The Man with Hypnotic Powers Doesn’t Hold Back the Second Time Around

Chapter 213

What exactly was Hypnosis Spirit?
A manifestation of my power in reality—a kind of passive skill.
A puppet that moves entirely according to my will.

Naturally, she wasn’t supposed to have a will of her own.
Anything I commanded, she would follow without exception.

She had never once gone against me…

[Master, watch meeeeeee!!!]

‘Tsk. Or maybe… she might’ve gone against me once or twice… or maybe not.’

A bit ambiguous, but anyway.

In short, she was nothing more than a machine that carried out my commands.
Her random cutesy movements were simply my subconscious desire to see something adorable.

—Or so I’d thought until now.

“Master~ Can you hear me~?”
“……!!!!?”

While I was reading my status window, I suddenly found myself in an unknown place.
And there she was—Hypnosis Spirit.

I couldn’t help but be shocked.
It felt as if a doll had suddenly started speaking.

“Why are you suddenly talking?”
“I’ve been talking this whole time, silly! But Mom blocked it, so you couldn’t hear me.”
“……?”

Yet, she seemed completely nonchalant about it.
Claiming she’d been trying to talk to me this entire time, but I just couldn’t hear her.

Her sudden words left me scratching my head…

-Pause.-

‘…Wait a second, could it be that transcendent lady?’

Suddenly, a past event came to mind.
That transcendent woman who had appeared out of nowhere during the S-rank gate incident to rescue the Saintess.

She had pitied me and tried to tell me many things.
And I, thinking it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, had eagerly asked her everything I could.

[Can you hear me?]
[All I hear is a roar that goes grrrr~.]
[Hmm. ???. ???? …Let me write it in Hangul. Can you see it?]
[It looks like scribbles to me.]
[Tsk. It’s sealed too tightly...]

Even though she tried to share important information, I couldn’t understand her.
Her words were distorted, coming through as incomprehensible noise.

At the time, I chalked it up to the unusual circumstances, but looking back now…

Words that couldn’t reach me.
Hypnosis Spirit claiming she’d been trying to talk all along.
The two situations felt oddly similar.

And there was only one possible common cause.

“Could it be because of that seal?”

-Clap, clap, clap!

“Ding-dong-dang~?”

As if confirming my conclusion, Hypnosis Spirit clapped her hands.
Her expression beamed, a triumphant grin on her face.

Even the sound of her claps was strangely adorable, like a seal slapping its belly.

‘…I don’t know why she’s talking now, but I guess I should listen.’

“Wait, was that golden-tinged status window always showing up, and I just couldn’t see it?”

I crouched down in front of Hypnosis Spirit.
She was so tiny that this was the only way to look at her properly.

Her small eyes gazed straight at me.

-Staring. Muttering.

“Hmmm~ Looking at you like this, you really are like a dragon...”
“Huh?”
“Nothing! Anyway, that’s also correct~!”
“...That’s underwhelming.”

I sighed.

The truth was, all the hints were right in front of me, but I just couldn’t see them.
I couldn’t help but feel a bit empty about it all.

“I couldn’t help it! If you’d seen or heard it, the Law would’ve gone KABOOM~!!! immediately!”
“So, the seal was put in place to protect me, huh?”
“Yep, yep! Mom locked it up tight so you wouldn’t get hurt~!”

Hypnosis Spirit’s explanation made sense.

The transcendental Colonel once explained the concept of the Law—a force that punishes results without causation.
The seal was meant to shield me from such consequences.

‘Of course. That makes sense.’

It was a satisfying answer.
If my status window had been blatantly ringing spoiler alerts in my face, I would’ve figured out the truth long ago.

The truth of my regression.

‘If the Colonel’s right, the thing that most defies the Law is my regression itself.’

Simply knowing I’d regressed was fine.
But the moment I revealed it or uncovered its true nature, I’d bear the full weight of the Law’s backlash.

