Capable but Slightly Unhinged (2)
Besides Eve's vicious tongue, I soon discovered another problem that had me clutching my head in despair.
The sharp tongue I could live with, so long as I just let it roll off my back. This, though, was something far too serious to shrug off.
And it was still very much ongoing.
Crrrk—
While I was getting dinner ready, I asked her to grab some side dishes from the fridge. The moment Eve touched it, the refrigerator door tore clean off like a sheet of cardboard being ripped in half.
Crunch—
I set out the utensils and told her to eat. The second she picked up a spoon, the iron spoon didn't just bend in her grip—it crumbled into powder.
Crrrack—
I asked her to hold the front door for a second while I took out the trash. The entire door came off its frame. That was when I finally screamed.
"No!!! Don't!!!"
"Rapid elevation in Master's heart rate detected. Excessive excitement and stress are detrimental to health and may shorten one's lifespan."
"That's because of you! Why does everything you touch fall apart?!"
"That is precisely because I am a super-capable and immensely powerful superhuman."
Eve didn't so much as twitch an expression as she held up two fingers in a V-sign, as if she were bragging. Well—she was bragging, technically…
"At this rate, there won't be a house left! Can't you control your strength?"
"Answer to the question is negative. I am not equipped with a strength-regulation function, and as such, arbitrary adjustment of force within my available range is impossible. Should you wish it, the output ceiling itself must be lowered."
"So even if you can produce force from zero to a hundred, you can't fine-tune anywhere in between? To regulate it, you'd have to set the upper limit roughly to something like zero to ten?"
"Affirmative. Master's intelligence is not entirely lacking."
"Then how did you manage when you carried me out of there?"
When we'd fled the venue together, it hadn't felt like this. A bad feeling prickled at the back of my neck as I asked, and Eve's answer made my skin crawl.
"At that time, I had only just awakened and was unable to fully exert my strength."
"…So even then, you were in the same condition you are now?"
"Affirmative."
"Then if you'd held me and flown through the sky in that state the way you did earlier—what would have happened to me?"
Eve closed her eyes for a moment, as if running a simulation, then answered almost at once.
"With a probability exceeding 99.9999%, Master's waist would have been snapped in two and all vital functions permanently terminated."
"Could you not say horrifying things so casually?"
So I'd nearly died in her arms without even knowing it. Remembering the spoon that had turned to powder in her hand, I shuddered.
"Eve. Lower the output ceiling. Right now."
"Please specify the desired limit."
"Just… something that won't wreck everyday life?"
"The answer is excessively abstract and cannot be calibrated. Please provide a concrete example."
Eve had lived her entire life as a test subject since childhood. She'd never experienced anything resembling ordinary daily life, so while she was razor-sharp on combat, the body, and science, her grasp of basic common sense and everyday concepts was seriously lacking.
This wasn't raising a kid, damn it…
"Ugh… Then if I show you what I do from now on, can you figure out roughly how much force I'm using?"
"Affirmative."
I lifted a full twenty-liter garbage bag for her to see.
"Lower your output ceiling to whatever average force it takes to do something like this."
"Analyzing… Based on findings, the output ceiling must be reduced to 0.35% of my strength."
Almost three hundred times weaker. Just how strong was she?
"Do it, then."
"Applying… Application complete."
There was no visible physical change, but Eve's scowl told me she'd successfully lowered the limit on her own. She looked back and forth between her hands and grumbled under her breath.
"Output ceiling of 0.35% has been applied. However, this is extremely inconvenient. I have become far too weak. Too weak to prepare for emergencies. I have become as frail as Master."
"Skip that last part. Anyway, stay at that output from now on. If it's needed, I'll tell you when you can release it. You can reverse it anytime, right?"
"Affirmative. If possible, I request immediate release at this very moment."
"No!"
"Unable to become stronger himself, Master drags others down to his own level. Master is despicable."
"Doesn't matter. If you go around at full power, this whole house is going to collapse."
I coaxed and soothed the grumbling Eve, barely managing to talk her into accepting the need for a strength level that wouldn't demolish our daily life—when my phone buzzed with a message from Eun Seol.
A full day had passed since the incident before she finally reached out. Right before I'd fled, she'd looked pretty rough—but she seemed to have recovered surprisingly fast.
