How to Cure Androphobia (3)
“I-I-I'll t-try your, your mental buff, j-just once….”
Nice!
No—calm down. Don't get excited. Act as composed as possible.
I absolutely could not let a hint of what I was feeling right now show on my face. If I started grinning the moment she said she'd take my buff, what would Kim Isabel think?
She'd wonder whether I was planning to use her for some strange purpose under the pretext of buffing her. That I might be trying to control her mind with some skill that wasn't really a buff at all. Her guard would shoot straight up—I could see it coming a mile away.
“Sure. If you want it, Isabel, I'll help you.”
As brazenly and naturally as I could manage.
I answered without letting even the faintest sliver of a lecherous smile slip through—adopting the attitude of someone doing this for her sake rather than my own. That was the only way Kim Isabel would lower her guard and agree to receive a Suggestion from me again next time.
“A-and also….”
“Hmm?”
“I-I'm truly sorry to ask this, but… c-could you keep it to just… just ten seconds…?”
“…….”
“C-could you release it right away, after about ten seconds? As a, as a test…?”
…Yeah, I knew things had been going a little too smoothly.
There was no way that cautious little priestess was going to let me touch her this easily.
That said, even accounting for this, getting our relationship this far in such a short time was an undeniably huge haul. There was no need to get greedy.
“Of course. Take as long as you need.”
“Th-thank you….”
“Don't apologize. Mental buffs can be pretty scary for someone hearing about them for the first time, I get that. Just being willing to try one, even for a moment, shows a good attitude.”
“Y-yes….”
“So, to apply the buff, my palm needs to be touching your head, Isabel.”
“…….”
“…….”
Kim Isabel, who couldn't get anywhere near my bed and was still standing almost at the door, was never going to manage it in this state.
If she could just work up the courage to bring her head to my right hand even once, everything would be simple—but if everything went exactly the way I wanted it to, I wouldn't have needed to invest this much time and effort into winning Kim Isabel over in the first place.
To prove that I was a completely harmless presence to her, I needed to put her at ease, even if only in what she could see.
“I figure it might feel awkward with me watching you the whole time, so I'll just stay like this—turn my head away and close my eyes. Whenever you're ready, Isabel, come over and bring your head to my hand.”
“Y-you really don't need to go that far….”
“It's fine, don't worry about it. And if it's too hard today, we can always try again another time.”
“…….”
Outwardly I played the considerate gentleman, but my words kept prodding at Kim Isabel's conscience.
It was a quiet promise that this situation would never end unless she brought her head to my hand herself.
“…….”
-Thump.
“…….”
-Thump.
So… how many minutes had passed?
The sound of Kim Isabel's footsteps, one small step at a time over long minutes, gradually drawing closer from the door.
While she took what felt like an eternity to approach, I neither looked her way nor rushed her. I simply waited in silence.
-Swooosh.
“Hh, haaah….”
With a sound halfway between a whimper and a held-back cry, the crown of Kim Isabel's veiled head finally came to rest against my right palm.
Suggestion: Succubus's Heart
※ Target: Isabel Maria Kim
…Huh. That takes noticeably more mana than I expected. Like with Cha Eunju, casting on her without any resistance from the start is quite the drain.
Still, this much was well within what my mana could handle. The cost was roughly on par with the Suggestion I'd slipped onto her back during the practical exam, under the cover of the chaos.
“It's on, Isabel.”
“Y-yes…. I can feel it too….”
“How does it feel? Still scared of me?”
“…….”
She stood frozen for a moment, as if checking the 'buff' now resting on her, then carefully turned her head toward me.
And then, with deliberate caution, she shook her veiled head from side to side.
“No. I'm not scared.”
“Then how do you feel?”
“Somehow… Lee Seonho feels reassuring. Like someone I need.”
“…That last part must be a side effect. Sorry—I'll look into a different buff next time.”
“Oh no, there's really no need for that. Just this alone seems to have almost erased my aversion to men.”
Only her androphobia had vanished, yet talking with her felt like conversing with an entirely different person. Her stutter was gone, her anxious tension settled—that must have been why.
Even behind the veil, her face was turned squarely toward me. It genuinely felt like we were speaking while looking each other in the eye.
“Let's start by getting you used to being around men with this. Keep it up, and eventually you won't need the buff at all—you'll be able to handle men just fine on your own.”
“…I've struggled with this condition for almost ten years, and having it vanish so easily feels strangely empty. But then, being given the chance to fix it through you, Lee Seonho—I actually think I'm lucky.”
“Good, I like the positive attitude. By the way, Isabel—it's already been ten seconds.”
“Ah, ten seconds…. Now that you mention it, we did agree on that, didn't we.”
It was a contract her past self—still terrified of men—had set up as a safety measure, and now that her phobia had melted away, she seemed almost wistful about it.
Believe me, I would have loved to push things much further with Kim Isabel while she was under the influence of the 'Succubus's Heart.' But right now, it was on me to restrain myself firmly.
In the early stages, building trust trumped everything. Even if she herself started wanting to keep the Suggestion going, I was the one who had to end it decisively—that was the only way to win her trust after the suggestion wore off.
