Chapter 85

The Fox Counseling Office, filled with warm sunlight.

Another me, standing outside the window.

He is holding my arm, rummaging inside my tattoo.

...

Huh?

Isn't he someone else?

Then I have to refuse. Have I broken the rules? No. Yes, this situation is wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! I must follow the rules because I am a New Teach—

"All done, sir."

The hand rummaging inside the tattoo on my arm withdrew.

POP.

An object popped out with it, clutched in that hand.

From inside a tattoo that should have been empty...

"This was in there."

Under the garden lights, a title in vivid red lettering came into view.

A brown folder.

<■■ Affiliated Kindergarten Teaching Manual>

"You seem to recognize it. What do you remember about it?"

Oh my God.

My mind suddenly snapped into focus, as though someone had thrown cold water over me.

'That...!!'

Then, like a dam bursting, fragments of the past few weeks flooded vividly out of my hazy memories.

When I'd put the contaminated Supervisor Park Minseong into my wrist at the kindergarten!

The space inside the tattoo kept swallowing him without any trouble... Ah, the teaching manual touched me! I'll keep this separately and never do that.

The teaching manual the supervisor had been holding had gone into my tattoo with him!

I'd suppressed the urge to keep it separately and put them both in at once. Presumably, I'd intended to report everything to Security and hand it all over after rescuing him.

But...

["Please return any supplies or items you may have brought out of the 'Hungry Hangman' Darkness."]

["Oh, I don't have any."]

I hadn't returned the teaching manual.

More precisely, whenever I tried to remember that there was something else in my tattoo, I would feel an unconscious aversion and stop.

Because doubt was against the rules!

And before long, I would no longer even remember feeling that aversion. Because a teacher mustn't feel averse to the rules... No. Let's not think too deeply about this either!

One thing was certain: I'd still tried, again and again.

Tried to let the people around me know that something was wrong with me.

["... Team Leader."]

["Yes."]

["If you ever think I've developed a strange obsession with rules, I'd appreciate it if you'd check on me..."]

["Yes."]

["... Oh. I only mentioned it because I seem to have been too obsessed with work lately."]

["I see."]

I'd brought the subject up with Section Chief Lee Jaheon several times. Though the conversations had fizzled out when I, under the teaching manual's influence, questioned it myself.

'That could have been disastrous.'

The teaching manual inside my tattoo had begun encroaching further and further on my subconscious, until I'd come to accept every bizarre detail as natural without even noticing...

'... At least I came to my senses at Segwang Technical High School!'

That had been thanks to the Nostalgia Candy I'd taken.

But the moment I woke from the dream, that was over too.

And it had reached its peak during my "last conversation" with Section Chief Lee Jaheon yesterday.

["Mr. Kim Soleum."]

["Yes?"]

["Have you recently experienced a peculiar sense of pressure or an overwhelming compulsion to follow rules?"]

["I think following the rules is only natural as a member of the company, Team Leader!"]

["I see."]

"..."

Oh my God.

'I think I'm going to throw up.'

I'd been acting like that??

I staggered and leaned against the window.

'So that's why Section Chief Lee Jaheon...'

He'd been so determined to shove me into the counseling office.

"... Ha."

Everything became clear.

It felt as though I'd taken off an ill-fitting, too-small turtleneck, or cleaned the filthy glasses I'd been wearing.

A refreshing sense of release, along with exhaustion, washed over my entire body.

And... anxiety too.

"..."

"What's going through your mind right now?"

"... I'm tired, and I feel relieved."

"Would you say it feels as though you've escaped an unpleasant compulsion?"

"... Yes."

The "counselor" who looked like me stood outside the window, gazing at me as though offering comfort.

"You've done very well. It took great willpower for you to persevere and stay here as we continued the session."

"..."

Then he quietly set the teaching manual on the garden floor, fetched a shovel from somewhere, and began digging lightly.

"It's terribly distressing to find yourself gripped by powerful impulses or ideas you never wanted."

