The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

"WHAT?!"

The peaceful stretch of rolling around and playing with the children shattered the second Lee Jinwoo leaned in and whispered.

"Park Wonjin broke out of jail? Does that even make sense?!"

It came out loud enough that the kids all turned, startled, to look.

I hastily got my expression back under control, grabbed Lee Jinwoo's arm, and yanked him outside.

The moment we hit the corridor, the fury I'd been holding down burst out.

"What kind of joke prison is that flimsy?! What is it, made out of paper?!"

"Please, calm down, Director."

Lee Jinwoo checked the surroundings, calm, and continued his report in a low, quick voice.

"Ambushed…?"

Not a simple escape. Meaning someone had helped him. My head began to throb.

Don't tell me… those terrorist bastards?

The 'Awakened Liberation Front' that had stormed the hearing chamber.

Was it them who'd spirited Park Wonjin away?

The thought had barely landed when a memory flashed through my mind.

The day of the hearing.

Park Wonjin, the one asking for a witness, had been checking the clock unusually often.

Nervously — like a man waiting for someone, or for 'some particular moment.'

"…No way?"

But there was no point turning it over any longer — no clear answer was going to come from it.

Forget it. Chewing on it now doesn't help.

He'd already bolted, and what was done was done. What mattered now was damage control and defense.

I looked Lee Jinwoo dead in the eye and gave the order, firm.

"Number One. Bump security to the maximum, right now. Don't let so much as an ant through."

"Understood."

"And triple the personnel on the children's area. Twenty-four-hour rotations, eyes never off. Anything happens, I want it reported instantly."

"I'll see to it."

Lee Jinwoo gave a short bow.

I let out a breath and shifted the topic.

"So the guild switch? How's that coming?"

"Ah, that's going smoothly. The Bureau should have approval through within the week."

Lee Jinwoo checked the tablet as he reported.

"The guild org chart is per your instructions — Kim Sunja as guild master, Chae Junhyeok as deputy guild master. All the children registered as guild members."

"And the researchers?"

"Per your instructions, all existing researchers have been redistributed across administrative posts and field-support teams. On paper they're guild operations staff, but internally we've set things up so the research can continue as before."

"Good. Clean."

But then Lee Jinwoo hesitated for a moment.

"Only… Director, there's one problem."

"A problem? What is it?"

"Under the relevant regulations, underage Awakened affiliated with a guild are required to complete mandatory training."

Lee Jinwoo pushed his glasses up, looking put on the spot, and went on.

"The classroom side… we can just run the curriculum the way we have been…."

"But?"

"The problem is the field side. There's a clause requiring them to clear a low-tier Gate once a month, for the purpose of 'practical-combat training.'"

"And?"

I asked back, unconcerned.

A Gate — you just go in and clear it, don't you? But Lee Jinwoo's face was grave.

"Our guild doesn't have an adult hunter to lead the children in with them, does it? Teacher Kim Sunja said she wants no part in guild business, and we obviously can't send the children into a dangerous place on their own…."

"What do you mean we don't? I'm here."

At that, Lee Jinwoo made a face that said this was ridiculous.

"Sorry? But Director, you're a non-Awakened…."

"Ha! You're too narrow-minded, Number One."

I clicked my tongue.

"You can't judge a man by his cover. I've got a solid 'ability' just as good as anyone else's."

"What… ability?"

"What ability, indeed."

I gave the ring on my finger a light tap.

Hum—

A black rift opened in the empty air, and a fourth-dimensional pocket unfolded.

A 'subspace artifact.'

Cascade — clatter, clatter!

I dumped everything I'd stashed inside the subspace out onto the desk.

Everything from the latest-model Mana Pistol, gleaming smooth in silver, to the Warding Jade Talisman that automatically threw up an absolute barrier in a crisis, to an Aegis Fragment.

"Money's an ability too, isn't it? Wouldn't you say?"^※TL Batman would agree

"…!"

"Just adding up the artifacts I've got right now, you're looking at billions of won. In pure gear terms, I'm right up there with a decent B-rank hunter. Shields, offensive pieces, healing potions — you name it, I've got it."

"B-but!"

Lee Jinwoo cried out, aghast.

"No matter how good the artifacts, clearing a Gate is a whole different order of problem! With zero combat experience, how are you supposed to—!"

"Don't worry about it. Experience — you just fill that in."

I shrugged, cutting him off.

"To do that, first… I'd better get used to somewhere manageable, right?"

"?"

"Since I've got community-service hours to burn anyway, look into 'closed Gates.' That's where the kids' first outing is going."

"Closed… Gates, you mean?"

Closed Gates.

Unlike Gates that vanish through a proper clear, these were Gates that had had a 'Gate breach,' spilled their monsters out into the world, and been left standing empty.

The inside was empty, but the surrounding area was contaminated by the leaked mana — a badlands where leftover monsters holed up.

A ruin where no one could live.

"Right. Guilds head into those contaminated zones now and then for cleanup work, don't they? Counts as volunteer service, and you take out monsters while you're at it. Two birds, one stone."

I smirked and added.

"We start safe, with a 'cleanup.' Perfect warm-up for me and the kids alike, wouldn't you say?"

"A guild?"

Sea-ah, who had been reading, snapped her book shut in disbelief.

Cha Yul, silently working out over in one corner, also stopped, swiped at the sweat running down his jaw, and stared me down.

"We're… guild members? All the kids?"

Sea-ah's eyes moved to the far corner.

Over there, three of the children were huddled together playing with dolls.

"Rooaar! Mister Lion is coming through! Out of the way!"

"Eeek! Run for it!"

Hayun brandished a lion plushie and roared, and Suho, holding a rabbit plushie, made a show of fleeing.

