I’m the Only One With a Different Genre

25 – “Touch and it hurts, so I hate it.”

Drip, drip.

“Damn it, damn…!”

In a narrow alley where only one person could pass, halfway crouched in a place piled with garbage, someone was sharpening a knife.

Squeak, click?

Rats, rummaging through the trash, looked at the person and approached, their heads bobbing.

“Get lost!”

Squeak!

The rats, realizing that the newcomer didn’t have any new food, quickly ran away. But not the bugs. Despite feeling the unpleasant sensation of bugs crawling behind him, the person couldn’t react.

“How did I end up like this…!”

Clutching his fist, the person shivered. Intense anger surged, turning his face bright red.

He wanted to unleash magic immediately and turn the surroundings into chaos. However, all he could do was sit helplessly amidst the garbage pile.

‘Damn Sacheonwang!’

The reason Dovan was sitting in a pile of garbage, even in the fancy laboratory, was all because of Sacheonwang Jiso.

After Dovan had audaciously infiltrated Mia’s mansion and got caught, Jiso, who came running claiming it would be interesting to mediate, took away everything Dovan had, citing various reasons.

Dovan lost everything—his laboratory, experiments, specimens, and more—becoming penniless and wandering the streets. That, in itself, wasn’t such a big problem.

Because he was a skilled sorcerer, he could gradually earn money and replace what he had lost. The real problem was that Jiso wasn’t satisfied with just that.

Jiso demanded Dovan’s magic, body, and even his soul.

“Damn bastard! Such outrageous demands…! Curse you! Dammit!”

He cursed inwardly and looked around nervously, fearing that his thoughts might echo around and summon Sacheonwang Jiso.

Hush.

“Damn it!”

Dovan spat out curses while brushing off the touch of a passing beggar against his ankle. He blinked, recalling the reason he ended up like this.

“All because of that damn woman.”

Dovan never thought he had done anything wrong. He only ranted silently, pondering how to get revenge on others.

“I can’t run away like this.”

If he left the Demon King’s land like this, Jiso would no longer pursue him. It was the only way to survive, but fueled by his rising anger, Dovan couldn’t easily take that step.

“The slave I saw in her house.”

Dovan imagined the appearance of Lianne, who would be reborn from his hands, and let out a perverted laugh.

“I’ll steal that slave.”

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There was no way left to make Mia suffer, but he still had the power to sneak away with one of her possessions.

As a fugitive who had to leave the Demon King’s land, Dovan unhesitatingly schemed a vile plan in his mind.

“Surely… there were slaves in that woman’s house worth stealing.”

Dovan rummaged through the garbage pile and drew a magic circle in the air with a partially broken staff he found.

Sweating profusely, he meticulously drew the magic circle, which glowed black and activated.

Hmm.

“Alright!”

Dovan felt his magic connect to Mia’s mansion, which was far away. Thanks to tracing the traces left by the magic he had used when sneaking into Mia’s house, the problem was easily solved.

Hmm -.

A portion of Mia’s mansion came into view, as if Dovan’s servant had infiltrated it.

“Is this… the slave quarters?”

In a narrow space, two beds were attached to both sides of the walls. Originally a space used by servants, it was now occupied by children.

“Lucky me.”

Dovan flashed his eyes, looking at the prey that had just entered the lodging. Beyond the enchantment, reflected in the lodging, was Pia, opening the drawers under the bed.

***

Shiver, shiver, shiver, shiver.

His legs trembled so severely as if they could pierce through the ground. Trying to steady them, he pressed his knees with both hands, but it was of no use.

“Failed! It’s all over! What should I do?”

Until a moment ago, there seemed to be a reasonably plausible plan, but now not a single one came to mind.

“Could it be that I’m dead?!”

If so, the world would fall into the hands of the Demon King and perish. Tears flowed from his eyes like a faucet turned on.

“Ugh, ugh.”

Thump.

Resting his forehead on the kitchen table, he grabbed his hair and desperately tried to think of a solution, but nothing came to mind.

Then.

“What are you doing?”

“Ah…”

Pia’s blunt voice, she had come to the kitchen.

“Why? Do you need something?”

“Not really…”

Pia spoke slowly, slightly wrinkling her forehead as she looked at my face. Did something get on my face?

Silently staring at my face, Pia soon turned away, saying it was nothing.

“Did you need something? Oh, right, I should start preparing dinner soon.”

Mia, who had fallen into complete despair a few days ago, still hadn’t fully recovered. She muttered words like, “I’m not wrong,” while rummaging through old textbooks.

There was a need to prepare a simple meal for Mia, who didn’t even want to eat properly.

“Fortunately, there’s no shortage of ingredients… How about making an easy sandwich today?”

Putting a coat on the absent-minded Mia and handing her a wallet with a note listing what to buy, she went out to shop.

Is it okay for a person to be this broken? Rather, was the situation so shocking? Despite thinking this, with more free time than before, there was no need to actively try to bring Mia back to her senses.

“As for Iris… there’s no immediate solution. Let’s deal with what’s right in front of us first.”

Feeling the tears streaming down his face, he let out a bright laugh. In the world of comedy, residents recover quickly.

“Let’s see, the bread must be here somewhere, right?”

He began to take out ingredients suitable for dinner and started preparing the meal.

“Hyung-ah.”

“Oppa.”

As soon as the rustling began in the kitchen, several children peeked their heads inside.

“I’ll help! Yo!”

“Me too! Yo!”

“Will you?”

Ever since teaching them several simple cooking methods, the children had been helping in meal preparation. When I smiled and nodded, the children came in excitedly.

In total, there were four children.

“Master!”

Jess ran up with her tail wagging fiercely and clung to my leg. As I patted her head for her cute action, her perked-up ears drooped down.

“Wow…”

“Tail…”

Jess had been hiding her ears and tail, so the children were fascinated by them. They couldn’t resist their instincts and reached out toward Jess’s swaying tail.

“No. You can’t touch her without Jess’s permission.”

“Ah, okay.”

“Jess, can I touch your tail?”

At the child’s question, Jess’s tail curled up and disappeared in an instant. Jess shook her head at the children.

“It hurts, so I don’t like it.”

“Eek! It hurts!”

“Didn’t know!”

The children apologized for trying to touch her too casually, their eyes wide open. Jess shook her head and confidently said it was okay.

As I watched the adorable children, I took out a loaf of bread as long as my upper body from its paper wrapping.

“Now, you guys should do something before you help, right?”

“Wash our hands!”

The children climbed the makeshift steps and washed their hands thoroughly in the sink.

Thanks to the elongated steps placed on one side of the kitchen table, the children could easily help in cooking.

‘I did well making these.’

Previously, without the steps, I had only asked for help with tasks they could handle – like throwing away trash or passing plates.

The children were still young and just helping with those chores was enough. The main reason for installing the steps was because Jess had seen them jumping up and down in front of the sink with a desperate look.

‘This must be what it feels like to raise a daughter.’

With a content smile, she sliced the bread and placed it in front of the children. The kids diligently crafted sandwiches with hands resembling ferns.

Perhaps due to the crowd, meal preparation was completed in an instant. Tailoring the sandwiches to Mia’s taste, she handed plates to Jess and the kids after filling them with just the right amount of sweetness.

“Leave the food at the restaurant and tell the others they need to eat. Got it?”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

If they were ordinary children, they might have rushed away with excitement, screaming in delight. However, these children, who had experienced various cruel hardships, calmly moved the trays without getting easily excited.

Leaving those children behind, she turned to Mia. The familiar path allowed her to arrive in no time.

Knock, click.

Without waiting for an answer, she opened the door.