Chapter Text
“Uh..” Bright blue eyes met frowning reddish brown ones, whose owner shifted uncomfortably against the feeling of a hand on his torso. “Are you okay?”
Is this bastard touching my waist?! The red haired teenager stared up with a scowl, and the other boy changed his smile from an awkward to a bright one. “Oh, what a coincidence! What is the famous Cale Henituse doing in such a—”
“Piss off! I'm busy!!” Cale grabbed the hand on his waist and wrenched it away from him, and like that, he stormed off.
Shit, what am I doing here?! I don't fucking know! He thought to himself as cold sweat drenched his back, and he recalled how this mess all started in the first place..
The sky was painted a strange black and red color, purple, yellow, green, and all sorts of hues of magic scattered across the suffocating battlefield like a canvas ruined by the paint-covered hands of a toddler.
Cale was attempting to breath, but his lungs are probably too fucked up to function properly at this point.
It's over. He blinked weakly, it was hard to keep his eyes open with the pressure of five corpses on top of him, and a dagger that went right through his thigh.
He attempted to clutch on nearby corpses, rotten black grass infiltrated by dark mana, and weapons that struck at the ruined grounds of the battlefield, but it was of no use. I can't feel my legs, shit. But he didn't care, he gripped at the dirt and continued to push himself more.
I won't die like this, not when I didn't get to inflict a smidgen of damage on the White Star!
“White..sta..r..” He gasped out, his eyes may seem clouded with despair and helplessness, but the flame of rage and loathing that was lit in his eyes 22 years ago wasn't extinguished, not yet.
“Interesting, your time is warped.”
Cale heard the deep voice of the enemy just mere steps away from him, and the sentence seemed to echo in the corners of his mind, it made his entire body pause as distant memories of the same words being told to him decades ago flashed in his mind.
Why did I remember this? Why now? How did I even remember something so distant? He gulped, ignoring the metallic taste that followed, and he slowly raised his head towards the scenery of the white star choking a black haired boy, who was desperately clawing at his hands.
Choi han.. His eyes were getting cloudier, but his attention still diverted to the white star. And him.. What did he mean by that? What did he mean by saying his time was warped?
“Why.. Why do you..” Cale tried to choke out, yet it merely resulted in more blood being coughed out.
“Hm?”
He ate his words and felt himself become as still as a statue when the white star hummed and turned to his direction.
Eyes that were looking at him as if he was a spec of dust.
Cale heard something about a rat, but he couldn't focus much on that when the sensation of intense heat burning through his skin was torturous enough to not be able to.
It was slow, agonizing, that he reached for his own throat and clawed at it to make it all stop.
“Stoo..”
“Hmm, huhhmm!”
“Sto..oop..”
“Hm- oh!”
“Ugh.. It h..urts..”
“Hey, hey, hey! Good morning!”
“N-uh..”
“I said good morning!!”
“Huh?!” Cale snapped his eyes open, he felt light.. And he doesn't feel hot anymore..?
He let his eyes adjust to their surroundings, and used his elbows as support to get himself up.
His breath was rigid and heavy, but he didn't feel as panicked as before, it felt like someone casted a relaxation spell or something..
“What th- what the fuck..?” he muttered and analyzed his surroundings, a habit he developed after living his youth in merciless war.
“Shh, calm down, my child.” a soothing voice crept on Cale and he felt himself forget the memories that crept in him, his vision was clearing and his senses were returning, and he felt gentle pokes under him along with a soft breeze that carried the scent of flowers.
“Where..” his eyes were met with green.. A lot of it..? He raised his head and looked around, above him was a vast blue sky decorated by pure white clouds, he lowered his head and saw countless trees that spread throughout the greenery surrounding him.
Am I dead? In heaven?
Why would I go to heaven?
“And you..” his eyes landed on the figure standing in front of him, smiling down at him fondly.
“Fear not, my child, I mean no harm.” what the.. Who is this guy? Cale's face twisted and he squinted his eyes to stare at the person.
Pretty though.. Cale subconsciously thought, to be fair, it was hard not to admire the man's (?) face! especially with how his tan skin that contrasts perfectly with his silky, almost snow-like white hair, his eyes were pitch black, like a dark void, that sucks you deep in as you-
“Ahem! I am flattered!” A somewhat nervous voice interrupted his thoughts. “But I am sure both of us are in quite the hurry as of the current predicament.” The man relaxed and adorned his face with a more relaxed smile—
Cale quickly shook his head and snapped himself out of another unnecessary train of thoughts. “Wait, how did you-” know what i was thinking was left unsaid, because the man was quick to cut him off again, how annoying..
“I am the god of eternal rest, I have summoned you here to offer you a deal, unfortunate soul.”
"A.. Deal..?"
God of eternal rest? Like, death? That's eternal rest right?
The man chuckled, making Cale stiffen up again, The alleged god nodded and crouched in front of Cale. “Correct.”
Quite unthreatening for a god. The god laughed again and started patting him, “Well, that's a relief then! It would've been bad if I scared you off.” Cale froze, both at the sentence and the hand patting him.
