The Master's Foolishness Is Sky-High (2)
The Master's Foolishness Is Sky-High (2)
The woman I had assumed was merely Công's secretary
was actually my master, hiding her identity beneath a robe.
'Why was my master here!? She wasn't supposed to seek me out until my second year!'
I was so stunned I couldn't even get a word out.
My master, Aika Ninomiya, was supposed to seek me out during my second year at the academy.
It shouldn't have happened for another full year.
So why was she here already?
'Could my master also have memories from before the regression...?'
"That sword art of yours. Who in the world taught it to you?"
"Ah."
I was the culprit.
...Well, I did use the Jaha Sword Art during the entrance exam, after all.
Some random nobody was using a profound martial art my master had painstakingly created herself.
No wonder she'd come running in shock at the sight of pearls around a pig's neck.
However,
"Lie to me, and I will cut you down."
'Explaining it would mean revealing that I'd regressed...?'
My lips just wouldn't part.
Because I was completely at a loss for how to explain.
Even if I told her I had regressed, would she even believe it?
And even if she did, what about the fact that we were master and disciple, and also husband and wife?
Would she really believe that? The way she was glaring at me now like that?
'...Actually, maybe she would believe it?'
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
I wasn't sure about the other wives...
But it felt like my master just might believe me.
Unlike the other wives, my master was a compassionate soul who cherished me with love even without any hypnosis.
When I was tormented by guilt, she comforted me, saying it was alright. She was the benefactor who even personally sorted out the harem with the other wives for me.
Since she was that kind of person, if I confessed honestly, I was certain she would at least hear me out.
No matter how absurd it sounded, she would listen to the very end.
And at the end of it all, if I succeeded in convincing her?
Leaving aside the whole wife thing for a second, what if she at least believed in the destruction 15 years from now?
That alone would be an invincible army. I could advance my plans by at least five years.
What if she didn't believe me?
I still had nothing to lose.
She'd probably find it endearing that I'd invented such an absurd lie just to get closer to her.
In other words, telling my master about the regression was...
no risk and an absurdly high return.
There was no reason not to tell her.
I hurriedly opened my mouth.
"Well, you see. The truth is..."
'I regressed here from fifteen years in the future...'
A secret I had never revealed to anyone.
The absurd destruction that only I remembered.
A wish I had hammered and tempered into myself without end over the past two weeks.
I was about to pour all of it out to the master who had always been my emotional anchor.
———But.
-Ding!
[The skill 'Complete Hypnosis' activates!]
".........!!!!!?"
The very moment I placed the word regression on my tongue.
My instincts screamed a warning.
That I must never speak this truth aloud.
That if I did, my soul would be torn to shreds and erased from this world.
What I was about to do was break a self-hypnosis...
placed on me deeper than anything else.
'Hypnosis? I had cast it... on myself?'
-Ding!
=====
Name: Seo Yujin (20 years old, male)
Current Status: Hypnosis (Attempting forced release), ???
=====
Had it noticed my confusion?
The Status Window automatically appeared before my eyes.
A hypnosis I had never cast.
A hypnosis enforced upon me from the realm of the unconscious...
to prevent me from speaking of the regression.
And I was forcibly trying to break it.
'What the...? This feeling, it was definitely my ability....'
[You possess a skill of the same lineage. Checking the hierarchy between them....]
['Overwhelming' difference in rank! As if asking why its mother is here, the skill 'Complete Hypnosis' panics and backs down.]
"......Khk-khoff!!!!!"
Before I could even process the message, a violent cough wracked my body.
A cough mixed with blood, at that.
Of course, it wasn't because I was injured.
I couldn't even get injured in the first place, thanks to the 'Unyielding' trait.
This was merely a few drops of bloody saliva spraying out with the cough.
Judging by the sting on my tongue, I had unknowingly bitten it.
On top of that, my body began to give out.
It was because my soul wavered, and my consciousness grew faint.
[As a side effect of failure, the Status Effect 'Soul Collapse (Mild)' will...]
-Ding!
[The superior skill '???' shows mercy! The Absolute One cradles your soul, greatly reducing the side effects of failure.]
[The skill 'Complete Hypnosis' cannot be used for 10 minutes.]
'A superior skill? What did that mean?'
My fading consciousness returned because something had wrapped my soul in a tight embrace.
It felt strange for an orphan like me to say this, but...
It was something akin to a mother.
Judging from the notifications before me, it had clearly been the work of that 'superior skill.'
'A skill superior to an EX-grade ability? Could something like that really exist?'
A superior skill to one of only two EX-grade talents in the world.
If such a thing existed...
wouldn't it be the power of a god—or an Absolute One equal to a god?
Then why had such a skill been placed on me?
Merely to keep me from mentioning that I had regressed?
To make me its toy and amuse itself with me?
But it had felt far too warm for that.
It had shown a benevolence that cradled my very soul.
It had felt almost like maternal love.
'What the....'
