A Survival Guide for a Counselor in the Apocalypse Chapter 30.0

Chapter 30

 

Many factors were working against us.

First, I wasn’t fast enough to catch Lee Hoin.

Second, even if I had managed to grab him after he’d already charged in, the recoil would’ve put us in an even worse situation.

Was this because of my bad luck, too?

 

—

[You don’t have time to be analyzing all of this, you know?]

—

 

They were right. I didn’t have time to analyze this crap. The hastily swung hammer didn’t reach the mutant–instead, the end of the hammer…

“Ugh….”

It was grabbed by countless hands. And slowly, they began pulling the hammer inside themselves. Beneath the long, torn cloth, inside that long gash where all those hands protruded…

Lee Hoin was being dragged in.

“Lee Hoin! Just drop it!”

Even though I shouted that, he stubbornly held on, looking like he was going to yank the hammer back and swing it again.

Damn it, he wasn’t listening to me at all.

“You idiot…! Hey! Where are you going?!”

In the end, I grabbed my axe and ran. I couldn’t let Lee Hoin die. No… he must not die.

 

—

[TIP! You can always make new ‘companions.’]

—

 

Windows flickered repeatedly in front of my eyes.

 

—

[You now have a new ‘companion,’ Cha Hyeongseo. Wow! What a beautiful sight. A useful supporting character from the early stage exits through sacrifice, and now only the strategy of the ‘main character’ remains.]

—

 

Shut up.

 

—

[Companions of that level of value can be obtained as much as–]

—

 

Slash.

The window was torn apart by the trajectory of my axe. My swing struck exactly where I aimed.

“Argh!”

Lee Hoin’s hand. Startled by the impact, he reflexively let go of the hammer.

Since he’d been pulling against it like a tug-of-war, the recoil sent him stumbling backward. I grabbed him by the back of the neck and yanked him away.

“Hey, over here!”

Just then, Cha Hyeongseo, who had already opened the ‘Home’ door, gestured urgently. Gathering my last bit of strength, I threw Lee Hoin inside.

As the hands, having swallowed the hammer, started creeping downward again as if to crawl out…

I stumbled forward and entered the ‘Home.’

Bang!

“I’ve played the gatekeeper role three times now, me!”

With Cha Hyeongseo’s self-deprecating remark, the ‘Home’ door shut.

“Haah… ugh.”

“Haa…….”

“Huh.”

Lee Hoin was slammed against the wall, I was sprawled on the floor, and Cha Hyeongseo let out a sigh as he looked at us like we were idiots. In that mixed-up atmosphere, I slowly got up.

I still had to configure the ‘Home.’

 

— 

[You have arrived at ‘Rabbit Class Home #6.’]

[The capacity of ‘Rabbit Class Home #6’ has been set to 3.]

[09:59:59]

—

 

The timer began ticking down. Only then did I sit down on the floor and let out a deep sigh.

“…Lee Hoin.”

Even when I called him slowly, he didn’t react… just stared at the floor.

No complaints like ‘why did you hit me?’ or ‘why did you stop me?’

He simply kept his head down, as if he already knew he was in the wrong.

There was only one thing I was curious about.

To Lee Hoin, was I really someone worth risking his life to save?

‘We haven’t even known each other that long.’

I had held a ‘counseling session’ with him once, but I couldn’t really call it proper counseling. We hadn’t shared anything, and we never brought it up again afterward.

Our traumas weren’t related at all. I didn’t even know exactly what his trauma was, but it was probably tied to his family.

Most likely, his family hadn’t been at his graduation. If they had been, he wouldn’t have left the auditorium so easily.

‘Conversation.’

We desperately needed to talk. I had no idea what he was thinking.

Why did he go berserk whenever it seemed like I might get hurt? Why did he become so unstable?

‘…But.’

Was now really the time to talk? Forcing someone to speak when they don’t want to is also a kind of violence. Especially in a situation this unstable…

 

—

[TIP! Do what you can.]

—

 

Did that mean only do what I ‘can’ do?

Or just do ‘something’?

Damn it, what an ambiguous statement.

 

—

[You are an amateur. To raise your rank, sacrifices like that are necessary. The accumulated data of ‘failures’ will eventually transform into success.]

—

 

A sigh-like laugh slipped out.

It sounded as if they were certain I wouldn’t be able to properly finish counseling with Lee Hoin.

The problem was… I couldn’t completely deny it.

‘…Even so.’

There’s a big difference between trying and not trying.

If I just put it off, saying we’ll talk later… when would that ‘later’ even come? After I die? After he dies?

It had to be resolved before things got worse.

“Lee Hoin.”

This time, his gaze met mine.

“Tell me you want counseling.”

“…What?”

“I said, tell me you want counseling.”

