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“Hey wait!” the redhead sits up quietly, groaning but dismissing the slight pain.
“No! Cale-nim you need to go back down!” Choi Han gently pushed cale onto his bed while the children cuddle around him to prevent him from going back up.
“Young master, you said you wouldn’t overdo it…” Mary looked towards him and spoke with her GPS-like voice.
“Yes, you unlucky bastard heal and rest for now.” The golden dragon tsk’d at him.
“ Dongsaeng despite me being not there by your side hurry up and rest!”
“Yes, young master, or else we will go there ourselves.”
“ Young master this Ron had prepared some lemon tea.”
Rosalyn and Alberu smiled viciously at him, they weren’t with him right now because they were busy but despite this an unknown emotion was shown in their eyes.
Sadness? Anger? Concern? A mix of those?
He didn’t know, and he couldn’t tell all he knew was they were really disappointed in not being here to greet them coming home.
He looked around and had made eye contact with Ron.
flinch
‘How vicious..’ he thought while ignoring what Ron had said.
The children pat his body harshly – that was a lie they could never – to show that they were really angry with the fact he had gotten hurt.
Cale thought back to what led them to this situation, first, they had finished off saving a planet – turns out using more than 100% of the fire of destruction purified the whole planet… not to mention what was the deal with those hunters too... Argh!! They were so annoying to deal with...
Well other than that he might have coughed out blood a little and fainted but he always did so they should’ve gotten used to that…
Plus it wasn't as bad as the others! They had bled and had broken bones – Nothing too serious … He doesn't get what was the deal with them when they were also hurt... He had the vitality of the heart for goodness' sake!
He can hear the previous owner of the power yelling at him to take a break…
- Cale!! Sob… if you’re not gonna take a break at least give me a break!!
….
Ignoring that.
- Cale!
Ahem, anyways after that right now they are in the Henituse duchy recovering and you might be asking why not the super rock villa? Well, guess who cried no, Wailed at the fact cale had coughed maybe just a little bit of black blood… Ahem, the Henituse family of course!
Despite their past relationship, it is known that the family loves their eldest child, and because of it most of the said eldest child’s friends and allies well the injured ones are now being given VIP or VVIP or VVVIP – If that term even exists… Well, it's just that extravagant and expensive of a treatment.
Sigh...
So right now they are all recovering and preparing for their next mission that was in the divine item.
Damn that death bastard!!
“Cale-ah... Come on you look like you’re about to pass out! Just sleep or maybe you’d wanna hear me sing you a lullaby to help you hm~?” Sui Khan chuckled, his cute but stubborn dongsaeng(?) hasn’t changed at all.
Despite being the weakest he’s always at the front lines… he did good with the work he left him, maybe too good to the point of never taking a break like ever unless it was the day they had…
Alright enough of that, he looks cale in the eyes.
His frizzled red hair was tied up into a loose ponytail, and his eyes looked so tired while his shoulders sagged like it was carrying the weight of the world.
His eyes widened, “Will you really…?” he sounded so small and fragile when he asked that, it made my heart ache to know he’s been trying so hard to do everything alone believing it was the easiest for him…
“Yes..” I replied.
Everyone in the room felt the atmosphere soften a little, despite cale looking vulnerable at the moment no one judged, and no one seemed to care that he was.
In fact, they felt relief in seeing him like that even if it all hurt them, it was also a sign of him opening up his bottle of emotions little by little.
“Yes little hawk sing us a song so this poopy dumbo of a human can fall asleep!”
“That’s right nya! We have to watch him to make sure he does!”
“Sigh”
Ohn looks at cale with a gaze saying ‘ You are one big poopy dumbo’ Cale had felt offended, and looked at Sui Khan asking him to sing.
He laughed “Haha! Alright, I’ll sing you a song like old times.”
Everyone settled down on a chair or had said their goodbyes due to their schedules but asked to give them a recording.
Sui Khan began to sing, the sound felt too familiar to Cale.
