episode_0167

Truly, today was full of inexplicable events.

Suddenly, Apple betrayed them, and Spade fell into Apple’s hands.

Then, Aria conveniently showed up from her long business trip, and Number 13 was confined to the detention room of Squad 7, which they thought he had no connection to.

Then, they heard that Apple was not only a spy but also a cadre of the villainous organization “Lesserat”… no, even the hidden boss.

Just when they thought things couldn’t get any weirder, Aria drank the brainwashing drug and collapsed.

…Seriously, what is going on?

* * *

Clank-

He sat Aria down on the chair and fastened restraints on her hands, which were gathered behind her back.

He had already taken away the walkie-talkie she could use to call Rahe and removed her jacket with pockets, so it should be safe… but you never know.

Currently, Aria was in the iron cage where Number 13 had been held, sitting on the chair where he had been restrained just moments ago.

Number 13’s restraints had been released by Aria herself, under the influence of the brainwashing drug.

At first, the drug’s effects were so strong that she barely responded when he called her name, but after repeated calls, Aria managed to stand up shakily like a puppet on a string. She used the key she had to open the door to the iron cage and release Number 13’s restraints as well.

Even after that, she still hadn’t regained her senses and remained like a soulless doll.

‘…What the hell is going on?’

He thought she would use her acclaimed precognitive abilities to see through everything and punish him in the name of justice for dominating Squad 7, his comrades…

But what on earth was this woman thinking when she drank that drug? What was she expecting?

There was no way to know the answer by just wondering.

So he would just have to ask her directly.

“Answer me. Answer the questions I ask from now on.”

He placed a simple suggestion on Aria, who was still under the effects of the brainwashing drug, to make her answer his questions.

Her body was so weak that her head kept tilting back and forth. Perhaps her cognitive abilities were somewhat impaired by the drug, as her answers were rambling and disjointed.

As a result, it was initially difficult to understand her, but as time went on, her voice and the content of her speech gradually became more stable.

“─I saw the future.”

And so, they slowly moved on to the main topic instead of trivial questions.

Aria replied in a slurred voice, her tongue still not fully loosened.

“In the future, I will be brainwashed by Oppa Number 13… by Number 13-nim, and I will pledge my loyalty to him. I promised to be your eternal slave, whether in the future or in the past. So….”

It was a ridiculous story in many ways.

Number 13, who was imprisoned here today, should have been killed after Aria exposed all his misdeeds.

If that was the case, there would be no future in which Aria was brainwashed.

“Number 13-nim will not… die here….”

…I see.

According to Aria, Number 13 would somehow survive and escape, even if she didn’t take the drug herself.

And then he would brainwash Aria in revenge?

And Aria, from the past, saw that future, and the vivid experience brainwashed her as well. Thanks to that, the future had changed, but Aria becoming a slave remained the same.

“When did you see that future, Aria?”

“…Two years ago….”

Two years.

For at least two years, Aria had already seen that future and had been a slave to Number 13.

And she knew in advance that Number 13 would be in danger, so she timed her intervention to match it… or so the story goes.

After asking her various other questions, Number 13 crossed his arms and pondered for a moment. There was a prefabricated bed in the detention room, and he casually sat on its edge.

‘…Suspicious.’

It was a stroke of luck for Number 13, a story that was too convenient.

It was so convenient that he wondered if it was really okay.

But at the same time, he couldn’t help but feel that there were some clumsy and suspicious parts.

For example, if she had already decided to pledge her loyalty to Number 13 two years ago, wouldn’t it have made sense to seek him out immediately?

In addition, wouldn’t it have been better to contact him before Apple betrayed them and give him a heads-up, or find a slightly better method?

‘No, maybe she couldn’t trust him until Apple actually betrayed them. From what I can see, Apple seems to be able to hypnotize people, so she might have hypnotized Aria to prevent her from suspecting Apple.’

Come to think of it, before Number 13 lost his powers, he never even thought about brainwashing drugs, nor did he need them.

In that situation, if someone suddenly appeared and said, ‘You will lose your powers and become the worst piece of trash who uses brainwashing drugs to control women!’, he would probably just think they were crazy.

He thought it was suspicious in many ways, but when he thought about it, he also felt that now was the perfect time for her to appear.

Above all, she drank the brainwashing drug herself.

In the end, wouldn’t that mean she trusted Number 13 and was entrusting everything to him?

‘Should I have contacted the Chief of Staff immediately to consult with them?’

‘If I contact them now, there won’t be much time left.’

Aria had swallowed more than the single-use dose of the brainwashing drug, so the hypnotic state was lasting quite a long time.

