Hypnosis Is Kind
Creeeak—.
“Wh-who is it...?”
“It’s Geon-woo.”
“Oh, Uncle!”
“You been doing all right?”
“Ahaha! When did you get in?”
“Shh... Just now. Got a minute to talk?”
“Yes. Come in.”
Uncle was away on business so often. He must have come home late.
“What about Aunt?”
We sat on the edge of the bed and started to talk.
“Ah, she looked asleep, so I didn’t wake her. What are you doing still up?”
“Ahaha. I couldn’t sleep...”
“Right. So, the thing is.”
“Yes...”
For some reason, I tensed.
“This overseas assignment I’ve got coming up looks like it’ll run long, and it’s been worrying me.”
“Pardon...?”
“I think I’ll be in Egypt for about two years. I’ll probably fly home every few months, of course, but even then I’ll have a backlog to clear, so I won’t be around the house for very long.”
“I... see...”
“Mind if your uncle asks you one favor?”
“...What kind...?”
The hand he closed over mine was warm as a hand warmer.
“...”
Uncle.
I think I’ve already broken that promise.
“I’m not saying it to burden you. I just want you there, solid, if something happens.”
“Ah.”
Oh.
That’s what he meant?
“Yes. Of course. Don’t worry.”
“...All right.”
“...You don’t look very at ease.”
“Well. Yeah. I’ve never been away this long before.”
“Hmm...”
I took out my phone.
“Then please take a look at this screen.”
“Hm?”
“Just ten seconds—actually, I think simply looking is enough.”
“What is it?”
“It’ll put your mind at ease.”
I held the hypnosis app up to him.
Uncle raised one eyebrow, then stared at the screen without a word.
“All right, Uncle. This is an order.”
“...Hm?”
“Even after you wake from this hypnosis, set aside your worry for the family. Leave worrying about you—alone, far from home—to me.”
“...”
“Call often. Don’t skip meals. And if something’s eating at you, tell me. Listening is the least I can do.”
“...All right.”
“Now—wake from the hypnosis...!”
Snap!
I’d never deliberately snapped anyone out of hypnosis before, but I flicked my fingers anyway.
“Did it work...?”
“...Haha. Hard to say. I think your uncle was hypnotized.”
“Oho.”
“Ah, that was some incredible hypnosis. The worry just vanishes. Clean.”
“Haha! I have no idea what you’re talking about!”
“Ah, does it feel like that?”
“Huh?”
“Heh heh heh. Never mind. Hurry and sleep. It’s late.”
His face was a shade lighter.
Someone under hypnosis wouldn’t remember it, but I’d gone and told him every embarrassing thing I wanted to say.
“Sleep well.”
“Yes. Good night to you too, Uncle.”
Hypnosis really is powerful.
Even a few words of encouragement embarrass me, so I borrow its strength to say them—but someday, I want to be the one holding Uncle’s hand myself.
“All right, all right...”
A late lunch.
For some reason, I’d slept in.
“Ha. Missed class...”
It was already lunchtime.
And I was hungry.
Creak—.
I came out of my room like a bear that had lumbered down off the mountain because it was starving.
“Sleep well?”
“Ah, yes, did you sleep well, Aunt? Where’s Uncle?”
“Mm. He left early this morning.”
“Ah.”
Speaking of which, Aunt.
You’re stunning again today.
That black dress must be a favorite. She wears it fairly often.
I like that dress too, Aunt.
“Why are you just standing there?”
“Ah, sorry?”
“Heh heh. Your legs aren’t about to give out, are they?”
I looked down at my legs, trembling like a newborn calf’s.
A little moving around yesterday, and this is the muscle pain I get?
“I—I think I might need to start working out again...”
“Mmm... You haven’t, since you got discharged, right?”
“No... haha...”
Aunt and I had a simple lunch.
“Heading out?”
“Yes. To the hospital, for a bit.”
“Are you sick?”
Worry crossed her face, and she stepped right up to me.
Out of nowhere she pressed a hand to my forehead, making all sorts of faces.
“You’re not hot... What’s wrong...?”
“Ah. Haha... It’s nothing... nothing!”
I spun around at once and headed for the entryway.
“I-I’ll be back!”
“All right. Be careful.”
I nearly lost my mind to that bright, fresh smile of hers.
“Haa...!”
I hurried outside.
Beep—.
Thud.
“Haa... Aunt. Doing that should be a crime...!”
Honestly, it wasn’t as if the thought had never crossed my mind—put her under and just take her down.
But if I actually did something like that, I didn’t think I could ever beat the guilt rising in my gut.
No. I feel like I could beat it, actually.
“Ghk...! I don’t know anymore...!”
Scratching hard at the back of my head, I headed for the OB-GYN.
From what I’d looked up the night before, the morning-after pill could be prescribed at an obstetrics clinic.
