A One in Three Chance (2)
A One in Three Chance (2)
Aika. Alice. Sia.
Did he like any of the three?
In truth, the reporter had asked without expecting much.
That young man was hardly an ordinary young man.
He spoke casually with Võ Chí Công and was important enough to call Japan's prime minister his older brother. His gift of gab rivaled Seol Hayeon's.
She'd tossed it out thinking, Well, he'd just brush off a question like this with a joke.
'Well, there was no way he'd answer....'
"I-I mean. Um......."
"......?"
But a thoughtlessly thrown stone could still kill a frog.
The reporter's question deeply flustered the Hypnosis Breeding Guy.
His golden eyes wavered, with nowhere to settle.
'Of course, I loved all three of them, but....'
Did I like my wives?
Of course I loved them. All three.
...There was no way he could say that.
Yujin was still only an A-rank Awakener.
He was nowhere near strong enough to withstand the storm that a harem declaration would cause.
Besides, wouldn't saying that amount to a confession?
Not even a confession delivered directly to the three of them, but one he'd make unilaterally in public.
It was bad enough to earn a Guinness World Record for the worst confession ever.
An honest answer was impossible.
'But denying it outright was even harder...?'
Yet I couldn't lie either.
Deny my love for my wives with my own mouth?
Ha. It would be like forcing an elf to sign a statement saying the World Tree was just a big tree.
I would rather die.
Yujin was surprisingly shamelessly romantic himself.
'What should I do? Should I just brush it off...?'
—Hesitate, hesitate.
That hesitation created an opening of several seconds.
The young man who'd seemed so perfect was flustered.
The pack of jackals before him exchanged glances.
'This reaction... was rather juicy, was it not?'
'So women were his weak point? With looks like those, I thought he would be completely immune. He was surprisingly innocent.'
He could give a brilliant speech even when someone suddenly tossed him a microphone.
But bring up women and he acted like a complete novice? He was too embarrassed to speak?
Good heavens. With a face like that, had he never even had a girlfriend?
He even seemed to genuinely like one of those three, and the question had hit too close to home for him to speak properly.
It was innocent and cute enough to make her laugh, but...
That was that, and this was this.
They still had views to rake in, did they not?
'Hey, Reporter Park. You used to work entertainment. Get in there.'
'This was my specialty. Just leave it to me, Chief.'
—Step.
"So even you have a human side, Seo Yujin. You seemed so perfect that I thought you lacked any humanity."
An attack from a reporter who'd caught the sweet scent of a We Got Married story.
A peculiar turn of phrase that subtly treated his reaction as confirmation.
Yujin hurriedly executed an evasive maneuver.
Like the Lazy Donkey Roll often seen in martial-arts novels, he rolled across the ground.
He discarded all dignity and did it disgracefully.
"N-no! That's not it!"
"Oh my, then you do not like anyone among the three?"
"...Well, I like them as friends, or as my master. In that sense."
"Come on~ You know that's not what I mean. Is there someone you love? There is, right?"
But what else could be expected from a reporter who'd started in entertainment and risen to the Awakener desk?
Her questioning still pursued Yujin relentlessly.
She was viciously persistent, determined to pry open the young man's guard and uncover the truth.
"...Ahem. Why do I have to answer that? I do not need to discuss my private life...."
"You don't have to answer, but refusing to answer is an answer in itself, is it not?"
"......."
Unblockable attacks came one after another.
Yujin was driven increasingly onto the defensive.
A broad smile spread across the reporter's lips.
It was the sort of smile that would have looked perfect beneath green alien sunglasses.
"If you don't answer... I might write the article like this: Awakener Seo Yujin and His Fresh Young Love. When asked whether he loved Ninomiya, his face turned bright red and he avoided the question. It was spring—something like that."
"......."
"You've already given yourself away, so why not answer as openly as you have until now~? I'm not asking you to single anyone out and confess. Right?"
It was an attack he could neither dodge nor block.
An unblockable move that worked only on married men.
Driven to the edge of the cliff, Yujin...
"......? Ah."
—Nod.
"Yes. There is someone I love."
He admitted it without hesitation.
So readily that one might wonder why he'd been flustered at all.
* * *
I had been flustered by the reporter's unblockable move.
But then,
"I was not asking you to single anyone out and confess...."
—Freeze.
'Oh? Come to think of it, these people didn't know I liked all three of them.'
An escape route suddenly appeared before me.
My memories of being hounded by the press in the First Round had kept me from realizing it immediately, but...
things were different now that I had regressed.
The press was friendly. Far from being public knowledge, my romantic relationships hadn't even begun yet.
Even the reporters could never have imagined that I dreamed of building a harem.
'I could bluff my way through this. No, could I even use it to lay the groundwork for winning over my wives?'
A plan occurred to me along with that realization.
...What if I simply admitted that there was someone I liked?
People would assume, 'He must like one of those three.'
That was the normal conclusion.
My three wives would probably think the same thing.
Huh? He liked one of the three of us, including me?
No way. It couldn't be me. Nothing had ever happened between him and me.
He definitely liked one of the other two.
Something like that.
The vulnerability created by that misunderstanding would give their guy friend, 'Seo Yujin,' room to slip in.
I could slowly win my wives over from their blind spots.
Then, after laying the groundwork, when the time came...
what if I confessed, 'Actually, what I said back then was about all of you'?
[I am sorry... I-I am sorry I am such traaash....]
[Y-Yujin?! It's okay, so please do not cry, all right? Even without hypnosis or anything, I'm sure I would have....]
