First Mission and Domestic Bliss (2)
First Mission and Domestic Bliss (2)
Hypnosis was honestly a textbook case of kicking the weak and bowing to the strong.
People weaker than me were easy to suppress, but it didn't work well against the strong.
Of course, it wasn't entirely useless.
As during the entrance exam, it could produce some effect even against higher-ranked opponents, depending on the application.
What I was about to attempt now was another application of that principle.
—Swish.
"Hmm? What's that?"
"My ability doesn't work well on strong people. I need to make preparations."
The necessary props: a single coin. Thread.
And...
"A sedative would be nice too. Alcohol, for example."
"Alcohol? I don't have any right now. Should I bring out some homemade red ginseng liquor?"
"......Put that away."
Along with hypnosis, the symbol of fair play—drugs—would've been nice to have.
But I decided against it, since it felt mean to steal the only pleasure of a workaholic old lady.
Still, a Hypnosis Breeding Guy who couldn't make do without them would be no Hypnosis Breeding Guy at all.
I proceeded with my preparations smoothly without them.
The woman I needed to win over just stared blankly at me doing all this.
—Staring blankly.
'...She really had not said a single word.'
What incredible nerve.
The room she was locked in had the exact same environment as a villain-only prison called the "Bottomless Abyss."
At the moment, she was nothing more than an ordinary person.
And yet she said nothing even when a man began laying out one obviously strange item after another right in front of her?
Ruthless. Utterly ruthless. If it were me, I would've been trembling and going, "You're planning to do lewd things! Like in those lewd comics!!"
It showed just how twisted she was.
'Well, I wasn't going to do anything like that. Using hypnosis for that made me feel guiltier than you would think.'
Anyway, while I made my preparations, the chairwoman, who was also the association president, made hers just as smoothly.
"Inside there, you can't use your abilities either, correct?"
"No. Not at my current level."
"Good. Then I'll keep her restrained. ...Hey, get up for a moment. Good."
"......."
The Chairwoman restrained her carefully, as if handling a grandchild.
The surprising part was that the woman complied without any resistance.
She didn't so much as act displeased while being bound in chains.
'They said she hadn't opened her mouth once after nearly a week of persuasion, so I expected her to be defiant. This was unexpected.'
That piqued my interest a little.
I'd planned not to pay much attention to anyone except my wives, but...
I could not help wondering why she was like that.
As it happened, my preparations were complete, so I entered the room without hesitation.
'Maybe I should take this a little more seriously.'
—Heavy footstep.
The moment I crossed the threshold, a draining sensation washed over me.
It felt as though mana, the source of an awakener’s power, was being sucked away somewhere.
It was the effect of what was called a "Mana Extractor."
I threw a glance at the Chairwoman.
"I'd be grateful if you could turn this off for a moment. I need to begin my work."
"Of course. She's a docile child, so it'll be fine, but be careful just in case."
—Vwoom....
When I requested the deactivation, the machine immediately hummed into action.
At the same time, my mana returned.
That meant both the woman before me and I had regained our power as awakeners.
But the woman remained as expressionless as ever.
Instead, I tilted my head.
—An ominous pressure coiled....
'She was at the top of A-rank? That didn't seem right.'
From her presence, she was definitely A-rank, but not to the degree that the Association President would obsess over.
Hmm. So that was about it.
'I could trust that old lady’s intuition, so perhaps it was best not to let my guard down.'
I figured it must be something along those lines.
The apocalypse that would unfold fifteen years from now.
She was, after all, the person who had even sensed that through her Sixth Sense.
She had already retired by then, though, so she had not been much help.
Without lowering my guard, I slowly gathered my mana.
Then, my mana flared up, tinted purple from the influence of the Jaha Sword Art.
At the same time...
—Swing, swing.
"Now. Please look at this coin."
The ten-won coin I'd just been struggling to drill a hole through.
I dangled it on the string and swayed it.
It was that classic staple from every piece of hypnosis fiction.
The woman, who had been utterly expressionless the entire time, tilted her head for the first time.
"......?"
'I knew. I knew this was extremely embarrassing to do in real life.'
She was probably thinking, 'Does this kid think he is some edgy anime character?'
Even I would probably laugh and ask what the hell they were doing if I saw someone act like this.
But I had no choice.
Because the gap between our levels was too big for me to just "snap" my fingers and hypnotize her.
I had to rely on even this kind of aid.
The effect was definite.
"I'm someone who came here to help you. There's no need for you to feel tense."
[Activating skill 'Complete Hypnosis.' Failed. The caster's current level is insufficient....]
"It must've been hard for you, being locked up here all this time. You haven't committed a crime, nor have you harmed anyone."
[Failed.]
"Don't worry. The Association President truly means to help you. So, shall we have a bit of a talk?"
[Fail....]
Because of the vast difference in our stats, all I got was one failure message after another.
But her eyes remained fixed on the coin—and on me as I held it close to her face.
Just seeing her interest was enough.
'This primitive hypnotic induction wouldn't be enough, but... I only needed to create an opening, even for 0.1 seconds.'
What good would anything I said do when I was a complete stranger? Would she even listen?
