Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Cale stood before the tranquil lake. The dappled sunlight cast shimmering patterns upon its surface, and a scattered azure sky peered through the sparkling ripples.

In the heart of the lake, a blue lotus stood.

It appeared to be an ordinary lotus at first glance, with the only exception being its somewhat rare color, if one were to overlook the lack of reflection of the lotus on the lake.

The red-haired man cautiously took a few tentative steps close, his shoes crunching softly on the damp, yielding soil, leaving a few shoes print behind.

The water around the lotus was shallow. It was more akin to a rain-puddled hollow than a true lake. The delicate petals of the lotus swayed with the gentle breeze, and the nearly transparent seedpod seemed to pulse with waves of light, resembling a heartbeat.

Bright green-black lotus seeds adorned the outer edges but Cale’s gaze was fixed on the center.

Raon followed, his wings fluttering with excitement, hovering just above the lotus.

"Human, is this the dew mentioned in the diary? Let's get it and save Golden Grampie!"

The old dragon Eruhaben had expended too much of his strength defending Puzzle City, leaving him in critical condition after the fierce battle.

Cale had handed him the jar that Eruhaben once rejected, and this time, the dragon had accepted it. He gulped down the liquid, enduring the searing pain that followed. Yet, it was not enough.

The jar was said to grant as much life as the user desired, but who would ever think to prolong the life of a dragon?
The human life force within the jar was insufficient to compensate for the life force of a dragon, a creature adored by nature and seen as a symbol of immense magical power.

Cale hadn't expected this outcome. Both he and Bud had used the jar, and as humans, it had worked perfectly for them. This success led Cale to believe it would be the same for Eruhaben.

However, the jar's contents were only enough to grant Eruhaben about half a year of his life.

The jar had shattered, and even Mila couldn't repair it.

"It's fine, Cale."

Eruhaben said with a serene smile. He seemed content with the result. His hair had returned to its usual golden color, though his face remained a bit pale.

"All I ever wanted before was to live long enough to defeat the White Star and now we even sealed a god. The extra half a year afterward was already more than I could ever hoped."

But that was not enough.

Cale wanted—no, needed—Eruhaben to see Raon grow up. Eruhaben had to be there to teach and guide the young dragon, even though more dragons, including Raon’s mother, were now around him. Eruhaben's presence was irreplaceable. He had to be there.

Raon shouldn't have to experience losing a parental or grandparental figure at such a young age.

No one should endure such a loss.

So Cale set his new goal to find something that would be enough for a dragon to live longer.

With the records left by the White Star, Cale found what he was looking for.

The immortal dew – a substance rumored to prolong life.

Cale didn't like the name of it, though.

Once, a legendary bard claimed that he had lived over seven centuries. Many verses and songs within his repertoire celebrated the existence of an extraordinary substance known as the immortal dew, purportedly extracted from the essence of a blue lotus.

The bard eloquently lauded how the dew rejuvenated both his body and soul, allowing him to live an immortal life that spanned the breadth of time, enabling him to explore everything worthwhile in the world.

And the bard could use magic. It seemed like the dew could somehow also boost or at least restore the magic power of its consumer.

The White Star didn't pay much attention to it since he was someone who could reincarnate and prolong his lifetime was useless to him. He simply recorded it as a possible water attribute ancient power and never did much research on it.

Cale decided to continue from there. Surprisingly, it wasn't very hard—much easier than he had anticipated—to locate the diaries left behind by this bard.

He had underestimated the influence he held as the savior of the world, the hero acknowledged by both the Eastern and Western continents. When he wanted something, those who had waited so long to repay the kindness and help he had offered finally got their chance.

What they found was a whole warehouse of diaries with dates spanning over seven centuries.

With "record" and an ancient translation spell cast by Lord Sheritt, Cale read through all the diaries in one day.

The bard had meticulously documented every day of his life. Every single day, without a miss.

There were even highlights and notes on certain events as if the owner continually revisited them. The mundane details were so intricately recorded that Cale found himself compelled to believe in the authenticity of the legend.

Page after page. Who would fabricate seven centuries of everyday life, from meals to outfits, and an abundance of poems and songs, all maintaining consistency in handwriting and tone?

Cale immediately began searching for the blue lotus.

And again, it was not as hard as he had thought.

Now, here he was. Eruhaben had only two months left.

This very lotus stood proudly before him, radiating an ethereal and transcendental beauty.

Cale took a deep breath and knelt by the pool, his fingers gently reaching for the slender stem of the blue lotus. The stem swayed gracefully at his touch.

The bard never specified what the dew actually was. Was it an ancient power, a divine item, something from the demonic or divine races, or something entirely unknown? Cale had no idea.

But again, he didn't have much choice. He could at least obtain the dew and then figure out what it could do.

It was common knowledge when it came to mysterious materials that the container mattered. Based on all the fantasy and adventure novels he had read, many legendary herbs or substances would diminish once removed from their container or treated improperly.

Cale decided to bring the entire thing to Eruhaben and then figured out how to let the dragon have it as he did not want to risk anything. The bard never mentioned how he used the dew, so Cale had to approach with caution.

