Obedience Training (2)
Choi Mari wore a slightly tense expression, as if steeling herself for whatever the training might hold.
In the face of that, I deliberately put on a relaxed air and calmly set the kitchen coffee pot to boil, unhurried.
"What would you like to drink, sunbae? I've got green tea, black tea, and coffee too."
"...What about the training?"
"I thought we'd start with a light cup of tea first. There are a few things I need to explain before we begin, and caffeine before a workout is good for you anyway."
"...Then black tea."
She didn't dispute the claim that caffeine helped before exercise—she accepted it outright—so I fished out a black tea bag and let it steep in the hot water, just as she wanted.
Mine was coffee, brewed a little lighter than usual. Too much caffeine tends to send me in and out of the bathroom.
If I suddenly had to leave mid-conditioning, all that buildup I'd carefully stacked would lose its momentum, so even the smallest details demanded attention.
—Softly.
"Here you go, sunbae."
"...Right."
I set the teacup down in front of her as gently as I could, careful not to let it clink against the saucer, and she picked it up gingerly and took a sip.
Meeting her eyes over the rim of her cup, I casually, carefully reminded her of what had happened last time.
"Today will be hypnosis training again, sunbae. You remember how it works, right?"
"...I do. You put me under 'hypnosis' like last time, and then I just follow along and do whatever you say."
"There's no need for you to follow my orders, though. Like I told you before—under hypnosis, you're in an unconscious state."
"...That's, that's what I meant."
She was trying her best to play it cool on the surface, but the way she scrambled to cover her slip the moment she realized her mistake was honestly cute.
Naturally, in moments like these, the right move was to play dumb. Since the conditioning wasn't complete yet, it was better not to reveal that I understood the true mechanics of Suggestion: Hypnosis.
Of all the women I was currently conditioning with it, the only one I could safely tell was Cha Eunju—and even with her, it would be better to keep up the pretense a while longer if I wanted to remodel her further to my taste.
"Anyway, today's session will also move from the hypnosis state into impulse suppression training. And since it's impulse suppression training, there will inevitably be a bit of physical contact—the kind your instincts might not exactly welcome, Mari-sunbae."
"...I know. I told you already, didn't I?"
"I'm only mentioning it because today's intensity might be a little higher than last time. Of course, you'll be unconscious during it, so you won't know what the training involves... but I still felt I should at least give you a rough idea of what to expect."
"...Fine."
"If you'd like, I can briefly explain exactly how far we'll be going. What do you say, sunbae?"
"......"
Before the training could begin, Choi Mari bowed her head, a thoughtful look crossing her face at my offer of an explanation.
She already knew what last time's session had entailed, so the mere fact that she'd shown up here was as good as agreeing to that level. And since I'd told her this time would be a step further... her imagination had no choice but to drift somewhere a little more indecent.
If she truly had no memory of her hypnotized state, she would obviously have demanded a full explanation. But the Choi Mari sitting before me retained complete recall of every sensation from her time under hypnosis.
Given that, the decision she would make was obvious—there was no real need to wait for her answer.
"...Forget it. No need to explain. I don't think you'd pull anything weird on me, Seonho."
"Are you sure about that, sunbae?"
"Yeah. It's fine."
Just as I'd predicted, she chose to preserve her trust in me and leave whatever was coming as a matter of anticipation rather than fear.
She knew, on some level, that hearing a proper description would only make it embarrassing to consent afterward. Pet training, tickle endurance—these were exercises any sane person would balk at the instant they heard them described.
Since I'd laid it all out with the confidence of a man running a perfectly reasonable, nothing-to-hide regimen, Choi Mari in turn set her suspicions aside, chose to keep playing along in feigned ignorance, and continued accepting the training.
"Then let's get started. Your head this way, please, sunbae."
"...Okay."
With a hint of lingering hesitation on her face, she leaned her head toward me and quietly accepted the magic and the Suggestion: Hypnosis along with it.
There was still some resistance left, but the flow of mana had weakened compared to when I'd first used it on her last week. Which meant her aversion to being hypnotized by me had dulled as well.
It also meant her resistance to the training I was putting her through wasn't all that high—so I could safely push things a good deal further than before.
"Mari-sunbae, are you under?"
"...Yeah. I'm under."
"Good, you're under. Then first, you know what you have to say, right? Call me Master."
"......Yes, Master."
There was a flicker of hesitation, but the polite address and the word Master still came out of her mouth remarkably flatly.
There was no need to explain the pet treatment this time like I had before. It was time to begin the conditioning in earnest.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
A strangely electrifying heat was simmering up from somewhere deep in her body.
Choi Mari fixed her gaze quietly on Lee Seonho, doing her utmost not to let her heart—pounding fit to burst—show on her face.
Stay calm. Stay calm.
It only looked strange from the outside. The training genuinely worked. She repeated that to herself over and over, straining to make peace with the situation she was in.
