Flashback: The First Hypnosis
"Eat up."
"Y-yeah. You eat more too."
"Hehe, okay."
Only then did Dahyeon start picking up pieces of meat with her chopsticks, one by one. But she stubbornly refused to hand over the tongs, insisting on grilling the meat herself. Our glasses clinked several times. By the time Dahyeon had downed about half a bottle of soju, I'd emptied two. I never thought of myself as a heavy drinker, nor particularly lightweight, but chugging nonstop like this, the buzz hit fast. Still, it was just a pleasant tipsy haze—my mind stayed sharp enough to hold it together.
"Ughhh... I'm seriously gonna die."
"You look like it. Boss, one doenjang jjigae here, please."
"I can't even get a job—I'm going insane."
I took the meat Dahyeon offered and let out another deep sigh. I hated being the type who pigged out on someone else's dime, but damn, it had been so long since I'd had samgyeopsal. It just kept going down endlessly.
"Who knows how long I'll have to keep this up. How am I supposed to get a job, get married, all that? Maybe it's better to just live alone and die alone."
"Just come work as my assistant, like I said?"
This girl wanted to make someone who didn't know the first thing about science her assistant? I'd just end up sitting there like a bump on a log, collecting a paycheck. I didn't want to mooch off a close friend like that.
"I might be broke, but I still have my pride. Gotta tough it out as long as I can..."
I naturally switched from soju to beer.
"Drink in moderation. Even if you take a taxi, you gotta be able to walk once you get home."
"I'm not drunk. And it's close anyway."
Dahyeon looked worried, but I brushed it off and downed it in one go.
"Ahh!"
"Doenjang jjigae~"
The boss brought over the steaming doenjang jjigae, and Dahyeon took it, setting it down in a good spot.
"Here, try the doenjang jjigae too."
She plunged a spoon into the freshly ordered stew and scooped up some broth for me. Careful not to drip any on my plate, she cupped her delicate, fern-like hand under the spoon.
"Ahh~ Open up. Ahh~"
"I'll eat it myself."
"Nuh-uh~ When did Geon-woo ever refuse something I fed him?"
After a bit of back-and-forth, I lost. I opened my mouth and took the broth.
"Now give it here."
"Huh? Oh... okay..."
I took the spoon from her and had a few sips myself. Salty, savory—delicious.
"How is it?"
"Good. You not eating?"
She'd barely touched her own food, just watching me eat.
"I don't eat that much anyway."
My eyes drifted to Dahyeon's ample chest at those words. No way that was the figure of a light eater. Seriously, they looked bigger than her head.
"How many days you been starving?"
"Ah, ramen. My old friend."
"So just ramen all this time, huh."
A ding. Notification sound. A message. I pulled down the status bar to check it.
Fuckin' hell. Called it. Grimacing at the rejection text, I set my phone down.
Outstanding abilities my ass.
"What's up? Who is it?"
"Rejection from Geumwoo Electronics. This is my life."
I handed my phone to Dahyeon. She gave a wry smile and scrolled through the message.
"You didn't get it. That's too bad."
Dahyeon started to hand the phone back, then tilted her head.
"Huh? What's this? Hypnosis App?"
Why are you looking at that?
"What're you peeking at? Gimme."
"Isn't this some weird app?"
I reached for it, but too late. Dahyeon had tapped the Hypnosis App herself.
The app launched in an instant, and she stared right at the swirling, multicolored screen.
Up until then, I figured I'd get endlessly teased.
"Ah......"
That is, until Dahyeon's face went blank the moment she saw the screen, and she dropped my phone.
"Dahyeon?"
"......"
Dahyeon just stared at me with vacant, unfocused eyes, silent. Not sure if she was even really looking at me—her gaze was pointed my way, but not seeing.
> Target successfully induced into hypnosis state!
> Issue command.
> Notifications will be batch-deleted 1 minute after confirmation.
The phone she'd dropped clattered on the floor with another ding. I snapped to attention and picked it up.
The notification... was from the Hypnosis App.
What the hell is this?
The alcohol buzz I'd had vanished in a puff.
No way it's real, right?
Just to be sure, I waved my hand in front of Dahyeon's eyes.
"Hey, Dahyeon. What kinda dumb prank is this? What if you broke the screen..."
"......"
Dahyeon, staring blankly at me with empty eyes.
