The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

"Rough?! What do you mean, rough! That was some seriously good fighting, wasn't it?"

Bristling at the harsh verdict tearing down my kids, I raised my voice.

But the Diamond Team members only exchanged uncomfortable looks.

In the end, Han Jewoon stepped in.

"Whoa whoa, calm down. We're not putting the little ones down. On raw destructive power and combat instincts alone, they'd put most veteran Hunters to shame. And Lee Sea-ah anchoring and calling out orders was sharp too."

"Th-then why, what was rough about it?"

Han Jewoon crossed his arms and asked back, serious.

"Be honest with me. The little ones — they've never actually cleared a Gate from entrance to boss room entirely on their own, pacing themselves the whole way, right?"

I was struck speechless for a moment.

The kids had, up till now, focused mainly on single-encounter training or bringing down strong opponents. Come to think of it, even the fight just now had been strictly a boss-room scenario.

When I nodded, looking caught out, Han Jewoon clicked his tongue.

"Thought so. Ms. Kim Sunja likely focused her teaching on mana handling and individual combat too. But…."

He turned back to the guild members.

"When you're actually clearing a Gate, what's the most important thing on a raid team?"

The moment the question landed, the members answered in perfect unison, as if on cue.

"Rhythm."

"Right."

Han Jewoon nodded and continued.

"And I don't mean the shallow version — party members timing their skills together. I'm talking about the big-picture rhythm: from the moment you enter the field until you open the boss-room door, how you dole out and manage the whole party's stamina and mana across the run."

He jerked his chin at the kids catching their breath, sprawled in the middle of the training ground.

"Right now those little ones are dumping every card in their hand. Hit an actual Gate's Zone One field mobs like that, going full-throttle, and they'd bottom out on mana before they even reached the boss-room threshold. Total wipe."

He fixed me with sharp eyes and drove another point home.

"On top of that, every position on a raid team exists for a reason. Tank pulls aggro, dealer strikes through the opening — that kind of organic coordination. But right now the little ones aren't even thinking about roles; they're just hell-bent on hammering down whatever's in front of them."

"…"

"Bottom line — judged as Hunters on individual ability alone, the kids might be top-tier. But as raid members who need to move as one unit? Complete washout."

Honestly, it was the natural result.

I'd focused only on building up their fighting power so they could survive as individuals. I'd never once taught them how to form a party or coordinate as guild members.

"Still… back at that A-rank Gate that went into overload, the kids did all right, didn't they?"

At my defensive mumble, Han Jewoon shook his head firmly.

"That was thanks to me and San inside — and Jihyeok outside — pacing the whole party. If Cha Yul or Kim Sihyeok had carried that early tempo all the way through? They'd have keeled over before they even got a hand on the boss-room door."

Not one word of it was wrong. Left with nothing to say, I stood mute, and Han Jewoon drove the nail in.

"If those kids are going to pull their weight as guild members, they need to stop with the just-blast-out-power training and start learning where they fit in a party, and how to link up organically."

The advice landed like a verdict, and a heavy silence settled over the training ground.

"…"

A tangle of emotions churned inside me.

We may officially be a guild now… but honestly, I'd rather not send the kids into Gates if I can help it…

But the future was the one thing you couldn't see coming.

If the kids were going to be certain of surviving whatever hard road lay ahead, teaching them properly starting now was probably the right call, wasn't it?

Watching my face darken further and further as one thought chased the next, Han Jewoon let out a small laugh.

"That was the painful feedback on where they stand right now."

He gave my locked-up shoulder a light tap and flashed an easy smile.

"The bottom line? You've got nothing to worry about. Why are you digging a hole for yourself? You're the luckiest bastard alive."

"……what?"

I lifted my head, blank, and he jerked a thumb at himself and grinned.

"Korea's Rank 1 Guild Master — that's your friend right here. Ha ha! Nobody in Korea knows guild training methods better than me."

"!"

After solidly reassuring me, he turned to the Diamond Team standing behind him and roared out,

"All right! With that settled — Bawi Guild-style practical training starts now!"

