Chapter Text
Darkness. That was all Kim Rok Soo could see.
The memories before it remained painfully clear in his mind. He had been fighting alongside Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo against an S-rank monster, a battle fierce enough that even one mistake would have meant death.
And in the end, that mistake had been his to take.
Kim Rok Soo had pushed both of them away from the monster’s attack without hesitation, activating his instant ability at the very last second to force their bodies out of danger.
He still could feel the pain that followed.
It had felt as though every part of his body was being torn apart piece by piece, a level of agony so overwhelming that it surpassed anything he had ever experienced before. Yet he couldn't care less the moment he confirmed that Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo were safe.
After that darkness consumed everything.
‘I suppose I died.’
The thought came calmly.
Kim Rok Soo felt no regret over his choice. He had managed to protect the people he cared about most, and that alone was enough for him.
After all, there had never been much in his life besides Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo anyway.
He had no remaining family, nor had he lived a particularly meaningful or successful life. He wasn’t rich and wasn't important.
If the two of them had died instead of him, his life would have become unbearably empty.
So this ending was fine. It was peaceful, something that Kim Rok Soo could get used to.
Even so—something felt strange.
Although Kim Rok Soo could see nothing around him, he could still move. More than that, the sensation of his body itself felt unfamiliar.
As if he were in a different body.
Frowning slightly, he raised an arm, only for a sharp creaking sound to echo through the darkness.
Creak.
Something cracked.
A thin stream of light slipped through the fracture.
Kim Rok Soo stared at it silently.
‘…What the hell?’
An unpleasant feeling crept up his spine.
Instinctively, he didn’t want to continue. The darkness had been quiet and comfortable, free from pain and responsibility, and part of him wanted to remain there forever.
But another part of him knew he couldn’t stay trapped like this indefinitely.
So, with reluctant determination, Kim Rok Soo pushed forward again, breaking apart whatever surrounded him piece by piece until suddenly—
Thud.
His body dropped onto solid ground.
The abrupt impact made him blink, and when he finally lifted his head, his eyes met someone else’s. Large brown eyes stared back at him, wide with wonder and disbelief.
A child.
The boy looked no older than four or five, his crimson hair soft beneath the light while his pale skin made those bright eyes stand out even more clearly.
Out of sheer surprise, Kim Rok Soo remained frozen, though the child didn’t move either. Only his eyes shifted continuously, traveling up and down as if carefully examining every part of Kim Rok Soo’s body.
The silence stretched strangely long before the child suddenly brightened and spoke with unmistakable excitement.
“You hatched the moment I entered this room! I must be the reason because I am destined to become strong!”
‘…What kind of nonsense is that?’
Kim Rok Soo wanted to question the absurd logic immediately, but the thought vanished the moment he became aware of something else.
Everything looked enormous.
His gaze slowly lowered and landed on a small, chubby crimson paw.
“…Huh?”
The startled sound that escaped him was far too high-pitched to belong to his original body.
Kim Rok Soo quickly turned his head, searching the room until his eyes landed on a mirror positioned nearby. The reflection staring back at him made him freeze completely.
A small crimson dragon stared back with the same confused expression.
Only then did Kim Rok Soo fully realize it.
That dragon was him.
After dying, Kim Rok Soo had somehow been reborn as a dragon.
The child paid no attention to Kim Rok Soo’s obvious confusion and continued speaking excitedly, his words tumbling out one after another without pause.
“Dragon, you should know my name! It’s Cale Barrow—well, the surname hasn’t officially been given to me yet, but it doesn’t really matter since I’ll become powerful anyway. The title of Dragonslayer will definitely belong to me someday.”
Kim Rok Soo barely listened to half of what the child was saying, his thoughts still caught on a far more important issue.
Why had he become a dragon? Out of all possible things he could have been reborn as, why a dragon of all creatures?
The situation itself already made little sense, but trying to understand it became nearly impossible because the red-haired child continued talking endlessly without caring whether Kim Rok Soo was paying attention or not.
“Since destiny brought us together. I should give you a name.”
Cale fell silent for a moment, looking oddly serious as though he were making an extremely important decision.
Then he spoke the biggest nonsense yet.
“Your name should be Cale too.”
“…I refuse.”
There was absolutely no way he was accepting that ridiculous suggestion.
“Then…Cassiel.”
Kim Rok Soo completely ignored the child’s continued attempts at naming him and instead examined the enormous room more carefully. It was absurdly luxurious, filled with expensive furniture, soft carpets, and enough toys to occupy several children at once. Everything about the place screamed wealth.
Only then did his gaze land on a large black egg positioned securely behind the red-haired child.
Kim Rok Soo narrowed his eyes slightly.
Another dragon egg?
He couldn’t tell for certain, but considering the nonsense the child had been proudly babbling about earlier regarding becoming a Dragonslayer, the possibility that he had been stolen from his original nest no longer sounded impossible.
