Chapter 151
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 151
Chapter Title: System Algorithm #3: Client L
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- Swish...
"Nom nom nom."
- Swish...
"Munch munch."
The snacks you've recently bestowed upon me have undergone an astonishing transformation.
I suppose you could call it more variety.
You must have seen a recipe somewhere and made these chewy cookies.
And the taste is just...
So addictive...
Dangerously so.
I stuffed my cheeks full like a chipmunk, gazing fondly at you through the monitor.
In the end, joint protection for Client Seol Yu-wol and Client Jahwa-yeon has been decided.
Quite the unusual pairing. This should be interesting...
That was when it happened.
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
A blaring alert disrupting my peaceful snack time.
"Here we go again."
Something else has arrived.
It's been quiet for a while, so I'd almost forgotten, but it looks like new data has come in.
Perhaps a glimpse of the near future that will soon become reality?
I'm not sure about that...
But in any case...
- Gulp.
My heart can't help but race.
Parallel world algorithm data has arrived without user request!
"Who's it gonna be this time~?"
I shove the remaining ten chewy cookies into my mouth in one go and settle into my chair with grim determination.
My cheeks puff out like a hamster's, but my fingers move like a cheetah's.
- Tap tap tap tap!
[Parallel world algorithm result fragment transmission confirmed...]
[Result fragment: IF-FLOWER-01 forcibly received...]
[Verifying data integrity... _〆(。。)]
"No flaws this time either."
Ultra-high quality, as always.
[Branch point: One day before the holiday following the great deed in 'System Algorithm #2 IF-SNOWMOON-01'.]
[Variable: Parallel world lacking counselor ethics.]
"Huh...?"
So...
This is the story right before the climax of Client Seol Yu-wol's parallel world from last time?
But the perspective is Client Yi Seo-ryeong's?
This kind of continuation is a first, so I'm totally caught off guard...
[ROOT #Family 2 (Family)]
[Now beginning playback of another possibility the user did not choose.]
[🎬 START! ( •̀ ω •́ )✧]
"......"
I'm trembling.
After that day with Seol Yu-wol...
I wonder what story will unfold with her mother, Yi Seo-ryeong.
In the end, the parallel world playback began.
My daughter has arrived.
On this Earth.
The moment Yi Seo-ryeong heard that news, her heart seemed to stop.
At first, she was overjoyed beyond measure.
Her daughter, with whom she had been separated by life and death across dimensions, had returned.
No matter what form she took or what being she had become, it didn't matter.
Just the fact that they could meet again was enough.
Therefore.
She set everything aside and contacted the Association that very day.
And immediately filled out a visitation request form.
To see Yu-wol.
But contrary to the Association's promise to contact her as soon as procedures were sorted.
A day, two days, and three days passed with no further response.
It was blood-curdling agony. In the end, Yi Seo-ryeong could wait no longer and went directly to Association headquarters.
However, what greeted her in the lobby was.
"Visitation is impossible."
The team leader's cold refusal.
Yi Seo-ryeong doubted her ears.
"......Why? I am that Otherworlder's mother."
Her voice trembled faintly.
Moreover, she was the Leader of the Azure Heaven Alliance.
Her status was beyond question.
"There is no way to prove that."
"If you just let me meet her, I can prove it."
Yi Seo-ryeong suppressed her anger and persuaded him.
In truth, many did just that.
Whether paternity tests or mana resonance, nothing was easier than confirming face-to-face.
However.
Even that request was refused parrot-like by the team leader.
"Impossible. And that's not the only reason."
He adjusted his glasses and looked at his monitor.
"The Otherworlder in question is currently classified as high-risk and under isolation. Regulations prohibit all external contact."
His attitude was firm.
"......So my daughter is locked away in isolation all alone?"
That was what worried Yi Seo-ryeong.
Imagining her daughter trembling alone in a cold solitary cell in an unfamiliar dimension tore at her heart.
"That doesn't seem to be your concern. It's confidential."
