Hikikomori Park Seoyun [People Are Scary]
It was too massive to even gauge its diameter. It looked well over a hundred meters across. ‘So this is how mental illness manifests.’
It wasn’t a domain one could adjust at will, yet it exerted enormous influence over both mind and body. That was why it loomed pitch-black and mountain-sized. ‘Can the Modification App even treat something like this?’
I reached out and touched the sphere. A rough estimate formed in my mind. With enough time, treatment was possible. The problem was that I would have no energy left to modify anything else while I worked on it. ‘Let’s just leave it.’
After all, my goal had never been to cure Park Seoyun. I was here to fuck her.
Instead, I split off a single Subconscious Concept from the mental-illness sphere.
[Kim Junyoung is less scary than other people]
It was still tiny, crushed beneath the overwhelming pressure of the illness sphere, but I could enlarge it gradually from now on.
“Keyword search. Kim Junyoung.”
The mind map spun and settled on a sphere smaller than one meter across. The derived concepts attached to it were almost nonexistent.
[Childhood friend’s older brother]
[A stranger]
[Scary]
[He’s a counselor]
[I need to receive counseling from this person]
[I wish he would leave quickly]
She really was treating me like ‘Friend’s Brother A.’ ‘First, delete [Scary] and [Leave quickly].’ I needed to get as close to Park Seoyun as possible.
I created new Subconscious Concepts.
[Kim Junyoung is a competent counselor]
[Kim Junyoung is a trustworthy person]
[I completely trust every word Kim Junyoung says as my counselor]
Next I searched for the [Self-Improvement] sphere. It was one Park Seoyun had possessed from the beginning.
[For a better future, I must engage in self-improvement]
I reinforced it. The five-meter sphere swelled to ten. Then I added fresh Subconscious Concepts.
[If I don’t engage in self-improvement, my life will only get worse]
[If I am not doing self-improvement, I am consumed by restlessness and anxiety]
A dark-gray one-meter sphere formed. ‘That’s enough for today…’
Modification Mode has been terminated.
Time, which had been frozen, began to flow again. The room returned to normal.
“So your only income is allowance from your parents?”
“…Yeah.”
I continued the counseling session as if nothing had happened.
“Are you still doing any self-improvement these days?”
“Uh, um… a little?”
“And you spend most of your day on the computer or your phone?”
“Yeah…”
She seemed embarrassed by her own answer and lowered her head.
“How would you feel about increasing the time you spend on self-improvement?”
“Yeah… I guess I really should, huh…?”
At some point Park Seoyun had naturally switched to casual speech with me. The modifications had greatly reduced her wariness toward me.
“Right. But don’t push yourself too hard. Oh, would you like me to recommend a self-improvement book?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah! If you could, I’d really appreciate it…”
Thanks to the modifications, Park Seoyun trusted my advice intensely. It wasn’t at full strength yet since the changes were fresh, but it was more than enough to influence her without triggering resistance.
“All right. I’ll bring a book with me tomorrow.”
I killed the remaining thirty minutes with light chatter and ended the session. When I stepped out of her room, her mother and father were waiting.
“All finished?”
“Yes. Since it was the first day I kept things light and recommended a book.”
I played along, dragging out the conversation. The more we talked about the counseling, the stronger their own modifications would become.
“By the way, does Seoyun have any other mental conditions besides social anxiety?”
“That’s all the diagnosis mentioned.”
“That’s a relief.”
I mixed in just the right amount of polite hypocrisy, then stood.
“Well, I should get going.”
“Take care. See you next week.”
I left the apartment and headed for the elevator.
Not many points had accumulated, but before pushing deeper into Park Seoyun’s conquest I needed to take stock of my overall condition. ‘First, upgrade Eloquence to Level 2.’ The skill would be a huge help in conquering her.
Would you like to upgrade the skill ‘Eloquence’?
‘Yes.’
Eloquence Lv.2 (Passive)
A minor corrective buff is now applied to all forms of communication.
