I'm the Only One With a Different Genre - Chapter 20

Chapter 20 – I Knew Nothing

The incident happened suddenly, without warning, like a natural disaster.

“Ah, Noah, I think I’ll be doing an experiment with Mia tonight, so I won’t be able to have dinner with you. I’ll eat early and head out. Can you take care of meal distribution?”

Noah, with a vacant look, stared at Lian as he casually mentioned something horrific. Noah managed to nod and give a parched reply with a tongue that felt frozen.

“…Okay.”

“Thank you!”

With that, he smiled as if there was nothing amiss and left to prepare his early dinner. Noah watched the empty space where Lian had been before biting his lip and casting his gaze downward.

‘Is this really okay?’

He said it himself. His body heals quickly and he doesn’t feel much pain. So, it’s okay.

‘Right, he said it was okay.’

Cold seeped into his fingertips as though blood had stopped flowing. The images of children being dragged out of a prison cell flickered before his eyes.

Screams and the acrid smell of blood paralyzed his mind. No matter how much Lian insisted he was okay, Noah couldn’t just nod along and forget the horrific memories that remained.

‘…I should check.’

Noah didn’t want himself or his siblings to be experimented on. Nor did he want Lian to undergo dreadful experiments.

The two desires couldn’t coexist in the harsh reality. All he needed to do was confirm.

‘Just as Lian said, maybe the experiments aren’t so cruel. Maybe Lian really doesn’t suffer. I just need to check.’

Noah hadn’t spent a lot of time with Lian, but he had come to depend on him quite a bit. Unlike Noah, who had been forced to grow up at a young age, Lian had genuinely taken care of them like an adult.

Subconsciously, Noah trusted Lian’s words. Or maybe he wanted to believe.

If the experiments weren’t that cruel and Lian wasn’t in too much pain, then he could bask in the newfound, peaceful life and smile without care.

Determined, Noah began to prepare immediately.

“Pia, could you take care of meal distribution tonight? I’ve got to help Lian with something urgent.”

“Sure. I just need to serve the food, right?”

“Yeah.”
T h is w a s c o p ie d fr o m ki n gm tl . o r g

Thanks to Pia’s willing acceptance to take over meal duties, Noah was able to free up his evening.

As dinner time approached,

“I guess I’ll go first.”

Having finished preparing for dinner, Lian waved goodbye as he left the kitchen. Noah returned the gesture as naturally as he could and quickly went to inform Pia that the meal was ready as soon as Lian left.

After seeing Pia enter the kitchen, Noah hurried down the hallway Lian had taken.

***

“I’m here.”

“Just wait there for now.”

When Noah arrived, Lian had already entered the lab. Fortunately, the door was ajar, allowing him to peek inside.

‘What is… all this?’

The sorceress’s laboratory was more dreadful than he had imagined.

Reddish-black smoke rising from an ominous furnace, a grotesquely thin by-product of a magical beast hanging on the wall, the eaten limb of a goblin oozing green blood which looked alive due to a freshness spell, and more.

A series of unpleasant sights filled the room, the stench of something foul being concocted lingering in the air.

Whoosh – Thump! Thump!

Th i s w a s c o pi ed f r om k i n gm t l . o r g
Mia returned from the basement. She poured something from a huge oak barrel into a bathtub and approached Lian.

“Now that preparations are done, let’s start the experiment.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Lian rolled up his sleeves. Mia then efficiently swiped at Lian’s arm.

“Uh..?”

Whoosh!

Blood, blood… red blood spurted out! Mia, as if used to it, blocked the flowing blood with a shield and peered inside the wound. Her hands…

“Ah, aaaah…!”

Noah collapsed on the spot, his mind turning white.

No matter how often he saw children die, he always closed his eyes tightly or desperately looked away in the face of sheer brutality; he rarely directly witnessed such cruel scenes.

Squeak -.

The incident continued, with Lian confidently claiming he felt no pain. His arm began to melt, fizzing with pus like it was touched by poison.

