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Sweating profusely in the middle of the night, that Team Leader Kim woke up with a jolt followed by a hiss as he pressed the treated wound on his left abdomen.
"Oh, hey, you're awake!"
Still pretty much blinded by the pain, Rok Soo was barely able to look at Dr. Kang, the person who exclaimed as soon as he's conscious.
"—Told you not to… why did you… Monster… Gone…”
Riiinnngg–
The constant ringing in his ear made it harder for that Team Leader Kim to understand what the doctor was saying. It appeared as just some meaningless words flocking together and trying to make a sentence, but it was almost impossible to understand the real meaning.
However, that was not the worst part.
Definitely not since Dr. Kang respected his silent request and quieted himself just with a simple raise of a hand.
No.
The worst part of his current problem was—
‘This fucking glitch.’
—Whenever Rok Soo overworked himself to the point of collapsing, he would have this glitchy moment where his mind is simply too muddled and his records just crashed around, disabling him from focusing on anything and would force him to rewatch ‘clips’ of loose records instead.
Many were unpleasant, many were painful, and he had to witness it all.
And in his state of fuzziness, there's one voice that always managed to stand out like a sore thumb–
And no, it's not Lee Soo Hyuk's infamous "being alive is the best"
No. That's not it.
Instead, it was:
"This isn't a goodbye. This is simply 'see you later'."
He keeps hearing these words whenever he falls asleep while in distress, always haunting him.
To which, the more out of it he was, the clearer he could distinguish the voice as Choi Jung Soo's.
'But Jung Soo never said such a thing.'
If it had been a part of his memory, Rok Soo wouldn't be able to forget about it, even if he tried his utmost best.
However, tracing back his records of the brunet, that transmigator realized that those words were likely to be his own subconscious desire rather than a concrete memory of the past.
Which, as pitiful as it is, that's just pathetic of him.
Was it his guilt trying to strangle him into submission, or was it his regret of being unable to confess his suppressed feelings?
Whichever it was, he wanted to forget… so badly… because this curse of being unable to lose any details from the storage of his memories just suffocated him.
He couldn't breathe, as if someone was slowly wrapping their hands around his thin neck and starting to squeeze, and instead of ending it within a second–
That person would just make him suffer in pain and agony for as long as possible...
That was how bad he felt for this ‘blessing’ that many were envious of him because of.
Honestly, the pain in his heart whenever this happened made the pain in his abdomen feel closer to a bug bite, a mosquito bite itchiness at most.
It was simply incomparable.
And much to his dismay, this pang lasted for years to come—
To this whole damned cycle, he could only suck it up and bear with everything.
All, until he was finally reunited with the idiotic two who had been haunting his mind and heart for all of these years…
"So you're telling me, that I've been wasting my tears all of those nights for nothing?"
Deadpanning at the white-haired hawk and the disgruntled GoD’s errand boy, that transmigator which now bears the name Cale Henituse stared at these two in disbelief.
"Hey! To be fair, I've been trying to tell you that we'll get reunited one day!"
The swordmaster exclaimed despite his sheepish demeanor under that sharp gaze of ‘the younger’.
"And I literally said that the two of us lived happily despite what happened, didn't you hear me?"
Well, Cale heard Lee Soo Hyuk's voice clear as day at that time. However, his mind was too preoccupied with the fact that he was actually given the chance to meet one of his… star-crossed soulmates.
Let alone paying attention to what he said, Cale wasn't able to properly react to the oldest sudden reappearance.
—if only anyone were able to hear his inner thoughts, they would easily figure out why he had cried that day in front of everyone, instead of the silly misunderstanding they had of his reason for crying.
While with the words ‘Jung Soo’ had claimed to say, it was only now that ‘Rok Soo’ realized that he wasn’t hallucinating.
No.
That was, in fact, the former brunet who used to share the same birthday as him in their previous lives—
“Choi Han.”
Gaze cast down, Cale called out to his knight, one arm reached out to the black-haired male.
“Uh, yeah, Cale-nim?”
Responding to the seething redhead, Choi Han watched as his friend slash liege grew darker with each second passing.
It is a different sense than when Cale got enraged with White Star, but regardless, it doesn’t take an expert to see how emotional the young master silver shield has become.
“sword.”
Cale asked while gesturing to the black-haired hero with his hand, a twisted smile decorating his beautiful face.
“I’ve been neglecting my exercise time, haven’t I~? May I borrow your sword, please~? I’m suddenly very motivated to do some swinging practice.”
Eyes glinting at the preys before him, the targeted two didn’t even glance at each other when they gulped thickly simultaneously.
Back in the day, people would say that Lee Soo Hyuk was the one in charge of their trio. While that was true most of the time, what people didn’t know was how vicious their youngest could be when he’s mad...
And Cale is clearly mad— no, he is clearly livid at them right now.
‘RUN!’
The two reincarnator immediately scurried away when Choi Han took out his sword from its scabbard, about to hand it to the redhead.
“Huh..”
Blinking in confusion, Choi Han tilted his head in confusion when Cale doesn’t seem to want the sword anymore as soon as the panicking two is out of sight.
“You’re not going to chase them?” He asked, completely puzzled.
“No.”
Cale dismissed the gesture easily as if he wasn’t emitting an immense amount of Killing Intent just a moment ago.
“Why should I waste my energy chasing something that’s already mine?”
‘Eh?’
“What?”
Not expecting such possessiveness coming from his Liege, Choi Han felt like this is a bit more than simply protecting his people ‘gimmick’ that he’s been doing since the day he knew the transmigator till now.
Choi Han was almost taken aback hearing Cale’s voice go back to its normal calm tone.
“Those two would come around, sooner or later.”
—That’s not a question. It’s a statement.
That’s right.
‘I’ll make them pay.’
For all the headache and heartache, for all the lonely and painful nights he suffered because of them.
And this time, he’s not letting the two of them get away from him, he's not letting anything separate them again. Not to fate, not to death, and not to anything.
Even if he must fight a God or two in return.
He’s done it before, and he’d do it again if those nasty hands of Gods dared to touch what’s his.
He was completely done tolerating the world’s shenanigans for him and his people.
“Let’s head back, it’s almost lunchtime.”
And just like that, Cale forced his loyal knight to shut his pretty little mouth up about the matter and move on.
Lunch sounds more inviting at the moment after all.
Just one last peaceful moment before he started his personal hunts~
.
.
.
.
.
- shivers…
That tan-skinned God stared down on earth as he watched the event unfold with some other Gods who has been affiliated with this fascinating red-haired human.
“Damn, he’s scary”
The Sun God chuckles albeit sheepishly before adding.
“Thank goodness I have never really been on his bad side.”
“Amen to that, sister.” The God of War shakes his head at what the older just said before they both then glanced at the pale-looking silver-haired God before both of them then smiled, each placing a hand on the nervous GoD.
“Good luck”
Poor God of Death could only gulp thickly on that.
Especially at the fact that after only two days, he received a message from the said redhead demon—
"Your turn will eventually come, don't even think of escaping. You bastard."
He was indeed doomed…