The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

"D-Di-Di-Director…! Are we r-really okay here? Are we really going to be okay?!"

Lee Jinwoo, his face gone ashen, clutched at my sleeve from the back seat, trembling.

"Wh-what if you really do get hauled off…!"

Not to be outdone, Han Soeun grabbed a fistful of my other sleeve and screwed her face up on the verge of tears.

"Waaah, Director…! I really feel like I'm going to throw up… I wasn't even this nervous at my doctoral defense…! Ugh, I should've at least bought some calming pills…!"

With the two of them dangling off me on either side and whining, my clothes stretched out of shape like an old rag.

I slapped their hands off my collar, tak, tak, and snapped back, curt.

"Let go, would you? You're stretching my clothes all out!"

"Hng… but I can't help being scared…!"

"That's exactly why I told you not to come. Number One I brought because I need him, fine, but you, Number Two — how many times did I say you didn't have to come? I told you to stay and hold down the institute, and you wouldn't listen."

At my scolding, Han Soeun screwed her face up as if she'd been wronged and shot back, bristling.

"That's too harsh! You're heading off to that terrifying hearing — how are we supposed to sit around back at the institute with easy minds? We've got loyalty!"

I let out an incredulous huff of a laugh and glanced at the back seat.

"Fine. I'll grant you came out of loyalty, a hundred times over. But hauling the kids along, the whole lot of them — what in the world is that about? Is this a picnic?"

At my dig, Han Soeun's eyes went round and she fired back like she was the one with a grievance.

"So we're supposed to leave the kids dumped all alone at the institute? That place is a war zone right now!"

"……"

To that shrill cry, even I had nothing to shoot back with.

The institute the government audit team had trampled through in their boots was no place for kids to be right now.

The few researchers worth trusting would all be tied up either getting questioned or cleaning up the mess, so there was, in truth, nowhere to leave the children either.

And this was the result. Inside the eleven-seater van it was pure bedlam, packed tight as bean sprouts in a tub.

Only Kang Taemin, hands on the wheel, kept his eyes fixed straight ahead and turned the van as if he couldn't care less who was bawling and carrying on behind him.

With four adults and six kids crammed in cheek by jowl, the van was as loud as a market square.

The scene in the back seats especially ran exactly counter to the terror up front.

"Whoaaa! Hajun! Look outside! The buildings are super big!"

"Noona, I want that shiny thing…! It's so pretty…!"

"Wow, hyung! Yul-hyung! Is that the District One National Assembly? I heard if the lid on that opens up, a robot comes out!"

"Dummy. Like that makes any sense. It's obviously a lie."

The kids pressed their noses to the windows, shouting in wonder.

Not a trace of tension anywhere in them — pure, guileless innocence.

"Guys, sit still in your seats. You'll get carsick. It's dangerous, so face forward!"

Sea-ah's steady voice came through too, calming her younger siblings down.

Cha Yul, Lee Sea-ah, Kim Sihyeok, Park Suho, and the twins Seo Hayun and Seo Hajun.

The six of them were too absorbed in gawking at the glittering Seoul scenery through the windows to pay anything else any mind.

After a long stretch of driving, the van eased smoothly to a stop.

Beyond the window, the silhouette of a building loomed into view, massive and imposing.

[ District One Central Court ]

The heart of the Republic of Korea's judiciary, and the symbol of the power holding up this vast city.

"Hurk… l-look at all those people…."

Lee Jinwoo peered out the window, ashen-faced, and swallowed a yelp.

We hadn't even gotten out yet, but beyond the windows it was already a sea of people, packed wall to wall.

Beyond the police line, hundreds of protesters and onlookers, and reporters filling every last gap, swarmed like a colony of ants.

Their purpose was one and one only.

The Republic of Korea's foremost diamond spoon.

Chae Junhyeok — that notorious wastrel, the talk of the town for being the worst kind of trash.

They were a pack of hyenas that had flocked here to watch that arrogant man of power fall to ruin and get ground into the mud with their own eyes.

But the racket outside was nothing to me.

