Hypnosis Academy (2)
I stood there in silence.
Hayeon’s face had gone deathly pale.
She looked like someone who had just watched a meteor hurtling straight toward my back—pure, hopeless despair written across her features.
I couldn’t understand why.
The student council prefect in front of me brushed his fingers off with a completely blank expression.
“Hayeon, what are you doing? Hurry up and get inspected. The people behind us are waiting.”
I gave the frozen Hayeon a gentle push from behind.
She flinched violently and grabbed my arm.
“E-Eunha. Are you out of your mind right now? That guy just… he put his finger inside you! How is that a body inspection?!”
“…Huh? Isn’t a body inspection supposed to be like this? Academy students get them regularly every Monday. Why are you acting so weird all of a sudden?”
“There’s no such inspection in the world! Snap out of it!”
Hayeon’s voice trembled. The eyes of the surrounding students all turned toward us.
When she stubbornly refused to undergo the inspection, the prefect’s brow furrowed.
If I left her like this, she might get labeled a troublemaker and end up receiving disciplinary punishment.
I quickly approached the prefect and spoke politely.
“Um, excuse me, Prefect. I’m sorry, but my friend is really shy around strangers… Would it be okay if I performed the inspection in her place since I’m the same gender?”
“Are you familiar with the inspection manual?”
“Yes. Check temperature, humidity, and mana activity levels, right?”
“Hmm… You seem to know the basics. The line is backed up, so I’ll allow it just this once. Don’t expect any more leniency after this.”
“Yes! I’ll make sure to explain it to her properly. Thank you.”
The prefect checked his watch with an annoyed look, then finally nodded.
With permission granted, I turned back to Hayeon with a bright smile.
But she was blushing beet red, biting hard on her lower lip.
She seemed embarrassed about causing a scene by refusing the inspection.
“See, Hayeon? I’ll do it, so it’s fine now. It’s much better to have your friend do it instead of some random guy, right?”
“W-well, that’s true, but… ugh!”
Even as her body shook with shame, Hayeon eventually let go of the hem of her skirt that she’d been clutching.
Hayeon hesitantly lifting her skirt, cheeks burning with embarrassment
I guided her toward the wall and shielded her with my body, blocking anyone’s view.
“It might feel a little cold. Try to relax as much as you can.”
“W-wait! Give me a second to mentally prepare…”
“Why are you making such a big deal out of it today?”
Hayeon still hadn’t calmed down. She lowered her head, face pale.
“Haa… haa… For now, I need to get out of here and convince Eunha…”
She muttered so quietly I could barely hear, then finally seemed to steel herself and nodded.
“Okay. I’m ready. Be… be gentle, please…”
“It’s just an inspection, don’t make it sound so weird!”
What was she so nervous about that her face was turning red?
Determined not to let her strange mood affect me, I slid my finger straight into her underwear.
“Ah, ngh…!”
Hayeon buried her face in my shoulder and let out a stifled moan.
The inside of her was hot and incredibly tight around my fingertip.
It felt completely different from my own overly developed body.
I felt the texture of her inner walls against my finger and the faint contractions of her trembling muscles as I slowly channeled mana through it.
“Hng…”
Good thoughts… good thoughts…
It was supposed to be a routine daily inspection, but I had to work hard to keep any impure thoughts at bay.
Hayeon kept making soft, uncomfortable whimpers the entire time the inspection lasted.
The sound made even me feel embarrassed, so I maintained an even more clinical and mechanical attitude.
I moved my finger with exaggerated solemnity, as if I were a doctor.
Hayeon’s body shivered uncontrollably as she clutched tightly at my clothes.
“Hngh…”
“Hmm. Hayeon, your mana circulation is perfectly normal.”
After a brief inspection, I withdrew my hand and reported to the prefect.
“Mana wave is normal.”
“Confirmed. You may pass.”
Hayeon couldn’t even respond properly. She frantically straightened her clothes.
Tears of shame shimmered at the corners of her eyes.
She grabbed my arm and practically dragged me to the empty backyard behind the main building.
###
“Seo Eunha, have you lost your mind?!”
The moment we were out of earshot, Hayeon let out the scream she’d been holding back.
Startled by the sudden shout, I stumbled backward.
“Why are you yelling all of a sudden? I helped you back there. You would’ve gotten demerits if I hadn’t stepped in.”
“Helped? You just… haa, never mind. There’s no point talking to you right now.”
Hayeon clutched her head and let out a deep sigh.
She took several slow breaths to calm herself, then stared straight into my eyes.
“Eunha, listen to me very carefully. You’re under hypnosis again.”
“Hypnosis? I’m perfectly fine, Hayeon. I just performed the inspection without any problems.”
“You think that insane act you just did is normal when you’re in your right mind? Fine, let me ask you this. Did you receive the exact same inspection at the front gate last Monday?”
I was about to answer that of course I had.
“Of course…”
But something was wrong. I couldn’t remember.
No matter how I thought back on every Monday since enrolling at the academy, I couldn’t recall ever receiving that kind of inspection from a prefect.
…Huh?