For everyone else in the room, it was just a sweet song to help a certain redhead to fall asleep but since they were given the leisure to listen they might as well enjoy it.
—
“You’re injured Roksu-yah.” A concerned look was given to him by his team leader, he shrugged it off but felt a cold and wet object hit his face.
“Come on let’s get you cleaned up.” The smile his team leader gave him was so warm he had almost forgotten the cold and wet object beside his face, his team leader looked at him so softly…
Did he deserve to be treated like this? Lee Soo Hyuk was as tired as him yet he was still here spending his time helping him clean up.
Lee Soo Hyuk rubbed his face to remove the dirt, “Team le-” another rub to the face.
“Wait-” and another. “Team le-!” and another.
He grabbed Lee Soo Hyuk’s hands, “Team leader please wait, aren’t you more tired than I am? There’s no need to…” He trailed off after seeing his team leader’s eyes.
Lee Soo Hyuk was struggling to keep a poker face, this punk just threw himself in front of a 2nd-grade monster he thought he was gonna lose another one… There was one point in his life when he was so tired, I mean who wouldn’t be?
It was tiring and difficult to both save people and defeat monsters, It was to the point where he wasn't getting enough sleep, and he didn't even have time to clean the monster's blood off of him after battles.
He didn’t want this type of tiredness or the things he had done in the past to pass on to one of the people he sees as his family.
“Living is the best isn’t it, Roksu?” He smiled brightly barely enough to light the dark tension out.
“Huh? Of course team leader…” It was always something his team leader said, it was Lee Soo Hyuk’s motto in life.
“While living you gotta enjoy the small things too! It isn’t truly living when you’re just surviving.” He continued to help Kim Roksu clean up and get changed even though he needed to get cleaned up.
“Team leader.”
“Hm?”
“Hand me the towel.”
“Are you gonna do it yourself?”
“No, just give it.”
“Sigh, here.”
Kim Roksu held the towel and put it against Lee Soo Hyuk’s face he rubbed the grime and dirt away gently, “You don’t have to do this I can do it by myself…” His team leader grumbled, “No, since you helped me I have to repay it, plus if I’m clean wouldn’t your dirtiness reach me?” Kim Roksu said with a straight face.
“Pfft… Alright, let’s hurry up Jung Soo might get jealous once I tell him about the kindness of our dongsaeng.” Lee Soo Hyuk laughed at the face Kim Roksu made when he told him he was their dongsaeng – You see this guy is a bit in denial.
They finish up and head out to a small apartment the three of them sought to get despite the difficulties they were having.
Everything seemed to be getting better bit by bit.
—
“ I can think of all the times
You told me not to touch the light
I never thought that you would be the one
I couldn't really justify
How you even thought it could be right
Cause everything we cherished is gone”
Everyone felt the last line with different emotions, some with grief and some with regret.
Ron thought of how ARM had taken over his territory and killed his family except for him and his son who had escaped.
It was a time when he had lost precious things, his family, his territory, and his reputation as an assassin.
He had to go into hiding with his son only to end up in the western continent away from the place they used to call home.
Ron looked at Cale who was falling asleep along with the children who were only nodding off because they wanted to make sure Cale had fallen asleep before them.
He had raised that child almost like his own for more than 18 years of his life, that child he had seen grow up from an innocent cheerful one to trash to an in-denial hero.
That trash had helped him not only to get his territory back but to seek revenge, he brought back new hope and a new home, he had never felt more grateful to this trash no , his young master in his life.
He gets a blanket to cover up Cale who had yet to close his eyes.
“ And in the end, can you tell me if
It was worth the try, so I can decide”
—
“Where have you guys been?!” Choi Jung Soo had gotten a light fever so he was forced by the two of them to stay at home and rest.
Although he had protested it was nice to take a break for himself once and a while, though that didn’t prevent him from worrying about the two.
