I'm the Only One With a Different Genre - Chapter 190

Chapter 190
A Meaningful Death

***

When the sudden change startled her and made her eyes widen, the white hair and golden eyes vanished like a mirage, leaving no trace behind.

The confusion quickly faded into a hazy state of mind. It felt as though her body was submerged in warm water, her limbs growing heavy and her eyelids drooping. She felt a dizzying serenity, as if the warm hands of a god were cradling her.

‘Is this what humans call heaven?’

As that thought sprouted in the Demon King’s mind, Lian gently brushed her hair over her shoulder. The Demon King’s gaze slid toward Lian.

Lian, now calm, looked into the Demon King’s serene, glittering eyes and thought.

‘It’s the hero’s job to save the world.’

In a gag world, everyone has a ‘role’ to play. The people living in the gag world unconsciously perform their roles, but Lian, who had come from another world, could clearly see what each person’s role was.

Just like how a mad scientist remains a mad scientist even after 10 years, in the gag world, people rarely escape their assigned roles.

Having lived in such a world for a long time, it was natural for Lian to think that saving the world, or rescuing someone in an innocent predicament, was the hero’s duty.

He had always believed that only a hero could save someone like Elensia, who was forced to live as the Demon King, and only a hero could handle such a grand narrative.

But that fixed idea crumbled in the face of the Demon King’s desperate heart. Was it because his emotions had synchronized with hers? Or was it because the gag filter’s power had weakened?

He couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason.

“…I’ll definitely come back and save you, Elensia, from this place.”

His words, filled with resolve, were spoken heavily. The sensation of stepping outside his usual genre sent a slight chill through him, and he ended with a faint smile.

“…”

His determination seeped into the Demon King’s ears and burrowed into her mind. When his gentle smile imprinted on her retina, a sudden thud echoed from somewhere.

As if she had been pushed from a great height, the Demon King gasped for breath, feeling a dizzying sensation of floating. His curved lips and eyes, as if time had slowed down, were etched into her mind and wouldn’t leave.

It was only after the fleeting moment passed that the Demon King realized the pounding sound was coming from her own heart. Her fingertips trembled, and her mind felt as if it were floating. It was like wandering in a dream.

Crunch!

A harsh sound pierced through the pink aura that lingered between the two of them. The Demon King turned her gaze toward the source of the sound.

Jess was scratching the wall with her clawed hand, her expression ferocious. Though her hand moved smoothly, as if cutting through tofu, the result was anything but light.

The deep, long gashes left behind, each the length of her fingers, clearly showed the strength Jess possessed.

Jess shot the Demon King a savage look, as if to say, “Next time, it’ll be your neck.”

“Jess?”

“Grk…”

The moment Lian’s gaze turned toward Jess, the fierce look vanished in an instant, replaced by a sulking expression.

The sight of Jess blatantly acting coy snapped the Demon King back to her senses.

‘That beast…’

For a moment, she felt a surge of anger so intense that even she couldn’t understand it. The fury that clouded her mind was incomparable to what she’d felt when Jess had blocked Lian earlier.

‘…Why am I like this?’

Instead of venting her anger, the Demon King questioned herself. The emotion she felt was enormous and violent, far beyond anything she had ever experienced.

It was bewildering to feel such a massive wave of emotion.

Thud!

While she was lost in her confusion, Jess suddenly approached and wrapped her arms around Lian’s head from behind.

“Ugh…!?”

Lian froze on the spot, stunned by the soft attack(?) that came from behind. Jess’s arms naturally covered Lian’s eyes, and she glared down at the Demon King with a fierce expression.

Faced with such an obvious display of wariness, the Demon King couldn’t help but let out a dry laugh.

‘Ah, so this is what it is.’

Thanks to Jess’s blatant attitude, the Demon King was able to immediately recognize her own feelings.

‘The feeling Father talked about… love.’

Her mother and father had been the type to marry after a long romance. Perhaps because of that, from a young age, they often sang about the importance of finding ‘true love.’

Her father, who had taken a long time to realize his feelings were love and had spent many years floundering, had thoroughly educated her on the various feelings and reactions she would experience when she fell in love.

‘Back then, I didn’t understand…’

The things her father had explained about love seemed absurd, like nothing more than a legend.

