The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

Sreu-reuk—.

The two villains vanished like smoke, and the tight cord of tension in me snapped, tak.

"Hurk..."

I dropped straight to the floor, gasping.

There was no strength in my legs.

"Director! Are you okay? Any injuries?"

Suho was patting me all over, frantic.

"I'm fine."

I took Suho by the shoulders and steadied him.

"More importantly — the other kids. Let's check on the other kids first."

I staggered to my feet and ran to them.

Thankfully, thanks to the defensive artifacts I'd handed them, Sea-ah and Sihyeok didn't seem to have any major external injuries.

"We're fine, Director. But..."

Sea-ah answered, trying for calm, but her eyes were already fixed elsewhere.

"Yul!!!"

Cha Yul — the one who had gone head-on against Mad Dog — was slumped against a wall, drenched in blood, breathing rough.

Every inch of him was a wreck of burns and gashes.

But the kid just knit his brows, as if the worry itself annoyed him.

"...Noisy... I'm not dead, so knock off the fuss."

"Shut it and hold still!"

With hands shaking like a leaf, I dug into my coat and pulled out a [High-tier Healing Potion].

My mind was racing but my fingers had no grip, and the cap kept spinning uselessly.

Tak.

Right then, someone carefully took hold of my trembling wrist.

Suho.

"Director... don't... don't use the potion."

"What?"

"Healing potions... if you use them too often, your body builds up a tolerance. Then later, when it's really dangerous, they might not work... I read it in a book."

Suho was fumbling, but he said it clearly.

"I'll... I'll do it."

"But..."

"Now... I can heal Hyung without it hurting me, right? Let me show you."

At the strange yearning in his eyes, I hesitated a moment, then stepped back.

Suho carefully knelt down beside Cha Yul.

He set his trembling little hand, soft, on top of Cha Yul's ruined chest.

Wuuung—.

The necklace at Suho's throat began giving off a faint light, as if in resonance.

And an unbelievable sight unfolded.

The horrific wounds covering Cha Yul's body started disappearing — as if a video were being rewound.

Torn flesh knit itself back together, and blackened burns faded to leave clean, new skin.

Meanwhile, a shimmering gold liquid began filling the once-transparent gem of Suho's necklace, fast.

"Nnh..."

The pain-twisted lines between Cha Yul's brows smoothed out, and his breathing slowly eased.

But even with the color back in him, the kid's expression didn't lift at all.

If anything, it sank darker — into defeat and rage.

"You okay? How's your body?"

At my question, Cha Yul bit his lip hard enough to draw blood and spat out:

"...Where's that bastard?"

"Huh?"

"That fucking dog... where did he go?"

"Don't worry. The Guild Master showed up and drove them off."

"..."

You'd think he'd be relieved to be alive — but at my answer, Cha Yul's face twisted.

"Damn it...!"

Cha Yul was about to slam his fist into the floor when—

"So. These are the soldiers you were telling me about?"

An easy voice behind us.

I turned, and Han Jewoon was rolling his shoulders out loose, walking toward us.

He gave Cha Yul, still sitting on the floor, an interested once-over, then looked back and forth between him and Suho, who was clinging to a fistful of my clothes and hiding behind me.

"Hmm..."

A subtle smile spread at the corner of his mouth.

He slowly lowered himself into a crouch and met Cha Yul at eye level.

"Hey, kid."

Without preamble, he held out a hand.

"Want to come to my guild?"

"...?"

"You've got promise. Bit of a waste to have you rotting under this good-for-nothing, no?"

"..."

"When you were up against those bastards just now — he was tucked behind these kids, being protected. Wasn't he? Come with me, and I'll treat you a lot better than this pathetic excuse of a man. Like an actual person, you know."

Blatant insults, dropped right in front of me.

But...

...Not wrong, actually.

Going under Han Jewoon — Korea's number-one Hunter — beat staying under me by a mile, if we were talking about the kid's future.

If Cha Yul went to him?

Then even Chae Ganghyeon wouldn't be able to touch him carelessly.

The most reliable, safest shield to keep the kids out of the Bureau Chief's claws.

Instead of escaping later, going under Bawi Guild now — wouldn't that actually be the better choice for the kid?

I was running through it, eyes complicated, when—

Tak!

Cha Yul slapped Han Jewoon's outstretched hand aside, rough.

The kid staggered to his feet, glanced at me — I was standing there dumbstruck — and clicked his tongue.

"...Tch."

"...?"

He turned his head away from me and shot back at Han Jewoon, cold:

"Cut the crap."

"What?"

"I'm not going. So piss off."

Blade-sharp venom.

Standing in front of the strongest man in Korea without flinching.

And instead of getting angry, Han Jewoon burst out laughing, hearty, as if genuinely amused.

"Hah! You're a piece of work! Really. Fine. If you change your mind, hit me up any time."

Then, all of a sudden, his eyes narrowed.

He stroked his chin and studied Cha Yul, careful.

"But... you..."

Han Jewoon tilted his head.

"Have I seen you somewhere before?"

"...?"

"Something about your face is oddly familiar."

But Cha Yul screwed up his face and shot back.

"Don't try that. I don't know some ajusshi like you."

"Hmm... strange. I'm sure I've seen you somewhere..."

Han Jewoon was still muttering, unconvinced, when—

"Director!"

From behind us, Sihyeok's urgent shout.

"Teacher's opened her eyes!"

At that, I snapped back to myself and turned toward the sound.

Kim Sunja was pulling herself upright with effort, propped up by Seo Jihyeok.

"Teacher!"

I hurried over and checked her state.

