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Kim Rok Soo used to catch a fever often.
Starved for days under the coldness of the rain combined with the stress from the unknowns around him, Kim Rok Soo had kept his guard up under the debris.
That went on until he met Lee Soo Hyuk, who rescued him and offered him food and shelter.
Along with that man was a noisy brat called Choi Jung Soo. He was very noisy about dragging Kim Rok Soo around, even more after finding out about their same birthday.
“Then I’m the Hyung!”
Kim Rok Soo, not understanding why this stranger was so attached to him, just let out a sigh, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
Kim Rok Soo didn’t want to admit it, but as days, weeks, and months passed, he started getting comfortable around these 2 men, letting his guard down around them.
That was when he caught the first fever he could recall.
It was raining that day. Kim Rok Soo felt so cold that he thought the two men forgot to close the window.
He sat up on his bed, landed his foot on the floor, yet as soon as he tried to stand, his leg gave up.
*THUMP*
Choi Jung Soo rushed towards the room upon hearing the loud noise.
“KIM ROK SOO, ARE YOU OKAY?” He screamed as he rushed towards Kim Rok Soo, who was breathing heavily on the floor.
“YOU’RE SO HOT? ROK SOO!” Choi Jung Soo panicked as he continued to shout.
Kim Rok Soo thought he should reassure Choi Jung Soo that he was fine, so he opened his mouth.
“-m ‘kay, lil cold.”
Though the words coming out of his mouth betrayed him. It was very soft, like a mumble. He didn’t have enough energy to deliver another response.
Hearing the weak reply from Kim Rok Soo, Choi Jung Soo quickly brought the younger one to his bed. He tucked the blanket and quickly dashed out of the room.
The next time Choi Jung Soo came back, Kim Rok Soo’s eyes were wide open, well, as wide as a sick person’s eyes could be. On Choi Jung Soo’s hands were approximately 10 blankets.
Without delay, Choi Jung Soo quickly wrapped Kim Rok Soo with blankets. Yes, blankets. Layer after layer, like a perfect sushi or burrito or the likes, you name it.
‘What the heck?’ Kim Rok Soo thought as Choi Jung Soo was wrapping the third layer over him. He thought he should stop Choi Jung Soo from squishing his already small torso with more blankets, so he spoke up.
“Stop. ‘kay.”
He meant to say that he was already okay with 3 layers so Choi Jung Soo could stop.
However, Choi Jung Soo, who had seen how selfless Kim Rok Soo was, interpreted it differently.
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU’RE OKAY? YOU’RE NOT OKAY! YOU HAVE A FEVER! SO STOP WORRYING AND GO TO SLEEP!”
‘But that’s not what I meant?’ Kim Rok Soo thought as he horrifyingly looked at how Choi Jung Soo was wrapping the 4th layer around him.
“What the hell is happening here, Jung Soo, Rok Soo?”
Lee Soo Hyuk stood at the door as he saw his two boys in the room, where one was turning the other into a human wrap.
“Kim Rok Soo has a fever, Hyung!”
Lee Soo Hyuk walked towards Kim Rok Soo and put his hand on the younger’s forehead. It felt good to have the older man's cold hand on his hot head, making Kim Rok Soo unconsciously close his eyes and rub his cheeks against Lee Soo Hyuk’s hand.
Lee Soo Hyuk let out a sigh of relief seeing Kim Rok Soo’s reaction. He then went to pat Choi Jung Soo’s shoulder.
“I think that’s enough layers. Why don’t you get a basin of water and cloth to compress his head?”
“Ah, okay, Hyung!” Choi Jung Soo quickly dashed out of the room.
‘Lifesaver,’ Kim Rok Soo internally thought as he looked at Lee Soo Hyuk.
Lee Soo Hyuk then slowly unwrapped some of the younger’s blankets as he asked him to confirm the right number of layers. They settled with 3 layers.
“Okay, I’ll make food for you. Go sleep, Rok Soo.”
And then, he closed his eyes, and nothing.
Even after that one fever incident, Kim Rok Soo often caught fever in general, maybe because his body was weak as it was very skinny and malnourished, or because he was still stressed out by his surroundings, or both. Whatever the reason was, Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo had made it a mission for them to restore Kim Rok Soo’s health.
Months after months, years after years, the frequency of Kim Rok Soo catching fever was slowly but surely going down, aside from one where he got from overusing his ‘Record’ ability, which earned hours-long nagging from the older two.
Kim Rok Soo was slowly getting better, physically and mentally, with the love and care he received from the two, his Hyungs .
“Take care of yourself, you punk!”
“Stay healthy, and enjoy life!”
