Ch.7575. Physical Examination

“Karma, huh…”

“Eli, hah… That’s just how it works. Karma accumulates no matter who you are. Whether it’s me fighting on the front lines or those children.”

“Do you really think that makes sense? What karma could we possibly have…”

“How many buildings do you think Blanc and I destroyed while fighting? And how many people’s lives were tied to those buildings? Have you ever thought about that?”

“That’s…”

“Yeah, well. If we had succeeded, we could have restored everything in less than a day. But we failed, didn’t we?”

“Bine.”

“Well… Besides that, we weren’t exactly gentle in pursuing our ideals. Just a little bit.”

“Even so, for you to… like that…”

“It’s all karma. The pain I inflicted has simply returned to me. And compared to the suffering they endured, I…”

Eli couldn’t continue after hearing my words.

Her inability to speak was…

Well, at least I’ve avoided the arrows of blame that were aimed at me…

“Anyway. Eli seems to have calmed down a bit. Let’s all calm down, shall we? It’s not like Blanc wanted to do that. It’s my fault for being inadequate.”

“Hah… Still, your situation and Yunseul’s crime are completely different. How could she do this to such a young Bine…”

“I’m not young. I’m an adult, actually.”

“No, hah… Yunseul.”

“Uh, yes…?”

“For now, suspended sentence. Guilty as charged. Yuri, you agree, right?”

“Yeah. Well… that much is… let’s put it on hold for now…”

“Hah… let’s eat.”

“Oh, you haven’t finished eating…?”

“Because of your story.”

“Ah, well. When you’re done, just leave everything here and I’ll clean up. Then I’ll…”

“It’s rude to leave first, isn’t it? And today is a day you can rest, Bine.”

“What?”

“Consider it a holiday. I’ve already talked it over with Yunseul, Yuri, and Eli.”

…?

A holiday?

For me?

No, what is this…

“Why suddenly a holiday…?”

“You woke up late today. Isn’t that because you’re tired?”

“I’m not tired.”

Blanc interrupted Crybaby’s words.

“Oh right. I asked you earlier. When was the last time you had a good night’s sleep?”

“And I told you. It was that night when I slept with you at the hotel, wasn’t it?”

“That’s, uh, umm… anyway, that wasn’t recent.”

“It feels quite recent to me… Well, people perceive time differently.”

“So it was a long time ago. You’re saying you haven’t had a proper sleep since coming here. Am I wrong?”

“Well… that’s not true. I’ve been taking adequate rest so as not to burden everyone…”

“But you overslept today.”

“…that’s.”

“Am I wrong? You’re not going to deny that you overslept, are you?”

“Ugh… Are you fighting with the ugly truth here? Persistently clinging to emotions, honestly inciting…”

“What are you talking about? Whatever the case, take a good rest today.”

“I can’t… I still have work to do.”

“It’s fine. Rest today. And while you’re at it, have Eli check your physical condition.”

“Ah, Eli brought equipment that can scan magic power levels, right?”

“Yes. Wouldn’t it help both you and us to check your current condition?”

“But the work…”

“I said rest. Seriously, are you addicted to work or something?”

I didn’t expect her to be this forceful.

I thought she’d give in after a few exchanges.

Telling me not to work means no pay for today.

Which means I can’t repay my debt for one day.

Hmm, I don’t like that.

“…If I don’t work, I can’t pay my compensation.”

“Ah. So that was the issue? I thought you were so addicted to work that you’d break out in thorns if you didn’t work for even a day.”

“Who in the world is like that? Even aberrants aren’t that extreme.”

“It’s paid leave. If you keep working like this, I might get reported to the Department of Labor. As a cruel boss who doesn’t provide vacations.”

“As if a villain like me would have the power to do that…”

“Besides, Eli is here. Why won’t you consider resting? You’ve been getting up early and taking care of Yuri until late at night every day since Eli arrived. Your body will deteriorate. You’re already small and fragile.”

“I’m not fragile. But… since you insist so strongly as my employer, I have no choice. I’ll think about it more.”

“Don’t just think about it, do it. Okay? Rest today. Thoroughly. Don’t do anything. Got it?”

“Yes…”

“Oh right. Eli, you monitor whether Bine is working. If she tries to work, stop her no matter what. Understand?”

“I was planning to do that even without you telling me.”

These people seem to be serious about this.

Even Eli won’t take my side.

This is quite shocking.

“That’s going too far…”

“Bine, come to my room right after eating. I need to measure your magic power.”

“I’ve already finished eating.”

“Then let’s go up now. Is it okay if I take Bine?”

