Chapter 28
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: Masochistic Paraphilia
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Masochistic Paraphilia
The next day, I brought Saintess Sohee to meet Branch Chief Yoo Geumhui.
It was to formally propose the deal: lend her tracking abilities to the association's affairs, and in exchange, have her take me on as her primary physician for treatment.
Surprisingly, just the words "a guest brought by Counselor Kim Seungbin" were enough. She appeared in her nun's habit, hiding her identity, and was allowed straight into the branch chief's office without any hassle.
And I breathed a sigh of relief.
I figured things would go smoothly.
But.
"It cannot be!"
"B-Branch Chief?"
The branch chief slammed her desk with repeated thuds, shaking her head.
More than shock, she somehow gave off the vibe of a child throwing a tantrum.
"Counselor Kim Seungbin! Don't you already have our Narae? And Hunter Cheok Yunhwa on top of that! Adding more patients? Does that even make sense?"
"Ah... Even so, I can handle three just fine."
"Heh heh! What's the use of a man being so 'virile'! Normally, he should only take on one, not even two. One girl like our Narae should be more than enough!"
...Hold on.
This is about patients, right, Branch Chief?
Why does it sound more and more suspiciously lewd the more I listen?
And right then.
"Branch Chief Yoo Geumhui. I heard you wanted my abilities."
Saintess Sohee, who'd been fidgeting restlessly, subtly pulled my arm to rest against her neck.
The smile spreading beneath her robe was no longer that of a holy saintess.
It was more like a hyena grinning at a male while baring its teeth.
She'd seemed so pure in front of me before, but now she stared down the branch chief with the unyielding gaze of an inescapable predator.
"Above all, wouldn't it be a huge benefit for the association to establish a connection with a saintess like me?"
"Th-Then you're asking for our son-in-la... no, Counselor Kim Seungbin?"
"Yes. In the end, I'm just a 'patient' with a sick heart. Crushed under the heavy name of saintess, all I needed was a single ray of light to purify my soul."
"Hm... We could assign you another counselor?"
"Before being a saintess, I'm also a 'woman.' There's an emptiness between women that can never be filled. You know that well, don't you, Branch Chief?"
Her words sounded plausible, but talking about 'bitches in heat' was blatantly revealing her true intentions.
Less a saintess, more a patient whose sadistic tastes were on full display.
Even so, I couldn't deny that she was suffering.
And it hadn't reached a critical stage yet.
If we started treatment now, I could pull her back from more dangerous tastes or outbursts.
"Branch Chief, I'm asking you as well."
"?! Counselor Kim Seungbin, you too...!"
"......!"
The branch chief's reasons for opposing were clear.
She worried that more patients would mean neglecting the existing ones' treatment.
Especially since her granddaughter Narae's condition had only just started improving.
Going back to her locking herself in her room, stripping naked every dawn and barking like a dog—that would be a nightmare for the branch chief.
But in truth, those concerns were unfounded.
Psychiatry residents typically handle 8 to 15 inpatients at once.
Compared to that average, I only had two under my care right now.
Even if it became three, Cheok Yunhwa's or Narae's treatment wouldn't suffer.
In other words, entrusting her to me posed no problem.
"Three is still plenty of room to spare, Branch Chief. Adding Saintess Sohee as one more patient won't change a thing."
"St-Still... She looks just like the Narae type at first glance..."
"Hee hee. Then the deal is sealed?"
"...Tch!"
Her eyes screamed, 'No, just stick to our girl—why bring in some saintess or whatever?!'
But to track the mysterious forces targeting the Korean Hunter Association, we needed Saintess Sohee's power.
And... as if she'd planned to meet anyway, the branch chief fussed like a kid who'd lost a toy before finally nodding.
At that moment, the saintess lifted her head and locked eyes with me.
She wrapped both arms around the hand I'd placed on her neck, pressing down as if urging me to squeeze, her breath coming in ragged gasps.
...I had to restore this saintess to her 'true self.'
With that resolve, I answered calmly.
"There's a lot to prepare first. Let's schedule the initial treatment... three days from now."
Masochistic Paraphilia.
A severely twisted desire.
A disorder where pleasure comes only from hardcore stimuli like pain, violence, or humiliation, satisfied only when dopamine explodes from it.
