S Chapter 77

“Did it work?”

Honestly, it was his first time using it in a real situation, so it was hard to tell if the hypnosis had truly taken effect. Moreover, he hadn’t rendered the target incapacitated, which made it even more confusing. He should have used a more obvious form of hypnosis, like “sleep,” rather than “forget.”

‘He said I’d feel a distinct sensation… but I don’t feel anything.’

During training, with his master’s help, he’d learned the sensation of using an ability, but trying it alone was proving quite ambiguous.

…It’s harder than I thought.

His dissatisfied face showed the distinct youthful immaturity of a teenager. His fine brows furrowed, and his red lips puckered out as he blew a puff of air. His sweat-dampened bangs fluttered lightly. After that, he repeatedly opened and closed his palm, but nothing else happened.

“Hmm.”

His downcast gaze was indifferent yet sharp. U-dam alternated between looking at Shin Jukyeong and his own palm, then muttered a vulgar curse in a blunt voice.

“Damn it all to hell.”

The feeling of being an incompetent student truly sucked. He’d been rolling around in the dirt for three days, worse than pebbles, and he still hadn’t graduated from the beginner class. He couldn’t accept it.

Am I talentless? Or is this how it’s supposed to be? Damn it, how am I supposed to know?

‘What did that bastard master say?’

U-dam recalled the previous day’s advice.

‘If you can’t feel the difference, judge by your opponent.’

Judge by the opponent?

…Ha, well, it depends on the opponent. Unfortunately, Shin Jukyeong was as quiet as ever, so he wasn’t much help in making a distinction.

‘I really have no idea.’

U-dam tilted his head. Would it look different if he looked closely? He eyed Shin Jukyeong’s black pupils carefully, wondering. They were clear and pure like glass beads, but looked as unmotivated as usual.

‘Ah… forget it. I’ll just try something else.’

There wasn’t a speck of guilt about hypnotizing his own brother in that thought.

“U-dam? Did something happen?”

Just as he was concluding this to himself, Shin Jukyeong, who had been sitting idly, asked with a troubled expression. Well, it made sense. From Shin Jukyeong’s perspective, it must have looked like U-dam was putting on a show by himself.

It would be funny to explain in detail here, “Yeah, I hypnotized you. Do you feel any different?” so U-dam simply snapped his fingers once more without saying anything else. You don’t need to worry, Hyung. A half-hearted mumble was an extra.

Snap!

“Don’t move. From now on, your consciousness will fall asleep, Hyung.”

At U-dam’s command, Shin Jukyeong slowly closed his eyes.

‘I feel like I’ve seen some guy watching stuff like this a lot.’

U-dam made a displeased face even though he was the one doing the hypnotizing. It was because he felt like he’d become on par with that weird guy who watched those strange cartoons.

‘Damn, it’s disgusting. My opponent is Shin Jukyeong, and I’m such a…’

As he scoffed and sneered, a tiny fairy suddenly popped into his head. And then, damn it, it started spouting nonsense without warning.

‘Sir, didn’t you even dream of kissing Shin Jukyeong?’

U-dam froze on the spot. It was because the memory he had painstakingly tried to forget slowly resurfaced.

Yes, that damned ‘kiss!’

‘No, I said that was just a weird dream because I was tired.’

He hurriedly made an excuse, even though no one was listening, feeling unnecessarily guilty.

‘And strictly speaking, aren’t I the victim here?’

This was all because Shin Jukyeong constantly clung to him, saying ‘I like you, I love you, give me a chance!’… He was so tormented that he even dreamed about it.

‘I didn’t dream it because I wanted to.’

Moreover, he was the guy who said it was fine even if his feelings weren’t reciprocated. When a guy like that actively courts you, isn’t it normal to have one or two dreams like that? I’m not the bad one, Shin Jukyeong is.

‘He doesn’t look it, but he subtly manipulates people. It might be comfortable for you, but it’s troublesome for me.’

He grumbled inwardly, then paused.

‘…No, wait. Why am I troubled? I already rejected him.’

Again, making people crazy. U-dam frowned and lightly flicked Jukyeong’s nose. Really, he had a knack for being annoying.

‘Alright, let’s stop.’

The person who caused the annoyance is calm, so why should I be the only one racking my brains?

After finishing his pointless thoughts, he swept his hair back. His fine hair caught on his fingers, smoothly rising before falling disheveled. Even his unkempt appearance couldn’t hide his handsome looks.

