"Guild Mashter!!!"
Hayun bellowed at the device.
Across the screen, Han Jewoon looked briefly puzzled, then his face went aaah~ as if something had clicked, and his usual sly grin slid into place.
[Ah, right. My Scissors Squad, in the flesh. What kind of mischief are we cooking up today, calling in this urgently?]
At his easy roll with it, Hayun's dam broke and the whole story from the underground arena came pouring out of her in one long breathless rush.
Oh Taejin's vicious hostage-taking. The one-on-one death match with an Awakened.
Han Jewoon listened in silence, chin propped in his hand, and the smile slowly drained from his face.
[Hmm… so that's what's going on.]
His eyes cold, he murmured it under his breath.
A chilly flash of anger showed for a moment, then Han Jewoon slotted his warm smile back on for the kids on the screen.
[So, what does my Scissors Squad want to do about it?]
"We want to help those people ourselves, instead of the Director."
At Sea-ah's calm answer, Han Jewoon crinkled his eyes into a smile and offered, brisk,
[There's a really simple way. Just kill Oh Taejin, clean.]
Coming from Korea's Rank One, half-joking and half-not, Sea-ah didn't blink.
"No. The Director probably wouldn't want him actually dead. And more than anything… we want those gladiator misters to know it was the Director who saved them."
[Hmm….]
Han Jewoon stroked his chin, intrigued.
[An Awakened is a beast at heart — by instinct, they bow to whoever's stronger. If you want those gladiators as Chae Junhyeok's hands and feet, the cleanest, most airtight way is for the Director to fight and win, one-on-one, himself.]
He let out a scoff, and added,
[Impossible for Chae Junhyeok, mind you, without a scrap of mana in him.]
But even at the word impossible, the kids' eyes only started shining brighter.
"So if we do it that way, those people really will follow the Direektuh? Just win the fight, and that's it?"
At Han Jewoon's easy nod, the kids huddled together in a tight little ring and started whispering.
"We can just pretend to be the Director and fight in his place!"
"How? A disguise?"
"But there's a huge height difference. The Director's tall and we're tiny."
"Then I'll ge on the bottom and Oppa sits on my shoulders — piggyback! And then we wear a super long coat over us!"
"Dummy, one wobble and we're busted on the spot."
Watching the kids run their serious, ridiculous strategy meeting in adorable little whispers, Han Jewoon let out a soft laugh.
[Ah! Come to think of it….]
He snapped his fingers as if something had come to him.
[I did pick up a pretty fun artifact recently. Should be a perfect fit for this situation.]
"What is it, what is it?!"
[Hmm… easier to show than tell….]
Han Jewoon glanced around his end of the screen and asked,
[The teleporter's still there, right? Bring him over.]
The words were barely out before the kids stampeded down the corridor.
Soon the teleporter — dragged out of the guest room where he'd been contentedly munching snacks — was hauled in, bound in Sihyeok's shadows and drifting through the air.
"Whoa, whoa? Kids?! What is this all of a sudden!"
Watching him thrash there with snack crumbs stuck around his mouth, Han Jewoon on-screen quirked up a corner of his lips.
But the eyes had no smile in them at all.
[Living the high life, are we? Holed up over there slacking off — must be nice.]
At the Guild Master's chilly tone, the man's face went bone-white in a heartbeat.
"N-no, sir! Slacking off?! Never! I was just — I was going to escort the kids back any minute now, actually…!"
[Enough. Get over here, now.]
"S-sir…? Where, exactly?"
[Where do you think? The island. Same one.]
The teleporter's eyes stretched wide with pure despair.
"S-sir, you know the distance from here to the island is insane…! I've burned through so much mana lately, I might actually die…!"
[Come on. A guy who crossed it with six little ones dangling off him is complaining about going alone? Enough. Get moving.]
Click.
The line cut, no goodbye.
Left there, he stared, gutted, at the blackened screen for a long moment.
"Hic, huhh… I swear, one of these days I'm reporting him to the labor board… I'm suing this sweatshop of a guild master, I am…."
