Chapter 211
In the past, I was a boy. Well, is there any man in the world who wasn't once a boy?
I wonder what Hemillas and Kinuan thought when they looked at me back then.
To them, I must have seemed like someone with potential but still insignificant. A feeble existence that could be trampled underfoot at any time.
I am no longer a boy. At the very least, my growth phase is over—both physically and mentally... I should be an adult now.
I don’t really know what it means to be an adult.
But one thing is certain.
I had no desire to trample on a child who showed potential. If anything, I felt the urge to teach, even without a particular reason.
Perhaps Hemillas and Kinuan had a similar feeling, however faint, when they dealt with me.
"Don't act like you're Boyan's guardian when you barely even know him."
Yanaka forced herself to muster hostility even after witnessing the bullet-blocking technique.
Seeing her shallow bravado made me chuckle.
I recalled my own boyhood.
If I had been a boy, I would have bared fierce hostility toward Yanaka. Back then, I wasn’t just sharp—I was a madman who stabbed anything in sight.
"Are you Boyan's girlfriend or something? You have quite the peculiar taste."
"It's not like that. Boyan is under my protection."
"Then take him away. I'll warn you in advance... if you come at me thinking I won't kill you, you'll be on a fast track to the afterlife. I'm a lot more ruthless than you think."
I narrowed my eyes slightly and pulled out the murderous intent from within me.
I am a skilled killer. I can take a life without hesitation. I have long since crossed the line.
Are you someone who has crossed the line?
I stared at Yanaka. She flinched. She must have felt like a herbivore standing before a predator.
On an instinctual level, her body was refusing to fight me.
"L-Luka, stop! Please, stop! Yanaka is my friend!"
Boyan pleaded desperately. Without even glancing at him, I kept my eyes on Yanaka and spoke.
"Your friend shot at me. I can't just let that slide. At the very least, I need to take an arm or a leg to feel satisfied."
I curled my fingers roughly and strode forward.
Yanaka instinctively took a step back. Her eyes widened in shock, as if startled by her own retreat.
How amusing.
It seemed like she had never encountered someone like me before.
"Someone like me"—a phrase I often used to describe the strong.
At first, she'll flinch in fear. That's just a survival instinct. But if she has the spirit of a warrior, the next step is forward.
A warrior's mindset isn't about being fearless. It's about advancing despite the fear.
Yanaka's every reaction amused me. She had the potential to become elite.
Should I break one of her arms? If it snaps, will she scream and lose her will to fight? Or will she become even more aggressive?
I knew these thoughts were insane. But I was curious.
Even when my body was broken, I had never lost my fighting spirit. If anything, the worse my situation got, the deeper I scraped the bottom of my abilities to fight back.
Can you do the same?
Could you still say you'd fight for Boyan, even with your limbs shattered?
If you could, then one day, you'd become elite.
I was probably smiling right now. A truly wicked grin. Even I had to admit, I was no different from a villain.
"Krrrk!"
I sensed Boyan rushing at me from behind. He latched onto my back, trying to choke me.
"Seriously, what do you think you're doing? You can't even fight properly."
I raised my arm to block his chokehold and then grabbed his face with my hand.
Swish!
In that moment, Yanaka attacked me with a pistol and a knife. A gunshot rang out, and the knife sliced through the air.
These brats are really cracking me up.
Not a single move was threatening. If anything, it was almost endearing.
Crash!
I threw Boyan forward to block Yanaka's line of sight.
And in that brief moment, I reached for her arm, intending to twist it.
Swish!
Yanaka pulled her arm back just before I could grab her. It wasn’t her own decision—her implant circuits were glowing intensely.
Her combat reflex implant had activated.
In specific conditions, subdermal chips send electrical signals directly to the muscles. Since the response bypasses the brain, it's incredibly fast.
But programmed combat reflexes have predictable patterns and occasional malfunctions.
At an elite level, you can read and manipulate an opponent's reflexes to turn them against them. And programmed reflexes? That's amateur stuff.
"Run, Yanaka! Luka is... unbelievably strong! He's a monster!"
Boyan, who had been knocked down, suddenly sprang to his feet and shouted.
"I brought you into my group. That means I’m not just handing you over to some adult."
Yanaka bared her teeth as she spoke.
So, it wasn’t friendship or love—none of those soft emotions.
I raised my eyebrows. That was unexpected.
A sense of responsibility and belonging as the leader of a group.
As someone with a military background, that sentiment resonated with me far more.
I stepped back and adjusted my clothes.
"Relax. The mood's already ruined. If you still want to play around, go ahead, Boyan. It's your life, after all. I'm more of a hands-off type."
Surprisingly, Yanaka was the one who questioned me.
"Are you really allowing Boyan to use those drugs?"
"I've thought it over, and there's no other way. I wanted to get stronger too, so I replaced my limbs with machines and chemically enhanced my nervous system. I’m not in any position to tell others that drugs are dangerous and they shouldn’t use them."
Yanaka seemed to ease up as well. Her shoulders relaxed, and her grip on the knife loosened.
"You're not as rigid as I thought."
"And if you have trauma related to parents or adults, deal with it yourself. Don’t drag innocent kids into it."
The moment I said that, Yanaka shot me a vicious glare. I had touched a nerve.
"If you want to lecture me—"
I raised my hands with a grin.
I had already analyzed her combat reflexes. Her movements were predictable.
Slap!
I stepped forward and smacked her across the face with my palm. At the same time, I grabbed her collar with my other hand and swept her legs out from under her.
Thud!
Blood welled up in her mouth as she staggered, trying to raise her knife.
