Chapter 40
* * *
“Phew···.”
After closing the door, Shin Ayoung lowered her head. Her eyes were trembling nervously.
I did it.
In the end, I really did it.
Thump, thump. Her heart pounded. Her forehead was damp.
Was this guilt over Lee Sol, or a sense of transgression over what she had done?
···Perhaps.
She had a feeling it might be both.
“Sss··· whoo···.”
Shin Ayoung gently rubbed her chest.
Calm down. This wasn't the time for that. She had gone so far as to break the rules and bring him here.
“What should we do?”
Shin Ayoung opened the locker beneath the desk at the back of the counseling room.
She looked over the boxes piled inside and placed them on the table one by one.
“Looking at this, there's quite a lot we can do.”
“Is there anything we can do with just the two of us?”
Lee Seungho rubbed his ear, then
“···If we're going to do it anyway, wouldn't it be more fun with more people?”
He began to rise slightly from his chair.
···Or tried to.
He couldn't complete the motion. Shin Ayoung grabbed his shoulder.
“···Ah.”
Shin Ayoung let out a short cry. It was an unconscious action. Her eyes trembled as though she herself were startled by what she'd done.
“···Everyone's probably busy studying.”
She tried to make that excuse.
Besides.
“It's individual counseling, after all.”
Shin Ayoung pressed down gently on his shoulder.
She wanted him to focus on the counseling for now.
···.
Lee Seungho gave no reply.
He quietly glanced around Shin Ayoung,
“Okay.”
then soon relaxed and sat back down.
“···But, are you sure this is okay?”
“What is···?”
At his question, Shin Ayoung fidgeted with her fingers. She focused her attention, wondering what he was trying to say.
“I mean, since it's counseling.”
Lee Seungho continued speaking as he sorted the board games on the desk to one side, one by one.
“If it's something serious, the teacher would be better at it, and for counseling itself, Minji-senpai or the club president would have an easier time, so.”
Lee Seungho chattered on. Shin Ayoung relaxed her shoulders at his words.
What else had she expected him to say?
It was nothing much.
“I signed up because we're the same age.”
Shin Ayoung nodded.
Right, that was it.
There could be things that were difficult to tell the club president or vice president sometimes.
There were only three same-age students attending the counseling club: Lee Seungho, Ji Nuri, and Lee Sol···.
No matter how she thought about it,
“···The other two are a little···.”
Lee Sol was busy enough with her studies,
and Ji Nuri didn't seem like the type who would be good at counseling. If anything, wouldn't she be more likely to remove the cause under the pretext of counseling?
“Hmm···.”
Lee Seungho also remained silent as though he understood what she meant.
···.
Besides.
If it was because she was worried games wouldn't be fun with only the two of them,
“There are more board games than you'd think that two people can play, you know? There are card games and block games too···.”
Shin Ayoung took out various board games.
She had looked into them beforehand, knowing this might happen.
“Ah. Here it is.”
She picked up a box standing against the wall.
“Which of these two? This one is a block game, and this one is a card game.”
Shin Ayoung chattered as she held the boxes up.
“Hmm··· I vote for the right?”
“Okay, then let's go with this one.”
Shin Ayoung placed the board game he chose on the desk, then neatly put all the remaining boxes back inside.
“···But, was there a game like this here?”
Lee Seungho looked down at it with a puzzled expression.
“This one was brought in recently.”
“···What? How do you know?”
“Because I recommended it to Minji-unnie.”
She had mentioned it when Minji was debating whether to buy a new game. It looked fun.
Clatter—
Shin Ayoung poured the pieces out of the box.
It was a game that looked like Go combined with Tetris. The player who occupied more territory when the game ended won.
The rules were easy to learn, and the blocks were colorful and pretty.
“Wanna bet?”
Shin Ayoung said it with a subtle smile.
“Bet what?”
“Ice cream.”
“Sure.”
Tap. Tap. Tap.
With neat little sounds, the blocks were placed one by one.
While playing, Lee Seungho fiddled with a block and asked,
“···But I didn't know you liked board games.”
“Huh? Why did you think that?”
“Don't you like PC bangs more?”
At Lee Seungho's words, Shin Ayoung pressed her lips tightly together.
“I do too. I like board games as well.”
···.
Lee Seungho gave no answer. He merely opened his eyes into crescent moons without a word.
“···What? Why?”
