Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Prologue
“I’m going to Endable.”
“……?”
‘Where?
Endable?
That place is chaos right now though?’
Endable was worse off and in a more serious situation than Puzzle City.
Alberu’s face stiffened while thinking about the conversation he had with the vampire Duke. He subconsciously spoke his inner thoughts.
“You should just rest. What the hell are you going to do-”
Cale’s face instantly stiffened.
“Your highness. I’m going to rest.”
“You? When?”
The crown prince spoke his mind once again.
“That-”
Cale was at a loss for words for a moment.
Choi Han looked at Cale with pity and tightened his grip on his scabbard.
“Haaaaaaaa.”
Alberu sighed.
‘…This punk doesn’t even know how they are planning for him to receive the divine item.’
The Church of the God of Death seemed to be willing to put their lives on the line to plan an extravagant ceremony.
In addition, there was probably a need for a year end celebration, a festival, and even an official Medal of Honor presentation ceremony.
Furthermore, Duke Deruth seemed to be thinking about forcing Cale to stay at the territory in the name of getting some rest.
‘He’s heading to Endable without knowing about any of this?’
Alberu was frustrated thinking about which of these many things he should start with to smack Cale back to reality.
“No matter what.”
Cale opened his mouth again.
Once he checked on Lee Soo Hyuk’s reincarnation and confirmed information on the Hunters…
“No matter what-”
He wanted to rest no matter what.
Cale got chills on his back the moment he was about to say that.
“Meeeeeow-!”
He heard an urgent cat’s meow and saw a young red kitten jumping onto the roof.
It was Hong.
“Mm.”
He had a bad feeling about this.
An ominous feeling he could not figure out started to rise up from underneath Cale’s feet.
Tatatap.
Hong quickly walked over and pulled on Cale’s leg with his front paw as he was about to speak.
However, a pang of dizziness hit everyone before he could even open his mouth.
Well, not everyone, but a few selections of people.
This selection of people, including Cale, Alberu, and Hong, who were together, all started to slowly black out.
“What..”
They could see a flash of bright light just before they unwillingly closed their eyes.
As if only a few seconds passed, Cale immediately opened his eyes.
The amount of time was so short that it felt as if he never closed his eyes at all, although it was obvious that he, including the people around him, did indeed faint.
“Cale-nim!”
– Human!
Cale realized that he was not the only one who was waking up as he heard two familiar voices.
Ignoring Raon for now, as Raon seemed to be invisible, Cale responded:
“Choi Han.”
The voice of this particular individual calling out the name of another particular individual allowed everyone to catch their senses.
Cale looked around and glimpsed at the people who seemed to also have been transported in this area as well.
He saw that Alberu and Hong were next to them, which made sense, but also saw Ron, Beacrox, On, Raon, Lord Sheritt, Choi Han, Rosalyn, Lock, Mary, Tasha, Clopeh, Litana, Witira, Paseton, Archie, Cage, Taylor, Holy-Maiden Hannah, Saint Jack, Dodori, Mila, and Rasheel.
He realized that everyone he was allied with was currently in this room.
– Human! It seems a lot of people we know have suddenly teleported here!
Raon realized it too.
However, before he continued his thoughts, he widened his eyes after realizing what the room everyone was currently in looked like.
‘A… cinema?’
“Cale-nim.”
Cale looked at Choi Han.
He could tell that Choi Han was feeling confused by the look on his face, knowing how bad Choi Han can be at acting.
– Eh? Why is Choi Han acting like this?
Especially with the tone of voice Choi Han used to call Cale, this, unfortunately, lowered the atmosphere even more so than it already was.
Cale knew the reason for his expression.
Ignoring the fact that they were suddenly transported here to this cinema, Choi Han, although he probably hasn’t seen one in a long time, definitely recognized this large room as well.
He seemed to naturally look at Cale, knowing that Cale, or Kim Rok Soo, is from South Korea as well.
“Choi Han? Are you okay?”
Rosalyn asked with concern.
She was right next to him and was one of the first people who noticed his odd expression.
Not that odd expressions were weird in this situation, but it seemed as if he was more shocked at the destination of this sudden teleportation, rather than the teleportation itself.
Choi Han didn’t reply but instead continued to look at Cale.
– Doesn’t seem like Choi Han is okay..?
Cale ignored Choi Han’s gaze, as well as Raon’s comment, and continued to look around the room, similar to what a few other people were doing as well.
‘Haaaa…’
Alberu, noticing that a few people were clearly anxious, internally sighed, then decided to speak up.
“This is… yes… an odd situation, but since whoever has transported us all here does not seem to be present, I think the best course of action is to look around.”
– As expected of the crown prince! Hehe..
Witira, who is currently the representative of the Whale tribe, agreed with a nod.
“Yes, I agree as well.”
