The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

The next day. I stared down at the messenger window between me and Ma Dohee.

[Which is better for you — after work Friday, or Saturday sometime this week? I'll work around whatever's convenient.]

The instant the message went out, the "1" beside it disappeared and a reply came flying back.

[Saturday would be great! There's a lot to see, so how about we meet early morning and look around till the afternoon? I know a good place for a meal, too. ^^]

Morning to afternoon, huh.

Going through three properties thoroughly plus the area around Icarus would take a while.

[Sounds good. I'll come pick you up near your place Saturday morning, then.]

The "1" vanished right away again — but for some reason, there was radio silence for a long while.

What's this? Is she busy?

[No! I'll come to you! I just go to the front of the institute, right?!]

The exclamation points on every sentence carried a peculiar sense of urgency.

Ah — I suppose after only meeting a handful of times, giving out her home address out of the blue would feel awkward.

She was a high-ranking official; security would be a sensitive matter.

[Understood. I'll see you at 9 a.m. Saturday, then.]

[Yes! See you Saturday! >_<]

She has to be worn out from a full week's work, and here she is handing over her golden weekend without a second thought. However I look at it, she really is one dedicated public servant.

Moved anew by Ma Dohee's tearful devotion, I turned my eyes to the calendar.

Today's Thursday, so… two days left.

The main goal of this outing was strictly to confirm the club's location and gauge how they felt about Chae Junhyeok there.

I have zero idea what the pre-transmigration Chae Junhyeok was up to in that place.

Blindly quizzing people about Oh Taejin when I didn't know the basics would draw suspicion in a heartbeat.

So first, pin down Icarus's exact location, and see how the people there reacted to me, and after that…

Approach Oh Taejin… how to go about it, though….

Brow furrowed, I'd sunk deep into that thought when —

Knock knock—

"Come in."

The door opened at my response, and Lee Jinwoo and Han Soeun shuffled in, hollow-faced, dark circles down to their chins.

"Director……."

"How are things?"

"Everything's wrapped up. We've packed, and the data backups are done. All that's left is moving into the new building."

Watching the two of them report in lifeless voices, I nodded, satisfied.

"Good work. I'll find a decent building soon, so just hang in there until we move."

Lee Jinwoo scratched his head and asked,

"Uh, the other researchers were asking how they should address you from now on. Since we're a guild now… should they call you Vice Guild Master?"

"Skip it. Tell them to keep calling me Director like always. Hearing 'Vice Guild Master' at this point would feel weird to me too."

The two of them nodded together, apparently satisfied with that.

"Oh, and what about hiring for admin? On top of the research side, we'll need a decent number of admin people to run the guild's day-to-day."

"Start by shifting the staff who already handled office work at the institute. Pull the sharp ones out and bump them up to team lead. If we're still short-handed after that, we'll bring in more."

"Got it. About the hiring budget, though…?"

At Lee Jinwoo's careful question, an inward oh damn hit me.

Right. Money.

When we'd been an institute under the Bureau, the budget had come through every month like clockwork. Now that we were an independent guild, the operating costs — bleeding out with every breath — were entirely on me.

"Anything urgent, I'll cover from my own pocket for now, so don't worry about the money."

Thankfully, the string of zeros in my account was well past anything I could count.

But….

I can't lean on Chae Ganghyeon's wallet forever.

A castle built on someone else's money was no different from a sandcastle that might come down any minute.

On top of that, there's something off about Chae Ganghyeon.

On the outside he still looked like a doting fool, but between the way something flipped in his eyes now and then, and my last visit to the Bureau, my gut was telling me I couldn't keep trusting him.

I need to find another income stream as fast as I can….

Hiding the tangle inside, I put on a relaxed smile for the two head researchers.

"Money we've got in obscene amounts. Don't worry about it — just get the move locked down."

"Yessir!"

Their faces brightened at the promise of generous funding.

As the meeting was winding to a warm close —

Han Soeun, sorting through the last of the paperwork with a lighter look on her face, murmured out of nowhere.

"I miss the kids… strange, but the institute feels kind of empty…. They're training well, right?"

At that, I glanced at the calendar myself.

Come to think of it, it's already been three weeks since I've been apart from them.

The sudden press conference had me leaving in such a rush that I hadn't even said a proper goodbye.

Feels like any second now they'll come tearing down the hallway shouting "Direektuh—!"….

