Chapter 349

I took a breath.

Going to see Director Ho wasn’t difficult in practical terms.

I was part of Director Ho’s project team, and since I often worked alone, the director had given me the authority to come and go freely within his domain.

Unlike the agents who’d siphoned off Director Ho’s sleeping project team members, that “authority” was still alive for me.

In a physical form, at that.

Fox Counseling Office

"......"

I took out that warmly colored nameplate from inside my tattoo and held it up.

"...Are you going?"

"Yes."

The two agents decided to stay behind instead of accompanying me, so as not to provoke Hoyuwon.

...The persuasion process was a little oppressive, though.

[You really were a persistent one. Whew!]

As I walked the rugged path out of Agent Choi’s hideout, I remembered Brown pouring out “jokes” that were really complaints disguised as humor, and I felt a faint smile brush the corner of my mouth.

The tension eases a little.

Even so, when I think about what’s about to happen, my hands are still stiff.

"......"

A rural road in Gangwon Province.

I hung the nameplate on the front door of one of the scattered empty houses, then pulled at the old door.

Creeeak.

Sunlight poured in.

A calm, soft, meticulously prepared interior revealed itself.

The Fox Counseling Office.

A warm space in a neatly arranged waiting room, prepared to receive clients.

When I first set foot here, I’d suspected even this comfortable atmosphere was part of an urban legend’s gimmick.

Even after that, every time I came in, the cozy atmosphere made me wary first.

But not now.

That’s....

Maybe it was because I’d felt—truly felt—how sincere this being was about counseling, about clients.

Even with just a single day of May 4 that repeats forever.

"...There’s no presence. Should we go in?"

"Yes."

I stepped inside carefully.

"Hoyuwon."

There was no answer.

But I kept going further in.

Past the table set with tea and snacks, toward the inner door.

Long-Term Inpatient Room

A door with a placard that read, “Rest space for inpatient stays.”

The very place where we’d entered the Se-gwang Special City subway.

I carefully took hold of the doorknob.

In that moment.

"Noru...?"

...!

"Chief Badger."

When I turned around, a big man with a warm impression was standing there as if he’d been there all along.

A face I hadn’t seen in a very long time... Chief Park Minseong.

That familiar face stared at me with trembling eyes, then hurried over.

"You’re awake, you’re safe! Thank god...!"

Had he recovered from the contamination to some extent? Relief washed through me as I looked at Chief Park Minseong, whole-limbed and able to speak normally.

...In this moment, the 293-day gap almost didn’t feel like it had been all bad.

"This is... ah, it’s Ms. Goral. You came together?"

"Yes.... Hello, Chief."

Go Yeong Eun greeted him gently.

But in the face I caught in a glance, I saw a strange expression flicker past.

...Why?

A bad feeling pricked at me, but Go Yeong Eun quickly smoothed her expression away, leaving only a polite smile.

Instead, the welcoming light faded from Chief Park Minseong’s face, and tension settled in.

"This place... no, you two should get out first. While Director Ho isn’t here...."

"It’s fine. I have something to say to him."

"Th-that’s not a good idea either.... If you just woke up, you might not have heard the news, but... Director Ho, his condition seems to be getting stranger and stranger."

Chief Park Minseong lowered his voice.

"Almost half the people who went in for counseling went missing. And not long ago... someone high up from the company’s HR team came, got transferred to the security zone, and never came back out."

"......"

"It’s getting harder and harder to have anything like a real conversation, and now... it barely feels like he’s even a person."

"Even so, I have to talk."

Chief Park Minseong’s face seemed to harden, then melted into an oddly gentle expression.

"Why are you being so stubborn... Listen to the teacher’s wor—, no, no...!"

...!

With his face covered, Chief Park Minseong panted, then jerked his head up and spoke.

In a slightly blank tone.

"Hey, I’ll go in."

"...Pardon?"

"Into the Se-gwang Special City subway."

...?!

"Th-the project, yeah, I’m exploring too. The subway stations... I’m off duty right now? So I was here for a bit, but it sounded like someone woke up inside. Yeah? Ah, it’s coming out."

