Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hello!! This is the author, and I am happy to present to you a passing idea of a fanfic I had! However, as I need to focus on more studies, I will not be able to consistently update this book but I will try to update it as much as I can! Since English happens to be my second language, I could have many grammar or spelling mistakes, so if you wish to point them out, do not hesitate to do so. When commenting, I will try my best to read them all- but excuse me if I miss some of them and forget to reply. If I lose interest in TCF, I will put this on hiatus, but not inherently abandon it as I have a habit of randomly returning to old fandoms. Please also be aware that I have one of the most crappy update systems.. I hope you enjoy reading this :D

Chapter Text

   Kim Rok Soo ran from his rear position, bolting towards the figure near in the distance. He had never felt so panicked in a long time. He snatched a lone metal board off the ground and leaped in the figure's direction, blocking a blow from a horrendous creature- a monster- most likely the second strongest he had ever seen in his whole set of records. He heard a screeching sound as the blow connected with the board. He stumbled, hitting his arm with the jagged edge of the ground.

   Kim Rok Soo sucked in a sharp intake of breath as he felt his arm get snapped like a flimsy twig. The metal board he held up couldn't withstand the pressure and dented from the blow. His arm was searing and it couldn't move properly. But he kicked himself back up. He spared a quick glance at the man behind him, Choi Jung Soo. He gritted his teeth as a deep shade of red painted the ground and the makeshift shield. Jung Soo was distracted by something- Kim Rok Soo could see it in his eyes, but before he could snap Jung Soo out of it, he felt warm liquid suddenly gush out, his right arm- completely crushed under the pressure.

   Kim Rok Soo, already realized he had no hope- even if he did live, he would continue to live painfully. But he persisted, aiming for the monster's joints, watching as its disgusting bodily fluids splatter across the ground and his already injured body, the contact making his injuries fizzle as if rubbing salt and poison roughly into his wound. Yet he felt a small amount of pride fizz up at the thought that he managed to save Choi Jung Soo.
 
  Although he knew living was best, he believed that if he were to pick between Choi Jung Soo's eventual demise or his, he would no doubt choose the latter. He felt his consciousness slowly slip through his fingers as he dropped to the ground in close proximity to the monster corpse. He knew even though he did not finish it off, somebody else had.

  And that guaranteed that his two friends would not die this year. He felt a warm feeling embrace him as he finally succumbed to death, the sounds of Jung Soo and Team Leader Lee Soo Hyuk's shouts dulling and drowning out, a ringing noise replacing them instead. 

Then, all went black.

"Gasp-" ,  the light molded into a humanoid shape took a sharp intake of breath. They heard someone muttering barely audible things - they could pick up some words, albeit barely.  The man in front of them, across a mahogany table, with other people sitting across the being of light, was furrowing his brows as he muttered about "Reckless child" - "Blocking like that-"  and more. The being of light made a noise, alerting the white-haired man and the others in front of them.  The white-haired man and a lady with shining golden hair let out a small gasp before the man split into a grin and snapped his fingers, and the being was tumbled back into unconsciousness again, suddenly dissipating into the shining silver dust with several color undertones.


  Back at the man's table, the others whom had watched the interaction let out nearly inaudible snickers at the man who hadn't noticed the being until the noise was made.

"Ruslan, I must say, you must've been in deep thought to not have noticed the child waking up." a young person with pure sleek black hair commented, and they were backed up by the golden-haired woman. "I agree, even I noticed before you- I was going to tell you but it seems the child beat me to it." she commented.

  The white-haired man, Ruslan scoffed. He shot back with a retort of his own, of which the conversation changed to a flurry of verbal attacks from sides of the table. Nobody minded to intervene. After all, this was a normal day for the gods. The only difference was that the child, the being of light, was a special guest of theirs. They all were able to communicate to the child- albeit some decided it would be improper for many gods to do so, so they chose only specific gods to communicate- only when it was absolutely necessary. 