"Ah, aah...!!!"
"......?"
Amid the tangle of my chaotic thoughts,
A voice drifted into my muffled ears.
It was my master's voice.
"A-are you... Are you all right!?"
-Plop.
Then I felt weight settle over my lower body, accompanied by a soft, yielding sensation.
I somehow forced my badly unfocused eyes to look forward.
My master was sitting astride me.
"Answer me! Please!?"
".........!!!!!?"
The view, so ecstatic it was borderline violent, was just a bonus.
Thanks to it, my complicated mind was completely wiped blank.
Master, leaving aside the fact that the front of your clothes was open...
your bandages were coming completely undone.
I knew why she wore bandages instead of a bra.
She had once told me that when she went to buy a bra, the entire world reported it under headlines like 'Aika Ninomiya's Underwear.'
And comments like, 'To require a custom order, she truly is the S-rank No. 1,' spread across the globe.
Some vulgar 'Aika Challenge' had even become popular overseas.
This unworthy disciple completely understood why she had worn nothing but bandages ever since.
Still, Master, you needed to wrap them properly.
They were coming undone right before my eyes.
At this rate, your disciple was going to get a nosebleed.
"I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pressure you like that. I've done something terrible!"
"M-Master... No, that's not..."
-Softly, squish.
'And this position was, well... Uh.'
And what was with that position, Master?
It was fine that she was sitting on top of her disciple.
I would gladly serve as my master's cushion.
Still, if you're going to squarely sit on that particular spot, it's a little problematic, you know?
The stimulation alone was already a problem, but if she did it while presenting such a spectacular view right before my eyes...
"Aah, aah... It was wrong of me to kick you! What have I done to a fragile child like you!?"
'No, what the hell was I thinking!?'
For a moment, I was in paradise, hit hard after a long time by the strongest combat power among my trio of wives in many ways. But it was only for a moment.
Hearing my master's cry, I barely managed to pull myself together.
Even before the regression, my master had cherished me to the point of overprotectiveness.
She must have panicked because she thought I'd suffered a serious injury.
As for why she was acting this way when we weren't even married yet...
perhaps she had already marked me as promising disciple material.
Before the regression, she had accepted me as her disciple on our very first day together.
So to reassure her, I quickly opened my mouth.
With a tongue that still barely moved, thanks to the earlier backlash. Stuttering.
"I-I'm fine. More importantly, you're touching..."
"A-are you all right!? Open your eyes properly! I-I was wrong!"
"Your bandages... They're coming off. I can see every..."
"I truly did not mean to hurt you, but this was my fault!"
—Shake, shake. Slip.
'She wasn't listening to me at all!?'
It was no use.
If anything, the bandages only slipped farther.
Even the Second-Round Hypnosis Breeding Guy's patience was nearing its limit.
'At this rate... I really was going to draw my sword!'
Whenever I was with Sia or Alice, I barely managed to endure it.
Mentally, I was in my mid-thirties, while they were still in their early twenties.
Reacting to them was something that went against my ethics in many ways.
But with my master?
A breadth of heart that made Alice look ordinary.
Proactive physical contact that would make Sia look like a hijab-wearing Arab woman.
And above all, the three-year age gap that supposedly wasn't even a real gap to begin with.
How was I supposed to endure this?
'Even my master probably wouldn't forgive me for this...'
But I had to hold out, somehow.
Because I couldn't possibly pop a boner on someone who was worried about me, right from our first meeting.
I desperately attempted hypnosis.
'It couldn't be helped. I, Seo Yujin, would seal my libido for the next ten minutes...'
[The skill 'Complete Hypnosis' is currently unavailable due to overload. (Available in 9 minutes, 17 seconds)]
'.......'
The system rejected me with a message I'd never seen in either the game or the First Round.
...Come to think of it, a notification had said something about the skill being unusable.
Right. I was screwed.
-Tight.
"Th-the infirmary! I'll take you to the infirmary! Just hold on!"
As I reached enlightenment, my master scooped me up in a princess carry.
The only difference from a normal princess carry was that she firmly secured my head so my neck wouldn't loll around.
She did so by pressing my face directly into her chest.
Thanks to that considerate gesture, I abruptly found myself with my nose buried in my master's chest.
Her bandages had already slipped off completely, leaving my face pressed directly against bare skin.
-Boom!! Pitter-patter.
"I'll get you treated immediately..."
'I couldn't take any more...'
My endurance, ultimately KO'd by getting my nose shoved in.
My master sprinted toward the infirmary with me in her arms.
Finally,
"Yujin, you're late... Eek!? Aika Ninomiya!?"
"What? Why is the top-ranked S-rank suddenly... Yujin!?"
"W-wait. What happened...?"
-Swaaang.
Sia's and Alice's voices grew louder and then fainter with the Doppler effect.
It was a chaotic situation, but I was certain of one thing.
Superior skill or whatever else aside...
if this continued, I might not survive the day.