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When Cale was five, he briefly remembered his mother saying someone would replace his soul.
It was one of those days when the countess, who has a high alcohol tolerance, decided to get drunk. He remembers being half asleep when his mother came bursting through the door and stumbled to his bed.
She kneeled beside his bed and started mumbling in a sorrowful voice. “My Cale...... my dearest precious Cale …”
“Why... Why must it be you? Why can’t it be anyone else? “She sobbed. He remembers wanting to reach out to comfort her, but stopped when she started holding his hand. “Why must they choose you to be replaced? Why? Why must it be my son?” He stayed silent, pretending to sleep, not knowing how to respond or comfort his mother.
It wasn’t until that moment that he finally understood what she meant.......
*************************************
“Would you like to make a deal? “
That’s the first thing that Cale Henituse heard when he woke up from being stabbed by White Star. A deal to turn back time and give his body to some ‘chosen one’ to do something about this shitty war. That man who calls himself God of Death starts going on about how capable that guy is and funnily enough, he sounds pretty convincing. Still, a part of him despises the idea. ‘Hah, why should he trust a fucking stranger to save his family, chosen by the gods or not?’
Someone from another world who has no attachment to him, why should they care about his world, his family? Will they even succeed? No matter how much he hates to admit it, White Star is strong and somehow that guy has an almost godlike power. There is no guarantee that they can defeat him without someone, especially his family members from dying.
Stil……
he doesn’t refuse.
Perhaps, he is tired, just so tired of everything. Tired of the war, of watching so many people die, tired of facing the nobles, the heroes and their fucking stares full of pity and contempt, tired of playing a role, tired of fighting every day either with a bottle in his hand or a sword. A part of him is also terrified, terrified of facing all that was dead, and those who betrayed and left him.
So, he looks at the man with molten golden eyes and silvery white hair, and asks “What will happen to me then?”
That so-called god visibly cringed, “Well, our original plan was to switch both of you, but...”
His eyes narrow “But what?”
“He died, we are unable to recover his body, and under some circumstances, I’m unable to turn back time in that world.”
That bastard then continues while rubbing his neck, “So instead, we decided to give two different options to you, either you transmigrate into another random person's body or reincarnate and live your life freely.”
He frowned at both options but decided to consider both of them carefully.
The first option is a no-go for him; he has no desire to live as someone else again. Wearing that mask of a drunkard is enough pretending for a lifetime. Not again.
The second option.... Should he start over? Leave everything behind? Abandon everything that he loves and live peacefully in blissful ignorance?
He sighed, looking up into the god's eye, “I’ve made my decision.”
And he smirked, “Although, I have one condition”
*************************************
Sometimes he wonders what the God of Death think of him, a mere mortal demanding thing from a god,
“I want to stay and watch that guy”
At first, that guy looked at him weirdly so he promised not to interfere with anything that guy did ‘I just want to make sure he won’t bring any harm to my family and if he is trustworthy’ he told him, ‘Or if he is capable of beating the White Star’, but he didn’t say that part.
Nevertheless, that guy agrees, and now he’s here in some form of a ghost, watching as the stranger awakened in his body. He watches as ‘Cale Henituse’ walks in front of the mirror and wonders what will happen from now on.
************************************
The transmigrator, whose name he later finds out is Kim Rok Soo, is fascinating.
He walks around solving people’s problems left and right, adopts a few children, saves people's lives and tells himself he’s not a good person. He neither agrees nor disagrees with that statement.
In a way, he understood that guy's views. Doing things like helping people, saving children and freeing the slaves would make you a good person, but it is also something necessary. Anyone else with the right human consciousness and who was fortunate enough would have done the same thing. And courtesy to the god, he can also read Kim Rok Soo’s mind and realise that his actions are all beneficial to him.
However, it is laughably funny how other people interpret his actions and choices, calling him a saint and a hero. But that is also what he is, regardless of whether he does something for himself, he did save people, he did help them, and thus he is a good person. He kind of hopes someone will tell him that, just so he finally understands the impact of his every action on the people around him.
That’s also the thing, isn’t it?
Everyone loves him; he somehow sneaks into every person's chest and pulls their heartstrings, and he is blind to all of it.
