The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

Where... am I?

She wanted to open her eyes, but a thick blindfold was covering her sight, and a gag was jammed in her mouth — she couldn't even scream.

Her hands and feet were bound with rough rope, and her body was pressed against a cold cement floor.

The chill cut straight through her clothes and set her whole body shaking.

Uhhh... I'm scared. I want to go home.

Terrified, Ari desperately tried to piece together how she'd ended up here.

Her memory reached back only a few hours, to the walk home from school.

Tuk. Tuk.

Ari had been trudging up the familiar forest path, lips pursed.

Her steps that day had been unusually heavy.

Actually, it hadn't been just that day.

Lately she'd been in a rotten mood, and it wasn't lifting.

Ever since the blond-haired ajusshi and Sihyeok had left for Seoul, the village had gotten far too quiet, far too boring.

Ajusshi said to call him if I ever came to Seoul, but...

Easier said than done.

This was Jeju, and Seoul was a faraway place you could only get to by plane.

Hmph... mean ajusshi. Should've stayed a little longer...

That was the moment.

"Hey, little girl."

Out of the shade of the trees, a strange man popped out in front of her.

"You're Ari, right?"

"Yes?"

Ari's eyes went round as she looked up at him.

She knew every neighbor's face in this village — she'd seen all of them coming and going, over and over — and this man she had never laid eyes on in her life.

Instinctive caution kicked in.

Grandma always said, be careful of strangers.

"No I'm not? You've got the wrong person."

"Oh come on~ You're Ari. I knew who you were before I came."

He dropped his voice low, as if letting her in on a very special secret.

"There was a blond-haired guy staying around here until recently, right? You met him, didn't you?"

...!

At that, Ari's eyes went wide.

The blond-haired ajusshi. That had to be the Director.

"You... you know him?"

At that, the man grinned and nodded.

"Sure. He's a friend of mine."

He bent down to her eye level and whispered, conspiratorial.

"That guy... he asked me if I'd come get you, Ari. Otherwise, how would I even know a little girl like you lived out in this backwater? How would I have found my way here?"

At that, Ari's face lit up bright as sunlight.

"Really? He sent you?"

"He sure did. So let's go up to Seoul together and see him."

"Seoul...?"

At that, Ari sank into thought for a moment.

Seoul.

A place so far away you could only get there by plane. Leaving Grandma alone weighed on her.

But over there was...

Sihyeok...

The ash-haired boy.

He hadn't said much, but he'd stayed quietly by her side — and she missed that sweet boy.

"But... Grandma will worry..."

At the child's hesitation, the man read the moment and drove the nail in.

"No worries. Director ajusshi is going to get in touch with Grandma. He said he'd let her know as soon as we set off."

"You're... you're really going to tell her, right?"

"That's what I said. Come on, we're going to miss the plane if we're late."

Ari let the man lead her by the hand down the mountain.

As they walked the forest path, Ari chattered away, excited.

"Um, ajusshi, that blond-haired ajusshi — was his name Chae Junhyeok? I just always called him ajusshi, so I didn't even know his name.... Is he a really important person in Seoul? How's Sihyeok doing?"

Under the volley of questions, the man only strung out a vague "Hmm..." and dodged the answers.

Ari didn't care about his half-hearted responses and kept chirping about this and that, but out of nowhere, a strange wrongness bloomed in one corner of her chest.

Wait a minute... come to think of it...

The blond-haired ajusshi.

That ajusshi had done every kind of thing you could think of to get on Grandma's good side.

He'd sent a massage chair, he'd pulled weeds under the blazing sun, and even when Grandma yelled at him, he'd kept coming back, giving her presents she liked.

That ajusshi... was scared to death that Grandma didn't like him.

So he'd take her to Seoul without telling Grandma ahead of time?

And only call her after they'd already left?

Grandma would actually be furious then... and ajusshi has to know that.

An instinctive alarm went off.

"Hold on."

"Hm? What's wrong?"

The man turned back with a friendly smile, but Ari couldn't see that smile as kind anymore.

"I... I think I left something at school. I'll be right back."

Ari made her excuse and quickly turned to make a run for it.

But—

"..."

Tak.

A rough hand appeared out of nowhere behind her and clamped a white handkerchief over her mouth and nose.

"Mmph! Mmph!"

Ari screamed and thrashed to get free, but the moment the sharp chemical smell hit her nose, every ounce of strength drained out of her.

Her legs went out from under her, and her sight blurred fast.

Through her fading consciousness, she heard the man's voice.

"Tsk... kid's a quick one."

"Then why bother talking to her at all? Should've knocked her out from the start and grabbed her."

Another man's voice.

"Enough. Let's go. We're in trouble if we're late."

Ari was hoisted up like a piece of luggage and thrown into the cold interior of a car.

Grandma... ajusshi... Sihyeok....

That was the last scene Ari remembered.

The next time she opened her eyes was right here, like this.

Uhhh... Grandma... save me... ajusshi....

She was just about to burst into tears when—

Kreeeek—.

Somewhere, the sound of a rusted iron door opening.

Then, along with the low voices of grown men, a swarm of footsteps came trampling in, echoing off the warehouse floor.

Quite a few of them, it seemed.

Ari sucked in a sharp breath and clamped her eyes shut on instinct.

"Hey, kid. Go check if she's awake."

A rough, husky voice cut through the air.

Right after, the scrape of a military boot on cement.

Tromp. Tromp.

