The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

Her words snapped me back into focus.

The pent-up energy needed somewhere to spill out.

But this was a courthouse.

If Yul cut his power loose here, the blast would sweep us all up — a disaster, no question.

Somewhere safe… and somewhere he can smash and blow apart to his heart's content….

Only one place came to mind.

The institute…! I have to get him to the institute's training ground!

"Yul! Just hold on a little longer… I'll let you use your mana…!"

I pulled the limp Yul in tight and shot to my feet.

The institute was a fair distance from here.

There was no time to waste.

"Move! Everyone, move!!!"

I plowed through the crowd and started running for the exit like a madman.

That was when.

"Witness Chae Junhyeok!!"

Someone called out to me, urgent.

"Witness Chae Junhyeok!! Stop!!"

A man came crawling out toward me on all fours, caked in dust.

It was the chair.

"Where do you think you're going?! The hearing isn't over yet!"

"What?"

"Walking out of a hearing without leave! Leave now, and it'll be counted as abandoning your testimony — that'll work against you badly!!"

At the chair's shout, the reporters swarmed in like a pack of hyenas that had caught a scent.

Fwip-fwip-fwip—! Fwip-fwip!

"Director Chae! Where are you going!"

"Just one word, please! How did you stop the bombs!"

Blinding flashes burst without let-up, scrambling my vision.

"Ha…."

I was so stunned I couldn't even manage a bitter laugh.

Every second counted right now. A child was dying in my arms.

And that was what he was worried about.

"Move."

"Wh-what?"

"I said move!!!"

At the roar, the chair yelped and stumbled backward.

I glared at him with bloodshot eyes — and beyond him at the cameramen and reporters shoving their lenses at me — and shouted.

"The hearing? My life? Don't make me laugh."

I clutched Yul in closer, precious, and ground the words out.

"If this child dies… the law means nothing to me, and neither does my life."

"……!!"

"So shut your mouths and get out of my way."

I rammed the gaping reporters aside with my shoulder and tore off toward the exit again, running like mad.

But that wasn't the only mountain in my path.

Fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip-fwip—!

The instant I stepped through the door, the dozens — no, hundreds — of camera flashes waiting outside blanketed my vision white.

It was like a wall of white had gone up in front of me.

"Director Chae Junhyeok! What's the situation inside…!"

"What happened to the terrorists! Who's the child in your arms! What's his condition!"

Questions came pouring in like arrows.

Flashes bright enough to blind me, and a wall of people.

Yul's body was heating up like a furnace, and the world, blind with curiosity, was standing in my way.

Damn it…! Every second matters and…!

I bit down hard.

"Move! You want me to make you move?!"

I shoved the cameras out of my path, roughly, and screamed.

That was when it happened.

"Huh…?"

Someone grabbed my arm, hard.

I stumbled as I was pulled, and there stood a familiar red-haired man.

"Director."

Han Jewoon.

The moment I saw him, I shouted, frantic.

"Move! It's urgent! I have to get to the institute…!"

But Han Jewoon's eyes were already fixed on Yul in my arms.

"…Overload."

Veins bulging in lumps. The high fever. The convulsions.

"You're heading to the institute, right? Somewhere he can let all that energy out freely."

"Yes! You know, so get out of my—!"

"There's no time for that."

"What? What do you—!!"

I had no time to protest.

Uuung—!

The familiar, nauseating vertigo.

The sensation of teleportation.

My vision twisted and a weightless drop passed through my whole body, as if the ground had given way.

Pop.

When I opened my eyes, the acrid smoke and the barrage of flashes were nowhere to be found.

Instead, my eyes fell on a grand, refined marble floor and a splendid chandelier.

"Where's…?"

I looked around, dazed. Countless hunters stood staring at me with round eyes.

This was the main-hall lobby of Bawi Guild.

"G-Guild Master?!"

"Isn't that Director Chae Junhyeok beside him?"

Ignoring the stir rippling through the lobby, Han Jewoon pointed at a hunter standing by the entrance.

"Hunter Lee."

"Y-yes, sir! Guild Master!"

"Clear the No. 3 Forge right now. Get everyone using it out, seal it off. Have it ready to use immediately."

"U-understood!"

With that, Han Jewoon reached toward me.

And without a moment's hesitation, he plucked Cha Yul from my arms.

"I'll take him…!"

"Snap out of it, Chae Junhyeok. Right now you can barely stand."

At Han Jewoon's cold snap I found nothing to say.

He looked down at Yul in his arms and said, matter-of-fact.

"Nothing burns off over-absorbed energy like a real fight. And I'm the only one who can spar with him right now and keep it dialed to the right level."

"……."

"Don't worry about it. Wait in my office."

That said, Han Jewoon strode off with Yul in his arms.

Right, if it's Han Jewoon, Korea's rank one…

He could take everything Yul threw at him and still hold up.

Which meant….

Yul… is going to live.

Thud.

The tension went out of my legs all at once and they gave under me.

I sank down on the cold marble floor and let out the breath I'd been holding.

"Haah… haah…"

The truth was, I'd been afraid.

Afraid that I might really, permanently lose the boy who had been standing there so precariously, carrying my cowardly guilt for me.

The fear I'd been holding down ever since seeing Yul's back — standing alone after absorbing the entire blast — came bursting out all at once.

The hands I'd rested on my knees shook so badly I couldn't stop them, a pitiful sight, and every muscle in my body had gone slack — I could barely lift a finger.

The relief of knowing the child was saved washed over me like a tidal wave, and my eyes went blurry.

I stayed like that a long time, head down, evening out my ragged breath, when—

"Director? Are you all right?"

