Chapter 3. I messed up the hypnosis.
Chapter 3. I messed up the hypnosis.
Unfortunately, very, very unfortunately, Choi Yeon-ju locked the bedroom door on the second floor before going to sleep. It meant we couldn't sleep together.
It was a shame, but the real problem was that there was only one bed. I slept on the sofa, and if you want to call it a problem, the fact that my back feels like it's about to snap in half right now would be it.
Going to work was even more ridiculous.
[If we ride to work together, other people might look at us strangely, so let's go separately.]
[I don't have a car?]
[You can walk or call a taxi. It's not like you have absolutely no money, right?]
[You're not even giving me taxi fare?]
[Anyway, the ant-tear-sized amount of money you've earned is meaningless even if combined with my balance, so use that to solve it. I don't care if you spend it all. I'm leaving.]
Bitch...
Not giving me money was hurtful, but treating my bank account balance, which I'd saved like a squirrel gathering acorns, as "ant tears" dealt quite a lot of damage.
And that's how I ended up here, at the office of the Daehan Hunter Association.
"Wouldn't it be better to think about it one more time?"
A middle-aged man with a potbelly and a receding hairline asks me, wearing a look of deep concern. He was the Association's HR manager. Since cleaners don't have separate bosses, they're managed here, and this bastard was, by my standards, the most detestable, vomit-inducing prick of them all.
Cleaning work is tough, but it doesn't discriminate by gender. It meant there were male cleaners like me, and female cleaners too. This bastard was a guy who embodied gender inequality. He'd assign relatively easy work to female cleaners—like open, spacious areas such as the lobby—while assigning male cleaners to places like bathrooms or storage rooms, where even pushing a mop a little bit would have it bumping into things, which was incredibly annoying.
That's why I'd been stuck cleaning only the laboratory and the bathrooms all this time.
Well, ultimately, that's how I got to know Choi Yeon-ju and hypnotized her, though.
But in the end, that happened thanks to my ability, and I could confidently say this guy didn't contribute a single thing.
"I don't want to."
"No. Why? We have a [Dormitory] here, and the salary is pretty decent, so it should be an easy place for someone of Byeong-jin-ssi's age to save money, right?"
"But it's hard to put this on a resume as experience, isn't it?"
"If you work for a long time, that is experience. Where do they look for experience on a resume when hiring a rookie? They look at how persistently you stayed. They look at diligence."
"I guess I'm just not diligent."
"Are you crazy?"
The man stares at me with eyes that say, 'Did this bastard eat something wrong?' But I was confident. So, what could this guy actually do to me? When I thought about it, there really wasn't anything.
What's he going to do, hit me?
Of course, it was mostly my fault for snapping back at him, but once I leave, I'll never have to see his face again for the rest of my life. Whether this guy gets frustrated or whatever, it had absolutely nothing to do with my life.
"Anyway, I've submitted my resignation. I'm going, okay?"
"Wait. Wait. No. Where does it say you can just leave right after submitting a resignation? Shouldn't you at least give a month's notice?"
"That's why I'm not asking you to apply for unemployment benefits for me. Can't we just part on good terms? You'd just harass me for that whole month anyway."
If he didn't harass me, he'd probably try to coax me gently for a month. Honestly, how many people would come to work as a cleaner? And it's rare for a young person like me to come. I only came because my life was hanging by a thread and I wasn't in a position to be picky, but if you look at the age range of most applicants, cleaning is a job that grandfathers (real) who have already retired from social life usually take.
Naturally, there's bound to be a difference in physical ability compared to a young person. It's hard to assign them difficult tasks, and if you push them a little too hard, it's not rare for them to come in and cause a scene. After all, the cleaners are older than the people giving the orders.
I had a feeling that if we kept talking, we'd just keep going in circles. So, I quickly got up from my seat. The startled man reached out, but I dodged him nimbly and ran out of the office.
I'd already submitted the resignation, and I figured, what are they going to do if they don't process it? They know I won't show up starting tomorrow, so they'll have to fire me, right?
I immediately left the Hunter Association and sent a text to Choi Yeon-ju.
[I quit just now.]
[K.]
.......
K?
Is that the kind of reply you give to your master's text? I was so dumbfounded I let out a dry laugh.
[That's it?]
[Don't go anywhere else and go straight home. I've already found a trainer. When you get off work, I'll hand over the equipment first.]
She already found the equipment?
It was impressive drive, but the previous phrase bothered me. "Don't go anywhere else"? Does this woman think I'm an elementary schooler? Of course, since I suddenly became unemployed, I did have a bit of a desire to hang out in the city today.
Isn't this just too much?
[Fine. When I get home today, we need to talk a little. Let's have a talk.]
[What is that. Is that something a wife would say to a husband who did something wrong?]
[That's the problem. You have absolutely no respect for me.]
[We only met yesterday, didn't we?]
"Goddamn bitch..."
