Chapter 254

Chapter 254

Anguis Regina was a complicated person. Rationality and irrationality coexisted within her. She was as lofty as a saint, yet at times, as vulgar as a street prostitute.  

A person with such extreme gaps in personality and emotion was, in other words, an unstable human being.  

In the past, I thought Anguis Regina was a woman possessed by a mad obsession.  

That judgment and evaluation were wrong.  

Anguis Regina was merely a woman who had put on a twisted mask to protect her fragile and delicate self. She clung desperately to that mask so that no one would see her weakness.  

‘Anguis Regina…….’  

Her struggles were not unfamiliar to me. I might not be so different from her. It would be a lie to say I felt no sense of kinship.  

But sympathy and a sense of kinship were emotions separate from love. They might serve as a medium for love, but they were not love itself.  

‘And Giselle…….’  

I was tracking Giselle’s traces. She had moved, turning those around me into enemies for my sake.  

As long as Giselle existed, I had no intention of creating any other chemical reaction.  

‘If I were to embrace Anguis Regina…….’  

That could cause the chemicals in my brain to shift in a different way, making my motivation toward Giselle disappear.  

If even I were to give up, Giselle would never escape the labyrinth.  

Srrrr.  

Though she wasn’t here, I could feel Giselle. It was as if her scent, her warmth, were touching my back.  

Giselle, deeply engraved in my consciousness, wrapped her arms around my neck, chains dangling. The chains coiled around me as if they were alive, binding me tighter. It was a restraint that could only be broken by tearing her arms away.  

“Luka?”  

Anguis Regina leaned her shoulder against me and looked up.  

I stared blankly ahead. The consultation room was peaceful and quiet.  

My blood was cooling.  

“Anguis Regina, this isn’t about you. This is entirely my issue. I have a curse on me. No matter what you try, you won’t be able to excite me. Until that curse is lifted… I won’t be able to embrace a woman.”  

“What… does that mean…?”  

Anguis Regina, flustered, lowered her gaze. She moved her fingers, then confirmed my words.  

“If you’ve confirmed it, move your hand. Gaya is coming.”  

I spoke as I listened to the sound of approaching footsteps.  

Anguis Regina, as if she had never been on the verge of tears, smiled faintly.  

“If that curse is lifted, does that mean I have a chance?”  

“…Who knows.”

I shrugged. Anguis Regina didn’t seem to have expected a definite answer from me, as she withdrew and sat down on a sofa a short distance away.  

The footsteps in the hallway stopped in front of the door. I turned my gaze toward it.  

Creak.  

As the door opened, Gaya peeked inside.  

“Luka, the analysis results are in.”  

I gave a slight nod and left the room without paying Anguis Regina any more attention.  

After walking about ten steps away from the consultation room, Gaya leaned against the wall.  

“It’s a common stimulant mix. The purity isn’t bad for something you’d find on the streets.”  

“That means it has no value as a combat enhancer, right?”  

“Yes. It might induce a mild euphoria typical of stimulants… but there’s nothing in it that would heighten aggression or violent tendencies.”  

I let out a sigh. Just as I expected.  

‘Boyan picked a fight with an innocent drug dealer and killed him for nothing.’  

On top of that, Boyan genuinely believed that his aggression came from the drugs.  

‘He was just like any other Crawler, looking for a fight. It’s buried in his unconscious mind, so even he doesn’t realize it.’  

Boyan didn’t know how to control his violence and aggression. Worse, he thought that aggression wasn’t truly his own.  

‘Denying it won’t make his instincts disappear. He needs to learn how to handle them.’  

I twitched my lips. The list of bothersome tasks kept growing.  

I glanced at the door to the consultation room. Anguis Regina was inside.  

“Why did you leave me alone with Anguis Regina?”  

“I thought it might have a positive effect on her treatment. I saw it as a good opportunity.”  

“A dull misjudgment. More importantly, Anguis Regina wants to correct her past memories. Do you think Jafa will welcome that?”  

For once, Gaya showed a rare look of surprise.  

“How much do you know?”  

“Not much. Just that you and Jafa erased Elize and created Anguis Regina.”  

“I’d say that’s quite a lot to know.”  

“Jafa won’t be happy about Anguis Regina recovering her memories. Especially if she’s doing it while Jafa is preoccupied elsewhere.”  

“Jafa’s intentions have nothing to do with my work as a therapist. I only do what is necessary according to my patient’s requests. I’m not Jafa’s employee, let alone her subordinate.”  

Gaya spoke as calmly as ever. The ornaments on his limbs jingled softly.  

“If that’s what you believe, then it’s not my place to interfere.”  

Gaya gave me a polite nod.

“Elize, as she is now, will be able to face and accept her past.”  

I didn’t respond. Instead, I simply raised a hand in farewell.  

Step, step.  

I walked out of Gaya’s clinic.  

*         *         *

The next day, I brought Boyan to the training room at Jafa Corporation’s headquarters.  

Maybe I had been waiting for this moment all along.  

Crash!  

Gripping Boyan’s arm, I hurled him toward the wall.  

The walls of the training room were solid, unaffected even when Boyan collided with them. The only thing cracking was his bones. The only thing crushed was his flesh and skin.  

“Kaagh! Ugh… Cough, hack…!”  

Boyan gasped for air, his breath knocked out of him from the impact. He couldn’t get up right away, pressing his hands against the floor while retching.  

