Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was midnight. Most people were peacefully sleeping, resting from their tiring days that repeated over and over.

Which is probably the reason why the God of Death was extremely bored.

Although sleep is considered the closest to death and he, by default, should enjoy this type of time the most, he couldn’t help but feel extremely bored.

He was a high deity. A being without *many* limitations, therefore he could find entertainment easily.

He couldn’t do much, though, since the God of Balance was putting him on a hook for some itty-bitty deeds he may or may not have done.

Anyways.

The handsome god was impatiently tapping his finger on the desk of his office, staring at nothing in thought. Suddenly, an idea shone brightly on his mind, his lips twitching in an odd smile. His mind wondering to a particularly interesting now-redhead.

____

A loud bang was heard, a lot of people waking from either the noise or the feeling of their backs falling against the hard floor. A bunch of groans and exclamations of confusion filled the not-so-empty room.

Choi Han, attentive as always, quickly got on his feet, his hands moving to the scabbard of his sword, finding it to be missing, making him wary of this strange place. His eyes wandered around the place, resting on a familiar mess of red.

“Cale-nim!”

The redhead in question was groaning softly, with his hand on the back of his neck, although he had fallen, it felt as if his pain was lessened by a supernatural force, suddenly giving him chills.

He looked at the panicking teen-looking Korean, then averted his gaze as he heard a few concerned meows. The kittens, On and Hong, were meowing next to him, acting like normal cats. Cale raised his eyes, wandering them around the room as well.

He got up when Choi Han arrived next to him, looking around. There were a bunch of people here, his face stiffened as he moved his gaze, recognizing quite a lot of faces.

“Cale-nim, this place-”

Choi Han stopped talking when he saw Cale holding the bridge of his nose with a suddenly tired expression.

‘Just what the hell is this? This wasn’t on the novel.’

He was damn sure this hasn’t happened on The Birth of the Hero, what is up with the sudden change of plot?

“Young master.”

An old, familiarly benign voice sounded behind him, Cale turned around stiffly, seeing that damn vicious old man behind him. Choi Han frowned at Ron’s presence.

“... Ron.”

“It seems that we, alongside some others, have been captured in this strange-looking place.”

The butler stated, looking at Cale with half-lidded eyes, a benign smile on his wrinkled face.

Cale immediately looked away. Somehow, the old man’s sleeping attire made it even more difficult to properly face the older.

With Cale averting his gaze, his eyes fell on Beacrox, who was also wearing sleeping clothes, a frown on the chef’s face.

Cale sighed, going back to looking at the others, who at some point, all stood up. Cale took everyone’s characteristics, holding back another sigh as he realized that some of them were truly important characters from The Birth of the Hero.

There were quite a lot of people in the room, the Henituse family was there as well. Suddenly, everyone’s body glowed softly, their clothes warping and becoming social attires.

Bip Bip.

Two repeated, short noises were heard, bringing everyone’s attention to a central part of the room.

[Welcome, mortals.]

Although words weren’t heard, a beeping noise kept going, Cale felt like the noises reminded him of Morse code.

Everyone could see the scribbled words on a black wall, which Cale quickly recognized to be a ginormous TV. 

“Who are you who is hidden behind these words?”

An elf-like man, with beautiful characteristics, asked- no, demanded, in a dangerously low voice.

The words quickly morphed, another beeping sound coming out of the black wall.

[Who I am is not of importance. All you need to know is that I am a god who won’t harm you and that you all are going to see scenes of a certain someone whose future might be life-changing.]

‘What is this…’

Cale couldn’t help feeling a cold shiver in his back but quickly shoved it away. Some gasps were heard at the confession of being kidnapped by a god.

‘What an unlucky person.’

Suddenly, another bright glow appeared and disappeared, showing some chairs in its place.

[Find the chairs that have your names on them. You’ll have a few minutes to interact while I… find some things.]

Cale heard Choi Han snap his fingers with a quiet expression, averting his gaze immediately.

The redhead sighed, starting to walk around searching for his name, Choi Han, On, and Hong following him, and after a few seconds, Ron and Beacrox started doing the same.

He found it after a few seconds, whoever, he saw 4 names on the little paper.

‘Me, On, Hong… and Raon?’

“Nya, we are with Cale…”

On whispered, with Hong nodding.

“Who is Raon, nya?”

Cale shook his head, sitting down on the chair, soon the kittens jumped on his lap.

Meanwhile, the owner of deep-blue eyes tiptoed next to the strange and extremely weak human he followed, laying next to him, without touching him.

“Cale-nim, we are next to each other.”

Choi Han mumbled, sitting beside Cale, who just nodded softly. The cat-children meowed softly.

“Hoh… it seems our place is not here, young master-nim…”

Cale shivered at the low voice of Ron, ignoring the old man.

Beacrox sighed at his father's words, searching with his eyes for his and his father’s name. He soon found it, right next to the Count and Countess, who were staring anxiously at his young master, probably also questioning the distance between them.

“Father, over there.”

Ron chuckled, walking to the designated seats after bowing softly to Cale, Beacrox following right after.

After a few seconds, Cale heard a quiet “Excuse me.”, he lifted his eyes, seeing a beautiful woman with red hair, Cale quickly recognized the woman to be Princess Rosalyn and a tall boy with light gray hair, who was shyly looking down, Lock, most likely.

“It seems that we’ll stay together for this situation. I am… Rosalyn.”

Cale nodded in a greeting, since she didn’t introduce herself as ‘Princess Rosalyn’, Cale didn’t feel the need to be extremely polite either. 

He saw the cold-looking woman moving to sit beside Choi Han. The Korean was a bit shocked, probably realizing that this was one of the people Cale told him to meet after.

Soon, Choi Han did something that was beyond his expectations.

“Hello. I’m Choi Han.”

Cale blinked slowly, seeing the teen-like man doing something out of character. Rosalyn blinked softly at the friendly display. She nodded softly, though, once again introducing herself. These two started to quietly speak with each other, but Cale decided to just ignore them. This scene was a bit too much for him.

His gaze landed on the shy teenager, who flinched softly at the redhead’s eyes.

Lock was searching for his siblings as he got here, but didn’t find any of them, so he felt dislocated. After the written words told them all to find their places, he spent some time looking through the seats, walking in the same direction as the red-haired miss who was quite warm with him.

“Have you found your seat?”

Cale’s cold and stoic voice seemed to catch Lock’s attention, who flinched again, shyly averting his gaze.

“A-ah. Yes, sir…”

Cale glanced at the seat beside him, seeing the paper there.

“Are you Lock? Sit down, if you are, there’s no need to stay up like that.”

Despite the cold tone, Cale’s words were quite calm, Lock nodded, sitting down immediately.

Cale felt Choi Han’s gaze both on him and on the kid, which he ignored completely, sighing with closed eyes.

—

After a few minutes, everyone was seated. A blond man with blue irises clapped once, asking for everyone’s attention.

“It seems all of us are stuck in the same situation, so I think it’s best if we all get familiarized with each other. Although I am able to recognize some faces, there are some that I’m seeing for the first time.”

Some quiet gasps were heard at the words.

Cale held back a groan, the redhead really was not prepared to see the crown prince here, either.

“That’s a nice idea, Your Highness.”

Deruth was the one to nod at the crown prince, Cale sighed, already tired of everything.

“I am Alberu Crossman, the crown prince of the Roan Kingdom.”

The blond was obviously the first one to introduce himself. Suddenly, Cale heard a quiet, childish voice in his head, making him stiffen.

— … Why is this weak human wearing dye magic?

Cale's stiffen body caused On and Hong to curiously look at the redhead, who was frowning. The red kitten patted Cale softly.

‘... I don’t know, I don’t know.’

“Nya?”

— There are a lot of presences here that look like me, as well…

Cale softly moved his foot, confirming his suspicion.

The dragon followed him.

The kittens were both pawing him, this time, wearing concerned expressions. Choi Han at some point also started to look at him, with the same worried face.

“Cale-nim?”

Cale took a deep breath, hearing a quite loud stuttering name beside him, but ignoring it.

Cale leaned close to Choi Han, softly whispering to the man’s ear. This time, the room fell silent, if not for some gasps.

“The dragon, the black dragon from before is here…”

“S-son?!”

Cale looked in the direction of the voice, backing away from Choi Han, who looked a bit surprised at the information.

The redhead could the quite a lot of faces staring at him, the one who yelled was Deruth. Cale tilted his head.

“What?”

The tone was cold as ever, the boy frowned a bit at the amount of stares, he felt Ron’s sharp gaze particularly uncomfortable.

“T-that-”

“It’s your turn to introduce yourself, Cale.”

Violan interrupted her husband, who was shocked at the display of his son leaning close to the man he brought home like that.

‘Ah, already?’

“Cale Henituse.”

It’s not like he actually had to say much, since Countess Violan already said his name.

The kitten raised their head, looking at Cale with shining eyes, the redhead sighed.

“This is On and Hong.”

The cats meowed in a greeting.

“I’m Choi Han.”

The Korean introduced himself as well, but everyone was still silent as ever. After saying his name, Choi Han turned back at leaning next to Cale, back at whispering with him, Rosalyn and others introducing themselves as well, some people back at gasping.

“The black dragon we rescued…? Where is he?”

Choi Han whispered as well, the kittens hearing this time, their eyes lit up.

“Little brother, little brother…!”

Cale shook his head with a sigh, stealthy pointing to the edge of his feet. Choi Han followed the movement with his eyes, nodding in understanding.

“We are… pretending we don’t know.”

The cat-children scoffed, but obediently did it, just with quite smug expressions.

[It seems everyone is done introducing themselves. Good, good. We can start now.]

Before it, a man with a buzzcut suddenly started speaking.

“How long will it take? Daring to summon a dragon to a useless thing like this is just…!”

Cale stiffened, feeling a small gush of wind in his leg.

— A d-dragon…! He is also a dragon!

[Something like this is not in my power to know. I am as oblivious to this human’s ‘fate’ as everyone else, I’m not able to tell if it’s going to take long or not. Anyway. Let’s start, shall we?]

Rasheel was not happy at all for having his question unanswered, he heard a scoff, glaring at the pink dragon who dared sneer at him. His glare was quickly averted as he saw the beige’s eyes sharply looking at him. Rasheel huffed but stayed in silence for the rest of the time.

[Very well, the person we are reacting to is… Cale Henituse!]

The TV started making clapping sounds, while Cale himself started getting pale.

“Cale-nim?”

A lot of eyes stared at the human who was shamelessly leaning on another man some minutes ago.

“We are reacting to this weak-ass-looking human?”

Choi Han frowned at the words that someone who introduced himself as Archie yelled. 

‘... what… did this damn god just say they are reacting to me?’

The kittens started pawning him again, with curious, shining eyes.

[We’ll see the future events of the person who was Kim Roksoo, and became Cale Henituse.]

The sudden reveal made the room silent and cold. 

“... Became Cale Henituse…?”

Deruth whispered, moving his gaze to his… son?

“Cale… you are Cale, right?”

Said Cale was frozen stiff, his expression was stoic, though, despite feeling a lot of gazes on him.

[To the one who became the minor villain of a supposedly novel on the 29th day of the 3rd month in the 781st year of the Felix Calendar.]

“Novel?”

Eric mumbled.

Choi Han was wearing a blank face. A novel? He was living in a novel? And this person… Kim Roksoo?

“...Cale-nim…?”

“That.”

Cale stopped himself before finishing, he started patting On and Hong out of reflex, the kittens were quietly staring at him.

“Who are you, in my son’s body?”

The one to ask was not Deruth, but Violan, she quickly fixed her words, though.

“Who are you in Cale’s body?”

Cale sighed, lowering his head briefly, before raising it again, accidentally making eye contact with Ron, who was not wearing his usual benign smile, Cale gulped.

