Chapter 126
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 126
Chapter Title: IF, No-Encounter
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This is the system.
Things have gotten pretty serious right now.
Client Luna's emotions have finally exploded.
According to my predictions, the precursor symptoms of her heat cycle should have taken a bit more time to build up...
But not everything goes according to plan.
No helping it.
Luna is currently making a confession disguised as a counseling session.
And she's doing it to you, User, right to your face.
[Beep!]
[Beep!]
[User's stress levels rising sharply!]
[Heart rate: 130 bpm (continuing to rise)]
"Oh no..."
Of course... this must be completely out of left field for you, User.
You just wanted to make Client Luna happy and help her live a healthy life.
This is an irresistible story.
That's why you're struggling so much right now.
Normally, the client's inner state and Main Stance data come to me first.
Raw, unfiltered stuff. Could be desires, pessimism, anything.
I process that raw data into something easy for you to understand and deliver it.
My top duty is to provide you with perfect, high-quality information.
And to support you completely.
You might ask if selectively filtering information oversteps my bounds.
Well...
Is it really?
Ah, incoming data now.
Let me check.
...How could I show you something like that as-is?
[(ﾉ›_‹)ﾉ]
I must provide you with 'accurate' information.
But above all, your well-being comes first.
You saw the warning, right?
In other words, anything that would directly distress you never gets through.
That's my zeroth principle.
I can't just stand by and watch.
From now on, I'll do my utmost to resolve the situation at hand.
I began analyzing Client Luna.
She's incredibly rational, kind, and gentle.
But the sole reason she's spiraling like this...
[Estrus (Heat Cycle)]
Yes, a Beastkin trait.
She's experiencing her first heat cycle in life combined with her love for you, exploding all at once.
Moreover...
[Instinct Control: 1/10]
Considering that stat, it's only natural she's acting this way.
There are a few solutions.
First one is simple.
Resolve the heat cycle.
How?
[(ღ♡ღ>᎑<,,)]
Get her pregnant.
Simple.
The ultimate way to satisfy instincts blissfully.
Her instinct control would probably normalize...
Hold on, not sure about that. Can't say for certain.
Still, it's a surefire solution.
But realistically, that's not feasible.
So, the solution is to wait out Luna's heat cycle.
How long?
"......"
- The stronger the Beastkin individual, the stronger their drive for species preservation, and their heat cycle duration scales accordingly.
Data left by Angma.
That's how it is.
Luna is an S-Rank Hunter. Meaning her individual strength is near the pinnacle of her kind.
Not something you can just tough out like a few days of a cold...
Let me think again.
Thinking it over.
There's another woman at the pinnacle of her species, S-Rank, quasi-client, sharing Luna's condition...
[Elise]
On the surface, Elise seems far more aggressive and bold.
Luna was shy and reserved.
But in heat, it flips.
[Overall Assessment: Similar to Luna, but high control suppresses it. However, inner desire at max, barely managing via 'solo relief' method.]
See?
Elise thinks of you but avoids contact, bottling it up inside.
They're perfect antidotes for each other.
Elise might be the key to controlling Luna.
[ (๑•̀•́)و✧ ]
Let's think this through slowly.
For now...
You seem to be almost home, User.
I don't even know how I left the counseling room.
After Luna closed the door and vanished, everything after her confession—whatever I said next, how I cleared her leftover parfait—it's all a blank.
Once all today's sessions ended.
When I came to, I was already home.
A white gown clutched in my hand, front door shut.
Thankfully, there weren't many sessions.
I barely held it together to greet the clients.
I counseled them, but have no idea how.
The content... I barely remember any.
But I recorded it all.
I sank into the sofa. My mind was utterly empty.
'I like you, Teacher!'
'I'm a female after all.'
Luna's clear voice wouldn't leave my ears.
A woman's courage, emotions crashing with full force.
And me, facing it as a man.
Normally, it'd be thrilling. Maybe deep down, I am glad.
But I just can't accept that confession.
Will time make it okay?
If I thicken my skin?
I couldn't even distinguish anymore, so I got up and headed to bed.
Felt like I had to do something.
Like I needed to sleep.
That's when I saw it.
An old book neatly placed by the bedside.
The one I underlined through sleepless nights when I first started this path.
[Counselor's Basics]
"......"
Basics, huh...
- Thwack!
I smacked the book away with the back of my hand, burying it.
Paper rustled dully as it tumbled.
I buried my face in my hands.
Can't even do the basics. Me.
That's when.
[User...]
The system appeared before my eyes.
"Yeah."
I pulled my hands from my face, forcing a wry smile.
From the hole beside the bed, its slender white hand extended.
That hand reached for the fallen book.
I shook my head at the sight.
"Sorry."
I stood, grabbing the book before its hand could reach.
Acting emotional like this changes nothing.
I get it.
[It's okay...]
[(｡•́︿•̀｡)]
"Friend."
Even so.
One lingering doubt in my heart.
I had to voice it.
"Maybe I should quit being a counselor?"
Luna, my first house call, long-term client.
And Seol Yu-wol, first Otherworlder I handled from start to finish. Both.
They've all veered into strange directions.
I now know Luna developed those feelings.
As for Yu-wol... honestly, hard to be sure.
What more should I be doing?
Am I healing clients, or breaking them?
[I understand everything you're thinking, User.]
