Chapter Text
When Alberu Crossman opened his eyes, he immediately regretted it.
It was supposed to be over.
After years of war and countless close brushes with death, they had finally won. They passed that damned test, Cale resealed the God of Despair, and that bastard White Star was dead for good (though Alberu wasn't quite ready to think about that again). All that was left to do was celebrate, then dust themselves off and prepare for the bright future ahead of them.
He should have known better than to think the gods would be so kind.
He opens his eyes and sits up with resignation, slowly taking in the chaos around him. He was in a hall of some kind, decorated with so much gold that the royal palace would be put to shame. Gilded tables and chairs were scattered about. A crowd of people surrounded him, already frenziedly discussing their situation. And as he looks around, Alberu realizes several things rather quickly.
- Choi Han is missing his sword (he can’t tell yet whether that’s a good thing or not)
- His injuries from the fight seem to have disappeared (fantastic, but worthy of suspicion)
And, of course,
- Alberu Crossman was staring back at him.
He appears to have gained a clone in the time he was unconscious.
"...Haaaa."
And then, as if his day couldn’t get any worse...
“Please, settle down.”
A figure, 190cm tall with bronze skin, white hair, and black eyes like bottomless pits that can only be described as godly simply pops into existence before them. And as the room explodes into more chaos than ever before, the being simply gives Alberu a shit-eating grin as he puts a finger to his lips.
“Please do quiet down. The viewing will begin soon, and I don’t think you want to miss it.”
As if on cue, the lights dim, a projector screen lowers from god knows where, and a familiar voice begins speaking.
When I opened my eyes, I was inside a novel.
[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.
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.
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.
“...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.
Silence falls over the room as Cale Henituse’s voice fades. Alberu holds his face with his hands. He sighs.
'Cale's going to kill us,' Alberu thinks with resignation as all hell breaks loose.
“A Transmigrator, huh,” Eruhaben murmurs. To someone like him, who only knew the one and only Cale Henituse and not the trashy young master of the count’s family, it was a relatively easy explanation to accept. However, he could only sigh about the unlucky bastard in his heart.
The chaos had calmed somewhat, but the tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife. They had quickly separated themselves into two groups on opposite sides of the large hall (Kim Rok Soo, aka the original Cale Henituse and the cause of this transmigration nonsense, had been stunned for a moment before hiding behind Choi Han, who flinched but didn’t comment), and many were exchanging glances with their doppelgangers. Some, however, were more preoccupied with other things.
“Transmigrator…” Deruth Henituse muttered, his pupils shaking. “My son’s soul was… replaced by another? And I didn’t notice?”
Violan sets a calming hand on his shoulder, pulling Basen and Lily closer to her.
“We don’t know the full story yet,” she says to her family, fighting to remain calm herself. “We need to know more before we can judge anything. And no matter what… Cale is still a part of our family.”
Ron Molan narrows his eyes slightly, a benign smile affixed to his face as he toys with the dagger in his hand. Did he expect this revelation? Hardly. Though he doesn’t show it, it was also rather difficult for him to accept that he didn’t notice his puppy dog young master becoming a different person altogether. But of course, he did notice the sudden change. He watches the other young master in the hall, taking in the differences between that Cale* and the young master he has watched row into a seasoned strategist and commander. ‘Indeed, a different person,’ he thinks, and sighs.
Meanwhile, across the hall, a very different discussion was taking place.
“What do you mean, a novel?” Choi Han* growls, glaring at the god who flinches and holds up a placating hand but doesn’t get a chance to speak. “You’re saying that everything we’ve been through, all the people who died, that’s just the plot of a novel that someone else read?”
The God of Death laughs nervously. “That’s… a pretty good summary?”
He cowers slightly under the glares as he coughs. “Hold on, hold on. Let me finish explaining before you commit deicide. This is actually beneficial to you, I swear on my godhood!”
Some gasps ring out from around the room (Cage shakes her head, muttering something under her breath) but the god presses on. “Simply put, your two groups come from parallel universes. Your worlds started out the same way, but… something happened that set you on diverging paths.”
The god glances at a certain someone, and the crowd’s eyes follow his and settle on Kim Rok Soo, who holds back a sigh. Hesitating, the Korean man looks towards his parents from two universes, expressions of disbelief still on their faces.
“I’m the original Cale Henituse,” he begins to explain, ignoring the sputtering of the other Cale Henituse* as the younger man is pulled closer by his father. “In my world, we experienced the same war as all of you. We fought against White Star as well, and in the end, the Roan Kingdom was razed to the ground, my entire family died, and I was the only one who survived.” He smiles bitterly at the looks of disbelief from both groups. “And when I was forty, I died too. Except I didn’t, and I made a deal with that guy over there-” a nod towards the god pretending like he doesn’t exist, “to transmigrate to another world where my mother reincarnated. And that person’s soul was, in exchange, placed in my 18-year-old body back in my original world.”
He scratches his head. “That’s about all I know. Ask him about the rest.”
Attention shifts back to the god, who awkwardly coughs. “Yes, yes, all that. In summary, the original Cale Henituse made a deal with me when he was 40 to transmigrate, and Kim Rok Soo’s soul returned to the time when Cale was 18. And then…” A peculiar light shines in those inhuman eyes as the god smiles. “He proceeded to change the fate of your world.”
“Makes me feel bad about myself,” Kim Rok Soo mutters.
“Anyway. You,” The god points at Cale Henituse*, “ are the past version of that guy. And unless something changes, your life will end up the same as how his went. Except you won’t have a chance to transmigrate. Don’t ask me why, it’s for the balance of the multiverse, and I don’t think any of us can handle another time paradox on our hands.”
“So you’re just telling us that our world will be destroyed and, what, good luck to us?” Alberu* scoffs.
The god grimaces at him. “Well you see, no. That’s where all of this comes in.”
He gestures at the projector screen. “I can’t let another Cale Henituse transmigrate. That’s just going to get way more complicated. So instead, I’ll show you how the transmigrator Cale Henituse managed to save his world in about two years. How does that sound?”
A brief silence.
“Two years?” Choi Han* demands, disbelief in his face. “That’s impossible. Even if he knew what was going to happen to our world-”
“Impossible,” the god agrees, “and he did it anyway. And now, I’ll show you how.”
The God of Death laughs (both Cages cringe once again), looking around at the two groups. From the TBOAH side, looks of fear, disbelief, and awe. From the LCF side, looks of annoyance, resignation, and a distinct lack of awe. “Think of it this way,” he muses, “ He got to read your story and saved his world, and now you’ll be seeing his story to save yours. That’s about as fair as the universe gets, don’t you think?”
“Wait,” Choi Han says, as the god prepares to turn away. “Where’s Cale-nim?”
(“Cale-nim,” Choi Han* mouths, still in disbelief.)
“Ah.” The god grimaces. “He’s in a safe place, don’t worry.”
“Why isn’t he here?”
“Because I don’t want to die??”
“What?”
“Ahem. Anyway, he’s in a safe place. I swear it. And he’s also getting some…” the god peeks at Kim Rok Soo, who instantly had a bad feeling. “Interesting information as well.”
“What do you mean by that-”
“Anyway, enjoy the viewing!”
And with that, the god disappears with a wave, leaving two groups of speechless people behind.
“He’s always like this,” Cage mutters. She instantly feels a sense of kinship with her counterpart, who looks equally disgruntled by this chain of events and desperately in need of alcohol as they settle in for the ride.