“I am- no, I was Kim Roksoo. I was reading at my house one day, and I suddenly woke up as Cale Henituse, a character from the book I read.”

Choi Han was looking at his hands without expression. A book. A character of a book. 

The entire room was silent. Soon, another beeping noise was heard.

[Great. Now that we are past this situation, let’s start.]

“Cale-nim… did you already know about me…?”

Choi Han quietly mumbled, without looking away from his hands.

“... I did.”

Choi Han nodded, paying attention to the lit screen, which started showing images.

Some people gasped at the high-quality video showcase.

When I opened my eyes, I was inside a novel.

Some people glanced at “Cale” once again, and some others didn’t really care, since they did not know at all who was the first child of the Henituses. The ones who knew felt a bitter taste in their mouth, the Henituse couple in especial.

[The Birth of a Hero].

“It’s the novel’s name…”

Paseton whispered quietly, his older sister nodding beside him.

Alberu took a small notepad and fountain pen he found in his pocket. It might as well be useful information.

[The Birth of a Hero] was a novel focused on the adventures of the main character, Choi Han, a high school boy who was transported to a different dimension from Earth, along with the birth of the numerous heroes of the continent.

“You were transported as well?”

Rosalyn asked, some people were also staring at Choi Han.

“I was…? Though I’m not sure what is reality and what isn’t…”

Choi Han mumbled, receiving a few pitying gazes. Cale licked his suddenly dry lips.

“Earth… is this the kingdom you lived on?”

A weak-looking man asked softly. Cale answered this time.

“It’s the name of the planet, the place we came from is called Korea.”

Taylor, who was the one that asked, nodded.

I became a part of that novel as the trash of the Count’s family, the family that oversaw the territory where the first village that Choi Han visits is located.

The problem is that Choi Han becomes twisted after that village, and everyone in it, are destroyed by assassins.

Another set of gasps was heard. Choi Han lowered his head, his hands gripped tight.

The bigger problem is the fact that this stupid trash who I’ve become doesn’t know about what happened in the village and messes with Choi Han, only to get beaten to a pulp.

Choi Han, along with some other people, flinched.

“I… beat Cale-nim?”

Cale shuddered at the mental image, nodding in response to Choi Han’s mutter.

“…This is going to be a problem.”

I feel like something serious has happened to me. 

But it was worth trying to make this my new life.

“That’s how you react at being transported to another body?”

Bud asked loudly, since his best friend wasn’t here, he might as well do whatever he wants.

“It’s not like I exactly knew how to go back.”

Cale answered, the kittens rubbing their head on his body and hands.

“... So it really wasn’t your plan to steal my son’s body?”

Deruth asked softly, he sighed, there wasn’t any reason for him to lash out at somebody who didn’t even know what was happening.

“It’s not like we should have expected you to reveal it either.”

Deruth continued, with a frown and bitter expression. He was anxious and worried, but he was not someone to be irrational or cruel to people for no reason.

“Your deity… where is my son?”

Deruth asked, but without much expectation for the god to answer.

[He is in Kim Roksoo’s body.]

The answer made some people flinch.

“... My body? So… it was a switch?”

[Yes, my child.]

Cale frowned at the words, with a clear face of disgust. He quickly fixed his face, in thought.

“Is he... alright?”

Violan was the one who asked, this time. She too, was worried for that child, the child she didn’t talk with because she was scared, but the child she wouldn’t mind taking as her own.

[He is. He is happy, as well. It was his choice, after all.]

“... What?”

[Let’s have a small break, I’ll send some popcorn for you all.]

Chapter Text

Cale and Choi Han were mumbling with each other about Korea. Cale was quietly explaining that, although the novel was like that, he doubted they were actually just characters. Choi Han began to feel better after that. The kittens were asking a lot of questions as well, with Cale or Choi Han explaining to them.

The gush of wind on Cale’s leg was quite noticeable for the redhead as well, after a sigh, Cale whispered to the being that was laying on the floor.

“You, get off the floor, you’ll get sick.”

— … I am a mighty dragon, I won’t get sick.

Although the child was saying that, Cale still felt some invisible weight on his leg. On jumped on Choi Han’s lap to give space to the little dragon.

After a few minutes spent with silent talks, this time with food, as well, not just popcorn, the beeping sound was once again heard.

[Very well, now we’ll begin again. This time, you’ll see more scenes on the screen, so pay attention. The title now is… “Cale Henituse collecting strays!”]

Once again, the artificial clapping sound started.

Cale sighed, more or less knowing what kind of content they would be seeing.

“Collecting strays? That’s quite sweet of him…”

Litana mumbled quietly, the blue-haired woman beside her nodded softly.

“Quite noble, to help the weak.”

[The scenes are mostly cut and there’s also quite a time break between them, I ask for your understanding.]

This was the last beeping sound before the screen lit up with images once again.

[...]

“Ah, I’m starting to get hot.”

“Oh?”

Cale felt himself heating up as he continued to drink. He walked a bit further until he reached the city wall not too far away. The tall city wall that started at the gate seemed to defend against any potential intruders.

‘Well, it depends on the person.’

Cale recalled the information from the book.

‘Approximately 100 steps from the city gate.’

That was the location where Choi Han jumped over the city wall. Cale clenched the bottle in his hand as he quickly ran toward the location. There were not many people on the streets because it was the residential area.

Eruhaven couldn’t help raising a brow at that information.

“Quite specific, for a simple novel.”

Pendrick nodded eagerly at the Dragon’s words.

Cale took a deep breath once he arrived at the calculated location.

Exactly 100 steps away from the city gate. It was a corner of the residential area so there wasn’t any other light other than the torch the guards put on top of the wall, as well as the lights coming out of the residential windows.

But that was enough light. Cale slowly approached his destination after letting his eyes adjust to the dark.

‘Just as I expected.’

He could see something curled up underneath the city wall. Actually, there were multiple things.

Delicate-looking things that were shaking because of the cold. Cale continued to walk toward the location. He could hear the voices of the curled-up lifeforms.

Meow Meeeeeow.

“Oh, dear! The poor Kitten-nims!”

Hans mumbled.

“These poor little things… the silver one looks a bit hurt…”

Litana whispered as well, her heart hurt to see weak individuals looking hurt.

“I pray that the kitten got better in the end!”

Jack clasped his hands together.

Two cats were meowing as they lay curled up underneath the city wall. Cale started to smile.

‘It’s right here.’

He found the right spot. The moment Choi Han jumps over the wall, a baby kitten is body slammed by the alpha cat of the neighborhood and gets sent tumbling to the city wall. Choi Han quickly twists his body to avoid landing on the kitten. This was a world where coincidences played a big role.

‘He really is a good guy.’

“Thank you, Cale-nim…”

The silver kitten that was on Choi Han’s lap started pawning him, as if thanking him as well.

“Meow!”

Choi Han twists his ankle after unexpectedly twisting his body to avoid hurting the kitten. He had run like crazy to reach Western City after killing tens of people for the first time and burying the corpses of the villagers. His body had reached its limit making him unable to land properly after making such a movement.

“Killing tens of people? You seem strong! Kaha-ha-ha!”

“Toonka! Quiet down!”

Choi Han naturally ignored the brute-like man. Cale felt chills at recognizing Toonka and Harol.

“I’m sorry you had to go through all that, Choi Han.”

Deruth said sympathetically. His knee was bouncing in anxiety for quite some time now, especially because the deity didn’t say anything else about his child, besides the fact that his son choose to exchange bodies with someone random before he was barely eighteen. 

Choi Han nodded at the Count.

“Thank you for all your help as well, Count-nim.”

Meeeeow Meeeeeeow.

Cale gazed at the kitten that was curled up and shaking, as well as the other kitten that seemed to be its sibling licking the shaking kitten. He then turned his gaze.

He turned to look at one of the alleys that was close to where was standing. He could see him.

‘I found him.’

The man who was wincing in pain while looking like one of the homeless that lived in the slums. Cale could see the shaggy black hair and the old and burnt clothes.

A few pitying gazes were sent to the Korean, who just kept watching the scenes.

According to the novel, Cale and Choi Han would meet tomorrow. Tonight was the night Cale got drunk and got the scar on his side. Things were already different than in the novel, even though it was just minor details.

“A scar?”

Violan mumbled, concerned. Eric groaned softly as well.

“There’s something I cannot understand.”

Billos started quietly, gaining some people’s attention, the Henituse couple as well.

“We know that the novel is technically our future. And the transmigrator possessed the young master-nim’s body because of the young master-nim’s choice. Did the young master-nim know about something? Was it all a coincidence?”

“... Is there such thing as a coincidence?”

Taylor whispered quietly. Cage chimed in as well.

“Why would he decide to exchange bodies with someone, in the first place? If this was decided right before the transmigration happened, what reason would there be for him to do this?”

Deruth bit his lips, feeling his wife’s shaky hand around his forearm.

Cale stood up as he had crouched down to look at the kittens. Choi Han must have felt his gaze from a few moments ago, as Choi Han slowly raised his head and his eyes focused on Cale through his shaggy black hair.

‘Damn it, I’m shaking.’

Cale could hear his heart going crazy.

“Hm? Why were you shaking, Cale-nim?”

The kittens meowed softly.

Although it was too dark to see clearly, Choi Han’s eyes that Cale could see through his hair were extremely cold.

“Oh.”

“That’s… actually pretty fair.”

Bud said, receiving a few nods.

Cale thought that it was a good idea that he chose to drink.

Cale congratulated himself for making such a smart decision and calmed himself down as much as possible. Jab. He needed to launch a jab and leave a good first impression.

Cale took a deep breath as he started to speak to Choi Han who was staring at him.

“You look like you are hungry.”

Tsk tsk. Cale clicked his tongue and took the chicken breast out of the bag. Then with an extremely gentle movement, Cale offered the roasted chicken breast not to Choi Han, but to the kittens.

“Own…”

Tasha whispered, putting her hand over her heart. Amiru smiled as well.

Saint Jack flinched when he heard the voice, his gaze locking on the woman and the black robe beside her. 

A dark elf, and a necromancer.

Jack’s thoughts were broken by Hannah’s hand in his, she raised an eyebrow in confusion, to which Jack just shook his head, showing her a shaky smile.

“You poor things. Go ahead and eat it.”

Cale didn’t know that the kittens would be this small. He hope that they could still eat the chicken breast. Tsk. He clicked his tongue as he ripped the chicken breast into pieces so that the kittens could eat it better.

He was wondering what the hell he was doing crouching here feeding these kittens.

To be honest, Cale did not like cats. However, Choi Han treasured small animals.

The betrayed gazes the kittens gave him made Cale stiffly shift on the chair.

“I like you two the way you are. Stop looking at me like that.”

Choi Han chuckled beside him, petting the silver kitten on his lap.

Grrooooowl. Groooooowl.

The injured kitten must have understood Cale’s dislike for cats, as it showed its teeth and started to growl, but Cale started to pet the kitten’s silver fur as he looked into its golden eyes. The kitten must not have liked it, as it did its best to avoid Cale’s hand.

“You poor things. Eat this and get better soon.”

He didn’t even look at Choi Han when he said that, however, he was thinking that Choi Han was definitely looking at him.

“Do you have somewhere to go?”

Choi Han smiled.

He did not hear a response. However, Cale continued to speak. The guards would soon come to patrol this area, and he needed to make a move before Choi Han started to limp away to avoid the guards.

“Or a place to stay?”

‘I have now.’

Choi Han couldn’t help but think, glancing at the stoic redhead from the corner of his eyes.

Cale petted the growling silver-furred kitten with golden eyes and pushed away the red kitten that was trying to attack him as he asked. The red kitten kept trying to hit Cale for some reason. Its golden eyes, that matched its sibling’s eyes, shined brightly even in the darkness.

“Sorry, nya…”

Cale made sure to pat Hong a bit more.

But Cale needed to focus on Choi Han.

“Are you hungry?”

