Chapter 66
Chapter 66
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 66
Chapter Title: Unexpected Hypnosis (1)
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I still hadn't given Yeon Du a response to her confession.
Honestly, the answer I'd come up with last time was rejection. With all the women I'd meet in the future, there was no way I could give her the normal relationship she craved.
But human hearts are strange things. Right when I was about to tell her no, Joo Na-young interrupted, and suddenly other thoughts started creeping in.
Imagining Yeon Du with some other guy in the future made my gut boil with rage. We weren't even dating, but it felt like she was being stolen away. Just like when I'd misunderstood things with Yu-ra, my head heated up.
"Ah, screw it. Should I just accept? I'm not even human anymore. I've contracted with a succubus!"
A while back, I'd seen a post called "Handsome Guy's KakaoTalk." The guy was being all cocky, but the girl was desperate for more, like she couldn't get enough.
And not just one—there were like seven or eight girls, all of them. They even knew about each other.
"He must've slept with all of them, right? If you've got good looks and smooth talk, you can juggle that many. Why can't I?!"
With my skills, nothing's impossible. If I really wanted to be a bad guy, what couldn't I do? It was just my human conscience holding me back.
'Just gather all the girls who like me and move to some polygamous country?'
It was a pretty crude idea, but it was enough to shake my reed-like resolve.
"So, how would it work?"
I couldn't lie to Yeon Du about not having a girlfriend. She might not even believe me, and with Yeon Du, Pomi, Yu-ra, So-jin, and Na-young, that's five already. No way I'd avoid getting caught.
"If I just tell her the truth and say I still want to date her... would that work? Damn. If Yeon Du said she liked some other guy and wanted to date both of us, I'd be pissed too."
A girl like Yu-ra, who turns a blind eye to other women, is the exception.
What about... hypnosis? Hypnosis might work.
"No way. Hypnotizing Yeon Du would make me total human trash."
I hadn't learned the [Hypnosis] skill yet, so I didn't know exactly how it would work. But the vague fear was that the moment I controlled her, she wouldn't be the Yeon Du I knew anymore—and neither would I.
Still, sometimes a selfish desire surged up: even if it meant using that method, I didn't want to let her go.
"For now, just focus on clearing Joo Na-young's quest first."
The day after Joo Na-young's interference, Yeon Du started giving me these pleading looks now and then. But suppressing that urge to use my skills was hard enough. In the end, even though I knew what her eyes meant, I pretended not to notice, day after day.
Then one day, the Joo Na-young quest I'd barely paid attention to suddenly made massive progress.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The updated quest from [Loser's Rebellion], the new [The Loser Hides His Power], still had me racking my brain for a solution.
The success conditions were so vague from the start, I didn't even know where to begin.
'Make sure the dream doesn't end as just a dream...' What the hell does that mean?
The quest was tricky, and my mind was on Yeon Du's confession, so progress had stalled. But my relationship with Joo Na-young had gotten much closer.
She must've liked how I'd bantered back with her in the break room recently, because when we were alone, she spoke casually to me.
These days, even with others around at the shop, she'd secretly poke my side and whisper, "Hey, Choi Jun-young," flashing a mischievous grin as she enjoyed my reaction.
But that day, for some reason, after work she was loitering in front of the shop. I was the last one out, so I asked.
"What're you doing?"
Spotting me, Joo Na-young waved with a smile and spoke up.
"Choi Jun-young. Beer around the corner?"
"Getting cocky again. Won't call me oppa?"
"You love it, but you're playing hard to get."
"What'd you say, punk? But seriously, beer out of nowhere? Oh, right, you're off tomorrow."
"Yeah, that too. So, you coming or not?"
"Dutch pay?"
"Ugh, you're such a cheapskate. I'm not asking you to buy!"
I'd love to treat her, but Pomi's feedings have me strapped for cash lately, girl.
"Alright, I'm in!"
Drinks with a beauty always get the heart racing. Never done it one-on-one with a girl besides Yu-ra. Pomi's a kid, so she doesn't count. And all I remember from that is cleaning up puke.
"Hey, slow down. That into beer?"
The second I said yes, she sped ahead, so I called out while whispering to Pomi.
-Mia, tell Yu-ra I'll be back after one beer.
-...Yu-ra says you're drinking with a girl?
-Yeah.
-She says answer your phone. Now.
She tells me not to let other girls find out, but this makes it impossible... My phone wasn't ringing, but then a bell sound echoed. I pulled out my phone—no, it was hers.
"Hey, Na-young. Looks like your phone."
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
"You switched to polite speech for a sec. Don't go back to casual."
"No way."
