Chapter Text
Kim Rok Soo, previously known as Cale Henituse, had finally begun enjoying a peaceful life.
After eight years of fighting to eradicate monsters, humanity had finally won. The endless disasters stopped. The ruined cities were rebuilt. The constant smell of blood and smoke slowly faded into memory.
And Kim Rok Soo retired immediately.
Well, not just him. His entire company resigned and started living normal, casual lives again.
They did not hesitate for even a second, leaving behind nothing but memories inside that old company building. Kim Min Ah focused on teaching, while the others opened cafés, bakeries, or small stores.
Honestly, they deserved it.
Especially Kim Rok Soo.
Twenty years of war in his original world. Eight years surviving the apocalypse in this one. He had suffered enough to last several lifetimes. If anyone deserved peace, it was him.
So now, he spent his mornings sleeping in, his afternoons drinking tea on the apartment balcony, and his evenings pretending he did not have enough money to comfortably disappear from society forever.
Honestly, this was the kind of life Cale Henituse himself would have been jealous of.
It was peaceful.
Suspiciously peaceful.
Kim Rok Soo should have known it would not last. Still, he tried to believe in it. He was old enough to become somebody’s grandfather at this point. Please, just let him retire properly.
Then the front door slammed open.
Speak of the devil.
“Uncle! Look what I got!”
Kim Rok Soo looked up from the couch with lazy movements. His nephew had always been an overly cheerful teenager.
Well, that was expected.
Just like his mother’s reincarnation, some things never changed, even in another life.
His nephew had bright brown hair tied loosely behind her back, swaying left and right whenever she walked or ran. Her eyes were a vivid green, exactly like his mother’s from his previous life.
Her school uniform was mostly hidden beneath a charcoal-colored cardigan. For someone her age, she looked like a ball of sunshine.
That was something Kim Rok Soo felt proud of.
He had managed to bring back the cheerful energy children were supposed to have after the apocalypse.
He still remembered the first time he met his mother’s reincarnation.
That gloomy aura around her.
The way she sat under a broken table, hiding from nearby monsters, covered in dirt and blood. Those green eyes, which should have been bright and lively, had looked dull and empty as they stared at nothing.
Kim Rok Soo grimaced at the memory.
She had looked more dead than alive.
He quickly shook his head, pushing those unpleasant memories away before looking back at his nephew with a softer expression.
Then his eyes froze on the object in her hands.
His cheerful nephew proudly held up a doll.
Now, buying dolls was not strange. She was at the age where she loved cute accessories and merchandise. Kim Rok Soo did not care how much she spent with his credit card. Honestly, he was too old to buy anything other than alcohol and groceries himself.
That was not the issue.
The issue was the doll she had brought home.
A doll that looked exactly like Choi Han.
Kim Rok Soo stared.
He blinked several times, desperately trying to convince himself it was just a similar-looking character from another series.
The doll stared back at him with stitched black eyes and an innocent smile.
“…What the fuck?”
“Language,” his nephew replied automatically while taking off her shoes.
Kim Rok Soo ignored her.
No, seriously.
What the fuck?
The doll had black hair, dark clothes, and even carried a tiny sword attached to its waist. It was unmistakably Choi Han.
A twenty-centimeter Choi Han plushie.
“…Where did you get that?” he finally asked after spending nearly ten minutes staring into those tiny black plushie eyes.
“Hm?” His nephew blinked before smiling brightly. “At the convention downtown. They were almost sold out.”
“Sold out…” Kim Rok Soo repeated blankly.
“Yeah! This one was expensive too because it’s limited edition.”
Kim Rok Soo suddenly felt a migraine forming.
The novel The Birth Of Hero had originally been given to the previous Kim Rok Soo by the God of Death. It was not supposed to exist publicly like this. It should not have merchandise. It should not have fandoms. It definitely should not have conventions.
Unless—
Kim Rok Soo froze, his jaw clenching tightly.
Back then, when he first woke up in this world after transmigrating, he had been too busy trying not to die. Between planning for the apocalypse, handling monsters, and dealing with disasters every other week, he had never bothered checking whether the novel existed publicly.
For all he knew, the story should have been forgotten after eight years of apocalypse.
So how the hell did people still remember it?
Unless the novel had really been publicly sold all this time and not personally handed to him by the God of Death alone.
“…No way.”
“Hm? What?” His nephew looked at him strangely, confused by her uncle muttering nonsense to himself.
Is old age finally catching up to him? she thought with amusement.
Kim Rok Soo slowly sat up straighter, staring at the innocent-looking doll with increasing seriousness.
