The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

"B-but that makes no sense! How on earth do you get rid of an ability's penalty?! If that were possible, academia would've cracked it long ago—"

"That man..."

Kang Taemin cut her off.

"...stopped an Awakened's overload. He's a genius."

At that one line, a heavy silence dropped over the control room.

There was nothing to argue with.

That impossible thing — the very Director they served was the one who had calmly pulled it off, right in front of their eyes.

Han Soeun gripped her head, face full of despair.

"Did the Director give us any kind of hint at all? Anything strange he did? Because we've got nothing to go on here!"

"Hint? There's no way there'd be..."

Lee Jinwoo bit at his lip, on edge.

Should I try calling him again?

Just as thoughts like that were roiling through his head —

A memory of something very small, but that had left an odd twinge, flashed through his mind.

"Now that I think about it... a few months back. That day."

The very day the Director had saved Cha Yul with a fire extinguisher and, for the first time, laid his ambition bare.

"That day, the Director asked me about the kids' profiles..."

[Starting with that gray-haired kid over there. Name, age, ability, date of admission — in that order. Or actually, forget "tell me" — recite them.]

[Vector? What's that.]

[No... skip the definition... just tell me what he can do with the ability. Three-line summary. Go.]

"He asked about their abilities?"

"Yeah, and — even though he already knew all of it — he deliberately played dumb and made me put it a different way, on top of that."

At that, Han Soeun's face went puzzled.

"That really is strange."

"Right? So... at the time, I just... chalked it up to a wastrel's whim... but he wasn't a wastrel, was he."

"Right?"

"Then why in the world would he have asked me...? He had to have known all of it already."

Kang Taemin, who had been listening in silence up to that point, spoke quietly.

"...Was he checking the profiles."

"The profiles?"

"Yeah. If what was written down didn't match what he already knew, he might've been asking because of that—"

Before Kang Taemin's sentence could even finish, an exclamation point popped up over all three of their heads at the same time.

The abilities he knew... don't match what's in the profiles...?

The three of them locked eyes, all at once, and a message flew back and forth between them.

You too?

You too?

Hey — you too?

The one who dropped the bomb first was Han Soeun.

"The kids' abilities—!"

She cried out, floored.

"They don't match the profiles?!"

"Right now!"

Lee Jinwoo shouted.

"Let's start by re-examining Suho's ability!"

The three of them gathered in front of the control room's main monitor and started scanning the data.

"Rethink Suho's ability from scratch! What does the profile say?"

"Healing! Penalty: life-force decrease!"

"Basis?"

"His biometric energy dropping every time he uses it!"

"Doesn't that... seem off?"

Lee Jinwoo pushed his glasses back up his nose, driving in sharp.

"An Awakened ability with life-force as its penalty — does that even make sense? Using an ability should burn mana, obviously — why would it be eating away at his life instead?"

At that question — cutting straight to the root of it — Han Soeun and Kang Taemin both wavered.

"...It really is strange. Every Awakened ability manifests through mana as its base."

"But it's still just a hypothesis."

Kang Taemin held their excitement in check.

"Yeah, a hypothesis... but seeing as the Director gave us the hint... it's well worth investigating."

Lee Jinwoo quickly started pulling the situation into order.

"All right, then let's do it this way."

He looked at Kang Taemin.

"First off... we need to pry that Hwang Dushik man off Suho, at least for now."

Lee Jinwoo's eyes went serious.

"If we cut Hwang Dushik out cold, the kid'll push back — could actually backfire on us..."

He thought for a moment, then offered the next-best option.

"Leave the virtual training in place, but strip him of his dedicated teacher status. We've got plenty of grounds for that."

He looked at Kang Taemin, trust in his eyes.

"You take over as Suho's dedicated teacher. Especially during virtual training sessions with Hwang Dushik — don't take your eyes off him for a single second."

Kang Taemin nodded without a word.

"And the two of us... we re-analyze Park Suho's ability from scratch. What we've believed was 'healing' — that ability could actually be something completely different."

His eyes glinted sharp behind the lenses.