As his fingertips were about to brush over the tangerine stem, a viscous mist, so thick that it was almost on the verge of droplets, exploded around him.

It felt as if he had entered a sauna, except that the steam was icy cold. Within this mist, vibrant colors twisted and swirled, creating a captivating dance that resembled the surface of a sunlit soap bubble. It was like he had stepped into the heart of a living kaleidoscope.

Suddenly, the voice of a young man echoed among the mist like a thunderbolt on a stormy night, and the surface of the water began to ripple from the lotus.

"Go away. No one can live forever."

'Oh. It can speak. So this may be an ancient power like the White Star assumed.'

Cale called for the ancient powers he had but they were all unusually silent. He allowed his nervousness, and his heart raced while a sinking feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.

To his surprise, the dazzling mist gradually slowed, and the voice ceased its torment. An amused tone replaced the previous sternness.

"Ah, you are the same as me. Do you wish to live even longer to reach immortality?"

'The same as? Is it talking about my life span?'

Cale's life force had indeed been strengthened after he stabbed himself in the heart with the branch of the World Tree and the Vitality of the Heart said he could live as long as a dragon with a power akin to immortality born inside him.

"No. I do not wish for immortality. I am just here to prolong the life span of a dragon."

Cale shook his head and replied as politely as he could.

The voice chuckled as the mist trembled with it.

"Dragons are not immortal. Prolonging the inevitable, hm? Meddling with time comes with its own price."

Cale's hand suspended mid-air.

Price.

He was not surprised, as nothing came without a price but he did not like how the word sounded from the voice.

Raon would have yelled for Cale to stop sacrificing himself if he heard this and the ancient powers would have been in chaos right now, but his surroundings were strangely quiet. Cale peeked around and found himself the only one here.

"What is the price?" he asked cautiously.

The voice's response was cryptic, dripping with amusement.

"It is everything you have experienced, but it is also nothing you have experienced."

Cale frowned. This sounded too much like the bullshit some gods liked to sputter.

But again, he did not have much choice, and that bard never mentioned anything about the lotus harming him.

Okay. Then let's do it.

Cale sucked in another deep breath and reached for the lotus. As his fingers traced the stem of the lotus, a peculiar hollow sensation surged through his entire body, like the weight you feel on your skin after hours of swimming and suddenly stepping out of the pool.

"No one can live forever. Not even immortals."

Cale couldn't help but frown at the sentence.

"But one can live again."

The voice declared with a hint of playful joy.

'Oh. I hate how it sounds.'

In an instant, a dazzling white light enveloped everything, wiping out all colors from Cale's field of view. He could feel a strange, almost ethereal pull as if the very essence of the lotus was intertwining with his own.

Raon's worried cries, the panicking ancient powers, the sense of emptiness, the moisture among the fog, and his hammering heartbeats. The world around Cale twisted. His surroundings shifted abruptly. His vision plummeted, and everything was lowering, and the lotus now appeared larger.

Was he falling? Was he going to faint?

As the disorienting sensation intensified, panic gripped him. However, the expected impact of hitting a hard surface or the cold feeling of water didn't come.

Cale blinked. And he had to blink again.

He wasn't falling.

He was shrinking.

"Wait. You are not... you're not the original soul in this body."

The voice tinged with confusion but quickly returned back to the amused tone.

"Is there anyone in this world that knows about the original you?"

Cale's heart sank further as the voice resonated with laughter, the sound echoing through as dread slowly crept in.

He really did not like how this sounded.

"You better contact them," the voice suggested, its amusement intensifying with each word.

Cale's mind raced. The meticulous and tedious documentation of everyday life, the notes as if being constantly revisited, the refreshment of soul and mind-

The realization hit him like a cold wave.

It is to remind himself.

The bard didn't become immortal.

He rejuvenated the body and the soul within the body and lost his memory, and lived again.

Fuck.

A surge of panic propelled Cale.

Those who knew his past as Kim Rok Soo.

Choi Han- No he didn't want-

"Raon, call Alberu."

His shaking voice now sounded young and vulnerable.

And the world turned dark.

Chapter Text

Alberu was sitting behind a towering stack of documents. He sighed as he pushed away yet another letter urging him to get engaged before claiming the throne.

These letters were merely suggestions or admonitions. Alberu knew, however, that this was not something he could escape forever. He planned to announce one of his nieces or nephews as the crown prince or princess later.

It wasn’t like the days when he had barely any power or was just gaining attention from his father, the king. Now, he was the absolute center and leader of the Roan Kingdom, the Sun that had brought the kingdom to its greatest heights. No one would oppose Alberu becoming emperor, and no one would dare use his lack of a wife as a reason to challenge him.

But the feeling of constantly rejecting somewhat valid proposals made him feel like he was treading the path of tyranny. Not that he would let this hinder him. But Alberu had fought long and hard for this position, and he wanted everything to be perfect.

Alberu felt his eyes ache from reading files for so long. He closed them and reclined in his chair. His hand reached out for the jar of cookies on his desk. He wasn't a fan of sweets, but both his dear dongsaeng and that six-year-old dragon loved them, so it had become a habit for him to keep cookies everywhere.

