Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cale knew that the two scenes were very different. He knew his family was going to be okay. They were going to be fine. Although they had coughed up blood and fainted because they had pushed themselves too hard (much like he always had), they were going to wake up soon.

Mila, Dodori, Rasheel, Eruhaben, all four great and mighty beings looked terrible. Lord Sherrit had become faint and staticky as she got absorbed back into the black castle. Alberu and Mary had fallen onto the ground with their eyes closed. Both of them looked terrible.

“…Why would they go so far…”

– I believe that you know exactly why they did this.

Cale could not say anything to the Super Rock’s comment.

He lowered his head.

“Immediately. We must immediately heal them first.”

He felt his head hurt, so he rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. The scene in front of him was similar.

Although Cale had confirmed from Raon that none of them would be in serious danger, that their mana fluctuations were stable and they would be fine in a while, the scene where his comrades, his family had fallen was very familiar. It was very painfully familiar.

It was exactly because this situation was so familiar that he never wanted to see such a thing, ever. He had pushed himself so much that he coughed up blood and would faint for even weeks at a time because he didn’t want to see such a thing ever again.

He didn’t want to see a scene where his family fell while covered in blood. The scene in front of him overlapped with a record he didn’t want to play. Although he had overcome his despair, the record was still painful.

Seeing his precious friends fall unconscious reminded him of the last battle he’d fought back in Korea with his former team leader, Lee Soohyuk, and Choi Jungsoo. The way his former team members fell to the ground covered in blood overlapped with how his current family had fallen down while covered in blood.

Although the blood his current family had was very little compared to his family back in Korea, even though he knew that none of them were in serious danger… although he knew they were going to be okay…

“…F*ck.”

The record in which his current comrades kept making more and more barriers and pushing past their limits no matter how much he told them to stop, and the record where he couldn’t do anything to save his late family when they were fighting against an unranked monster. These two records overlapped and created a mess in his mind.

“Human, are you okay?”

The two records made it so that Cale couldn’t even hear Raon. He also couldn’t hear Hong and On’s comments of concern.

“Are you dizzy, nya?”

“He obviously pushed himself too hard, nya.”

Cale had obviously been fine before, contrary to what his family believed. His Vitality of the Heart had upgraded, so his body was better than ever before.

‘So why?’

He couldn’t understand why his legs had lost strength. He also couldn’t understand why he was feeling so dizzy.

“Cale-nim!”

Choi Han hurriedly supported Cale before he could fall over.

“I’m fine. Let’s each carry one per-”

Cale was fine. He was healthy, he knew that. Now wasn’t the time to stand still. He needed to move his family to where they could be healed.

“But why…”

Why was he weakly falling over like this? Why did he need to be supported by Choi Han just to stand up? He was obviously healthy.

Cale still had his head down so he couldn’t see Choi Han’s initial look of disbelief turn into a painful expression. Choi Han bit his lips as he saw his liege weakly slump over. He could see the confused expression on Cale’s face.

‘Why is he so confused that he slumped like this when he’s obviously pushed himself way too hard?’

Choi Han wondered even though he knew the answer to that. He knew how oblivious Cale tended to be when it came to his own health.

Alberu, who had just opened his eyes, saw how Cale was being supported by Choi Han. He also saw how Cale limbs were shaking.

‘This crazy b@st*rd.’

Even in such a condition, Cale had been planning on blocking the explosion with his ancient powers. Alberu was actually glad that they didn’t let that explosion reach this crazy b@st*rd’s shield, or he would be in an even more terrible condition.

Cale, who didn’t know what Choi Han and Alberu were thinking, tried to stand up on his own two feet again. He managed to do so for only a moment before kneeling down on one knee because of how weak his legs had gone.

It was such perfect timing that Toonka who had just arrived, could see Cale crumble to the ground.

“C, Cale Henituuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse—-!”

“Y, Young Master Cale!”

“Oh, dear lord!”

Queen Litana and Saint Jack who were right behind Toonka, subconsciously shouted when they saw Cale falling forward.

They knew that Cale always looked terrible; they knew that Cale always had messy hair and was covered in blood, but…
Seeing him up close, it was easy to see that he was extremely pale, and the red and black blood mixed together above his chest made the grotesque scar even more visible.
His clothes were a mess, and his red hair was caked in blood and dust.
Choi Han silently and efficiently carried Cale on his back. Saint Jack wanted to heal Cale right away but stopped when he heard Alberu’s low voice,

“His plate is in danger, so it would be bad to try to heal him here.”

“But I’m fine.”

Cale weakly muttered. Although his legs went weak because of the records that wouldn’t stop repeating for some reason, Cale was okay. He truly honestly was okay. It was his family that was injured and wasn’t okay.

‘Damn it.’

And his weak legs weren’t helping him in this situation at all.

Because Cale was on Choi Han’s back, he couldn’t see the vicious expressions on Alberu and Choi Han’s faces. The two looked at each other and nodded. They had settled on how to deal with this clueless person.
Thankfully, his voice hadn’t been loud enough for the others to hear, or it would’ve triggered a whole round of lecturing.

________________

Cale had been moved to a quiet room to recuperate. Of course, Cale, like the clueless person he was, thought that it was unnecessary because he was okay. He was about to say that he was fine and that he should now leave to check on his comrades’ conditions, but got rid of that thought when he saw the look on Deruth’s face.

‘How vicious.’

Deruth had fainted when he’d seen his son stab himself with a dagger. When he saw Cale’s condition once everything was all over, he and Basen brought Cale to this large, luxurious, and most importantly, quiet room, with Choi Han’s help. Saint Jack had also urgently followed them here, despite Cale saying that it wasn’t necessary.

When the Saint was about to use his healing power on Cale, Cale pushed the Saint’s hand away and said,

“You should use it on the others. I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

Saint Jack said in a half-scolding, half-helpless tone. It was the first time he’d used such a tone against Cale, or against anyone for that matter. He then used his full healing power on Cale.

“It’s a waste to use it like that.”

‘I’m not even injured.’

Cale had a healing power so the Saint’s power wouldn’t help him much. At most, it would just get rid of his fatigue. There were others who needed this way more than he did. Rosalyn, Alberu, Mary, Eruhaben, Mila, Dodori and Rasheel who had all pushed themselves way too hard, they were the ones that needed to be healed. The scene of them coughing up blood and fainting like that…

“Son, where are you hurt?”

Cale looked at Deruth who had asked with such concern.

“I’m fine. Can I see how the others are doing?”

Everyone in the room had just one thought at Cale asking about others even when he was in such a terrible condition himself.

‘Care about yourself for once!’

Of course, none of them scolded Cale. Choi Han only shook his head. Saint Jack looked sad, and touched. Deruth and Basen clenched their fists while Violan frowned.

“I checked on them and they were all sleeping soundly. Since they are all fine, why don’t you just focus on recovering, hmm?”

“Your highness.”

Alberu had just entered the room after checking on how others were doing. Everyone just bowed their heads to greet him. In normal times, it would be considered disrespectful, but no one here cared about that right now. Instead, they were all focusing on one person.

Cale, who knew a part of why they were looking at him like that, could only dodge their gazes and look at the ceiling.

“I really am fine now.”

That did seem to be true based on how Saint Jack nodded his head. However,

The scene of Cale stabbing himself in the chest had left a deep impression on everyone in this room, including Violan who had somehow gotten her hands on the recording and had seen the whole thing. That was why her gaze was especially vicious.

“Cale-nim, please go to sleep.”

Choi Han said with an innocent smile on his face.

“Yes, little brother. You should go to sleep, unless you want to be the prime minister.”

Alberu had a radiant smile on his face, befitting his title as the sun of the Roan kingdom, however, that smile only gave Cale the chills.

Cale peeked at the other people in the room, and obediently closed his eyes. He had been feeling tired despite the Saint’s healing power, so he fell asleep rather quickly.

Chapter Text

Deruth, Violan and Basen also turned from the now soundly sleeping Cale to Saint Jack.

“My healing powers didn’t do much.”

This sentence instantly reduced the temperature of the room by a few degrees. Saint Jack realized that and quickly added,

“Young master Cale didn’t seem to have any physical injuries. My healing should have gotten rid of his fatigue, but judging from how quickly he fell asleep…”

Saint Jack didn’t finish his sentence, but the rest of the people here understood what it meant. It didn’t take much brain power to reach the conclusion, as it was very obvious.

Nobody said anything but they silently decided on one thing unanimously: they wouldn’t let Cale do anything but rest for at least a whole week.

‘This punk wouldn’t even realize how tired he is unless he faints.’

Just thinking about that made Alberu want to teach Cale a lesson. The only reason why he hadn’t scolded Cale until now was because he couldn’t speak like that to a patient.

Alberu then made eye contact with Choi Han.

‘I’m leaving the rest to you.’

That was what Alberu’s gaze seemed to be saying as he turned around to return to his room. His room was right next to Cale’s. That was also where his Aunt Tasha was looking after Mary right now. Saint Jack also left with the now disguised Alberu to heal the others.

Choi Han solemnly nodded his head, and then looked at Cale. Raon, who had silently teleported next to Cale during their conversation, was now observing Cale from head to toe.

Violan took out a handkerchief and wiped some blood off Cale’s face. Basen promptly stood up and brought a basin of water. He also took a piece of cloth and wiped blood and dust off Cale.

“I can do this easily.”

Raon said as he used a spell to instantly clean any trace of dirt and blood from Cale. Deruth, Violan and Basen looked at Raon in surprise when the six year old dragon proudly added,

“I am great and mighty.”

It was only now that the sharp expressions on everyone’s faces eased. Violan had a slight smile on her face as she gently patted Raon’s round head.

“Yes, you are great and mighty.”

Deruth, Basen, and Choi Han also nodded their heads.

_________________

“…-ter-nim!”

“…-an!”

Cale could faintly hear someone calling him. It didn’t take him long to figure out who’d called him.

“Human! Human!”

“Cale-nim!”

Raon calling Cale to wake up was normal, but it wasn’t usual for Choi Han to do that.

‘Did something go wrong?’

Cale hurriedly opened his eyes and saw Raon and Choi Han’s faces right in front of him. Cale could also hear rough breathing.

Huff, huff.

Cale’s eyes widened as he realized that he was the one who was roughly breathing. Now that he had come to, he noticed that he was feeling short of breath.

‘Why?’

He had been sleeping soundly just now.

‘No.’

Although it had slipped from his mind because of how he’d woken up, he’d had a nightmare. The same records that had made his legs go weak back at the sealed god’s temple, had kept replaying in his mind in an endless loop.

He frowned.

It was normal for his records to act up every once in a while, but he was usually able to overcome them in a few moments. In fact, things had gotten better ever since Cale had become his 20 year-old self and changed a lot of things in another dimension. It was because of that that his records didn’t hurt him as much these days.

The fact that those two broken records kept replaying in an endless loop like that was abnormal.

“Cale-nim, are you hurt somewhere?”

“Human, does your heart hurt?!”

Cale had blanked out after waking up so he wasn’t able to notice the sharp vicious glares the human and dragon in front of him had in their eyes. It was only when they’d called him again that Cale noticed how he was clutching the area where his heart was.

He quickly let go of his chest and patted Raon’s back. He could feel the smooth reptilian scales on Raon’s back slowly calm him down.

“I’m fine. Is everyone else okay?”

When he asked that question, Choi Han froze while Raon looked really worried. Cale’s heart sank and he quickly sat up.

Choi Han didn’t want to burden Cale in his current condition, but he had to answer.

“Eruhaben-nim…”

“Goldie gramps…”

Cale pulled Raon into a hug and patted his back gently. He then said to Choi Han.

“Lead the way.”

However, just as Cale was about to stand up, he felt all strength leave his body. The records that had paused for a second resumed. No, just the record of Eruhaben falling while covered in blood started replaying in slo-mo. Cale felt his world go blank.

‘The jar will heal Eruhaben-nim.’

Cale still had the jar with the power of restoration and healing. That cracked jar had even been fixed by Mila’s attribute.

But what if it wasn’t enough…

Or even worse,

‘What if Eruhaben-nim still doesn’t want to be healed?’

The jar wouldn’t work on someone who doesn’t want to live.

Cale was someone who always considered the worst case scenario, and then came up with plans to prevent that from ever happening. But now, for some reason, he wasn’t able to stay as calm and composed as he used to be.

Pessimistic thoughts just kept messing with his mind.

Cale tried to think of a solution, but he couldn’t think of anything. No, it would be more accurate to say that he wasn’t able to think of anything.

The half broken record of his former teammates fighting against an unranked monster, and the record of his current family pushing themselves too hard, then coughing up blood, fainting and falling down. These along with thoughts about how Eruhaben might not want to use the jar; all of them jumbled together and created a mess in Cale’s mind.

‘Damn it.’

Now wasn’t the time to be like this. Cale activated his wind ancient power, the Sound of the Wind.

– You haven’t rested enough, so it will be a burden on you to use any ancient powers right now.

At the Super Rock’s comment, Cale stopped calling the whirlwind and said,

“Raon!”

Choi Han bit his lip when he saw Cale hurry to go to Eruhaben even in his current condition.

‘Once Eruhaben-nim is healed…’

They will definitely make Cale rest in bed for at least a week, if not for a month.

Unbeknownst to Cale, a certain butler-cum-assassin was staring at his back with a vicious glare. Ron had been quietly standing beside Cale’s bed while observing Cale’s condition. Cale had been clutching his chest and breathing roughly before they woke him up.

‘He then took abnormally long to come to.’

It was as if Cale had had a terrible nightmare. But the reason why Ron had excluded that option was because Cale had stabbed himself in the heart not too long ago, so it was more likely that something still was wrong with his heart.

‘Nobody would be fine if they stabbed themselves in the heart like that. Tsk.’

Just recalling that had irritated Ron. Ron caressed his dagger in an attempt to calm himself.

But the way Cale had asked about how others were doing even in his current condition, how he immediately sat up and got ready to leave while his limbs were shaking, but couldn’t do so because of how weak he was right now…

Even caressing his dagger couldn’t calm Ron right now. Ron’s gaze was beyond vicious by the time Cale called Raon.

Raon didn’t say anything and quietly cast a flight spell on Cale, unlike his usual talkative self. Cale could tell how upset and worried Raon must be about Eruhaben. Cale was the same. He was also very worried.

Of course, he wasn’t quite aware of how he looked in other’s eyes right now. Although Ron had changed his clothes, he still looked terrible even without the scar on his chest being exposed. He looked very pale, there was sweat on his forehead, his limbs were shaking, and the worried look in his eyes… In short, he looked awful.

So although Raon was very worried about Eruhaben, he felt terrible seeing Cale move even in such a condition.

‘I am not great and mighty.’

Raon felt that way when he couldn’t do anything to make feel better. Cale didn’t notice Raon’s downtrodden mood because of how the records were still messing with his head. Cale felt his head hurt and closed his eyes for a moment before opening them.

As soon as he opened his eyes,

Tap.

He saw a white handkerchief lightly tap on his forehead. Ron was wiping sweat off Cale’s forehead.

‘Huh!?’

Cale hadn’t noticed Ron until now, so seeing the assassin pop out of thin air gave Cale a mini-heart attack. The look on Ron’s face didn’t help either. Although Ron had his signature benign smile on his face, his gaze was extremely vicious. It was as if a hunter was looking at his prey. Cale felt like he’d be squeezed like a lemon if he said the wrong thing.

“Young master-nim, you will not move once you’re done with this.”

Ron said without his benign smile. He was extremely serious.

Cale looked at him in confusion.

“Of course.”

There wasn’t anything urgent that Cale needed to address. He was worried about Billos, but he didn’t need to do anything about that immediately. He was also worried about the hunters, but they hadn’t appeared yet.

‘Ah, I still need to ask for information on them from the King and Miss Cage.’

When Cale was thinking about that, he didn’t notice Ron’s already cold gaze become even colder.

“I hope you remember what you just said, young master-nim.”

Cale nodded his head and then started to move toward the Black Castle where Eruhaben and the rest of the dragons were currently recuperating. He needed to take the jar to Eruhaben-nim.

