Impulse Suppression Training (2)
Hypnosis.
At that short, two-syllable word, Choi Marie's body instinctively raised its guard.
Coming out of her normally naive junior Seonho's mouth, it was a fairly provocative answer.
"...Hypnosis training?"
"Yes. Hypnosis training."
"......"
At least she hadn't misheard. Which made it all the more baffling.
Seonho, on the other hand, was so calm, so utterly composed, as he continued his explanation of the training.
"I'll place you under hypnosis and take control of your body, Marie-sunbae. Then I'll suppress your impulsive tendencies and train your body and subconscious to react appropriately to whatever situation arises."
"...So you're saying you'll hypnotize me and control my body?"
"That would be part of the process, yes. But the essence of it is impulse suppression training through hypnosis."
That's the same thing, isn't it. The words nearly slipped out of her mouth. Fortunately, she swallowed them back down.
Meanwhile, as if he'd read her expression, Seonho simply kept explaining how the hypnosis training would proceed.
"It's training, first and foremost. I understand why it makes you uneasy, Marie-sunbae. Handing control of your body over to a member of the opposite sex is bound to feel strange. Of course you'd be skeptical of me."
"...No, it's not that I don't trust you, Seonho..."
"But if you can't control your emotions consciously, then learning through the subconscious is the most effective method."
He wasn't wrong. He wasn't wrong, but...
Still, wondering if there might be another way, Choi Marie carefully asked for alternatives.
"...Are there other options?"
"There's standard meditation training. There's maintaining a clear mind in combat by receiving my buffs. Or there's a method where I take control of you mid-battle to restrain your actions."
"Th-then, meditation training..."
"Meditation is something you can do on your own without my help, so I didn't bother bringing it up. Of course it would help if I assisted, but I judge that meditation alone wouldn't fully suppress your impulses."
"What about the others...?"
"Receiving my buffs in combat only works when you're with me. We're in different years — you can't take every team assignment with me. And are you really going to depend on me for every single fight, like that 'weak-willed person' you were talking about?"
"......"
"...Well, if that's what you want, I don't particularly mind. Though in that case we'd have to move to somewhere like the academy Training Grounds instead of my place. It'd be a stopgap measure, but it should be enough to get you through this group assignment."
...Why is it that everything he was saying to her now sounded like an ultimatum?
She knew the reason, really. It was obvious how he would perceive her if she chose the easy path instead of the surefire method he was offering.
After making the very mistake that had nearly gotten him killed, if she didn't show genuine resolve to change... he would be disappointed in her.
And if that happened, she'd probably never get another chance to repair their relationship.
"I'll proceed in a way that leaves you the minimal amount of control, so you can stop at any time. Even in your subconscious state, you'll be able to tell me to quit whenever you want if the training doesn't sit well with you."
"......"
"Or would you prefer a different training method? If so, since you'd be accepting my help anyway, how about regulating your emotions in combat through my buffs..."
"...I'll do it. The hypnosis training."
"I'm sorry?"
"That hypnosis training, whatever it is. I'll do it."
Honestly speaking, she couldn't say she fully trusted him yet.
There was still a chance that Seonho might use training as an excuse to hypnotize her and do... something strange to her. She couldn't completely rule that out.
But even so, there was nothing she could do. She had already lost his trust, and to win it back, she needed to clearly show him that she believed in him.
And considering what she'd done to him, even if he did do something to her, she'd have to accept at least some of it.
...As long as he doesn't cross the line. And as long as it eases even a little of the resentment he holds toward me.
"You don't have to force yourself. I don't want to pressure you into this."
"No, I'll do it. You're right, Seonho — I need training like that."
"...I'm glad to hear you say that."
"I mean, I don't think you'd use hypnosis to do anything weird anyway. That... I trust you."
Before she knew it, Choi Marie had let slip that she trusted Lee Seonho. If she showed him she believed in him, he might believe in her one more time in return.
And if what her junior said was true, she could stop at any time.
'I don't know if that's really true... but right now, I have no choice but to act like I believe him.'
With that thought, Choi Marie quietly accepted the hand now reaching toward her head.
Suggestion: Hypnosis
※ Target: Choi Marie
I placed my hand on the crown of Choi Marie's head and poured mana into her mind.
'She says she trusts me, but apparently not enough to trust me that much.'
The amount of mana flowing in told me everything. When a target accepted the Suggestion willingly versus when resistance still lingered in their psyche, the mana consumed was noticeably different.
For example, with Cha Eunju it was barely more than the base cost. Kim Isabel took just a little more. With Han Sora, it varied by the Suggestion I was casting — she accepted Artemis's Soul without any resistance, but Hypnosis cost slightly more than the Succubus's Soul I used on Kim Isabel.
And Choi Marie landed somewhere in between the Born Actor I cast on Min Yewon and the Hypnosis I cast on Han Sora.
'Pushing too hard right out of the gate will be difficult.'
I'd have to build trust gradually, the same way I had with the other heroines. Keep reminding her, even while under hypnosis, that I wouldn't do anything strange to her — until she started doubting the very act of doubting me.
Still, factoring in the guilt Choi Marie carried toward me, I figured I could manage at least the beginning of her training.
"Marie-sunbae, are you under hypnosis?"
"...Yeah."
