Work Text:
<Grade 1 Ability User Kim Rok Soo>
<Do you wish to return to your world?>
<Or will you die in this world?>
<0 Months, 0 Days, 0:00 Hours>
<You will need to decide when the countdown reaches zero.>
The timer upon the paper blinked futilely. Its owner had decided to completely ignore it, and hence, the power within it had remained unused. The deadline had come and had passed, yet the divine item from the God of Death kept its power.
If the power had been used, if Cale Henituse had made a decision between the two worlds, the letter’s power would have been expended to on create a conduit between worlds. But Cale had completely ignored it and had cleared the Sealed God’s test with the help of his friends, leaving the divine item unused.
It would be a little too much of a waste if its power was left as it is, the God of Death decided.
And hence, the letter let out a pulse before disintegrating – its power being used somewhere else.
Choi Han blinked when he realised that he was nowhere he recognised after being transported out of the Sealed God’s test. He had expected to find himself somewhere in the Endable Kingdom, near Cale when he had awoken. Instead, he saw fully stocked bookshelves surrounding him. The aluminium frames could not be found in Roan Kingdom – was he still somewhere in Korea? A quick glance at the hangul upon the spines of the books (He read “A Record of Monsters by Grade Volume 7”) told him that it was highly likely he still was.
‘Did something go wrong? Is this still part of the Sealed God’s test?’ Choi Han’s senses were heightened as he started to walk down the aisle. There was the sound of the second pair of feet landing upon the concrete floor, and Choi Han quickly changed directions, heading towards the sound. It took less than a minute for Choi Han to find its source.
“It seems Instructor-nim is here as well.” The regal voice of Alberu spoke. Crown prince Alberu was no longer in the form of the Dark Tiger, instead, was dressed in his usual princely garbs. A measure of calm returned to Choi Han when he learnt that he was not alone here. His first questions were direct. “Your highness, do you know where we are? Are we still in Korea?”
Alberu’s response was unexpected. “I am not too sure. But I can safely say we are not in Korea.” The prince said as he turned and started to walk, motioning for Choi Han to follow.
As they walked, they confirmed that they both had ended up in this library after exiting from the Sealed God’s test. Alberu had only been in the library for about fifteen minutes, despite having left the test hours earlier.
“As to why I said I do not think we are in Korea, well, take a look.” Alberu said as he gestured ahead.
Ahead of them, the monotonous scenery of grey bookshelves upon concrete flooring suddenly stopped at a jagged line that cut through the floor of the library. Ahead were still more bookshelves, but they were different. Instead of the metal frames that showed functionality over form, these bookshelves were instead wooden and patterned with gold. The ornate wooden bookshelves stood upon white tiles, drawing a stark contrast to the otherwise monochromatic library. Choi Han pulled a book out from a wooden bookshelf and found that the title read, “A History of the Roan Kingdom Nobles” in the Roan kingdom language.
“I looked a bit into the books in this section, and there’s quite a variety. There are books on ancient powers, books on the Empire, maps of various areas, and even a few ledgers of the Singten Merchant Guild. These are all in the Western Continent language. On the grey side, some are novels, some are survival guides, some are reports on monster casualties, all of which are in Korean. And the books don’t seem to be ordered in any way, unlike a proper library. About three quarters of books in the library concerns things about Korea, and one quarter is about our world. That’s why I don’t think this is a normal place.” Alberu explained.
“Is it the works of the gods again?” Choi Han asked, his hand finding his way to the sheath of his sword.
“Probably. I think it is best we figure out what they want us to do here. Let us leave destroying this place as a last resort.” Alberu replied, encouraging Choi Han to loosen his grip on his blade.
“Please don’t. I don’t want to think about what would actually occur if you damage anything here.” A third voice cut in. Choi Han turned to see an extremely familiar Korean man leaning against one of the bookshelves.
“Rok Soo-hyung!” Choi Han called. His initial confusion and worry ebbed away when he knew Cale was here.
However, seconds later, Choi Han noticed something was off. The reddish-brown eyes narrowed, and lips twisted at his greeting. Then, the man spoke, “It’s really weird to hear that from you, senior. You are Choi Jung Soo’s uncle and you’re older than me. I am only twenty this year.”
The man straightened his posture. “I guess I should properly greet you two since this is our first meeting. Nice to meet you, Choi Han and Alberu Crossman. I am the Kim Rok Soo of the world you just left.” Kim Rok Soo finished his greeting with a bow.
