A Global Youth. (2)
A Global Youth. (2)
An emergency notice announcing changes to Pentagon Academy's rules was posted late at night.
The sudden news threw people into confusion...
[Korean Awakener Minor Gallery]
Title: So they're finally lifting the cadets' social-media ban?
(Screenshot of Pentagon Academy Outstar notice)
People complained about the censorship for ages, and they're only lifting it now.
Looks like Seol Hayeon finally came to her senses
└ Oh, nice
└ (a chipmunk giving a thumbs-up reaction)
They weren't plunged into confusion.
The cadet SNS ban was a rule that had drawn complaints from the start.
As if people would be thrown into confusion just because that rule disappeared.
On the contrary, most people were delighted.
[Korean Awakener Minor Gallery]
Title: The second DMs open I'm running straight to Hypnosis Master lolol
(Picture of a green frog shedding tears)
Please, Yujin, I beg you—implant a microchip in my brain.
I don't want to spend every day eating, shitting, and browsing the gallery.
Please save this pathetic forum addict...
└ Just turn off your phone and go live your life.
└└ How am I supposed to live a real life without hypnosis?;;
└└ That's not easy
└ But honestly, I'm curious about his hypnosis.
└└ A psychiatrist analyzed it, and apparently, if the claims are true, he could easily become the world's leading psychotherapist with just a little study.
└└ Why does such a shady power have such weirdly wholesome applications?
[Korean Awakener Minor Gallery]
Title: I want to ask him to hypnotize my little sister
(Pointlessly cute character illustration)
My little sister was in a car accident,
got this thing called CRPS, a disease where she gets wracked with pain even when the wind blows
They say it's caused by pain signals being misrouted in the brain.
Every single night she cries out in pain
Could hypnosis do anything for her?
I want to clutch at any straw I can reach
└ Hang in there...
└ Seriously, patients with actual neurological conditions...
└ I hit the button to put the family happiness reaction but yikes
└└ Boo, trash.
└└ (the 'get out of this town' reaction image)
Yujin's Innate Talent, Complete Hypnosis, had the entire world's attention.
At first glance, it sounded like a sinister, underhanded ability...
But wasn't it an ability with infinite good uses as well?
Those who had their eyes on the ability called hypnosis were far more than one or two.
And now cadet Seo Yujin—who everyone had assumed would be confined to the academy for four years—was allowed to use social media?
He was even allowed to participate in outside activities?
For people desperate for hypnosis, it was the best news imaginable.
It wasn't particularly bad news for ordinary people either.
As a result, a certain name began appearing again and again across the previously quiet internet.
The three syllables of the name 'Seo Yujin'.
[Awakener Minor Gallery]
Title: Don't expect too much from some cadet
Hypnosis Master is still a freshman.
The analyses already showed that his stats were below average.
Hypnosis can cure every mental illness.
Some people genuinely expect things like that.
Don't buy into the hype and get your hopes up.
└ This is the right take, yeah
└ If they get their hopes up and it doesn't work, someone is guaranteed to lash out at Hypnosis Master for no reason.
└ There's no way he'd be allowed out for external activities just to treat people anyway.
└└ Maybe if you begged him in a DM, he'd help?
└└ He can't. That would violate medical law.
└└ The only person legally allowed to do that is Ryu Suyeon, an awakener who graduated from medical school.
└└ Ah
└ For real, the overreactions are too much
However, some showed a cynical reaction.
Even if he's the next S-rank or whatever, he's still a cadet.
Their response amounted to: what could anyone expect from him?
Because it was, in fact, a reasonable point, the momentarily excited people calmed down once more.
Just as they had every other time over the past few days.
———However. After one particular post appeared.
Those reactions flipped a full 180 degrees.
It was thanks to S-rank No. 7, Công.
[Minor Gallery]
Title: Necromancer subjugation???
(Công Outstar screenshot)
I was wondering why he had come to Korea this time.
Did he really come to meet Hypnosis Master?
And it looks like he got some information from him too?