“Don’t worry Jung Soo-yah we just cleaned up in the office.” Lee Soo Hyuk sweatdropped, ‘I guess we worried him.’ – No XXX sherlock.
“Come on Roksu-yah we worried Jung Soo so much, let’s make it up to him.” He said while dramatically leaning over to Kim Roksu.
Kim Roksu rolled his eyes, his arms spread wide, and motioned to the two others, “Just this one time.”
GASP
“Roksu… You mean it…”
“You’re going to give us a hug? You punk…”
“Well if you don’t want i-”
He was tackled on the ground by the two men…
“No, we want it!” The two had said in unison.
“Get off! I meant hug me not drop me to the ground!” He grumbled, compared to the two he was the lightest in all of them.
“Alright let’s go to bed.” Lee Soo Hyuk said while he had gotten up and grabbed Kim Roksu up, earning a yelp from the other.
“Sing us to sleep, team leader!” Choi Jung Soo’s eyes sparkled lighting their eyes.
“Haha…”
“Yeah team leader, why don’t you sing?” Kim Roksu smiled mischievously, he was clearly teasing the older man. He had told them about how he had auditioned as an action actor but not to mention he also auditioned for singing competitions and won a couple of them.
“Sigh… Let's huddle up in the middle then I’ll do it…”
Earning a cheer and a snicker from respectively Choi Jung Soo and Kim Roksu, he was weak to both of them…
I mean a cool swordsman and a cute tsundere co-worker? Adorable punks, really.
Call it his hyung instincts but damn can’t he leave these two alone, and how come it's so hard to refuse them?
Sigh…
“Alright, we’re here team leader! Do your part.” Choi Jung Soo was an odd individual despite their current situation of where the world was in ruins, he still had this pure and unforced smile.
Choi Jung Soo was aware of the circumstances, and that the current state of the world along with his line of work meant that he couldn't be so sure whether he would live or die in the next mission.
But even so, he still went on with his unyielding determination for the world to change.
Right now he was waiting for his hyung to start singing so they can all fall asleep peacefully, they did this sometimes whenever it was just the three of them, so peaceful and tranquil…
One day he wants their dreams to come true, he knows how risky it is to hope but he’d rather do it than not.
Returning back to his hometown and becoming a farmer—as well as bringing all of his teammates, especially the two, Kim Roksu and Lee Soo Hyuk with him.
He hears Lee Soo Hyuk clear his throat, melodious and harmonic as ever.
He knows whenever they do this the first to fall asleep was Kim Roksu, the person born on the same day as him and despite being born earlier than him like in the morning, he sees him both as his hyung and dongsaeng – despite the said man’s protests.
—
“ Leaves will soon grow from the bareness of trees
And all will be alright in time
From waves overgrown come the calmest of seas
And all will be alright in time
Oh you never really love someone until you learn to forgive”
—
Cale’s records muddled up together mixing in with the voice of his team leader and his reincarnated form Sui Khan.
He won’t ever admit it but he loved his team leader’s voice whenever he sang him and Choi Jung Soo to sleep.
Loved would be a wrong term he still does although the voice singing right now was a child’s, it still felt as if he was in a small apartment covered in pillows and blankets with Choi Jung Soo’s head on his shoulder – covered in drool – and Lee Soo Hyuk hugging them while singing quietly.
“Try as hard as I might
To flee the shadows of the night
It haunts me and it makes me feel blue
But how can I try to hide”
Mary can hear the child’s voice barely trying hard to sound good, it only felt like its purpose was to comfort instead of appeal to the listener.
Though it did reach her, she remembered the day she was running in the Land of death, it was so hard for a little girl like her.
Having to live a life of pain just to be alive, to hide in darkness and never see the outside because of it too…?
Remembering it hurt but she was glad she had people by her side, the mayor of their city had helped her grow as a necromancer, Tasha who she saw as a mother had helped her grow, as well as the people in town.
