Chapter 126

Chapter 126

She wasn't expecting me to swing a shotgun at her, and her body goes flying through the air but she quickly spins around and paws at the ceiling, bending her knees to minimize the impact, then lunges toward me.

"What kind of cat are you?"

A move like that in midair is unimaginable to me.

She's incredibly light and incredibly flexible.

I point the shotgun at her, ready for the counterattack that's sure to follow.

-That's it.

Ji-hyun's voice came from the speakers, and the sensation of the tension in the arena's field dissipated.

It wasn't hard to guess why she'd stopped the duel.

"Ah."

Choi Yeon sighed as she looked at her sword, which was nowhere to be seen.

Her sword had been shattered, not only from blocking Billy the Kid's Shotgun at close range, but also from the numerous overzealous moves she'd made to change the odds.

"You're okay with that sword shattering? It looked like a pretty good sword."

"......Yes. My grandfather said it used to be his, but it must be weak because it's old."

No, I don't think it's broken simply because it's old.

That was my expectation, but seeing that there weren't even any broken pieces of the sword left, I wondered if some kind of defense mechanism on the sword itself couldn't hold up and broke.

"If it's your grandfather's, wouldn't you be scolded?"

"Yeah......a little nagging."

A little nagging?

"I'm afraid that's it for now. We can't continue the duel, can we?"

"......I haven't gotten to play yet."

"The sword is broken so I've lost. Isn't that right?

Just then, the door to the dueling hall opened and Ji-hyun walked in.

"Look at this place. How can this be a freshman fight? It looks like a war."

The interior of the duel room is dented and broken by Choi Yeon's sword marks and mine.

I'm sure it could all be repaired with the press of a button, but it was certainly a bloody scene.

"Well, according to the rules, I guess the first one whose weapon broke lost. If you don't like the outcome, you can just come back with another sword and continue."

I could see the remnants of popcorn dust at the corners of her mouth.

She was clearly enjoying our duel but Choi Yeon shook her head.

"No. I don't think I'll be able to fight properly with a sword got in a hurry."

"Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing. Who would have thought that such power could come from that old gun?"

After saying that, Ji-hyun looked at the Billy the Kid's shotgun, which was still in my hand, and shuddered.

"This weapon is ridiculous........Now get out of here. I need to repair the room."

As I and Choi Yeon exit the arena, a smiling Se-ah holds out a tablet to Choi Yeon.

"Here, sign here and here, please."

"......Huh?"

Choi Yeon was dumbfounded by the tablet suddenly held out to her.

In response, Se-ah smiled and told her.

"It's an application to join Familia. You heard the instructor, if you don't play by the rules, you lose. That's why you're joining, right?"

Jin-woo mumbled in disbelief.

"Why do you think you're the favorite? Were you always close to Choi Yeon?"

"I'm the only girl in a club with three guys so I'm a hundred times better than being with a jerk like Jin-woo, right?"

"What, a bully──"

"──Come on, Choi Yeon. Please sign here as well, okay~ Let's get along in the future!"

At the sight of Se-ah neatly ignoring the useless sounds and saying only what she wanted to say, Jin-woo let out a scream, and by the time Young-jae was able to stop him, a mess was being made.

"Eugene."

Choi Yeon, who had just finished signing the papers, called my name.

"Next time, when I've finished the sword from the materials you gave me."

......didn't give up after all.

"Well, given the circumstances, I might do it, but is that it?"

"Huh? What?"

"Well, if you join the club, you'll be able to fight whenever you want."

"......ah!"

Choi Yeon looked genuinely shocked, as if she hadn't thought of that.

"Then by all means."

"Yeah, yeah."

There's no harm in a little confrontation.

Since Choi Yeon had joined our club, her development could be said to have strengthened the power of 'Familia'.

"Of course, it's hard if I'm busy."

"Oh......."

"Just kidding."

Anyway, I'll be busy in the future, so I should focus on work rather than dueling for the time being.

"Welcome to our club, Choi Yeon."

I'll raise you well──

* * *

In the end, by admitting Choi Yeon to the club, I succeeded in filling the maximum number of five members of the Bronze Club.

[Name: 'Familia' (Corleone)]

[Rank: Bronze]

[Family members: 5 / 5 (needs a rating boost!)]

[Subsidiary Organizations: 5]

[Environment: Very Good]

[Club members are very satisfied!]

Affiliated organizations are growing steadily, and I've already filled the Familia Members cap.