I looked up and there was the receptionist who always greeted me on my visits, gazing down at me with a face full of worry.

"Ah…."

Only then did some of my senses come back.

I looked blankly around, and the many hunters and staff in the lobby were watching me, holding their breath.

Of course.

Someone they'd been watching live on TV in the hearing chamber only moments ago had appeared in the flesh right in front of them — of course they were staring like they'd seen a ghost.

The large screen in the center of the lobby was still showing the courthouse, still a wreck.

The courthouse…?

A thought flashed through my head, and my heart lurched down into my stomach.

"The kids…!"

The other children were still back at the courthouse.

"I'm fine. Really, I'm fine."

I hastily waved off the receptionist's arm and pulled the device from my pocket.

Ring—. Ring—.

The longer the ringback tone dragged on, the drier my lips got.

Please, please pick up.

Click.

[Director!!!]

Lee Jinwoo's voice burst through the receiver.

"Number One! The kids! Where are you now? Everyone all right?"

[Yes! Thankfully we got all the children out and moved them into the courthouse waiting room. The other senior researchers are here with them too.]

"Haah…."

[Reporters caught the scent and came after us, but Researcher Kang Taemin is planted at the door holding it shut. They can't get near. Don't worry.]

"Number Three is? Good… well done. Really well done…."

With that build of Kang Taemin's, no one would be muscling through that door easily.

At my sigh of relief, Lee Jinwoo asked, cautious.

[Um… Director. Yul, is… is he all right? His condition earlier….]

"Ah, Yul's fine too. Right now… Han Jewoon is handling it."

[……Sorry? Guild Master Han Jewoon?]

"Yeah. He said he'd take the energy himself and carried him off."

[Ah…. R-right, of course.]

Something in Lee Jinwoo's voice on the other end came across strange.

Doubt more than relief — that was what came through.

For someone like Lee Jinwoo, who'd only seen Han Jewoon a few times, it was fair enough.

But I didn't have the strength right now to clear up that misunderstanding.

Even the energy to explain felt like too much to spare, so I just swallowed and asked what I needed to know first.

"How's the scene? What about those terrorist bastards?"

[Ah, most of them have been subdued. Only…]

"Only?"

[The one who looked like the ringleader and a few others seem to have used the confusion to slip away.]

"You let them go?"

[Yes. But by some huge stroke of luck, there were no fatalities. Only a handful of minor injuries. The government's taking scene control now, and the reporters are getting shoved out too.]

"And the hearing."

[A total mess. No official word from anyone yet on how to handle it. It was that huge a disaster….]

"Ha…."

I let out a deep sigh and shook my head.

An act of terror in the highest court in the Republic of Korea — during a hearing the whole nation was watching, no less.

Ridiculous, even thinking about it now.

What in the world had given them the nerve to pull something like that — and who was behind them — I couldn't even guess.

"All right… some of them are in custody, so I'll have to wait on what the investigation turns up."

I dragged a hand down my face and went on.

"Number One. Take the kids back to the institute. As soon as Cha Yul's stable, I'll head straight back too."

[Understood. Please… take care of yourself too, Director.]

Click.

The call ended. Only then did the last of the tension in me snap loose.

"Whew…. Put out the immediate fires, at least…"

I let out a groan and forced myself to my feet.

My legs felt like lead.

"Thank you for worrying. I'm all right."

I gave a short bow to the receptionist, who was still hovering anxiously beside me, and headed for the elevator on familiar feet.

Ding—.

The moment I reached the top floor, I opened the heavy door at the far end of the hallway without hesitation.

Creak.

The familiar scene beyond the door.

Antique furniture that was, for a young guild master, far too old-fashioned — and, frankly, a little gaudy.

I threw myself onto the leather sofa in the middle of the room without a second thought.

Whumph—.

The plush cushions caught my worn-out body.

"Ugh… I'm gonna die…."

I stared up at the ceiling, and the events of the day rolled past in a panorama.

From the suffocating hearing to the bomb attack, then Yul's sacrifice.

From here on out is the problem.

The suspended hearing, the interference from those government bastards — how was I going to handle it all?

I tried to run the simulations in my head, but my brain, already at its limit, had gone on strike.

I had no answer for the tide of sleep rolling in.

Just a second… I'll just close my eyes for ten minutes….

That was my last memory.

Before I could think another thought, consciousness cut out.

"Wake up!"

"Hah?!"

At the shout that split my eardrums I bounced up like a spring.

Outside the window, deep dark had already settled in, and only the flashy neon lights of the city center lit the room in a soft, muted glow.

And in that dim backlight—

"Must have been tired? Dropped clean off, like you'd been knocked out."

Han Jewoon was leaning against the window, snickering.

And beside him—

"……."

Yul was standing with his arms crossed, staring down at me.

But the look on his face was anything but friendly.

Lips pushed out in a pout, face full of a discontent that said something was very much not sitting well with him.

But before that sulk registered, what struck me first was the sight of him — the healthy little body of him — standing upright on his own two feet.

"Yul!!"

I practically rolled off the sofa and lunged at him.

"You okay? How's your body! Anywhere hurt?!"

I grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him this way and that, running my eyes over his face and body from every angle.

Checking whether any trace of the bulged veins had been left behind, whether the fever was coming back — my hands moved faster and faster.

At which Yul's pale face flushed a beet red in an instant.

"I-it was nothing! Why are you suddenly getting all creepy?"

Oops.

The usual Chae Junhyeok wouldn't have let this much show.

I hastily got my face back under control and cleared my throat.

"Ahem! Just checking whether my expensive doll got damaged. Anything breaks, that's my loss."

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