There still was no response. Cale had expected this.

Choi Han was probably observing him right now, but he also probably wanted to rest.

“I did. Exhaustion was starting to hit after the adrenaline went away.” 

Both his body and mind had reached their limit. In addition, he had received a huge shock just the other day. For someone like Choi Han who had lived on his own without any human contact other than the villagers of that small village, Western City was completely foreign to him. He may have lived for tens of years already, but he was still young.

“Tens of years? Did you regress as well?”

Alberu asked politely, turning to look at Choi Han.

“No. I was 17 when I was thrown into the forest of darkness, but I lost track of time there, so who knows how long I have lived there.”

Choi Han’s voice was quite calm, even if he was saying those things.

“Mhm…”

Mila hummed softly at the answer, Dodori suddenly shivered at his mother’s hum.

“Are you not going to say anything?”

“…Why are you talking to me?”

Choi Han finally seemed to have decided that Cale was weak.

Cale was weak enough that he could easily kill him even though he was at his limits. That was why Choi Han felt that it would be okay to accept Cale’s goodwill even though he had no idea why Cale was being nice to him.

“Wha- no? Cale-nim, I don’t remember ever thinking about killing you!”

“You didn’t?”

“Why would I?!”

Some people watched the exchange with humor. The kittens looked quite amused as well.

“It’s good he didn’t, especially toward someone who showed him goodwill. Right, punk?”

Cale shivered at the cold, yet fake-ly benign voice of the vicious old man, who somehow didn’t kill him yet. Choi Han’s eyebrow twitched.

Cale stood up and walked toward Choi Han. The guards would soon come patrolling through this location.

“Hey.”

He could see Choi Han’s situation better once he got closer. He was a mess. However, maybe it was because he was the main character, but his eyes were clear. The black hair and black pupils that showed that Choi Han was Korean were actually quite nice to see. That was why Cale smiled as he casually spoke to Choi Han.

Choi Han smiled as well, but he soon frowned.

“... I still can’t believe I’m supposed to be a main character.”

“Follow me. I’ll feed you.”

The best first impression was to be the one who provides delicious food.

“Or who provides great alcohol!”

Bud said with a grin.

“Heck yeah!”

Cage jumped right in, making Taylor chuckle.

Choi Han stopped leaning against the wall and pushed his body up.

His body was leaning to his left probably because his right ankle was uncomfortable, but Cale did not help him or say anything about him. There was no reason to be any nicer to him than he had already been.

“I doubt Cale would be strong enough to help, nya!”

Hong innocently said, making Cale nod, the kitten technically wasn’t wrong. Choi Han’s face seemed to show mixed feelings between defending Cale and confirming the clever child’s words. The Korean just settled in staying quiet.

Cale told Choi Han to follow him as he headed toward the Count’s estate. However, an existence blocked his path.

Meeeeeeeeow.

The red-furred golden-eyed kitten ran toward Cale and rubbed its cheeks on Cale’s shoes. Cale started to frown. He didn’t like cats, but this one seemed pretty cute. However, he suddenly felt chills all over his body and turned around. Choi Han was staring at him.

“I’m really cute, nya.”

“Cale-nim… I was just looking at you!”

Cale didn’t even bother looking at the man.

“Did the kitten-nim just talk?!”

Hans asked in a gasp. Cale sighed.

“They are beast-people.”

‘Damn it.’

Cale awkwardly started to pet the kitten.

“It seems like it likes me. But I have to go. See you next time.”

Cale never understood why people talked to animals. However, Cale, who had now become that person that was speaking to animals, quickly stood back up and walked away from the kitten.

Grroooooowl.

The silver-furred golden-eyed kitten growled as if it was telling the red-furred kitten to come back while telling Cale to get lost. The red-furred kitten seemed to not want to go back as it continued to look back at Cale as it walked away. However, Cale did not turn back.

“Sorry, Cale nya, I didn’t trust you fully yet…”

Cale nodded, looking at On.

“Don’t worry, it’s good to be wary of strangers.”

Cale said, petting the silver cat, Choi Han smiled, petting her as well.

Meow, meoooooooow.

The sad cries of the kittens were getting farther away. Cale took a peek backwards. Choi Han was limping, but keeping up with him.

They made eye contact once more. Cale flinched as he quickly turned his head back. He was walking slowly to make it easier for Choi Han to keep up.

“It’s good you are being so mindful of him, young master Cale.”

Rosalyn softly said, a small smile on her lips. 

“That’s right, thank you again, Cale-nim.”

Cale shook his head, trying to be nonchalant, but his ears were quite red.

“No need to thank me for doing the bare minimum.”

Litana’s eyes lit up at the modest answer.

They passed the residential area and Cale took another sip of the alcohol.

The bars. Market. Plaza. They then passed the residences of the wealthy and finally arrived at the Count’s estate located in the rear of the city.

“What are you doing?”

Cale looked toward Choi Han, who had stopped moving. Choi Han must have seen how the soldiers greeted Cale, as well as how the citizens avoided him, on their way here.

Choi Han was probably questioning whether it really would be easy to kill Cale.

“I- I was not.”

Choi Han mumbled weakly, he felt like crying.

Cale cleared his throat softly, raising his hand to awkwardly pat Choi Han’s forearm.

“Just ignore it…? Perhaps I was a bit… nonsensical.”

The kittens' meow was particularly smug, Cale even heard a quiet, strained giggle from another kid on his lap.

Cale asked once more.

“Are you not going to come?”

As expected, Choi Han resumed walking. His reason for following Cale now was probably to get some information as well as to host the funeral for the villagers of Harris Village.

“K-kinda…?”

Choi Han stuttered.

“Well, you did tell him you were going to feed him, so…”

Dodori said, as if finding the human to be silly for forgetting.

“Y, young master?”

As soon as Cale stood at the main entrance of the estate, the guards and knights stumbled over their words as they greeted him.

‘Sigh. I wish they would stop with that y, young master business.’

It was odd hearing them stumbling over their words every time. Since he possessed the body of a trash, he was trying his best to act like one. It was easier to be a trash young master than a noble young master. He was trying to make his life as easy as possible. Cale frowned at the guards’ stumbling of words while the guards quickly opened the gate.

Deruth sighed at the words. He couldn’t help but think that maybe these were thoughts his son had, as well. He felt his wife gripping his hand tightly, caressing the back with her thumb. Deruth smiled at her, returning the tight grip.

He wanted to see his son again, to ask why, and to properly have a conversation with his kid. To apologize for all the years he knew he messed up.

“Please head on in.”

Cale turned back to look at Choi Han. The rest of them looked at Choi Han as well. They were probably curious about this beggar that followed their young master back. The knights observed Choi Han with suspicion in their eyes.

“Follow me.”

Choi Han should know of Cale’s status by now. He continued to limp as he approached Cale. Cale looked calm and turned back as soon as he saw that Choi Han was behind him and entered through the gate.

But his heart was going crazy.

‘I’m sure he’s thinking about taking me as a hostage if something dangerous happens. That is probably why he stood right behind me.’

Before Choi Han opened his mouth, Cale stopped him with his hand on the Korean’s mouth.

“I know better now.”

Choi Han’s eyes fell on the hand pressed against his mouth, his ears turning a bit red.

Ron’s glare seemed to get a bit sharper, Choi Han merely glanced at the old butler with blank eyes, as if mocking Ron. Just before, he was almost jumping on Cale-nim’s neck, but now he was going to play “good butler”?

Choi Han gently took Cale’s hand, smiling at the redhead.

‘He does look like a pure teenager when he smiles like that.’

Cale thought calmly, he was going back to patting the children, but Choi Han didn’t let go of his hand, seeming a bit busy to notice.

Cale blinked, turning his head to the screen, because of that, he couldn’t see the amused grin on Choi Han’s face, nor the glare both Ron and Beacrox were giving the Korean.

He was sure that Choi Han would not kill him. However, just thinking about being taken as hostage caused serious mental strain. Cale frowned as he looked at the two knights who were following them.

‘Don’t follow me.’

The knights flinched at Cale’s clear order. They looked back and forth between Cale and Choi Han before one of the knights approached Choi Han and Cale with a stiff expression on his face.

The knights cared about their creed more than anything else. It was fitting of the knights that Deruth treasured.

Deruth smiled.

“It’s good that your knights have the same personality as you. Since you are such a great noble, I can’t help but be glad to have someone like you to be the one taking care of your territory, Count Deruth.”

Alberu complimented the count calmly, with a bright smile. Deruth returned the smile with a calm one, bowing softly.

“Thank you very much, Your Highness.”

‘Well, I guess they have to act like this to be good knights.’

Cale was satisfied at the knight’s response to this beggar-like foreigner and left the knight alone to follow them. He just led Choi Han to the entrance of the Count’s residence.

“Young master, you’re back.”

“…Yes, Ron.”

This scary old man. He had been waiting for Cale outside the door. Cale didn’t expect him to really be waiting. Cale was scared, but thought that it was actually for the better.

“Hoh? I didn’t know you found little old me to be scary, young master…”

The soft voice of the butler send chills to quite some people, although he was smiling.

Bud was looking at Ron for quite a few minutes, as if thinking about something. 

“Seems like Cale-nim wasn’t only scared of me, he was also scared of someone who supposedly served him for years, and shouldn’t do any bad, since you also received such goodwill…”

Choi Han softly mocked, with a pure, gentle smile.

Ron’s smile became a bit more strained, some people immediately averted their gaze.

Cale just wants to know when is Choi Han letting go of his hand.

Ron’s gaze turned toward Choi Han, and his benign smile suddenly stiffened.

‘Ron should be at a level where he can estimate Choi Han’s strength.’

“Mhm. That too, young master, however, that was not the only reason why I reacted like that.”

Ron said with another benign smile, as if the twitching one from before didn’t happen. That terrible old man seemed to have moved past the transmigration problems, as well. Beacrox was nodding in confirmation beside his father.

‘... At a level…? Does young master-nim knows something?’

Beacrox suddenly thought as well, but he then remembered about the novel, he licked his dry lips. Was he aware all this time about their… role? What a good actor.

Choi Han also stared back at Ron. Cale didn’t care what kind of attacks they were sending each other through their eyes and did what he needed to do. He was not done just yet.

“Follow me.”

Cale called out to Choi Han once more and started to walk. The servant, Ron, quickly followed Cale.

“Young master, what is going on? I will take care of this guest if you tell me what is needed.”

“Take care...”

Bud mumbled, shivering at the hidden tone that Cale didn’t seem to catch.

“No need.”

Someone else approached Cale as Ron was speaking.

“Young master. You returned after drinking today.”

It was the deputy butler Hans.

‘Ah, he was responsible for me.’

Cale clicked his tongue and ignored Hans’s statement. Instead, he lifted up the alcohol bottle and pointed toward Hans. It was at that moment.

“Aaack!”

Hans covered his face with both of his arms as he curled up. Silence filled the air.

The room was also quite silent as well, Hans lowered his red face, groaning softly.

“My apologies, young master…”

“Mhm.”

Some people started laughing at the display, quite loudly, actually.

“Tsk.”

Cale clicked his tongue and Hans looked up with a face completely red from embarrassment as he looked back at Cale.

“Put this away.”

“Yes.”

Hans received the alcohol bottle from Cale with a blank expression on his face.

“I will actually throw it at you next time.”

Litana groaned softly, with pursed lips.

Hans turned pale at Cale’s words. Cale did not seem to care at all as he continued to walk. With the inclusion of Hans, there were now a total of four people following him.

Cale peeked every so often to make sure they were following him properly and arrived at his destination.

Kitchen #2. Cale pushed the door open as soon as he saw the sign.

“Young master?”

He could hear Hans’s confused voice behind him. However, there was a thick smile on Cale’s face. The end was near.

“The end?”

Mary’s robotic voice questioned quietly.