He chuckled softly, thinking about how Cale and Raon always managed to brighten his day, even in their absence.

He thought about Cale, his dear dongsaeng who had helped him almost every step of the way. Cale had presented him with the magic tower, a group of strong individuals, defense and attack power for the Roan Kingdom, and connections to kingdoms from both the Eastern and Western continents. All of this was given with ultimate trust and sincere support.

"Your existence is meant to be."

Every time he recalled those words, Alberu would still feel something so warm stirring in his heart that he almost got goosebumps. It was something he never knew he needed, like a breath of fresh air after he was stuck in a dusty library for countless years. He never even dared to imagine that someone would look him in the eyes and speak with so much calmness as if he hadn't completely broken whatever invisible shackles Alberu had on him for as long as he could remember.

His dongsaeng had crashed into his life like a comet. Cale seemed to possess a kind of magic that drew everything around him into his orbit, becoming the center of it all. Through his self-sacrificial approach, he had captured everyone’s hearts, including Alberu’s. Before he knew it, he had become one of those around Cale, ensnared by Cale's relentless, selfless help.

His dongsaeng always had a way of doing things like this—saving and supporting people, just as he was now trying to find a way to save Eruhaben. Cale acted as if it was something he must do, something he had to do.

Alberu hadn't spoken with the dragon for a while but he was sure Eruhaben had long viewed Cale as his own child and was deeply moved by his actions.

Cale's actions—or rather, his very existence—were too dazzling, like the blazing sun high in the sky that overshadowed everything. And Alberu was called the sun of the Roan Kingdom. He understood the burden of being the sun. He wholeheartedly wanted such power and position, yet Cale never wanted such things.

"Because it's Cale, it would be fine."

His presence was too taken for granted. He swept in like a hurricane, so quickly and forcefully that even those close to him couldn't easily break away from this thought. The sliver shield that never broke, the firey thunderbolts that pierced through all, the sturdy rocks that stood firm.

Even though they frowned at the ridicule of Clopeh, didn't they also get swept away into posing something inhuman expectation on Cale? Everyone trusted and relied on him, even as they constantly reminded themselves not to depend on him so much.

At the eye of the storm, behind his calm and stoic expression, Cale was just a human. The weight of the world rested on his shoulders, yet he continued to shoulder it.

He thought about the call he received from Cale earlier that morning. Cale had quickly summarized how he found the location of the lotus mentioned by the bard, thanks to the National Library of the Roan Kingdom, which had helped collect and repair some of the bard’s diaries.

"The illustrious sun of the Roan Kingdom, our benevolent and magnanimous leader," Cale began with those effusive praises after he finished introducing the situation.

Alberu didn’t stop Cale this time. He just folded his arms and looked at Cale through the communication device, silently waiting for him to continue.

After a new cascade of praising words, the red-haired man paused. His reddish-brown eyes flicked to the side to avoid Alberu's gaze.

And he continued with a barely audible "Thank you, hyung."

Then Cale ended the call before Alberu could say anything.

Alberu was expecting Cale to awkwardly say something to express his gratitude but not something so direct, as he had figured out how his dongsaeng was not used to being on the receiving end of help and goodwill. But he was caught off guard by the sincerity. He couldn't help but smile at the way Cale averted his gaze as if he was uncomfortable expressing his gratitude.

His dongsaeng was always so slow and clumsy when it came to emotions. With almost everything settled and his dream slacker life approaching now, Alberu thought it was finally time to teach Cale that being loved and accepting help didn't always require something in return.

Alberu was about to pick up another file when there was suddenly a red light from the communication device on this table. That was the emergency contact with the highest alarm. He immediately connected it before he could even gather his thoughts.

"Cale?" Alberu's voice was sharp with concern.

"Human, human is-" Alberu's heart sank with each tear-laden tremor in Raon's voice as if someone had delivered a punch to his gut.

This six-year-old dragon, though usually excessively protective of Cale, rarely had such sheer panic in his voice.

The lack of Cale's voice calming Raon down from the side was also alarming. Alberu rose abruptly from his seat.

On the other end of the call, Raon continued to repeat a few phrases over and over again.

Human, faint, small, don't know, call you.

The words tumbled out in a torrent. Alberu realized it was impossible to get a full explanation from Raon now, who seemed on the verge of a breakdown.

"Where are you?" Alberu asked, his voice steady despite the rising panic within him.

Alberu opened his drawer and took a teleportation scroll he had put there in case of emergency. He then grabbed a sheet of paper and scribbled a few lines about having urgent matters to attend to when Raon gave him the coordinates, who kept sobbing the entire time.

Alberu tore the scroll once he got the coordinates.

Okay, he might have slightly overreacted as he had been preparing for the worst-case scenario almost automatically. The image of Cale stabbing the dagger in his heart kept resurfacing in his mind.

Did some god subject Cale to yet another trial?

With a thud, Alberu's boots met the ground, his surroundings came into focus.

He was in a forest, standing right in front of something on the ground.