He kept his promise even when I was losing my self-control. Once she thought that, she'd bring her head to my hand next time with far less reluctance.
“Lee Seonho, could we maybe just a little long—”
“Even if you don't want to release it, let's release it first. That's what we agreed on, remember?”
“……Yes.”
“We can just set a longer time next time. If you want to get used to it, that's the right way—stretching it out little by little.”
“…Yes. I'm sorry for pressing you, Lee Seonho.”
Her answer sounded oddly downcast, and my chest tightened a little at the sight—but this, too, was simply part of building trust.
It would take at least a month, probably, before I could apply a real 'hypnosis.' And the actual training proper would need even more time, no question.
Even if it took over a year, so what? One or two years to turn the original heroines into my personal sex slaves was a bargain, frankly.
-Swooosh.
“…….”
Kim Isabel quietly leaned her head back into my right hand at my firm tone—no hesitation this time—so I released the Suggestion without delay.
Suggestion Released
“There, it's o—”
“Hnngh—?!”
-CRASH-BANG…!!
“…….”
…Suggestion or not, I hadn't expected the gap to be that brutal.
The instant the 'Succubus's Heart' lifted, Kim Isabel bolted from me as if I were some kind of monster. I'd braced myself for it, sure, but it still stung a little, even for me.
“Haah, h-haaah….”
“…Um, Isabel?”
“I-I-I-I'm so sorry…!!!”
-Sliiide, SLAM!
“No, wait—”
…I still haven't gotten my evening treatment, you know.
Please don't let this end up extending my hospital stay or anything.
“Haah, haah, haah….”
A private hospital room where she'd been left alone with a man.
Kim Isabel, who had briefly fallen under the 'buff' before her senses returned to her far too late, had fled Lee Seonho's room as if running for her life.
-Ba-dump, ba-dump, ba-dump….
“Haah, haaah, haah….”
Her heart pounded fit to burst. Her breath came flooding in.
It wasn't the feeling of having met a man she liked. What she'd felt toward Lee Seonho in that final moment had been unmistakable, unadulterated terror.
It had frightened her all the more because it struck at a moment she never saw coming. She'd been perfectly fine just seconds before—yet the instant the buff ended, every one of those feelings vanished as if they'd been lies.
Buff or not… for me to accept a man's touch that naturally….
His ability was, without a doubt, dangerous.
That effect—rewriting even the very core of her personality, her androphobia, as though it were nothing at all.
Worse, while under the buff she had—contrary to her original promise—actually found herself wishing that moment could go on forever. Enough to black out entirely what she'd said when she first asked for it.
If not for his firm answer, she might well have been facing him right now with those manufactured, counterfeit feelings still in place.
Even if you don't want to release it, let's release it first. That's what we agreed on, remember?
“…….”
A bad woman. A wicked woman. A worthless piece of trash.
A selfish woman who sucked out the sweet part she wanted and then ran off.
Unlike Lee Seonho, who had been thinking of her right up to the very end, she'd bolted the second her wits returned—and then had the gall to denounce his ability as dangerous, no less.
If anything, she couldn't even manage to think that a power that dangerous was lucky to reside in a man like Lee Seonho.
At this rate, I haven't improved one bit since the practical exam….
Unlike him—a man who always put others first and did nothing but sacrifice himself—she was using her phobia as an excuse to do nothing but wicked, selfish things.
Just now, too: Lee Seonho had done absolutely nothing wrong, and she'd run away for no better reason than that he scared her.
She was disgusted with herself—receiving his kindness over and over only to repay it with rudeness, time and again.
Every time she hesitated to approach him, she found herself cursing who she was.
I really… hate this condition now….
Until now, being unable to treat male patients had never made her feel this suffocated.
But whenever she acted discourteously toward Lee Seonho, her chest began to ache as if being stabbed over and over.
She hadn't even finished repaying the kindness he'd shown her last time. If she went and got cured of her androphobia on top of it, just how much more would she owe him?
Truthfully, the debt itself wasn't the problem. To Kim Isabel, Lee Seonho was already the most trustworthy man she knew—an benefactor whose kindness to her exceeded anything she deserved.
…The most frightening thing was this condition of hers, the androphobia itself, that made it impossible to repay him even when she desperately wanted to.
Which meant, paradoxically, that in order to settle what she owed Lee Seonho, she would have to keep receiving his 'androphobia treatment' going forward.
…It'll be fine. He's not the kind of person who'd do something terrible to me.
If his goal had been to do to her what her stepfather once had, he'd had more than enough chances already.
Only moments ago he could have taken advantage of her while her wariness of men was dulled—yet Lee Seonho hadn't shown even a hint of that kind of intent.
And so she could trust him. He was different from other men; he would never approach her with some twisted purpose hidden behind his kindness.
…Besides, Lee Seonho already had a beautiful lover—Cha Eunju. There'd be no reason for him to pull anything shady on a girl whose face he'd never even seen.
“…….”
…And yet—why was it?
The moment she realized that Lee Seonho, the very first man she'd ever been able to trust, already had a lover, Kim Isabel felt a dull ache spread through one corner of her chest, and she couldn't for the life of her explain why.