“Don’t fall in love with getting sick, Dongsaeng~ let this Hyung hu-”
“You’re not my Hyung, and I’m not hugging your sweaty self!” Kim Rok soo replied as he shoved Choi Jung Soo's cheeks away.
Similar exchanges could be heard from the three men every day. It was happy and warm and all. He enjoyed every moment of his life.
Until that day.
Everything was robbed from him.
His team leader’s slashes and his teammate’s white miru were no longer seen.
The ground was painted red.
Water droplets fell from the sky, mourning over the unsightly red painting on the ground.
Kim Rok Soo lost his family.
Right after the funeral, Kim Rok Soo was appointed to be the new team leader. However, he wasn’t present at work for the next few days.
Holed in his room with blankets around him, he tried to lower his body temperature, alone.
Records of the two men, his brothers , taking care of him flooded his mind, piercing his heart as he tried to swallow the leftover porridge that the oldest man made before their last battle.
It was the longest, most silent week for Kim Rok Soo. The silence he had forgotten ever since he met Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo was creeping back in.
Once his fever went down, he went to the office.
His steps were greeted by scorning eyes looking at him.
Comments about how he shed no tears, how he neglected his duty the moment Lee Soo Hyuk was gone, how he was a lazy person, all those negative comments flooded his ears.
The moment he arrived at his desk, he saw two younger members looking at him. They looked lost, not knowing what to do next, and asking him what they should do. They were depending on him as their team leader.
Kim Rok Soo then realized that this was the current reality. No one would take care of him anymore. The moment he showed his weakness, only scorn would result from it. Not only to him, but also to his team members.
That was why he made his resolve.
He should not show any weaknesses to protect his team.
He worked hard to strengthen himself physically, resulting in his muscular body.
He strengthened his skill, earning an offensive ability in the process: ‘Instant’.
From that moment he made his resolve, he never caught fever anymore. Maybe it was due to how his physical abilities have grown, or because he didn’t want to relive the loneliness of being sick with no one taking care of him .
Battles after battles were fought, both during his time as Kim Rok Soo and after he got into Cale Henituse’s body.
He also had people to protect here, his new family, so he did his best to remain steadfast. And that was not hard with the help of The Vitality of Heart.
They won the war and were now enjoying peace.
Yes, peace. That was probably how Cale let his guard down.
That day, he woke up feeling cold despite the thick high-quality blanket he had.
He looked around the bed and saw that the children were not around.
‘Ah, it’s already noon, the children are probably playing somewhere,’ Cale thought. However, as he tried to get off his bed, his legs gave up.
*THUMP*
He fell beside the bed, with a blank pale expression on his face.
Cale, feeling restless realizing that he seemed to have caught fever and was now alone in his room, started thinking about the past. Memories of the last time he had fever started flooding his head. One when he was alone in his apartment.
Not wanting to be weak and not wanting to relive the loneliness in his fever , he tried to stand up, just to almost fall again.
The door suddenly slammed open with Choi Han rushing towards him before he fell for the second time.
“Cale-nim! Are you okay?” Choi Han asked as he tried to support Cale up, yet when he held Cale’s hand, he started panicking.
“CALE-NIM, WHY ARE YOU SO HOT?”
The panicked Choi Han quickly carried Cale back to his bed and tucked his blanket on him.
Cale, while he was confused himself, tried to reassure his knight.
“-m ‘kay. Just cold.”
Yet it came out very soft.
Choi Han, without wasting a second, quickly dashed out the door and came back with multiple duvet blankets on his hands.
“I’ll wrap you warm, Cale nim!!” He said as he wrapped layers after layers of blankets on Cale.
Not long after Choi Han finished his second roll, a teleportation magic lit.
“Instructor-nim… what are you doing?” Alberu stared at Choi Han.
“Cale-nim has a fever and he said that he’s cold. So-”
“So you wrapped multiple blankets on him like a burrito?” Alberu put his palm on his face.
He walked towards Cale and put his palm on Cale’s forehead, “You’re pretty warm indeed. Choi Han, go ask for some compress from Ron and get Beacrox to make a light meal for him.”
Choi Han nodded and zoomed out of the room.
'Well, they are 100% blood relatives.'
Seeing the resemblance on how what happened today was really close to a distant nostalgic memory of his first fever, Cale unconsciously smiled, which earned a sigh from Alberu who sat at the side of the bed.
“Now what? Didn’t you say you have healing power? How did you even get a fever?”
Cale, finally noticing the oddity, asked his ancient powers.
‘How did this happen? Are you guys okay?’
