The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

Bawi Guild had a famous couple of Hunters.

Yeon Minjun — the shield that would never break — and Choi Jiyeon, the spear that could pierce anything.

They were famous for two big reasons.

First, they were an Awakened couple — extremely rare in Korea — and both of them were A-rank on top of that.

Second, Choi Jiyeon was the one and only daughter of that Kim Sunja herself.

Kim Sunja.

The one they called the "Soul Blacksmith," Kim Sunja was a living legend.

Her ability, [Root Sight], was a near-miraculous power that could draw an Awakened's potential out to its absolute maximum.

She couldn't change someone's rank itself, but for those who had never grasped the true use of their ability, or who had hit a wall in their growth, she could break through and open the way.

Because of it, countless guilds and even nations had offered her astronomical sums, but she never wavered — she held her position as Grand Advisor of Bawi Guild.

Not for money, not for fame — for one thing alone: loyalty to the founding Guild Master.

And for Choi Jiyeon, having a mother like that had been an opportunity, sure, but at the same time it had also been a shackle.

Every accomplishment she made got painted over with "Kim Sunja's daughter," and she had spent her whole life struggling to get out from under her mother's shadow.

That shadow had bled into her personal relationships, too.

In elementary school, the best friend she had believed would be her friend for life — she overheard her, one day, saying behind her back, "Honestly, I don't even want to hang out with her, but my mom keeps pushing me to because she says her mom's a big deal."

In high school, the first boyfriend she ever had showed his true colors within a week.

"Jiyeon. Do you think... you could ask the Grand Advisor to take a look at my potential? Just once. Please?"

As betrayals like that piled up, she started suspecting the hidden agenda behind every scrap of goodwill anyone offered her.

Which was why, when she first laid eyes on Yeon Minjun, she couldn't help but bristle with wariness.

Rural Jeju boondocks born and raised.

Awakened to the [Area Defense] ability and assessed at A-rank as a tanker: Yeon Minjun.

And a man who, the moment they met, confessed to her right on the spot.

"Team Leader! I like you! Please, go out with me!"

...Hah.

At this all-too-familiar, thoroughly exhausting situation, Choi Jiyeon sighed inside.

Blurting out a confession the second he laid eyes on her. Textbook.

This one came at me knowing my background too.

"Beat it."

But instead of shrinking away, he barked "Yes, ma'am! Sorry, ma'am!" and — of all things — actually turned around and went back to his post.

...What. Is this bastard messing with me?

And after that day, Yeon Minjun acted as if he'd never confessed at all.

Over the many life-or-death missions they went through as teammates, he stayed steady as a tanker — not a single mixed motive, just doing the shield's job of protecting the team.

But in Jiyeon's eyes, even that devotion looked like calculation, top to bottom.

Thanks to that ridiculous out-of-nowhere confession, he'd already been branded in her mind as an opportunist who'd approached her to get at Kim Sunja.

A few months went by.

"Come to think of it, Sapphire Team's results have been great lately. Keep it up."

Hmm...?

Sudden praise from the Guild Master, mid–officers' meeting.

Watching that satisfied smile, something crossed Choi Jiyeon's mind.

...Now that he mentions it.

He had a point. Even Jiyeon herself hadn't consciously noticed it, but recent Gate clears had been going strangely, unnaturally smoothly.

She didn't have to grind herself to pieces the way she used to, so the exhaustion was visibly down, and clear times were setting new records almost daily.

As if someone had been going ahead and flattening the rough parts of the road for her.

What changed?

The team's strategy hadn't changed, and no other team member's skill had jumped up suddenly.

There was only one thing that had changed.

...That country bumpkin.

Choi Jiyeon ran back through the recent runs in her head.

Last time, when a monster had ambushed them from her blind spot — before she could even react, Yeon Minjun's massive shield had already been there, holding the line.

More than that: whenever she was about to land a finishing blow, he'd pull the monster's aggro to him with uncanny timing and clear her a perfect lane.

Like a man reading her next move in advance.

Hmm.... Later on... maybe I'll throw him a word of praise.

Deep down, she still believed he'd approached her to get at her mother, but the sharpness in her had dulled a good deal, somewhere along the way, watching him quietly, doggedly do his job without a single complaint.

Once the meeting ended, Choi Jiyeon asked another teammate she ran into in the corridor:

"Hey, you happen to know where Hunter Yeon Minjun is right now?"

"Hunter Yeon? He was just headed to the analysis room."

"Analysis room? What for? There aren't any dungeon runs coming up."

She thanked the teammate — who admitted he had no idea — and set off for the analysis room.

Creeeak—.

