I Became the Magic Tower Master's Experimental Mouse - Chapter 46

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“What is this…….”
Ma Tap-ju stopped short, startled by the sight of the rooftop he hadn’t visited in so long.
The small garden he and his brother had tended together was choked with weeds from years of neglect, and in the center of it all stood a small stone memorial.
It was the Memorial Stone for Phillian, carved by his own hand.
Once, this had been a place he often climbed to with his brother.
Worried about his brother’s refusal to leave the Research Laboratory, he had deliberately planted toxic flowers here—plants that required sunlight—to coax him outside.
He had known that only something connected to poison would draw his brother out of that laboratory.
The small garden had been filled entirely with Phillian’s touch.
Because of that, after losing his brother, he could not bring himself to set foot here for years afterward.
In all that time of turning away, the garden had become overgrown with weeds alone.
Naturally, the memorial stone should have been in a similar state…….
“……How…….”
Yet the stone before his eyes gleamed with blinding whiteness, as if it had been erected only yesterday.
A trail of water droplets and footprints stretched before it.
“……Oh!”
Once the memorial was properly cleaned, it was time to leave flowers before it.
I had pestered Lizz downstairs and returned to the rooftop with the Flower Bouquet she’d helped me obtain.
And I was startled to discover Ma Tap-ju crouched before the stone.
“……Experimental Rat?”
I let out a silent cry of dismay inside.
The rooftop was still unfinished.
Particularly since I hadn’t managed to clear away any of the surrounding weeds…….
‘I was planning to rest a bit—I was so exhausted.’
I had no idea Ma Tap-ju would come up.
He had ventured onto the rooftop uninvited and touched Phillian’s Memorial Stone, so there was a chance he might be angry again, and my shoulders hunched instinctively.
‘This time, I mustn’t run away.’
If I did, it would only make apologizing harder later.
I had no choice but to speak honestly and face him head-on.
I approached Ma Tap-ju and the stone, holding out the flowers.
“M-Ma Tap-ju…… Did you sleep well?”
“……Yes. What are you holding…….”
“Oh, these are flowers. For Phillian…….”
“……Aren’t those toxic flowers.”
Ma Tap-ju’s voice trembled thinly.
I noticed his eyes were red-rimmed, bloodshot, and hesitated for a moment.
But believing he wouldn’t be angry if I spoke honestly about my intention, I nodded.
“I heard Phillian loved poison tremendously. Ordinary flowers didn’t seem to suit him at all.”
I noticed my hands were blackened from cleaning and hastily set the flowers—or rather, the Toxic Flower Bouquet—down at the base of the stone.
Then I tucked both hands sheepishly behind my back and added awkwardly.
“Someone who loved poison so much that they departed the world……I thought they might want to continue their research even after death. So I selected only toxic flowers that could be legally removed.”
Ma Tap-ju said nothing, only looking in turn at the stone, the bouquet of toxic flowers, and my disheveled appearance.
‘Oh no, my hair must be a mess too.’
In embarrassment, I started tapping the ground with the tips of my shoes, when Ma Tap-ju asked in a tight voice.
“Why…… did you do all this?”
At his question, I paused to choose my words carefully.
“……I’m sorry for taking the flowers without permission.”
Then I stumbled for a moment before adding in a small voice.
“And…… you looked so sad.”
At those words, Ma Tap-ju slowly bent his knees and brought his eyes level with mine.
It was the first time I had ever met his gaze from this close.
Those eyes, always cold as ice before, were now trembling like a small boat caught in a storm surge.
“……Recently, all this time, I’ve regretted it.”
His voice was sorrowful.
“I had no right to be angry with you, yet I behaved without maturity.”
“No, no! It was my fault for looking where I shouldn’t have!”
I waved my hands frantically.
Then, knowing I was making excuses, I spoke impulsively nonetheless.
“It’s just an excuse, but…… I’m not usually the kind of person who pries into others’ affairs. Really…… But you were so much on my mind…… so I crossed the line thoughtlessly. I’m sorry…….”
It was the truth.
Wandering through the back alleys long enough, you lose the habit of meddling in others’ affairs—survival doesn’t reward it.
It leaves no room for such indulgences.
Yet I’d grown so sensitive to Ma Tap-ju’s state that I’d crossed into his business anyway.
