The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

Chae Junhyeok had been born into serious money himself, but not the kind of money that stretched to owning a private island.

Han Jewoon chuckled low, as though he found my dazed expression amusing.

"One island shocks you? If you knew what I pull in in a year, you'd pass out cold."

At the easy provocation I swallowed and asked,

"H-how much…?"

"Hmm…."

He crossed his arms and casually dropped a bomb.

"It's not what it used to be since I cut back on outside work these days. But — a decent country's annual national budget, give or take."

"…!"

I'd been sitting there dazed under the sheer weight of that number, and his casual question snapped me back.

"No — the island isn't the point right now! I'm not joking, I have to get back to the institute right away. I've got an important meeting today, and a mountain of paperwork to sign off on—!"

Just as I was scrambling to get up from the bed —

Thunk.

Han Jewoon pressed my shoulder firmly and sat me right back down.

"Bringing up work when you've come all the way out here? That's cheating."

"But still—!"

"The kids literally called me up begging me to please give the Director some rest — you're not planning to throw cold water on that, are you?"

Unable to bring myself to answer, I hesitated, and Han Jewoon added, driving the nail in,

"If it really eats at you, just think of it as running a workshop for the kids."

"A workshop?"

"Yeah. Well, 'field trip' probably suits the little ones better."

He gave a light shrug and went on.

"Head somewhere with a nice view, spar with each other, learn how to work with your abilities. And more than anything, rest up and just play. Have you ever taken the kids on a proper outing?"

The question caught me completely off guard.

Looking back, since I'd woken up in this body, I hadn't once taken the kids outside the institute purely to have fun with them.

At best there'd been a short picnic in the institute garden, the trip to the hearing venue, and the outing to the ruins of District Eight. That was the whole list.

…I really am the worst as a teacher…

Back in my kindergarten teacher days, making happy memories for the kids every single day had been the baseline.

But here it had been different.

Endless training, brutal public evaluations, even running Gates.

I'd only ever been fixated on their survival and rapid growth, and driven them accordingly.

"So they can stand on their own as fast as possible" was a thin excuse — I was, after all, these kids' one and only guardian, the person responsible for them.

This won't do. Resting and playing well are part of growing up too.

A tight ache settled in one corner of my chest, and only then did it really hit me.

Just how badly we needed the setup Han Jewoon had laid out for us right now, and how grateful I was for it.

A private island where no one knew us.

A perfect resort and training ground rolled into one, where the kids could cut loose with their abilities without a single worry about outside eyes or threats.

Once my thoughts got that far, a quiet guilt crept in.

"Ah, ahem…. Looks like this was supposed to be your guild's workshop — are you sure it's really okay for us to butt in?"

"Ha, a little late to bring that up, isn't it?"

Han Jewoon let out an incredulous laugh, then set the teasing aside and gave me his trademark easy smile.

"I already told you. Helping each other out is just what friends do. So don't feel sorry about it."

At that firm statement, I couldn't bring myself to answer, and my lips just moved silently.

Friends, huh…. Do I even dare share a word that big with Han Jewoon?

In the original novel, he was the perfect savior for the children who'd been driven to the edge — a real "adult."

Whereas the me here was Chae Junhyeok, one-of-a-kind trash of a delinquent unmatched anywhere on earth.

And once I helped the kids escape someday, I'd be left as a worthless nobody, no more use, no more role…

Whether someone like me had any business coveting a place this far above my station.

Just as my head was spiraling into a bottomless tangle of self-doubt, one thought chasing the next —

Snatch—!

Suddenly a big hand grabbed the back of my neck and yanked me sideways.

"Whoa!"

In an instant a solid forearm had wound around my neck; caught in a light headlock, I could only blink up at him, wide-eyed.

Han Jewoon ruffled my hair roughly and clicked his tongue.

"Off spiraling on your own again. I can read every thought right off your face, you know."

