Chapter 1. I messed up the hypnosis.
Chapter 1. I messed up the hypnosis.
"Name is Seong Byeong-jin. 23 years old. Did you say you're an orphan?"
"Uh. Um. That's right."
"A cleaner here?"
"That's right, too."
"Why are you working as a cleaner at that age? A part-time job?"
Every question she asked stung. Choi Yeon-ju, reciting my personal information from the computer in the lab, was hacking away at my heart with an innocent face that knew nothing.
"No. I'm doing it because I have no other way to make a living."
"What a sight. I want to hit myself for asking. I was a fool for asking even though I could see your report card right here. The report card is an even bigger sight."
"That kind of stuff gets saved too?"
"Don't be ridiculous. Of course it's saved. People working at the Hunter Association need to have thorough background checks. This is a public institution. Employees are treated like civil servants. Though, that wouldn't apply to you."
"Could you stop calling me 'you' and call me Master-nim instead?"
"Why would you be my Master-nim?"
Choi Yeon-ju tilted her head as if she truly didn't understand. I barely suppressed the urge to cry. To think my once-in-a-lifetime hypnosis would go to waste so futilely...!
"Didn't you swear loyalty...?"
"I swear loyalty. But I am not a slave. I will serve you with my body and mind, but I don't want to call you Master-nim, and showing you my pussy is much, muuuuch worse."
"Then what's the point of that loyalty..."
"If you wanted that, why didn't you cast it in a way that demanded absolute obedience?"
"Ah...!"
Ah...!
There was a way like that!
Sigh, you idiot. No, Byeong-jin. Why couldn't you think of that word and cast such a retarded hypnosis...!
As I screamed silently, Choi Yeon-ju immediately asked with a suspicious expression.
"Don't tell me you didn't think of it?"
"......."
"Good god. Why don't you go get an IQ test? To think the person I swore loyalty to is an idiot..."
Choi Yeon-ju slapped her forehead in disbelief and lamented. I felt so embarrassed I wanted to crawl into a hole. Especially when my request to see her pussy was rejected, I was so embarrassed I briefly considered suicide.
"Then what can you do for me...?"
"I can show you other women's pussies."
"Who?"
"Come here. It's a site I frequent. Here..."
"I know that one too!"
I approached, intrigued when Choi Yeon-ju beckoned me, but I ended up shouting because she just showed me a porn site. I don't want to see it on a monitor!
I want to see it for real!
Besides, I watch that site so much that I'm already at the stage of picking and choosing from the updates!
She might have more academic credentials, but I wouldn't lose when it came to porn credentials.
"I said I want to see it for real! You said you'd give your body and mind! Why aren't you giving your body?"
"I am prepared to work hard enough to grind my body down for you."
"Not that!"
Aaaaargh!
Of course I want that too, but I want something else more!
I awakened, but thanks to a one-time ability rather than superpowers like super speed or insane regeneration like others, I became an Ability-less person...!
If I had known my one-time hypnosis would end up like this, I shouldn't have rushed over right after awakening and should have thought about it more at home...
"Still, it's a very strange feeling. I know very well that I've been hypnotized. You are the fucking piece of shit idiot who hypnotized me. In other words, a hopeless piece of trash."
"Could you not explain it one by one...?"
It's a very painful attack, and I feel like my pure heart is being hacked away at again.
"And yet, the loyalty I feel toward you feels natural. My brain accepts on its own that you are someone worthy of my loyalty. It's an amazing ability."
"What's amazing about it? It's an ability that can't even get me to see a pussy."
"...Anyway. A cleaner who is human trash. Isn't a cleaner a job that makes the surroundings clean? How can you go around cleaning up the surroundings when you're trash yourself?"
"If you show me your pussy, I won't act like trash."
"No. If I show you my pussy, I think you'll try to put it in. I'm a virgin."
"That turns me on even more."
"You fucking piece of shit."
"What?"
"Nothing. Let's continue the conversation."
I think I just heard something unpleasant? Or not? Have I reached the point of hearing nonsense because I've become mentally weak due to the misuse of my ability? I wish this situation were a dream.
Of course, in a way where the ability is preserved in an unused state.
If so, I could come back and cast a proper hypnosis on this bitch who kills people with her words...!
While I was thinking that, Choi Yeon-ju scanned my body and started saying something shocking.
"You think you've become an Ability-less person, but in fact, you are not."
"Huh? But my ability is gone?"
"I mean that just because you used your ability doesn't mean the awakening itself is undone."
"Really?"
"Why would I lie? Of course, since you have no ability, there might not be much of a difference."
My heart, which had fluttered for a moment at Choi Yeon-ju's words, immediately cooled down. So. I'm an Awakened ability user, but I don't have superpowers? If that's the case...
"Then how is that different from a normal person?"
"You can enter Gates, can't you?"
"Ah."
Right. Gates.
"Why does that matter?"
"Why? If you enter a Gate, you can hunt monsters. Only Awakened hunters can enter Gates. Monster byproducts are worth money, so if you survive, you have the qualifications to become rich."
"...Are you telling me to go into a Gate right now and fight for my life against monsters?"
Gates have sprung up all over the world. It's true that there's another world inside the Gates, and the byproducts of the monsters inhabiting them are worth money. I also know well that only Awakened superpowered individuals have the qualification to enter Gates.
Normal people just pass right through if they try to enter a Gate.
But so what?
