The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

My scream, thick with shock, rang through the banquet hall.

But before it had even finished, she — as if she hadn't just been clinging to me at all — shoved me away with a sharp thump!

"Oh my — I'm so sorry! To someone I've only just met, how could I be so rude..."

Her face went red, and she seemed to be blushing shyly — then, looking at me again, she murmured:

"But... you're the one who appeared like fate. My heart won't settle..."

More than any of her bewildering behavior, what scared me most were those black eyes of hers that changed by the second.

Overcome with emotion one moment, bashful the next, then blazing with mania again.

...This woman... her eyes are terrifying...!

Without taking my eyes off her, I edged backward, step by step.

"Um... I've just remembered somewhere I need to be, so I'll be—"

The moment I turned to take a step away—

An icy whisper slid into my ear.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Chills crawled over me, and I slowly turned to look back.

Her voice, from just a moment ago, had shifted entirely. That feather-light, bashful tone was gone without a trace, replaced by something eerily flat.

She was no longer blushing. She was standing right at my back, watching me with no expression at all.

"We haven't even started our conversation yet."

Inside my head, the survival instinct screaming run! went off like an alarm.

I obeyed it — turned on my heel and bolted.

But even as I ran... the hemostatic bandage stuck to her neck kept nagging at me.

She's going to start bleeding again...!

Almost against my will, with the last dregs of my conscience, I shouted:

"Keep the bandage on your neck! Don't peel it off, it'll bleed!"

I could feel her footsteps — which had been chasing me — come to a dead stop.

Then, without a trace of that chilling flatness from a second ago, a voice mixed with joy and mania came after me.

"...Kind to the very end! I knew you were my destiny after all, my lifesaver! Don't worry. We'll definitely meet again!"

Fleeing from that voice, I sprinted with everything I had toward Lee Jinwoo.

"Lee Jinwoo! Wake up!"

"Ugh... Di... Director...?"

After a few more hard shakes by the collar, Lee Jinwoo's eyes finally found me, though they wouldn't quite focus.

"Good enough! Let's bolt!"

I slung his arm across my shoulder and half-dragged him out of the banquet hall.

The next morning, the huge holographic display in the Director's office was plastered wall to wall with news of last night's terror attack.

I was carving into a thick steak the serving robot had brought me for breakfast.

...Thinking about yesterday just makes me want to cry.

All I did was go to a party to meet Han Jewoon.

Getting swept up in some terror attack and nearly killed, finding out the character I'd trusted was a garbage human being, getting a marriage proposal from some strange woman I'd never seen before in my life... a genuinely eventful day.

Feeling sour about it all, I cut off a big piece of meat and shoved it in my mouth.

Right. After a day that rough, a little pick-me-up is the least I deserve.

Rationalizing my way through, I kept working the knife through the meat and studied the holographic display.

On screen, alongside the anchor's excited voice, CCTV footage from last night was playing on a loop.

"...The situation resolved in ten seconds flat! Truly the Sword Emperor, Han Jewoon!"

While the anchor kept trumpeting the Sword Emperor's greatness, the moment in question finally began to play in slow motion.

On screen, fire erupted from dozens of gun barrels, and three Awakened, each bursting with the light of a different ability, charged Han Jewoon.

But what showed on screen ended there.

The next instant, the whole frame crackled as if it had picked up static, and... every terrorist was already down on the floor.

"Unfortunately, Hunter Han Jewoon's movements were so fast that the CCTV had trouble capturing them properly!"

...Whew.

I let out a breath of relief.

Guess the part where Han Jewoon and I were facing off with the terrorists got completely edited out.

Right — no way they were airing the country's Rank 1 Hunter telling them to just kill the hostage.

Thanks to that, I'd been hidden in the shadow of the curtain and barely visible anyway.

Swallowing another bite of steak, I tuned back in to the anchor's briefing.

"The arrested terrorists are members of a radical group called the Awakened Liberation Front, and it has been confirmed that they carried out this attack while demanding the dissolution of the Bureau."

Over the anchor's shoulder, on a graphic, the group's logo came up clearly.

A huge gray tower, split in half by a blood-red bolt of lightning driven straight down through it.

The image cut, and a photo of a necklace set with a shining blue jewel appeared.

"Meanwhile, the A-rank artifact they used, Silent Night, is a relic-class artifact that puts to sleep every being at A-rank and below. It is now in the custody of the Awakened Management Bureau."

I stopped my fork at the phrase every being at A-rank and below.

...Huh?

Something was off.

Han Jewoon's S-rank, so him being unaffected makes sense... but I'm just an ordinary human. Why was I fine?

I turned the question over for a bit, but no clear answer came to me.

...Maybe I was outside its range?

Remembering I'd been sitting at the far edge of the banquet hall, I nodded.

But the real problem wasn't that.

"What am I supposed to do now..."

I sank deep into my chair and muttered it in a despairing voice.

The stage for my delinquent act had now expanded past the walls of the institute.

I'd wanted to act normal outside the institute so I could finally drop this whole performance — but I'd botched the very first move.

Of all people to transmigrate into...

