The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

The moment they stepped inside the wrecked car, the girl sank straight down to the floor.

Her face was a ruined, swollen mess, and blood kept running down from her split lip.

"Hnnhh... noona... I'm sowwy... it's — it's because of me..."

Watching noona's face, Sihyeok let out great sobbing wails.

But with that battered face of hers, the girl only gave a goofy hee- of a laugh, as if nothing was wrong.

"Silly. Why're you crying? Didn't you see? Those uncles ran away in the end. I won."

At that, Sihyeok cried even harder, brokenhearted.

She just watched him crying for a while, then suddenly opened her mouth.

"Sihyeok. Let's be family."

"...Family?"

"Yeah. Family."

With her badly swollen face, she gave a faint smile.

"Even those awful guys have family looking out for them. So we should too. Otherwise it's not fair, right?"

She put on the most dependable-looking face in the world.

"I'll be the noona, and you'll be my little brother. Right now I'm stronger than you, so of course I'll protect you."

Her orange eyes glinted.

"Then someday, when you get way stronger than me, that's when you protect noona. Okay?"

At that, for the first time, a bright smile broke across Sihyeok's tear-wrecked face.

Not even thinking to wipe away his falling tears, he nodded desperately.

"Yeah...! Got it! When I — when I gwow up... I'll pwotect noona for sure!"

On the day they suffered the coldest violence the world had to offer,

the two of them tended to each other's wounds, made a promise about the future, and became the warmest family in the world.

And so a little more time passed.

I was still drifting around the two of them like a ghost, watching their precarious daily life unfold.

The environment around them was horrific, but strangely, the smiles never left the kids' faces.

Please, let this peace last a long time...

But in mockery of my wish, that peace didn't last long.

Early one morning, the sleeping children were jolted awake by an earth-shaking roar.

Kraaash—!

The girl looked outside and hurried to shake Sihyeok awake.

"Sihyeok! Get up, get up!"

"Noona... whaaat...?"

"I think thugs are here! We have to get out, now!"

Right then, with a heavy rumble, the heap of wrecked cars they'd been hiding inside shook hard.

The girl pointed at the broken back door of the car.

"Sihyeok, let's go out that way! Hurry!"

But instead of climbing out, Sihyeok grabbed at his noona's sleeve, choking on tears.

"Noona...! Our fwower! Fwower's outside...!"

"You think that matters right now?! Come on!"

She was urging her little brother to move, but Sihyeok only shook his head, tears rolling down.

Seeing that, the girl hesitated for a moment, then, as if she'd made up her mind, said:

"Fine. You — don't move an inch, stay here. Noona'll go grab it real quick!"

She tucked Sihyeok deeper into the shadows and headed back toward the entrance of the wreck.

She had just carefully crawled out and was reaching for the tin-can planter — that was the exact moment.

A rough hand snatched her arm.

"Huh? What's this? Some little kid all the way out here?"

The thug looked at the dirt-caked girl the way you'd look at an insect.

"You've been living in a junkyard like this? Ha, impressive. Beat it, quick. We're clearing this whole place out."

At that, the girl shot a glance back toward Sihyeok, still hidden in the darkness.

Then, in a calm voice, she answered.

"...Got it. I'll go, so let go of me."

She was about to reach for the pot again — right that instant.

The thug traced where her eyes had gone and spotted the small tin-can planter sitting on the ground.

"What's this piece of junk?"

Clank!

He kicked the dented tin-can planter lightly, like he was flicking off a bug.

Dirt spilled out, and the tender orange marigold's stem snapped over, limp.

"Hnk—!"

Faintly, from the darkness, came the sound of Sihyeok swallowing a breath.

At that sound, the look in the girl's eyes changed in an instant.

"You — what the hell!"

She glared at the adult holding her arm with every bit of strength she had and shouted:

"Who the hell are you to just kick our treasure?! This is our house! You get out of here!"

At that, the thug let out a ha! of a scoff.

"House? This pile of trash? Whatever. From today this is our land. We paid money for it."

The thug tightened his grip on the girl's arm and shoved his face threateningly close to hers.

But she didn't buckle under the pressure — if anything, she glared at him even more fiercely.

"You little... won't drop your eyes, huh?"

Thwack!

A small body flew like a scrap of paper and slammed into the trash heap.

At that, another thug beside him clicked his tongue.

"Hey, ease up. She's a kid."

But the man was still huffing, like he wasn't done with his temper.

"Ah, that orange-headed brat just pisses me off looking at her!"

At that, his buddy cackled.

"Ah~ that woman who kicked you out that time had orange hair too, come to think of it."

That was the exact moment.

The girl who had been down suddenly shot back up, lunged, and sank her teeth straight into the man's forearm.

"AARGH!!! Little—!"

The thug screamed and tried to pry her off, but she wouldn't let go for anything.

"Get out of our house! Get out!"

That desperate shout cut the last thread of the thug's reason.

"You... little brat—!"

Fists and kicks rained down on her small body.

Thud, thud, thud!

After a long while of beating on her, the thug finally grabbed her by the hair and hurled her at the wall.

With a heavy thud, the girl's small body slumped limply onto a pile of trash.

Watching all of it from the darkness, Sihyeok's world stopped.

