Chapter 45…
“What are you talking about…?”
Acelia found it strange that Kalisten was trembling anxiously while holding her tightly. But he was still under the influence of the drug.
He clearly wasn’t in his right mind.
“Did you kill me?”
“No. I wasn’t trying to kill you.”
“Then?”
Acelia patted his back until he calmed down. When Kalisten finally steadied himself a little and looked at her, she took his hand and gently pulled.
He followed her lead and went inside.
“I won’t kill you. I’d rather… die instead.”
“Mm, I know. I trust you, Kal.”
Even at her words, Kalisten didn’t seem relieved. That was odd. Unlike before, when he always calmed down at what she said, now he looked genuinely impatient.
“Tell me what happened, Kal.”
“Then you’ll hate me.”
“No. I will never hate you.”
Even though Acelia spoke as if swearing an oath, Kalisten only hugged her again and stayed that way.
Until the drug wore off, he clung to her for a long time, unable to calm down.
“Why is the deputy director looking for Acelia?”
Kalisten’s voice was fierce as he questioned Ivan. As the administrator of Building A, Ivan had received the deputy director’s order regarding Acelia.
That was why he had come to Kalisten’s room to retrieve her.
“I don’t know either. The deputy director only said she needs A-702 for something.”
“No. Go back.”
—Beep.
Kalisten shut the door immediately.
Then he turned around. The first thing he saw was Acelia, fast asleep.
Perhaps because of his lingering anxiety, he couldn’t fall asleep even though the drug had worn off. He had pretended to sleep while holding her, but she had fallen asleep first.
He wanted to feel more at ease. His heart was pounding too fast, his chest felt tight, and every time he imagined Acelia drifting away from him, fear gripped him.
“Acelia.”
Calling her name softly, he walked toward the bed where she slept. Then he pulled the defenseless, sleeping girl into his arms and closed his eyes.
For a long time like that.
Only after the drug had fully worn off and his chest had somewhat calmed did the sleeping pill begin to take effect.
As his mind gradually grew hazy, the feel of Acelia’s breath against his cheek slowly soothed him.
And then—
He began to dream of the experiment he had gone to alone, leaving Acelia behind.
The dream began from the moment he arrived alone at the designated laboratory.
The deputy director’s gray eyes looked at him with open contempt, and her similarly ash-gray hair framed her cold expression.
Indifferently and mercilessly, she approached him holding a syringe.
“Kneel.”
Because he had secured a promise regarding Acelia, Kalisten had to obey everything the deputy director ordered.
More than that, her attempts to humiliate him didn’t feel particularly humiliating.
The pain of being separated from Acelia, even briefly, had been far worse.
Compared to that agony, this level of humiliation was nothing.
Once this was over, he could go back to see Acelia.
If that was the case, this meant nothing.
His hands were bound behind his back, and a restraint that suppressed his mana was fastened around his neck. Even while kneeling, the deputy director’s high heel pressed down onto his thigh, grinding deliberately as if to inflict pain.
But it didn’t hurt that much.
Even with his mana sealed, his body—honed by vast magical power—was still extremely durable. The pressure of her shoe against his muscular thigh was tolerable.
“When this experiment ends, will you go wash with that child again?”
The deputy director asked, recalling the records showing Kalisten had used the showers with Acelia.
Kalisten answered obediently.
“Yeah.”
“I see.”
At this point, the deputy director still didn’t know Acelia was female. She simply thought Kalisten had unusual tastes. Besides, even Alexis had shown interest in Acelia.
Among A-ranks, there were those who, for survival, used their meager mana to emit pheromone-type scents.
Either way, she didn’t think Acelia was particularly useful.
To the deputy director, Acelia’s value was limited to being of interest to the Z-ranks. That was all.
“Hold out your arm. Release your mana.”
“Okay.”
He obediently rolled up his sleeve and extended his arm.
