How to Break Charm

"Just as expected of the director—you got them completely under control so quickly." Slarat smiled obsequiously.

Asna, one of the four pillars of the Silver Orchid Merchant Guild, was known as the Pet Breeder. It sounded cute, but the pets here were not cats or dogs—they were real human beings. She would Charm anyone who disobeyed, turning them into her servants and making them offer up everything.

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The research institute had repeatedly run into trouble without ever being exposed, all thanks to her.

"The two people you brought in this time have decent potential." Asna smiled, extending a finger and licking it. "From now on, bring in more sloppy adventurers like them. They're easy to handle."

"It may not be so easy from now on." Slarat gave a bitter smile. "We've lost more manpower than expected. Even after reducing production intensity, the power they possess is greater than we imagined. Only a very small number can be controlled now. Once they lose control, only the blood of the black laborers can hold them back."

Because of that, we could only visit the employment agency more frequently. The owner had grown tired of introducing black laborers to me after losing too many of them. He only reluctantly did so after I raised the referral fee.

"That's your problem. It doesn't matter if you give him more. After all, we don't have to pay these adventurers wages. Our budget has far more left over than expected." Asna smiled coldly. "Things are getting on track here. Sacrifices are necessary. Once we find a way to tame those beasts and transport them, they'll become the finest war machines. When these weapons shine in the war between the Roze Empire and the Prosperity Kingdom, we won't merely be Teren's Silver Orchid Merchant Guild—we'll be the world's Silver Orchid Merchant Guild."

"I'll do my best." Slarat smiled helplessly.

"Also, remember this: if anything happens, the safety of the Pharmaceutical Research Department must take priority. That is our primary source of funding." Asna spoke as she started walking toward the stairs to the second floor. "And don't forget to thoroughly investigate those two people who suddenly resigned. They may be members of the family too, but there's a good chance they betrayed us for profit."

"Yes."

After respectfully seeing Asna off, Slarat looked toward the pharmacists who were still busily manufacturing medicine. The ever-present ingratiating smile vanished from his face, leaving behind an expression as hard as iron. He had ambitions of his own, but there was truly no way for him to climb any higher in this research institute.

After being led around by a soldier, Yang Yu and Bai Jin were brought before a door.

"I've told you everything I needed to tell you. Remember the rules here. Following them is the best way to repay Lady Asna!"

"All for Lady Asna!"

Yang Yu and Bai Jin answered in unison, saluted, and watched the soldier leave.

When they opened the door, they found an exceptionally cramped room. It contained only a standard dormitory bunk bed and a passage wide enough for one person to walk through. It looked just like a train sleeper compartment—except it was only half of one.

Apart from the prepared clothes, there was nothing on the beds. Well, there were not even blankets, only cold wooden boards.

Two people to a room, one on the top bunk and one on the bottom.

Right now, Yang Yu only wanted to sing a song about the brother sleeping in the bunk above him.

"Scummy. This is absolutely scummy. Even Foxconn wasn't this scummy."

Yang Yu strongly condemned this treatment of people as less than human. Just then, he heard clothes hit the floor. Without a second thought, Bai Jin took off her clothes and changed into the uniform provided here.

Faced with this sudden CG scene, Yang Yu felt that interrupting her now would be unbearably awkward. He could only follow Bai Jin's lead and change into the dark brown uniform embroidered with silver orchids.

How was this Charm? This was clearly brainwashing.

Seeing the tiny hearts floating on Bai Jin's status panel, Yang Yu felt utterly helpless. He had nearly turned into an emotionless simp himself—the kind who ended up with nothing after simping to the bitter end.

At that time,

he had indeed been Charmed by Asna. He had almost revealed that he was an undercover agent, but at the critical moment, his mind began racing.

The Charm skill had different effects in different games.

Some made people unable to help chasing after others; some prevented characters from attacking or acting; others made characters fall into confusion and attack themselves. Effects similar to brainwashing were relatively rare, but they did exist.

The methods for removing the status varied as well. Most wore off naturally once enough time had passed. A few required the person who cast Charm to leave. Considering there were probably adventurers here besides them, the most likely way to remove it was for the caster to leave, though he could not rule out the possibility that this research institute possessed an item capable of reapplying Charm at regular intervals.

Thinking of that, Yang Yu felt utterly hopeless. He stared at the system panel, desperately trying to think of something that could save him from this predicament.

Time seemed to stop. Yang Yu forced his stiffened body to move, using the only finger he could still control to search through every corner of the system. At last, he found an attribute he had never once considered allocating points to—Charisma.

Charisma had always been a thoroughly baffling stat. Its apparent functions were nothing more than making a character more handsome, recruiting powerful companions, or triggering quests from certain NPCs.

As someone who valued practicality, Yang Yu would never waste hard-earned free attribute points on flashy Charisma.

Powerful companions? This world's freedom was so high. Why would he need some especially powerful character? Give him a few capable teammates, and he could raise them himself.

Hidden quests? An NPC that only judged people by their faces was as shallow as a gold digger who would rather cry in a BMW than laugh on a bicycle. He had no interest in your quests.

Yang Yu had been this absurdly full of himself.

But now, when he saw this stat that had always seemed completely useless, it was like grasping the last straw that could save his life.

In some games with a Charisma stat, Charm could not affect someone whose Charisma was higher than the caster's. Even if it could, the chance of being Charmed was extremely low.

With that in mind, Yang Yu treated a dead horse as if it were alive. He opened the system's point allocation screen and dumped every single attribute point into Charisma. Yes, every single one. He had even decided that once he completed the Source Extermination mission, he would put all the free attribute points he earned into it as well.

Not only because Yang Yu did not know how high the other party's Charisma was, but also because putting everything into Charisma was quick and convenient. It saved time and could force a change before he lost control and revealed that he was a spy.

The facts proved that this was another correct decision.

Unfortunately, although he successfully broke free of the control, Bai Jin had fallen under its spell.

That Charm magic worked on both men and women, and the lower one's Charisma, the stronger the effect. For Bai Jin, whose Charisma was negative, its effects were explosive.

They had nearly failed at the last moment. Fortunately, Yang Yu knew exactly what kind of person Bai Jin was. As long as he got her worked up, she would involuntarily blurt out all sorts of inexplicable things.

Taking advantage of that, Yang Yu first lavishly praised Asna's beauty, drawing Bai Jin's agreement. Then he declared that he wanted to possess that beauty all to himself. This made Bai Jin forget Asna's command and argue with him instead, successfully avoiding the BAD END of Bai Jin exposing his identity as an undercover agent.