"We handpick a few of the team — tight-lipped, skilled — and comb every inch of it. Got it?"

"Deal."

The gleam of a mad scientist rose in Han Soeun's eyes too.

"Finally, a chance to show the Director what we can really do."

At that, Han Soeun and Kang Taemin nodded without a word.

"Let's not disappoint the Director — he trusted us."

Wordlessly, the three of them bumped their fists together.

For several days, Hwang Dushik was in less than a good mood. In fact, honestly — he was at his worst.

There were two reasons.

One was that he had been booted from the Park Suho dedicated-researcher spot he'd worked so hard to worm into, and now could barely catch a glimpse of the kid's face during virtual training time.

And the other... was Kang Taemin, planted like a boulder right there at his side.

Damn it. That stone lump is choking the life out of me.

Normally, he'd have planned to squeeze even this pathetic sliver of time for all the extra ability use he could get out of the kid.

But with Kang Taemin planted at his side as the dedicated researcher, Hwang Dushik was reduced to putting on the show of a diligent assistant.

If I leave things as they are... the life-force I've been shaving off will just recover.

Every time he saw the color coming back to Park Suho's face, impatience rose up to the back of his throat.

That was the exact moment.

Bzzt—

The terminal in Hwang Dushik's pocket buzzed briefly.

Sneaking a look at the screen, he felt his eyes go wide.

[Get in touch.]

Up to now he'd only ever sent his periodic email reports — this was the first time the man had reached out to him directly.

Hwang Dushik swallowed hard, put on the friendliest smile he had, and turned to Kang Taemin.

"Ah, Chief Kang. Sorry about this, my stomach's giving me a bit of trouble... I need to duck into the bathroom for a moment."

Kang Taemin, without a word, tipped his chin toward the door.

Hwang Dushik hurried out of the training room, and only once he'd shut himself inside a bathroom stall did he send his reply.

[Yes, Deputy Director.]

The answer came back at once.

[How are things lately.]

Hwang Dushik's thumbs flew over the keys.

[Well... a situation has come up. He may have caught on to something... Chief Kang Taemin is right at my side watching me, and I can't find any window at all to work with.]

[If this keeps up, the whole plan's going to come apart. My apologies.]

A moment later, a short reply arrived.

[That, I can handle for you.]

Hwang Dushik's eyes went wide.

[Excuse me?]

[During virtual training time, all I have to do is peel Chief Kang off of you. That much is easy enough.]

[Y-you really mean it?!]

[Yes. So you focus on the work you were doing. And no slip-ups.]

Hwang Dushik stared blankly at the terminal screen — then his mouth curled all the way up to his ears.

Starting the next day, something astonishing began to happen.

Kang Taemin started stepping away from his post.

What exactly Park Wonjin had done, he had no way of knowing.

But Kang Taemin was no longer coming into the training room even during training hours.

This is my chance.

He didn't let the opportunity slip, and moved in on Suho.

This time he switched tactics. No more clumsy comfort — he would inject something far more lethal.

"Suho."

He took the child's hand, wearing the sorriest expression the world had ever seen.

"I've been thinking hard about it, Teacher has... realized. What I did to you the other day — it was awful of me."

Suho looked up at him, puzzled.

"If I'd known how afraid you are of being thrown away... instead of trying to block you from using your ability, I should have been helping you use it more surely."

"Then..."

"That's right. I didn't think it through. If you want to prove your worth to the Director, then of course you have to use your ability."

Hwang Dushik nodded with a look full of resolve.

"From now on, Teacher will help you. So you can use your ability as much as you like, and become stronger than anyone. So you'll never, ever be thrown away."

"...!"

From that day on, Hwang Dushik's real training began.

Using his own specialty — virtual data — he summoned wounded patients.

Every one of them was a horrifically injured critical case, with limbs severed or organs spilling out, sights you couldn't stand to look at.

And, cruelly, every one of those patients had a single, identical face.

Director Chae Junhyeok's.

"Suho! It's an emergency! The Director's been hurt! Quick — quick, heal him!"