He couldn't see anything. He couldn't hear anything.

Only the sight of his noona, fallen and no longer moving, became the whole of the world.

I'm noona's family. I have to — I have to protect her.

That was the trigger.

The shadow at Sihyeok's feet began to spread.

It was the oldest darkness in the world, bowing to Sihyeok's will.

"H-hey! What the hell is this all of a sudden!"

The thugs saw the ground under their feet being swallowed by pitch-black darkness and scrambled backward, terrified.

But that was only the beginning.

Every shadow the trash heaps had thrown began to writhe in unison, like snakes, and gather toward one point.

Its target wasn't the thugs.

Only the single girl who lay bleeding on the ground.

"Don't touch... my noona!!!"

A shriek that seemed to wring the soul out of Sihyeok.

It was an absolute command.

Answering Sihyeok's desperate will, the shadows surged upward as one.

Every shadow, obeying the child's desperate will, rose up as one, wound around the girl, and dragged her down into the ground.

Watching the girl be swallowed into the shadow, the thugs cried out in horror.

"An A-Awakened! That brat was an Awakened!"

"AAAGH! Run! We're gonna get eaten too!"

After the thugs fled the junkyard screaming, silence returned to it.

But Sihyeok had already passed out, and didn't feel that silence.

How much time had passed?

When he opened his eyes, the sky was still covered in darkness and stars.

"No... noona!"

Sihyeok jerked upright.

The scary uncles from before were nowhere to be seen.

The instant he realized it, pride bloomed on the child's face.

I... I drove them off! I protected noona!

Proudly, the child called out toward the shadow at his feet.

"Noona! It's okay now! You can come out!"

But his shadow didn't so much as stir.

"Noona...?"

An ominous feeling started to squeeze at the child's small heart.

"Come out... come out now, noona..."

He muttered it toward the shadow spread beneath him, almost pleading.

But the darkness remained silent.

His voice slowly started to break with tears.

"Noona... noona... why, why aren't you coming out..."

The pleading gradually turned into desperate cries.

"How do you do this? Open! Open right now!"

The child started pounding at the shadow with his small fists — thud, thud.

But his fists only slammed painfully against cold dirt.

"Spit her out! Spit my noona back out!"

Almost crying, he stretched his hands out desperately toward the shadow, trying to pry it open, trying to tear it apart.

Perhaps in answer to his desperate cries.

Finally, the shadow opened, very, very slowly.

And from within it, spat out a single figure.

The orange-haired girl.

"Noona!"

Sihyeok ran to her, overjoyed.

But the closer he got, the slower his steps became.

The girl's face had a bluish cast, and her lips were pale, as if every trace of blood had drained from them.

"Noona? Noona, wake up..."

Sihyeok shook her shoulder.

"I chased all the bad uncles away. So wake up..."

Normally noona would have laughed and said my Sihyeok did such a good job!

But she didn't stir, only rocking limply under his hand.

"Ah... aah... aaaah..."

Only then did the child understand.

That the shadow he had called out to protect her — had, in fact, become her grave.

"N-no... no..."

A choking sound that couldn't even become a scream leaked from the child's throat.

He clutched her cold body desperately.

"Noona... stop playing... I — I'm sorry... please... please open your eyes, noona..."

But there was no answer.

The girl in his arms was only horribly, terribly cold and still.

That night, in the empty junkyard, the only sound was the cries of a child — the child who, with his own hands, had taken the breath of his only family — echoing all night long.

Watching Sihyeok weeping, I found I'd started weeping with him.

I wanted to hold that little child in my arms even once, but my transparent body... couldn't touch anything.

My chest ached with helplessness.

Right then, another single orange marigold blossom drifted toward me, fluttering.

The instant I fixed my eyes on it, everything around me began to change.

The child's desperate cries — echoing all around — grew fainter, and in their place, a low, ominous woong— pulse began to beat at my heart.

When I came to my senses, I was back in the real training room.

They must have restored power — every light was blazing bright, and in one corner of the training area, a huge black sphere was pulsing quietly.

I could tell on instinct.

Sihyeok was inside that sphere.

Having witnessed the child's past — every bit of that terrible sorrow — I couldn't stop the tears falling from my eyes.

But this wasn't the time to cry.

I had to save that child.

I staggered to my feet and pounded my arm against the observation room's mirror.

"Hey! You're watching, right? Summon another monster, right now!"

Through a burst of static from the speakers, the flustered voice of a researcher came through.

[D-Director! What are you saying?! Leave the test subject and get out of there!]

"Don't argue — summon it now!"

[Are you insane?! You'll actually get yourself—!]

That was when the Bureau Chief's low, chilling voice cut off the researcher's and rang out.

[Authorized.]

The moment those words landed, new virtual data started materializing behind me.

Grwaaaargh—!

The familiar roar of a beast raked coldly down my spine.

The Black Grizzly that had been eaten by Sihyeok's shadow earlier.

But I ignored the beast at my back entirely, and faced only the black sphere.

"Kim Sihyeok! I'm not going to die! I'm not going to!"

Krrroom—!

Behind me came the thunder of the beast pushing off the ground and charging.

"So..."

Listening to that sound, I squeezed my eyes shut hard.

"Protect me! Hide me... inside your shadow!"

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