“Let me see that.”
His nephew handed it over without suspicion.
Kim Rok Soo inspected it carefully.
Everything about it screamed Choi Han.
The tiny sword hanging from the belt.
The black clothes he wore every day because changing outfits was apparently too much effort for him.
The gloomy expression.
Although… now that Kim Rok Soo looked closer, it was less “gloomy” and more… pleading?
What the fuck?
Apparently his expression changed noticeably, because his nephew raised an eyebrow at him.
There was a reason Kim Rok Soo thought it looked like a pleading expression.
Because—
“…Why does it have dog ears?”
That was right.
The doll had floppy dog ears.
It felt deeply strange seeing his former commander like this.
“Huh?” His nephew looked confused.
Kim Rok Soo pointed accusingly at the plushie’s head.
He still remembered being kicked into a wall during training while Choi Han stared at him with a terrifyingly cold expression. In what universe did people look at that man and think, Yes, he would look cute with dog ears?
People clearly had terrible taste.
“And a tail.”
“Yeah?”
“Choi Han is a wolf.”
His nephew stared at him in disbelief.
“…What?”
“In The Birth Of Hero, if people made animal versions of Choi Han, he should be associated with wolves.”
“What are you even talking about?”
Kim Rok Soo rubbed his forehead as another headache started forming.
No, wait.
Why did he care so much about whether Choi Han was represented as a wolf or a dog?
That was not the point.
The point was that this world somehow had merchandise based on The Birth Of Hero.
That was wrong.
Deeply wrong.
His nephew snorted. “Uncle, are you seriously arguing about whether a fictional character should be a dog or a wolf?”
“He is not fictional—” Kim Rok Soo nearly answered automatically before stopping himself.
Silence filled the room.
His nephew stared at him like he had finally gone insane.
“…Anyway,” he coughed awkwardly, “what series is this from?”
His nephew blinked before shrugging.
“Trash of the Count’s Family, I think.”
Kim Rok Soo went completely still.
His eyes trembled slightly despite his efforts to stay calm. Apparently it was obvious enough that his nephew started looking at him with concern.
“…What?” he asked quietly.
A cold sweat slowly crawled down his back.
His nephew looked suspicious but answered anyway.
“You know. The remake.”
“The what?”
Now his nephew looked at him as though he was the weird one.
“The rewritten version of The Birth Of Hero. It’s way more popular now.”
For the first time in years, genuine fear crawled down Kim Rok Soo’s spine.
Still, he forced himself to stay calm.
Slowly and carefully, he asked, “Explain.”
“Oh.” His nephew immediately became excited. “Apparently the original novel was old and messy, so another author rewrote it. They legally bought the copyright and changed a bunch of things.”
“…Changed what?”
“Well, the protagonist, for one.”
Kim Rok Soo already hated where this was going.
“The story starts with a guy named Kim Rok Soo transmigrating into the body of Cale Henituse, a minor villain from The Birth Of Hero.”
His breath caught.
His hands trembled slightly as he stared down at the doll.
For the first time in years, Kim Rok Soo genuinely felt fear again.
Silence filled the room.
Meanwhile, his nephew kept talking, completely unaware of the growing horror on his face.
“And honestly? The rewrite is way better. The original Choi Han was kinda boring, but in this version the relationships are more emotional. Also, Cale is hilarious.”
Kim Rok Soo stared at her like a man witnessing the collapse of reality itself.
“Hilarious…?” he repeated weakly.
Part of him still desperately hoped the story was different from what he feared.
“Yeah! He’s this tired scammer guy who just wants to rest, but everyone around him treats him like some kind of hero.”
Kim Rok Soo slowly covered his face with one hand and let out a deep sigh.
No.
No no no.
Absolutely not.
“Uncle?” His nephew finally noticed his silence and shook him worriedly.
“…Why did you start reading it?” Kim Rok Soo ignored the concern and asked another question instead.
His nephew shrugged casually.
“Because the protagonist had the same name as you.”
Then she added proudly, “I thought you already knew the series because I found a copy of The Birth Of Hero in your room years ago while cleaning. Turns out you actually didn’t know about the remake!”
Kim Rok Soo almost blacked out.
Of course.
Of fucking course.
His nephew suddenly narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“…Actually, now that I think about it, you kinda look like the fanart too.”
“Just a coincidence,” Kim Rok Soo answered immediately.
“Wait.” She leaned closer, clearly suspicious now. “You also knew Choi Han was supposed to be associated with wolves.”
“Coincidence.”
“You said it way too confidently.”
