The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

At the sudden flood of light, Ari squeezed her eyes shut, then slowly opened them again.

The moment her blurred vision came back, what she saw was a man in a black mask that covered his whole face, not a gap in it.

The only things visible were the two eyes glinting through the slits.

"Finally opened your eyes. How cute..."

The man looked at Ari's terror-stricken eyes and, from behind the mask, smacked his lips.

"I sent all my hyungs out — it's just us two now... you like that, right? Being alone with me."

At his words, Ari's eyes trembled like a leaf in the wind.

As if her terror pleased him, the man leaned in even closer, pushing those ugly eyes right up to her face.

"Yeah... I love it when someone looks at me like that. Like they're about to die right now..."

The tears pooling in Ari's eyes spilled over and ran down her cheeks, and she could feel him smiling behind the mask.

"Mmph... mmph, mmph...!"

Ari shook her head desperately and tried to pull back, but her bound body wouldn't budge.

"What? Feeling stifled? Yeah, no fun unless you can scream a little. I'll take it off for you."

The man's rough hand reached for the gag jammed in Ari's mouth.

Ari couldn't even manage a scream — she screwed her eyes shut.

Anyone... please... help me...!

Was it that desperate prayer that reached someone?

Whak—!

A dull, heavy impact rang through the warehouse.

"...Huh?"

The touch of the hand reaching for the gag never came.

When Ari cautiously opened her eyes, an unbelievable scene was in front of her.

The man who had been threatening her just a moment ago was face-down on the floor, out cold — like he'd been hit with a giant hammer.

What... what is this...?

Right then—

Ari's eyes went down to her own feet.

The shadow cast on the cold cement floor was rippling like a living animal.

"Shadow...?"

Shwaaak—!

A black shadow shot up like a fountain.

And out of that pitch-black darkness, faces she knew — faces she'd missed — appeared.

"Ah..."

Hot tears surged up in Ari's eyes.

Glaring furiously at the man on the floor was the ash-haired boy — Sihyeok.

And behind him, ruffling his blond hair and letting out a relieved sigh, was a man.

"Sorry we're late."

It was the Director.

That crazy son of a bitch... to dare, on Ari...

At the sight of the man sprawled unconscious, a scalding disgust rose up from the pit of my stomach.

She was eight years old, and only just.

What had he been about to do to that small, fragile child?

"Filthy piece of shit."

I drove the toe of my shoe into his side.

The man's body rolled across the floor like a sack and skidded off some distance.

I pulled my eyes off him and went to Ari, who was shaking hard.

"Ari. It's me. It's okay."

"Mmph... mmph...!"

"I'm going to untie you now, but you can't make a sound. All right? There are still bad people outside."

Ari looked up at me with terrified eyes, then nodded fast.

Careful, I worked the gag out of her mouth and cut through the rope digging into her hands and feet.

"Uhhh...."

The instant she was free, the tears she'd been holding back rolled out of the child's big eyes in fat drops.

Crying without a sound, tears rolling down her face in fat drops — the sight of her ached.

I pulled a handkerchief out of my pocket and gently wiped her tear-streaked cheeks.

"I'm sorry. I got here so late, didn't I? You must've been so scared... you did so, so well."

Relief flooded in. Honestly — thank God.

Getting here had been a gamble, plain and simple.

I'd driven like a madman and managed to reach the vicinity of the kidnappers' hideout before Kim Sunja.

But that's where it got hard.

We didn't know the exact location.

There was no combing that big an area inch by inch.

The one who found the way was Sihyeok.

[...I think I can find her.]

[What? How?]

[Through Ari's shadow.]

Sihyeok's ability, [Shadow Interference].

To enter someone else's shadow within a 100m radius, he had to have either made physical contact with them before, or have them in his line of sight — that was the constraint.

Fortunately, back in Jeju, Ari and Sihyeok had played together and touched countless times.

That thread of connection they'd made back then became our one lantern in pitch-black darkness — the only way to find her.

I took Sihyeok along and searched the abandoned buildings around our destination, one by one.

To get within Sihyeok's 100-meter shadow-sensing range.

We really got lucky.

We found Ari near the third one — an abandoned factory.

"Uhhh... Ajusshi..."

Even now, in my arms, Ari was still trembling — the fear hadn't left her.

The child clutched a fistful of my shirt and, through hiccupping tears, whispered:

"Those people... those people said... they were going to kill my grandma... the moment she got here, they were going to kill her..."

"I know. I know."

"Grandma... please save my grandma... save her, ajusshi..."

The child broke into a heartbroken sob.

I smoothed a hand slowly over her back, and answered with certainty in my voice.

"Of course. You know who I am."

I met the child's eyes and made her a promise.

"I'll save your grandma, no matter what. I won't let anything happen to her."

At that firm answer, the tight-strung tension in her must have finally snapped.

"Uhhh...."

Ari let out a deep breath, as if reassured, and then her eyes closed, slowly.

She must have cried and been scared for too long, and just given out.

I shifted the unconscious child in my arms and turned to Sihyeok.

"Let's go. Time to head back."

Sihyeok nodded and pressed a hand to the floor.

Shwaaak—

A black shadow swept over us.

A moment later I opened my eyes, and we were already by the side of my car, hidden in the brush next to the factory.

