Chapter Text
As soon as he felt someone touching him, Kim Rok Soo knew he was in trouble. Big trouble this time.
How could he have been so careless?
He remembered crawling to get the blanket and curling up underneath it as soon as his uncle left to buy more beer. He didn't mean to fall asleep! He was just too hungry and tired, and his wounds were burning. He was sure they were torn from the smack on the back of his head that had caused him to fall to the ground earlier.
He felt dizzy and knew he would faint if he stood up. He had only meant to close his eyes for a few minutes to gain some strength before he continued cleaning the living room. Exhaustion must have overtaken him.
The last thing he could remember was the cooling sensation from the floor and the flame-like pain clawing his stomach. The last time he ate a proper meal was when the nice lady next door found him locked outside. And that was three days ago. She had given him a pack of cookies before he left and he had managed to sneak it into his bedroom. He had eaten a half-pack as his breakfast to stave off the hunger this morning.
He was hungry but how could he just fall asleep?!
The last time his uncle found him sleeping in the living room without finishing the chores, he had been kicked in the belly so hard that he vomited blood later. His uncle had promised that if it happened again, he would have to clean the mess with his tongue and wouldn't be allowed to leave his room for three days.
He was in big trouble. Serious big trouble.
Before he could process the situation, an apology automatically squeezed out of him, and he curled up into a protective position, trying to shield his stomach, face, and the back of his head as best as he could.
He waited for the hit to come or at least an angry shout from his uncle. But it never happened. Carefully, he raised his head to peek and was shocked when he saw an extremely handsome man standing before him.
Again, this man was extremely handsome. Kim Rok Soo couldn't believe it was possible for a person to look this good. He had to be a foreign model. How could someone like this be here? What happened? This man had bright gold hair and piercing blue eyes-
No, wait. He was not supposed to look at others in the eyes. How could he forget such a basic rule?!
Internally cursing himself for being disrespectful, he immediately averted his gaze as he didn't want to offend this handsome man, his heart pounding heavily in his chest.
Kim Rok Soo quickly looked around and found himself in some kind of forest. Surrounding him were trees and a damp scent of fresh grass. He was sitting on a white shirt but it did little to separate him from the hard, slightly damp dirt that was cold against his skin. Wait- he wasn't wearing anything? He was half covered by a fancy black jacket that looked very expensive.
What was going on?
"Kim Rok Soo?"
His eyes snapped back to the handsome man.
'He knows my name?'
"Y-yes, sir." Kim Rok Soo almost bit his tongue as he responded. He hoped this little stumble in his words wouldn't be seen as disrespectful.
He didn't have much time to think about why this man knew his name. A strange and unfamiliar coldness wrapped him. It was not the kind that came before a high fever that he was familiar with. This was different, unsettling in a way he had never felt before. Kim Rok Soo subconsciously pulled the jacket tighter. Then he felt an odd feeling in his right hand. He turned to look at him own hand and found a white lotus tightly clutched in his grasp.
'What is that?'
He let go of the lotus as if it had burnt him. He was not supposed to take anything he didn't know. But as soon as the lotus left his hand, he could feel something being pulled from his heart, and the coldness he felt earlier turned into a strange hollowness that seemed to swallow all his insides.
'Where am I? What is going on?'
As if his chaotic mind wasn't enough, the handsome man spoke again.
"Your name is Kim Rok Soo, right?"
"Y-yes." Kim Rok Soo quickly responded, his voice shaking as he feared the man had caught on to his wandering thoughts. But the question was in a gentle tone, not irritated as if he had to ask the same thing again. It was more like the man himself was unsure of what he was saying.
From the corner of his eyes, Kim Rok Soo could see that man had a smile on his face.
He didn't seem angry and had been gentle so far. Kim Rok Soo decided to take this as a good sign. He needed to know more about him to stay on his good side. Kim Rok Soo hadn't met any adults in his life, as his existence had been more or less confined almost entirely to the small apartment his uncle owned. He knew his uncle was on the bad end of the spectrum ever since he adopted him. Not everyone was a bad person who wanted to hurt him. This man in front of him seemed more like the kind neighbor lady, who looked at him with pity and sadness as if he were a glass bottle that would break if she so much as touched him.
"M-may I ask, what is your name, sir?"
He wouldn't get angry just with this, right?
"My name is Alberu." Alberu didn't sound angry at all.
'Alberu'
This was not a Korean name and Kim Rok Soo suddenly realized that they were not speaking Korean. He didn't know why he could understand or speak this language as if it was nature to him. Was he in a dream? But he had never been to a forest, so how could he know the scent of cool fog? He lowered his head as he heard Alberu continue.
"I know you might be very confused right now, but I promise I won't hurt you, and I have no ill intentions."
"Is there anything that feels uncomfortable?"
"No, sir. Thank you, sir."
Something was wrong.
"Can you tell me the last thing you remember?"
His uncle- Kim Rok Soo flinched at the mere thought of it and instinctively pushed himself back. Then he suddenly realized what the strange uneasiness he had since he woke up was. He was so shocked that he tried to move his arms but forgot he was putting a weight on them. His hand slipped, and he started to fall. He was used to this so he quickly shifted his weight and regained his balance.