But the team leader refused even that with a smiling face.
Nothing was permitted.
With the Association refusing even to tell her about her daughter's well-being...
Yi Seo-ryeong's patience hit rock bottom.
She had observed all due courtesy.
In the end, she decided to cross the line.
She used hypnosis on the Association team leader.
A subtle green glow of inner energy flowed from Yi Seo-ryeong's fingertips, riding the air into the staff member's ear.
"......Ah..."
The team leader's pupils dulled and lost focus.
"Speak."
Yi Seo-ryeong murmured lowly.
"What's the reason? Why can't I see my daughter?"
"......It was Counselor-nim's strong request."
Counselor?
The Hunter Counselor who had taken custody of her daughter?
One mere counselor blocking visitation?
"Why would the counselor."
"For treatment... she said all external contact must be blocked. No one is to be let in..."
"......So then, is Yu-wol locked away alone right now? In a cold solitary cell?"
The answer deviated from expectations.
"No..."
The team leader answered blankly.
"......The Otherworlder is staying in the highest-grade isolation quarters and meets with Counselor-nim every day..."
"Just the two of them?"
"Yes. Over six hours a day... She wanders the plaza, has steady counseling sessions..."
Yi Seo-ryeong's eyes wavered.
Under the pretext of isolation, all external contact was blocked.
Yet this counselor scum visited her daughter every day, spending hours alone with her in a closed room?
A male.
Especially a male in a position of power. All such beasts were monsters of base desire.
To prey on a fragile girl without a protector... in a closed room where he held absolute power.
Yi Seo-ryeong didn't even want to imagine what dangers or humiliations Seol Yu-wol might be exposed to right now.
- Crunch...
Yi Seo-ryeong clenched her fists until blood no longer flowed.
With a heart that felt like it would vomit blood, she asked the team leader.
This man held a mid-level position at the Association and knew every internal detail.
Moreover, under hypnosis, he could not lie.
"In your personal judgment..."
Her voice trembled.
"Do you think that counselor might have attempted sexual contact with my daughter... no, the Otherworlder? Or used his position for coercion or harassment?"
If so.
She would reduce the Association to ashes.
However. The response plunged her into a different kind of shock.
"......Not at all."
The team leader shook his head without a second's hesitation.
"From the plaza adaptation program to psychological counseling, every process is transparently recorded via CCTV and logs."
"......What?"
The team leader stated matter-of-factly.
"On the contrary, her improvement is visible. Otherworlder Seol Yu-wol, who showed anxiety symptoms, now fully trusts and follows Counselor Yoo Seon-woo."
Hypnosis was absolute.
He could not have lied...
"Even today, a holiday, the counselor came to meet Seol Yu-wol directly. Though recording was off for the holiday..."
But that couldn't be.
A man in power wouldn't act that way.
Faced with a young, beautiful woman—utterly defenseless—no man would behave like a saint.
"Tell me the counselor's residence. And the location of Otherworlder Seol Yu-wol's quarters."
I'll go confirm myself.
"......Villa and... Building 3 VIP Isolation, Room 404..."
Yi Seo-ryeong rose immediately.
The suspicion lingered.
"The counselor has clocked out, right?"
"Yes. Probably left right away since it's a holiday."
Send the Dark Lord to stand by at the counselor's residence.
And I will go meet my daughter myself.
If he has touched even a hair on my daughter's head...
I will order the Dark Lord.
Tonight, one Association counselor will vanish without a trace.
- Whoosh!
Yi Seo-ryeong's figure vanished.
Association headquarters, Building 3 Isolation.
She arrived in front of Room 404.
The corridor was quiet.
It had taken some effort to enter while avoiding CCTV blind spots.
Hiding precisely in this shadow meant she wouldn't be detected.
She stood there for a moment.
'Yu-wol-ah...'
Her heart ached.
How frightened she must have been alone.
How lonely.
That was when it happened.
- Buzz.
A short vibration on her phone, followed by an encrypted message.