Chapter Text

Rosalyn suddenly teleported into the room and saw Cale and Raon heading toward the window.

“I’ll take you both there!”

She then activated a teleportation spell which engulfed Cale and Raon. Cale, who’s mind had been blanking out way more than ever, frowned. He was feeling annoyed. Not at Rosalyn or Raon or anyone else. He felt annoyed at himself.

Now wasn’t the time to be overwhelmed by useless emotions. Cale just had to make sure no one of his family got hurt ever again, so those records were useless right now. He had to get a grip on himself.

‘Eruhaben-nim’s life is at stake.’

So it was now more than ever that he had to make sure he was calm.

“Eruhaben-nim will be okay.”

He said to Choi Han and Ron who would be staying at his room as Rosalyn’s spell teleported Cale and Raon to the Black Castle.

When they teleported to the room, they could see Eruhaben lying on a bed with Mila at the side. On and Hong jumped at Cale as soon as they saw him appear out of thin air.

“Meeeeeow!”
“Meeow!

And just as always, Cale’s body staggered by a few steps. No, it was worse than before. Cale almost fell down this time. Of course, he didn’t actually fall since Rosalyn supported him.

On and Hong’s ears drooped when they saw Cale’s current condition and were about to step back when Cale patted their heads. He then motioned to On with his eyes who understood and took the children out of the room.

Cale could strangely feel his mind calm down as he stared at Eruhaben. Well, it would be more appropriate to say that Cale was becoming more like his usual self. Kim Rok Soo, no, Cale had always been like that. Although he was an emotional and very affectionate person, he was also someone who kept his calm at all times so that he could handle every situation efficiently.

That skill wouldn’t disappear into thin air just because Cale lost control over his emotions for some time. Cale was almost the same as he always was when he stared at Eruhaben.

“You don’t seem to be in that serious of a condition, Eruhaben-nim.”

Eruhaben chuckled at Cale’s comment. The ancient dragon looked weak, but his gaze was firm. Mila, who was sitting next to the bed, started speaking.

“He’s dying.”

“…Old…age…”

“It’s not from old age, it’s because you pushed yourself too much!”

Eruhaben’s face was pale as he lay on the bed. He did not have any injuries or broken bones. However, his usually radiant gold hair had lost its light and was turning dull and shabby. The radiant gold light was slowly fading away from the tip.

“Mila-nim! Young master Cale is here, so please, the artifact-!”
Rosalyn's fingertips were touching the small jar on the table next to the bed. The jar that had been full of cracks was now completely fine without any cracks.

“What should we do, young master Cale?”

Mila looked toward the owner of the artifact.

“I got rid of all the cracks with my Connect together.”

Cale looked at Eruhaben as he spoke.

“Are you not going to drink it?”

Eruhaben closed his eyes after hearing Cale’s question. Cale sat down at an empty chair next to Mila. Unlike how he had been a moment ago, Cale was now able to move about just fine. Of course, that didn’t mean that Cale had calmed down. In fact, it was the exact opposite.

In contrast to his calm yet stoic expression, Cale was very tense. However, he spoke in his usual calm tone.

“The way of using this jar is simple. You just need to drink the water that fills inside when you are holding it. The water will fill to the user’s desired amount of life force.”

Only about a gulp had filled into the artifact when Eruhaben had first used it. That record replayed in Cale’s mind for a moment. The thing with Cale’s records was that he could feel the emotions he had felt while recording the moment.

So Cale could still clearly feel how disturbed he had been back then. And that emotion was even worse now.

“One year. That was the amount of time you wanted, Eruhaben-nim. You said that that was enough.”

The White Star. Eruhaben said that he just needed enough time until that bastard was caught.

“That is why you said that the jar would not fill with water even if you held it again.”

“...I did.”

Eruhaben responded with his eyes closed.

Eruhaben had given a reason to Cale when asked why he did not want any more of the jar’s power. Cale could clearly recall that information.

Eruhaben had wanted to preserve the artifact just in case anyone of their family got hurt while fighting against the White Star and his subordinates. It was because he had said that using the artifact meant that he would be living an extra life while the others hadn’t even lived the lives they were given.

“Please open your eyes.”

Eruhaben kept his eyes closed despite Cale’s stern voice. However, he opened his eyes after hearing what Cale said next.

“Miss Rosalyn, try picking up the jar.”

Cale then continued speaking.

“Eruhaben-nim, please take a look.”

The ancient Dragon opened his eyes.

The pale Rosalyn was smiling at him. There wasn’t even a single drop of water in the jar as she held the artifact.

“Mila-nim.”

“Is it my turn?”

The still tired-looking Mila gently received the jar. It did not fill up with water once again.

Cale reached his hand out.

“Eruhaben-nim, do you need to see more?”

The jar did not fill with water in his hand either.

“I'm sure it will be the same for the others as well. This jar will not fill with water right now no matter which of our friends hold it.”

None of them wanted the life force.

Why? The answer to that was obvious.

“Eruhaben-nim, there was something I told you back then. I was right, wasn’t I?”

Now that everyone had survived the battle… If it was someone who wanted to be with the people he cared for… No matter who it was.

‘They would want to live longer.’

It was fairly obvious, but Cale had been too panicked to think about it before.

“…I feel so shameless.”

Much to Cale’s relief, the jar was filling with water.

“There is no shame in this at all. You wish to live longer, don't you? Then live.”

Cale wanted every single one of his family members to live for a long, long time. He smiled at Eruhaben and said.

“Please drink it, Eruhaben-nim.”

Eruhaben flinched and looked at Cale.

“Otherwise, I will force your mouth open and pour it all in there.”

Eruhaben’s jaw dropped.

‘This punk, that gaze...’

“I'm someone who does what I say, Eruhaben-nim.”

There was madness in Cale’s gaze. But hidden behind that madness was desperation. Eruhaben could tell that from his experience, and from the time he had spent with Cale until now.

Although Cale was putting on a strong front, Eruhaben could see the fragility behind it.

Sigh.

He didn’t think he would ever see Cale like that. Cale looked like he would break if something went wrong. Of course, Cale thought he looked pretty intimidating. He normally would, but his condition wasn’t normal right now, so he looked far more fragile than he would’ve imagined himself to be.

Eruhaben couldn’t bear to see Cale looking like that.

“Live and take care of Raon. And the other children too”

Sherrit added, and Cale could see regrets in Eruhaben’s eyes.

“Not only On and Hong. The other wolf children are also very young. And Lock is still young too. It’s not enough. So you take care of them.”

“…I have to do more work in my later years.”

Eruhaben said as he raised the jar to his mouth.

Cale’s eyes widened when he saw Eruhaben start to drink in everyone else’s presence.

‘Did he forget?’

It seemed that Eruhaben had forgotten what Bud had said about the jar based on how Eruhaben kept chugging down the fluid in the artifact.

For Cale, that was good. It meant that he could observe the ancient dragon’s every move, just in case.

Eruhaben’s complexion got visibly better as he kept drinking. As Cale was about to smile seeing how Eruhaben looked better without getting sick,

Eruhaben’s shoulders shook.

Cale flinched. His hands started to shake, but he clutched and unclutched his hands and approached Eruhaben. Cale grabbed the jar while being careful, very careful, not to spill even a single drop.

Every single drop was very precious. Every single drop meant Eruhaben would live a bit longer.

“You must not stop.”

Cale grabbed the jar in one hand, and Eruhaben’s chin in the other.

“When you groan, close your mouth and stop drinking, then breathe through your nose. Even if you pause for a moment, drink until the end, even if you are full.”

Cale looked and sounded calm as he said,

“Do not stop even if you feel sick.”

The jar was cracking the more Eruhaben drank from it.

“You have to watch Raon grow up.”

Rosalyn looked at Cale in a new perspective. Unlike her, he was so calm and sober, which made her feel relieved.

Cale had always been their family’s backbone for a reason. His persistent calmness through every situation had enabled his comrades to face all those tough battles without significant pressure.

But she hadn’t noticed the brief moment of fragility Cale’s gaze had shown a while back.

“It’s breaking.”

The moment Mila spoke,

Crack!

Long vertical cracks in the jar began to widen. Cale relaxed his grip on the jar and it fell and rolled on the floor.

“Gasp!”

“Eruhaben-nim!”

At the same time, Eruhaben fell backward. Cale grabbed Eruhaben while Mila helped lay Eruhaben back on the bed.

Cale’s eyes widened and his hand holding Eruhaben started to shake when he saw blood dripping from Eruhaben’s mouth.

– The dragon will rejuvenate.

The Sound of the Wind’s comment brought Cale back to reality and he saw the ancient dragon’s appearance change in real time.

The golden dragon’s skin was now very smooth, and his hair glistened as if stardust had been sprinkled on silk.

“You are rejuvenated.”

“I think I’ll live too long.”

Cale’s tense body relaxed when he heard Mila and Eruhaben. He then plopped on the side of the bed Eruhaben was in.

Eruhaben looked at the redhead.

“Cale, are you okay?”

Cale raised an eyebrow and said,

“I’m fine.”

Cale had been very tense a moment ago, but he felt relaxed now. Maybe his limbs felt a bit weak, and he felt a little groggy, but that was because of how his records had kept messing with his head.

Rosalyn and Mila looked at Cale and their relieved expressions instantly turned grave. Rosalyn walked up to Cale and put her palm on Cale’s forehead.

“…Sure enough. Young master Cale, you have a fever.”

Rosalyn could’ve guessed even without feeling Cale’s temperature with how flushed Cale’s face was right now.

‘Ah, so that’s why my head felt like this.’

“Rosalyn, you can take him back to his room now.”

Mila would stay with Eruhaben and the kids. Cale needed to be taken to rest.

Rosalyn bit her lip when she saw Cale widen his eyes in understanding. He had clearly not been aware of his condition until now.

‘It has always been like this.’

Cale had always been slow when it came to himself.

Rosalyn felt guilty about how they had brought Cale here in his current condition. Cale didn’t need to absolutely be present here. They could’ve done this even without making Cale come here.

But they ended up relying on him, and burdening him again even in his current condition.

‘Never again.’

Rosalyn silently made a pledge to herself.

They must make sure to never again burden him like this again.

Chapter Text

Light flashed in the room Cale had previously been resting in, and Rosalyn and Cale appeared. Ron moved toward them and supported Cale.

Cale thought he could move fine even without Ron’s support, but any words of protest he had died down when he saw the extremely vicious look in Ron’s eyes.

He quietly let himself be supported by the vicious assassin.

‘I guess this isn’t half bad.’

He was feeling a bit tired, so being supported like this was convenient.

Choi Han, who had been standing outside, opened the door and entered. His already solemn expression turned even more solemn as he saw Ron help Cale lay in the bed.

Ron then pulled the blanket upto Cale’s neck and said,

“You can rest now, young master-nim.”

Cale looked at Ron with a gaze that asked why he was saying something so obvious and then closed his eyes. He had wanted to lie down and rest for a long time now.

As Cale rapidly drifted to sleep, Ron shifted his gaze from the now asleep Cale to Rosalyn. The two nodded at his gaze.

“I’ll look into this.”

Rosalyn said she’d look into Cale’s condition.

Although Saint Jack had said that Cale wasn’t injured, Cale’s current condition suggested otherwise.

Cale hadn’t been normal ever since he stabbed himself in the heart.

It was obvious why.

Cale must not have completely healed yet. He even had a fever now, probably- no, certainly- because of how he had been pushing himself even though he was injured.

Rosalyn was about to leave when light shone in the room and some people arrived via teleportation.

Three dragons, Raon, Eruhaben, and Mila, had arrived. On and Hong had come with them too.

When the children averaging nine years saw that Cale was asleep, their tails lowered and their ears drooped down.

On and Hong quietly hopped onto the bed snuck into Cale’s embrace, a little away from the scar on his chest, just in case he was still injured. Raon flew to the bed and landed right next to Cale’s shoulders.

The three children then quietly wrapped their tails around Cale.

“This unlucky, foolish bast*rd.”

Eruhaben clicked his tongue when he saw Cale laying feebly on the bed with a flushed face. It was clear that he was running a fever.

Mila and him moved closer to the bed, and frowned.

“Except for the fever and some fatigue, his body seems normal.”

“That does seem to be the case.”

But there was obviously something wrong.

“Hmm? Cale!”

Eruhaben called out to Cale.

Cale, who seemed to have been sleeping quite peacefully until now, had started to frown. His breaths kept getting faster and faster. And worst of all,

“Human! Does your heart hurt!”

Raon put his chubby paw on Cale’s shoulder and attempted to wake him up.

Cale was clutching the area where his heart was.

“Why is he not waking up, nya?”

Hong also tried to wake Cale up.

“Do you think he might be having a nightmare?”

On asked as she placed a paw on Cale’s wrist.

“But the human stabbed himself in the heart only 4 hours, 16 minutes and 10 seconds ago! This can only be because he hasn’t healed yet!”

“Yes, nya!”

On looked back at Cale after hearing Raon and Hong’s replies, and patted his wrist. She also felt that that was the case.

Although the children averaging nine years old hadn’t seen Cale stab himself in the heart, they could tell what had happened based on the others’ reactions, and,

The gruesome scar on Cale’s chest.

They didn’t like that there was such a scar. Cale should never have been injured like that.

They felt as if they had been stabbed in the heart whenever they saw that scar.

The same could be said for the rest of the people in the room. All of them felt despair and helplessness when they saw Cale’s scar.

It was a reminder.

A reminder that they couldn’t do anything to stop Cale from doing that to himself. A reminder that they were so useless they couldn’t come up with another way to kill a reincarnator.

They knew Cale’s habit of omitting things that would worry them, so they should’ve kept a closer eye on him.

They felt so utterly useless.

If Cale knew what they were thinking, he would argue that it wasn’t their fault.

But it didn’t change the fact that they hadn’t been able to do anything to stop Cale from stabbing himself in the heart just to kill a mother***** bast*rd.

Ron caressed his dagger as he watched the three children try to wake up Cale who was still clutching his chest.

He then used a handkerchief to wipe some sweat off Cale’s forehead.

Choi Han clenched and unclenched his fists, over and over. He felt similar to how he’d felt when he’d seen Cale stab himself in the heart.

Eruhaben stood in his place as if he was frozen.

‘I knew there was no way this foolish bast*rd would be okay after stabbing himself in the heart.’

Even though Cale had a healing power, such a power had its limits. What if… what if-

Mila patted Eruhaben on the shoulder and spoke.

“Let’s take him to Sherritt-nim.”

As the former dragon lord, Sherritt should be able to tell what was wrong with Cale.

As soon as she said that, Eruhaben activated a teleportation spell that teleported everyone except Choi Han and Ron. These two needed to stay here in case someone came looking for Cale.

“Mom, do you know what’s wrong with our human?”

As soon as they teleported to a bedroom, Raon rushed into Sherritt’s embrace. Sherritt stroked his back and moved closer to the bed Eruhaben had laid Cale on.

After what seemed to be a long moment, she said.

“…His body seems to be okay, except for the fever.”

That was the same as what the other dragons said.

“However.”

Everyone looked at Sherritt, who was observing Cale with a grave look on her face.

“Something seems wrong. But I can’t put my finger on it.”

Sherritt said she could tell that something was wrong, but she couldn’t tell what exactly it was.

On and Hong moved closer to Cale. Raon flew over to Cale as well.

“What should we do? What do we do?”

Rosalyn was pacing around the bed. She thought hard about anything that might be useful.

“Saint Jack healed him, so healing potions won’t work.”

Eruhaben massaged his temples as he also brainstormed for a solution.

“Does it have anything to do with how Cale embraced the sealed god?”

“That seems plausible.”

“That might be the case.”

Mila and Sherritt put a hand on their chins and frowned. Cale had used a very frightening power while sealing the sealed god.

They were pretty sure the god of death’s power was involved in it as well.

“Cale used the God of Death’s help. We could start by asking him.”

Everyone nodded at Mila’s suggestion.

