Chapter 25: A Right

Early Friday morning.

I was at the counseling office earlier than usual.

I had a cake to bake.

The blue light of dawn, just before sunrise, seeped through the windows of the quiet office.

Clatter.

The only sound filling the tranquil space was the gentle clinking of a bowl as I carefully moved it.

“After it’s baked…”

I checked the oven’s preheating status and glanced at the two square cake pans sitting side-by-side.

My plans had changed; I was now baking two cakes. Neither was particularly large, but they were enough to fill the oven.

One was a sweet strawberry cake, a reward for Luna’s courage.

The other… was a soft vanilla cake that hadn’t been in my plans until yesterday.

The image of Elice at the orphanage yesterday kept flashing through my mind.

I felt a strange sense of kinship with her.

Perhaps that was why.

I found myself wanting to offer her a small comfort as well.

Making one more wasn’t much trouble, after all.

I carefully slid the two pans of cake batter into the oven.

Soon, a sweet fragrance began to fill the office.

The silence was broken by the cheerful ring of the small bell on the door.

Ting-a-ling.

‘At this hour?’

It wasn’t even 6 a.m. yet.

Puzzled, I left the kitchen area and checked the entrance.

A smile, mixed with both warmth and surprise, spread across my face when I saw who was standing there.

The Heavenly Demon, Ja Hwa-yeon, dressed in jet-black martial robes, stood silently at the door, backlit by the breaking dawn.

I rose from my seat and greeted her with due respect.

“It’s been a while, Heavenly Demon. What brings you here at this hour?” I asked with a smile.

“…Hmph.”

But in response to my greeting, Ja Hwa-yeon only let out a noncommittal grunt, saying nothing more.

Unlike usual, she avoided my gaze, glancing around as she stepped inside.

Then, like a sulking child, she plopped down in a chair in front of the massive black jade table she had sent me.

Her cheeks were puffed out, just slightly… in a pout.

I wonder why our Supreme One is sulking.

Smiling to myself, I activated my ability to check her status.

[Ja Hwa-yeon]

[Main Stance]

[She is greatly disappointed and upset that you were absent when she visited unannounced the day before yesterday. She is currently sulking.]

“…”

Oh, dear.

So she came the day before yesterday.

Well, I did tell her she could come anytime.

I couldn’t help being away for a house call, but from her perspective, having taken my words to heart, it was perfectly reasonable for her to be upset.

Still, I didn’t need to see the System’s suggested responses to know how to placate the Heavenly Demon, Ja Hwa-yeon.

I immediately went to the kitchen, prepared a sweet latte with a generous amount of milk foam in the prettiest teacup I had, and brought it out.

“My apologies, Heavenly Demon. I was away on important business the day before yesterday.”

With a smile, I carefully placed the latte on the massive black jade table in front of her.

“First, some tea.”

Then, I went to my counseling desk and opened its deepest drawer.

It was time to bring out her gift—the one with such immense size and dignity.

I usually kept it put away because I worried it might intimidate my clients.

Gleam.

The massive nameplate, made of black jade, caught the office light, making the gold characters engraved on it shine brightly.

I lifted the nameplate with both hands as if it were a treasure and placed it on my desk.

“This nameplate is such a precious and undeserved gift that I always store it safely in this vault-like drawer before I leave, lest it gather even a speck of dust.”

I then put on the proudest expression I could muster.

“And when my clients arrive, I make it a point to proudly display this honor you have bestowed upon me.”

In other words, ‘I love the Heavenly Demon’s gift so much, I treat it with the utmost reverence.’

At my white lie, Ja Hwa-yeon’s tightly pressed red lips twitched.

It looked like she was desperately trying to suppress the corners of her mouth from turning up.

The chilly look in her eyes had also softened considerably.

“Hmph.”

She cleared her throat, trying to look nonchalant, and turned her head away.

Then, in a small, childlike voice, she said, “…Very well. I shall forgive you this one time.”