She turned around, sticking her tongue out playfully. As she answered, my phone rang too.
"Hello?"
Yu-ra's voice came through immediately.
-Who does oppa love the most?
"K-Kim Yu-ra."
-Who did oppa promise to always listen to?
"Kim Yu-ra."
-Don't drink too much, come home safe. You know you need permission for sleepovers, right? Not tonight. I miss you.
Yu-ra must encourage cheating during work hours.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Just a little."
I hung up and turned to Na-young. What if she asks who Yu-ra is?
"Na-young, so where we drinking...? Na-young? Hey, Joo Na-young, what's wrong?"
Joo Na-young was clutching her phone with both hands, trembling.
"Something wrong? You okay?"
"N-Nothing. Um, Choi Jun-young. Sorry, I gotta go. Rain check on drinks. Really sorry."
She blurted it out and bolted the other way full speed.
Tak-tak-tak-tak.
"Huh? Na-young? What happened? Hey! Watch your step!"
Sigh, I even got Yu-ra's okay... Guess I'll head home?
As I turned, I couldn't shake Joo Na-young's pale face from earlier. That terrified expression looked familiar.
"When did I see that? It's on the tip of my tongue..."
Had she ever gone that white before? Not even during her fight with Yeon Du.
Racking my brain, I finally remembered where I'd seen it and bit my lip.
"Damn it! Invisibility! Flight!" ⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Invisibility] Your body becomes transparent to the naked eye.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ [Flight] You soar through the air freely.
Luckily, I didn't have to fly far before spotting Joo Na-young panting as she ran. With my leveled-up status reveal skill, I wouldn't lose her, but this was way faster than checking the map later.
She sprinted down the main road and, in a panic, threw herself into traffic to hail a taxi.
From the sky, I tailed the cab carefully and saw her get out at an apartment complex entrance.
She kept running after exiting, swiped her keycard at what I assumed was her building, and went in.
I dove down from the sky, but the door had already shut.
"Shit. Should've flown lower."
It was an older corridor-style apartment; I hadn't expected a door on the first floor.
No choice—I opened my status window, checked her real-time location, saw she'd gone to the 15th floor, and immediately activated [Flight] again, counting up floor by floor from below.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ 📍 Target Location: Apartment 1506 🗺️ Real-time Position: 15th Floor, Room 1506 A moment later, her position stopped at 1506. But no way in. Maybe the opposite veranda's open?
"That'd take too long. And something feels off."
It seemed overkill, but I trusted my gut.
-Pomi! Pomi! Come here!
-Eek. I'm in a promotion match...
-Hurry up, dummy!
Under my urging, Pomi appeared, cheeks puffed in annoyance.
"Ugh! I'm mad!"
"Sorry to interrupt your game, but this is urgent. Remember Joo Na-young's face?"
"Oh! The Joo Na-young who gave me yummy chocolate! More chocolate from Joo Na-young?"
Anyone who doesn't feed her gets erased from memory.
"You little... Last time you stone-faced my Joo Na-young pun, and now you're doing it. And that chocolate? It was mine originally."
I pointed at the front door.
"Anyway, she's inside right now. Go unlock the door."
She might freak if the door just opens, but I was in a rush.
"Always making me do this stuff."
Pomi grumbled but slipped through the door. A moment later, it swung open.
I rushed in and saw Joo Na-young facing off against a short, ugly middle-aged guy.
They were struggling at the boundary between the veranda and living room.
In the short time it'd taken me to get here, she'd already been hit—her hair was messed up, and blood trickled from her split lip.
Nearby, a woman who looked like the mother from Na-young's dream—similar features, just aged—was clutching the man's pant leg.
'That guy's her dad?'
Seeing her face drain at the phone call earlier, I'd felt a nagging familiarity.
Then it hit me—it was the face from the dream where I'd resolved her trauma.
Remembering that, I worried she was facing family violence again, which led me to chase her here.
Her dad in the dream was huge, over 2 meters with a massive build, way bigger than me. But in reality, he was barely 170cm and scrawny.
Not just age shrinking him—that big a difference? Probably her childhood trauma from abuse made him appear monstrous in the dream.
Either way, I had to deal with this lunatic fast. A man's weak spot is his balls. Time to neuter him!
As I snuck up to kick his nuts from behind, he suddenly bellowed.
"You—you mocking me too?!"
He shoved Na-young hard with both hands.
"Kyaa!"
She lost balance, stumbled back, crashed through the screen door onto the railing. And then...
Ting! Crack!
A ominous breaking sound.
"Ah?"
With that one word, Na-young vanished from my sight.
"Nooo!"