Raon suddenly took out a video communication device that was glowing red.

“It’s from the Crown Prince!”

“Connect him.”

On Eruhaben’s prompt, Raon quickly connected the Alberu’s call.

Alberu, whose face appeared on the device, frowned when he saw the looks on the faces of everyone in the room.

Judging from how Eruhaben looked better than ever before, it was obvious who everyone in the room was so worried about.

— How is Cale?

Raon turned the device towards Cale and said in a weak voice,

“…Th-the h-human won’t wake up.”

Alberu saw Cale lying on the bed with a flushed face, clutching his chest and taking short but rapid breaths.

Alberu had made the call while he was in the hall with the representatives of different kingdoms.

The table that had been in a heated discussion had quieted down.

Alberu hadn’t initially thought about contacting Cale in front of everyone, but considering their current plan of telling the others about how weakened they were right now… Cale’s current condition fit in too perfectly.

But that wasn’t on Alberu’s mind at the moment.

Alberu disconnected the call and pushed his wheelchair out of the hall. As soon as he was out of everyone’s eyes, he asked.

“The coordinates?”

When Raon told him the coordinates, he stood up and activated a teleportation spell to go to the Black Castle.

In an instant, he reached the room Cale was in. He moved next to Cale and asked,

“What’s wrong with him?”

“We don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

Alberu was shocked at Sherritt’s reply. He knew who Sherritt was.

‘And if even she, the former Dragon Lord, doesn’t know what happened…’

If they didn’t know what was wrong with Cale, how would they help him? How would they be sure that he would be fine?

Alberu clenched his fists. He was the hyung here.

What kind of hyung just keeps relying on his dongsaeng only to not be able to help his dongsaeng when it mattered the most?

“It’s not your fault.”

Alberu looked at the person that said that.

Although Mila had put a hand on Eruhaben’s shoulder, she had been referring to everyone present in this room.

“Get a hold of yourselves.”

Alberu, Rosalyn, and the others had been way too panicked. They usually weren’t like that, but this time was different.

This time, they had seen Cale stab himself in the heart right in front of their eyes. And they hadn’t been able to stop him at all.

It was understandable why they would take some time to calm down.

In their eyes, Cale had almost killed himself.

“Let’s ask priestess Cage if the god of death knows about this.”

Mila had put it mildly. With a vicious smile on her face, she added,

“And if he’s responsible for this.”

The words that were left unsaid were that if he was responsible for Cale’s current condition… Well, they weren’t afraid of anything.

They had just firmed their resolve when Cale opened his eyes.

“Human!”

“Cale!”

“Young master Cale!”

“Dongsaeng.”

“Teacher.”

As soon as he heard their calls, Cale looked at every person in the room with a piercing gaze. He observed them all from head to toe, and then raised his shaking hand to pull the children averaging nine years into a hug.

“Human, are you okay?”

“What’s wrong, nya?”

“Are you okay, nya?”

Cale quietly patted the three children with his still shaking hand, and said after a brief moment.

“I’m okay. How is everyone else?”

Cale’s records had been on replay for quite a long time. Every record made him feel the emotions he had felt while recording that record.

In addition to that, there was a new emotion.

Fear.

Cale always knew his comrades weren’t infallible. He knew that although they were strong, they could still be defeated.

He knew his comrades weren’t invincible. However, he also knew that they wouldn’t be defeated easily. That they would be fine if they worked together.

However,

After seeing them cough up blood and faint…

And after seeing Eruhaben come so close to dying…

The kind of fear he felt was equal to, if not greater than, the despair he had felt when former team members had died.

He thought he had gotten over their deaths after the sealed god’s test. He had been able to add happy memories alongside the memories of his despair.

However, thinking about it right now, he probably hadn’t gotten over their deaths. That was why they still shook him up every time that record replayed in his head.

That combined with the nonzero possibility that he might lose his current comrades made his heart feel cold.

Cale quietly kept stroking the three children, as if doing that would make him feel calmer.

But the silence in the room made him feel stuffy.

Cale tried his best to sound calm as he asked again.

“I-Is everyone okay?”

After seeing his comrades cough up blood and faint over and over in his head, he desperately wanted to know if every single one of them was all alright.

Rosalyn put her hand on her mouth, as if she was overwhelmed, while the others clenched their fists.

This made Cale even more tense. Just as he was about to sit up and ask for the details, Alberu patted him on the head and said,

“Everyone is alright.”

Cale sighed in relief at those words and relaxed. However, he tensed up again when he noticed how vicious Alberu’s eyes looked right now.

Cale then looked at the other people in the room. Eruhaben, who had rejuvenated, had a sad yet extremely vicious look in his eyes.

Mila and Sherritt’s expressions were almost the same as well, while Rosalyn was smiling bitterly.

‘If everyone is okay, why do they look like that?’

“Human.”

Cale looked at Raon. Raon looked pretty ruthless for a six year old.

“Did you not learn anything?”

‘Not learn what?’

Although Cale hadn’t said anything, the people in the room knew him all too well. Seeing his confusion made the room turn even chillier, as if it was the middle of winter.

‘Why are they looking at me like that?’

Those gazes were awfully similar to the gazes they gave him when he coughed up blood…

‘Wait.’

Cale looked at himself. Aside from his still torn and shabby clothes, he would say he looked pretty good. His skin even had a rosy tint. It didn’t look as pale as a chronically ill patient’s skin anymore.

Cale was sure he looked better after getting some rest, even if his out of control records had made it difficult for him to get a peaceful rest.

“Argh.”

Cale flinched when he heard Alberu’s frustrated sigh.

Alberu, however, didn’t care about that, and showed Cale a mirror he took out from who knows where.

Cale could now see that his face was flushed, as if he was running a fever.

“Oh.”

‘Is it because my records kept replaying on a loop for so long?’

That rosy complexion was actually his very pale skin in its flushed state.

“Oh? Is that all you have to say for yourself?”

At Alberu’s exasperated comment, Cale guiltily shifted his gaze to a wall.

Alberu smiled his radiant, princely smile and said,

“You should tell us what’s wrong, shouldn’t you? My dearest dongsaeng?”

Although Alberu was smiling brightly, that smile gave Cale the chills.

Chapter Text

Cale looked at the floor, conscious of the concerned gazes of his family.

They had gotten rid of the White Star just some hours ago. Him and his family had worked hard and braved many battles so that they could finally be at peace.

‘But here I am disturbing that very peace we all fought so hard for.’

Cale knew how much it disturbed him to see his comrades cough up blood.

And he had made them see him cough up blood numerous times.

He could now relate with how they might’ve felt, so he wanted to get better. And yet,

‘Why am I like this?’

Cale could tell from the mirror that he looked terrible, even though he knew he wasn’t injured at all. He was making them worry over nothing.

Even Cale didn’t know why his records had gone out of control. However,

“I should be fine after a while.”

Although his records had gone out of control, it was likely to be something temporary.

“Heh.”

Cale flinched when he heard Alberu’s laugh. He then looked at Eruhaben, Mila and Sherritt.

‘How scary.’

They all looked like they would go on a killing spree if he said the wrong thing.

Cale shifted his gaze to the children averaging nine years.

Those three looked as vicious as the adults in this room.

‘Is it okay for them to have such expressions?’

It was permissible for adults to be like that, but these were children. Children shouldn’t have such ruthless expressions. Instead, they should have happy smiles on their faces.

Cale was about to pat Raon when he heard a chuckle. Well, the sound was too scary to be called a chuckle.

“Dongsaeng.”

Alberu’s bright smile was still on his face, but his eyes were cold.

“You haven’t answered my question yet.”

Cale really wanted to pack his bags and leave when he heard the next sentence.

“I guess I should make you my Prime Minister.”

Tsk.

Eruhaben’s tsk made Cale want to leave these scary people’s gazes for even a little while.

The intensity of those gazes only kept increasing the longer he kept quiet.

A part of Cale kind of wanted to tell them what was wrong. If he told them, they would probably be extra careful not to get hurt.

However,

‘They can finally relax after such a long time of uncertainty.’

If he told them that the record of them coughing up blood and fainting kept repeating in his mind in an endless loop,

‘I would only be worrying them for no reason.’

His comrades hadn’t gotten hurt because they wanted to. They did that because they were worried about him.

It was not their fault that Cale’s records were like this.

Cale didn’t want to worry them.

Sigh.

Eruhaben sighed and said,

“We’d only feel worse if you don’t tell us anything.”

Although the others didn’t say anything, they nodded their heads to show that they agreed.

Cale stoically looked at everyone’s faces, and said,

“I won’t be the Prime Minister, even if it means I have to live in hiding.”

He then added as if it was an afterthought.

“One of my abilities has gone haywire.”

Eruhaben, Alberu, and the others. Their expressions instantly turned grave.

‘…I shouldn’t have told them.’

Just when that thought popped into Cale’s head, a hand lightly pressed on his shoulder.

It was Alberu’s.

“Is it ‘record’?”

They had seen how Cale’s body overheated when he used that ability for a long time. Cale’s current condition was similar to that, but much worse.

Although Cale wasn’t bleeding from the nose, it was worse because of how Cale was visibly suffering, in contrast to how he was able to keep a strong front when they had first witnessed Cale use that ability in the Mercenary Guild’s library.

Cale hesitated for a moment before slightly nodding at Alberu’s question.

“What exactly do you mean by ‘haywire’?”

Like before, Cale paused for a moment before answering.

“It won’t turn off.”

It was true. Even now, he was using that ability to record everything that was happening. Cale didn’t know why that was the case.

He added.

“But it should be fine after a while.”

Although such a thing hadn’t happened before, it was his own ability, so he should be able to turn it off sooner or later.

“Should be? Which means you don’t know for sure.”

Cale didn’t answer. The others knew why, and the already grave looks on their faces turned even more solemn.

Alberu then asked the most important question on everyone’s mind.

“Is there anything we can do to make it better?”

Knowing Cale, he won’t add more details, so the only thing they could do was jump straight to anything that might help.

Cale smiled and said,

“Yes. In fact, it’s something that should make me feel better instantly.”

On, Hong and Raon’s ears perked up. Eruhaben, Rosalyn, Mila, Sherritt and Alberu all looked at Cale and had the same glint in their eyes.

Whatever Cale said would make him better, they would make it happen. No matter what.

Cale put on his characteristic smile that, in Raon’s words, made him look like a scammer.

“Get better.”

“Huh?”

It wasn’t an answer they were expecting.

“You all look terrible. So get better. Eat something and take a rest.”

His face turned serious when he said the next words.

“That’s the only way I’ll feel better.”

Rosalyn smiled bitterly. Soon, her smile turned solemn.

‘I’m sure that’s not all.’

She knew how good Cale was with words. She directed her piercing gaze away from Cale, because she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to keep her emotions in check if she saw him right now.

‘He’s worrying about others even when he’s like that.’

She had thought of this so many times it wasn’t even surprising anymore. She closed her eyes, and clenched her fists.

Cale didn’t notice her actions because he had been warily eyeing Alberu, wondering if he really did need to pack his bags to avoid losing his hard-earned slacker life.

Alberu, who had been sighing and shaking his head at Cale’s very Cale-like response, said,

“You punk, we’re all doing great when compared to you.”

“You look terrible, your highness.”

That was true. Although Alberu had gotten some time to rest, he hadn’t fully recovered. And he had used a teleportation spell to get here as fast as he could.

“Stop worrying about us and focus on your own recovery.”

“You foolish unlucky bast*rd. Everyone’s doing better than you.”

Eruhaben was right.

No one other than Cale was sick or hurt right now. Alberu wasn’t hurt. He had used healing potions, and had recovered some mana by using mana stones and dead mana they had stored. Other than feeling a bit tired, he was doing splendidly.

As for Mary, she was still sleeping, but she wasn’t in pain.

“Yes, human! Everybody’s doing way better than you!”

“You look the worst out of everyone in our family, nya!”

“They’re right, nya.”

Cale avoided looking into the mirror that Alberu instantly put closer to him, and patted the children averaging nine years on the head.

“Maybe.”

However,

‘That’s not important.’

His Vitality of the Heart had been upgraded after he’d himself stabbed in the heart. Even if he got stabbed in the heart again, he would be A-OK.

What was important, however, was that,

“But don’t get hurt again. That goes for every single one of you.”

Although Cale had said that in a nonchalant tone, he was being very serious.

‘There.’

Once Cale had said all he needed to say, he had a smug smile on his face.

‘Now they won’t push themselves like that again.’

That was what Cale thought as he smiled with satisfaction.

‘He’s being like that again.’

Rosalyn felt bitter when she saw how nonchalant Cale was being so that he doesn’t worry them.

Eruhaben shook his head and looked thoughtful. Cale had obviously not told them everything. However, since he said that seeing them okay would make him feel better, there should be some truth to it.

What that implied was that Cale’s condition had something to do with seeing them get hurt. Cale probably hadn’t even noticed that his words could be interpreted like that.

‘That unlucky, foolish bast*rd.’

Knowing Cale, he must have said that so that they don’t get hurt again.

‘What a mess.’

Eruhaben had been the one in the worst condition. He had nearly died. If seeing his family get hurt was what made Cale like this… then Eruhaben might’ve had the biggest role in that.

Sigh.

Eruhaben closed his eyes.

Sherritt and Mila had similar expressions.

“How frustrating.”

“Hmm?”

Cale was surprised by the last reaction. He looked at Raon in disbelief.

“Human, you’re so frustrating.”

“Our youngest’s right, nya.”

On silently nodded her head to show that she agreed with Raon and Hong.

Cale was baffled at everyone’s reactions.

‘Is it that hard to stay unhurt?’

Just as Cale’s face turned solemn, Alberu patted him on the shoulder and said,

“Stay put and don’t make trouble.”

He then looked at the three children and smiled cheekily.

“You three have to look after him.”

‘What?’

Cale looked at Alberu in disbelief. He even felt offended. It was supposed to be the other way around. Alberu ignored his look and smiled at the children.

“We’ll make sure the human doesn’t cause trouble!”

“We’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt himself either, nya!”

Cale felt betrayed by Raon and Hong’s replies.

“Even three year olds cause less trouble.”

Hearing On’s comment made Cale not want to talk to anyone anymore.

He didn’t cause trouble… at least that was true most of the time. (It wasn’t. He was a master at escalating the scale of different things)

He also doesn’t hurt himself…at least deliberately. Well, the stabbing-himself-in-the-heart incident only happened because he didn’t have any other choice. Other than that, he didn’t have a hobby of getting hurt.

‘…’

…Maybe he did get hurt a lot, but those were due to unavoidable circumstances. It wasn’t his fault.

Alberu seemed amused at the look Cale had on his stoic face.

“I’ll say this again, just in case…”

“Have a good day, your highness.”

Seeing the cheeky smile on Alberu’s face, Cale immediately told him to leave.

“Ho, no one dares to tell me to leave like you do, dongsaeng.”

Alberu shook his head in mock disbelief, and turned to leave when Eruhaben said he’ll teleport Alberu to Puzzle City instead. There was something the Golden Dragon wanted to confirm for himself.

Alberu nodded and let himself be engulfed by Eruhaben’s teleportation spell. When they reached Puzzle City, the nonchalant expression on Alberu’s face disappeared and was replaced by a cold look, an icy cold look.

As someone who knew Cale well, Alberu knew Cale wouldn’t tell them everything about his condition. The Cale he knew would do his best to not let others worry, other than every damned time he sacrificed himself for their sakes.

Alberu massaged his temples.

‘He said seeing us healthy would make him feel better.’

Cale wasn’t one to say things he did not mean. If seeing them healthy would make him feel better, then conversely,

‘Seeing us get hurt was what made him like that.’

Cale had been clutching his chest and breathing heavily before he woke up. The Saint and the dragons had confirmed that there was nothing wrong with his body, except for the fever.

Although the Dragon Lord, Sherritt, had said that there was something wrong, she had also said that Cale’s body seemed okay.

Alberu then started to think about when Cale first got into that condition.

The time at which Cale’s limbs had lost all strength was after everyone had coughed up blood and fainted.

