Chapter 11
A soft sensation touches my right hand.
The first woman's breasts I've touched since coming to this world.
The sensation I had only imagined ever since I first discovered Cha Eun-joo was conveyed vividly to my fingertips.
“This far?”
“……Yeah. This far.”
It was only the second day since we had met, yet I never expected that we would be able to progress this far.
If things had gone according to plan, I had intended to add a kiss on the cheek today and slowly win her over. I was planning to take things involving sexual conditioning a little more slowly.
…Although I had been harboring some ulterior motives when I squeezed her butt while pretending it was an accident as I held her earlier.
“Hoo, hoo, hoo….”
As Cha Eun-joo repeatedly let out embarrassed, breathless sighs, my hand resting on her chest rose and fell along with it.
Each time her body moved, I could feel my fingers sinking slightly into her flesh.
The unmistakable sensation, impossible to conceal even beneath her thick sweatsuit and underwear, enveloped my hand like a huge lump of jelly.
-Squish.
“Mmph?!”
I had only curled my palm ever so slightly. Startled by that, Cha Eun-joo lightly jumped in place, her body bobbing.
From that reaction, it was easy to tell that ‘this far and no farther’ was her limit.
If I took things even one step further, she would have no choice but to accept it now, but from the next day onward, she would be unable to hide her awkwardness and would have no choice but to treat me unnaturally.
‘I guess I should be satisfied with this much today.’
Since I wanted to completely win over Cha Eun-joo, all the way down to the depths of her heart, I did not want to progress any further than this.
If only to repay her courage in honestly telling me where her limit lay.
“Haa, hoo, haa, hoo….”
“……”
Instead, I simply left my right hand resting lightly on Cha Eun-joo’s chest and felt it touch me slightly each time she exhaled.
The heavy thudding of Cha Eun-joo’s heart, deep within her full breast, reached my palm.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
I’m crazy.
I’m crazy, crazy, crazy.
Cha Eun-joo, you’re crazy!! Are you out of your mind?!
“Haa, haa, haaaah…!!”
Why did I do that?
Why on earth did I do that?
Even though Seonho had looked angry, I had thought I needed to cheer him up somehow.
What on earth had I been thinking when I grabbed Seonho’s arm and brought it to my breast in that situation?
‘What do I do? Now Seonho is going to see me as a complete pervert….’
Would he ever have imagined that I would bring his right hand to my breast?
At least Seonho was a gentleman and stopped there. But what if he had grabbed and kneaded my breast?
No, what if he had not stopped there and had taken me straight to a hotel or somewhere without even breaking the hypnosis?
If that had happened… I might have lost my virginity in the most absurd way imaginable.
‘I’m genuinely so glad Seonho is a good guy….’
Since I had already done something so insane as bringing Seonho’s hand to my breast, I could not have confessed that I had only been pretending to be hypnotized even if he had done something worse.
Apologizing for bringing a man’s hand to my breast while I was in my right mind was something I could never do while sane.
It was something I could never have done unless I was truly hypnotized—or at least believed that the other person was hypnotized.
And now that she was alone, Cha Eun-joo thought it had indeed been insane and regretted it.
“Uuugh, aaah…. Why, why did I say that to Seonho of all people….”
Why had I said that I would do anything as long as it was something I could do?
Because of that, I felt as if things had become even more awkward between Seonho and me. Of course, after the ‘hypnosis’ ended, I had talked as normally as possible before we parted ways.
The memories after the ‘hypnosis’ were even hazier than those from when I had been hypnotized. Pretending desperately that nothing had happened was dozens of times harder than pretending to be hypnotized.
I had been late, gone out with my hair a mess, and even created a dark chapter of my life I would never be able to forget—a truly horrible day.
“Haa, how am I supposed to face Seonho from tomorrow onward….”
At least Seonho still believed that I was properly under ‘hypnosis’.
In any case, my performance pretending to be hypnotized had been perfect. If I simply continued acting normally, I might never be found out.
Besides, even though I had gone that far, he still had not done anything strange.
The one time Seonho had squeezed my butt had merely been an accident that happened while he was hugging me.
The reason Seonho’s hand had touched my breast was that I had been the one to bring his arm there.
Moreover, he had not suddenly squeezed hard or deliberately pressed his palm against me and rubbed. Instead, he had looked as though he had frozen in surprise when his hand touched my breast.
…Perhaps Seonho had not even taken things that far in his thoughts, and I had only gone and done something strange because I was the one thinking strange thoughts.
“Uuuuuugh…!!”
Thinking about it that way made my face feel even hotter.
In the end, I was the only one having lewd thoughts.
It had been the same when Seonho first said he was going to hypnotize me, and it was the same today.
But how could I help it when simply hearing the word hypnosis made erotic comics pop into my mind? The fact that the mental buff Seonho used had a name like that was the real problem.
“What if he asks to do it again tomorrow…?”
