The Villainous Director Is Raising a Child!

But the lull lasted only a moment.

Chiiik—!

Without hesitation, she bit into the hem of the shirt she was wearing and tore off a strip.

There was nothing wasted in the movements of her hands as she bound the wound tight and knotted it off.

[ Beep— beep— beep—! ]

Giving her no time to breathe, red dots flashed again from every direction.

This much... won't hold.

At the barrier's current strength, it would obviously be breached again.

In that case.

"Hoo..."

Amid the pelting warning tones, Sea-ah slowly closed her eyes and sharpened her inner senses.

The quiet floor of consciousness, where the noise was shut out.

There, Kim Sunja's voice echoed through her, faint as a ringing in the ears.

Listen well. A tanker isn't a punching bag. You know why your barrier keeps shattering? Because it's thin. You get greedy and spread it wide, so it tears like a sheet of paper.

Then... what should I do?

Compress it. Layer a thousand, ten thousand folds of mana, and crush it down until there's no room left for anything more.

Compression.

She scraped together the mana scattered across her whole body. The barest space needed for survival, wrapping the Director and herself.

Wuung—

Enduring pressure that felt like it would burst her blood vessels, she bore down to the limit, and the faint barrier began to condense into a blue so deep it stung to look at.

Harder... make it harder.

An instant before the raining, high-compression beams could bury her—

Sea-ah's eyes flew open.

Beep—

Kwaaaang—!

Beams of searing heat, hot enough to burn everything to ash, slammed into the blue barrier.

But this time they couldn't leave so much as a scratch.

The lights only scattered wildly across the wall of compressed mana.

In a fraction of a second, a single memory flashed through her mind.

The snowball fight that day, when she'd played with the Director and her younger siblings.

The feel of twisting the barrier's angle to send the flying snowballs right back the way they'd come.

I bounced snowballs back — why not lasers?

The realization pierced her mind like a flash of light.

The best defense... is offense.

Sea-ah's eyes glinted cold.

She twisted her wrist in one smooth motion, shaving the rounded surface of the barrier down to an angle as sleek and sharp as a mirror.

Kaaang—!

The instant the pouring red destruction beams struck the surface of the blue barrier, the light didn't vanish — it reversed course and surged back with even more savage force.

Paaaang—!

The returning fan of light struck the muzzles dead-on.

Kwang! Kwagwang!

The turrets, hammered head-on by the energy they'd fired themselves, spewed black smoke and blew up in a chain.

At that overwhelming sight, silence dropped over the control room in an instant, as if someone had thrown cold water over it.

"...No way."

"Did you see that just now? She didn't simply bounce it back!"

The one who broke the silence was a researcher's cry, edged with shock.

"She twisted the angle of incidence exactly fifteen degrees! One degree off and it would have missed, but she bent the trajectory right toward the turrets' power source and sent it back!"

"You're telling me she finished a real-time ballistics calculation against beams pouring in at that speed? What is she, a supercomputer...!"

Unlike the clamoring researchers, the Bureau Chief kept a heavy silence.

But his eyes, at least, were shining deep with fascination.

"Well now... would you look at that."

The Bureau Chief stroked his chin and let out a low sound of admiration.

"For a tanker to fire off an active counter like that. Never mind the raw defensive specs — the way she reads a fight is something else."

At the Bureau Chief's praise, the Director lifted his chin, triumphant.

"That's all down to my good teaching, isn't it? How else would that little slip of a girl know to do something like that?"

The Director looked at the wrecked training hall on the screen and clicked his tongue.

"Shame, though. She's cleared all ten stages I prepared, so I suppose this evaluation ought to wrap up here."

At that one word from the Director, Park Wonjin's heart lurched and dropped where he stood in the corner.

Why does that wretched thing hold out so well! She was supposed to drop the barrier like we agreed!

Insides burning, Park Wonjin hurriedly stepped forward and cut across the Director's words.

"Director! One moment! Isn't it a waste to end it here?"

"A waste?"

"We— we still haven't hit the 'critical point' where the numbers spike!"

