Chapter 12: Luna

The evening of a lazy weekend.

“Hngh… Hah…”

Jin Se-ah was buried in a plush sofa in her penthouse living room, where a massive pane of glass offered a sweeping view of the Seoul nightscape.

She had just finished a strenuous workout.

Along with a pleasant muscle ache, a cool sensation enveloped her as the sweat beading on the fine hairs of her skin began to dry.

It was then.

From the empty air, she felt a familiar… yet slightly different gaze.

She instantly knew who it belonged to.

—Bzzzzzzzt!

“Ah… you startled me.”

A translucent system window materialized in the air before her.

Unintelligible letters and symbols flickered with static.

[Jin ■■] [■I■NED?]

[Current ■tate: Com■■t ■■■■■?…?…]

[Ma■n ■tan■e: ■■■ ■■■ ■■■]

[???!?!!?!????]

“Whew…”

She was glad she’d kept her constant defenses up.

The system flickered desperately, trying to project her true inner state.

Jin Se-ah gently reached toward the system window floating in the air.

Sensing her touch, the system resisted, bursting with frantic light.

Unfortunately for it, its opponent was not someone who could be stopped by mere resistance.

Jin Se-ah felt a flicker of surprise.

“Did Seon-woo’s ability awaken?”

She looked at the system, now bound and struggling above her head, and a mischievous smile graced her lips.

I can’t let him see this.

Shall we try something a little different this time?

She lightly clenched her fist in the air.

At that moment, the system window began to crumple like a piece of paper.

—Crumple… crunch…

An arc of potent magic bloomed from Jin Se-ah’s white fingertips, forcibly disassembling the system and reassembling its data.

She plucked out the broken characters one by one, arranged them neatly, and engraved pure, harmless sentences in their place.

[Jin Se-ah] [PINNED]

[Current State: Resting! Psychologically at perfect peace, extremely safe, and absolutely harmless!]

[Main Stance: Doesn’t want the weekend to end!]

The perfect, fabricated information she had created.

The moment it appeared on the screen, the system began to scream.

[!! Warning: This system strongly condemns all acts of information manipulation !!]

[!! Warning: This system strongly requests that you cease all harmful actions !!]

The entire system window turned bright red, desperately spewing out warning messages.

Jin Se-ah shook her head at the warning with a childish pout.

“Nuh-uh… I don’t want to.”

She cupped her cheeks with both hands.

In stark contrast to her recent actions, her face flushed as red as an apple.

“It’s too embarrassing…”

Just the thought of him almost seeing her true feelings made her heart flutter and pound.

Then, the familiar sensation vanished. He had stopped using his ability.

She rose from the sofa and approached the massive glass window.

The glittering nightscape of Seoul stretched out into the distance.

Her golden eyes were fixed on a single spot.

A black officetel building that stood out with unusual clarity.

“……”

That was the home Jin Se-ah had recommended to Yoo Seon-woo.

‘The security is tight and it’s close to the counseling center, so it’s perfect,’ she had said.

Of course, this was the real reason.

Just then, a light in one of the windows flickered off.

His day had ended, which meant hers could as well.

“Sleep well,” Jin Se-ah whispered softly, gazing at the building.

Then, she too turned off the lights in her room.

*

Early Monday morning.

The time when the city was just beginning to wake.

The dawn air drifted into the counseling center through an open window.

I picked up a sheet of A4 paper from the printer.

It was still warm.

[The counseling center will be open from the afternoon today. We apologize for any inconvenience.]

I taped it neatly to the glass door.

There would be no counseling sessions this morning.

I had decided to head straight to the Union Guild first thing.

My first house call.

This was the official start of my work as a visiting counselor.

The Union Guild.

True to its name as a union of Outsiders, it was a cradle for those who had come from all sorts of regulated worlds.

Warriors from Murim who belonged to neither the Azure Sky Alliance nor the Demonic Cult, knights from the Empire, and even beast-humans.

I would have to deal with people who each possessed a different set of common sense.

Given the guild’s demographics, the largest proportion was likely from the Empire.

I quietly closed my eyes and activated my ability.

[Luna] [PINNED]

[Current State: Getting ready for work, but at least there are no missions today….]

[Main Stance: I hate work. Hate it. Hate it!!!]

On the outside, she had the appearance of a diligent professional who had woken up on time, but on the inside, she was no different from a child facing a Monday morning.

The reason she had no missions today was likely because of the counseling session.

I gathered my things and stood up.

*

To Luna, the guild lounge on a Monday morning was nothing but a space filled with loud noise and irritation.

The expensive coffee beans provided for the hunters were just bitter water.

The supposedly ergonomic sofa poked uncomfortably at her back.

The Union Guild’s representative Outsider hunter and the face of the guild.

Luna.

She pressed her temples against a chronic headache and glared at the guild official sitting across from her, Choi Su-ho.

“What… counseling?”

“Mental counseling.”

At Choi Su-ho’s dry reply, Luna’s brow furrowed even deeper.

“I don’t want to.”

“I don’t want you to either… but they say it’s a direct order from the Guild Master.”

Choi Su-ho rubbed his face tiredly.

She had been relieved that there were no missions scheduled for today, for once.

But what on earth was this about counseling?

No wonder it seemed they had gathered only the guild’s problem children in the lounge.

The Union Guild had made a clear decision.

To single out those like Luna who cleverly avoided counseling, they had deliberately chosen to notify them on the morning of.

Moreover.

“He’s a Hunter-specialized counselor. They said he’s coming to our guild first.”

The moment she heard that, Luna’s red eyes trembled as if an earthquake had struck.

A Hunter-specialized counselor.

That person?

She knew. A week ago, she had already gone to see him.

The day before that visit had been particularly awful.

So Luna had taken a day off and sought out his counseling center, which she had only heard about through rumors.