"N-no... Director...!"

At the sight of the bloodied hologram of the Director, Suho lost all reason.

Healing light poured out of Suho's small hands as if it were overloading.

He didn't even notice the red blood streaming from his own nose in a thin line — or his face going ashen as his life-force was shaved away.

Only the thought that he had to save the Director drove him, and he poured mana out like a mad thing.

Watching that desperate sight from behind, Hwang Dushik twisted the corner of his mouth up into a slick smirk.

A soundless laugh spread across his face.

Park Suho's face went paler by the day, but Hwang Dushik didn't care.

If anything, every time the child hit his limit, he pushed him harder.

"Excellent! Just a little more! You have to work at least this hard to prove your worth to the Director, don't you?"

Astonishingly, Suho — even as he looked ready to collapse from exhaustion — would fling himself back into training the moment the word Director came up, as if nothing had ever been wrong.

Hwang Dushik snuck a glance at Suho's biometric data plummeting in the corner of the monitor.

Khkhk... about time.

The drop rate on the numbers was no ordinary thing.

The critical point was right around the corner now.

Petty little training runs weren't going to cut it anymore.

One certain, massive knockout blow that would burn the last of the kid's life-force clean out, all at once. One big chance — that was all it would take to finish Park Suho off entirely.

I need a pretext to lay the stage...

Hwang Dushik thought for a moment, then immediately pulled out his terminal and sent a message to Deputy Director Park Wonjin.

[Deputy Director. The work is nearly finished. Park Suho is at his limit.]

[If just one decisive big event were to break out now, I believe I could close this out cleanly.]

A moment later, an answer arrived.

[Close it out. Meaning what, exactly.]

Hwang Dushik smirked and typed his reply.

[Test Subject 04's life, of course.]

The moment he hit send, the reply came back instantly.

[...Ho. Confident, are you. Very well. That big event — I'll arrange it for you.]

"Oh?"

Hwang Dushik's eyes went round. To think the Deputy Director himself would step in to lay the stage.

Reeling from the sudden, all-out backing from Park Wonjin — who until just a little while ago hadn't even bothered to reply — he still couldn't hide the elation surging up inside him.

So the Deputy Director's finally realized. My true worth!

Certain he'd grabbed hold of not some rotten strand of rope but the sturdiest line of all, he cheered inwardly.

Not long after, a notice went up inside the institute.

[Project R Regular Mock Training Session]

Format: Tag-team matchup.

Team A: Cha Yul & Park Suho.

Team B: Lee Sea-ah & Seo Hayun, Seo Hajun.

Objective: Subdue virtual monsters.

Win condition: Within the time limit, the team with the lower cumulative damage taken wins.

At an opportunity even more direct and blatant than he'd bargained for, Hwang Dushik was inwardly floored.

The Deputy Director's influence — still this alive.

This wasn't just backing him from behind.

Bending the schedule and the rules of a core project — one that wasn't even in his own portfolio — to whatever shape he pleased?

The rumors that the man was past his prime looked ridiculous — that power was still beyond imagining.

My eye wasn't wrong after all. I hitched myself to the right line.

Feeling the electric thrill of it, he skimmed the last line of the notice one more time.

[Win condition: cumulative team damage.]

Not just monster kills — how little you get hurt was where the match would be decided.

This was a stage aimed directly at Park Suho, the healer, with no attempt to hide it.

Because to keep damage down, the healer would have to be using his ability nonstop, wiping the wounds away.

In other words: to win, Park Suho had to gnaw away at his own life.

Hwang Dushik's mouth curled up in a slick smirk.

Perfect.

This stage was going to be the perfect execution scaffold — one that would wring every last drop of life-force out of Park Suho and finish him in a blaze.

From that day on, Hwang Dushik ground Suho even more relentlessly, all for that last blow.

"Suho. This training session is the real thing. You have to prove yourself here. Got it?"

"Yes... yes! Teacher!"

As the training day drew closer, Suho grew thinner and thinner — but Hwang Dushik didn't care, and only counted the days, one by one, to the mock training.

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