He had to be in a dream.
Kim Rok Soo quickly lowered his hands and stared at them. He then patted himself.
He wasn't hurting anywhere.
And more importantly, there was no scar on his arms and hands.
He had lived with his uncle for two years. In Kim Rok Soo's earlier memories, his uncle was a good person. He was the younger brother of his mother, always bringing snacks and performing little magic tricks whenever they visited his mother's family. Kim Rok Soo's parents were not close with their parents so those visits didn't happen a lot. His uncle was also the only relative that Kim Rok Soo had left after both his parents and his grandparents had died in that accident.
His uncle and he were the only survivors.
At the funeral, his uncle hugged him tightly, holding him close while tears streamed down his face as he looked at his sister's smiling face in that black-and-white picture. Kim Rok Soo could remember the hard cast on his uncle's arm pressed against his back and the cold dampness that his uncle's tears left on his shoulder.
The man had then taken Kim Rok Soo's small hand in his as they walked outside together. His hand was large and Kim Rok Soo felt protected. The warmth came from the firm hold offered little console to his broken heart.
He was too young to understand the full meaning of losing the entire family. His young, immature, and childish mind was broken simply because he knew he could never see his parents again. He had been asleep when the accident happened. It was different for his uncle. For an adult, for someone who had just entered society, losing the entire family was devastating.
His uncle had to sign the documents to bury his own parents, to amputate his brother-in-law in a failed attempt to stop the spread of infection, to let his brain-dead sister go, and to gain the custody of his nephew.
All these were too much and his uncle relied on alcohol to relieve the pain. Kim Rok Soo couldn't understand what happened but he could tell his uncle was in pain. His uncle was all he had left, and they had to support each other. That pure heart of the young child at that time didn't know he was a fragment of soul pushed out by a reincarnator, bearing a curse that prevented him from holding anyone dear. So the moment that tiny hand of Kim Rok Soo was squeezed in the large firm hand of his uncle, the moment Kim Rok Soo cherished the only family he had left, the curse took effect.
Gradually, but before he could realize it, the uncle who had once brought joy and comfort turned into someone unrecognizable, lost in his grief and alcohol.
He didn't have time to listen to Kim Rok Soo or check if he had enough food or clothes because he was always too drunk to do anything after he got home from the routine after-work drinking. Kim Rok Soo learned how to make instant noodles and do the laundry. He took over the housework because he wanted to help.
The financial situation was stable at first because his parents had left them a lot of money. However, things began to deteriorate when his uncle was fired due to poor performance at work and started pouring all their money into gambling. Kim Rok Soo never got new clothes after he outgrew the ones he already had.
His uncle was not paying attention to himself either as he sank further into despair. He would forget to buy food, spending the entire day drinking without eating anything. Kim Rok Soo knew their living conditions were not good, but he was powerless to change anything as a child. At least he has a place to live. He told himself he could endure this.
And then there were the beatings.
His uncle had started beating him a few months after he began gambling.
Kim Rok Soo learned to look for the tiniest clue on his uncle's face for discontent or annoyance. He taught himself to relax his muscles so the beatings wouldn't hurt as much. He developed a new set of rules to avoid as many beatings as possible. Listen and follow orders without talking back, avoid direct eye contact, always show respect, and be grateful.
His uncle started to say that everything was Kim Rok Soo's fault. But Kim Rok Soo knew it was not the truth. It was not his fault his parents died in an accident. It was not his fault that his uncle lost his job.
He hadn't done anything wrong but he also desperately wanted to avoid the beatings. The way to survive was to avoid angering his uncle. And that was the right way to do things. It was not that he was manipulated into thinking he was doing things wrong, it was just, that he needed to do things right to avoid getting hurt. It was not his fault that his uncle was always angry and sad, looking for a vent. But he could learn to stay more on his uncle’s good side and avoid doing wrong things to make him angrier and earn more beatings.
And he had a whole body of scars to show his learning. It was not his fault, but he started to learn to do things right.
But now, nothing. There was no scar on his arms and hands. He was not hurting anywhere. He didn't feel anything either. Not the burning hunger, not the aching fatigue. He felt, fine. First time in so long. He couldn't remember the last time he felt like this but it had to be before his parents died.
This must be a dream.
No, no- he had to wake up before his uncle came back. He couldn't lie on the floor.
He had to wake up.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” He heard two voices and he looked up and saw-
“D-dragon, a dragon?”
To think he could even dream about dragon. Those fantasy novels he had been reading since he learnt how to read must have paid.
He felt somewhat floating in the air. The pulling in his heart grew. Alberu and the dragon continued to talk to him and Kim Rok Soo felt he was in auto-pliot mode. The dragon was called Raon Miru. Alberu had asked about his age and he should call him hyung and-
The he was suddenly struck by a pain unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was as if molten iron had been poured through his veins, searing and burning every nerve. His vision blurred and darkened at the edges, and a strangled gasp escaped his lips. The agony radiated from his chest, spreading outward in relentless waves, each more excruciating than the last.
He clenched something in his hand and his world went black.
His uncle must be back.