Re:life with Karmic Gacha (Modern Family)-Chapter 363: Dr Frankenstein.

[General POV]

"Why don't I come over? We can have dinner together and watch that Star Wars show you like," Vanessa suggested as she called Edward. Sitting cross-legged on her couch in the French chateau, she tried to persuade him to let her comfort him.

Already drunk, Edward replied lovingly, "You're really sweet, you know that?"

"Aww." Vanessa felt flattered.

" But I'm afraid I'll have to decline. My mind is too high-strung right now, and I need some time to decompress."

Vanessa wanted to say, "So you think you'll be more stressed when I'm with you?" but she kept her mouth shut, knowing Edward was going through a tough time. It wasn't time for her to pick a fight, yet.

"Alright. But I'm coming by tomorrow morning, no matter what," she said decisively.

Edward snorted and chuckled slightly; it was his first genuine laugh of the day. "Okay, I'll wait for you to wake me up in the way I like."

Vanessa blushed slightly, and they disconnected the call. Edward continued drinking and nearly passed out when his intercom suddenly rang.

Yuri, his maid, responded immediately and tried to turn the guest away. "He's not meeting anyone right now."

Leonard insisted, "He just opened up all of my traumas for the world to see. He owes me a face-to-face meeting at least."

Before Yuri could reply, Edward interjected, taking control of the intercom from his living room panels.

He pressed the button and said, "Your mother sold your traumas for $29.99 for 15 years, yet you never said anything to her. I did it once and I'm the villain. Come on in, Leonard."

Edward opened the gate remotely, and Leonard drove up the hill. After parking his car, he paused for a moment, immersed in the beauty of the mansion. When Yuri opened the main door, he was overwhelmed by her beauty.

The manic energy he had dissipated, and he began to wonder where he had found the courage to storm Edward's house for a word with him.

As soon as Edward came into view, Leonard shrank back even more. Standing tall at 6'4", Edward looked down at the top of Leonard's head, which barely reached 5'5". It intimated Leonard even more.

"Um, I have something to talk to you about," Leonard stammered, fiddling with his fingers and unable to meet Edward's eyes.

Edward sighed. "Leonard, I just did something atrocious. You can get mad at me." Though drunk, he still understood why Leonard was there.

Leonard nervously replied, "Y-you c-could've at least warned me! I've worked so hard my—MY entire life to move past my childhood, even without that damned book. I even moved all the way to C-California for a fresh start! But instead of locally induced trauma, you made it so the entire country—maybe even the world—now knows that I wet my bed until I graduated high school!"

He took a deep breath and continued, "I had to turn off my phone because I kept getting calls from people I don't know—radio shows, even freaking ELLEN—all wanting to get my side of the story! I—I don't know what the hell I should do right now!"

"You should definitely go on Ellen—go get that bag. I know your mother will never share the profits from her book with you."

"So you want me to turn my trauma into a cash-making machine?!" Leonard asked, disbelief etched on his face.

Edward smirked. "Why not? People do it all the time online. They post about their traumas, find others who relate, gain hundreds of thousands of followers, and then start selling online courses or monetizing their content."

"W-What?!" Leonard was incredulous. The way Edward explained it made him feel like he was the weird one for having issues with this.

"That's not the point! The point is you have really hurt me!" Leonard pressed on.

Edward was slightly stunned, his smile fading. "You know what? You're right. I really crossed a line there. I'm truly sorry."

Leonard calmed a bit. "I—I understand you're going through something yourself, so I forgive you."

"No—no, we're not just going to let this go with a simple apology. I was so enraged that I didn't think about how this would affect you. I'm deeply sorry about that."

Leonard became slightly choked up. "Now that you've apologized, I don't know what to do next. I feel like going away for a while until everything calms down."

Edward's eyes lit up with a drunken idea that he would soon regret.

He suddenly grabbed Leonard's shoulders, startling the experimental physicist.

"Wh-What are you doing?"

"Leonard, listen to me very carefully. I have an idea. You and I, we're each other's parallel."

"Huh?" Leonard looked confused.

"I could've ended up just like you—a sniveling coward with low self-confidence and no self-esteem."

"YOU HAD JUST APOLOGIZED!" Leonard was startled.

"The point is, I could've ended up like you. But I didn't. You know why? It's because I died once."