It's as dangerous as Cheok Yunhwa's infantilism paraphilia or Narae's constant exposure disorder.
Since it could erupt in daily life at any moment, treatment was absolutely necessary.
The standard treatment is long and tedious.
Gradually lowering sexual expectations through periodic sex education, teaching healthy behaviors, and painstakingly rewiring the faulty circuits.
Just filtering out the dopamine that's infested the brain takes years.
But Saintess Kim Sohee didn't have that kind of time.
The saintess of the world-following Church of the Goddess.
She couldn't stay in Korea forever, and this visit was just a short vacation of a few days.
"If the treatment works well... I'll claim a long-term leave and stay in Korea for a while. Of course, only if I can show results convincing enough for the high nuns of the church."
She smiled like that, but the truth was more blatant.
Over the past year, she'd been addicted to hardcore videos, unable to even focus during prayer, and finally got caught by the high nuns.
The verdict from the nuns she trusted was simple.
"A woman's problems are always solved by a man."
A keyhole won't open with the same key.
It needs the perfectly fitting 'different key' to turn.
Leaning on that ancient doctrine, she'd come to me—the only male counselor in Korea.
In short, my mission wasn't simple.
In a short time, at least enough for her to focus on worship again, I had to correct her delusions.
The problem was the method she desired.
'What the saintess craves... is a situation right before being captured and violated by a monster. Terror, humiliation, and the pleasure felt atop it.'
But I knew.
That wasn't treatment.
If it actually happened, she'd plummet not into salvation, but ruin.
Ultimately, what I had to do was show her the 'dangerous fantasy' she wanted safely, while making her realize for herself how distorted that desire was.
A tightrope walk of treatment.
One misstep, and the saintess wouldn't find salvation—she'd fall off the cliff.
And the person standing at the end of that rope... was me.
"Whew. Three days have already passed."
The brutal gap between imagination and reality.
Over those three days, I'd rehearsed dozens of times in my mind, mimicking a monster.
I planned to give her the 'shallow fantasy' she wanted exactly, while imprinting how horrific the situation truly was.
In other words, intentionally amplify the terror, then leave her with a good trauma that makes her regret ever imagining it again.
After all that preparation, when I entered the top floor of the Hunter Association three days later.
"Ah, you've arrived, Counselor."
Saintess Sohee waited in front of the door, hands clasped tightly.
Even shyly waving made her look like a lady who'd just succeeded in a confession.
"You could have waited inside."
"N-No! Knowing treatment was about to start... I was just too nervous."
Well, yeah.
Psychiatric treatment was vague enough to be scary.
Especially since hers was for such an embarrassingly explicit reason.
Her fingers twisted together, biting her lip, body trembling all over.
At a glance, it was like a pure bride's waiting room, but her mind was probably the polar opposite of innocence.
I took a deep breath and cautiously opened the counseling room door.
But.
"...What is this?"
Yunhwa's room was a nursery, Narae's a garden.
But Saintess Sohee's counseling room was none other than a cave.
"This doesn't feel like a counseling room—more like a movie set."
Cold water droplets on the rock walls, musty mold smell, occasional chill winds brushing by.
For a moment, I wondered if I'd opened not a door, but a dimensional portal to somewhere.
Then.
Clank, clank.
"Saintess?"
I turned, and there she stood.
Or rather, she stood with her arms twisted behind her back, handcuffed herself.
"Ah, Counselor. I put the handcuffs on myself first. Now... where should I be chained?"
"...Pardon?"
No, why are there handcuffs here in the first place?
And chained where?
What she wore weren't standard police gear.
Rusted iron handcuffs, straight out of a medieval torture chamber for binding prisoners.
Under the dim cave lighting, the silver chains draped coldly over her white, smooth arms stood out starkly.
"S-Saintess... where did you even get those...?"
"It's a secret."
She looked up at me, her blue eyes—meant to be pure—sparkling brightly.
Her pupils were already heart-shaped and gleaming, her breath feverish.
She wet her lips, then whispered softly.
"For the first time... let's start with the whip."
"......Yes?"
"Yes. It should be in that drawer that looks like a rock over there."
I turned to look again at what I'd thought was a pile of rocks.
The rough stone texture was intact... but it was a drawer?
And peeking inside, it was packed with torture tools that made a whip look cute by comparison.