Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Blood splattered on the floor as Cale hugged Hong and On into his arms, shielding them from the explosion, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth.
Worried yells were audible through the surroundings, such a shame that no one survived to respond.
The Ancient powers slowly flew out. As if saddened by something, before abruptly vanishing.

The God of Death smiled. Humans really are the most interesting, with infinite possibilities. He then took the three of their souls and invited them into his domain.

When Cale came back to his senses, he was in front of a god. Hong and On were both there with him. The God of Death sighed, disappointed. “What a shame, now you can’t be my saint.”
He mused, “ Your family will literally kill me if I allow you and your companions to fade into nothingness. And adding to the fact that you have too much Karma from saving the world , Even if I want to harm you, the World would not allow that.”

Cale emptily stared at the God of Death. The cats beside him looked at Cale, one with an expression of worship, like a certain white-haired maniac, the other with an expression of a dead fish.

Hong praised Cale in his heart, very pleased with the evaluation. On deadpanned at the weird expression of the human and her sibling. ‘Seriously? Why is everyone dumb.’ The walking cloud sat down next to Cale. Not minding the almost mad expression on her brother.

Cale really wanted to cry.“ Where will we go?” He questioned, hoping that they will go to a peaceful world where nothing disastrous happens.

The God of Death as if reading his mind, chucked. “The new world is a world where disasters will appear in the future. It’s in fact way more troublesome than here.”

Cale sighed. At least he won’t be alone.

The God of Death interrupted his thoughts “I will give you a guide book to this world as well. This world is a loop without a set ending, since there is no start or finish. I have been watching that world for a long time, one of the Omniscient beings there are my friends!” He ended his speech with a cheerful tone.

Cale stared at the God of Death, “Can I bring my spatial pouch? The one with limitless apple pies?”

The god of death smirked mischievously, “I will contact your friends and family to see, I’ll only transfer that spatial pouch and the items in it. Your ancient powers are in a jar right now, I’ll give them to you when the apocalypse arrives.”

Cale sighed, exhausted by the conversation. He fell asleep. Hong stared at The God Of Death, not minding the two unconscious beings next to him, The God of Death used magic to lift up the cat, before telling The red cat that it should be careful and warning the cat that they have 10 years of peace.

The surroundings warped.

Cale woke up shivering with a headache . It felt like he had just received numerous memories about this world.

Currently, he is five. An orphan who keeps getting framed by other kids in the orphanage like stealing food, drawing on the walls and fighting, he couldn’t stand the accusations and punishments and decided to jump off a bridge.

But strangely he had never seen this place before. This house gives off a homey and comfortable feeling. Sitting on the bed, Cale noticed multiple pictures on the wall. Pictures of an old lady and her children are seen.

Sounds of someone knocking on the wall could be heard throughout the room. Then an old lady carrying a plate of cookies entered through the door.

"You're awake? Here, have some water , call me Grandma Kim." She sat down next to Cale and gave him a cup of water.

"Thank you, what happened?" Cale attempted to get information.

"I found you by the lake, You were in a critical condition young man, you also had a bag and two cats with you. The two cats are in the next room. " Grandma Kim said, eyes becoming Crescent.

Cale felt relieved, smiling as Grandma Kim continued, "I called the police already, after seeing numerous injuries on your body, They arrested the people in charge of the orphanage from where you were from, and I, your grandma adopted you."

Cale gaped, she got them arrested?and I got adopted??? He suddenly felt a little dizzy.

Grandma Kim proudly puffed out her chest, "You are now my grandson. Be Proud, Kim Ke Lí. "

Cale outwardly smiled, 'Keli??? Doesn’t that just mean Cale but in korean?' "Okay Grandma Kim." He said, deciding to stop thinking about useless things, sweetly with his eyes wide open, to make a doe-eyed impression, as well as to gather more favorability.

Grandma Kim smiled and left the room, when Cale thought about it more, due to the time Cale had spent in the other world, he realised Grandma Kim is a Kind and Rich person, the quality of the food, the fact that he isn’t at the hospital and that she could take two kittens.

Cale began to reminisce and think alone, before two cat noises caught his attention. He looked down and realised he had already begun patting the two cats, when he realised this. He began to wonder if they could turn back to human form , in addition to where his ancient powers went.

The two cats adorably purred in response to his actions.
Cale smiled as he continued petting them.
The two cats actually got a buff which allows them to understand and speak the language from the God of Death as compensation for having to be a cat, and being unable to become human for a while, which in hindsight was rather convenient.