What the hell is going on..? He frowns again and looks behind the god, a round, wooden table was placed there along with two matching chairs facing each other, the table had a red cloth draped on top of it and an empty plate on each side.
The god noticed his observation and snapped his fingers “Ah, yes, that'll probably be a more comfortable position to chat!” and then, Cale's surroundings changed in the span of a millisecond, and he found himself now sitting on one of the chairs, the god sitting in the opposite chair facing him.
It's similar to the sensation of a teleportation spell..
The memory made him freeze, flashbacks of what happened just mere moments ago were flashing in his mind, he changed his expression, which has been of sole confusion, to a determined glare, the decades of fighting for his home and his people were shown in his face, with every scar and every wrinkle.
“What happened to them? Did the White Star win? Why did you even summon— you said you had a deal to offer, what the hell is it? Is it related to—”
“Calm down, my child.” The god's divine aura spread, but it did nothing but make Cale want to spit out more questions! Yet he just sighed, he knew better, so he simply clutched the arms of the chair he was sitting on firmly. “I'll explain, over a nice cup of tea!”
With another snap, two cups of warm sweet tea appeared in front of each of them, yet neither attempted to drink it. “Now, let's get straight to the point, you aren't one to beat around the bush either.”
The god returned his determined gaze, but his loving smile didn't leave his lips. “the deal i want to offer.. Will save your home, and will let your loved ones achieve their happily ever after.”
“Wh..” Cale's eyes widened at the statement, he didn't want to get his hopes up, he was used to disappointments, over and over, false promises, lies.. But.. Is it because a god said it? Euphoria was already spreading through his veins as he heard the words.
There has to be a catch right? For my people to be happy.. But why would a god offer this? Why me? Why would he tell the trash Cale Henituse out of everyone? Even if I'm not trash anymore, I'm still not that remarkable of a character.
He could've contacted Choi Han, the king, Capable people.. Why Cale Henituse?
Cale bit his lips as innumerable amounts of thoughts kept going through his brain in the matter of seconds.. Why? But did it matter why or how? He gets to see his people happy again, it doesn't matter what—
“But you won't be there to see it.”
Oh.
…
“... Go on.”
So that's the catch.
…
Damn it.
“Cheers!!” Clanks of glass and happy shouts emerged from across the long table in the room that felt alive with the spirit of celebration.
“I am so glad you're all okay, especially you, team leader..!” A choked sob came from his subordinate Won Myung-hee, who seemed to have quite the low tolerance, as he was getting tipsy just from one drink.
“Yeah, you said that a million times, i get it, i love being alive.” Kim Roksu, previously Cale Henituse, responded with a small smirk, drinking in short sips, leaning on his chair and crossing his legs.
It has been a month since Cale has transmigrated into his new world, and by now, almost everything is natural to him, he was quick to learn about the functions of those simplistically shaped objects that this new generation seemed to call ‘televisions’ and ‘phones’, and the modernized version of toilets, buildings, and such.
The food was also good, not as good as the food he used to eat in his youth, but his taste buds have lowered their standards drastically after spending so long in a miserable environment thanks to war.
His new house was quite comfortable, too. He had a nice bed that fit him just right, a decently large living room with a kitchen connected, and a few books here and there.
He checked a few titles, ‘The Homecoming of Elesia’, ‘The reclaiming of the throne’, ‘the birth of a hero’, ‘09 autumn’, even more, around 50 books he spotted or so, but barely any of them caught his attention. Seriously though, why does the owner of this body have such a mix of genres here? Did he even read all these books?
Well, that doesn't matter anymore. He was currently in a celebration for his and his other team members’ recovery, since they recently got injured by what his teammates called an unranked monster , he was sloppy in this new body, and ended up making a few mistakes, although thanks to him pushing his body over the edge, no one died, and he got injured the worst, which was a relief.
Thank goodness, the owner would've probably sucked himself back and strangled me for messing up this early on..
“Team leader! You're spacing out again!” Kim Roksu snapped out of his thoughts as an annoyed subordinate shook him.
“Oh, Kim Min-ah. What is it?” Kim Roksu smiled and asked, his new attitude seemed to give his subordinates the creeps at first, but now they seemed to have gotten used to it.
“What is it?! Seriously— this is a recovery party! It's our first time relaxing after way too long, and you're out here dozing off..” She crossed her arms and sighed, her team leader was really hopeless, there was never a time where she saw him truly relax with his friends.
Not after.. The incident.. Depressing thoughts came through her mind, and her expression changed from annoyance to a somber one, she tried her best to not show pity, she knew her team leader probably wouldn't like that.
What's with her? Roksu noticed the change in her face and looked at her weirdly. but she was right, he didn't want to spend this nice occasion off work thinking about unnecessary things, so he didn't bother asking about it.
“You're right.” he said, his grin widening, before pouring more sujo and beer into his cup, mixing the two beverages together for a nice kick, and drinking it all in one go. “I should be going a little crazy on such a nice occasion.”
