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Episode 76: Hypnotist, Han Mina (8)

Han Mina, who had come to the building for class, looked at the bracelet on her wrist.
Her precious bracelet.
The mysterious bracelet that could check whether she was under hypnosis or not was now pink.
The bracelet, which glowed purple when she was not under hypnosis, was glowing pink, which meant that she was currently under self-hypnosis.

“Phew, that’s a relief.”

‘I’m fine. Being able to tell this apart meant I was perfectly normal.’

“It’s okay. I’m still okay.”

She also knows that, among those who rely on skills, there are many cases where they are manipulated by skills.
That’s why she kept this symbol. So, that she could check her status at any time.

But Han Mina didn’t know.
That the bracelet she considered a mysterious artifact wasn’t something imbued with powerful enough mana to be a symbol.
She didn’t know that it was just a mysterious mineral that changed color depending on the wearer’s emotions.
She looked at the bracelet on her left wrist and, once again convinced, went up to meet Kim Si-woo.
He had arrived first, bringing a small stone the size of a fist and a stat checker.

“What is this?”
“It’s a stat checker that will properly check your stats. And this is a breakwater stone.”
“Breakwater stone…?”

Han Mina could understand the stat checker, but why the breakwater stone?

“You know the characteristics of the breakwater, right?”
“I know that it is immune to physical shock. It cannot be broken by simple physical attacks, so you need to use A-class or higher mana to break it…….”

Han Mina bit her lip.

“No way?”
“Yes. I brought it just in case you don’t trust the tester.”
“Do you really think I’m not an A-class?”
“Yes.”
“That’s what they said at the Academy too! That I have A-class mana!”
“I’m sorry, but I saw it differently.”

It was a great stubbornness. Kim Si-woo had an absurd confidence, shocked Han Mina. It was a little absurd for her that Kim Si-woo believed in his own abilities more than the academy’s certification.

It was a score that Han Mina had already obtained through an official exam at the academy.

‘There was no way this number could be wrong’, Han Mina, though. She still believes on academy certificates.

“There’s no manipulation… right?”
“Yes. The tester is certified by the Hunter Association, and the breakwater was purchased at the Hunter Market.”
“…… Okay.”

Han Mina held the breakwater stone in her hand and looked around, just in case. She had heard that if a stone glowed green and blue at the same time, it was a breakwater stone. It was the light, indicating that, the mana that had seeped into the stone.
A vivid green and blue.

“It’s genuine.”

It was undeniably authentic.

“Then let’s first take a look with the stat checker. Place both hands on the checker.”

Kim Si-woo pointed to the handle attached to the examination machine.
All Han Mina had to do, is just hold the handle, press the button, and circulate the mana, it will resonate with the mana inside the examination machine, roughly checking the hunter’s current condition.

“Are you sure, the numbers you mentioned will come out?”
“We’ll have to wait and see.”

As Kim Si-woo said, Han Mina poured her mana into the examination machine.
The mana resonated with the examination machine, giving her an unpleasant feeling as if her insides were turning upside down.

That’s why few of the Awakened liked the examination process.

“Ugh, phew.”

She held her breath and endured the feeling of her chest tightening. This unfamiliar, bubbling sensation tormented her, but she endured and held on.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

A sound rang indicating that the examination was complete.

“Phew.”

Han Mina let out a sigh of relief and put the examination machine down.

“How is it? What about the records?”
“I think there was a mistake on the part of the Korean Academy.”
“What? That can’t be.”

Han Mina looked at the screen on the examination machine.

-Strength: D~D+
-Mana: C+~B+
-Intelligence: B~B+
-Stamina: C~B
-Agility: E~D+

The tester doesn’t give you an exact grade.
It gives an approximation of the grade, and 99.9% of the time, most people are within that approximation.
It doesn’t give an exact number, but it’s definitely accurate.

“Huh, huh? This can’t be happening?”

Han Mina looked at the tester with a flustered voice. She was so confident in her abilities that it was inevitable that she would panic.

