The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

"Oh my! Director! What brings you here?!"

Ma Dohee had come flying over from across the lobby, face bright — but the moment her eyes settled on my right arm, that expression began to harden, slow and unmistakable, like paint bleeding across a page.

What? Is this person an Awakened too?

The kind of reaction that picked out a scar invisible to ordinary eyes in a single glance.

Before I could even swallow the question down —

Tap-tap-tap!

She sprinted over with unnerving speed and clamped a hand around my right arm.

"……!"

At the sudden, unexpected move, Kang Taemin — standing behind me — flinched on reflex, his body going rigid.

"Director, what on earth happened to your arm?!"

"Ah…. It's nothing……"

"Nothing?! Your arm's in this state…! Ah, that beautiful arm! And I wanted to be the one to…!"

Huh? Did I mishear that just now?

Thrown off by the sudden physical contact, I caught Ma Dohee's suppressed muttering slithering into my ear, snake-like and eerie.

"…at the courthouse, the mana suppressors must have hidden it… some fucking bastard, how dare he…. Aah, I should've made my move ages ago…."

Pupils just slightly out of focus.

A chill crawled up my spine, and I hurriedly pulled my arm free and changed the subject.

"Never mind that. What brings you here, Ms. Ma Dohee? A government official — what business would you have at the Bureau…?"

But no answer came.

"……."

"……."

In the silence, Ma Dohee was still staring fixedly at my right arm.

"Um, Ms. Ma Dohee."

"……yes, Director?"

At her slow reply, I gave a light cough and tapped a finger toward my own face.

"If it's not too much to ask, could we do this eye to eye? I'm up here."

"Oh, s-sorry!"

Only then did Ma Dohee snap out of it; her eyes flew up to my face.

The dark, entranced look from a moment ago was nowhere to be found — in an instant she'd painted her usual bright, breezy smile back on.

"I came for a meeting! The government and the Bureau might be baring their teeth at each other every day, but on the practical side there's a mountain of stuff to coordinate. But what are you doing here…? Oh, business with your father?"

"Yes, well. Something like that."

"Is it about that press conference? Honestly! I have no idea why the Chief is so hell-bent on hassling his own son. Second awakening or not, so what — why make such a fuss?!"

I blinked at the refreshingly novel reaction.

All of Korea — even the Bawi Guild members — had their eyes burning at the very words "second awakening."

"Ms. Ma Dohee…… you're not curious about second awakening?"

"Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious at all, but honestly, I can't really say."

She shrugged and continued.

"I'm an Awakened myself, but there are things in this world way more important than a second awakening…… and way more tempting, you know?"

I thought I caught an odd look sweeping over me, but it was gone so fast I couldn't be sure.

"Ahem, anyway, forget about that! I hear you've been having a headache turning the institute into a guild? I know you don't get on with the government, but I'm always on your side!"

She grinned and held up a fist.

Why is someone from the government side on my side? — the thought flashed through my mind for an instant, but then I remembered what had happened at the banquet.

Ah — is it because I saved her life back then?

"……Thank you."

I gave an awkward smile and a slight bow.

"If you want, I could help!"

"Help?"

"Yes! Finding a safe spot for the guild, the tangled paperwork side — that kind of thing. I haven't put in all these years at the government for nothing — I know that side of things inside and out!"

At the spirited way she pumped her fist, a small laugh slipped out of me despite myself.

"I appreciate the offer, but……"

"Hey, I mean it! I was one of the key people on the government office relocation project. Every spot in the country with airtight security and killer positioning — I've got them all up here!"

At the confident boast, my ears perked up.

Hmm…… a high-ranking government insider — worth at least hearing out once, no?

Just as I was mulling it over, chin in my hand —

"Director."

At Kang Taemin's low warning from behind me, I finally looked around.

Every person in the lobby had their ears pricked, watching me and Ma Dohee in held-breath silence.

"Ahem. Ahem. In that case, let me be the one to reach out first, later."

"R-reach out?! You'll reach out to me?!"