Alberu saw the six-year-old dragon circling around it and immediately lowered his head. He saw a red-haired child. The child was lying on a makeshift bed of a white shirt, covered by a black jacket. His right hand, exposed from beneath the clothes, was tightly clutching a white lotus.

Raon noticed Alberu's presence and immediately lunged towards him while uttering words in a frenzied manner-
"HUMANSUDDENLYTRUNSINTOACHILD."

Alberu's eyes widened as he absorbed Raon's panicked explanation. The pace of his speech was so quick that it took even Alberu several seconds to fully grasp what he had just said.

Cale had suddenly turned into a child.

Alberu shifted his gaze back to the child lying on the ground. He walked closer and crouched down beside the child, his heart racing as he took in the familiar red hair and delicate features.

He could now see the face of the child. His eyes were closed and his expression was peaceful as if in a nap.

"Cale?" Alberu whispered, hardly believing what he was seeing.

Alberu had met the young Cale Henituse once. That was when the second prince was still too young to enter the gathering of nobles. He didn't have much memory about that, but undoubtedly, the child in front of him was Cale with the characteristic red hair.

Realizing that Cale wasn't in immediate danger, Alberu let out a sigh of relief and raised his head to look at the anxious six-year-old hovering above them.

"Take a deep breath, Raon-nim. Can you tell me what happened?"

Raon sniffled, trying to calm down as Alberu's reassuring presence steadied him. He took a deep breath and started to explain, his voice quivering.

"Human went to get the dew. He touched the lotus and then a mist appeared it was so thick I couldn't see anything, but I could hear a voice telling him to pay the price. I kept shouting in the mist but the human didn't respond. The voice then said no one can live forever but one can live again. And then the mist was gone and the human just shrank and fainted! And he hasn’t woken up since."

Alberu nodded, processing the information. He quickly pieced together what had happened from Raon's fragmented words. His aunt and the librarians had also briefed him on the diaries of that bard. It was not hard for Alberu to connect the dots and came to the conclusion that the dew wasn't about prolonging life but about reincarnation, or the reincarnation of body and soul.

"Reincarnation," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else. His mind raced with the implications. The bard’s meticulous notes, the longevity, the repeated refreshment of soul and mind—it all made sense now. The dew didn't extend life in the conventional sense; it renewed it, potentially resetting the body to a younger state while keeping the original soul without the memories.

Raon’s eyes widened at the word.

A slight twinge of bitterness ticked in Alberu's heart as soon as the word left his mouth. Reincarnation—a sensitive point after everything with the White Star.

The image of Cale stabbing his own heart appeared before his eyes again. Alberu sometimes had the urge to drop everything and protect Cale, to always stay by his side like Raon or Choi Han. But his position didn't allow him to do so. His ambition didn't allow him to do so. He was the crown prince, the emperor-to-be.

He couldn’t let his entire world revolve around Cale as Raon and Choi Han did. And honestly, he didn't want to live like that.

"Your existence is natural," he thought of those words again.
Alberu shook his head to clear his thoughts. He quickly explained things to Raon, and the dragon began to calm down. At some point, when Alberu had lowered his head to examine Cale again, Raon had turned invisible.

The Cale Henituse in front of him appeared to be around ten years old, and surprisingly, he seemed to be in better health than the Cale he was familiar with. His complexion lacked the usual paleness, and his cheeks were slightly puffed.

Alberu hoped this meant Cale was experiencing the good, noble life he deserved. He wasn’t sure if Duke Deruth had married Duchess Violan when Cale was around this age. The Henituse family had always remained neutral and hadn’t offered him any support, so Alberu had paid little attention to that count family at the corner of the Roan territory.

He knew that Cale's biological mother had passed away when he was young. He also knew that the original Cale cherished his mother so deeply that it had driven him to follow the mysterious Thames to another dimension.

Alberu sighed and wished the peacefully sleeping boy in front of him would be spared the agony of learning about the death of his mother. He knew it hurt.

Alberu moved closer to the small form of Cale. He reached out to lift the sleeping boy up while his mind raced with a mental list of tasks he needed to do.

Returning to Super Rock Villa, assessing Cale's condition, contacting everyone, checking on Eurhaben, researching more about the dew, explaining the situation, finding a way to revert Cale to his original state, and notifying the Hanituse family, who were more familiar with Cale's childhood, explaining everything to the now young Cale-

Would Cale recognize him? Even if Cale initially bore the title of trash, as the eldest son of a Count's family, he should be able to identify the iconic golden hair and blue eyes—distinctive features of the Crossman family.

Alberu's train of thought came to a halt the moment his hand touched Cale.

Just as he barely touched the red-haired boy, the boy's eyes snapped open, and then—

"'rry I didn't mean to fall 'sleep pl's forgive me-"

Before Alberu could react, the boy in front of him abruptly propped himself up, curling into a sitting position on the ground. He lowered his head, showing only his back, his chin on his knees, and his chest and stomach hidden from sight. He then raised both of his arms in front of himself as if waiting for an attack from above. The white lotus was still tightly squeezed in his right hand.