A part of him is jealous. Jealous of how easily people love him, jealous of how easily he is loved by his family, who he barely speaks to and never will after their death, his butler, who left him alone with the man who beats him almost half death.
And the most shocking thing, even he loves him. Because how could he not? This man, who is unmistakably mortal, burdened by his weak body and faces so many challenges, never once gives up. He falls and stands up again, he laughs at the face of his enemy with blood dripping down his body. He protects all his people with a fierceness of a dragon protecting their treasure.
Just how could he not admire this man? This man...... who is now Cale Henituse.
************************************
It’s funny, this acceptance.
As he watched how easily that man replaced him, how easily he fits in with his own family and erased any existence of who ‘Cale Henituse’ was supposed to be.
Erased the existence of ‘Cale Henituse’, the drunkard, the knight who lost everything, the man who buried his own family, the child who comforted his father beside his mother’s coffin, the one who lost his moth—
Perhaps this is what his mother meant by being ‘replaced’.
‘He’ no longer exists.
Everything he’s been through is meaningless; that world doesn’t exist anymore.
‘This’ is the new world, the one that was meant to stay.
‘He’ is the only thing that is still here.
Who is he now?
It doesn’t matter.
Before long,
Even he would cease to exist....
Along with that world, that timeline,
He would also be forgotten.
************************************
As he saw the transmigrator fall after facing the White Star in the sky of the Moguru Empire, proving without a doubt he had the ability to fight the pseudo god, he made a final request to the God of Death.
Just for a moment, he wished to talk to Cale Henituse.
************************************
“Hello, Kim Rok Soo, or do you prefer Cale?”
The transmigrator makes some funny faces, but it quickly melts away into indifference. “Just Rok Soo is fine”, and continued “, I assume you are the owner of this body?”
‘He’ nodded and smiled at the person wearing his face. “Your body is now recovering, and don’t worry, all of you comrades are fine.” ‘He’ continued and sat beside Rok Soo “, If anything, I’ll say you’ll be bored with how long you need to stay here. So ....” Finally, ‘He’ gave the transmigrator a grin “.... do you want to hear a story? “
***********************************
He told Kim Rok Soo his story.
Why?
Maybe because Kim Rok Soo is someone who never forgets.
Yes, because who wants to be forgotten?
***********************************
A bell rang inside his head; his time is up. He finished his story and turned to Cale Henituse.
“You’re human.”
Somehow, Cale Henituse looks confused, as if the words don’t make sense to him. But this isn’t the time to laugh —there’s too much that needs to be said and not enough time.
“You’re not good or bad, just... human. You make choices to that benefit yourself—that’s normal. You’ve hurt people, even tortured them—but it was always to protect the ones you love. You’ve lied, manipulated, and deceived. Yes. But that’s not the whole of you.”
He reaches out and takes Cale’s hand, firm and steady.
“You don’t hurt others without reason. You protect your people. You care, even when you pretend not to. You gave them hope, comfort—a reason to live another day. You gave them the chance to choose something better. Redemption. That matters.”
He pauses, eyes locked on Cale’s.
“You will make mistakes. You’re imperfect. And that’s okay. Even if some of those mistakes had consequences—even if lives were lost—that doesn’t make it your fault. None of us knows what the future holds. All we can do is try. Make the best choices we can with what we have.”
His voice softens, and as his body slowly dissipated.
“You’re a human, Cale. Be proud of it.”
***********************************
The final word is said, he let go of the hero hand and stood up, slowly walking toward the window.
“Live, Cale Henituse. Live your life, make choices you won’t regret and be happy”
Just as he was about to jump into the white void, Cale Henituse called out his name.
“How about you? What will happen to you now?”
Ah, a good question. God of Death did say reincarnation, but what exactly does that entail? As who or what would he be reborn into? Will there be some or any part of himself left in that new body?
And so, he answers honestly,” Who knows?”
He responds to Cale’s worried gaze with a tender smile, a smile that is only for his family “There’s no need to worry about me, just live as you are. If anything, it’s better to just shelves me to the back of your mind. There’s no need to remember someone who no longer exist, no?”
He gave Cale a wink and jumped “Just forget everything here, ok?”
He hears Cale mutter something, but by then, he is already fading.
He wondered what he said.
***********************************
“I’ll never forget you”