episode_0166

166. Brainwashing.

Quite a bit of time has passed since then.

Confined in a dark room, I couldn’t gauge how many days had gone by.

‘About two weeks must have passed.’

Maybe more. Well, it wasn’t important.

‘It’s almost time.’

Whenever he had a chance, Johann manipulated his ambient magic. Perhaps it was because he had reached a new level on the previous floor; it wasn’t as difficult to control as he thought.

And life with Sarah had become quite familiar. Surprisingly, Sarah didn’t treat Johann oppressively, except when she fed him the white pill.

‘What the hell is that… I could take that kind of pill easily.’

It didn’t matter what kind of pill it was. Would she harm him? Not at all. Johann trusted her, albeit a little.

Forgetting Seon-ah was an outrageous demand, but now, hugging Sarah was something he could─

‘……What?’

A strange sense of unease enveloped Johann. Just now, what was I thinking? Hugging Sarah?

Something, something is wrong. Johann puffed out his cheeks, feeling nauseous.

“Oh, Johann. Are you okay?”

Sarah, who was reading a red-covered book, hurriedly approached Johann. Johann felt sorry. He made her worry for no reason. What’s so bad about hugging anyway…

“You don’t have a fever…”

Sarah placed her pure white palm on Johann’s forehead. Her cold hand felt good. Ah, I want to take off these restraints and hug her right now, what?

Shiver-

‘Damn it.’

The cold air emanating from her white, cold hand drenched Johann. Johann realized that his condition wasn’t normal.

And deep down, he discovered a part of himself that viewed this situation as natural.

‘Since when?’

Thanks to the [Perfect Memory] trait, he clearly remembered his past self. If it were Johann from two weeks ago, he would have felt disgusted by her actions.

But how much time had passed that he felt pleasure from her touch?

This was clearly an abnormal situation. It certainly was, but Johann’s emotions were denying it. Why make such a fuss over something so trivial?

‘No, wait a minute.’

In the first place, does it make sense that only two weeks have passed? He almost completed the mana flow needed for the teleport spell in just two weeks?

No matter how talented Johann was at spells, something was strange.

Rather than almost completing the spell in two weeks…

‘Several months, or even more time, might have passed.’

She gave him a white pill once a day. What if the restriction of once a day was just his delusion?

That pill could be a hallucinogen with a high sleep effect, or…

‘A brainwashing agent.’

It could be both. He could ‘remember’ the time he was awake, but not when he was asleep.

Johann frowned. He didn’t know what was going on. The current situation was too confusing.

“Johann, are you really okay? Should I give you a potion…”

He realized that the corners of his mouth were drooping. He found it disgusting.

‘Ha.’

Johann regained his senses from the rising nausea. Well, nothing changes anyway.

“Oh, it’s already this time. Time for your medicine, Johann.”

Thud, she grabbed Johann’s chin. Johann felt his jaw muscles widening and his eyes gleamed.

‘Escape as soon as the coordinates are fixed.’

The day was near.

***

A week passed after that. He didn’t know how long it actually was, but that’s how Johann felt.

‘It’s not as easy as I thought to fix the coordinates.’

He felt like he could use teleport right now if he just triggered the mana.

But the coordinates were the problem. He had to engrave the mana coordinates on a 3-dimensional space. He had no clue.

‘If only I had a chance to practice…’

Johann rolled his eyes. Sarah, who met his gaze, smiled. Surprisingly, Johann didn’t feel bad seeing that smile. Rather, he felt a small sense of satisfaction.

‘I’m going crazy.’

He needed to escape quickly. He might actually start liking Sarah. Johann thought of Seon-ah. Her long, dark hair…

‘Huh?’

Seon-ah didn’t have long hair. Nor was it black. She was a brunette with a bob cut.

That’s how she clearly remained in his memory. But his emotions were shouting differently. A black-haired beauty is your lover. Wake up.

‘Shut up. Stop talking nonsense.’

Johann gnashed his teeth. Sarah, who heard that, was startled and approached him.

“Johann! Why are you suddenly grinding your teeth?”

“……”

It’s because of you. Because of you.

The moment Johann was about to close his eyes in vain-

Tap, tap.

─Hey, monster wizard. Are you there? Open the door. I have something to say.

It was a familiar voice.

‘Alex.’