However, what they would soon come to realize was that the being of light would not want to get even remotely involved with any god- or any powerful being of any kind. The being of light would dream to be a slacker and reject all their advances.



----------------


  Kim Rok Soo took in ragged breaths. He felt grainy and boiling hot sand under him. He felt pain- but it wasn't in his right arm, nor any of his earlier injured body parts. He groggily forced his eyes open, hoping to see the familiar faces of his two friends- Choi Jung Soo and Lee Soo Hyuk, just to be slapped in the face by the burning hot grains of sand. Even the air in this desolate seeming place was boiling hot. What he sees, instead of a white ceiling of a hospital of sorts, is sand, in a deep shade of blood. Sand dunes as far as he can see and a sea of red and blue that makes the sand dunes stand out.

Perhaps he was dreaming. He grabbed his own hand to pinch it- but stilled upon seeing it. He had his old injuries from his uncle in the past. And he seemed impossibly tiny. He looked down at his own legs, realizing he had indeed become tiny- it wasn't his mind tricking him. He pinched himself, more convinced he was indeed dreaming, trying to convince himself that he hadn't de-aged somehow, just for the hope to be crushed when he felt the familiar pain in his arm. He felt his hair and realized it was the same length of when he was around ten.

He opened his mouth like a fish and closed it again, no noise coming out from the sheer shock hitting him. He quickly knocked himself out of the trance and looked around, taking note that he was in a desert, barefoot, with a long sleeved jacket draped around him- who in their right mind gave him long sleeves and send him to a desolate desert? He scowled- a manly scowl- definitely not an adorable pout, and got up.

The hot desert grains made it feel like jumping on hot coals. He winced at the pain in his feet. He was bound to get blisters soon. But then, a light, breezy cold feeling enveloped him. He noted with much appreciation that his feet cooled down at the feeling. He looked around, trying to find the source, just to find nothing. He then heard a faint voice- no, faint voices- in his ear, and they told him to keep walking, promising safety. But then the voice was cut off by yet a quieter voice that sounded like a woman shouting, except the volume was considerably decreased. He spun his head around, trying to find a source.

Perhaps his actions had come off as amusing or endearing- because he heard light laughter, like a chiming wind bell. The voice was sweet and it brought a feeling of security when he heard it speak in his ear. It told him to keep going, to trust them. Perhaps Kim Rok Soo had lost survival instincts with his past death, or he had become unafraid in the face of danger, he trekked on.

Soon enough, the burning red sky had dropped to a cold dark color, and he didn't pay it any mind as he had zoned out since several hours ago, his body on auto-pilot, walking as he made conclusions and came to them in his brain with the speed of a machine gun. He felt cold, and while zoning out, he had become warmer- unbeknownst to him, which of course, was also a work of whoever had also cooled him down earlier in the heat. But his brain was too busy too pay attention.

While walking, he had realized, it was quite similar to the description of one of the forbidden regions in a novel he had read before ending up here- it was called 'The Birth of a Hero', where a young highschooler named 'Choi Han' who had ended up in this world after something had happened. The young seventeen year old spent decades in one of the other forbidden regions- the Forest of Darkness.

The youth went to a village called 'Harris Village', just to end up with the villagers and the village being massacred and incinerated to the ground. He had then went beserk, killing all the assassins, this was the first time, the (mentally) seventeen year old had ever taken a living human's life with his own two hands. He had killed monsters- but the boy had never killed people.

Kim Rok Soo frowned as he recalled the information. Although he had only read up to the fifth volume, he still had a pretty good grasp on most information. He shivered as he thought of ever meeting the main characters. 'No way.'  he thought, promising himself that he would try to keep away from them. He had been so caught up in the thoughts that he didn't even notice when someone ran up to him, shouting. He only snapped out of it when someone gently grabbed his shoulder.

