The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

The leader, standing face-to-face with Han Jewoon, roared in a voice that had lost every trace of reason.

"All of you — go at him at once!"

The moment he gave the order, hell opened up.

Tatatatatat—!

Dozens of gun barrels spat fire in unison, and at the same instant three of the terrorists — clearly Awakened — closed in on Han Jewoon from three different directions.

The first to break through, head-on, was a huge man wearing gauntlets that blazed with red mana on both hands.

"Die!"

His fists, red mana exploding from them, rushed for Han Jewoon's face.

The air around the arc of the punch rippled and warped from the heat.

At the same time, at his back, another Awakened had planted his hands against the floor.

Screeeech! — with the sound of something clawing across the marble, two red iron chains ripped up out of the ground.

Writhing like living snakes, the chains shot forward at ferocious speed, trying to lash themselves around Han Jewoon's ankles.

And last, farther in the back, a woman raised her staff high and shouted.

"Ice Spear!"

As if answering her call, dozens of sharp ice spears rained down from the banquet-hall ceiling in a shower, cold pouring off them.

From the front, a searing punch. From below, chains coiling in. And from overhead, a shower of ice spears.

A flawlessly coordinated attack, sealing off every direction without a gap.

I was, quite literally, dumbstruck by the sheer overwhelming force of it.

How... how does a human being even...

I couldn't even begin to picture defending against it.

But Han Jewoon, with all of that closing in on him... didn't dodge.

He just stood there with a bored look on his face.

And the moment every single attack crossed the one-meter mark around him—

Click.

A very small, light sound.

The sound of Han Jewoon sliding his sword back into its sheath — and everything that had been blanketing the banquet hall an instant earlier was erased.

The rain of bullets, the writhing chains, the ice spears that had blotted out the ceiling.

As if none of it had ever existed, every trace vanished into thin air without leaving a mark.

Only one thing had held its shape.

The arm of the huge man that had been rushing at Han Jewoon's face.

Sliced clean off just below the shoulder, it dropped with a thud to the floor.

At the surreal scene, everyone in the banquet hall... silently swallowed a breath.

What broke the silence, a few seconds later, was the horrific scream of the man who had lost his arm.

"Krrraaaaghhh—!"

He clutched at his shoulder, rolling on the floor and howling.

But Han Jewoon, even in the middle of that ghastly scene, let out a sigh that said he was genuinely, deeply disappointed by all of it.

"Really... that's it? A stunt this weak, and you people call this terrorism? Way out of your league, aren't you?"

With that, his figure vanished. No — not vanished. He was simply too fast, my eyes couldn't follow him.

I saw it with my ears instead. Or rather — heard it.

The sound of air being sliced.

A sharp, tearing shriek of split air went off in one spot after another across the banquet hall.

Every time the sound cracked, a short nngh! followed, then the heavy thump of a body hitting the floor.

One, two, three... twenty, thirty...

Ten seconds. Every bit of it happened inside ten seconds.

By the time I came to, all that was left in the banquet hall was dozens of downed terrorists — and Han Jewoon, standing over them.

I could only stare, blank, at that scene like something out of a disaster.

Is he really the same kind of human as me?

It was as if every last drop of strength in this world had been distilled into that one man.

"You can come out now, kid."

I swallowed hard and cautiously stepped out from behind the curtain to walk over to him.

Up close, the scene was even stranger.

Dozens of terrorists were sprawled everywhere, but except for the man whose arm had been cut off, not one of them was bleeding a drop.

Wondering if they were dead, I stepped closer to check — and saw that every one of them was breathing evenly, as if they'd only fallen into a deep sleep.

Only then did it hit me that Han Jewoon hadn't killed them — he'd just subdued them.

Looking way too bored for a man who'd just put down dozens of enemies, he was prodding the terrorist leader with the toe of his shoe.

"Well, kid. Condition one of the deal — kept it flawlessly, didn't I?"

"Hah... does this kind of thing happen a lot?"

At my dazed question, he sighed with a face that said he was truly sick of it.

"Terrorism? It's routine. The Rank 1 spot is a nice juicy scrap of meat — pulls in every kind of fly."

Deep disillusionment and irritation showed in his eyes.

"Guys who trumpet their own private version of justice, guys claiming they're taking back their rights... every one of them charges at me thinking that if they just knock me down, the world's going to change. Aren't they ever going to get tired of it?"

He slowly turned his head to look at me.

It was as if he were overlaying my face onto those same flies he'd just described.

"So — about that. What you brought up before, kid. The Cycle of Life Stone. You actually know where it is?"

"..."

"Way I hear it, your father... Chae Ganghyeon's been looking for it too. Why haven't you told him about it yet?"

...What? Chae Ganghyeon?

A chill ran down my spine.

In the original, only Han Jewoon was chasing this item.

There was nothing about Chae Ganghyeon being after it!

A son betraying his own father to hand a legendary artifact over to a stranger he'd only just met.

By any measure, an insane move that didn't add up.

Something only a delinquent, an ingrate, some brat who doesn't know his own father from a stranger, would—

Huh? A delinquent?

I stopped short.

...I am a delinquent, though.

Up till a moment ago I'd been too panicked to even think about the act — but come to think of it, I'd chucked my polite-mask a long time back.

Careful, logical persuasion?

Not going to make a dent on this man.

But... if I was just a delinquent?

The kind of guy who was always like that?