She was expressionless at the best of times, so she played the part of a hypnotized person quite well. At the very least, she felt far more convincingly hypnotized than Cha Eunju or Han Sora ever had.
"Since this is training, I'll be dropping the honorifics from now on. For your impulse suppression and behavioral correction, the first step is getting you used to obeying what I say."
"...Do whatever you want."
"Right. Then, Marie."
"......"
-Flinch.
I'd given her warning, but she still reacted slightly to my sudden shift in tone.
She was guardedly wary of the atmosphere changing so abruptly along with my speech. She also seemed to be warily gauging what kind of commands I might give her next.
But she showed no sign of refusing my words, so I judged it safe to proceed.
"From this moment on, your body, Choi Marie, will respond only to my instructions. Do as I say, and when I tell you not to do something, you follow that instruction to the letter."
"...Okay."
"If at any point you want to stop, say so. You can quit midway whenever you like."
"...Got it."
"And use honorifics instead of casual speech. Starting now, you need to learn how to follow orders."
"......Understood."
Being told to use honorifics with her own junior clearly bruised her pride — she bit down on her lower lip once before nodding.
Even under Suggestion: Hypnosis, Choi Marie was still Choi Marie. Headstrong, proud, impulsive.
Of course, while the Suggestion was active she had no choice but to play along obediently. But thinking of the possibility that she might come flying at me in a rage the instant it wore off, I needed to use small routines like this to steadily settle her mind whenever the opportunity arose.
"Good. Keep doing that from now on, Choi Marie."
-Pat, pat.
"......?"
"From now on, think of me stroking your head like this as a reward. And you, Choi Marie, will obey me obediently in order to earn that reward."
"......"
"You have to answer."
"......Yes. Understood."
Her responses still came a beat late, as if she wasn't pleased about it — but that was a problem that would resolve itself before long.
If I used repetitive routines while Suggestion: Hypnosis was active to implant the association 'head pat = reward', then at some point she would naturally start acting in order to earn the reward.
After teaching her the routine for praise as well, I began the hypnosis training in earnest.
"Choi Marie. Sit."
"......?"
"Sit. Choi Marie."
"......"
-Slide.
Wearing a briefly puzzled expression, as if she hadn't understood my words, Choi Marie cautiously lowered her bottom onto the sofa.
I didn't get flustered or angry at her action — I simply continued the training calmly, as if giving the most obvious instruction in the world.
"No, not on the sofa. Sit on the floor. Like you would when training a dog."
"Wh...at? Yes?"
"Entering impulse suppression training starts with obeying my words. Stand up again."
"...Yes."
Perhaps she hadn't expected training like this, because Choi Marie rose from her seat and shot me a searching look.
To make sure she couldn't even think to doubt it, I issued my next instructions as flatly as possible, as if this were a perfectly natural and necessary exercise.
...Something is very, very wrong here.
"Choi Marie. Sit."
"......"
"Down."
"......"
"Sit. Again."
"......"
Seonho's 'impulse suppression training' had begun with her kneeling in front of him.
No matter how she looked at it, his instructions felt like nothing other than training a puppy, and questions naturally bloomed one after another in Choi Marie's mind.
'What exactly is he trying to do...?'
She couldn't make sense of it. She wasn't even sure this was really the hypnosis training he'd talked about.
It was all the more confusing because the hypnosis hadn't properly taken hold. If she'd actually been hypnotized, these doubts would never have surfaced in the first place.
Still, just in case, she'd planned to quietly observe Lee Seonho's behavior while pretending to be under hypnosis — but the orders he was giving her now fell into neither of the categories she had anticipated.
'He's not making any strange physical contact, so he probably doesn't have any weird intentions... but I still have no idea what any of this has to do with suppressing impulses...'
Neither perverted nor serious — a bizarre training that was somehow both at once.
And yet she had to keep her act of 'pretending to be hypnotized' from being discovered, so she quietly followed his orders.
"Down."
"......"
"Roll to the right."
"......"
...That command, however humiliating it might be.
'For now... I'll bear it. He hasn't crossed any lines, after all.'
She could confirm later whether he was actually taking this hypnosis training seriously.
Once the training ended, she could casually ask him what that was all about and watch his reaction. If this really was serious training, he wouldn't be fazed even if she guessed at or mentioned the content.
With that thought, Choi Marie obediently followed his instructions like a puppy being trained by its master.
"Choi Marie. Paw."
"......"
-Tap.
"The other one."
"......"
-...Tap.
She truly, truly felt like she'd been turned into a dog. The humiliation was unbearable.
If she'd known the training would be like this, she honestly would have preferred to be genuinely hypnotized. Playing act-the-dog in front of her junior with a fully conscious mind was not exactly an enjoyable experience.
'I need to keep observing for now. Just a little longer...'
She was only pretending to be hypnotized anyway, and if he did happen to cross the line, she could resist at any moment.
As Choi Marie quietly sized up the situation with that thought, his right hand came to rest gently on top of her head.
-Pat, pat.
"Good girl, Marie. Smart girl."
"......"
"You have to answer."
"...Th-thank you."
...Why on earth did being praised so shamefully while getting her head stroked produce even the faintest flicker of pleasure? She really couldn't say.
But to understand the situation, Choi Marie resolved to keep 'pretending to be hypnotized' a little while longer.