“You’re already on your knees? You’re not the kind of guy who goes down this easily.”  

I taunted him as I loosened up my body. I twisted my neck from side to side, rolling my shoulders once for good measure.  

“A-Are you punishing me because I messed up? Because I killed someone?”  

A flicker of wildness flashed through Boyan’s eyes.  

“Punishing you for killing someone? Do I seem like the kind of guy who has the right to do that?”  

I grinned, bouncing lightly in place. My entire nervous system responded instantly, my prosthetic arm and leg fusing more intimately with my brain than flesh and blood ever could.  

“…And Boyan, you probably slept just fine after killing that man. You had a good night’s rest for the first time in a while, didn’t you? Because that pent-up urge of yours was finally relieved.”  

“I…”  

Boyan started to protest but ended up just nodding.  

“I had the stimulant analyzed. There was nothing in it that enhances combat instincts like you claimed. You picked a fight with an innocent—well, not exactly innocent, but still—someone who hadn’t wronged you, and you beat a drug dealer to death.”  

Boyan’s eyes narrowed sharply.  

“Luka, that’s a lie…”  

I didn’t let him finish. I lunged forward, pushing off the ground with explosive force. In an instant, I was right in front of him, stomping down on where his head had been.  

Bang!  

Boyan instinctively dodged, retreating backward. His reaction was purely animalistic.  

“Do I look like I’m lying? Do you think I’d make up some bullshit just to trick a kid?”  

I bared my teeth in a snarl. I had no intention of coaxing him like some lost child struggling with self-denial.  

“If that stimulant wasn’t for combat, then there’s no way I would’ve—”  

“You’re a Crawler.”  

“I’m different from the other Crawlers!”

Boyan screamed. His deep roar echoed, crashing over me like a wave.  

“Your genes didn’t just fall from the sky. No matter how exceptional I might be, I’m still just human. And you—you're nothing more than a Crawler.”  

“L-Luka, you said you’d help me! That I could live differently from the other Crawlers!”  

“That’s why I’m going to teach you. Your instinct to kill won’t disappear just because you suppress it. Sooner or later, it will break free, whether you want it to or not. You might end up killing over something trivial… or worse, hurting someone close to you.”  

“I would never do that.”  

“Hah! If suppressing instinct and wild nature were that easy, would your kind be suffering so much?”  

I understood their pain and struggles. I, too, was born human, yet I was trained and conditioned to possess extreme aggression. I had even undergone biological modifications to heighten my combat reflexes and responses.  

‘Even I struggle to suppress my impulses at times. There are moments when rational thought becomes impossible.’  

For Crawlers, it had to be even worse—never less.  

“This is pointless—kaagh! Ugh!”  

I struck Boyan’s jaw from below with my palm.  

Splurt!  

Blood burst from his mouth. He staggered backward with a distorted scream.  

“Drop the act. Pour out your instincts with everything you’ve got. That’s where control begins. You won’t know the limits of your vessel until you let it overflow.”  

“I-I told you, it was the drugs! Why won’t you believe me?! Why?! If even you don’t believe me, Luka, then I—!”  

Boyan wailed.  

And I couldn’t help but laugh. His cry was so full of sincerity, I nearly believed him for a second.  

This was why people who deceived even themselves were terrifying. They truly believed they weren’t capable of such things.  

“Every time you find a convenient excuse, you’ll kill again. And you won’t feel guilt or remorse because you’ll think it was out of your control. From where I stand… you’re an even more horrifying monster than your kin. And more despicable, too.”  

“I-I don’t want to fight you, Luka! I don’t need this kind of training!”  

“Boyan…”  

I frowned.  

Ever since I met him, I had never found his face as unbearable as I did now.

“…You killed someone and feel no regret or guilt. Maybe other species are different, but most untrained humans can’t commit their first murder so easily. Even if it’s an accident, it usually leaves a lifelong trauma. But as a Crawler, you’ll never understand what that means.”  

The words I spoke were heavy. I didn’t lace them with humor.  

Whirr, whirr.  

The output of my prosthetic arm and leg surged visibly. I didn’t bother concealing the vibrations.  

“Luka…?”  

“At this rate, you’ll become the worst kind of monster. I don’t want to see that happen. So… I’m going to kill you here.”  

“You’re jok—”  

My foot moved.  

Crash!  

My kick sent Boyan soaring all the way to the ceiling. He smacked against it with a sickening thud, his eyes rolling back as if his consciousness had been ripped away.  

Thud!  

He plummeted back to the floor.  

My intent to kill wasn’t a bluff. If Boyan’s instincts were sharp, he’d know I meant every word. That last strike carried genuine murderous intent.  

‘If…’  

If he still refused to fight me, if he managed to hold onto his reason even while facing death…  

‘…then I’ll have to sincerely apologize.’  

Maybe I’d been thinking about this the wrong way.  

“Grrk…”  

A guttural sound rumbled from Boyan’s throat, like a mix between a cough and a sob.  

A chill ran down my spine. It felt like an ice pick was pressing into each vertebra, one by one.  

“Grrrk… grrk.”  

Boyan rose, blood dripping from his mouth. He felt bigger—his muscles swelling as his veins pumped with fresh blood.  

“You’re… making… a big mistake, Luka.”  

Standing upright, Boyan exuded murderous intent of his own. His fingers curled, his nails gleaming like sharpened blades.

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