#001. The Brainwasher is Too Kind (1)

#001. The Brainwasher is Too Kind (1)

I am a brainwasher.

A deceiver who twists and manipulates people’s minds.

Using this wicked power, I…

[Brainwash Activated]

[Designated Target – Mom]

[Command – Do not hit the child]

Stopped my stepmother’s child abuse.

Magic like this, of course, doesn’t exist on Earth.

This is another world.

A world where the game became reality.

It was the reason I, who would have been beaten to death by domestic violence in reality, was able to survive.

“It’s all your fault. My life is ruined.”

My stepmother, glaring as if she wanted to kill me, couldn’t contain her anger and drank alcohol.

The child abuser became a drunkard.

Unable to inflict violence on her child, it seemed she decided to lash out at her own liver with the frustration that had nowhere else to go.

‘No wonder the protagonist left home and ran away.’

The protagonist of the game.

The character controlled by the player.

＜Brainwasher Ian＞.

No one remembers the name Ian.

The brainwasher is someone who abandons their family and runs away.

The player separately enters a new name, ＜Nickname＞, as a declaration of their determination to forget their old name and live a new life.

The drunken mom is the same.

In the game, she’s just the first target to test the brainwashing ability on.

You can’t expect her to fulfill her role as a parent.

[Live regretting the guilt of abusing your child.]

Someone used the brainwashing ability to punish the child abuser.

[I am your husband.]

Some males, honest with their desires, used brainwashing to satisfy their lust by violating the mom.

Back in my player days.

Before I was possessed by this other world.

What was I like back then?

To be honest, I didn’t think much about it.

Like pressing the skip button when starting a new game, I was just eager to get past this annoying prologue.

[Forget the memory of your child.]

I often used this brainwashing.

Even if they were prologue parents with no real meaning, I didn’t want to cause them pain.

So, I always granted the mom’s wish who always shouted that her life was ruined because of her child.

So, in lieu of being a mere stumbling block to success, let him live a life without offspring, then.

But no matter the indoctrination applied, the tutorial’s child abuser would meet the same end.

– Say, wouldn’t you like to be an employee of the Adventurer’s Guild?

– You’ve got that youthful face women adore, a real *shota* look. Come work as a clerk in our guild.

– Hey, kid. Wouldn’t you like to earn money chatting with pretty *noona*s?

Not an adventurer, but an employee of the Adventurer’s Guild.

A heartbreaker, captivating women with his handsome features.

The protagonist, hardly stepping into the streets before getting hired as a debauched *shota* clerk.

━━━

Title: Let’s Manage an Adventurer’s Guild

Genre: Raising, Management, Revenge, Politics

━━━

But that life—the life of a *shota*’s mom, Ian’s mom, the former child abuser, now a drunkard—she couldn’t bear to witness it.

The protagonist visits the Adventurer’s Guild, gets his first job, and as the main story progresses, he loses his life at the hands of local thugs.

━━━

Quest Objective: Eliminate the thugs who killed Mom.

Quest Guidance: Foster useful adventurers to induce them to take on an assassination request.

━━━

The first enemy to be brought down using her brainwashing ability.

A local thug with powerful backers, whom ordinary adventurers would hesitate to touch.

She would raise the adventurer to eliminate him with her own hands, and if necessary, use her brainwashing ability to coerce cooperation.

A role sacrificed to progress the game in the pre-stage.

That was the first and last usefulness granted to this good-for-nothing mom.

“Waaa. *Oppa*aaa.”

And the little sister that came along?

The kind souls would leave her at an orphanage run by nuns, barely able to afford rent let alone the added expense of feeding another mouth.

The cruel ones would sell her for money or commit unspeakable acts against the child.

‘Either way, the result is following in Mom’s footsteps.’

As the story unfolds, the sister dies too.

The thug’s backers make an example to the protagonist.

To show the adventurers daring to touch the organization that they too could suffer such retaliation.

━━━

Quest Objective: Avenge your little sister.

Quest Guidance: Recruit powerful adventurers or raise a multitude of adventurers to destroy the organization.

━━━

Family in this game is such a thing.

Which is better compared to a real-world family? I’m not sure.

‘Maybe reality was worse.’

In reality, I lost my parents, too.

My parents, newlyweds, went bankrupt because of a fraudulent housing loan.

My father, after the divorce, paid alimony for a few months before declaring he was done living a life of debt repayment and enlisted in the Gate Raiding Unit, seeking a new start.

Meaning, he’d escaped to the dimension beyond, where he’d be free of all financial obligations.

My mother, offered a proposition by the factory foreman – money for her living expenses in exchange for her body – took her own life that very day, despondent over her already rock-bottom situation.

I, an orphan raised in an orphanage, was swindled out of my entire life savings by a friend and comrade from that same orphanage.

The money I’d painstakingly earned while struggling to make ends meet was then all stolen by someone I’d thought was my first love, the woman I was sure would become my wife.

What stung more than the money was the broken connection.

Parents, friend, lover.

All the relationships I’d treasured, lost.

Perhaps the only thing I could count as better than Ian in the game was the fact that I didn’t have a younger sister.

