The Aptitude Test
A classroom draped in absolute silence. The door slid open, and a female student stepped inside. Her pale skin, flawless features, and immaculately pressed uniform practically screamed "model student." With every step she took, her long black hair, cascading all the way down to her waist, swayed gently.
She took a brief look around the room. It was a simple space, filled with nothing but rows of desks, each equipped with a computer. She had heard there was a classroom where students could watch video lectures individually if they wished; this must be it.
“Sigh.” She let out a sigh laced with irritation.
Right now, the other students would be in the self-study hall, cramming and squeezing in even one more line of corrections into their review notebooks. Why on earth was she here?
The Academy had lost the personality and aptitude test she had filled out when she first enrolled. Because of that, she had to retake it. Of all people, why did it have to be hers?
Sighing repeatedly, she sat down in front of the only computer that was powered on. She would breeze through this pointless thing and get right back to studying.
Just as she was about to reach for the mouse, her gaze drifted to the side of the monitor. She tilted her head, spotting a transparent glass bottle filled halfway with a thick, milky-white liquid.
“A diffuser?”
The scent brushing against the tip of her nose was highly unfamiliar, yet it possessed a strange, magnetic pull. It didn't smell like flowers or herbs at all. It was a fragrance that seemed to gently soothe her senses while subtly clearing her mind.
“It’s not bad.”
A sense of calm and warmth welled up from deep within her chest, washing away her lingering irritation in an instant.
“Right. Since I have to do it anyway, I might as well do my best.”
Having changed her attitude, she stared down at the bottle for a moment before leaving it on the desk. It was strangely addictive. Maybe I should buy one later, she thought.
With her resolve renewed, she placed her hand back on the mouse. Though her eyes remained expressionless, the corners of her lips had loosened ever so slightly—so subtly that anyone else would have missed it.
She looked at the screen. Before the actual test began, she had to fill out her personal details. Name: Yoon Eunsol. Age: 20. Gender: Female. Student. Without a moment's hesitation, Eunsol filled in the blanks and clicked the 'Next' icon.
The page turned, revealing questions that were incredibly simple. After all, she had already done this once before.
The answers for each question ranged from 1 to 5, categorized from 'Strongly Agree' to 'Strongly Disagree.' It was called a personality and aptitude test, but in reality, it was nothing more than a bare-minimum safety filter to screen out those unfit for group living.
There were over a hundred questions, but since most of them could be answered in seconds without much thought, she selected her choices with ease.
While she was blankly selecting her answers, a static crackle echoed from behind. She turned her head to find a static-laced melody flowing from the speaker mounted on the ceiling.
For some reason, the melody felt familiar, yet if asked what song it was, she couldn't come up with an answer. It was simply a highly familiar, intimate, and comforting sound...
Though it could have been distracting, she brushed it off as nothing and focused back on the test. She had completed about half of the questions when it happened.
“Haa...” Unlike before, Eunsol's sigh was thick with a heavy, feverish heat.
Why was this happening? Even though the weather was still quite chilly for spring, a strange warmth was rising within her body. Her cheeks, now flushed far redder than before, radiated heat with every breath she took, and beads of sweat began to form and trickle down her forehead.
A few stray strands of her black hair, damp with sweat, clung to her cheeks and forehead. Her waist, which had been held perfectly straight in a neat, disciplined posture, had lost its strength, causing her to slump loosely against the chair. Her knees, once pressed tightly together, slowly drifted apart, leaving a gap.
The pristine image of the model student was gradually unraveling, melting away into laxity.
“So hot...” She cautiously looked around. Confirming she was alone, she unbuttoned the top button of her shirt. As a draft slipped in, the suffocating heat seemed to escape just a little.
“Haa. Much better...” She couldn't fathom the reason for this at all.
The only things present were the *thump, thump, thump* of the melody—which had grown too loud to ignore—resonating in perfect sync with her heartbeat, and the scent wafting from the small diffuser on the desk, which gently relaxed her from the inside out with every breath she took.
Everything was so normal and ordinary, so why was her body acting so strangely? Forcing her languid limbs to move, she pushed through the test. Before long, she reached the final question.
When she clicked the submit button, the screen flickered, displaying a brief message: 'Thank you for your cooperation.'
At that exact moment, a bizarre geometric shape appeared on the screen. It started as a simple square, but quickly morphed into a circle, then a pointed star, and finally a chaotic, swirling spiral, shifting shapes endlessly.
The rhythmic yet inexplicable changes in form and color reflected in Eunsol's eyes. Amidst the repetition, her breathing grew shallow, and her consciousness was sucked deep into the monitor.
Even when she blinked, the shapes continued to swirl behind her eyelids. Thus, even though the test had ended, Eunsol sat frozen in her seat, staring blankly ahead for a long time.
The door slid open, and a woman stepped inside. A glossy bunny suit wrapped around her body—worn completely backward.