Her face was pale — from the shock of the fight, no doubt — and blood was still vivid at the corner of her mouth.

"Q — quick, we need to treat her!"

"Not necessary."

Kim Sunja swatted my hand aside and said, blunt:

"All the fuss over a little bone-rattling. This kind of thing heals with a bit of spit."

"No, what are you — ! You fought that ferociously and you're refusing treatment?"

I was about to shout in disbelief when Han Jewoon, coming up behind, cut in.

"Old lady. Keep being stubborn like that and you'll die early. Consider your age a bit."

"You little—!"

Kim Sunja glared daggers at Han Jewoon.

But there was more strange gladness and disbelief in it than any real killing intent.

"So how did you... crawl your way out here?"

"How, indeed."

Han Jewoon shrugged, sly grin on his face.

"You really think I didn't have at least one source planted on Jeju?"

"Ha!"

Kim Sunja let out a laugh of disbelief, and Han Jewoon — as if he'd been waiting for it — launched into a lecture.

"Anyhow, break that habit of running out headfirst, old lady. You've got a real knack for finding somewhere to lie down and die. Keep it up and you'll be gone before your allotted years are~"

Puk—!

Beside him, Seo Jihyeok's open palm smacked Han Jewoon's back, hard.

"Ow!"

"I'm sorry, Teacher! I'll be sure to keep this one's mouth in check!"

Seo Jihyeok bowed at a full ninety degrees, apologizing, and Kim Sunja waved her hand.

"Enough, enough. I knew this one was a wild colt from the start. The day I took him on as a disciple, I already knew he was trouble."

She got to her feet, leaning on her cane.

"If we're done here, it's time I headed home."

"What? Home where?"

"My own house, of course."

At that, Seo Jihyeok and I were both instantly on her, trying to talk her out of it, but her stubbornness held.

"With enemies that strong, Seoul or Jeju makes no difference — they'll come looking either way. If that's the case, better to die in peace in a house that fits my hand."

"Old lady. Losing your mind?"

Han Jewoon cut in, cold.

"You saw those guys just now. They aren't small fish. Alone, maybe you'd manage — but with your granddaughter in the mix, you think you can handle it?"

"..."

"If Ari winds up in danger again because of your stubbornness — what then? What about that peaceful village of yours? If those bastards burn the whole village down to get to you, are you still going to say 'in peace'?"

Her mouth clamped shut at the hit dead-center.

Taking the opening, Seo Jihyeok brightened and jumped in.

"In that case, come to Bawi Guild! I'll set up top-tier accommodations for you and your granddaughter, absolute best—"

I shook my head, inwardly.

She wasn't going to go back to the place that had cost her her daughter and son-in-law.

As expected, Kim Sunja shut it down without a beat.

"No. Not while there's breath in me. That's the one place I won't go."

Seo Jihyeok's shoulders slumped, and Han Jewoon clicked his tongue.

"Then there's only one answer."

He grinned.

"Go to the institute."

"What?"

"That kid's research institute. Even those terrorists can't just walk in and raise hell there."

Han Jewoon pointed a finger at me.

"Because it's got Chae Ganghyeon's son living in it."

At Han Jewoon's words, Seo Jihyeok bristled.

"But Guild Master! The Director nearly got assassinated in his own bedroom at the institute today! They already broke in that far — how is that safe?"

I nodded too.

It had been only a few hours since a blade was at my throat.

But Han Jewoon smiled, bloody, as if that only made his point better.

"Which is exactly why it's safer now."

"Come again?"

"Chae Ganghyeon's only son just about died. You think the Bureau Chief is going to sit still with that?"

Han Jewoon's eyes glinted, cold.

"From today, he's going to jack the institute's security to insane levels. There won't be a fortress in Korea safer than that place."

That... isn't wrong.

To the outside world, Chae Ganghyeon was a father who doted on me to a ridiculous degree.

With his son nearly assassinated, he'd fortify the institute like a vault — if only to keep up his authority and his loving father performance.

Ironically, the attempt on my life had turned the institute into the safest place going.

I steeled myself and looked at Kim Sunja.

"Teacher. You heard him, right?"

"..."

"You don't have to teach the kids. Playing mentor? Not required."

I pressed, earnest.

"Just... stay at the institute with Ari. There, I can protect you and Ari both."

At my offer, Kim Sunja narrowed her eyes and studied me.

The look was heavy with the suspicion and wariness of eight years spent in hiding.

"Drop the flowery act."

She asked, low:

"Nothing in this world is free. What's the real reason you're willing to take on risk to keep an old woman around who won't even teach? What do you get out of it?"

"...!"

Damn.

Back when I'd been saving Sihyeok, and now — trying to convince Kim Sunja.

Without noticing, I'd been forgetting the act and letting my real self show.

I hastily got my expression back in order... and pulled the mask of ambition down tight over my face once more.

"'What do I get out of it,' she says. Plenty, of course."

I put on my best greedy smile and cocked my chin up, arrogant.

"You just being there is an enormous win for me."

"What?"

"Kim Sunja. The Soul Blacksmith. Do you have any idea what that name is worth?"

"..."

"Chae Junhyeok brought in the teacher of Korea's S-rank Hunters. Just that fact alone — do you know how much my standing goes up?"

I let my eyes glint and drove the nail in.

"I get to borrow your name to strut around, and you borrow my cover for safety. Win-win, isn't it? Purely business."

At my shameless spin, Kim Sunja's eyebrow twitched.

...

I was sweating cold, on the inside.

I made that up on the spot... did I lay it on too thick? She won't see through it, right?

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