The sound was getting closer.

No... don't get caught!

Ari swallowed a scream and squeezed her eyes tighter.

Her heart felt like it was going to burst, but she went limp all over, playing dead, and killed even the sound of her breathing.

Tromp.

The footsteps stopped right above her.

The clinging sensation of someone's eyes sweeping over her face.

A moment later.

"Looks like she's still out cold."

A somewhat younger voice, casual.

"Tch. How much of that stuff did we use? She's gonna be down for a while."

The gruff, rasping voice that followed was thick with irritation.

Fooled.

The man turned on his heel and walked off some distance.

A moment later, the heavy sound of someone dropping onto the floor.

Rustle, rustle.

The rough sound of tearing plastic packaging.

Could've been a bag of convenience-store bread, could've been some other snack. She couldn't see, so all she had to go on was the sound.

Chomp chomp, smack smack.

Then the wet sound of chewing and swallowing came through, unmistakable.

Mealtime, apparently — filling up their stomachs.

Maybe it was because their bellies were getting filled, or maybe it was because they'd fully written the kid off as not waking up.

Chewing away, they started grumbling.

"Hey — hyungnim. Why'd we drag that runt along in the first place? What a pain."

A blunt voice grumbled.

"Just take out the old lady clean, and we're done, right? Do we really have to babysit some brat on top of it?"

"You got that head for decoration? We're up against Kim Sunja. The Soul Blacksmith. Even past her prime, she's still an S-rank Hunter — try to kill her outright and we could be the ones who don't walk away."

"Come on, S-rank or not — she's non-combat, isn't she?"

The man snorted.

"A blacksmith's gonna fight? She might know how to make a blade, but does she know how to swing one? All our guys jump her at once, there won't be a bone left. Why are you flinching like that?"

"You don't know what you're talking about. Even a cornered rat bites the cat — imagine a tiger. She's old, but the teeth are still sharp."

"So... that's why we need the hostage?"

"Right. As long as we've got the kid, that old tiger won't move a muscle. She'll offer up her own throat."

The man cackled and added:

"Upstairs wants this to go clean. No surprises — a sure, definite kill."

Kill...? Grandma...?

The next voice was thick with sullen resentment.

"But hyungnim. Honestly, I don't get it. That old hag retired eight years ago — she's a has-been, right? Why do we have to go out of our way to kill some old woman stuck up in this valley?"

"..."

"I can't see how this ties into our cause at all. Feels like we're just cleaning up after the upstairs — leaves a bad taste."

At that, a more overbearing voice pressed their grumbling flat.

"Cut the useless talk. Upstairs says jump, you jump. Your tongue's getting long."

"..."

"This is all part of His larger design. You clear obstacles out ahead of time. That's how it goes."

"Tch. Fine."

"Take a look at Seoul right now. Gates popping off all at once, everything's a mess, yeah? You think that's a coincidence?"

"..."

"That's His power. Power that jerks the whole world around on a string. Grunts like us — when upstairs says bark, you bark; when they say bite, you bite. End of story."

"Oooh... as expected."

"Yes, sir!"

Satisfied grunts, and more rustling.

Crinkle, crumple.

Wadding up empty bread bags. Mealtime seemed to be over.

"Anyway, why's this old hag taking so long to get here? Old-lady knees given out — she crawling?"

"Kkk-kk, could be. Or maybe she ran out of gas on the way and stopped at the seniors' hall."

"When she gets here, we'll send her off. Not to the seniors' hall — to the underworld."

Their mocking laughter rang through the cold warehouse.

Ugly slurs and jokes laced with murder pierced Ari's ears.

Ari bit down hard on her lip.

Grandma... don't come... please....

After rustling around cleaning up for a while, they got to their feet.

"All right, time to move. They'll be arriving soon."

The sound of everyone filing out.

But before the door closed, the one who seemed to be the leader singled one man out.

"Hey — you stay behind, keep an eye on the runt. Anything looks like she's about to wake up, get on the radio right away."

"Yes, sir! Got it, hyungnim."

From the voice, it was the man who had come up to her earlier.

Kreek. Kwang.

The heavy iron door slammed shut, and heavy silence settled over the warehouse again.

Ari screamed inside her head.

Scary... scary... go away... please, go away....

The terror of being left alone with him clamped down on her throat. Her heart was pounding so loud she was sure it'd be audible from outside.

That was when—

Tromp... tromp....

Footsteps that had been off in the distance began, slowly, to come toward her.

Ari's heart hammered — thud, thud, thud — like it had lost its mind.

He's coming... he's coming....

The steps got louder and louder, and then stopped, dead, right above her head.

A silence in which not even breathing could be heard.

The man wasn't doing anything — just standing there, looking down at her.

She could feel that clinging stare through the blindfold.

Ari kept her eyes clamped shut and didn't so much as twitch, playing dead.

...I'm still knocked out....

One second, two seconds, an eternity of them.

Just when she was sure the man had bought it and would turn away—

Shhk.

The man crouched down and put his lips right up against Ari's ear.

"Kid. That's not how you play dead."

"...!"

"Your breathing's ragged, and your whole body's tensed up so tight..."

His cold fingers slowly ran up the nape of her neck, then closed hard on the cloth over her eyes.

"Anyone can tell you're awake."

Whip—!

The man tore the blindfold off, rough.

Along with the sudden flood of light, Ari found herself staring straight into the skin-crawling grin of the man looming right above her face.

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