## Chapter 186 – Crumbs (4)
Using the water in the bathtub as a medium, I began to channel my blue power.
Immediately, vibrant green grass sprouted on the thin surface of the water, filling the tub.
“Good enough, I guess.”
This house didn’t even have basic appliances, let alone a bed, sofa, or even a small mat.
I had no choice but to create a bed of nature to replace a proper one… but it’s not bad.
It reminded me of the grass bed I briefly rested on when I first met Iria, so I made one.
The water underneath acts like springs, making it surprisingly comfortable.
A fragrant mattress made of grass and water, filling the massive bathtub.
I laid Min-jung on it, who was sweating and groaning in discomfort.
“…No, please… stop… someone, help me…”
Her muttering was so vivid, it was hard to tell if she was asleep or awake.
It must be the effect of reliving the memory of being stripped of everything as a human and being remodeled into a simple doll.
The memory I revived in Min-jung must be her last memory as a human.
I wonder what she’ll say first when she opens her eyes and sees me again?
Will it be a thank you for saving her? Or hostility towards her past enemy?
…But now that my ‘mark’ is on her, none of that matters.
“……”
I gulped down the water that Min-jung, as a doll, had bought, then slowly approached her.
Min-jung was still unconscious, twisting her body with a pale face.
I fixed her broken brain, but it seems the vaguely severed memories left a small flaw.
Normally, I would have waited for her to wake up naturally, but I can’t wait any longer.
“…Hey, wake up.”
“…Ugh?! Urp…! Guek…!! Haa, haa… Wh-where am I…?”
The moment the red mark on her lower abdomen sparkled in response to my command,
Min-jung jolted up as if thrown out, retching and trying to expel a disgusting breath.
Her chest heaved with her disordered breathing, but she seemed to regain some composure.
Finally, with slow movements, she looked around and I cleared my throat to get her attention.
“Are you awake? Do you know where you are?”
“…Y-you are… No, before that, I clearly…! What about Senior… What happened to Dr. Jung Ah-woon…?”
“It seems you know who I am, and judging by your reaction, you know what was done to you.
But is that Jung Ah-woon guy your priority? He’s the one who turned you into that.”
“…Answer my question first…”
Min-jung couldn’t get up because of the wet floor and her weak legs, so she cautiously guarded herself against me.
She was no longer the doll who would do anything I commanded with a bland tone.
I didn’t know much about her, but she seemed to know about me, yet she had such a confident look in her eyes.
I could tell that her secretary mode wasn’t artificially created.
She must have been incredibly efficient since she was human.
Well, you’d need that kind of guts to work among those lunatics.
“…Since you don’t seem to want to answer, I’ll change the question.
…What exactly happened to me…? I clearly felt a burning pain in my head…
The sensation of losing ‘myself’ rose to my throat… How…”
“I’m not sure? How you became such a ‘doll’…”
“…Ugh…”
I glanced at Min-jung’s face as she flinched at my words, her expression briefly distorted.
She was putting on a strong front, but she seemed to be fully aware of the situation she was in.
The terrifying feeling of having her mind forcibly rummaged through, the sense of loss from losing herself.
It was easy to empathize because I had seen other girls feel the same way.
“…Anyway, I’m the one who saved you. I fixed what was in your head.”
“What? ‘Fixed’? I was clearly parasitized by a flower petal…
Even Dr. Jung Ah-woon couldn’t remove it from the host.
A male individual… Im Chan-woo, the man Jung Ah-woon was looking for. Just what are you?”
“I thought you’d thank me first, but the people from that lab are always rude.
I’m not as special as you think. I’m just a loner NEET.”
“…I appreciate you saving me, but honestly, you must have an ulterior motive for saving me, right?
I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I can’t give heartfelt thanks to someone with that look on their face.”
Min-jung continued to be wary of me, carefully getting up from the bathtub she was lying in.
She slowly walked out of the bathroom. What kind of expression was I making to make her say that…
“But where are you going?”
“…Do I have to tell you?”
I stopped Min-jung as she wrung out the water from her wet clothes and nonchalantly walked past me.