"No, I was just—"

He shut down the excuse before it could come out, then let out a small laugh and went on teasingly.

"You know I'm technically Korea's number one, right?"

"…I know."

"So drop the pointless thinking and focus on just one thing. Whether you want to be my friend, or not."

He's asking if I want to be his friend?

The perfect adult I'd admired so fiercely while reading the novel — my second-favorite character — and me?

Beyond the surreal feeling of it all, a strange thrill welled up.

I knew it was greed above my station.

But honestly…

Maybe I'd been hoping for this the whole time, ever since the moment I first laid eyes on him at the banquet.

"…When Korea's number one is willingly offering to be my friend, there's no reason to say no."

I'd tried to play it off with some Chae Junhyeok-style swagger, but my voice came out so thick and choked it embarrassed me.

"See? Would've been way easier to be honest from the start."

Han Jewoon ruffled my hair one more time playfully and let his arm slide loose from around me.

His eyes crinkled into an easy smile, and he clinched it.

"Really looking forward to working with you now, friend."

The word was corny and overwhelming both at once; I fought down the urge to get carried away and cleared my throat.

"Ahem, ahem…. Yeah. Likewise."

Just as the warm mood was ripening —

"Khhh…… hic, hic-hic-hic……! Your burning friendship — both of you — it's so moving I'm crying…!"

"……gah!"

I jumped, startled by the sniffling from the corner of the room, and whipped my head around.

God knows how long he'd been standing there — Kang San was scrubbing his eyes with his sleeve, sobbing shamelessly.

"You— you, you were still here?!"

"Waaah! Yessir! I've been here from the start! In all my life I've never seen our boss get this warm with anybody! I, Kang San, will support your beautiful friendship with all my heart!"

Why the hell are you the one supporting it!

My face flushed hot with embarrassment, and just as I was about to yell —

Whoosh—!

With a crisp sound, the tightly-shut door slid open.

"Direekturrr!!!"

A pile of kids poured in and dove onto the plush bed like rockets.

"Guh!"

Knocked flat on my back, I lay there while the kids bounced up and down beside me, their cheeks flushed apple-red.

"Director! You all done sleepin' now?! Sleep good?"

"Director, we're up in the sky right now! We're going to another country in a plane, right? Wow!!"

"This is a whole different world from the plane we took from Jeju to Seoul! It's crazy roomy in here, there's a separate playroom and dining room and everything. It's totally insane!"

Behind the youngest ones and Ari — words pouring out of them nonstop — the three older kids, the ones in charge of being sensible, stood watching quietly.

But their faces were just as bright with excitement as anyone else's.

Yul and Sea-ah were working hard to keep their expressions indifferent, but they were busy stealing glances all around the cabin, taking it in.

And even Sihyeok had practically glued his nose to the window, lost in cloud-watching.

Kids will be kids…

Watching them this excited, I even caught myself thinking, absurdly, that maybe getting kidnapped had been a good thing.

Just as I was watching the kids with a warm smile —

Click, click, kkk—

[Ah, ah, this is your captain speaking. We'll be arriving at our destination shortly. All passengers, please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts.]

The announcement rolled out over the cabin speakers with a light mechanical chime.

"Wooooo! We're theeere!"

"Director! Hurry! Hurry! Come here!!"

The moment the announcement ended, the kids swarmed over to the window and plastered themselves against it.

I climbed out of the bed too, threaded my gaze between the clustered little heads, and looked out.

And my mouth dropped open.

"…that's… a private island…?"

Far below the clouds, in the middle of a vast expanse of deep blue sea, an enormous island rose up in unreal, imposing splendor.

It was nothing like the uninhabited island I'd been imagining.

Emerald water so clear it hurt to look at, and dazzling white sand.

At the heart of a thick palm forest, a massive estate sat there like someone had picked up a whole five-star resort and dropped it in place.