The long-term inpatient room door opened.

"...!"

Coming out of it was... a bone-dry, faded, shaggy-haired man.

A man still wearing an old security-uniform jacket.

J3.

"...Mr. J3."

"I’m going."

And Chief Park Minseong, as if fleeing, went through the door the security chief had come out of and into the long-term inpatient room, then shut it.

Thud.

......

The security chief, who’d been staring blankly after that, turned his head toward me and opened his mouth.

"Hey, want some tea...?"

"...Pardon?"

He fumbled as if trying to take out the snacks on the desk with clumsy hands, and I hurriedly stopped him.

"It’s fine. Um, I think it would be good if you had some, Mr. J3. It looks like you just finished working."

"Yeah...."

He kept glancing at me, then quietly offered a few of the snacks toward me.

So it was his way of showing he was glad....

Still, it was strange—he accepted my being awake as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

And because of that, the words slipped out of me.

"Just now, what Chief Badger said...."

"Ah."

The security chief’s slow reply came.

"Badger... um....... He keeps wanting to stay in the subway...?"

......!

"As I thought...."

I heard Go Yeong Eun murmur.

When I turned my head, our eyes met.

"To be honest, I’ve secretly looked in on Director Ho’s project team inside the subway before. And back then... everyone was trying to leave, but I saw him trying to stay behind alone."

"......"

Suddenly, I remembered what happened when I explored Brightlight Library with Chief Park Minseong.

-Um, should I just stay here?

...That anxious voice.

Now I felt like I understood why, in that subway, contaminated people were relatively more lucid.

Based on “that day, May 4,” people who’d been sane and uninfected on the surface might have regained the mental framework they had back then, influenced by the distortions happening aboveground.

And maybe it had been strengthened further by the influence of a “world without urban legends.”

What mattered was that Chief Park Minseong had become obsessed with that effect.

"Yeah.... In the subway... you don’t get tossed around by contamination.... It’s quiet, so it’s nice...."

"Even so... leaving him like that."

"Um, in the end it’s something he has to bear himself...?"

"......"

"He has to... regulate it himself and accept it...."

In that calm, almost cold analysis, a faint outline of his old self seemed to surface....

Even though this man had been contaminated long before “May 4,” and stayed that way even in the subway, the wolf squad leader I’d seen at Brightlight Library flashed in my mind.

"...So you’ve kept working on the project."

"Yeah......"

"Is your work—your condition—alright?"

The security chief rubbed at his cap.

"Right.... Me, well... it can’t really get... worse...."

"......"

Somehow, it left a bitter taste.

Still, the fact he hadn’t been under Director Cheong made me exhale in genuine relief.

I swallowed the bitterness and asked the real question.

"I heard the project team is meeting the researchers in the subway and, um... keeping them safe. Do you know who that is?"

"It’s me...."

...?!

"Y-you mean you’re the one protecting them, Mr. J3?"

"More than protecting... finding and capturing...?"

"......"

"I watched them...."

So that’s... what it turned into.

If anything, that’s a relief....

At least the security chief wouldn’t deliberately harm them or try to take revenge on the researchers.

If anything, it felt more like Gwak Jegang would have picked a fight... no, with that temperament, he probably would’ve ignored it and moved on. Would that be fine?

Either way, some of the tension drains away.

"Are they okay?"

"More or less...? But right now... I’m off shift....... Dolphin... um, that person is watching them."

So Seongha was still being deployed....

I was about to ask immediately about Daydream Inc’s potion-manufacturing device the researchers would’ve been fixing.

But the security chief stared at me hard.

"Is that why he told you to come out...?"

"...Pardon?"

"He made me come out.... Looks like he found out... that you woke up...."

Who...?

But before I could reach the answer on my own, I heard it.

Click.

"...!"

I snapped my head around on reflex.

...Back there,

the counseling-room door was opening by itself.

Next client, please come in.

"......"

Client Kim Soleum, please come in.

"Mr. Noru,"

Go Yeong Eun broke into a cold sweat and grabbed my back as if trying to stop my sudden move.

I carefully removed her hand.

"...I’ll go ‘counsel’ and come back."