The seal was a safety mechanism to prevent such a disaster…

-Suddenly.

“Bzzz~ Master, 40 points!”
“Huh?”

As I pondered, her voice interrupted me.
I looked up to find her right in front of my nose, holding a red grading pen.

...Where the hell did she even get that?

The serious mood I’d been building shattered instantly.

“Forty points? Don’t tell me you can read my thoughts too?”
“Of course! You and I are one and the same! Partners bonded by a soul thicker than blood!”
“Oh.”

She was starting to grow on me.
Sure, her antics were ridiculous, but somehow, we clicked.

A grin spread across my face.

“All right, then. Why did I only get 40 points, my soul mate?”
“Hmm~ Let me explain!”

Hypnosis Spirit lit up at my reaction.

She pulled out a sketchbook from somewhere and laid it down.
The thing was twice her size—clearly an effort to make it easy for me to see.

-Scratch, scratch.

“Every time a seal broke, Master got waaay stronger, right? That was actually….”

Her explanation, summarized, went like this:

The stat boosts I’d gotten from kissing my wives were just by-products of the seal breaking.
The fact that I couldn’t see the status window was another result of the seal.
But those weren’t the seal’s primary purposes.

“Stop beating around the bush. What exactly was sealed?”
“Hmm-hmm. This!”

She spread her legs slightly and pointed downward.

My gaze followed.

"...Striped panties?"
"Wrong~ This, this!"

Of course, she wasn’t randomly pointing at her panties.
Rather, she was indicating the object beneath her—a green doll with an unusually vibrant hue.

Our gazes fell on it simultaneously.

…It looked like a doll at first glance, but it was anything but.

-Tilt.

"A soul. Or… an empty shell?"

There were so many things to unpack that I had ignored it until now.
But that thing she was sitting on—it was a soul.
An empty one, at least.

I turned my gaze back to Hypnosis Spirit, ready to ask for clarification.

"You didn’t seal this junk, did you? It was the contents inside that were sealed, wasn’t it?"
"Yep!"
"And that ‘???’ thing… it was inside that shell, wasn’t it?"
"Correct~!"
"…What was inside it that left only the shell behind?"

My expression naturally grew serious.

The mystery of my second life, my regression.
And further back, the first life—where it all began with my possession.
Both secrets seemed to be connected to that shell.

"——Mom!"
"Pfft."

Wait, what?
A sudden gag? Really?

No room for seriousness here, huh?

"You, aren’t you something I created? If I’m your father, fine, but what’s this about a mother?"
"Uh-huh~ It’s a little complicated…"

-Hmm, hmm.

When I asked for an explanation, Hypnosis Spirit fell into deep thought.
After much pondering, she eventually pulled out her sketchbook again.

"Ummm, you know how you and I sometimes do that soul-molding thing?"
"You mean the Complete Hypnosis ability?"
"Yep! That’s where I came from!"

While she drew, she explained enthusiastically.

She was a being born from my Complete Hypnosis ability—a personality that emerged from the power itself.
She claimed she had materialized after frequent use of the skill.

"So, you’re basically the embodiment of my Complete Hypnosis ability?"
"That’s right!"
"And this ‘mom’ you’re talking about?"
"The person who gave me—the Complete Hypnosis ability—to you!"

The conversation naturally shifted back to ‘Mom.’
She grinned brightly as she spoke.

"You absorbed everything just now, so only the shell remains~."
"……."

Was this something to smile so innocently about?
Her words made me feel like I was walking on a minefield.

"So, this ‘Mom’ you’re talking about, she’s the one who gave me the power of hypnosis?"
"Yep~! She’s the one who called you over from far away!"
"And she’s the one who gave me my second chance?"
"Bingo~!"

Carefully probing to avoid stepping on a mine, I arrived at a startling conclusion.
This ‘Mom’ was the one who orchestrated my possession and regression.