The two of them finished their report, gave a small nod to Kang Taemin standing behind me, and slipped out of the office, leaving me to sink into wistful reverie alone.

That instant.

"Direektuh—!"

Huh? Have I been missing the kids too much? Now I'm hearing things.

Tatatatatat—!

Huh?

For imaginary footsteps, they sounded awfully real.

Just as I moved to stand up, puzzled —

Bang—!

"Direektuh!!!!"

Through the door flung wide open, familiar little bundles came shooting in like bullets and hurled themselves into my arms.

"Whoa!"

The massive charge nearly tipped me backward; Kang Taemin caught the chair firm and steadied it.

"Th-thanks."

He gave a silent nod and returned to his post.

"Direektuh! We missed you sho much!"

"For weal!"

The twins clung on like koalas at my neck and waist, rubbing their cheeks against mine; Suho, not to be outdone, clambered up onto my lap.

Startled by the sudden ambush, I hugged the kids tight anyway so they wouldn't slip.

"How on earth did you get here? I didn't even hear the charter plane."

At my question, the kids started chirping like a batch of chicks.

"We missed the Direektuh, sho we ashked!"

"Yeah!"

"It was totally fun!"

Asked? Fun? Blinking, unable to follow, I watched a wheezing man come tottering in behind Sea-ah and Yul.

Shaggy brown hair, a body reduced to skin and bones, and — most striking of all — a face gone corpse-white with dark circles reaching all the way down to his chin.

"Uuurgh… hell… o. From Ba… wi Guild……."

"…?"

"I'm sorry, but could I lie down on the couch for a bit… hurk."

Alarmed by the sight — pale as death, dry-heaving like he might empty his stomach any second — I hurriedly waved him on.

"Ah, please, go ahead…"

Before I could finish, the man collapsed onto the couch like a machine cut off at the power and blacked out.

Under cover of the commotion, Sea-ah came up and whispered a quiet aside.

"The kids kept begging to see you, Director. The Guild Master said training wasn't over yet, but that we could go say a quick hello and come back — so he called that mister and had him move us all here in one go."

Moved you? Don't tell me… a teleporter?!

Teleportation.

Rare even among Awakened, and boundlessly useful — a top-shelf ability whose price tag skyrocketed.

But even the most gifted teleporter usually maxed out at a few hundred meters a jump.

And that man had crossed the whole distance in one — with all the kids in tow?

Insane. What rank is he…!

As my private assessment of the passed-out man shot through the roof, the kids started showing off.

"Direektuh! We twained really hawd!"

"I'm super good at healing now, too!"

I wanted to reach out and pat their heads as they puffed their chests up proudly, but I couldn't.

The kids can't get attached to me. I have to keep a firm distance.

Turning over the resolution I'd made dozens of times, I forced an indifferent expression.

"Well — for Awakened, isn't that the bare minimum?"

The kids stopped short at my reaction, then exchanged loaded glances.

"…wight? Bwackmail…"

"Mm-hmm, sure enough… so sudden… his attitude…"

Hm? What are they saying?

Just as I was straining to catch the mumbling —

The little ones in my arms wriggled down, planted their hands on their hips in unison, and declared, imperious,

"We could go into a Gate right now!"

"Yeah! Direektuh, don' wowwy anymore! We're gonna get supuh famous! The guild too!"

Behind them, Yul, Sea-ah, and Sihyeok all nodded, resolute.

"What?"

Wearing an incredulous look, I stared down at them and shut it down flat.

"Absolute nonsense! You are never setting foot in a Gate — don't even dream of it."

"Why not?! We're supuh stwong!"

"We trained until we bled, seriously!"

"Still no! Your average age isn't even ten — you're babies who still have peach fuzz, what Gate?!"

Hayun puffed her cheeks out big and bounced up and down, protesting.

"For Awakened, age doeshn't matter, they shaid! We'll show you how stwong we've gotten!"

She'd barely finished before the twins pulled their telekinesis up, and the stacks of paperwork and ballpoint pens on the desk drifted into the air.

Not to be outdone, Sihyeok stretched the shadows on the floor into thick branches in every direction.

Then, going one better, he lifted heavy furniture — the couch, the metal cabinets — clear up off the ground.

In a heartbeat, my office — objects whirling every which way under every kind of power — had turned into an unbelievable mess.

