Chapter 7
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Thirty-Year-Old Baby
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In psychiatric counseling, the first face-to-face meeting with a patient is incredibly important.
Because that's the moment treatment truly begins.
That's why most counselors create a calm atmosphere in their office and use repeated visits to imprint the space on the patient as their 'second home.'
They instill the idea that it's a comfortable place like home, then proceed with treatment step by step. That's the textbook approach to counseling.
But.
My second session with Cheok Yunhwa was, medically speaking, a total disaster.
"My arm! My arm!!"
The arm of an old hunter who had grabbed my collar—Yunhwa crushed it, twisting it into an impossible angle.
Crack!
She shattered it completely.
According to Moonlight Sword House guild members, her confidence was so shaken now that she couldn't even properly hold a sword?
And in that moment, the one line she uttered.
'Don't touch Papa.'
In that brief instant, I understood the entire situation perfectly.
Right now, Yunhwa wasn't acting on her own will. She was purely on autopilot from her defense mechanisms.
In other words, her body reacted before her trauma could—to protect me, the 'Papa' she'd possessed.
That's why the true power of an S-Rank Hunter had briefly emerged.
But this was absolutely not a good sign. If anything, it was worse.
Because.
"Sob... Hic...!"
As I mentioned earlier, she hadn't done any of this consciously.
It was just instinct taking over, while her conscious mind couldn't keep up.
Her body hadn't slept a wink just days ago.
For someone like that to forcibly exert strength, a psychological backlash was the natural consequence.
In the end, she trembled uncontrollably in front of those three old hunters, her face drained of color. I absolutely didn't want them seeing her like that.
So I wrapped my large frame around her, shielding her completely.
Just like a real 'Papa.'
"Thank you, Yunha. You helped keep Papa from getting hurt, didn't you?"
"...! Y-Yeah. Papa..."
I started the role-play lesson a bit earlier than planned, something that would normally happen inside the counseling room.
Amazingly, her trembling stopped almost immediately, as if she'd stabilized.
Yunhwa clung tightly to me in my arms, looking up like a baby lamb, nuzzling my chest and curling up against me as if scent-marking her territory.
...Honestly.
If she weren't my patient, as a man facing a woman, this scene would have been utterly unbearable.
But I'm a psychiatrist first—her attending physician.
Which means I never, ever get aroused by a patient.
Probably...
For real!
In psychiatric treatment, 'role-play therapy' is classified as one of the special techniques for more advanced patient care.
It's especially used as a supplementary method to heighten effects when a patient needs to deeply immerse themselves in a desired environment or relationship.
"Wh-What the hell is this...?"
"As you can see... medical equipment."
"This... is m-medical equipment?!"
After the first session, I'd been agonizing over it nonstop.
How could I give Yunhwa even a little more stability and healing?
I was the first person she'd ever allowed a 'second session' with in her life. I couldn't let this chance slip away.
And after three days of deliberation, the answer I'd arrived at was the 'medical equipment' I'd brought into the counseling room today.
Since I'd already received more than generous compensation from the first session—beyond what was warranted—I'd gladly bought this out of pocket.
...No, to be honest, trying to bill something like this to insurance? No institution in the world would approve it.
Anyway.
After shaking off those three old-timer hunters, I returned to the counseling room and carefully handed Yunhwa the 'change of clothes' I'd prepared.
"This... is today's treatment uniform."
It went exactly as expected.
Her face flushed beet red in an instant, steam practically rising from her head, her body shivering side to side. She nearly fainted.
But I couldn't falter here.
If I did, she'd pick up on my reaction and get even more rattled.
Especially in moments like this, I had to stay cool and firm as a medical professional.
"Yunhwa... no, Yunha. Don't you trust Papa?"
"...! Uuuh... "
"This is all for you. And Papa... wanted to see you wearing this outfit, smiling prettily. That's why I prepared it."
"B-But even so, this uniform is...!"
Yunhwa clutched the equipment—no, the outfit—in both hands, staring at it silently for a long while, her body quivering.
Of course, this treatment was entirely voluntary, with no coercion.
If the patient didn't want it, we could switch to a standard role-play session without issue.
It might be slightly less effective, but way better than any side effects from forcing it.
So I quietly stepped back to take the equipment away, figuring we'd just settle for a 'regrettable lesson' this time.
But then.
"Seungbin... no, Papa..."
Baby mode activated.
That voice calling me 'Papa' again, craving affection.
I reflexively turned my head.