I unclipped my seat belt, unbothered, and looked back.

"All right, everyone, eyes up."

At the low call, the researchers and the wide-eyed kids who'd been gawking outside all turned to me at once.

"Things got tangled up, so I had no choice but to bring you along, but there's no reason for you to get mixed up in that circus out there. There's a waiting room set aside for you, so sit tight in there. Understood?"

"Yeees~"

"Number Two, Number Three. You two watch the kids."

I looked at the children, putting on a stern face for effect.

"And you lot, don't go crawling outside and causing trouble — stick close and stay put with them. Don't budge an inch until I call for you. Got it?"

Even at my warning, far from cowed, the kids answered stoutly and bobbed their heads.

"Yes! Don't worry!"

"You're the best, Director! Go do great~!"

"We're rooting for you!"

The kids pumped their little fern-frond fists and cheered me on, bright as anything.

At the sheer cuteness of it, a snort of a laugh slipped out.

"Right. I'll draw all the reporters off with me, so you park somewhere else and come in once they've cleared out."

I drew one deep breath and opened the passenger door.

Creeeak—.

The instant I set foot down.

"Fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip—!"

A cascade of flashes, blinding enough to wash my vision white, crashed over me.

A downpour of camera flashes, so relentless I couldn't even open my eyes.

And tearing through that curtain of light, the clamor of the reporters — like a pack of starving hyenas — and the roar of the enraged crowd erupted all at once.

"Chae Junhyeok, apologize! Apologize!"

"Lock up the devil who abused children! Lock him up!"

Beyond the control line, the protesters brandishing picket signs screamed their vicious chants, veins standing out, and the sound battered my eardrums.

Cutting through the din, the reporters lunged in, shrieking, each fighting to outdo the rest.

"He's out! It's Director Chae Junhyeok!"

Dozens of microphones thrust toward my face like spears.

"Director Chae Junhyeok!! Do you admit to the illegal experimentation charges?!"

"Is it true you used minor Awakened to go clearing Gates however you pleased?!"

"Director!! Did you get any private word from Bureau Chief Chae Ganghyeon today?! What do you make of the suspicion that this whole affair is a power struggle between the Bureau and the government?!"

"Are the kids your toys?! Murderer, apologize!"

The crowd's fury churned menacingly, as if they might hurl raw eggs at any second.

And the reporters angling to wring out some sensational sound bite.

Noise and heat enough to deafen a person.

In those glinting eyes I read plain 'greed.'

They had no interest in the truth.

It was obvious all they wanted was a 'juicy shot' — the 'wastrel Director' spitting curses or smashing a camera on the spot.

Amid the flood of questions and flashbulbs, I drew my collar neatly straight and gazed calmly ahead.

And then.

"……"

I slowly bent at the waist.

In that instant the shutters cut off dead and a hush fell over the whole place.

It was a perfect ninety-degree bow, so deep that even the protesters mid-scream faltered and broke into confused murmurs.

"First and foremost, I sincerely apologize to the public for the distress this unfortunate matter has caused."

"…What?"

The reporters' eyes went wide.

"I promise to cooperate faithfully and fully with the investigation into every allegation raised at today's hearing, hiding nothing."

"H-hold on, Director! What are you—!"

"Everything I have to say, I'll testify to in the hearing chamber. Please, watch and see. I ask for your understanding."

When I bowed my head once more, courteously, the reporters could only stare at one another, dumbstruck.

Step, step, step.

I crossed through the crowd as it parted, dazed, and walked toward the lobby.

Only then did the reporters snap out of it and come pouring after me.

"Wait a moment! Director! What did you mean by that!"

"Hey! That bastard's getting away!"

Behind me, the protesters' jeers and the reporters' shouts rolled in like a wave.

I climbed the last of the lobby entrance steps, then turned to look back once more.

And toward the countless cameras I left one last clean nod of the head before stepping into the courthouse.

At my back, the murmuring rolled in like a wave.

"Hey, what? That's really Chae Junhyeok?"