Litana replied.
Though she seemed to be the only one from the Jungle, she was certainly a recognizable leader by many in this group.
Suddenly…
Ding!
– Oh!
‘A smartphone notification?’
Everyone looked around abruptly once more, as the sound seemed to be coming from everywhere around the room.
‘Seems like the speakers in the cinema were used.’
Shortly after, the large black ‘board’ at the front of the room lit up.
— Welcome.
— Please take your seats, as the records are about to begin.
“Records?”
“What even is this mechanism?”
A few murmurs could be heard at the sudden message on this black ‘board’, or what Cale and Choi Han would call, a ‘screen’.
– Huh? Doesn't this seem like a video communication device?
Said Raon in Cale’s head.
Deciding to calm the atmosphere a bit, Cale nodded in reply to Raon, then spoke up.
“It seems to work in a similar way to a video communication device, but incredibly larger.”
“Ah, yes, you’re right.” Taylor subconsciously commented.
A few others nodded their heads in agreement.
— Welcome.
— Please take your seats, as the records are about to begin.
“Now it seems to be repeating.”
There was silence for a few moments, before someone spoke up.
“Has anyone seen anything else around this... Room.. other than this lit-up board?” said Alberu.
A few looked around, a few shook their heads.
“There seems to be a door here.”
‘Ho…’
Ron, who appeared out of nowhere behind Cale, continued.
“There’s also a sign above it.”
Cale, ignoring the shivers down his spine, long noticed this door already. The sign above the door showed the ‘emergency exit’ sign, as well as the restrooms, like your typical movie theatre.
Although this theatre is indeed familiar to Cale, it brought a feeling of nostalgia since most cinemas were destroyed back in Korea.
“Is it a person running?”
“Seems like it. But why would there be a symbol like that?”
“Showing the exit? If not… Where else would you run…?”
“Well, if it was the exit, it seems like we can’t get out of this room anyway,” said Clopeh, who has been quiet the entire time.
Before anyone could ask him why, a faint color of grey appeared at the door before a large explosion occurred, followed by a bit of smoke.
By instinct, Ron, who was behind Cale, moved in front of him.
“Seems like magic doesn’t work on this door either,” said Rasheel, who was the person, or the dragon, that caused this sudden explosion.
No one seemed to question it, after seeing the amount of power Rasheel has.
Ding!
— Warning.
— Please do not damage anyone and anything around you, including the cinema.
Rasheel scoffed.
“Who? Who dares bring not only just one but FIVE dragons in this so-called ‘cinema’? And even warning us in the process? Who dares?”
“Rasheel, control your aura.” said Mila, concerned about the people around them as Rasheel started to release his aura.
— Please take your seats, as the records are about to begin.
The same message popped up from the board again.
Cale, who seemed to realize that trying to get out of this place was useless once a dragon, a DRAGON, failed to break out of this place, started to find a decent seat to sit in.
‘It’s asking for it, so why not? Plus, this place is probably related to God, since this is a cinema.’
Suddenly, a voice called out to Cale.
“Cale…”
Cale, who was still looking for a seat, looked behind him towards the voice.
It was Cage.
“Hm?”
‘Wait.. Isn’t this too much of a coincidence with the timing of my thoughts…?’
“Um.. the God of Death…”
Once she mentioned the God of Death, Cale furrowed his eyebrows.
“It seems that the God of Death has a slight idea of what’s going on, though he seems to not be the one who caused… this…”
Cale, slightly surprised that it was not the God of Death, started to ponder.
‘It isn’t that bastard God? Then who is it? The sealed god is already sealed away for good, and it wouldn’t make sense for it to be the Sun God nor the War God…’
“Haaaa…”
Sighing, he continued to look for a seat, before suddenly seeing bright light again.
However, this time, it was coming from his feet.
‘Huh?’
– H-h-human??
“Cale-nim!”
“Huh?”
“What?!”
The bright light was slowly moving upwards from his feet, and his feet, which were covered by the light, disappeared.
It seems as if Cale was being consumed by the bright light that no one seems to be able to sense.
– H-human! W-why-
“Cale-nim!”
Choi Han yelled again, running towards Cale in shock.
Everyone seemed to have noticed the commotion and looked toward Cale.
“Um… it seems like I’m disappearing?”
“Haaaaaa…”
“This unlucky bastard.”
A few shook their heads at Cale’s nonchalant response, which somehow calmed the people down a bit.
‘It doesn’t seem like it’s hurting him..’
However, before anyone could even take action, the bright light, which reached Cale’s knees, suddenly increased its speed, causing everyone's eyes to widen.
“Cale!”
“No!”
“Wait, no!”
Without notice, Cale disappeared.
Ding!
The screen lit up again, with the same message.
— Please take your seats, as the records are about to begin.