"Ah, no...! J-Just now, I was a little nervous...!"
"..."
"I-I can really do better than that.... Ugh, ughhh...."
In front of me, Cha Eun-ju was frantically denying the pathetic display she'd just put on, pleading as she looked up at me.
It was a bit harsh to say it, but her abilities as a Hunter were truly bottom-tier.
Regardless of how strong or weak her awakening power was, she simply couldn't engage in proper combat against monsters like this.
Even in that last fight, I'd had her go solo, which was lucky—if there had been teammates around, she might have attacked them by mistake. It was that dangerous.
Taking down that one goblin was basically a fluke, no different from a lucky hit.
'Still...'
One thing was certain: her dark magic ability itself was solid.
It was a holographic fake monster, sure, but seeing its upper body practically explode proved its power was more than sufficient.
She'd bitten her tongue in panic midway through, but she'd still conjured and fired ten Shadow Balls in that short time—her casting speed was on par with a veteran Hunter.
...If only that one thing, her timid personality, could be fixed. She'd be more than capable of pulling double duty, at minimum.
"C-Can I try just once more...? N-Next time, I'll do it right for real...."
"It's fine. You don't need to show me more."
"A-Ah...! I-I can really do it...! Th-This time, no mistakes...!!"
"It's not that I don't want to see it. I mean we should switch to team training from here on out. If we're gonna fight together in the next practical exam, we need to sync up first, right?"
"Uh, wh-what...?"
Cha Eun-ju blinked in confusion at my calm response, looking up at me quietly.
Her expression screamed disbelief—like, after seeing that, you still want to party with me?
"I'll buff you up first, so let's start again. I'll join in this time too, so don't tense up."
"I-It'S okay...? I-I looked so pathetic just now...."
"Just to check, you're not backing out on me now, are you?"
"N-No! Of course not!"
"Then quit with the weird talk and let's jump into the next round. I don't know what you think of yourself, but I reckon you're gonna make a pretty great partner, Eun-ju."
"Wh-What?!"
I led the cartoonishly shocked Cha Eun-ju back into the holographic training ground, then gently placed my hand on her head.
"I'm gonna cast a mental buff on you now, Eun-ju—one that makes you brave. It's a mental buff, so if you resist, it might not take properly. Keep that in mind."
"Y-Yeah...."
Before applying the Suggestion, I made sure to loosen Cha Eun-ju's mental barriers.
'In the original story, the Suggestion Lee Seon-ho gave Cha Eun-ju was called 'Potion of Courage,' I think.'
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙
Suggestion: Potion of Courage ※ Target: Cha Eun-ju
To be precise, it wasn't a potion at all. But using a concept that existed in reality like this made the Suggestion stick better.
It was the same principle as me using 'Runner's High' for my own Suggestion instead of something like 'Running Addiction' when racing Choi Marie.
"Did it work...?"
"For now. Wanna test it out?"
"...Yeah."
Compared to before, the tremor in her voice had lessened, so the Suggestion seemed to have taken hold properly.
She probably felt like she'd been buffed with 'Potion of Courage' right now. With no clue that my ability was Suggestion, not a buff.
We entered the training ground together, set it up the same as before, and generated the holographic monsters again. This time, I stuck right behind her as we fought.
'Keheek!'
'Keruk, kehek!'
"Focus, Cha Eun-ju."
"...Yeah."
Unlike before, she didn't start shaking the moment the monsters appeared. She stood firm on both legs, facing the enemies head-on.
I gripped her shoulders tightly from behind, quietly waiting as she handled the monsters with her magic.
'Keheeeek!!'
"...Shadow Ball."
-Boom!
Even as the monster closed in, she didn't avert her gaze or flee. Calmly, she conjured her spell and blasted one goblin to bits.
The other two goblins fell one by one to her magic too—just like in the original story, the Suggestion was working perfectly.
"Good work, Eun-ju."
"..."
"...Cha Eun-ju?"
Having dispatched the three goblins so effortlessly—unlike before—she stood there dazed, staring blankly at their holographic corpses.
A beat later, she registered her own handiwork and suddenly leaped into the air with a shout.
-Hop.
"I-I did it...!!"
"...Yeah, you did, Eun-ju."
"I r-really did it...!! A-All three of them...!!"
"Yeah, you did great. That's what I was saying—you're gonna make a solid partner."
Every time she bounced excitedly, those huge breasts of hers jiggled a beat late, up and down.
They looked insanely soft to the touch. It was getting really hard to resist the urge to just reach out.
