Chapter: 96
Ten minutes before the commotion broke out.
As Lian rolled up his sleeves and the delicious meal he prepared began to be set out in the dining hall, hungry hyenas gathered without needing to be called.
Usually, everyone had to show up before starting the meal, so those busy elsewhere got urgent messages and rushed down to the dining hall. By the time Lian placed the last dish on the table, most of the higher-ups from the main building had found their seats.
“When’s the boss showing up?”
“Ugh, I’m starving!”
Even if some executives were absent, the feast couldn’t start until the boss did. The executives gulped down their dry saliva and started asking each other about the boss’s whereabouts.
What started off as a casual question began to heat up. Nobody had seen Noah all day.
The rising chaos spilled over into the hallway. As time passed, the faces of the executives turned pale.
Given that the headquarters had been attacked not long ago, the sudden absence of the boss meant something entirely different.
On one side of the dining hall, Lian, who was also anxiously waiting for Noah, kept glancing at the entrance. Before long, a few officers abruptly got up from their seats and dashed out to search for Noah.
Just when the dining hall had emptied somewhat, a white book flew in from outside.
“Ah..! Julianna!”
In the urgency of the situation, Lian called out for Julianna, not caring about the eyes on him. The impatient executives, who had been anxiously fidgeting, now turned their gazes towards him.
The executives had heard about Julianna from Noah before, so they didn’t find Lian’s behavior odd.
Flap.
A book opened right in front of Lian, and Julianna appeared from within. Because the book wasn’t transparent, other people could see it unfold but seemed unable to see Julianna herself.
[ I thought they’d start looking for Noah soon… and I was right. ]
Julianna crossed her arms, surveying the chaotic dining hall. Lian spoke urgently.
“Julianna, do you know where Noah is?”
[ Yep, I do. ]
Julianna waved her hand lightly, conjuring a white orb in mid-air. The enormous orb, about the size of Lian’s torso, floated right up to him.
“Huh?”
Peering inside, Lian saw Noah holding a sword in a dense forest while monsters charged at her. As his eyes widened at the sight, the white orb suddenly dispersed like smoke.
[ As you can see, Noah is completely fine. She just moved to another space for training for a bit. ]
“Ah, so she’s safe?”
[ You could say that. ]
“When’s she coming back?”
[ Early tomorrow… or at the latest, within a week? ]
As Lian and Julianna continued to converse, the executives quieted down, catching on that Lian had figured out the boss’s whereabouts.
“Phew… what a relief.”
As Lian sighed in relief and his expression relaxed, the executives rushed over to him.
“Bro! Where’s Noah right now?”
“She’s safe, right?”
“Where did she go that takes a week to return? Is she far away?”
Overwhelmed by their barrage of questions, Lian stepped back and raised his hands defensively.
“Hang on! I can’t make sense of all this if you talk at once. Let me share what I know first.”
After calming the excited crowd, Lian explained that Noah had moved to a training space and would return within the week.
“Oh, so that’s how it is?”
“She should’ve given us a heads-up before leaving…”
“The boss does have a knack for that.”
Thanks to Noah’s history of pushing the officers to their limits, they easily bought Lian’s explanation that she left without telling anyone for training. After all, this wasn’t the first time she did that.
With the atmosphere calming down, the meal that everyone had eagerly anticipated finally commenced. Those who had dashed out to find Noah returned belatedly and began to devour their food in a frenzy.
Lian watched the officers, filled with a grandmotherly warmth as he continued to eat, delighting in their antics.
*
Two days passed since Julianna told Lian that Noah had left for training. During this time, I finished healing the officers and began treating the folks from the external main building.
Though the main building was hit hard, the external building had also suffered several smaller attacks. The defenses there were significantly weaker than in the main building, so while nobody died, quite a few were seriously injured.
To treat the many patients, Lian wore thick clothing around his waist and opted for darker-toned outfits, even carefully packing extra clothes.
The bloodstained clothes were sent to the laundry with the others, so no one realized that Lian had to take the injuries into his own body to heal them.