Muttering tearfully to himself, he forced a bow toward the kids.
"…I'll be right back."
Fwoosh—!
With a flash of blue, he was gone.
Maybe five minutes later.
Whoosh—!
Space split open and he was spat back out, twice as haggard as before.
With shaking hands, he pressed a small box into the kids' hands.
"H-here… the Guild Master sent — urk!"
He clamped a hand over his mouth mid-sentence and, dead white, tore off toward the bathroom at a dead sprint.
"Blaaaaargh—!!"
Wretched retching echoed through the door.
The kids paused a brief moment of silence for his tragic sacrifice, then, eyes shining with anticipation, carefully lifted the lid of the box Han Jewoon had sent.
Inside, an antique-styled pocket watch and a small hand mirror trimmed in silver lay side by side.
"What are these…?"
Just as the kids were tilting their heads over them, the call rang in again on cue.
[Get the goods?]
"Yeah! But it's just a watch and a mirror. What are they?"
At Hayun's question, Han Jewoon smiled and answered,
[Try the pocket watch first. Push the crown button on top and hold it down.]
Yul stepped forward, firm-footed, and pressed the button without a shred of hesitation.
Bang! Along with a sharp burst of air, blinding light wrapped itself around Yul.
As the smoke slowly cleared, the silhouette that emerged had every kid gaping.
"Uh…?"
"Y-Yul-oppa?!"
Where the young Yul had been, a broad-shouldered grown man now stood.
Harder-edged jawline, a higher bridge to the nose — but the eyes, cool and unbothered as ever, were unmistakably Yul.
"Y-Yul-hyung, ish that you?"
"Whoa! You got so tall!"
The kids crowded in around him, wide-eyed.
Han Jewoon's amused laugh came through the screen.
[An artifact that fast-forwards the body ten years, exactly. Ability, mana pool — those stay the same. Total junk for a full-grown adult, since all it does is age you, but for little ones like you, it's a very handy way around the size gap.]
"Amazing…!"
[And the hand mirror beside it.]
Han Jewoon tipped his chin at the remaining item in the box.
At the same time, blue light flashed across the hologram screen and news footage of Chae Junhyeok bloomed into sharp focus.
[Now, Yul. Point the mirror at the Director's face in the footage, and then turn it on yourself.]
Yul nodded and picked up the mirror.
As the silver face of the mirror drank in Chae Junhyeok's features and voice from the hologram footage, clean and whole, he turned it, without hesitation, to face himself.
Shhhrrp—
Like a ripple across still water, an uncanny shimmer spread across Yul's face in the mirror.
And then.
"I-it's the Direektuh!!"
"The Director popped out!!"
Where the grown Yul had stood a moment ago, once the shimmer cleared, was Chae Junhyeok — looking noticeably more prickly than usual.
At the horrified reaction from the kids, Han Jewoon let out a hearty laugh.
[Ha ha! Top-shelf artifact — copies the target's face and voice, down to the last detail. It's Seo Jihyeok's prized possession, guards it with his life. I borrowed it, nice and clean. Careful with it, no scratches.]
The kids' eyes shone as they looked back and forth between the mirror and Yul-wearing-the-Director's-face.
"So the watch makes us big, the mirror copies the Director's face…!"
"Which means we can pretend to be the Director and fight in his place!"
"Yaaay!"
At the kids' cheering, Han Jewoon smiled wickedly and poured cold water over it.
[Right. But there's a fatal drawback. The watch lasts exactly one hour, and anyone who uses it can't use it again for forty-eight hours.]
"That'sh fine!"
"An hour's enough to beat 'em all!"
Time limits didn't rank on the kids' radar at all; they were already jostling over who'd go first.
At their brash energy, Han Jewoon smiled, lazy.
[Good. Then the disguise problem is completely handled…]
His eyes curved into a thin arc.
[Which leaves the last problem — the Director, who'll drop dead before he lets you go?]