The Dahyeon I knew wouldn't pull a mean joke like this. And this was a busy grill house full of people. A suspicion crept in.
"H-hand. Raise your hand. Arms up."
Dahyeon shot both arms straight up, just as ordered. No "Why?", no "What're you doing?", no "You drunk?"—nothing natural like that.
A busty beauty in a lab coat, arms raised high with glassy eyes. Even buzzed as I was, it looked weird as hell, so I told her to lower them quick.
"......Ah, st-stand up and sit back down, Dahyeon. Squat."
The moment I spoke, she stood, then squatted. Looking up at me, waiting for the next order. It was... eerie.
I glanced around. Most folks were drunk and not paying attention, but a few shot weird looks our way.
"J-jump. Jump."
She hopped on command. Told her a few more times, and she kept hopping.
Protests poured in via glares—"What the hell you doing? Go home nicely if you're drunk"—so I stopped her. She squatted again, gazing up.
Seemed she couldn't hear the noise around us.
The last of my buzz evaporated.
"N-now sit properly."
"......"
She sat as ordered, staring blankly, awaiting the next command.
How to snap her out? Just say "wake up"?
"Wh-when I snap my fingers, you'll forget the hypnosis and go back to normal."
Snap!
I snapped right in front of her eyes. She blinked a few times and came to.
"What's this? Did I get dizzy?"
She shook her head a bit. Probably chalked it up to the booze.
No room for doubt anymore.
"Ugh, got dizzy for a sec. Must be the alcohol."
"D-drink moderately."
"Got it. You haven't eaten much yet, right? Let's order more meat."
Dahyeon reached naturally for the call bell. I smiled softly and caught her hand to stop her.
"Nah, I'm full. But if you wanna eat more, go ahead."
Dahyeon didn't eat much. If I said I was stuffed, she probably wouldn't push for more.
I was dying to check the app ASAP. And my stomach really was full anyway.
"Full? That's surprising. Seemed like you could eat forever."
"Hey, what I already ate could've burst my gut."
"True enough. But you seem sober now?"
Dahyeon tilted her head. At least she couldn't remember as I'd commanded.
"Yeah. Guess I'm pretty tolerant?"
"All done eating? Let's go. I'll get you a cab."
I stopped Dahyeon as she pulled out her phone for a taxi.
"Put in your address. I'm sober enough to skip the cab. It's close—I'll walk."
"Really? Hm..."
She thought for a sec, then pocketed her phone in her lab coat.
"Then I'll walk you."
"It's fine. I said I'm sober."
"I just wanna walk you home."
She hadn't drunk much, so she didn't seem tipsy. She paid at the counter, and we headed toward my studio apartment together.
No matter how many times I said go home, she wouldn't listen.
"......"
And so Dahyeon and I walked the night streets side by side. We crossed crosswalks, passed dark shops, and suddenly I glanced sideways at her.
Come to think of it... she'd grown so tall. Dahyeon was almost as tall as her chest was big. I was 185cm, and she wasn't far off.
Walking in silence brought all sorts of thoughts.
"How tall are you?"
"Height? 175. Weight's 53, for reference."
Through her lab coat, her smooth belly peeked out. Her shirt had ridden up a bit, revealing her navel and the sharp outline of her 11-pack abs.
I'd heard long hours sitting took stamina too. Thought she just did research, but she managed her body diligently, like she said.
Should be fine with decent sleep, but pulling all-nighters every day worried me.
"Get more sleep."
"I'll handle my own body. We're here."
Oh, already? I looked up. My studio apartment loomed above.
Too busy sneaking peeks at Dahyeon to notice we'd almost arrived.
Dahyeon, anxious for some reason, watched me go up, unlock the door, and enter before finally turning away.
"Geon-woo, sleep well~"
No chance to reply—she waved, dashed down to a cab that had pulled up out of nowhere, and hopped in.
After seeing her off, I opened the Hypnosis App.
The swirling, mesmerizing multicolored screen appeared.
What the hell just happened...
The booze was mostly gone, but my head was spinning.
Wonder if it works on me too?
You know those hypnosis app stories where the weak-willed protag uses self-hypnosis like "Exercise every spare moment, study hard," and gradually improves?
"From now on, I'll exercise whenever I can, study whatever, and... uh, anyway! Become a better person every single day!"
So I decided to test it.