Chapter 80
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 80
Chapter Title: Attempted Murder
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I pressed the microphone button to call out to them.
"Hello. Hunter Lee Jun-hyuk, Hunter Jang Na-hyun. This is Counselor Yoo Seon-woo."
My voice echoed through the room via the speaker, and the wriggling mound of blankets froze for a moment.
A short while later, a drowsy, irritated woman's voice came from beneath the blankets, muffled and slurred.
- Huh...? Oppa... get out...
Several dozen seconds after I spoke, a head poked out from between the blankets.
A flushed red face—Hunter Lee Jun-hyuk.
He waved with a gentle, affable smile.
"Oh man, Counselor, you're working hard bright and early."
That was exactly what I wanted to say.
You're the ones working hard this early in the morning.
"No, not at all."
Hunter Lee Jun-hyuk nodded and asked a question.
"What's the occasion today?"
"I'm here about treating the curse."
"Ah, got it. Thanks for your hard work."
- Creak, creak.
As he replied, the bed began wriggling up and down again, as if they'd gotten used to the conversation.
A stifled sound leaked out from under the blankets—whether it was laughter or a moan, I couldn't tell.
"So, how does the treatment work?"
He asked so innocently.
The standard treatment we'd established was straightforward.
Inject Mary's purifying mana to burn away the demonic energy lodged in the host.
This time would be much the same.
First, to check their exact conditions, I spoke up.
"Before we start the treatment, could Hunter Jang Na-hyun show her face too? Ah, nothing else—just your face is fine."
The blanket mound squirmed again at my request.
"Okay..."
A lazy reply came from inside, and Jang Na-hyun poked out her flushed face as well.
I checked Hunter Lee Jun-hyuk's status first.
[Lee Jun-hyuk]
[Main Stance]
[I want to XX my wife and make her XXXX. I want to XX my wife right now.]
...I get it.
Next, Jang Na-hyun.
[Jang Na-hyun]
[Main Stance]
[I want my husband to XXXX me. I think about XX.]
[...Certain content has been censored in accordance with this system's ethical guidelines!]
[(⁄ ⁄>⁄ ▽ ⁄<⁄ ⁄)]
Uh, yeah.
Good job.
Both of them were in a state of extreme fidelity to their desires.
I'd heard that demon familiarization basically amplified desires, leading to unfulfilled frustration, and at the end of that, despair that stimulated a contract.
But these two were perfectly satisfying each other's desires right now, this very moment.
They were a far cry from frustration or despair.
Wouldn't this prevent the familiarization process from even taking hold?
[That is a reasonable inference!]
[In fact, demonic waves are being observed very weakly in both subjects.]
Then maybe combining their rooms to encourage that behavior was the right call.
If we'd kept them separated, their unfulfilled desires might have turned to despair and advanced the familiarization.
Hmm, yeah.
Thank goodness.
I reached my conclusion and called my partner.
"Mary."
"Yeah."
Now it was her time.
She didn't even need to do much.
Mary lightly extended her hand toward the glass wall, and a pale purple energy bloomed from her fingertips, passing through the wall.
Then, from behind the two under the blankets, it drew out two faint wisps of black smoke.
"Huh?"
But Mary soon tilted her head.
"They're already dead?"
"Really?"
"Yeah."
As she spoke, the true nature of the wisps revealed itself.
Floating limply in the air were two shriveled, withered little demon husks.
Both corpses looked utterly emaciated.
I had no idea why they were so gaunt.
"So... the curse is already gone?"
I asked blankly, and Mary shrugged with a smirk.
"Seems... like it..."
Right then, rustling sounds came from the bed as Hunter Lee Jun-hyuk sat up.
"Hey, is it... over by any chance?"
Hunter Lee Jun-hyuk asked.
"Ah, hold on a sec."
To prepare for any unknowns, I requested final confirmation from the system.
Was it really over?
[Yes, User. All parasitic reactions have completely vanished from both hunters.]
[Treatment complete!]
So it seemed.
I announced the results to the two beyond the glass wall.
"Yes, it's done. The curse has been lifted from both of you."
"Ah, I see. What a relief."
Lee Jun-hyuk let out a sigh of relief.
And the next moment, he dove back under the blankets, poking only his head out.
"So, could you leave us alone now?"
"......"
We ended up leaving the room.
Mary burst into laughter she'd been holding back and asked,
"The curse is gone, but they're still so fired up?"
"Yeah, tell me about it."
I was just as baffled.
Then Mary shared an interesting tidbit with me.
"I heard that couple of hunters... they were infamous in the guild for having a really bad relationship. There were even divorce rumors..."
