Chapter 12: The First Mission and Home Sweet Home (3)

 

The hypnosis made her confuse me with her dad.

 

As a result, the woman in front of me suddenly hugged me.

 

She grabbed the back of my head and pulled me right into her cleavage.

 

-Soft.

 

“……!!!?”

 

‘What are you doing to your dad!?’

 

Excuse me, miss. Did you do this with your father…?

 

I was so shocked I couldn’t even speak.

 

My Confucian values couldn’t accept her behavior.

 

However,

 

“You’re so late, Dad.”

 

-Ding!

 

[The soul is strongly connected!]

 

———A sudden notification.

 

The sensation of hypnosis piercing to her deepest core.

 

Above all…

 

A hint of resentment felt in her emotionless voice.

 

With all those, my vision completely changed.

 

[Assimilating with the target.]

 

‘What is this…?’

 

The world before my eyes was tinged with a faded sepia color.

 

* * *

 

“Experiment subject 47, success!!”

 

“…?”

 

‘What is this?’

 

When I came to my senses, there were numerous researchers standing before me.

 

No, the expression ‘above my eyes’ would be more appropriate.

 

I was looking up at them from quite a height.

 

Like a small child.

 

-Srrk.

 

‘My head moves on its own… Ah, this is a recollection.’

 

It wasn’t something I had never experienced before.

 

This was a kind of past recollection experience.

 

Back before my regression, when I reigned supreme.

 

It was a technique I often used to interrogate villains with hypnosis.

 

A convenient technique that allowed me to view memories even the person themselves had forgotten.

 

‘What’s going on? There’s no way I could perform such hypnosis with my current abilities.’

 

The problem was that this was a technique far too advanced for me to execute now.

 

Reading memories might sound simple, but…

 

This was a technique that involved directly examining the soul.

 

It was an extremely high-level application that required the target’s soul not to reject me at all.

 

For that, perfect hypnosis was an essential prerequisite.

 

Could I even attempt something like this with my current abilities?

 

Hypnotizing an awakened one who could break magical suppression restraints?

 

I was baffled and confused.

 

However, the scene before my eyes did not wait for me.

 

-Swoosh.

 

“This time, cyclobenzaprine… An overdose, but it’s fine since you’re awakened.”

 

“I don’t like pain….”

 

My vision changed again.

 

A syringe was coming right up to my face.

 

A child’s whining voice was a bonus.

 

Thanks to that, I could grasp the situation immediately.

 

‘Injecting the test subject… This must be it. The Awakener Proliferation Project.’

 

One of the settings from the game. The Awakener Proliferation Project.

 

A horrifying experiment that took place about 20 years before the prologue, centered around the military.

 

The purpose of this experiment was the artificial awakening of ordinary people.

 

Based on the fact that the hearts of awakeners held magic, they used a brutal method of implanting ‘cores’ into the hearts of the test subjects.

 

…A crazy act that could only be possible in the 90s.

 

The success rate was less than 2%, yet they sacrificed civilians for it.

 

Mainly orphans, too.

 

-Swoosh.

 

“Number 47. As a proud soldier of South Korea, you will dedicate your life…”

 

‘Brainwashing too? How horrible.’

 

The reason for using orphans was to brainwash them from a young age and wield them as convenient weapons.

 

The girl I assimilated with also received daily brainwashing under the guise of ideological education.

 

As a result, scenes that even made me, a spectator, horrified, passed before my eyes.

 

Dozens, hundreds of times, enough to leave an afterimage.

 

“Number 47, this time, the regeneration experiment….”

 

“You’re a machine. All you need to do is follow orders without thinking….”

 

“Who said you could talk back? Don’t speak unless instructed.”

 

“For the glory of Korea….”

 

………

 

……

 

…

 

“———Is it tasty?”

 

Amidst the brainwashing days, a peculiar memory intruded.

 

A man squatting to meet a girl’s eye level.

 

His eyebrows arched gently upwards as he held a chocolate in his hand.

 

The sepia-toned world momentarily turned into full color.

 

-Nod.

 

“That’s good. Ah, it’s a secret that I gave it to you, okay?”

 

-Nod nod.

 

It wasn’t hard to understand his feelings.

 

The child in front of him, who could be his daughter, was subjected to daily human experiments.

 

His conscience must have hurt, making him want to be kind to her.