Park Wonjin swallowed dry and pressed his case, frantic.

"That transcendent figure the Bureau Chief wants! To see it, we have to drive the subject all the way to the line between life and death!"

He cleverly turned his body toward Chae Junhyeok and drove the wedge home.

"Besides, isn't that girl a masterpiece you shaped with your own hands, Director? Stopping at just this much would only sell short the perfect results of your teaching."

Park Wonjin needled the Director's pride on the sly, driving the wedge deeper still.

"Even if you push the output a little higher... surely she'll hold, won't she?"

At that sweet whisper, one corner of Chae Junhyeok's mouth slid up.

"Hm. Well, you're not wrong. She's a kid I put real work into raising."

He shrugged and tipped his chin toward the screen.

"Fine. A little harder wouldn't hurt."

As he puffed himself up, the Head Researchers behind him blanched and tried to stop him.

"Director! It's dangerous! The training-hall equipment is already half-destroyed, and raising the output any further could be too much for Sea-ah—!"

"Ugh, pipe down. I said it's fine, so quit the fuss."

The Director waved a hand and cut off the researchers' worries in one stroke.

"And Lee Sea-ah needs a taste of something bitter while she's at it. That's the only way she'll break that habit of talking back like she's got no idea who outranks her."

He cocked his head at Park Wonjin, crooked.

"I'll handle the fallout, so go on, have at it — as hard as you like."

A short, arrogant permission.

At that careless attitude, Park Wonjin cheered inwardly.

That's right, laugh all you want. That revolting arrogance of yours ends here too.

"Yes, sir! Carrying out the order!"

Tatatak! Tak!

[ Safety lock... released. ]

[ Output limiter... removed. ]

Park Wonjin glared at the small girl on the screen and slammed his finger down on the enter key.

Kudugung—!

The whole training hall screamed.

Sea-ah looked up at the ceiling, revulsion on her face.

"...You never said you'd go this far."

Kuguguu—

The ceiling was coming down.

At the same time, thick gray smoke billowed up from the floor and blotted out her sight.

The acrid gas stabbed at the child's small lungs.

Chiiing—!

An eerie charging sound came out of the dark.

Not just one. Ten... twenty... no, dozens.

On instinct, Sea-ah tucked her body behind the Director's larger one, gritted her teeth, and stepped forward.

Firepower so overwhelming it made everything she'd faced from Stage 1 through Stage 10 feel like a child's game of make-believe.

Kuguguu—!

Front, back, left, right, ceiling and floor.

Every surface that made up the training hall flipped over with a mechanical drive-whine, and dozens of muzzles belched fire all at once.

Kwaaaaang—!

These weren't simple bolts of light.

Beams carrying a horrific heat, hot enough to burn even the air, wove into a dense net and rushed at Sea-ah.

In the middle of that flood of light, Sea-ah's gaze went cold and still.

If I've shown them this much... they won't suspect anymore.

With a faint smile at the corner of her mouth, Sea-ah let go of the reins of mana she'd been gripping.

The dense blue barrier thinned in an instant and turned dangerously transparent.

In that split second, as her defense plunged—

Instead of retreating, Sea-ah broke into a run straight ahead, bold as anything.

Taat—!

The pouring red flashes chased her fiercely, but she didn't look back.

The place she sprinted to without a flinch and stopped was, of all spots, right in front of the reinforced-glass wall dividing the training hall from the control room.

Kung—!

Face all but pressed to the glass, Sea-ah stared hard through the mirror-like surface at the far side.

Inside the control room were the Bureau Chief and the Director both, but her cold gaze fixed on only one.

Park Wonjin.

"...!"

The moment that gaze — which had no way of reaching him — locked onto his own, Park Wonjin felt as if the breath had been snatched out of him.

And then.

Peong—!

Thick gray smoke erupted from beneath Sea-ah's feet.

In an instant her sight was cut off, and the girl's small body was swallowed whole in the pale haze.

Breaking that momentary stillness—

Jiiing—!

A flash blazed inside the smoke, and a horrific rupturing sound, one that clawed at the eardrums, rang out.

