Obtaining a Cheat-Level Trait and Restarting (1)
Obtaining a Cheat-Level Trait and Restarting (1)
No genre was as faithful to eroge as hypnosis.
That was the conclusion I'd reached after devouring countless adult games.
With a regular eroge, there were too many things to manage—walkthroughs and whatnot.
Dating sims especially had routes that split into thousands of branches.
And I was the type who would absolutely never put a game down until I'd seen every collectible and every ending.
Those kinds of games ended up being played with my pants back on, you know.
Making the label "eroge" feel pretty hollow.
On the other hand, hypnosis games?
One little *click* and it was done.
Might be a disqualification as a game, but as an eroge? It passed.
Ten out of ten. A perfect score.
So whenever I was in the mood for an eroge, I always looked for hypnosis games.
...Until one day, I ran into a needlessly high-quality doujin game.
And ended up transmigrating into it.
'I thought the combat system was suspiciously detailed... and I got played!!!'
Even now, the sheer disbelief I'd felt on that first day after transmigrating was vivid.
For a hypnosis game, there was one that was needlessly well-made, and I'd sunk almost a thousand hours into it alone...
To think it had been a transmigration setup.
It was just too ridiculous that I'd fallen for the exact same cliché you see all the time in web novels.
But that was that, and this was this.
Since I'd transmigrated anyway, I put my all into enjoying this world.
'Such pretty women... wow, I don't know who transmigrated me, but thank you!!'
Using the hypnosis ability I, the player, possessed, I got up to all sorts of things.
"Amazing, Yujin!! How did you take down that powerful foe so easily..."
'I killed that guy at least a hundred times in the game.'
I hunted monsters and crushed villains.
"Kh, kill me..."
"Ah, yeah."
'In the game, you could hypnotize and humiliate her, but... even so, three hundred was a little much. She was practically an old hag.'
-Slash.
I even finished off the thing called the final boss after a long struggle.
It was a happy ending.
However,
'So are gods or something supposed to appear now? In web novels they give you some kind of reward out of gratitude...'
"......"
'No such thing, huh?'
All the game's content had ended.
Even so, the staff roll didn't play.
The game—my transmigration—didn't end.
In the end, I couldn't return to my original world or meet some godlike being.
I was left behind in this world, simply as a person instead of a player.
...Along with the heroines I'd conquered here and there.
"Yujin? The fighting is all over now, right?"
"Uh, yeah? Ah, yeah."
"Then now..."
"We must hold the wedding. My disciple♡"
"......What?"
I'd abruptly become a married man, but anyway.
A quiet daily life followed.
I was the S-rank No. 1, the hero who'd saved the world.
I had immense wealth and fame, overwhelming power, and hypnosis.
Beside me were wives who loved me.
It was a life like an endless curtain call.
"Hey, haven't you put on a little weight?"
"I'm middle-aged now too. I'm at that age."
'I really was a Breeding Guy.'
In peacetime, I'd gotten flabby.
Just like the "Breeding Guy" you often see in eroge.
My actions were the very picture of a Breeding Guy too.
There literally hadn't been a dry day, after all.
In other words, now, fifteen years after transmigrating,
I had become a full-fledged 'Hypnosis Breeding Guy.'
All I did was enjoy life to the fullest in a peaceful world.
'But why did I transmigrate... eh, I must've lived kindly and been rewarded.'
———Without even agonizing over why I had transmigrated, or why I'd been given the powerful ability of hypnosis.
Maybe the being who'd transmigrated me hated seeing that.
One day, out of the blue, he brought divine punishment down on me.
"Why is the sky so dark... huh?"
'...Monsters?'
The day I turned thirty-five, grotesque monsters suddenly began pouring from the sky.
They trampled this world with unreasonable power.
-Clang!!
'...My attacks don't work!? Why!!?'
No matter how much mana I poured into my sword, the monsters wouldn't take a single scratch.
The power I'd half-heartedly accumulated couldn't reach them at all.
"You, your arm...!!!"
"...At least I'm alive. If Master hadn't helped me, I'd be dead."
All that happened was that Master and I each lost an arm.
Even Master and I, ranked first and second among the S-ranks, were no match for them.
And that massive army numbered in the tens of thousands. No. Hundreds of thousands, millions.
Thanks to the monsters endlessly pouring from the sky, humanity marched toward extinction day by day.
'If I'd tried harder, would it have been different?'
Amid the apocalypse, all I could do was regret.
Why had I settled for the status quo?
As a transmigrator, I should have been able to become stronger.
Why hadn't I tried harder?
If not for the belly fat that had slowed me down, at least Master wouldn't have lost her arm too.
Why...
"Yu, Yujin. My mom. No, my family's all..."
"...I'm sorry."
"You haven't done... anything to be... sor... hnk..."
"......"
'I'm sorry. It's all my fault.'
Could I do nothing but powerlessly watch the wives I loved suffer in sorrow?
I spent day after day drowning in despair and alcohol.
Waiting for the soon-to-arrive destruction. Endlessly.
* * *
...That was definitely how it should have been.
[Despite the recent attack, Pentagon Academy continues to recruit new students, stirring controversy...]
'What's this stale old news?'
When I opened my eyes one day, a nonsensical news report was displayed right in front of me.
What, attack? Academy?
The world was in the middle of ending, so what the hell was this about?
And looking at the date, it was fifteen years ago.