Perhaps that egg was another victim as well.
The thought left an unpleasant ache in his chest…becoming an orphan once again. The thought alone made his heart ache.
Meanwhile, Cale patiently waited for a reaction that never came. In his opinion, Cassiel was still a decent name, even if it wasn’t as impressive as his own.
He had heard dragons were prideful creatures by nature, and apparently, newborn dragons were no exception. Still, Cale found it fascinating that the hatchling could already speak so clearly from the very beginning, though part of him remained slightly disappointed since it ruined any possibility of personally teaching the dragon how to speak.
Unfortunately, before he could continue trying to persuade him, a brilliant light suddenly filled the room.
Both Kim Rok Soo and Cale turned toward it immediately.
At first, the light took the shape of a small white dragon, but within seconds the figure transformed into a beautiful woman with long white hair.
Then she smiled softly.
“Cassiel,” she repeated gently. “I quite like that name.”
The very next second, Kim Rok Soo or rather, Cassiel, was suddenly lifted into the air before he could even process what had happened.
The white-haired woman held him carefully yet effortlessly, as though he weighed nothing at all, her eyes filled with unmistakable warmth as she looked at him.
“I am Sherrit,” she said softly. “Your mother, my little Cassiel.”
So he actually had a mother.
The realization alone caused the tension in Cassiel’s small body to ease slightly without him even noticing. The situation regarding the Dragonslayer title still made absolutely no sense, and there were clearly far too many things he didn’t understand yet, but for the moment, he found himself unable to care about any of that.
Almost unconsciously, his gaze shifted toward the black dragon egg nearby, which immediately drew a soft chuckle from Sherrit.
“That is your little brother,” she explained gently. “Perhaps he will hatch soon as well.”
Cassiel was carefully placed down beside the egg, and for a brief moment, he simply stared at it in silence.
A mother and a younger sibling as well.
Maybe this new life would not be as terrible as he initially thought.
“I can be Cassiel’s big brother!”
Cale suddenly declared, interrupting the quiet atmosphere.
“My hair is just as red as his scales!”
For some reason he looked strangely desperate to secure the position of older brother as quickly as possible.
Cassiel could only stare at him blankly.
Meanwhile, Sherrit smiled softly and gave a small nod of agreement before her expression shifted into something sterner.
“You may…after receiving a proper scolding first.”
Cale stiffened immediately.
“You are not permitted to enter this tower yet,” Sherrit continued, her voice remaining gentle despite the obvious warning hidden beneath it. “And yet you somehow continue finding your way inside regardless.”
As Cassiel listened to the exchange between the two, something in his chest tightened strangely.
Ever since hatching, he had mostly found the red-haired child annoying. Cale talked far too much and confidently said whatever garbage came to mind without hesitation.
Compared to the final moments of Kim Rok Soo’s previous life, this loud yet peaceful atmosphere felt like a stark contrast. One that was strangely welcome.
Cassiel.
If Sherrit had not appeared and called him her child, he probably would have continued clinging to his old name instead. After all, Kim Rok Soo had already accepted death. He had quietly prepared himself to disappear completely.
A part of him still felt that way even now.
Perhaps he could try.
The thought surfaced slowly as his gaze drifted between Sherrit, the black dragon egg beside him, and the endlessly talking child who was currently being scolded for trespassing.
After all, living was the best.
The situation honestly reminded Kim Rok Soo of those webnovels he occasionally read during his free time, the kind where the protagonist dies and suddenly wakes up inside a fantasy world connected to a novel or game.
Normally, he would have dismissed such stories as unrealistic clichés.
Yet now he found himself in exactly that kind of absurd situation.
What troubled Cassiel, however, was the fact that he did not remember ever reading about a child named Cale Barrow, nor about a crimson baby dragon connected to him. No matter how carefully he searched through his memories, neither of them existed in anything he could recall.
Which meant this world was either entirely different from the stories he knew or his very existence had already begun changing the original flow.
As those thoughts lingered in his mind, Cassiel quietly observed the luxurious room around him once more while Cale continued getting scolded nearby, though the red-haired child still looked more offended than remorseful about being caught sneaking into the tower again.
Honestly, the situation itself was not the worst outcome after death.
There was magic here, dragons, wealth beyond reason, and apparently even a family waiting for him. Compared to his previous life, where survival and exhaustion had consumed most of his days, this almost sounded peaceful.
And if this truly worked like those fantasy novels, then Cassiel already knew exactly what kind of role he wanted for himself in this new life.
A quiet and lazy one, where he could comfortably avoid trouble while living in luxury for as long as possible.
Cassiel slowly relaxed against the floor, his tail curling lazily beside him as genuine determination filled his mind for the first time since waking up in this strange world.
‘It’s doable. I’ll become a slacker.’