I had spent 1,000 points. ‘Upgrade Master’s Touch to Level 2 as well.’ In the process of conquering Park Seoyun I would be using my hands far more than I had with Gong Jiyun or Seong Yua. From the next modification onward, finger skills would be critical.
Would you like to upgrade the skill ‘Master’s Touch’?
‘Yes.’
Master’s Touch Lv.2 (Passive)
A minor corrective buff is now applied to all actions requiring manual dexterity.
I poured the remaining points into skill and item boxes.
Open 3 Random Skill Boxes?
Open 2 Random Item Boxes?
This was the moment I needed the universe’s help. ‘Yes.’
Please.
Stamina Enhancement
Enema
Macro
Stamina Enhancement Lv.1 (Passive)
Physical stamina is slightly increased.
Enema
Completely eradicates all foreign substances inside the target’s intestines.
Macro Lv.1 (Active)
Automatically casts a registered skill at set intervals.
Number of skills that can be registered: 1
“Oh!”
Excellent results. While milking Gong Jiyun and Seong Yua I had keenly felt the lack of both virility and stamina. I had already solved the virility problem with an earlier draw, but my stamina had remained unchanged. The result had been the tragicomic situation of a rock-hard cock paired with a body too exhausted to move.
Stamina Enhancement was exactly what I needed. ‘Enema looks useful too.’ My target range included anal play, after all. The skill would skip all the annoying preparation that normally came with it. ‘Macro… I’m not sure yet.’
Next came the items.
◈ Selects one body part of the target and turns it into a highly sensitive erogenous zone.
◈ Beginner-grade anal beads used for anal masturbation.
“Hmm…”
The items were hard to judge at first glance, but when I considered the overall set I couldn’t help but laugh. ‘Enema, Macro, Erogenous Zone Development, Anal Beads…’ Park Seoyun’s murderous hips floated in my mind, and a truly devilish plan took shape. ‘I’m going to have to tweak the planned modifications a little.’
My balls tightened with excitement and anticipation.
A week passed. It was Saturday again.
“Hello.”
“You’re here.”
“Yo.”
Her mother and Park Youngmin greeted me warmly. Over the past week I had held a total of four counseling sessions with Park Seoyun—two extra sessions on weekdays in addition to the weekend ones. The reason was simple: I needed her mind to fully adapt to the modifications. For that, the more conversation the better.
‘The Eloquence skill really pulled its weight.’
Thanks to it, Park Seoyun no longer found me difficult to talk to. On the contrary, she now trusted and relied on me completely. The concepts inside her head had grown in size as they adapted to the modifications.
I entered her room and began the session.
“Noona, you’ve been obsessed with self-improvement lately, haven’t you?”
“Huh? How did you know?”
“It shows.”
Because of the modifications, not doing self-improvement would leave her unbearably restless and anxious.
“Wow… you really are something else.”
Park Seoyun wiped the sweat from her neck and marveled.
“It’s nothing.”
I had to keep subtly elevating her perception of me like this. The more she saw me as a competent counselor, the more she would trust me.
“How many hours a day do you spend on self-improvement?”
“Um… I’m not sure, but I’m pretty much always doing it.”
“Pretty much always? That’s vague. Can you give me a specific number?”
“If you subtract sleeping and eating… um… maybe sixteen hours?”
Sixteen hours? “S-sixteen hours?”
“Yeah. Around that much.”
The modifications seemed to have taken root far more powerfully than I expected. ‘No… this isn’t at the level of “pretty strong.”’ It meant that, aside from eating and washing, she was devoting herself exclusively to self-improvement. Just as she said—pretty much always.
In all my experience so far, the modifications had never strengthened this quickly. ‘Her mind hasn’t fully adapted yet.’ It was as if the concepts I had planted a week ago had already seized complete control of her psyche.
“Just a moment.”
I excused myself, took out my phone, and activated Modification Mode. Time stopped. The scenery changed. I examined Park Seoyun’s inner world.
[If I don’t engage in self-improvement, my life will only get worse.]