What, is Vietnam about to rise again?
└ Huh? Why are you asking that on a Korean forum?
└└ The scarier part is that he got an answer...
└ Isn't this just hype? I heard that guy's addicted to social media.
└└ He usually avoids saying things like this because he doesn't want to give people false hope.
└└ It's probably 100% certain information
└ How would Hypnosis Master even know that...?
The Grade 0 Villain who overthrew Vietnam, the Necromancer.
A post claimed that Yujin had given Công vital information needed to subjugate her.
It was difficult to believe.
The Necromancer was dangerous enough to potentially bring down not only Vietnam, but the entire Eurasian continent.
Even the United States had warned that it would launch a nuclear strike if the situation got out of hand.
And Yujin had information on someone like that?
...How?
Everyone tilted their heads in confusion.
Yujin—the person at the center of it all—was no exception.
-Head tilt.
'Things are chaotic enough already. What's he doing now?'
With the world in an uproar, the commotion around Yujin showed no sign of ending.
The walking strategic nuke, Aika, declared she would stay in Korea.
The Chairwoman, whom I'd expected to stop her, allowed it on the sole condition that she maintain strict secrecy.
She had even lifted the social-media ban—something that had never happened in the First Round.
It would have been stranger if none of that had caused a commotion.
Then Sia told me to look at something, and when I did...
Công was publicly calling me his friend.
Goosebumps rose on my arm.
'My friend Yujin? Ugh, that's so cringy.'
[Seo Yujin - ok]
He replied right away.
With it, I condensed all sorts of meanings: Stop, this is embarrassing. Why are you thanking a friend so formally? You don't have to do this. But let's still get drinks, and so on.
Without once considering how it might look to people who didn't know what Công and I were like.
[Minor Gallery]
Title: Hypnosis Master, this is legit, isn't it?
(Screenshot of Yujin's Outstar comment)
It's an academy-verified awakener personal account
That's really Hypnosis Master himself.
└ He really just replied 'ok' to the No. 7 S-rank lololol
└ No, seriously, what's with the best-friend energy?
└ The replies are already full of Nguyễns asking who he thinks he is, talking to Công so casually.
No matter that Yujin was considered the next S-rank, or that Công had called him a friend.
Yujin was still a cadet. Công was the No. 7 S-rank and Vietnam's hero.
The difference in status was like heaven and earth.
Yet Yujin had replied that casually?
Even considering the high-level information he had provided, it was outrageously disrespectful.
It was clear that Võ Chí Công would be angry too...
[Võ Chí Công - SDK sound good? I know an amazing place for seokbakji]
[Seo Yujin - What the hell is SDK, you damn nerd?]
[Võ Chí Công - Sundaeguk]
[Seo Yujin - Stop abbreviating everything;; Anyway, sure. Catch the Necromancer and come back, and I'll buy the suyuk to celebrate]
[Võ Chí Công - Oh lol. Just you wait—I'll be there within the month]
...Far from getting angry, Công continued the exchange as casually as could be.
Even people unfamiliar with Korean culture could tell at a glance that the two had no formality between them.
The reactions exploded.
[Minor Gallery]
Title: I've never seen Võ Chí Công act like this before, damn
(Screenshot of Yujin and Công's replies)
He always used formal language whenever he wrote in Korean,
but around this guy, he's 200% localized?
How did these two get so close in a single day?
└ Did he use hypnosis on him? Honestly, Võ Chí Công is hot.
└└ Agreed. Can't resist a hypnosis-pounding with Công.
└└ (Mod) Juicing the pustule, 7-day ban, can't resist
└└ (a “from now on, I shall praise the mods” reaction image)
└ But isn't that basically a declaration that he'll defeat the Necromancer within the month???
└└ What kind of top-secret intel did he get to post that from his official account?
└└ Dunno... really dunno...
Why were the two of them acting so familiar with each other?
What information had Công received to make him so confident he could defeat a Grade 0 Villain within a month?
Everyone was at the point of going mad with curiosity.
