Chapter 8
Cha Eun-joo was nervous.
The ‘hypnosis’ buff Lee Seonho had said he would use on her felt frightening somehow, if only because of its name.
‘…It’s not that, right? Yeah. It probably isn’t.’
It was probably only called hypnosis; in reality, it would function as a buff in some other way.
After all, she knew from experiencing it herself just moments ago that Seonho’s ability was a buff. It was called ‘Potion That Gives You Courage,’ admittedly a name that sounded like something out of a fairy tale.
Unlike ordinary buffs, it had a somewhat unusual name, but its effect was undeniable. Whenever she faced a monster, it calmed her when memories of the past surfaced and left her unable to do anything, and filled her with the courage to use magic calmly against a goblin.
Therefore, the ‘hypnosis’ buff Seonho was trying to use on her now would undoubtedly be a good buff too.
Psychological treatment also includes hypnotherapy. It must be the kind of buff that resolves past trauma while the subject is unconscious, or something like that.
‘Besides, if he were planning something strange, he wouldn’t have confessed beforehand that it was hypnosis….’
The fact that he honestly told her what kind of buff he was going to cast must mean he had nothing to be ashamed of.
After repeatedly steeling herself to trust the man in front of her, Cha Eun-joo finally gathered her resolve and meekly placed her head under Lee Seonho’s hand.
-Sliiide.
“Ready?”
“Uh, y-yeah…!”
“If it seems too difficult, we can do it another time.”
“N-no…! D-do it now, quickly…! B-before I change my mind, hurry…!”
His offer to do it another time only made her feel more reassured.
Thus, feeling an even stronger sense of trust in him, Cha Eun-joo asked him to hypnotize her quickly.
“Right. I won’t do anything strange, so you can relax.”
After placing his hand on her head, Lee Seonho cast ‘hypnosis,’ and before long, Cha Eun-joo felt a buff called ‘hypnosis’ flowing into her mind.
‘I-it really worked…. Hypnosis….’
-Thump. Thump. Thump.
What would happen now?
Was he going to draw out and examine the trauma buried deep in her heart?
Or would she lose her memory, wake up to find everything over, or suddenly be controlled according to his will while remaining conscious, like in slightly erotic comics or novels?
She wanted to stop doubting him after deciding to trust him, but she couldn’t help feeling anxious.
“It worked, right?”
“……”
“Did it work…?”
“……”
Oh no, what should she do?
Had he just asked her? Should she have answered?
But she didn’t feel hypnotized. It wasn’t as though time had suddenly skipped ahead, nor did she feel as if her body were being controlled.
Cha Eun-joo wondered whether answering now would be no different from pretending to be hypnotized.
“That’s strange. The hypnosis itself definitely seems to have worked properly. Did something go wrong…?”
…For now, answering seemed like the right thing to do.
If Seonho sensed that something had gone wrong midway, she could be honest then; it probably wouldn’t be too late.
And…to be honest, she was a little curious.
If the hypnosis he had used really was the strange power she imagined, and Seonho had succeeded in hypnotizing her, what might he have done to her?
She wasn’t suddenly suspicious of him, but she was so curious that Cha Eun-joo decided to pretend she had been hypnotized for the time being.
“Uh, y-yeah…. I-I’m hypnotized….”
“……”
“I-I really am hypnotized….”
…What an idiot.
She was terrible at acting. Did anyone honestly think this was how a girl under hypnosis would react?
In comics, people usually answered politely when hypnotized, didn’t they? How could she answer so blatantly in informal speech and call that pretending to be hypnotized? What an idiot.
‘M-maybe I should tell him honestly even now….’
If he later found out she had pretended to be hypnotized when she wasn’t, that would probably be even more embarrassing.
With that thought, Cha Eun-joo tried to correct what she had just said, but Lee Seonho’s words immediately afterward forced her resolve back down her throat.
“That’s a relief. Looks like it worked properly.”
“……”
“I was worried it might not have worked properly. Phew.”
…So that was how it was supposed to be.
What a relief. She could properly pretend that she had been hypnotized.
Since he hadn’t realized she was acting…then she should probably keep going. There was no way she could say now, ‘Actually, I was only pretending to be hypnotized.’
Hoping, above all, that she wouldn’t be subjected to the strange things that happened in erotic comics, Cha Eun-joo, tense all over, quietly waited for Lee Seonho’s next ‘command.’
“Haa, Cha Eun-joo.”
“……Yeah.”
“From now on, no matter what I do to you, you have to stay still, okay?”
“…………Yeah.”
Thump.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Was he really going to do something erotic to her? Had hypnotizing her from the start been his goal all along?
The words nearly caught in her throat and burst out, but Cha Eun-joo managed to hold them back.
He hadn’t actually done anything yet.
Something about this was suspicious. It did feel a little like situations she had seen in erotic comics.
…Still, he hadn’t done anything strange yet.
Thinking that, Cha Eun-joo obediently stood at attention and waited for Lee Seonho’s next move.
Lee Seonho’s broad arms wrapped tightly around her small body with all their strength.
-Squeeze.
“…Ngh?!”
No, don’t!
Not yet!
Even if it was Seonho, e-erotic things were still too much!
This was outside, too, and besides, she and Seonho had only met today!
It wasn’t as if they were doing this because their feelings were mutual; to do something erotic while pretending to be hypnotized like this…
Cha Eun-joo was about to force out her refusal, unable to accept that under any circumstances, but the excitement roiling inside her gradually faded when Lee Seonho’s voice reached her ears.