Complaining to myself, I shook my head.

No. This body, at least, has the power to save the kids. That's worth something.

Either way, Han Jewoon had accepted my proposal.

That alone made yesterday's ordeal worth it.

Sure, the thought of my beloved second-favorite character remembering me as a delinquent brat who'd sell out his own father did bring a tear to my eye, but...

If it means I can make the kids strong... this much of an act is nothing...!

I steeled myself with grim resolve.

...Anyway. When is he going to actually show up at the institute?

I was in the middle of that thought when—

Knock, knock.

A knock rang through the quiet office.

"Director. Deputy Director here."

I hurriedly ran a hand through my hair to fix it and forced my back straight.

"Come in."

He opened the door and stepped in, a thick report folder in his hand, and stood in front of me.

"This week's report."

Since he'd handed over all authority for the children to me, Park Wonjin had taken charge of every project at the institute except Project R.

The project he'd lost was on another level in importance, sure — but the research still under him wasn't nothing either.

Judging purely by the number of projects and researchers under his charge, the day-to-day running of the institute was still, in practice, in his hands.

Even so, without fail, he brought me a weekly report. A formality, of course.

Just as Park Wonjin was about to hand the report to me—

His gaze suddenly... landed on the plate on my desk.

His eyebrow twitched, very faintly.

"You're... eating meat, I see."

Oh.

Was I coming off as some ill-mannered punk who eats steak while getting reports?

...No.

I revised the thought.

The whole point of the act is being exactly that punk. If anything, this works out.

I made a point of stabbing my fork into the plate with a haughty clink.

"What. Bothering you? I eat what I want to eat."

"Ahem... not at all."

He looked at the plate for a moment, then, as if nothing had happened, put his mask-like face back on and began the report.

"Starting with the results from last week's captured B-rank monster research..."

Since I couldn't have followed any of it anyway, I let his voice become background music and went back to cutting my steak.

But the next moment, a single word out of Park Wonjin's mouth stopped the fork in mid-air.

"...And next month's public ability evaluation is scheduled to be conducted with Kim Sihyeok as the subject."

The public ability evaluation.

The venue where I had to prove — in front of the Bureau Chief — the results of the new method I'd so confidently boasted about.

That stage — attended in person by the Bureau Chief every three months — was, literally, the tribunal that would decide whether I got to keep authority over the children.

But the blade of that tribunal, under the banner of fairness, was in Park Wonjin's hand.

I fixed a hard look on him, and a smile as sly as a snake's settled at the corner of Park Wonjin's mouth.

"No need to worry, Director."

"..."

"I'm putting together... the finest stage possible for you to prove your great achievements in front of everyone. Please look forward to it."

He bowed with a flawless smile and impeccable courtesy.

"I'll see you next week, then, Director."

Click.

Park Wonjin left, and the door of the office shut.

The finest stage.

Park Wonjin's last words became an ominous echo, circling coldly around inside my head.

Just imagining it sent a cold anxiety spreading through my whole body.

"The kids... I need to see the kids."

I kicked back my chair and, all but fleeing, headed for the containment room.

The scene inside the containment room, seen through the reinforced glass, was somehow... off.

The room was split in two, as though an invisible line had been drawn across it.

In one corner, Han Soeun and Kang Taemin stood awkwardly, glancing over at the children.

And on the opposite side, the five kids were... clustered tightly among themselves.

Cha Yul was training alone off to one side, sweating, and Lee Sea-ah was reading a book right beside him.

In front of them, the three youngest were playing with stuffed animals.

...Why aren't they playing together? Did they fight or something?

Wondering that, I opened the door and stepped inside — and the taut stillness broke apart as if it had never been there.

Cha Yul and Lee Sea-ah shot me a glance, then cleared a path for the little ones.

The three youngest yelled "Director!" and came scampering right up to me.

"Hey, brats. Why aren't you playing with the flunkies? Just among yourselves?"

At my words, the kids stole a glance at Han Soeun and Kang Taemin, and Hayun, speaking for the group, mumbled:

"Ummm... we played a whooole lot earlier... so we're just resting a little bit right now."

Ah. So they'd worn themselves out and were just taking a break.

The moment they saw my face relax, the kids — as if nothing had happened — went right back to dangling off Kang Taemin, bursting into fits of giggles.

Hearing that innocent laughter, the anxiety pressing down on me... eased, a little.

But the peace didn't last.

The kids' laughter wasn't going to erase every one of the problems tangled up in my head.

Sneaking glances at Cha Yul and Lee Sea-ah, I dropped down onto an empty bed nearby with a flump.

Next month's public evaluation...

Han Jewoon... and... Kim Sihyeok.

A sigh came out on its own.

Han Jewoon agreed to be their mentor, but in just one month... can I really open that child's heart and produce results anyone can see?

And what worried me even more...

Park Wonjin.

Just recalling that name made my head throb.

What if his finest stage is the same trap as in the original — the one that pushes the child right to the edge of death?

"Haaah..."

Along with the sigh, I raked my hands through my hair.

Right at that moment—

Han Soeun had, at some point, quietly come up beside me.

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