—
“— i am not exaggerating when i tell you– i have littteerally saw death flashing in front of my eyes! I swear I saw Jesus Christ waving at me! And I don't even believe in the guy!” one of the teammates, visibly drunk, slurred out as he held his drink in the air, using exaggerated hand movements to describe his situation in the recent battle.
“Might be your sign to start believing.” The rest of the people around the table laughed, including Roksu, who decided this was a good opportunity to get to know more of the people around this company.
I think i have memorized everyone in my team, the other team's members and leaders, non combatant sections and some other company members. He pondered as names and faces flashed through his mind easily, what a convenient skill this body had.
“Team leader!” He heard a voice calling for him and turned his head with a curious gaze. “What is it?” He questioned, and he found two people staring at him— one was Jung Soo Hoon, the healer Roksu started to favor slightly, mostly because he often came by and made him his dinner.
Soo Hoon had his hands on the back of a young looking.. Teammate? Subordinate.. Person..? Is it a newbie? I don't remember seeing this kid before..
“This is Kim Minseok! You saved him at the battle a few days ago, and he came by to express his gratitude!” Soo Hoon explained the situation, the person, Minseok, apparently, bowed at a sharp angle, and proceeded to shout out “thank you so much for saving me the other day! I-i owe you my life!!”
“Uh..” Roksu blinked awkwardly, seeing this kid's attitude, he shrugged off his bad feeling and nodded, smiling brightly. “Straighten up.” At his words, Minseok quickly rose up, it was almost comical in Roksu's eyes, making him giggle. “I only did my job, so don't be too thankful.”
“I- i disagree!!” The immediate objection took Roksu by surprise, but he kept his smile. “You.. You did something I believe no one as powerful as you in this time would have done! You risked your life to save a nobody like me, it's amazing!!!”
I mostly saved you so that i don't get scolded by the original owner though..
“Fine, you're welcome then.” Roksu figured that if he just accepted the person’s thankfulness, they'll leave him to enjoy his break in peace, but instead, Minseok spoke again.
“That- that's not the only thing i wanted to say!” Why does he keep shouting? I'll understand if you talk normally, jeez.. Soo hoon seemed to notice his discomfort, and just sent him a small grin, as if asking him to be patient. I wasn't gonna throw a fit or something..
Roksu didn't speak and just raised an eyebrow, Minseok took out something he had been holding behind his back, and it's— a box?
“hmm?” Roksu paused and stared at the rectangular box the kid was holding, and myung-hee let out a gasp , “ooohh!! The team leader did lose his phone in the attack!!”
“Ah, right.” Roksu smiled and took the box, so this is the box phones are put in? There is an image of a phone on it, so it has to be! He tested his theory and opened it, and he was right, there was a nice, thin, rectangular piece of modern invention inside.
The technology behind these babies is still pretty complicated even for me to understand, but I do like these, they make a lot of stuff much easier. it's a pity I lost the original guy's phone though, Hopefully it didn't have anything important in it.
Roksu smiled brightly at Minseok. “Thank you for this, I greatly appreciate it, i'm gonna hold on to it extra carefully to make sure it doesn't have the same fate as the last one.” he thanked him in a polite yet elegant manner, he saw a few subordinates giving him weird looks, he finds it really funny whenever they do that.
“Hehe..” Minseok giggled, it oddly gave Roksu the chills. “I'm glad..”
“Hmmm..” Roksu was now in his house— or apartment, whatever the people nowadays called it, and was laying on his couch with one leg off the edge. He took off his shoes and shirt, since it was summer and the weather was annoyingly hot.
“Huh?” He was exploring this new phone he got, since he didn't get the chance to do so when he received it since the party went on for another hour before it was over, but he suddenly stopped as he stared at an application he didn't recognize.
How strange.. My last phone didn't have this thing, did it? It was an application that had two hearts and a crown on it, with a pink background.
“Hmm, I heard Soo-Hoon mention something about dating apps.. Is this one? It does have a weird name after all.” He mumbled to no one in particular as his eyes examined the apparent name of the app.
Cupid's first love..
His thumb hovered over the app for a few seconds, “What a strange name..” And he pressed it, and immediately, cheery and energetic music started playing, making Roksu flinch, he still wasn't used to the concept of these things even holding music inside.
“Uh, Christ.” The app was extremely bright, sparkles and uplifting tunes all over the place, after what he assumed was the company name disappeared, the title screen of the application came on.
“Oh..? It's not a dating app?” He stared at the new game button, and blinked a few times as he registered this. “Weird. I played a few games before, like the game with a snake that liked to eat apples, but..”
He explored the extras button that just showed him useless stuff, and the settings button that he used to turn down the volume of the game.
Isn't this a bit much? It's way more developed and detailed, but a little overwhelming . That didn't stop him from pressing the new game button, However.
“Oh, it's the main character! Hmm, too bad I can't change it to a guy.. But I don't care if I have to play as a girl.”
“Hmm.. So she is a commoner adopted into a noble family.. Emmy Blure.. Where did I hear that before?”
“Wait, is the academy named Roan Academy? That's- that's.. Weird.”
“What a weird coincidence..”
“That's.. Strange.”
“...”
“Is that motherfucking Alver Crossman?!”