Leonard's fear grew. "E-Eddy... Just to let you know, I have Sheldon waiting for me back at the apartment. He knows where I—I went."

Edward grinned evilly, making Leonard shudder. Edward let Leonard go, lightly brushing off the spot where he had grabbed him. "I'm not going to murder you, Leonard."

Leonard still couldn't rest easy and took a few steps back from Edward.

Edward poured a drink for Leonard and said, "If we're parallel to each other, it's not fair that I'm the only one who could change my life. What if I told you that you could get rid of all your insecurities—height, dick size, your various allergies and ailments?"

"This—this sounds like cult dogma. So I'm going to go home now." Leonard was resolute. He turned to leave, turning on his phone to contact someone, but Yuri appeared out of nowhere, grabbing his phone and twisting his hand so he couldn't escape.

"Ow—OWWW! What—Edward! Think this through! I accept your apology! In fact—In fact, you didn't even have to apologize to me! Just let—let me go!"

"Bring him to my lab. Oh, my real lab," Edward told Yuri.

"L-lab? What are you going to do to me?!" Leonard asked, fear creeping into his voice.

Edward chuckled slightly. "Well, I almost grew up to be you. But I broke free. So I'm going to give you the gifts that I have received, turning you... into me."

"WHAT?!" Leonard was dumbfounded. He found himself being dragged by Yuri and couldn't break free from the seemingly frail woman. They all stood in front of the lion statue by the fireplace.

Yuri asked Edward worriedly, "Are you sure you want to reveal your lab to him, sir? This is crossing the line, even for me."

"Yes! Edward! Listen to her!" Leonard regained some hope, but Edward crushed it instantly. "Don't worry. The only thing he'll remember is coming here, hearing my apology, and accepting my offer to send him overseas. Where do you want to go, Leonard? Lake Como, Sicily, Venice—"

"I'm not going to go anywhere! I still have a job to do!"

"You'll apply for a sabbatical. Maybe take a few months off. Maybe a year if you feel like it. I'll give you five million dollars; you'll stay with pretty models and actresses, live the rich man's life with no responsibility or concern, and come back when your mindset changes a little."

"I'd rather die—Wait, what—" Leonard suddenly lost his resistance upon hearing Edward's plans for him.

The fireplace retracted into itself and slid to the left, revealing an elevator behind it. They all stepped into the elevator and descended deep underground.

As soon as they arrived at the fourth basement floor, Leonard's eyes widened at the sight within the lab. Yuri let him go, and instead of fear, he geeked out.

"Damn! That looks exactly like the Vita Ray Chambers from the Captain America movie! I thought this was your lab! You're just messing with me, aren't you?"

He beamed when he saw the Terminator robot, the hovercraft from Back to the Future, the Rejuvenation Chamber from Demolition Man, NZT 48-57 on a shelf, and much more nerd technology, even a life size model spaceship inside the lab.

"Yeah—yeah, let's go with that. Hmm, what should I use? The Super Soldier Serum still has some side effects. Rejuvenation chambers could work, but I have to make some tweaks." Edward grabbed a large syringe, making Leonard fearful again.

Edward suddenly turned to Leonard and said, "Hey, are you still dating Priya?"

"Huh– Yea– Yeah. I'm still dating her. We're on a long distance relationship–"

"She's cheating on you, like the second day she's back in India. She slept with her ex-boyfriend, Ranjit." Edward exposed Rajesh's sister.

Leonard widened his eyes in shock, "Wh– What are you saying– Ho– How did you even know about this!" He shot a glare at Edward, accusing him of messing around.

Edward took out his phone and opened up his snapchat, "This is what Ranjit posted on his snaps." He showed the clip to Leonard, in which he could see his girlfriend getting backshots from her ex. She was even filming it for him.

Leonard's mind blanked out. He couldn't believe this day was real. "Don't blame yourself. She's always a cheater. She cheated on her ex with you when she came to the US."

"I– I don't believe she would do something like that. How– How do you even follow her ex anyway."

Edward ignored his questions and said, ""So, tell me, Leonard. If there's a way you can actually change your physical attributes to be instantly attractive to women, will you not take it?"

Leonard thought about it and said, "I will take it. Definitely. Without any hesitation."

"Strip him and throw him into the chamber," Edward ordered Yuri immediately.

"S-strip—" Before Leonard could even feel excitement—a little from his dream coming to life, and more from the thought of a beautiful woman stripping him—it was cut short as Yuri slashed at him multiple times, leaving him in his birthday suit when she was done.

