Hypnotizing a Beautiful British Exchange Student in the Nurse's Office (1)
Hypnotizing a Beautiful British Exchange Student in the Nurse's Office (1)
The day after the entrance exam.
The student cafeteria was buzzing from early morning.
Because of me.
-Murmur murmur.
"Hey, what's with that guy eating so much so early... no wait, how does he even look handsome while eating?"
"He's a walking chicken commercial...."
'Giving people a hard time over what they ate was a bit much.'
In front of me, three whole chickens. My breakfast.
...Well, sure. To girls, it was probably kind of off-putting.
An eating show where I stuffed myself with chicken until my stomach burst, surrounded by girls who mostly couldn't even finish one each?
It was only natural for them to click their tongues and wonder what kind of pig ate like that.
'I was going to ignore them and eat anyway.'
-Chomp chomp.
But I didn't stop eating.
It was a precious source of protein and calories.
It was essential fuel for the stat pumping I would begin that day.
And,
'Once I got older, I would not be able to eat fried chicken this fearlessly. I needed to eat plenty while I was young!'
Me, the Second-Round Hypnosis Breeding Guy.
I knew from experience that fried food became hard to digest and sat heavily in the stomach as you aged.
Being able to eat fried food to my heart's content like this was a privilege of youth.
I needed to eat my fill now so I would not regret it later.
Of course, there were three of them.
Getting sick of it mid-meal would've been trouble...
-Crispy crunch. Chew chew.
'Maybe it was because I'd eaten nothing but convalescent porridge for the last two weeks. Damn, this was good~.'
For the past two weeks, I'd eaten nothing but the convalescent porridge Suyeon made for me herself.
The porridge had been good too, but how should I put it? It felt exactly like home cooking made by my wife.
Healthy food with none of that worldly flavor.
After two weeks of nothing but that, the pork cutlet I ate the day before had fully awakened my appetite.
So naturally, far from getting sick of the chicken, it was sliding right down.
Like I'd turned into a human thermal power plant, I kept stuffing chicken into my mouth.
"...You really put it away, don't you."
"Hm? Ah, Sia. Good morning."
As I was eating in a frenzy, Sia naturally joined me at the table.
She gave me an intrigued look.
"Chicken first thing in the morning? Do you like chicken?"
"There isn't a man who hates chicken. There might be men too afraid of tomorrow to eat it, though."
"Hmm. I see...."
-Muttering.
"Favorite food... chicken......."
Even while talking to me, Sia's fingers were busily darting across her phone.
I was curious what she was doing, but I didn't pry.
We weren't that close yet.
I didn't want to make her dislike me by prying.
"Do you have a favorite brand?"
"I pretty much like all of them?"
"Hmm... th-then, how about a favorite celebrity? Or, um, your ideal type......?"
"Hm?"
Unlike me, Sia kept asking one question after another.
...So this was the sphere of interest for women in their early twenties. Very Gen Z of her.
Those were difficult topics for an old guy like me to keep up with, and I found myself struggling to answer.
'If I'd known this kind of topic would come up, I'd have studied a little... I was going to look like such an old guy. Sigh.'
"Sorry. I don't really know much about celebrities and stuff."
In the end, I swallowed my tears and admitted I was an old guy hopelessly behind the trends.
Pretending to know and getting caught would be even more pathetic.
"Really? Don't guys usually like, um, girl groups and stuff?"
"I'm kind of dense about that kind of trend stuff. Sorry. I honestly don't know anything."
"Hmm... then what about your ideal type?"
"My ideal type? Someone with a beautiful heart."
"Heh... d-do you not care about, like, body type...?"
"Not really?"
'I was not picky. Slender or voluptuous, both were fine.'
The result was a conversation that would score a complete zero with women in their early twenties and reeked of old-guy energy.
If I were a woman, I'd probably find this kind of man pretty unappealing.
But...
For some reason, her voice brimmed with excitement.
"Hmm, hmm~? Heh. I see?"
'Hm? Why did she seem so happy about this?'
Her voice rose into a nasal high pitch.
Sia's habit that only came out when she was in an extremely good mood.
I could only find it puzzling.
What was this? Had I said something she liked?
She wasn't the type to like some old guy out of touch with trends.
So why?
'Ah, was she trying to get me into her favorite idol group?'
My best guess was that she was excited about turning me into a fan.
...Well, I was grateful for it.
If playing along would help me grow closer to Sia, I was happy to do it.
