Chapter 91 – Community (1)
A technique of psychological manipulation used on prisoners of war in communist countries during World War II.
According to research by psychiatrist Laurence E. Hinkle and neurologist Harold G. Wolf, the gist was simple.
Cursing, using violence, and trampling on people until they do something they like. Conversely, praise when you do something you like.
If this happens repeatedly, the captive ends up thinking only about what he can do to please the other person. The values and dignity as a human being that were previously held are left behind, and only the feeling of ‘wanting to be comfortable with the recognition of the other person’ remains.
And the action that that mind brings is complete submission to the other person. The moment you believe that greater obedience is the only way to escape the current situation, you are convinced of your own obedience.
*
Hyunwoo looked at Hyeji, who was deep in sleep, breathing heavily, and then slowly woke up.
Clean them, soothe them, hug them, pat them. And he praised me a lot and lifted me up.
After playing with her to the fullest, he gently embraced her as if he were a small child.
He acted calmly, as if everything was just a moment’s play, and played the role of a caring and affectionate boyfriend.
Even though he was acting, he seemed a little nervous. I played with it so horribly, I wonder if acting like this is really effective.
“Puhup.”
A deep sneer appeared on Hyunwoo’s lips as he thought about her reaction again.
Surprisingly, the smoke worked. That too.
Even though Hyeji cried, she quickly regained her composure. After her mind became stable, she even felt proud of Hyunwoo’s comfort, as if she was receiving a deserved reward for her hard work.
How on earth could a person do this?
Even though Hyunwoo could not empathize with other people’s emotions, he also knew what emotions were.
However, I could not empathize with Hyeji’s emotions at all. Because she had not experienced the same trauma as Hye-ji, Hyun-woo had no experience in her life that he could empathize with.
To him, Hyeji is just a toy that is ‘unintelligible and bizarre’ yet ‘fun to play with’.
Squeak –
Hyunwoo opened the door and came out after seeing Hyeji asleep once more.
He moved his steps slowly and headed toward the study.
It was necessary to record what happened today in the teaching assistant’s journal and reflect on it carefully.
“Whoa…”
Hyunwoo stretched, took a refreshing breath, and sat down in front of the desk.
[May 3rd. He treated Hyeji like a prisoner of war. Hit me, curse me, and then praise me. Since she was effectively imprisoned, it would be right for her to be treated accordingly. I think she did a good job of turning up the intensity. Hyeji is like a prisoner who has already fallen into my hands.]
Summarize a long day in five short sentences.
As can be seen from the contents of her diary, her harsh treatment today was somewhat planned.
As she said in her journal, she was already a prisoner.
The habit of following instructions exactly, formed while growing up under an abusive father. The past years when I was always concerned about what others thought and felt intimidated.
As her body and mind grew into those of her slave, he bound her tightly with his love and placed her in her house. She subconsciously stimulated the loneliness of being alone or the fear of being abandoned, preventing her from rebelling, and tightened her grip by pretending to promise her a sweet future.
Because the moment you doubt Hyunwoo, everything that has happened so far will lose meaning.
Because what was believed to be a noble sacrifice for love will end up being a worthless piece of trash.
And for her, it was no different from her death.
She was a prisoner who had to silently endure any injustice, placed all her rights in the hands of the judge and begged for her mercy.
Hyunwoo’s use of the brainwashing method that was said to have been practiced in communist countries during World War II was based on that fact.
After hinting at what she wanted by asking what was the point of dog play that everyone else was doing, she hit and cursed at me in the name of education until she did something she liked.
Everything was possible because I was confident that she would not rebel.
She expected that, just as there were no prisoners who would rashly rebel among the prisoners who wanted to survive, she, who did not want to be separated and wanted to be happy for the rest of her life with Hyunwoo, would also obey unconditionally.
And the prediction was not wrong.
She also lost her family. She also lost her ex-boyfriend, the only person who was by her side. Furthermore, she recently lost her job and the home she had been living in since running away.
If you lose your only remaining precious lover when you have nothing left to rely on, it’s natural that you won’t be able to breathe.
She eventually came to terms with herself, remembering the peace she would one day receive. In order to somehow please Hyunwoo, she chose to constantly exploit herself.
From her childhood, it was clear that Hyeji was far from defending herself or fighting against injustice, so there was no other option than to persevere and persevere.