"Director!"

The car door opened, and the kids who'd been hiding poured out.

"Are you okay?! Any injuries?"

Lee Sea-ah, the twins, Suho — all of them.

They'd been holding their breath in that cramped car, and now they came rushing over, relieved.

Then they spotted the unfamiliar little girl in my arms and, all at once, stopped short.

"Huh...?"

"Director, who's this unnie?"

The kids were staring at Ari in my arms.

"Ah, she's..."

I hesitated for a second, picking through how to explain — and right then,

Hayun tugged softly at the hem of my shirt.

"Director, can we put unnie over there? Unnie... um, she looks really uncomfy..."

Next to her, Suho chimed in too.

"Yeah. You must be tired, Director... put her down here, quick."

"Huh? Oh — yeah."

Flustered, I laid Ari down in the empty space in the back seat of the car.

But something was off.

Six sets of eyes drilling into my back as I set her down... felt a little too sharp.

What? Did I do something wrong?

Confused, I glanced around at their faces, and then one possibility hit me.

Ah. Don't tell me... they think I've brought home a new 'doll'?

Fair enough. From their point of view, I was the wastrel who forced them into playing house.

They were already stuck in a doll game they didn't want, and now they thought I was dragging some kid they'd never met before into that same hell.

They're on guard because they think there's about to be another victim.

Their own situation was hard enough, and here they were, worrying about someone else first.

Something in me lifted a little, moved by how kind these kids were, and I let out a small laugh.

"Don't worry. It's not what you're thinking. I told you in the car earlier, right? She's the granddaughter of the teacher I'd been trying to bring on. Once this is settled, she's going right back to Jeju."

At my explanation, the taut expressions on the kids' faces melted, at last, like snow.

"Oh... really?"

"So she's going back, then?"

These kids... every last one of them, so sweet. Worrying about a kid they've never even met.

Feeling a warm little glow inside, I shut the car door.

"Yeah."

Good. Ari's rescued, safe.

Now there was just one thing left.

Meet Teacher Kim Sunja, who was heading this way, somewhere on the road between here and there. Hand Ari off safe. Send them both back to Jeju. Just that—

Kwaaang—!

Right then.

From the direction of the old factory we'd just gotten out of, an eardrum-tearing boom.

"What the—!"

I quickly grabbed the terminal I'd tossed onto the passenger seat.

The map on the screen.

The red dot that had been racing toward this spot was now stopped, right behind us — dead center in the old factory.

Teacher Kim Sunja.

She hadn't known it was a trap. She'd charged into that factory on the single thought of saving her granddaughter, no question.

I turned to the six kids all watching me.

"You. Listen carefully."

I made my voice as stern as I could.

"I'm going in there now — you're going to stay here, hidden in the car, and behave."

But barely a moment after the words were out, defiance and stubbornness were already piling up thick on their faces.

"No! We're coming! We can help too!"

"What? Hey — you kids promised me. Not to get out of the car. Not to use your abilities without permission!"

At which Sea-ah pushed back.

"The situation changed! We heard that boom too. It's dangerous for you to go alone, Director."

"Yeah! We're strong!"

Hayun jumped in, and Suho nodded through his tears.

"I... I want to help too. I don't want you to get hurt, Director...."

"No means no! It's dangerous!"

"Don't wanna! I'm going! Waaaaah!"

In an instant, the inside of the car was chaos, kids raising a racket.

Logic didn't work, reason didn't work — pure, unshakeable tantrum.

At that moment.

A familiar déjà vu hit me.

Far back in memory, from my Sunshine Class days.

["Teacher! I don't want to go home! I want to stack more blocks!"]

["No! Not until I finish making this! I'm gonna live here! Waaaaah!"]

Minjun, laid out on the floor kicking his feet.

Hayul, hanging on to my pant leg begging for more snacks.

Yena, clinging to the pillar of the cubbies and wailing to be picked up.

Coaxing, scolding — none of it made a dent — those absolute-stubbornness moments.

"Haa......"

I dragged both hands down my face and let out a deep sigh.

I'd been forgetting.

A-ranks and B-ranks and Awakened this and Awakened that — at the end of the day, they were kindergartners, or at best kids in the lower grades of elementary school.

Once children this age started throwing a fit, no one who tried to reason with them was going to get anywhere.

And even if I forced them out and left them behind, these kids — Sihyeok especially — would just sneak after me for sure.

Out of nowhere, one insight from my teaching days flashed through my head.

If you can't stop a kid mid-tantrum, set clear rules.

Like giving the kid throwing himself down over the blocks a limit — "just ten more minutes" — or drawing the line with the snack-beggar — "this is the last one."

I let out a deep sigh and dragged my hands down my face.

"Ha... fine."

At my surrender, just as the kids' faces were about to light up, I stuck up a thumb and warned them, sharp:

"But on my terms. Break even one and I'm sending you straight back to the institute."

I opened the subspace pouch inside my coat and dumped every top-tier artifact I'd brought out onto the hood of the car.

"One. Put all of this on. Even if you feel like you're going to suffocate to death, do not take any of it off."

"Two. Do not throw the first punch. Pure defense, and only defense."

"Three. Do not get more than a meter away from me. Stay glued to my side."

I ran my eyes over the kids, grave.

"Got it?"

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