The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

[How did you come up with a stroke of genius like that! Here your old man was thinking, at best, of stopping mouths with money or quietly smoothing things over from behind the scenes…!]

Chae Ganghyeon shook his tightly clenched fist as if overcome with feeling.

['Secret auditor'! Hahaha! You landed a solid one right on those government bastards who were gunning for you!]

"Ah, well…."

Fair enough — in the end the Bureau had come out clean and Park Wonjin alone had shouldered the blame for the experiments, so from Chae Ganghyeon's angle, no wonder it felt like a rotten tooth finally pulled.

If anything, the Bureau had come out of this as the righteous body that dispatched an auditor to clean up the mess…. Public opinion had flipped clean over.

[Boo-hoo-hoo! Your mother up in heaven — she'd have been sobbing her heart out if she'd seen you today too! Just look how well our Junhyeok has grown up!]

[And pinning the whole thing on that Park Wonjin — well done, very well done. That's how a Chae ought to do it. For a greater cause, a man has to know how to sacrifice that kind of 'small ox'! Damn right!]

His face was clearly full of emotion as he said it — but somehow, it was a compliment that sent a chill down my back.

For a greater cause, snuffing out one life is nothing…. That's what he's saying.

Gooseflesh crawled up my forearms, but I let none of it show.

Instead, I gave him the most 'Chae Junhyeok' response there was.

"Dad, you think I'm an idiot or something?"

[Hm?]

"You thought I'd trip and fall over some prick like Park Wonjin? What do you take me for."

At that Chae Ganghyeon let out a cheerful "heh-heh" of a laugh, the picture of a doting father.

[Right, right. My boy had it all figured out, and your old man was fussing over nothing. Sorry, sorry.]

"Whatever. So what happens now? Don't tell me the hearing's about to open again?"

At my snappish jab, Chae Ganghyeon waved both hands hastily.

[No, no! I've settled everything cleanly with the government bastards. Nothing's going to bother you further from here on. I promise.]

"Hmph. Well, good."

[Only….]

Chae Ganghyeon slid a glance at me and let his voice trail off.

[The institute is going to be shut down, it seems.]^※TL Yessss finally

"……What?"

I threw the question back at him with feigned calm, but my heart had begun pounding like mad.

[Public opinion on the experiments is just too bad. The government's not going to stand for it either… and so the project, and the institute — all of it's going to be wound up.]

……Jackpot.

I barely swallowed back the cheer that tried to burst out of me.

To think even the institute was getting axed!

Of all people, Chae Ganghyeon — the man so obsessed with Second Awakening — I'd figured that even if he dropped the project, he'd find some way to keep the institute at least.

Both of them, shut down?

If the institute vanished, the biggest physical prison holding the children would vanish with it.

Could it be… I could get the children out for good, just like this?

I fought desperately to keep the corners of my mouth from twitching and kept the act going.

"What? That's ridiculous! What are you talking about?!"

I kicked the chair back, shot to my feet, and stormed around raging.

Like a little kid whose favorite toy had been snatched away.

"The institute, gone?!! Then what about my test subjects? Do you even know how much I put into raising those brats?! Right when the results are finally starting to show, you want me to toss the whole thing?! Never! Not doing it!!"

[Calm down! Calm down! Your father has a plan, that's why!]

At my foaming resistance, Chae Ganghyeon put on a show of flustered concern and soothed me.

[Do you think I don't know how attached you are to those little ones? That's why I'm thinking of putting a proposal to the government.]

"……What kind."

Please, please let it just be 'disposal' or 'release.'

But the answer that came back was a worst-case move that overshot even my expectations.

[The whole institute — brought inside the Bureau headquarters itself!]

"……What?!"

[We'll set up top-of-the-line facilities in the Bureau's underground bunker. Researchers, test subjects — the whole lot moves in there. That works, doesn't it?]

Chae Ganghyeon wore the face of a Santa handing over the best present in the world.