Now, Beacrox and Choi Han will meet. Cale’s heart was beating fast. The door easily opened. Cale’s expression stiffened at the scene in front of him inside the door.

Clang. Clang.

Second Chef Beacrox was smiling while sharpening his blade. He seemed to be enjoying himself while sharpening his blade all alone in kitchen #2. However, that smile disappeared as soon as he saw Cale.

“What a scary sight for a chef...”

Paseton mumbled.

That was why Cale was scared. It was always scary to deal with lunatics. You never knew what crazy things a lunatic would do.

Cale completely ignored the gaze Beacrox was giving him.

Cale made a move before Beacrox could respond. He put a hand on Choi Han’s shoulder and pointed at him.

“Give him something to eat.”

“Excuse me?”

Beacrox asked with a stiff expression on his face. The sharp blade in his hand was shining as it reflected the light. Cale calmed his shaking heart as he said it once more.

“Give him something to eat. He’s hungry.”

Ho. The knight let out a shocked noise from the back, but Cale did not have the time to pay attention to that right now. He waited for Beacrox’s response with anxiety. Finally, Beacrox answered with a stiff expression still on his face.

“I will do as you instructed, young master.”

It was done.

“I don’t get it, what is ‘done’?”

Billos mumbled in confusion.

“Maybe that god will say it after.”

Beacrox and Choi Han. And even Ron, someone that he did not expect. The three of them were connected now.

“Connected?”

Eruhaben then hummed.

“I see. In the novel, were they supposed to have a connection?”

The beautiful dragon asked, receiving a nod from Cale.

“Oh, you were trying to make everything happen the same way.”

Witira mumbled with an amused smile.

A bright smile formed on Cale’s face. He could finally relax as he gave Beacrox another order with a slightly higher tone.

“What a cute smile.”

Tasha giggled with a hand on her cheek. Alberu glanced at her with a blank expression.

“Also prepare something for me. I’m hungry.”

Cale thought about the steak from last night’s dinner.

“Your steak last night was the best. You are a great chef.”

The tip of Beacrox’s knife slightly shook.

“Sigh. I should have expected young master to have exchanged bodies by that alone.”

“Hm. It’s not like the first thought that comes to mind after seeing someone suddenly change is transmigration.”

Hannah said calmly. 

“Something like that steak would be a wonderful meal. Prepare it quickly.”

Cale turned around without waiting for Beacrox’s response. He then left the kitchen and headed towards his chamber. The knight and Hans followed him, and Hans quickly asked.

“What should I do about that guest?”

“I guess he is my guest. You take care of it.”

Since he connected the three of them, he didn’t want to deal with anything else for today.

Beacrox and Ron should be able to tell Choi Han’s strength. In the novel, Beacrox originally swears his loyalty to Choi Han because of his strength, so he should pledge his loyalty after figuring out Choi Han’s strength this time too. Of course, Cale had some other plans in the case that Beacrox was unable to determine Choi Han’s strength.

“Swore royalty?”

Beacrox mumbled, glancing at Choi Han, who still didn’t let go of his young master’s hand.

“To him?”

The annoyed voice was quite noticeable.

“Some other plans?”

Violan quietly questions.

All Cale had to do was make Choi Han beat someone or something up, without it being him. Oh, and Beacrox had to be there to watch.

Even if it might have some holes, Cale had thought about a lot of different things.

Some deadpans were thrown in Cale’s direction, who merely averted his gaze, finding the red kitten on his lap suddenly very interesting. Hong meowed softly.

“Hans. Stop annoying me and just bring the meal over to my chamber when it’s ready.”

As expected, Ron did not follow him. Cale left the knight and Hans outside his chamber door as he closed the door and laid down on the bed. He was happy. His exhaustion and the alcohol made him fall asleep before the food ever showed up.

“Hm. Skipping dinner is a bit...”

Cale flinched when Deruth said that with a frown.

‘I guess it makes sense, technically it’s his son's body that is receiving the consequences of my actions.'

That was why he did not know that Beacrox’s cooking knife slashed toward Choi Han’s neck and that Ron’s sharp dagger was flung toward Choi Han’s heart. Of course, both of their attacks had failed.

Well, this was actually a situation that nobody, other than the three involved individuals, would know about.

Cale’s face was quite blank as he saw the images, a lot of people gasped as well, shocked by the butler and chef’s actions.

Cale slowly turned to look at Choi Han, who was averting his gaze with red ears.

The cats laughed at Choi Han’s face for a few minutes.

Suddenly, a beeping sound came back.

[Let’s cut this part now, you’ll have a 5-minute break, before we finish the “Collecting strays” part.]

“Cale Henituse.”

A voice broke the silence. Cale turned to look at the beautiful elf.

“Tell me, why is there a small dragon on your lap?”

‘Oh, fuck.’

Chapter Text

Cale’s hand, which was out of Choi Han’s grasp now, subconsciously went to the black dragon’s round head. The black dragon’s wings fluttered softly.

“Mhm… that…”

“Never in my 1000 years of life have I seen a dragon accepting to be on a human’s lap.”

The elf, no, the dragon scoffed.

Cale averted his gaze to the side, seeing Choi Han’s stiff expression.

Cale sighed, mumbling quietly.

“Hey, you, show yourself.”

The dragon’s wings fluttered again.

— I-I…! I’ll do whatever I want!

The little dragon answered in Cale’s mind, but became visible. Some people gasped loudly, a particularly pale elf seemed about to combust.

“Hoh?”

“I… am a mighty dragon!”

The black dragon said, the red kitten who was also on Cale’s lap started patting the little dragon, On jumped on Cale as well, doing the same.

“Nya, our youngest~”

“Very mighty and cute, our youngest~”

Hong and On said, the dragon raised his chin a little.

“And handsome and beautiful and mighty…!”

Cale sighed. This dragon…

Despite his thoughts, Cale himself petted the dragon.

“We… rescued him.”

The man settled in explaining like that to the gold dragon, who had his eyes fixed on the young dragon with an odd expression.

In the back of the room, a white dragon had shaky hands as she looked at the black dragon.

The beeping noise was once again heard, but this time, there were no words, the screen merely lit up.

Meeoooooow.

Meow.

Cale suddenly felt a chill on the back of his neck. It was the alley right outside the Count’s Estate. He could see two pairs of round, golden eyes. Cale started to frown.

“Oh, there was a time skip…”

Mary mumbled quietly.

There were two kittens who looked extremely pitiful and drenched in the rain. They continued to meow as they approached Cale. They then started to rub their cheeks on Cale’s legs.

“Cute.”

Choi Han said with a smile, the kittens smiled widely at Choi Han.

“Sigh.”

Cale let out a sigh and started to walk. The two little kittens followed behind them. The tiny things somehow managed to keep up with Cale, even with their short legs.

“It’s because Cale nya was walking slowly!”

Hong immediately answered, making some people chuckle, Cale’s ears once again going red.

“What a softie.”

Bud added with a laugh.

“Young master, what is going on?”

The person who greeted Cale at home was deputy butler Hans. Hans had a confused expression as his eyes opened wide. He seemed to be shocked. Cale clicked his tongue and handed Hans the things in his hands.

“Don’t ask stupid questions and just take them.”

“In the end, you took them anyway.”

Archie grumbled in his seat.

Hans’s eyes started to shake.

“W, what cute and lovely kittens!”

This deputy butler really did seem to be butler material. Cale carefully put the two kittens in the hands of the extremely excited Hans.

“Butler material?”

Hans mumbled with a smile, before focusing his thoughts on the kitten-nims again.

The two kittens, that were dangling in Hans’s hands, continued to look at Cale, even when they were in Hans’s arms.

“Young master, may I take care of these two lovely kitten-nims?”

“Whatever you want.

Hans started to smile in joy. Cale started to walk past the excited Hans as he added on.

“Ah, for your information, they become quiet if you give them food. The two of them are also siblings.”

“Ah, right. Beast-people.”

Billos mumbled to himself.

“I thought the cat tribe was on the Eastern continent… how did they get here?”

Alberu asked lowly, mostly to himself than to the others.

The two kittens flinched and started to shake. Their golden eyes opened widely as they looked toward Cale.

“Excuse me?”

The moment Hans asked in confusion, Cale moved back toward Hans. He then lowered his head and caressed the two kittens.

He had wondered about it for the last few days, but how could he not know by now?

“Oh?”

Some people were confused by the words.

The silver kitten had a faint smell of the medicinal herbs he had given to the girl. When he picked the two kittens up earlier, he could also smell the beef steak and bacon cream pasta that he had given them this morning as well.

“Girl?”

Bud asked.

“Beef? Bacon? How much did we miss?”

Eric asked in confusion.

“I met them while I was… picking something up. They would stay in their human form most of the time.”

“Cale nya fed us.”

On said with a content meow.

Litana smiled, despite the rough words, this transmigrator was a really nice person.

That made Cale certain. The events of the last few days were finally resolved in Cale’s head.

“Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

The two kitten’s golden eyes continued to shake. Cale looked at the siblings he had been feeding the last few days and started to smile.

“We really thought you wouldn’t know, nya~”

Hong said, pawing Cale. On did the same soon after.

“That’s right, nya~ it was supposed to be a surprise~”

Cale petted both of them with an almost smile, before settling his hand on the back of the black dragon.

[3 out of 4 strays collected. We are going to see a scene that is way longer. Buckle up, folks!]

“What the fuck is that last phrase supposed to mean?”

Hannah said, rather rudely, Jack gasping beside her.

“H-Hannah!”

The screen lit up after a few seconds.

“…A dragon?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve seen something similar once.”

“Mhm… now that we rescued the black dragon, they are not similar at all…”

Choi Han mumbled quietly.

‘Similar, my ass.’

“Ah.’

Cale cleared his throat awkwardly. It really was annoying having his thoughts showcased like this.

Cale knew what Choi Han was talking about when he said something similar.

Forest of Darkness. He was talking about the vicious monsters deep inside the Forest of Darkness. Among those terrifying monsters were creatures that were somewhere between lizards and dragons.

“Those puny creatures? Similar to a mighty dragon?”

Rasheel scoffed, finding the human to be stupid.

Choi Han sighed, wishing for the couch to swallow him whole.

Choi Han had killed that dragon-like monster as soon as he advanced from the middle stage to the final stage of his Dark Destruction Sword Art.

“You did? How was it?”

Cale pretended to not know about the event, and asked Choi Han. Choi Han was the only other person in Cale’s room right now.

“Oh~?”

Cage’s voice was quite malicious, Taylor, who was beside her, went red at the shameful innuendo.

“C-Cage…!”

Beacrox’s eyebrow twitched. Ron’s gaze wasn’t quite friendly either.

“It’s nothing like that-”

Choi Han immediately tried to explain, while Cale was confusedly looking at the Korean.

“…It was a monster.”

Some glares were thrown Choi Han’s way, who was a bit too red about something else to actually care.

“How so?”

“Its appearance, its strength, everything. It was a monster in all aspects.”

“Mhm.”

“Is that so?”

Cale nodded his head and continued to speak. But his actions and his words were completely opposite.

“Then you have not seen a dragon.”

Sigh.

Choi Han settled in hiding his face behind his hands for a few more minutes.

“Excuse me?”

“Dragons are like people.”

Clack. Cale put the cup with the lemonade that was both sweet and sour down on the table. He then responded to Choi Han, who was looking at him with curiosity.

Deruth raised an eyebrow at the drink, since Cale hated sour things. Perhaps this Cale- rather, Kim Roksoo actually liked them?

“Dragons, Beast people, Dwarves, Elves, they are all like humans. Why? Because they also have emotions and lives.”

“That’s a nice way to put it.”

Tasha smiled. Jack flinched at both Cale’s and Tasha’s words.

That aspect wasn’t important to Cale. His main point started from here.

“However.”

Choi Han might have noticed Cale’s sudden change in demeanor. He sat up straight and focused on what Cale had to say.