"Ooh! Let's go!"

Kang San let out a hearty shout and slammed his fists together.

"Ha ha, just leave it to me! I'll teach 'em tanking from A to Z, no shortcuts."

Choi Juran wore a combative grin as she rolled out her shoulders, and Cheon Sarang, with her trademark languid smile, nodded silently.

Last of all, Seo Jihyeok let out a deep sigh and pushed his glasses up.

"Haaah……. This was clearly supposed to be a guild workshop, and yet here we are…. Well, polishing top-grade rough stones has its own kind of appeal, I suppose. Might as well do it properly — it could double as material for the guild academy later."

And so, Bawi Guild's merciless mentorship of the kids kicked off.

The training was split rigorously along the standard raid positions: close-range dealer, ranged dealer, tank, and healer — four sections.

With members of the number-one guild — each standing at the top of their specialty — running the sessions, the pinpoint tutoring was on a whole different level.

[Close-Range Dealer — Han Jewoon, Kang San & Yul, Sihyeok]

"Can't just pour on the power! Ya gotta know when to pull back too!"

At Kang San's shout, Yul and Sihyeok closed in from left and right like beasts on the hunt.

But their devastating combo was stopped dead by Han Jewoon's sword, with laughable ease.

Clang—! Clang—!

Han Jewoon flicked the sword with one hand, parrying both their attacks perfectly.

It was the overwhelming ease of a grown-up humoring a couple of kids at play.

"Hard hits aren't everything. If you go full power before the tank's even pulled aggro, who do you think the monster's gonna look at first? Hit and pull back, control the tempo — and only when the tank cracks an opening do you drive it in for real!"

[Ranged Dealer — Seo Jihyeok & the Twins]

From the far end of the training ground, an impossible distance away, Seo Jihyeok opened his spellbook.

"The core of ranged damage is 'aim.'"

On Jihyeok's calm words, a fireball shot out of the spellbook, tracing a sharp arc through the air.

The fireball slammed into the dead center of the virtual target with unnerving precision and detonated.

"In any situation, hold your point of aim precisely, without a tremor."

Watching that eerie arc, the twins' eyes lit up.

"Woooow! Us too! We can do it too!"

A beat later, sharp chunks of metal — lifted into the air by the twins' telekinesis — traced Jihyeok's arc perfectly, as if on cue, and slammed into the target.

[Tank — Choi Juran & Sea-ah]

"Sea-ah! A tank isn't a sandbag that takes hits for everyone else. A tank is the party's solid shield, and its widest-angle eyes!"

Choi Juran barked as she firmly corrected Sea-ah's stance.

"You've got great instincts for reading a whole battlefield, so you're going to be better at this than anyone. Deflect the monster's attacks, and open up the 'angle' so your party can deal damage safely! Keep the positions of the dealers and healers behind you in your head at all times, and hold the formation!"

"Yes! I'll try!"

Under Choi Juran's booming coaching, Sea-ah put up a huge, supple barrier, determination burning in her eyes.

[Healer — Cheon Sarang & Suho]

"……burn through mana like that, and when a real emergency hits, you'll be running on empty……"

Cheon Sarang chided Suho — sweating buckets — in that trademark languid voice of hers.

"Pouring 100 mana into a little scratch is a waste. Let me show you the right amount to use……"

She reached out languidly, and a faint halo of light bloomed in the air, forming a visualized flowchart of ideal mana usage against wound size and depth.

"Weigh your party's remaining HP against how serious the situation is, precisely…… split and distribute mana efficiently — just enough to keep them alive and still fighting…… that's what a real healer does……"

"Yes! I'll keep that in mind!"

"Whoaaa! Director, they're all so cool!"

I was watching the training in contented silence when Ari came up, eyes sparkling, with Kim Sunja leaning on her cane.

"The Bawi Guild boys are working with them personally? Their combat experience is the finest in the country — this'll be an excellent education for the children."

"Ma'am. Good to see you."