Even so, getting drunk and replaying old broadcasts just to cope was a bit...
-I froze.
'Fifteen years ago? Wait. Huh?'
A sudden sense of déjà vu.
I hurriedly searched my memory.
Fifteen years ago—which meant, back when I'd first transmigrated into this game.
I was pretty sure that news report had been the first thing I'd seen after waking up.
And suddenly it was right in front of me?
There was no way I'd deliberately looked up and played news like that.
And no way my wives had played it either.
Having no idea why, I blinked for a moment before shifting my gaze elsewhere.
"......"
'Is this a dream? My arm's attached, and my body's totally slimmed down.'
My severed arm had grown back.
The thick belly fat had completely vanished.
The strength I'd built through training had also returned to the level of an average person.
So either this was a dream, or...
'It seems like I've gone back fifteen years.'
———Regression.
A miracle I'd desperately wished for but hadn't even dared to dream of.
After hesitating briefly, I looked around.
The cramped, filthy dormitory I'd awakened in fifteen years ago when I first transmigrated came into view.
-Crack.
"...If I bend my finger back and it hurts, then it's not a dream."
A brief moment of denial.
After transmigration, now regression too?
Who was I to deserve such a miracle twice?
It was absurd.
It was absurd, but...
'Did I really come back? Really?'
Even knowing it was absurd, I wanted to believe
that I'd been given a second chance.
A chance to struggle free of the senseless destruction I'd failed to prevent because of my own indolence.
I got up without a word and walked to the mirror.
Tears of joy streamed from my eyes, and the corners of my mouth trembled with happiness.
"...Everyone, wait for me."
'Because I'll put in the effort. So you won't cry this time.'
I made up my mind.
I didn't know what kind of being was putting me through all this, but I'd gladly endure it.
For the wives who'd shared fifteen years of thick and thin with me, who only loved me. Whom I loved.
...Not that my wives would have any memories of being with me.
'Because my phone wasn't ringing.'
I had several phones for work, but I'd never changed my personal number.
If they had regressed along with me, they'd have called me right away.
Which meant that wasn't the case...
That meant I was the only one who'd regressed and remembered our time together.
'I had another goal now.'
Thanks to that, I realized one more thing.
That my goals narrowed down to two:
getting stronger in preparation for fifteen years later...
and once again ending up with my wives.
Though the latter seemed like it would be a little harder than before the regression.
'And I must never use hypnosis on my wives.'
Because, before the regression, back when I still believed this world was a game,
I'd gotten together with my wives through hypnosis.
I'd even used hypnosis to make them accept the harem.
Of course, I regretted it deeply later and confessed everything.
My wives said they didn't really care, even told me to use it on them more, but...
This time, I wanted to be with them with a clear conscience.
Without using something like hypnosis.
'I need to become a much better man than I was in the first round.'
Plans began falling into place in my head.
Plans to grow strong quickly while getting close to them again.
It didn't take long to put those thoughts into action.
-I sprang up.
'Before I go meet them, I should finish the gruesome stuff first. They'd all be horrified if they knew.'
I headed toward the dormitory kitchen.
The kitchen had nothing but a few pairs of scissors and an electric kettle.
But for me right now, even that was enough.
-I snatched up the scissors.
"Hoo..."
First, I separated the scissors into two blades.
"...I, Seo Yujin, will not feel pain until this hypnosis is lifted."
-Ding!
[Mental Barrier check... Success. The target is 'completely' hypnotized.]
I temporarily turned off my sense of pain too.
There was no need to feel pain on purpose.
Finally, I raised the scissors high and......
———Stab.
-Ding!
[Through repeated experience, you have acquired the Passive Skills 'Penetration Resistance Lv. 1', 'Bleeding Resistance Lv. 1', and 'Pain Resistance Lv. 1'.]
-Stab, stab. Stab.
[Through repeated experience, you have gained proficiency. Passive Skill 'Bleeding Resistance Lv. 1' is evolving into 'Bleeding Resistance Lv. 2'...]
-Stabstabstab. Stab.
[Through repeated experience, you have gained proficiency...]
-Stab.
[The levels of three skills have reached their maximum. The respective skills are evolving into 'Ogre's Hide Lv. 1', 'Troll's Blood Lv. 1', and 'Mental Contamination Immunity Lv. 1'!]
-Stab, stab.
[Through repeated experience...]
-Crunch. Crack. Crrk.
[The skill 'Fracture Resistance Lv. 1'...]
[Through repeated experience...]
[Due to frequent injury, you have acquired Status Effects 'PTSD', 'Knife Phobia', 'Panic Disorder', 'Schizophrenia'...]
[The effects of the skill 'Complete Hypnosis' ignore the acquisition of negative Status Effects.]
-Crrrk.
[Through repeated experience...]
.........
......
...
-Ding!
[The levels of 17 skills, including 'Ogre's Hide', 'Troll's Blood', 'Mental Contamination Immunity', 'Steel Bones', and 'Fire Resistance', have reached their maximum. Proficiency can no longer be gained.]
[Superior versions of the related skills exist. The 17 skills combine and evolve into the Trait 'Unyielding'!]
[Hidden achievement accomplished! Your soul, which did not yield despite countless adversities, grows a little stronger.]
[Title - 'Indomitable' has been acquired. As a first-acquisition bonus, all stats increase by 0.5.]