Chapter 20
Somehow, the sweet three-day vacation came to an end.
[Psychological Counseling Room]
I came here for counseling instead of going to work, just as Lee Mina ordered.
[Choi Yu-na senpai : I've already had mine]
The senior had already gone on the first day of her break.
Wasn't scheduling this kind of appointment after a three-day vacation the team leader's own form of consideration?
Tomorrow morning, I should at least buy coffee.
[How to Get the Most Out of Psychological Counseling]
Author : AmsulSulsulsul
Working at the Bureau, you go crazy for all sorts of reasons.
The field response team is obvious enough that I could talk until my mouth went dry just explaining it.
The information team sometimes gets hit by phenomenon-type entities while censoring things, and that can take a serious toll on their mental state too.
For example, things like naked ■■■ pics.
Of course, the other teams are no different.
As long as you work at the Bureau, there are countless reasons for your mental health to get wrecked.
So that is exactly why the counseling center exists.
The employees have to keep their mental health intact so they can be worked harder!
How wonderful the Bureau spirit is.
So some departments are likely to visit there even more often than the cafeteria, which is why you should memorize the route well.
.
.
.
[Comments]
DadIsAMartialArtist : For real, I see the counselor more often than my mirror.
SonGetOverHere : I went to see the counselor's face so often that they switched me to AI screening.
ㄴEntityFetish : Idiot lolllllllll
OrphanCrusher : I took the medicine they prescribed there, and my friend of 20 years disappeared.
ㄴPostingIsEasyRight : ?
ㄴPostingForCash : Dude, that wasn't your friend;;
As for anything medical, AmsulSulsulsul was the expert.
Thanks to that, I could prepare perfectly to look like a total loser today.
I'll give you a grateful upvote.
[Please take a number and wait.]
Waiting number 3, remaining 2.
I came right at opening after breakfast, but I still wasn't first in line.
I got here first the moment the entrance door unlocked.
There was one room labeled "Consultation Room" on the left and one on the right, with the front desk in the middle.
Besides me, there was another employee in a suit sitting in the waiting area, looking at a phone.
I sat on the sofa and waited my turn while staring at the monitor mounted above the front desk.
[Section Chief Kwak Chun-bong] - In Consultation
[Shivery Shivery] - In Consultation
The section chief who had been poking his head out from among the piles of yukhoe was being examined.
When did he get here? Was he some kind of scheduled patient?
As I was wondering whether section chiefs could come in early for consultations,
"Hwoooooooooot!"
A monstrous cry mixed with the screech of metal leaked out through the crack in the consultation room door.
Kwak Chun-bong's name, which had been marked as in consultation, blinked slowly.
Which meant the one making that noise right now was the section chief...
What kind of consultation could possibly make someone sound like that?
Bang.
"Phew, that was refreshing. Oh? And you are?"
"Good day, Section Chief."
"Psychological counseling? Have you already handled a Level 2 entity as a newbie?"
No, it's Level 3, 2, 3.
The Backrooms are all over the place, but based on Level 0, they said to count it as a 3.
"It just sort of turned out that way."
"A talent has joined us! And already being put to dangerous work like that."
Section Chief Kwak Chun-bong patted my shoulder with genuine delight.
"The cohorts I'm in charge of orienting always end up being hard to see again later. You don't know how proud I feel whenever I see you in the cafeteria."
There were many emotions hidden in the section chief's forced smile.
"Even if it's not often, I hope we get to see each other for a long time."
"I'll try to go to the cafeteria around mealtime."
"Hahaha! Who'd want to see their superior's face while eating?"
The section chief patted my shoulder a few more times and then left the counseling room.
So even he has trouble seeing the cohorts he's in charge of again.
Does he only do orientation for people who came in through the human-rights-waiver track?
If I get the chance, I'll have to ask the team leader.
As soon as Kwak Chun-bong left, his name disappeared from the monitor.
At the same time, a voice came from the front desk.
[The consultation for the current 'Shivery Shivery' entity has ended. The Bureau staff member in charge should return the entity to the isolation room.]
So the announcement was saying the entity's consultation was over.
The entity was getting psychological counseling?
"Excuse me."
Just as I started wondering about the announcement, someone called out to me.
It was the employee who had come to the counseling room before me and had been waiting there.
Looks like he wasn't here for counseling after all.
"Yes."
"From now on, lower your head and do not raise it until the room temperature returns to normal."
"Can I look at my terminal?"
"As long as you don't look this way."
"Understood."
What he said was almost certainly part of the handling procedure.
Otherwise there'd be no reason to mention it.
[Me : senpai, please send me the entity report for 'Shivery Shivery']
I asked Choi Yu-na, who should have been at work, for the entity report.
Last time I saw her in the cafeteria, she also had data on other entities stored away, so maybe she had information on that one too.
[Choi Yu-na senpai : Shivery Shivery.txt]
[Choi Yu-na senpai : Why are you asking for this after going to counseling?]
[Me : Thanks. I heard the name while chatting with another employee, and got curious.]
Bang.
Whoooosh.
While I had my head bowed and was exchanging messages with my senior, I heard the sound of the left consultation room door opening.
At the same time, the lobby temperature began to drop rapidly.
Just like several air conditioners set to 19 degrees had all been turned on at once.
What on earth was happening?
Suppressing the urge to look, I opened the entity report Choi Yu-na had sent me.