The scene was like déjà vu, but Choi Han doesn’t laugh this time. This was not Cale, it was a twenty-year-old version of him that had never met them before. How should he act towards this Kim Rok Soo who was pretty much a stranger?
“You know of us. Were you conscious the whole time?” Alberu had stepped forward to ask. His gaze was calculating while his back was stiff, and Choi Han knew that he was trying to determine what the situation was and whether the man in front of them was an enemy.
If Kim Rok Soo noticed their nervousness, he did not let it show. He remained stoic, voice flat as he replied, “Thankfully, yes. It would have been horrible if I had not. Imagine waking up and suddenly people are asking you for prophecies. At least I have context on what is happening now.”
Kim Rok Soo relaxed his stance and continued, “Before you ask, yes, I know of your situation as I have skimmed through the records. My older self – I’ll just call him Cale – Cale knows about me. We were able to converse since the day before, and we only bothered telling Soo Hyuk-hyung about this since he would be able to take care of things if anything unexpected occurs. We didn’t think about telling anyone else since Cale was rather busy, and I didn’t expect that I’d be able to meet you two.”
Considering all the things that Cale got involved in, he probably did not think that having an alternate world self was very strange. Choi Han felt that it was very like Cale to not tell them anything about this Kim Rok Soo if it was not necessary for them to know. He could tell that Alberu was feeling the same exasperation by the way his brows were furrowed. Alberu soldiered on with his queries regardless, “Records? Or do you mean you read his memories?”
For this, Choi Han interjected. “Cale-nim’s ability is Record, it allows him to record events and remember them whenever he needs to.”
“I awakened my ability during the second battle with the Electric Eel. I somehow managed to inherit all of Cale’s records when that occurred, which includes the two years he was in your world.” The younger Kim Rok Soo added.
“And you believe them?” Alberu asked, eyes trained upon Kim Rok Soo, gauging him.
Kim Rok Soo stared back, not flinching at the crown prince’s gaze. Then he answered, “It’s a lot to take in, even if my world has already been half-destroyed by monsters which once only existed in storybooks. But I talked to my older self. At heart, Cale is still Kim Rok Soo; even if he doesn’t use that name much anymore.”
Cale was Kim Rok Soo and Kim Rok Soo was Cale. Choi Han remembered when he had awakened with Choi Jung Soo’s memories, of how he easily connected Cale to the Kim Rok Soo in the memories. His actions, demeanour and personality had not changed even when he had become Cale Henituse. If you thought about it in reverse, it made sense for this Kim Rok Soo to act similarly to Cale, even if he did not actually know them.
“I see.” Alberu said, dipping his head in a nod. He had chosen to trust, as he recognised the reddish-brown eyes that had always met his own eyes directly, without fear of his position or status.
“Rok Soo-hy- do you know where we are?” Choi Han asked. Cale had always had an answer, and he had been right in assuming that Kim Rok Soo did too.
“Roughly. This place holds Cale’s records.” Kim Rok Soo replied. He stomped on the jagged crack running through the library. “We are at the border where his records transition from Korea to your world.”
“This - it’s a location?” Alberu sputtered.
“It’s not supposed to be. Cale doesn’t need to imagine going into a room full of bookshelves each time he needs to recall something. This place isn’t supposed to exist.” Kim Rok Soo continued to speak even as he crouched down to scan the rows of books. “Well, since someone decided to make this place exist, I can guess what he wants me to do.”
Choi Han trusted that this Kim Rok Soo would explain what was necessary in time. Hence, he watched silently as Kim Rok Soo reached his hand into a metal cabinet bordering the crack, extracting five books at the very end. It seemed to be a trigger, as the entire library shook when the books were removed from the cabinet.
“To me and to Cale, this place is useless. All our records are already in our brains. So, the reason this place exists must be that there is some record to be passed on to you. But Cale would have told you of any useful information, so it had to be a record that had no value.” Kim Rok Soo explained. He tapped the books he picked out as he continued. “Well, to be honest, these records aren’t exactly useless. Cale used these constantly as references for a year. But all the information is outdated by now. I can see why he never bothered telling you about these.”
Choi Han spotted a tell-tale tremble from Kim Rok Soo’s arms and reached out to help him with the books. Kim Rok Soo seemed to sigh with his eyes and passed the books over. Taking the hardcopy volumes in hand, Choi Han was able to read the printed title upon the first book.
