The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

"I'm going to meet Han Jewoon."

The moment the name came out, Lee Jinwoo's eyes went wide.

"Han Jewoon — you mean the Sword Emperor Han Jewoon?! The country's number-one-ranked hunter?!"

After the escape from the institute, he's the benefactor and mentor who takes the protagonists in.

In the original, Han Jewoon was the one who took in the children after their escape from the institute and trained them up.

But I intended to change the order.

If I wanted the kids growing up fast and safe, Han Jewoon's help was going to be non-negotiable.

And...

I don't need to put Cha Yul through that horrific experience.

Because in the original, the trigger for Cha Yul's Second Awakening had been—

Just then, Lee Jinwoo's flustered voice cut through my thoughts.

"But Director! Han Jewoon almost never shows his face in public!"

He was practically in tears as he said it.

"There's a saying among hunters — if you want to meet Han Jewoon, go into a Gate. How on earth are you planning to meet a man like that...!"

"For ordinary people, sure."

I called to mind the one exception, the loophole, that allowed you to meet Han Jewoon in the original.

Even he couldn't turn down banquets thrown by the country's power players — the ones a guild master had to attend as an obligation.

And Chae Junhyeok happened to be that power player's only son.

Son of Korea's number-two man, and Director of the secret institute that same man was pouring his full backing into.

On the strength of that name alone, dozens of invitations poured in every week.

I jerked my chin at the mountain of invitations piled up in one corner of the Director's office.

"Find one in there — one he can't ignore even if he wants to."

"...Sir?"

"You and I are going together."

"Haaah..."

Han Jewoon stepped out of the car and, looking uncomfortable, tugged his tie down a bit.

The top-shelf suit that ran into the hundreds of millions, the red hair combed back without a single strand out of place — all of it was just a nuisance to him.

Feeling like he'd rather rip all of it off right now and dive into a Gate, he started venting to the man beside him.

"Jihyeok... couldn't you just be the guild master?"

"Here we go again."

The bespectacled man, dressed in a suit sharp as a knife's edge, pushed his glasses up with a not this again look.

Bawi Guild's Deputy Guild Master and Korea's Rank 5, A-class Hunter — Seo Jihyeok.

"Didn't you promise? In exchange for priority Gate access, you'd show your face at official functions exactly four times a year. If you're going to walk away from even that bare minimum, then give the whole thing up. There's no shortage of people out there who'd kill for the seat of Korea's number-one guild master."

His face was cold — like he wasn't going to tolerate another word of pushback.

"And I have no interest in being guild master, so please stop asking. Cleaning up after you is already more than enough work for me."

"Boohoo, my Jihyeok is so cold."

Han Jewoon whined, but it didn't work on Seo Jihyeok. He switched tactics fast and started whining a different way instead.

"Coming to these things is such a pain, seriously. So what is it today? Someone's daughter's first birthday, or somebody's son's wedding?"

"The Bureau Deputy Chief's grandson's first birthday party. I told you clearly in the car."

At that, Han Jewoon's face slid openly into a so what? expression.

"C'mon — the Deputy Chief's just Chae Ganghyeon's puppet anyway. I've gotta show up to something like this?"

At that, Seo Jihyeok's hand pinched Han Jewoon's side without mercy.

"Ow!"

Ignoring Han Jewoon's yelp, he growled in a voice just above a whisper.

"Sure, the Deputy Chief does nothing but stand next to the Bureau Chief and go yes sir, yes sir like a brainless parrot — a blockhead with fat where his brains ought to be."

"H-hey..."

"But you can't just blurt something like that straight out with no filter! The walls have ears, the pillars have eyes! Please, please, just think a little before you speak!"

"Am I imagining that what you just said was worse? I am, right?"

Seo Jihyeok ignored his muttering and slipped back into his cool Deputy Guild Master face.

"Today's banquet is a closed one, very few attendees. We were invited as the guild's representatives, so please carry yourself impeccably."

He dropped his voice, and his eyes glinted behind his glasses.

"And... at a gathering like today's, we may be able to get information on that item."

At that, a sharp light flashed for an instant through his eyes, which up until then had been glazed over with boredom.

"Fine, got it for now. So which big shots are showing up today? Chae Ganghyeon or something?"

Seo Jihyeok shook his head.

"No way the Bureau Chief would come. He's the busiest man in Korea. Ah — come to think of it, I heard his son is attending this time."

"His son?"

Han Jewoon's brow furrowed slightly.

"Chae Ganghyeon had a son?"

"You know — that yellow-haired one who took a swing at you back then."

"Ah..."

A not-especially-pleasant scene from a distant memory surfaced.

It had probably been a pointless banquet hall like this one back then, too.

Like every rookie who overestimates his own strength tends to, some yellow-haired greenhorn had come picking a fight with no fear at all.

Han Jewoon had put him down easily, and even sprawled out on the floor, the punk had shrieked at him with bloodshot eyes.

How dare you...! Do you know who I am?!

So that was him.

Only then did the faint fragment of memory click into place in Han Jewoon's head.

"That delinquent bastard?"

Whack—! At the exact same moment, Seo Jihyeok's palm came down on Han Jewoon's back mercilessly.

"Your mouth! Your mouth! How many times have I asked you to watch your mouth?!"

"Hey, what did I even—"

"Sure, he's a useless nepotism hire and a delinquent — a guy with jack squat for ability who grabbed the Director's chair on Daddy's connections — but what if someone heard you?!"

"Still... yours sounds worse to me."

Seo Jihyeok brushed the remark aside completely, as always.