Hong suddenly stopped purring, which caused On to stop ,realising that and the Walking cloud started to stare at Hong, waiting for answers. Cale who suddenly stopped hearing the Purrs, looked down in question.

“?”He narrowed his eyes.
Hong frantically Meowed, as if wanting to say something.
On, who is also a cat , could understand the language, began panicking. The two cats patted Cale with their fluffy paws and attempted to get the book. Cale took the book out and placed it on the floor. On, the older one attempted to roll into a ball. The other one tried to become a light pole. Cale finally got it when Hong and On made ‘10’ while pointing at the book.
“The God of Death said this book would start officially 10 years later?”

The two cats meowed in agreement. And continued making irresistibly Cute Purring noises in hopes for more pats on the head.

Of course, Cale, who is a wreck for his family, would not hesitate to do so.

Chapter Text

Sounds of an alarm clock could be heard throughout the room.

Cale woke up feeling a bit of weight on him. He opened his eyes to see Two fluffy and soft cats on him, the cats now looked as if they were 1 year old even if 9 years had already passed. Cale was very happy since they were technically just humans trapped in Cat bodies, they must have had human lifespans as well.

The two fluffy beings climbed off Cale, as Cale started to sit up. Cale reached a hand out to close the Alarm Clock and to Prepare for school.  He had to choose a school to go to as it would affect his freedom if he didn't, so he chose to go to Chungli  High school.

So, he put on his uniform and walked to school. 

“Is that the new transfer student?”

“Red hair-Red Hair! He looks like this one character from this popular show!!!”

“Wonder what he’s like?”

“Hope he’s nice…”

Cale with a face mask, ignored these comments and continued walking to school, the two cats in his bag along with a bunch of books.

Cale really wanted to go though school without any attention but it couldn’t be helped since he is a transfer student. 

Heck, Cale actually even made up a whole profile for the character he would be acting at school.

Cale entered the general office to register his existence and to find out which and what classes he had, afterwards, he went to find his class. 

The teacher in class 2-X asked him to follow them, so he followed. 

The noise in Class 2-X stopped when they heard multiple footsteps. The Teacher asked Cale to just follow her. 

The teacher entered through the door and Cale closed the door after entering. 

Cale wrote his name on the backboard before introducing himself.

“My Name is Kim-Ke Li but you can call me Cale. My hobbies are Reading and I dislike doing sports.”

The teacher then gestured for Cale to sit next to the boy with dyed white hair. Cale walked over and sat down. The two cats in his bag were smushed with the books, so he placed the books into his drawer and allowed the cats to keep staying in the bag. 

The boy with the white dyed hair introduced himself  “I am Kim Namwoon, don’t disturb me from my sleep.”

Cale looked at Him and realised he was one of the people from the book who got killed by the “Reader” as well as one of the characters who followed the Regressor.

Cale sighed. He can't believe he had met another character from the novel. 'What to do…'He mused, he can't avoid them, but there's a chance that they would just come after him like reckless flies. His eyes darkened and narrowed 'This book said Star Stream. Kim-'

The sounds of something shattering caught his attention and interrupted his thoughts, he could see and hear Kim Namwoon next to him snickering.

Sigh.

Cale looked at the fallen glass shards on the floor. And looked at Kim Namwoon. Kim Namwoon suddenly stopped snickering as a chill went down his spine.

Usually When the teachers teached, Cale hid behind the classmates who sat in front of him. But when the teacher calls upon Cale, Cale usually manages to answer with the correct answer. 

Cale really wanted to go back to staring at his book made of dead trees and start hallucinating but he kind of wants to save Kim Namwoon and use him to become one of Kim Dokja's obstacles so Cale really doesn't have a choice.  

In [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] , Kim Namwoon died because he was a stupid idiot who went against the Reader and got his head exploded because he couldn't kill anyone. Although the Reader is a nice person, he let his guard down too much. 

In [Ways to Survive in an apocalypse] Kim Namwoon was a companion to the super handsome protagonist who's face was used by the Reader to compare to beautiful people.

'Sigh, What should he even do?' His eyes twitched. 'If He saves Kim Namwoon, the reader will know that something went wrong, the protagonist will also figure out that something went wro-'

The bell rang, interrupting his thoughts.

