Work Text:
Team Leader Kim Rok Soo did not show up Monday morning on the day which was supposed to be him returning to work after his day off.
If the Team Leader was just late, Assistant Team Leader Kim Min Ah wouldn't have been so worried. The times the Team Leader had been late there was always a good reason, but as she looked at the time, 45min before 10am, she started having a bad feeling.
Team Leader Kim Rok Soo has never been this late before.
"Agent Jung, come with me. We're dragging the Team Leader back to work."
Kim Min Ah decided it would be best to come and get Team Leader Kim hereself. Best case scenario the Team Leader just overslept and needed waking up. Worse case would be if people that had a grudge on the Team Leader found his home and he needed a back-up.
Either way, Kim Min Ah would be there to help.
Reaching Team Leader Kim's house took awhile. Although he could more than afford it, the Team Leader had refused transferring to a convenient house near the center of the safe zone, preferring to instead to live on the outskirts. Apparently he had lived there since his rookie days. Kim Min Ah does not know the reason why he insists on staying there, but she was determined to one day convince their Team Leader to live closer to the Company someday.
They arrive on Team Leader Kim's home soon after. They have a spare key, since they've visited there several times before and their Team Leader gave it to them for convenience, but they still knocked as courtesy. When they heard no answer after a few tries they finally used the key and entered the Team Leader's house.
The smell hit them instantly.
Blood.
As people that fight in the frontlines, Assistam Team Leader Kim Min Ah and Agent Jung are well acquainted and are sensitive to the smell of blood. They would not mistake it for anything else. The smell of it had them scrambling, running room to room in search of Team Leader Kim Rok Soo.
"Team Leader!" Agent Jung shouts when he finally finds the Team Leader. "Assistant Leader! The first aid kit! Quickly!"
His training, kicking in, instantly assessed the situation and called for the necessary materials. At the same time, his hands quickly grips the unconscious and bleeding Team Leader Kim's wrist, stopping the blood flow.
While Kim Min Ah worked on the applying first aid, the two coworkers made eye contact and an understanding, the kind that only comrades who had fought in the frontlines together and had faced near-death together, passed between them.
Both their pupils are shaking.
They found Team Leader Kim slumped in the bathroom, wrist open and that arm under the water in the bathtub, while his other hand is by his side, still holding a bloody knife.
It was clear as day.
Team Leader Kim Rok Soo had tried to kill himself.
But... why?
Their Team Leader Kim Rok Soo was not the kind of person who would choose to kill himself so easily. Although he had put up walls around himself and avoided being close with anyone, everyone in Team 1 still understood that their aloof Team Leader is someone who cares about the people around him very much.
Not only that.
"Living is the best."
That is what Team Leader Kim Rok Soo would say, so often, especially after missions. He was someone who values life, especially his own and the Team 1's lives.
So why?
Why did Kim Rok Soo try to kill himself, so suddenly?
What the hell happened here?
Later, while the Team Leader was recovering in the hospital, Kim Min Ah asked him that question.
Kim Rok Soo took awhile to answer. He had spent his days on the hospital either sleeping or staring at a wall, looking as if all desire to live has left him completely.
When he finally spoke, this is the only thing he said:
"It did not have a happy ending."
Kim Min Ah did not understand.
Determined to bring the life back to the Team Leader, the Team 1 went and investigated the matter. Then, there in his house, they found a book open on the Team Leader's bed. It looked like the Team Leader was reading a book series the whole weekend on his days off.
The Birth of A Hero.
That was the title of the book. It was an action fantasy story about a hero named Choi Han who was transmigrated from Korea and thrust into the world full of monsters, and through a series of events and adventures both joyful and sorrowful, found himself a new family and went on a journey to become a hero.
There are, in total, 11 volumes of this story.
The Team 1 read it all, in hopes of understanding their Team Leader. Maybe the books hold a clue on why Team Leader Kim has lost his desire to live.
Volume 1 detailed about Choi Han's backstory, motivations, and the beginning of his quest, as well as how he acquired allies that join him on his journey.
By Volume 5, Choi Han had expanded his sphere of influence, had grown closer to him allies turned friends, and has won his biggest fight yet after joining the Whale Tribe in their war against the mermaids.
Then, on Volume 6, he allied with a Hawk Beastman named Sui Khan who had clues about finding a person just like Choi Han, as well as the first clue on the leader of the organization that massacred Harris village as well as the big evil they will inevitably face.
Volume 8 is a touching reunion to Choi Jung Soo, who like Choi Han was another transmigrated person, who was trapped in a ghost village underneath the Ancient Dragon Lord's castle. This volume also revealed the hidden identity of Sui Khan as a reincarnated soul who still remembered his past life, who Choi Jung Soo used to know.
The team 1 notes that the pages on this volume are smeared, as if it got wet, especially on a certain chapter.
"We are waiting for someone." Choi Jung Soo says, gazing up the stars, as if looking at a distant sky "But we are not in any hurry to meet him. Our hope is to meet him here again, after he had lived a full life on the other side."
"That is why we fight. We will defeat the White Star. So that when our dongsaeng comes, he will come into a peaceful world and finally achieve his dream of having a slacker-life."
"He is probably overworking himself right now." Sui Khan says, and they laugh, like the old friends they were, remembering memories only they share.
"Whoever that dongsaeng was, he must be very loved." Choi Han thought then, seeing the reflection of stars in their eyes. He was right.
By Volume 9, a war broke out. From then on, the tone of the story take a darker turn.
Volume 10 is mostly a collection of moments from the war that ravaged the whole continent, telling of the important battles, of sacrifices, and the slow and steady full reveal of the main villain of the the story.
Lastly, Volume 11, The final battle and the conclusion of the Hero's journey.
"It did not have a happy ending."
That was what Kim Rok Soo said, and he was right.
This book, The Birth of a Hero, is a tragedy.
It was a story of how a hero is born and also how a hero dies.
However, no matter how tragic the ending of the book was, it still shouldn't be enough of a reason to cause their Team Leader to try to kill himself.
The story itself, although ultimately depressing, is something that could be moved on from. Although it might cause you to cry, and make you feel sad at the moment, at the end of the day it was still a story. A story that would make you feel things, but still just a story nonetheless. At the end of the day, that is all it ever was.
No. It is not the story, but rather what is written at the end of the book that caused Kim Rok Soo to despair.
"I'm sorry."
That is what was written in the last page, written with ink in a familiar handwriting.
"Kim Rok Soo. I'm sorry."
It was written in a way as if it was a final goodbye.
The Team 1 does not know whose handwriting it was, but it seemed like Team Leader Kim knew, and it was what caused him to despair.
They do not know what to do. They now know what tipped their Team Leader over the edge, but they don't have any clue how proceed from here.
Still, the Team 1 cherish Kim Rok Soo very much, and they resolve to do their best.
However,
After that, every "The Birth of a Hero" book, all 11 volumes of it, mysteriously disappeared and was never found again.
In the days that followed, Team Leader Kim Rok Soo regained his health, and soon came back to work again.
He was never the same after that, although only those who worked closely with him could tell. In the years that followed he never retired, and he worked twice as hard than he did before, never stopping up until the day he got sick and died.
Although they tried all they could, the Team 1 members never managed to bring the spark of life back to their Team Leader. The best they could do was to keep surviving, doing all they can to stay alive and not burden their Team Leader with their deaths.
"I've lived as long as I can. That should be enough."
Those were Kim Rok Soo's last words.
Kim Min Ah hopes, wherever their Team Leader ends up in, that he will find peace.