Annoying Bastard (2)
There were two options: 'normal training,' where Han Sora shot with a buff that was applied and then released, or 'hypnosis training,' where she moved only at Lee Seonho's instruction while under the hypnosis buff.
When he told her she could only pick one, Han Sora had chosen the latter, and now she quietly turned it over in her mind.
…It's not like I have any particular feelings for Lee Seonho or anything. It's just for the sake of improving faster.
Normal training would help her skills too, of course, but as far as she could feel, it didn't come close to comparing with hypnosis training. When Artemis's Soul wore off, the sensations faded far more easily than she expected—having to search for the correct posture through memory alone was maddeningly difficult.
Hypnosis training, on the other hand, was far more efficient, because she could build the right form even while fully conscious. Even if that was only a side effect of the 'hypnosis' buff failing to take proper hold.
'Lee Seonho still doesn't know his hypnosis buff doesn't actually work.'
Someday she wanted to tell him. But not now.
She didn't want him to feel betrayed by learning she'd been hiding it all this time—and besides, the training she did under the name of 'hypnosis training' was far too embarrassing to go through while wide awake.
However much it was called training, a man and a woman holding proper form with their bodies pressed together front to back was an intensely mortifying thing. The only reason she could bear it was because he believed she was actually hypnotized.
So for now, it had to stay hidden. But she couldn't give up the training either, which left her no choice but to keep doing it this way.
…I really am selfish.
She was exploiting Lee Seonho's freely offered kindness for her own comfort, and pretending not to notice how affectionate her friends were toward him, for fear it might somehow interfere with her training.
Until now she'd never had anyone to lean on or rely on, so whenever kindness and help came her way, she'd had no way of gauging how far she was allowed to depend on them. If something goes out, something should come back—so why was it that she gave him nothing at all?
'At least once I'm in the Academy, I should pay him back.'
She'd heard in passing that in joint drills and classes, Support Department students had a hard time pairing up with students from other departments.
Knowing Lee Seonho's personality, he'd probably never have trouble finding a partner, but still—you never knew.
With those thoughts in mind, Han Sora carefully presented the crown of her head to him to receive the buff.
"Ready?"
"Yep. Ready, so you can trigger it whenever."
"Okay. I'll wake you up in two hours, then. Rest for a bit."
"…Mm."
Along with a faint trickle of mana, the words hypnosis state flowed directly into her mind.
Of course, hypnosis buff or not, Han Sora's mind remained perfectly sound.
"You're hypnotized, Sora?"
"…Mm. I'm under."
"Then take your bow and nock an arrow, and get into position. We'll start with ten Goblin Spearmen."
"…Okay. Got it."
Because it was the second time, her acting came a little more naturally.
Like an obedient doll, Han Sora followed Lee Seonho's words and drew her bowstring.
"Pull your waist back a little more, and your hip angle's slightly off—can you rotate it a bit?"
"…Waist back, hips rotated."
"Ah, ah—not that direction… this way."
—Squeeze.
"…O-okay."
…I-it's just posture correction, right?
He probably figured that since she was 'hypnotized,' he could be bold about guiding her.
Better than wasting time with endless verbal explanations anyway. And if Lee Seonho really harbored anything strange toward her… he would have done something about it from the very first day.
"Good, then we're starting."
"…Mm."
Calming herself with her own careful logic, Han Sora soon threw herself into the training in earnest.
Preliminary freshman of the Swordsmanship Department at Cheonmu Hunter Academy—Seo Woojin. At the moment, he was in a state of considerable agitation.
His plan—to leverage his awakening ability, Cupid's Blessing, which raised physical capabilities in proportion to how much he was loved by the opposite sex, and become a hunter at the Academy stronger than anyone—was creaking at its very first step.
If anything, he felt weaker now than before he'd even entered the Academy. To be precise, ever since that incident during the entrance exam.
At the time he hadn't had the presence of mind to work it out, but now he could roughly infer the principle behind it. The reason he'd been a little stronger than an ordinary civilian all this time was the love of his childhood friend, Han Sora.
In truth, it was nothing more than Han Sora—a girl too soft-hearted to easily shake people off—extending friendship-level affection. But Seo Woojin had mistaken that feeling for love, and that was precisely why he clung all the harder to Han Sora, the very girl who told him her affection for him had fallen away.
All because of the delusion that winning back someone who had loved him even once would be easier than starting from scratch.
'I could have started over. If only that bastard Lee Seonho hadn't…'
If he hadn't shown up out of nowhere at the exact moment of their reconciliation and thrown a wrench in everything, his awakening ability would have grown far stronger by now.
Already twice that man had driven a wedge between him and Han Sora—and swallowing his hatred, Seo Woojin's own talent for self-rationalization, newly manifested, soon brought peace to his heart.
'…Right. Sora probably didn't mean it seriously anyway. It's all that bastard Lee Seonho's fault—she only took his side because he was right there.'
He'd admit it. The guy had a certain amount of ability, for a Support Department student.
Keeping him around probably helped to some degree. And looking at it objectively, he himself had acted rather pathetic out of impatience—that much was true too.