“…Coincidence.”
“That’s weird as hell.”
Kim Rok Soo immediately stood up.
“I suddenly remembered I have work.”
“You’re retired.”
“I’m unretiring.”
His lips twitched. There was no way he could tell her he planned to interrogate the God of Death.
Because he was increasingly certain this entire mess was somehow that god’s fault.
His nephew laughed while watching Kim Rok Soo snatch the novel from the table.
“Seriously though, Uncle, you should read it. Book 2 gets insane.”
Kim Rok Soo paused immediately.
A bad feeling crept up his spine.
“…Book 2?”
“Yeah.” His nephew grinned. “It’s about Cale’s actual journey after he killed the White Star.”
Kim Rok Soo’s expression slowly stiffened.
Choi Jung Soo had already told him Cale was doing fine, so what was this?
He wanted to dismiss it as fiction, but Book 1 was already too accurate to ignore.
What if Book 2 was also real?
Cale, you told me to rest while you were out there causing more problems? Kim Rok Soo thought bitterly.
Slowly, he looked back at the novel in his hands.
“…Can you summarize it?”
“Oh, of course!”
And just like that, his nephew began enthusiastically explaining everything involving hunters, blood cults, and interdimensional nonsense.
Kim Rok Soo listened in growing horror.
Wait. Since when did fantasy turn into horror?
Should he contact Cale somehow?
But apparently the story was already finished, meaning the conflict had likely ended already.
Then what happened afterward?
The room became very quiet after his nephew finished talking.
Too quiet.
Kim Rok Soo slowly lowered the book while trying very hard not to look suspicious.
Unfortunately, his nephew was annoyingly observant sometimes.
I wonder if I can contact Cale through dreams again…
Anyone who had experienced transmigration or regression would understand how deeply unsettling this situation was.
Imagine discovering that some stranger had turned your entire life into a bestselling novel.
And was profiting from your suffering.
Kim Rok Soo’s stomach twisted unpleasantly.
Because Cale had once told him that exact story in a dream.
And only him.
As far as Kim Rok Soo knew, Cale was not the type to openly share his life story, not even with people close to him like Choi Han.
So how did someone else know?
He could not help worrying that the author possessed some terrifying ability where whatever they wrote became reality in another universe.
“…Who’s the author?” he asked quietly.
He really wanted to have a conversation with this suspicious person.
“Nobody knows. The author only uses the name ‘Anonymous.’” His nephew pulled out her phone with a pout. “They uploaded one voice message before disappearing completely. Even the publishing company refuses to answer questions about them.”
Weird…
Maybe he was overthinking things.
Hopefully.
But what if his worst theory was true?
What if the author had somehow crossed into Cale’s world and secretly recorded everything?
Kim Rok Soo shuddered at the thought.
Without wasting more time, he held out his hand.
“Play it.”
The voice recording crackled softly.
Kim Rok Soo unconsciously tightened his grip on the book.
Then a calm male voice spoke.
“I legally acquired the rights to The Birth Of Hero. I simply rewrote the story because I disliked the original ending.”
Kim Rok Soo narrowed his eyes.
His lips pressed into a thin line as his fists clenched and unclenched nervously.
The voice continued.
“Some stories deserve to be told properly.”
Click.
The recording ended.
That was it.
No explanation. No useful information.
Just an incredibly strange message.
“…That’s suspicious as fuck,” Kim Rok Soo muttered.
“Right?” His nephew laughed. “The fandom thinks the author is secretly insane.”
Kim Rok Soo did not laugh.
Because too many things were suddenly connecting together.
The story.
The accurate details.
The vanished author.
And the missing God of Death.
The God of Death had been silent for a long time now. Even Choi Jung Soo, who usually appeared just to nag him about resting properly, had disappeared completely.
Kim Rok Soo originally assumed they were simply busy.
Now he was not so sure anymore.
Quietly excusing himself, Kim Rok Soo walked into his room and locked the door behind him.
Then he immediately called out:
“God of Death.”
Silence.
“…Hey.”
Nothing answered.
Kim Rok Soo’s expression darkened.
“Don’t tell me you’re ignoring me again.”
Still nothing.
Usually, even if the God of Death refused to appear, there would at least be something. A reaction. Choi Jung Soo appearing. A note written on paper.
Now there was absolutely nothing.
As though the God of Death had vanished completely.
Kim Rok Soo stared down at the novel in his hands.
Trash of the Count’s Family.
His grip tightened until the edges bent slightly.
“…I just wanted to retire.”
Unfortunately for him, fate clearly had other plans.