Chapter 41 : Hey. Song Yena

We were sitting across from each other.

“Did I get caught?”

“Yeah.”

The uniquely soft texture of the bed sheets pressed against my legs.

“You don’t have to be formal with me.”

“Okay.”

I carelessly set my phone down beside me.

The cheap pink screen flickered.

For some reason, my mood soured, so I flipped it over.

I turned my gaze to Yena.

She was staring blankly at me.

Her eyes blinked.

I blinked back at her.

No reason.

Just because.

“From now on, answer everything I ask honestly. Got it?”

“Okay.”

Too much time had passed.

Behind Yena, the scenery outside the window was visible.

The emotional moonlight unique to dawn was spilling in.

A faint light spread across the world, as if the sun would rise soon.

How was I supposed to get any sleep before school like this?

“Seriously, you have to answer everything. Understood…?”

Looks like I’ll have to pull an all-nighter.

“Got it.”

Yena, under hypnosis, didn’t refuse.

The most rebellious answer she could give was silence.

Now, she had no choice but to comply.

She couldn’t hate me. At most, she could just hold back her words.

“Yena. We…”

Confessions require courage.

I didn’t have any.

All that remained was fear.

So, like that—

I gripped hypnosis like an eraser, rubbing away the possibility of rejection.

“What… are we?”

Yena’s body stiffened.

She…didn’t answer.

Yena’s lips twitched.

But the parted lips eventually closed again, and she lowered her gaze, stealing glances at me.

Something sticky rose from the depths of my heart.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Pushed that unfamiliar feeling away.

Not yet. Not yet.

It’ll be fine.

For a moment, my vision turned grayscale before color seeped back in.

“…It’s okay. You’re thinking about it, right? Your heart’s a mess too. That’s why your answer’s delayed.”

“…”

I projected my own wishes onto her.

Of course, I didn’t actually know her heart.

Even with the cheat-like power of hypnosis, I couldn’t truly understand a single person’s feelings.

The two of us sat there, staring at each other for a long time.

Yena opened her mouth to speak, then clenched her lips shut again. Her eyes darted around—uncharacteristically hesitant.

How long was she planning to keep her mouth shut?

Something thick, dark, and sticky slathered itself against my heart, licking insistently.

I let the feeling in.

“Ha…”

“…”

“Raise your left hand.”

After hesitating, she lifted a hand to the side of her head.

“Right hand too.”

“…Okay.”

“Hurry.”

Yena raised both arms in the surrender pose you see in American movies.

That didn’t matter. I grabbed her wrists and pulled them toward me.

“…Relax your arms.”

“Okay.”

Though they resisted slightly, I managed to bring both hands to my throat.

Her eyes were tinged with something unreadable. I ignored it.

I bent her hovering fingers into a loose circle.

“Why’re you looking like that? You want this too, don’t you?”

Yena’s pupils trembled.

For a split second, desire flickered in her pink eyes.

My body, forcibly imprinted with her deepest cravings, recognized that sticky shift instantly.

I pressed her hands together around my neck.

Like a collar, tightening.

From the outside, I pushed down as hard as I could.

“This is… ngh… what you like, right? Huh? Keugh—”

“Wait, Hayul. Stop.”

My airway closed for a second.

But soon, it loosened again.

Yena’s fingers resisted, fighting my pressure.

Hypnosis wasn’t supposed to work like this.

“I never gave an order like this.”

“Threatening… the Master’s life… isn’t possible, so…”

“You’re talking just fine now…”

The demon inside me screamed.

Do it now.

Push her.

Threaten her—the girl who lied for her own selfish desires.

“Hey. Song Yena. Am I wrong?”

“No…”

I slid one of her hands down to my chest.

Yena pulled back slowly, her expression uneasy.

The always-perfect Yena was flustered in front of me.

“You just wanted to do this messed-up perverted stuff.”

“That’s not…”

“After all I did for you. Huh?”

My vision blurred.

My eyes stung, like someone was poking my corneas.

It’s just from lack of sleep.

That’s all it is.

I shoved the thought aside.

“Even though… ngh… you felt… nothing…”

“No, it’s not like that…”

“Then tell me. What are we?”

“It’s just—”

Yena neither refused nor accepted the question.