She opened the door and stepped in, and there was Yeon Minjun, slumped over a wide desk, fast asleep.

And on the monitor in front of him, footage of a Sapphire Team simulated combat was playing.

Something was off, though.

The footage was skipping every other segment — playing only her combat scenes, on repeat.

What on earth—

That was when she spotted a battered notebook tucked under his slumped arm.

As if under a spell, Choi Jiyeon stepped closer and carefully opened it.

[Team Leader's main attack pattern: three-hit thrust, followed by mana release.]

(So cool ☆)

[Habit: when she senses danger, she spins the spear one full turn counterclockwise.

(This is the perfect window to move in with the shield!)]

[Ultimate ability use — approx. 0.8-second delay. → This is when you MUST pull the monster's aggro perfectly.

(If you screw up here, the Team Leader gets hurt!)]

Records so pure and diligent — and honestly, obsessive to the point of being unnerving. She stood there looking down at the notebook with her feelings all tangled up. And that was the exact moment.

"Hurrgh..."

Still slumped over the desk, Yeon Minjun groggily lifted his head.

And found himself looking straight up at Choi Jiyeon, standing over him.

"Team Leader?! H-how did you get—!"

The instant his eyes found his own notebook in her hand, Yeon Minjun's face flared bright red.

"T-T-Team Leader! Th-that—!"

He shot up from his chair.

"I-I wasn't tracking only you on purpose or anything! I just wanted to know the Team Leader be-better... no, that's not it! A-as a teammate! We have to sync up as a team...!"

Choi Jiyeon watched him blustering his way through it in silence.

"...Fine. If you've gone this far — I'll give it to you."

"Excuse me?"

"You wanted to meet my mom that badly, did you?"

"H-huh? Y-your mother, you mean? I mean, I do want to meet her, but..."

At Jiyeon's question, Yeon Minjun blinked at her with a blank, dumb expression.

...I knew it.

Choi Jiyeon smiled bitterly.

The old fury didn't well up in her the way it once had.

A man who tried this hard... might be worth being used by, at least once.

"All right. Clear your schedule tomorrow. We'll go straight to my mom's."

The instant she said it, Yeon Minjun's mouth dropped open like his jaw was about to fall off.

"T-tomorrow already? So soon? I can't show up empty-handed, maybe a fruit basket... no, do I need a Korean beef set? I-I'm nowhere near mentally ready...!"

"Shut up."

Choi Jiyeon knit her brow and cut him off flat.

The idea of meeting Kim Sunja had this man practically fizzing with joy.

She couldn't say why, but her mood was going sour fast.

"Tomorrow, 9 a.m. Be at the guild's front gate."

The next morning, Choi Jiyeon drove with the same sour mood still hanging on her.

Even she couldn't say why she was this irritated.

It's the being-used-by-him part. That's what's got me in a mood.

Forcing a reason on it, she pressed harder on the accelerator.

As she got near the front gate, a big, hulking figure caught her eye up ahead.

Except something was off.

Instead of his usual training gear — a crisp suit.

And beside him, bundles of who-knew-what were piled high in stacks.

Hah! Look how badly he wanted to meet my mother.

Choi Jiyeon felt her mood take another dip.

"Get in."

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

Yeon Minjun carefully loaded the Korean beef set and fruit basket he'd brought into the trunk, then climbed into the passenger seat.

He buckled his seat belt and, watching her mood nervously, tried a couple of times to make conversation.

"Um... Team Leader. The weather today is..."

But Choi Jiyeon just stared coldly at the road, ignoring him completely.

After a few more attempts, Yeon Minjun eventually gave up and went quiet.

In the awkward silence, the car pulled up in front of a quiet country house in the suburbs.

The moment they got out, Kim Sunja came out to greet them, pipe still between her teeth.

"Well, look who it is. You never showed your face for a stretch — you finally free now?"

"Yeah... never mind that. There's someone I want to show you."

"Show me?"

The moment she said it, Yeon Minjun stepped out from behind her, arms loaded down with presents.

"Ho... you, bringing someone. That's new."

"He's on my team. Take a look at his ability for me—"

But before she could finish—

Thump!

Yeon Minjun dropped to his knees, right where he stood.

And out came the huge shout that followed.

"Mother! Please give me your daughter's hand!"

His voice was so loud that in the quiet neighborhood it echoed back — "...her hand! ...her hand! ...her hand!"

Clink!

The pipe in Kim Sunja's mouth dropped to the ground.

"What... did you just say?"

She turned to her daughter for an explanation, but Choi Jiyeon looked no different.

If anything, she looked more thrown than her own mother.