The stats she claimed were much higher than the numbers the medical examiner was showing now.

[Han Mina]

-Strength: C
-Mana: A+
-Intelligence: A+
-Stamina: B
-Agility: D

“Do you understand now? This is a wrong record.”
“But that can’t be true. How could the Academy…?”
“It’s not that there aren’t any. Such mistakes do happen sometimes.”
“No. This is wrong. It can’t be wrong….”

As if he had been waiting for those words, Kim Si-woo held out a breakwater.

“Okay.”
“…….”
“Go ahead. If you’re so sure.”

“If I break this…….”
“I’ll admit that the tester I brought was wrong and apologize. And I’ll suggest a curriculum that fits that. But if you can’t break it, you’ll have to follow my curriculum too.”
“I know.”

Han Mina was still confident.
‘I’m a celebrity, Han Mina. I’m a divine being who is loved by everyone and recognized by the Academy. With so much media attention around her.’

Han Mina held onto the breakwater stone, confident that she would definitely succeed.
A breakwater stone that is strong against physical attacks, but splits when exposed to mana above a certain level.
Han Mina poured mana into the breakwater stone with a very tense expression on her face.

The green and blue light of the breakwater stone became more and more vivid.

Hwaaaat!

The breakwater was getting brighter and brighter, but it showed no sign of breaking.

“Huh, huh?”

‘That’s weird. This can’t be happening’, Han Mina started to panicked.

Han Mina put mana into the breakwater stone again. However, the breakwater stone still did not break and only glowed.

“Five minutes have passed. Do you intend to continue?” Kim Si-woo, who was watching this, asked.

“Now, wait a minute. Just one more time.”
“You know that’s not okay, right?”
“…….”
“Admit it now. You’ve been stubbornly insisting on the wrong stats.”

She couldn’t admit it.
The reality was right before her eyes, but denying it was no different than denying the achievements she had made in Class A up until now.

“Ha, but then how did I become a member of Class A? If there was something wrong with the medical examination machine, there’s no way I would have become a member of Class A……”
“I don’t know about that. There are cases where you have skills that are higher than your stats, and there are also cases where the buffers are set higher than your stats.”
“……”

Kim Si-woo patted Han Mina’s shoulder.

“That could be true. It must be a great sense of loss. But you know, realizing that you are lacking also means that you have a foundation to move forward.”
“…….”

Han Mina looked at Kim Si-woo, who was encouraging her.
“If you have the will and determination to move forward, I can make you an A-class within this year. Just the same as the number of mistakes made by the Academy.”
“I-Is that really possible?”
“Of course. I’ve already proven it with my results.”

Han Mina thought of the two people he had raised.

“But if we don’t have that kind of education… it won’t work.”
“It won’t work. It’ll just slow down growth.”
“So, does that mean… if we do that, growth will be faster?”
“Yes.”

Kim Si-woo nodded and snatched the breakwater stone she was holding in her hand.
“I don’t care about the means and methods for my disciple’s growth.”

Hwaaaaat!

A beautiful light of green and blue harmonized for a moment.

Damn!

The breakwater stone was split.

“I always have. If you want, I’ll do it for you too. Of course, I won’t force you.”
“…….”

After finishing speaking, Kim Si-woo put the broken breakwater into an envelope.
Han Mina wasn’t listening to what he was saying.

“It’s broken, it’s broken…?”

At least, it meant that Kim Si-woo’s mana was above A-class. Han Mina stared blankly at him.
She recalled the past when Kim Si-woo did not respond well to her hypnosis.

As Han Mina had guessed at the time, Kim Si-woo was at least an S-class awakened person.
However, at the same time, he was a pervert teacher who forcibly stripped women and sexually harassed them while teaching them.

“Teacher, what is your identity?”
“My identity?”
“Yes.”
“Are you curious?”

Han Mina nodded.

“It’s a secret. Just like you keep many things from me, wouldn’t it be good for me to have a secret or two?”
“Huh, I have a secret?”
“You haven’t told me everything.”

Kim Si-woo smiled and pretended to take off his clothes.