DMs flooded Công's account.
[Võ Chí Công - The information concerning the Necromancer subjugation is top secret, so I can't tell you even if you ask~]
Công handled it wisely.
He simply posted a single message without even opening his DMs.
It was an entirely reasonable response, so people soon turned their attention to Yujin.
[You must follow @SeoYoujin_Official to send a message.]
Unlike Công, Yujin could not even be sent a message.
In the First Round, Yujin had been relentlessly criticized over his harem, so this time he had immediately changed his settings.
Only accounts he followed back could message him.
The questions without an outlet soon became a heated debate.
Everyone agreed Yujin had given Công something extraordinary, but what was it?
How had Yujin obtained that information?
If it was thanks to hypnosis...
Amid all these rampant speculations and hypotheses,
not one was correct. But one thing was certain.
[Is hypnosis secretly an absurdly overpowered talent?]
Yujin's hypnosis was far more extraordinary than anyone had imagined.
* * *
The day after all that commotion.
For the first time in ages, I got a home-cooked meal instead of cafeteria food—and first thing after waking up, no less.
Master had made it herself.
-Fidget.
"I-I'm not sure whether it'll suit your palate... I only know how to cook Japanese food..."
"Of course it is delicious! You made it for me, after all!"
'As expected of my wife. I love you, Master!'
She'd said she would stay by my side around the clock, but she had actually slept in my quarters and even made me breakfast.
Her warm love for her disciple nearly brought tears to my eyes.
Of course, I had wondered whether a man and woman sleeping under the same roof was appropriate...
'The thing is, the Chairwoman gave her permission for this.'
Surprisingly, there was no issue at all with Master staying in my quarters.
Master was hardly an ordinary woman.
The No. 1 S-rank. The strongest awakener alive, capable of summoning her katana the instant danger approached—even in her sleep.
There was no way a man like me could do anything to her.
[I may not be able to stop you... but let me make one thing clear. If you force yourself on Yujin, I'll report you for rape.]
[Th-there's no way I would ever do that!!!]
The Chairwoman was actually more worried that Master might do something to me.
Of course, if Master did, I wouldn't resist, but...
The odds of that happening in the first place were zero, you know.
The Chairwoman had probably only been joking.
-Gulp.
"But Master. Did I perhaps do something wrong?"
"Hm?"
"Ever since you woke me this morning, your face has been red. Did I show you something indecent while I was half asleep...?"
"N-n-no!! It's nothing!! Stop your worrying and just hurry up and eat!!"
"Yes, ma'am."
The meal continued with a wholesomeness that made it hard to believe a man and woman had spent the night under the same roof.
"Ahem. Come to think of it, I hear the outside world is in an uproar. That Võ Chí Công fellow called you..."
"Pfft!! Cough, urk."
'A surprise assassination, this is really driving me crazy.'
Thanks to my friend with the indecent-sounding name, the wholesome mood didn't last long.
-Gulp, gulp.
"Sorry. I choked for a second there."
"Cough. My apologies. During a meal."
"...Anyway, what about Công?"
"Well, the truth is."
After a moment of awkward atmosphere.
Master summarized what had happened the day before.
People of the world had thrown a fuss over the replies between me and Công.
The content was roughly that.
"People are even saying you should treat them."
"......."
'Nothing like this happened in the First Round. I suppose revealing my ability really did change people's reactions.'
Even I, the Second-Round Hypnosis Breeding Guy, found that unexpected. Anyway.
Master looked at me, so I quickly shook my head.
Come on, what would I know about treating people? That would violate medical law.
To convey such a meaning.
"I could not do that in the first place..."
-Buzz.
"......Tch."
A sudden phone call cut me off.
Slightly furrowing my brow, I picked up my phone.
"Just a moment, Master. I have a call."
"Feel free to take it. I'll do the dishes or something in the meantime."
"Come on, I can do that..."
[He-hello. Yujin?]
"Ah, Big Sis Suyeon~!!"
"———Hah?"
At the welcome voice, my frown vanished at once.