Except—
“Ah... you’ll need to come in with the woman who’s going to take it...”
“Sorry...?”
I got thrown out.
Well, I’d walked out on my own, but it felt like being thrown out.
“Ha. What do I do...”
If I just let it slide, I had a feeling I’d end up with something to regret.
“Haa... I’m gonna get an earful...”
Riiing— riiing—
Click.
She agreed that easily. The sun must have risen in the west today.
I called her out to a spot near the OB-GYN.
“What about class?”
“It’s fine. I don’t have to go.”
“Since when is that a thing?”
“You skipped too.”
Yeah. The day I beat Yeon-su was probably never coming. Not in this lifetime.
“Ahem. Yeon-su. Over here a second.”
I called her into the gap between the buildings.
“Why!! There are probably spiders in there!!”
“No. I checked.”
“When!!”
“Just—come here.”
I caught her wrist and pulled.
She’ll forget once she’s under, anyway.
“Let go. I’ll kill you.”
“Be quiet. Here, look at the screen.”
“Ngh...! Right now...?”
“Hm?”
“...Nothing. What is it...”
A red-and-blue spiral, a spinning taegeuk, turned and turned, and Yeon-su, staring into it, dropped her head.
Her face and ears flushed pink, and she fidgeted with both hands.
“Wh-what’s the order...”
“Right. Come to the hospital with me.”
“Huh...?”
Ding-a-ling—!
“Thank you, take care!”
We got the medicine without any trouble.
“Here. Take it, quick.”
“...Okay.”
Maybe because she was still under.
She seemed terribly embarrassed.
Is being told to take a pill embarrassing?
I held out the bottled water I’d bought at the convenience store.
“Here, open your hand.”
“Mmm...”
With a click, I dropped a single pill into her palm.
“Give me the water.”
I cracked the cap open for her, too.
Please, just take it before you snap out of it.
It’s my first time hypnotizing someone outside.
Yeon-su shot me a glance, then put the pill in her mouth.
“They say the morning-after pill messes you up pretty bad.... Ah, is there even a point telling you now...?”
The errand was finished, so—
Snap—!
I flicked my fingers and said,
“Hey, heyyy! Haha, you actually came! Because I asked you to hang out! After. You. Finished. Class. You came to hang out with me!”
“...Yeah. Pretty much.”
Why was her face still flushed even after she’d woken up?
“You—you are awake, right?”
“Awake from what...?”
“The—the hypnosis...”
“What the hell are you talking about...!”
Thump.
It was the first time a shot to the ribs ever put me at ease.
Yeon-su was definitely acting like someone who had come out of it.
The flush is probably the morning-after pill throwing her hormones off.
Pretty harsh stuff, just like the AI said.
“So, uh, let’s go somewhere. Something sweet? Want something sweet?”
“...”
“Ah, is sweet a bad idea? You dizzy? No? Want something easy on your stomach? What’s gentle... rice noodles?”
“...Yeah. Sounds good.”
“O-okay, let’s go!”
And so I got some food into her.
We sat in a café and talked, and at a karaoke place we hadn’t been to in ages, we screamed ourselves hoarse.
Watching Yeon-su laugh—that bright, bubbling laugh—I could finally relax.
“Haa. That was fun.”
“Hey. You can actually sing? For a loser.”
“Never heard of loser-only karaoke?”
“...Where?”
“The bathroom.”
I bumped her shoulder as she burst out laughing, and kept going.
“You have no idea how much I practiced in there. When nobody was home, I really belted it.”
“Ahaha! Stop. Ah, my stomach hurts.”
“Hk—...!!! Your stomach hurts?!”
“...No. Not that stomach.”
“...Want a bathroom?”
“Shut up...”
We walked toward the bus stop.
It was a fairly busy part of town, so the street was full of people.
We stayed pressed close so the crowd wouldn’t sweep us apart.
“It’s a weekday... and there are this many people...”
“Mmm...”
“Think there’s food at home...?”
“Have you been going on about food all day?”
“I’m hungry.”
“How did you even lose the weight? Seriously impressive.”
“Exercise.”
“Ah... so that’s why... you’re so...”
“Hm?”
Night had fallen, and still the flush in Yeon-su’s cheeks showed perfectly clear.
“Shut up.”
“I didn’t even say anything...”
Yeon-su puffed her cheeks and let her eyes dart this way and that.
Then, quietly, she spoke.
“Want to... eat, before you go?”
I answered like I’d been waiting for it.
“Yeah! What do you want?”
“Drinks... something we can eat... with drinks...”
She said it while pointing somewhere.
At the end of her finger was a quiet little bar on the second floor.
“An izakaya?”
“What... you don’t want to...?”
“No. I fucking love those.”
Places like that always have great food.