A new memory suddenly surged into my confused mind.
I quickly found a plausible explanation.
“Oh, right! The school rules say new students get a one-month grace period and are exempt from inspections. So today is the first day!”
“Then why did you ask me earlier why I was acting so strange today? You talked like you’d done it many times before.”
“…!”
She was right.
There was a logical contradiction. The two sentences I’d spoken were negating each other.
In my head, it felt intensely like a familiar part of daily life, but when I compared it to my actual memories, today was clearly the first time I’d ever done a body inspection.
“……Haa, yeah. Now that you mention it, it does seem a little strange?”
“It’s not a little strange—it’s completely insane!”
I scratched my head.
I still couldn’t really feel that I was under hypnosis.
It just felt like maybe I’d been mistaken about something.
“Eunha. You can’t trust your own judgment right now. This is exactly like when I woke you up from hypnosis before.”
Hayeon took my hand, her eyes desperate.
I let out a short sigh.
Seeing the usually calm Hayeon clinging to me this desperately, it seemed I really was missing something.
“Alright, Hayeon. Since you’re saying it like that, I’ll admit it. I’m under hypnosis.”
“Really…!”
“Then let’s do this.”
I shrugged lightly and made a suggestion.
“For the time being, you take full decision-making authority over all my actions.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I can’t tell whether my judgment is being affected by hypnosis or not. But you can, right? So from now on, I’ll ask for your permission every time I want to do something. If you say no, I won’t do it no matter what.”
Hayeon’s eyes widened in surprise.
But if she thought about it calmly, it was actually a pretty reasonable solution.
Even if I was hypnotized, as long as the person controlling me wasn’t under hypnosis, I wouldn’t cause any real trouble.
“M-me controlling you? Isn’t that going a bit too far…”
“There’s no such thing as going too far here. If we leave it like this, I might fall under some other hypnosis and do something crazy. It’s safer if you monitor and adjust my behavior, don’t you think?”
“Still, the word ‘control’ sounds a little…”
“Please, Hayeon. If you don’t stop me, I might end up getting taken advantage of by other guys.”
When I mentioned the worst-case scenario that might happen, Hayeon’s eyes instantly grew cold.
Her once-lively pupils stared at me blankly.
“Okay, Eunha. I’ll protect you… I’ll stop you from doing anything strange, no matter what…”
“Ah, yeah… thanks.”
She’s saying she’ll help me, so why does it feel so creepy…?
Goosebumps rose on the back of my neck, probably because of the hypnotic energy lingering in the academy.
Anyway, it was reassuring that Hayeon would help me, but this was only a temporary measure.
She seemed to know that too, because she asked me carefully.
“Eunha. Then what if we just leave the academy altogether? If we stay here, something really bad might happen.”
“You mean skip today’s classes? Or are you saying I should drop out completely?”
“Dropping out completely seems safest. I don’t know what plans you have, but… I’m really worried about you…”
Hayeon’s body trembled like she was about to burst into tears at any moment.
The entire city was steeped in madness, and even her close friend wasn’t in her right mind. How terrifying that must have been.
Unlike me, who had knowledge of the original story, Hayeon truly knew nothing.
That must have made it even scarier for her.
I pulled her into a tight hug to reassure her.
After sharing body heat for a long while, her trembling gradually subsided.
Hayeon forced a smile and changed the subject.
“Sorry about the dropout talk. I guess I got too scared. You must have stayed because there’s still something you need to do at the academy, right?”
“No. Let’s drop out. I’ll take responsibility.”
“Eh…?”
I had been planning to drop out eventually anyway.
I’d only put it off because there were still hidden pieces in the academy that I hadn’t collected yet.
Several accessories that could only be obtained once Hypnosis Depth reached a certain level. They were artifacts related to hypnosis resistance rather than simple stat boosts, so from my half-hypnotized position, I really wanted to get them.
“Just give me one week. There’s something I absolutely have to find inside the academy. Once I get it, we’ll submit the dropout forms and leave right away.”
“Really…?”
“Really. Starting today, I’ll ignore all classes and stick with you the whole time. Sound good?”
“Of course I’m good with that! So it’s a promise, okay?”
“Yeah. For the next week, you’re my owner.”
I lightly tapped her shoulder, trying to lighten the mood with a joke.
Hayeon still looked a little dazed, but she managed a faint smile.
“Yeah. I’ll definitely protect you.”
“Of course. Then shall we start by packing our bags so we can leave anytime?”
I turned around, about to head toward the girls’ dormitory.
But at that moment, Hayeon gently grabbed the sleeve of my uniform and said casually,
“Wait a second, Eunha. Let me fix your hair before we go. It’s all messy.”
“Huh? Oh, sure?”
I turned my head without thinking much of it.
But right then.
The moment the words “wait a second” registered in my mind, something strange happened to my body.
Click.
Like a machine whose power had been cut, my footsteps froze in place.
Even though the momentum to take the next step still lingered, the muscles in my legs tensed powerfully and forced me to ‘stop for a second.’
…What?
My body wouldn’t move at all.
