The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

The Sunshine class at lunchtime was, as always, a small battlefield.

"Teacher! I finished all my food by myself!"

"Aww, our brave Minjun! You're getting so good with your spoon too — great job!"

I gave him a thumbs-up and ruffled his hair. He seemed pleased by the praise, puffing out his little chest.

"Teacher! Look at this! I made a flower ring in the garden earlier!"

Iseo, our class's little princess — wanting to show off something of her own — held out a ring she'd woven from clover in the flowerbed.

I made a deliberate show of it.

"Wow! Iseo! You made this all by yourself? It's so pretty!"

"Hehe, right? I'm going to show Mom and Dad later!"

She wiggled her fingers proudly. She was so adorable I gently stroked her hair.

"Of course you will — Mom and Dad are going to love it."

"Teacher, Teacher! I caught an earthworm!"

Off in the distance, Hayul — covered head to toe in dirt — was running toward me, thrilled, clutching something tight in his hand.

"Ack! Hayul, that's yucky, yucky! Drop it right now!"

Amid all the noise and commotion, listening to each kid's story and helping with their clumsy spoon-work, I completely lost track of time.

After the whirlwind of lunchtime, a good round of play, and putting all the kids down for their nap, I could finally catch my breath.

The hallway was quiet.

I leaned against the window, watching the kids sleep like little angels.

Their cheeks, rising and falling with even breaths, were flushed peach-pink in the sunlight.

A contented smile crept onto my face without my realizing it.

Just then, a warm voice came from behind me.

"Look at that grin — your face is about to split. You love those kids that much? Our Mr. Kim looks about ready to settle down and get married himself~"

Startled, I whipped around — the principal was standing right beside me. I gave a sheepish laugh and scratched my head.

"Haha, I don't even have a girlfriend yet. And right now, more than dating... I'd rather focus on the kids a little longer."

I looked back through the window, at the children sleeping without a care in the world.

"I just want them to keep growing up like this — unhurt, untroubled. To me, that would be the greatest happiness."

My earnest answer drew a hearty, kindly laugh from the principal, who gave my shoulder a light pat.

"I've been in this line of work for decades, and I've never seen anyone care about the kids as sincerely as you do, Mr. Kim. I mean it."

I was about to say thank you when—

Ngh...!

A sudden pain hit and I staggered, pressing a hand to my temple.

When I came to my senses, the principal was gripping my arm, worried.

"Oh no, not again...! Are you really all right?"

I forced a smile.

"I'm fine. I think it's because I haven't been sleeping well at night lately."

It was a lie.

Recently, headaches with no clear cause had become alarmingly frequent. Even at the hospital, all they said was that it was stress-related — no real answers.

"Ugh, can you manage the outdoor activities this afternoon? If it's too much, I'll have the teacher next door take over."

I forced another smile at the principal's concern.

"No, I promised the kids. It's not a problem."

By afternoon, the kindergarten playground was full of children's laughter.

"Teacher! More! Blow more, please!"

Every time the soap bubbles I blew caught the sunlight and shimmered in rainbow colors, the kids burst into giggles and reached out.

They bounced around trying to pop the bubbles that puffed up like cotton candy, and it was so adorable a smile spread across my face without my noticing.

"Okay, this one's going to be huge!"

I took a deep breath, about to blow a giant one—

A sharp ringing pierced my ears and the world lurched sideways.

Ngh...!

The intense pain came back and my hands went straight to my head.

While I swayed on my feet, Iseo, right beside me, grabbed the bubble bottle and blew as hard as she could. Dozens of bubbles scattered on the breeze, and the kids gave a cheer and chased after them.

"Whee! So high!"

"Yeah! Got one!"

Every child's eyes were on the sky.

And Minjun, at the very front of the pack chasing the bubbles, was running straight out through the open kindergarten gate.

The sight snapped me back — even the throbbing headache forgotten.

"Minjun!"

I shouted and took off after him.

But my shout didn't reach him.

The moment I stepped out past the gate, everything seemed to slow down.

A black car tearing around the corner at full speed.

A driver who clearly hadn't seen the boy — not slowing at all.

And a small child, frozen in terror in the middle of the road, facing down that huge hunk of metal.

He was swallowing back a cry that was about to burst out; he turned to look at me and barely managed to get the words out.

"T-Teacher..."

I ran after him, shouting his name one more time — my voice almost a scream.

"Minjun, no!"

The throbbing headache didn't matter. My unsteady legs didn't matter. There was only one thought: I had to save him.

Screeeeech—!

With the horrifying sound of tires clawing at asphalt, I threw myself forward with everything I had.

The moment I clamped the boy's small body tight to my chest — BAM! — an earth-shaking impact hit, and a pain like every rib in my side being crushed washed over me.

For a moment, every sound in the world went dead.

A strange floating sensation, my body lifting into the air.

Sky and ground spun and flipped over each other — and for that moment, I forgot the pain entirely.

The brief release lasted only until gravity yanked me back down.