"I know she's far above what I deserve! But I'll cherish and love her for the rest of my life! Please... please give me your daughter's hand in marriage!"

The last shout faded, and the yard was left ringing with the echo of the confession — nothing but heavy silence.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Silence going on and on, Yeon Minjun — still on his knees — was just starting to lift his head to sneak a look at her when—

"Pff... pff... phuh...."

The sound of air leaking out reached his ears.

"Ahahaha! You wanted to meet my mom... in that sense? Ahahaha!"

"D-did I say something wrong?"

"Ahahaha...!"

Jiyeon laughed for a long time, wiping the tears at the corners of her eyes.

She couldn't seem to stop.

She'd thought he was a calculating type who was after her mother — and it turned out he was after her!

How absurdly, gloriously... harmless was that?

"Uh-huh-huh... haah...."

Her violently shaking shoulders began, gradually, to settle.

The laughter faded, but strangely, the edges of her eyes only grew hotter.

Behind the relief, a heavy stone of an emotion rose up and hit her right in the chest.

"...I didn't... I didn't know...."

At the tail of the laughter, an unfamiliar sob slipped out.

"T-Team Leader?! W-why are you crying?!"

Flustered, Yeon Minjun came rushing over, but she couldn't lift her head.

The grief she'd held in for so long broke through like a dam giving way.

"Kh... hkk... Not once...! Not one single time...!"

She covered her face with her shaking hands. Between her fingers, hot tears kept spilling without stopping.

"Everyone only ever saw my mom... nobody... nobody ever saw me, Choi Jiyeon, for who I really was... hk..."

She sank down where she stood and cried like she was pouring out every last drop of grief she'd been storing.

He panicked, thrown by the whole thing, and then, hesitantly, put a careful arm around her shoulders.

"I-I don't really know why you're crying...."

The palm on her back was warm and rough.

"It's all right. I'm right here beside you. Sad or hurt — whatever it is — I'll block it all for you."

Maybe it was because of those words.

An impulsive, thoroughly irrational certainty — one the usually clear-headed Choi Jiyeon couldn't have imagined in a hundred lifetimes — flashed through her mind.

If I let go of this hand... I'll never meet another man like this one.

So she made up her mind. On this fool of a man, she was going to bet the rest of her life.

"Mom. I... I'm going to marry him."

Kim Sunja couldn't close her mouth at any of this ridiculous scene.

But her daughter — who had lived her whole life like ice — was, for the first time in her life, smiling brightly.

In front of that face, there was nothing an old mother could say.

"...If that's what you want, then that's how it'll be. What power does an old woman have in the matter?"

And so, the two of them — with no dating period at all — headed straight to marriage.^※TL Damn

After the wedding, the two of them showed even more astonishing synergy than before.

The kind of perfect timing where a single look between them was enough to know each other's next move.

Where Yeon Minjun blocked, Choi Jiyeon pierced through.

Their pairing became Sapphire Team's winning formula, and rose as Bawi Guild's newest legend.

And not long after, a life came into their world like a gift.

The birth of their beloved daughter, Yeon Ari.

After the child was born, the couple's love only grew deeper and more solid than before.

Sunlight pouring into the living room.

"Our Ari — you want to smile for Daddy? Peekaboo!"

Giggle—.

"Jiyeon! Did you see that just now?! Our Ari smiled at me!"

Choi Jiyeon, who had been mixing formula, came out to the living room, beaming at all the fuss.

"Our Ari. Was Daddy's face that funny to you? Hmm?"

She bounced the baby, and the baby broke into another wide smile.

"Aigoo, our little princess~ You're drooling! Daddy'll wipe you off!"

Yeon Minjun pulled a gauze handkerchief embroidered with a small yellow flower pattern out of his pocket.

"When on earth did you buy that handkerchief?"

"Hehe... this isn't just any handkerchief...!"

He gave it a shake, and fine particles of mana glittered.

"It's an E-rank artifact, the [Handkerchief of Cleanliness]! Because our princess's skin is precious."

"Oh my god. Using an artifact as a baby handkerchief. You've completely become a doting-daughter dad."

"She's our daughter — the fruit of my love with you! Of course!"

At Yeon Minjun's fuss, the living room burst into laughter all over again.

That this perfect happiness would last forever — that was what they earnestly, desperately wished.

But cruelly, that happiness could not last for very long.

They were irreplaceable A-rank Hunters, whose job was to hold back the Gates.

In a world where a single Gate breach meant thousands dead, "vacation" was a luxury.

In the end, they had to leave Ari with Kim Sunja, and go back — again — to the deadly Gates one after another.

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