If she was into male idols, I'd have been a bit jealous, but from the girl-group talk, that didn't seem to be the case either.
When it came up later, I'd have to react with some real enthusiasm.
Thinking that, I reached for the chicken again.
It was the last piece.
-Chew chew.
"...That was delicious. Phew."
"What, you already ate it all?"
"Yeah. Lecture's starting soon, so. Gotta eat fast."
Only after I finished eating did her gaze return to me.
A little worry crept into Sia's eyes.
"...But, are you okay after eating that much?"
"Hm?"
"You'll be sitting through all the morning lectures, so it won't digest well. It would be awful if you got indigestion."
"......."
'My wife... how was she this much of an angel?'
I was deeply moved.
The other girls had whispered that I was a pig behind my back, yet she was worried about me.
Wasn't my wife an angel? I loved her more than anyone in the world.
A smile naturally spread across my lips.
"I'm fine. I'm gonna work out until it's digested."
"Huh? The morning lectures are all theory...."
"You'll see later."
* * *
Pentagon Academy was Korea’s institution for educating awakeners.
The unusual name originated from the Chairwoman's educational policy.
The stats displayed to awakeners. Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Mana, Luck.
Its name expressed the goal of developing aptitude in every field as evenly as the five stats formed a regular pentagon: Strength, Agility, Intelligence, Mana, and Luck.
Because of that, academy freshmen studied a broad range of fields during their first year.
Magic-type awakeners also trained in basic martial arts, while melee-type awakeners learned about mana utilization, and so on.
From the second year onward, students could design curricula suited to their own talents, but...
During the first year, however, every foundational course was mandatory.
Basic Mana Manipulation, the lecture we'd come to attend that morning, was one of them.
"Nice to meet you all. I'll be teaching you about mana manipulation...."
"Yaaawn."
'Ugh, this was boring.'
My expression during the mandatory lecture was the very picture of boredom.
Believe it or not, I had risen to first among the S-ranks before the regression.
I'd long since mastered academy curricula and the like.
There was nothing at all for me to learn from a lecture like this. How could I not be bored?
To kill time, I turned my gaze to the side.
'Now then, let's see....'
-Glance.
"Ugh, uu, ngh...."
'Maybe I'll mull over how to handle our stubborn Alice.'
Alice, visibly restless, caught my eye.
Dark circles that even light makeup couldn't fully hide.
Her face was flushed bright red all the way to her ears, as if from a high fever.
Few people announced “I'm a patient” quite this openly.
-Whisper whisper.
"Alice. You really should go to the infirmary..."
"Hngg!!? N-no...!"
"......Okay."
'On top of that, she swore to me she wasn't sick.'
Naturally, the moment we met I'd told her to go to the infirmary, but she'd vehemently refused.
When I'd put a hand on her forehead to check if she had a fever, she'd recoiled in horror and dodged.
After I asked several more times whether she was all right, she reached the point where she barely spoke to me at all.
Her response was so chilly that even Sia, watching from nearby, had wondered what was wrong with her.
But I wasn't particularly hurt.
Because,
'She should have rested while she was on her period. Had she forced herself to attend because it was the first day? Was my wife too diligent for her own good?'
Alice was probably in the middle of suffering from menstrual cramps.
Given how she was acting toward me, it was obvious.
On top of that, this was the kind of thing hard to talk about not just with men but even among women.
There was no way I'd get hurt over her being chilly toward me.
If anything, I felt guilty.
As her husband, I could do nothing but watch helplessly while my wife suffered.
-Muttering.
"You mustn't imagine things like that, Alice... Yujin wouldn't know that kind of manga, so......."
'How much pain was she in to act like that? I truly wished I could take the pain in her place.'
How bad must the pain have been for her to not sleep all night and get dark circles like that?
And that fever. Hadn't it hit 38 degrees?
And look at the way her lips kept moving.
She probably wanted to leave early and go to the infirmary, but the words just wouldn't come out.
Because she was timid Alice, after all.
"So, first we'll start with practice materializing mana...."
'I had no choice. This differed from my original plan, but perhaps I should be a little more brazen.'
I steeled my resolve for my beloved wife.
I resolved to draw every eye in the room to myself so Alice wouldn't feel embarrassed.
I resolved to hide absolutely nothing.
'Originally I was going to finish after one practice attempt and head to the Training Room early, but... that probably wouldn't have had enough impact, right?'
"Professor?"
"Hm? Ah. Cadet Seo Yujin...."