Shin Ayoung raised her voice as though she'd been caught.
No matter what, she didn't like PC bangs that much.
“···Board games versus PC bangs.”
“Huh?”
“One, two, three—?”
When he began counting quickly,
“···PC bangs.”
Shin Ayoung slowly confessed the truth.
···.
Lee Seungho nodded as though he knew it.
Tap. He set down a block.
“No, I do like board games too.”
Shin Ayoung tried to make an excuse, but it seemed he could no longer hear her.
Tap. He only put down another block.
Then he casually asked,
“Do you usually play board games?”
“Usually··· what, at home?”
“Yeah.”
“Not really. I don't have anyone to play with. I only started playing after coming to the counseling room recently.”
At first, she hadn't thought much of it.
But once she started, it had a charm of its own. It was a different kind of fun from online games.
Tap.
Shin Ayoung placed a block. This was the last one.
“Ah.”
Lee Seungho let out a short cry. The game was over.
Counting the blocks, Shin Ayoung had claimed more territory.
“What~? Why are you so bad? You're not going easy on me just because this is counseling, are you?”
Shin Ayoung narrowed her eyes and snickered.
“···Sss.”
Lee Seungho drew in a breath.
Then he remained as still as a stone,
before slowly opening his lips, which had been pressed into a straight line, as his eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
* * *
······When it came to counseling, ‘Minimi’ was definitely a useful ability.
One might even call it specialized for this.
That was true simply because he could read thoughts.
Since he could know even what the other person didn't say, it was a great help in light counseling.
But if the client was in poor condition,
the heavier the counseling topic became······
that advantage disappeared.
······Look at this.
— “--------but.”
Shin Ayoung's Minimi was producing a voice that broke off intermittently.
It had been like this the whole time.
I could hardly hear her thoughts properly.
They were quieter than before, but they hadn't disappeared completely.
“···.”
This meant Shin Ayoung was barely relieving any of her stress.
She seemed to have tried to deal with it through board games,
‘···I don't think this is going to work.’
It wasn't working.
It would probably be the same even if she went to a PC bang to play games.
It might offer slight relief, but aiming for a major change seemed impossible.
And if that method was
‘If it's PC bangs···.’
···then all the more so.
If things went wrong, it might even cause her more stress.
Like a rubber band gradually losing its elasticity the more it was stretched.
Hadn't her psychological burden reached that point?
It felt impossible to resolve this simply with a game.
“Sss.”
I rubbed my chin.
“······Should we play a different game?”
Shin Ayoung began putting away the board game we'd just been playing. Her attitude was as though she were watching my reactions.
— “----It wasn't--------fun-----.”
Minimi made a dejected face. It listlessly rummaged through the other board games.
“···.”
I'd been watching her all along.
As expected, this wasn't going to work.
Tap-tap—
I lightly tapped the desk and stood up.
“Let's go outside.”
“···Huh?”
Shin Ayoung raised a question mark.
She asked in a flustered tone,
“Were you bored? Then maybe something other than this—”
“No, it's not that···.”
I let my voice trail off slightly.
How should I put this···.
“···We came here for counseling, after all. I don't think it'll work well here, so let's go out.”
“Ah.”
Shin Ayoung opened her eyes wide.
“Yeah. That's right.”
She nodded awkwardly.
— “------right. Counseling--right.”
Minimi cleared his throat and rolled his eyes. He looked around.
It was a reaction that seemed to say he'd forgotten.
Shin Ayoung asked hesitantly,
“But is it really okay for us to do that? Just go outside and···.”
“It'll be fine if we tell the club president we're having an outdoor counseling session.”
Counseling didn't have to take place in a secluded location. It didn't have to be done sitting down, either.
Counseling was sometimes conducted outside, though not very often.
“I don't think we can concentrate here.”
Board games didn't seem likely to relieve her stress, either.
Besides.
— “---------!”
The noise coming from outside the counseling room struck my eardrums.
What I could hear outside was probably··· Lee Sol.
Inside was Shin Ayoung.
The noise coming from both sides was genuinely driving me crazy.
Let's deal with Shin Ayoung first.
“···Let's go get some air outside. Is that okay?”
I got up, pressing my forehead gently, and pushed the chair under the desk.
Getting out of here first seemed like the priority.
“···.”
At that, Shin Ayoung nodded and rose from her seat.
“Okay, let's do that.”