"AHH!" Leonard yelled, but Yuri was merciless. She threw him into the genetic solution and closed the lid to the transparent dome.

"Edward! Think this through!" Leonard shouted, begging for mercy. But Edward ignored him, saying, "Sorry, Leonard. I wanted to put you down, but the machine needs you to be conscious. You will feel a shocking amount of pain—just grit your teeth through it. You'll love it when you come out on the other side."

"You mean when I'm dead! Edward! EDWARD!!!!!" Leonard shouted again, thinking about what Edward said before, but Edward had already turned the lever to start up the machine.

"AHHHHHH!" Leonard yelled, feeling as if his entire body were being torn apart. It lasted about five minutes before he became dazed and silent.

Edward clicked his tongue. "He can't even get past the scans. But I guess he's lucky."

"Sir, I beseech you to think about this clearly," Yuri urged, bowing slightly, hoping to bring Edward to his senses.

"Yuri, my mind is pretty clear. He needed this. A rebirth. Like he said before, I owe it to him. Besides, this will discredit his mother even more. The public will think that the support he got online actually made him grow taller."

He smirked and added, "Psychologists will think he was repressing his own genetics due to parental pressure, and only released himself from the chains when everything was out in the open. They'll see him as a psychological wonder. His mother's life will be ruined when that happens. She can't even defend herself then."

"So you'll waste tens of millions of dollars just to ruin someone's life?" Yuri asked. frёewebηovel.cѳm

"Absolutely," Edward replied before laughing maniacally. "Muahahaha! MUAHAHAHAHA!"

Sparks flew as the machine went to work. Yuri disguised herself as Leonard and sneaked into his apartment to get his passport. Sheldon almost caught her, but she was skilled at slipping away.

In Sage's house, the old lady sighed as she witnessed everything Edward was doing.

"Well, he's not killing anyone, so I guess it's fine." She yawned and went back to sleep.

Gong Shin walked into her room out of nowhere and smacked her on the head, saying, "Do your freaking job, you lazy ass."

"Tomorrow. I'll talk to him tomorrow," Sage grunted as she pulled her blankets over her face.

Inside the lab, Edward wore goggles as he injected his chakra into Leonard's body. He almost injected NZT 52 into Leonard's brain, but thankfully he managed to regain his sanity and mumbled, "Wait. I should delete his memory first. Otherwise, he'll remember this night forever."

By the time he left the lab, Leonard had already grown to 5'8", and his asthma was gone. Initially lactose intolerant, his body began to change. His sinuses cleared up, his myopia was fixed, his deviated septum corrected itself, and his allergies vanished, among other improvements.

Time left before his genes settled: 16 hours.

[Edward POV]

The next morning, I was sleeping in my bed when I suddenly felt someone crawling on top of me. Then, I sensed a wet, warm sensation in my lower half.

Immediately opening my eyes, I pulled back the blanket and saw my girlfriend hiding beneath it, her body laid over mine. She locked eyes with me before grinning.

"Good morning," she greeted me. "I'm waking you up in the way that you like," she added.

"Nice—what time is it?" I asked casually.

"It's almost 2 in the afternoon," Vanessa replied before doing what I liked. "Yuri said you slept at 10, so I didn't want to wake you earlier. But I have a schedule at 3, so I had to."

"Ah. Thank God you did." I smirked at Vanessa. But before she could do anything else, Yuri entered the room, urgency in her tone. "Sir, multiple people are coming to the house searching for Dr. Leonard Hofstadter."

"Why are they looking for Leonard here—" Before I could finish, the memories of last night flooded my mind. I widened my eyes as I remembered what I had done.

"Oh, fuck," I yelled.

"I haven't done it yet!" Vanessa grunted, thinking I was reacting to her.

"I'll take a rain check for this. We'll do it later; I have something important to do." I said to Vanessa as I opened the blanket, revealing her figure to Yuri. Vanessa blushed a bit, but she reacted normally this time.

After getting caught a few times, she didn't mind Yuri's presence during our intimate moments anymore.

Sheldon, Amy, Bernadette, Howard, and Rajesh arrived, searching for Leonard. They were genuinely worried about him. Leonard had turned off his phone yesterday and hadn't returned to the apartment last night. He also didn't go to work today.