‘And.’

Cale said that one of his abilities had gone bonkers.

Record.

That was the ability that made Cale heat up if he used it for too long.

It didn’t take long for Alberu to put the pieces together.

Alberu clenched and unclenched his fists, as if to calm himself.

‘This isn’t fair, you bast*rd.’

Cale was the one who always pushed himself too hard. He was the one who coughed up blood and fainted in almost every battle. Although the war had affected everyone, Cale, as the commander, had always taken the brunt of the damage, just so no one else got hurt.

The opposite of that had happened today.

This time, it was Alberu and the others who had pushed themselves too hard. However,

‘We’re all doing better than you always do, you punk.’

Except for Eruhaben, everyone had still been in a better condition than Cale at the end of the battle. Cale had been through far worse. This time, his family had only coughed up some blood, whereas Cale was the one who always coughed up so much blood that it soaked every inch of his clothes.

This time, they had only fainted for a little while. Cale, that stupid bast*rd, had fainted for even weeks at a time.

Besides,

Considering how much power Cale had already used, and how he had… s, stabbed… his own heart, just the thought of which was so terrible it made Alberu’s heart stop,

‘That bast*rd would have coughed up blood and fainted for who knows how long.’

His family was doing better, way better, than Cale had ever done after any battle. They had made the correct choice by not letting the explosion reach Cale’s shield.

Alberu looked at the ancient dragon. Eruhaben understood the emotions behind Alberu’s gaze, and said,

“We took the correct course of action.”

Eruhaben had had second thoughts after seeing Cale suffer so much. He had thought that maybe they really shouldn’t have pushed themselves so hard. Doing that had been more painful for Cale than coughing up blood and fainting.

Alberu nodded at Eruhaben’s comment, but added,

“We did, except for you, Eruhaben-nim.”

The Golden dragon had almost died.

Eruhaben guiltily avoided Alberu’s gaze. He also thought that he had gone too far.

Alberu then looked at the door down the hallway. That was where the representatives of different kingdoms were still in a meeting.

Although he had left in a hurry, Alberu’s current position made it so that he could easily barge in there whenever he wanted.

‘I’ll squeeze as many benefits as I can from those morons who took my dongsaeng’s sacrifice for granted.’

He’d squeeze them dry and give their money to Cale. That should cheer Cale up.

The glint in Alberu’s eyes would make anyone fear for their life.

“Let’s not get hurt anymore.”

Alberu’s words made Eruhaben snap out of his thoughts.

“…Yes, that would be for the best.”

If seeing them healthy would make Cale feel better, then that was what they should do.

They will not get hurt anymore.

In exchange,

‘That punk had better get better soon.’

Chapter Text

“Ho~ Young master-nim, why do you look even worse than before?”

‘It’s because of you, damn it.’

Cale was badly startled by Ron who had silently materialized by the side of his bed all of a sudden. He was so shocked that the cup of water in his hand had dropped to the floor.

Although Ron had a benign smile on his face, his eyes were colder than usual. It made Cale get goosebumps.

Ron handed Cale a cup of lemonade and then cleaned the mess on the floor.

Cale quietly stared at Ron. Ron hadn’t been able to rest recently, so Cale asked,

“You’re doing okay, right?”

Chuckle.

The quiet chuckle that escaped from the assassin’s mouth made Cale look back to his lemon tea. He decided to quietly drink this tea and not talk anymore.

“Oh.”

Cale was pleasantly surprised by how sweet the lemonade was. The taste was just to his liking.

Ron looked at Cale who was enjoying his lemonade for a moment, before leaving the room.

He had had to think for a long while before adding honey to the lemonade. After all, this puppy young master of his had given him quite the scare this time.

After thinking about it for a long while, he decided to make it the way Cale likes it. Of course, this was only until Cale got better.

Ron’s benign smile was gone when he left the room. He then took out his dagger and caressed it. Cale’s recent actions had made him lose his composure.

Cale had been way too reckless this time. Even if he had some sort of restorative power, stabbing himself in the heart was just too much.

Ron had killed several people by stabbing them in the heart. Seeing Cale do that to himself had made his old heart almost stop beating.

He hadn’t been able to fully calm himself after that, but when Cale told them that seeing them healthy would make him feel better,

Any semblance of composure Ron had seemed to have disappeared.

‘And since it was ‘Record’ of all things that’s gone out of control…’

The trigger could only have been Cale seeing his comrades cough up blood and faint.

“Tsk.”

Ron knew why Cale had always stood in front and ensured that no one pushed themselves too hard.

‘He cares way too much about others.’

So much so that seeing them cough up a minute amount of blood compared to how much blood he coughs up in every damned battle, and seeing his comrades faint for just a small amount of time compared to how he would faint for weeks.

That was what had made Cale like that.

Cale’s mind was probably replaying the sight of his comrades coughing up blood and fainting over and over.

Ron felt that caressing his dagger was doing nothing to calm down his raging emotions.

The sight of Cale struggling to breathe while clutching onto his chest just wouldn’t leave Ron’s mind.

Beacrox saw Ron standing outside the room he was about to deliver food to. As Ron’s son, he could tell how his father was feeling.

And frankly, he himself wasn’t feeling any better.

Their young master’s condition, and the reason behind that condition made it difficult for the father-son duo to remain calm.

The same went for everyone who now knew why Cale was in his current condition.

Rosalyn hadn’t known about Cale’s record before, but now that she did, she could piece everything together.

She wanted to research his condition to look for the best possible solutions. But,

‘He said that seeing us better would make him feel better.’

That was why she was chugging down a highest grade healing potion, and holding a highest grade mana stone in her hand.

When she was done absorbing mana from the stone, she took a bath and wore new clothes.

‘There.’

The whole process had taken a small amount of time because Rosalyn had been in a hurry.

After confirming that she looked as healthy as always, she teleported back to Cale’s room.

Mary had also entered Cale’s room at around the same time. She had had enough rest, and when she was told about Cale’s condition, she hurried to the room he was in. The fake Holy Maiden, Hannah, Saint Jack, Bud and Glen entered shortly after.

Jack looked a bit tired, which was understandable as how he had to heal others, while Hannah and Bud looked mighty fine. Although they were also tired, they had made themselves presentable after being told that Cale wanted to see everyone healthy.

‘That’s a tall order for people who’ve just ended a war.’

Hannah would’ve complained if she didn’t know the reason behind it. She, and all of Cale’s close comrades, had been told about Cale’s condition. Even if the cause was still just a hypothesis, they couldn’t help but want to do anything they could to help Cale.

‘I must’ve been blind to believe the bullsh*t he said about himself.’

Cale had told Hannah that he wasn’t a good person. Hannah scoffed at how stupid she was back then to have actually believed that cr*p.

Jack, who was right beside her, was looking worriedly at Cale. He felt helpless at how Cale’s condition couldn’t be healed with his powers. However, he concealed that worry, and greeted Cale with a tranquil smile.

“Young master Cale.”

Bud, on the other hand, was currently chugging down alcohol to keep himself sane. He had teared up when he heard why Cale was sick. He really wanted to grab Cale and shake him so as to make him come to his senses.

‘Everyone’s doing better than you, you punk! Why don’t you worry about yourself first!’

Glen, who was standing behind the alcoholic, looked at Bud. He too knew about Cale, and was having a hard time keeping his composure.

‘I might need some alcohol as well.’

Glen took the bottle Bud had in his hand, and drank it in one big gulp.

“You finally understand how I feel, friend!”

Bud gave Glen a bear hug, which made the latter frown and push him back.

“Go wash your face.”

Glen absolutely didn’t want Bud’s tear-filled snotty face anywhere near him.

Beacrox, who looked as neat and tidy as ever, was putting food on the table. He looked at Bud in disgust, before putting on a pair of gloves.

Bud sensed impending danger and immediately left the room. He only came back when he looked presentable.

The chef continued his job of setting food on the table, while keeping an eye on everyone who entered the room. If they weren’t presentable, he would make sure that they were.

On and Hong leaped from Cale’s lap onto the table while Raon moved from Cale’s shoulder to right next to On and Hong.

Cale sat up and put his feet on the floor. Although his limbs were still a bit numb, it was much better than before and he was able to stand up by supporting himself against the side table.

Everyone’s eyes turned sharp for a brief moment before returning back to normal. Ron smiled benignly and handed Cale a cup of water.

“Please keep sitting, young master-nim. We can’t have you move around so much when you’re still recovering.”

Cale frowned but sat back down on the bed. He observed everyone in the room before drinking from his cup. No one had started to eat yet.

They were waiting.

There was a knock on the door before it was flung open.

“Sorry for being late!”

It was Lock. Behind him were the Maes and the other wolf children.

“No worries. You were right on time.”

The wolf children gathered in front of Cale. They had different expressions on their faces, but they all showed the same emotion - worry.

“I’m fine.”

Cale sighed and patted them on the head. He didn’t have to move much as the wolf children lowered their heads to his level.

“Cale-nim.”

A low voice called out to him.

Cale looked at the owner of his voice, and flinched. Choi Han, who had been standing outside the room until now, had a vicious look on his face.

“Do you think you’re okay?”

Cale was a bit confused, until he remembered what he had looked like in the mirror.

‘It looks worse than it actually is.’

He was actually doing pretty good now. Except for the slight numbness in his legs, there was nothing wrong with him. Even his records had stopped replaying over and over, much to his relief.

“Of course I’m okay.”

Choi Han shook his head, but his vicious look was now gone. Instead, he had an innocent smile on his face.

“Sure.”

Cale felt iffy at Choi Han’s response, despite how harmless it appeared to be.

‘Is he angry about something?’

Choi Han couldn’t act, so the possibility of that being the case was slim. However, Cale’s intuition seemed to be saying otherwise. Since it was complicated, Cale decided to ask Choi Han about it later. For now,

“Rosalyn, you said that Eruhaben won’t be able to make it. Is he okay?”

Rosalyn smiled and said,

“Yes, he’s a bit busy. He should be back in a little while.”

“What was so important that he skipped his meal like this after almost dying?”

“I confirmed that he had his meal around half an hour ago.”

Rosalyn answered Cale’s grumbling.

“What about his highness?”

“He said that we can start without him. He’ll be here in ten minutes.”

“And what about…”

Before Cale could say more, the door opened, and Deruth, Violan, and Basen entered.

“Cale!”

“Hyung!”

They rushed to Cale and took a good look at him. After a while, Deruth heaved a sigh of relief and said,

“It seems you are better than before.”

“Of course.”

“However, it’s good to be careful. Just in case, how about you rest for a couple of months?”

To those who didn’t know Cale well, they would think he was stoically listening to his father. But those who did know him could tell that he was incredibly excited.

‘That’s obvious.’

It was obvious that he had to rest. Cale had a smile on his face as he thought about the slacker life that lay ahead.

Violan smiled for a brief moment, before it was replaced by her usual stoic expression.

“Leave the rest to your father and us. We can handle that much.”

Although they had achieved peace, there were a plethora of things they still needed to take care of. Needless to say, all those things would be handled by Cale’s family. They wouldn’t have it any other way. Cale deserved to rest.

“Yes, hyung. You can rely on us.”

Cale’s smile grew wider as he replied.

“I’ll be relying on you all.”

This was just what he wanted. He would leave all that troublesome work for his family so that he can finally enjoy his hard earned slacker life.

“You better remember that, hyung.”

Basen had said that with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes, so Cale felt a bit iffy about it. But since there wasn’t anything wrong with what Basen said, Cale decided to think about it later.

Everyone sat at the table, except Cale, because they didn’t want him to leave his bed. Instead, they positioned the table in a way as to include Cale.

What everyone had gathered here for was lunch. It was a sort of celebration for surviving the war. However, there was another, more important meaning to this gathering.

It was to reassure Cale that they were all doing okay by being lively. If Cale’s record of them coughing up blood was disturbing him, all they had to do was show him that they were healthy.

The reason why they did it in Cale’s room and not in the large dining hall elsewhere in the Black Castle was because they didn’t want him to leave his bed. He needed to rest, so they arranged the meal in his room.

Just as Beacrox, the wolf children, and well, basically anyone who pitched in, were done setting food on the table, Alberu teleported into the room with a bright smile on his face.

“Looks like the meeting went well, you highness.”

Alberu’s smile grew even thicker at Cale’s comment.

“Hyung-nim.”

Cale had his characteristic scammer smile on his face as Alberu corrected him.

“Yes, hyung-nim. How did they say they will reward me?”

By now, Alberu’s smile was the same as Cale’s.

“I told them about how you rejected the Medal of Honor.”

Even though a medal for the hero who saved both continents sounded really grand, it was a joke of a reward. Just thinking about it was irritating.

Alberu had also mentioned Cale’s poor health. Those bast*rds needed to know how much this punk had suffered. However, Alberu didn’t mention that right now.

“And since we won’t be giving you any medal, I said that the least we could do was give you some money.”

By now, the smile on Cale’s face couldn’t get any wider. The same could be said about the smile Alberu had on his face.

‘I knew he’d be happy.’

Actually, the process of getting all the representatives to chip in hadn’t been even half as easy as Alberu had made it sound. It had only been possible because of Alberu’s shrewdness, as well as Clopeh’s cunning. That legend fanatic had played a pivotal role in looting those stupid bast*rds. Litana and Toonka had also helped to some extent.

But there was no reason for Alberu to mention them.

“Isn’t your hyung-nim great?”

“Yes, your highness is the sun that shines over our kingdom, as well as the moon that lives in the hearts of all of the citizens of the Land of Boulders and brightens up their night. Your greatness…”

“Enough.”

There was no trace of the bright smile Alberu had had a moment ago.

While Cale was really excited about the prospect of having lots of retirement money, Cale’s biological family was bewildered.

They had seen a new side of Cale today. This was the first time they had seen him… say this many words, and words of flattery no less.

“Ho.”

Deruth could only sigh in bewilderment. His son had gotten quite distant from them ever since his mother’s death. During the days Cale had acted as trash, he had rarely talked to them. It was only during the last couple of years that Cale had truly started to feel closer to them.

However, he wasn’t as frank to them, his family, as he was to the crown prince.

Although Cale did sound like he was close, and his self-sacrificial actions showed how much he cared about his family, at the same time, Cale had felt a bit distant.

‘We still have a long way to go.’

Deruth had so much he owed Cale. He hadn’t been a good father to Cale. He was the one who had allowed Cale to act as trash. It was only recently that he had figured out why Cale had been like that.

‘It was to protect Violan and Basen from being discriminated against.’

Cale had diverted the branch families’ criticism towards him, just so their family could be peaceful.

‘And during the wars…’

Deruth bit his lip when he recalled the sight of Cale drenched in his own blood and fainting. Every time Cale coughed up blood, Deruth felt like someone was physically crushing his heart.

The care, love, protection, sacrifice Cale has given them. Deruth needed to reciprocate it.

‘Although I’m not sure if I can ever do that.’

All Cale wanted was the life of a slacker, and money. Well, Deruth had lots of money. He wouldn’t mind giving all of the Henituse treasury over to Cale. Cale deserved at least that much.

‘But I’ll have to add a condition.’

Deruth needed to add a condition for handing down the wealth the Henituse family had gathered over the generations. And that condition would be.

‘He better not get hurt again.’

Even if Cale had a restorative power that could make him survive being stabbed in the heart, it was better to not get hurt at all.

Basen and Violan had similar thoughts as Deruth. They were thinking of how much they owed Cale, as well as different ways to make sure he doesn’t get hurt.

But none of the three thought that their methods were a sure fire way of keeping Cale out of danger. After all,

‘He has sword masters, highest grade mages, dragons, a necromancer, wolves, tigers, whales, elves, dark elves…’

The list of Cale’s extremely strong allies seemed to never end. However,

‘How does he still manage to get hurt the most?’

Basen couldn’t help but feel frustrated and helpless. Even now, Cale was the only one who was still injured.

Basen knew that everyone had worked hard, and that it was his hyung who always pushed himself way too hard so that no one else got hurt. That was why he felt so helpless.

