I'm the Only One With a Different Genre - Chapter 21

Chapter 21 – His Kindness Was Suffocating

“Gag, haa…”

The moment he spotted the slightly ajar door to the laboratory, his steps halted abruptly. Swallowing dryly and catching his breath, Noah approached the door.

Swipe, slice…drip.

The experiment was still ongoing. With every light flick of Mia’s hand, Lian’s skin split open. Blood flowed.

The slab and the floor were drenched with red. Noah, with fists clenched tightly and tears streaming down his face, continued to watch the brutal scene unfold before his eyes.

“Get in there.”

Following Mia’s direction, Noah’s gaze landed on the bathtub. It was the one into which contents from the oak barrel had been poured.

“That’s…”

“Artia’s poison, one of the vilest poisons in this world. It’s so deadly that it can’t be stored without magic treatment.”

“Oh…”

Hearing Lian’s exclamation filled with awe somehow drained the strength from his body.

‘What kind of… what life have you lived?’

He regarded being experimented on with poison as comfortable, and spoke of the dreadful experiments as if they were not painful.

All the facts that he had previously overlooked simply for the sake of emotional comfort now came back as haunting questions.

The one thing Noah was certain of was that Lian’s life must have been more dreadful than any life he could possibly imagine.

Ssshhh!

As Lian’s feet entered the bathtub, the sound of flesh melting could be heard. The horrific noise brought fresh tears to Noah’s eyes.

“Argh!”

“…!”

Noah’s eyes widened at Lian’s scream that he had never heard before.
T h i s w as c opi e d f ro m k i n g m t l .o rg

“Did you truly feel proper pain this time? Or perhaps a threat to your life…!”

“Oh, that’s. I don’t have many clothes. It would be troublesome if they melted away.”

“…”

Gripping his fist even tighter, Noah felt a throbbing pain as his nails dug into his palm.

‘Is that ragged clothing more important to you than yourself?’

Noah was shaken by the realization that Lian did not value his own body to such an extent, his gaze trembling as he looked at him.

“…!”

“…!”

Their eyes met simultaneously. It felt like his heart dropped.

Th is was c o p i e d f r o m k ing m tl . o r g
“Uh, um… Mia, may I be excused for a moment?”

“Hmm, are you sure it’s just because of the clothes? Not because you’re scared and trying to run away?”

“Hey, no.”

Lian scratched his head and approached the door. Noah hadn’t imagined Lian would come towards the door, and he stumbled backward unconsciously.

Thud.

In his haste to back away, he fell to the ground. Sitting there shivering, he looked beyond the door.

‘Why, why is he approaching?’

Millions of thoughts raced through his head. Was he approaching because he didn’t want to enter that horrific poison and was trying to send him in instead? Or was he planning to suggest they exchange him as the experimental subject because he had been caught spying?

Despite knowing that Lian would not engage in such actions, he instinctively followed the trail of those fears.

Gulp.

“Gasp…!”

Suddenly, Lian had reached the door and looked down at him. Noah gazed up at him, frozen.

“Do you have something urgent, Noah?”

Lian asked in a calm voice, then crouched to equate their eye levels.

“I’m a bit busy right now, but can we talk about it later?”

“Uh…”

T h i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k i n g m t l . o rg
Noah’s tongue seemed to tie itself into knots, preventing him from giving a coherent reply. Seeing this, Lian tilted his head and then glanced down at his clothes, scratching the back of his head.

“Ah, I look a mess. Did this scare you? Once the experiment is over, I’ll come to find you, so can you head back first?”

“Uh, yeah.”

He replied with difficulty, but Noah finally managed to respond to Lian’s gentle tone.
T h i s w a s c op i e d fro m kin g mt l . o r g

“What’s the matter?”

“…!”

Since Lian didn’t return to the lab immediately, Mia had walked up to the door. She eyed Noah, who was shaking while sitting, with a twitch of her eyebrow.

Mia’s expression hardened.

“Don’t tell me you’ve been secretly watching my experiment?”

At this, Lian turned to Mia and said,

“Hey, no. I wasn’t able to help with meal service tonight, so it seems there’s been some trouble there.”

“Hmm…”

Mia seemed ready to annihilate Noah on the spot, but capitulated to Lian’s ‘please forgive just this once’ look; he was an important test subject after all.

“Alright, then hurry up and send him back.”

“Yes!”

Lian nodded and began to clean his hands where they were less bloodstained. He then pulled out a neatly folded handkerchief from his pocket. The handkerchief, fortunately, was still clean.

It was a handkerchief he used to clean up whenever the children got themselves dirty—it was just a small piece of towel, but it would be sufficient to wipe Noah’s tear-streaked face.

T h i s w as c o p i e d f r o m k i ng m t l . o rg
“I don’t know what happened with Nero, but first, use this to wipe your tears. I am sure Nero feels sorry, too.”

“Ah..?”

“Ah, it’s not that? I just saw you crying, so I thought it was about Nero.”

Unable to speak, Noah could only listen as Lian continued to scratch his head with a look of uncertainty.

“Ahem.”

“Ah, I should go back in. So sorry, really sorry!”

T h i s w as c o p i e d f r o m k ing mtl . o r g
After repeatedly apologizing to Noah…

Thump!