The professor, apparently in the middle of a demonstration, held a mana sphere above her hand.
She gave me an uneasy look when I raised my hand.
She seemed intimidated by me, a future S-rank.
But without making a big deal of it, I focused mana into my hand.
Wearing the most insolent smile I could manage.
'This was my first time since regressing, but...'
-Whooo... Ding!
[Through repeated experience, proficiency is acquired! Passive Skill Advanced Mana Manipulation Lv.4294967295....]
[Error occurred. Skill level unspecified.]
[Reassigning skill level based on the caster's experience....]
[Success! Passive Skill 'Advanced Mana Manipulation Lv.Max' acquired!]
'Unlike other skills, I could learn this quickly once I knew the trick.'
-Fwooosh!!!
With the cheerful notification, the mana that had been raging violently became docile.
The mana then swiftly condensed according to my will.
In less than a second, a perfect sphere of mana appeared in my hand.
The expressions of the professor and the cadets changed completely.
"......Wh-what!!?"
-Murmur murmur.
"What is that...?"
"Whoa, look how clean it is."
"It's rounder than the professor's?"
The room erupted.
A natural reaction.
Shaping extracted mana into a round form was a simple method awakeners used to show off their mana control skill.
It was common knowledge that the rounder the sphere, the greater the user’s skill at Mana Manipulation.
It even popped up a lot in webtoons about awakeners as a skill test.
Yet, while even the professor's had a slightly bumpy surface.
What I produced was a sphere that anyone could see was perfect.
A smooth sphere without a single distortion on its surface.
In other words, I'd demonstrated greater skill at Mana Manipulation than the professor.
From the very first day of lectures.
'Well, my total mana was small, so it was all glitter and no gold.'
Only the handling technique was advanced; the mana I actually had to handle was in the 3-point range.
A pearl necklace on a pig, but anyway.
Before the professor, who stared at me aghast, I made a bold declaration.
"Professor. Given that I'm at this level, may I go to the Training Room instead during future lecture periods?"
"...Excuse me?"
"As for the Mana Manipulation mastery this course aims to teach, I'm already far too good at it."
You couldn't even manipulate mana as well as I could.
Who were you to teach me?
I was going to skip your lectures from then on, so deal with it.
...Honestly, I hadn't planned to say something this insolent.
It would wound the professor’s pride, and everyone would think I was an ill-mannered bastard.
This was nothing but chipping away at my own reputation.
But,
'Rather than watch Alice suffer, groaning, I'd rather just be a rude bastard.'
"May I go?"
For my wife’s sake, I would do it.
So I smiled insolently.
Faced with that display, the professor naturally...
'She'd get angry, but if I dropped the Chairwoman's name....'
"Of course, Cadet Seo Yujin!! It is wonderful to see you work so hard at your studies!!"
'Huh?'
I was sure she'd get angry. Why was she beaming?
"I'll make sure there's no academic penalty... No, I will officially record that I sent you to the Training Room myself!"
"......Excuse me?"
"No need to apologize! Now, now! Hurry off and train!!"
The unexpected reaction continued.
But since it was awkward to refuse when she was telling me to go.
Perturbed, I stood and gathered my things.
'What was going on? If I were her, I'd have lectured a rude brat for speaking that way to an adult.'
"Th-thank you."
"Yujin, you're amazing...!!"
Alice looked up at me and smiled.
Despite the menstrual cramps, her eyes sparkled—as if moved by her Pine-Needle Squad comrade's cool display.
At that smile, I...
-Scoop.
"———And Professor, I'll take Cadet Alice to the infirmary and be right back!!"
"H-hngg!?"
"Please process it as an excused absence!! Excuse us!!!"
I scooped Alice into my arms and bolted.
It was a princess carry.
-Grind.
"...Huh?"
'Sorry, Sia! I'll listen to tons of your celebrity talk later!'
Sia seemed to have said something from behind, but the patient came first.
* * *
When we arrived at the infirmary, no one was there.
[Currently away on a house call! Patients, please go to the 'Ryu Suyeon Treatment Center'!]
'What terrible timing.'
A secluded infirmary.
The only ones here were me and Alice.
Out of concern for cadet privacy, the infirmary did not even have security cameras, so no one would know what happened there.
"Alice."
"Hng, hh... um, I-I'm really fine......."
As the Hypnosis Breeding Guy, there was only one thing for me to do in this situation.
"———I'm gonna hypnotize you."
My eyes flashed golden.