The deputy director gripped the syringe like a dagger and plunged the needle into his arm.
Kalisten’s head gradually grew foggy as the hot liquid flowed through his bloodstream.
“Did A-702 really say she’d share a room with you?”
“Not confirmed yet.”
“It’s ridiculous that you even need an A-rank’s permission.”
That was what the deputy director believed. After all, Z-ranks could discard A-ranks whenever they wished.
“Acelia’s…”
As the drug’s effect intensified, Kalisten could no longer hold back his words.
“Acelia’s opinion… matters most. To me.”
At his words, the deputy director’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. She folded her arms and stepped back.
Then she simply watched him, waiting for the drug to fully take effect.
Each time the drug surged through him, Kalisten felt that strange sensation—his mind drifting, his senses both dull and overly sharp, as if the boundary between clarity and confusion was collapsing and turning him into a fool.
“What emotion do you feel toward A-702?”
Just before having him taken away again, the deputy director suddenly asked.
Kalisten let out a breath.
“Guilt.”
At his answer, the deputy director brushed her fallen gray hair back over her forehead and smiled expectantly.
Guards and researchers entered, seized him, and escorted him to the next research site.
This time, unusually, they blindfolded him during the transfer.
“For this round, you just need to kill the animal in front of you.”
With that, the deputy director pushed him into a room.
After seating him on the floor, she removed his restraints—and lastly, the blindfold.
When it came off, what he saw was—
“You just have to kill that.”
Listening to her words, Kalisten stared at the massive bear before him.
Even drugged, it didn’t seem difficult.
The restraint on his neck was gone, so he could use mana. Though he was an unawakened user who couldn’t fully utilize his abilities, a bear was something he could kill even with his bare hands.
—ROAR!
The bear charged savagely toward him. He dodged appropriately.
His head was spinning badly. The bear in his vision seemed to whirl in circles. He knew they wouldn’t assign something this simple—but perhaps because of the drug, thinking clearly was difficult.
—RAWR!
The bear lunged again, jaws wide.
Kalisten staggered but shifted sideways to avoid the forepaw. Even the floor felt like it was swaying. He felt dizzy and nauseated.
Strangely, the bear in front of him didn’t feel like a living creature at all.
Then, when the bear slammed into him—
—THUD!
They both went down.
Pinned beneath the bear, Kalisten stared blankly at the teeth near his face—then grabbed them with his hand.
—Kkrrk!
The bear tried to pull away as if regaining its senses, but Kalisten didn’t allow it.
If he killed this bear, he could go back.
He hated being drugged.
Whenever he returned to Acelia while under the drug’s influence, he kept overlapping her with someone else.
She looked like a woman named Selina.
He knew very well how unfair that was to Acelia.
But the reason he had been drawn to Selina was because she resembled Acelia.
If that was the case—
Shouldn’t his feelings be directed toward Acelia, not Selina?
‘I like you, Kal.’
But he was bothered by the fact that Acelia was the same sex as him.
And yet, he still wanted to stay close, to be together, to keep her by his side.
It was strange.
He couldn’t understand how that was possible.
Because every time he looked at Acelia, a part of his heart saw her as a woman.
To him, Acelia was a woman.
Her body was male—but her eyes, the way she drew him in—everything.
—Crack…!
In that moment, his fist pierced through the bear’s throat.
—GRAAAH!
With a massive scream, the bear collapsed on top of him.
Kalisten exhaled and squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them again.
And in that instant—
“Ah…”
The bear’s corpse had changed into Acelia.
“Gasp!”
With that, he jolted back to reality from the horrific dream.
“Huff… ha…!”
Something was wrong with his breathing. It was like trying to breathe underwater—no oxygen seemed to enter his lungs, and his head was growing more and more foggy.
Even though he had returned to reality—
“Kal?”
“Kh—ugh… hhk…!”
The shock of seeing Acelia’s corpse left him unable to breathe at all.