"He left after I apologized to him. I suggested he stay under the radar, maybe go on a vacation to another country. Maybe that's what he's doing," I told the group.

It took some time to convince them. Sheldon was especially enraged, believing I was the reason his best friend went missing—which, to be fair, he wasn't wrong about.

"I have compensated him greatly for his mental distress," I said.

Bernadette interjected, "Really? You've compensated him? With what?" She didn't think I was in the wrong here, and that wasn't just because I was her boss.

"I gave him five million dollars," I said, shocking the group.

"Five MILLION DOLLARS in his account, just because you told everyone he wet the bed until he was 18?" Howard was in disbelief, laughing slightly. "I mean, I—I would definitely be okay with it if I had five million dollars in my hands. The search is over; Leonard is definitely out there partying."

"Go back—we still don't know where he is!" Sheldon rebuked Howard, who wanted to head home.

They all requested a half-day to search for Leonard, and Howard wanted to use the time to catch up with his wife, especially since he had just returned from space four days ago.

"What am I going to do with Leonard gone? How am I supposed to get to work now? Do I get a new roommate? What about The Amazing Spider-Man premiere? Will he return for us to watch the movie together?" Sheldon spiraled as he lamented the loss of his best friend.

I felt bad for him, but there were still four more hours before Leonard could emerge from the genetic solution.

After talking with them for a while, I sent everyone home. Rajesh had improved his confidence with women after getting his heart broken by Sal two years ago. They dated for eight months, and he almost proposed to her before she broke up with him.

Surprisingly, Sal never cheated on Rajesh during their relationship. They had a genuine connection at first, sharing the same interests. Raj was like the perfect guy Sal wanted to date if he weren't gay, and she changed him significantly.

From the way he dressed to his hairstyle, Rajesh was definitely the most good-looking guy in the group right now—at least until Leonard finished his rebirth. He stopped straightening his hair, even got rid of his sideburns, opting for a beard instead.

Raj pampered Sal a lot, and she loved it. He bought her a car with his parents' money, even paid her rent, and showered her with jewelry.

Even after his parents cut him off, Sal stayed with him, supporting him financially at times when he needed it. Sal may not look it, but she came from a wealthy family too, which is how she could help him.

When Rajesh's parents heard about her support, they even accepted her. I still wasn't clear on why they broke up in the first place. Maybe Sal felt she couldn't be tied down, or perhaps there was another reason.

I wished I could investigate, but my mind was already preoccupied with another matter. After sending Vanessa away, I returned to the lab and stared at the naked Leonard floating inside the transparent circular dome, wondering what I had done.

Seconds felt like minutes as I waited for him to finish his transformation. The chamber opened automatically after three hours, and Leonard jumped out of the liquid with a manic yell, "AHHH!"

His sanity seemed gone as he lunged at me, wanting to punch me in the face.

"Calm down, Leonard!" I grabbed his fist, and he couldn't move an inch, as if his hand were enclosed in a metal block.

"What—You tortured me!" Leonard yelled, tears in his eyes.

"There's a mirror next to you. Turn right," I told him.

"Huh?" He followed my words instinctively and was stunned when he saw his transformation.

Six feet tall, jacked, and quite handsome—Leonard relaxed his fist, and I let his hand go. He approached the mirror and said, "This—this is me? Edward! This technology is revolutionary!"

Before he could start a lecture about using it for the benefit of mankind, I activated my Sharingan and put him to sleep.

"Hmm, he'll see his reflection as his previous self for now. He'll notice the changes gradually over the next three months." I deleted his memory of the transformation and implanted false memories of traveling to Lake Como last night.

He would think he was in a fugue state when he arrived there. Yuri had arranged for a Quinjet to come, and he would arrive in Lake Como in three hours.

"There's also this." I hold the NZT 52 in my hand, the one which I almost injected into his brain last night.

It was the no-side-effect NZT, and it would also improve his brain permanently. (From Limitless)

"This will only work for a month. I wonder how Leonard will change once this is injected into him." I mused myself before I stabbed the needle through his eye and into his brain.

Then, I sent him away. I didn't know yet the effect of giving NZT to Leonard. The drug works better when the subjects are smart. Without his insecurities and access to everything he ever learned before, I wonder if Leonard would turn out like Bradley Cooper when he was in Italy.

One thing I know for sure, Penny would definitely regret breaking up with him now.