Cale stood up and left the classroom, preferring to go home and continue to think of his plans, Not noticing the sad sighs of Classmates who were going to approach him, as well as an admiring gaze in his Seatmate.

Kim Namwoon walked home, following Cale, with sparkling eyes, he wondered, "Transfer student…Unique Hair…He looks like a protagonist!" He then looked at his white-dyed hair, and red eyes, 'I look like a supporting Character!' His eyes started to sparkle even more, 'Cale-nim even had a cat in his bag' He started a conspiracy theory in his head while On looked at the insane Mad mad talking to himself after school.

On meowed a few times to let Hong, who was carried in Cale's arms, know that there was someone following them.

Cale honestly had no clue since he could only hear a bunch of Cat sounds. He just thought they were hungry. So he rushed home.

Kim Namwoon, who was daydreaming on the side of the road, finally snapped out of it, slightly red as he was embarrassed and walked.the other direction towards his home.

Cale who finally went back home, went to find a dictionary so that the cats could point at words from the dictionary to make a sentence in order for Cale to understand.

The cats opened the dictionary before pointing at 'Follow'
Cale narrowed his eyes, "Someone was following me? Was it Kim Namwoon?"

The cats happily purred in agreement.

Cale sighed, he can't believe that even though The Cats can understand more languages than him, but it’s unusually difficult to communicate with each other. He could only hope that the 'apocalypse' would allow his spatial pouch and his Cats to get their power back.

He then frowned. How does he even befriend a troublesome delinquent like Kim Namwoon?

Turns out, He doesn't.

Screams and Cries for help could be heard from the back alley.

Kim Namwoon Gaped as he looked at Cale and his two cats beating up the gangsters who were originally going to threaten them for money.

Cale, due to walking to school and going back home, had enough stamina to fight. But since he also figured that even though Money would be useless after the Apocalypse, it isn't useless yet. So he decided to loot from people.

Kim Namwoon sighed as Cale after beating up the gangsters into a pulp, decided to leave them alone, since if he loots them now, they would bring their way into his very peaceful life, so he left them and their belongings alone. Cale looked at the Cats still scratching and doing damage before rubbing his temples.
"You two can stop now." The cats stopped and jumped into Cale's arms.

Kim Namwoon had his eyes wide open. 'Is he a cat god?' If Cale knew that Kim Namwoon thought he was a Protagonist and is currently speculating whether he was a Cat God, he would have stopped and ran for his life. How unfortunate.

"Cale-nim!Cale-nim! Are you a Cat God?!" The Military Otaku finally couldn’t hold in his curiosity and rushed over to ask Cale questions.

The two cats looks at the otaku like he was a lunatic who believed in legends, seeing the resemblance between him and another certain white-haired bastard.

Cale looked at Kim Namwoon stupefied, he hadn’t expected that he would meet another insane person in this peaceful world. He frantically shook his head.

Kim Namwoon refused to believe that. “ Then you’re a protagonist? Awesome!”

Cale’s eyes shook. He can’t believe he can’t have some peace from stalkers either in this world. So, he exposed himself towards Kim Namwoon, among multiple complicated reasons aside, at least someone can hide the cats for him.

Kim Namwoon happily replied, “Don’t worry…I’ll hide the cat’s true identities for you.” Cale only relaxed because he knew Kim Namwoon was a laid back person who is actually a bit of a sociopath. But it’s fine. Since Cale has no intentions for any of his people to die as long as they don’t betray him.

Chapter Text

Cale slowly walked, dragging his bag that contained his home cooked meals, two smuggled cats,a tank with 2 koi fish that had eggs to school.

He sighed. Why is he doing this when he could have just stayed home and squish some spiders? Because those areas are boring and no one would pay attention. Which isn’t perfect for this world.

Dragging the bag, he finally reached the school gate which wasn’t even open yet. Kim Namwoon was already waiting for him at the closed gate. Cale sighed. The two cats jumped up impatiently and hid under Cale’s uniform.

Kim Namwoon looked at them with Dead Fish eyes, absolutely exhausted from waking up so early. He also started to wonder how Cale knew that it would start today.

“How did you know if it’d happen today?”

“ I had the altered version, remember ? One of the characters got their bike stolen so they had to take the train. I made sure that it was Yoo Sang-Ah who had their bike stolen since you never know.”

“Ah, I’m an idiot.”Kim Namwoon widened his eyes in realisation.

They continued planning out the final details for their plan and 30 Minutes quickly passed, and then the gate finally opened. 

