Childhood Friend Has a Dream

"……Park Ha-eun… 33 years ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠old… 168… 57……."

She really is tall. Not every ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠tall woman can enter the Miss Korea pageant, though. Her proportions were perfectly balanced to her height—something no one could fake. Especially that waist, cinched in just right, with curves blooming above and below like a vase. Even in a suit, the lines of her body showed through.

But that wasn't the important part. This was the first move in a grand plan.

— What is your ideal type?

"……A… handsome… man…."

Hmm. Under hypnosis, she tells the truth. So it's not me, at least not yet.

— No. Your ideal type is the man you met today for the first time.

"……No……."

She rejects it immediately, of course. I already knew she would. But from now on, your ideal type is me.

— No. The moment you first saw him, you felt he was your ideal type.

"……That… can't be……."

Strong resistance. Still within expected parameters.

— The ideal type you've always dreamed of is the man who came to see you today.

"……He's… not… my ideal type……."

Huh, damn. Even more resistance than usual. Do you really hate me that much?

— He is exactly the ideal type you've always imagined.

"……The one… I imagined……."

Repeated suggestions. Park Ha-eun's resistance crumbled like a sandcastle before the tide. Hypnosis had that kind of power.

— The moment you first saw him, you realized he was your ideal type.

"……The ideal type… I saw… for the first time……."

Slowly but surely, I overwrote every preference Park Ha-eun had ever built. I replaced them with myself.

— He is your ideal type.

"……Ideal type……."

<00:15> I spent a full three minutes hammering in the same suggestion. Park Ha-eun's ideal type. I erased every dream she'd ever had of one. On top of the ruins, I built my own false fortress.

Whoosh!

"Ha, this is ridiculous."

Doesn't look like some nouveau riche either.

"It was all just bluster?"

Crazy bastard. The more I think about it, the angrier I get. And then he says "see you next week"? The curses just spill out on their own. How could they not?

"Is there a problem, Director…?"

"No. Don't take any more reservations from that man. There really are all kinds of weird people out there."

"Understood, Director."

Hoo, calm down. Just endure it. I won't ever have to see him again anyway.

No need to rush. Just enough to drop a single pebble into a still lake. Why set the suggestion to "ideal type"? Because nothing makes a person more gullible than being in love. Everyone's had that moment—when everything about someone feels adorable, precious, and lovable no matter what they do. Park Ha-eun was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠simply experiencing it at thirty-three.

"That's how you buy land and houses, right?"

"Hm?"

Yoo-na, back from Seoul, tilted her head. Then she started nagging.

"Do-yun~, staying at my place is fine, but clean up a little~."

"You do it."

"What are you even saying~. Get up already~."

In the end, I dragged myself up at my "female friend"'s words. An impromptu spring cleaning was in order.

Childhood Friend Has a Dream.

"……You really think that's going to happen?"

It was just so absurd it was laughable.

"Why wouldn't it?"

Do-yun answered casually while groping his own chest. I pouted at him.

"Some rich noona is going to fall for you and buy you land?"

"Yeah. Why not?"

Did Do-yun always have such a poor grasp of reality? Watching him work, it didn't seem that way.

"Did you get hit somewhere?"

"……No."

"Or are you sick somewhere?"

I reached out and touched his forehead. Not hot. Normal.

"Then why would you think something like that?"

"Just watch."

Do-yun sat up.

"Ugh…."

Then he playfully tugged at my nipple. So that's why he always wanted us naked at home. Sigh~, I guess I'll just go along with it. He's still my friend, after all.

"So?"

When I asked again, Maeng Do-yun put on a serious face. Ugh. Every time he made that face, something big always happened.

"We're both civil servants in Hanasi anyway. We can't go anywhere else. Right?"

I nodded slightly. Unless we quit, we'd probably stay in Hanasi until retirement.

"So to do that, we have to take over Hanasi, don't we?"

"……?"

How did that follow?

"We'll learn from all the rural cartels and political-business collusion we've seen and do the same. Don't you think?"

"……Eh? Why~?"

It was something I'd never even imagined. I stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Because I want to live comfortably, obviously?"

He added quietly, almost as an afterthought.

"But what does that have to do with that noona?"

"With a civil servant's salary, how am I supposed to buy land, build a village, and take over Hanasi?"

"……."

I'd never met this "noona," but somehow…… I felt sorry for her.

"So you're going to date that noona and marry her?"

"Huh? No? Why?"

The way he asked so innocently left me speechless.

"Then you don't like her?"

"No, I do. That's why I'm going to get her pregnant and keep her around."

I felt a twinge of revulsion at how he spoke of her like an object.

"Do-yun."

As his friend, I had to say something when he was wrong.

"You can't treat people like objects. And there's nothing worse than playing with someone's feelings~."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah~."

Even if he talked like this, Do-yun had a good heart. So now he was scratching his cheek, organizing his thoughts—

"It's my dream, though? I'm going to get you pregnant too."

Thud! I pressed a hand to my forehead.

"Do-yun~. If you ever get a girlfriend, she'll hate this so much~."

Childhood Friend Has a Dream. It's just that the dream is weird.

"Hmm, got it. Can't be helped, I guess."

"Right?"

"So getting you pregnant is okay?"

"……No."

He hadn't been like this when we were kids. Ah. Or maybe he had…. He'd always been pushy, even back then……

"Haaah~."

I let out a world-weary sigh.

"Well, at least you're not cheating. That's something."

Maybe it was better he didn't have a girlfriend at all. Whoever ended up dating and marrying Do-yun would be pitiful. In this day and age, who would understand a dream like taking over Hanasi and impregnating every woman he liked?

"Do-yun, I'm fine with getting pregnant, but how heartbroken would the others be~."

