The First Counseling
This was something even an idiot couldn't miss. This so-called counseling teacher was undoubtedly a youkai connected to the kidnapping youkai.
That's why I couldn't hold back from asking, even if I got no answer in return.
"You're... what... no, who are you?"
"The counseling teacher."
The white child who called herself the counseling teacher spread her arms wide as she spoke. A predictably bland answer...
"...and something akin to the outer gods you humans speak of."
But then came a completely unexpected response. Her mouth hadn't closed yet, as if she wasn't done speaking.
"...a fragment of it, returned to play the role of counseling teacher."
I blanked out for a moment. I hadn't expected her to spill it so straightforwardly. Everything I'd encountered here so far had been enigmas and secrets beyond comprehension.
Yet the youkai right in front of me had just laid it all out plainly. Caught off guard by the revelation, I blurted out a stupid follow-up question.
"Can you really just tell me that?"
"It fits the conditions, so it's fine."
"Conditions?"
As the counseling teacher rose into the air, the scenery around us suddenly shifted to the inside of a classroom. A dark classroom from the school I knew. The one I'd seen after dying had been bright, but this was dim like the usual ones.
Yet amid the gloom, only the counseling teacher stood out in stark, vivid white—an alien clarity. She wasn't emitting her own light. The darkness simply couldn't obscure the white at all.
"You've had an experience like this before, right?"
I nodded. It had been just yesterday; no amount of dementia could make me forget.
The counseling teacher dragged over an empty chair and sat down.
"Normally, you'd never cross paths with that existence. It showed itself this time out of some whim."
"Does that matter?"
"Of course it does. Games have to be fair, after all."
"Games?"
The word caught me off guard. Being kidnapped out of nowhere and clawing for survival like this was a game?
As my face grew serious, the counseling teacher waved it off. Watching the little white kid flail her arms around, I couldn't help but think she was kinda cute for a split second, despite knowing she was no ordinary being.
"'Game' is just a metaphor. I've intervened to help humans who fall into this world escape. But since this isn't a world I created, I need conditions to intervene."
"Conditions?"
"Yes. Hmm... how about giving me a nickname?"
"...Huh? A nickname out of nowhere?"
"That existence you met—you gave one to Kim Eat-Chil, right? Do the same for me."
She even knew about Kim Eat-Chil. Made sense, thinking about it. If this kid really was something like an outer god, she'd know everything I'd been up to.
It felt absurd to suddenly name her, but I played along and thought of one.
"Kkamang-i."
"Yes. Now give me one too."
"...Soonbaek-i."
"Soonbaek-i can intervene only as much as Kkamang-i does. Do you understand?"
The counseling teacher—no, Soonbaek-i—explained without missing a beat or batting an eye at the nickname. The heavy tension of the moment suddenly felt like some petty prank.
Soonbaek-i, invading Kkamang-i's world to mess things up. And her mischief was the good kind—saving humans.
"So you're explaining all this because Kkamang-i made contact with me?"
"Yes. Normally, you'd have to pay a price to hear what I have to say."
"A price?"
"Precisely, you'd have to do something that invites heavier intervention from Kkamang-i. The easiest example is skipping work."
"Ah."
That explained why entering the Counseling Room had such strict conditions. Without paying the price, stepping inside was pointless.
But I'd snuck in using the exam period loophole. Did that mean I couldn't get any info at all now?
"I can share the basics. And you've got a Warning Letter, right? You can use that for one question."
Soonbaek-i read my mind like Kkamang-i did, answering a doubt I'd only thought to myself. I hadn't expected the Warning Letter to come up here.
I knew three meant dismissal—death—and it'd just felt ominous, but who knew it'd be useful?
"Can I use the price on confirming something?"
"Of course."
"Then a basic one: Is the Guard Room your arrangement?"
"Yes. The Gallery is my creation too. Feels familiar from your real experiences, doesn't it?"
Familiar? Hell no. Compared to the real Gallery, this one was tame as could be. No trolls, no lies, no gross pics. It lacked a lot.