Eli naturally grabbed my wrist and led me to her room while addressing everyone.

Since everyone seemed to agree with Eli, I was dragged away without receiving help from anyone.

“Ah, no… I need to clean up and…”

“We already settled that, didn’t we? Just come along obediently.”

“No, still…”

“Just because I call them kids doesn’t mean they’re actually children. They’re in their twenties. The actual kids have already gone to school.”

“Ugh… fine.”

And so I arrived at Eli’s room, practically being dragged there.

The room looked different in broad daylight compared to when I saw it at night.

Even for an aberrant with good night vision, there’s more visual information during the day.

In that respect, I could tell that Eli had already perfectly transformed this room into her fortress.

Almost like in Eden.

“You did all this in one day?”

“I did it all while you were sleeping. Lie down here.”

Eli laid me down on her bed and brought various devices from the closet.

“I need to examine you, take off your clothes quickly.”

As Eli tried to undress me, I stopped her saying I would do it myself…

I understand that I need to undress for the examination, but approaching me with such lecherous gestures would startle anyone…

“Eli, you’ve changed…”

“I’ve always been like this?”

“No, perhaps ‘becoming more lecherous’ would be more accurate? I don’t think you were this bad when we met after a long time…”

“No? I’ve always been like this.”

Avoiding her lecherous hands, I took off the dress I was wearing and tossed it aside.

Ah, there’s pizza on it.

Pizza stains are hard to remove.

“Let’s start with auscultation. Breathe in. Good. Now breathe out.”

“Phew… Do we really need auscultation?”

“In Eden, the doctor could put you in a big machine and do everything at once, but we don’t have such machines here.”

“Still, auscultation… You don’t need it to measure mana in the first place.”

“Think of it as a health checkup while also measuring mana. I know aberrant bodies better than the Association does.”

“No… this is annoying…”

“Your body is precious to me too, you know? Please don’t treat it carelessly.”

“No, but it’s my body…”

“Be quiet. Give me your arm.”

Eli, seemingly intent on conducting a real health checkup, brought out a blood pressure monitor and various strange devices one by one to measure and record.

It’s my body, why is she making such a fuss?

Both Eli and Blanc. The other magical girls too.

“I’ll bring a scale, wait here.”

“Why weight? I don’t want that…”

“Why, are you embarrassed? It’s information I already know anyway. We need to check how it differs from when you were in Eden.”

“No, how could my weight change in this body? I mean…”

“Just lie down and rest.”

Eli doesn’t seem to have any intention of listening to me.

Hmm… weight…

This kind of thing bothers me.

Besides, Eli… she must have brought my data.

Ah, she’s back.

“Step on here. Why that expression? This is all for your health, you know?”

“And the lecherous intentions?”

“There’s no such thing. Come on.”

“Hmm… Eli has become lecherous.”

“I told you I haven’t. That’s right. 29.4kg… Sigh. You’ve lost a lot of weight from before.”

“Before?”

“You usually weighed between 33 and 34. But this… this is a bit miserable.”

“Is it that bad…?”

“No, a 1-2kg difference in the 30kg range is significant, but you… Plus, you’re an aberrant. For your body to lose weight, you’d have to be more malnourished than you think…”

“No, I shouldn’t have lost weight…?”

“If you’re going to blame the scale, save it. This scale has already been verified as accurate by the kids downstairs.”

“I don’t know how this happened, but I’m healthy. Weight can decrease temporarily, right?”

“No, it can’t. Weight loss for an aberrant is more serious than you think. It means your magical energy conversion efficiency has decreased.”

“I don’t decrease that much. Weight reduction varies greatly between individuals. As long as homeostasis is maintained, efficiency always remains constant.”

“That’s something we need to verify. That’s the general case, right? So, lie down again.”

With hands that were gentler than her forceful actions suggested, she made me lie down and attached a small device to my chest.

Since the device is close to my heart, I let a little circulating magical power flow into it.

Then it will circulate through the device on its own.

“By the way, isn’t this a real-time monitoring device?”

“Yes, why?”

“Am I supposed to wear this all day?”

“If you support it with underwear, it’s not that uncomfortable.”

“No, why would I…”

“Be quiet. We’re waiting for the test results.”

“But it shows results in real-time?”

“It needs to be calibrated to your body at the beginning.”

After a while, Eli finished the calibration and began measuring.

“Your old output… compared to now… Oh.”

“Not much difference, right?”

Eli just looked at her computer with urgency, revealing a dark expression.

“Wait here a moment.”

With those words, Eli left the room.

In the quiet room, I could hear Eli calling for Blanc from outside.