Chapter 32 : Slave collar

“How long did it take to reset my implants last time?”

“About 37 hours.”

“So, when it was just you and Way, it took 37 hours… Hmm. Wait a sec? But with me joining in this time, it only took 22 hours? Isn’t that strange?”

What are you trying to say?”

“Oh, nothing. Just that—when the team goes from two to three people, and the time drops way more than expected, doesn’t that mean the new person is more skilled than the original two? Just a thought.”

“I told you back then too—out of those 37 hours, 6 were spent sleeping to regain focus.”

“Sure, but that should be offset by the five hours I helped at the beginning of the procedure.”

“If you’re gonna nitpick that much, Way and I worked on all 4,493 implants in your body, and we got a lot more experienced with Kyro Society resets. That experience probably helped this time too—”

“Okay, okay, both of you—stop arguing over useless stuff and help me finish up here. Can’t you see I’m working alone right now?”

“Wait, I was just about to counter that—if we stop now, she wins.”

“Stop. And. Help. Now.”

“…Fine.”

If we messed around any longer, Way looked like he was going to shoot lasers from his eyes and mouth, so I quietly returned to the computer.

Still, is it really okay for a Tegomma to talk to their master like that?

“But hey, Leilia. You suddenly showed up carrying a half-dead woman, yelling about emergency surgery, so I helped out. But—who is she, and why did you even bother saving her and doing a reset?”

“Huh? I didn’t tell you?”

“Nope. After arriving at the safehouse, you ran straight into the operating room without a word. The only things you explained were a few small details in the car yesterday. Like, that she’s your junior, and that you wrecked her body with one punch, or something?”

“Junior? Wrecked her with one punch? You’re saying you broke through this chest armor with your fist?”

Olbi, in disbelief, tapped Kabi’s detached chest plate with the back of her hand.

“But you said her cyberware was top-tier, custom-made by the Kyro Society.”

“Right.”

“And even said it’s about five years more advanced than the implants in your body.”

“And despite that, you broke through both the energy shield and this top-tier armor with just your fist? One single punch?”

“Exactly!”

Why does she keep asking obvious stuff?

Even after I answered clearly, Olbi looked at my fist, then at the synthetic material in her hand, still visibly unsatisfied.

“That’s scientifically and logically impossible… Wait, never mind. You’re not a logical person. Expecting logical results from your actions is a mistake.”

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m not logical?”

“Do I really need to explain that?”

“Hey! That’s an insult, isn’t it? You just insulted me, you bastard!”

“How is that an insult? Hold on! Get your fingers away! You’re about to flick me again!”

“You said you’d help me finish up! And here you are goofing off again! I’m done too!”

While Olbi and I were bickering, Way—who had been working alone—was still hustling. And that’s when—

“Senior?”

That tiny, barely audible whisper froze all three of us on the spot.

“Where… am I…?”

“Wait! Don’t move yet! We’re not done with the procedure!”

Ignoring Way’s desperate warning, Kabi tried to get up and rolled right off the surgical chair.

“Sheesh, like senior, like junior. She doesn’t listen at all.”

“What did you just say?”

“Anyway, don’t force yourself to stand. Just lie down and take deep breaths—”

“Move.”

Kabi shoved Way aside and sent him crashing into the wall.

“Hey! That psycho—!”

“ Are you okay?!”

“ I’m fine. My head hurts, but not as much as one of Leilia’s flicks.”

I couldn’t tell if he was being honest or just trying to reassure us, but one thing was clear—

“Who the hell are you people?”

Kabi still had no clue what had happened.

“My head… it’s splitting. Where am I? What did you do to me? Why did my system reboot on its own? And what’s this ‘User Profile: Kabi loaded’? Why is my system profile changed from ‘QPD Standard’ to ‘Kabi’?!”

“that?”

Before she could freak out even more, I stepped up and blocked her view.

“Congratulations, rookie! You’ve been reborn—from a tool of the wicked Kyro Society’s QPD into a proud Tegomma of Kage!”

“Leilia-senpai? What are you talking about? Rookie? What’s a Tegomma?”

“Put simply, I reset all your implants so Kyro Society can’t track you anymore.”

“What? Why?”

Why?

I didn’t really think that far.

I mean, Kyro Society are the bad guys. Escaping their grasp should be a good thing, right?

But will she really accept that kind of vague reasoning?

She started giving me that rebellious look again, like she didn’t buy it.

Screw it.

“You belong to me now.”

“What?”

“Told you yesterday, right? You were kidnapped. Why else would I kidnap you? You’re my s*ave—no, my Tegomma now.”

“What the hell is a Tegomma?”