I bowed, and Kim Sunja — eyes still fixed on the training ground — tossed out, casually,

"So you've gone and got one of them second-awakened — planning to really put them through their paces now?"

"!"

Watching me start violently, she snorted, incredulous.

"You think my eyes are just for show? A child's vessel opening up that far, her energy shifting like that — no way I'd miss it."

Listening to her mutter, I turned my eyes over to Sea-ah, still training.

The desperate scene from the vision on the day the child had shattered her limit and reached second awakening drifted through my mind of its own accord.

But as I traced back through the memory, a strange sense of wrongness suddenly surfaced.

Wait. Come to think of it… back then I transmigrated into a kindergarten teacher's body, didn't I?

At the time I'd been so focused on surviving the moment that I'd let it slide without a second thought — but looking back now, it was flat-out strange.

Don't tell me… I awakened too?

Against all reason, my heartbeat picked up.

I hurried over close to Kim Sunja.

"Ma'am! Could you use Root Sight on me, just one more time?"

"Out of nowhere? I already checked you when we first met."

"Something might have changed recently. Please, just look me over one more time!"

Kim Sunja clicked her tongue at the sudden request, but a spark of interest crossed her eyes.

Sweep.

Her sharp gaze combed over every corner of my body.

Swallowing dry, waiting for the verdict, I watched Kim Sunja's brow furrow.

"W-well? Do you see anything?"

She stayed silent a while longer, examining me, and her brow twitched almost imperceptibly.

"……remarkable."

Remarkable? At that one short word, my heart began pounding like mad.

Don't tell me — did I really awaken? Since I'm a transmigrator, does that mean my ability is transmigration itself?!

Struggling to contain the swell of emotion, I waited, eyes shining, for the next verdict.

But.

"……not a speck of dust different from the first time I looked at you. Perfectly identical. Truly remarkable."

"……huh?"

Pshhhhh—.

A phantom sound seemed to echo in my ears — like a plump balloon deflating in pitiful defeat.

Under that firm, merciless verdict, my sky-high expectations went cold and plummeted straight to the floor.

Of course. A delinquent villain, awakening — as if.

Just as I was, shoulders slumped, swallowing the bitter disappointment —

"But listen. I did think it was odd back when we first met…… you're a little different from your average non-Awakened."

"What? What do you mean, different?"

Kim Sunja fixed a serious gaze on my chest.

"Normally, in my eyes, I can see an Awakened's white core and the flow of mana through their body, clear as day. And a non-Awakened — that spot is completely empty. But you……"

She frowned.

"The core spot isn't empty. There's something black clumped up there. That's definitely not normal."

Something black, clumped up?

At the unexpected lead, my heart — quiet a moment ago — started pounding again.

"You. Have you ever had the Awakened test done properly?"

"The Awakened…… test?"

"Yes. The one that measures the mana level in the blood. Mainly used to screen young children who haven't realized they've awakened."

She shot me a pitying sidelong glance, as if to say and you call yourself a research institute director.

I turned my eyes away and weighed it up inwardly.

The original novel's Chae Junhyeok would definitely have taken that test.

He was a man who'd craved power more than anyone.

With the means to run the test whenever he wanted, he'd almost certainly drawn his own blood dozens of times.

"Yes, well…… I probably have."

I fudged it, and Kim Sunja clicked her tongue.

"If no mana turned up in the blood, then you're non-Awakened. My eyes must be getting old and seeing things."

I bit down on my lip.

The second I get back, I'm drawing my own blood and running the test.

The pile of things waiting back at the institute was a mountain.

The blood test was one thing, but more than anything, finding the guild a new home was the urgent priority.

The thought of the headache-inducing road ahead had me swallowing back a deep sigh.

That was when.

Bzz—! Bzz—!

A loud buzz rang out from my pocket.

The caller on the screen was Lee Jinwoo, who'd stayed back at the institute.

"Hey, Number One. What's up?"

I picked up, casual.

But the voice on the other end was the polar opposite of my relaxed manner.

[D-Director! Big trouble! T-turn on the news — right now, turn on the news!]

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