It didn't erase the humiliation of having to play an obedient puppy in front of her junior, of course. But at least it gave her the feeling that what she was doing right now had a justification.
Having somehow steadied her emotions with that thought, she heard Seonho's calm voice drift to her ear.
"Sit."
"......"
—Swoosh.
Her body dropped into a sitting position the instant the words left his mouth.
It moved first; the deliberation came after. Realizing this, Choi Mari felt heat creep across her cheeks.
"Down."
"......"
"Sit."
"......"
"Hand."
"...Whew."
He issued each command in the flat, matter-of-fact voice of a man training a puppy to be obedient—and her body moved to obey him.
And strange as it was, she couldn't quite bring herself to dislike it.
Quietly following his words, doing dog-like—no, puppy-like things, she felt his hand settle gently on her head.
—Pat, pat.
"Good girl, Mari. Smart girl, our Mari."
"...Thank you."
It's embarrassing. I want to stop right this second.
But she had to keep the act of 'being hypnotized' going, after all.
And besides, this was still training meant to suppress her impulses.
If she quit now just because she didn't want to do it, she'd never be able to face Seonho again—and so Choi Mari quietly accepted his touch.
"This time, crawl over here on all fours."
"......Yes."
One hand pressed to her thundering heart, she crawled carefully on all fours toward where he sat.
"Now bark for me. Say 'woof.' Tongue out."
"......"
"Mari? You're supposed to do as you're told."
"...W...woof."
Like a puppy brought to heel, she let out a small, puppy-like yip.
"There we go. Good girl. Good, good."
—Tickle, tickle.
"Mmh, hah, hnn..."
As his fingers scratched under her chin in reward, she fought to swallow the sounds that threatened to slip out of her.
Every time she did, she thought about how much she wanted this humiliating training to be over—yet the fluttering warmth in her chest simply refused to settle.
And so, before she knew it, she was tilting her head upward, offering her chin so his hand could scratch her all the more easily.
"Next—show me 'belly up.'"
"......Yes?"
"Not 'yes.' 'Woof.' Lie down on your back and show me your tummy, Mari."
"......Woof."
Okay, this one is just too embarrassing.
She understood that impulse suppression training was the point, but did it really have to go this far?
She knew, rationally, that keeping up the 'hypnotized' act meant she had no choice. But her body simply wouldn't move.
Because she couldn't stop imagining how she would look in Seonho's eyes—flat on her back on the floor, belly exposed like a dog—and her face burned at the thought.
...Still. I have to do it.
If she didn't play this properly, everything she'd done so far would be exposed as an act.
To be caught now—to have every crawl on all fours, every tilt of her chin, revealed as nothing but pretense—would be a far deeper humiliation for Choi Mari than anything the training itself could dish out.
—Splat.
"...W-woof."
And so she flopped flat onto her back, shoulders against the cold floor, just like a puppy.
...Letting out an unsolicited puppy whimper, apparently as collateral for her embarrassment.
Hah... what on earth am I even doing right now...
She lay sprawled on the floor, belly thrust out in utter defenselessness, like a pet fawning over its master.
Of all days, she'd shown up in a tank top workout outfit again, and the strip of exposed stomach somehow felt unbearably awkward.
She'd never once felt self-conscious exercising with Seonho before. Why did this one position make her so mortifyingly aware of her own skin?
Even drowned in that shame, she managed to press her body obediently against the floor and wait for him to give the command to 'get up.'
—Sliiide.
"Hh—hah...?"
His palm landed flat on her stomach without warning, and an illicit little sound slipped out of her before she could stop it.
—Stroke, stroke.
"Mmnh, hh, hnn...?!"
"There's our Mari. Good girl, good."
He stroked in slow circles around her navel, murmuring her name like a whispered praise.
And from the moment his touch shifted from gentle petting into something that genuinely tickled, it became harder and harder to hold her voice in.
—Tickle, tickle.
"Nngh...! Ah, haah...!!"
"You have to stay still, you know? I didn't say you could get up yet, Mari."
"Y-yes...?"
"What did I say instead of 'yes'?"
"W-woof...! Woof..."
"That's right. That's right."
—Tickletickle, tickletickle...
"Hnngh, hh, haah...!! W-woof...!!"
Hold it in. I have to hold it in, no matter what.
Choi Mari bore his touch with that single thought burning in her mind, endlessly reassuring herself that this wasn't Seonho doing something strange to her—it was simply part of instinct suppression training.
Endure it. Endure it, Choi Mari...
If she broke here, the whole act would come crumbling down with her.
—Tickle, tickle...
"W-woooof...!! Woof, woof...!!"
Disguising her bursting laughter as puppy barks however she could, Choi Mari prayed for this ordeal to end even a second sooner.
...Completely unaware that, from somewhere deeper than anywhere his fingers touched, an inexplicable heat was blooming and spreading.