Beside them, Hajun watched, eyes wide as saucers, as if it were the most entertaining thing in the world.

A perfectly peaceful, silly, adorable scene.

Sea-ah watched them for a good while, then turned her head and fixed me with a look. A very suspicious one.

"……Director."

"Wh-why are you looking at me like that?"

"Did you hit your head on something at the hearing, by any chance?"

"……What?"

"I should've caught on back when you started saying weird things…"

Sea-ah pressed her forehead and shook her head.

Since I'd told Sea-ah some of the truth, the sharp hostility from before had mostly faded — but pity had moved in to fill the space.

Cha Yul, beside her, was the same.

He was scanning me, serious and suspicious, as if he were literally checking whether a bandage was wound around my head somewhere.

No, just curse me out instead. That look hurts worse….

I cleared my throat and buried the flustered feeling.

"Ahem! Nothing of the sort! The institute being dismantled was already locked in from upstairs. If I'd sat on my hands, you'd all be dragged off to the Bureau by now. Better under me than that, right?"

"So that's why you set up a guild? Because of us?"

The child's voice carried a mix of confusion and doubt.

I put on a stern face and hammered it home.

"That's right! And don't worry. The guild master isn't going to be me — I'm putting Teacher Kim Sunja, whom you all listen to, in that chair."

"……!"

"Once we're a guild, that hellish 'public evaluation'? Gone. And no more experiments, obviously."

At my words the children's eyes went round.

I knew what a terror the evaluations and experiments had been for them, so this announcement had to land harder than any reward could.

"……Really? No more experiments, honest?"

"That's what I said. Since it's a hunter guild we'll have to run Gates now and then instead, but that's got to be a hundred times better than getting needles jabbed into you, right?"

At that, the children's faces brightened visibly.

Set against their memories of institute life, apparently they'd come out on the side of "fighting monsters beats this."

As the mood loosened up, I added, playing at magnanimity.

"And one more piece of the best news for you."

The children's ears pricked up.

"At the start I'll have to tag along while things settle in, but once you're a little bigger, you won't need someone like me around at all."

I waved a hand as if it were a bother.

"By that point you'll hardly cross paths with me anymore. From where you're standing, that's the best perk there is, isn't it?"

I gave a small smirk and watched for their reaction.

The scoundrel Director was going to vanish from their sight — obviously they'd be thrilled.

Right. Drawing the line like this is the right move.

Even with the fence of a guild raised, Father Chae Ganghyeon's eyes were still trained on this place.

To get him to let his guard down, I had to act like I wasn't attached to the children — like my interest had gone cold.

Ease away. Naturally.

Widen the distance a little at a time, so the children could step out from under my shadow and stand on their own.

Only then, someday, would I be able to get them clean out of Chae Ganghyeon's grip.

But the reaction was… off.

"……?"

Why… don't they seem happy?

I'd expected them to be pleased, of course, but what was in the children's eyes wasn't joy so much as something complicated and hard to place.

A strange silence hovered in the air.

Thrown, I tilted my head.

"What's up? This is a good thing, right?"

"……Whatever."

Sea-ah worked her lips as if wanting to say something, then clamped her mouth shut and jerked her head away.

"……Fine. So how's this guild thing going to work, then?"

Her curt response left an odd taste, but I let it slide and clapped my hands.

"I'll explain everything to all of you at once. All right — attention, everyone! Gather round for a bit!"

At the sound of my voice, the children scattered around the Sunshine room came rushing over.

I gave them the same rundown I'd just given Sea-ah and Yul.

That the institute had turned into a 'guild.'

That from now on Teacher Kim Sunja was in charge.

And that there would be no more experiments or evaluations.

"Yaaay!! Really? No more evaluations for real?"

"No way! No more shots?!"

The children's faces flushed with delight in an instant.

Watching them so pleased, my own mouth twitched up despite myself.

Ha… we've come a long way.

Back when I'd first landed in this body, the children's future had held nothing but experiments and abuse.

But that was different now.

One solid step closer to getting them out.

I'd changed the children's fate.

The giddy thrill of it swelled up, heavy in my chest.

"Ahem, ahem!"

I cleared my throat pointlessly and tried to press the happiness down.

"Right, right. In exchange, since it's a proper guild, we'll have to do some real training. Might have to run some Gates from time to time, too."

I'd tossed it out lightly, trusting they'd take it in stride.

But the response that came back was nothing like what I'd expected.

"G-… Gates?"

In an instant, as if cold water had been dashed over it, the Sunshine room froze.

The color drained from every one of the children who'd been cheering only a moment before.

"D-don't tell me — is the Di-… is the Director going in too?"

Suho asked in a trembling voice.

I nodded, as if it were nothing.

"For a while, yeah?"

But I hadn't imagined that light answer would be the starting gun.

The children's reaction was more violent than I'd dreamed.

"Then no! Not going to a Gate! You got hurt! Waaaaaah!!!"

"Absolutely not! I don't want to!"

The twins and Suho — the youngest of them — plopped down onto the floor and burst into sobs.

Only then did it hit me.

Come to think of it, their first real combat had been, of all things, an A-rank Gate in overload.

The pouring hordes of monsters, the smell of blood, the terror of death.

What horror that hellscape must have burned into these small heads — I hadn't even begun to reckon with it.

Damn it…. Missing this. Some teacher I am.

A brief pang of self-reproach stabbed at me.

I swallowed the sigh, crouched down, and got to eye level with the children, faces streaked with tears and snot.

I wiped their tears with both hands and spoke calmly.

"Have I lost it? Going back somewhere dangerous like last time?"

I looked around at them reassuringly and hammered it down.

"We're never going anywhere hellish like that again. Only low-tier ones with very weak monsters, or safe 'closed Gates' that are already shut for good. So don't worry."

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