“Hmm… Anyway, she’s the perfect bitch to make into a slave.”
Hyunwoo pondered her situation and put the ballpoint pen in her hand to her mouth.
The more she thinks, the more she realizes that she has all the conditions to be used as a slave. In that case, she needed to exert herself more so that the condition was not wasted.
He put the ballpoint pen down to his mouth and carefully read the content he had painstakingly copied.
『No matter how strong-willed a person is, if too much stimulation is given to them while they are tired from brainwashing and torture, they will reach a state of exhaustion at some point and their willpower and judgment will collapse. As a result, she has no choice but to passively accept any demands. In this state of understanding, it doesn’t matter what happens.』
A phrase that describes in detail the characteristics of a state of exhaustion. I had just seen with my own eyes what the state of exhaustion was, so its meaning struck me once again.
Looking back, she had never treated her as harshly as she did today. She had been ambivalent several times, but this was the first time she had been physically abused like this.
She probably won’t be leaving her house for a while. She didn’t have to think about what would happen next, whether it was bruises, cuts, or swelling.
Thanks to this, I was able to freely express my desires and experience the exhaustion caused by brainwashing and torture.
『Furthermore, if you do not see hope in life, you are more likely to become a psychological slave to a person with strong strength and will while your body and mind are depleted, or to engage in behavior that is difficult to understand in terms of social norms.』〈 Br〉
Hyunwoo closed the notebook, pondering once again the passages containing various insights into psychological pathology.
Phrases that remind me of Hyeji every time I read them. The explanations that fit her perfectly allowed us to guess her psychology.
If you think about it, she is like hanging precariously on a cliff. It was only up to Hyunwoo’s whim whether he would pull her against her hand, which was desperately holding on to her, or whether he would just push her away.
Her falling off the cliff, that is, her separation, would mean her imminent death…
If she pretends to pull and smiles at you, it’s probably impossible for her to shake off your hand first.
Even if he dies or wakes up, he won’t be able to admit that his belief in Hyunwoo is just a delusion, and he won’t have the courage to face the cruel truth.
Abandoned by everything in this world, it was clear that she was not ready to accept the reality of the collapse of the only comfort that supported her. And there was no promise for such preparations in the future.
Grumbling –
Hyunwoo left the study, dragging back the chair he was sitting on.
Hyunwoo returns to the bedroom and quietly looks down at the slave he has taken into his hands.
“Ugh…”
Heji was groaning with his eyebrows furrowed, as if he was having a nightmare.
She carefully stretched out her hand and stroked her several times, and a soft smile appeared on her lips as she felt Hyunwoo’s touch even in her sleep.
Hyunwoo, who showed mercy to the slave who had worked hard today by allowing him to sleep well, took the smartphone that had been left by his bedside in his hand.
Now that she has been imprisoned, tortured, and brainwashed, what she needs is a ‘tunnel’-like device that will allow her to immerse herself in the process.
I heard that this ‘tunnel’ is the device that transforms ordinary boys into terrorists who commit suicide bombings.
Boys to be trained as terrorists are divided into small groups that share the same goal, then their contact with the outside world is minimized, and they are made to follow only one goal.
This small world cut off from the outside, a narrow world where only one purpose is visible, is called a tunnel in the book.
People are anxious when they are alone, but they feel safe when they are with others, and when everyone is focused on one goal, they become more motivated to keep up with others.
In this way, it was not that difficult to manipulate a person’s psychology at will if you cleverly mixed the method of using sympathy with the group psychology and made them pass through a long tunnel.
And Hyunwoo already had a great device that could be used as a tunnel.
If…
If you make her feel a sense of belonging by being a part of her community and make her strive to become famous here.
If you make her the object of her admiration in her small society of people with her biased sexual desires and gender concepts.
And if she sees this twisted world as her only window to communicate with the world…
It could easily be called a tunnel.
If we start her day by checking community comments as soon as she opens her eyes in the morning and encourage her to become obsessed with the goal of having the number of recommendations that she can compare to others, how far can she be ruined?
Dawn in the middle of the night, when the light on the screen quietly dispels the darkness.
Hyunwoo organized his past photos and videos and wrote a carefully written post.
Her tunnel was formed to confine her to her small world, preventing her from thinking or judging for herself.
That night, a truly shocking post was posted on a community.