 

‘Well, it’s probably hypocrisy. If he had a real conscience, he’d report this to the authorities….’

 

-Whisper.

 

“Living here, it must be really hard, right?”

 

“…….”

 

“Just endure a bit more. After a hundred nights, your dad will come.”

 

‘Huh?’

 

Both she and I tilted our heads in confusion.

 

Dad? She’s supposed to be an orphan. What is he talking about?

 

The researcher put a finger to his lips.

 

“I sent a letter to someone far away. About you. About this experiment.”

 

“…….”

 

“If I move hastily, that bastard Lee Won-ho will cut off the loose ends. Just hang in there for a hundred nights. With me.”

 

“…….”

 

“Then… your dad will come for you.”

 

Dad. The most precious thing ingrained in her subconscious.

 

For the first time, she spoke up after silently listening.

 

“What’s a dad?”

 

“A good person. Not like the bad people here, someone who will play with you.”

 

“…….”

 

“Someone who will take you to amusement parks. Eat pork cutlets with you. Share chocolates like this. Someone who will raise you.”

 

‘Oh, I apologize for calling you a hypocrite, sir.’

 

This man, he intended to adopt her.

 

He planned to expose this secret experiment to the outside and ask for help.

 

For someone at his age to have the rank of lieutenant colonel and be involved in such experiments, he must have had good connections.

 

Abandoning all that to blow the whistle—he was a saint.

 

It felt natural that in this faded sepia memory, he alone shone in color.

 

———However,

 

“So, just endure for a hundred nights….”

 

-Crackling. Crackle.

 

“Run, away…!!”

 

His color turned red as the memory overlapped.

 

The smell of blood filled the air.

 

“Pfft. I figured you’d be doing this somewhere else. I knew it! Exactly the same!!”

 

“You, you are….”

 

“Me? I’m the one you used to call Number 1~ Though now I’m called a villain?”

 

In front of him, a woman burst into maniacal laughter.

 

One of the mid-bosses in the game and the leader of the group that recently attacked the academy.

 

The first success case of the Awakener Proliferation Project.

 

First-class villain ‘Winterer.’

 

“How did you get here?”

 

“Good question! So, I was pondering when I should kill everyone over there, and then I heard it! They were talking about the second laboratory being exposed!! So, I killed them all and came out~!!”

 

‘Oh no, because of the letter.’

 

I sighed involuntarily.

 

He sent a letter outside to expose the secret human experiments.

 

That caused a commotion at the main base, and a villain pretending to be brainwashed exploded at just the right moment?

 

It was a tragedy like no other.

 

The researcher’s face twisted.

 

“Surely… wait a minute. I!!!”

 

“Anyway! So, you’re sentenced to death too~!”

 

-Crack.

 

But he wasn’t even given a chance to argue.

 

As soon as Winterer waved her hand, his entire body froze.

 

A man’s goodwill and his sacrifice for her ended in vain without achieving anything.

 

All that remained was the first-class villain, Winterer, and the girl who watched it all.

 

Their eyes met.

 

“Heh~ You don’t even flinch, do you?”

 

“…….”

 

“Seeing that you don’t talk either, it seems the brainwashing worked properly, unlike with me.”

 

“…….”

 

“So, what do you want to do? Fight me? You should be loyal, after all, you killed the honorable Lieutenant Colonel.”

 

Winterer began to draw on her power.

 

But the girl remained silent.

 

She was a machine that didn’t move without orders.

 

A brainwashed awakener.

 

“Hmm? Hmm…? Ahaha! Look at this girl’s eyes. Funny.”

 

“…….”

 

“Follow me. That’s an ‘order.'”

 

-Nod.

 

She silently followed Winterer.

 

She turned to look back at the man who had given her chocolate, who had shone in full color in the faded world.

 

Now he was preserved in blue and red.

 

“……A hundred nights passed. Liar.”

 

As her vision blurred, a small murmur put a full stop to this tragedy.

 

* * *

 

After experiencing the brief recollection together,

 

my consciousness returned to the present.

 

-Hug.

 

“It’s too late, Dad.”

 

“…….”

 

My face, buried in her chest, was scrunched up as if I had bitten into something bitter.

 

‘I didn’t know her dad was that kind of person!!!’

 

To her, a dad was not just a biological connection.

 

A hero who would save her from hell.

