Chapter Text
Kim Rok Soo was not used to being shaken awake in the morning. A firm hand was planted on his shoulder as he tried desperately to hide further under the soft blankets piled on top of him.
Except that's not right, he didn't own any blankets like this. His mattress wasn't this soft either, and the lack of a draft in this room started ringing alarm bells in his head. His eyes shot open to see an older man with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes standing over him.
Slightly more concerning was the red hair that cascaded into his vision. A quick scan of the room showed he was certainly not in Korea anymore, and the lack of scarring on his arms and hands showed he was also not in his own body. Delightful.
He finally turned his focus to the old man in front of him, who grinned when they made eye contact. The man spoke, the bass of his voice barely registering in his ears. A quick glance towards his butler's hands showed them tucked politely behind his back.
With a sigh he raised an unfamiliar hand to stop the butler, his mind finally catching up with his current situation. He pointed a thumb to himself. "Cale Henituse."
The butler's eyebrows furrowed for just a moment before a quick, rumbling laugh registered, and the butler nodded. Amusement shone in the old man's eyes, but he held his tongue.
The redhead pointed a finger at the man in front of him. "Ron." He was met with another amused nod. "Vicross, your son, the chef," a grin tugged at Ron's lips as he continued to nod along.
Cale bit back a groan of annoyance, scrubbing his face with his hands. Sure, he had been reading the novel before he fell asleep, but you've got to be kidding me.
"Can you get me some cold water, please?"
He missed the odd face Ron made at the request, only glancing up after the butler had left the room. His mind whirled as he grasped for the plot of the book, which came back to him very easily all things considered. With a huff he pushed himself out of bed and made his way to the bathroom.
He paused for a moment in front of the full-length mirror, something the original Cale Henituse had insisted on. Red hair, sharp eyes, lean body, exactly how the book had described the minor antagonist. Pretty bastard, he huffed in amusement, filling the tub with warm water. While sitting in the water he began to contemplate what he knew.
Cale Henituse was a road bump in the original story, there to show just how much the loss of Harris village had affected the protagonist. Cale was a drunk who picked fights at bars fairly frequently. Despite that his father continued to house and support him, and allegedly none of the violence extended towards his family. His younger step-brother was set as the heir, and Cale had made no effort in order to change that.
With a frown, the redhead toweled himself dry and wrapped himself in a robe before stepping back out to the bedroom just in time for Ron to return with a cup.
"Thanks," he said absently, taking the cup from the butler. Missing yet another odd look from the butler.
To be honest, his position right now wasn't horrible. Just like the original Cale, Rok Soo had no desire to gain any sort of power. In this position it would be fairly easy for him to live his dream, becoming a rich slacker. A small smile pulled at the red head's lips, before vanishing when he remembered the protagonist of the original story, Choi Han.
Right, first he had to avoid getting beaten up. Preferably shaking off Ron and Vicross as he went, he had no desire to keep the assassin by his side.
Speaking of the assassin, Cale finally turned his attention to the butler in his room, who looked at him expectantly. Right, he had forgotten the other issue. No where in the book had it mentioned Cale Henituse being deaf. The lack of sign language from Ron didn't give him any hope either.
Ron was an assassin, but he was also a very good butler, he would be using sign language to communicate with his charge if he knew. Being shaken awake had given Rok Soo some hope, but it seems like the original owner of this body was simply a hard sleeper.
Kim Rok Soo had slowly lost his hearing during his previous life. It was hard to know whether the degradation was due to genetics, noise exposure, or repeated head trauma. He wasn't exactly at liberty to go see a specialist to have it diagnosed in the middle of the apocalypse. Once he had realized it was fairly easy for his companions to adapt, especially since silent communication had its advantage. By the time he transmigrated his hearing was mostly useless. He could still hear himself from the vibrations that traveled through bone and skin, but he couldn't understand someone talking to him in the room. He could still hear lower pitches and loud noises, which certainly helped, but he was already mentally prepared to lose that as well.
All things that would make no sense to the butler who had raised him. Cale briefly debated whether or not to outright tell Ron he couldn't hear anything, but quickly decided against it. It would be troublesome to deal with everything that came along with the realization. Cale was trash anyways, he could probably get away with "ignoring" people. He was also fairly adept at lip-reading at this point, so he probably could hold conversations if he was aware they were happening.
"Sorry, can you repeat that?" He asked, focusing on the older man properly.
If Ron was annoyed at having to repeat himself he hid it well behind a benign smile. "Of course, Young Master. What would you like to wear to breakfast with your family?"
"Something simple," the redhead requested, eyeing the gauche outfits in the closet with distaste. Sure, Cale was handsome and could probably make them work, but Rok Soo had no desire to parade around in outfits that looked like they were made for a court jester.
Even the simple outfit ended up having too many ruffles for his taste, but it was probably the best that could have come out of the wardrobe.
Cale walked the halls on the estate behind Ron towards the dining halls. Apparently the butler had said that the count requested his presence at breakfast when he was woken up, something that he had missed in his confusion. It was odd to watch the servants scramble to bow in greeting, trembling at the sight of him. Yes, Cale was a drunk, but the only people he had managed to injure were gangsters. Though he has broken many things, he acknowledged silently.
"Have a good meal, Young Master," Ron smiled, holding the grand door open for him.
"Thanks, you too," Cale responded, stepping into the room.
