I’m the Only One With a Different Genre

9 – Worn-out Filter

Noah looked at the disheveled Lian and thought, “How could you do that?”

Noah remembered the voice of the unfamiliar woman he had heard not long after Lian gave cookies to the children and left the prison.

In the prison, sounds easily resounded, and all the children in the prison clearly heard the conversation between Lian and Lania.

“So you managed to escape?”

“W-Well, you see…”

“Hmm, you escaped from me and came all the way here? Why? Did you hide something good here?”

Through that brief conversation, the children in the prison realized that the person Lian had said he would stop was that woman. Instinctively, the scared children gathered in a corner of the prison and buried their faces in their knees. Noah hugged Nero and bit his lip in helplessness.

“There’s nothing, there’s nothing here!”

Their desperate voices echoed, terrifying in their fear.

“You were so scared earlier and ran away, but is there something you want to protect so badly?”

Upon hearing those words, Noah froze. Lian wasn’t a hero, nor a champion in a fairy tale. He was just an ordinary person with a lot of fears, just like Noah. Without realizing it, his grip tightened, leaving nail marks on the palm of his hand.

Thud!

The conversation between the two came to an abrupt end with the harsh sound of a closing door. The children held their breath, ears attuned to the sounds from upstairs. Before long, a massive explosion shook the prison as if an earthquake had struck.

“Tongue, t-tongue…!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Noah reassured the frightened Nero, who, with trembling eyes, was gazing outside the prison.

Bam!

As the rough sound of a door opening echoed, Lian descended and opened the prison door.

“Hey, kids! Come out quickly! There’s a fire!”

“Fi-fire?”

“Ugh… ugh…”

Clearly, something was amiss above. Noah took Nero’s hand, and they hurriedly left the prison. Glancing at the adjacent cell, they saw panicked children and Lian struggling with a perplexed expression.

‘…Is it luck?’

He briefly froze upon seeing the tear-stained face of Lian. When the acrid smoke began infiltrating the prison, his senses snapped back. Observing Lian trying to calm the panicked children with a composed voice after the commotion, he spoke.

“You heard it earlier, didn’t you? That sound.”

If they were the ones in the prison, they surely heard the voice of a woman Lian had restrained to protect them. As Noah spoke, the children’s expressions hardened in agreement.

“Look over there.”

Noah pointed towards the flames and billowing smoke above the stairs.

“It’s a real fire. If we stay here, we might all die. So stop panicking and follow me. You don’t… want to die here, right?”

Finally regaining their composure, the children sequentially left the prison. Fortunately, the fire wasn’t too severe, and everyone escaped unharmed.

‘That’s…’

As they exited the building, they were met with glances that, despite the well-organized dirt floors and alleyways between ramshackle buildings, seemed as ominous as if scrutinizing prey. It resembled the expression of a hyena spotting its prey.

“Heh…”

Frightened, Nero buried himself in Noah’s embrace.

‘But everyone is safe, so—’

Thinking that, Noah scanned his surroundings and felt a sense of unease.

“…Wait, where’s that kid?”

The girl with red hair was nowhere to be seen.

“That red-haired one who shared the cell with me—”

“…!”

Before Noah could finish speaking, Lian leaped into the flames.

“Wait…! Are you out of your mind?!”

Belatedly, Noah reached out to grab Lian, but his hand grasped at empty air.

Whoosh! Boom!

The flames had grown to a terrifying size, intimidating enough to discourage any attempt to enter. Noah gazed at the burning house with a pale, horrified expression.

“He’s… he must be dead.”

Surviving seemed impossible amidst such flames.

Noah’s thoughts were interrupted as Lian emerged from the fire.

“Lian!”

“Hyung!”

Nero, who had been clinging to Noah, approached Lian with tears in his eyes. Lian’s condition was severe; his skin was peeled in various places, blood oozing out. Noah clenched his teeth.

Even if he survived, with wounds like these, he wouldn’t last long. A sticky sense of despair seeped down his throat.

“Thank goodness!”