Not that I wanted those things, of course.
"They are there."
"Huh?"
"The things you're thinking of. The admin just deletes them."
"Whoa..."
I had no clue. Deleting stuff before anyone even noticed. Perfect Gallery moderation while working a job for years?
...Is Chieon Nak-si-kkun even human? How the hell?
"What about the writing bans, then?"
"A condition. Humans can communicate via the Gallery, but certain topics are off-limits."
Finally, the mysteries were unraveling one by one. People survived by talking like this thanks to Soonbaek-i.
The furniture in the Guard Room must be youkai she'd placed too. Too nice for Kkamang-i. I'd thought it odd she'd dangle such luxury hope just to crush it with despair later, but my suspicions were spot on.
"So where's the escape route?"
"Can't tell you that for a Warning Letter."
Figures the escape wouldn't come easy. But skipping one shift would reveal it—that much I learned. Where the hell was it that 66 predecessors couldn't find it?
My best guess: in the Annex Building, and way too hard.
I glanced at Soonbaek-i. She just smiled mildly.
Guess a youkai close to an outer god couldn't be read with cheap tricks like that.
"Did you make the Guard Rules Booklet?"
"Yes, that's mine too."
"Thanks to it, I've survived pretty well."
"No problem."
"But why no rules for the Annex Building?"
"Can't tell you that for a Warning Letter."
Felt like I'd gotten all the basics. Now just lingering questions I could trade a Warning Letter for.
Tough call. What even qualified?
"What happens if I leave the Guard Room in the morning?"
"That what you want to use it on?"
"Nah."
Curious, but too wasteful. Just don't go out in the morning, problem solved. No real reason to anyway.
Then Song Ha-yeon crossed my mind. I had to meet her after this. Maybe prepping info would tell me if she was safe.
"Is Song Ha-yeon a youkai?"
"Everyone except humans communicating on the Gallery is a youkai. More precisely, derivatives of me and Kkamang-i."
I'd kept suspecting. Maybe she was human after all. Logically impossible, but emotions kept clouding my judgment.
Song Ha-yeon was a youkai, confirmed. But asking about her yielded an unexpected bonus. If the youkai here were outer god offshoots, didn't that mean personalities varied by parent?
"Deriving from me doesn't mean they're automatically friendly to humans."
My hypothesis sank instantly. Makes sense—you can't control how your kids turn out.
Back to Song Ha-yeon. What to ask?
"Her true identity? Nah. Any rules for dealing with Song Ha-yeon?"
"That what you want?"
I hesitated. Kim Eat-Chil's deal came to mind. But I decided quick. Counseling Room entry was learnable through trial and error, but Song Ha-yeon rules? Not without dying first.
I still didn't know Kim Eat-Chil's rules beyond "stick to the guard role and it won't attack."
I'd once thought role adherence made you immune to intelligent youkai, but Han Min-ji changed that. If she supervised self-study again, I'd stay in the Guard Room till it ended.
Focus on surviving Song Ha-yeon for now.
"Yeah, that one."
"Got it. I've added it to the Rule Book appendix—check it out."
With that, Soonbaek-i stood.
"See you next time. I'll be waiting."
She waved, the classroom faded to white void, and when I came to, I was in the fifth-floor hallway outside the Counseling Room. The door wouldn't turn anymore. Looked closed for the day.
Lingering on the fifth floor was risky, so I hightailed it out.
Back in the Guard Room, the CCTV clock read 8:00. Felt shorter than an hour, but counseling sessions must be set to eat up that much time.
Now to meet Song Ha-yeon. Ignoring the promise out of fear could turn her hostile—no going back from that.
I pulled out the Rule Book and flipped to the appendix at the end. Blank before, but as promised, Song Ha-yeon info had been added.
Song Ha-yeon
You are safe as long as you don't succumb to her seduction.
Short and sweet, yet utterly awkward. She hadn't tried seducing me so far. Still, I committed the rule to memory and headed to the third floor to meet her.