[If I am not doing self-improvement, I am consumed by restlessness and anxiety.]
The Subconscious Concepts I had created a week earlier. ‘What the hell…?’ The spheres that had been a mere one meter across had already grown to fifteen meters. ‘How is the growth rate this fast…?’
I looked around for the cause and discovered an extremely thick line connecting these spheres to another concept. ‘This is it?’
I followed the line. When I reached its destination I could only sigh.
“Ah…”
So that was it. This was what had been empowering the concepts containing the keywords ‘anxiety’ and ‘restlessness.’ The previous doctors had claimed she had no other mental illnesses, but… ‘Those quacks were right after all.’
Then what on earth was this black sun-like sphere?
‘This… has to be over two hundred meters.’
[It’s hard]
Park Seoyun had been suffering from depression.
Modification Mode has been terminated.
I took both of Park Seoyun’s hands in mine. When our eyes met she smiled brightly and squeezed back.
“Um… Noona, by any chance…”
She looked so cheerful—how could she have depression?
“Before you started counseling with me… were you often anxious and struggling like that?”
“Yeah! That’s right! Even when I was playing, sleeping, or studying, my heart was always anxious. How did you know?”
“J-just a feeling. More importantly, were the symptoms that severe?”
“Um… it was a little hard sometimes. But… isn’t everyone struggling these days? Other people must be hurting as much as me, or even more. I just laze around at home.”
“…”
She herself was completely unaware that she had depression. ‘The influence mental illness exerts on the inner world… it’s truly immense.’
I already knew that using a target’s preexisting concepts made modifications far more efficient. But this was the first time I truly understood the power contained inside a colossal sphere called mental illness.
I opened the app again. ‘I can’t treat something that huge, but…’ At the very least I could take measures to prevent the worst-case scenario. That much wasn’t difficult.
Modification Mode activated.
I created Subconscious Concepts, making them as dark as possible.
[No matter how hard it gets, I will never commit suicide]
[No matter how hard it gets, I will never self-harm]
They were so black that even making them one meter across was difficult, but ‘This should be enough.’
I returned to the area I had been working on earlier. ‘…They’ve ripened beautifully.’ The spheres were plump and full, a rich harvest.
“Keyword search. Self-improvement.”
I created Surface Concepts linked to the Self-Improvement sphere.
[Masturbation is an excellent form of self-improvement]
[I will not tell anyone the content of my self-improvement]
[I am very clumsy at self-improvement. Therefore I need Kim Junyoung to teach me.]
I then created a Subconscious Concept.
[I feel the same sense of fulfillment from the pleasure of masturbation as I do from my life genuinely improving]
‘Creating the anti-depression measures used up most of my energy.’ It was best to stop here for today. The previous modifications had taken root astonishingly well, so this would be sufficient.
Modification Mode has been terminated.
“Noona.”
“Yeah?”
“Instead of just reading books, how about trying a different kind of self-improvement?”
“What kind?”
Park Seoyun leaned forward, eyes sparkling. It was proof that she was passionate about self-improvement and relied heavily on my advice.
“Try masturbating.”
“Masturbating?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Uh, um… m-masturbation… is a bit…”
She hesitated, embarrassed. The modifications had not yet fully settled, so a slight rejection response remained.
“You’ve already read plenty of self-improvement books. At this point books won’t have much effect.”
“Well… that’s true, but…”
“Masturbation is surprisingly effective. Before I got my job I masturbated every single day.”
Park Seoyun’s face flushed bright red. “W-what? Huh? D-did you just say…”
“I said I masturbated every day. That’s how I managed to land my job.”
“Uh, ah, uwaaa…”
As expected, because I hadn’t enlarged the spheres enough the implanted concepts were still weak. It looked like I wouldn’t be seeing Park Seoyun’s pussy today. I would focus on advancing as far as I could using only the Eloquence skill.
“Don’t you masturbate, Noona?”
“I-I do, but… n-no, that’s not what I…”
“How often do you do it?”