“Such an existence has fallen into darkness since it was born. The only thing currently lighting up the darkness in its life is torches, and it has never even seen the light of the sun. What kind of life do you think it is having?”

Flinch.

“... What…?”

Eruhaben lowly asked, briefly glancing at the black dragon.

Tap.

Cale tapped the table with his index finger.

“It is being forced to become an existence without rationality.”

Rasheel frowned deeply, some people gasped.

Tap.

He tapped on the table once again.

“It has had to suffer through its loneliness, without any family or anything to lean on.”

Mila tightly held her son, who himself had his gaze locked on the screen.

Tap.

Choi Han’s gaze fell every time Cale’s finger tapped the table. Choi Han’s fists were clenched underneath the table, to the point you could see his veins starting to flare up. Cale did not know about this, as he continued on.

“It is tortured and abused every day, and is only left alone when it is barely alive.”

Sheritt’s lips trembled, she knew, the first seconds she put her eyes on that black little dragon on top of the human’s lap, that that was her child, her precious kid. Her dear child had gone through these horrible, unforgivable things.

Choi Han’s expression stiffened, and anger was in his eyes. Cale knew Choi Han would react this way. There was no way a good person like this would not get angry after hearing such a story. He should also have figured out why Cale brought up such a story in the first place.

Cale took another sip of his lemonade, before finishing up his story.

“And that existence is nearby.”

The room felt extremely heavy, people found it hard to breathe, another beeping sound was heard, and the air suddenly shifted, easing the atmosphere.

Cale shifted his hand from the back to the head of the black dragon, who was trembling. The cats were pawing him softly as well, with concerned, quiet meows.

A short silence filled the room. Cale looked out the window, before slowly turning his gaze to look at Choi Han. He didn’t know what Choi Han was thinking about, but his whole body was surrounded by a bloody aura.

‘Is he getting angry at the fact that it is abused because he is a good person?’

Choi Han's deep sigh sent chills down Cale’s back.

Contrary to Cale’s hypothesis, Choi Han was currently recalling the tens of years he had to survive on his own in the Forest of Darkness.

That was why the silence continued for a while. Finally, Choi Han made eye contact with Cale and asked.

“Will you save it and try to tame it?”

“Hah?”

“Are you crazy?”

“Ah.”

The black dragon raised his head softly, looking at the human on screen that had an extremely shocked face. He then looked at the human who was patting him awkwardly.

“Excuse me?”

Cale acted on reflex and asked back in shock. Choi Han also became shocked at Cale’s questioning his sanity.

“Why would I try to tame it?”

Cale waved his hand around like Choi Han was crazy.

Choi Han was doing a great job at ignoring the gazes of the dragons in the room. The seemingly 17-year-old looked at the black dragon with a smile.

“Sorry for the wording, my world had some different views on what dragons are.”

The black dragon nodded softly, huffing.

“I’m mighty, I won’t be tamed.”

Choi Han smiled, reaching forward and patting the dragon, whose wings fluttered again.

“That’s true.”

There was no way that a dragon that was abused by humans would be willing to serve a human. In fact, it probably was full of hate and disgust for any and all humans. Even if that human was the person that saved it.

The black dragon in question averted his gaze, shyly.

Eruhaben rose an eyebrow, glancing between the screen and the dragon who found the red-haired human’s lap to be quite comfortable.

Dragons believe that they are above all creatures, including humans. This is a natural instinct for dragons, so, even without being in contact with any other Dragon in its whole life, it will still feel this way.

That was why dragons cannot grow under humans. This attitude makes it impossible to domesticate and train Dragons without using torture and abuse to break down its mind.

The dragons in the room nodded in agreement. Pendrick was still in horror at everything he saw, domesticating a mighty and great dragon-nim? How dare!

‘Dragons are born extremely arrogant. But, most importantly, if I raise a dragon…’

Cale could feel it. He felt like he would get wrapped up in some annoying incidents if he raised a dragon.

There were less than twenty total dragons in the Eastern and Western continents combined. Raise one of those dragons? That was pretty much the same as saying, ‘I will be at the center of all the happenings of the continents.’

“Oh? How interesting, you are the shy type, young master Cale?”

Alberu asked with a bright smile. Cale immediately averted his gaze, the brightness might be bad for his eyes.

Alberu’s brow twitched at being ignored, but his smile didn’t falter.

It was also a dragon that was supposed to die. It would be better for it to go off into its own little world and not get in anyone’s way.

Pendrick gasped.

“Supposed to die?!”

Some people groaned uncomfortably, looking at the dragon on Cale’s lap, it looked extremely young.

“Supposed to die in the original story?”

Choi Han asked, with Cale nodding quietly.

Cale was definitely against this dragon coming with them. As long as he gets rid of the mana restriction chains, this four-year-old dragon will live a much better life than Cale. Dragons weren’t called the kings of the world since birth for no reason.

“Four years old…”

Tasha softly whispered with a pained expression. To think that a mighty dragon suffered this much at such a young age. Mary shifted uncomfortably on her seat.

“Then?”

“Why are you asking such an obvious question?”

Cale laughed at Choi Han’s question before he answered.

“Let it go so it can live a free and peaceful life. Shouldn’t a dragon live like a dragon?”

The black dragon’s eyes shone briefly, hiding his face between his paws for a moment. The human was not lying, but he wasn’t telling the truth either.

…

He thinks it’s fine to adopt this weak yet stupidly nice human.

“…I see.”

Choi Han’s clenched fists slowly started to relax.

“Then will we be saving that dragon?”

“Yes. So I need your help.”

“Anything. I really will do anything to help.”

“You are a really good person, Choi Han. I’m happy my son- sorry, mister Roksoo found such a nice company.”

Deruth said softly, clearing his throat awkwardly. Cale flinched at the accidental “son”.

Cale was worried that Choi Han would escalate the situation, and shook his head.

“No need to go overboard. I have no plans to kill anybody, if possible, either. We will do it as quietly as possible.”

“Cale-nim, you really-”

Choi Han started to speak with admiration, but Cale looked at the clock, before cutting him off and saying what he needed to say.

“Go tell Ron to prepare some alcohol on the first floor.”

“Are diff- what?”

Cale was prepared to drink first.

Everyone went quiet for a few seconds, some people arching their eyebrows at the words. However, some others quickly caught on to what the Henituse was planning.

“Hoh. How smart.”

Eruhaben quietly mumbled. This unlucky bastard was quite clever, despite everything.

He started drinking even though it was the middle of the day. Choi Han just sat there with confusion on his face while looking around. Everybody other than himself looked peaceful.

In the middle of that peaceful environment was Cale Henituse, drinking bottle after bottle. The growing flush on his face made anybody who was watching him know that he was drunk.

“Oh wow, what a nice face.”

Bud said rather loudly, receiving some raised eyebrows and glares.

“Is it okay to let him drink so much?”

Choi Han looked toward Hans, who was next to him, and asked. Deputy butler Hans was delivering food to On and Hong, who were in their cat form. He still did not know that they were part of the Cat Tribe. He then refreshingly answered Choi Han’s question.

“Yes! There is nothing in his hand. Thus, it is safe! He promised he won’t throw any bottles!”

“Mhm… perhaps, that wasn’t what Choi Han had in mind, haha.”

Hans awkwardly laughed, Violan’s eyes were quite judging.

Choi Han was talking about Cale’s safety, but Hans was referring to themselves. Choi Han just shut up after seeing the conversation take an odd turn, and moved away from Hans. It was better to leave Hans alone when he was next to the kittens. Instead, Choi Han looked toward Cale to make sure he was safe.

“Cute.”

Witira mumbled with a small smile.

“Owner. Your alcohol tastes great! Much better than I expected.”

Cale didn’t seem to know that Choi Han was looking at him, instead focusing on just praising the alcohol. They had been drinking for two hours already. There were some who were not drinking, just in case something happened, but the majority of the envoy was enjoying the festive atmosphere.

‘They were all so nervous for the first hour, tsk.’

When Cale had ordered them to gather, as he would be drinking, the soldiers showed up with their helmets on. Cale couldn’t believe it, but told them that he will not throw any bottles to help them relax.

Some people giggled at the situation.

“Seems like the original young master was really a troublemaker, huh?”

Cage laughed as she said that.

“This village may be small, but there are a lot of mountains around it. The alcohol is a special alcohol I made with fruit and herbs from the mountain. That is why it is a bit expensive.”

As the old man mentioned, the alcohol really did taste great. Cale admired the alcohol, and lifted the bottle up to the old man.

“It was really nice.”

Hilsman said, nodding lightly.

“Do you have a lot of these?”

“Yes. Quite a bit.”

“Then get some more and send it around to everybody here.”

“Young master, you don’t need to-”

The Vice Captain shouted out with a flushed face, but his eyes were focused on the bottle in Cale’s hand. The rest of the soldiers were looking at the same thing. Naturally, Cale was aware of what they were thinking.

“Just drink. I’m telling you to drink. Got it?”

The eyes of the soldiers who were present all started to sparkle. It was the first time they became excited to see a bottle in Cale’s hands.

Hilsman cleared his throat loudly in embarrassment.

“Sorry, young master-nim.”

Cale just waved it off.

Cale watched the excited inn owner bring alcohol and snacks for everyone there with a sharp gaze.

Cale Henituse. This human had a strong alcohol tolerance. Everybody thought he had a low tolerance because his face flushed easily and he caused a ruckus whenever he drank, but the truth was that he did all those things without being drunk at all.

“Eh?”

Deruth gasped, looking at the transmigrator.

“Is that true? But… we received so many reports…”

Deruth frowned.

“Mhm. He really does have a strong tolerance… however, I cannot really confirm the reason behind his actions… though I kind of have an idea.”

Deruth licked his dry lips at the transmigrator’s response, shifting slightly on his seat, but nodding in understanding.

That was why Cale’s head was perfectly clear right now. He drank for another thirty minutes or so before looking toward Choi Han and starting to speak.

“Choi Han. Come support me. I’m going up to rest now.”

“Young master, I will do it.”

“Trying to take your claim on your young master, vice captain-nim?”

Cage joked softly, making Hilsman choke.

“It’s okay. Vice Captain, rest a bit today. The rest of the soldiers as well. Didn’t you fight in a battle yesterday? This is not a dangerous area, and I feel bad for the soldiers on guard duty, but the rest of you can relax and enjoy yourselves.”

“Young master-”

“I’m tired. Bye.”

“Ruthless.”

Hannah chuckled.

It would become complicated if the Vice Captain or the others followed him. Thankfully, none of them approached after seeing Choi Han supporting him. It was probably because Choi Han did not drink at all, and was also the strongest person there. They had nothing to worry about since such a person was going to be guarding Cale.

‘Just one person left.’

It was easy to avoid the guards at the gate and around the inn, but Ron was still left. Hans and Ron would never come into the room if he told them not to come in. However, the difference between the two was that Hans was not skilled enough to know if Cale was still in the room, while Ron was so skilled that he would easily be able to tell if Cale snuck out.

Some people glanced at the old man, they felt kind of wary of him now, after the incident in the kitchen from some scenes before.

‘It’s not like that old man will care about what I am doing.’

Realistically, Ron would not care whether Cale snuck out and what he did once he snuck out. That was how he had been until now. However, Cale didn’t want things to get annoying in the future, so he decided to tell Ron in advance.

Ron was quiet at the words, technically, the transmigrator was not wrong, the young master was not his child, despite everything. Still, he couldn’t help the bitter taste in his mouth at the words.

Seeing Ron follow behind Choi Han, Cale quickly informed Ron.

“Ron, I’m going to go out to play. It’s a secret. Got it?”

This old man liked to drink, but did not drink a single drop tonight. Instead, he was just staring at Cale all night. He really was a scary person. This benign smile that Ron was giving him right now was even scarier.