And right after.

Puk—!

Along with the dull sound of something bursting.

Chwaaak—!

Crimson blood scattered violently across the control room's clear reinforced glass, as if flung from a whole bucket.

"...!!"

Their vision flooded red in a heartbeat.

Drip, plop.

A thread of red blood ran down the surface of the glass, curling, and dropped to the floor.

At that ghastly sight, the researchers' throats clenched shut.

Perfect stillness.

An eternal second passed, without even the sound of breathing.

"Kyaaaak!"

"Sea-ah!!!!"

Lee Jinwoo screamed and lunged at the console, slamming down the emergency-stop button.

[ System force shutdown. ]

But Kang Taemin had been faster.

Bang—!

He kicked open the control-room door and charged into the training hall.

"Are— are you insane?! Get her to the medical room right now!"

With the Director's frantic shout, the situation spun out of control, fast.

A moment later, Kang Taemin came through the murky smoke with Sea-ah hanging limp in his arms.

Kang Taemin's massive frame, over 190 centimeters, all but hid the nine-year-old's body from view.

Only the white shirt glimpsed between his forearms — the chest of it, right over the heart, soaked through with crimson blood — spoke for how horrific the scene was.

"Move! Get out of the way!!"

Han Soeun shouted and scrambled after Kang Taemin as he vanished down the corridor at the speed of the wind.

The control room left behind was pure pandemonium.

"Th-the vitals data—!"

Checking the terminal, Lee Jinwoo's voice came out thin and shaking.

"Seven percent... six... five! It's dropping faster and faster!"

At that report, the Director's face drained to the color of clay.

"Damn it!"

He wheeled toward the Bureau Chief and shouted, frantic.

"Dad! This wasn't me! This isn't my fault!"

Chae Junhyeok pointed a trembling finger at Park Wonjin, standing beside him.

"Th-that bastard cranked it up too far! I said to keep it reasonable, and he ran the output up however he pleased—!"

"...!!"

At that, Park Wonjin — who'd been standing there dazed — jolted and leapt in shock.

"Director! What are you saying?! Didn't you tell me you'd take full responsibility?!"

"When did I ever tell you to take it that far?! I said raise it a little!"

"You watched me set every bit of it, right there beside me! You approved it yourself, and now—!"

"You son of a bitch, where do you get off talking back?! You're the one who killed the subject! You!!"

Shouting and snarling, each shoving the blame onto the other, filled the control room.

A shambles — the son's disgraceful display tangled up with the subordinate's protests.

That was when it happened.

"Enough."

Low, but a single weighty word that bore down on the whole space.

The moment Bureau Chief Chae Ganghyeon's mouth opened, the dogfight-like clamor cut off dead, as if doused with cold water.

"Junhyeok. I saw every bit of you giving those orders with my own two eyes, clear as day."

"N-no... Dad. It's not like that..."

"Don't make excuses. You handed command to the Deputy Director — do you mean to tell me you truly had no idea what would come of it?"

At the Bureau Chief's cold rebuke, the Director's face flushed red with humiliation.

Then the Bureau Chief's gaze turned on Park Wonjin like a blade.

"And Deputy Director Park. However much Junhyeok authorized it, you crossed the line — far past it. Do you take that subject for some disposable, single-use thing?"

"I— I'm sorry! I deserve to die!"

The Bureau Chief let out a deep sigh and clicked his tongue.

"Haah... last evaluation I thought you had something to you and let myself hope, but... it seems I misjudged the measure of you."

"Dad! What are you saying?!"

"If the subject dies, this project is a failure. You can't be unaware of how much funding and attention I've poured into it."

"..."

"The things I've placed in your hands... I'll have to reconsider them."

It was a bolt out of the blue.

The Bureau Chief left his son standing there blankly and turned without a shred of hesitation, walking out of the control room.

Park Wonjin hurried out into the corridor after the Bureau Chief.

One second after the door closed.

"Aaaaaargh!!!! Damn it aaall!!!"

From behind came the Director's screaming as he smashed the furniture to pieces in his fit.

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