Just as the Henituse family sat at the table, there was a knock on the door and tiger Shaman Gashan entered, along with Tasha. The two had coincidentally come at the same time, despite them having come from different places.

Tasha looked at her nephew who was visibly better than before. Alberu had replenished his mana and dark mana, so although he was still tired, he was much better. As for the pale color of his skin.

‘Did he mask it with make-up?’

Tasha took a closer look at Alberu and said,

“Hmm, I was right.”

Alberu looked at her in askance, but she only shrugged her shoulders and said,

“You need to rest once you’re done eating.”

She pulled back the seat right next to Alberu and sat down.

No sooner had she sat down that Mila, Dodori and Rasheel, along with an awestruck Pendrick entered. Pendrick felt like he was in heaven after seeing five dragons, including the previous Dragon Lord, all sit at the same table.

‘And I get to eat at the same table as them.’

It almost felt blasphemous.

Pendrick felt giddy just thinking about how he’ll sit at the same table as these esteemed beings. The look in his eyes was the same look diehard fans would have when they met all their favorite celebrities in the same place. And sitting at the same table as them,

He almost fainted from happiness.

‘I can die without any regrets now!’

Cale gave the overly-excited to the point of flushing and shivering Pendrick a weird look, before greeting the person who teleported right behind Pendrick.

“Oh, you’re finally here, Eruhaben-nim.”

“Goldie gramps!”

Pendrick saw behind him, and

“Human! What’s wrong with him?!”

Pendrick was clutching his chest, and his face was flushed. Raon hadn’t noticed it before, but now that he did, he felt worried for the elf.

Sigh.

‘I knew it’d be a bad idea.’

Cale massaged his temples.

Although Pendrick was on the calmer side compared to other elves, at the end of the day, he was still just another dragon-worshiping elf.

Pendrick looked at Eruhaben, and then at every other dragon in the room, his face turning odd the more he looked.

Rasheel had been feeling great being looked at like that.

‘Someone finally appreciates my greatness!’

However, a moment later, even he felt that it was just too much.

Because Pendrick had fainted.

Alberu, Choi Han, Rosalyn, and the dragons, all peeked at Cale worryingly. When they saw that he was alright, they sighed in relief.

Cale gave them a weird look.

“Is there something wrong, Eruhaben-nim? Oh, hello, Miss Cage.”

“Hello, young master Cale.”

Cage smiled a bit awkwardly when she returned Cale’s greeting. It was as if she had something that was weighing on her mind.

“Is something the matter, Miss Cage?”

There was something wrong with both Eruhaben and Miss Cage. The two only shook their heads, and Cale didn’t ask more. His intuition told him that he should leave it alone, so he looked at the now fainted Pendrick.

Just as someone was about to wake Pendrick up, the elf jumped up with a very determined look.

‘Now’s not the time to faint!’

This was the first time this many dragons had gathered for a meal. If he were to miss even a second of it, he wouldn’t be able to let go of that regret his whole life.

Seeing that the elf was okay, Cale said,

“Let’s eat.”

The pseudo feast then started in earnest. It was the first time all of Cale’s allies had gathered like this for a meal, so it was quite the surreal experience, at least for Cale. The others were way too concerned about him to care about that.

Not even a whole minute had passed since the meal started that Cale looked at the ever increasing pile of food on his plate in disbelief. It was almost as big as him.

A moment later, that pile acquired a size twice as big as Cale.

“…You guys know I won’t be able to eat this much, right?”

The others just gave him a bright smile, and Cale quietly looked back at the mountain of food.

Chapter Text

Despite the slight tension in the air because of how concerned everyone had been about a certain red-head that seemed to be running a fever, the meal was going well.

Mila was discussing some combat moves with Eruhaben. Dodori was listening attentively while Rasheel pretended as if he wasn’t interested, but he would chip in rather proudly whenever he could. After all, close combat was Rasheel’s forte.

The tiger Shaman Gashan was adding more food to the plates of the wolf children. Tasha, who was seated between Mary and Alberu, chatted with the two of them about the plans dark elves had about making a city above ground. Mary was especially interested in this, because she really liked the sky that couldn’t be seen from the underground city.

Sherritt handed Raon some cookies, who tasted one, and then immediately took the rest to Cale and his two older siblings.

On and Hong took one before Raon prompted them to.

“Human, try these cookies! They’re delicious!”

Cale took a cookie from Raon and ate it, despite feeling full. He didn’t feel like eating much, but he couldn’t refuse the food offered to him by a child. He did tell the adults to take back the food they’d loaded onto his plate. It was physically impossible for Cale to stomach something twice his size after all.

Now, the food in Cale’s plate was down to only three times the amount of food Cale would usually eat.

“This tastes pretty good! You should try it.”

Hong pushed a pastry towards Cale. On, seeing as how Cale’s plate was full of different desserts, courtesy of Raon and Hong, put some salad on Cale’s already way too full plate.

Cale wanted to stop these children, but he couldn’t bring himself to say no to their bright and hopeful eyes.

“Wow, that really hits the spot!”

“I’ll pour you another glass. Here’s some cheers for our friendship!”

“Cheers!”

Bud and Cage had hit it off and were drinking to the side. Cale frowned and said,

“Stop being a bad influence on the children and eat your meal.”

Cage, who was visibly more cheery than she had been when she’d first arrived, smirked and said,

“Young master Cale’s worried about us.”

‘Not really.’

“Our friend is just using the kids as an excuse to cover his concern for us!”

‘That’s not the case.’

Cale’s brows furrowed further at Bud’s comment.

“You should focus on your own meal for now, friend. Don’t worry about us, we’ll eat plenty.”

‘But I’m not really worried about you guys?’

“Listen to the Mercenary King, young master Cale.”

Cale decided to ignore this pair of alcoholics and looked at his way too full plate.

“Dongsaeng, is there something wrong? You’re not eating much.”

Alberu had noticed how Cale had eaten nothing, except for the food that the children had given to him. Deruth, Violan and Basen had also been keeping an eye on Cale, but they hadn’t said anything because they were planning on slowly making him eat more.

“I’m fine.”

Cale didn’t know why, but he wasn’t feeling hungry despite how it had been a while since his last meal. Just as Cale put his fork down, sharp gazes from Deruth, Violan, Basen, and literally everyone else at the table, made Cale hold his fork again.

Since he didn’t want to worry anyone, Cale decided to ignore how he didn’t have an appetite, and took a bite from the steak on his plate. This steak wasn’t that tasty compared to Beacrox’s steak.

“Who made the steak this time?”

The taste was really different from before. It wasn’t even half as good.

Beacrox, who’d been about to take a bite of his own steak, paused and looked at Cale. He then said in a stoic voice,

“I did.”

‘Hmm?’

If it was Beacrox’s steak…

“Human! The steak’s really good this time, isn’t it!? I think it’s the best one Beacrox has ever made!”

“Raon’s right! Wow, how were you able to make it even tastier than normal?”

Hong asked Beacrox with a sparkle in his eyes.

On looked at Raon and Hong, before looking back at Cale who seemed to be at a loss. Her ears drooped down. Something wasn’t quite right.

Cale really was shocked. After a brief pause, he took another bite of the steak. The steak was edible, but he wouldn’t exactly call it tasty.

‘Is there something wrong with my tastebuds?’

That seemed to be the only possible explanation.

“It’s really tasty, right!?”

Cale blankly nodded at Raon’s enthusiastic comment, before tasting the various other foods on his plate. None of them seemed particularly tasty, but they were all edible.

‘Whatever.’

Cale stopped thinking about it and ate slowly as he recorded everyone at the table. Most of his allies were here, and they were all eating quite heartily. After confirming that everyone was eating an appropriate amount of food, he focused back on eating. For some reason, it was taking more effort than usual to shove food down his throat.

Cale’s peculiarity was noted by his parents, Basen, Alberu, On, Ron, and most of, if not all of, the other adults at the table. They had seen Cale enjoy such food with a sparkle in his eyes in normal times. Now, however, he seemed to be forcing himself to eat.

“Is the food not to your liking, young master-nim?”

Cale flinched when he heard Beacrox’s question. Beacrox and Ron’s eyes narrowed when they saw Cale flinch.

“I’m not hungry right now.”

It was the truth. Cale didn’t feel like eating anything.

“The food is good.”

This, on the other hand, was a lie. The food was barely edible. However, judging from how everyone else was enjoying their food, it must be tasty.

“I see.”

Beacrox resumed eating his meal as if nothing had happened. Cale felt relieved, and then quietly observed everyone at the table.

Cale usually ate with the children averaging nine years in his room, or with the Henituse family whenever he was in the Henituse estate back in Rain City.

This meal was very different from all those meals. This was Cale’s first time asking his family to eat at one big table together.

He usually wouldn’t ask for such a thing, but he wanted to see all his allies in one place. The plan had been to eat at the main hall, but his family had been adamant that he stayed in his bed, so the meal had been arranged here instead.

A few of his allies weren’t here. They were either busy, or Cale didn’t want to bring them here. Although Clopeh was an ally, he wasn’t as trustworthy, and frankly,

‘That guy would drive me nuts.’

It was best to stay as far away from him as possible. As for Duke Fredo,

‘He didn’t leave the best impression on my family.’

That dude had had the nerve to call him son in front of his own parents, so it was obvious to exclude him as well.

That aside, Cale wondered how long it had been since all of his family gathered for one big meal. The last time such a thing happened was back on Earth quite a long time ago.

His team would often gather for a celebration of sorts whenever they survived a very hard battle. Cale, as someone who could not forget, could remember every moment of such celebrations.

The last such celebration with Team Leader Lee Soohyuk and Choi Jungsoo overlapped with the sight of his current allies in front of him.

‘Here’s a toast to surviving another tough battle!’

‘Cheers!’

Cale, no, Kim Rok Soo, would be the one who was least enthusiastic about such gatherings. In his defense, every damned day had been a fight for survival, so he didn’t get the point of celebrating such a feat.

‘Kim Rok Soo, learn from your hyung. You need to unwind from time to time.’

‘Yes, dongsaeng! You’re way too uptight for someone who wants to be a slacker. For starters, wipe that frown off your face.’

Lee Soohyuk and Choi Jungsoo’s voices reverberated in Cale’s ears. Cale felt like he had been transported back to a time when his former family was still alive.

But Cale knew that they weren’t alive. That they had died a long time ago. That this was just a memory he was reviewing.

It hurt.

Cale felt like he couldn’t breathe.

It was similar to how he couldn’t breathe when he saw his family cough up blood and faint.

‘F*ck.’

It would’ve been okay if he hadn’t thought of that. Now a whole lot of his records were playing together in a discordant way. It was a total mess.

The kind of pain Cale felt was a bit different from before. This time, his throat hurt, and something seemed to be pressing on his chest.

Because of how preoccupied Cale was with trying to control his records, he didn’t notice something wet slide down his cheeks.

The whole table turned quiet and it looked as if time had frozen for everyone except Cale. Everyone at the table stiffened up and paused whatever they were doing.

Clank. Click. Clang, clang.

They collectively let go of any utensil they were holding in shock.

The children averaging nine years, who were the closest to Cale, gently nudged him. On and Hong pat Cale’s hand with their tails, while Raon climbed onto Cale’s shoulders and wiped some of the tears that were running down his cheeks.

“Human, what happened?”

Raon’s voice was quieter as compared to before. He remembered what his human had done to calm him down whenever he was upset, and gently patted Cale on the back.

“Cale.”

Deruth, who had walked over to Cale, put a hand on Cale’s shoulder and gently nudged him.

“My son, is there something wrong?”

“Hyung-nim.”

“Young master-nim.”

“Cale-nim.”

“Dongsaeng.”

“Young master Cale.”

Everyone called out to Cale. When Deruth pat Cale on his shoulder again, Cale blankly looked at his father.

“Oh.”

He realized how he had been blanking out. He immediately said,

“I’m fine.”

Deruth painfully closed his eyes, and opened them back. His tone was now strict, unlike the soft tone he’d used previously.

“We’re family, right?”

Cale looked at Deruth with a gaze that said, ‘why’re you asking such an obvious question.’ But he still nodded his head.

After seeing Cale nod his head, Deruth added,

“You trust us, correct?”

Cale blankly nodded his head.

“So you should at least tell us what’s bothering you.”

‘But I already did?’

He’d already told Alberu and the rest about how his record ability had gone haywire. This was just an extension of that.

Deruth, seeing as how Cale was somehow able to still not understand what he meant, patted Cale’s head. Basen was quietly observing Cale, who had looked bad enough with the flush on his pale face, but now looked worse due to the tears that flowed down his cheeks.

Ron had taken out his dagger while Beacrox was holding a knife. The father-and-son duo looked extremely vicious.

Alberu, who was now standing beside Cale, said with a smile,

“Dongsaeng, just tell us what you’re feeling right now.”

‘How am I feeling?’

Cale looked a bit thoughtful. He was good at gauging other people’s emotions, but he sometimes had a hard time discerning his own. For instance, right now. Never in his wildest imaginations would he have thought he’d break down on what was supposed to be a joyous occasion.

“I don’t know.”

Cale truly didn’t know how he was feeling. Since the emotions from the records he reviewed affected him, his current mood was a mixture of all those records. The records that had been plaguing him included some happy memories as well, which made it rather difficult for Cale to figure out how exactly he was feeling.

Sadness, despair, hopelessness, and maybe a bit of joy from the good memories. But the pain of losing his comrades overshadowed that joy. Heck, it somehow made the happy memories even more painful to watch. The feeling was way too complicated for someone with Cale’s level of EQ to comprehend.

Deruth gently wiped the tears in Cale’s eyes. Cale’s eyes opened wider as he realized that his cheeks were oddly wet.

‘Ah.’

No wonder they all seemed so shocked. He had been crying.

‘Why is this happening, and why now of all times?’

Cale was someone who hadn’t cried at the funerals of the people who were closest to him. His stoicness was something that made others call an emotionless and ungrateful bast*rd. He also thought he was just that - an emotionless and ungrateful piece of trash.

So why was he crying now of all times?

Cale tried to think of happy thoughts with his current family, but the records of them coughing up blood, along with the records of his previous teammates just wouldn’t stop. Just as his mind was about to devolve in another mess, Cale felt someone lightly tap his cheeks.

It was Raon.

“Everything’s okay now, human. The White Star’s gone, and we’ll get rid of the rest of his subordinates really soon. If there’s someone bothering you, we can go destroy them.”

Cale smiled when he heard Raon say that. Just as Cale was about to pat Raon on the head, Raon was one step faster and patted Cale’s head instead. Now, two people were patting Cale’s head, Deruth and Raon.

On and Hong didn’t want to miss out, so they leapt into Cale’s lap and patted his cheeks.

It made a very cute picture. If Hans were here, he would’ve had a nosebleed. It was a good thing that he was still in Rain City with Lily.

The others would’ve swooned at the cuteness of the sight as well, but they were far too worried about Cale to think about that for more than a fleeting moment.

‘Why is this stoic bast*rd being like that when everything is okay now?’

Cale always had his records, but they didn’t go out of control before. At least Alberu had never seen it happen. Except maybe when the God of Death had sent a note to Cale through Cage. That was when Cale had blanked out, and had felt weak afterwards. That was also when Alberu had let Cale sleep in his bed while he himself slept on the couch.

Other than that one time, Cale hadn’t shown any moments where he was as vulnerable as he looked right now.

‘Is it because he doesn’t have anything keeping him preoccupied?’

Before, Cale had been focused on getting rid of the White Star. Now that their archnemesis was gone, Alberu theorized that everything that Cale had been suppressing until now had probably broken loose.

‘This is driving me nuts.’

He frowned and massaged his temples. He wasn’t the best when it came to comforting people, so he was at a loss at what to do.

“Cale-nim, you can tell us if there’s something bothering you.”

Cale shifted his gaze from the children to Choi Han. After a brief moment, he said,

“It’s the records. It should be okay after a while.”