“You really are a coward.”

Toonka muttered under the watching eyes of Harol.

“I understand. I will be waiting for you.”

“Don’t.”

‘Wait for me, my ass.’

As expected, Ron agreed without saying anything else. Cale continued to be supported by Choi Han as he went into his room.

“I’m going to be resting. Hans, Ron, don’t come in to wake me up unless it is an emergency. You know how I get when someone messes with my sleep, right?”

In the past, a servant received a barrage of swearing when they had to wake Cale up in Ron’s place. Although Cale did not physically hit anybody, that servant went around the estate telling all the other servants about how he felt like he was hit by a flurry of swear punches.

“Hm… the way it’s worded, is quite easy for rumors to come out from that as well.”

Billos said calmly, receiving a few nods in confirmation.

“Of course, I do, young master. Please rest well.”

“Young master, this Ron will be standing right outside your room.”

Cale’s expression stiffened at Ron’s response, but he watched the two of them leave, before stealthily giving an order to Choi Han.

“Use the windows to quietly come back to my room.”

“Hohoho boy.”

“Cage, please, you’re scaring other people.”

Choi Han nodded his head and quickly followed the other two out of the room and closed the door.

“You don’t even question? My, my, you’re eager as well, hm?”

Bud also teased, but shut up quickly after the brief glare Choi Han gave him before innocently looking at Cale, who was confused at the two’s words. Bud blinked with incredulity, deciding to avoid his gaze as well.

‘Better not mess with lunatics.’

Meeeeeow.

“Is it time now?”

Cale nodded his head at On and Hong, who followed him up to his room, and immediately opened the box.

Click.

The magic lock clicked open, and Cale removed an outfit from inside the box. Once he finished changing, Choi Han entered through the window, and then his eyes opened wide in shock.

Ron narrowed his eyes briefly at the uniform.

“Now it makes sense why Cale-nim had those outfits, they were described in the novel as well.”

Choi Han stated to himself, nodding lightly in understanding.

Hannah was silent, staring at the uniform with wide eyes. She quickly masked her expression, looking down in confusion. Why was the transmigrator using this uniform?

“Cale-nim?”

Before putting on the mask, Cale threw the black outfit in his hand toward Choi Han.

“You wear it too.”

The orb from yesterday should temporarily stop the magic recording devices, but that was not enough. Cale did not want to get caught. That was why he had been drinking since the middle of the day and prepared these outfits.

“So that’s what you needed the devices for, young master-nim.”

Billos chuckled to himself, receiving some curious glances.

“What is this?”

The black outfit had a single white star and five smaller red stars surrounding it on the chest area.

‘What is it? The outfit of the secret organization.’

‘The Birth of a Hero’ novel clearly and accurately explained the outfit of the secret organization that Choi Han runs into time after time. This outfit was specially ordered by Cale following the explanation as accurately as possible. Just to be on the safe side, Cale even had the outfit created separately, and personally added the stars.

“Secret organization?”

Alberu asked, receiving a confirming nod from Choi Han.

“So I’ll meet them more in the future…? I need to get stronger…”

Cale ignored the vicious mutter from his side.

“Personally added the stars? Did you sew them?”

Violan mumbled in question, Cale just nodded.

That was why it was a bit crude up close, but it was pretty decent from a distance.

People who see this outfit will not remember the crudeness of the stitching, they will just remember that it was, ‘A black outfit with one white star and five red stars.’ For Venion, who has not personally met the secret organization like the Marquis did, the report from the subordinates who saw this outfit will definitely give him a significant headache and anger.

“... Venion?”

Mila asked in a low voice. Taylor frowned.

“My brother…?”

To spare Cale-nim, Choi Han was the one to answer.

“Yes, he was the one who was torturing the dragon.”

Alberu lightly frowned, before trying to fix his expression.

“Perhaps a clean-up is needed…”

The black dragon, who heard the prince’s words, strongly disagreed.

“No. I’ll be the one to have my revenge.”

The little dragon raised his wings, to try to look majestic, but to Cale, this 4-year-old seemed far from it.

“Right. Of course, Dragon-nim.”

Alberu said after a few seconds, smiling softly at the black dragon.

“…Are we doing something bad?”

Choi Han asked once more after seeing Cale not respond. Seeing Cale with the black mask on as well definitely made him seem like a villain.

“Yes. We are doing something bad.”

Cale started to smile underneath the mask.

“We’re doing something bad to Venion.”

“Ah.”

“Heck yeah!”

Cage cheered, Taylor smiling beside her.

Choi Han seemed to finally understand, as he quickly pointed to the other mask in Cale’s hand.

“Please give it to me.”

Even good people will have someone they don’t like and want to screw over. That was no different for this 17-year-old, who spent tens of years alone in this world.

“It’s interesting how you keep referring to me as a 17-year-old even knowing that I’m way older than that.”

Cale hummed under his breath.

“I guess the young face feeds these thoughts.”

Choi Han chuckled.

“Ah, and these kids are from the Cat Tribe. They are beast people.”

Cale casually introduced On and Hong to Choi Han as if it was nothing, and they just simply exchanged greetings as well. The Cat Tribe children, who were sensitive to a person’s true character, already had a good idea about Choi Han’s strength, and Choi Han had noticed they were not your average cats during their travel.

“He’s Choi Han, this is On, that is Hong. End of introductions. Everybody get ready.”

“Wow.”

Archie said ironically.

“I mean, to be fair, he is busy, so…”

Harol muttered with crossed arms.

There was a short time to get ready before Cale ordered Choi Han, who had just come out of the restroom wearing the same black outfit and black mask.

“Let’s go.”

He then added on, as he stood in front of the second-story window.

“Carry me when you go out the window. I can’t jump so far down without getting hurt.”

Some people glanced at the red-haired boy, who was nodding at the screen. Choi Han sighed.

Choi Han let out a sigh for the first time in front of Cale. On and Hong approached Choi Han and patted him with their paws to console him. Cale urged them on once again.

The kittens were doing the same thing to Choi Han, once again.

“The kittens are so cute.”

Mary mumbled to herself, Tasha smiled beside her, patting the black robe.

“Let’s hurry.”

The group that safely exited the inn headed for the mountain with the Viscount’s Villa and the Dragon’s prison.

The location that the kittens, On and Hong, buried the black orb was out of Cale’s expectations.

The Viscount’s villa was 30 meters away from the dragon’s cave. On and Hong had buried the black orb 50 meters away from that cave, in an area filled with trees and shrubs, making it very difficult for the orb to be located.

“They are truly talented…”

Ron said lowly, a smile forming on his lips. Cale refused to look at the vicious old man.

“You two are kind of amazing.”

“Something like this is a piece of cake.”

On was saying it was easy, but Cale could see On’s nose twitching in joy.

On cleared her throat awkwardly, avoiding her gaze. If she was in her human form, a very clear blush of embarrassment would be visible.

Hong giggled at his sister.

Cale, Choi Han, On, and Hong crouched around the location that the black orb, officially known as the Mana Disturbance Tool, was located, and looked toward the cave entrance that was 50 meters away, as well as the Viscount’s villa that was farther away.

“You remember the plan?”

Cale had explained the plan on their way over. Realistically speaking, there wasn’t much of a plan.

“I guess it is easier to do things when you know about pretty much everything.”

Alberu said softly, Cale ignored him, chanting his thoughts like a prayer.

‘Let’s not engage with this sly man, let’s not.’

“There are a total of 6 people on guard at this time.”

Cale recalled the information he read in, ‘The Birth of a Hero.’ The Black Dragon was smart, like most dragons. It had been gathering information for the four long years it was held captive, and there was a reason it attempted its escape two days later at around this time.

“I am indeed smart…”

Although he was saying that, the dragon’s voice lacked strength. Cale awkwardly petted the quiet dragon.

There were, approximately, a total of 30 people residing in the villa. Originally, there were close to 100 people, but it slowly went down as they realized during the last four years that nobody really came to this area.

Of course, among the 30 people, there were 3 high-leveled knights at the Vice Captain’s level, as well as 7 mid-leveled knights. There were also soldiers, the torturer, and random laborers. The number of people here showed just how much attention the Marquis has been putting onto this location.

“Mhm.”

Dodori crossed his arms with a scowl.

However, Cale had Choi Han. Choi Han was someone who could take down the strongest knight in the Roan Kingdom in 10 moves. Someone like that was on their side.

Choi Han smiled, receiving a few incredulous stares.

Alberu tapped the pen on the notepad softly, staring at the teenager.

“You truly are strong, then! Fight me!”

Toonka loudly said, Choi Han’s smile immediately fell, once again ignoring the barbarian.

“Let me explain one more time. There is one high-leveled knight and two mid-leveled knights at the cave entrance, as well as two soldiers. Inside the cave, there is just one high-leveled knight, and the torturer is at the end of the cave.”

“That’s puny, since it’s a dragon they are holding captive. Humans are so daring.”

Rasheel said, rolling his eyes in anger. He couldn’t care less about other dragons, but torturing a child goes against anyone’s moral code.

Choi Han flinched after hearing the word torturer, but Cale did not care. Cale did not care to know about the things that were going through Choi Han’s mind right now. The important thing was that the black orb will activate soon, and that they needed to move quickly in response.

Cale awkwardly cleared his throat. He really hated how his thoughts were showing like that. 

‘Damn god doing whatever they want.’

Choi Han sheepishly smiled.

“Cale-nim…”

Cale merely raised his hand, a silent beg for Choi Han to keep quiet.

“Perhaps, my thoughts were quite insensitive.”

Some people smiled at the shy redhead.

“I’m sure we can all agree to not be judging someone's thoughts, though. After all, we really have no filter in the safe space of our minds, since it should be private.”

Amiru said in a soft voice, receiving a few nods.

“The magic recording devices located from the villa to the cave entrance will not work for 40 minutes thanks to the black orb that On and Hong buried. That is the same for the alarms, magic traps, and anything else. Nothing will work for 40 minutes.”

“This is extremely useful.”

Deruth said, nodding his head.

They needed to domesticate this dragon, the greatest magic using creature in the world, but they could not ask any mages for help. That was why Marquis Stan chose to fill this area with magic items instead. The reason that there were only a few guards around the entrance was also because they trusted their magic items.

“They are stupid for trusting the magic devices blindly. But it’s to be expected from Venion’s dogs.”

Cage tsked loudly, with a scowl. Taylor nodded with a serious expression.

“I still cannot believe that foolish brother of mine dared to do such a disgusting thing.”

That was why the dragon had no choice but to cause a mana explosion to escape.

‘An eye for an eye, and money for money.’

“I don’t think that’s how the saying goes…”

Eric mumbled awkwardly.

Since the Marquis used money, Cale used money as well. Cale patted the magic bag on his waist. This was a magic bag that allowed you to store a lot of items. Inside this bag were all sorts of magic items, useful tools, and objects.

“I just need to take out the guards?”

Naturally, Choi Han would be doing the battling. Why would Cale even try to fight when such a strong person was next to him? Cale thought paper cuts hurt a lot, so he didn’t want to even think about getting cut by a sword.

“Paper cuts?”

Lock mumbled beside Cale, who was nodding.

“It’s good you aren’t fighting, Cale-nim. Please leave it to me.”

Choi Han smiled.

“Yes. You are the only one I can rely on to cover my back.”

Choi Han’s eyes lit up, and before he opened his mouth to thank Cale…

‘At least for now.’

Choi Han flinched, his smile falling, like a sad puppy.

Rosalyn covered her lips with her hand, to hold her laugh.

Lock anxiously looked between the screen and Choi Han, apologetic.

Cale looked at Choi Han with a serious expression, and Choi Han nodded his head and sincerely responded back.

“I will definitely live up to your expectations.”

“Yes. As I mentioned, make sure they see our outfit and then knock them out. Don’t kill them, and don’t show them your sword art. You remember what to do after that, right?”

