Chapter 20
The incident happened suddenly, without any hint, 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 stared at Lian, who casually dropped the horrific news with a blank expression. He barely managed to move his frozen tongue to give a dry response.
“…Okay.”
“Thanks!”
Lian smiled brightly, like it was no big deal, and left to prepare his early dinner. Noah watched the empty spot where Lian had been, biting his lip and drooping his head in despair.
‘Is this really okay?’
He told himself that his body heals quickly and that he doesn’t feel much pain. So, it’s fine.
‘Right, he said it was okay.’
His fingertips turned cold, as if blood had stopped flowing. The haunting image of children being dragged out of a prison flickered before his eyes.
The screams and the sickly sweet smell of blood felt like ice on his brain. No matter how much Lian insisted he was fine, Noah couldn’t simply brush off the horrifying memories that lingered.
‘…I should check.’
Noah didn’t want either himself or his siblings to be experimented on. And he absolutely didn’t want Lian to suffer through a night of terrible experiments.
The two feelings couldn’t coexist in the harsh light of reality. So, he thought, all he needed to do was check.
‘Just like Lian said, what if—just what if—the experiments aren’t that cruel? What if Lian isn’t really in pain? I can just check it out!’
Though Noah hadn’t spent a whole lot of time with Lian, he depended on him quite a bit. Unlike Noah, who had been forced to grow up too fast, Lian really acted like an adult looking out for them.
Without thinking, Noah trusted Lian’s words. Or maybe he just wanted to believe.
If the experiments weren’t that bad and Lian wasn’t too painful, he could finally enjoy the peaceful life he had just started and laugh without a care in the world.
With a newfound determination, Noah kicked his preparations into high gear.
“Pia, mind taking care of meal distribution tonight? I have to help Lian with something urgent.”
“Sure thing! Just serving food, right?”
“Yep.”
Thanks to Pia, who willingly said yes to meal duties, Noah could free up his evening.
The clock crept toward dinner time.
“Okay, I’ll head out first then.”
Having finished his cooking duties, Lian waved as he left the kitchen. Noah made sure to smile as naturally as he could and, as soon as Lian left, hurried over to Pia to notify her that dinner was ready.
Pia entered the kitchen, and Noah dashed down the hallway Lian had just taken.
*
“I’m here!”
“Just sit there for now.”
When Noah arrived, Lian was already in the lab. Luckily, the door was slightly open, so he could take a peek inside.
‘What the heck is all this?’
The sorcerer’s lab was even worse than he had imagined.
There was ominous reddish-black smoke coming from a creepy furnace, a horrifically thin monster by-product dangling from the wall, a goblin arm oozing green blood like it was alive because of some freshness spell, and more.
It was a veritable horror show. Plus, there was a nasty smell wafting around, like someone was cooking something terrible.
Whoosh—Bang! Bang!
Mia returned from the basement, pouring something from a huge barrel into a bathtub before stomping over to Lian.
“Now that we’re all set, let’s kick off the experiment!”
Before she even finished speaking, Lian rolled up his sleeves. Mia, with practiced ease, slashed open his arm.
“Uh…?”
Whoosh!
Blood, blood… red blood gushed out! It was like Mia had done this a thousand times before as she shielded herself from the fountain of blood and glanced inside the wound. Her hands…
“Ah, aaaaah…!”
Noah collapsed on the spot, his mind turning blank.
Even though he’d seen kids die so many times, he always either squeezed his eyes shut or looked away desperately, so he hadn’t really witnessed something this gruesome directly.
Squeak—.
The chilling experiment continued, with Lian confidently claiming he wasn’t in any pain at all. His arm melted away, bubbling with pus like it had been poisoned.
Splash!
Poking at a wound that should’ve been amputated led to blood spraying everywhere. Lian’s expression was obscured by the crimson flow. No way he could see it.
‘What type of “not painful” experiment is this?’
Noah clamped his hands over his mouth, trembling and choking back tears that began pouring down his cheeks.
Crack.
The sound of bone cracking rang out as his arm bent awkwardly.
He squeezed his eyes shut at that brutal sight, but when he opened them again, Mia had moved to block his view of Lian’s injury.
“…Lian, are you…?”
The calm conversation didn’t register with Noah at all. The shock was so overwhelming that ringing in his ears drowned everything out. When his senses started to return, he saw Lian sitting there, something embedded in his arm.
His mangled arm somehow looked normal now, with angry red lines remaining like a gruesome trophy from that awful experiment.
Noah followed the thing stuck in Lian’s arm all the way to a large container filled with blood.
“What’s going on with your body? I’ve dissected it completely and still can’t figure it out. Maybe I should crack your skull open to see?”
“…!”
Noah found himself separating Mia from the image of a cruel sorceress due to her beauty and the fact that she provided shelter and food for them.
Having starved and suffered, he daftly convinced himself that Mia wasn’t all that bad simply for making sure they had their basic necessities.
Such foolish thoughts might have led him to trust Lian’s reassurances.
‘You’ve… done a full body dissection?’
Noah remembered all the horrible scars etched across Lian’s body. Those marks that had looked like doodles were crafted entirely by Mia’s hand, a revelation that hit him late.
‘I thought I understood everything…’
Compared to the kids who couldn’t even manage basic bodily functions or who wept bitterly before being brutally killed or lost their minds, Noah definitely had some rationality left.
But that was only when compared to kids his own age; it didn’t mean he was wise. He was far too young to have gained wisdom.
‘I knew nothing, I knew absolutely nothing.’
He’d forgotten too easily just how the peace and joy he enjoyed in life came at the cost of terrible sacrifices. It felt like he was being choked.
“Okay then, time for the next experiment!”
Hearing the dreaded words, Noah squeezed his eyes shut instinctively. He didn’t want to see anymore. He felt like he might throw up blood from the nausea welling up inside him.
Stumbling to his feet, she started to run with a pale face.
“Gag, gag…”
After only a short dash, his breath got stuck in his throat as if it would explode.
{ Hahaha! Really? }
Laughter echoed around him. It was Lian’s laughter, mocking his very soul.
{ How about trying this next? }
The image of Lian’s bright smile, like a child his age, flashed before him again. Noah’s pace slowed.
“I—I am…”
Noah was more afraid of the terrifying thought that he or his siblings might end up as test subjects than of dying outright. Yet at the same time, he felt relief that Lian was taking on that burden for them.
“Gag…”
An overwhelming guilt hammered against his chest. He tried to retch, but nothing came out. Tears dripped down, soaking into the floor.
Suddenly, his feet came to a halt.
“…”
He stared down at his hands, which seemed murky and grimy even though they were clean. They looked as though they were stained with red fruit juice. Noah began to scratch the back of his hand, almost unconsciously.
He scratched so hard it drew blood. A tear fell onto the red marks, bringing Lian’s wounds back to the front of his mind.
“I have to… see.”
Noah muttered as he slowly stepped backward.
“I need to… confront this directly.”
He clenched his teeth. The urge to bolt away was painted clearly on his face, but he didn’t run. He couldn’t.
Noah spun around and started moving forward slowly. His heart raced in panic, and his stomach churned.
Before he knew it, he was sprinting.
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