[The research continues, security's airtight, and best of all — you'll be that much closer to your old man. Two birds, one stone, eh? Hahaha!]

……Insane.

Of course. There was no way this bastard was going to let the children go quietly.

The Bureau headquarters.

That was Chae Ganghyeon's heart of hearts, a fortress crawling with his private soldiers.

The moment the children stepped in there, they'd be caged twenty-four hours a day inside hundreds of surveillance cameras and Chae Ganghyeon's own pupils.

Absolutely not. The moment they set foot in there, it's over.

Praying, I floated it out as casually as I could.

"But would the government even allow that?"

[……Hmm.]

Just as I'd expected, Chae Ganghyeon's face darkened in an instant.

[Truth is… the government bastards have been throwing 'principle' in my face and pushing back.]

He knit his brow and added, irritated.

[Underage Awakened, they say, are supposed to go to a 'guild-affiliated education center' or an 'academy' — 'that's the principle,' or some such. And on top of that, they're subtly leaning on me to send them under 'Bawi Guild.']

"Bawi Guild?"

Of course a government wary to the bone of the Bureau's power swelling wasn't going to sit still.

So — hand them off to a totally uninvolved third party. That's the play.

Cheering inwardly, I saw my opening and went in aggressive.

"Dad. Why are you so slow on the uptake?"

[What? Slow on the uptake?]

"Do you know how hot these kids are right now? It's been on TV — the whole country knows."

I thumped my chest as if exasperated.

"And you're going to drag them into HQ? Reporters will be camped outside twenty-four seven. When exactly are we supposed to do the 'Second Awakening' we want, then? With that kind of surveillance, no experiment, no anything, is happening."

[Hmm….]

The instant the words 'experiment' and 'Awakening' came up, Chae Ganghyeon's face visibly wavered.

[That's… true. If mice start sniffing around, it'll throw the research off track.]

He stroked his chin, sunk in thought.

[But that doesn't mean we can just send them to 'Bawi Guild' the way the government bastards want, either! We're the ones who need to be running experiments!]

"So why does it have to be Bawi Guild? Is that the only option?"

[Do you happen to have some idea in mind?]

He'd bitten.

I let a winning smile spread across my face and pulled out the card I'd prepared, cool as anything.

"We — no, I — can just set up a guild!"

"……!"

"A private guild with nothing to do with the Bureau, and the kids get affiliated under it. On the outside it's just an ordinary new guild, so the government has nothing to say, and the real power stays with us. Clean, right?"

I nailed it down.

"And we quietly prep for Second Awakening from there. Right?"

Right on cue, I worked the device and threw a legal clause I'd looked up in advance into the air.

[Hunter Law, Article 32, Section 4: A-rank and above hunters may establish personal guilds and may hold their own dedicated training facilities under said guild.]

"See? This way there's not a single legal issue!"

"…"

"…"

After a short silence, Chae Ganghyeon on the other side of the screen clamped a hand over his mouth.

[Junhyeok…!]

He was welling up with emotion all over again.

[Are you really not a genius? Using the law itself to sidestep the law! Your mother up in heaven should have seen this! Look how sharp our son's head is! Waaah!]

Thankfully the excruciating emotional-outburst mode ended before my face had time to rot all the way through.

And that was when.

Chae Ganghyeon's eyes shifted, ever so slightly.

[But, Junhyeok….]

"?"

[You aren't Awakened, are you? Don't tell me…. Have you Awakened by any chance?]

"……!"

For an instant, a cold shudder ran up my spine.

Chae Ganghyeon's eyes… held a strange, dangerous light I'd never seen in him before.

A visceral fear rolled up in me, but I forced that chill down and shouted back louder and even more insolently.

"Oh for — Awakened, my ass! Stop writing fanfic!"

I slammed the desk and blew up.

"I've got 'Kim Sunja,' don't I! That S-rank old hag!"

[……!]

"I put grandma in as guild master and I skim the whole thing from the back — problem solved. The kids all follow only me anyway, so what's the issue!"