“Why not kill them?”

Archie mumbled. Witira shook her head with a sigh.

“... sword art?”

Someone else quietly mumbled.

Choi Han’s unique transparent black aura should be easily camouflaged by the darkness, if he uses it carefully. Cale believed Choi Han should understand, since he had already told him many times.

“Black aura?”

Bud then turned around, staring at Choi Han.

“There’s this thing about you that I wanted to ask. Are you a swordmaster?”

Some people flinched. A swordmaster? In the Roan Kingdom?

“I am.”

Choi Han nodded softly, earning a few gasps.

“Yes, I remember it all.”

“Good, I’ll leave it to you.”

Cale patted Choi Han’s shoulders, before handing him the voice changing device. It would be bad if he had to talk during the fight and they recognized his voice.

“You really are smart.”

Hannah scoffed, frowning. This person is dangerous.

“It’s expensive, so don’t break it.”

“Got it. You do not need to worry about it.”

Cale then looked toward the kittens. Cale responded to their wagging tails, that seemed to be asking for something.

“I will give you meat once it is over.”

That did not seem to be the right answer, as they snorted and turned away. Cale didn’t think much about it, instead verifying the time with his watch.

“We wanted encouraging words as well, nya~”

On mumbled, pawing Cale.

“And pets, nya~”

Hong jumped right in.

“Oh.”

Cale awkwardly petted the kittens.

“Sorry.”

‘Five minutes left.’

The sky had already gotten dark, and it was night time.

Cale then recalled the conversation he had with Billos.

“So that’s why you were entering his shop some days ago…”

Deruth mumbled.

‘The magic items that have been influenced by the Mana Disturbance Tool will instantly stop working, and most of them will turn off to prevent it from blowing up. However, the highest quality magic items will start beeping to signal that they are broken. It isn’t like alarm magic, instead, it is more like a clock alarm.’

‘It will probably be loud?’

‘I don’t know where you plan on using it, but it should be loud enough for the enemy to hear.’

Billos started to smirk and continued on.

‘However, if there are a lot of magic items in the area, it will probably get chaotic with all of the alarms going off at the same time.’

Chaotic was enough for Cale.

Billos chuckled.

“Get ready.”

The kittens also covered themselves with charcoal to cover the color of their furs. They then left Cale’s side and disappeared into the darkness, such that Cale could no longer see them. The two of them would not be showing themselves in front of the enemies today.

“That’s… good? Putting children to fight is a bit…”

Litana started uncertainly. The kittens meowed.

“We are strong and useful, nya!”

Hong said brightly, earning another pat from Cale.

Litana settled in smiling sheepishly at the kitten. 

However, Cale knew that they would follow the plan and be around him.

Choi Han folded up the handkerchief he was using to clean his blade, and put it in his pocket.

Once all of the preparations were finished, Cale stood up.

Brrrrrrrrrrrring.

Something started to vibrate right underneath where Cale had been sitting. The black orb had started to activate.

Click. Click.

The seconds of Cale’s watch slowly approached the set time.

And finally, the last click.

“Let’s go.”

At Cale’s order, Choi Han followed the plan and ran ahead quickly, while On started to create fog in the area. Cale was at the center of the fog, making it difficult to see him. At the same time,

“Fog? How rare.”

Eruhaben mumbled, his eyes shining in curiosity as he glanced at the silver cat.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring-

The black orb finally activated.

“I guess they aren’t all highest quality magic items.”

Another scoff was heard on the dragon's side, this time, belonging to Mila.

Some of the magic items started to ring loudly to sound their status. Cale followed behind Choi Han with the fog surrounding him, and headed toward the cave.

Starting now, it was a battle against time.

Choi Han was already fighting against the knights in front of the cave.

‘Scary bastard.’

“Cale-nim…”

Choi Han whined, while Cale pretended he didn’t hear it. Nor see it.

In that short amount of time, the soldiers already had injuries on their arms and legs, and were knocked out on the floor.

“Who are you? How dare you come to this place!”

“As if he was going to yell: “I am Choi Han! I’ve come to rescue the dragon-nim!”. Fucking dumbass.”

Cage was biting her nails in anger, these men were so dumb too, she wanted to curse them all.

Choi Han easily dodged the attack of the high-leveled knight. He then took a step forward and made a deep cut on the side of the knight. He then avoided the blood spurting out of the cut, and used his elbow to attack the knight’s back, followed by the back of the knight’s neck. The knight fainted instantly.

“Nice.”

Rosalyn commented, a smile forming on her lips.

“Shit! What the hell is going on?!”

The high-leveled knight inside the cave soon showed up as well.

“Poison.”

Cale spoke through the voice changing device. The fog surrounding him started to expand, and Hong started to stealthily move around and spread the poison to paralyze the enemy. The fainted individuals would not be able to move for a while, even if they did wake up.

“Hoh. The red one is rare as well. Oh my.”

Eruhaben chuckled lowly.

Cale then made eye contact with the high-leveled knight and said one word.

“Cover.”

Choi Han instantly stood in front of Cale and darted toward the cave entrance. Cale followed behind him.

“You are all synchronized, how nice. It’s almost like it’s not the first time you went on a mission.”

Violan praised stoically.

“Block them!”

At the high-leveled knight’s shout, two mid-leveled knights immediately charged toward Choi Han. Their swords started to glow, showing that the knights had inputted their aura into their swords. However, those two swords were instantly cut down.

Clang. Clang. The upper half of both swords fell down to the ground.

“W, what the? Is he a swordmaster?”

“Amazing…”

Bud whistled, agreeing with the comment.

Both shock and despair was in the voice of the high-leveled knight. The only thing that could cut through an aura-filled sword was a swordmaster’s aura blade. After instantly cutting through the enemy weapons using his aura, which was camouflaged in the darkness, Choi Han used his sword and scabbard to attack a mid-leveled knight’s neck and stomach at the same time.

“Ugh!”

“Guuh!”

‘…He just needs one hit per person.’

Cale could not hide his amazement as he crouched behind Choi Han and continued to move. At that moment, they could hear some ruckus from far behind them.

Choi Han smiled, Cale merely averted his gaze.

Beacrox sighed, he couldn’t help but think that there really wasn’t a way to knock that punk out, even with his father. The chef mourned his bad luck and this young master’s of his.

‘Not like I really cared about the original Cale, if it was his choice anyway, might as well appreciate the one young master that compliments my food.’

“Intruders!”

It was coming from the villa. Cale turned his gaze back forward.

The mid-leveled knights staggered before falling down. Cale made eye contact with them. They had been poisoned by Hong’s paralysis poison.

Hands excitedly clapped his hands.

“Good job, Hong-nim!”

Hilsman shuddered at the scary kitten, ignoring the butler beside him.

“P, poison…!”

“A, assassin!”

Choi Han made them faint before quickly rushing toward the charging high-leveled knight and swinging his sword. Cale used that opening to go through the cave entrance. Even while he was doing that, he made sure the mid-leveled knights who called him an assassin saw the six stars on his outfit before fainting.

“Ugh! Where did these people come from!”

“So loud.”

Choi Han easily avoided the mana-filled sword of the high-leveled knight. He was dragging this out on purpose.

While Choi Han was acting as the distraction, Cale entered the cave behind the Cat Tribe children, who had stealthily entered earlier on. After verifying that Cale had entered, Choi Han moved to the front of the cave entrance.

He then called out to the high-leveled knight.

“Come.”

“You are really cool, mister Choi Han…!”

Lock shyly said, with shinning eyes. Choi Han blinked at the teenager, smiling softly.

“Thank you. You can call me hyung, Lock.”

Rosalyn softly tilted her body, also appearing in the teen’s perfil vision.

“I can be noona as well.”

Lock nodded with red cheeks.

“Thank you very much…”

Of course, his gaze was not looking at the knight, but all of the enemies coming from the villa with torches.

“I leave it to you.”

Choi Han could hear Cale’s changed, yet still calm voice behind him, and started to smile. However, he quickly focused on releasing only some of his strength. Dark Destruction Sword Art. This sword art consisted of two components, darkness and destruction. Of the two, the force of destruction started to surround Choi Han.

“That’s a bit vicious…”

Paseton mumbled quietly, making his sister chuckle.

“Nobody can get past this spot.”

He was someone who always kept his word.

Choi Han groaned, burying himself further against the couch.

“... that’s a bit… watching from another perspective is…”

Bud laughed.

“Wooow. You’re so cool, ‘mister Choi Han’!”

Choi Han’s eyebrow twitched, glaring briefly at the loud man.

While Choi Han was protecting the entrance, there was someone else protecting something in a different manner in the cave. That person was none other than the torturer. He was the one to protect the dragon’s prison. By the time Cale arrived inside, he was already in a state of chaos.

“Why, why?! Why is the Magic Crystal Ball not working?!”

The Magic Crystal Ball that the torturer held onto was one of the emergency backups that Venion had prepared in case something went wrong.

“Wow, seems like this Venion is a bitch to everyone, including the ones under his control.”

Dodori frowned, he then yelped after receiving a slap from his mother.

“Watch your language, Dodori.”

“Sorry, mom…”

“D, don’t come here! Do you know what is in here?!”

The torturer was shaking violently while looking at Cale. He had no choice but to be scared. If the torturer received an attack higher than an average person’s strength, he would instantly blow up.

“What the fuck…”

It was one of Venion’s safety measures as well. The strength of the blast would make the prison key and the prison itself blow up with the torturer as well. Naturally, the torturer knew about this.

“If you come, everyone here will die!”

“Well that’s… truly something.”

“I hope you came out well?”

Taylor frowned softly, looking at Cale. The redhead merely nodded.

Tsk. Cale waved his hand while looking at the shaking torturer. Once he did, fog started to form in the air and headed for the torturer. On, the owner of the fog, was hidden in the shadows of the cave and still hidden.

“On-nim is so talented as well! Ah! The kitten-nims are so cool!”

“Hans, be quiet…”

“A, aaaaaah! Go away!”

The sounds of battle from the cave entrance. The approaching fog. Of course, the inside the fog was completely filled with poison. The paralyzing fog quickly surrounded the torturer.

“Paralyzing fog is really a lethal and amazing weapon, isn’t it?”

Ron mumbled under his breath, chuckling softly, sending chills down people’s spines. His son nodded beside him, an almost smile forming on his face.

“Just what, ugh, p, poison…!”

Ugh. The torturer’s body started to shake as he fell to the ground. The torturer looked so terrible, being unable to speak or move as he forcibly shook on the floor. Cale approached the torturer and rummaged through his clothes.

If you could not attack him, you just had to hit him with poison. Either that, or make a deal with him to hand the key over. However, he didn’t want to use the latter method.

“No need to spend money on scum.”

Violan stoically said, nodding at the transmigrator’s choice.

‘Here it is.’

Cale grabbed the key and closed the eyes of the torturer, who was starting to lose consciousness from the poison. Cale wondered if they had used too much of the poison, but didn’t really care.

“You’re being a bit too nice.”

Rasheel grumbled, with a scowl.

‘I don’t think he will die, but if he dies, oh well.’

“Or not. Nevermind.”

The dragon smiled again. Maybe this coward wasn’t so hopeless after all.

Cale snapped his fingers. Two little black bundles fell from the ceiling almost instantly. It was On and Hong. Once they came under the torch that Cale was holding, he could finally see the two of them clearly.

Cale verified that On and Hong were safe before heading to the farthest corner of the cave.

The kittens smiled at the scene, meowing contentedly, rubbing themselves on Cale.

Once he arrived, he could see a curled-up black existence inside this now-useless magic prison. It was the dragon. The thing that shocked Cale more than the dragon itself was the blood covering the dragon and the scent of blood in the air.

The audience gasped in horror. 

Litana covered her mouth in shock. Such a disgusting sight, something so cruel being done to a child…

Pendrick was shaking, wide-eyed. Eruhaben gripped the elf’s shoulder to restabilize both Pendrick and himself.

