Chapter 10: Pin

The next morning.

The rain that had tapped against the window all night had stopped, as if it had all been an illusion.

Through the clouds, the bright sunlight I hadn’t seen in a while poured into the counseling office.

Sipping a cup of warm coffee, I reviewed the events of last night.

‘The first session…’

All in all, it was a success.

That was my conclusion.

Ja Hwa-yeon wasn’t mentally ill in the first place. She was simply isolated, caught between fanatical subordinates and others blinded by their lust for power. A classic case of an individual being suffocated by their environment.

Therefore, what I did wasn’t anything remarkable.

I simply helped her see her situation clearly and gave her the confidence to trust the decision she had already made in her heart.

I have no doubt that she will become a great monarch.

The process might be a bit extreme, but she will, at the very least, be an excellent ruler who can lead the Demonic Cult down the right path.

That’s what I chose to believe.

It was at that very moment.

[Congratulations on successfully completing your first patient consultation!]

A blue system window suddenly appeared before my eyes.

This was a first.

I had used my Counselor ability hundreds of times, but I had never seen a message like this.

[A special ability of ‘Counselor’ will now be partially unlocked.]

[Ability: Pin has been activated!]

[By designating a target through the Counselor ability, you can monitor the target’s status in real-time, regardless of distance.]

[Currently available slots: 1]

“…Huh?”

An ability.

It referred to the unique skills that hunters gained after their awakening.

I thought I didn’t have one.

But I did.

It was the power to ‘pin’ a target I had previously counseled and monitor them remotely.

As a test, I placed a pin on Ja Hwa-yeon.

[Ja Hwa-yeon] [PINNED]

[Current Status: In a deep sleep. Psychological Stability: 90%]

[Main Stance]

[……ZZZ.]

She was sleeping well.

This… was much better than I thought.

It meant I could watch over and care for important patients even from a distance.

‘Wait.’

Along with my joy, I felt a subtle, nagging unease.

Being able to manage a patient remotely was clearly a huge advantage.

But, in a way…

‘Isn’t this basically stalking?’

I gave a wry smile and scratched my head.

Well, it’s not like I’ll be peeking in recklessly unless it’s an important situation.

The only downside was that there was only one slot. There was also a twelve-hour cooldown for switching the pin.

In any case, awakening a new ability was a stroke of good fortune.

I’d thought it would never happen to me.

I stood up and stretched luxuriously in delight.

7 AM.

The sun was brilliant, but my eyes were sunken.

It was because I’d pulled an all-nighter.

I’d been talking with Ja Hwa-yeon, and the next thing I knew, the sun was up.

Perhaps it was due to her constitution as the Heavenly Demon, but she had left looking completely refreshed.

And now, she was sleeping like a baby.

‘I shall return.’

I wasn’t sure why she said she’d come back.

Wasn’t the problem already solved?

Thank God tomorrow was the weekend. I just had to get through today, and this week would be over.

Dragging my zombie-like body, I headed for the refrigerator next to the small kitchen attached to the counseling office.

Ja Hwa-yeon had devoured an endless supply of the brownies I’d baked throughout the night.

I always had to keep sweet snacks prepared in case a patient showed up…

I opened the refrigerator door.

“Hmm…”

An empty egg carton greeted me.

Not a single egg, the most crucial ingredient, was left.

No rest for the weary, I suppose.

I craned my neck to check the clock.

It read 7:15.

The counseling office officially opened at 9 AM. The food hall in the department store basement across the street opened at 8.

If I quickly washed up and got ready now, I could make it for the opening, do my shopping, and be back to prepare before 9.

I realized there was no time to waste.

Saving the minds of hunters is all well and good… but baking without eggs was out of the question.

*

“So, rather than a guild that puts heavy pressure on performance… I think it would be better for you to go somewhere more relaxed, where you can be properly valued.”

“I see…”

“Yes. Of course, some people are motivated by that kind of competition, but for someone like you, it can become an immense source of stress. I’m not saying either way is bad. It’s just not the right fit.”

[Park Soo-hyung]

[Main Stance]

[Feeling burdened by the endless competition within the guild.]

I put the finishing touches on his file.

‘Burnout syndrome from internal competition…’

The session over, the patient bowed to me, his expression incomparably more at ease than when he had first walked in.

“Thank you… Counselor.”

“Of course. Take care.”

Click.

‘Wow…’

A dry laugh escaped me.

The moment the office door closed, I sank deep into my chair and gently pressed my throbbing temples.

Through the crack in the door, I could see the waiting room.

Talk about bad timing.