A luxurious earthly paradise that proved Han Jewoon's line about earning a small country's yearly budget wasn't just bluster.

But what really floored me was something else entirely.

Behind the estate, an enormous domed building — looking like a whole mountain had been carved out to make it — stood there, planted like it owned the place.

"…what the hell is that ridiculously huge building behind it?"

Han Jewoon glanced at my trembling fingertip and shrugged like it was nothing.

"The training ground, obviously."

"You can't mean… that whole building is a training ground?!"

The place looked far bigger than the headquarters training grounds of most large guilds.

I could only stand there gaping, unable to contain my shock.

A private training facility on that insane scale — on a remote island he might visit a few times a year at best.

Well past mere wasteful spending — this was pure, awe-inspiring rich-guy nonsense, 100 percent.

Before I could climb back out of that staggering brush with real capital, the charter plane touched down smoothly on a private runway laid out along one edge of the island.

Whoosh—!

The plane door opened, and before the stairs leading down to the ground had even fully deployed, the kids shot out like bullets.

"Woooo!!"

My heart plunged at the sight of them barreling down the steep steps.

"Careful!"

Just as I rushed to scramble after them, panicking —

The instant the kids, carried by momentum they couldn't rein in, flung themselves off the last step into empty air —

"Kids!"

"Kyaah!"

"Fusion — [Mud Cushion]!"

Along with a shout from somewhere, the dirt at the base of the stairs and a swirl of blue water energy tangled together in a heartbeat.

Boing—

Bounce, boing-boing!

"Whoaaa!"

"Ha ha ha!"

A huge, plush mud cushion sprang up from the ground and bounced the kids gently, catching them safely.

"…Director?"

Just then, past the kids' peals of laughter, a decidedly bewildered voice reached me.

I turned my head to find Seo Jihyeok, in his usual immaculate suit — never a wrinkle out of place — standing there looking flustered.

"Director, why on earth are you here?"

"…I got kidnapped too."

Having nothing else to offer, I could only fall back on that as an excuse.

At my earnest explanation, Seo Jihyeok's eyes went straight to Han Jewoon coming down the stairs.

"……"

Under the direct hit of that look, Han Jewoon quietly slid his eyes to a distant point on the horizon and pretended not to notice.

Watching him look so blatantly guilty, Seo Jihyeok pressed a hand to his forehead, let out a deep sigh, and spoke in a voice at once perfectly polite and terrifyingly cold.

"I'll be borrowing our Guild Master for a moment."

"Huh? Jihyeok. Hold on! I've got to give the little ones a tour of the island—!"

Without waiting for an answer, Seo Jihyeok seized Han Jewoon's arm and started dragging him off.

Once the two of them had moved off to a far corner of the runway, only broken shards of their conversation drifted my way on the stiff sea wind, scattered and intermittent.

"……internal workshop… outsiders…! Exposure…!"

"No, the kids… asked… how could I refuse…"

"Then… ahead of time… get in touch…"

The longer the distant conversation dragged on, the fiercer Seo Jihyeok's face grew, and the more visibly Korea's number-one-ranked Han Jewoon shrank.

A little while later.

"Whew."

Leaving Han Jewoon behind — soul wrung dry by his subordinate's ferocious lecturing, gone bone-white and crumbling to dust.

Seo Jihyeok neatly straightened his tie and walked over to me.

Then, the murderous, ready-to-devour-someone expression from moments ago gone without a trace, he clipped on a perfect business smile and gave me a polished bow.

"Word reached me late and I wasn't able to prepare properly. Welcome, Director. It's a genuine pleasure to have you."

A voice at once smooth and crisply disciplined.

But having watched the terrifying flip in demeanor in real time, I felt a sharp survival instinct running down my spine and made a firm vow to myself.

…no matter what happens from here on out, do not, under any circumstances, cross this man.

Whether they even noticed the situation unfolding next to them or not —

Meanwhile, the kids were going absolutely wild.

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