Alberu could only stare.

Chapter Text

Alberu immediately snapped his hand back. His eyes widened, staring at the child before him in disbelief.

What kind of reaction was this?

The young red-haired boy maintained his defensive posture, his body trembling slightly. He understood that any sudden movements could worsen the situation, so he stayed still and tried to calm the panicking Raon in his mind.

'Raon-nim, stay calm. We need to figure out what happened.'

After a prolonged silence, Cale cautiously lowered his arms and slightly raised his head, peeking out from behind his knees. The young Cale widened his eyes as he looked at Alberu crouching down in front of him. His body flinched and he quickly averted his gaze and moved to scan his surroundings. Alberu could see the thick confusion in those reddish-brown eyes as the boy took in everything around him.

Cale was now frowning with an anxiety that was mismatched with his age. It carried the true terror and afraid, so raw and unguarded. This wasn't the fear of a child but something much more profound, a terror borne from experience and understanding far beyond his years. It was an alarmed look that understood what fear was, what he truly needed to stay away from, not the nighttime crying of a child who couldn't find their parents or the tears over a missing toy.

Why did Cale have such an expression?

Alberu never knew much about the past of the original Cale. And if he was being completely honest, he would say it didn't matter much to him. Who he considered his sworn brother was Kim Rok Soo-

Wait.

Kim Rok Soo.

KIM ROK SOO.

“Kim Rok soo?" Alberu dumbfoundedly looked at the red-haired boy in front of him.

The boy's gaze snapped to him, his eyes wide with shock, clearly surprised that the person in front of him knew his name.

"Y-yes, sir."

Cale responded in a gentle tone, his voice barely more than a whisper. He raised his head slightly, still avoiding direct eye contact with Alberu.

Cale pulled the coat around himself tighter, shrinking even smaller. He then slowly lowered his hands and suddenly turned his head to look at what he had been clutching. It seemed like he just realized he was holding the lotus before he let go abruptly as if it had burned him. The lotus fell to the ground, its petals gently rippling like a pulse, though neither Alberu nor Cale noticed.

Alberu’s frown deepened as he watched Cale trying to make himself even smaller. He didn’t know much about Kim Rok Soo’s past, especially not at the age of the child in front of him. And he had a really bad feeling about this.

From what he had seen in the sealed god's test, during which he had been the black tiger fighting alongside Kim Rok Soo, Alberu knew that monsters had appeared one day on Earth, forcing people to fight for their lives. People did whatever they could to survive, and it wasn’t hard for Alberu to imagine the grim reality that would have ensued without Cale's intervention. Hundreds of thousands of people would have died, their deaths gradually building up the knowledge and data Cale had memorized. And that was the reality for Earth 1.

Besides that, Alberu had only heard snippets from conversations others had, but that was enough to tell him that Kim Rok Soo didn't have a good past. He was an orphan and didn’t have much power before his awakening, so he was also bullied. He was skinnier and had more scars than most of the people Alberu had seen in the shelters.

He also knew Cale lived in an orphanage when he was in school, high school if Alberu remembered correctly. There were a few times the subject of getting children an education had come up, and even then, Alberu had been careful to avoid it. Usually, it was Raon asking out of curiosity or Choi Han reminiscing about his own time as a student on Earth.

Whenever the topic of his past came up, Cale would either brush it off or tense up and say, "It is not pretty," before smiling and changing the subject. That was all Alberu knew. He never pressed for more details, especially about the time before the apocalypse.

Alberu could empathize with Cale’s guardedness. He didn't have the best childhood live for a prince so he understood the strange need to avoid discussing it. It just curled up in your mind. It wasn't about shame or humiliation; it was about the past being unnecessary to share. No one needed to know. That past was the past. That past was a part of you, but not the part others needed to know to understand who you were now. It wouldn't change who you were and the fear that people might view you differently because of your past was a compelling reason to avoid the topic altogether.

There had been a meeting where Choi Han briefly mentioned Kim Rok Soo being the subject of his indignity test. However, Choi Han didn't divulge many details, stating it wasn't his place to tell. Even though Cale's face remained stoic, Alberu didn't miss the way Cale's pupils shook upon hearing it. They all dropped the topic after that. He wondered if Choi Han had talked to Cale in private later. He could sense the tension between these two for a while.

Alberu sighed internally. He needed to ask Raon to contact Choi Han and told him to meet them at the Super Rock Villa. But for now, he needed to focus on Cale.

"Your name is Kim Rok Soo, right?" Alberu put a warm smile on his face and asked again in a gentler voice.

"Y-yes." Cale managed a small nod but he sounded even shakier. He raised his head more and opened his mouth, hesitating for a moment. "M-may I ask, what is your name, sir?"

'Sir.'

Alberu's heart skipped a beat now that the initial surprise had slightly subdued and he had enough attention to pay to the word. He didn't want to believe it, but it seemed he had underestimated what his dongsaeng had been through. The tone was far too polite and timid to be addressing a normal stranger.

"My name is Alberu." Alberu waited for a while for a response before he realized Cale was just waiting for his next words with his head lowered.