With that, she picked up the warm latte I had brought her.

Once she drinks that, it’s over.

I smiled inwardly. And just as I expected…

Sip.

Ja Hwa-yeon brought the latte to her red lips and took a small sip.

The pout she had been so desperately maintaining completely crumbled.

Her eyes widened.

A cute mustache of white milk foam now adorned her upper lip.

Confirming that her mood had completely lifted, I got to the point.

“By the way, is something troubling you? To come all this way at this hour, you must have important business.”

At my question, Ja Hwa-yeon’s happy expression froze into a blank stare.

She looked at me with flustered eyes, the latte cup still near her lips.

“Business? Business, you say…”

She averted her gaze and stammered, as if desperately trying to come up with a plausible reason for her visit.

I simply watched her with a gentle smile.

‘Ah, so there’s nothing.’

[Ja Hwa-yeon]

[Main Stance]

[There’s really nothing.]

It seemed that was indeed the case.

But that was fine. It’s a counselor’s basic duty to believe that a client’s visit has meaning, even if there’s no apparent reason.

It’s okay if they don’t explicitly say, ‘I came because of this problem.’

The act of repeatedly seeking out a counselor…

That alone could mean that somewhere deep inside her, there was an unresolved emotional need.

Then, as if she had genuinely thought of something worth mentioning…

“!”

Ja Hwa-yeon slapped her fist into her palm.

She took another sip, gulp, and her voice took on an excited tone.

“These days, the righteous faction bastards are acting unusually.”

Her voice shifted, becoming as cool and commanding as a monarch’s.

“Hah… Before coming to this world, the Martial Alliance Leader was at least someone you could reason with. To think she’s reverted to being that stubborn, narrow-minded old crone…”

Old crone…?

I tilted my head for a moment at the word she used.

It was a description so different from the image I had of the Martial Alliance Leader.

Here on Earth, she was more famous for something other than her martial prowess: her beautiful appearance.

A phrase I’d seen on some online gallery came to mind.

[The Azure Sky Alliance Leader’s tits will save the world]

“…”

For reasons I couldn’t quite explain, I felt it would be sacrilegious to look at Ja Hwa-yeon right now.

However, she seemed to interpret my prolonged silence differently.

“…What is it? Why do you not answer?”

A faint trace of anger began to creep into her voice.

“Physician, don’t tell me even you think that old crone is a peerless beauty and… desirable.”

Ah.

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

I hate the Hunter Gallery.

It was at that very moment.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

A massive, ear-splitting siren shook the city.

“!”

This was no simple fire alarm or drill.

It was a sound whose meaning everyone living in this world knew.

A mana disaster warning.

A signal that a high-grade gate had opened… or that a new Transfer had occurred.

And the fact that the siren sounded so close meant the disaster was happening nearby.

Trrrring!

Just then, my smartphone vibrated.

I quickly answered the call.

It was from the Hunter Association.

“This is Yoo Seon-woo.”

An urgent employee’s voice came from the other end of the line.

“Counselor. It’s a Transfer. An Outsider from the regulated world of Jungwon.”

I looked out the window.

The cityscape, just beginning to wake up, was descending into chaos.

“Initial wave measurement… S-class or higher. You need to prepare for immediate dispatch to the scene, sir.”

“Of course.”

I replied in a calm voice.

Right.

It was a job I knew I’d have to do someday.

This was one of the main reasons the profession of Hunter Mental Counselor was created in the first place.

“Understood! The Union Guild, which is currently on house call duty, will immediately dispatch standby hunters for your protection…”

When a guild was assigned for the weekly house call, that guild was responsible for the counselor in all emergencies that occurred during that week.

And the current house call guild was Union.

That meant the Union Guild would be in charge of my security.

I could trust a guild like Union.

The call ended there.

I checked the coordinates of the scene that had just been sent to my phone.

It wasn’t… too far.

I looked up to explain the sudden situation.

“Heavenly Demon.”

But I stopped short.

“Huh…?”