Ma Dohee clapped both hands over her mouth, overcome to a comical degree, then hurriedly pulled out her phone.

Once we'd swapped numbers, she cradled the screen with mine on it to her chest like a treasure and blurted out something baffling.

"That arm……! I won't lose either!"

"……what? Lose to what?"

"Hehe! Fighting!"

Blazing with some inscrutable determination, she waved her hand vigorously and hurried off with quick, tripping steps.

I stared after her, dumbfounded, then shook my head.

No time for this.

The kids' clear eyes filled my head, and I stepped into the elevator without a moment's hesitation.

Ding—!

The doors opened along with a crisp chime.

"W-what brings you……!"

Coldly brushing past the secretaries' frantic attempts to bar my way, I flung the massive door of the Bureau Chief's office open with a bang! — hard enough to splinter it.

"Junhyeok — you're here. I expected you a little sooner. Did you run into someone you know down in the lobby?"

Chae Ganghyeon greeted me from the sofa, reclining at ease.

But the moment he noticed Kang Taemin coming in behind me, his heavy brow twitched, barely.

"……I told you to bring Lee Sea-ah. Why have you dragged the wrong man along?"

"What? Seeing the spy you planted make you feel a little guilty?"

At my sneer, Chae Ganghyeon let out an incredulous laugh.

"Ha ha! A spy, please. He's a chaperone I attached to keep our precious son from coming to harm."

"Ha! Sure."

Right — of course showing up with Kang Taemin in tow wouldn't make him blink.

Swallowing the inward sneer, I walked briskly over to the sofa.

And, playing the delinquent son to the hilt, I planted my shoes on the table with a couple of solid thuds.

"C-Chief……!"

The secretary who'd finally caught up went bone-white and stood there at a loss; Chae Ganghyeon waved him out.

The instant the door shut and a taut silence fell over the room, I fired straight at him.

"Not going to waste your time — I'll cut to it. Dad, do you know about the Fox?"

"A fox? What, the animal? Course I do."

"Don't play dumb."

I jerked my chin at Kang Taemin standing beside me.

"That terrorist bastard drugged this guy — brainwashing drug — and tried to kidnap me and Lee Sea-ah."

"…kidnap?"

"Yeah."

On the charter plane, and again on the drive over, I'd been turning it over nonstop.

Some solid leverage to seize Chae Ganghyeon by the throat before the press conference.

What was the most lethal weapon I could reach for?

"Dad — don't tell me you've got something going on with the Awakened Liberation Front? The head of the Bureau, no less?"

"……."

At the fastball, Chae Ganghyeon's easy smile froze on his face.

"What sort of preposterous nonsense is that. I'm the Chief of Korea's Awakened Management Bureau — why on earth would I be mixed up with those lunatic terrorist bastards?"

"How would I know. But it stinks."

Wagging the foot I'd propped on the table, I held his gaze without giving an inch.

"That brainwashing drug — the one supplied only to the Bureau's Defense Corps — how are terrorists just casually getting their hands on it?"

I twisted a corner of my mouth up and drove the finishing blow home.

"The fact that the Bureau uses a brainwashing drug at all is enough to flip the whole country upside down — and now terrorists can use it too? Whether that's damning negligence by the Bureau or a deliberate back-room deal…… either way, if this gets out, your neck's not walking away in one piece, is it?"

At my provocation Chae Ganghyeon fell silent for a moment, then spoke in a deliberately heavy voice.

"So then, Junhyeok. What is it, exactly, that you want?"

As if I'd been waiting for that exact question, I tipped my chin up arrogantly and answered.

"I'll keep my mouth shut too — so cancel that damned press conference. Right now. And from here on out, tune me out completely."

"What?"

"Thanks to you I nearly got kidnapped and killed, so I never want to be tangled up with you again. Cut me loose from here on out and let's just go our separate ways."

Yeah. This was exactly what I'd been aiming for.

Using the incorrigible-delinquent-ungrateful-son act as a pretext to slip me and the kids both out of Chae Ganghyeon's surveillance net.

