"Friend, you can call me Mark," he suddenly said, turning his blurry eyes toward me. "I can see we are more or less in similar positions. And I hope we can share a glass like this in the future, too."
Surprise flickered through me. He was asking for my name. This was the opening.
"Edgar," I replied, keeping my guard completely relaxed. "I work around here as a store assistant. How about the day after tomorrow, right here, at the same hour?"
I kept lowering his guard, pushing him deeper into comfort. And right after this, I decided to gamble. I would jump directly into the Inducing Phase, even before his frontal lobe hit the Theta state. Let's bait him.
"Sounds really good," he murmured, his voice trailing off. "Have a family, a stable job... you have everything, man. I envy you. How good must that feel?"
I looked at his face. His eyes were glazed over, completely visualizing an imaginary, peaceful life somewhere else. His defenses were down. This was the chance!
"Everything has its ups and downs," I said softly, my voice dropping into a rhythmic, soothing him even more. "Don't think too much about your troubles. I actually have a trick on how to relax easily when the stress piles up. Want to hear it?"
"What is it...?" he mumbled, his eyelids half-closed, a pale red flush spreading across his cheeks. The alcohol had fully kicked in.
"Look at my glass..."
I tapped the bottom of my glass against the dark wooden counter.
Tukk... tukk... tukk... echoes as the heavy base of the coupe glass makes contact with the thick wood of the bar table. It is a muted, rhythmic thud—the sound of solid crystal meeting solid timber.
"Now, try to match your breathing with the rhythm of my glass."
While actively reading his brainwaves, I monitored the frequency. His frontal lobe activity was still hovering in the Alpha state—a lower Alpha, but not quite deep enough. I was officially in the inducing phase. Even though this shifted slightly from my original simulation that needed him to enter Theta state, I took the gamble. Waiting for his frontal lobe to hit Theta naturally might take too many drinks, and I didn't have the time. 30 minutes at that?
A gamble, then..
"Now... with the rhythm of this sound from my glass, your breathing is already matched. Try to close both your eyes and feel this melodic turn bring you into deep, deep relaxation."
He closed his eyes, matching his breathing with the hitting sound. The Inducing phase was complete. No sudden outburst in his frontal lobe meant he was still not aware. Nice.
Now for the Parietal lobe activity—the part responsible for processing surrounding information. This is why Inducing was so important. We need to eliminate the ability to process surrounding information. With Inducing, we could stop this part of the brain from receiving information for visual images and sound. That is why focusing on the rhythm of my glass and closing his eyes was vital. Most sensory-trait awakeners are highly alert by default because their senses are five times more sensitive.
As long as he cut himself off from his surroundings and focused on a single point, the Parietal Lobe activity would gradually weaken and turn into a Theta state. This is where my abilities take pride. By actively monitoring brainwave activity, I could easily tell which state he was in.
Lower Beta... High Alpha... Mid Alpha.
The more he focused on the rhythm, the deeper he sank into the trance.
Low Alpha...
"Keep following the breathing, steady... The longer you inhale, the calmer you get, and all of your surroundings gradually disappear... take a slow inhale... and exhale it slowly."
I lowered the tempo of the glass hits, matching it perfectly with his breathing.
Theta! Success!!
Now onto the next step: The Pivot!! In this step, I needed to verify if he was already in a state where I could insert a suggestion. One vital rule of hypnosis is to never put a suggestion against the target's own will. If by chance I asked the wrong thing, his frontal lobe activity might spark incredibly high in an instant, bringing him back to normal, and a second later my corpse would be lying cold and unmoving on the floor.
What should I say... hmm. Ah, right.
"Keep breathing slowly... the more you relax, the more you gain the courage to face your boss." I slowly created an image in his mind, shifting it to visualize his female boss. "In this state, you're invincible. No one can stop you, let alone that bitchy boss. On a count of three of the glass hitting the table, take a deep breath as per the rhythm, shout 'Die, you bitch!' and let your pent-up anger accumulated all this time out into the world."
At the count of three. One... two... three...
"DIE, YOU BITCH!!!"