Lian closed the laboratory door behind him.

Oooh.

A magical circle appeared over the door. Mia had cast magic to ensure no outside interference.

“What the…”

Noah murmured as he looked down at the handkerchief in his hand.

“This… fool…”

Tears welled up and fell in large droplets from his eyes. Noah felt as if he might suffocate under his kindness.

“How, how can I…”

He had tried to believe, for his siblings and for himself. He had tried to look away. But he could do so no longer.

Clutch.

Th i s w a s c o p i ed f r o m k i n gm t l . o rg
Noah pressed the tightly held handkerchief to his heart.

Thump, thump, thump!

Noah’s heart violently thrummed, demonstrating its vigorous livelihood. He faintly felt the scars leftover on his own heart.

He would live to regret the blind trust he placed in his words, his past decisions without any hint of doubt, and he would shed tears. At the same time, he would eternally attempt to atone for the sins he had committed.

No matter what methods he had to employ.

‘I can’t just… I can’t just do nothing and stay still.’

Noah got up unsteadily, slapping his cheeks roughly.

‘I have to save Lian.’

If he saved Lian, Nero would die. If he saved Nero, Lian would die. Noah was determined to break that cruel equation.

‘I’ll save them all – every single one of them.’

A glimmer of light began to seep into his eyes, which had been mired in dullness.

‘By whatever means necessary.’

A resplendent yet not entirely beautiful light gleamed in Noah’s eyes.

***

“What is this, what is… Why? Why? How? Why..?”

“Hmm…”

Clatter, clatter.

I looked at Mia in her state of mental collapse, feeling the grind of my locked teeth. She had turned completely into a skeleton and sat down in utter shock upon seeing me still moving around calmly.

For thirty continuous minutes, she mumbled, “Why is this happening? How could this be?” Meanwhile, I idly scratched at my jaw with my bony index finger.

‘Is this really that much of a shock?’

I had expected her to be shocked, to some degree, but I had never imagined that Mia, who seemed like she would serenely sip on her tea even with a knife to her throat, would suddenly become a shut-in.

T h is w a s c o p i e d f r o m ki n gm t l . o r g
‘Well, she did say it was the last experiment, so I guess it’s time for me to go back, right?’

Honestly, it was too embarrassing. Unconsciously, my hands covered the pelvic and hip bone area.

‘I’ve waited for thirty minutes, that should be enough. Time to go.’

I spun my body around briskly. In the blink of an eye, my body returned to its original form. But I was naked. I had pleaded about not having clothes, so I entered the tub only in my underwear.

Thanks to that, my clothes had remained intact. I quickly got dressed and said to Mia,

“Then I guess I will be going now.”

“Why? This is, why is this happening?”

Mia couldn’t come out of her daze, even as I was leaving. It was a regretful sight.

Click.

As soon as I closed the door behind me, Noah’s face came to mind.

“He looked like he had been crying a lot… What exactly happened to him?”

T h i s w as co p i e d f r o m k i ng mtl .o r g
With a tinge of concern, I quickly moved my steps.

***

Slide.

“…”
Th i s w a s c op ied f r o m ki n g m tl .or g

Noah, the one Lian was desperately looking for, was peering at books in Mia’s study. It was a place that a slave like him was not allowed to be.

If Mia discovered him, it wouldn’t end well. Still, there was no stopping Noah now that he was in his distressed state.

Luckily, the protective magic Mia had installed reacted only to those who entered from the outside, so Noah was able to move about the library without any issue.

‘I have to find a way to become stronger.’

In the land of the Demon Lord, power is the law and authority. To save both Nero and Lian, he ultimately needed strength.

“This isn’t it…”

After finding a passage detailing that one could obtain tremendous power in exchange for a thousand lives, he closed the book he was reading. He reshelved it in its proper place and swiftly navigated through the bookshelf rows.

There were several books concerning ways to gain strength, but true to the nature of a dark sorceress’s library, none of the methods were usual.

All of them involved cruel methods, such as flaying someone’s skin or sacrificing a loved one.

‘Is there really no way to become stronger?’ The question pressed in, but Noah did not give up.

As he roamed the library hither and thither,

Thud.

A book fell before him.

“What is this…?”

Unlike the other books that bore black or red hues, the book that landed before him was pure white. It had no writing on the cover. It was as if he were spellbound when he picked up the book.

“Eh…”

Upon picking up the book, a cold chill swept through him. Noah had an intuition that this book was no normal book.

A surge of fear swept over him, but his greater desire overcame it, and so he pushed down his fear and opened the book.

Swish.

As soon as he turned the cover, the pages began to flutter as if blown by the wind.

Swoosh.

Something white and misty began to rise from the book. It was translucent and extended endlessly, reaching up to the ceiling before consolidating down to the size of an adult woman.

The white mass slowly transformed into a human figure. First came the elegant contours along with the eyes, nose, and mouth, and then long hair flowed down to the slim waist.

Armor enveloping the entire body and a sword at her waist indicated her status.

“Haah -…”

It let out a sigh that seemed almost like a moan as it opened its eyes. Noah stepped back, white-faced, murmuring,

“A ghost…”