I'd played it big on the outside, but honestly, cold sweat was trickling down my back.

Will my threat actually land?

While I was reading him hard for any tell, an icy silence settled over the Chief's office.

Chae Ganghyeon watched me quietly, and then a deep sigh slipped from between his lips.

"Well, well. Our son really has grown up…"

Reclining easily on the sofa, he slowly rose to his feet and walked with steady, deliberate steps until he was right in front of me.

"……what."

Hiding my unease, I refused to back down and stared up at him with a deliberately insolent look.

That was the moment.

No time to dodge.

A huge hand shot out like a bolt of lightning, seized me brutally by the hair, and slammed me — without a shred of mercy — straight down onto the heavy wooden table.

Kwang—!!!

"Guhk……!"

Along with a crack loud enough to split the desk, sparks flashed across my vision.

Kang Taemin, startled by the sudden move, was about to spring forward like a beast on reflex —

when a strange light burst out of the black ring on Chae Ganghyeon's finger.

Paat—!

The ticking of the wall clock's second hand evaporated.

Even the dust drifting through the air froze in place.

Kang Taemin — mid-lunge — froze eerily as well, wide-eyed, like a paused frame of video.

Nnnngh—!

"Nn, nngh!"

"Junhyeok……."

Still pinning my head brutally against the table, Chae Ganghyeon leaned in and whispered against my ear, low.

"You mouthing off to your father? Yapping out threats with that pitiful little brain of yours? None of that matters. But here's the thing……"

The voice was chilling in its tenderness — and at the same time, his huge hand coiled around my right shoulder like a snake and clenched down hard.

No — please, no.

The scar had been throbbing on ordinary days already.

With an unbearable grip now bearing down on it, agony ripped through my whole body — flesh crushed, bones splintering.

"Aaaaaghhh—!!!"

I screamed until my throat felt ready to tear, but Chae Ganghyeon only laughed, languid.

"Tune you out…. That kind of shit-talk is a little hard for me to overlook."

The voice drilling into my ear was abnormally possessive.

"You're my creation, aren't you. How is a master supposed to just tune out from his own work of art?"

Even more merciless force loaded into his hand.

Crack—!

Along with the sound of splintering bone, an impact strong enough to burn my brain white surged through me.

"Gurk — aaagggghh!!"

Looking down at me screaming and thrashing like the breath was being torn out of me, Chae Ganghyeon smiled quietly, almost delighted.

"It's been quite a while since I've had to discipline you like this."

He smacked his lips in satisfaction, as if savoring some old nostalgia, then slowly loosened the grip that had been on the verge of crushing my shoulder.

"Let's leave it there for today. Break you any further and you'll be no use to me."

As I writhed in pain, cold sweat and tears leaking down my face, he snapped his fingers lightly beside my ear.

Snap—!

…huh?

I blinked, blank.

Tick, tick.

The clock's second hand was ticking against my ear again.

What was I…… just doing?

I was still in that same insolent pose, feet up on the table.

Across from me, Chae Ganghyeon sat in exactly the same serene posture, tilting his teacup — not a mote different.

Nothing had happened.

Everything was as it should be……

Ugh……!

My right arm started throbbing like mad.

As if the bones inside had been shattered to pieces, a vivid, awful phantom pain shot through my entire body.

What is this? Am I just stressed?

Cold sweat beading, I gripped my aching right arm without thinking.

Then.

"Junhyeok."

Chae Ganghyeon set his teacup down with a pleasant smile.

"……."

"It seems you're operating under some serious misunderstanding right now."

The smile that clung to the end of that fond voice deepened.

"…misunderstanding?"

"Yes. That paltry bit you dug up isn't even a hair's worth of leverage against your father."

"What……?"

"Let me set the record straight. I didn't give that drug to the terrorists. They gave it to me."

Setting his teacup down at ease, Chae Ganghyeon's eyes glinted, arrogant.

"And your father is merely using that to raise our Bureau's standing."

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