The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

At Oh Taejin's low command, Gu Sangmin's huge, thrashing body came to a stop like someone had cut the strings.

He raked a hand back through his fringe and studied me, snake-thin eyes narrowed.

"Interesting."

He nodded, slow, and hooked the corner of his mouth up.

"So... you're not the Chae Junhyeok who used to run around with me anymore. You're in a different league — you're the Director. That it?"

"..."

"My apologies. Didn't realize, and here I've been so rude."

He bent his head in an exaggerated bow, sneering.

But unlike the polite words coming out of his mouth, the eyes fixed on me like they meant to bore right through were burning, hot and black.

That was the moment.

"What in the world is going on here!!"

An urgent shout burst from the far end of the corridor.

I turned to find Seo Jihyeok running over, face gone ashen.

"Tch."

At that, Oh Taejin abruptly grabbed my wrist and yanked me in, rough.

"...!"

He brought his mouth close enough to almost touch my ear and whispered in a languid, sticky voice.

"Junhyeok. Up until now, I let a lot slide because I still called you a friend."

His breath carried the faint reek of killing intent.

"You start coming at me like this first... then I don't need to keep calling you a friend either, do I?"

A vicious threat.

Under normal circumstances, my knees would have been buckling — but maybe because I'd been through so much absolute nonsense back-to-back lately, his words didn't land at all.

"Pfft."

I let out a snort of a laugh, unable to help it, and shook my head.

"Let slide? Delusion's cute up to a point."

"...What?"

"Hey. Let's get the story straight. That wasn't you letting me slide — that was you being too scared of my father to lay a hand on me."

Tak—!

I grabbed his necktie and yanked him toward me, rough.

His head jerked down until it was right in front of my nose.

"You think I don't know you're the kind of bastard who'd stab me in the back the second I got out of line? And on top of that — the dog you keep on a leash, mouthing off just like his owner."

I whispered right into his ear, in the same tone as his — no, more languid and more arrogant.

"Put a muzzle on it. Train it a little."

"...You son of a bitch."

His eyes glittered with killing intent.

His lips parted as if he were about to grab me by the collar right there and spit something else out — but that was the moment.

"Both of you, that's enough!"

Seo Jihyeok's shout, right at our shoulders now, rang across the lobby.

"...See you around."

Oh Taejin shot me one last chilling look and then swept off with Gu Sangmin in tow, cleaning them both out of the corridor.

"Director! What in the world was—"

Seo Jihyeok looked back and forth between Oh Taejin's retreating back and a still-fuming Kang San, mouth working.

I shrugged, easy, like it was nothing.

At that, Kang San burst out — like he'd been waiting for permission.

"We were just standing here! Those guys started it! Cursing us out, hitting people out of nowhere!"

As he caught up with what had happened from Kang San's aggrieved account, Seo Jihyeok's face went the color of clay.

"Number-one guild in the country, my ass. Bawi Guild's got no chain of command either. Complete circus."

"I... I have no excuse."

Seo Jihyeok let out a deep sigh and dragged a hand down his face.

"Say what you want, that man is the leader of our second-highest-performing team, and the only son of the previous Guild Master. He's built up a following you can't ignore. They call it the seonggol line — the true-blooded aristocracy."

Seo Jihyeok pressed his temples like a headache was coming on.

Well, obviously. Even if he'd have loved to cut him loose on the spot, he couldn't just openly throw him out.

That was how this world worked.

In this world, Hunter guilds were run like strict hereditary kingdoms — their own private little courts.

And then Han Jewoon, an outsider by any measure, had rolled in and taken the throne. From Oh Taejin's perspective, of course the man was a thorn in his eye.

Han Jewoon really is a piece of work, come to think of it.

Normally, when a Hunter reached Han Jewoon's level — S-rank — the standard move was to found their own guild.

You've got the ability, you've got the money — no reason to wade into a mud fight for a seat at someone else's table.

But he'd stayed here on purpose and taken the guild over. That was, effectively, flipping the middle finger straight at the Oh family, father and son.

"Haah..."

I sighed off the tangled family drama that wasn't mine to deal with.