Sheritt sobbed, both her hands in her mouth as she tightly closed her eyes, before opening them again, full of rage. Her child, how dare that damn human do that to her child? She wanted to kill all of them, every single one of those bastards.

The room temperature dropped, and everyone shivered out of nowhere, looking around the room in confusion and fear.

Cale had goosebumps on his arms, but he kept them in the same position, comforting the black dragon, who was burying his face in his paws. The cat-children were laying on Cale’s lap, licking and pawing the black dragon with concerned expressions and soft meows.

Alberu had a frown on his normally perfect face. He briefly closed his eyes, taking a deep breath.

“I cannot believe something this disgusting was happening in the kingdom… dragon-nims, I promise that I will do a deep cleaning on the territory as soon as we are freed from this place.”

The dragons glanced at the prince, not saying anything, but clearly more satisfied than ever at the man’s words.

Cale quickly approached the prison.

The dragon continued to keep its eyes closed, even as Cale approached. The dragon was probably in a state of chaos right now.

— I was.

Cale took a short, but deep breath, cuddling the black dragon in his arms with no expression at all.

Cale put the key into the lock and opened the door.

Click. It unlocked with a light noise. Cale slowly opened the iron gate, and entered into the prison.

It was pretty large to be called a prison. There were whips and other torture tools, as well as the luxurious couch that Venion sat on to watch. Cale headed to the corner of the prison.

Silence met the screen.

Hannah’s hands were shaking. How cruel. Although she was not a good person, at least the small group she was part of never kidnapped a child for cruel treatment. Her brother grasped her hand and Hannad tightly returned the grip.

A small figure about 1 meter long was laying on a stack of hay in the corner. The inner eyelids of the dragon were shaking as it laid there with its eyes closed. There were chains on all of its limbs, and the mana restriction chain was on its neck, making it unable to use any strength.

“Hey.”

Cale crouched in front of the dragon. The dragon did not open its eyes even after Cale called out to it. Cale verified his watch. It was time to leave. He continued to speak to the dragon.

“Let’s leave.”

Sheritt took a deep breath, rubbing her face with her hands. Although she knew that the couple was not happy at all with their child leaving his body to a stranger, she couldn’t help being happy for this transmigrator to have come and saved her child from this hell.

Cale used the key he had obtained from the torturer to undo the chains.

The dragon opened its eyes at that moment. Cale started to smile after looking at the dragon’s eyes.

It was still a very strong gaze. It had not lost its will to live just yet.

Sheritt didn’t close her eyes, she didn’t avert her gaze. This was the gaze her child should have, forever, and ever.

It was not the dying gaze that Choi Han had run into in the novel. It was still a gaze with a strong desire to live. That was why it was filled with energy, anger, and resistance.

“That… I ran into?”

Choi Han muttered to Cale. The red-haired sighed, looking at the Korean, a single glance was enough to make Choi Han understand. The teenager-looking man flinched, tightly holding his fists.

It was the gaze of a dragon.

“What a nice gaze.”

Cale lifted the dragon into his arms.

[...]

Now that he had the time to look around, Cale looked down toward the dragon. He then started to smile.

“A time skip, again…”

Billos mumbled quietly.

Mary’s eyes shone at the clear dark blue sky.

The rebellious gaze was gone, and the dragon was looking up at the night sky in admiration. This was the first time the dragon saw anything other than the cave walls in its four years of life. Cale understood what the dragon was feeling, and wanted to give it some more time, but he could not do that.

“You’re taking off the mana restrictions chains, I hope?”

Mila ask- no, stated, receiving a brief nod from Cale, who was averting eye contact with the scary dragon.

He put the dragon down on the grass and continued to look at it. The dragon looked right back at him. Its eyes were once again filled with anger and resentment, as it curled its body up and looked ready to attack.

The dragon, who at some point was looking at the screen again, averted his gaze, laying his chin on his paws, still in the lap of the same human that he looked at with anger. 

‘No wonder it continued to get tortured for four years. It won’t back down at all.’

That was why Cale personally liked this dragon. It was different from himself. Growing up being abused as an orphan, Cale, well, Kim Rok Soo, had given in. After that, he didn’t want to be the main character of a story, like Choi Han. After giving in at a place he called home, he didn’t think he had the strength to fight against the world.

Some people flinched, looking at the man, who was blankly staring at the screen, his movements stilled for a second, but he went back to patting the children.

“You- abused? Orphan?”

Deruth stuttered, with a deep frown.

The kittens meowed loudly, rubbing their faces on Cale, the little dragon flinched, looking up at the weak, strange human that saved him.

“Cale-nim…!”

The room was very uncomfortable.

“You… surely are a strong weak human…”

Archie mumbled awkwardly, with a stiff face.

The audience went completely silent after that. Cale shifted in his seat, ignoring the pitying looks he received from time to time.

“Hey.”

Cale made sure the dragon was looking at him, then took out a pair of gloves and some scissors-shaped cutting tool. There were a lot of magic seals on both of the blades for cutting. He then put on the electricity-resistant gloves.

Billos smiled, recognizing the tools that the young master-nim had bought from him.

[...]

He then grabbed the dragon’s neck.

“Gasp.”

The kittens took in a deep breath. However, Cale ignored them as he continued onward, since it was better to do this as fast as possible. The cutter headed for the dragon’s neck. The sharp blade shone under the moonlight, and the dragon just paid attention to Cale’s eyes. Cale’s eyes were emotionless and peaceful.

The kittens hid their faces shyly.

“Sorry, nya…”

Cale shook his head.

“It’s okay, it’s fair.”

The dragon closed its eyes.

At that moment, they all heard the snapping noise of something getting cut.

Sizzle. Sizzle.

The mana restriction chain was causing sparks in Cale’s hands.

Deruth smiled softly.

“You’re a really good person, Roksoo… if my son was the one that chose the human to exchange bodies with, I’m happy with his choice. If not, I’m still happy that you were the one.”

Cale flinched, looking down slightly, nodding softly, his chest felt strangely warm.

“... Thanks…”

[...]

“Hey.”

The dragon should have no reason to get injured anymore. The smart dragon seemed to understand what had happened to its body, as its eyes came completely back to life.

The black dragon didn’t stop looking at the screen, his blue, now vivid eyes, staring deeply at the images playing. 

Cale took a step toward the dragon. The baby dragon curled up while continuing to observe Cale. Cale ignored the dragon and asked.

“What do you want to do now?”

Dodori raised an eyebrow, humming as he rested his cheek against his mother.

Cale started to smile while looking at the dragon that remained silent.

“I know you can speak the human language. You are a dragon. The smartest and strongest existence in the world.”

“Sure as hell we are.”

Rasheel said, raising his nose up in the air with an air of arrogance, though his frown at the previous situations was still quite clear.

Cale asked once more.

“What did you want to do once you got free?”

“…I.”

Some people’s eyes lit up slightly, Pendrick clasped his hands together, readying himself to hear the mighty dragon’s first words.

Sheritt’s eyes warmed, her expression seemed tired, yet proud. She closed her eyes briefly, cursing the bastard that dared steal her babies.

The dragon started to speak. The dragon really did know how to speak the human language. It was much smarter than humans. There was no way it did not learn the human language in the last four years.

“I.”

The dragon could feel it in his heart. With his current strength, he could easily kill the man in front of him. He was scared of the man in the back, but it would be possible for him to escape alive. He had gained the strength he had waited for so long to obtain.

“Scared of me?”

Choi Han mumbled, looking at the little dragon with a head tilt. The baby blinked slowly, looking at the floor as if it was the most interesting thing ever.

Rasheel scoffed.

“A dragon being scared of a mere human? Do not be silly.”

Mila’s eye twitched, glaring harshly at the man.

That was why the dragon finally said the thing he had thought to himself over and over for the last four years. However, this was the first time he had ever said it out loud.

“I will live.”

Sheritt bit her lip. For some reason, her cheeks felt quite wet out of nowhere.

He will live, no matter what it took.

“I will go away.”

Paseton smiled softly, glancing at his sister, who had her lips pressed together, her eyes were gentle as she looked at the little black dragon on the screen.

He was going to go away from here.

He revealed his inner thoughts.

“I will not be tamed.”

“Yes. You are right.”

Cale was saying the dragon was right.

“You are a dragon. A DRAGON. You have the right to live freely.”

Violan smiled.

“How nice.”

Even a four-year-old dragon was stronger than most of the animals in the world. It had enough strength to survive on its own, and, normally, dragons were extremely independent and prideful. They generally wanted to create their own lair once they turned about two years old. It was completely worlds apart than a human two-year-old.

Ron glanced at his son briefly, his lips twitching in a smile. He could quite agree. It was a nice thought that his dear son wasn’t going far from his wings.

Cale looked into the eyes of the dragon, that still did not trust humans, and sternly started to speak.

“I will not take care of you.”

“Although he is a dragon, saying that to a recently rescued child is a bit…”

Litana started, shifting slightly in her seat.

Cale did not have a reason to look after something that was stronger than him. There were also too many potential headaches to keep him around to pay back for Cale’s help. It was different from the children from the Cat Tribe, On and Hong. A dragon was beyond Cale’s limits.

The said little dragon shifted his head an looked up at the human who didn’t seem to be acting beyond his limits. The head pats were quite nice.

The dragon could not trust Cale.

“Liar. Humans are good at lying.”

There was now anger in the dragon’s eyes. That anger was not directed at Cale, however. Dragons were naturally born with a lot of pride. This anger came from the years that his pride was trampled upon by the humans.

“I guess that is true. I do lie quite a bit as well.”

“Well, he did manage to lie his way through the whole transmigrating thing, so…”

Harol mumbled, receiving a few agreeing nods.

Cale easily accepted the dragon’s words, and continued to speak.

“Live however you want to live. What is it you want to do?”

“I-.”

“Cale-nim.”

Cale looked at Choi Han when he heard the quiet call.

“What.”

“You too. You should live however you want, as well.”

The redhead blinked at that, going silent for a few seconds, looking at the soft smile on the other’s face.

“... Yes.., that’s true. I will live however I want, as well.”

He said after a few seconds, earning a smile from the kittens and Han. 

The baby dragon lifted its head to look at the night sky. It was different from the darkness inside the cave. It was dark, but there was still light.

“I hate humans. I want to be free.”

“Good.”

“Ham… ‘Good’ for the being free part, right?”

Bud commented jokingly. Gleen, beside him frowned.

“To both. Humans suck.”

“Aren’t you human, though?”

Bud was completely ignored.

Cale got up from his seat. He then took out some mid-grade potions and a smaller pouch from his magic bag and put the potions in the bag before handing it to the dragon.

“Live freely.”

“Well, that was certainly nice.”

Amiru said calmly. Then, a feeling of pressure took the room, it wasn’t alarming, nor uncomfortable, but it was surely strong.

Everyone watched as a small child stood up, she looked like she was made out of snow. A light engulfed her, and suddenly, the child was now a grown, beautiful woman. She turned her head and looked at Cale.

The former Korean cursed inside his mind. Why look at him? What is happening?

Eruhaben and Mila hummed, stiffening up slightly. They both shared a look, immediately recognizing the addition. At her aura, others quickly started to realize her species.

A dragon.

“Cale Henituse.”

The woman started, walking slowly to where Cale was. Choi Han frowned, his hand sliding slightly to shield Cale.

“Thank you for saving my baby.”

Unexpectedly, the woman bowed softly, making some people flinch.

The black dragon widened his eyes, looking at the woman.

Cale was briefly agape, but soon he fixed his expression, glancing at the child on his lap.

“You are his mother.”

It wasn’t a question, and she didn’t interpret it as one. She merely smiled.

“I am the previous lord. Sheritt.”

Cale closed his eyes. 

He really was one unlucky bastard.