‘What the heck, Cale? YOU are the one who’s sick and you’re asking if we are okay?’ The Dominating Water screamed.
‘She can’t heal you, Cale,’ The Thief responded softly.
‘I can’t heal mental illness,’ The Vitality of Heart added.
“Mental…?” Cale, being too shocked by their response, unconsciously blurted that out loud instead of speaking in his mind. Though he seemed to not realize that still.
‘Yes. Your fever this time was most likely due to your mental exhaustion,’ The Crybaby explained as she started crying.
‘Just share your burden, Cale, and rest,’ The Super Rock added.
‘Eat a lot!’ The Glutton added.
‘And spend money!’ And the Cheapskate.
Cale chuckled at the ancient powers’ responses, while Alberu was frowning hard.
“What mental, huh? Are you stressing over something again? Didn’t we tell you to share your burden? What are you hiding, Dongsaeng?”
“Ah, no. I’m fine-”
“You’re definitely not fine with a fever caused by mental stress, Dongsaeng,” Alberu put on a scary smile as he looked at Cale.
Cale, not thinking he could hide anything, not when his own head was hurting at that moment, decided to tell Alberu what he knew.
“I think, it might be an overdue stress? From long ago?”
Alberu, seeing how his sworn brother seemed to open up honestly, attentively listened to him.
“I used to think that I had to be strong. And as you said, I did carry things by myself.” Cale paused a bit before he continued, “But now it’s different. I have you guys, who would help me. So I think as I loosen up the tension, the overdue stress kicks in...”
Cale hid his face under the blanket, embarrassed at how his sick self couldn’t think of a lie that would’ve been less embarrassing, and he knew that Alberu won’t go away without any reasonable explanation, so his option was to answer him honestly.
Seeing Cale’s action, Alberu went to pat his sworn brother’s head, “You’re really giving me a headache. Of course we will, Dongsaeng. We love you and will take care of you, always. So don’t worry about anything and rest. Don’t carry everything alone, we’ll help you. Got it?”
“...”
“Dearest Dongsaeng, this important question from your Hyung-nim should be answered. So, do you get it?” Alberu smiled scarily at Cale, which Cale didn’t see as he was still hiding his face under the blanket.
Knowing that Alberu wouldn’t give in until he replied, he softly nodded his head, which Alberu could feel as he still had his palm on Cale’s head.
Alberu smiled warmly at Cale as he heard some footsteps coming in.
“I heard Young Master-nim is sick? This Ron is sad.”
“Do you think you can eat a light soup, Young Master-nim? It’s good to have you physically ready to fight the fever.”
“Humaaan, are you sick?”
“Cale nyaa”
“Get well soon…”
“Wait, Raon, Hong, On, you shouldn’t go to Cale-nim! He needs to rest and you might get sick too!”
And more chattery could be heard filling his room. People being worried about him, people taking care of him, people trying to cheer him up. All the different mixes.
Cale softly smiled as he looked at his family, recalling his memory with Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo.
‘Take care of yourself, you punk!’
‘Stay healthy, and enjoy life!’
Cale closed his eyes as he went back to sleep.
‘I’m okay now, Hyungs.’
Epilogue: Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo Visiting Cale’s Dream
“Hmm? Am I dreaming?” Cale opened his eyes wide.
“How rude!” Choi Jung Soo pouted.
Lee Soo Hyuk chuckled at the two youngers as he explained, “Well, your body is dreaming. But all of us have our real consciousness here. The God of Death said that he was worried about his Saint-candidate getting sick so he sent us to meet you.”
Cale frowned hard at the word "Saint-candidate".
“Oi Dongsaeng, didn’t I tell you to not fall in love with getting sick?”
“I didn’t,” Cale pouted.
Lee Soo Hyuk smiled as he ruffled Cale’s hair, “Looks like you’re fine now. Take care of yourself, eat well, sleep well~”
Choi Jung Soo added, “We’re happy now, so you should as well!”
Cale nodded, which earned the other two’s chuckles.
“Will you hug me now, Rok Soo-ya?”
“Well, you’re not sweaty now,” Cale commented as he opened his arms.
The two men jumped towards their youngest.
“Our Rok Soo is so cute!” Choi Jung Soo commented, to which Cale pouted.
Suddenly all their bodies started shining.
“I guess it’s time.”
“Take care, Rok Soo-ya!”
“I will. You both too. I love you.”
The two men stared in shock at Cale, whose ears had turned red. They laughed as they ruffled their youngest’s hair.
“We love you too, Rok Soo!”
“SO SO MUCH!!”
Cale nodded as he smiled.
“Thank you.”
And that night, Cale was seen smiling in his sleep.