"Pathetic."
That was my takeaway after finishing a chapter.
Couldn't be helped.
The story of a genius who could have made a name for himself, living as a perfect wreck due to his older brother's jealousy, only to be killed by him in the end. If the character I'd just read about hadn't been some random side character, I would've slammed the book shut in sheer frustration.
'At least it's good the brother got exposed for ruining his sibling's life.'
Even after death, that side character was saddled with every possible disgrace, cursed by the entire nation. His own family didn't shed a single tear over his death. Said it all.
Anyway, that villain lost his honor, his wealth, and his life to the protagonist, so the ending was decent enough.
'No, hold on. This is crossing a line.'
Killing your own brother just because there's no one else to kill? All for a shot at success?
'Relax. It's not like any of this actually happened.'
I tried to cut off my thoughts, but I clicked my tongue again. The emotional drain left me exhausted. The high from the revenge plot was intense, but the fatigue was unavoidable.
I closed the book, turned on my phone, and set an alarm.
'Just ten minutes.'
Sleep would clear this emotional overload. Better to read the next chapter with a clearer head.
That's what I thought as I flopped face-down onto the bed.
* * *
'You've got to be kidding me.'
When I woke, the world had gone completely dark.
Ten minutes? More like ten hours.
No way it gets this dark just from an afternoon nap. My body felt heavy from oversleeping.
'...But...'
Why can't I see?
My eyes were open, but the surroundings were pitch black, impossible to make out anything.
I frantically felt around. Nothing but rough, stony ground met my hands.
'Stone?'
I fell asleep in my bed. Why is there stone?
For a second, the absurd thought that my bed had turned to stone overnight crossed my mind. I quickly dismissed it, my face hardening as the seriousness sank in.
I tried to shout, but no sound came out. Just a weak, airy wheeze. I strained my throat, forcing out a noise.
"Ah. Ah."
At least it was audible. Couldn't scream, but if someone came close, I could call for help.
'Let's try moving.'
I slowly pushed myself up.
I couldn't see, but I could feel my balance was off.
More cautiously, I pressed my hands to the ground and put weight on my legs.
*Clank—*
"...?"
The sound of metal scraping against metal.
In an already terrifying situation, moving one leg shouldn't make that noise.
I moved it again, just in case. Something was clamped around my ankle.
'...You have got to be kidding me...'
No matter how I looked at it, this seemed like the worst-case scenario I could imagine.
Once I roughly grasped the situation, the fear I'd been desperately ignoring came crashing down all at once. I pinched my nose, forcing my breathing to steady before it could spiral.
"Hoo."
Stay calm.
No one's around.
Even tied up, I have time to assess.
I reached down and felt my leg. My fingers closed around something metallic.
Luckily, no wounds from struggling. A slight gap meant blood was still circulating. If I could just break this, running shouldn't be a problem.
'No phone.'
As if they'd leave a phone in a situation like this.
No expectations, no disappointment. I kept trying to stay calm as I felt around.
Then, voices echoed from far away.
My heart started hammering. Before I could mentally prepare, light formed in the shape of a door in the black space, solidifying into a plane in an instant.
After so long in the dark, the light stung my eyes.
"Have you been well?"
A gentle voice brushed my ear.
Someone walked in, silhouetted against the stark white light.
I opened my mouth urgently.
"B-brother."
'Huh?'
Do I have a brother?
No, wait—that wasn't a conscious choice. I meant to ask where the hell this was, not spout nonsense.
But as if mocking my confusion, my mouth kept moving, voice thick with a fear I didn't feel.
"S-sorry... I was wrong. I won't ever again..."
"What? No. What are you talking about, Luca?"
"I won't do it again, brother. I was wrong. I'll be good from now on. Really. Please, spare me..."
"Luca."
At his sharp tone, my mouth, which had been muttering like a madman, snapped shut. He was glaring at me, face deeply furrowed.
I didn't care if some stranger was glaring. It was a relief.
Every time I opened my mouth, an inexplicable terror flooded my mind, thwarting every attempt to understand this situation.
Only now, with my consciousness clearing, did I replay his words.
'He just... called me Luca.'
I'm obviously not that person.
Coincidentally, there was a character named Luca in the book I read before bed... Probably not related.
Either a case of mistaken identity, a kidnapping where they're using a fake name I don't know, or both.
Anyway, they kept me tied up all night for a reason. They won't kill me immediately. I have time to figure this out.
I pretended to be scared, rolling my eyes around.
'Nothing obviously dangerous.'
The room was surprisingly empty. Two people stood by the door. No physical way to push past them and escape.
I need to figure out what's going on and convince them I'm not Luca.
As I kept my mouth shut as intended, the 'brother' who'd put on a stern face softened his expression and spoke.
"You must have waited a long time. I was just on my way back after checking on your condition."
"...Condition?"
"Yes, you were right. You hadn't stopped taking your medicine."
Medicine?
A sudden, out-of-nowhere topic.
The context-less subject and his overly familiar tone grated on me.
'...But...'
Even as I thought it was random, a sense of foreboding crept in. Unlike before, when I had nothing to go on, a rough outline was starting to form.
I didn't need to pry for more info. He looked at me with pitying eyes and continued.
"Your illness has worsened. They said the dosage you've been taking won't be effective anymore. I'm sorry I didn't notice sooner. It's all my fault. Sorry for misunderstanding."
