LFG 27

I really hate that. Park Ki-cheol smiled, raising his cheekbones. It was an unnatural smile. Come to think of it, the accent too… Yes, it had been bothering him since earlier.

“I asked why someone who looks so normal is mentally ill.”

“Le, let go…”

“Since I’m a Teacher, shall I examine you?”

Hoo.

A face forcibly met, a gaze that shot straight without shaking.

At that moment, he realized.

…Ah, this person… is fake.

No, to be precise, the outer shell was real. Only the core was fake.

I understand why it had been bothering me all along.

The combination of body and Spirituality didn’t match.

‘I don’t know who it is, but they’re looking at me through the person named Park Ki-cheol….’

He was trying to dig into my inner self while wearing someone else’s shell.

…But that’s too much.

“Danger…ous.”

“……!!”

Ki Jae-eon simply broke the spellcasting that the opponent was casting and seized the initiative. There was no spellcasting or incantation. He completely destroyed his opponent with just a blink of an eye. Twitch! Perhaps he hadn’t expected this, the opponent’s face twisted grotesquely. You… He growled in a deeply subdued voice as he tried to pull his head away, but Ki Jae-eon reached out and grabbed his cheek tightly. A black, dead gaze stuck firmly. Darkness so deep it was endless. It was a completely different spirit than the awkwardness from before.

“You mustn’t… look.”

You’ll go crazy.

“Heo-eok…!”

Park Ki-cheol’s lips trembled and rose. Ki Jae-eon calmly, but heavily, began to pressure him.

“Return to where you were.”

“Heo-eok, heo-eok, heo-eok…!”

“Return.”

“Hic- Heo-eok, heo-eok!”

“Return.”

Drip, drip… Finally, Park Ki-cheol’s nose bled. He made a sound that was hard to tell whether it was a laugh or a cry, hic… ha!, and stared obsessively at Ki Jae-eon, who was steadily stepping on him, with bloodshot eyes. He even felt a glimpse of madness, as if he couldn’t miss a single moment.

“Go!”

At that moment when Ki Jae-eon shouted like thunder, Park Ki-cheol rolled his eyes and fainted. He felt that the ‘Spirituality’ inside had disappeared.

“…Haa.”

Ki Jae-eon looked at the fallen counselor and drooped his eyebrows. What if he wakes up and we have to start over?

Ah….

Ki Jae-eon started biting his nails again.

He, who had just lightly trampled on an Exorcist, was afraid of psychological counseling.

Drip, drip!

“…Keok!”

The person who was wearing a white robe and meditating suddenly vomited blood. Then, shouts of concern poured out from around him, “Shin Yoon-nim!” Only Shin Yoon, who had vomited blood, raised his hand and gestured that he was okay. Eye Opener. Take care of the work. He wiped under his nose with his thumb and chuckled. He had been expecting it because he had been talking so much about being cursed.

“Broken… my ass, he’s in great shape.”

Shin Yoon, the owner of [Sea God], grinned with his lower jaw covered in blood.

That little bastard is interesting.

“Ugh… Heok!”

Psychological counselor Park Ki-cheol tossed and turned several times before suddenly opening his eyes wide.

“Heo-eok- Heok!”

He gasped for breath as if he had just been pulled out of the deep sea, and hurriedly raised his upper body. Heo-eok, heok? Strangely, he was drenched in cold sweat from his neck to the palms of his hands. He blinked repeatedly, feeling dazed.

‘What… what is it? I feel like I had a long nightmare?’

He tilted his head, puzzled, when he inadvertently turned his gaze to the side.

He made eye contact with a black mass.

“Uwaaaaaaah!”

Park Ki-cheol screamed loudly. Then, the black mass also trembled.

What is that!

A mon… monster?!

No…! When he looked closely, it was a person…?!

“Wh, wh, who are you?”

He stuck his body as close to the wall as possible and asked, trembling, and the black mass opened its mouth, stammering.

It was an answer that Park Ki-cheol had never expected.

“I’m, I’m a pa…patient….”

He’s a patient.

“Pa…? Ah!”

Park Ki-cheol realized why he had come here. That’s right, I came here for counseling, right? It was questionable why he had fallen asleep in the first place… but the important thing was that it wasn’t that. He had already taken up too much time. This was the first time in his life that a professional counselor had made such a mistake. Park Ki-cheol forced a kind smile, thinking that he should definitely buy a fatigue recovery drink on the way home.

“Oh my, look at my mind. Why did I fall asleep? Was I tired?”

Ki Jae-eon subtly avoided his gaze at his bewildered words.

“……”

“Hmm? I don’t know. Anyway, I’ll do it quickly. I’m sorry for making you wait.”

Park Ki-cheol hurriedly opened his bag and said.

Well, shall we start the counseling?

Sliding.