She seemed to be trying to break the atmosphere and leave, but she seemed so simple despite her guardedness.
“Did you think I’d just say, ‘Okay, be careful going home’?”
“I don’t have anything you want.”
“…Haa.”
This rebellious attitude… I wanted to have a normal conversation if possible.
It wouldn’t be easy to talk to someone who stubbornly rejected and guarded themselves against me like this.
Then I have no choice.
“…‘Go back and sit down.’”
“…Huh…? Ah, yes, I understand. Why…?”
The mark sparkled again at my command. Min-jung, who had been staggering slightly, answered calmly.
She turned around and sat back on the bathtub, questioning her own actions.
‘I was clearly trying to leave, but why did I listen to that man?’ That was the look on her face.
The mark was still small, so I could only give requests like commands without coercion.
But the power of the mark to twist the perception of even the marked person was amazing.
“Now, ‘forget about that and tell me where you were going.’”
“Ah, yes. I thought that the reason I was used as a test subject wasn’t just Dr. Jung Ah-woon’s decision,
but the influence of a senior member of the main research group. So I was going to ensure my family’s safety first…”
Min-jung, who had been putting up a wall, saying she had no obligation to tell me her story,
was now spitting out information as if she was having a casual conversation.
The red mark seemed to be the best for extracting people’s inner thoughts and information.
“So I’m no longer affiliated with the research group, and I can’t give you the information you want.
It’s true that I was hostile to you, but now I don’t need to fight you.”
“So you’re saying you’re going to hide so that you don’t get noticed by the research group?”
“I have to. I’m just a simple test subject to that group now…
The research group doesn’t leave test subjects alive who have escaped their control.”
Min-jung gave a bitter smile and awkwardly touched her hair.
The mark on her lower abdomen sparkled and seemed to be growing little by little.
…Now that it’s come to this, should I go big?
“Is that really the best thing to do? I feel bad saying this to you, who used to be an employee there,
but aren’t those research groups crazy? They manipulate information and control the media.
It doesn’t seem like an ordinary group to me… You probably know better than anyone.”
“……”
“Can you really protect your family alone, as a woman, without any help?
It looks difficult for you to protect yourself.”
“…What do you want to say?”
I baited her properly.
“I’ll hire you. I want to get rid of that research group that’s getting in my way.
You help me, and I’ll protect you and your family. How about it?”
“That’s… not a bad offer.”
Min-jung rested her chin on her hand and pondered for a moment, then nodded after calculating.
She had to fend off attacks from a huge organization alone. While protecting her family.
But she couldn’t keep running away with her family, not knowing when it would end.
‘It might be possible to eliminate the threat in advance by attacking them.
If I borrow the power of the male individual that the research group is wary of…’
I used my green power to read Min-jung’s thoughts and feelings towards me.
She was a filial daughter who really cared about her family. Her mother and father must be proud of her.
But as far as I knew, she had been a doll for almost three months.
Had the research group and Jung Ah-woon been sitting still during that long time?
Jung Ah-woon, who didn’t want to leave any loose ends, had even disposed of the furniture in his cleanup.
Even if I hadn’t confirmed it myself, there was a high possibility that her family was no longer in this world.
I could easily deduce this, so there was no way Min-jung hadn’t thought that far.
She must be anxious now. And the worst-case scenario had already come to her mind,
but she couldn’t bring herself to apply it to reality. It felt like she would collapse the moment she did.
“Okay, then I’d like you to do one thing for me immediately.”
“…Yes, okay. What do you want me to do?”
“Lie down there, spread your legs, and show me your panties.”
“……Ah, yes. Would this work?”
The red mark glowed, and Min-jung’s perception was twisted.
She was doing something she would never normally do, spreading her legs in an M-shape in front of a man she had just met,
showing me her white panties wrapped in black stockings. To her, this was ‘work.’
“…But what is this for? I feel a little embarrassed for some reason…”
“Oh, don’t worry. You’ll get used to it soon.”
“…? Okay.”
Anyway, once it’s all over, she won’t care about family anymore.
A life where she doesn’t think about anything and just handles the ‘work’ I give her.
That was the punishment and reward I was giving her.