The wizard who taught him steel magic. No, it was a bit much to say he taught him. It was practically like he had robbed it from him.

‘What’s going on?’

Johann wanted to shout right away. To ask for help, to get him out of here. But it was useless.

‘Even if I escape, everything will be reset if she regresses.’

Yesterday, the day before, a week ago. Johann was always with her. Unless he died dozens of times in a row, it was impossible to ask for help from others.

Maybe even hundreds of times, not just dozens. Johann’s sense of time wasn’t normal.

But she seemed to want to block even that small possibility. Her fingers moved quickly.

“Kuh.”

Not only his tongue but even his diaphragm stiffened. He couldn’t make a proper sound like this.

She touched Johann’s pressure points and carefully stepped out of the room. As she left, she activated a spherical artifact and dropped it on the floor.

Clang-

He heard the sound of the door locking. After that, he couldn’t hear anything. The artifact’s sound blocking function was activated.

‘Tsk, how thorough.’

Johann clicked his tongue for no reason. But he couldn’t. Because his tongue was stiff. So he clicked his tongue inwardly.

***

She said in front of the front door.

“Johann is sleeping right now. What’s going on?”

─Oh? Ah, that female prosecutor? I knew it, you two are together, right?

A voice was heard from beyond the door saying, “Why are you asking something like that!” It was obviously a woman who was with Alex.

She crooked her mouth and answered.

“Yes. Of course.”

─Oh, ah. I’m getting off topic. Then, can you tell the monster wizard what I said?

“I will.”

She said that and glanced back. Judging from the flow of mana felt from inside the room, the sound blocking function was working well.

Alex’s words continued behind her.

─It’s already been 9 months, can you ask him when he’s going to challenge the administrator?

***

Silence lingered between the two men and women for a moment. Sarah thought it was fortunate that Alex couldn’t see her expression. If there was no door, she would have killed Alex.

She raised her hand and touched her face. She felt her facial features distorted like a wicked spirit. She forcibly smoothed out her expression with a creak. It was a bizarre sight.

“Why are you asking that?”

─Ah, I have something to ask the monster wizard.

“What is it?”

─Um, well. I’ll tell you since it’s not exactly a secret. I want to learn some magic.

“Magic?”

─Yes. From what I can see, the monster wizard seems to be interested in other wizards’ spells, so I would like to exchange my steel spell and magical teachings.

“……Hmm.”

Sarah grabbed her chin with her index finger and thumb. Her thumb gently stroked her soft chin.

‘It doesn’t seem like he came here with any particular purpose.’

She was relieved inwardly. It didn’t seem like an enemy trying to invade Johann and her space. Sarah said in a much softer voice.

“I’ll tell him.”

─Oh, thank you. Please put in a good word for me. Haha.

“Don’t worry. Ah, how should I give you the answer?”

─I’ll leave a communication device in front of the door. Please tell me through it.

“Yes. I understand.”

─Then, I’ll see you next time if I have the chance.

Step- step-

Alex and the woman’s footsteps faded away. After a while, she sighed softly and opened the front door.

A pale blue sphere-shaped artifact was placed in front of the door. It looked similar to the sound blocking artifact.

She roughly put the artifact in her inventory. And then she closed the front door.

Clang-

She turned around and sneered at the closed front door.

“Magical teachings my ass. No way.”

Hum, hum~

She hummed and approached the door where Johann was lying down. Things were going smoothly.

Whether it was because the effects of the pill had worked quite a bit, Johann’s eyes had become quite docile, and recently, he had even been taking the pill himself.

‘It’s soon.’

Sarah thought that and opened the door. Johann, whose skin had turned pale from not seeing the sunlight for a long time, was lying down.

Without realizing it, she licked her lips with her tongue.

‘Ah, I really can’t stand it.’

But sweet fruit ripens at the end of waiting. She suppressed her rising desire and approached his side.

Tchut, her fingers moved quickly.

“Cough, cough!”

Johann kept coughing in vain. It was because the functions of his tongue and diaphragm suddenly normalized.

“Johann. You must have felt very stuffy. I’m sorry.”

She pouted and apologized to Johann. It was a hypocritical sight, but Johann felt differently.

It’s okay, it can happen, what’s the big deal about something like that, etc. All sorts of gentle sentences swirled in his mouth.

Johann forcibly suppressed the rising emotions and thought.

‘Alex, why did that person come here?’