Kim Yeong, who had been sitting anxiously, ran out barefoot to greet Park Ki-cheol as soon as he heard the sound of the door.

“Teacher!”

“Oh my, yes. You’ve been waiting a long time, haven’t you?”

“Is Jae-eon… is Jae-eon very bad? It seems to have taken longer than expected.”

Park Ki-cheol, seeing Kim Yeong’s worried expression, sweated coldly with a fox-like face. It was difficult to say, ‘No. I fell asleep and was late,’ so he trailed off, “Yes, well….”

But that didn’t mean everything was a lie.

Ki Jae-eon, whom he had just counseled, was in a really dangerous state.

“Sit down. Yes, let’s sit down and talk.”

“Ah, yes, yes… this way.”

Park Ki-cheol followed Kim Yeong and lowered his butt onto a soft chair. Then, he received the warm tea that was handed to him and bowed lightly, saying, “Oh my, you shouldn’t have.” He sipped. Park Ki-cheol, who had moistened his lips with warm barley tea, soon slowly opened his mouth.

“I’ve conducted several tests.”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

Kim Yeong fidgeted, trying to calm his trembling heart.

But he lost even the remaining composure at the next words that came out.

“It’s a relief.”

“Yes?”

“It’s a relief that he’s alive. It’s gone to that level.”

Park Ki-cheol was looking at Kim Yeong with a face that had already wiped away his smile.

“Why didn’t you come earlier? That friend needs to be hospitalized right now. This is serious.”

“That’s…”

“The result itself is a very unique case. It’s almost like multiple personalities, really.”

Park Ki-cheol frowned, taking out the results.

He pointed at each one with his finger and continued to explain.

“The person is very contradictory. As you can see here… he has a very strong sense of responsibility? But he also has the same tendency to avoid. You see the graph. This friend is a bit like that. He’s very altruistic towards others, but that also tends to be done reluctantly. So everything is the opposite, everything. Even his lifestyle shows it. Have you been to this friend’s room? He has very few things, and it’s a complete mess. But the things aren’t just randomly there. There’s a certain order to it. That’s how it is. This person, Ki Jae-eon.”

“Is that bad?”

“Bad…? Well, Ki Jae-eon wants to give up everything right now. That’s his true feeling. But he can’t allow himself to do that. Why? Because he thinks he’s the only answer to every problem. In a way, you can see it as arrogance. Also- um, another funny thing is… usually, people with this kind of tendency have narcissism or show a very controlling tendency towards others? There’s really no one who isn’t like that. The number is much higher than others. Or they have a strong individualistic tendency? Sseu- But that friend doesn’t have it.”

Park Ki-cheol scratched his nose, making wrinkles on his forehead.

“The real problem is.”

“……Yes, yes.”

“All the personalities I just mentioned? What tendency? They’re all conflicting with each other. That’s the problem. That’s why he gets mental illness. Otherwise, there’s nothing to be a problem.”

“What exactly do you mean…”

Kim Yeong asked anxiously.

“It means that Jae-eon Student is the perpetrator to himself.”

Kim Yeong made a blank expression at the shocking statement.

“Yes? A perpetrator?”

“It’s easier to think of it as he’s constantly gaslighting himself. But the problem is that there’s also a self that thinks, ‘Huh? I don’t think this is right. I don’t want to do this.’ If he keeps going like this, it’s going to be very difficult mentally.”

“……”

“It’s just all stress. From external stimuli to ego conflicts… Whew, looking at his nails, um-. Yes, you know what self-harm is, right? It’s already coming out! Of course, well. Because there’s nothing to relieve his anxiety. He’s just, what? Releasing it on his body. Why? Because he finds stability there. That’s dangerous. Right now, it’s just biting his nails, but what if it goes further? What will happen?”

It was a scary thing to say.

“The immediate way to save that friend is to separate him from the main cause of stress.”

“Separate… He is separated. He won’t be going back to his main office for the time being.”

“No.”

Park Ki-cheol cut off Kim Yeong’s words sharply.

“I’m not talking about location. It’s not about others, it’s about himself, himself! Student Jae-eon, I’m saying he just needs to rest now. Exorcism or whatever. He shouldn’t do anything.”

[Burden => Pressure => Stress => Vicious Cycle (Severe Depression)]

Park Ki-cheol even wrote it down to explain kindly.

“I don’t know exactly what problems he’s thinking about, but he needs to realize that the problem can exist without him. We need to lighten the load.”

In other words, do we need to drill into his head the concept of ‘the company runs fine even without you’?

Park Ki-cheol mentioned ‘mental freedom’ and recommended simple medication.

“That’s how that friend will live.”

“Yes, of course. We have to……”

Kim Yeong answered gloomily, slowly chewing over everything he had heard so far. And he could sum up Ki Jae-eon in just one line.