It read <A Birth of a Hero by Nealan Barrow: Volume 1>.
For a moment, Choi Han grip loosened. He managed to catch the books before they spilt onto the floor, but his lack of composure must have been noticed by Alberu as he dimly heard Alberu ask, “What is this about?”
Choi Han did not reply. His attention was focused fully on the books. He noted how they were similar but different from Choi Jun Gun’s memoirs. Unlike his uncle’s handwritten memoirs, the books were printed, and bounded in a plastic cover that only existed on Earth. The title was written in Korean, rather than the Eastern Kingdom language. Furthermore, his uncle had only written one book while these books were in a series.
Kim Rok Soo spoke up. “Cale, no, before he was Cale, your Kim Rok Soo thought it was a fantasy series. He borrowed the whole series from a library on his day off. He read up to volume five before dozing off. And strangely enough, when he woke up, he found himself in Cale Henituse’s body.”
The answer provided was stranger than Choi Han had expected. But before Choi Han could ask any further questions, the library shook once more. It seemed to be a tipping point, as the bookshelves and floor around them started to flake away. The library was crumbling into a white abyss.
“It seems like this place won’t hold.” Kim Rok Soo commented, unperturbed at the destruction occurring around him. It seemed that he had expected this to occur. Seeing Kim Rok Soo remaining unfazed allowed Choi Han to keep his calm despite the surroundings disintegrating around him.
“You have not explained why those books are important.” Alberu noted. From Alberu’s point of view, these books may have been mere storybooks. He did not have any knowledge of Choi Jun Gun’s memoirs.
“They are not. It is one of the reasons why Cale never did talk about them.” Kim Rok Soo replied. “As for me, I believe it would be best if you read it yourselves.”
“But there is not enough time for us to read it now.” Choi Han mentioned as the nearest bookshelves disappeared into the white background. There was only a small circle of flooring left supporting them, the jagged crack still running in between Kim Rok Soo and the dimensional travellers.
Kim Rok Soo watched the crack distrustfully, the only sign that he was mildly concerned about the dimension breaking apart. “No, but I am fairly sure the bastard that set up this meeting will take care of this somehow. Do me a favour and give those motherfucking gods a whack in the back for all this.”
“They have a lot to answer for.” Alberu replied, agreeing indirectly.
Their calm belied the situation that was occurring. The ground beneath them was trembling, and a white light started shining from the crack. It was clear that the floor was going to split.
“I guess this is goodbye?” Choi Han offered. From beginning to end, Choi Han was still not quite sure how to act with this version of Kim Rok Soo. He resembled Cale but Choi Han could feel that he had chosen to erect a wall between he and them. It reminded Choi Han of his first few months with Cale, when Cale never seemed interested in keeping him close.
“It should be.” Kim Rok Soo said. Reddish brown eyes seemed to record their figures before coming to a decision. He spoke again. “I’ll confess, meeting you two is really, really weird for me. I don’t actually know you two. Records aren’t exactly memories. And unlike Cale, I have not lived through those times with you. It’s sort of like reading a book on someone else’s life, except it’s my older self’s life, and the people from the book appear in front of me. There is too much I’m unsure about here. But there is something I can safely say.”
The destruction of the dimension did not wait. The crack split, brown and grey floorings throwing themselves in different direction. There was no longer any footing and Choi Han had no choice but to fall into the white abyss. As the white filled his vision, he heard Kim Rok Soo’s final words.
“Thank you for taking care of my older self.”
Weeks passed before Choi Han had time to examine what he had received. He was preoccupied with ensuring that Cale could eat and sleep well after spending months trapped in the Sealed God’s test. Cale never knew how to take a break, and there was a constant flurry of activity that he had to attend to.
Despite all the work, he did not forget about the books. They had remained in the corner of his mind, the records clearly imprinted. They stood out against his memories, lacking emotions or familiarity, and he had a feeling they were impossible to forget. Choi Han wondered if this was what Cale’s record ability really was like.
It was a quiet night when he finally thought about the books. A moment of reprieve, like the calm before the storm that was the final battle against the White Star. Choi Han laid upon his bed, but his mind was focused upon the first volume of the book.
Both Kim Rok Soo and Cale had thought these to be useless, yet Kim Rok Soo had felt the need to give him the books. There had to be some value to these books, right?
He steeled himself as he mentally flipped the first page open.