"Guy's supposed to be a total headcase — why's he so polite today?"

The wastrel's unexpected transformation.

Leaving the bewildered crowd behind, I tipped the corner of my mouth up a fraction as I pushed the door open and stepped into the lobby.

Thud—.

The heavy glass door swung shut, and the racket outside cut off as if it had never been.

A lobby floored in cold marble.

The moment I stepped inside, what greeted me was a cluster of men in matching black suits.

Courthouse security.

Every one of them broad-shouldered, earpieces in, sharp eyes glinting — the look of them was anything but friendly.

They planted themselves here on purpose.

Normally, when a high-risk witness like this shows up, protocol is for a security detail to close in the moment they step out of the vehicle and form a scrum around them.

But these guys hadn't shown so much as their noses while I was getting torn apart by the reporters outside — they'd stood there waiting with their arms folded.

The reason was obvious.

The Bureau, the government's bitter rival, and 'Chae Junhyeok' in particular — this was the petty spite of men who couldn't stand to do either any favors.

Before long a man who looked to be the leader of the pack strode up.

"You Director Chae Junhyeok of Nest, in the flesh?"

Talking down to me right off the bat, first meeting or not.

The usual Chae Junhyeok would have dumped a bucketful of curses on him.

But I was different now.

Today I had to be the most courteous victim in all the world.

"Yes, that's me. Thank you for your trouble."

At my polite greeting, the man's eyebrow gave a slight twitch, as if it caught him off guard.

But he wiped his expression clean soon enough and jerked his chin, curt.

"We're moving. Follow me."

He turned his back on me like a man marching in a prisoner.

I made to fall in behind them without a word of complaint.

That was when it happened.

I caught the youngest-looking one of them sliding the toe of his shoe into my path.

…How childish.

I could have avoided it easily enough.

But instead of dodging, I let myself trip over that foot, plain for all to see.

Crash—!

When I went rolling across the marble floor with a deliberate crash, the team leader up ahead flinched and looked back. The agent who'd tripped me looked down at me with a smirk curling his lips.

"Watch where you're going, why don't you. You'll want your body in one piece to make it through the hearing, won't you?"

Open mockery dressed up as concern.

I got to my feet without a word and brushed the dust off my knees, tak, tak.

Then I looked the one who'd tripped me dead in the face.

"My apologies. That was careless of me."

"?"

"I didn't realize there was garbage right in front of me. Figured a courthouse would be better kept."

"…What did you say?"

"The packaging's so slick it fooled me, is all. Dress it in an expensive suit and, at a glance, I took it for a person."

"Why, you son of a bitch!"

The guy's face went beet-red as he grabbed a rough fistful of my collar.

"A criminal, running your mouth? Need a beating to smarten up?"

He reared his fist up high, growling, ready to bring it down any second.

That was when it happened.

"Agent Kim. That's enough, hands off."

"But sir! This bastard started it—!"

"He's not an Awakened. Don't go flexing your strength on a civilian. That's a disciplinary offense."

The team leader glanced down at me with cold, emotionless eyes.

"And."

He paused a moment, then jerked his chin toward me and added, flat.

"He's not a convicted criminal yet. Apologize."

That pointed little 'yet.'

Agent Kim flung my collar loose and muttered it off half-heartedly.

"My apologies, then."

It was closer to a sneer than an apology, but the team leader turned to go all the same.

"You've got your apology, so that's that. Don't waste time — move—"

"Hold on."

I brushed my crumpled collar straight, tak tak, and called the team leader to a stop.

"Disappointing. Is this really the best the so-called heart of the Republic of Korea can manage?"

"…Excuse me?"

Agent Kim bristled again, but I let a sneer slip and cut back at him.

"If a single apology settles it, what do we need a courthouse for? You commit a crime, you pay the price."

"…Price?"

"Team leader, was it? You don't look stupid."

I stepped in close and whispered by his ear.

"It's true my standing right now is a witness under suspicion. But here's the thing…."

I looked the team leader straight in the eye and smiled, cold.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten my 'background' too?"

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