With a few strokes of the shovel, "Kim Soleum" outside the window made a small hole in a corner of the garden.

THUD.

The teaching manual was tossed inside.

"Change isn't always bad, but if it makes your body and mind suffer, you should always have the right to reject it."

The me outside the window neatly covered it with the earth he'd dug up, then briskly dusted off his hands.

"Soleum, do you see the little plant in that pot?"

A pot?

I turned my head, and sure enough, there was a small flowerpot on the table near the sofa.

The plant bore unripe fruit as small as beans.

"Could you pick a fruit you like and bring it over?"

"..."

I gently picked one of the few fruits that had ripened even a little and offered it to "me" beyond the window.

"Very well done."

The counselor outside took my hand, fruit and all.

And then.

"...!"

The fruit in my hand ripened to a vivid red.

Plump and appetizing, as though it had absorbed an abundance of nutrients.

"Chew it thoroughly before you go."

"..."

I put the fruit in my mouth.

Intense anxiety, resentment, tangled thoughts, irrational sorrow and pain slowly melted away with the fruit...

Clients presenting with severe mental contamination are provided red fruit as medicine (presumed to be Phyllanthus urinaria of the Phyllanthaceae family).

Demonstrates outstanding efficacy in stabilizing the mind.

In every attempt to take the fruit out without eating it, it vanished the moment it passed through the door.

Whew.

With a sigh, all the emotional residue scattered like grains of sand.

I was at peace.

Just an ordinary office worker, tired in body and mind.

My usual self.

I looked up at the counselor standing by the window.

"Thank you. I feel much better thanks to you."

"I'm the one who's grateful, Mr. Kim Soleum!"

The counselor's face lit up.

Somehow, he no longer looked like someone imitating my appearance.

"Shall we talk a little more, then?"

What followed was an ordinary psychiatric counseling session.

More precisely, it felt like I'd met a very skilled counselor who put me at ease, allowing me to open up about all sorts of things.

'I'll give them this much.'

If that hopeless, profit-driven ghost-story corporation, Daydream Inc., had done one thing right, it was offering this as an employee benefit.

"I'll give you a sign so you can visit the Fox Counseling Office whenever you feel overwhelmed by negative thoughts."

I even received something on my way out.

Fox Counseling Office

It was identical to the sign that had hung on the door I'd entered through.

"Attach that sign to a door and open it, and it will connect to our counseling office."

"... Thank you."

I'd have liked to keep it, but I'd have to attach it to the door as soon as I left.

All clients using the company's employee benefit program must attach the sign received upon completing counseling to the door they used.

'The sign on the door I used will have disappeared.'

It was easier to think of it as an advance.

"Then I'll be going now."

I started to rise.

The counselor spoke, sounding reluctant to see me go.

"Actually, it would be best to schedule regular appointments and come in consistently once every week or two..."

Aaaaargh!

"I'm sorry, but I'm so busy... I don't think I can manage that."

"Of course. Everyone seems to be these days..."

The "counselor" lowered his head, looking a little dejected, then nodded.

But I couldn't let that look sway me.

'Scheduling regular sessions... dramatically increases the risk of side effects...!'

Usage Record #521 (Irregular)

The "counselor" strongly recommended regular counseling to the client.

The client refused, but the "counselor" persisted in attempting persuasion. After 1 hour and 21 minutes, the client accepted the recommendation with a sense of ease.

Subsequently went missing.

※ Level B security clearance is required to view the full record.

Fortunately, rather than pressing the suggestion, the counselor smiled and nodded, letting me go.

"Still, I'm glad you have good acquaintances, family, and friends around you, Mr. Kim Soleum."

"..."

Wait a minute.

True, even in this insane ghost-story setting, I had some decent acquaintances and a "Good Friend," but...

"Family... what do you mean?"

The counselor extended a hand and tapped his own wrist.

I looked down at mine too.

That spot was...

: Socius :

"That person."

"...?!"

♬♩♪♬~♪♪♩~

"Oh, our time is up. Take care on your way back, Mr. Kim Soleum."

