The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

These days, Lee Jinwoo couldn't so much as walk down the corridor to work without humming to himself.

He could feel the other researchers sneaking glances and whispering as he passed, but at the moment, none of it bothered Jinwoo in the slightest.

Because with each passing day, it was becoming clearer that he'd made the right choice.

Two months ago, when the Director had held out his hand and asked him to be on his side, Jinwoo had made the biggest gamble of his life.

Of course, he'd prepped an excuse or two just in case, but he knew better than anyone how dangerous a move it was to turn his back on the Deputy Director and take the Director's hand instead.

But the day after the Bureau Chief's visit, when a notice went up on the institute's internal network, he'd known instantly that his gamble had paid off.

[Notice] Re: Transfer of authority over Project R

As of today, all authority over [Project R] and the management of its subjects is transferred from Deputy Director Park Wonjin to Director Chae Junhyeok.

That single-line notice turned the entire institute upside down.

The project the Deputy Director had staked everything on — the heart of this institute — had, in one stroke, been handed over to the Director.

"In the end, isn't he just being given it because he's the son?"

A few idiots were still whispering things like that, but anyone with even a passing sensitivity to office politics knew.

They knew how much this project meant to the Bureau Chief.

There was no way he'd put someone in charge of it just because that someone was his son.

The idiots who'd finally caught on scrambled to switch sides, but—

Heh. Too late.

Because right there at the Director's side, firmly and unmistakably, sat Lee Jinwoo — his right hand.

Not long ago, he'd been officially transferred out of the Data Management team and onto the Project R team, which reported directly to the Director.

And on top of that, the Director praised me himself! Told me I'd done a good job!

Jinwoo remembered how moved he'd been that day... and let out a helpless, silly grin without meaning to.

Bzzt—!

Since his transfer, his handset had been buzzing nonstop.

Seniors who used to dump every scrap of grunt work on him and treat him like he was nothing.

Now those same seniors were flooding him with messages dripping with flattery, trying any way they could to get on his good side and pry information out of him.

Jinwoo ignored every notification and opened his old team's group chat.

[Data Analysis Team (4)]

Crazy Bastard 1: Jinwoo, you busy? Look, I wanted to ask... about Project R... does the Director have any plans to add more staff?

Crazy Bastard 2: What's the Director actually like up close? Is it true, like the rumors — he was faking it all this time?

Me: I don't think I can just talk about that.

Me: Though it might be worth reconsidering, seniors. Was what you saw of the Director over the last six months... really all there was to him?

Crazy Bastard 3: Hey rookie... you're kind of scaring me right now... did you hear something?

Me: I'm sorry, but the Director has told me not to talk about it.

Crazy Bastard 2: Rookie, just tell us this one thing. Are the rumors real? That the Deputy Director was played on purpose — that the Director acted like a screwup for six months just to let his guard down?

Me: What you see isn't the whole picture, seniors.

Crazy Bastard 3: Hey, you'd better spit it—

Me: I've been assigned to the Project R team now, so I should probably leave this chat.

Me: Thanks for everything, seniors.

[Lee Jinwoo has left the chat.]

Dropping hints like that is loyalty enough.

He could see it without looking.

Screenshots of his messages tearing through dozens of chatrooms like a storm right about now.

The goddess of luck is on my side. Betting on this hand was the right call!

Unable to hold in the laughter bubbling up, he stood in the middle of the corridor and let out a "muahahaha" out loud.

That was when—

Bzzz—

The handset in his coat gave a short buzz.

The words "Golden Lifeline" flashed on the screen.

The moment he saw it, the spine he'd been holding so straight folded on reflex into a deep bow.

"Y-yes, sir! Director! At your service! Lee Jinwoo here!"

Before he'd even finished, an exasperated voice cut in from the other end.

—At your service, my ass. Playing soldier? Never mind. Get to the Director's office. Now.

Beep, beep, beep... The call ended just like that. Jinwoo scrambled off toward the Director's office at a run.

The kids were in the middle of tearing around the containment room, playing.

Hayun, in the middle of hide-and-seek, caught her foot on a block on the floor and went down with a thud!

"Waaah!"

Bright red blood began to bead on the child's small knee.

Blood!

I was on my feet without thinking.

But Suho, who'd been drawing beside her, was faster.

He ran to the fallen Hayun and carefully laid his small hand over the wound.

"Hayun, it's okay. I'll kiss it better."

In that moment, a faint green light bloomed from Suho's hand.

As the light passed over her, the bleeding wound closed as if it had never been there, new skin covering it without so much as a scar.

And I saw it.

Suho's little palm, having healed the wound, for just an instant... went transparent, wavering like a heat shimmer.

"Hehe, thanks, oppa! It doesn't hurt anymore!"

At Hayun's bright cheer, Suho puffed out his chest proudly.

"I promised, didn't I? If Hayun gets hurt, I'll fix it anytime."

That was the moment.

The moment I saw Suho's bright, innocent smile—

A line from the original I'd forgotten about pierced my mind again, without warning.

[A corridor with red warning lights strobing madly.

"Oppa! Oppa! No!!!"

"Hyung! Please open this — please! Hyung!"

Cha Yul was desperately shoving his wailing younger siblings through the door as it fractured behind him.

It was the last stand an eighteen-year-old boy could put up.