"I know you might be very confused right now, but I promise I won't hurt you, and I have no ill intentions." Alberu carefully chose his words, his tone as soothing as if he were calming a frightened small animal. "Is there anything that feels uncomfortable?"

"No, sir. Thank you, sir."

Alberu frowned inwardly at the excessive politeness and fear.

"Can you tell me the last thing you remember?" Alberu asked, and immediately realized he had said the wrong thing. Cale visibly flinched, his body tensing up. He pushed himself back to create more space between them, but his hand slipped, and he fell down uncontrollably.

Alberu instinctively rushed forward to catch him, but Cale managed to regain his balance and moved even further away from Alberu in the process.

Great. Alberu stopped himself, realizing he was ill-equipped to handle a situation like this. He had never had to comfort a child before—neither the dark elves nor his human father ever considered taking care of a terrified child as something he needed to learn. And he himself had to grow up too quickly to understand the meaning of being taken care of.

“Hmm?” The young boy made a confused sound, drawing Alberu's attention back to him. Cale lowered his hands and stared at them for a long moment before beginning to pat himself down as if checking something.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” Both Raon and Alberu said at the same time. Raon quickly revealed himself and flew to Cale's side.

“D-dragon, a dragon?” Cale was clearly startled, his eyes widening even more. But there was a flash of curiosity in his eyes, the brightest and most age-appropriate reaction Alberu had seen on this child.

“Yes, I am a dragon, human. I am the great and mighty Raon Miru, and I am six years old,” Raon proclaimed proudly and flapped his wings in front of Cale. He landed near Cale's hand.

Cale blinked, momentarily distracted from his confusion and fear. He hesitantly reached out a hand toward Raon, who stayed perfectly still, allowing the young boy to touch his scales.

"Dragon..." Cale’s mouth opened slightly as he whispered in awe, his fingers lightly brushing over Raon's scales. The wonder in his voice was unmistakable, and for a moment, Alberu saw the innocent curiosity of a child untainted by fear.

Alberu knew that dragons didn’t exist in Cale’s original world, not before the monsters appeared at least. So his reaction was understandable. He chuckled softly, finding this version of Cale, who wore his emotions openly on his face, quite endearing.

He did not know his dongsaeng had ever gone through such a phase—he always assumed Cale had been that calm but cunning from birth.

Cale’s attention snapped back to Alberu. Cale’s face filled with panic as he tried to respond.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to- uh. No, I’m not feeling unwell… sir."

"That is a relief. How old are you?"

"I am twelve, sir."

Alebru was taken aback again by the formal address. This was the first time Alberu had been called "sir" instead of "hyung" or "your highness" by Cale. This was not right. It made him feel very uncomfortable.

It wasn't merely about the title, not that he was denied his position as the emperor-to-be; it was the underlying tone of fear that troubled him. His dongsaeng, so young and vulnerable in front of him, addressed him with such submissiveness hidden behind one single word.

Alberu struggled to reconcile the image of his confident, resourceful dongsaeng with the vulnerable boy before him.

The Cale he knew was a force to be reckoned with—a strategic thinker, a leader, and a pillar of strength in times of adversity. He exuded confidence and determination, facing challenges head-on with unwavering resolve.

Cale's constant apologies only added to the unease that had been growing in Alberu for a while.

"How about you call me hyung? I am not that much older than you."

"Okay, hyung-nim."

There wasn't even the slightest hesitation. It was timid and docile. Alberu could tell Cale wasn't thinking about anything and simply did what he was told.

The Cale he was used to would either shoot him a glare that said, "What the hell are you talking about?" or keep calling him "your highness" in his usual disrespectful way. But hyung-nim was fine. Alberu decided not to push it for now. He didn't think the Cale in front of him could handle much more. If "hyung-nim" was what he decided to call him, then "hyung-nim" it was.

"Hey! Human!" Raon flapped his wings, and Cale was startled again, his shoulders jumped as he jerked his head toward the dragon.

"Y-yes, Miru dragon-nim."

Raon was shocked at the response. He had never seen his human like this.

'Hey cookie prince, human is acting really weird. I am worried. Why is he afraid of me? Human is never afraid of me.'

Albert heard Raon's voice in his head.

But before Alberu could think of a way to respond without further scaring Cale, the red-haired boy suddenly let out a scratchy scream and held his head in his hands. His eyes tightly shut and Alberu could see tears streaming down his face almost instantly.

With a sudden, uncontrollable movement, he collapsed to the ground, limbs twitching. His right hand scrambled for purchase, clutching a handful of dirt along with the lotus he had dropped earlier. His face flushed with distress, breaths coming in ragged gasps. Tremors wracked his entire body, as if he were in the throes of a seizure, before his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.

Alberu and Raon could only helplessly watch as the Cale's body continued to tremble before finally going still.

He needed the cintamani. Alberu thought.

He needed to contact the Kim Rok Soo there.

Chapter Text

As soon as he felt someone touching him, Kim Rok Soo knew he was in trouble. Big trouble this time.

How could he have been so careless?

