The Instant Suggestion That Hooked Ha Minkyung
The pounding on the door was getting louder, more frantic — but I kept my eyes closed and focused. I had every confidence I could take Minkyung's mind apart with Instant Suggestion, one calm step at a time. Simply overwriting her consciousness to suit me, though, would have stripped the revenge of all its meaning.
I wanted her trained with that rotten, entitled personality left completely intact, and with every ounce of her hatred for me still burning. That was going to take a more delicate hand. First things first: I had to stop this venom-soaked girl from tearing around like a lunatic, and get her inside my room.
Ha Minkyung. You will do as your mother told you. You will come inside this room first, and you will listen to what I have to say.
I planted only that much and then, slowly, unlocked the door and pulled it open.
Sure enough, Ha Minkyung was standing right outside, glaring at me like she wanted me dead. One look at that vicious face and I knew all over again that deciding to break this woman had been the right call.
"Hey. What the hell did you say to my mom? Huh?"
Minkyung snapped at me the instant the door opened, her voice sharp enough to cut.
I said nothing.
"I'm talking to you. What did you tell my mother?! What could you possibly have said to make her order me to come apologize to you first?! What did I ever do to you?! Answer me!"
I'd always known she had no manners, but watching her now was like watching a demon froth at the mouth and lunge. From this moment on, I intended to become an apostle of justice — capture the demon, and torment her until every last drop of that wickedness had been wrung out.
Letting a piece of human garbage like this roam free among decent people was a crime in itself, wasn't it? I was doing this for Miyeon. And for every person this clueless bitch would otherwise go on to hurt. I was going out of my way to perform a public service.
I was an apostle of justice, so I answered with the calm, unhurried composure that role demanded.
"Come inside first. Making a scene out here is a nuisance to the neighbors."
Even I had to admit I sounded like a psychopath. But so what? For this girl, I was going to become the cruelest psychopath the world had ever seen.
"Are you insane? A nuisance, my ass...!"
She sneered — and yet she shut the door behind her and stepped inside. Got you. You're caught, you bitch.
Minkyung kicked her shoes off with the same irritable energy and planted herself in the middle of the room. Then her face twisted with open disgust at the smell, and she fixed me with a look of pure contempt.
I understood. This room was soaked through with the filthy scent of a man and a woman fucking. Getting glared at like that would normally make anyone want to curse back, but I couldn't have cared less. Considering what I was about to do to her, this was nothing. Heh heh heh.
I unfolded the square folding table I used for meals, set it in the center of the room, and sat down first on the bed side. The room was so small that sitting across from each other meant my back was pressed against the mattress.
"Have a seat. We have a lot to talk about."
"Unbelievable. Ha...!"
Minkyung grumbled as she sat, never once dropping that terrifying glare. Her eyes said she'd tear me to shreds by any means necessary if it came to that.
"Hey. What did you tell my mom? What could you possibly have said to make a mother kick her own daughter out of the house?! What did you say?!"
She slammed her fist down on my precious folding table and shouted. Just from the force of it, most men would have been scrambling to back down. She'd been spoiled rotten since childhood, never wanting for a thing. Of course nothing in the world scared her.
I started talking as calmly as I could manage, like some seasoned, intellectual lawyer.
"What I... said to your mother isn't what's important here, Miss Minkyung."
"M-Miss Minkyung? How do you even know my name? This is seriously creepy — did you ask my mom? For my name?"
"Shh—"
I pressed a finger to my lips in what I considered a rather cool gesture, cutting her off. Of course, it only looked cool inside my own head. To her, I probably just looked like a lunatic.
This was the moment to slip in a suggestion, fast.
Not long ago, you committed a terrible crime. There were no witnesses, so you haven't been caught — but the guilt and the fear have been eating you alive every single day.
A suggestion that forcibly planted something in the past tense. I had no doubt it would take, but since this one had to seep into her actual memories, I waited, giving it time to settle.
Ha Minkyung had been looking at me like I was the craziest bastard she'd ever laid eyes on — and then, little by little, a flicker of unease began to show on her face.
Success. She'd taken the bait. Now I had to yank hard enough that the hook punched clean through her mouth.
"Miss Ha Minkyung. You caused a rather serious incident not long ago."
I watched her face go rigid. It was hilarious. She had no idea what she'd supposedly done — just a vague, implanted memory of having committed some terrible crime, and she was already terrified.
Not yet. The hook hadn't pierced all the way through her cheek.
"A few nights ago, you were driving drunk and you hit someone."
"Your car jumped the curb and ran over a pedestrian. And then you didn't even get out to check on them. You just fled the scene."
Minkyung's eyes flew wide and started to tremble. She was swallowing the charges I'd just handed down whole, constructing a vivid scene of the accident in her mind, and forcing herself to believe she had actually done it. The shock must have been enormous. Hahaha.
"N-no... that's not... that wasn't me."
She muttered the denial. Ordinarily that would have been the truth — she really hadn't done any such thing. But right now, it was nothing more than a criminal trying to talk her way out of a crime she'd been caught for.
Listen carefully to every word I say. Everything I tell you is something you actually did.
"Excuse me? You're saying you didn't do it? Listen, young lady. Are you seriously telling me you don't remember? Your car swerved all over the place, mounted the sidewalk, and crushed a person walking there — shattered their spine. And you don't remember?"
I laid it out in deliberate, graphic detail so she could picture every second. To Minkyung, it would feel like a memory she'd been desperately trying to bury was being dragged back into the light by me.
"I figured you'd at least get out of the car, check on the person you'd hit, and call 911 or the police. But you... you got out, saw them pinned under the wheels, and then you just put it in reverse and drove away."
"...N-no..."
"Because you reversed so violently, that person's spine was completely crushed. They died on the spot. By the time I got there, there was nothing anyone could do."
I put on a grave expression, privately admiring my own performance. Nailed it.
"No, no, that's not... I-I didn't do that..."
Had recalling the crime she'd supposedly committed hit her that hard? The girl who'd been ready to eat me alive a minute ago was now stumbling over her own words.
"Don't... d-don't you lie to me...!"
That's right. That's the normal reaction. But I'd already prepared for her to go this route.
"Then... I suppose I'll have to show you the evidence."
I slowly pulled out my phone, opened the gallery, and laid down another suggestion.
When you look at my phone, you will see a video playing: you hitting someone with your car, then immediately fleeing the scene.
The license plate, and the image of you getting out to look at the person pinned under the wheels — all of it is captured in perfect, unmistakable detail.
After planting those, I simply turned the pitch-black phone screen toward her face.
And then, wonderfully, Minkyung's expression crumpled into something close to tears as she stared at the phone. A video of her own actions — the ones she'd believed were a perfect crime, or at least prayed were a perfect crime — captured in vivid, damning detail. And of all people, the man she'd despised was the one holding it.
Watching her face twist, I nearly burst out laughing and had to fight to keep it in. Ha Minkyung looked as wrecked as someone who'd just gambled away their entire fortune at a Jeongseon casino.
At last... the hook had punched clean through her snout and reeled her in.
I had successfully hooked Ha Minkyung with Instant Suggestion alone. All that remained now was the pleasant work of blackmailing her, training her, tormenting her, and dragging her down into the abyss.
Truly, it was going to be a wonderful night.