They were all precious people to her but now she has more precious people like the people in front of her, although she really doesn’t know much about Sui Khan they have interacted
And she thinks they’ve become friends! ( cuties TT)
She looked at Cale who had fallen asleep and the children still trying not to, this man had given her and he family the freedom to walk freely without being judged, no not just her but a lot of people.
This man although she could not believe it was called “The trash of the count’s family” in the past now, she was her and many others’ – her new family and allies specifically – benefactor.
He had helped them grow and achieve the best of themselves, saved them from the dark, and gave them a new life.
She will be forever grateful, so she thinks that it's only right for them to take care of him too, after all, he was so kind that he gets hurt.
Closing her eyes she drifts off while leaning her head toward the person beside her.
“ When every breath and every hour
I still end up thinking of you?
And in the end, everything we have makes it worth the fight
So I will hold on for as long”
Choi Han looked at his liege, they’d grown so much from him just being in the forest of darkness not being able to fall asleep properly because every minute passing might be the time he’d die.
Always on his feet, he spent years in that forest, and in those years he learned to accept that he had lost his way home never returning while forgetting his family’s faces.
Only to lose another family once he had stepped out of the forest, but after that, his liege had found him.
Took him in, gave him food, and along the way a new family with his liege being the center of it all.
He shook his head promising to himself while smiling ‘I will protect them.’
Although a certain image of a man stabbed in the heart and bleeding turned his face into a scowl, ‘ I will protect them.’ he thought and that was final, he did not want to lose another family again.
His scowl turned into a smile as he saw that the person sitting beside him, Mary, had fallen asleep he patted her head that leaned against him, as he chuckled ‘Everyone must’ve been so tired.’
They had just gotten home quickly after saving the planet and saying their goodbyes.
He looked around to point his eyes to Sui Khan, ‘His singing to Cale-nim, like they had back then…’ Choi Han thought, he listened to Sui Khan’s voice and soon drifted off to dreamland.
“ As leaves will soon grow from the bareness of trees
And all will be alright in time”
Hong’s head was nodding off alongside Raon, their noona had fallen asleep beside Cale as soon as he had too.
They were both determined to be the last to sleep they needed to protect this dumb and weak human of theirs!
Raon and Hong made eye contact silently nodding to each other that they will be the last ones to sleep… However, they were faced with the difficulty of Sui Khan’s soft voice!
“From waves overgrown come the calmest of seas
And all will be alright in time
Oh you never really love someone until you learn to forgive”
- Hyung are you asleep?
Raon had asked Hong, he looked in front of him where Raon was and shook his head, he was not asleep! He will be the last one awake and will protect their room!
A silent competition seemed to spark at that moment between Raon and Hong.
- Hyung, don’t you worry and go to sleep, this great and mighty dragon shall protect everyone!
‘ No! Even great and mighty beings need to sleep! Don’t worry youngest I shall stay awake and protect everyone!’ This is what Hong silently said to Raon with his gaze, and the great and mighty being Raon is, he got the message.
- No! I insist hyung this great and m-
Feeling a warm hand on each of them, they looked in the direction of the source of the hands, “You guys stop and come here.” Cale had told them, he had been feeling their silent but loud competition on who will be the last to sleep so they can protect everyone.
They come to his side and he hugs his arms around them along with Ohn, “We will fall asleep together.” Peacefully all of them closed their eyes with no protest but the smiles of the two children were quite obvious.
Sui Khan smiled at this but quickly continued to sing.
“I never thought that I would see the day
That I'd decide if I should leave or stay
But in the end what makes it worth the fights
That no matter what happens we try to make it right”
Eruhaben thought that his life would’ve ended back then but thanks to the odd human in front of him he gets to live a little bit more enough to see the end of their lives…
He doesn’t want to think of his children being gone from this world, it’s childish despite his ancient age but he wants to let this short moment last a little longer.
With magic, he covered Cale and the children with blankets, the same with Mary and Choi Han who comfortably sat on the luxurious couch.