But at best, that guy was merely "helpful" and nothing more. He himself possessed genuine combat ability, and that Support Department nobody didn't.
Before long, she'd surely realize that he was the one capable of protecting her, not some guy who really could only ever 'support.'
'For now, though, I have to endure. If I fly off the handle at that guy in front of Sora again, she'll just circle the wagons around Lee Seonho again.'
To get close to Han Sora again, he'd have no choice but to make peace with that Support Department loser too.
Having to buddy up with a mere Support student galled his pride to no end, but for the sake of his goal, there were times when a mask was necessary.
'Once she sees how I've changed, Han Sora's heart will change too. She's just sulking a little right now.'
Comforting himself in much the same fashion, Seo Woojin made his way toward the Archery Department Training Grounds, where Han Sora would be.
…That he would find her training in archery with her body entwined with Lee Seonho's was something he would discover mere minutes later.
—Pishuuuuuk!!
'Keheeeek!'
Final target eliminated. Training complete.
"Hah, haaaah…"
—Splat.
The last Goblin Spearman collapsed under Han Sora's arrow, and along with it came the machine's training-complete message.
With a faintly weary groan, she quietly clenched her fist, savoring the joy of victory—and her emotions seeped into me right along with it.
"See? Told you Sora's got real talent."
"……"
"Give it a year or two and you'll be shooting just fine without my support…. Honestly, why is it that everyone around me is nothing but geniuses?"
"……"
I didn't forget to casually slip in praise, either, pretending it was just me talking to myself. While naturally showing Han Sora a side of myself I didn't usually let her see.
Playing the perfectly good person in front of Han Sora actually made me seem a little less human. Showing just a tiny gap—just enough that she wouldn't find it off-putting—actually helped in winning her over.
She was the childhood friend who'd spent nearly ten years with even that pathetic Seo Woojin until Academy admission. Once she discovered there was something she could do for someone, she'd only come to care for that part all the more.
"Eunju, and now Sora too…. I just hope that someday, when you don't need me anymore, neither of you suddenly drifts away, haha…."
"……"
Roughly in that fashion, I gave Han Sora a reason she couldn't pull away from me, collected the arrows, and raised the training difficulty a notch.
"This time I'll have you shoot a little faster. Hold your form properly."
"…Mm."
"Your waist's dipped a little. Raise it a bit more."
—Slide.
"M-gh… mm…"
I corrected her posture with my hands, touching places that didn't strictly need touching. A light touch of the body was, by now, within Han Sora's accepted range.
'Kerrrrgh!'
"……"
The next round of training began with a new Goblin Spearman materializing before her eyes.
The moment Han Sora, bowstring drawn taut, her body pressed against mine, loosed her first arrow—
"…Wh-what the hell are you two doing?!"
"……"
Of all people, the one bastard I least wanted to see had barged uninvited into her training time yet again.
'Keheeeek!!'
…Well, we did take one down in the middle of all that.
With the unwanted guest's arrival, I put the training program briefly on hold and released Han Sora's posture. Even for Seo Woojin, I couldn't just keep training while ignoring him.
Sending that pathetic creature on his way was going to take a bit of a long conversation—and making her hold her shooting stance for its entire duration would basically just be punishment anyway.
"Seo Woojin? What brings you to Sora's training ground all of a sudden?"
"Y-you're the one I should be asking! Wh-why are you pressed up against Sora like that…!"
"Anyone can see we're training. We're running a training program and practicing shooting—what exactly looks wrong to you?"
"Wh-who practices shooting like that?! G-get away from Sora right now, you bastard!"
…Fine. I'll just have to put up with it, I suppose.
Getting entangled with Han Sora meant getting entangled with that bastard too—it practically came bundled as a passive ability.
No matter that Han Sora counted as an 'already captured' heroine in the original story—if you stole her before she even entered his collection, that kind of obsession was the inevitable result.
'Looking into those eyes, one thing's clear: he has absolutely no intention of giving Sora up.'
Would he give up if I showed him walking out of the same hotel room with her, plain as day?
Serves him right for not doing things properly when he had the chance. If Han Sora had been my childhood friend, I'd have trained her over ten years until she was ready for everything—sex included, right down to fellatio.
"H-Han Sora! Say something too! Why were you pressed up against a Support Department bastard like that?! Huh?!"
"……"
"Y-you hate physical contact with guys like that too, don't you?! He's definitely doing something weird to you and calling it training!"
"……"
—Tremble, tremble.
It was visible even from up close: her clenched fist, shaking. If I released her hypnosis, she might well spit out everything she wanted to say to Seo Woojin, rapid-fire, on the spot.
Even amid all this, she was doing her best to hold it in, apparently determined to maintain the pretense of being hypnotized by me. It was rather nice to watch.
'If Sora tells him a few words, he'll clear out on his own.'
Just as I decided the best way to drive him off was to let Han Sora blow up at him, and reached out to lift her hypnosis—
…a different thought brushed across my mind: it would be better to put this situation to use instead.
"Sorry, but Sora can't answer you right now. She's under my hypnosis."
"……What did you just say?"
"……"
After all, there was no better opportunity than this one for showing Han Sora, without a shred of mercy, just how pathetic Seo Woojin could be.