Choi Han clenched his fists. He felt utterly helpless. Rosalyn, Alberu, Ron and the others, all of them felt helpless. They had thought that being lively would be enough to distract Cale and keep those records in check, but that wasn’t enough.

Cale resumed eating his food, well, he resumed forcing himself to eat something so that others can resume as well. Apparently, there was nothing he could do about his records for now, so it was better to leave that topic.

Cale was feeling a bit guilty about disrupting his family’s peace of mind, and that emotion only added to the chaos in his mind.

Crack.

‘Hmm?’

Cale looked around. He was sure he heard something crack.

‘No.’

He hadn’t exactly heard that sound. He had felt like something cracked. It was odd, and it kind of disturbed Cale. But that feeling was immediately drowned by his other, more overwhelming emotions.

Cale ignored them and focused on keeping his expression as neutral as he could. It was better to tough it out than make his family worry about him more than they already were.

Chapter Text

Cale’s family wanted the meal to be a little more light-hearted, for Cale’s sake. But after what had happened just now, they had to do their utmost to mask their gloominess.

Cale also noticed how the mood was way worse than before, and he put his fork down. He was beginning to feel queasy, and his guilt wasn’t making him feel any better.

‘Damn it.’

He had to do his best not to frown. He had worried his allies enough already.

Soon, everyone was done eating. Beacrox, Ron, the wolf children, and anyone who volunteered, pitched in to put the chaotic room back in order.

Cale observed them for a while, before lying down and covering himself with his blanket. He had been feeling a bit cold for a while now.

“Do you need anything to warm you up, young master?”

‘I feel like I’m about to throw up what I’ve eaten.’

Maybe he should sit up? But he felt tired, so he opted not to.

“No, I’m fine.”

“I see. Let me know if there is anything you need.”

It wasn’t long until Cale drifted to sleep. His records had become a bit more tame now that he had seen that everyone was okay. The fact that the room had turned quiet the moment Cale laid on the bed also helped, but the major factor was that Cale was feeling really tired. Although he had rested for a while, that rest didn’t seem to have helped at all.

The others quietly watched him sleep before leaving the room. Rosalyn, Alberu, Choi Han, Ron, Beacrox, Sherritt and Bud had long noticed that Cage and Eruhaben had been oddly serious for a while before acting all relaxed. Lock had also noticed something wrong with Eruhaben. Although he didn’t know that Eruhaben had left before to ask Cage about Cale’s condition, he could tell that something wasn’t right.

Eruhaben looked at them before saying,

“Let’s go to another room.”

Even though everyone wanted to follow, it wasn’t ideal to do so. It was decided that Mila, Dodori and the children averaging nine years would stay with Cale. The wolf children excluding Lock would patrol the forest, along with tiger Shaman Gashan.

The ones that followed Eruhaben and Cage were Alberu, Choi Han, Rosalyn, Lock, Sherritt, Ron, Beacrox, Bud, Deruth, Violan and Basen. The rest went to perform different duties.

As soon as they entered the hall Sherritt guided them to, Alberu asked,

“How bad is it?”

“It’s serious.”

Everyone stopped in their tracks.

“Young Master Cale’s soul is heavily injured.”

Deruth felt like his heart stopped for a moment. The same went for a lot of people in the room. They all got a shock.

Everyone in the room had frozen. After a moment, the murderous intent exuding from this room got so strong that it scared away any monsters in the vicinity.

Ron’s stoic expression was replaced with the most vicious expression he’d ever made. The same went for Beacrox. Rosalyn and Sherritt closed their eyes, while Lock desperately held onto the hem of Choi Han’s clothes. Choi Han gripped his scabbard so hard it started to crack.

“Young master Cale’s soul had sustained heavy injuries before the war. One of the many reasons for that is because it got displaced twice.”

The room descended into silence. After what seemed to be a long while,

“Displaced?”

“Twice?”

Ron and Choi Han asked. Their focus was on two different things. Choi Han knew that Cale was a transmigrator, so he guessed that displacement meant that.

‘But for that to have happened twice.’

This was something he did not know of.

As for Ron, the displacement of a soul wasn’t an entirely new concept. The only person that Ron knew whose soul kept swapping bodies was the White Star. Ron was aware that the White Star was a reincarnator. But for the soul that was his puppy Young master to have been displaced, and twice at that, was an entirely different thing.

Cage smiled bitterly and answered,

“He fell victim to a reincarnator shortly after he was born, and then a transmigrator only two years ago. Since he was on the receiving end, his soul suffered damage both those times.”

Everyone froze. It took a while for everyone to digest a little bit of the gravity of the situation.

For Choi Han and Alberu, who were aware that Cale used to be Kin Rok Soo, the first part was more important. Choi Han remembered that the White Star had an uncanny resemblance to Kim Rok Soo. Another person knew about that as well.

“A reincarnator? Was it the White Star?”

Alberu spoke through gritted teeth, and Cage nodded. The bitter look on her face was still there.

“He got inflicted by a part of that bast*rd’s curse.”

Choi Han knew that Kim Rok Soo had spent a life where he lost everyone that was close to him, but Alberu didn’t know of that fact in its entirety.

Alberu had known that Cale had lost Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo, but not that Cale had lost everyone near and dear to him. He desperately wished that that wasn’t the case as he asked,

“What does that mean?”

He knew what it meant, but he needed to ask.

“That he lost anyone that was close to him. That person would either leave him, or they would die.”

Cage felt like cursing, but she couldn’t do that. Not when she knew that it wouldn’t help the people in front of her one bit. She could tell how shaken all of them were. All of them looked… so lost.

They were like that because they could finally tell why Cale so desperately protected them so many times, at the expense of his own health.

Ron, who had barely taken in what Cage had said, asked,

“You said he fell victim to a transmigrator.”

Although Ron had stated something, Cage could see his obvious desire for an explanation. It was pretty clear from the incredibly cold look in the man’s eyes.

“The person that used to be Cale transmigrated into the current young master’s previous body after making a deal with the God of Death. As for the current young master Cale, he would’ve fallen asleep on a normal day, only to wake up in a completely different world.”

This sentence was setting off waves in Ron’s head. Although Ron thought he hadn’t cared much for the young master before, he had spent more time with the original Cale than his own son, Beacrox. No matter how heartless of an assassin Ron used to be, there was no way he would be completely unaffected. However,

Apparently, that puppy young master had been the one to initiate the transmigration. And that, in turn, had affected an already injured soul. The soul that was his current young master. The same young master that the current Ron wouldn’t hesitate to protect with everything he had.

Like Ron, Beacrox’s mind was also a mess. But the mess in their minds wasn’t as big as it was for another person.

Deruth was barely holding onto his sanity. He clenched his shaking hands as he asked,

“W-why? …Why would m-my s-son… do that?”

Deep down, he knew the answer, but he wished, desperately, that that wasn’t the case.

Cage, who had steeled herself for such questions by making herself half drunk, answered,

“I don’t know the complete details, but apparently it was because he wanted to be with his mother. His mother had reincarnated in the current young master Cale’s previous world…”

That was it. Deruth felt like he had received a blow so hard it had knocked out any and all air inside his lungs. Violan, who was just as affected as he was, grabbed his hands with her shaking hands, in an attempt to calm herself down.

Basen, on the other hand, didn’t have anyone to lean on for support, so he held onto the wall. The original Cale was someone who hadn’t been very close to him, but Basen could remember the piece of advice, and the help he had given to him so that he could integrate into the Henituse family.

That brother was gone. He was gone for good.

This was something that hit Basen quite hard.

The three didn’t hear the other reason Cage stated because of their shock.

Silence. The room was completely silent for a few moments.

“How do we heal young master Cale?”

Surprisingly, the one that got right to the point was Lock, who looked quite unlike his usual timid self. Maybe it was the instincts of a wolf to protect his family, but the normally shy boy looked rather intimidating.

Basen, who had been looking at the floor, looked up at Lock, and then focused on Cage. Deruth and Violan, who had closed their eyes, looked at Cage as well. The three still looked as if they were devastated. However, they didn’t want to miss even a single word of what was being said.

“Unlike a person’s plate, which is related to their physical body, the soul has a close relation with their emotions and mental health…”

Cage flinched at how cold the others looked right now.

Clang, clang.

Choi Han was moving his sword in and out of its scabbard. Ron, who was caressing a dagger, looked like he was out for blood. Lock’s hands were covered with fur and had turned into sharp claws. Golden dust and white and red colored mana were swirling around the room.

All in all, the room had reached a tipping point. One spark could set off an explosion.

Cage gulped and continued her explanation,

“…As you know, the current young master Cale’s soul was injured from the moment he was born in his previous life. Normally, those injuries would heal over time, as is the case for physical injuries. The difference is that they heal very slowly in comparison.”

She paused and bit her lips. This was the part that made her feel terrible.

“In young master Cale’s case, his injuries only kept increasing with time. A considerate amount of physical injury played a role as well, but it was mostly because he…”

Although Cage stopped and didn’t say more, even the dumbest person would be able to fill in the gaps.

“Ha-haha…”

Alberu laughed. It wasn't a laugh filled with joy or anything. It was a laugh with nothing behind it, as if it was a soundmade by a broken machine.

When Cage had said that Cale was affected by a fraction of the White Star’s curse, Alberu had had a really bad feeling. When she said that a soul’s well-being was related to their mental and emotional well-being, he had been able to piece everything together. However,

It was really very hard for him to come to terms with it.

‘So this is why he was so desperate to see no one get hurt.’

They were in a war where it was easy to lose someone so long as there was a slightest mistake. It made sense that the tension affected Cale.

That punk was never someone who would let them worry about the enemy or the flow of the battle. He was the one who carried that burden for them.

‘With that annoying smirk on his face.’

It was that very smirk on his face that would let his companions know that there was nothing to worry about.

However,

‘How much worry did that punk hide behind his smirk?’

It was heartbreaking to see Cale, an injured person, so desperately want others to not get even the slightest bit hurt.

‘Cale-nim…’

Choi Han had his head down. He had lost his family twice, so he was no stranger to how it felt to lose the people you know and love.

He also knew about Cale’s life as Kim Rok Soo.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt like it was difficult to breathe. It was as if someone had put something very heavy onto his chest.

‘Why?’

He felt that it was unfair. Life hadn’t been very kind to Choi Han, but he felt that it was so unfair. It was so, so unfair for Cale to have to go through all that.

Eruhaben had gotten the general gist of Cale’s situation before. Mainly that his soul was unstable. However, the other details were new to him.

He didn’t know of the Cale that had been in that body two years ago, but the current Cale was his child. Knowing that his child had been through so much… truly broke his heart.

Eruhaben could remember the look in Cale’s eyes when he had been close to dying.

He closed his eyes.

‘Am I no better than those damned villains that hurt him?’

To be fair, Eruhaben had wanted to live with his family, but he was afraid. He had been scared that someone else might need the jar. Him using the jar meant he’d get to live an extra life, but for the rest of the people in his family,

None of them had reached the time that had been allotted to them.

Even if he went back in time, Eruhaben would still wait for everything to be over before he used the jar.

‘Ha… I really am quite selfish.’

But there was one thing he should have avoided. He shouldn’t have let Cale see his condition. From what he could tell, Cale’s mind had probably already been replaying the sight of all of them coughing up blood. Seeing him close to death had only made it much worse.

‘Damn it.’

That coupled with the fact that Cale lost anyone he was close to in his previous life made Eruhaben feel terrible.

He wouldn’t call Cale an unlucky bast*rd for quite a while, even though that phrase couldn’t be more fitting. He felt his heart would break every time he said that.

“How sad… hic… why do good people have to suffer so much… hic…”

Bud had long devolved into a drunken mess. There were tears in both of his eyes as he chugged another bottle of alcohol.

Ron quietly looked at the dagger he was caressing. He hadn’t cared much about Cale more than two years ago, but it would be a lie to say that there was no affection at all. Ron had spent more time with Cale than he had spent with his own son Beacrox. It was impossible, even for a cruel person like him, to not be affected at all.

However,

The young master Cale he had served during the recent couple of years was the one Ron was closer to. This Cale was the one who had saved Ron from dying from mermaid poison, and exacted revenge on those that had hurt him. This Cale was the one that had given Ron his lost arm. This Cale was also the one who helped Ron return to the home he thought he would never be able to return to.

This young master Cale was not the one who he had brought up since childhood. This person had been a complete stranger to him.

What had Ron done for Cale to get this person to care about him so much? Besides his duties as a butler, all he did was serve Cale lemon teas to irk him.

And yet,

‘He did so much.’

It was hard to believe that such an affectionate person existed. Yet, here was a person that cared that much for someone that he hadn’t known for a long time.

Ron could still remember the concern and worry in Cale’s eyes when he got poisoned. How long had Cale known him back then?

Hardly a few months, of which he was away for the majority of the time period.

That was the only time Ron had gotten hurt. It was also the last time he acted all on his own. After that, he participated in so many battles and wars. And yet,

He didn’t get hurt in any of them. He came out unscathed through all those tough wars. All he got were a few scrapes and minor abrasions here and there, nothing major.

On the other hand, it was Cale that got hurt in every single one of those battles. He was the one who always ended up coughing up blood and fainting.

And that very Cale was suffering right now.

Ron got up and went to the door. Before he could leave, Choi Han moved in front of him. From the look in Choi Han’s eyes,

‘It seems this punk knew of this already.’

While it did irk Ron that he got to know of this after this punk did, he suppressed that irritation and smiled.

“Get out of the way, punk.”

The look in Choi Han’s eyes said that he wouldn’t, so Ron sidestepped him and added,

“I am someone that knows propriety.”

Ron was not an ungrateful person. In fact, he felt even more thankful, and sympathetic, for his puppy young master.

Before he left, he confirmed one thing,

“Is there anything we can do to speed his recovery?”

“Injuries to the soul are hard and tricky to deal with. All we can do is make sure there is nothing he’s worried about.”

That sounded easy, but it was actually quite difficult.

“How long do you think it’ll take for him to completely recover?”

Cage hesitated for a while, before saying,

“I don’t know. It might take decades, or…”

Cage didn’t say more, but that left everyone feeling more bitter than ever.

Crack.

The door handle broke, but no one noticed. Not even Ron, the culprit who still had some of the broken handle pieces in his hand.

Chapter Text

Cale’s records had made it so that he wasn’t able to rest peacefully. The memories and records he had of his previous world played in his mind.

The bits and pieces of his memories with his birth parents. Then the much more vivid memory of their accident and funeral. After that, his days in highschool. These had been relatively uneventful. Sure, there was Choi Jung Gun, but it wasn’t as if Cale remembered the incident with him and the hunters.

Back during the sealed god’s test, Cale hadn’t dwelled on this for too long, but it hadn’t been a pleasant feeling to realize that the only two people who had had good interactions with him during that time had only done so to kill him if he turned out to be a single-lifer.

Soon, his memories of the apocalypse began, starting from when he had starved for three days, hiding in the rubble of a building, to meeting Lee Soo Hyuk, then the short peaceful time in a shelter where Lee Soo Hyuk was the leader.

The memories went on. Lee Soo Hyuk had left the shelter in Park Jin Tae’s care, who shortly afterwards bore his fangs and became a tyrant. The current Cale could understand why Park Jin Tae had done that, and the fact that Park Jin Tar had protected others to the bitter end made it so that he couldn’t hate that guy. Adding on the fact that Park Jin Tae from Earth 2 got beaten up by Lee Soo Hyuk, Cale wasn’t all that bothered by those memories anymore.

After that came the terrible time when the shelters had lost their protective properties. That time had truly been hell. Kim Rok Soo had lost a lot of people he had known and cared about during that time.

Initially, the records of Cale’s time in Earth 2 mitigated some, but not all, of the pain. Soon, however, their downside became quite clear. The earlier memories, although not pleasant, gave him less complicated emotions. They were only the emotions he’d had at that time.

But when the records from Earth 2 were thrown into the fray, two different sets of memories started to play at the same time, making Cale’s mind a complete mess. Somehow, the happier records seemed to have made those older memories even more painful.