“I’ll meet you at Chungmuro station.”

“Don’t die. Or abandon On. Or I’ll kill murder you.”

“Heh, no way. Your vicious cat wouldn’t die. It’s more Likely to kill me .”

“Just remember.”

Kim Namwoon went to the class next to him, carrying Hong as an extra measure , Cale made sure the four of them were carrying something that would be easy to kill, like a spider or an ant but trapped in a little jar with holes

06:55.

Other classmates of Cale also started to come in. They greeted Cale before settling in their seats. Unknowing of the disaster happening within a few minutes. 

06:59.

Cale’s clenched fist relaxed, On, in his bag staring at an ant. Also stopped.

At that moment. The lights flickered off. 

A sudden blackout?

When the lights came back on, A fluffy Creature appeared and was floating in the air. Cale sat still in his seat, unmoving.

“#$$&#&#@*%$” The fluffy creature with horns-no-A dokkaebi said. 

Cale frowned. It really sounded like gibberish.

A few students who had arrived early couldn’t keep their composure. 

“Uh. Hello?”

Of course, the only reason why there weren’t too many screams in here after seeing a dokkaebi was due to them being open-minded, having read many fantastical novels before. 

The floating Dokkaebi smiled. “The Paid Service has begun, haven’t you all been living too happily? Worry not, Now Prove your worth!”

The Dokkaebi happily cheered as the air twisted around it, before vanishing. 

A few windows appeared in front of Cale.

[#GI-7632 channel is open.]

[Constellations haven entered]

[The main scenario has arrived!]

He looked at it, it was a light blue neon screen, just as the book described it. A little bit weird but it gives a feeling of futuristic items.

[Main Scenario #1 – Proof of Value]

Category : Main

Difficulty : F

Clear Conditions : Kill one or more creatures.

Time Limit: 30 Minutes

Compensation: 300 coins

Failure: Death

Cale crushed the ant he had on his desk after taking it out of the box.

[You have achieved the ‘First Kill’ Achievement!]

[100 coins have been earned as additional compensation.]

Cale was sure that On had already killed the Ant in his bag, he had more just-in-case scenarios after that . The cat scratched the koi fish in the tank with his claws and killed the fish. Also digging out the eggs in them and squishing some of them. Many messages appeared in front of the cat. Hong was surprised to see that he killed approximately 5000 koi eggs already…

Hong meowed. Cale was worried but stopped after realising the countdown would distract everyone. 

Hong still couldn’t talk yet. The Red Cat pointed at the eggs, then the fish. indicating that th eggs give coins too. 

Cale was surprised that they counted. 

So, he killed the other koi fish in the water, digging out the eggs and squishing them. 

Many windows appeared in front of him.

His hand was dripping in blood and water. He quickly washed the blood off his hand with the water in the tank. Before ushering for Hong to kill the rest.

Cale’s classmates were too busy panicking and fighting to notice any of his actions. So he didn’t need to worry and observed the situation around him . There were some delinquents who used this chance to kill people they disliked. But that’s another thing.

Luckily, the classroom wasn’t full. However, this would make it more troublesome in the future.

A few delinquents stayed in their own corner after securing their own lives. Cale already knew that he couldn’t save everyone, but there was no point in thinking about things that would affect his mood.

The delinquents had not seen him as a threat due to his fragile appearance as well as remembering his dismal score at physical education, they left him alone thinking that he’ll just die in the next scenarios.

Cale opened up his bag filled with numerous items and picked up Hong. Putting him in one of the big pockets in his jacket. Cale also took out the spatial pouch he had on him and placed it in his other pocket, although gold is now useless in this world, it still had use in the other world.

Cale made sure Hong was comfortable before continuing to wait.

07:25.

The place had became a bloodbath. Delinquents and normal students fought like it was the end of the world. At the end of it. 

07:30

3 students remained and windows appeared in front of him.

Of course, the reason why so little people remained was due to it being so early.

[You have killed 9770 living things.]

[Kill History: One fish , 9769 fish eggs.]

[You have killed non-resistance living things, so the number of coins you have acquired is reduced by half.]

[48850 coins have been acquired!]

[You have a total of 48850 coins.]

[The 'Mass Murderer' achievement has been gained through excessive killing.]

<I really want more food after this. So hungry…>

!

That sounded like…Glutton.