The reason superpowered individuals enter Gates to get byproducts and earn money is because they have the confidence to survive. Even if they awakened, if their ability was useless, there were superpowered individuals who lived their whole lives without ever entering a Gate. I'm an even more unique case among them. My ability was one-time use, and I used even that on this woman.
Fuck.
Just thinking about it makes my blood boil.
Choi Yeon-ju nodded as if she knew it was impossible, too. Seeing that made me even angrier. It felt like I was being teabagged.
"Wouldn't you obviously die if you went in with just your bare body? Looking at you, you look like you'd get beaten to death even by a goblin."
"......."
But I think I could win if I fought you.
Want to fight?
I really want to punch her once. This feeling of having my masculinity castrated right in front of me. No one would understand unless they've experienced it. To me, who was deeply contemplating whether or not to actually hit her due to the excitement, Choi Yeon-ju declared while puffing out her chest. Those big breasts look even bigger.
If I asked her to show me her nipples, would she show me...?
"Ni...pp"
"Who do you think I am?"
"Nipp... huh?"
"What were you trying to say just now?"
"No? I didn't say anything?"
"Hmm... Let's move on for now. I asked who you think I am."
"You're Choi Yeon-ju."
"The greatest intellect in Korea. A genius scientist who can make anything. That is me. It was indeed a good job to make me swear loyalty to you with hypnosis. Considering who you are."
Is she a genius at making people angry? Or maybe a genius at picking fights.
Every word she says stabs deep into my chest, it feels like my DPS meter is about to explode.
"If you don't have an ability, you just have to make one."
"Superpowers!?"
"How can I make superpowers? I never said superpowers. I said ability."
"Sorry..."
"Do you think you'd get beaten to death by a goblin even if I made you some badass equipment?"
Aha!
That's what she meant!
But Choi Yeon-ju really needed to learn to speak a little more nicely.
I felt like I wanted to shove my etiquette-injection rod into that woman's pussy and inject some etiquette.
Although I don't think that's possible right now...
"Still, it's not like there's zero chance of dying. I don't want to die."
However, the conversation about the Gate couldn't proceed based on this issue. Even if I'm an Awakened, I'm an Ability-less person. Even if I had an ability, I wouldn't have had any reason to enter a Gate. A one-time hypnosis isn't a combat-suitable ability.
Even if you're an Awakened, your physical ability itself is the same as a normal person's unless you have a physical enhancement superpower. It meant that while you are a superhuman, you're mediocre. Even superpowered individuals die if they get shot, unless they are physical enhancement ability users. That's why public order can be maintained even in a world with superpowered individuals.
Sometimes physical enhancement ability users act out, but they were the same in the end. It was just a difference of whether they die from one bullet or need to be hit by dozens.
In that sense, no matter how good the equipment is, the idea of me, who has beggar-level physical abilities, entering a Gate to earn money was nonsense.
And understandably so.
"Can I live with you at your house?"
"You may."
"Then I don't need to earn money. Me. I could just live off the money you bring in until I die of old age."
"This is the first time I've seen human scum like you right in front of my eyes."
"Thanks for the compliment."
Still, I had gotten used to it to some extent, so being denounced as trash didn't hurt as much as before. Rather, seeing that disgusted expression on her face made me feel strangely aroused.
Not bad, right?
Choi Yeon-ju seemed to have a headache from me grinning, so she sighed and rubbed her brow. It hadn't even been three hours since we met, but I felt pretty good about the fact that I had ruined her mood!
"You will want to go to a Gate."
"...What? Is this hypnosis? That tone of voice suddenly sounds like you're hypnotizing me..."
"That's not it. I'm saying that because I have the ability to make you truly want to go."
What is it? As I tilted my head, Choi Yeon-ju smiled unpleasantly. Even that look was pretty, so it felt strange, as if I had cast the hypnosis well, or maybe not.
But I can't stand being curious.
"Why?"
"Do you want to see other women's pussies?"
Choi Yeon-ju asked. Being asked so directly, I was speechless. Of course I want to see. It doesn't end with just looking. I wanted to put it in, shake it, and cum!
"Yeah!"
"Pervert..."
Is this girl really crazy?
I was genuinely pissed off this time at her truly disgusted expression. The moment I was about to say something, Choi Yeon-ju opened her mouth first to preemptively block my attack.
"Monster byproducts are strictly managed by the government. Therefore, it's not easy for scientists like me to escape their surveillance. Of course, it's not impossible to obtain them through dark channels, but you know, don't you? Dealing with people you can't trust is dozens of times more dangerous."
"...So?"
"It means there are many things I can't do even if I want to conduct various research with monster byproducts. If caught, depending on the weight of the crime, it can even lead to the death penalty. How could scientists do it when they're scared?"
Something feels uneasy.
"So? You want to try forbidden research if I bring you the byproducts. Is that what you're saying?"
"That's exactly it."
"No way."
Am I crazy?
Death penalty? I could just live comfortably at Choi Yeon-ju's house until I die, so why would I? Does it make sense for a Master-nim to step up to help with illegal work?
This was something I absolutely should not agree to.
Choi Yeon-ju said.
"Among the forbidden research, there are brainwashing devices and body modification drugs. Byproducts are more diverse than you think, so it's possible to make anything you can imagine."
"Let's do it right now."
I have to do this.
Legal or illegal, you only live once. Thanks to the fact that I already hypnotized Choi Yeon-ju, strictly speaking, I'm no different from a criminal. If I get caught, it's the death penalty or prison anyway.
If she can make things like that, isn't it worth risking my life?