“…!”

Without uttering a word of pain at having saved a young soul, the rescuer smiled brightly. It infuriated Noah.

Why was he dismissing his injuries as if they were nothing? How could he smile so casually and move on?

Noah couldn’t understand Lian. But there was one thing he could grasp: Lian clung to a miserable past so tragic that he could casually dismiss such terrible wounds as ‘nothing.’

From Noble mtl dot com

“Oh, this is nothing. I’ll be fine soon.”

“Hmm. That’s quite an interesting story.”

Behind the justifying Lian, the dark sorcerer, stroking his chin, looked down at Lian. Noah and Nero froze like mice caught by a cat.

Thump, thump, thump, thump!

His heart pounded wildly, and his breath caught in his throat. Cold sweat streamed down as if his entire body were about to collapse. Noah’s ears resonated with hallucinations, making him gasp for breath.

An arm, a leg should be enough.

Then I’ll take a heart.

Just like wizards ordering food in a restaurant, these dark sorcerers ordered the children’s bodies. In the midst of the cacophony of screams, Noah and Nero swallowed their tears, paralyzed by fear. If they made a loud noise, they would be the first to be dragged away.

The trauma that lingered in their minds like burns became shackles, binding them tightly. Noah couldn’t speak, petrified like an animal in fear, as he watched Lian’s arms, covered in burns and exposed flesh, being pulled towards the sorcerer.

“If, if it’s okay, can I take these kids too?”

A hesitant voice broke the tension. It was Lian.

Noah looked at Lian with trembling eyes. Despite his disfigured appearance, Lian was pleading for the lives of these kids, risking his own against the cruel sorcerer.

“They’re like my younger siblings. Without them, I’d be too sad, and I might just die from depression or something.”

Even as he spun unbelievable lies, Lian struggled to protect them. Noah instinctively understood why Lian was saying such things.

“If we don’t follow that person, we’ll either be dragged back to the slave trader or… die here.”

Although the majority of people had fled because of Rania’s presence, those in desperate need of money eyed this place greedily. If Lian and Mia left, they would become targets of a ‘hunt.’

“Is it okay if the experiment becomes a bit more intense?”

“Yes, yes.”

Noah felt tears welling up in his eyes and bit his lips. He couldn’t do anything. Absolutely nothing. The profound sense of powerlessness, the comforting feeling of having lived, and the self-loathing for feeling such emotions swallowed his mind.

***

As I nodded absentmindedly, Mia grinned satisfactorily and stepped back. I looked at Mia with a blank face, running my fingers over my chest.

“Li-Lian… you…”

At that moment, a trembling voice woke me up. When I turned my head, Noah was embracing Nero with a frightened face. Not only Noah but other children were also cowering or showing tears.

“Oh, scared, huh?”

Sure, I’ve been through body modifications in the comedy world, had my body shattered into pieces, so I didn’t think much of it. But for the kids, it was different. It must have felt like the scary feeling of the red X mark I feared as a child.

I approached the children immediately and reassured them, “Don’t worry; he doesn’t seem to be that bad. And if you’re worried about experiments, you don’t have to. I’ll make sure you don’t undergo any experiments.”

Considering the events of the past few days, it seemed like the comedy filter was definitely in place. So, I wasn’t too concerned about the experiments.

“Experimenting is cruel anyway.”

Half of the socially awkward scientists in the comedy world were mad scientists. They appeared on various holidays like Valentine’s Day, White Day, Christmas, Halloween, trying to destroy the world.

“I’ve been caught and experimented on several times.”

The scene of my limbs being tied while something in my stomach was welded was truly absurd. I didn’t know where in my belly there could be a place to tinker with bolts, but during experiments, there was always a sound like construction.

“Well, whether it’s me or someone else, it’s not a big burden for me… but for the kids, it’s different.”

I vaguely remembered that in the normal world, injuries didn’t heal easily.

“…”

“…”

The children just stood there, neither affirming nor denying my words. It seemed like it was too sudden of a story.