Wasn't my problem.

"Anyway. Let's go up."

I was shown into the top-floor executive office.

Inside, Han Jewoon sat buried in a mountain of paperwork, thin silver-rimmed glasses perched on his nose, and looked up to greet me.

"You made it."

The Sword Emperor — the man I was used to seeing swinging a blade on a bloody battlefield — sitting there meek with a pen in his hand made for a genuinely strange sight.

"...What's with the glasses? Gross."

"Ha, I'll take that as a compliment."

Han Jewoon pulled the glasses off and tossed them onto the desk, then pressed at the corners of his eyes like he was exhausted.

"Heard there was a scene on the ground floor. Sorry. Should've kept a tighter grip on my people."

The words were an apology, but that trademark smug smile was still there.

"I was going to try that magpie-repays-the-favor¹ thing, and now the moment you walk in I'm racking up more debt to you. Weighs on my heart, it really does, Director."

He clutched his chest in an exaggerated pantomime — surprisingly shameless.

I shrugged like it didn't matter.

"If it weighs that heavy, open up your wallet. Don't tell me you're planning to settle it with a single sorry."

"Ha! Course not. I'll keep that in mind."

Then he flicked a glance at my right arm and added.

"The arm... hm. Way cooler-looking than before."

That shameless delivery was so oddly similar to Kang San's from downstairs that I couldn't help letting out a laugh.

"Sure, thanks for the compliment."

He smiled, satisfied, and shifted his eyes to the man standing awkwardly behind me.

"So — who's this?"

"Ah, say hello. This is Lee Jinwoo."

I clapped Lee Jinwoo — who was practically hiding behind me — on the back and pushed him forward.

"Head Researcher of the Nest Research Institute. And my right hand."

"...!"

At that one line, Lee Jinwoo's eyes went round.

He bit down on his lip like he was overcome, then clenched a fist with a solemn face.

"H-hello, sir...! Head Researcher of the Nest Research Institute. L-Lee Jinwoo!"

Lee Jinwoo bent at ninety degrees, voice tight with nerves.

Han Jewoon looked him over, interested.

"Hmm... hold on, don't I know you from somewhere?"

He narrowed his eyes as if reaching back through his memory, then clapped his hands with an ah!

"Right — you were next to the Director at that banquet a while back."

"...!"

At that, Lee Jinwoo's eyes went round.

"Y-yes! That's right, sir!"

"Nice to meet you. Head Researcher already, at your age — you must be something else."

"Of course. He's the reason we found out about Teacher Kim Sunja, too. Big credit to him."

"Ohoh..."

Han Jewoon let out a genuine sound of appreciation and looked Lee Jinwoo over again.

Past simple interest — the greedy eyes of a man who'd just spotted real talent.

"Tempting."

He smiled, easy, and pitched it at Lee Jinwoo, casual.

"How about it — while you're here, why not come over to Bawi Guild? We always welcome someone with ability. Salary, benefits, name it — we'll make it work."

"Dream on."

I cut Han Jewoon off, exasperated, and stepped in front of Lee Jinwoo.

"Where's your professional courtesy? The nerve, trying to poach my key personnel."

"Ha, don't get so bristly. Kidding, kidding."

Han Jewoon threw both hands up in surrender, then leaned in with that trademark grin.

"Course, our Director's welcome any time too — you know that, right? If there's no seat for you, I'll clear my own — just get yourself over here~"

"Enough."

I let Han Jewoon's routine go in one ear and out the other, and flicked my fingers.

"Just hand over the present."

"You're so cold, Director."

Han Jewoon laughed, playful, and perched himself on the edge of the desk.

"I've been agonizing over this, actually. You've done so much for us I hardly knew where to start."

He ticked things off, folding down fingers one at a time.

"Gave up an arm fixing our Hunter Choi Juran's core, protected Teacher Kim Sunja... on top of that, birthday?"

He stroked his chin with an exaggeratedly serious expression.

"So what on earth do I hand this picky Director to make him happy — I was up all night wrestling with it. Cash felt too impersonal, one artifact tossed over felt too weak."

