Chapter 46
Lee Seonho touched his chin, appearing to ponder her request.
Cha Eun-joo wondered whether it had been rude to suddenly ask him for hypnosis training just after he'd been discharged. Strictly speaking, though, it wasn't really training.
She was pleased that she could confirm Seonho's feelings were still directed toward her, while Seonho could satisfy his sexual desire through her, so he shouldn't have any particular reason to refuse.
‘W-what should I do…? Did I say something wrong…?’
Cha Eun-joo immediately regretted what she'd said to him. She wasn't sure why, but since no answer came right away, she assumed she'd made some kind of mistake.
She had thought that someone with such a strong sex drive that he had to masturbate at least three times a day would never refuse her request, but perhaps….
‘Could it be that something happened between him and Isabel…?’
Dark mana slowly began rising again around her body, unbeknownst to her.
Lee Seonho detected the dark mana and was slightly startled inwardly, but without showing it, he answered her.
“Yeah, let's do it. I think it would be good to do it whenever we have the chance if you want to improve your constitution, Eun-joo.”
“R-really?!”
As her anxiety settled, the dark mana vanished in an instant.
Having inwardly concluded that she was so easy to read, Lee Seonho was the one to make a request that flustered her this time.
“Then, shall we do it now?”
“Yeah, right now… W-wait, now?!”
“Yes. Bring your head here, Eun-joo. I'll hypnotize you now.”
“H-here?! In the middle of the street…!!”
“What's wrong with that? You know by now that we're only doing this as treatment and that I'm not doing anything strange.”
“Th-that's true, b-but…?”
What should I do?
I have to suddenly pretend to be hypnotized in the middle of the street. I never expected a situation like this.
Of course, Seonho wouldn't suddenly order me to take off my clothes or suck his cock, but even so, his request to hypnotize me in a place like this was bound to fluster me no matter how I looked at it.
‘If I want to avoid suspicion, I-I have to accept it for now….’
The only reason Seonho could make such a confident request was probably because he was certain that I had no memories of what happened while I was hypnotized.
If I panicked and pulled away here, wouldn't all the acting I'd done until now be exposed?
That absolutely couldn't happen. I'd crossed too many lines to honestly confess all the embarrassing things I'd done until now.
Someday, I planned to confess that I'd been pretending to be hypnotized all along and had deliberately allowed him to play those mischievous pranks on me, but not now.
That would have to wait until our relationship was more firmly established than it was now and I'd properly prepared myself mentally…!
So the only answer I could give here was to nod, accepting a certain amount of risk….
“I-I don't really mind….”
“I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I was just saying it, so you don't need to think about it so seriously.”
“…A-a joke?”
“I wouldn't make you do anything strange while you're hypnotized, Eun-joo, but hypnotizing you outside where people are walking around would still be a little risky. Just in case, we should go somewhere we can be alone if possible.”
“……R-right. You're right, Seonho.”
…Well, of course Seonho couldn't possibly make such a strange proposal.
‘Hypnosis training’ in the middle of the street? I knew perfectly well that Seonho was a sensible person who wouldn't make such a strange request.
Cha Eun-joo felt something akin to guilt over having momentarily failed to trust Seonho. On top of that, she missed the chance to naturally take his words as a joke herself and share that sentiment with him.
“Then I suppose we should find somewhere we can be alone.”
“…The training center, like last time?”
“I'd considered that too, but it's a little expensive for just one hypnosis session.”
“Ah, r-right….”
“And I'm thinking of moving your hypnosis training on to the next stage soon. We'll probably need a place where we can be alone for at least five or six hours.”
“……So it is the next stage. I see….”
Thump, thump, thump.
It had to be somewhere they could be alone, and he was planning to put her under ‘hypnosis’ for at least five or six hours.
Until now, whenever she'd been hypnotized, Seonho had touched her breasts, or she'd grabbed his cock or licked it.
If so, the next stage most likely meant that he would touch her lower body, or perhaps something even more than that.
…For example, actually crossing the line between a man and a woman.
-Gulp.
Cha Eun-joo had always thought it would happen someday. Of course, she hadn't expected it to come so soon.
Even so, she had no intention of running away. Once she truly became involved with him, his feelings would remain firmly fixed on her anyway.
Even if she had sex with Lee Seonho for the first time while hypnotized… that too was part of the strategic dating operation she had devised.
She was a little troubled by the fact that she wouldn't be able to tell him her true feelings at the moment of her first time and would have to pretend to be hypnotized, though….
‘Honestly, I don't think I could do it while fully conscious….’
At least pretending to be hypnotized would lessen her embarrassment. It wasn't as if she'd lose her first time without remembering it; she could always confess honestly later.
And because it was Seonho, she felt he would treat her kindly even if he believed she was hypnotized. Even if it were her first time, wouldn't he ask what she wanted and handle her carefully?