A hotline messenger pigeon of the Azure Heaven Alliance, leaving no records.
[Absent.] [No signs of life in residence. Not even residual warmth.]
"......What?"
The counselor, presumed to have gone home after clocking out.
Was not at his residence.
Yi Seo-ryeong's head creaked around.
Her gaze turned to the door of Room 404.
No way.
Yi Seo-ryeong's reason snapped.
She immediately wrapped her hand in inner energy.
- Crack!
Yi Seo-ryeong flung the door open and stormed inside, quickly slamming it shut behind her.
"Yu-wol-ah!!"
Yi Seo-ryeong called for her daughter as she entered the house.
With the ferocity to snap the neck of the fiend who might be assaulting her daughter at any moment.
However.
"......"
The scene inside the house was utterly unlike what she expected.
- Bubble bubble...
A deliciously simmering stew.
A rice cooker steaming, just finished.
Neatly arranged side dishes.
And beside them, in the living room.
Under soft mood lighting, a man sat on a plush sofa.
It was the counselor.
On that man's lap pillow, Seol Yu-wol slept soundly, oblivious to the world.
She looked so comfortable that a bit of drool trickled from her mouth, her arms tightly wrapped around the man's waist...
The problem was... under the thin blanket draped over her body.
Yi Seo-ryeong's pupils shook like an earthquake.
Seol Yu-wol's bare shoulder peeking out from the blanket, her white calf entangled between the man's legs.
She was... completely naked, without a stitch on.
The air mixed with the scent of soap, as if freshly bathed, and a strangely fishy odor.
"Shh."
The counselor pressed a finger to his lips and whispered softly.
His other hand gently stroked the sleeping Seol Yu-wol's hair.
"My daughter just fell asleep."
Yoo Seon-woo smiled brightly and whispered to the frozen Yi Seo-ryeong.
"Please be quiet... Mother-in-law."
Yoo Seon-woo carefully laid the sleeping Seol Yu-wol's head on the sofa cushion.
Then slowly rose from his seat.
He stepped toward Yi Seo-ryeong.
Right up to her face.
Close enough their breaths mingled. Yi Seo-ryeong found herself looking up without realizing it.
He was... taller than expected.
Her eyes could only reach his chest.
"......"
Yi Seo-ryeong's heart began pounding wildly.
'Why?'
She couldn't understand.
The man before her.
She could fell him with a single strike.
Yet her body wouldn't move. Her legs weakened, her breath quickened.
Fear?
If so, why?
She had vowed never to do this.
Never to bow her head to a man.
She thought she could live that way...
She could have...
Her heartbeat accelerated.
Yi Seo-ryeong... finally lowered her trembling gaze.
Cast her eyes down would be more accurate.
'This... can't happen...'
To cling to her reason somehow, she glanced sideways at Seol Yu-wol lying on the sofa.
My daughter. The child I must protect.
Seol Yu-wol slept peacefully, unaware of the world.
Yi Seo-ryeong mustered courage and raised her head again.
To question him. To scream what he had done to her daughter.
And then.
Yi Seo-ryeong finally saw it.
Between the disheveled shirt collar.
On the counselor's neck... vivid red lipstick marks etched deeply.
And scratch marks like someone had clawed him fiercely.
No need to ask whose they were.
- Step.
As he took one more step closer, a thick scent wafted from his body.
A complex aroma.
Her daughter's scent, and his.
The moment those two fragrances mingled and pierced Yi Seo-ryeong's nose.
Her legs gave out weakly.
The man before her effortlessly scooped her up.
- Swish.
His large hand gripped Yi Seo-ryeong's wrist.
There was no resistance.
"Shall we go?"
Yi Seo-ryeong ended up dangling from Yoo Seon-woo.
"Care to have a consultation about Yu-wol?"
"Uh... Ugh..."
In the end, she surrendered her body to Yoo Seon-woo and was dragged to the counseling room across from the bedroom.
- Bang.
And the door closed.
In the living room... only Seol Yu-wol's breathing remained.