...Right now, with her all hyped up, she might even let me grope them as a thank-you.
'Don't do anything stupid. I can get frisky with Cha Eun-ju plenty later.'
Just proving my awakening ability offset her weaknesses had already pushed things over 80%. No need to rile up her defenses now.
No matter how well things were going, rushing was a bad idea. We'd only known each other for under six hours—basically strangers still.
With Choi Marie, it'd taken over two weeks of not even talking, just drawing her gaze. No way I'd skimp on time with Cha Eun-ju.
The easier the conquest, the more thoroughly I'd train her—until she was my perfect pet.
...Then I'd indulge in every act I wanted with that voluptuous body of hers.
"L-Let's do one more!"
"Huh?"
"R-Right now, I feel like I could take ten goblins at once! Ah, the buff's still up—quick!"
She was properly pumped now. Probably the thrill of finally controlling her power properly for the first time.
Leveraging this mood, I figured conquering her within the week before the practical exam wasn't impossible. I started setting up the next round.
"Jumping straight to ten might be too much. Let's ramp up from five, sequentially."
"A-Ah, yeah...."
"I'll refresh the buff too. Come here and tilt your head."
"O-Okay...."
Truth be told, there was no need to recast. Suggestions lasted until I released them.
But releasing and reapplying was just an excuse for skinship.
-Pat, pat.
"..."
Cha Eun-ju huddled tensely beneath my hand. Someday, she'd come nuzzling in at a mere gesture, fully accustomed to my touch.
Step by step, slowly. I'd close the distance between our hearts.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
-Boom!
"Haa, ha, haaa...."
"That's enough for today. Good work, Cha Eun-ju."
After that first buffed mock battle, we'd ramped up the goblin numbers sequentially, fighting a total of six rounds.
The final one pitted us against ten goblins.
For two academy freshman hopefuls, it was a tough matchup—but under Suggestion, Cha Eun-ju could've soloed it easily.
Her magic power and casting speed were reliable from the start, so she cleared the last round without issue. By the time we'd let her battle to her heart's content, an hour and a half had flown by.
"C-Can we do just one more...?"
She was genuinely thrilled. The girl who'd trembled at three goblins was begging for more.
But today's training with Cha Eun-ju ended here. Leaving her wanting ensured an excuse to meet again.
"You've done plenty already. And the rental time's almost up."
"..."
"Let's do it tomorrow instead. You've burned a ton of mana today—better to rest up."
"...T-Tomorrow too? For real?"
"Who knows what the practical exam task'll be? Practicing as much as we can in different setups can't hurt. Oh, right—we forgot to swap numbers. Lend me your phone for a sec, Eun-ju?"
"A-Ah, sure...!"
A bit late, but we'd swapped contacts naturally. Now I had a way to summon the homebody who rarely stepped out.
Honestly, I'd figured nailing this alone would be a win for today.
Plus, we'd promised to take the practical together, and I got chances for light skinship in the training ground. A total jackpot.
Even more amazing? All on day one of meeting Cha Eun-ju. As expected of the easiest heroine for Lee Seon-ho.
'Rental time left... about 20 minutes.'
...Twenty minutes should be plenty. To test Suggestion: Hypnosis on Cha Eun-ju as a trial run.
I wasn't fully sure of my Suggestion: Hypnosis limits yet. She made a safe first guinea pig, all things considered.
"Eun-ju, before we go, there's one more thing I wanna try."
"Try...?"
"But it's a pretty strong buff, so asking to use it on you might come off rude."
"R-Rude? Wh-What are you talking about? After everything you've done for me...! I-I won't think it's rude at all, so just say it!"
"...Using my ability, I might be able to fix some of your weaknesses."
"...Huh?"
I'd started with an apologetic look to make refusal tough, then dangled the reward she craved to hook her interest.
"If I use my 'Hypnosis' buff, I can gradually fix that weak-in-real-combat personality of yours."
"Hy-Hypnosis...?"
"Yeah. That's why I was hesitating. Casting 'hypnosis' and calling it a buff sounds fishy no matter how you slice it. And asking you to accept something like that on day one feels off."
"..."
A proposal to gradually fix her flaws—one too tempting to refuse.
But the price? A suspiciously named 'Hypnosis' buff.
Any normal girl would've branded a guy suggesting this on day one a pervert and sneered.
But Cha Eun-ju...?
...The one who'd built up goodwill and debt toward me today.
"I-It's fine."
"Huh?"
"L-Let's try it. That 'Hypnosis' thing...."
...I'd known she wouldn't refuse right now.