And…

"You’re saying I absorbed her? Like, everything?"
"She gave it all to you! Every last bit!"
"Even her power?"
"All of it!"

Everything, except for the shell.
She had passed it all on to me.

‘…That makes sense.’

Surely, this ‘Mom’ must’ve been a godlike being, far more extraordinary than the transcendent woman I’d encountered before.

Someone like that couldn’t have entrusted their immense power to my freshly regressed, under-leveled self without repercussions.
They must’ve hidden it under seals until I was strong enough to handle it.

Even the triple-layered seal involving kisses with my wives made sense now.
Every time a seal broke, my stats increased significantly—that was why.

Finally, I felt like I understood the bigger picture.

‘There’s just one thing I don’t understand.’

Why would someone so powerful give everything to me, leaving themselves with nothing but an empty shell?
And more importantly, what happened to her?

"I’ve got one question."
"What is it, Master~?"
"What happened to this ‘Mom’ of yours?"

I asked cautiously.
What had happened to the contents of that soul?
What did it mean for me to have absorbed her?

‘Most likely, she’s already….’

-Smirk.

"You already know, Master! You’ve seen her plenty of times!"
"Huh?"

Her unexpected reply caught me off guard.
Considering the soul was an empty shell, I had assumed she’d passed away long ago.
But what was this about me having seen her?

"…Are you serious?"
"Absolutely! There’s only a faint scent left, so it’s hard to recognize her, but it’s definitely her!"

-Hop. Tap-tap.

While I stood there, frozen in surprise, Hypnosis Spirit jumped off the doll and began walking around, her lips curled into a mischievous smile.

"So, Master? That’s enough explanation, right?"
"…What? Why stop mid-sentence?"
"Because I’m your one and only partner! I know exactly how much you need to know and where to stop!"
"……."

I was speechless.
Sure, I had a pretty good idea of what she was hinting at, but to stop the story there?
She really did sync up with me in the most annoying way.

"Don’t you have more to explain?"
"I do, but time’s running out. For both of us."
"I get that, but why for you?"
"You know that ‘status window’ thing you call outdated? I’m fixing it so you can actually use it again!"
"Oh?"

Her unexpected diligence brought a smile to my face.

"Thanks, my soul mate."
"Anytime! Now, shall I send you back?"
"Honestly, I’d love to talk more, but if we’re out of time, there’s no helping it."
"I’m sad about it too, but oh well~."

-Swoosh…

The space around me began to ripple.
It seemed she was sending me back to where I belonged.

As I was about to return to reality, Hypnosis Spirit called out to me one last time.

"Oh, Master?"
"Yeah?"

Our eyes met just before my soul could leave.

"This isn’t super important, but I was debating whether to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Well, I was born from Mom, right? And since you inherited everything from her… technically, you could say I’m your little sister!"

Her gaze lowered slightly.
She tilted her head downward, her eyes narrowing playfully.

"So, you know…."

-Smirk.

"Sometimes it’s okay, but don’t overdo it, alright? Asking your little sister to handle… that kind of stuff? Hehe."
"……."

My gaze followed hers, downward to my bare lower half.

…Right. I’d been naked before coming here. And after.

She’d seen everything.

And about that whole "hypnosis to suppress libido" thing I’d been relying on…
If Hypnosis Spirit had a personality back then, how would she have felt about it?

"This… this is unfair…."

-Flash.

Before I could finish my words, I was unceremoniously ejected from the space.

The last thing I saw was Hypnosis Spirit giggling at me.

…This was ridiculously unfair.

***

A moment later,
my soul returned to reality.
I met the panicked gaze of my master, who was visibly agitated.

"Disciple! You—you disappeared all of a sudden, and then reappeared out of nowhere…!"
"Master, about that…"

And then, I…

"But, Disciple? Did we, by any chance… meet before? When I was thirty-three?"
"…Master, how do you know that?!!!"

It was then that I realized why Hypnosis Spirit had said we were running out of time.
Only now did the reason hit me.