"I don't know why the delinquent, who's been holed up in the institute lately, is suddenly coming out again — but do not, under any circumstances, get tangled up with him."

He said it firmly.

"If something starts up, I'm the one who has to deal with it. Absolutely, absolutely do not start anything and do not engage."

"Fine, fine."

Han Jewoon nodded absently at the mounting lecture and started walking.

The moment he passed through the entrance — ringed by countless security guards — and stepped into the banquet hall, the smell of gaudily wrapped-up greed hit him in the face.

Glittering chandeliers, meaningless laughter, air laced with expensive perfume.

To Han Jewoon's eyes, all of it was just a boring, revolting piece of theater.

Haah, this is such a pain. I'd rather spend this time in a Gate carving one more monster's neck open.

That was when — parting the crowd, an enormous body caked in rolls of fat came toward him.

The ponderous movement of a D-class Blob monster.

For a moment, Han Jewoon caught himself wondering what it'd feel like to slice that giant slab of lard open — then remembered the man was Deputy Chief of the Awakened Management Bureau and killed the thought.

"Ho ho, Guild Master Han! It's been a while! I really appreciate you taking the time to come."

"I was told to show my face, so here I am. Next time, I'd appreciate it more if you didn't invite me at all."

Even in the face of that sharp rudeness, the seasoned old politician's expression didn't shift a millimeter.

He even worked up a benevolent smile.

"Don't say that. I know how busy you are, Guild Master Han. It's thanks to S-class Hunters like you that the rest of us sleep easy. Ho ho."

Right then, Seo Jihyeok stepped forward with impeccable timing and cut into the conversation.

In his hand — pulled from subspace at some point — was a heavy gift wrapped in gold cloth.

"Deputy Chief, sir, a small token of our regards from Bawi Guild. We wish your precious grandson a healthy childhood."

Every trace of the man who'd just been chewing Han Jewoon out was gone — Seo Jihyeok was wearing a perfect professional smile.

"Ah... you really didn't have to!"

The Deputy Chief refused with his mouth, but his face — the moment he took the bundle — was already glistening with naked greed.

Looking pleased, he reached out to clap Han Jewoon on the shoulder — then, catching Han Jewoon's chilly look, veered his hand straight over to Seo Jihyeok.

"Ho ho — well then, enjoy the banquet!"

With that, the Deputy Chief slipped off into the crowd, as if scouting for new prey.

Pat, pat!

The instant the man was gone, Seo Jihyeok pulled a pure-white handkerchief from his coat and brushed off his shoulder.

"I'm billing you for the dry cleaning on this suit and this handkerchief."

"You and your germophobia, honestly."

"It's not germophobia, it's basic decency. This level of cleanliness should be standard."

Han Jewoon snorted a laugh at that straight-faced retort.

He jerked his chin at the crowded banquet hall.

"Go dig up something useful over there. If you pull it off, I'll spring for a new suit for you while I'm at it."

Right as he was reaching for a champagne flute—

Amid all the eyes on him, he could feel one particular stare — dogged, sharp — boring into his back like an arrow.

Whip—!

Han Jewoon's head snapped around fast enough to make a sound.

There stood a blond man, champagne flute in hand, staring straight at him.

Huh?

Pure curiosity flickered in Han Jewoon's eyes.

He's meeting my eyes... straight on?

Ordinary people didn't dare look him in the eye like that.

As an S-class ranker, an oppressive aura leaked off him even when he wasn't focused on it — and he didn't particularly try to smother it, either.

Because it was a highly efficient way to shake off pesky gnats.

In fact, the moment most people met his eyes, they'd feel an instinctive terror — the way prey does before a predator — and look away.

But this blond man was different.

There wasn't a trace of fear in his gaze.

If anything, it was as dogged and relentless as another predator on equal footing, sizing up its opponent.

In that moment, the crushingly dull banquet hall turned into an intriguing hunting ground.

Without taking his eyes off the blond man, Han Jewoon asked Seo Jihyeok quietly:

"Jihyeok."

"Yes, sir."

"That guy o~ver there. Who is he?"

Catching the interest woven through his voice, Seo Jihyeok followed the guild master's line of sight and turned his head.

And the instant he confirmed the blond man in the corner of the banquet hall, his brow crumpled subtly.

"That's the delinquent I mentioned at the entrance. Bureau Chief Chae Ganghyeon's son. Chae Junhyeok."

"That's Chae Junhyeok?"

The image of the greenhorn sprawled on the floor from years back flashed through Han Jewoon's head.

But the man in front of him now was giving off an entirely different air from the one back then.

He's changed a lot... from what I remember...

Seo Jihyeok didn't miss the dangerous smile forming at the corner of Han Jewoon's mouth.

He stepped forward and blocked his path.

"You avoid shit because it's filthy, not because you're scared of it. Just ignore him."

At that, Han Jewoon finally cracked and snorted out a laugh — and at the sound of it, Seo Jihyeok's instincts sent up a red flag.

"Jihyeok, you know what?"

"...Know what, sir?"

"Me — I never turn down a fight when it's brought to me."

Seo Jihyeok's face went cold and hard.

"Guild Master, don't tell me you've forgotten your promise. You said you wouldn't cause any incidents at today's banquet. And we haven't accomplished our actual objective yet."

But instead of answering, Han Jewoon turned his back on him.

His destination was clear.

The blond man still staring straight at him — Chae Junhyeok.

"Guild Master? Guild Master!"

Seo Jihyeok called after him urgently, but Han Jewoon didn't stop.

"Hey — Han Jewoon!"

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!