"......"

"Um, Mr. J3. Ms. Goral’s safety...."

The security chief’s yellow pupils looked down at Go Yeong Eun.

"It’s fine.... I’m here...."

Slowly, I nodded.

Then carefully—without hesitating—I stepped forward.

Into the counseling room.

......

......

A warm space.

A counseling room professionally designed to produce psychological effects.

But beyond the wide window—where the “counselor” used to appear with the same face as the client—there was only pitch-black darkness.

The simple, beautiful green backyard was gone.

A black night.

"......"

I walked forward and sat on the sofa in front of the window.

Behind me, I heard someone’s footsteps approach, then both hands settled on my shoulders as they spoke.

"Mr. Soleum."

......

"You’ve woken up. Very good. Now, it’s time to tell me what you’ve seen and heard. Before that, raise your hand—"

"Hello, Teacher."

The other person stopped.

"Have you been well? For nearly three hundred days, waiting without any word must have been very painful for you."

"......"

The hands lifted from my shoulders.

"What is your intention."

"I also heard you’ve been protecting the Se-gwang Special City citizens you counseled recently. When you met them in person—clients who’d forgotten everything—you must have felt both relief and anger."

"......"

"Did the Bureau tell you to say things like that?"

"No."

I spoke slowly.

"I haven’t met anyone from the Disaster Management Bureau on my way here. Except for the people who were part of the project."

"Ah, those agents who siphoned off the sleeping project people...."

"But it was strange."

"What was?"

"This Fox Counseling Office isn’t just a place. Isn’t it you yourself?"

The other person’s presence went still.

"Under a powerful obsession with maintaining your identity as a counselor, you’re maintaining this space, aren’t you?"

"That,"

"And yet, taking something out of here would be difficult without your tacit permission. Teacher."

"...!"

"Back then, you would’ve been startled by your own impulse to let that agent slide. ...But unable to act, you sent them away in an instant, didn’t you?"

"Who can say."

"Wasn’t it confusing—where that impulse came from? Why you feel such regret for your clients, why regular counseling deepens that feeling until you want to protect that person by hiding them from the outside... Have you ever thought about it?"

"Right now."

A low, chilling voice came.

"Are you trying to counsel me in reverse?"

"Maybe."

I forced a laugh.

"I’m imitating you, Teacher."

"...What?"

"Yes. I’m imitating the you I experienced. A counselor who stayed in one area for a very long time, grew attached to the people there, and tried to protect those clients."

"What you’re describing is...."

"Do you remember? When you counseled me for the first time."

I looked at the wide window.

"I came into this counseling room contaminated by the Hungry Hangman Darkness, carrying a training manual. And you... counseled me as me, from outside the window."

And then....

"When the counseling ended, I saw a small fox run into the garden."

"......"

"Was that you as well?"

"Darkness has many facets. But I don’t understand what this conversation is supposed to mean. Are you trying to stall for time?"

"No. There’s something I want to tell you, Teacher."

-Mr. Soleum.

Why did Hoyuwon use such extreme formality—only with me?

That....

As the pieces clicked into place, a sudden swell of emotion rose in my throat, and I opened my mouth.

"Teacher... when you came to your senses outside Se-gwang Special City, weren’t you also in the form of a small fox?"

"......"

"And when you came out, didn’t it feel like you came out with someone?"

"You,"

"You came out pushing someone bigger than you, but when you came to your senses, weren’t you not alone?"

"......"

“It couldn’t have been any other way.”

Because....

“We went to different points in time.”

“.......”

“You woke up a few years ago, on the afternoon of May 4—the day the disaster began.

I woke up yesterday.”

I turned my head.

And met Hoyuwon’s eyes, his expression gone.

—I’ll push you out.... I’ll attach the small fox.

Like letting you slip out through the counseling room’s back door, just a little.

The Counseling Teacher.

The small fragment he had sent with me to see me off was right before my eyes.

“Thank you, Teacher.”

I held out my hand.

“Thanks to you... I made it out safely.”

The Fox Counseling Office counselor stared at my hand with trembling eyes.

Then, slowly, they shook it.