Chapter 22 Part 10: Adaptation.

I slowly got off the intercity bus and turned on my phone screen.

My aunt seemed to have read my text.

But she hadn’t replied.

Well, I could understand.

Words have power, but not as much as speaking face-to-face.

She probably wanted to talk to me in person rather than texting or calling.

It really felt like something my aunt would do.

For me to call my aunt ‘sister’.

It was a rare occurrence.

No, it was the first time in years.

After that incident, I always used the titles ‘aunt’ and ‘uncle’ instead of ‘sister’ or ‘brother’.

So, even though she knows the gravity of the situation, for her to act so boldly…

As expected, she must be confident.

It was obvious what my aunt was thinking right now.

She was probably imagining going back to her days as a researcher, dealing with her superiors.

As if she had to logically persuade them and get more budget.

She was definitely preparing to face me, 고민ing over that.

Seriously, it already smelled like the coffee beans my aunt loves.

I hate that smell, but it was okay now.

It made me feel like I was back in the old days.

Like an experiment subject starved for affection, desperate to communicate.

On the other hand, I also meticulously analyzed the other person’s intentions to survive.

So, I let the glass walls appear around me for the first time in a while.

Because I’m here to interrogate my aunt.

Not my aunt, who is family I must protect until the end.

But a sister I need to treat as someone I might have to take down when the opportunity arises.

Thinking that, I went into the house and silently put my bag down in my room.

Of course, the house was filled with the smell of coffee.

She must have had several cups already, because the coffee beans were noticeably reduced.

I looked at it for a moment, then slowly walked to the kitchen.

And, gradually bringing my hand to the encroaching glass wall, I said to my aunt.

“Sister, didn’t I tell you I hate this smell?”

“…Oops. I’ll be careful.”

“It’s fine. I won’t have to smell it anymore after today anyway.”

I said that ambiguously and sat down on a chair.

My aunt looked at me and smiled coldly.

Seriously, it was such a ridiculous situation.

Just because she drank a few cups of coffee that she enjoyed in her youth…

For a person to revert to their old self like that.

But I could understand.

I could rip my aunt to shreds at any time.

In fact, ripping her to shreds would be too good for her.

I could burn her alive, or even eat her.

On the other hand, my aunt had no means to resist me.

She knows her life is precious, so she must have prepared thoroughly to persuade me.

I briefly put my finger into the glass wall, then stopped.

As expected. My finger slowly passed through the glass wall.

“So, sister. The medicine you’ve been giving me, is it supposed to make me smarter?”

“…I told you I don’t know.”

“Seriously, you’re so stubborn.”

“…If I say that, you’ll rip me to shreds. Alright, I know a little.”

My aunt said that, wearing a cold smile.

I looked at my aunt, trying not to get too angry.

It’s not ideal to get answers this way… but the situation calls for it.

All this time… it wasn’t that there were no hallucinations.

It wasn’t that there were no symptoms of schizophrenia.

But it was limited to the level of glass walls appearing.

My younger self and the researchers never appeared like this.

I could have tolerated it if it was manageable.

But today, I almost lost my reason because of Gong Jin-hu’s sorcery.

What if I ended up killing someone else?

That would be a disaster.

That wasn’t part of my plan.

…I was afraid of death.

But I knew death was inevitable.

And I also knew I could choose a relatively decent death.

When I die, I wanted everyone around me to be there.

Whether they were heroes or hunters. Even police or firefighters.

The people I’ve saved, or those I was close to.

Anyway, I wanted to die surrounded by many people.

I didn’t want to meet a villain’s end.

Where no one mourns my death, and they just playfully kick my corpse.

Or rejoice, saying I deserved to die.

Or mock me, saying I should have been killed like that.

I didn’t want that kind of death.

So I wanted to be a hero or a hunter.

I also wanted to save people who were in my situation.

I didn’t want to die alone. So I worked hard and got into the academy.

But if the people who ruined my past also ruined my future.

…I really wouldn’t be able to bear it then.

So I spoke somewhat harshly to my aunt.