Her fully exposed breasts and nipples bounced up and down with every step. The exposure started from her chest, running down past her navel all the way to her pussy, leaving her most intimate parts completely bare. It was a perverted outfit that would be hard to find even in a strip show, but this woman was actually Eunsol's homeroom teacher.
The teacher looked at Eunsol, resting a hand on her own cheek as she let out a soft giggle. “Her brain has melted into a wonderfully soft, moist mush.”
Eunsol's state was pathetic, to say the least. Her lips hung half-open, and a trail of drool slowly dripped from her chin. Yet, completely unaware of it, she simply stared blankly at the monitor.
The teacher reached out and slipped a finger between Eunsol's parted lips. Eunsol's tongue instinctively welcomed the intruder. *Slurp, shlick, suck.* Her tongue licked every inch of the finger in a sticky, lewd display.
“Good girl. You're doing so well.” She pulled her finger out. A long, transparent thread of saliva stretched between the finger and Eunsol's tongue.
“Ah...” Eunsol let out a pathetic whimper, her eyes entirely hollow.
“Is this the eleventh time? To think you'd hold out ten times. You've got quite the resilience. So this is what the Master meant when he said you were an interesting specimen. I also understand why he didn't do this himself.”
In truth, this wasn't her first time taking the test. From this morning until sunset, she had repeated the exact same situation, process, and result a whopping eleven times.
Eunsol's unyielding willpower had managed to resist the previous hypnosis and brainwashing to some extent. But even that had reached its limit. Cracks had finally formed in the mental fortress of ethics and morals she had desperately clung to, and now it was time to shove all kinds of twisted common sense through those fractures.
“Of course, the equipment in this room is completely outdated. But that doesn't mean it's not effective.”
The hypnotic scent, the brainwave geometry, and the acoustic waves. The three brainwashing devices and methods operating in this classroom were all obsolete technologies from two generations ago.
Honestly, if they had used the latest technology, she would have broken by the second or third run. Why did the Master insist on using this old junk? The question crossed her mind briefly, but she quickly brushed it aside. After all, she was merely a mindless doll who existed solely to obey commands. The Master surely had his reasons!
Placing her hand on Eunsol's shoulder, she squeezed gently. Eunsol should have felt a dull ache, but she showed absolutely no reaction.
If she had reacted like before, they would have erased her memory and 'reset' her again, but this response was more than enough to proceed to Phase 2. Phase 2 was incredibly simple. Leaning forward, she whispered into Eunsol's ear.
“Eunsol. I'm sorry, but that survey you just took was incorrect. Could you do it again for me?”
“Ah?” At the sound of her voice, Eunsol barely managed to register it. Even so, her mind hadn't cleared enough for her to even wipe the drool from her mouth.
Seeing Eunsol stare blankly at the screen without even being able to answer, the teacher smiled faintly. As expected, using subpar brainwashing equipment makes her reaction time a beat slower. She grabbed Eunsol by the hair and forced her head to nod. With just that, Eunsol accepted it as if she had agreed of her own free will.
“Good. Shall we try it one more time?”
Through her hazy vision, the screen returned to the beginning. However, there was one change: the gender column next to her name. Instead of the original options of Male and Female, it now read: Sukeot and Amkeot.
She whispered into the hesitating girl's ear. “Why are you hesitating? Eunsol, you can't be a superior Sukeot. So, of course, you're an inferior Amkeot, aren't you?”
“In... ferior? Am... keot...”
Exercising patience, she whispered once more. “That's right. Eunsol, you just need to write down Amkeot.”
The questions on the new test that began were of a completely different nature.
The teacher read each item aloud, marveling and empathizing as if it were her own experience, whispering, “My, look at that. That's right. Eunsol, your sex drive is so strong it's troublesome. That's why you click 'Strongly Agree.'”
“Master. To Amkeots like us, the Master is a truly vital existence. Not only do we need him, but we must absolutely obey and depend on him, right?”
She placed her hand over Eunsol's, which was still hesitating on the mouse. Then, she forced her hand to move and checked 'Strongly Agree.'
Though her hand was being dragged and forced to click, Eunsol's brain lacked the cognitive capacity to make the distinction. She simply accepted the movement of her body and the selected answers as the absolute 'truth.'
Before long, the entire test was complete.
“There.” The teacher smiled, placing her hand on Eunsol's head. “This is the correct answer for Eunsol's second run. I wonder how many runs it will take for this test to stick? 10? 20? Maybe 100?”
Right before her memory was wiped, a spark of clarity returned to Eunsol's eyes. For a fleeting moment, she realized what had been done to her, and what would continue to happen to her. The gaze she directed up at her teacher was filled with absolute, raw terror.
“Ah... Ah...” She couldn't form proper words. And before she could say anything, her consciousness plunged back into the darkness.
A classroom draped in absolute silence. The door slid open, and a female student—no, an Amkeot—stepped inside.