She rubbed her chin, as if recalling them.
"Maybe the curse actually patched things up between them? If so... that's a good thing, right?"
From a certain perspective, yeah...
It was just such an unusual case that I didn't know how to react.
- Swish.
As I walked down the hall lost in thought, Mary softly hooked her arm through mine.
The moment I felt that warmth, I instinctively lifted my elbow a bit to make space for her arm.
It was almost reflexive.
"Ooh, you still remember?"
Mary laughed in a playful tone.
"......"
It was a black mark on my history, if anything.
Back in the days when I was clumsy at everything.
Mary had once tried to link arms with me when she was especially unstable and struggling.
At the time, with my counseling knowledge at 0%, I'd been trying to follow the system's instructions to the letter.
My mental state had relied on the system in all sorts of ways back then.
When Mary shyly slipped her arm in, I'd lift my arm to make it easy, then close it tight around hers.
[For client Mary’s psychological stability, lift your arm to facilitate linking arms, then firmly wrap and hold her arm to imprint a sense of protection!]
That's what it had told me to do.
[Hee hee.]
Seeing it snicker mischievously, that habit must still be ingrained instinctively.
I gave a wry smile and shook my head. Now wasn't the time to dwell on the past.
Mary and I headed to treat the next hunters.
A grueling marathon from morning onward.
We went room to room, pulling twenty-two souls from the demons' grasp.
Before we knew it, only two remained.
"Whew..."
Mary didn't show it, but she looked a bit worn out too.
Even for an S-rank hunter, intervening in over twenty minds to forcibly extract demons wasn't easy.
We stood before the third-to-last patient's door.
I checked the message I'd just received and muttered softly.
"The ones left are... Hunter Kang Min-ho and Hunter Choi Si-hyeok."
"Ah... Choi Si-hyeok, I really, really hate that guy."
No sooner had I spoken than Mary muttered with genuine disgust.
"You two don't get along, huh."
At my nonchalant remark, she turned to me with an incredulous look.
"Don't get along? No, it's way worse."
"I begrudge him the air he breathes."
Mary growled lowly.
But treatment was treatment.
By my guess, Choi Si-hyeok was all but fully familiarized. Whether treatment was even possible was up in the air.
We had to go in and check ourselves.
As I steeled myself and reached for the door, Mary tightly hooked her arm through mine.
"My mood just tanked hard. Link arms with me."
She whined childishly, resting her head on my shoulder.
"Got it."
Misreading her intent as preemptive tension before facing someone she hated, I gently patted the back of her interlocked hand.
We headed to the observation room for our next target, Hunter Kang Min-ho.
- Hiss.
The observation room door opened. The dark room beyond the glass wall was empty.
The moment bewilderment crossed my mind, the control room speakers blared a bloodcurdling scream.
- Hunter Kang Min-ho!!!!
My heart dropped. I whipped my head around—the surveillance camera in the corner was smashed, blue mana ropes dangled from the ceiling light, and at the end...
Kang Min-ho thrashed desperately, neck noosed, hanging limply.
"...!"
His face was already turning purple. Not too late yet. He was still breathing.
He'd just hanged himself.
Still struggling.
Quickly...!
- Crash!
But faster than me was Mary.
Without hesitation, she shattered the reinforced glass wall entirely.
The instant the glass burst, Mary was already inside.
She snapped the rope.
- Thud.
Kang Min-ho fell limply to the floor.
I rushed to his side, cleared his airway, and checked his status.
[Kang Min-ho]
[With prompt first aid, survival probability: 99.1%]
The system reassured me.
- Thud thud thud...
At the same time, footsteps of association support rushing down the hall.
They must've bolted the moment the camera broke.
As they began first aid, Mary examined the blue rope remnants dissolving on the floor.
She reached toward the dispersing mana particles.
Pale purple light bloomed from her fingertips, trapping the vanishing blue particles in a small prison of light.
Then she furrowed her brow.
"...Choi Si-hyeok..."
Mary muttered lowly.
"...For real?"
At my question, she scowled, as if she'd touched something repulsive.
"Kinda... ambiguous. The wavelength matches him. It was always muddy and filthy, but now there's something more disgusting and sticky mixed in."
Disgusting and sticky.
What Mary sensed...
I didn't know the reason.
But if she was right, Choi Si-hyeok had tried to murder Kang Min-ho.
Soon the support team loaded Kang Min-ho onto a stretcher and vanished down the hall.
I turned to Mary.
She was looking at me too.
"Shall we go?"
Mary broke the silence.
I nodded quietly in response.
Our next destination was set.