"Aagh! Okay! Okay, that's enough, stop!!!"

At my frantic shout, the kids pouted regretfully and slowly reeled their powers back in.

Watching the objects settle back into place, I pressed hard at my throbbing temples.

"Haaah…. Look, I get how you feel, but Gates are too dangerous. One slip and you could seriously get hurt."

Despite my coaxing, Sea-ah stepped forward and spoke, crisp,

"Director, we're full-fledged guild members now. Guild members need real combat experience. Trainees at other guild academies all go into Gates too."

"They go in with adult Awakened to protect them. We don't have that kind of manpower."

"We can go togevver with Bawi Guild!"

"Yeah! The Number One mister said he'd send his own guild members with us!"

Come on, Han Jewoon — what garbage has he been putting into these kids' heads?!

"Even if he offers to help, right now, absolutely not. If you really want to go in… fine, at least three years. What if you train for three more years and wait? Then I'll allow it."

Three years from now, I'd have gotten every one of them safely out anyway.

I'd worked out that compromise on the fly, but the kids all shook their heads hard in unison.

"No! Three years is too late! We have to get stwong soon, we're telling you!"

Watching them dig their heels in, I paused.

What is this? Something's off…

Looking again, it wasn't just simple whining.

The kids' young faces carried something like anxiety — and even desperation.

What on earth happened while I was gone that they're this fixated on getting stronger?

Sensing the shift in the air, I straightened up and was about to press them on what exactly had happened —

"You guys, while I was gone, what on ea…"

That instant.

"Urk… urgh, blegh."

"……?"

"……!"

At the abrupt retching sound, the kids' heads and mine snapped around at once.

The teleporter, who'd seemed knocked out on the couch, was now half sitting up, a hand clamped over his mouth.

"Aaaaaaagh!"

"Kyaaaah!"

The kids who'd been squaring up against me so imperiously scurried behind my back in a flash.

"E-excuse me! Are you all right?!"

Hollow-eyed, pale lips trembling, he shook his head with effort.

"Ugh… I'm sorry…. Stress makes my stomach cramp up…."

"What?"

Unfazed by my incredulous reply, the man staggered to his feet, trembling like a leaf.

"Sorry… hurk! Where's the… bathroom… urk!"

Just as a catastrophe was about to unfold on my office floor, Kang Taemin — standing behind me — shot forward like lightning, threw the man over his shoulder like a piece of luggage, and vanished straight for the bathroom.

And so, round one of our debate over Gate access ended, absurdly, in an anticlimactic ceasefire.

Two days later. I was standing in front of the institute's main gate.

Since round one on the Gate issue, the kids — thoroughly sulking — hadn't shown their faces at all.

I'd gone looking for them any number of times, but couldn't turn up so much as a shadow of them wherever they were hiding.

Let me get the District Two trip out of the way first, and think it through from there…

Swallowing the tangle of thoughts, I let out a sigh — and just then —

Vroom—!

Along with the heavy rumble of an engine, a huge SUV slid to a stop in front of the institute.

The driver's door opened and Ma Dohee hopped out with a bright face.

"Director!"

"Ah, Ms. Ma Dohee! Thanks for coming. We could've taken my car, though…."

"Come now, we can't do that! I'll be your dedicated GPS today."

"Ha ha, that's reassuring. Thanks for the trouble."

We exchanged easy pleasantries, and I was just about to get into the car —

"Direektuh, where are you going?"

"Whoa!"

Out of nowhere, the kids had suddenly popped into view.

I wanted to ask where on earth they'd been hiding, but I could feel Ma Dohee watching from beside me, so I bit my tongue.

Either way, I couldn't just stand there gaping while a guest and the kids were meeting each other.

Quickly pulling myself together, I stepped between Ma Dohee and the kids — thinking I should at least handle introductions first.

"Ah, say hello. This is…."

But looking between them, my mouth closed on its own before I could get any further.

…what is this atmosphere?

It was as if crackling blue sparks were snapping through the air between them.

Ma Dohee was smiling brightly as always, but the presence pouring out from behind that smile sent a chill down my spine somehow.

And the kids, meeting that overwhelming presence without giving an inch, had their tiny arms folded tight and were glaring at her, dead-on.

Like two predators sizing each other up over a single piece of prey, razor-sharp looks I couldn't begin to explain crossed on either side of me, taut and crackling.

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