A dull, heavy impact knocked the wind out of me and filled my mouth with the metallic taste of blood.

"Ah!"

My body was slammed mercilessly onto the asphalt like dead weight.

As my consciousness faded, I could see the boy's face in my arms.

Thank god. He's not hurt.

That was the last thing I remember.

"...ector. Director? You need to wake up now."

A low voice pulled at my mind, hazy as fog.

Along with a splitting headache, I forced my heavy eyelids open.

"...Ugh."

A groan came out of my mouth — one I didn't recognize as my own.

I lifted my head toward where the voice had come from.

The first thing I saw was a man in a white lab coat. His face was blank, but he radiated the unmistakable air of someone who found me a nuisance.

"The experiment is about to begin. Let me show you to the VIP seat — please, this way."

Beyond his shoulder, dozens of monitor screens glowed.

The other researchers seated at the monitors gave me a brief glance, then went back to their screens, snickering quietly among themselves.

But something else caught my attention far more than they did.

A massive glass wall directly in front of me.

Only then did I realize I was in something like a control room out of a movie.

"Where the hell am I..."

I couldn't make sense of it.

I was sure I'd just saved that kid on the road...

Minjun!

My mind snapped awake.

Where was Minjun? I jumped up and looked around, but there was no road, no familiar kindergarten, no Minjun anywhere.

As I searched the room in confusion, my eyes locked onto a stranger's reflection in a mirror sitting on the desk.

Brilliant blond hair and cold golden eyes.

A handsome face, but with the look of someone with a nasty temper, staring back from the mirror.

I don't look this mean, do I? No — more importantly, that guy doesn't even look Korean. Why is his hair so blond, why are his eyes—

Panicked, I looked down — and saw a name embroidered on the pristine white coat I was wearing.

[Nest Research Institute — Director: Chae Junhyeok]

The moment I read that name — Chae Junhyeok — with my own eyes.

A bell seemed to toll inside my head, and old memories came storming back.

A kindergarten classroom flooded with sunlight.

It was that quiet moment before the kids arrived, when I had a bit of time and was looking at my phone.

"Oh my, Mr. Kim. What's got you so absorbed?"

The principal, peering at my phone screen over my shoulder, asked.

"SSS-Rank... Hunter... in the Ashes?"

She looked like she was reading alien script; I nodded with a sheepish smile.

"Ah, it's a web novel I've been reading lately — nothing beats it for passing time. Would you like to check it out? It's really good."

That's right. My favorite novel.

SSS-Rank Hunter in the Ashes.

And the human garbage I despised most in that whole story — Chae Junhyeok.

He was, honestly, a pathetic and thoroughly despicable bastard. Especially to me — a kindergarten teacher — he was more sickening than any villain in the world.

How could anyone tolerate a man who treated children — kids who should be loved and protected no matter what — as his personal toys, who took the pain carved into their small bodies as his own entertainment?

And on top of that, relying entirely on his father — the story's final villain — he commits every atrocity imaginable, only to be brutally killed by the protagonist in the end.

And I'd become that Chae Junhyeok?

"No way..."

My heart plummeted. Then the one on the other side of the glass had to be—

I looked up desperately, staring through the glass.

An iron chair sat in the middle of a cold, metal laboratory.

And on it, a black-haired boy.

"Ah..."

I knew that boy all too well.

The protagonist of the web novel I'd been reading.

Cha Yul.

As if he'd felt my gaze, the boy — bound in restraints — slowly lifted his head, and beneath the dark hair were blood-red eyes that seemed to hate everything in the world.

He shouldn't have been able to see out from in there, but the moment my eyes met his — those eyes that looked like they saw right through me — I understood.

The horrific ending of a villain in a novel had become my future.

That's when it happened.

The researcher standing beside me cut into my thoughts, pressing me to move.

"Director, the scheduled experiment time has already passed. The whole thing is being held up because of you — please, move to the VIP seat right away."

But I just stood there in a daze, still unable to grasp what was happening.

Then someone's irritated voice cut in.

"Forget it. Just start."

That was the signal — an emotionless voice rang out through the control room.

"Test Subject 01, injecting awakening energy. Begin recording."

Behind the reinforced glass, a huge mechanical arm descended from the ceiling and clamped onto the boy's thin arm.

The boy fought back desperately, trying to break free, but he was no match for the machine.

A sharp needle drove mercilessly into his pale forearm.

"Hnn, ah...!"

An agonized moan burst from the boy's lips.

His red eyes blurred with tears and his gaunt body began to convulse.

Beep! Beep! Beep! A piercing alarm shook the entire control room.

Every graph on every monitor turned red, breaking past the maximum limit, and warning messages flashed wildly.

"Resistance spiking! Energy waves unstable!"

"It's fine — keep injecting! The data right before overload is the most valuable!"

The researchers' frenzied voices drilled into my ears.

This wasn't an experiment. It was outright abuse.

No.

Something snapped inside my head.

"Stop — stop it right now!"

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