…Could he put his hand on my chest again tomorrow? If Seonho asked me to do something like that, I would have to refuse properly.
But wouldn’t it be a little strange to suddenly refuse when he had already touched me once…?
Since Seonho believed that I was hypnotized, refusing would mean confessing that I had been pretending to be hypnotized all this time….
Then it would be the same as confessing that the ‘insane thing’ I had done to him today had been done while I was completely sane….
‘I don’t know. My head’s a mess….’
…One thing was certain: I did not exactly hate what had happened today.
I did not hate the way Seonho had called my name and held me tightly, or the way his hand had drifted downward and squeezed my butt hard without thinking.
I did not hate the way he had placed his right hand on my pounding chest and quietly looked at me, either.
…If anything, I might have liked it a little.
‘Seonho is kind, so he probably won’t do anything stranger than that….’
Letting him quietly rest his hand on my chest was okay… just that far was okay.
With that thought, Cha Eun-joo found herself looking forward to tomorrow without even realizing it.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
「This is a message sent to prospective students who passed Cheonmu Hunter Academy’s first written exam. Please check the date of the second practical exam and the location of the exam site so that you will not be confused on the day of the exam….」
…Just as expected.
The written exam questions had been a little difficult, so I had wondered if something might go wrong, but after checking the text that had arrived overnight, it seemed that I had passed the first exam without a problem.
Now I had an excuse to openly get lovey-dovey with Cha Eun-joo at the training facility. Until now, neither of us had been certain whether we would become prospective freshmen or not.
Of course, I knew that Cha Eun-joo had passed the written exam in the original story, so I had not been worried, but Cha Eun-joo might have been fretting over the possibility that I would fail the written exam.
「Seonho, did you get the text saying you passed the written exam?」
「How did it go?」
「(Shivering squirrel emoji)」
As a night owl, Cha Eun-joo seemed to have checked the message in advance and sent me a CocoaTalk message while I was sleeping.
Perhaps because we were not talking face-to-face, she was fairly lively on CocoaTalk. She even used cute animal emojis that resembled her.
I had accidentally left her messages unread and ignored, but I sent a reply as soon as I saw them.
「Of course I passed」
「(Screenshot)」
「Let’s meet in front of the training facility at ten today」
After sending her a message saying that I had no doubt she had passed, I got ready to go out.
Even though preparations for the practical exam were in full swing, I could not skip my daily morning workout or my efforts to win over Choi Mari.
I was also a little curious to see how Choi Mari would react when she heard that I had passed the first written exam.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
As soon as I headed out onto the running track, Choi Mari spotted me and approached with a smile on her lips.
“Junior, you look especially bright today. Did the written exam results come out?”
“…How did you know?”
“How did I know? Your expression practically screams that you’re in a good mood. Anyone could tell.”
Choi Mari looked at me with a triumphant expression, as though she had seen right through me.
I had deliberately relaxed my expression to invite her to ask, and thanks to that, I got to see Choi Mari’s smiling face first thing in the morning, so it was worth it.
“So, what was the result? Though I feel like I know without asking.”
“I passed. Though you seem to know even without me answering.”
“Hmm, I figured that would be the case. It would be strange for a diligent kid like you to fail the written exam.”
Rather than diligence, I was simply being driven by my libido.
I had been coming out to exercise every morning and evening for over a month, so I seemed to have become a diligent junior in Choi Mari’s eyes. Since it had also been over two weeks since we had gotten acquainted and started talking, her attitude toward me had become fairly friendly.
Compared with the speed at which the original protagonist became close to Choi Mari, I was a little behind, but considering the difference in abilities between the original protagonist and me, it could not be helped.
“Then you’ll have to work out even harder starting today, right? You need to prepare for the practical exam.”
“I already am. The friend I met at the written exam and I unexpectedly make a good team.”
“Really? You’re so diligent, Junior. Is your partner from the Combat Support department too?”
“How could two Support students take the practical exam together, Senior? My friend is from the Magic department.”
“Ah, right. That makes sense. The practical exam has always been monster subjugation.”
A Hunter’s job ultimately involved conquering dungeons and subjugating monsters. It was practically common knowledge by now that a Hunter’s practical exam would involve subjugating monsters.
Therefore, for students in Combat Support, forming a team with a capable prospective student from another department could be considered the very beginning of the practical exam. Since the department’s name itself included ‘Support,’ its students’ combat abilities were lower than those of the other departments.
I had Cha Eun-joo, so I did not have to worry much. Now that she was already half-addicted to my buffs, there was no chance she would team up with another student at this point.
“Do well on the practical exam. Once you enter the academy, I’ll treat you to a meal.”
“Can I make it something expensive?”
“I’m buying you cafeteria food, so come back to reality.”
Actually, I did not particularly care whether it was cafeteria food or anything else.
After all, what I wanted Choi Mari to treat me to was hardly just a single meal.