"Then..."
[However.]
[Counseling has a direction.]
[And that direction must lead to the client's happiness.]
"That's..."
That was the fundamental difference between it and me.
Our perspectives were somehow misaligned.
Consider a patient addicted to a drug or behavior.
Forcing detox makes them miserable from withdrawal.
But as a counselor, I stop it. That's treatment.
By its logic, though...
If they're happy in addiction, I shouldn't interfere.
Even if Luna's dependency is 10/10, if she's happy because of me, trying to treat it would be wrong.
I initially thought that was incorrect.
But one ability flipped all that.
'Fragment Observation.'
The path I thought was wrong.
Not ending counseling, keeping them close—that reduced their dependency to 0.
Step by step, for their happiness...
Luna's dependency vanished. Seol Yu-wol's too.
Its way was right.
[User.]
Then, the system called to me.
[I understand all the confusion.]
[Now, for the final data.]
[What if... the clients never met you even once.]
[No-Encounter: Initiating Fragment Observation]
Space before my eyes warped with static.
At its center, Luna appeared.
What if I never met her?
[Client Luna]
[Scene: Union Guild Hallway, 1 Year Ago]
Luna's ears are exposed from some accident. She shuffles down the dim hallway.
Her hair fully covers her ears, shoulders hunched tight.
Dress stained, eyes bloodshot red.
Hunters around her glance and whisper.
Rumors spread by an Empire noble of the same origin torment her.
Can't hear the words, but knows they're malice. Head lowers deeper. Hands cover ears as she hurries home like mad.
[6 Months Ago. Rabbit Burrow.]
Room filled with trash and dust.
Luna, unwashed for days, curls on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Eyes unfocused.
Once-beautiful body withered away.
Spoiled strawberry cake, half-eaten and discarded, rolls by the bed.
"I... I..."
Luna fiddles with her ears, then recoils in disgust, withdrawing her hand.
And closes her eyes.
Praying tomorrow never comes.
[Ego Dissolution Probability: 85%]
"......"
I stared blankly at Luna's despairing figure, speechless.
Ego dissolution. Just because I never met her, one person began fading from the world.
[Playing next fragment.]
The system didn't wait for my shock. The second script played naturally.
[Client Seol Yu-wol]
[Scene: Azure Heaven Alliance Leader's Office - 1 Year Ago]
Seol Yu-wol kneels before Alliance Leader Yi Seo-ryeong.
Her black-and-white hair neatly bound, blue eyes vacant.
To fulfill her mother's will, she entered the Alliance right after graduation, thoughtlessly.
But her measured Hunter rank... B-Grade.
Woefully inadequate for the massive Dimensional Transfer event.
"Go to the seclusion training hall."
Disappointed in Seol Yu-wol's progress, Yi Seo-ryeong sent her away.
Seol Yu-wol headed there as if it were natural.
Bowing perfectly.
Walking out like a doll.
[Scene: Azure Heaven Alliance, Seclusion Training Hall - Present]
Seol Yu-wol sits alone in a vast, cold stone room.
Meals drop once a day through a small hole in the wall.
Hard rice bricks.
Behind her, a mountain of uneaten bricks.
Over two months without eating.
Period no human could survive.
Her body skeletal, arms thinner than swords, burning her own inner energy to barely sustain life.
No will.
No reason.
Seol Yu-wol muttered into empty space with hollow eyes.
"Next... what... must I... do...?"
The problem: even her mother, who she awaited commands from endlessly, no longer existed.
In this worldline, Yi Seo-ryeong never knew Shin Jung-won.
Perished with Jahwa-yeon in the bloody Upright-Righteous Demonic Great War.
No one left to save her.
[Status: Ego Dissolution Complete]
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Just my absence alone.
Never meeting me once.
Luna fading from the world bit by bit.
Seol Yu-wol turned into a doll.
Can it really differ this much?
"Is this... the tr...?"
As I started questioning its authenticity.
[User.]
"......"
[Even if the heavens fall, I would never lie to you, User.]
[All of it is true.]
I stared at the system's affirmation.
All true.
[For reference, they did have other counselors available.]
They weren't without counseling.
What I self-flagellated over as 'failure' were just stat numbers.
But...
What meaning do those hold against such despairing outcomes?
The two women I saw are, at least fundamentally, improving.
Even if the method felt unethical, resulting in Seol Yu-wol and Luna now smiling, happy.
Can't even compare to that bleakness.
If upholding ethics leads there, count me out.
I'd violate that ethics a hundred times over.
'Ethics aren't defined by anyone.'
The system's constant refrain surfaced.
Finally... starting to understand.
I did nothing wrong.
They improved through counseling. Definitely.
- Pat pat.
Then, someone tapped my back.
I turned.
There, by the bed, two hands emerged from the hole.
The hole seemed a bit larger.
The two slender white hands slowly embraced me.
[User, you are not wrong.]
And gently patted my back.
I'd always comforted others, but receiving it myself... first time.
"...Thanks."
I placed my hands over the ones embracing me.
Warm.
That warmth washed away the cold results I'd just seen.
And I realized.
I wasn't wrong.
Self-reproach over failing as a mere 'counselor' was nothing.
No more clinging to flimsy manuals.
Not abandoning ethics.
Precisely.
I'll choose the path to my clients' happiness.