24-Hour Hoebinghwan Counseling Center – Episode 1
Prologue
Once one of the empire's five great meritorious families, the House of Rien was now falling into ruin.
It held no territory, employed no servants. All that remained was an enormous, wretchedly difficult-to-maintain mansion, and—
"I'm going mad."
Laura Rien, the current family head.
Though a noble, Laura had grown cynical from worrying about making ends meet, and she tore at her hair.
"Did the world suddenly go mad? No, wait—was Grandfather telling the truth?"
* * *
The House of Rien held a secret.
It was that they carried on the will of the god Ririen, who governed time and fate, and for thousands of years had performed a single, secret duty!
A large signboard hanging upon the main gate of the crumbling estate.
[OOO Specialty Counseling Center]
These OOO were visible only to the counseling client.
Counseling that client was the duty of the House of Rien.
Clients typically appeared once every hundred years, and for thousands of years, the House of Rien had carried out its duty under various identities: priests, merchants, information guild members, and more.
And the most recent client had been none other than the empire's first emperor.
Thanks to aiding in the first emperor's counseling, the House of Rien had been able to become a founding meritorious family.
However, after the first emperor, there had been no clients for five hundred years.
"...Grandfather, I'm sorry. I've done everything I could. Now I have to survive, too."
And so Laura calmly resolved to sell this decrepit old mansion that was nothing but unnecessarily vast.
But then, a client suddenly appeared.
For the first time in a staggering five hundred years.
"Welcome, dear client! I am Rora, head of the House of Rien, which carries on the will of the god Ririen, who governs time and fate, and a Hoebinghwan specialty counselor."
"..."
[OOO Specialty Counseling Center]
That's right. The OOO stood for "Hoebinghwan."
"Now then, Hoebinghwan. Which one might you be?"
"...Possession."
"Oh my, I cannot begin to imagine how startled you must be."
"...I opened my eyes, and it was another world."
"You must be terribly distressed. First, before we begin counseling, might I briefly hear about your current personal circumstances and those from before your possession?"
The first guest was.
"...I have possessed the current Crown Prince."
He was the Crown Prince of the Keullan Empire.
"I-I see. And your circumstances before possession?"
"I was an ordinary university student. I—"
"Yes, yes. Please speak comfortably."
"And I was also active as the top-ranked Hunter. Of course, my rank as number one was a secret."
The first guest, a possessor, had arrived.
The "Bing" of Hoebinghwan—Possession—had come.
Rora had thought that the "Bing" would be the end of it.
"...You regressed?"
"I did."
But then came the second guest, a regressor. The "Hoe" of Hoebinghwan—Regression—had come.
"Before my regression, I was the infamous mad dog of a ducal family. Not knowing the value of family, I caused all manner of trouble and brought the ducal house to the brink of ruin. I should have stopped there, but I had a measure of talent with the sword; in the name of avenging my family, I became a madman who tried to destroy this nation."
"Aha, I see."
Something was off. The moment Rora had that intuition,
the second guest shed trickling tears.
"I want to live differently now. I don't want to miss this second chance. I want to cherish my family and live valuing this life."
"Yes, I understand."
But you see,
this wasn't the end.
The last of Hoebinghwan.
"...You're a reincarnator."
"That is correct."
A reincarnator had come as well.
And this reincarnator was extraordinary too.
"...So, the demon—no, the necromancer—no, the hero who was the greatest obstacle to the founding of the Keullan Empire..."
"Yes. That demon and hero was my previous life. I was Kallien."
Three clients had appeared after five hundred years of absence.
And they covered all three Hoebinghwan types.
Chapter 1. A Client Appears
Ren, the first emperor of the great empire of Keullan, which occupied half of the eastern continent.
Along with five comrades as close as sworn siblings, he founded the great empire of Keullan in just twenty years. It was an achievement that astonished all.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
Laura Rien casually ignored the sound of the magical doorbell and muttered with a blank face.
"Well, of course. The first emperor was a regressor."
And among the first emperor's comrades—who each possessed outstanding abilities in swordsmanship, magic, military strategy, and the like—the only one with no particular ability at all.
"That was my ancestor."
That's why, while four of the five received high titles like duke and marquis, only the House of Rien received the rank of count.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
"Ah, for crying out loud! Just go away!"
Of course, even that count title was a position the emperor had barely managed to grant in the face of opposition from his subordinates.
"There was a lot of discontent, they said, that someone with no achievements whatsoever, who merely frequented the emperor's bedroom to idle every day, received the rank of count."