This kind of hell is enough for one person to experience alone.

Too cruel to subject two to it.

‘Maybe it’d be better to just die quickly.’

Living longer would only mean seeing more unsightly things.

People, when they’re without money, become consumed by their needs.

I didn’t want to see my very heart go bankrupt.

Kindness and composure lost, a person changes.

A game wouldn’t be any different, I suppose.

It wouldn’t be any different, but…

‘This isn’t just a game anymore.’

An employee of the Adventurer’s Guild.

A mind-manipulating brainwasher.

A seemingly innocent, childlike *shota* with the impure desires of a player.

Even if that’s who the protagonist in the game was, it wasn’t the life I wanted.

‘I’m done running away.’

My father ran to another world.

My mother ran to the afterlife.

My friend ran to his desires.

My lover ran to security.

Everyone chose their own happiness, even if it meant trampling over others.

And so, I was hurt.

I locked myself in my room and played games.

I mastered people’s minds through brainwashing, betraying them before they could betray me.

And after reaching the highest difficulty ending, I was even possessed by the game.

In short, I ran away to the game.

I know how to play the game efficiently.

If I abandoned my mother and sister, my future would be bright.

But now that the game has become reality.

My mother haunted my thoughts.

My sister’s cries echoed in my ears.

‘How is that different from a father abandoning his family or a mother abandoning her children? Or my friend who betrayed me? Or my ex-girlfriend?’

And so, I decided.

“Little one. Wouldn’t you like to earn money while talking to pretty ladies? If you work hard, you can wear proper clothes instead of those rags and live in a safe, central district house instead of the slums.”

━━━

＜Tutorial Quest＞

It’s time to take the first step in nurturing an adventurer.

Join the Adventurer’s Guild as an employee and achieve your first success.

Reward: Enhanced Brainwashing Ability

━━━

A golden opportunity to strengthen my meager brainwashing ability.

A tutorial event, so easy it’s practically a handout for beginners, showering them with rewards.

A prosperous life in the central district and a future of climbing the ranks as an employee of the Adventurer’s Guild.

The very reason this game exists.

The kind of life the being – whether god or demon – who forced me into this game world would wish for.

“I’m sorry.”

I abandoned it all.

No, I chose something even more precious than all of that.

“Think again. Opportunities like this are rare.”

“I have a mother and younger sister to care for.”

“Wouldn’t your family be happy if you earned a lot of money?”

If I work under you, my mother will die on the first day.

Once I build up achievements, my sister will die too.

How could I possibly work knowing such a future awaited?

‘I don’t want to run anymore.’

Even if I abandoned my family and lived the life of a brainwasher, the emptiness etched deep within my heart would never disappear.

Because I knew that wasn’t the life I truly desired.

Even if I betrayed and thrived in the manner of a villain, there would be no family to share that luxurious life with.

All the bonds in the world had abandoned me.

Even after my family fell apart, I dreamed of the day we would reunite.

Even after being thrown into the harsh society upon graduating from the orphanage, I dreamed of the success I would share with my best friend.

Instead of blaming my lover’s indifference – borrowing money for family hospital bills while not a single word about family was ever left on their SNS – I dreamed of a cozy future just the two of us would enjoy.

Yes, I always dreamed.

Of a happy life with the people I cherish.

And now, a way to make that dream a reality has appeared.

━━━

[Brainwashing Ability]

[Basic – This ability can twist and manipulate the minds of people.]

━━━

Right now, I have a chance to choose.

If I don’t become an employee of the Adventurer’s Guild, my mother won’t die.

If I use my brainwashing ability, my mother can become an ideal mother – not a child abuser or a drunkard.

Only you need to change.

Therefore, change.

[Brainwashing Activation]

[Designated Target – Mother]

[Command – You cherish your children more than anyone.]

Not all brainwashing succeeds.

The more the subject resists, the lower the probability of success.

It will not work on someone with a strong spirit.

If you were someone who deeply loathed your children…

If the brainwashing to forget your children took hold without any resistance…

I know it’s not that simple of a spell to cast.

But time is long.

Unless the tutorial begins, there is ample time to share.

“You cherish your children more than anyone.”

Unlike a game, no notification appears announcing the brainwashing’s success.

How high is the success rate?

How great is the probability of failure?

Is this brainwashing even worth attempting? I cannot know.

Still, I don’t stop.

If I fail today, I will try again tomorrow.

If I fail tomorrow, I will try again the day after.

If three days are not enough, a week.

If a week is not enough, a month.

If a month is not enough, a year’s worth of time.

I can fully enjoy and exercise the opportunities that were never granted to me in reality.

“You cherish your children more than anyone.”

“You cherish your children more than anyone.”

“You cherish your children more than anyone.”

Every day, as it begins and ends, I repeat those words like an incantation.

I am a Brainwasher.

A deceiver who twists and manipulates the hearts of people.

Using this wicked power, I…

Like a rainmaking ritual with endless prayers until rain falls, I began a brainwashing ritual, endlessly repeating the brainwashing until it succeeds.