He listened to my words in silence, then shook his head.
“No. ……Thank you.”
For a moment I could only stare up at him, stunned.
I’d braced myself for forgiveness, for his permission, for a warning to be more careful next time.
Any of those I could have weathered. But gratitude—that I had not expected.
Thank you. In all the time I’d known him, those were words I’d never heard cross his lips.
He pulled me into his arms then, tight against him.
“Wait, I’m covered in—I’m filthy!”
I was caked in dirt from head to foot, grimy and disheveled.
I startled and tried to push away, but he only drew me closer, his grip firm.
The strength of it pressed me against him, my cheek soft against his shoulder.
Against my skin, I felt his heart thundering—and felt something in me that had been wound tight suddenly give way, melting.
‘I’ve become gelatin.’
Soft, warm gelatin cradled in his embrace.
‘How long has it been since an adult held me like this?’
Grandmother’s arms were rarely around me; her joints always ached.
There had been that moment in the carriage when I sat on Ma Tap-ju’s lap, leaning against him, but never like this—never held so completely. The feeling was strange, almost unfamiliar.
‘……It’s warm.’
Resting your whole body against someone like this—it’s so much gentler than I ever imagined.
For just an instant, something odd flickered through me.
As if I’d felt this warmth before, somewhere.
‘……That can’t be right.’
Before the Regression, I could never have been held like this by anyone.
Ma Tap-ju held me a long while without speaking, then finally let go.
I saw the change in him at once. The sharp shadow that had pressed down on him all this while had lifted, grown fainter.
And his mouth—usually expressionless, or twisted in that bitter smile—now curved in something soft and genuine.
‘……I’m glad.’
I’d made a real mistake, but somehow it had mended after all.
I exhaled quietly, relieved.
We sat before the memorial stone for a long time.
Then I asked him gently.
“Can I come back to pull weeds again sometime?”
“……Yes. Do you have a favorite flower, perhaps?”
“Not flowers, exactly……but an Apple Tree?”
“An apple tree?”
“Apple pie tastes wonderful.”
I answered with a little laugh.
He smiled and brushed my tangled hair back with his hand.
“A dwarf variety might be best.”
“What?”
“It’s a rooftop I never would have set foot on if not for you……so I’ll plant small apple trees here for you.”
I gasped, then broke into a wide smile.
More than his promise of apple trees, I was relieved to see his longing for his brother begin to ease.
“Come. We should tend to your hands with salve.”
He rose, looking down at my scraped and bloodied palms.
“Oh, these aren’t so bad—”
“Let’s go.”
He offered me his hand first.
I stared at it a moment before carefully taking it, letting him pull me to my feet.
* * *
That night.
Alone on the rooftop, Ma Tap-ju touched the memorial stone where moonlight caught it, making it gleam in the darkness.
‘Phillian died because of me.’
The research that had driven his brother to death had come to him as a commission—that was the truth of it.
So when he finished the work his brother had left behind, he’d always thought he could find no more reason to cling to life.
Complete his brother’s research. Then die. That was atonement—or so he’d believed.
But today, at last, he understood something new.
He had no confidence he could keep that resolve.
‘I’m afraid of dying, Phillian.’
A child who had endured abuse for so long, yet grown up with such resilience.
Ahead of the six-year-old lay a future brimming with joy, happiness, and obstacles alike.
He wanted to kindle her joy, let her know happiness, and strip away every obstacle in her path.
But if he died before he could do any of that…….
‘That’s right. She’s no longer just an Experimental Rat to me.’
Pipi…… could never be treated as an Experimental Rat again.
He didn’t want to give her poison.
He wanted only to cherish her and care for her with love.
“……I’m sorry, Phillian.”
He’d stolen his brother’s future—did he deserve to dream of his own this way?
If he wished to become an Apple Tree, casting shade as the small dormouse grew large.
Was that ambition too great to bear?
‘I don’t know what to do anymore.’
Ma Tap-ju, who had recovered the emotions buried so long ago, the heart frozen cold…….
Had finally to admit that he had become Claude—a man tormented by conflict, shaken by doubt, consumed by desire.
In the moment the child wiped the Memorial Stone clean with her burning hands, and set down the Toxic Flower Bouquet.
He could not deny the tenderness blooming inside him.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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