U-dam was about to release the hypnosis. It was getting late, and most importantly, he had confirmed that the second attempt at hypnosis had worked very well, unlike the first.

But when he went to release it, Shin Jukyeong, quietly sitting with his eyes closed, bothered him. More precisely, should he say that the pure affection Shin Jukyeong had shown him lingered in his mind?

Even though he himself had a thick layer of fur on his conscience… looking back, he realized he had never once expressed gratitude to Shin Jukyeong, even in situations where he should have said thank you. No. He hadn’t.

Well, it’s not like he asked for help, but… anyway.

“Ah, I shouldn’t have thought about it.”

U-dam scrunched his eyes. His tone sounded genuinely wronged. He rubbed his eyes vigorously with his large, knobby hands. He rubbed so hard that his hair fluttered along with it.

‘…Ugh, how annoying. I didn’t know, but I guess I’m a surprisingly kind and conscientious type.’

He blurted out this absurd claim, which would make all the kids he’d beaten up protest in unison, then sighed deeply.

Somehow, it felt like he was at a disadvantage. But he couldn’t help it.

Even speechless beasts repay kindness, so it made no sense for a human like himself not to reciprocate. And out of pity for the guy who held feelings that would never be returned, his magnanimous self was making a sacrifice that wasn’t really a sacrifice.

“Anyway, you won’t remember.”

Right? Shin Jukyeong.

‘What to do about this…’

Jukyeong was in a difficult situation, seeing his younger brother stare intently at him, tilting his head and asking, “Did it work?” It was understandable. U-dam’s Innate Ability didn’t work on him.

Of course not. Even most professional hunters’ Psychic-Type abilities didn’t work on him, so there was no way a beginner’s hypnosis would.

But there was another problem. He was currently pretending to be an ordinary person with no abilities whatsoever.

In other words, he had to act like he was hypnotized.

‘At least I just have to pretend to have lost my memory, so that’s a relief.’

That sense of relief was fleeting. It seemed his younger brother had no intention of stopping this hypnosis practice.

“Don’t move. From now on, your consciousness will fall asleep, Hyung.”

‘Damn it. Is it Season 2…!’

What was bound to happen, finally happened.

‘I really want to fall asleep.’

How could he explain the feeling of playing pretend with his young brother, acting hypnotized when he wasn’t, at his age? To summarize, it would probably be ’embarrassing.’ Jukyeong grumbled inwardly and slowly closed his eyes.

‘What is he trying to do? Is he just checking his ability? Or is he going to flick my forehead?’

He was begging for it to end quickly, whatever it was.

A breath touched close to his face. A faint musk scent followed with the breath. It was a smell he often caught from U-dam. His cheek tickled, and he barely managed to stop his lips from curling into a smile.

‘Is he observing me?’

Just as he was quietly thinking that,

“Anyway, you won’t remember.”

Along with the words mumbled casually in an indifferent tone, Jukyeong’s head was gently pushed, then returned to its original position.

And then, a belated realization of the kiss! sound.

Huh?

…Kiss?

Kiiiiiisss?

Jukyeong clenched his teeth, barely managing to keep his eyes from snapping open. He could confidently say it was the moment he had exerted the most effort in his entire life.

No, wasn’t it justified? His brother! The mighty U-dam! Had just given him a kiss on the cheek. And voluntarily!

‘Insane.’

If he could, he wanted to slap his own cheek hard. To find out if this was a dream or reality. Huff, huff. Jukyeong’s heart began to pound wildly. He couldn’t believe he was witnessing his brother’s secret display of affection like this.

‘What is this? Is it really a dream? Am I dreaming? Or is this also part of the hypnosis?’

…If so, please don’t wake me up. If it’s this kind of hypnosis, I’d be happy to be subjected to it a hundred, no, a thousand times.

Oh, don’t misunderstand. He had no hobby of being kissed by another man. In fact, the moment someone tried to plant their lips on him, he’d be more than ready to throw a punch. But if it was U-dam, if it was his younger brother, then the story was different.

U-dam, Jae-min, Eun. Kisses from his beloved younger brothers were always more than welcome.

“Now, open your eyes. Forget everything that just happened.”

He was gushing inwardly, trying to rein in his rising cheeks. Snap! U-dam snapped his fingers again. Signifying the end of their hypnosis game.

People are truly fickle; before receiving the affection, he had merely waited endlessly for it to end, but now he felt quite regretful. Ah… he could have had another kiss. Jukyeong suppressed his rapidly growing selfish desires and slowly opened his eyes.