<Finally, that dark space, there was just shabby fake coloured gold in here,it was terrible!>

<Hahaha, I really want to XXX kill that XXX God of Death for putting me and these XXXX in that stupid XXXX jar!>

<…Hello.> 

<…Freedom……>

Although Cale was disturbed by these voices once again, Cale couldn’t be mad at all, in fact he was very glad. This proved that the time spent in <The birth of a hero> was not an illusion he made because he was lonely.

The Ancient powers who know him better than anyone else would never mention this but they are aware of his care towards everyone in their world.

Kim Namwoon who was in the classroom next to them, when the blue window popped up, he took out his knife. On deciding to massacre the people with him.

Screams and pleads for help could be heard.

Of course, The gods never respond to humanity.

Kim Namwoon after massacring them, putted on a spare uniform and used a few towels to clean himself. The white cat became a red and wet cat.

The little cat was uncomfortable with her humid fur. The cat wiped its claws onto some towels.

Then some time passed by. 

It was 07:30.

A few windows appeared in front of him. 

[You have killed 14 Living things. ]

[Kill history:13 Humans and an ant.]

[You have killed 13 beings with resistance, so the number of coins you have acquired is multiplied by 1.5]

[You have killed a being without resistance, so the number of coins you have is automatically reduced by half.]

[1350 coins have been acquired!]

[You have a total of 1350 coins.]

[The 'Mass Murderer' achievement has been gained through excessive killing.]

Kim Namwoon looked around and slowly calmed down.

A dokkaebi suddenly appeared and with a snap was heard. 

<You can now exit through the doors>

[Main Scenario #1 — Proof of Value has ended.]

[300 coins have been acquired as a basic clearance reward.]

[100 coins have been reduced for the channel usage fee.]

Hearing that, Kim Namwoon, holding onto the cat, exited the door while carrying his bag.

His eyes gazed upon the 4 people and a cat who exited simultaneously. His gaze met Cale’s. They have to start planning from here.

The dokkaebi announced through the school microphones, making sure that everyone could hear them, they demanded that everyone should arrive at the playground in 5 minutes.

Survivors from other classes all gathered up at the playground. At most, there could be 25 people. Everyone just stood around, not wanting to be attacked. Everyone had bloodstains on their uniform so everyone was also wary around each other.

At the end of those 5 minutes, the people who remained outside’s heads exploded, turning into a bloody mess. A few students with weak stomachs had the urge to puke, their face turning green, unfortunately they were scared. Too scared to this-to them- a powerful being. 

 [The sponsorship event will be happening, don’t you know? Since you killed something, you have finally proved your value!]

A few curious students finally couldn’t keep their questions in and asked, “Sponsorship? So like a way to survive?”

A few more intelligent students wondered about the purpose of this. 

[Since right now, you are weaker than beyond imagination, if you are thrown into scenarios, you would die 100%! It’s a way to help you! Don’t regret your choice~]

Kim Namwoon looked at the windows that appeared in front of him.

[Sponsor Selection]

-Please choose you sponsor

-Your sponsor will be your strong supporter.

1. Abyssal Black Flame Dragon
2. constellation A

Kim Namwoon shrugged, although according to Cale’s information, he would get more and more insane, if He kill with this sponsor, then isn’t it fine as long as he doesn’t kill?

[You chose <Abyssal Black Flame Dragon> as your sponsor.]

[Sponsor selection has ended.]

[The constellation <Abyssal Black Flame Dragon> is greatly pleased at your choice.]

[300 coins have been sponsored]

Kim Namwoon shrugged it off and looked at the other incarnations, waiting for them to choose.

Cale, who also looked at his choices, knows that if he wants a chance to go back to his world, he has to see if he can recognise the God of Death.

[Sponsor Selection]

-Please choose you sponsor

-Your sponsor will be your strong supporter.

1. Eternal Rest
2. The constellation who likes to change Genders

He looked at <Eternal Rest> in <The Birth of A Hero> this was just one of the God of Death’s synonyms. 

The other one is The God of Mischief. Loki.

Since he technically doesn’t have a choice. He’ll choose the God of Death.

The God of Death felt relieved. After taking Cale’s soul. His family and friends went mad and tried to kill him. Luckily, they were pacified by the fact that he has a device from [Star Stream] That makes it possible for them to watch and stay connected and help him. Otherwise, Eruhaben along with the other 4 dragons might have worked with Mary, Cage and Rosalyn to find a way to kill death, literally. 

So with a weight lifted off his chest, he sat down and continued watching the show.