The kids, blindsided by a problem they hadn't seen coming, fell silent as stones, and he flashed them a reassuring grin.
[Don't worry. That mule of a man — I'll take him off the board.]
I was chewing my nails down to the beds, tearing through the online auction site, when —
Bzzt — bzzzt —
The device on my desk buzzed hard.
The caller was, unexpectedly, Han Jewoon.
Hm? What's Han Jewoon calling for at this hour? To ask why the kids aren't back yet?
Puzzled, I picked up — and a frantic shout slammed into my eardrum.
[Junhyeok! Something's wrong!!]
At the thunderclap of a voice, none of his usual ease in it, my heart plunged.
"W-what's wrong! What is it!"
[Teacher Sunja is…! Haah, right now Teacher Sunja is…!]
"What about Teacher?! Spit it out!"
[I can't get the words out. I've got a helicopter waiting on the roof — get over here, now.]
Click—
At the one-sided cutoff of the call, my mind went white.
For Han Jewoon of all people to lose his cool — what on earth had happened to Teacher?!
"Kang Taemin! Where the hell is Kang Taemin?!"
I grabbed my coat and shouted, but the corridor was silent.
I didn't have a second, let alone the minute it would take, to hunt down Kang Taemin and explain.
Never mind — I'm going ahead!
Bursting out of the office and tearing for the roof, I found the helicopter running, ready — exactly as Han Jewoon had said.
The moment I scrambled aboard, gasping for breath, the aircraft ripped through the night sky at insane speed, tearing off toward the island.
The instant my feet touched down on the island's landing pad, Han Jewoon was already visible in the distance.
"Teacher! What on earth happened to Teacher?!"
At the desperate shout, Han Jewoon shook his head, heavy.
"Faster if you see it for yourself than hear me tell you. Come."
He rushed me straight to a huge VVIP suite tucked inside the resort.
Han Jewoon's face was grim as he flung the door open.
"In here."
I clutched at my pounding heart and rushed in.
"Teacher! Teacher Sunja, where…!"
But the spacious, opulent room held only a king-size bed and top-shelf furniture — not a soul in it, not so much as an ant.
Huh…? What is —
BANG—!!
In that instant the heavy door slammed shut behind me, vicious, and the lock clicked home.
"……?!"
Startled, I bolted to the door and tried the handle — didn't budge an inch.
"What the — Han Jewoon! What the hell are you doing?!"
Bang bang bang bang!
I pounded at the door like a madman, and through it came a smooth, sly voice — every trace of the earlier panic gone without a hint.
[Teacher is doing juuust fine. Three square meals a day, right on the dot, and she even hit the sauna. Went for a walk with Ari earlier, and now she's napping.]
"Have you lost your mind?! Where do you get off lying like — no, forget that, why are you locking a person up in here?! Open this door right now!"
At my shouting, veins standing out on my neck, Han Jewoon's snickering laugh came through from the other side.
[Sorry for the scare. But granting the squad's wishes is the Squad Leader's job.]
Squad Leader… don't tell me. The Scissors Squad?
"Locking me up is what the kids wanted?!"
[That's right. We finally drag you out to this island and you turn around and head straight back to work. How do you think that sits with the little ones? I've set you up in the VVIP room, so this time don't you dare set foot out — kick back and live it up. Top-shelf room service is standing by.]
"Hey, Han Jewoon!!! Quit playing around and open this thing!"
Undeterred by the roar, Han Jewoon started humming to himself.
[It's late, so I'll bring dinner in the morning. Get a good night's sleep~]
His footsteps receded, and the world outside the room dropped into total silence.
I stood there gripping the doorknob, frozen, hollowed out.
I was too dumbfounded even for a laugh.
No — what the hell is —!
No time for this.
I still had artifact shopping to finish. I still had gladiators to save.
But locked inside this godforsaken room, cut off from everything outside, there wasn't a single thing I could do.
"You lunatic!!!!"
Inside the gilded cage, only my wretched cries wheeled through the empty air.
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter