Episode 9
“Strange… When I’m with you, I feel calmer somehow.”
When Callisten said that and leaned against my shoulder, my body stiffened without me realizing it. He stayed like that for a moment with a vacant look in his eyes, then slowly pulled away.
“It’s okay. You can lean more if you want. The medicine must be making things hard, right?”
Because he was unusually quiet that day, the words slipped out before I could stop myself. After hearing that, he leaned on my shoulder again, so I gently patted his back.
⚜ ⚜ ⚜
A-888.
That was how I ended up running into Felix Magnolia, the young duke who had infiltrated this research facility, once again. Since he was an A-rank, and there was always too much work, we crossed paths fairly often—as long as you were still alive.
“You owe me.”
“…Yeah. Thanks.”
When I thanked him without resistance, he broke into a bright smile. But remembering the calculating nature hidden behind that smile, and how casually he could kill people, made fear creep up my spine.
In the original story, he was an ability user who controlled the air.
He could slaughter people brutally with razor-sharp winds, or simply remove the oxygen around them so they suffocated.
He was a natural counter to Callisten.
Fire cannot exist without air.
Still, if the two of them actually fought, I didn’t think Callisten would necessarily lose. If Felix removed the air around him so flames couldn’t ignite, then he himself wouldn’t be able to breathe either. And if Callisten formed a thin vacuum barrier, he could nullify Felix’s attacks.
Of course, since Callisten could make anything within his line of sight explode, if he struck first, the outcome was impossible to predict.
Today’s task wasn’t washing beakers. We had to take out all the experimental tools and clean the area.
I didn’t know why Felix had helped me, but it didn’t seem like he intended to boss me around either. He was helping carry the chemicals and equipment to the opposite table.
“That one.”
“Huh?”
“Be careful with that.”
“You be careful too. That’s hydrochloric acid.”
“You know what it is?”
“Yeah.”
In my previous life, I’d worked in a lab too—one where I handled all kinds of experiments.
Just by looking at the label, I could tell what the chemical was. Strangely, the chemicals here looked very similar to the ones from my world. The labels, the bottles—mostly brown glass with similar shapes.
“Can you read?”
“Yeah.”
I didn’t know *how* I could read it, but even though the writing clearly wasn’t Korean, I could understand it.
“Where were you before you came here?”
*The person I’m looking for has platinum-blond hair and violet eyes. Like you. And they smell nice, just like you.*
The person he wanted to kill.
I didn’t know who that person was, but I had no desire to get involved.
Besides, I didn’t even know where the original owner of this body had come from. She didn’t exist in the original novel, *And Then Everyone Fell Silent*.
If I made up a sloppy excuse, he’d probably see through it.
“I don’t really know.”
“Why?”
“I can’t remember. I think I was probably sold here, like the others.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah.”
Most of the test subjects here had been sold by slave traders. Sometimes criminals were sent in, but those were rare cases.
“Then… do you want to find your parents?”
“…No. What would be the point?”
His expression hardened, so I hurriedly added,
“And besides, if they haven’t come looking for me until now, I think it’s better not to hold on to false hope.”
“…”
His face was still grim.
“A-And! I mean, if my parents are still alive somewhere, I’d rather they not do anything dangerous because of someone like me…”
“You think that even if they might’ve sold you?”
“There must’ve been a reason.”
“And if that reason was something trivial?”
“Still… they gave birth to me, so I want to be grateful. I don’t even know who they are—I don’t want to hate them.”
Honestly, I’d never thought that deeply about it.
In my previous life, my parents had always apologized for not being well-off. They never complained about how long I studied or how much education I wanted.
Just the fact that they waited for me had been something I was grateful for.
“Are you crying?”
“N-No!”
I’d been staring at the floor without realizing it, lost in thoughts of my former parents. I quickly looked up and forced a smile at Felix. Instead of relaxing, his expression darkened further.
“You’re trapped in a place where you can’t even live like a human, and you still say things like that?”
“…Ah…”
“This place is punishment to some people. But it doesn’t seem that way to you.”
“W-What do you mean?”
“Nothing. Just pointless talk.”
With that, he turned away and started carrying the chemicals again, clearly done with the conversation.
Not wanting to get in his way, I hurried to move things as quickly as he did.
Each time a glass bottle was placed on the table, it made a dull clunk. When I glanced at him, his face looked even angrier than before.
I deliberately stayed quiet and emptied the shelves completely, then began wiping them down with a damp cloth.
“You’re taller, A-888, so—”
“Felix.”
“Oh… right. Felix is taller, so could you wipe the upper shelf? Just one level—I’ll do the three below.”
“Forget it. You do the bottom two.”
“Okay, thanks.”
He spoke curtly, but he didn’t slack off. He moved to the opposite side and started cleaning the shelves there. Strangely, our eyes kept meeting, like when two people across a library aisle reach for books at the same time.
Every time our gazes met, he looked at me with a chillingly cold expression.
Even after wiping the dark shelves, there wasn’t much visible difference—they hadn’t been very dirty to begin with. But the lab liked to keep its manpower “useful,” so we were made to clean different areas every day.
A-rank was trash.
Even the food given to A-ranks was considered a waste.
We were a grade meant to be used up like consumables, so there wasn’t much point in feeling sad about it.
“Aselia.”
“Yeah?”
“Why do you think I helped you?”
I scrubbed the shelf harder on purpose, avoiding his eyes.
“Because you’re a good person?”
“…Then aren’t you curious how I persuaded the researchers?”
I wasn’t curious.
I was grateful he had helped me—but from the moment I learned he wasn’t really A-rank, but the Magnolia young duke in disguise, I’d been afraid he had some ulterior motive.
Only twelve days remained until Callisten went berserk.
With possibly only twelve days left to live, inviting another dangerous variable into my life was the last thing I wanted.
“I thought… you’d be troubled if I were curious.”
He stepped right in front of me, forcing our eyes to meet.
Unlike before, his expression had softened slightly.
“Aren’t you curious about the person I’m looking for, either?”
For some reason, my fingers prickled. The wound he’d torn open earlier felt like it loomed larger in my mind.
“Isn’t that something I shouldn’t ask about?”
His expression hardened again.
“I-I mean, if you can tell me, I’d like to hear.”
His lips were pressed into a straight line.
He set down the damp cloth he was holding and walked toward me. He was really tall—maybe about the same as Callisten.
No, Callisten was taller. By about two finger joints.
“Aselia.”
“Yeah?”
“The person I’m looking for is my younger sibling.”
That reminded me of a rumor: that Duke Magnolia had casually handed over his illegitimate child as a test subject, claiming loyalty to the imperial family.
“My sibling… then should I help you look?”
“You think I wouldn’t have found them by now?”
“Yeah. That’s why you’re asking me, right?”
I couldn’t look away.
If you break eye contact with a predator, it lunges. I was practically a herbivore, and he was a snow leopard—no, more like a polar bear.
“They have light-colored hair like yours. And violet eyes too—pretty ones.”
“Platinum hair and violet eyes… I’m the only A-rank like that. Could it be another rank?”
He seemed to be testing me.
But I didn’t know much about the other ranks.
“My sibling is a girl.”
“…Huh?”
“She’s a girl. And like you, her blood smells sweet.”
“….”
“That’s why she drives me crazy.”
He clenched the wound he’d opened before. Blood began to seep out again from where it hadn’t fully healed.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
If he realized I was a woman here, everything would truly be over.
“So I’m going to kill her.”
“Ah…”
“She drove me insane and then hid, so this time I’m not going to let her off.”
The pressure in his voice was so overwhelming it felt hard to breathe.
“But what’s this?”
With a mocking smile, he reached for my necklace. His other hand gripped my wrist tightly, preventing me from escaping.
If he tore the necklace off, I would definitely revert to my female form.