The older ones reminded him of how useless he had been back then. Much like how he had been able to do nothing to stop his current family from pushing themselves too hard…

“-man!”

“-up!”

Cale could feel someone try to wake him up. Someone kept tapping on his shoulders and arms.

“Ugh.”

He groaned. He still felt tired and sleepy, but at the same time, he wanted to wake up. After all, he didn’t quite want to view his memories any longer.

When he tried to open his eyes, a paw, no, three paws gently landed on his cheeks.

“Human, wake up!”

“Wake up, nya!”

“Please wake up, nya!”

The children averaging nine years were trying to wake him up.

It took a bit of effort, but Cale was able to crack his eyes open.

‘Damn it. I’m not going to try to sleep again.’

He had tried to rest three times already, and none of them ended well. The records just wouldn’t let Cale sleep peacefully. A record did not just replay what Cale had seen and heard, but also replayed every single thing he had sensed and felt. They were very immersive, so it was hard for him to not be affected by them no matter how many times he had seen them already.

“Young master-nim, is there anything you’d like?”

A benign voice made Cale return back to the present. He stopped spacing out and noticed the ever-so-vicious butler standing right next to him. Cale flinched when he noticed how Ron’s eyes were quite different from normal.

In addition to looking cold and vicious, they showed concern and worry. However, it was for such a short amount of time that Cale might’ve thought he imagined it. Ron had quickly closed his eyes and flashed his classic benign smile at Cale.

“I’m o-... Nevermind.”

He was about to say that he was okay and didn’t need anything, but considering the reactions to the phrase the last time he said it, he decided not to.

Besides,

‘It’s not like I’m completely okay.’

Cale was feeling a bit dizzy because of how feverish he was. He sat up and was about to ask for a cup of water when he saw Ron’s hand reach for his forehead. But before he could lean back from shock, he noticed a on from his forehead.

‘Oh.’

Ron took the cloth, immersed it in the bowl on the bedside table, and then wiped Cale’s forehead with it.

The coolness made Cale feel a tiny bit better, and he looked around the room.

‘Huh?’

He spotted Choi Han and Alberu standing next to a couch. Cale didn’t know why they were standing, but judging from the looks on their faces…

“Everything is okay, right?”

Although the two had relatively neutral expressions, there was some pain evident in their eyes.

“Everyone else is fine, Cale-nim.”

Choi Han answered with a bright smile on his face. He smiled so widely his eyes had turned into crescents.

“Yes, dongsaeng. No one is injured or hurt. Everyone is okay.”

Alberu answered with a genuine smile, unlike his princely smile.

‘Did I imagine it?’

Cale thought he imagined the pain in their eyes.

“It’s good that everyone is okay.”

That was the most important part. Cale patted the children averaging nine years old who were silently cuddling with him.

‘Hmm?’

“Raon, what’s wrong?”

“We’re all okay, you dumbo.”

Cale’s eyes opened in shock as he recalled the last time he’d been called a dumbo by Raon.

But that record was quickly drowned by the myriad of other records. Cale frowned as he massaged his temples.

‘So I guess I’m stuck with this for now, huh.’

It looked like his records wouldn’t let him rest for even a little while. Normally, Cale was able to suppress them by imagining a carefree life. Cale would look forward to the slacker life that laid ahead along with his current family.

Although he still had records of his previous family, the pain had decreased ever since he’d been sent to Earth 2 as part of the sealed god’s test. He knew he couldn’t do anything about the past, so he had decided to do his best for his current family.

However,

‘I’m hurting them.’

He could tell that the children, as well as the rest of his family, were worried about him.

Cale felt a bit woozy. Not wanting to fall asleep again, he sat up straighter. He patted On, Hong and Raon who had quietly nestled into his embrace.

“Is there anything we can do for you, Cale-nim?”

Cale stopped stroking the children-averaging nine years and looked at Choi Han. Although the records replaying in his head seemed to overlap with reality, Cale tried his best to ignore them and said,

“You’ve all worked hard. Rest.”

After that, he continued to stare at the children as he stroked them. It was a good thing he hadn’t ever seen these children get hurt, or…

Cale frowned as the record of Raon undergoing his first growth phase joined the already chaotic mess of records in his mind.

‘Damn it.’

Then he recalled how Hong had hid behind On when the damned bunch of idiots called the cat tribe had shown up. He could clearly recollect how scared Hong had been, and how tense On was at that time.

Cale tried to recall happy memories. Memories where the children were happy. There were plenty of those, so Cale forcibly replayed them.

Gasp.

“Human!”

““Cale!””

“Cale-nim!”

“Dongsaeng!”

“Young master-nim!”

Cale barely registered the different voices calling out to him, and slowly realized what was happening. Ron had made Cale tilt his head forwards, while Alberu had pinched his nose. Choi Han had gotten a handkerchief from who knows where and pressed it beneath Cale’s nose.

Three people trying to stop one person’s nosebleed made quite the comedic scene. The three seemed to realize that, as Choi Han and Alberu quietly backed off and let Ron handle Cale.

Cale quietly took the handkerchief from Ron. He silently decided not to forcibly play any records for now.

This problem should get better with time. Even if he couldn’t get his records back under control, he should be able to get used to them soon.

Alberu silently observed Cale who was blanking out, and held back a sigh. As much as he wanted to stay here and do something to make Cale better, there was a lot of work piling up back in the palace. Just thinking about the amount of work would usually give Alberu a headache, but that was the last thing on his mind right now. The biggest headache was on how to resolve Cale’s problem.

This guy had worked so hard for his slacker life, and now that it was finally within his grasp, he was in this condition.

Alberu clenched his fists as he called Cage’s reply to how long Cale would take to completely recover.

‘It might take decades, or…’

Did that mean that Cale would have to suffer like this for decades, or even forever?

‘No way.’

Alberu didn’t want that to happen. So,

“Dongsaeng.”

Cale didn’t seem to have heard him.

‘It’s worse than before.’

Alberu ignored the emotions boiling inside him as he gently patted Cale’s shoulder with a smile on his face.

“Dongsaeng.”

Raon quietly mumbled,

“Are you planning to scam someone?”

Normal people wouldn’t be able to hear such a quiet mumble, but none of the people in the room, except Cale, had normal hearing. They all heard Raon loud and clear, and

They also noticed how depressed the dragon was.

On and Hong quietly pat Raon on the back as Cale finally seemed to notice that someone had called him, and looked at Alberu.

“What is it, your highness?”

“Hyung-nim.”

Cale paused, before saying,

“Hyung-nim.”

Alberu smiled his stunning princely smile and said,

“We won’t get hurt again. We’ve decided that if we encounter something we can’t defeat without getting hurt, we’ll come up with a method where none of us gets so much as a single scratch. So…”

Although Alberu didn’t finish his sentence, Cale could tell what he meant.

‘So don’t worry.’

That was probably what Alberu meant to convey. However,

“What if that’s not possible? What if that situation is urgent and endangers the Roan kingdom? I bet you’ll be the first one to jump in.”

Cale knew what kind of person Alberu was. So long as the kingdom was in danger, there was no way that this crazy person would just stand behind and do nothing.

Alberu was stunned. He tried to retort, but nothing came to his mind. Although Cale had said that in a nonchalant tone, as someone who knew Cale well, Alberu could tell that Cale was being anything but nonchalant.

He opened and closed his mouth several times, before someone cut in the conversation.

“My student-nim has the tendency to over-exert himself, but I’ll make sure that that doesn’t happen.”

Choi Han seriously looked Cale in the eyes, and said the next words slowly, as if he was making a pledge.

“I will see to it that nobody, including me, gets hurt from now on.”

The next sentence betrayed how desperate Choi Han was.

“So please do not worry, Cale-nim.”

Cale closed his eyes. The scene of his family coughing up blood and fainting was still replaying in his mind.

“I trust you.”

Despite the fact that there were things that could endanger his family, Cale relaxed a little because of Choi Han’s words. And yes, he definitely didn’t take Alberu’s earlier words seriously.

Back in the meeting room.

Most of the people inside the meeting room had left. The only ones that remained inside were Deruth, Violan, Basen, and Cage. Cage looked at the people who were the closest to the original Cale, and bit her lip.

She had thought long and hard about whether she should let everyone know of Cale’s situation. If possible, she wanted Cale to have been the one to tell his family about his identity. However,

‘He said that the situation was urgent.’

The God of Death had said that Cale’s situation was dire. Normally, she wouldn’t take his words that seriously, but this was something that involved young master Cale’s health and safety. There was no way she could think lightly of this.

It was not her place to tell others about the things Cale had kept secret. She knew that. However, if the others didn’t know of the situation, they wouldn’t be able to help Cale.

Still, she could’ve left out some information, right?

That had definitely been an option. But she had decided not to do that.

Cale’s records had gone out of control, and his injured soul was dangerously unstable. If such a Cale were to tell the ones closest to him that he wasn’t the real Cale… a lot of things could go wrong.

Sure, this Cale has been part of the Henituse family for two years, and has done way more than most blood-related members ever did for a family. She had lost count of how many times Cale had protected everyone, all at the expense of his own health.

There were way too many instances where he’d coughed up blood and fainted so that his family wouldn’t strain themselves too hard.

Cage was sure Cale’s family loved him. However, she was also certain that they’d cared about the original Cale too. Although she didn’t know much about the original Cale, except about his bad reputation, she knew that there was no way the original Cale’s family members wouldn’t be affected at all by his departure.

Despite how much they loved the current Cale, knowing that he had replaced the original one could change a lot of things.

The current Cale had been the victim in this transmigration. If the facts weren’t laid out straight…

The Henituse household and the Molans might not have a very good initial reaction.

And Cale was someone that could never forget.

If the initial reaction of his family permanently etched itself in his mind coupled with how hurtful his records were already…

‘It could’ve been a disaster.’

Now that Cage had told the Henituse family and the rest about Cale’s story, they had ample time to sort their emotions. It didn’t matter if they couldn’t love this Cale as much as they did before, however,

‘If they have even the bare minimum amount of basic human decency…’

They wouldn’t hurt the current Cale. They would try to help him out.

Thankfully, Ron’s reaction had been very reassuring. The ones she was worried about were the ones in front of her right now.

Chapter Text

Deruth’s hand was shaking. Violan could tell, because she was holding his hand. She looked at their interlocked fingers.

“Hah.”

It wasn’t just Deruth’s hand that was shaking. Hers was too.

It wasn’t surprising.

They had lost their son. They had lost their son two whole years ago, and they didn’t even notice. Their son had left this world of his own accord.

‘Were we that terrible?’

She knew the answer to that. She closed her eyes in pain, and bit her lip. Yes, they had been terrible.

Sure, they had their duties as the Count and Countess of a County. The work and duties took so much of their time that they could barely make enough time to sit together for a meal.

However,

That was no excuse to ignore their son who was suffering. She could guess why he had decided to act like trash. It could’ve been to help cope with the loss of his real mother, but

‘It was also something that helped Basen and I incorporate into the family.’

Him acting like trash had meant that others wouldn’t object to Basen being a part of the Henituse.

Deruth’s thoughts were similar to Violan’s.

‘We were too late.’

They were too late in realizing his intentions.

No amount of sorrow or regret could ever change that. How could they possibly make it up to him when he’s not here anymore?

However, there was one thing they could do right now.

They could remember how terribly pale Cale had been even before the war had started. It only got worse from there.

The image of Cale covering the entire Rain city with his shield when wyverns attacked flashed in their minds. His hands were trembling but he held on.

They then witnessed something they would never forget. Cale had pushed himself so hard that he coughed up blood… so much blood that it was a miracle Cale survived.

How long had it been since this Cale had arrived here? Why did he go so far for people that were nothing but strangers for him?

Deruth and Violan could remember every time they had seen Cale push himself way beyond his limits. They could remember how much weight he lost every time they saw him in the video communication device in the past two years.

Why did he go that far?

Cage had told them about how he’d lost everyone near and dear to him because of a certain bastard’s curse.

The scene of Cale stabbing himself in the heart just to kill that very bastard, not out of revenge for himself, nor because of the grievances he had to suffer because of him.

But because he hurt the ones close to him. Because he was a threat to his family. Because he was planning on hurting the people in their territory.

For the sake of people who were merely acquaintances or strangers.

No, they weren’t just acquaintances or strangers.

They were family. They had been family ever since this Cale came to this world. Cale’s attitude till now clearly showed that.

This Cale had done way more for them than most blood relations did for their family.

How caring and kind did someone have to be to act like that?

It wouldn’t have been unreasonable if this Cale cursed them out because their son displaced him from his world. Heck, it would also be understandable if he hated them.

Instead, what did this Cale do?

Deruth’s chest felt heavy.

Pat.

Deruth looked at the person who had patted him on the shoulder. It was Violan. But Violan wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at Cage instead.

“Give us some time. Two days, no, 12 hours.”

Cage nodded her head to show that she understood, and then left the room. She seemed as though a burden had been lifted off her chest.

‘Do we look that unreasonable?’

Violan felt bitter about how that actually might be the case.

The way they had ignored the original Cale. The way they had let him act like trash while he was hurting. The way they had left him alone as he shielded them from criticism, by diverting all such remarks to himself.

How did her son feel back then, she wondered. It made her feel terrible. And the fact that she could never make up for that made it even worse.

Subconsciously, she held Deruth’s hand tighter as she looked at his face. The remorse on his face, the despair in his eyes…

She understood that. She felt that. But this wasn’t the time to dwell on these emotions.

They had failed one of their children. They couldn’t repeat the same mistake. Never.

“Cale is hurt.”

She stated the obvious, not because her husband didn’t know about it, but to make him, as well as herself, snap from useless thoughts.

“We can think about how to make up for our mistakes in the past later. Now is not the time for that.”

Cage had told them that the situation was dire. The current Cale was hurt. Not hurt by the physical injury to his heart, one made to protect them, but from wounds he’s sustained over the years. From the time he was born, to now.

She didn’t know how long that was, but judging from how mature this Cale was… no, this Cale was still childish in many ways. So she couldn’t quite guess what his mental age was.

However,

‘None of that is important.’

It wasn’t that she didn’t care about the current Cale’s past. Just that those details wouldn’t change her care for him. This child deserves all the care and kindness in the world. Nothing would change that.

Cale’s actions till now showed what kind of person he was. He was caring, way more caring than one could ever guess from his stoic demeanor.

As was the case for their original son as well.

Her mind wandered back to the past. And came back to the present all over again.

Was that what it felt like to have your mind in a mess? Was this like what their current Cale was suffering from?

‘It’s not comparable.’

It wasn’t comparable to what the current Cale was going through. The two could never be comparable.

What Cale was suffering from was something that was out of his control, something that did not stem from his mistakes, something that was imposed on him, a kind and injured soul.

And what the Henituse couple was feeling was remorse for their mistakes, as a normal person should.

Her mind was a mess, and she couldn’t quite compose her emotions like she normally could.

She knew that would be the case.

She knew it was a major f*ck up she would need time to get over.

This was why she asked for time.

This time was for her and Deruth to compose their emotions, and ensure that they didn’t let their feelings of the original Cale affect the current Cale.

Violan knew that if they visited Cale right away, they wouldn’t be able to hide their complicated emotions. Emotions that the current Cale did not need to know nor worry about right now.

“It’s best if he doesn’t find out for now.”

Violan meant that it was best if the current Cale doesn’t know they found out he was not the original Cale.

Why had this Cale not told them about anything?

The answer was obvious.

‘He lost everyone he was close to in his previous world.’

He didn’t want to lose anyone in this world. It was painfully clear from his actions. Underneath his stoic face, he always worried that he’d lose people close to him.

‘And that was why he did… that.’

The image of Cale stabbing himself in the heart had seared into her mind. It pained her.

It hurt so much to think of what Cale had gone through.

‘He took all the burden and didn’t let us worry about anything at all.’

The matter with the original Cale, and the ridiculously heavy burden of the war… Cale had kept them all to himself just so the people around him wouldn’t worry.

‘And that’s why he’s like that right now.’

Cale was suffering. His soul was in a precarious state, and they had a part in it too. A significant part.

