Scolded by My Senior
"Ha..."
I let out a deep sigh as I read the message.
"Han Seohee's got a big heart, huh..."
It was only natural for my senior to chew me out. Lunch break ended, and I was an hour late. For someone who hadn't even shed the newbie label yet, it was a massive screw-up.
"Hm."
After the warm message, there was a gift icon. A 2,000-won convenience store chocolate. Not much of a gift, but way too good for the likes of me.
I let out another deep sigh. My text—"I'll make sure it doesn't happen again"—felt utterly hollow. Because it could happen again anytime.
"About 15 days, huh... Kinda tricky."
Whether it happened inside the company or out in the world, it was a problem. Either way, it didn't change the fact that I'd end up raping a woman, regardless of her will.
"If it happens inside the company..."
Han Seohee popped into my head unbidden. She had a cool demeanor, but a good personality. Pretty, took good care of her somewhat annoying junior—me—and had a great figure. I pictured her, like the cafe manager today, sucking my dick.
"...No good."
I shoved the thought away. First, I needed to analyze the situation.
"My ability... Strictly speaking, I haven't actually used it yet..."
All I'd done was "unlock" it. The incident at the burger shop was just the ability manifesting periodically right after unlocking.
"If I actively use the ability... Will choices pop up then too?"
So many unknowns. What would happen if I expanded the range? If I took the initiative, how far could I hypnotize—from where to where?
"Ha..."
No answers. I couldn't just test it on a random woman walking by. And I couldn't handle the risks. I knew nothing about this power. What if, when I used it on my own, a message popped up like [Using the ability this way locks the range to maximum!]? I couldn't deal with that.
"Should I get a girlfriend or something?"
Maybe work hard to get a girlfriend, then test it on her to gather info. I mulled it over briefly, then shook my head.
This won't work.
Me, nonstop raping women whether I wanted to or not—making a lover would go against my morals. And that wasn't all. If I hypnotized my girlfriend as a test subject and choices appeared, but every single one designated the player as every man but me...
That would be unbearable.
"No way out."
After pondering, I found one area I could touch.
"Hypnosis control..."
Options: Maintain Hypnosis | Release + Memory Wipe | Release + Body Freeze
"Can I adjust this..."
All five women were checked for "Hypnosis Maintained." Seemed like the default.
Thinking that far, I quickly changed the settings for the four excluding Witae.
"Release! Memory wipe!"
Maintaining hypnosis meant they saw what happened as normal. Which meant they might casually blab about it to others.
'Today at the cafe, I messed up so a special inspector came in? I begged him to overlook it by offering my pussy, but he only fucked our manager—must be her type?'
If that came up in chit-chat with friends, it'd be only a matter of time before the cops hauled me in.
"Phew..."
I checked other info I could confirm right away. But no answers.
"Should I just run?"
I was your average guy in his twenties. No money to hole up somewhere remote. In the end, I had to keep living.
Go to the company tomorrow, order coffee at the same cafe.
"Haa..."
My worries deepened. I never knew being a good person who didn't bother others would be this hard.
Isabelle and Brunhilde Wagner heard that man's words repeated several times. They couldn't see what was happening inside, but they could roughly guess from the voices leaking out.
"This... isn't he a decent person? A good one, even."
Brunhilde tilted her head.
"It's premature to assume those are questions from goodwill. But... it's worth hypothesizing."
If not goodwill, there'd be inconsistencies either way.
"Excluding minors is probably morals. Excluding women with boyfriends could mean valuing virginity."
"But then..."
"Yes. No reason to take a divorcee. For now, viewing it as morals... is the most rational."
Isabelle's mind raced.
"Come to think of it, the first ability manifestation targeted the villain Witae. No reason to have sex with the woman holding hostages at the burger shop."
"We can't rule out it being that man's sexual preference."
"Being forced by a woman holding him hostage and raped... Doesn't seem like that fetish from this hypnosis. Better to assume the ability manifested suddenly."
"Yes, seems so."
"Witae's hostage crisis happened first, and witnesses uniformly said she laid down someone she had a grudge against and demanded that man 'fuck this woman.'"
"Smells too much like hypnosis."
"Not a rational order, right? But he refused. Fucked Witae instead."
The same thought dawned on both.
"Can't control the ability?"
"We should factor that in. Not certain, though. Maybe the first order was Witae's personal whim, and her becoming a slave was the ability's manifestation."
Brunhilde felt suffocated. Like walking through fog. She couldn't know when or where hypnosis might hit her. Couldn't even be sure Isabelle's voice matched her will.
No matter how much she analyzed, nothing was certain. The terror gripped her—that she might have glossed over something that should have felt obviously wrong.
"Thinking simpler, it could all be his will. The burger shop, the cafe—acts to satisfy his desires."
Isabelle sighed.
"Judging from his natural attitude at the burger shop, he knew hypnosis was in effect. At minimum, not an innocent victim."
"Indeed."
If hypnotized unknowingly, he'd have reacted to "special inspector" with "What's that?" But he accepted the women's actions casually, dove into sex proactively.
"Has his own moral code but doesn't hesitate to use the ability to satisfy lust... For now, that's the best read."
"A villain."
"Don't pigeonhole too neatly. Easier for us to understand and handle that way."
Isabelle smiled faintly.
"Keep recruiting new agents, and just in case, buy a small island near Korea and build infrastructure for habitation."
"Understood."
"We'll start control carefully, calmly."
A man with desires, but not crossing his own lines. To Isabelle, Codename Astaroth being such a person was welcome.
"The company has too many stress variables for him—detach him discreetly... In a way he won't feel pressure, anger, or frustration."
"Analyze his computer, check his porn history. Pinpoint secret tastes... Avoid 'mismatches' for precision."
"Find ways to provide assets without suspicion. Coins, stocks, gambling. Whatever works."
The plan was underway. Isabelle laughed.
"Let's make him a soft, easy world."