[Do you think that was why we came to love you? Idiot. You absolute idiot.]
'That was ten million times better than my first confession, wasn't it?'
It was more than merely acceptable. It was actually good.
Sia had said it herself. If I was going to announce that I was two-timing them anyway, I should act completely brazen. Women were attracted to bad men.
The bad-young-man strategy was already laying its groundwork. Nice.
'I'd probably get slapped and dumped, but I had to make it work somehow.'
It would make the eventual confession much harder, but there was no helping it.
Life had no meaning without the three of them in the first place.
Even if I had to save the world, I'd make it work somehow.
I steeled myself and answered.
"Yes. There is someone I love."
'The three people I loved most in the world. My wives, hundreds of times more precious than my own life.'
It was the first time I'd voiced that sincere feeling since regressing.
It probably wouldn't reach any of them just yet, but I hoped they would understand someday.
The reporter's eyes widened.
"Oh my. Really? Who...?"
"I would rather not say who."
"Fair enough. That really would be a public confession, after all."
Even then, the reporter didn't press any further.
Partly because my expression made it clear I would not answer beyond that...
but this was probably even better from the reporter's perspective.
Keeping the identity of the person I liked vague would draw far more views.
'The three of them might be a little flustered, but... it should be fine.'
Would my wives suffer any blowback from getting caught up in the media frenzy?
It did not particularly matter.
Sia was a second-generation chaebol heiress who knew how to use media attention intelligently. She'd put it to good use for clan publicity or whatever else she wanted.
Alice simply liked attention. She'd probably keep things deliberately vague and tease everyone into a frenzy.
As for Master... was there any point worrying? If anyone asked her, she'd tell them to stop spouting bullshit and fold them in half.
In other words, this plan carried zero risk.
As long as no one discovered that I liked all three of them, it was perfect.
—Whisper, whisper.
"Dad, Dad. Was it Whitey? Pinky? Flatty?"
"It's a secret~."
"If it was Flatty, tell me. Haru will help the baby."
"......? What does that mean...."
—Bzzzt.
"Ah. Look at the time already."
A phone alarm went off at just the right moment.
It signaled the end of the interview.
"I'll go administer the treatments now. You do not have any more questions, correct?"
"Of course. Thank you for cooperating with the interview, Seo Yujin."
"Yes. Come on, Haru. Let's go."
I turned sharply away from the reporter and headed into the hospital.
At the last moment, I saw her face filled with a triumphant smile.
—Murmur, murmur.
"Reporter Park, nice! You got that out of Seo Yujin...."
"Chief, this is huge. My romance cells are running at full power right now. Wow. Delicious. Truly delicious."
"...Reporter Park?"
"Each of them would think there was a one-in-three chance Seo Yujin had feelings for her. They would grow more conscious of him, start pointless fights with one another, and probe Yujin's feelings... Ha. I could live off articles about this for the next six months. Delicious."
"Why do you use such excellent skills for things like this...?"
The voices behind me were probably...
the reporters celebrating that they'd finally managed to take a bite out of me.
They had no idea that it was helping me—helping us.
'Go ahead. Write as many articles as you want and make all the fuss you like. Do it for us.'
—Grin.
I grinned too.
Today, I was a slightly wicked young man.
* * *
The treatment itself ended quickly.
I didn't even need to make rounds. I only had to sit in the consultation room and apply hypnosis according to each prescription.
It took less than twenty minutes to treat thirty people, which said everything.
—Chew, chew.
"Dad, this red gum is yummy. You should have some too."
"......."
'Had she already eaten ten pieces?'
That was still more than enough time for Haru to mercilessly slaughter the TenX gum set out for children. In any case.
With that, my official schedule for the day ended.
All that remained was...
"Then, Haru, shall we go to the amusement park?"
"......!!! Yes!!!"
I was finally going to keep the promise I'd made on the first day of school.
We headed straight to the amusement park.
For Haru, it was a chance to resolve a lifelong regret.
For me, it was a chance to recover from the exhaustion of four nonstop weeks.
—Screech.
"We've arrived, Seo Yujin."
"Dad, hurry. Hurry."
"You should thank the lady who drove us~."
"Thank youuu."
"Hehe. Have fun."
Thanks to the private car Cheonhwa had sent, we reached the amusement park in no time.
After that, I was going to spend a peaceful day with Haru...
"And with the young lady."
"...Excuse me?"
—Slide.
"———Yujin, what was that interview about?"
"......!!!!!?"
I had been planning to spend a peaceful day.
Then a wild Sia suddenly appeared.
"I-I mean. Um. Are you angry...?"
"Get out first. We can talk it over while we play."
—Slide. Squeeze.
Sia even used her ability to pull me out of the car.
"Oh, is Flatty coming too?"
"Who's fla— Ahem. Haru, my clan actually owns a sizable share of this amusement park. About half of it is mine."
"Really?"
"Of course. If you play with me, you can ride every attraction for free without waiting in line."
"Flatty is an amazing person. Haru is very impressed."
Haru's eyes sparkled as she looked at Sia.
Finally,
"So...."
—Squish.
"Listen to me today, Haru."
"......!!!!!?"
Sia suddenly linked arms with me.
"......!!? S-S-Sia!!?"
"You, be quiet. Haru, don't you like it?"
"Temporary mom approved. Please take good care of Haru today, Flatty."
"All right. Let's go, Yujin."
"Uh, er, um. It is touching...."
"I told you to be quiet."
"Eeek."
An amusement-park date that was anything but relaxing began.