Chapter 5
Chapter 5
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Promotion Exam
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tossed and turned all night.
Whenever I closed my eyes, yesterday's events replayed vividly in my mind. Her pale fingers untying her robe at my command, the heavy weight of her full breasts exposed so defenselessly, the soft, hot sensation that filled my mouth, and finally, those wide, sparkling eyes we locked onto in that last moment.
My head was filled with thoughts of Bang Soso, that girl.
The hypnosis hadn't worked.
That fact weighed on my chest like a lump of lead. If that was true, then her obedient attitude and every reaction she showed me had all been her own will. She knew exactly what I was doing and accepted it all anyway.
"It felt good."
Her voice echoed in my ears. It was soaked in shame and tears, but she'd said it clearly. The more I mulled over those words, the more tangled my thoughts became.
How was I supposed to face her? What should I say?
I'd pulled an all-nighter with eyes wide open, and as I stepped out the door with a haggard face...
"S-Senior Brother..."
There stood Soso, holding a tray with a small breakfast spread, fidgeting awkwardly right in front of the door.
"......"
"......"
An awkward silence stretched between us for a moment.
The instant our eyes met, Soso startled and bowed her head deeply. Gone was her usual bright smile and eager rush toward me.
I examined her carefully. She was in her usual neat sect robes, forcing a smile onto her face. But unlike her expression, her snowy nape and earlobes were flushed a vivid red.
Proof that she remembered yesterday perfectly.
"You're up early."
I forced myself to act casual and spoke first. My voice came out hoarse and cracked.
"Y-Yes! Senior Brother, it's an important day today... I didn't want you to skip breakfast..."
She stammered incoherently and held out the tray. Even in that small motion, her massive breasts jiggled, stealing my gaze. Those were the very breasts I'd kneaded and sucked to my heart's content yesterday.
That thought made heat rush to my face.
I cleared my throat awkwardly and took the tray.
"Thanks."
"No problem! Then I'll... go finish preparing...!"
Soso turned to flee like her task was done. I couldn't let her go like this. I had to say something, anything.
"Soso."
At my call, her shoulders twitched. She froze in place without turning around.
I took a deep breath and forced the words out.
"About yesterday..."
"......"
"I'm sorry."
At my apology, her small back trembled faintly. After a long silence, she slowly turned around.
Her face was flushed beet red, like it might burst. Tears welled up in her eyes again. She clasped her hands in front of her, fidgeting, her gaze fixed on the floor.
Just as I was about to say more, she spoke first, in a voice as tiny as an ant's.
"If it's Senior Brother..."
"......Huh?"
"If it's Senior Brother... it's okay..."
Those words halted every tangled thought in my head in an instant.
It's okay. Everything I'd done to her was okay.
Ah.
Instead of guilt and remorse flooding in, my lower body shamelessly heated up and stiffened.
Damn it. I'm trash. No, even trash wouldn't stoop this low.
I should be sorry, but my dick was getting hard on its own. I felt utterly ashamed of myself.
"A-Anyway! It's an important day, so let's get ready together. I think I'll need your help."
"Huh? Oh, yes!"
At my words, Soso's face lit up as if she'd never been teary-eyed. Was being helpful to her Senior Brother really that joyful? Her innocent reaction stirred guilt and a strange sense of conquest in me once more.
We somehow finished breakfast and took our spots in a corner of the training grounds where the promotion exam would be held.
I double-checked my plan one last time. Diagnosis via hypnosis. It hadn't worked on Soso, but that was a special case. It should work on normal people.
While I buried my nose in the medical texts, Soso stuck close by my side.
"Senior Brother, thirsty? Here, have some water."
"Senior Brother, this angle makes the herb illustration easier to see."
"Senior Brother, your shoulders seem tense... Want me to massage them?"
She hovered around me tirelessly, tending to my every need. Each time her soft body brushed against me or her shoulder touched mine, yesterday's sensations surged back, forcing me to swallow hard multiple times.
She seemed just as affected. She acted nonchalant, but I clearly saw her flinch at every contact, her earlobes turning even redder.
A strange, tingling tension hung between us, impossible to put into words.
Time slipped by relentlessly. Finally, the bell signaling the start of the promotion exam rang out.
"All disciples, assemble at the center of the training grounds!"
An elder's booming voice echoed across the grounds.
"Senior Brother! You can do it, right?"
Soso grabbed my hand and asked. Her round eyes brimmed with absolute faith in me.
"...Yeah."
I gripped her hand back and gave a short reply. The warmth of her palm infused me with a bit of courage.
Dozens of disciples, including me and Soso, lined up in the center of the training grounds. On the high platform, Master Hyehyang and the other Healer Immortal Sect elders looked down at us with grave expressions.
Among them, Master's icy gaze pierced me especially sharply. That look, as if she could see right through me, sent chills down my spine.
One elder stepped forward and spoke.
"The Healer Immortal Sect's regular promotion exam begins now! This exam will comprehensively evaluate how well you've developed your skills as physicians!"
Tension thickened in the air over the training grounds.
"The first task is diagnosis! We have a critically ill patient here. You must each take his pulse, observe him, and accurately diagnose the cause of his illness! Write your diagnosis on this paper and submit it! You get only one chance!"
No sooner had the elder finished than four burly men carried a stretcher into the center of the grounds.
The patient on the stretcher wasn't so much a person as a bundle of dry twigs. His flesh had withered away, leaving only bony limbs; his face was not just pale but ashen gray. His sunken eyes had lost focus, and his ragged breaths came in fits, as if they might stop at any moment.
A murmur rippled through the disciples. This was a severe case rarely seen even in medical texts.
The stretcher was placed in the center of the circle the disciples had formed. My turn was near the end.
I steadied my breathing as I gazed at the fragile life before me. Now was the time to prove my worth. The moment my one weapon, hypnosis, would be put to the test.
Time passed, and finally, my turn came.
I approached the patient slowly. With every step, it felt like Master Im Hyehyang's gaze from the platform stabbed into my back like arrows. I could also picture Bang Soso anxiously biting her lip beside her.
Everyone was watching me.
A faint stench wafted from the patient. The smell of death. Up close, his condition was even worse. His skin was dry and papery, cracked like parchment, and his gaunt ribcage barely covered a belly oddly slightly swollen. Only his wheezing gasps proved he was still alive.
The other disciples had busily checked his pulse for long moments with furrowed brows, flipped his eyelids, examined his tongue, and so on. But their faces were filled only with bewilderment at having found no answers.
I, too, took his wrist like they had, pretending to check his pulse normally. The pulse beneath his cold, parched skin was faint, as if it might flicker out. No information here. Not with normal methods.
While feigning the pulse check, I whispered softly into his ear, low enough for only me to hear.
'Close your eyes. Fall into a deep, comfortable sleep.'
My low voice seeped into his ear. I infused my will, threading an invisible strand of mind into the depths of his consciousness. My one weapon that hadn't worked on Soso.
The patient's vacant eyes flickered faintly for a moment. His lips twitched slightly. Got him. It worked. Soso's case must have been exceptionally special.
'Who are you? What is causing you this much pain?'
I sent the question through the mental thread. Then, from the patient's withered mind, a jumble of chaotic images and sensations crashed in like waves.
A dark, damp cave. Terror of being chased by something. The shock of stumbling and tumbling somewhere. And... a cold, slimy something wrapping around his ankle, a chilling sensation.
It was a bug.