‘But now I get it.’

As soon as she realized her feelings, her arms instinctively tightened around Lian, but she deliberately loosened her grip and let him go. Then she stepped back and stood up abruptly.

“…Thanks to you, I’ve come to my senses. Thank you.”

She expressed her gratitude in a calm voice, then turned swiftly to look down the passage. Her index finger pointed toward the far end of the corridor.

“If you keep walking down this path, you’ll be able to escape the castle. Hurry, before… it comes after you.”

The Demon King quickly composed herself and pointed out the escape route. Jess narrowed her eyes, trying to grasp the meaning behind her words.

Tap, tap.

“Uh, Jess? Could you, uh, let me go?”

Lian, who had only been listening to the Demon King, lightly tapped Jess’s arm, which was still covering his eyes, and asked. Jess had no choice but to release him.

“Then, I’ll be going.”

Without hesitation, the Demon King passed by Lian and Jess, striding quickly down the opposite corridor.

“W-wait…!”

Lian hurriedly stood up and called out to the Demon King.

Her steps halted abruptly at his call, but she didn’t turn around. After a brief hesitation, Lian finally spoke.

“If… you don’t mind, why don’t you come with us?”

Lian knew it might seem strange to say such a thing after he had just promised to come back and save her.

‘But… leaving her like this—’

Before Lian could finish his thought, the Demon King spoke.

“I’m bound by a contract, so I can’t leave this place easily.”

There was a brief pause before she continued.

“…I’ll be waiting, so go quickly.”

“…!”

Lian was momentarily at a loss for words, caught off guard by her unexpected response. A short silence followed, and then the Demon King resumed walking. Before long, the sound of her hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor and faded into the distance.

“…”

Once the Demon King was far enough away that she was out of Lian and Jess’s sight, she turned and gazed into the dark passage.

She had desperately sought Lian, wanting to escape the wretched place where rotting corpses clung to her ankles, neck, and arms.

If she could escape that suffocating place, even for a moment, she wouldn’t have hesitated to bind Lian to her side.

That choice had shown no consideration for Lian at all. To put it bluntly, it wouldn’t have been wrong to say she had used him as a ‘tool’ for her own salvation.

That’s how much she had ‘wanted to live.’

‘I’m sorry.’

Now that she had realized her feelings for Lian, her goal of ‘wanting to live’ had shifted to something entirely different.

‘At the very least, I want to make my final choice.’

The moment Lian said he would return to save her, ironically, she resolved to die. It was the greatest confession of love she could make after realizing her feelings, and the last chance to achieve a meaningful death.

***

It was as if all the snowflakes in the world were pouring down at once, blanketing the white mountains in a fierce snowstorm. The blizzard was so intense that it made each step forward feel like a struggle.

“Huff, huff…”

“Haah, haah…”

Two people, their clothes tattered, trudged through the biting wind and snow. A red-haired beastwoman and a black-haired human—Jess and Lian—were climbing the snowy mountain, their bodies covered in wounds.

“Haa, haa… over there… the cave…!”

“…!”

The howling wind and the snow, which fell like an avalanche, made it difficult to hold a proper conversation. As a result, their exchanges were reduced to short words.

Lian barely made out the word ‘cave’ and began moving toward the direction Jess pointed, struggling against the snow.

‘Should I be thankful that the gag filter isn’t working properly…?’

Normally, when two gag residents got caught in a snowstorm like this, there was a very high chance that one of them would end up dead. The remaining person would weep and shout, “No! Damn it, open your eyes!” only to be swept away by an avalanche, a common cliché.

Everything has its pros and cons. Though the weakening of the gag filter meant that their wounds didn’t heal as quickly, it also meant they could survive in the blizzard.

While he tried to focus on positive thoughts to keep his mind sharp, they finally arrived at the cave Jess had pointed out. The entrance was so narrow that they had to stoop low to enter.

Inside, the cave was rounded, like a burrow dug by an animal.

“Huff, huff…”

Shivering from the cold, they collapsed inside the cave. Lian, his body creaking, fumbled around, searching for Jess with his eyes.

‘If I’m in this bad of a state, then Jess must be…’

End of Chapter