She had planned to listen in once, and if it seemed good… maybe she would try a session herself.

And so, she sat in the deepest corner and activated her cloaking.

Her exceptional hearing absorbed every sound in the counseling room.

The other hunters’ worries, and the counselor’s responses.

His methods were remarkably effective. A small seed of hope that he might actually be able to help began to sprout.

So, she was about to leave quietly. But in that very moment.

[Cloaking will be forcibly dispelled!]

What?

The veil of concealment that had wrapped around her was forcibly torn away.

And a man in a doctor’s gown was staring right at her.

“Excuse me… are you a patient?”

She had been caught.

By an ordinary counselor from whom she couldn’t even feel a hint of magical power.

In the end, she fled without so much as a scream.

It was just too humiliating.

And so, she had given up on counseling.

And yet.

That man was coming here, in person.

“Aaaaaaaargh…”

Luna covered her eyes with both hands and leaned back.

Choi Su-ho, sitting across from her, tried to calm her down.

“Calm down. I’m sure he’s a good counselor.”

I know. I know that.

She had no choice but to acknowledge his skill.

He had calmed a hunter’s trauma with just a few words and offered a brilliant solution that deserved a round of applause.

But. Even though she knew.

“Ah…”

Knowing all that made her want to go even less.

Because the situation she was in… was not something that could be resolved in the first place.

Therefore, rather than the hope of a solution, the shame of facing the man who had forcibly dispelled her cloaking was far greater.

For magic from her homeland, the ‘Empire,’ to be forcibly dispelled… it meant that.

“Luna-nim!”

Just then, someone entered the lounge.

It was a guild manager.

“Shall we go?”

Realizing all her escape routes were blocked, Luna finally rose from her seat.

She… was practically dragged to the counseling room.

*

The counseling room the Union Guild had prepared for me was quite pleasant.

In contrast, the Union Guild’s HR Team Leader sitting across from me had dark circles that reached his chin.

Maybe he’s the one who needs counseling.

“Why… why are there so many?”

I couldn’t help but be surprised as I received the list from Union.

The screen was packed with the profiles of over twenty hunters.

Since this was my first house call, I had clearly agreed with the Association to focus on quality over quantity.

We were supposed to select only those the guild absolutely wanted…

But Union had proposed far more people than I expected.

—Thud!

“Please, Counselor-nim…”

The manager bowed his head on the table in front of me.

It seemed he had his own circumstances to deal with.

Managing hunters didn’t look easy.

I said nothing more and simply nodded.

It looked like the center wouldn’t be opening this afternoon either.

I scrolled down the list of hunters.

I found one.

“Shall we start with this person?”

When he saw the name I pointed to, the manager’s expression brightened.

[Luna]

“Yes. I’ll bring her right away…”

With a radiant face, the team leader rushed out of the counseling room.

From his retreating back, I could guess just how difficult a person named Luna was to handle in this guild.

Some time passed.

—Creeeak…

Finally, the door opened very slowly.

Through the crack, a woman appeared.

A beauty with white hair.

Luna stopped right at the doorway.

Unable to approach, unable to leave.

As if blocked by an invisible wall.

Even as I received the full force of her wariness, I didn’t let the gentle smile leave my face.

Last week, she had been flustered when her cloaking was stripped away, and she had fled the moment she saw me.

In that case, the attitude I should take now was simple.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you for the first time.”

Her memory. I decided to be the one to erase it all.

I’ll act as if the past never happened.

You and I have met for the first time today, and I know nothing of your embarrassing past.

I intended to give our dynamic a fresh start, to erase Luna’s psychological resistance.

At that, a flicker of light appeared in her eyes.

Luna’s tightly sealed lips parted ever so slightly.

“Ah… yes… Hello…”

She nodded once, moving stiffly like a machine.

Then, still not letting down her guard, she perched precariously on the edge of her chair.

Good.

The start itself wasn’t bad.

At the very least, I had brought her to a table where conversation was possible.

Now, it was time to find out.

Her problem… what was it?

I met her red eyes and quietly used my ability.

[Luna]

[Main Stance]

[A member of the Empire, a member of the beast-humans. She stands precariously between those identities.]

[Optimal Response] [Satisfaction Compatibility 90%]

[Please help her find her identity.]

I read the sentence presented by the system and felt a question arise.

Beast-human?

What beast-human…

The woman in front of me was, to anyone’s eyes, human.

There was nothing animal-like about her at all.

It was at that moment.

[Warning: Perception Degradation (B-grade) is distorting your vision.]

The message I had seen last week appeared again.

But she wasn’t transparent right now.

Regardless of my will, my ability activated automatically.

[Status Abnormality: Resisting Perception Degradation (Camouflage). Attempting forced dispelling.]

[Camouflage (B) forced dispelling successful.]

What did it dispel?

The world looked exactly the same.

Puzzled, I let my gaze wander… and suddenly, my eyes froze.

“……”

My gaze naturally fixed itself above her head.

Noticing the strange direction of my stare, Luna looked up with a questioning expression.

Above her head.

From between her white hair, a pair of long, white things were sprouting.

Plush, alluring ears, covered in soft fur with a hint of pale pink on the inside.

In other words.

Rabbit ears.

As if she had discovered them too, both ears twitched and trembled.

Luna slowly brought her hands to the top of her head.

And the moment her fingertips touched the soft texture—one that should have been familiar, but in this moment, should not have been there—

Her eyes began to tremble uncontrollably.

“Huh? W-what?! Why is this here?”

Luna practically screamed, desperately covering her ears with both hands.

“No! You can’t look!!”

But there was no way her small palms could hide those long, large ears.

Ah.

I inwardly sensed that something had gone terribly wrong.

---

Translated By: Meher (RaidenTL)

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