She kept trying to say something, then closing her mouth. Her eyes flicked toward the phone.

Was she hiding something?

Even under hypnosis, is there something she still needs to hide?

My stiff mind couldn’t come up with an answer.

“Then… are we just friends?”

“Uh…”

I lifted her hand and yanked open the shoulder of my bathrobe. Cold air hit my collarbone and chest.

“You do this kind of thing with friends? Huh?”

Yena’s teeth marks were still vivid on my skin.

The red marks against my pale flesh stood out starkly, impossible to ignore.

Her eyes flickered with panic.

Before her lips could part, I cut her off.

“Did you do this with Winter? With Autumn?”

“No. You’re the first.”

“Ha… That’s… that’s… yeah. Okay.”

An unexpected confession of “firsts” left me feeling strangely conflicted.

Like pouring cold milk into scorching black coffee—except today, the coffee was too strong.

The emotions boiled over again.

I tugged the robe open further.

Her gaze lingered on my shoulder.

“So what, then? Fuckbuddies?”

“…No.”

“Emotionless sex is what fuckbuddies do. So what are we?”

I grabbed her limp hand on my chest and tried to drag it lower. She resisted again.

Yena’s eyes darted toward my phone.

“It’s not that, actually—”

“Shut up!”

What’s with all the denials?

Is “no” the only word you know?

Just saying no over and over—what am I supposed to do with that?!

“D-don’t say anything. If you’re like this, just… shut up. Ngh… Stay still. Don’t answer… Just…”

My voice shook pathetically.

Yena looked bewildered by my outburst.

I ducked my head, not wanting her to see my ruined face.

From my lowered gaze, I saw her fingers twitch.

How should I interpret this?

Is she twitching because she wants to comfort me, even after I told her not to move?

Or is that filthy instinct of hers surging again?

I hated both possibilities.

The emotions sank deeper.

Memories of how she’d played me flashed through my mind.

“What else do I have to do?! I’ve done everything you wanted…! Every order, every demand…!”

I hurled my feelings at her.

The harsher my words, the more relief I felt—like loosening a knot inside.

Yena closed her eyes and muttered something.

“Ha… Really should’ve just kept my eyes shut and gone for it…”

Too quiet for me to hear properly.

The thought that she wasn’t even listening made me push harder.

Yena took it like a sinner, eyes shut, submitting to the blows.

As time passed, my thoughts slowly shifted.

After the storm in my heart, the ground hardened.

When my tears dried into tracks, a strange clarity hit me.

‘Maybe just… with my body…’

Did I really need a confession right now?

She’s already hooked on me anyway.

With her personality, it’s not like she’d look at another girl…

And, crude as it sounds—

I’d once heard the term “lust-driven devotion.”

Yena seemed to have gone rabid with desire for me—or more precisely, my body.

‘If I use myself as bait…’

Could I seduce her into staying?

‘One round of sex, one date. Like a trade…’

The idea didn’t feel half bad.

Maybe keep my phone nearby during sex, just in case.

I’d teach her love; she’d teach me pleasure.

It might’ve been a childish, stupid decision.

But my mind was foggy, and dawn was breaking.

‘Ugh… They say the one who loves more loses.’

When I looked up again,

Yena’s expression was resolute.

She met my eyes directly—no hesitation left.

“Hayul—”

“Shut up.”

I slapped a hand over her mouth.

Whatever she was about to say, I knew it’d only hurt me.

So I decided… to just take what I wanted.

A petty choice.

“From now on, you only do what I say.”

“…”

“Nod if you understand.”

She frowned, then nodded like she’d given up.

I lunged into her arms, burying my face against her.

Inhaled deeply, imprinting her scent.

“This is an order.”

“…Okay.”

“Even if it’s a lie… I don’t care anymore.”

I kept rambling.

Embarrassed.

“I’ll erase all your memories after this anyway…”

After all my tantrums, here I was—clinging to my girlfriend as the emotions drained out of me.

Just picturing the absurdity made me dizzy.

I barely resisted the urge to crawl into a hole.

At least we couldn’t see each other’s faces like this.

“Say ‘I like you.’ Right now.”

I micromanaged the script, commanding her exactly.