At my words, his thing started to grow.

"……Again? You said it hurts~."

In the end, I had to accept his "play" using my body.

"……."

Leaning back in her chair, she pressed her fingers hard against her forehead. After washing her face with dry hands, she stared at the computer to work.

"……."

But she couldn't focus. No matter how much she thought about it, there was no way she could like him. His looks? Painfully average. His wealth? That day's behavior had obviously been all bluster.

"Aaaah~. I don't know~."

Creak~! She flopped completely back in the chair and spun around. The moment she first saw him, her heart had raced, but no matter how she thought about it, there was no reason to fall for him.

The next day. While working, his face kept floating up in her mind.

"Maeng Do-yun…."

Remembering a client's name was basic, but this felt different.

"Director, it's time for your schedule."

"Right. Let's go."

She stood up, trying to erase the image of that boastful man from her head.

One day, two days, three days, four days. Time passed, and the image grew sharper. The heart that had firmly rejected him on the first day had softened. Was it love at first sight? Of course, she'd felt instant attraction and dated before. Men who fell for her were too numerous to count—she'd been pretty enough for Miss Korea, after all. It was both her pride and the source of her self-esteem.

"A~, this is annoying."

She pressed both cheeks with her palms.

"Secretary Kang."

"Yes, Director."

"Let's take that reservation after all."

"……Yes? Who……."

One week. She'd held out for quite a while.

"I thought the reservation had been canceled."

"Well, trust with clients is important, after all."

He gave me an adult's smile.

"You said there wasn't any building you liked, right?"

I liked them all. I just didn't have the money.

"Yeah. Nothing really caught my eye."

"Hmm~, there will be this time. My pride is on the line."

Not all licensed real estate agents were the same. She was nothing like the small-time operators who handled single studio apartments.

"This is a new officetel that just started construction. It'll be completed in two years. As you can see—."

I nodded along as she explained. I hadn't even known Hanasi had this many buildings. Even though the administrative center was just a township, as a new city development zone, new apartments and commercial buildings were lining up under construction. The civil servants here must be insanely busy.

"Where to next?"

At my question, she wiggled her eyebrows with a smile.

"You don't like it? Fine, follow me."

No matter what she suggested, I just nodded like a pigeon. After all, buying a building wasn't the goal.

"Haa~. So that's how it is?"

Park Ha-eun was smiling, but her expression looked somewhat indignant.

"Okay, I give up. You're planning to build something new? You need land?"

"Oh, finally we're on the same page."

"……Then why didn't you say so earlier? Don't you think?"

Now her tone had grown noticeably thorny.

Vroom

"You don't need farmland, right?"

"No."

"So among land categories, there's only one thing you want, correct?"

Land zoned for residential buildings.

"Then how about here?"

Land just one step removed from the new city development zone. This was within my administrative district. Hanasi 1-ri. The area under our Hanasi township office.

"How about this place?"

"Hmm."

Low hills encircled the back, and a fairly wide stream ran in front. Classic baesanimsu terrain. Scattered patches of farmland meant it couldn't all be used as building land.

"Looks good."

"……Honestly, I didn't expect you to say yes right away. Well then."

With her hands on her hips, she spoke with a face full of irritation.

"Are you going to sign the contract right away?"

"I need to check the business viability. Look at the land registry too."

I pulled out my phone as I spoke.

"Of course, of course. I knew you'd say that."

Park Ha-eun looked up at the sky, engraving the character for "endure" on her heart. I casually held out the phone I'd taken out.

"How about it? This should be fine, right?"

"What…, a candle?"

Flicker!

"This isn't… a joke, is it?"

"You have to look for three seconds for it to register and take effect."

I didn't even know what I was saying anymore. This whole process had become tedious. I wished everything would just go the meditation route like with Yoo-na.

"Fine, I'll look."

She stared at the screen as if daring me to try whatever I wanted.

1 second. The bright, irritated, mature light in Park Ha-eun's eyes began to fade.

2 seconds. Focus disappeared, her gaze growing hazy as it followed the candle flame.

3 seconds. Her entire body relaxed, her eyes losing all vitality.

What I had to do next was obvious.

First floor: make her see me as her ideal type.

Second floor: make her love everything about me.

— Even the way he breathes looks cute to you.

"……To me……?"

— Even the way he speaks looks lovely to you.

"……Why……?"

— His gestures, his tone, the way he holds chopsticks, the way he holds his phone—all of it looks lovely to you.

"……Did it……? To me……?"

There was still resistance, but it was futile.

3 minutes. At first it had felt insufficient, but now it was more than enough—overflowing.

— That's right. Every single one of his actions looks cute and lovely to you.

"……Did I… really…… I did……."

Direct, decisive suggestions. Not a drizzle, but a downpour crashing through her mind. Knowing the power of hypnosis, there was no need to hesitate. Every one of Park Ha-eun's original preferences vanished, leaving only the shell I had implanted.

Whoosh!

From now on, you're going to be my reliable sponsor.

"I'm going crazy~."

Convinced that her feelings had to be wrong, she'd gone to the second meeting. He was still rude and full of bluster. He could buy that land? What about all the stakes driven into it? Idiot. And he knew nothing.

"This is really ridiculous."

He was the stupidest, most lacking man she'd ever met. And yet! Why! Why did that sight look so cute to her? She must be insane. She'd seen plenty of men who put on airs to look good in front of her, but never one like this.

"This is annoying!"

She couldn't figure him out at all.

"Me? Ha? Ridiculous."

Something had gone seriously wrong. And to fix it, she contacted him.

[Do-yun-ssi, if you have time, let's meet once.]

And the reply that came back only made her angrier.

[Why should I]

"Agh~! I can't even beat him ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up!"

He's so much younger, too!