After a full day of treating the severely injured in the infirmary, Lian suddenly felt an unexplainable fatigue wash over him.
“Ugh… my head feels like it’s throbbing.”
It felt a bit off to think he had overexerted himself. His gaze landed on a patient who was groaning in pain.
“That black stain…”
What caught his eye were unusual marks darkening the area around the patient’s wound. Not every patient had them, but one in ten seemed to bear these stains around their injuries.
It looked like it might be some kind of curse. Each time he healed, the marks would vanish completely, so he hadn’t given them much thought.
His concern about the black stains began when he unexpectedly treated three patients that had them back-to-back. His head spun, and the world around him felt nauseating—like seasickness.
At first, he brushed it off as mere fatigue, but as time wore on, the bouts of nausea increased.
Of course, in this situation, the suspicious black marks were the prime suspect.
“What if there’s something wrong happening when I bring those wounds into my own body?”
That was the only conclusion he could draw. It felt uneasy, but he couldn’t just leave patients with black stains untreated.
“Even though my head hurts, it’s just temporary…”
The pain would quickly fade as soon as he moved on to the next patient. It was frustrating, but he wasn’t annoyed enough to abandon those in pain.
And so another day passed, and by the time he’d nearly treated all the patients from the external main building…
[ – ]
An unfamiliar voice started humming in Lian’s ears, like a muffled sound coming from underwater. It felt as if he could grasp the words if he just listened closely.
“Wha—what’s that sound?”
Lian often found himself zoning out, caught up in the strange noise.
“Magician, please take a break if you’re tired.”
“Yes, you’ve pushed yourself too hard.”
The folks Lian treated thought of him as a magician. Healing injuries with a touch resembled the healing magic that was commonly used by magicians.
Lian smiled lightly at their concerned gazes and reassured them it was nothing.
“Maybe I’m just sleep-deprived. Since there are fewer patients now, I’ll just rest tomorrow.”
Lian informed Lily that he planned to sleep in and would likely be late to work.
“Well then, just take the whole day off and rest, oppa. Thanks to you, there aren’t any urgent patients left.”
“But…”
“Do you want me to put the shackle back on?”
“N-No, it’s fine…”
Lily’s dazzling smile and sweet voice hid a hint of menace, making Lian backpedal.
Sent to his room earlier than usual, Lian felt fatigue crash over him like a wave.
“…Yeah, I’m definitely tired. I should wash up and catch a good sleep.”
With glassy eyes, Lian robotically washed up and crawled under the covers.
[ – ]
As his mind became hazy, the incomprehensible words resonated even louder in his ears. It felt like drumbeats in the background, or possibly a woman screaming.
As Lian blinked slowly, he soon succumbed to a deep slumber.
*
Thud, thud, thud.
From somewhere, the sound of drums echoed.
Thud, boom, boom.
No, it wasn’t that. This was something else entirely—a sound like a living heartbeat that thundered in his ears.
Lian slowly opened his eyes. He was bare, feeling as though his soul had been stripped naked.
“Where… am I?”
Lian glanced around in a daze, as if emerging from a long slumber. Surrounding him looked like outer space. Or at least, it appeared that way.
He looked down at his body. It was familiar—his own body, completely unclothed. Strangely, he felt neither shame nor oddness. It was just his body.
Losing interest in his own form, Lian turned his attention back to the star-filled void surrounding him.
It only resembled the cosmos because there were hardly any stars in sight. Just a few scattered stars twinkled in the endless dark.
As he gazed blankly at the expanse, something began to flicker at the corner of his vision.
[ – ]
“Oh, that sound again.”
The incomprehensible noise clung to his ears once more.
[ — ]
[ – ]
[ — – ]
Lian frowned, trying to think.
“What the heck are they saying?”
Just when Lian sincerely wished to understand the baffling words ringing in his ears,
[ Child. ]
“…!”
[ Listen to my words. ]
A voice, both chilling and awe-inspiring, pierced into Lian’s mind.
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