The only thing left to do is to get promoted to Silver.

Based on our performance scores so far, we're pretty much guaranteed to make it to Silver, but I've done everything I can to prepare for it now, even asking Julie to contact me if she thinks something might happen.

From now on, all I had to do was hunt down every single one of them.

"Mr. Eugene."

"Huh?"

"Didn't you hear? They want us outside for first period physical education."

"Oh, yeah."

Now, let's focus on school.

Today's first period was physical education.

It was a class designed to measure physical strength and ability, or to improve athleticism, and it was for the entire first grade.

As I changed into the Academy's gym uniform and headed outside, I saw other students in gym uniforms.

"They don't look too happy, maybe it's because it's PE in the morning."

"The midterms are just around the corner and the teachers want to check their performance before then."

It turns out that the academy actually uses this data to assign appropriate opponents to each student to determine point allocation, so it's actually a more important event than I thought.

As I walked under the shade canopy, I could see my classmates warming up.

'No Choi Kang-hyun today.'

He's running late.......

It's been three weeks since he was taken by Mr. Young Ho-hum in Busan and it was enough to make me wonder if he had died during training.

Well, it could have been the other way around.

"No, stay down there!"

"I'm tearing my muscle! I'm tearing my muscle! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!"

In the corner, Jin-woo is still doing his freaky thing, and Se-ah is watching him pathetically and nagging him.

Apparently, the other kids were also working in pairs to help each other stretch.

Meanwhile,

"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!"

There was a child warming up with no help from anyone but her own abilities.

Sitting on the floor, her legs and arms stretched out in front of her, the golem pressed firmly against her back.

I gently walked over and pressed down on her back.

"Now, just press that hard for a second......hee, hee?! Yu, Eugene?"

"Why are you stretching by yourself?"

"Well, because it's easier for me to do it this way......! Oh, that hurts! That hurts!"

"Oh, sorry."

I pressed down gently, but it must have been quite painful for Marie.

When I removed my hand from her back, she let out a grunt of pain and stood up.

"Seriously, I'm a Puppet Master who fights with summons, so I don't see why I need a health check."

"Because a Puppet Master who can run around and do evasive maneuvers is stronger than a Puppet Master who can't do it.

"Well, that's a bias, because why run around if you're protected by a Puppet in the first place?"

"Indeed."

Indeed, after graduating from the academy, she became a Puppet Master, earning the name of the Immovable Army.

But if her physical abilities had been better, she might have been called the Army of Speed instead of the Immovable Army.

"Even if you can use your abilities to cover for your physical strength, you never know what you'll encounter in the real world, so it's better to have basic physical skills."

"......I'll try, if that's what Eugene says."

Of course, as long as she's in our class, I'm going to keep an eye on her, so I'm not too worried.

After all, I had fostered a Puppet Master a few times before.

Above all, she needed to get stronger for the "second class ranking match" in the second semester.

At the moment, our class is stretching under the shade, unlike the other classes who are stretching under the sun.

This little bit of discrimination helps the other kids in the class burn off some steam.

-Focus.

Just then, a voice came over the loudspeaker in the gymnasium.

All freshmen who have completed their warm-ups are now asked to gather in front of the lectern. Do it.

"""Go!"""

The voice belonged to none other than Bear Grizzly. He was the instructor in charge of the survival class not long ago.

One by one, the students began to gather in front of the lectern.

When he finally saw all the first years standing in front of the lectern, he nodded and picked up the microphone in his hand again.

-Today, as previously announced, we will conduct a physical fitness test. There will be a total of four measures: power, mana and aura (energy), speed, and defense. Students should visit their respective instructors for measurements. Do it!

"""Do it!"""

The Measurements of Hell, or PESD as it's known in the community.

These tests, which are also about measuring the limits of your character, are nicknamed such because they really push your character to the limit and require a lot of mental strength from the players.

Of course, now that I'm doing them in real life and not in a game, I'm only using my strength, not my mind.

Remembering that the most efficient order for PESD was Aura, Defense, Power, and Speed, I headed straight for the E-measuring station, where mana and aura were measured.

The line was already long as the aura and mana were glistening in front of me.

And then.

"You're calling this garbage aura, eek."

"The mana is good, but it doesn't have enough power. Next!"

"Eh? Fuck off!"

For some reason, I hear a familiar voice in the testing room.

If anyone I know uses this tone of voice, it's definitely.......

"......?"

Why are you here?