But even considering that, enough time had already passed. He needed to brainwash her and implant some suggestions soon, or she would simply regain her senses without the drug having any effect.

There was a little more of the drug left in the bottle, but to see the full effect, he had to use it with some time in between….

Number 13 pondered for a little longer.

Should he trust Aria as she was, or should he reject her and not trust her?

And soon, he came to a conclusion.

* * *

He heard the sound of clapping, as if from a distance.

“……Ugh….”

Aria’s slender eyelids fluttered, and soon her eyes opened.

Before her, Number 13 was standing with his arms crossed, looking down at her.

Her mind was still hazy as if shrouded in fog. She could barely recall what had happened, only in fragmented glimpses. And even those were difficult to distinguish from dreams.

But just seeing Number 13’s face warmed her heart, and a sense of security spread deep within her chest.

So she couldn’t help but smile involuntarily. Number 13 was looking at her with suspicion, though.

She noticed that she was topless, wearing only a bra.

Below, her pants were off, and she was only wearing panties.

Probably to check for any hidden weapons.

Even though she had woken up in her underwear, she wasn’t very surprised. After all, she had already shown herself to the future Number 13 in even worse states, so she wasn’t embarrassed.

“First of all, I’ve heard everything you had to say, Aria. …Whether there’s any truth in it or not, it’s still hard to judge.”

“Surely, there’s no lie in it. I would never lie to you.”

“Well, Apple said the same thing. But look at her now.”

Number 13 said curtly.

It was unfortunate that he didn’t believe her. But she had known about his suspicious nature for two years already. So she would just have to wait for him to believe her slowly. Or prove her innocence to him in some way.

And fortunately, he suggested a way for her to ‘prove’ it.

“So Aria, you’re going to have to cooperate with me so that I can properly trust you.”

Of course. She would cooperate as much as possible. If she could gain Number 13-nim’s… Number 13 Oppa’s trust by doing so. She would do whatever it took.

“So what should I do?”

“Sex.”

And Number 13 explained firmly.

“Have sex with me, Aria. I wonder if you can do it? With me, your own sibling.”

Aria’s face, which had been relaxed all along, stiffened slightly at that moment.

* * *

Because he didn’t have much time to think, Number 13 recalled a suitable scenario that he had been planning to test on Squad 7 someday and implanted it directly into Aria.

The scenario he recalled was the “Family Recognition” scenario, which made Number 13 recognize her as a blood relative or relative of his family.

Perhaps he remembered that Aria had mumbled “Number 13 Oppa…” a little while ago.

As he recalled, Number 13 immediately made her recognize him as her sibling, an older brother, and brainwashed Aria into believing that she was his one and only younger sister.

There would be various contradictions, but he strongly brainwashed her to ignore any minor discomfort, as he only intended to maintain it for about an hour or two. This was enough if he was only going to maintain it for a short while.

Of course, that alone was not enough to prepare to prove Aria’s true feelings.

So he added another suggestion.

“They say sex is a conversation of naked bodies. The conversation during sex is the true intention. You can’t lie.”

“So I want to have sex with Aria. To clearly hear Aria’s true feelings. If Aria refuses to have sex with me, I will never be able to trust Aria.”

“But Aria, doing it between siblings is incest. Incest is the worst sin. If you commit incest, you’re not just disqualified as a hero. You become disqualified as a human being.”

“What are you going to do, Aria?”

“Will you have sex with me even knowing it’s incest?”

Number 13 released Aria’s restraints and explained it that way.

What he said was exactly the content of the suggestion he had brainwashed and implanted into Aria a little while ago.

Judging from Aria’s stiff face, his suggestion seemed to have worked properly.

All that was left was to see how she would act now.

Aria’s arms and legs were now free. On the bed was a walkie-talkie that could reach Rahe, and on the shelf next to it was a small knife.

Both were within reach of Aria’s position. However, the battery had been removed from the walkie-talkie, and if she attacked with the knife, he could directly subdue her. In the worst case, even if he was stabbed once, he would not die and would revive.

However, even that was a fake. Because she was a precognitive.

There was a possibility that she could immediately predict and find out that the walkie-talkie had no battery and that he would not die even if stabbed.

Therefore, he added fake on top of fake to set up multiple layers of gimmicks to find out her true feelings.

Now, all that was left was to wait for her to reveal her true nature.

He would peel off the mask of lies that she had pledged loyalty to Number 13 and reveal what she truly ‘cherished’.

While Number 13 was thinking that and watching Aria’s every move, not wanting to miss anything.

Aria slowly reached out and unhooked the bra she was wearing.

Well-shaped breasts with a good feel lightly pushed against the bra as if bouncing off it, revealing their pink nipples.