“It’s Japanese. I think it means ‘s*ave’ or something?”

That wasn’t it, but I said it anyway. Behind me, I heard Olbi smack her forehead in disbelief, but I ignored her.

“s*ave? You’re saying I’m your s*ave?”

Wait a sec… Did I see that right?

For a split second, I think Kabi’s face lit up. Was that… happiness? Excitement?

“Don’t joke! I only lost yesterday because I let my guard down! If we fight again, I’ll—”

“You’ll what?”

“I’ll… I’ll take you down in one hit! …Or at least I should be able to… What did you do to my body?!”

“You think I’d be dumb enough to let my s*ave rebel? I disabled your Neural Overclock, obviously.”

“You coward!”

“Coward? If you don’t want to lose, then you should’ve won.”

Judging from her sincere rage, I must’ve been wrong earlier about that happy expression.

I mean, who would actually enjoy being told they’ve been enslaved?

“But still… Even without Neural Overclock, with my skills I could kill more than half the people in this building before you stop me. You sure you can handle that?”

“…Leilia-nim, that’s a bluff, right?”

“Nope. She’s not bluffing. Her body’s so tough that if she decided to ignore me, I probably couldn’t stop her by force.”

“What?”

Way slowly scooted himself into the far corner of the room.

Scaredy-cat.

“But don’t worry. I’ve prepared for that too.”

I pulled out a small switch from my pocket and held it up.

“One press of this button activates the sensory amplifier I installed in your brain.”

“Seriously, Senpai? That’s disappointing.”

Kabi grinned with her trademark smirk and crossed her arms.

“A sensory amplifier? You’re trying to stop me with pain? Have you forgotten what kind of training we endured to build pain tolerance? We’ve been through worse than torture—even frying our brains wouldn’t stop us!”

“Wait, pain tolerance training? Kyro Society really did that to you?”

Actually, you didn’t even need to go that far. To become a battle nun, the first step was getting full-body implant surgery without anesthesia at age 15.

“That’s insane! Even a grown man would die from shock if he had that surgery without anesthesia! There’s no way a 15-year-old girl could survive that!”

“You’re right. Most couldn’t. Even picking the most durable candidates, 90% died during the surgery.”

“What?”

“And of the 10% who survived, 95% died later trying to use the implants.”

Come to think of it, how did I survive that crazy surgery?

I wasn’t even 15—I passed the battle nun test at 11.

Guess I really am built different. Humanity’s ultimate alpha gene package—Leilia.

“And after that—”

“Enough.”

Just as I was about to explain what it takes to join QPD after surviving implant surgery, Kabi cut me off.

“No need to air our dirty laundry when we both already know the hell we’ve been through.”

“Yeah, good point.”

Anything more would’ve just turned into a pathetic misery contest.

“Anyway, I know it’s dumb to try controlling a QPD-level person with pain.”

“Then why?”

“Because you misunderstood. I said sensory amplifier, not pain amplifier.”

“ Then… what does it amplify?”

“Pleasure.”

“WHAT?!”

Her face turned bright red.

What kind of messed-up image did she just imagine?

Technically, it’s not really a “pleasure” device. It’s a neurostimulator that sends electric signals to the brain’s reward circuits—nucleus accumbens, ventral tegmental area, medial prefrontal cortex—all those dopamine-blasting spots.

Of course, it’s insanely dangerous. Too much artificial dopamine, and you’ll end up emotionally numb and unable to enjoy anything in life.

Still… someone like Kabi, raised on pain and suffering, might actually handle it.

But would she be able to resist pleasure stronger than anything a normal person could even imagine?

“You’re insane… You’re really insane, Senpai…”

“You know me well. So why’d you even try me? C’mon, have a taste.”

“Wait! Hold on! I haven’t done anything yet!”

“Oh really? So Way just fell over by himself?”

I pointed to Way, who was hiding in the corner, trying not to be noticed. Kabi’s expression twisted immediately.

“H-He was just waking up from fainting and—”

“Shut up. Quit making lame excuses and face me like a woman, Kabi!”

Just a warning, so I pressed the lowest setting—Level 1 out of 5.

Kabi’s eyes flew open.

She dropped like a puppet with cut strings, twitching on the floor.

 That worked way too well.

I turned it off.

“Hey. You okay? Whoa, you’re even foaming at the mouth.”

The convulsions stopped, but she could barely move, limbs flailing weakly as she tried to get up—then flopped back down.

“Stay still, stay still. I should give her a sedative…”

She gave up trying to stand and muttered something.

 Say it louder.”

I leaned in and brought my ear to her mouth. Finally, I could make it out.

“…Do it again, Senpai…”

…I’m losing my mind.