He drew the pause out, ratcheting up the tension, then hooked his mouth into a broad smile.

"After all that, I came to one conclusion."

"...?"

"Bawi Guild's treasure vault — I'm opening it up for you. Pick one artifact from inside, take it home."

"What?! Guild Master, have you lost your mind?"

Beside us, Seo Jihyeok shot straight up with a yelp.

"Opening the vault requires unanimous board approval! And on top of that, opening it to an outsider—"

"Ah, quiet down. I'm the one giving it — since when did I need those old bastards' permission? If they don't like it, they can be Guild Master themselves."

Han Jewoon waved off a horrified Seo Jihyeok like he was shooing a fly.

I stood with my arms folded, playing it cool, but inside I was pretty... no, staggeringly, thrown.

Bawi Guild's treasure vault.

Consider what kind of place that was. A trove the number-one guild in Korea had risked lives to build.

Normally, artifacts recovered from a cleared Gate belonged to the individual Hunter who found them — that was the rule.

But items too vast in mana for any one person to handle, or too dangerous in effect, went as exceptions to the guild itself.

Which meant a guild's treasure vault was a collection of A++ to S-rank artifacts you couldn't buy with money.

And in there there's got to be some S-rank artifact you could wipe a city off the map with, if you used it right.

And he was going to just hand a strategic asset of that caliber to an outsider — someone who wasn't even a guild member?

At that point it wasn't generous. It was insane.

"You trust me that much? What if I take something out of here and blow a whole city to pieces?"

At my question, Han Jewoon shrugged and grinned.

"Well, then, that'd be proof I got the read on you wrong. If I don't have that kind of eye for people, I'm not fit to be Guild Master — I'm out."

"..."

Still... I didn't think I'd be getting my hands on it this fast.

Truth was, on the off chance Han Jewoon offered up some kind of compensation, I'd already thought about what I'd ask for.

I'd been half prepared to be turned down — and now here he was, throwing the vault doors open himself.

Well, thanks for that.

I hooked my mouth up and got to my feet.

"Fine. Shall we?"

"G-Guild Master! Guild Master—!!"

Seo Jihyeok's shriek was still going when it happened.

The instant Han Jewoon's hand landed on my shoulder, my vision spun.

"Hey! Han Jewoon!!!!!"

Fwip—!

Seo Jihyeok's desperate scream cut off, sudden and empty, like a TV yanked off the power strip.

Right after, along with the strange sensation of space folding in on itself, a wave of vertigo hit — the ground felt like it had dropped out from under me.

"Ugh..."

I lost my balance and staggered, and a solid hand caught me around the waist.

"Whoa there! Can't have you falling."

Han Jewoon steadied me back onto my feet, voice smug.

"You'll be dizzy the first time. Spatial artifacts tend to bring on the motion sickness. Breathe deep."

"Nnk... a little warning would've been nice..."

I pressed a hand to my mouth to keep my stomach down and lifted my head.

"Where..."

The executive office was gone without a trace.

In its place, pitch-black darkness — not a single ray of light — packed the space in every direction.

Like I'd stepped into a deep abyss cut off from the world.

Clap—!

Han Jewoon clapped his hands once, sharp, into the air.

As if that crisp sound were a starter's pistol, red flames bloomed one after another out of the pitch black.

Whoosh—!

On both sides, torches mounted along the walls ignited in unison, revealing a long corridor stretching further than the eye could see.

Walls and floor cut from rough stone, unfinished.

A landscape that looked lifted straight out of a medieval castle.

And lining the corridor like an honor guard — heavy, hulking suits of knight's armor.

The insides of the helmets were empty, but the cold pressure they gave off made you feel like a living knight was glaring at you.

"Don't let the look fool you — every one of those is a massive A-rank artifact. Automated defense system."

"Automated defense system?"

"Yeah. Anyone who steps foot in here without permission gets flame-grilled on the spot. Design's built for it. Performance? I'll vouch for it."

He gave a mischievous wink.

"Course, since Director's with me, don't worry. Stick close and they won't bite."

He plucked a torch off the wall and started down the corridor, whistling as he went.

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