“Haa, Eun-joo….”
“Mmph, ngh….”
“Cha Eun-joo…. I like you, Cha Eun-joo….”
…What was this feeling?
She was merely held tightly in Seonho’s arms and listening to him say her name in his voice. Why did that suddenly make her feel this way?
She had the strange impression that, for some reason, she ought to keep pretending to be hypnotized.
‘Come to think of it, maybe he hasn’t actually done anything strange yet….’
He had hugged her with all his strength as soon as he realized she was hypnotized, but that was all.
In that state, he hadn’t groped her or tried anything else strange.
In that respect…maybe Seonho was more innocent than she had thought?
“Eun-joo, haa…. I like you, Eun-joo….”
In erotic comics, once someone was hypnotized, the hypnotist usually tried something erotic right away; they didn’t usually confess their love while holding the person tightly like this.
Of course, he knew that trying to hypnotize her like this and attempting to hug her without her consent was not something to be proud of.
…Still, if this was all.
If this was all the physical affection involved, it wasn’t too much for her to permit.
‘So Seonho really does like me.’
Just as she had thought meeting Seonho was a fateful encounter, he had probably thought the same upon seeing her.
But since he couldn’t confess after knowing her for only a day, perhaps he was using this method to confess his feelings to her indirectly.
If he simply wanted so badly to convey his feelings that he resorted to the rather strange method of hypnosis, she could understand it.
Though the hypnosis hadn’t actually taken hold properly, thanks to it she could tell how sincere he was.
…He wasn’t merely looking at her with a lust-filled gaze; he saw her as someone he seriously wanted to date.
“Haa, Eun-joo…. I’m sorry I can only tell you this way….”
“……”
-Squeeze.
While he held her and repeatedly called her name, she carefully wrapped her arms around his back too.
Secretly, while he was too focused on holding her to notice.
If he had done anything more extreme, she would have refused or run away, but if it was only this much—
Pretending to be hypnotized and silently letting him hold her, or quietly listening to him suddenly confess his love while calling her name.
…Those were things she could go along with whether or not it was ‘hypnosis.’
‘It’s not as though I dislike this, either.’
If merely pretending to be hypnotized could make both her and Seonho happy,
Cha Eun-joo decided that was enough for her to keep pretending to be hypnotized.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
After casting 「Suggestion: Hypnosis」 on Cha Eun-joo and enjoying her embrace to his heart’s content.
I carefully kept my emotions in check, stopping just short of crossing the line, then slowly dispelled the suggestion I had placed on Cha Eun-joo.
‘I didn’t make any mistakes, did I?’
Honestly, I had wanted to be a little bolder.
I could have suddenly squeezed Cha Eun-joo’s butt while holding her tight, or abruptly pressed my lips to hers and stolen her first kiss.
If she had actually been hypnotized, she probably couldn’t have refused even if I had done such things. Once under hypnosis, she would accept everything I did positively, after all.
…But I deliberately refrained because I thought establishing trust first was important.
If I moved too quickly with timid Cha Eun-joo from the very beginning, I might inadvertently make her more wary. No matter how good she felt while hypnotized, the memory of what had happened would remain intact.
If I had kissed her or engaged in erotic physical contact, she would have felt embarrassed once the hypnosis wore off and she returned to her senses, and she might refuse the next time I suggested hypnotizing her.
So at first, I absolutely had to work on eliminating her wariness. The first step was making her feel that even if I cast ‘hypnosis’ on her, I wouldn’t do anything too strange. That was why a hug—something she wouldn’t find strange once her mind had cleared—was just right for my first hypnosis session.
And each time I repeated the hypnosis, I could gradually raise the intensity. Like a frog slowly cooking without realizing it in a beaker of water gradually coming to a boil.
…In reality, frogs are sensitive to temperature changes and apparently escape before their bodies cook, but that wasn’t important, so I’d let it slide.
“Hoo, huff, hoo….”
“It’s over now, Eun-joo.”
“……W-what?”
“The hypnosis is over. Just as I promised at the start, I didn’t do anything.”
“…You really didn’t?”
“……Yeah. I really didn’t.”
“Mm…. I-I see….”
I could have answered shamelessly as if I really hadn’t done anything, but I deliberately waited a moment before replying.
I did it to act as if I knew I had committed a sin—to make it seem as though I regarded embracing her under hypnosis and confessing my love as a grave crime.
That way, Cha Eun-joo would feel reassured. If she believed that I felt this guilty over such a minor act, she would feel she could keep pretending to be hypnotized in the future, too.
“Let’s head back soon. If we stay much longer, we’ll be charged an extra fee.”
“Yeah…. We should….”
“Want to meet here starting tomorrow? How about training around ten in the morning?”
“Ten in the morning?”
“Yeah. I thought it would be perfect if we met at ten, trained for about two hours, then had lunch and went our separate ways.”
“Y-yeah. I think that sounds good too.”
“Then let’s do that. Which way is your place? We need to head to the station first, right?”
“T-the subway, Line 3….”
“I’m on Line 4, so let’s go to the station together.”
“Okay, Seonho….”
Finally, with Cha Eun-joo standing before me, I made sure to set up our next meeting.
…One week until the practical exam.
It was a week during which she couldn’t avoid meeting me, so I’d better tame her as much as possible during it.