And there was Yunhwa... pressing her index fingers together like a shy little kid, asking ever so carefully.
"Papa... wants to see Yunha wearing clothes like this?"
"Uh-huh?"
"I... if it's what Papa wants, I think I could wear it..."
......
Something about her lines felt off—way too suggestive?
Unnecessarily... dangerous.
And she already had that sensually explosive figure to begin with.
Vulgarly exaggerated curves.
A mature older sister asking so bashfully like a baby—who could stay unshaken seeing that?
That'd just make you a eunuch.
But I won't waver.
For real.
She's the patient, and I'm her doctor!
A doctor getting turned on by a patient?
That's an absolute, unbreakable taboo.
That's what they taught us in school, at least.
I averted my eyes from that pleading, seductive baby gaze with effort, cleared my throat to suppress my urges, and cautiously steered back to the main point.
"...Yeah."
"!!"
"Papa... wants to see Yunha wearing that outfit."
I decided to turn this situation into an opportunity.
As long as she put it on willingly, the immersion in this role-play therapy would double—no, triple.
At my words, Yunhwa nodded without hesitation, trusting Papa's words completely as expected.
"But... the clothes... Papa has to change me into them himself..."
Now that's crossing the line!
Sure, for maximum immersion, having Papa undress and change baby Yunha myself might be ideal.
But that's just the 'ideal scenario.'
I wasn't some psychiatrist tempered enough to withstand that level of temptation.
One slip, and it wouldn't just derail the treatment—we might end up putting a real baby in the belly of a woman who wants to be treated like one.
In the end, I could only hang my head in silence.
Yunhwa scowled at me with a hint of dissatisfaction for a moment, then quietly entered the bedroom and shut the door.
'Good, now's my chance to calm down...'
Even as she changed, one question lingered in my mind.
...Is this really legitimate treatment?
Of course, for a normal patient, I'd never do something like this.
It might be better to take more time and opt for a safer method.
But we'd already seen it in the first session.
Her mind grew unstable, her body shook, that trembling triggered hallucinations of buildings twisting, and ultimately visions of my body being torn apart.
This wasn't some simple illness—it was an 'unstable emotional bomb' from an S-Rank Hunter that could threaten an entire nation.
Handle it too cautiously, and if it went critical? It wouldn't be some psych ward meltdown—it could spark a genuine 'dungeon disaster-level incident.'
...With that, I kept rationalizing it to myself as I waited.
Then, in that moment.
Click.
"...!"
The bedroom door she'd entered moments ago slowly opened toward me, as if signaling she was ready.
Now was the time for the real role-play to begin.
I sighed and started reciting the 'desire-suppression mantra' I'd repeated dozens of times already.
"Spiral staircase... longhorn beetle... ruined city... fig tart... kabutomushi... Dolorosa's path..."
Muttering meaningless words to enter a state of zen and calm my little buddy, I stepped into the room.
At that instant.
The room was cozier and more comfortable than I'd imagined.
A bedroom with a city view.
True to form for an S-Rank Hunter's dedicated counseling suite, it was equipped everywhere for eating, sleeping, and recovery.
In an environment like this, the treatment effects would surely double... I was convincing myself of that when.
"Bu-bu-bu..."
"Longhorn beetle... singularity... Giotto... angel...... Gah?!"
Calm down, little buddy!
You're a doctor right now!
You can't get excited over a patient!!
But no matter how many words I chanted, that sight... was too much.
On the bed lay the adult-sized pink baby outfit I'd specially commissioned.
And the one wearing it... was Yunhwa.
With nothing underneath, pacifier in her mouth, diaper on, she reached out toward me like a toddler.
She was still haughty and beautiful, and at the same time... dangerously erotic.
"Bu-bu... A-bu-bu-bu...!"
This situation—labeled 'psychiatric treatment' but reading 'sexual infantilism play.'
It was that forbidden.
One wrong eye contact, and the 'taboo' of the real man I am might shatter completely.
But I had to endure.
I'm the doctor, and she's the patient.
If I got aroused now, it'd be a horrific 'betrayal' to Yunhwa, who'd trusted me enough to go this far.
'Get it together, Kim Seungbin! Don't forget why she ended up in these clothes!'
With that, I muttered 'longhorn beetle' and 'fig tart' in my head again... and took one step at a time toward the final stage of treatment.
Now... this might be Yunhwa's last treatment session—the true start of the role-play.
"Alright then, our Yunha... shall we start with some 'mamma'?"
"...! Bu-bu-bu! Ba-ba-ba-ba...!"