The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

Step, step.

We'd walked for who knew how long down that corridor, footsteps cutting through the silence.

At the end of the long hallway, an enormous door finally rose to block our path.

An iron door easily tens of meters tall — you had to tip your head back just to see the top — overwhelming in scale.

"Outsider who's made it this far? Far as I know, it's been almost ten years since the last one."

Han Jewoon stopped in front of the iron door and turned to look at me, putting on a grave face.

"What I can tell you for certain is that ever since I took this Guild Master chair, I've never once shown anyone this place."

His voice carried pride, and under it the weight of the favor he was doing me.

"So think hard and pick well. This chance isn't coming around again."

He finished speaking and pressed his palm flat against the huge iron door.

Kudududuk—!

His mana poured in, and along with a vibration heavy enough to shake the floor, the massive iron door started to move, screaming as it went.

Boom—!

The moment the heavy iron door finished swinging open with one last magnificent groan—

"...!"

What filled my vision was soft, low lighting.

The scent of old paper brushed my nose, and heavy notes of wood.

Less a weapons vault than an antique imperial study, or a museum.

"All of this..."

Along the walls, ebony display cases ran floor to ceiling.

Behind their transparent glass — S-rank artifacts.

Arranged on black velvet the way you'd lay out fine liquor or luxury dinnerware, elegant and unhurried.

A dagger holding a blue light inside it. A bracelet hovering in midair, sparking with current. A staff turning slowly on its own axis.

Too refined, too beautiful in their bearing to be called mere weapons.

"Founding Guild Master had pretty old-fashioned taste, didn't he?"

Han Jewoon chuckled, savoring my dazed reaction.

"Pick one thing you like. Just one."

He gestured with his chin at a display case built of top-grade rosewood.

"Just — if you've got a bad eye and pick up garbage, that's your problem. No refunds."

I nodded without a word and started walking, slow.

Masterwork blades gleaming under the elegant lighting.

Rainbow gemstones pouring out mana.

But my eyes slid past those overwhelming treasures, indifferent.

I already had a target in mind.

I ran my gaze along the ebony cases, quick, and headed for the deepest corner.

And finally.

The very end of the display, a spot in the corner where no one's hands had reached in so long that a soft layer of dust had settled.

In that dark, an elegant silhouette waited, holding its breath.

I walked over without hesitating and pointed a finger.

"This one."

"...Ha?"

Han Jewoon checked what my fingertip was pointing at and looked back and forth between my face and my choice, as if he couldn't believe it.

"Don't tell me... you're serious?"

"Yeah."

"Director. Something wrong with your eyes?"

Han Jewoon let out a stunned laugh and swept a hand around the room.

"Look over there. That's an S-rank greatsword — cuts through anything. The thing next to it is absolute-defense armor that deflects every spell. Those are legendary-grade pieces where you name your own price."

He came right up, incredulous, and tapped at what I'd picked, tak, tak.

"And you're leaving all of that behind and walking off with a teapot? If you needed kitchenware, why not just hit a department store?"

"This one's perfect for me."

I shook my head, firm, and picked up the teapot.

"This is the one I've been looking for."

He's talking like this because he doesn't know what it's actually worth.

To Han Jewoon's eyes right now, this had to look like a purely decorative ornament with a nice finish.

But once the real value came out, he was going to be pounding the floor in regret.

Of course, right now — he'd never know it, not if he died and came back.

According to the original, this artifact's real function isn't going to come to light for another fifteen years or so.

Han Jewoon still looked unconvinced, and his expression was skeptical.

"Look, I'm telling you this because I don't want to be mistaken for a con man. You know what this teapot's one and only function is? It melts mana stones. That's it."

He let out a hollow laugh, exasperated.

"Nothing else. Combat? Defense? Zero. And frankly, melting mana stones is something your fancy institute's equipment can already do just fine. Really — this piece of junk?"

By any measure, it was the pick of a total sucker.

But I nodded, calm.

"I know."

"...What?"

Han Jewoon's brow drew tight.

"You know? You're brushing past all those masterpieces and choosing this even though you know it's trash?"

"That's right."

I tucked the teapot securely against my chest and smiled, crooked.

"...Really? Really not swapping it? Later on, if you come clinging to my pant leg begging for a refund, tough luck."

"Save the tears yourself, in case you end up begging to have it back. Once it's given, that's it."

At how much firmer I was than he'd expected, Han Jewoon's eyes narrowed.

His gaze traveled between the teapot and my face, insistent.

But I turned my back on him, clean, done humoring him.

"Right, let's head back?"

"...Ha, honestly, Director. I keep thinking I've figured you out and then I haven't."

Han Jewoon clicked his tongue, light, and stepped in front of me just as I was about to leave.

"Ah — before that. There's something I need to tell you."

"...?"

Before I could ask, thrown by the weight in his tone — unusual for him — Han Jewoon lowered his voice.

"Government's been acting off lately. Feels like they're bumping up against the Bureau in a bunch of different places, under the surface."

"...!"

A memory flashed through my head at that. A few days ago — the video call with Chae Ganghyeon.

[The government's been up to something odd lately... I only asked in case something had happened.]

The line my father had let slip in passing lined up perfectly with what Han Jewoon was telling me now.

Was there something like this in the original?

I combed carefully through my memory.

Now that I thought about it — right around this point in the timeline, there'd been a major clash between the Bureau and the government...

Just as my thoughts were about to spiral deeper, Han Jewoon's teasing voice cut in.

"Honestly, your institute makes for a tempting target, doesn't it? Directly under the Bureau, nobody knows what you actually do in there. A hidden little hole-in-the-wall, so to speak?"

