Hypnosis and Hidden Desires
The hypnosis specialist reassured me not to worry too much.
“From what I saw, both of you are highly susceptible to hypnosis. You’re positive people with strong motivation to solve your problems through it, which made the treatment go very smoothly. As you requested, I made sure to deepen the affection between you two, and I also worked to intensify the kind of sex life you wanted and your connections with others. It was a rather unusual case, but I’m grateful for the valuable experience.”
I ended the call, stood up from the bench, and took a moment to enjoy the view. I decided it was best to think that I had simply obtained what I had wanted. Most people would never wish for or even imagine such things, but reminding myself that some people might live this way seemed good for my mental health. Otherwise, I might be the one who needed hypnosis or self-suggestion.
“You’re not angry, are you?”
I jumped at Jeongsook’s sudden voice. She had approached without a sound and now stood beside me, smiling brightly.
“You little brat, scaring people like that…”
I glared at her, then let out a small laugh. I left it up to her to decide whether I was startled by her sudden appearance or by how perfectly in character she was being.
“I’m doing this because I like it, so don’t overthink it. I didn’t realize I would fall this hard either. But I really do like it. After you two left on Saturday, I even cried. Not from sadness, but from joy… I thought I must be going crazy, yet my whole body trembled so violently from orgasm that I couldn’t even come to my senses. Hehe…”
Jeongsook pressed her hands to her flushed cheeks as if trying to cool down. Without thinking, I slipped an arm around her shoulders and patted her gently.
“Honestly, I’ve never felt anything that euphoric before. I feel bad saying this to Sister Yeojeong, but the thought of making you my woman kept me up at night.”
“Really?” Jeongsook’s eyes sparkled.
Seeing a butch like her react that way suddenly reminded me of Suyeon. I had assumed Suyeon was one hundred percent femme, but she wasn’t. The look in Jeongsook’s eyes suggested the same might be true for her—that she wasn’t one hundred percent butch either.
“Actually… I told Sister the truth too.”
“Really? She must have been very disappointed.”
“No, you might be surprised, but it was the complete opposite. Hehe… She said that if it was for her Master, she’d be happy to share anything and everything.”
“Oh dear… I think I can see what Sister really wants. Haha… She just wants to be loved by Changhee.”
Jeongsook neither confirmed nor denied it. But the way her face turned pink and broke into a wide, happy smile was answer enough.
“I really think we’ve all gone completely insane. Sometimes I feel like we’re just trash…”
She spoke carefully, exhaling a thin stream of cigarette smoke.
“If that’s how you see yourself, I can’t stop you. But I won’t forgive anyone else who looks at us that way. After all, everyone’s trash anyway. Money-crazed trash, power-crazed trash, love-crazed trash… It’s too exhausting to list them all. I just plan to live earnestly. I’ll work hard at what I love, love the people I care about even harder in my own way, and then die.”
Live today so you won’t regret it tomorrow. That was Jeongsook’s philosophy. What looked like deranged debauchery to outsiders was, for us, love, friendship, and happiness. I had reached the point where I needed to truly respect that. In the world of witches like us, it was possible.
When lunchtime came, Jo Sujeong, Changhee’s sister-in-law, called to thank me. It was her first day at the company, and she had stepped out for lunch with her new coworkers when she made the quick call. We exchanged simple greetings and were about to set a date for dinner when her urgent voice made me put the phone back to my ear.
“Um, Vice President Nam stopped by the workshop earlier and chatted with me for a bit. She asked what my relationship with you was. I answered the way you told me to. I can roughly guess why we’re lying about it, but I’m still a little worried that it might get exposed.”
“There’s absolutely nothing to worry about, Sujeong. Just trust me. You’re a distant relative of mine, so keep thinking of it that way. Don’t feel intimidated—act confidently. Got it?”
I reassured her and ended the call. Still, I had a feeling Suyeon might have sensed something strange. In the end, I couldn’t hold back and sent her a text. She called back immediately.
She mentioned hearing that I had greeted my ‘relative’ and asked how she was doing at work. The team leader had said she seemed to learn quickly and was doing well.
“But don’t you think it looks weird to the other employees when the vice president goes all the way to the workshop to pay attention to a new hire?”
I finally asked what I really wanted to know.
“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that, sweetie. If I do that, the other staff won’t give her a hard time. It’s actually better this way. You know how bad the hazing can be in this industry, right?”
“So that’s what it was? Thanks. When she suddenly asked what our relationship was, I got nervous thinking it might be important. Sorry for bothering you over nothing.”
“It’s fine. Even trivial things like this give me a chance to hear your voice again. I like it. Hoho…”
“Then shall I let you hear it a little more? Hehe… The thing is, we’re launching a new business venture next week, and I was thinking it might be good to partner with your company. If you’re interested, let’s meet and talk about it.”
“Oh, that sounds great! Let’s set a time soon and meet up.”
Somehow the conversation had naturally turned to business. Since it was clearly beneficial for her company, I was glad I had called.
“By the way… Are you handling something like this on your own? Or do you need your mom’s approval? Hehe…”
I asked with a teasing tone.
“What, do you think I’m some kind of mama’s girl? Hoho… If the amount gets really big, I might need her sign-off, but anything she’s delegated to me, I finish on my own. I’ll have to hear what kind of joint venture it is first, but if it’s under my responsibility, there’s no need to meet my mom. Why? You’ve never even met her, have you? Are you the type who gets nervous just from rumors? Hoho…”
“No, it’s the opposite. I actually want to meet your mom someday. For that, I’ll have to make our company a bit more presentable, right? Hehe… It’s funny—we dated for so long and never once talked about our families.”
“Didn’t we? I guess we were either too busy loving each other to talk about family, or too busy breaking up to talk about it. Hoho…”
The conversation seemed to be heading in a strange direction, so I played along lightly and ended the call. As I smoked a cigarette, I reflected on the past. I was newly surprised to realize we had never even asked about each other’s families. We really must have been nothing more than pure, clueless college freshmen.
Since Suyeon’s mother had come up, I should mention her briefly here before continuing.
President Nam Jaa of Zaya Fashion was a well-known figure in the clothing industry for several reasons. First, as one might guess from the name, the brand Zaya was taken from her own name, and thanks to a few decent products released early on, it became an easy brand to remember. Rumor had it she had even legally changed her name to Nam Jaa. It was the same logic that made Andre Kim far more famous than Kim Bok-nam.
The second reason was her voice. At around 172 centimeters tall with a rather husky, deep voice, people often whispered that she might actually be a man. Yet despite that voice, she possessed considerable beauty and a slender figure, so she was constantly the subject of gossip. Even if she had had some work done, standing next to Suyeon the two looked like sisters.
The third reason was the legion of models she ‘raised.’ The models had played a big part in making the Zaya brand as famous as it was. They all appeared to be women, but some of them were actually men. The event where people tried to guess which models were male and which were female had been a major ‘incident’ in the fashion industry, successfully boosting brand preference.
That Suyeon was the only daughter and vice president of such a famous company made her an absolute ‘client’ I had no intention of letting slip away. If she joined our new business venture, our company would gain far more than hers in many ways, so I wanted to hold onto her even more tightly.
We had jumped into the cosmetics market despite knowing it was a red ocean because of information we had obtained by chance and because Changhee, who had once worked at a cosmetics company, was with us. I had asked her—still undecided about taking an office job—to research various aspects of the cosmetics industry to gauge its potential. In other words, the time had finally come for Changhee to start going to work. I planned to entrust the entire cosmetics division to her.
This decision had been made last Saturday after confirming that Jeongsook could also adapt to company life without discomfort.