 

A hope she had waited for with her small hands like autumn leaves.

 

In other words, a savior.

 

A savior who never came. One she had given up on.

 

And what did I do?

 

I forcibly dragged out the hope she had abandoned long ago using the power of hypnosis.

 

Even Satan would shake his head and say, ‘This is too much.’

 

I hurriedly tried to pull away.

 

‘This is… I need to get away from her!!’

 

-Grab. Struggle.

 

“Dad, it tickles.”

 

“Mmph! Mmmph!!”

 

‘Ah, the difference in physical ability!’

 

The overwhelming physical difference made it impossible to escape.

 

Eventually, I only managed to get free after the chairman helped me out of the soft trap.

 

“Oh, my. What is a grown woman doing, acting so disgracefully!!”

 

“…Phew! Thank you.”

 

“Don’t mention it. So, what is going on? What’s this about calling you Dad?”

 

“Well, actually….”

 

I quickly briefed him on the current situation.

 

She’s a victim of experiments. A poor girl.

 

Dad. The person she had been waiting for.

 

Me. Pretended to be her dad for a moment and got into trouble.

 

“This kind of hypnosis usually wears off quickly, but….”

 

“Dad, carry me on your back, and I’ll forgive you.”

 

“…As you can see, it seems her mental age has regressed to that period.”

 

The biggest problem was that her mind had regressed significantly during the process.

 

She was a brainwashed woman who did nothing without orders.

 

Her considering me her dad was impossible while sane.

 

To achieve impossible hypnosis, her mind seemed to have reverted to her innocent childhood.

 

“……Can you undo it?”

 

“It’s possible, but she will revert to her brainwashed state.”

 

“And undoing the brainwashing?”

 

“With the current abilities, it would be difficult.”

 

If I undo the hypnosis of her seeing me as her dad, she will return to being brainwashed.

 

To undo the brainwashing, I need to hypnotize her.

 

To hypnotize her, she needs to see me as her dad.

 

An endless cycle.

 

Even the second round of hypnosis master had no answer to this complex problem, so I frowned and…

 

‘Even if it’s her, there’s no way this can be resolved….’

 

“It can’t be helped. You will have to be her father for the time being.”

 

“…Excuse me?”

 

…What are you saying, you old hag?

 

“I’m formally assigning you a mission. Awakener Seo Yu-jin. You are to act as this girl’s father for a while.”

 

“No way.”

 

“There’s no one more suitable than you. My intuition tells me so.”

 

“…….”

 

Become her father? Me?

 

Even before my regression, I never had wives or children.

 

Moreover,

 

‘It feels like cheating…!!!’

 

No matter how regressed her mind is, her body is that of a grown woman.

 

Such a woman calling me dad and hugging me?

 

To anyone, it would look like infidelity or a sugar daddy relationship.

 

Thinking about my wives, I absolutely couldn’t do it.

 

But…

 

[A hundred nights have passed. Liar.]

 

‘…I have no choice.’

 

It was too pitiful to just walk away.

 

A brainwashed girl and a man who tried to save her.

 

Since it had come to this, I wanted to fulfill his wish, even a little.

 

‘My wives would forgive me for this much. Right.’

 

“Awakener Seo Yu-jin. I accept the mission… Hey, you.”

 

“What is it, Dad?”

 

I slowly knelt to meet her eyes.

 

Just like the lieutenant colonel did a long time ago.

 

“What’s your name?”

 

“Name? Name. Name… 47?”

 

“No. Your name isn’t a number.”

 

I recalled the memory.

 

The name she might have forgotten in her sepia-colored world.

 

[Hey, just asking….]

 

A name decided after much thought by the man who shared the same surname as me.

 

He wasn’t her real father. They didn’t even share blood.

 

But he was the closest thing to a father she had.

 

[How do you feel about the name Haru?]

 

‘Mister, your naming sense is amazing.’

 

“———Seo Haru. Your name is Seo Haru.”

 

Seo Haru.

 

Her expressionless mouth slightly curled upward.

 

“Yes. I am Seo Haru.”

 

In my previous life, I had no children. Now, I had a grown daughter.

 

* * *

 

A little while later.

 

“Which one of them is my mom?”

 

“What!!!? You, what do you mean by that.”

 

“Shall I do it? Hehe.”

 

“What are you talking about, you fox!!!”

 

Chaos ensued.