The Hypnosis App Was Fake – Chapter 2

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Teottry
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What the hell kind of bullshit was “Whoops”?

I barely managed to swallow the curse that threatened to erupt from my throat. Maintaining a neutral expression, I stared at the Doctor, who was sticking out her tongue, winking with her left eye, and holding a fist to her head.

Small, with pale skin from being cooped up indoors, and wearing an oversized lab coat with dangling sleeves, the Doctor possessed all the elements of cuteness.

However, no matter how many cute features she had, her dull, fish-like eyes completely negated any sense of charm.

Perhaps her eyes were too mature for her small body. So mature they’d gone rotten. Something like that.

About twenty seconds of silence passed. Finally, realizing her pathetic attempt at cuteness hadn’t worked, the Doctor erased her expression and returned to her usual languid demeanor.

“It didn’t work. My little Bunny seems really angry.”

“I’m not yours, and I’m not a Bunny. The angry part is correct, though.”

“Hmm… Really? I see. An angry Bunny is cute, and I’d love to keep looking, but if I do, you might get fed up with me and hop away, so I’ll stop teasing.”

The Doctor, uttering words she didn’t need to say in her usual languid tone, looked directly at me with her half-rotten eyes and offered a faint smile.

“So, what does my little Bunny want to hear from me? Angry Bunnys are cute, but I don’t want you to be angry at me, so I’ll answer anything.”

Still smiling faintly, the Doctor posed her question.

Despite her small stature, she was a full-grown adult. Rumor had it she was even a year older than me, which knowing she’s the Doctor, was entirely plausible.

Well, it would explain how she could so naturally wear such a mature, composed smile.

Acknowledging the high probability of the rumors about her age, I posed my prepared question.

“Why did you play this prank on me? What would you gain from giving me a fake hypnosis app?!”

Thinking about how the Doctor had tricked me made me raise my voice again in frustration. I already had a vague idea of what her answer would be, so I clenched my teeth in annoyance.

The Doctor I knew couldn’t maintain interest in a single subject for long. Because she was a genius. An unparalleled, unprecedented, once in a generation genius.

Therefore, nothing could withstand her intellect for long; everything was quickly dissected and understood.

That’s why the Doctor was always complaining of boredom. She was steeped in ennui, casually uttering terrifying things like, “I wonder if an S-rank Gate will burst open somewhere.”

Then, before this bored Doctor appeared an F-rank Awakened, someone who wouldn’t have even set foot in the massive guild if it weren’t for their amazing childhood friend.

Accustomed to interacting with extraordinary individuals, she took an interest in my utterly unremarkable self and started inviting me to her lab.

About a year and a half later, when I confessed my sincere desire to quit due to the constant harassment from the S-rank Awakened above me, the Doctor nodded and handed me the hypnosis app.

Leaning in, she whispered in my ear, as if sharing a secret.

“Bunny, with this app, you won’t have to run away. Trust me, okay?”

Back then, her words felt like a lifeline.

The Doctor was my benefactor, the one who recognized and awakened my potential, and the second person I trusted most in Liar’s Trap. I beamed and repeatedly expressed my gratitude.

Thinking back, it was probably just a whim for her.

She probably felt vaguely reluctant to see the unremarkable creature, who at least kept her somewhat entertained, disappear from her sight. So… she whipped up a fake hypnosis app and gave it to me.

And like a fool, I used it on the S-rank Awakened, and it actually worked, which, from her perspective, might have been a fortunate…

Huh?

Wait, but why did it work? The hypnosis app was fake. The Doctor herself admitted it.

My train of thought led me back to the original question: “Why did the hypnosis app work all this time?”

Blinded by my sense of betrayal, I’d momentarily forgotten that the real issue wasn’t the Doctor giving me a fake app.

The real issue was that the S-rank Awakened had played along with that fake app for six months. That was the most important fact.

Why? They had no reason to do that for me.

They were practically frothing at the mouth to get rid of me. Wouldn’t they have tried to tear me in half the moment I shoved that bizarre hypnosis app in their faces and gave them those embarrassing orders?

