword Saint Choi Sun-ho.
“……Senior.”
“What are you doing?”
There was one thing about Choi Sun-ho that most people didn’t know: he placed a terrible importance on relationships.
Growing up in the Chun Sword Family, he took the hierarchy for granted and always criticized others when they broke it.
“If I’m not mistaken, you’re talking down to Chun-sik, who is the of the ‘same generation’ as me?”
“Oh, no, it’s not like that…….”
“I think we need to talk for a minute……Chun-sik. The kids are eating here, so why don’t we go outside and talk.”
“That would be great. Let’s go.”
“Oh, yes, we should.”
“That’s good.”
After answering that, the younger brother suddenly walked up to me and patted my shoulder with a cheeky smile on his face.
“That’s right. Eugene, study hard.”
“Ah…… yes.”
“Train hard! Your senses are a gift from the heavens, and if you cultivate them, you’ll be strong in no time. Do you understand?”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Now, let’s go. Don’t disturb the kids from eating.”
The log-like forearms of the two old men wrap around the association president’s shoulders from either side and drag him away.
Kicking up a storm, the old men disappear from the banquet hall.
“Grandpa looked angry…….”
Choi Yeon, who was meekly watching the scene from the side, muttered with an expressionless face, then sat back down and began to devour her dessert like she always did.
When I thought about it, I wondered what the heck she was doing risking her life eating dessert when something like that was happening right next to her…….
“Hmm?”
I recognized the shape of the dessert from somewhere, but it must have been from the Recipe Development Club.
No way, is she eating that because she knows there’s an added benefit to the dessert?
“Let’s just eat…….”
For some reason, I got hungry.
* * *
As a result, the closing ceremony was handed over to Park Yoon-ho, who is the vice president of the Academic Department.
Apparently, the Dean followed the other seniors out the door and didn’t return.
I contacted Kwak Chun-sik to ask him about this, and he said that it was no big deal.
After giving the president a group “scolding,” he went to have a drink with Mr. Sun-ho, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time.
The president got caught up in it and followed them.
As a result, my plan to call the elderly and heroes in Gangwon Province to pressure the president of the association was successful.
I hadn’t prepared the plan from the beginning but I was able to come up with this plan because I saw the president and Lee Won-ho speaking earlier and Ji-hyun’s expression of anger.
Ji-hyun was sent to Gangwon province to bring back the elders.
With the elders on his back, Kwak Chun-sik enters the banquet hall and openly flaunts his relationship with me to keep the association president in check.
In the process, Choi Yeon’s supportive shots at her grandfather also played a big role.
This must have made the president and the other heroes who stopped by think twice about who I am.
From a second-rate student at the academy to a disciple of Mr. Kwak Chun-sik.
From a student who was thought to be merely outstanding to a student with something.
‘Untouchable’
I have become untouchable and the benefits of this were manifold.
The respect of the Academy’s president and pro-Academy teachers and flaunting of my presence while the hostile forces were unable to mess with me.
The growing influence of the Familia, of which I am the head of, is a bonus.
“Summit War…….”
Suddenly, I hear Jin-woo muttering next to me.
“What?”
“The Summit War. Don’t you know, boss? It’s when the strongest people in the world come together to fight a war. What just happened in the banquet hall is a normal war. Great heroes from the past come to the Academy’s sprouts and bring peace.”
…… It seemed like there was a lot of nuance to it, but it wasn’t all wrong, so I think I got the gist of it.
“But why doesn’t peace come to us, why do we have to take classes until the day of the freshman welcome!”
He exaggeratedly screamed, as if he were in a Shakespearean play.
True to Jin-woo’s word, after lunch and the closing ceremony in the banquet hall, we returned to class and waited.
“You can’t help it, after all, if you don’t go to class now, you’ll lose progress, and since you’re missing mentoring, you’re making up for it with internet lectures, right?”
Progress matters……and nothing can stop it.
There’s still time left in class, but Se-ah, who’s been listening to the lecture online, takes out her earphones and joins the conversation.
“By the way. Are you listening to the lecture? I heard that if you don’t fill it out, you’ll be absent.”
“Oh, that’s right, I play games all the time. Isn’t that enough?”
She sighs with a fed-up look on her face when Jin-woo answers with a casual answer.
“What about the exams?”
“Exams? Cramming will do the trick. It’s just that it’s weird to have to listen to every single lecture like you, right, boss?”
“Huh?”
Se-ah’s gaze is drawn to me by a sudden arrow.
……If I say that I only play, Jin-woo’s shoulders will rise and Se-ah will be disappointed, right?
It’s times like these that I have to stay calm and say the best answer.
“……For the exam, of course.”
“Look, you’re the only one playing the game!”
“No, this is totally normal!”
I don’t go to lectures because I know most of the content, but if Jin-woo flunked the test, his club activities would suffer.
“Make-up classes? I didn’t hear anything about that!”
“Well, it’s a given……so why don’t you go over it now, you do have to take the midterm after all.”
In response, Jin-woo looked determined and clenched his fists as if to make a promise.
“……I believe in you, future Jin-woo, future Jin-woo, take care of yourself!”
He must have been cursing the Jin-woo of the past.
I was passing the time by chatting with the kids.
Young-jae, who had been called outside by the instructor, entered the class with a sigh.
“Can everyone please pay attention?”
With only a few minutes left in the class, I knew it was a message to get the kids’ attention.
And as if to confirm my suspicions, Young-jae opened his mouth.
“The class we were supposed to have, Basic Medical Technology, was canceled due to a lab shortage. So they’re replacing it with another class.”
Another class?
I questioned.
“They want us all to move out of the academy for an outdoor class.”
Young-jae was annoyed to death while I sighed and said, “Okay.”