++++
Entity Report
Shivery Shivery
Grade : Level 2
Classification - Entity Type
'Shivery Shivery' is a black, cube-shaped entity measuring 6 x 6 cm, discovered at the ■■■ butcher shop in Majang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul.
The entity was first identified by police who were dispatched after receiving a report that the butcher shop's freezer room was in an abnormal state.
At the time of discovery, the temperature inside the freezer room had dropped to -58℃, and one of the dispatched personnel suffered fourth-degree frostbite despite only brief contact with the entity.
The on-site investigation confirmed that the butcher shop owner had been using the entity as a replacement for the freezer's refrigerant system, taking advantage of the fact that it continuously emitted cold.
Without any special stimulus, the entity continuously emits cold, and its cooling power increases as time passes.
Observation confirmed that if left unattended for a long period, it could potentially freeze the entire surrounding environment.
After securing the entity, the Bureau housed it in a special isolation room made of ████ alloy.
During containment experiments, it was confirmed that the entity reacts positively to a certain type of joke.
The records at the time are as follows.
[Partial CCTV footage from the isolation room]
I██:
"Do you know what ice is called when it dies?"
(No reaction)
I██:
"It's diving."
(7 seconds of silence)
I██:
"... die-ving."
(Temperature inside the isolation room -31℃ → -15℃)
(A slight vibration occurred)
I██:
"You laughed, didn't you?"
(Temperature -15℃ → 1℃)
I██:
"Do you know what exercise ice likes best?"
(No reaction)
I██:
"Skating."
(3 seconds of silence)
I██:
"Because it's ice."
(Temperature inside the isolation room -31℃ → -30℃)
I██:
"Ah, that one wasn't very good."
(10 seconds later)
(Temperature inside the isolation room -30℃ → 5℃)
(Strong vibration occurred)
After that, by using the list of approved jokes once a day, they succeeded in keeping the entity's temperature within a stable range and transferred it to the Gwanak branch.
However, after using up almost every joke they could find, the difficulty of handling it rose sharply.
Recently, with usable jokes practically exhausted, management has been handled by using the counseling-room entity 'Rest Easy'.
'Rest Easy' can generate in real time the type of stories the entity prefers, and is currently regarded as the most effective temperature-control method.
However, because of 'Rest Easy's nature, they can't confirm what stories are being exchanged.
After hearing a joke and stabilizing, the entity shows a tendency to cool down rapidly again when exposed to an outsider's gaze.
The cause of that phenomenon has yet to be determined.
++++
... Was it embarrassed to laugh at dad jokes or something?
I thought the world really did have all kinds of entities.
Clunk.
The moment the door closed behind me, the surrounding temperature began to return to normal.
Looking at the clock, about three minutes had passed.
Having to walk that slowly all the way to the isolation room...
[The containment procedure for the current 'Shivery Shivery' entity is in progress. Looking toward the area corresponding to route F is prohibited.]
Just then, an announcement came through the speaker.
[Once containment is over, there will be another announcement. Until then, please absolutely do not look toward the area corresponding to route F.]
Considering the staff member's walking speed and the distance between the isolation room and the counseling center, it looked like it would take quite a while.
Please, let nothing happen in the meantime.
***
"You've got a face I haven't seen before."
After finishing the daily memory erasure for Section Chief Kwak Chun-bong, Cheon Jin-seong, who had taken a short break, picked up the file for the waiting employee.
"Let's see, employee Park Seong-bin... what the hell, why is your record like this?"
Liminal Space, 'Why Are You Luckier Than Me?', Eternal Life General Hospital.
That wasn't the lineup of entities a rookie should be meeting in just two weeks.
He should have already come here long ago, since the day he got out of Liminal Space.
Even if the Bureau was chronically short-staffed, this part was seriously off.
Shoving a rookie who survived Level 3 straight into an entity that grinds up N-rank personnel just because he came in through the human-rights-waiver track...
No, even putting him into Level 3 in the first place wasn't normal.
Were they grinding up rookies like this at Gwanak Branch?
Old memories in his head were trying to surface in response to the contents of the file.
Cheon Jin-seong forcibly pushed them away.
"Best not pick at a scab."
No need to know everything. Just safely collect a paycheck several times bigger and do my job as a counselor.
Thinking that, Cheon Jin-seong pressed the button to signal the start of the consultation.
Clunk.
The one who came through the door was a neat-looking young man.
For someone who had already experienced several high-rank entities in a row, he looked far too normal.
"I'm Cheon Jin-seong, the counselor. Please have a seat."
Even after being offered a seat, Park Seong-bin just stood there blankly.
"Employee Park Seong-bin?"
"Oop."
"Pardon?"
Employee Park Seong-bin suddenly made a strange noise.
Before long, he began singing and dancing with exaggerated gestures.
"By day, woman! At night, sleep! Oop! Oop! Oop! Oop! Oop!"
"P-Park Seong-bin?"
"I have a human! I have a woman! Uh! Human woman!"
"What on earth is this..."
Cheon Jin-seong belatedly realized after seeing Park Seong-bin's behavior.
There was no way an employee who had gone through all that hardship without proper care would be fine.
He couldn't hide his sympathetic expression as he watched Park Seong-bin keep shouting "Oop! Oop! Oop! Oop!" while dancing.
The Bureau really is a cruel place.