I replayed the hypnotic commands I had given to the S-rank Awakened over the past six months.

During the first two weeks, while I was still getting used to the app and my conscience hadn’t completely eroded, I only gave them relatively tame commands. But after that, I went wild, using the app like a runaway horse.

I’d given them commands that would have made even close friends cut ties with me.

But those hypnotic commands weren’t actually hypnotic commands. They were “phone hypnosis.”

From their perspective, they’d simply looked at a smartphone screen flashing purple and pink and then obeyed my absurd commands.

Why would they do that? It made no sense.

With one exception, everyone I’d used the app on had treated me like trash or a slave.

They looked down on me, picked fights with me for fun, and even enjoyed using “training” as an excuse to beat me to a pulp. They were devils in human form.

Why would these people, who hated me so much, pretend to be hypnotized by a fake app?

I couldn’t figure it out.

As I racked my brain, the Doctor, cautiously observing me, finally answered the question I’d asked and then forgotten.

“Bunny, the reason I gave you that fake hypnosis app…”

“Yes, you would know, Doctor. You know everything. Why did they pretend to be hypnotized for six months?”

“Huh? Aren’t you curious about why I gave you the fake app anymore?”

“That doesn’t matter now. I think I have a rough idea.”

The Doctor’s reason for giving me the fake app wasn’t important anymore.

I could practically hear her monotone response: “I gave it to you on a whim, wondering what would happen if a Bunny I was raising suddenly left its cage. Whether you left the guild or not after receiving it didn’t really matter to me.”

I could predict what she’d say. That’s why I wasn’t curious anymore. What I was curious about was why those monsters had pretended to be hypnotized.

Cut off mid-explanation, the Doctor, uncharacteristically, clicked her tongue in annoyance. Even someone as emotionally stunted as her seemed to dislike being interrupted.

Well, it was understandable that someone who hated even being called by their name would be annoyed at being interrupted by the likes of me.

Even with my penthouse, I was nothing compared to the Doctor. Reminded of this obvious fact, I debated whether or not to apologize.

No, wait. The Doctor hadn’t apologized for giving me the fake app. So… neither would I.

Resolving not to apologize, I looked at the Doctor. She glared at me with even duller eyes than usual and said curtly,

“I don’t know what rough idea you have, but it’s probably different from mine. I’d like to correct that misconception in your tiny brain, but that would be too much TMI, so I’ll let it slide this time.”

“Oh, okay… Thanks.”

I didn’t know what misconception she was referring to, but since she was letting it slide, I offered a half-hearted thanks.

As I nodded, the Doctor muttered, “It’s a bit annoying, but this side of Bunny is refreshing, so it’s fine,” and then opened her small mouth to ask,

“Hmm… So, why do you think the S-rank Awakened played along with your hypnosis?”

“Ah, yes. Why did they? Those… those women who can’t stand the sight of me.”

“Well, it’s probably the placebo effect.”

“The placebo effect…!”

Was she talking about the placebo effect, where fake medicine, believed to be real, actually improves a patient’s condition due to psychological factors…?

“That sounds plausible… my ass! What kind of nonsense is that? Even if it’s coming from you, Doctor, this is too much.”

I almost bought it because it came from the Doctor and sounded so matter-of-fact, but it was just too absurd.

What kind of idiot would look at a fake hypnosis app and think, “Ah, this is a hypnosis app, so I’ll be hypnotized! I have to obey everything Faster says from now on!”

And for all the S-rank Awakened I’d shown it to react that way? Preposterous.

“It would make more sense if those… if they were actually masochists who were head-over-heels for me, and they pretended to be hypnotized so they could obey my commands! Ahahaha!”

The Doctor’s “placebo effect” explanation was so ridiculous that even this absurd joke sounded more believable.

But for some reason, the Doctor, after hearing my joke, clamped her mouth shut, widened her eyes, and froze as if I’d struck a nerve.

What’s happening now?

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What actually happens?! Doc did you get hypnotized?😏