Instantly the whole family turned to look at him as he took his seat.
"You're late," Count Deruth spoke in what Cale could only assume was an admonishing tone. Still, he didn't appear too angry at his late arrival.
"My apologies, my notice was fairly last minute," the redhead shrugged. He felt a bit bad throwing Ron under the bus, but considering he'd be sending him off with Choi Han whenever they arrived there probably wasn't too many chances for the butler to take petty revenge.
Seeing as no one else started to speak, Cale dug into the food, a small smile creeping up his lips. He completely missed Basen dropping his fork in shock at the sight. His gaze flickered back to the family as he noticed the Count putting down his utensils.
"How's the food?" Deruth asked hesitantly, internally bracing himself.
"It's good."
"Yes, I should fir- Good?" His eyes widened in shock as he gazed at his eldest child.
"Yes? Everything tastes good," the man blinked, dabbing his mouth with a napkin. Why does he seem surprised?
"Ah-" the count cleared his throat- "I'm glad everything is to your liking. Is there anything you need, Cale?"
The redhead tilted his head in thought for a moment. "Money," he said finally.
Mirth filled Deruth's eyes. "I will have Hans bring it to you."
Cale nodded, satisfied with the response. "I'll be leaving first," he announced, standing from his spot. Hesitating for a moment to ensure no one else would say something before he left, he turned and stepped back out to the hall.
It turns out the count was more than willing to hand over a large sum to his trash son. A grin threatened to break out on his face, but he managed to muscle it down. He stood against the wall in the hall, faced with Ron and Hans waiting patiently. "Let's go to the study," Cale commanded finally. He watched as Ron's face morphed into one of confusion, and Hans looked nervous.
"The study?" The assassin repeated, looking at the man questioningly.
"That's what I said," the redhead agreed. It wasn't explicitly stated that Cale had a private study in the novel, but seeing as the family was filthy rich there had to be one somewhere.
"It hasn't been cleaned yet, my lord! Please give us a moment to clean it before you go!" Hans pleaded, stumbling over his words in his haste. The prospect deputy butler started to sweat when Cale's eyebrows furrowed, fearing that he had offended the noble. In reality Cale was replaying the image in his mind, trying to figure out what Hans had said.
"It's fine if it's dusty," the redhead finally said with a sigh. He was fairly confident he had figured out what the man had said.
"Just give us an hour to clean, please! Just an hour!" Hans pleaded, hands clutched in front of him. He brightened when Cale waved at him dismissively.
Whatever, it's not like I need paper in front of me to plan. Cale turned, entering back into his room and taking a seat on the sofa.
Oblivious to Ron observing him, Cale began to organize his thoughts. He needed some form of protection, and there was an ancient power in the city that could provide him just that. It would be a pain to collect the food needed to ease the grudge, but The Indestructible Shield would be worth it in the long haul.
The man was startled out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder. "The study is ready, Young Master," Ron said with a smile. The concerned look on Hans' face meant that they probably had said this multiple times already.
Brushing off the hand with a shiver down his spine the redhead stood. "Lead the way," he said lazily, pretending not to see the way Hans' eyes clung to him.
A window was open in the study, allowing the stale air to circulate the freshly cleaned room. Cale took a seat at the desk, pulling out parchment and a quill. "You can go now," he told the servants. The younger seemed to hesitate, but quickly scrambled out when the older placed a hand on his shoulder.
As the room emptied and the door closed Cale let out a sigh of relief. He had no real idea how to act in front of anyone, and masking his deafness was annoying. How many times can I say I got lost in thought before it becomes suspicious?
Still, he didn't come to the study just to hide from everyone. Stretching his wrists briefly he took to writing everything he remembered from the Birth of the Hero. He had already gathered that it was too late to prevent the events at Harris village, but considering he had no injuries he had yet to meet Choi Han. The thought briefly crossed his mind to avoid the protagonist altogether, but he wasn't certain if Ron and Vicross would still leave if he completely missed the man.
If I have the shield I can hopefully protect myself if he still tries to be violent.
Alongside The Indestructible Shield there were multiple other ancient powers the novel described with an annoying amount of detail. It was less annoying now that the information was relevant, but he had been annoyed that the descriptions took multiple pages of the novel. The next one that Cale noted on his odd "to-collect" list was the Vitality of the Heart. The healing power would be very helpful if he did end up getting swept into the eventual war, not that he planned to if he could avoid it.
There was also a small chance that the Vitality of the Heart would improve his hearing. Though, considering Taylor Stan had originally collected the power and it didn't heal his legs, it probably wouldn't.
Cale's eyebrows furrowed as he leaned back in his chair. "Are magical hearing-aides a thing?" He mumbled to himself, looking out the window. There was no mention of hearing loss in the novel outside of the temporary tinnitus from being too close to an explosion. He never had any in Korea for obvious reasons, but they certainly would be helpful. He could probably find an excuse for why he needed them if need be.
With one final glance at the papers in front of him he stood, walking over to the fireplace blazing in the room. He carefully deposited the papers, watching the fire slowly claim them. Leaving his plans behind could expose too much, he had already recorded the information anyways.
He opened the door to the study, finding Ron standing outside of the door. "I'm headed out," he told the butler.
"Of course, I will wait for you, my lord." The old man grinned.
"Don't," Cale said, a grimace pulling at his face. "I'll be out all day. There's no need."