The Reincarnated Fox and the Counselor Fox
"Welcome back, Miss Reincarnated."
The fox who had finally called me out late in the evening smiled with satisfaction as she watched me enter the counseling room.
Seeing that smile—which clearly said she knew I would come obediently—twisted my insides more than a little.
I sat down in the chair and grumbled loudly, as if daring her to hear it.
"I wonder if it's okay to bother such a precious reincarnated person like this."
"Because that 'precious reincarnated person' is struggling so much from drowning their sorrows in alcohol that the only person they can open up to… is me."
"Even though you don't believe me anyway."
"But isn't there meaning in simply listening to stories you can't tell anyone else?"
Even in the face of my whining, the fox calmly swept back her orange hair, then delicately flipped through the chart with her pure white fingers.
While the soft rustling of paper echoed gently through the counseling room,
I quietly stared at her long, slender fingers.
Then, suddenly startled by her voice, I straightened my back.
"Your name is Woo Yeo-eun. Age twenty-five. And your gender is male… or so you think of yourself, while being a female fox beastman. Correct?"
"…Do we really have to do this confirmation every single time before counseling?"
"Think of it as a simple ritual. Doesn't it help you feel that the session has officially begun?"
"……"
"You just thought, 'She's not going to let a single word slide,' didn't you?"
The fox narrowed her eyes at me.
"Did you read that with your amazing psychology skills too?"
"I didn't need any grand technique for that. Your fox ears just perked right up."
I hurriedly grabbed my fox ears and hid them from that sly doctor's gaze.
In front of her, as she set the chart down with a soft chuckle, sat a nameplate that proudly read:
Dr. Jung Si-young
Psychiatrist
Listener of the Heart
Listener of the heart, my ass. All she does is torment me during every session.
If I had my way, I'd flood the hospital's online page with malicious comments, but if I did that, they'd immediately know it was me, so I couldn't.
Jung Si-young stood up, brewed a cup of knotweed tea, handed it to me, and sat back down.
I stared quietly at the teacup that had been placed in front of me with a soft clink, then carefully picked it up with both hands and took a sip.
As the warm, savory liquid slid down my throat, I felt my boiling nerves settle just a little.
Jung Si-young's red eyes gazed directly at me.
"Do you dislike being called a reincarnated person, Yeo-eun? Your lips were all pouty just now."
"…It sounds like you're mocking me when you call me that without even believing it. I don't even know if it's reincarnation or possession, yet you throw the word around so casually."
"So what you're saying is… it feels like a careless title from someone who doesn't understand it well and doesn't believe it either?"
I nodded like a sulky kindergartener in front of their teacher.
Jung Si-young smiled readily and nodded, then clasped her hands and rested her chin on them.
"It's true that just from the information you've given me, it's impossible to know for sure. Whether you 'possessed' the body of the existing 'Woo Yeo-eun,' or whether you naturally became the current 'Woo Yeo-eun' during the process of 'reincarnation.' But you know…"
"………?"
"I'm not calling you that to tease you. I'm calling you that because I want you to think of yourself as a reincarnated person."
"…Why?"
At my question, Jung Si-young shrugged.
"Whether it's possession or reincarnation, we'll never know the real answer anyway. So wouldn't it be better to think of it in a positive light rather than as stealing someone else's body? Especially since you don't have much mental room to spare right now."
It was true. If I started worrying about the original owner of this body—whether they existed or not—on top of everything else, it felt like my brain would overload.
Had she been thinking that far ahead and showing consideration for me without me even realizing?
For the first time, Jung Si-young looked a little different to me.
Just a little.
"So let's not go out of our way to buy more worries. Okay?"
"…Alright."
At Jung Si-young's crisp conclusion, I nodded.
"Then let's move on to the actual counseling."
Jung Si-young took out the round glasses that had been sitting beside her and put them on.
They weren't prescription lenses, but it seemed they were part of the 'ritual' she kept mentioning.
"How was your day today? Are you still having trouble adjusting to a woman's body?"
"…I've gotten somewhat used to it. I've even picked up a few habits on how to act like a woman."
"And you don't get excited looking at your own body when you shower anymore? Ahaha, just kidding, just kidding. Seeing you like this, you really do look like a woman now."
When I glared at her with puffed cheeks, Jung Si-young burst out laughing.
"When you first came in here all timid and hesitant, you were the very picture of a man trapped in a woman's body."
"That's because I actually am one."
"Yes, yes, I know. And—how are you adjusting to this world?"
"Well… I think I'm managing. Aside from everyone having animal ears on their heads and all the varied hair and eye colors, it's not that different from where I was before."
If I had to classify the genre, it'd be modern fantasy.
It was a relief I hadn't been dropped into some medieval fantasy world.
My modern mind would have suffered quite a bit if I had.
"For someone adjusting so well, you still drank a ton today."
"…Ahem. Ahem."
Jung Si-young sighed and looked at me as if I were hopeless.
"I've already told you that relying on alcohol for your heart won't help at all. Why do you keep doing this?"
"But… it's my only friend here."
"Alcohol isn't your friend. It's poison wearing a friend's mask."