Violan wanted to go to Cale and tell him that he didn’t need to take all the burden. They were family. He should share a part of it with them too.

But she had to wait.

They needed to think this through. Every step needed to be thought out carefully. Cale’s soul was unstable. If they were to take one wrong step and hurt Cale…

She would never be able to forgive herself.

Deruth saw the resolute look in Violan’s eyes, and felt his emotions calm down. He needed to compose himself, for Cale’s sake.

Basen stared at his parents for a good while, before letting out a heavy sigh. He too, had been feeling remorseful.

‘I’ve always been useless. To both Cales.’

He could already imagine this Cale tell him that wasn’t the case, that he was important, that he’s been helpful managing the territory.

That might be true.

But it was also true that he hasn’t been able to do anything to keep Cale from getting hurt.

And he’s been even more useless in the past. He was quite possibly the biggest reason the previous Cale had acted like trash. So others wouldn’t say he didn’t belong to the Henituse household. So he would have an easier time. All while Cale was ridiculed in his stead.

Basen clenched and unclenched his hands.

‘Cale is hurt.’

His mother’s words had snapped him to the present. Matters with the previous Cale could wait. They could figure something out. It was possible they might never be able to correct their past mistakes.

But something else took precedence.

The present was more important than the past.

They can’t erase their past mistakes, but they can stop themselves from making new ones. This Cale…

He remembered how he’d asked what to get for him from the capital. He’d asked for a fountain pen. He still had that pen safely stored in his study.

He remembered how this Cale possibly had knowledge of the future, yet he still went to the capital in his stead.

Numerous instances of Cale sacrificing himself flashed in his mind. They almost jumbled together in a mess.

A corner of his lips raised into a helpless smile.

Could this possibly be a silver of what Cale was going through? A mess of different memories, good ones, bad ones, all jumbled together.

According to Cage, Cale had lost everything because of that white bastard’s curse in his previous world.

‘Apparently, he also has the ability to record things in his mind.’

It was a terrible combination. Basen held his head with both hands.

He couldn’t imagine anything worse.

“Basen.”

Basen snapped from his thoughts and looked at his mother.

“We will act as if we don’t know for now.”

Violan had said this before, but she knew he hadn’t heard her back then.

——————————

“Human, is there anything you want?”

Raon asked as Cale patted him, On and Hong. Cale had been awfully quiet since the crown prince had left. He’d frowned five times, shaken his head three times, and sighed one time.

‘It has only been ten minutes since the prince left.’

It was worrying that his human wasn’t enjoying peace like he normally did.

“Human!”

Roan almost shouted as he saw Cale’s head bob to the side. He looked like he was about to faint.

Ron grabbed his head before it could hit the headboard.

“Young master?”

Cale’s eyes widened a bit. He looked as Ron straightened the cushions behind him so as to make it comfortable to lean back.

The image in front of him suddenly shifted to two years ago, when Ron had returned poisoned and with a missing arm.

Cale closed his eyes and shook his head in an attempt to stop the replay.

It didn’t work.

“Ron.”

“Yes, young master?”

Cale opened his eyes and looked at the butler. It was a sharp gaze, before it turned hazy again.

He suddenly started patting the children averaging nine years again. This time, his hands were shaking more than they were before.

“Are you perhaps having a hard time staying in the present?”

Ron knew it but asked in an attempt to grab Cale’s attention. It would be better to distract him than let him suffer like this.

Cale didn’t seem to have heard him, and his hands were trembling even more than before. The three children in his lap looked at him worriedly.

“Human!”

“Cale!”

Cale didn’t seem to have heard them either.

This couldn’t go on.

“Young master Cale.”

This time, Ron held both of Cale’s shoulders, forcing the redhead to turn towards him. Cale seemed to have come to.

“Look at us, young master Cale. We’re healthy. Raon. On. Hong. Me.”

Cale moved his eyes to the children averaging nine years, then back to Ron. He blinked before responding.

“Yes, that’s good.”

“Do you want to go to the garden, young master?”

‘I want to sleep,’ was what Cale wanted to say, but he could only swallow those words as he stared at the benign smile on Ron’s face.

‘So vicious.’

Various memories of Ron smiling benignly played in Cale’s head.

One benign smile was scary enough. But a dozen? He could barely keep himself from shaking like a leaf.

He got up from the bed, only to fall back down with a thud. His legs didn’t seem to be listening to him.

Cale was about to attempt to get up again when he noticed Ron caressing a dagger with a vicious expression.

He gave up.

“Raon.”

“Got it human! I’ll teleport you to the garden right away!”

“I’ll go prepare your tea, young master.”

Ron flashed a benign smile before Cale was teleported to the garden with the children averaging nine years. Raon used magic to gently put Cale down on the soft grass.

It was good that Ron wasn’t with them. Cale didn’t want to face a dozen benign smiles head on. Even a truckload of Cales wouldn’t be able to face something like that.

“Human! My mom taught me how to make a garland. Look!”

Raon used his magic to twist the stems of several flowers together, then held them in his chubby paws as he flew in front of Cale.

Cale took the garland from Raon. It was rather well made.

“Human, put it on!”

“Yes, those white flowers will go well with your red hair nya.”

“On’s right nya!”

Cale looked at the garland and sighed. He’d worried the kids a lot so it was only fair to wear it.

Chapter Text

Was Cale alone with the kids in the garden? No.

As soon as Cale put the garland on his head, wolf children along with Beacrox entered. They were holding things Cale never thought he would see those children hold.

He would normally see these children wave around weapons, or help Beacrox with chores.

This was Cale’s first time seeing them hold something so mundane.

They were holding canvases and painting supplies.

“Are we going to paint?”

Raon asked as he flew towards Beacrox. Beacrox nodded with his usual stoic expression. He was wearing an apron, like he did while cooking. But this time, it was for painting.

Cale looked at the novel scene with wide eyes. He didn’t have a similar memory to look back to, so his mind was rather quiet for a moment.

He hadn’t ever tried painting before, nor had he seen anyone close to him paint anything. This was rather new to him.

Beacrox set a canvas in front of Cale and handed him a palette along with brushes. Cale looked at those for a moment before picking one up.

He looked at the blank canvas before looking at the kids encircling him while setting their canvases. They seemed to be ready to paint.

“Human! I’ve never tried painting before!”

“Me neither nya.”

“I saw an artist paint once nya!”

Hong proceeded to explain how. He picked up a brush, dipped it in a color, while explaining, “if you don’t have the color you want to use, you can mix different colors to make that. If you mix red and yellow, you get this.”

“It turned orange!”

Raon looked at the new color in wonder. The shade of orange was a little different from the orange color they already had on the palette.

Maes proceeded to mix yellow with blue, and the children around him exclaimed with surprise.

It seemed Cale wasn’t the only one new to painting.

Beacrox observed Cale as the latter stared at the children with a stoic expression.

‘He seems calm for now. That’s good.’

Cale silently picked up his brush, and started painting. His movements were elegant and sophisticated, different from his usual casual demeanor. He looked like a seasoned artist painting a masterpiece.

Beacrox was curious about what his young master was drawing, so he moved towards him. As soon as he saw the canvas, he froze.

“It seems the human drew something that left good chef Beacrox in awe. I want to see what that is!”

Raon exclaimed as he flew towards Cale.

When he reached beside Beacrox, he too froze.

The other children were curious about what was painted, and huddled next to Cale.

It was silent for a good while.

“Human, is this your first time painting?”

Cale, who had grown uncomfortable at the blank stares, nodded.

“Yes.”

“No wonder.”

“That explains this.”

“Even though it was also Raon’s first try, you can learn from his drawing,” On said as she brought Raon’s canvas to Cale.

Cale looked at Raon’s painting, and then at his own.

“Dragons are great and mighty.”

“Of course! Dragons are great and mighty!”

“That is definitely the case nya!”

On looked at Cale’s painting and commented, “This can actually be called a talent in its own right.”

“Agreed,” was Beacrox’s first comment since his freezing.

Cale’s eyes twitched.

‘Sure, it doesn’t look very good. But I think it’s okay for the first try.’

“This might even scare Freesia, nya!”

“Freesia and her statues, they would run away.”

The children’s comments smashed whatever little confidence Cale had left in his artistic talent.

“Human, we should’ve… we should show this to the God of death if he tries to mess with you!”

‘We should’ve shown it to the white thing, was that what he was going to say?’ Cale wondered as he looked at his painting. He remembered the last time Raon had said something similar. The record started playing on its own. The record in which Raon told Alberu to show his smile to the white star.

It wasn’t the only record that started playing.

Record of when he had been given the option to choose between death or returning to his previous world. Record of him returning to his youth when he was the most useless he ever had been.

He had changed many things for the better in that world.

Grandma Kim didn’t die, nor did Park Jintae have to sacrifice himself to let others escape. Not that he cared much about that guy.

He had defeated the unranked monster there with the help of his comrades.

‘Everything got better.’

The people of that world will do better, way better, than what he had to go through.

It didn’t change the past.

But it did change the future.

‘So why?’

Why could he not stop his hands from trembling? No, it wasn’t just his hands.

“Human!”

He could hear Raon’s worried shout.

‘Where is he?’

He couldn’t see the black dragon anywhere.

No, it wasn’t just his black dragon.

“Ha!”

A scornful laugh escaped his mouth.

He didn’t go anywhere physically. But… he couldn’t see anyone. He couldn’t hear anyone. Not across the records flashing in front of his eyes.

Records of Eruhaben getting hurt, of the time when he was about to die, and of the time when his comrades put shields on top of Cale’s shields, only to overexert themselves, cough up blood, and faint. Records of his previous teammates fighting against the in ranked monster, of his surviving and reporting the events to the higher ups later.

All those records played together discordantly, jumping from part of one record to another, or playing together so that Cale didn’t even know what memory it was anymore. Random bits and pieces jumbled together.

It was a mess.

“-an!”

“-nim.”

“-ter.”

He could vaguely hear someone call out to him. Or maybe it was many people? He couldn’t tell. He couldn’t think anything through the mess that was in his mind.

He felt some pain in his shoulders. It was as though someone had grabbed him hard. Cale tried to see who it was. Did they plan on ripping his arms off with that kind of strength?

It took a good while for Cale’s eyes to see what was going on around him. It was a bit blurry at first, but it got better gradually. Voices in his ear were faint, but got louder as his sight became clearer.

“Cale-nim!”

“Human!”

“Young master!”

It was loud. It was too loud.

Cale reflexively covered his ears and closed his eyes.

It turned quiet. A bit too quiet. Cale cracked his eyes open and removed his hands from his ears.

The first thing he saw was Raon looking at him with concern. Cale looked at the others. Everyone had their eyes on him and were looking with various emotions.

Concern. Worry. Shock. Even despair.

Cale didn’t like those looks.

‘I’ve made them see something they shouldn’t see.’

He was trash. He made them worry. Again.

“…human.”

“Cale-nim, are you okay now?”

“Young master, how are you feeling?”

Choi Han and Beacrox asked simultaneously.

‘Why is Beacrox holding me so hard? It hurts.’ As Cale stared at the chef’s hand on his shoulder, the latter loosened his hold.

Then Cale looked at Choi Han as if to ask when he got here, the swordsman explained, “I came here because it was noisy.”

Choi Han had sharp hearing and he could hear those shouts of concern from the other end of Sherritt’s, no, Raon’s castle.

He wasn’t the only one who heard this. Everyone else had heard it too. But they didn’t go to the garden. They didn’t want to overwhelm Cale, so they stood at a point where they could observe what was going on, ready to jump in when needed.

Of course, Cale wasn’t aware of that.

“I’m okay now.”

Choi Han’s brows furrowed as he heaved a sigh. As his hand went to his scabbard, Cale flinched. The swordsman urgently pulled his hand back. It seemed he couldn’t calm himself the way he usually did.

Eventually, he heaved a sigh.

“It’s good if you’re okay,” he said as he stood next to his liege. It was only now that his eyes looked at the canvas, and he stilled.

Raon, who would normally be saying something right about now, was quiet. Cale looked at the black dragon, and wasn’t surprised to see him depressed.

The depressed look overlapped with the one Raon had had when he couldn’t reach his first growth phase. The dragon had hidden himself in Cale’s bed. The conversation he had with Raon back then, then the time when Raon hit his growth phase right before a major battle. Lock’s efforts to save both him and Raon, although that hadn’t been absolutely necessary. All these memories jumbled up in a weird manner.

Cale’s mind was loud again. And his eyes could only see the memories of the past. Everything else grew blurry, until it wasn’t even visible anymore. He wasn’t in the present, and he knew that.

A part of him knew that, but the other part wasn’t aware of it and was reliving the past. The two parts were in disharmony. One seemed to be telling the other that he wasn’t in the past. He was with his family. His family was safe.

They were safe.

There was nothing to threaten them anymore.

He had killed the white star. He had sealed the sealed god in an even stronger seal.

His comrades, although they had coughed up a bit of blood and fainted, they were fine.

They were fine.

So why? Why couldn’t he snap out of this?

His surroundings were quiet and noisy at the same time. Quiet in the sense that he couldn’t hear anyone or anything around him right now. Noisy in that he could hear his records, and they were awfully loud. So loud his ears seemed to hurt.

He closed his eyes, but that seemed to make the records even more vivid. He covered his ears, but that didn’t stop the noise.

He was uncomfortable.

He was not okay.

He was supposed to be healthy, so why did he suddenly lose all strength in his body?

He couldn’t stop himself from dropping to his knees. Vaguely, he could feel someone shake him. But the sensations from his records overwhelmed that.

Eventually, everything went dark. He felt himself grow close to fainting. It was hard to try to stay awake.

‘At least not in front of the children…’ Raon, On, Hong, the wolf children. They shouldn’t have to see him like this.

Cale tried to muster all the strength he could to get up, but his body seemed to have stopped listening to him. His limbs felt as though they weighed a tonne, and his consciousness was fading away.

He bit his lip. The pain made him a bit more awake.

‘That’s it.’ It was like a eureka moment.

Cale brought his arm to his mouth, and bit himself.

It was working. He could feel his drowsiness fade a bit more. Just a bit more and he wouldn’t faint, at least not in front of the kids.

But before he could deepen the bite, his arm was forcefully yanked away.

‘…Who?’

And why? But before Cale could think more, he felt someone embrace him. He couldn’t tell who, but it was warm. So warm his mind almost quieted down and regained a bit of clarity.

It was only for a brief moment but he saw the person holding him. It wasn’t one person. It was two. Deruth and Violan, probably. Cale couldn’t tell for sure. The warm embrace and a reassuring caress on his back made him stop worrying. His consciousness was fading, but he didn’t fight against that this time.

Violan was relieved, so was Deruth, as Cale slumped in their hold. Was it helplessness? No, it was too weak a word to describe how they had felt. Perhaps despair would be a better word for how they felt when they saw Cale drop to his knees with a blank look on his face. He’d then tried to get up, probably. They weren’t sure because Cale hadn’t been able to lift himself even an inch above the ground.

Drip.

A drop of blood fell onto the ground. It wasn’t because of a nosebleed. Rather, it came from Cale’s mouth.

Everyone had visibly stilled and held their breath. It was too much. It hurt. It hurt to see Cale like that.

But that wasn’t all.

“Son…”

Deruth couldn’t stop himself from replaying that moment. It seemed to have etched into his memory. Much like the time when Cale had… he had…

Pat.

He felt a pat on his cheek. It was from Violan.

“Breathe.”

Oh. Of course.

Deruth took in a deep breath, and let out a long exhale, and looked at his wife. Violan had done something similar before. The more he became emotional, the calmer she became. It was a relief.

Violan made sure that Deruth was back before observing the kids.

“He will get better. We will make sure he does.”

Yes, they will make it happen. No matter what. There has to be a solution out there somewhere, and they will find it.

Choi Han clenched his fists. Beacrox’s hand was on his dagger. The two looked each other in the eye, before turning to Ron. The butler had entered the garden the moment he saw Cale bit his lip, and had been standing there since.

“We have two options.”