He stayed silent for a moment, then obediently did as I said. That blind compliance felt strange.

 

—

[A client has appeared.]

[‘Shabby Counseling Center’ skill activated.]

—

 

We were sitting on the floor in a familiar space we had visited once before.

Forget chairs and all that nonsense…

“Lee Hoin, let’s talk.”

I walked over and sat down in front of him.

“……”

When I said let’s talk, he just shut his mouth and turned his head away. What kind of etiquette was that?

“Lee Hoin.”

After a moment, I called him again, and only then did he speak slowly.

“…It was a mistake.”

“What is this, a hearing? Do you think I brought you here to argue about right and wrong?”

“I was in a hurry, so I swung too fast. If I’d been just one step further forward…”

“That’s not what I want to talk about. I want to know why you push yourself so hard.”

Silence fell.

It must’ve felt awkward, saying this kind of stuff between two guys.

I get it. But we didn’t have the luxury of time. I needed to know what he was thinking to plan what came next. Everything here could become a variable.

After a long silence, Lee Hoin suddenly smirked.

“What about you?”

“…What?”

“Do you talk? You don’t tell me anything either.”

That’s because I’m the counselor. In counseling, the counselor’s…

 

—

[Counseling bound by rules… how boring!]

[According to the rules, even this kind of relationship would be forbidden for counseling, you know?]

[In any case, satisfaction is decreasing. At this rate, the client will leave before the session even ends.]

[100 > 90]

—

 

I watched the satisfaction drop… 100 to 90, 90 to 80, 80 to 70, then turned back to him.

“You don’t talk to me. You just give one-sided instructions.”

“……”

That was… a surprisingly fair point.

“I don’t trust you.”

…Don’t trust me?

“But you’re always right.”

“……”

“Yeah. An answer sheet. You’re like my answer sheet.”

“……”

“Your explanations are sloppy, but the answers are always correct.”

I had nothing to say.

Suspicion and trust, caution and belief, those conflicting emotions swirled in his eyes.

As if a dam had burst, they kept overflowing.

It would’ve been easy to lie. I could’ve said I had some kind of foresight skill. Or brushed it off as a coincidence, luck, or clever thinking.

“And I’ve never seen you at school. But you wear our uniform and say you went there. There’s no one in the entire school I don’t know.”

I stared at Lee Hoin, confidently declaring himself an insider.

 

—

[Lying your way out would work just fine. The client doesn’t know anything… he doesn’t have a ‘Discernment’ skill.]

—

 

…It’s not always right to reveal everything. White lies can act as a mental defense mechanism.

“…I’ve never really liked socializing, so it makes sense you wouldn’t have seen me.”

But sometimes, you just get a feeling. And right now, that feeling was screaming that dodging the truth wouldn’t help.

If we were going to keep working together, a relationship built on lies wouldn’t help anything.

“I guess the fact that we weren’t in the same class for three years mattered.”

“But still–”

“I didn’t go to the cafeteria. Skipped lunch and dinner. Barely attended night study. I spent most of my time in the counseling room. And I was in the library club for all three years. Basically, I lived tucked away somewhere out of sight.”

So I told him my story. My ‘real’ story.

“And I’m not smart. I just rely on ‘skills.’ That’s why I never stood out at school.”

“…‘Skills’?”

His brows furrowed.

“Yeah. Skills. I–”

My breath caught.

It felt like someone was strangling my throat, swallowing my voice before I could speak. It wasn’t Lee Hoin.

…There was only one entity capable of exerting that kind of force.

 

—

[Haah.]

—

 

A dark red, viscous substance dripped beneath the window.

It wasn’t quite blood… too thick. Not paint either, too thin.

The once-white window was being stained red.

 

—

[Possession is such an irritating trait.]

—

 

The color deepened into something heavy and murky.

 

—

[Ignorant fools, unaware of what is forbidden, yet benefiting from it.]

—

 

…I had seen this before.

 

—

[They always present the worst method, turning every story into something bland and meaningless.]

—

 

When the ‘Narrator’ had once created eyes, this was the color I saw in them.

But now, no eyes appeared. Nothing appeared. Only that substance dripping endlessly.

It pooled beneath the window.

And the window stared straight at me, like a warning.

 

—

[I thought you had some sense.]

[To be betrayed like this… how unfortunate.]

—

 

At that moment, a line flashed through my mind.

 

—

[Ah, you are my most beloved irregular. Sa Jaeheon, god-slayer, slayer of heavens. Even knowing the future that is the past, you never once revealed it.]

[That is why I know… You will not provoke the kind of fury that other irregulars have. I’ve learned that over thousands of years. Your story of countless deaths… how could I not admire you?]

—

 

The Narrator’s words praising Sa Jaeheon.

I scoffed at it.

“What are you so afraid of?”