He propped his chin on his hand and gave a small snort of laughter, but his eyes — locked on me — weren't smiling.

"You're the perfect target for the government to make an example of. Whales fighting, shrimp gets its back broken — keep your head down."

Delivered lightly, joking — but I could hear the worry threaded through it.

I shrugged off the tangle of thought.

"I can handle my own end. Still — thanks for the information."

"Ha, don't mention it. Between partners, that much is a given."

Han Jewoon, having decided on his own authority that we were partners now, winked and pulled a blue-tinged transport artifact from his coat.

Wuuung—

Along with the sensation of space warping, the scenery around us swapped out in an instant.

Fwipp—

Familiar air, familiar furniture.

In the blink of an eye we were back in the office.

Meanwhile, at one end of the room, Seo Jihyeok and Lee Jinwoo — who'd been deep in some serious conversation — startled hard at the sudden spatial ripple and whipped their heads around.

"Guild Master!"

"Director! You're back already?!"

The two of them broke off whatever they were discussing and lit up at the sight of us.

Their eyes went, natural as anything, to what I was cradling.

They were plainly trying to see what I'd walked out of the treasure vault with.

And the moment they confirmed it was, of all things, a teapot—

"Whew..."

Seo Jihyeok let out a sigh of relief, like he'd survived something.

Well, sure. A notorious problem child walking out with an S-rank weapon and going wild — of course he'd been holding his breath.

Seo Jihyeok pushed his glasses up with a hand that was still shaking a little, put on a show of composure, and threw out something to smooth things over.

"...A truly excellent choice."

"What?"

"Well, isn't it? Over those cold-blooded, bloodstained weapons... yes, an elegant antique like this is far better. Good for cultivating the finer sensibilities, and, well... very peaceable, wouldn't you say? A choice that speaks to the Director's refined character."

Lee Jinwoo's expression, on the other hand, went the color of clay in an instant.

"...D-Director?"

Lee Jinwoo asked, voice trembling like he couldn't believe it.

"You left behind... all those S-rank artifacts... and you brought back this teapot? Just... this beat-up teapot?"

His eyes were shaking as if his whole world were in an earthquake. He looked like a man watching the world end.

"Yeah. I told you, this one appeals to me."

"I really did try to stop him?"

Han Jewoon shrugged, playful, throwing up both hands and both feet in surrender.

I lightly ignored a kneeling, defeated Lee Jinwoo — who wore the look of a man whose country had just fallen — and turned back to Han Jewoon.

"Don't tell me this is where it ends?"

"Hm? What's this. One treasure-vault artifact isn't enough?"

"You haven't paid up yet for the rudeness on the ground floor. Dog charges at the guest, owner who dropped the leash needs to answer for it, doesn't he?"

At my shameless demand, Han Jewoon stared blankly for a moment, then burst out laughing.

"Pfffhaha! God, Director... you've got some brass on you."

He wiped at the tears in the corners of his eyes and nodded.

"Right, right, I'm the guilty party. What else would you like to squeeze out of Korea's number one? Name it."

I lowered my voice, and he leaned in, matching me.

But at the sight of him primed like that, I let out a snort of a laugh.

"That's... for later. I'll hold onto it for now."

"Ha."

Han Jewoon let out an incredulous laugh and scrubbed a hand down his face.

"So that's how it works — whoever cares more ends up the loser. Look at me."

The grumbling tone aside, a real smile sat at the corner of his mouth.

"If you've got nothing else to give, let's get to work. I should be off too."

"Wow, business done and out the door? Cold, Director, so cold~"

Han Jewoon groused, playing wounded, but I shook my head, firm.

"I need to see Choi Juran too, and I've already burned too much time here."

He knew my temperament — instead of getting clingy, he glanced at the mountain of paperwork on the desk and shrugged.

"Then no helping it. I'd love to walk you out to the ground floor, but I've got a mountain of documents too."

He tipped his chin at Seo Jihyeok, standing next to him.

"Jihyeok. Show the Director out."

"Understood."

Seo Jihyeok bowed courteously.

A little later.

I followed Seo Jihyeok's lead deep into the interior of Bawi Guild.

Past what felt like a maze of corridors, we arrived in front of a large training hall sealed behind a heavy iron door.

Seo Jihyeok held his card up to the lock and turned back to me.

"Ordinarily, this is a no-entry zone for outsiders..."

He pushed his glasses up and added, with a strange emphasis.

"This case has been authorized entirely by the Guild Master's direct order. So everything you see inside — the facilities, the training — is to be kept in strictest confidence."

Seo Jihyeok's eyes moved to Lee Jinwoo, standing beside me.

"That goes for Researcher Lee Jinwoo as well. Any leak outside these walls, and Bawi Guild will be within its rights to hold you accountable."

"Ah, yes! Of course, sir! I'll bear that in mind!"

Lee Jinwoo answered like a private on his first day, ramrod-straight with nerves, and I nodded — unbothered.

"Got it. Open the door."

Kudududung—

At Seo Jihyeok's command, the massive steel door split open sideways with a roar. Through the gap came a rush of cool air, along with the sour tang of sweat.

"This is..."

Lee Jinwoo let out a gasp of awe the moment we stepped inside.

Fair enough.

The scene stretching out in front of us was so vast that calling it an indoor training hall felt embarrassing.

The ceiling was so far overhead you had to crane your neck to see it, and the floor space was overwhelming — as if it had swallowed a decent-sized dome stadium whole.

And in the middle of that vast space, dozens of Hunters were tangled together in a brutal free-for-all.

Booming impacts and bright flashes erupted here and there, scrawling chaos across the inside of the dome.

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