Ting!
I flicked the knife from her grip with my fingers and tossed it aside.
"I was going to let this slide because I found you amusing, but you must be mistaken about something. You shot at me. And right now, I'm the one holding the power of life and death over everyone here. Whether I lecture you or not is my choice. You don’t have the freedom to decide whether to listen."
"Luka! P-please stop! Yanaka isn't a bad person!"
"Boyan, if you want to stop me, don't appeal to emotions. Negotiate. Make a trade. That applies not just with me, but with anyone."
I spoke coldly.
"I… I… I have nothing to offer you, Luka. But… if you keep hitting Yanaka, I'll hate you. I really will."
I tilted my head and stared at Boyan.
"Hey, kid. Are you seriously trying to threaten me? By saying you’ll hate me?"
"I-I'm not an adult yet. I have nothing. My only weapon is hating my guardian."
I rubbed the back of my neck and lifted my chin.
"...Ridiculous, but fine. I’ll let it slide for now. But let me say this again—if I see any signs of drug overuse, I’ll throw you into a locked ward. Even I would feel guilty toward Regor if you ended up a wreck."
"I’ll keep that in mind."
"I’ll tell Jafa, so make sure you get proper prescriptions from a real doctor. If it’s for enhancement purposes, you don’t just decide the dosage yourself. I know this from experience."
After finishing my advice, I looked down at Yanaka. She was sitting on the ground.
"I lost. Take Boyan with you."
She kept her gaze lowered, looking dejected. At a glance, she seemed on the verge of tears.
"Boyan isn’t anyone’s possession. Whether he follows me or not is his decision."
I gestured toward Boyan with my chin.
"I'll stay with Yanaka for now and return in an hour or two."
Boyan quickly replied. That seemed like a reasonable choice.
I watched as Boyan walked over to Yanaka.
All this time, I had been too focused on chasing Kinuan and had overlooked Boyan. A lot had happened to him, and it seemed Yanaka had helped him in various ways.
I was about to leave but hesitated.
"I'm sorry I haven’t paid enough attention to you, Boyan."
Boyan's eyes widened. His mouth hung open.
"You're suddenly apologizing to me? Luka, you?"
"Is that so shocking?"
"I just never thought you were the type to apologize. If anything, I figured you’d rather kill someone than apologize to them."
I wasn’t that twisted. Just what kind of person had Boyan come to see me as?
"Anyway, forget it. If you run into trouble, come find me. Even if I’m busy and not around, keep trying. At the very least, talk to me before you go off and do something reckless. I won’t stop you from most things, but as your guardian, I need to know what kind of messes you're getting into."
Boyan’s eyes glistened, as if he were deeply moved.
"I was wrong too. If it was anyone else, maybe, but I should’ve told you, Luka. From now on—"
I hate this kind of atmosphere.
"That's enough. I have my limits."
"Ah, uh, right. I guess I got a bit carried away."
"Yeah."
Boyan shut his mouth and nodded firmly.
999
I only heard about Yanaka from Boyan later.
"Yanaka is a special student at our school. Apparently, she's in some kind of military specialization program for pilots."
"A pilot? So she flies airships or something?"
"I don't know the details. Her courses are completely separate from ours, and she doesn’t talk about them either."
Boyan explained about Yanaka with an excited expression.
It seemed Yanaka was well-known in school as a charismatic figure. Her androgynous aura had a certain mystique that likely made her popular among her peers.
"Yanaka said that playing around on the streets at night was just a temporary phase. She plans to stop before she becomes an adult. She also knows a lot about other species—she even understood what kind of struggles I go through."
Boyan was the only Crawler to have entered Border City’s prestigious school, so it made sense that he caught Yanaka’s interest.
"Do you like Yanaka?"
"Huh? Me?"
Boyan reacted with clear discomfort.
"Just asking out of curiosity."
"I know I’m a bit unusual, but... interspecies relationships are kind of hard for me to understand. No matter what anyone says, I prefer Crawler women."
"Hmm. Good to hear."
I crossed my arms and nodded in satisfaction.
Boyan might be the most normal person in my circle.
"Oh, and Jafa introduced me to a hospital. I got my prescription, too."
This was a bit of an awkward topic.
Honestly, I was convinced that Boyan would inevitably fall into drug addiction. I just hoped I was wrong.
Regardless of how well-intentioned it might be, habitual drug use leads to dependence. Willpower alone isn’t enough to control it.
But Crawlers have about half the lifespan of natural humans. If he had a goal, he couldn’t afford to waste time circling around it.
I simply nodded and listened as Boyan talked about his plan. He said he’d quit once he graduated and passed the exams to become a bureaucrat in the Federation.
"Thanks for listening."
Boyan bowed politely and left.
After confirming he was completely out of the room, I prepared to contact Jafa.
Beep.
Just then, Jafa reached out to me first.
- Hoho~ Luka, is Boyan with you right now?
"You waited until he left before calling. No need to act coy."
- Ahem, you're quite sharp. Just being polite. I handled Boyan’s case as you requested. Now, about that girl, Yanaka…
"What about her?"
- There can't be any problems with that girl. She's beyond even my control. I ran a background check, and she's connected to a federal military project. I don't need to explain what that means, do I?
"Hmm. Good thing I didn’t break her arms and legs."
- I'm not joking when I say she's out of my hands.
"I'm not joking either. I seriously almost did. She even pulled a gun on me first."
Silence fell for a moment.
- Luka, you don’t die just because you take a few bullets. Next time, act like an adult and endure it.
Becoming an adult is a damn difficult thing, apparently.