He remembered crawling to get the blanket and curling up underneath it as soon as his uncle left to buy more beer. He didn't mean to fall asleep! He was just too hungry and tired, and his wounds were burning. He was sure they were torn from the smack on the back of his head that had caused him to fall to the ground earlier.

He felt dizzy and knew he would faint if he stood up. He had only meant to close his eyes for a few minutes to gain some strength before he continued cleaning the living room. Exhaustion must have overtaken him.

The last thing he could remember was the cooling sensation from the floor and the flame-like pain clawing his stomach. The last time he ate a proper meal was when the nice lady next door found him locked outside. And that was three days ago. She had given him a pack of cookies before he left and he had managed to sneak it into his bedroom. He had eaten a half-pack as his breakfast to stave off the hunger this morning.

He was hungry but how could he just fall asleep?!

The last time his uncle found him sleeping in the living room without finishing the chores, he had been kicked in the belly so hard that he vomited blood later. His uncle had promised that if it happened again, he would have to clean the mess with his tongue and wouldn't be allowed to leave his room for three days.

He was in big trouble. Serious big trouble.

Before he could process the situation, an apology automatically squeezed out of him, and he curled up into a protective position, trying to shield his stomach, face, and the back of his head as best as he could.

He waited for the hit to come or at least an angry shout from his uncle. But it never happened. Carefully, he raised his head to peek and was shocked when he saw an extremely handsome man standing before him.

Again, this man was extremely handsome. Kim Rok Soo couldn't believe it was possible for a person to look this good. He had to be a foreign model. How could someone like this be here? What happened? This man had bright gold hair and piercing blue eyes-

No, wait. He was not supposed to look at others in the eyes. How could he forget such a basic rule?!

Internally cursing himself for being disrespectful, he immediately averted his gaze as he didn't want to offend this handsome man, his heart pounding heavily in his chest.

Kim Rok Soo quickly looked around and found himself in some kind of forest. Surrounding him were trees and a damp scent of fresh grass. He was sitting on a white shirt but it did little to separate him from the hard, slightly damp dirt that was cold against his skin. Wait- he wasn't wearing anything? He was half covered by a fancy black jacket that looked very expensive.

What was going on?

"Kim Rok Soo?"

His eyes snapped back to the handsome man.

'He knows my name?'

"Y-yes, sir." Kim Rok Soo almost bit his tongue as he responded. He hoped this little stumble in his words wouldn't be seen as disrespectful.

He didn't have much time to think about why this man knew his name. A strange and unfamiliar coldness wrapped him. It was not the kind that came before a high fever that he was familiar with. This was different, unsettling in a way he had never felt before. Kim Rok Soo subconsciously pulled the jacket tighter. Then he felt an odd feeling in his right hand. He turned to look at him own hand and found a white lotus tightly clutched in his grasp.

'What is that?'

He let go of the lotus as if it had burnt him. He was not supposed to take anything he didn't know. But as soon as the lotus left his hand, he could feel something being pulled from his heart, and the coldness he felt earlier turned into a strange hollowness that seemed to swallow all his insides.

'Where am I? What is going on?'

As if his chaotic mind wasn't enough, the handsome man spoke again.

"Your name is Kim Rok Soo, right?"

"Y-yes." Kim Rok Soo quickly responded, his voice shaking as he feared the man had caught on to his wandering thoughts. But the question was in a gentle tone, not irritated as if he had to ask the same thing again. It was more like the man himself was unsure of what he was saying.

From the corner of his eyes, Kim Rok Soo could see that man had a smile on his face.

He didn't seem angry and had been gentle so far. Kim Rok Soo decided to take this as a good sign. He needed to know more about him to stay on his good side. Kim Rok Soo hadn't met any adults in his life, as his existence had been more or less confined almost entirely to the small apartment his uncle owned. He knew his uncle was on the bad end of the spectrum ever since he adopted him. Not everyone was a bad person who wanted to hurt him. This man in front of him seemed more like the kind neighbor lady, who looked at him with pity and sadness as if he were a glass bottle that would break if she so much as touched him.

"M-may I ask, what is your name, sir?"

He wouldn't get angry just with this, right?

"My name is Alberu." Alberu didn't sound angry at all.

'Alberu'

This was not a Korean name and Kim Rok Soo suddenly realized that they were not speaking Korean. He didn't know why he could understand or speak this language as if it was nature to him. Was he in a dream? But he had never been to a forest, so how could he know the scent of cool fog? He lowered his head as he heard Alberu continue.

"I know you might be very confused right now, but I promise I won't hurt you, and I have no ill intentions."

"Is there anything that feels uncomfortable?"

"No, sir. Thank you, sir."

Something was wrong.

"Can you tell me the last thing you remember?"

His uncle- Kim Rok Soo flinched at the mere thought of it and instinctively pushed himself back. Then he suddenly realized what the strange uneasiness he had since he woke up was. He was so shocked that he tried to move his arms but forgot he was putting a weight on them. His hand slipped, and he started to fall. He was used to this so he quickly shifted his weight and regained his balance.

He had to be in a dream.