Laura Rien took in the text filling the screen that unfolded over the white orb.
[...Because of memories from before his regression, the regressor client Ren continued to suffer nightmares every night even after becoming emperor; thus, he planned to continue counseling sessions regularly for this purpose....]
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
Laura glared at the magical doorbell on her desk.
"Whew."
Laura let out a deep sigh.
"These days, the meritorious families are all old tales."
If you asked which family had fallen the fastest in the five hundred years since the empire's founding, it would be indisputably the House of Count Rien.
"Its territory was stripped away by other territories long ago."
For a full five hundred years, they had been beset by checks from the other four great meritorious families and rival power-holders like stray dogs, growing more ruined by the day.
"...Grandfather."
Her parents had passed away in an accident when she was young, and after her grandfather, the previous family head, had passed away the year before last, all that remained for Laura, who had only just turned twenty at the time, was—
Ding-dong, ding-dong!
"..."
Laura stared at the magical doorbell in silence, then gripped a dagger in her hand.
"...No. Be patient."
I'm the head of Count Rien's house. I must maintain my dignity.
Laura repeated to herself.
Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
Ding-ding-dong!
The bell sound grew faster and faster.
Ding, ding, ding, ding-ding-ding-do—
"Ah, seriously!"
Laura lost her temper and grabbed the magical doorbell, but restrained herself.
"...Repair costs. Repair costs. Repair costs."
She endured by thinking of the repair costs she would need if the magical doorbell broke.
And after glancing for a moment at the axe by her bedside, she picked up the doorbell.
The golden bell had two wings on top.
One was for listening to the other person's voice, and one was for speaking to them.
"I'll be out shortly."
Despite her contorted expression, an elegant, dignified voice flowed from Laura's lips.
"—My lady~"
Brushing off the other person's voice, Laura left her bedroom.
Escaping the vast yet hollow, dilapidated mansion, she passed through the garden that had become a field of weeds with a cracked fountain—
"Oh, my lady!"
and reached the main gate between walls that were cracked to bits.
She asked the middle-aged man smiling sycophantically beyond the gate's bars,
"Mr. Benjamin, what brings you here?"
"Oh my, my lady. What brings me here~? I was just so, so worried about you that I came to check!"
That obnoxious tone. Laura wanted to punch Benjamin in the mouth, but she endured.
"Laura, violence is not the answer."
It was because her grandfather's words came to mind.
"There was nothing for you to worry about, Mr. Benjamin."
Benjamin. He was a famous real estate agent with the standing of a baronet.
"How could that be?"
Benjamin opened his eyes wide and tilted his head to one side.
An outsider might have thought he was trying to act cute, but Laura sincerely thought,
"Has this bastard lost his mind?"
Benjamin glanced at Laura's elegant smile and pulled a document from his briefcase.
"My lady, I'm speaking to you in all sincerity."
Benjamin spoke to Laura politely with a suddenly solemn expression.
"Let's sell the mansion."
"I refuse."
The sole survivor of the crumbling House of Count Rien and its current head, Laura Rien.
All that remained for her was this mansion.
"Goodness."
Benjamin let out a sigh.
"My lady—no, Miss Laura. I'm telling you this out of old affection."
Benjamin rattled on without pause.
"The only reason it still fetches this price is because it's in the heart of the capital. Otherwise, ordinary nobles wouldn't take this old mansion even if you gave it to them."
What? Wouldn't take it even for free?
A spark flared in Laura's eyes.
"And these days, the capital is quite turbulent, isn't it?"
Not long ago, a poisoning incident targeting the Crown Prince had occurred in the imperial palace.
Crown Prince Diant was said to have been poisoned during a meal and was currently in a comatose state.
"So real estate prices in the capital might drop even further—"
"Mr. Benjamin."
Laura drew a slight grin across her lips.
Unlike her calm blonde hair and somehow gentle appearance, her eyes were cold.
"Whose involvement is this?"
"...What did you just say?"
For a moment, Benjamin's expression turned fierce.
But Laura continued without paying him any mind.
"Is it Count Owen's family? Or perhaps Count Haireun's house, which has been on the rise lately?"
"...!"
At her words, Benjamin clamped his mouth shut in consternation.
"If you've been refused once—no, three times, you ought to take a hint. Am I wrong? Or do you find my words amusing?"
Even if she was on the verge of ruin, Laura Rien was the unmistakable head of a family among the five great meritorious houses, and one of fewer than ten count families in the entire empire.