In that very moment, with a kraaash!, the ceiling came down on top of him.

"Aghhh...!!"

Swallowing the pain, he clawed his way out of the rubble with everything he had.

The pain was almost enough to knock him out; he looked down — and what he saw wasn't anything you could call legs anymore. Just red-and-white ruin.

Ah... so this is how it ends.

Even through the horrific pain, the relief of knowing his siblings had all escaped flooded his heart.

Abandoned at an orphanage, then dragged into a hellish laboratory to be experimented on and abused — that had been the whole of his life, but at the end, at least, he'd protected them.

...It's fine. This is enough.

That was when — from the far end of the dust-choked corridor, a voice he should never have heard reached him.

"...Hyung!"

"You — how did you...! No, don't come here!"

But the child ran to him as if he hadn't heard a word, dropped to his knees in front of his crushed legs, and... played his last card.

As his own horrific wounds miraculously knit themselves back together, Cha Yul could only watch, helpless, as the child's glowing hands slowly turned transparent.

"Don't! Stop, please!"

The child brought his little hand up to Cha Yul's tear-wet cheek.

"Don't cry, hyung. You promised. If Hyung gets hurt, I'll fix it anytime."

The child smiled faintly.

"And we promised we'd go to the zoo together, too... we haven't done that yet... I won't die before we do... I promised..."

Cha Yul nodded frantically and screamed:

"Yeah — yeah, I'll keep the promise! So please... please don't close your eyes!"

Hearing that, the child broke into a bright, genuinely happy smile.

And still wearing that smile, he whispered the gentlest last lie:

"Hyung, I've used up too much... power... I think I need to... rest for a bit... go on ahead, hyung... I'll... catch up soon."

"No! Please... please open your eyes!!! Please!"

With those words, the hand that had been stroking Cha Yul's cheek fell limply away.

Cha Yul howled and grabbed at the child, but that small body had already begun to break into shining particles, drifting slowly through his fingers.

"No, you promised! Don't go...! Don't go!!!"

Legs perfectly restored.

And Cha Yul — who now had no reason left to stand — screamed into the empty air where nothing remained.]

"Director? Director! Why are you crying all of a sudden? Does the Director hurt somewhere too?"

I felt a small hand carefully tugging at my sleeve.

"Should I heal you?"

At those words, I finally pulled out of the swamp of that horrific memory and lifted my head.

Every child in the containment room was looking at me.

And there in the middle of them... Cha Yul was watching me with his brow furrowed, and Suho was still looking up at me with a worried face.

The moment I saw them, my heart plunged straight through the floor.

The nameless child from the original — the one who had died in Cha Yul's place.

...That child was Suho.

That — that was why the name Park Suho had barely registered anywhere in my memory of the story.

He was a child sacrificed before the real story had even begun.

...Ah.

I couldn't hold on any longer.

I lurched to my feet and, all but fleeing, threw open the containment room door and ran out.

I braced my back against the cold reinforced glass, sank down where I stood, and cried out loud like a little kid.

This won't do.

My original plan had been modest.

Over the eight remaining years, prepare the children for independence, get them out of the institute, and just avoid the horrific-death ending.

But now — my safety? None of that mattered.

There was no time to wait out eight long years.

The children had to get out of this hellhole as fast as possible — even a day sooner.

But to pull that off... one lowly kindergarten teacher acting alone had no shot.

To set the first piece of the plan I'd built overnight in place, I called Lee Jinwoo in the moment the sun came up.

"You called for me, Director!"

Within five minutes of the summons, Jinwoo came running in, out of breath.

"Newbie. Anyone useful around you? Someone with the ability to help me with my little game of house."

At my words, Jinwoo's eyes lit up.

"Of course! There have been some colleagues from my intake who've wanted in on the project!"

...Intake?

I turned that over in my head.

If they're from Lee Jinwoo's intake... they'd be newbies who haven't been here long either.

"Yeah? Bring them in."

A little later, the colleagues Jinwoo had mentioned came into the office.

At the sight of the woman who walked in first, I lost my words for a moment.

...So this really is a novel...

Cotton-candy pink hair, huge glasses covering half her face, and a face so worn it looked like she hadn't slept in days.

But what overpowered all of it was the look in her eyes.

She was looking at me like she'd finally found some unknown research subject she'd spent her whole life hunting for — with a look of awe and dogged intensity.

Following her in was—

Whoa...

A man who had to duck his head slightly to keep from hitting it on the office doorframe.

Close-cropped hair, a jawline sharp as a blade, and a body under that lab coat that not even the coat could hide — hard as rock.

He looked less like a researcher and more like a soldier back from the front.

Jinwoo introduced this surreal pair with pride in his voice.

"Director! Allow me to introduce them. My intake mates, Researchers Han Soeun and Kang Taemin."

"..."

"These two are the colleagues I trust most. They helped a great deal with the containment room renovations, actually."

The moment Jinwoo finished, Han Soeun took a step toward me.

Her cheeks were faintly flushed with excitement.

"Hello, Director. It is truly an honor to meet you."

Her voice was polite. Her eyes were... not.

The instant I saw that look, a phrase that had been all over the internet a while back came straight to mind.

...So this is what they mean by "the clear-eyed lunatic."

Behind those crystal-clear eyes, an undertone of quietly-cracked madness was glinting away.

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