Success!! Haha. I look around, I didn't care about the gazes of all the remaining customers here. Even the beautiful bartender looked at me annoyed. Who am I to care-
Haha... ah. I think I might have taken this too far? I didn't want this progress to go down the drain just because someone shouted or touched him. Even a small, unplanned touch could wake him up in an instant. I nodded my head—a gesture of apology to soothe the anger of the people around us. With that, the situation got back to normal.
Just when I wanted to take the next step—Planting the Suggestion—suddenly the sound of my communication orb went off, accompanied by the vibration it produced.
Beep-beep-beep...
The sharp, rhythmic digital alarm cut clean through the low hum of the bar. It was a jarring, synthetic sound, entirely out of place among the clinking glasses and muffled jazz music.
Fuckkk!! No, no, no, no!
I hurriedly touched my pocket to turn off the alarm, which had been set five minutes prior to our thirty-minute target. It was the one thing I was most afraid of: a sudden disturbance. A sudden disturbance could instantly wake him up from the trance state. All the painstakingly hard effort I'd been through, the very precious life I gambled—please don't let me get fucked!
A drop of cold sweat traced a flawless line down to my chin. My chest tightened so violently I forgot how to breathe, let alone how to activate my detection. I froze. My mind spiraled out of control, flashing violent, bloody images of my own severed head rolling across the bar floor. Memories of my childhood, my home, my family spun through my vision in a sickening, high-speed blur.
Ting..
The sharp sound of the bartender putting a glass bottle down on the table cleared my mind. I reacted instantly, looking at Mark, who was still in his trance state beside me. Unsure, with shaking focus, I activated my detection again, only to find that his frequency was still stable in the Theta state.
Huuuffftt...
A long, shuddering breath escaped my lungs, and all the strength melted from my muscles. I slumped forward, resting my forehead against the cool, sticky wood of the table. I almost died. Had the alcohol suppressed his hypothalamus so completely that the alarm didn't even register? Or was the trance just that deep? It didn't matter. I was alive.
I focused my attention on Mark again. Giving a slight touch to his shoulder, I whispered, "Now you already feel refreshed. All of the anger leaves your body, and a sudden euphoria rushes into your body. Each touch on your shoulder keeps you more euphoric." I kept my hand on his shoulder and repeated the suggestion directly into his ear.
"The more I touch your shoulder, the more euphoric you feel. And by then, you recognize this touch on your shoulder as something that keeps you happy—this touch will make you able to face that bitchy boss you hate so much."
With precision, I planted the suggestion in his mind. I repeated the word "touch" multiple times in each sentence so he would anchor the trigger.
"You know this touch can relieve you of your troubles and bring you happiness. Nod if you understand." I slowly whispered the key to him.
With a slight nod from him, I kept reinforcing the key to make it foolproof. "The one who touches you here will be the benefactor of your life. And you will do everything you can to keep this benefactor by your side all the time. Say yes if you understand."
"Yes..."
With that, the suggestion could officially be categorized as a success! Now for the last step—the thing that makes the name of a hypnotist so magical: the act of making the target obey all commands. The Emergence. I just needed to wake him up with the planted key already active inside his mind. Time to wake him up and end the mission.
"I'm going to count to three. At three, you will wake up with full calmness, and your pent-up anger about your female boss will disappear. One... two... thr—"
Kringg!
"EDGAR! TIME'S UP!! Now we need to take him with us for interrogation!"
The roar of that giant female voice reverberated through the entire room.
"Squad! Into your positions! Take him back no matter the cost!" Nina commanded.
All the squad members suddenly rushed toward us at extreme speed. Just before they reached us, I saw Mark's eyes snap open. He scanned the surroundings and instantly recognized an emergency situation. His hand flew inside his jacket, reaching for a gun.
Shit... just a second more... just a second and I could have finished the mission successfully. Those idiots just ruined my life. Over... over... and over again. You idiot MOTHERFUCKERRR!!!
Mark looked at me sharply, pulled out his gun, and aimed the muzzle straight at my face. In a fraction of a second—
BANGG!!