Sigh… He was getting old and soft for a dragon, honestly what kind of dragon would do this to humans let alone another dragon other than their own?
He looked at the singing child, ‘He seems a bit tired too.’ He draped a blanket on top of the child, “After this go get some rest.” Sui Khan looked up at him with wide eyes, “Uhh thank you, sir..?” He continued to sing
Eruhaben sighed and made eye contact with Ron both nodded their heads to each other with mutual understanding.
( The father figures having a silent agreement!!)
“Leaves will soon grow from the bareness of trees
And all will be alright in time
From waves overgrown come the calmest of seas
And all will be alright in time
Wounds of the past will eventually heal”
‘Yes, they will heal.’ Sui Khan looked at Cale and everyone in the room.
He had left Cale with his work as a team leader who was now Cale Henituse who had defeated the white star and saved another planet, he was very proud of Cale.
He continued to sing the song he had frequently sung to Choi Jung Soo and Kim Roksu in the past, it had a soft melodic and had a piano as the main instrument, he liked the song because it was easy to listen to, and one of the last song he heard since the beginning of the cataclysm.
It really brought back good memories.
—
“And all will be alright in time
'Cause all of this comes with a love that is real
I said all will be alright in time”
He almost lost his composure in singing when he saw how Jung Soo was practically drooling in his sleep beside Roksu, nevertheless, he continued singing.
“I said all will be alright in time”
The three agreed on visiting Choi Jung Soo’s hometown and creating a farm there after the cataclysm had ended, although they all knew it was an empty and dumb dream it wasn’t wrong to have a little bit of hope.
In that place, Roksu will continue his dream of becoming a slacker while their teammates visit them.
“I said all will be alright in time
All will be alright in time”
It was said that the three of them were really inseparable so it wasn’t a surprise when the three of them planned this together, he chuckled remembering the teasing of their teammates.
Yes, they will fulfill this no matter what…
—
‘Kim Roksu!’
He could hear Choi Jung Soo’s voice. Choi Jung Soo was standing in front of him with his sword raised.
Kim Roksu could also see a large monster coming out of the ground, making it seem as if the world was covered in darkness and fire. Numerous other monsters that seemed to be the large monster’s subordinates were next to it.
He watched as his work buddies charged toward those monsters.
Fellow team members, his sunbaes, and his friends.
People who he had been working together were all charging toward this deathtrap.
‘Kim Rok Soo! Hurry up and contact the government and central HQ! Send an emergency signal to all guilds!’
Kim Roksu could hear his team leader, Lee Soo Hyuk’s voice.
“…This is difficult. Team leader, this is too difficult.”
Kim Rok Soo who oversaw the strategical planning in the rear support calculated the numerous records in his mind ever since the monsters had appeared in the world and concluded.
“We are all going to die if we try to fight that monster right now.”
This was how Lee Soo Hyuk had responded to him.
“But what else can we do?”
Kim Rok Soo could not forget team leader Lee Soo Hyuk’s face as he asked that, as well as Choi Jung Soo’s face as he held the sword in his hand again.
He had not been able to respond to Lee Soo Hyuk’s question.
The large guild in charge of this area had run away.
Because of that, there were no ability users nearby who could block the monsters that suddenly appeared.
However, there was someone who had anticipated this sudden monster’s appearance.
“Kim Rok Soo, it’s not your fault.”
—
“Oh, you never really love someone until”
He woke up and looked at his side to see Sui Khan smiling up at him.
“You learn to forgive”
“Team leader.”
“You learn to forgive”
“Team leader I can’t wait to meet him, then we’d all be together…” It was his way of saying despite you being here by my side for months, ‘ I missed you guys .’
“Learn to forgive”
Sui Khan finished singing, “I’m here now, I’m sorry.”
For now, they’d definitely do the things they couldn’t when the cataclysm happened, they were now almost complete but this time with new people that they could call family by their side.
‘Guess that God did something good for once.’