Kim Rok Soo quickly lowered his hands and stared at them. He then patted himself.

He wasn't hurting anywhere.

And more importantly, there was no scar on his arms and hands.

He had lived with his uncle for two years. In Kim Rok Soo's earlier memories, his uncle was a good person. He was the younger brother of his mother, always bringing snacks and performing little magic tricks whenever they visited his mother's family. Kim Rok Soo's parents were not close with their parents so those visits didn't happen a lot. His uncle was also the only relative that Kim Rok Soo had left after both his parents and his grandparents had died in that accident.

His uncle and he were the only survivors.

At the funeral, his uncle hugged him tightly, holding him close while tears streamed down his face as he looked at his sister's smiling face in that black-and-white picture. Kim Rok Soo could remember the hard cast on his uncle's arm pressed against his back and the cold dampness that his uncle's tears left on his shoulder.

The man had then taken Kim Rok Soo's small hand in his as they walked outside together. His hand was large and Kim Rok Soo felt protected. The warmth came from the firm hold offered little console to his broken heart.

He was too young to understand the full meaning of losing the entire family. His young, immature, and childish mind was broken simply because he knew he could never see his parents again. He had been asleep when the accident happened. It was different for his uncle. For an adult, for someone who had just entered society, losing the entire family was devastating.

His uncle had to sign the documents to bury his own parents, to amputate his brother-in-law in a failed attempt to stop the spread of infection, to let his brain-dead sister go, and to gain the custody of his nephew.

All these were too much and his uncle relied on alcohol to relieve the pain. Kim Rok Soo couldn't understand what happened but he could tell his uncle was in pain. His uncle was all he had left, and they had to support each other. That pure heart of the young child at that time didn't know he was a fragment of soul pushed out by a reincarnator, bearing a curse that prevented him from holding anyone dear. So the moment that tiny hand of Kim Rok Soo was squeezed in the large firm hand of his uncle, the moment Kim Rok Soo cherished the only family he had left, the curse took effect.

Gradually, but before he could realize it, the uncle who had once brought joy and comfort turned into someone unrecognizable, lost in his grief and alcohol.

He didn't have time to listen to Kim Rok Soo or check if he had enough food or clothes because he was always too drunk to do anything after he got home from the routine after-work drinking. Kim Rok Soo learned how to make instant noodles and do the laundry. He took over the housework because he wanted to help.

The financial situation was stable at first because his parents had left them a lot of money. However, things began to deteriorate when his uncle was fired due to poor performance at work and started pouring all their money into gambling. Kim Rok Soo never got new clothes after he outgrew the ones he already had.

His uncle was not paying attention to himself either as he sank further into despair. He would forget to buy food, spending the entire day drinking without eating anything. Kim Rok Soo knew their living conditions were not good, but he was powerless to change anything as a child. At least he has a place to live. He told himself he could endure this.

And then there were the beatings.

His uncle had started beating him a few months after he began gambling.

Kim Rok Soo learned to look for the tiniest clue on his uncle's face for discontent or annoyance. He taught himself to relax his muscles so the beatings wouldn't hurt as much. He developed a new set of rules to avoid as many beatings as possible. Listen and follow orders without talking back, avoid direct eye contact, always show respect, and be grateful.

His uncle started to say that everything was Kim Rok Soo's fault. But Kim Rok Soo knew it was not the truth. It was not his fault his parents died in an accident. It was not his fault that his uncle lost his job.

He hadn't done anything wrong but he also desperately wanted to avoid the beatings. The way to survive was to avoid angering his uncle. And that was the right way to do things. It was not that he was manipulated into thinking he was doing things wrong, it was just, that he needed to do things right to avoid getting hurt. It was not his fault that his uncle was always angry and sad, looking for a vent. But he could learn to stay more on his uncle’s good side and avoid doing wrong things to make him angrier and earn more beatings.

And he had a whole body of scars to show his learning. It was not his fault, but he started to learn to do things right.

But now, nothing. There was no scar on his arms and hands. He was not hurting anywhere. He didn't feel anything either. Not the burning hunger, not the aching fatigue. He felt, fine. First time in so long. He couldn't remember the last time he felt like this but it had to be before his parents died.

This must be a dream.

No, no- he had to wake up before his uncle came back. He couldn't lie on the floor.

He had to wake up.

“What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?” He heard two voices and he looked up and saw-

“D-dragon, a dragon?”

To think he could even dream about dragon. Those fantasy novels he had been reading since he learnt how to read must have paid.

He felt somewhat floating in the air. The pulling in his heart grew. Alberu and the dragon continued to talk to him and Kim Rok Soo felt he was in auto-pliot mode. The dragon was called Raon Miru. Alberu had asked about his age and he should call him hyung and-

The he was suddenly struck by a pain unlike anything he had ever experienced. It was as if molten iron had been poured through his veins, searing and burning every nerve. His vision blurred and darkened at the edges, and a strangled gasp escaped his lips. The agony radiated from his chest, spreading outward in relentless waves, each more excruciating than the last.

He clenched something in his hand and his world went black.

His uncle must be back.