I still hadn't fully healed from the stab wound in my gut.
Once the exchange was done, I quickly applied ointment to my abdomen, wrapped it in bandages, and got dressed.
"Eve, I'm heading out for a bit. I'm bringing someone back with me, so until then, do not leave this place. Stay put and behave. Got it?"
I'd expected her either not to care or to fire up that vicious tongue again and say something like she hoped I never came back…
What Eve actually did was something I never saw coming.
She froze mid-motion, rooted to the spot, staring at me while her pupils trembled like mad. In a shaking voice, she asked:
"Going out… and coming back? You mean to leave me here alone, Master? Am I… am I being locked in a stasis chamber again?"
"Huh?"
"Are you locking me up to experiment on me again? Who is this person you're bringing? A scientist? More scientists? No—I killed all the scientists… You're not… not bringing those people back, are you?"
Eve's breathing turned visibly ragged. Her voice shook, and so did her entire body.
Even a glance told me her PTSD had flared up hard. If I left her like this, she might go berserk the way she had in the old lab—so I scrambled to calm her down.
"Eve. Look at my eyes."
"Hah… hah… I-I don't want scientists… They all have to die… Every last one of those pieces of trash…"
"Eve!"
I grabbed her shoulders and locked eyes with her. She looked back at me.
"I'm not abandoning you, and I'm not bringing a scientist. She's just someone I know. She won't come here to do anything to you, and I'll be back in less than twenty minutes. And look—the door's open right now, isn't it? If I take too long and you start thinking I'm not coming back, just run out that way. I won't chase you. No one is going to experiment on you ever again. Well… I mean, I might give you various orders depending on the situation."
"……"
"And it might be hard right now, but the thing you want—I'll make it happen for you."
"The thing… I want?"
"You want to kill them, right? The ones who ordered those experiments on you. A lot of them are still alive. You want them all dead, don't you? Every single one."
She nodded furiously.
"Wait here quietly. Don't do anything, and as a reward, I'll help you get your wish. A lot. Understood?"
Eve stared into my eyes for a long moment. Then she murmured:
"Pupil movement… heart rate and respiration… Scan results indicate highly stable condition… Confirmed that Master is not lying…"
"I was trying to look cool for a second, and you're scanning me again."
"Having confirmed the absence of falsehood, I shall wait here. Weak, incompetent Master who is skilled only with words."
"That tongue of hers can't go five seconds without…"
Having finally calmed Eve down, I headed for the edge of the slums to meet Eun Seol.
It was still daytime, but the slums were roofed over with steel plates and half the streetlights were broken, so the place was as gloomy as night. I cut through the reeking streets that reeked of dystopia, and as I stepped outside, blinding sunlight hit me along with the ordinary scenery of the outside world.
Nearby, a gorgeous woman with long black hair and a figure that didn't quit was waiting with a sour look on her face.
I waved as I approached, but she didn't return the greeting. She just stood there with her arms folded, staring at me.
"You could at least say hello."
"I don't have time. This isn't a conversation for outside. Just take me to your place already."
"In a hurry, I see. Then first, this. The inside of that place is… not exactly pleasant."
I held out a mask. Eun Seol narrowed her eyes at me for a second.
"I don't need something like this. I can protect myself just fine."
"You're pretty, Ms. Eun Seol. Walk into a dump like this looking like that and people will either pick fights with you or hit on you nonstop. Neither of us wants the hassle, so just put it on while I'm offering."
"…!"
Hearing the compliment tossed out so casually threw her. Her face flashed with flustered surprise before she snatched the mask and yanked it over her face.
We made straight for my house. I managed to get back before the time I'd promised Eve without any incidents—however…
"Why is there no door here? Every other room had one."
"Ah. There's a very unfortunate story behind that…"
"Master!"
The moment she heard my voice, Eve burst out of the room calling for me.
"Hah… hah… I… I waited for Master like a good girl… E-even though it was so hard to endure… I-I held it in… hah…"
Left alone, her PTSD had clearly put her through hell. Eve was drenched in cold sweat and gasping for breath.
"P-please make me feel better already…"
But Eun Seol, having apparently taken Eve's words in an entirely different direction, turned a look of pure disgust on me.
"You… you piece of trash…"
The misunderstanding between me and Eun Seol deepened another notch.