“Sister. Can we get to the point? I feel like I’m about to get angry.”

“The medicine we gave you was to increase your intelligence and make it easier to awaken your abilities.”

“…Were there no side effects?”

“Just a noticeable increase in imagination? That was it. In modern society with awakened…”

I didn’t need to hear the rest.

In modern society, where awakened individuals, developing abilities started with imagination.

Before obstacles like talent or money arose.

Imagination determined how far one could reach before that.

With my power, I can do this.

No, I can do even more.

In fact, maybe even several times more.

Fueled by such imagination, the mind and body began to develop.

It could be called evolution.

I was told there were people who broke through their limits every time, no matter what obstacles held them back.

I could recite it word for word now, since I heard it so much during manifestation training.

But I didn’t understand why she was bringing it up now, so I gritted my teeth and asked my aunt again.

“Was that the only side effect?”

“The side effect we thought of was that the imagination would become too excessive, changing the personality.”

“Sister.”

“…But in your case, it seems to have combined with schizophrenia and manifested as hallucinations.”

“Okay, so it’s an unforeseen side effect.”

I said that and looked at my aunt’s expression.

My aunt still had a cold smile.

It was so perfectly crafted that it looked like a sculpture.

But the eyes don’t lie.

So I tried to read my aunt’s eyes.

My aunt was afraid of something.

It didn’t seem like she was afraid of her lies being exposed.

She seemed afraid because this was the only answer she could give.

Yes, well.

Honestly, it did sound like an excuse.

But I knew.

From the moment I decided to give up calling them sister and brother until now.

I couldn’t live without my aunts and uncles.

It could be called Stockholm Syndrome.

It could be because I was an unprecedented experimental subject.

Or it could be because my ego was a mixed-up mess.

Because a girl of only six or seven and a young man in his mid-twenties were mixed up, I often acted strangely.

Whatever it was, I had no intention of antagonizing Aunt Ailey.

If I had, I would have devoured them all then.

So I tried to calm my anger and asked my aunt.

“Didn’t you think about how to get rid of the side effects?”

“That’s impossible.”

“…What?”

“Honey. That’s something you need to go to a psychiatrist for and use related drugs. Right?”

“…I guess so.”

“But there are no psychiatrists since then. And I can’t take you to a regular hospital.”

“…”

“From your expression, it seems like you want me to somehow make a medicine…”

Aunt Ailey said that and took a sip of coffee with her trembling hand.

I tried to calm down, but it was no use.

Even when I tried to smile, my expression wouldn’t cooperate.

The best I could do was glare at her with a blank expression, as if I wanted to tear her apart.

“Honey. Generally, medicines have side effects. You know that, right?”

“Yes. I know that taking cold medicine can make you sleepy, and things like that.”

“Some end with such mild side effects… but that’s not usually the case.”

“…”

“Drugs that affect the brain have particularly severe side effects. Because the drugs are formulated to achieve the desired effect, it’s impossible to reduce or eliminate the side effects. So what do you do?”

“I don’t know.”

“You prescribe another drug to counteract the side effects. If the side effect is stomach inflammation, you prescribe a medicine to treat the stomach.”

“…”

“This is a very simplified explanation, and in reality, it takes at least a few years to slowly administer the drugs…”

I didn’t need to hear the rest of the answer.

It was impossible for my other aunts and uncles, who were barely surviving by lying low, to conduct such experiments.

So asking them to make a medicine for me was practically impossible.

The medicine I was given was definitely not something sold over the counter.

Of course, to fix it, a new medicine that is not sold over the counter would have to be made.

To make it, they would need to go back into the underworld.

They risked their lives to cut ties to survive back then.

It was impossible for them to shamelessly go back now.

So I sighed deeply and said.

“…Aunt, give me some sleeping pills. I’ll take them… and go to sleep.”

“…Alright. Do you need water?”

“I’d appreciate it if you gave me some.”

I immediately took the sleeping pills.

I didn’t want to think about anything.

My head was so complicated that I couldn’t stay awake.

So, I had no choice but to get some sleep.

And my judgment seemed to be correct.