"Unfortunately, I'm in a position where even that mask looks tempting."
"You really aren't going to let a single word slide. It'd be so simple if you'd just quit drinking like I told you."
"I can hear your muttering, you know."
"Good. I said it so you'd hear."
Jung Si-young scribbled something on the chart, set her pen down, and moved on to the next question.
"Aside from drinking nonstop, is there anything else you'd like to tell me? Even small things are fine."
"…There is one thing. A dirty little brat tried to pickpocket me, so I bought her a meal and found her a place to stay."
Thinking I'd landed a blow on Jung Si-young, who would surely see me as pathetic, I looked at her with a hint of pride—
only to find her wearing a serious expression.
"What? Do I look like I'm lying?"
"No, I don't think you're lying. That's why my chest feels even tighter."
"Then why does doing a good deed make your chest feel tight?"
"…Woo Yeo-eun, you didn't just help that girl out of pure kindness, did you?"
I frowned, wondering what kind of question that was.
"What could I possibly want from her? I just helped because it felt right."
"You didn't deny that she's a girl, so she must have been one. Yeo-eun, you saw your own little sister—the one you couldn't protect—in that girl. That's why you couldn't just walk past her and ended up helping. Am I right?"
I couldn't speak for a long moment. Finally, I barely managed to open my mouth and ask,
"………Is that a bad thing? Helping because she reminded me of my sister?"
"The action itself isn't bad. Ordinary people tend to make a fuss about how any good deed with an ulterior motive is hypocritical, but not all good deeds have to be saintly. However…"
Jung Si-young shook her head calmly.
"It's not good because I can see your 'deficiency' growing bigger and bigger. Your heart instinctively made you save a complete stranger because it knew you couldn't let that deficiency grow any larger. It's a kind of vicarious satisfaction. Self-comfort."
I wanted to immediately deny it, but my mouth wouldn't move.
"The story about how you made a wish on a shooting star and crashed into it, ending up in our world of beastmen—honestly, it's hard for me to believe. But even so, I do believe that the pain you're experiencing is real."
"…What pain am I experiencing, then?"
"The frustration and loneliness of being trapped in an unfamiliar body after reincarnating into another world instead of finding your little sister. The sadness, guilt, and sense of responsibility for being unable to even search for your missing sister."
Jung Si-young's slender fingers settled lightly on the back of my hand, like a butterfly descending to find a flower.
"If you don't resolve the pain in your heart… you will definitely break, Yeo-eun. I want to help you before that happens."
"Why are you trying so hard to help me like this?"
I asked while looking into Jung Si-young's eyes, which were tickling the back of my hand.
"You could just leave me alone. I'm just a crazy woman who claims to be from another world, drinks all day, and snaps at everyone."
"Putting aside boring things like professional ethics… you came to me. You sought me out, Yeo-eun."
Jung Si-young smiled and gently squeezed my hand.
"At a time when you were even doubting whether you'd gone insane, you came to me looking for someone to rely on…. So I can't just leave you be. Just like how you couldn't ignore that pitiful child today and ended up helping her."
I couldn't say anything.
Something inside my chest surged up, only to feel like it was tightly blocked.
"That said, I do understand why you've become a bit prickly since I can't believe your words. To be honest, your reactions are so entertaining that I tease you on purpose sometimes."
"……Excuse me."
Jung Si-young let out a bright peal of laughter.
When I laughed along with her, I felt the tightness in my chest loosen just a little.
"Alright. Let's move on to more practical matters."
With a crisp clap, our conversation shifted to the next topic.
"Yeo-eun. You're just spending all the money you have, aren't you?"
"Why are we suddenly talking about money?"
"Just answer honestly."
"…I'm only spending it."
"What do you plan to do once that money runs out?"
I hadn't really thought about it.
Even though I was adapting to this body and this world, everything still felt unreal to me.
As if she understood how I felt, Jung Si-young nodded.
"I understand the confusion. When your very sense of self and your world are being shaken to the core, practical problems probably don't even register. But society is society. It won't kindly wait for you."
"That's… true."
"However, as I said earlier, what you need most is to resolve the emotional deficiency caused by your sister's absence."
"…Are you telling me to do both at the same time?"
When I asked back, not understanding what she was getting at, Jung Si-young's eyes sparkled as she winked.
"Exactly. And I've prepared a way to solve both of those problems for you at once."
Jung Si-young's hand, which had been continuously kneading mine for a while, finally pulled away. She took a file from the drawer and held it out to me.
On the front, it read: Lily Girls' Academy Faculty Recommendation Letter.
"It's a teaching position at the academy. You'll be taking care of girls who have just become adults, which will help heal your deficiency, and you'll also earn a steady income. You might not like it, but I went through a lot of trouble to get this for my patient. So—Yeo-eun?"
Jung Si-young was saying something, but I could only stare blankly at the file, completely stunned.
It wasn't because I was moved by the gift this annoying doctor had secretly prepared for me.
It was because of the logo drawn on the cover of the file.
'A shooting star…'
But it wasn't just any shooting star.
It was a shooting star with cat ears.
It looked far too similar to the shooting star I had seen right before coming to this world.