As Cha Eun-joo's thoughts spun in circles, someone drew her attention back to reality while she was walking absentmindedly beside him.
“We're here, Eun-joo.”
“…W-we're here?”
“Yeah. This is my house.”
“……?”
“Since there wasn't anywhere suitable, we agreed to do the hypnosis training at my house.”
“Ah, r-right… We did, didn't we…?”
While she'd been lost in thought for so long, it seemed that entering his house had somehow become a foregone conclusion.
With her heart pounding from anxiety and anticipation, Cha Eun-joo cautiously followed him into the yard.
* * *
Bringing Cha Eun-joo home had been much easier than I'd imagined.
The moment I told her that I needed to hypnotize her for five or six hours, her face turned bright red, and after that she merely repeated answers like ‘Yeah, yeah…,’ as if she'd become lost in some other thought.
It wasn't difficult to lead her to my house without her even realizing it, and before I knew it, she was opening the front gate and stepping into my house.
-Thud.
“Huh?”
As soon as I opened the door and stepped inside, I felt something beneath my feet.
When I lowered my head and looked down, I saw several boxes that appeared to have been shipped from overseas scattered across the floor.
They were probably placed just beyond the gate as part of a contactless delivery. None of them was particularly large.
“Oh, Seonho. Your delivery is here.”
“Yeah. Looks like it.”
“What did you order? It says ‘office supplies.’”
“Nothing special. I might need things like pens or notebooks when the new semester starts.”
Even in my old world and this one, adult products were labeled as office supplies. If anything, that made it look as though they were advertising what they really were.
Even though Cha Eun-joo had hobbies related to subculture, she didn't seem to know much about this sort of thing and merely picked up one of the boxes from the floor.
“We just need to move these inside, right? I'll help you.”
“I'd appreciate that. As thanks, I'll lend one to you later, too.”
“I-I'm not helping because I want something like that…?”
“I'm saying it because I want to lend one to you.”
I'd bought them for Cha Eun-joo in the first place, after all.
I stacked the delivery boxes from the yard haphazardly by the front door, then walked inside with her.
Because I kept the house meticulously clean, it didn't seem particularly dusty even after three days of neglect.
“It's cleaner than I expected. I think I'd heard boys' rooms were messy….”
“It depends on the person. Come on, the bedroom is this way, Eun-joo.”
“Huh, y-yeah…?!”
I took Cha Eun-joo by the hand and led her to the bedroom. It was a simple, cramped room with only one bed and one desk; I'd thrown away all the other furniture and clutter.
“T-this is Seonho's room….”
“A little plain, isn't it? I'm not the type to pile things up around the house.”
“N-no…. It's clean, and nice….”
Cha Eun-joo looked around, examining my bedroom. Judging by her flushed face, it was obvious enough what she was thinking.
And I was probably thinking something similar to whatever was in her head. Even so, just to be polite, I should ask her once before hypnotizing her.
“Hey, Eun-joo.”
“Yes….”
“Do you need to be home by a certain time today? For example, do you have to get back before dinner?”
“Ah, no…. I-I don't have anything like that planned….”
“Good, that's a relief. Then shall we have dinner together after we finish the hypnosis treatment today?”
“Y-yeah…. I-I'd like that….”
Edging closer and closer, Cha Eun-joo moved toward me on her own, offering me her head without even being asked.
Now she moved smoothly into position to be hypnotized without me needing to say anything at all. Looking down at her, I quietly let mana flow through my right hand.
「Suggestion : Hypnosis ※ Target : Cha Eun-joo」
“Nn….”
“Are you hypnotized, Eun-joo?”
“Y-yes…. S-since I'm hypnotized, y-you can do whatever you want with me from now on….”
Whatever I wanted? Where on earth had she learned to say something so suggestive?
Somehow, as the days passed, she seemed increasingly unable to pretend she was hypnotized. She was saying lines she'd never said before, and she kept mentioning memories from when she was hypnotized while she was awake.
Well, all of that was part of Cha Eun-joo's charm, so there was no need to correct her. If I left her personality as it was, I could put it to even more entertaining use later.
Cha Eun-joo stood ramrod straight, visibly nervous as she awaited my next command.
I started with a simple command that anyone could carry out. If I made her do anything in this situation, she was bound to become flustered in all sorts of ways.
“Then I'll start with the first command.”
“Y-yeah….”
“From now on, stand right there and don't move—not under any circumstances—until I give you the next command.”
“O-okay…. I-I'll stand right here without moving until you give me the next command….”
“Good, Eun-joo.”
Cha Eun-joo stood rigidly in place, nervously watching my face for any sign of what I would do.
-Ziiip.
“Eek, eeek….”
Cha Eun-joo flinched, shrinking back at the sound of the zipper on her tracksuit top sliding down.
I slowly began stripping off her tracksuit, starting at the top.