“Uhhh, pervert! You said you wouldn’t do it.”
“Aren’t you curious. Sometimes it’s good to have a little secret between each other.”
“Ugh.”
“Then let’s get started with class. Now that you know I didn’t lie to you, there’s no need to hesitate anymore, right?”

Han Mina nodded.

“First, let me explain how to raise the level of mana.”

After losing the bet, she couldn’t say anything to Kim Si-woo and just followed his lessons.

***

“……Do you understand up to this point?”
“I understand, but does this method really help?”
“Of course.”

Kim Si-woo recited the contents of the scriptures as if he had recited them word for word.
In fact, the contents of the scriptures were not important. Whether this actually worked or not was none of his business.

‘I’m not interested.’

Kim Si-woo gave growth support to Han Mina, who was reading the scriptures straight through and listening to the class passionately in front of me.

[Passive: Growth Assist (SSS)]
– Strength Growth
[Status – Helps with Strength growth.]
– Full Mana
[Status – Helps with Mana growth.]
– Young Mind
[Status – Helps with Intelligence growth.]
– Super Recovery
[Status – Helps with Stamina growth.]
– Quick Stride
[Status – Helps with Agility growth.]

Kim Si-woo used all the skills for growth assistance. With this, the link was completed for all four of us, including him.

Kim Si-woo, Yu Ah-ra, Lee Hye-ri, Han Mina.

And Han Mina’s adaptability to growth assistance was not that high.

[Han Mina]

-Strength: D (Strength Growth: Adaptation E)

-Mana: B (Full Mana: Adaptation SS)

-Intelligence: B~B+ (Young Mind: Adaptation B)

-Stamina: C (Super Recovery: Adaptation C)

-Agility: E~D+ (Quick Stride: Adaptation B)

But there is one thing, the adaptability of the full mana she has to raise is SS.

‘Look at this?’

Unlike Yu Ah-ra and Lee Hye-ri, who had high adaptability levels overall, this student specialized in one stat.

Kim Si-woo had a feeling that growth might be faster than expected.

‘I’ve done everything I can.’

Unlike Lee Hye-ri and Yu Ah-ra, her classes were extremely ordinary.
Yu Ah-ra used naked massage to bring out her Mazo characteristics and promote growth.
Lee Hye-ri adopted corporal punishment as an educational method to reduce her dependence on Lee Kang-san and break her stubbornness.

However, there was no particular reason for Han Mina to forcibly take off her clothes.

Kim Si-woo thought, how to proceed with Han Mina, thinking, ‘what she wants is skill growth. If you take a bland class with plenty of mana, the growth-assisting skills will become stronger on their own.’

That’s when he remembered, ‘Han Mina’s original personality.’

‘With a type like her, if you try to teach her more and act friendly or approach her, she tends to distance herself from you.’
‘If I approach her rashly, all the favorability I worked hard for will definitely be revealed.’

[Han Mina: Favorability – 3%]

This was also a figure that went up thanks to her acknowledging the results of the medical checkup.
Originally, the favorability started out close to 0.

‘I guess I still need to take my time and learn slowly.’

Once she gets a taste of growth, even Han Mina will be impatient. Kim Si-woo didn’t plan on approaching her first until she explicitly asks him to teach her.

And when Han Mina says, she wants different curriculum, Si-woo planned to refuse changes, using rule number 3 of the contract as an excuse.

-3. B complies with the class curriculum for A and does not refute it.

Even more impatient. If Han Mina wanted Kim Si-woo more and wanted his lessons more, then his 3 percent favorability would also go up quickly.
So.

‘Wait. Like a fisherman who wants the fish to bite the bait.’

‘Time is on my side.’
Eventually, Han Mina will grow impatient.

“Let’s end today’s lesson here.”
“……Thank you for your hard work.”

Maybe it was because the class was different from what she had expected. Han Mina greeted Kim Si-woo with a suspicious look.

‘Don’t worry. Soon those eyes will change to one of respect’, Kim Si-woo consoled himself.

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