Splash!

They tore into the wound which looked like it should be cut away as blood poured out. Lian’s expression was obscured by the flow. No, he couldn’t see it.

‘Is this, what kind of experiment is not painful?’

Noah held his mouth with trembling hands, tears welling in his eyes, rolling down his cheeks to the floor.

Crack.

The sound of a bone utterly breaking reverberated as his arm bent in an unnatural direction.

Closing his eyes at the too brutal sight and opening them again, Mia had moved to obstruct his view of Lian’s wound.

“…Lian, are you…?”

The calm conversation was lost on Noah. Overwhelmed by shock, a ringing flooded his ears. Coming back to his senses, he saw Lian sitting with something stuck in his arm.

The mangled arm had somehow returned to its normal appearance, and angry marks remained as testament that the cruel experimentation wasn’t a dream.
T h i s w as c o p i ed f r o m k i ng m t l . or g

Noah’s gaze followed the thing embedded in Lian’s arm down to a large container filled with blood.

“…How exactly is your body made? I’ve dissected your whole body and still can’t understand. Do I need to open your head to find out?”

Thi s w a s cop i e d f r o m k in g m t l .o r g
“…!”

Noah had unconsciously separated Mia from the image of a cruel sorceress due to her beauty and the fact she provided them with a place to stay and food.

Having suffered from hunger and oppression, he naively thought Mia providing for their basic needs meant she couldn’t be all bad.

Such foolish thoughts probably led him to believe Lian’s words.

‘Dissected… his whole body?’

Noah recalled the cruel marks etched across Lian’s body. The traces that looked almost like scribbles had all been crafted by Mia’s hand, something he belatedly realized.

T h i s was c o p ied f r o m k i n g m tl. or g
‘I thought I knew everything…’
T h is w a s c o p ie d f r om ki n gm t l. o r g

Compared to the children who couldn’t even properly relieve themselves or who cried bitterly before they were cruelly murdered or driven insane, Noah was indeed rational.

But that was only relative to others his age, not because he had wisdom. He was too young for wisdom to accrue.

‘I knew nothing, I knew… nothing.’

T h i s w as c o p ie d f r o m k i n g m t l . o r g
He had too easily forgotten how the peace and joy he now enjoyed were created through horrific sacrifices. It felt as if his throat was constricting.

“Alright, let’s move on to the next experiment.”

Hearing the mention of another experiment, Noah unconsciously shut his eyes. He didn’t want to watch anymore. It felt like he could vomit blood from the sickness rising inside him.

She staggered to her feet and started fleeing with a pale face.

“Gag, gag…!”

After running only a short distance, his breath caught in his throat as if it would tear apart.

{ Hahaha! Really? }

Laughter echoed in his ears. Lian’s laughter seemed to resound around him.

{ How about we try this next? }

The image of Lian, beaming like a child his age, floated before him. Noah’s steps slowed.
T h is w as cop i ed f r o m k i n g m t l.or g

“I am, I am…”
Th i s w a s c op ie d f r o m k i n g m t l .o r g

Noah was more terrified of the possibility of him or his siblings undergoing such terrible experiments than of dying. Yet, at the same time, he felt relief that Lian was sacrificing himself in their stead.

“Gag…”

An oppressive sense of sin and guilt hammered on his chest. He tried to retch, but nothing came out. His tears drenched the floor.

His steps had unconsciously stopped.

“…”

He looked down at his hands with a turbid gaze. The clean hands looked as if they were stained with red juice. Noah began to scratch the back of his hand.

He scratched so hard that he caused abrasions. Tears fell upon the red marks, recalling Lian’s wounds.

“I have… to see.”

Noah muttered as he slowly stepped backward.

“I must… face it directly.”

He clenched his teeth. The desire to flee was clearly written on his face, yet he did not run. He could not.

Turning around, Noah began to move forward slowly. His heart pounded wildly, his stomach churned.

T h i s wa s c o p i e d f r om k in g mt l . or g
Before he knew it, he was running.