She was probably thinking about something else, like, 'I want fried chicken.'
That was why I swayed the coin.
To give her something to watch: an idiot doing this with a straight face.
So she would perceive a guy like me as a fool.
I would exploit that slight lapse in her guard and pry the opening wider.
"I won't ask questions like why you participated in the attack. You must've had your own circumstances."
"......."
"What matters is that, whatever those circumstances may be, we can resolve them for you as if by magic."
"......."
"So please, speak. If it means gaining a talent like you, we in the Korean Awakener Association can do anything for you."
—Swing, swing.
An attempt to win her over that wouldn't reach her. A coin that kept swaying before her eyes.
Her pupils were probably reflecting both the coin and me, in turn.
Including my eyes, gleaming with golden light.
[Activating skill 'Complete Hypnosis.' Failed.]
[Failed.]
[Fail....]
[Fai....]
[.......]
'There's no outdoing a Native American rain dance.'
My hypnosis had no cost.
It was a cheat-tier skill that consumed no mana to activate and didn't tire me no matter how many times I used it.
Hence, the Native American rain dance.
Like those people who hold rites until the rain falls, I would keep casting hypnosis until it took hold.
"Someone as strong as you wouldn't yield to an ordinary threat. Is it your family? Are villains holding them hostage?"
—Ding!
[Activating skill 'Complete Hypnosis'...... Failed.]
'Got a bite!'
As I kept at it, I suddenly got a response.
For other hypnotic suggestions, the failure message had appeared in less than 0.1 seconds.
But when I mentioned her family, there was the slightest delay before the result appeared.
This meant one thing.
Her distorted "gap" was her family.
I dug in deep.
"I understand. I may be an orphan, but that means I know all the more how precious family is."
"......."
[Activating 'Complete Hypnosis'.......]
"Who was taken? A younger sibling? Your parents? Your mom... your dad?"
[Activating..........]
"Dad. Is this about your dad?"
[.............]
I swayed the coin.
I made her heart sway.
Using the most precious value buried deep in her unconscious.
Her pupils slowly grew distant.
It seemed the word 'Dad' had made her remember something.
An opening.
'She had not even changed expression after all that. She really was tough. She could probably endure torture.'
It was an exceedingly small opening.
A strong mind was not easily disturbed by a mere recollection of the past.
A firmly barred heart couldn't be pried open through such a tiny gap.
But for me, it was more than enough of an opening.
—Ding!
[Despite the gap in rank, the target is falling under an 'extremely mild' hypnosis.]
I slipped hypnosis through the opening.
My finger touched her soul.
Only slightly—barely enough for a fingernail to graze it.
If I gave her an order now, the hypnosis I'd finally managed to cast would probably shatter immediately.
She'd just flinch for a moment.
The gap between our abilities was that vast.
So,
'Please forgive me for impersonating you for a moment, father of this young woman whose name I didn't even know.'
"———Would you try thinking of me as your father?"
I gave her what she desired most.
I filled her longing with hypnosis.
The reason she had no choice but to join a villain group. Her reunion with her father.
I overlaid the person she longed for even in her dreams onto myself.
—Ding!
[Despite the gap in rank, the target is falling under a 'partial' hypnosis!]
"D, Da...?"
'Checkmate.'
Her lips parted for the first time.
Perhaps it had been a long time since she had last spoken, because her tongue stumbled awkwardly over the word as she called to me.
She did not even realize that the man before her was a complete stranger.
...It wouldn't last long.
Right now, it was fueled by nothing but an intense longing.
It was only hypnosis that would wear off once the emotional turmoil passed.
'That didn't matter, though. I would plant a whole host of other suggestions before then.'
I intended to take advantage of that opening to drive in all sorts of wedges.
At that moment, I was the most precious person in her world. Her father.
A hypnosis cast as her father would clearly embed itself incomparably deeper than one cast as Seo Yujin.
'Don't underestimate the Second-Round Hypnosis Breeding Guy.'
"Yes. It’s Daddy~."
To finish, I smiled as warmly as I possibly could.
All while considering what suggestions to plant in her.
Hmm. Daddy likes good awakeners?
That one was a little vague.
To rescue Daddy, you must borrow the hand of the Korean Awakener Association? They can be trusted?
That one might work. I'd save it for now.
You must not associate with villains?
'If I combined those two and made her a little more proactive about communicating...'
"......Daddy."
Lost in pleasant deliberation, I failed to notice...
the smile beginning to form at the corners of the woman’s mouth...
for the first time.
"———You're late."
—Clink, crack.
I realized something was wrong right after I heard the sound of chains being pulled taut.
Only then did I focus on her.
The restraints binding her were snapping apart.
—Creak, crack.
'Huh? Those chains were made of mana-suppressing material. She shouldn't have been able to use even a tenth of her strength, so how...'
"......!!! Yujin, watch out!!!"
Clink, crack. The sound of an iron chain snapping.
Kaboom. The sound of the Chairwoman stomping the ground and charging.
All of it happened too quickly for my current physical abilities to follow.
The only thing I could tell.
Faster than all of that...
"Daddy♡"
—Squish.
"——Pffgh!?"
My nose had been buried in her cleavage before any of that.