I thought once I was outside the institute, I wouldn't have to put on the act anymore...

I swallowed a mental tear, but the water was already spilled.

I shifted my posture into a slouch, let out an hah!, and shoved my hair back.

"Hah! So it comes to this in the end."

At the sudden switch, Han Jewoon's eyebrow lifted a little.

"You should've just let it slide back when I was being nice and using polite speech. Would've been better for both of us. Now you're bringing out my temper."

"...!"

"But sure. Right. I know my dad's looking for that little rock."

I shrugged, and put contempt into my voice.

"So what?"

"...?"

"You really think I'm going to spend the rest of my life in that geezer's shadow? Honestly, dancing around on the board he set up — I was starting to get tired of it."

"...Shadow?"

"Yeah. I'm... going to drag him down and take that seat myself. Using the institute as my stepping stone."

Have to sell it this hard... or there's no reason for me to be hiding the artifact.

The bluff kept growing on me until tears threatened to well up, but there was no taking it back now.

Forcing myself to ignore my hammering heart, I looked him straight in the eye.

"And I'm going to make every Awakened in this country look up to me. I'll be standing at the top of them all."

At my brazen declaration, Han Jewoon let out a short hah! of a laugh, as if he couldn't quite believe it.

Head of the Awakened Management Bureau.

Not a plain senior official.

You could say without exaggeration that it managed every Gate and every Awakened that appeared in Korea. It was a seat like an unseen emperor, one even the government and S-rank Hunters had to defer to.

And here I was, a talentless punk of a delinquent, saying I was going to take that seat...

...Honestly, even I have to admit it sounds ridiculous.

He seemed to be thinking the same thing — his face was full of mockery.

"...You? Head of the Bureau?"

Instead of answering, I ground a shard of shattered champagne flute under my heel with a crunch — and met his eyes head-on.

"What, you don't think I can?"

"..."

"With this institute in hand, nothing's out of reach. That geezer basically handed me the perfect stepping stone with his own hands. The test subjects too."

"...So."

Han Jewoon picked it up from me.

"You'd rather hand that artifact over to me — not your father — because of that big-time ambition of yours?"

At his question, I smirked.

"Now we're finally on the same page. I don't have the slightest interest in that rock you're chasing. As long as I can make my test subjects... no,"

I deliberately corrected myself, and grinned.

"...as long as I can make my soldiers strong, that's more than enough for me."

But even to that, Han Jewoon said nothing.

He just watched me with eyes deep as the ocean floor.

...Went too far?

My heart squeezed tight — thud, thud, thud.

I hurried to change tack.

"Well — whatever my ambitions are... doesn't concern you either way, does it? What you need is the Cycle of Life Stone. That's all. Right?"

"...Yeah. That's right."

"I've got no interest in crossing a monster like you either, so I'll hold up my end for sure."

Right then, faint groans — the sound of people waking up — began to drift up from around the banquet hall.

The hostages who had fainted.

Han Jewoon ran his eyes across the stirring hostages and clicked his tongue.

"To keep talking about this... this really isn't the place."

He strode over and slung the unconscious man in glasses onto his shoulder like it was nothing.

"I'll come to you in person for the details."

The moment he finished, he pulled a small crystal shard from his coat and threw it to the floor.

Crack—! — a blinding flash burst from the shattering crystal and swallowed my sight.

When I opened my eyes again, Han Jewoon and the man in glasses were both gone from the spot without a trace.

The only thing left... was one half of the earbud artifact I'd handed him, sitting all alone on the floor.

Only after Han Jewoon disappeared did I feel the last taut thread of tension I'd been holding onto snap clean.

"Haah, haaah..."

My head was tangled with the surreal events that had just unfolded a moment ago.

Terrorism, hostages, the Cycle of Life Stone, and... Han Jewoon on top of it.

Only then did I notice my own hands were trembling.

My heart was hammering hard enough to shatter my ribs.

Somehow... got through it. I survived.

I slumped to the floor and, along with a sigh of relief, let out a small whoop.

I don't know how long I sat there, dazed.

"Mmh..."

Right nearby, a faint moan reached my ears. I turned my head and saw the woman who'd been taken hostage earlier.

Set against her black suit, hair as white as snow was especially striking.

What an unreal hair color. Guess this really is a novel wor—

That impressed thought cut off the moment I noticed the red blood running down her neck.

Right — her wound!

I dug frantically into the subspace pouch at my chest.

Hemostatic bandages, the ones I always kept on me in case the kids got hurt.

Carefully, I peeled the wrapping off and reached my hand out toward her wound.

Right as my fingertips were about to touch her skin—

The eyelids that had been shut like she was dead flew open — snap! — and the black eyes behind them pinned me straight through.

"...!"

I flinched and tried to pull my hand back on reflex, but the hand that shot out to catch my wrist was faster.

Nngh...! What is this grip...?!

A grip stronger than anyone would believe from her slender frame.

Wrist still locked in her hand, her eyes darted around at an unbelievable speed, taking in the situation.

The downed hostages, the suspicious figures in masks, and... me, trying to treat the wound on her neck.

The moment she'd finished sizing everything up... a huge smile broke over her face all at once.

"You...! You saved me!"

"P-pardon? N-no, no. The one who saved you was Han Je—"

Before I could finish the correction, she flung herself into my arms.

"My lifesaver!"

The sudden warmth and weight froze me on the spot.

"Please...! Marry me!"

"...Whaaaat?!"

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