"...Illness?"
"What? Oh... You've suffered so much. What has everyone been doing, letting it get this bad?"
At his sharp question, the two by the door stammered excuses.
While he berated them, I quickly ran through the clues.
'Your illness.' Medicine. Brother. Luca.
My heart beat even faster.
At this point, I couldn't help but recall the character from that book.
That 'Luca' also had an older brother. He suffered from an incurable illness and took medicine.
The absurd coincidence made me frown involuntarily.
Mistaking my reaction for shock over my worsening condition, he offered comfort.
"We've increased the dosage, so you'll be fine now. More than that, my heart aches thinking how scared you must have been here this past week. Please understand. We couldn't risk you having another... episode like before because of your illness... It was all for your sake."
He gestured. One of the people by the door handed him a dark wooden box.
The light from behind made the contents clear. Dozens of crystal vials, each the size of a finger segment. A pitch-black liquid sloshed inside with the box's slight movement.
I'd never seen it before. And I knew it intimately.
If the drug the 'brother' used to ruin his sibling's life in that book existed in reality, this is exactly what it would look like.
"...This is..."
"Yes, it looks just like what you've been taking. We only increased the concentration and dosage a bit, so you shouldn't feel any resistance."
He pulled out one vial and held it up to my face.
"At least you'll be able to go to school on time. I thought you might never get to go again. A relief, right?"
"..."
"Come to think of it... I heard you already took two vials yesterday. My contact was a bit late. We need you to take this to verify the new batch was made correctly. Can't be helped."
He rambled on pointlessly by himself.
I had no leisure to listen.
Luca isn't sick.
That 'episode' the brother mentioned never happened.
He doesn't need medicine. No reason to be locked in a basement.
The one born healthier and more talented than anyone, living like this—it's all because of his brother.
In a world run by magic, birth order means nothing. You inherit titles and become family head based solely on magical strength.
The brother, born with excellent talent, would have ascended to head of the family without lifting a finger.
'If Luca had never been born, that is.'
Unlike his brother, whose magic manifested at six, Luca used magic at a higher level by age three.
No one doubted Luca would become the most outstanding mage in the family's history.
With a stronger sibling born, his own chance at becoming head vanished. So, the brother decided to block Luca's magic.
That 'medicine' he kept going on about wasn't a cure. It was poison, designed to kill magic.
After a lifetime of drinking that poison, Luca lost his ability to use magic, just as his brother wished, and slowly approached death.
My gaze fell on the transparent vial in his hand.
He said the 'illness had worsened.'
In his brother's logic, that meant Luca's magic had grown too strong to suppress with the poison.
'Looks like he misunderstood the decreased effectiveness as Luca skipping doses.'
Combined with the nonsense that spilled from my mouth earlier, the picture became clear.
What kind of brother locks his sibling in a lightless hole over a misunderstanding about not taking poison?
And then has the nerve to call it 'for your sake'? The audacity was staggering.
'Still, this is the good part.'
By the time Luca graduates and becomes an adult, only to be locked away again, the brother kills Luca with his own hands.
Letting him wither slowly from the poison wasn't satisfying enough.
But now, I'm being called by the name of a guy who dies at twenty, and I'm in that exact situation.
'Insane.'
Only then did I look down at my body.
Unlike in the dark, many things came into view.
Clothes from an unfamiliar era and region—nothing ordinary. Hair so thick it obscured my vision. A skeletal frame. Skin with a sickly, bluish pallor.
This wasn't my body. Not mine even if I died and came back to life.
It made more sense to say this was the body of an extra who lived believing in a fabricated illness, drank poison, and died at twenty.
Considering the apologies that spilled unbidden from my mouth and the terror I felt toward this 'brother' I'd never met, it made even more sense.
Had my consciousness been transferred into that insane novel's side character?
There was no other explanation.
Setting aside whether it was possible, every sensation I felt was real.
This was a crazy situation, not a crazy perception. Seeing the proof with my own eyes brought a strange sense of relief.
"I've been rambling."
As if he knew I wasn't listening, he stopped talking and tapped the vial with his finger to get my attention.
The black poison, tinged with blue, swayed before my eyes.
He smiled gently and spoke softly.
"Drink it now, Luca."
"...!"
The servants' eyes widened. So did mine.
He'd already taken double the usual dose.
And now he wants him to drink an even stronger version?
'...Theoretically, it could kill him.'
The servants seemed to think so too. One urgently spoke up.
"Young Master...!"
"Do you have something to say?"
The gentle tone held a clear warning.
The servants exchanged looks, bowed in apology, and left.
Finally, only the two of us remained in the spacious basement. He examined my face and smiled gently again.
"You won't die. Trust me. You know this is all for you."
Funny. That bastard knows exactly how dangerous that drug is.
Impossible to say unless you value your brother's life less than a fly's.
'...Psychotic bastard.'
My nails dug into my palms.
The sound of my pulse began to pound in my ears.
The fear I'd barely held back crashed over me like a broken dam.
Just as my breathing began to quicken, a stark white light appeared before my eyes.
*Ding—!*
〈 Chapter 0. Every Beginning is Difficult 〉
Suggestion: Make the optimal choice. (0/1)
* Route 1 ― 〈 Chapter 1. Heaven Helps Those Who Help Themselves (1) 〉
* Route 2 ― 〈 Death 〉
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T/N:
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