Ugh. I'm angry. So angry.
I sent her trivial texts after that, but Choi Yeon-ju, miraculously, didn't reply a single word. I started to doubt myself.
This bitch.
Is she not hypnotized?
But I soon shook my head. She's definitely hypnotized. I felt my ability disappear, too. It was clear evidence that she was properly hypnotized. If so, that means this behavior is also while under hypnosis.
Was it the right thing to do, hypnotizing that woman...?
I wondered if I'd committed a mistake I'd regret for the rest of my life.
To get home, it takes at least 30 minutes by car. I didn't have a car, and I didn't have a bicycle, so I called a taxi from the Association's main gate. As expected, I didn't get any taxi fare. Since I was using the taxi solely with my own money, the fact that the fare felt ridiculously expensive might not have been my imagination.
After waiting for about 10 minutes, a notification rang that the taxi I called had arrived at the main gate. Just as I was trotting over to get in the taxi, someone was running toward me from the Association like crazy.
"Wait a second, please~!"
What kind of person is that?
"Should I wait?"
As I blankly watched the person running over, the taxi driver, who had been waiting just for me to get in, asked. Startled by the question, I nodded my head first. I thought maybe I'd left something behind and they were coming to hand it to me.
But that wasn't it.
"This is going outside, right?"
The person who ran over was a woman. And a much prettier one than I thought. The woman, who was panting and catching her breath because of the sprint, seemed to be okay soon and asked abruptly.
"Yes, it is?"
"Could I ride with you?"
Isn't that not allowed?
I knew it was impossible to take two people with different destinations in a taxi at once. I don't know the rules or laws, but first of all, calculating the fare becomes ridiculously difficult and ambiguous. It doesn't matter much for the first passenger to get off, but for the second passenger, it's bound to be confusing whether they have to pay from the starting point or if it's calculated after the first passenger gets off. I heard they hate it because if it's calculated wrong, the customer often turns into a "customer-from-hell."
When I stared at the taxi driver, I saw him frown and shake his head. It seemed like he was saying no, but I was the only one in an awkward situation.
Why make me do it when he should just say it himself?
Do I look like such a pushover?
Anyway, since I heard it, I felt aggrieved, but I had no choice but to relay the message to the woman.
"He says no."
"Where are you going? It's fine if you drop me off there. It's too hot, and I hate waiting for a taxi."
"Hmm..."
I agonized. She's a pretty woman. Normally, I'm the type who would let a woman ride even if it meant I had to walk. But now, I couldn't help but hesitate because the place I was going was Choi Yeon-ju's house.
Since she came out of the Association, it was right to see her as an Association affiliate. If so, she would know what kind of person Choi Yeon-ju was, and if I was unlucky, she would also find out that Choi Yeon-ju's house was my destination. Even if I were an idiot, I knew that what Choi Yeon-ju and I were going to do from now on shouldn't be discovered by others, so if this woman got off where I got off, it could be a big problem.
But that worry was neatly resolved by a text from Choi Yeon-ju that arrived right then.
"Wait a moment."
I turned on my phone, which was vibrating to signal a text message, and checked it. It was written like this.
[Lim Seo-yoon. 24 years old. Neuro-amplification ability user. She is the trainer, so you can ride together.]
Aha.
I didn't read what was written below that for now. It was because Lim Seo-yoon was waiting in front of me, and the taxi driver, who had been waiting for even longer, was on the verge of getting annoyed.
"You're Lim Seo-yoon, right? The person going to Dr. Choi Yeon-ju's house?"
"Huh? How did you know? Are you going there too?"
"Yes. Since our destinations are the same, shall we ride together?"
"Wow! Great!"
Lim Seo-yoon nodded with a bright smile. I felt the disappointment I had felt toward Choi Yeon-ju earlier melt away like snow, as if it were a lie.
I thought it would be a male trainer, but it was a female trainer! Damn it! I believed in you!
I very naturally escorted Lim Seo-yoon into the taxi first, then ran to the other side and got in. Lim Seo-yoon kept saying how lucky it was and smiled brightly. After seeing only the vicious Choi Yeon-ju all day, seeing the rabbit-like, cute Lim Seo-yoon made me feel like the demonic energy accumulated in my body was being purified.
I also grinned along with her and read the rest of the text I hadn't been able to check earlier.
And I immediately sent a reply to Choi Yeon-ju.
[I guess I misunderstood you. I'm sorry. And I love you.]
[Why are you being so creepy all of a sudden?]
[Sorry if you felt that way. But I really do love you.]
No more replies came.
But I'm not angry at all. That's because the text I had skipped over without reading said this.
[First test subject.]
What are Choi Yeon-ju's tastes like? Would she be able to eat the food I cook deliciously? First, when I arrive at the mansion, I'll have to raid the refrigerator. The breadwinner has finished work, so isn't it proper wifely support for the homemaker to have a warm meal ready?