Only after I'd worked myself up, veins standing out, and screamed at him, did the light in Chae Ganghyeon's eyes finally settle back to normal.

[Heh-heh, so that's how it is. You said it so brazenly, your old man got confused there for a moment. Kim Sunja, hm….]

He propped his chin on his hand and sank into thought.

I swallowed hard.

Eight years ago, one of the men who'd hounded and threatened Kim Sunja the hardest had been none other than Chae Ganghyeon. If he took against her now….

No. It'll be fine.

I pushed the unease away by force.

Through this hearing, it had been laid bare to the whole country that Kim Sunja was on my side — 'Chae Junhyeok's person.'

She was now a trophy and a shield that would burnish my name.

There was no way Chae Ganghyeon didn't see the value in that.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Without a word he drummed his fingers on the desk. A short silence stretched.

[Hmm…. Well, fine. That's not bad either.]

Calculation complete, he nodded.

[A guild whose master is an S-rank hunter unaligned with any side. Nice optics, and the justification's rock solid.]

"……!"

[All right. Guild establishment permits fall under our Bureau anyway, so I'll pull the strings. I'll have a word with the government bastards too.]

"Ha…. Should've been that easy from the start."

I let out an aggrieved sigh for show and, under the desk, clenched my trembling fist tight.

Shaved ten years off my life, that one.

The children had come within a hair's breadth of falling straight into Chae Ganghyeon's grip, but by the skin of my teeth I'd dodged the worst.

I steered the topic away naturally.

"Ah, and that one…. Park Wonjin. What happened to him?"

[Ah!]

Chae Ganghyeon clapped his hands and answered lightly.

[That Park Wonjin bastard? Thirty years. He'll grow old and die in prison.]

"Thirty years…."

That was a hefty sentence. As tail-cutting went, he'd chopped it clean off.

[And as for you, Junhyeok….]

He paused a beat and let it hang.

I swallowed dry.

A prison sentence was going to be tough to dodge, wasn't it? A suspended sentence would already be a gift.

Through the tense silence, he finally spoke.

[A fine… and fifty hours of community service.]

"……What?"

I doubted my own ears.

"Fifty hours of community service…?"

[That's right! Outrageous, isn't it!]

At the dazed sound I let out, Chae Ganghyeon mistook it for outrage and flew off the handle.

[They ought to be treating my hero of a son like royalty, and instead they slap community service on him! Those government bastards have completely lost their minds! I'll call the minister right this second and give him a piece of my mind—]

"……."

No, that's not it, I'm just shocked because it's so light.

Never mind prison, never mind a suspended sentence — just community service? Forget slap on the wrist; this was a tap with a cotton swab.

But I hastily buried the dumbstruck look and threw myself back into the raging act.

"Ha! Absolutely rich! Who do they think I am — community service?!"

I slammed my hand down on the desk and put on the aggrieved shout.

"After all I went through, and now they treat me like a criminal? Huh?!"

[You're absolutely right! I'll lodge another protest and get it wiped out entirely!]

No, don't wipe it. Fifty hours is a total steal.

Not only that, this 'community service'…. Played right, it looked like the perfect excuse to legally take the children out beyond the Gate.

Cheering to myself, I put on a look that pretended some of the fury had cooled and jerked my face aside.

"Whatever! Fine! Public opinion's on my side right now — don't scratch a scab and turn it into a boil. I can put on that much of a show."

I answered curtly, as if putting on airs of doing him a favor.

[Really? Well, if you say so….]

He seemed to be accepting it — and then abruptly narrowed his eyes and leaned in close to the screen.

[But you know, Junhyeok.]

"……What now."

[Watching the broadcast earlier, my son's acting was really something else.]

Chae Ganghyeon let out a strange smile.

[Especially that part — what was his name, Cha Yul? When you were clutching that brat and howling, it looked so real.]

"……!"

[Don't tell me…. You haven't actually gone and grown 'sincere' about those little test-subject brats, have you?]

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