I looked up.

There was no one there.

The counselor who'd been smiling by the window had vanished as though he'd never existed, leaving only sunlight pouring in from the lovely, unassuming garden...

♬♩♪♬~♪♪♩~

A light waltz melody signaling the end of the session.

In the distance, I thought I glimpsed the vermilion tail of a fox darting out of sight beneath the garden's stone wall...

"..."

I got up from the sofa and headed toward the changing-room curtain.

On the way, I found an unidentified cold drink waiting on a table covered in floral lace.

Keep your spirits up today, too!

^^

"..."

I drank it down and gratefully set it back on the table.

It was wonderfully nutty barley tea.

"Was the counseling helpful, my friend?"

"Yes."

I picked up the "Good Friend" plush doll.

... Now that my mind was clear, I had a few thoughts about this fellow too, but...

'That can wait until after work.'

First, there was someone I had to face.

CREAK.

I opened the door and stepped out.

The white lizard head in a black suit, who'd been leaning against the opposite wall, turned to look at me.

"Did you receive counseling?"

"Yes."

I couldn't say for sure, but I probably looked rather sheepish as I spoke.

"Thank you, Team Leader. Thanks to you, I'm free of the contamination."

"No."

The lizard team leader was being modest...?!

"You are still contaminated, Mr. Kim Soleum. Receive counseling periodically."

"... Yes."

Oh.

So that was what he'd meant...

"I do feel much better than before, though. Does it look that way to you too, Team Leader?"

"Yes."

He looked at me as if taking my measure, then declared,

"It is safe for you to see it now."

"See... what?"

"A message from Supervisor Park Minseong."

"...!!"

... Team Leader Lee Jaheon took a small Post-it note from his suit pocket and handed it to me.

Roe Deer, you've been through a lot.

Thanks for getting me out.

"..."

I took a brief, deep breath.

"Has he recovered?"

"The definition of recovery..."

"Can he communicate rationally?"

"With some probability."

Whew...

'Does that mean he comes and goes?'

In any case, it was good that he was recovering.

And naturally, another teammate came to mind.

"... Has Deputy Eun Haje... contacted you privately at all, Team Leader?"

"No."

"..."

We'd stopped hearing from Deputy Eun Haje as soon as she went on leave.

She occasionally read my texts or KakaoTalk messages, but never replied. She only marked them as read.

'Maybe she wants some distance from this ghost-story company.'

After everything I'd been through because of mental contamination, that seemed like a very wise approach...

Anyway, that concluded my morning's schedule.

"Should I go straight back to the office?"

"Yes."

"Thank you again, Team Leader. Really."

"Yes."

Section Chief Lee Jaheon left to attend to his own work, and I spent the time until lunch in the office, browsing the Employee Welfare Mall.

It was a luxury I could afford because I'd just extracted an A-grade solution.

'Does it feel even better now that I'm in my right mind...?'

I didn't know. This company was just plain terrifying...

TAP, TAP.

"Hello."

Hm?

I looked away from my monitor.

Someone who'd entered the office without my noticing had gently tapped my desk.

It was a young man in a gray suit.

'I don't recognize him.'

Was he from another team or department?

He looked about my age, and gave the impression of someone I'd never want to face as a rival at a job interview...

'Why come here instead of some other major company?'

For a moment, I nearly gave him a pitying look, but I managed to suppress it and sat up straight.

"Hello. What brings you here?"

"Oh, there was something I wanted to ask."

He responded with equal friendliness.

"Did your counseling go well, Soleum?"

"...!"

"I'm glad to see you seem to have recovered considerably. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ho Yuwon."

He extended his hand as if offering a handshake.

"I hear you recently received an interesting offer from Director Cheong."

"..."

Director Cheong.

He'd referred to her without any deference.

And his name.

Ho Yuwon.

...

... Director Ho!!

"As it happens, I had an offer for you too. What a curious coincidence."

Director Ho had come to the Team D Office.