Ja Hwa-yeon… was already gone.

*

Early Friday morning.

Today was the last day of the house call at the Union Guild.

Luna had spent even more time than usual getting ready in her Rabbit Hole.

She was only meeting her counselor, so was there a reason to…?

She herself didn’t quite know the reason yet. She just wanted to.

From early in the morning, Luna sat on the innermost sofa of the hunter-exclusive lounge, waiting for him.

She tried to act nonchalant, her eyes fixed on the TV.

But she reacted to every little sound of the door opening.

It was then.

“Hm?”

A fox beast-human, Lily, who had just returned to the lounge after a long and tedious business trip out of town, tilted her head at the very strange scent that brushed past her nose.

It was a scent she hadn’t smelled in a very long time… the scent of the Instinct Manifestation Period.

It was sweet, like a newly blossoming flower, but at the same time, it was the raw and intense pheromone of an uninhibited female, radiating in all directions.

‘Oh my… who is it? Was there such a cute little thing in our guild?’

With a playful smile, Lily began to move like a fox, tracking the source of the scent.

And the scent, surprisingly, was coming from a single white rabbit in the farthest corner of the lounge.

“…Huh…?”

Lily’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Luna…?”

That rabbit? The one who was kind but rigid, so pure that there was no fun in teasing her?

This intoxicating scent was coming from Luna, not Elice?

It was unbelievable.

Lily’s eyes began to sparkle.

“Luna~”

With a captivating smile, she casually plopped down next to Luna.

“Lily? It’s been a while. Did you have a good trip?”

“Yeah, that was fine. By the way… Luna.”

Lily began her interrogation, gently stroking Luna’s cheek with her finger.

She stared intently into Luna’s face and asked with a sly, crescent-eyed smile.

“Did you… find yourself a man?”

“What?! N-No…!”

Luna’s face turned beet red as she frantically shook her head.

Her vehement denial only made Lily’s smile grow more confident.

“Really? Then what is it? Why does our little white rabbit smell so sweet?”

“It’s, it’s just…! Maybe it’s because I’ve been resting well lately…?”

At Luna’s clumsy excuse, Lily finally couldn’t hold it in anymore and burst into laughter.

“Is that so~? Well, you’ll get to rest well today, too. Your counseling session was canceled. But it’s not like your day off was canceled, right?”

But at those words, Luna’s expression instantly hardened.

Her cheeks, which had been flushed just a moment ago, turned cold.

“What…? What do you mean? The session… was canceled…”

This time, it was Lily’s turn to widen her eyes.

“Huh? You didn’t hear? A Transfer happened this morning. They said the counselor went straight to the scene.”

Lily added.

Thump!

The moment she heard that, Luna shot up from her seat as if on a spring.

“Then I should…!”

The guild on house call duty was responsible for the counselor’s safety.

In that case, it was only right that she, an S-class hunter, should personally stand as her counselor’s guard.

“Huh? No~ You’re off-duty today, Luna. Don’t worry. I think… Elice already went.”

But her determined words were cut short by Lily’s yawn-laced comment.

“……Elice?”

At that single name, the will that had been burning inside Luna moments ago turned to ash and scattered.

All expression slowly drained from her face.

There was… no counseling today.

She couldn’t see her counselor.

In that case, a day off was meaningless.

Her counselor had opened her eyes, freeing her from the hatred she once felt for her own kind.

He had given her the courage to face the wound she had carried her entire life.

Luna’s eyes slowly began to turn red.

But her counselor, in terms of physical power, seemed endlessly fragile compared to her.

If that was the case, if a physical crisis were to befall him…

The one who should protect him from danger, the one who should be his strength, had to be the one who had received the most help from him… her. It had to be Luna.

That was only natural.

It was a right that Luna should have.

But why?

Why…

Elice?

“…”

Luna… was consumed by anxiety.

---

Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

Please do consider subscribing to my Patreon or donate to my Ko-fi if you like this work or to get early access to chapters