The total number of patients from Monday to Thursday was probably less than the number I saw today.

I was barely holding on, propping up my sunken eyes and spinning head with bitter coffee.

While I was in my worst condition ever, a record number of patients were pouring in.

Whirrr.

As I brewed another cup of coffee, I quietly opened the door to my office.

“Next patient, please come in.”

With those words, my sense of time began to blur.

A C-class tanker worried about transferring guilds. A B-class mage suffering from the trauma of a failed dungeon raid. Even a retired hunter still plagued by PTSD.

Dozens of patients opened the door to my small office, came in, and left.

I ceaselessly poured coffee down my throat, peered into their minds, analyzed them, and prescribed solutions.

Before I knew it, I could only watch blankly as the sunlight outside turned to dusk, and then gradually to darkness.

How much time had passed?

I finished the chart for the patient who had just left and, almost mechanically, pressed the button on the intercom.

“Next patient, please come in…”

“……”

There was no answer.

Could it be…?

“…Next patient?”

Still no response.

Was it finally over?

I rose from my seat, moving at a crawl, and staggered to open the office door.

It was empty.

The unlit waiting room was silent.

Just as I was about to close the door with a sigh of relief, it happened.

“……”

The chair in the corner, right next to the office door—a natural blind spot when the door was open.

I felt a strange sense of unease from that spot.

The space there was shimmering, like a heat haze.

Something… something was there.

I closed my eyes, then opened them again. At the same time, a system window popped up before me.

[Warning: Perception Degradation (C-class) is disturbing your vision.]

C-class? I can handle C-class.

[Status Effect: Resisting Perception Degradation. Attempting forced cancellation.]

[Forced Cloaking Deactivation Successful.]

My eyes are pretty good.

At least in my vicinity, there aren’t many beings I can’t perceive. Unless they’re S-class.

The distortion shimmered and a figure appeared.

A woman was sitting there, silent as a shadow.

Her hair was so starkly white it seemed unreal, with a single red streak dyed into it.

She had pale cheeks devoid of any color, and vacant, unfocused red eyes.

‘…An Outsider.’

She was clearly an Outsider.

Outsiders like her were obvious. They gave off the feeling of having just popped out of a fairy tale.

Realizing her concealment had been broken, she flinched in shock and patted herself down.

“Huh…? Huh?”

The cloaking was gone.

She wore an expression of disbelief.

I asked quietly, “Are you… a patient?”

“Ah… No…! I was just…!”

She let out a strangled cry, shot up from her seat, and bolted out of the office as if fleeing for her life.

She vanished at a speed that was hard to follow even with enhanced kinetic vision.

I watched her leave, my mind racing.

‘What was that about?’

In theory, that was the seat furthest inside. You’d have to arrive quite early to get it.

Unless she deliberately moved seats… Did that mean she was sitting there cloaked the whole time, debating whether to come into the office or not?

I focused my gaze. Her status window appeared before me.

The moment I read its contents, a chill ran down my spine.

“Shit…!”

I immediately kicked off the ground and sprinted down the hallway.

But she was already gone.

“Hah…”

I’d lost her.

[Luna]

[Main Stance]

[Contemplating her direction in life.]

[Optimal Response][Satisfaction Rate: 100%]

[Catch her as quickly as possible.]

“Luna… Luna.”

Her face had looked familiar… I should have recognized her immediately.

She was an Outsider.

As an Outsider, her estimated rank was, of course, S-class.

There was no way I could catch an S-class hunter sprinting at full speed.

As I stood there in frustration, a fact flashed through my mind like lightning.

‘That’s right. The pin.’

I urgently pulled up the system window in mid-air.

[PINNED: Ja Hwa-yeon]

There was no time to hesitate.

I immediately removed the pin I had fixed on Ja Hwa-yeon.

And then.

‘Luna.’

[Luna] [PINNED]

[Current Status: Moving at the speed of sound. Psychologically unstable. However, no immediate danger is detected.]

[Main Stance: Feeling extreme self-loathing and confusion over the fact that even the Counselor saw through her cloaking.]

“……”

I narrowed my eyes and read the newly updated status window.

So her pride was hurt because I saw through her cloaking?

Somehow… that felt kind of insulting.

It was only C-class in the first place. And from what I know, magic isn’t even her specialty.

“Still, this is good.”

She was psychologically unstable, but according to the pin, there didn’t seem to be any major problem, thankfully.

Besides, Luna belonged to the Union Guild.

And my first house call just so happened to be at Union.

“See you next week.”

Whether we liked it or not, we were bound to meet again.

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Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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