  
Kim Rok Soo flinched, looking up at the man with wide brown eyes. The man had dark skin- it reminded him of a black pearl. But the man's attitude did not match the comparison at all. The man seemed panicked and fidgety upon seeing Kim Rok Soo. The man stuttered out something- which Kim Rok Soo couldn't make out. The ringing hadn't faded in his ears, he noted. But then, he thought, how come he heard the faint voices earlier- but not this man's when this man was clearly in closer proximity than whoever was doing the faint bickering in his ears earlier? He watched the man wide-eyed, as the man's facial expression got even more panicked at his lack of reaction. So in hopes of calming him down, he told him, "Hm?  Calm down-"

But instead of fully calming down- a confused expression went across his face, and he tilted his head. It was then when Kim Rok Soo realized that the man didn't know Korean. He inwardly screamed at whatever deity had sent him here without any experience with this world's language. 

The man spoke again- this time it was more clear,  "Prw? R wlm'g- understand you-" the man said with a stiff expression. Kim Rok Soo gaped at the sudden switch in the man's language. He felt a weird feeling surrounding him- first it was the cooling feeling, now he had a language barrier?

Chapter Text

  The man spoke again- this time it was more clear, "Prw? R wlm'g- understand you-" the man said with a stiff expression. Kim Rok Soo gaped at the sudden switch in the man's language. He felt a weird feeling surrounding him- first it was the cooling feeling, now he had a language barrier?


Kim Rok Soo watched, his face carefully blank, as the man seemed even more panicked. He suddenly fell back into deep thought. Where was the fuzzy feeling, the feeling of becoming colder in the desert heat truly coming from? Had Kim Rok Soo finally gone nuts after dealing with the Guild's affairs far too much? But as he was thinking, the man gently grabbed his shoulder and spoke to him in a soothing tone.


"Don't worry. You're safe now. Nobody can get nor hurt you here."  the man reassured, mistaking Kim Rok Soo's blank look and earlier gaping and flinch as fear of him. Don't get him wrong, Kim Rok Soo was indeed terrified currently. But the man continued, "What's your name kid? My name's Shawn."


His brain had been unbearably slow at processing things since he got here. He had realized that the man was a dark elf the second he laid eyes on him- but his instincts hadn't kicked in until now. He flinched at the gentle grab and tone of the man. The man was smiling patiently at him, awaiting an answer.


Kim Rok Soo lowered his gaze and lowered his head. He then replied in a small voice, "Kim Rok Soo.." 


"Follow me, it isn't safe out here for humans." the man coaxed him gently. His tone was that of a police officer trying to calm down an extremely scared child. Although in this aspect, it did match their scenario well, but Rok Soo ignored that as a small frown tugged at his lips. He was having a serious crisis of internal turmoil. The book had described dark elves as ferocious people who killed others and put a dangerous and horrifying substance to use- dead mana. Although the book put them in a rather terrifying and horrible light, the man was the only anchor that Rok Soo currently had and he didn't seem like he'd kill him.


The man, as if sensing his internal conflict, tried again with a more gentle tone, "Come on kid." he told Rok Soo, holding out a dark-toned hand to him.


Kim Rok Soo shook his earlier thoughts of the man killing him away. This man looked as if he could not bring himself to even hurt a single weak being, or at least that was what his intuition was telling him. He gently grabbed onto the man's hand which was nearly twice as big as his. It was not that the man was big. It was that Rok Soo was incredibly small. His current body was barely taller than your average seven year old- despite being in his past body- which was guaranteed to be over ten by now, judging by the scars.


The man gently took his hand and led him to a large sand dune. The sand dune, revealed a large door. Rok Soo blinked, then blinked again. He just inaudibly sighed and decided not to question his life anymore. He had learnt to do that since long ago. The door led to a deep hole, of which the man lightly urged him to jump in- so he did.

________________________________

A young woman with deep brown hair, in a priest uniform with the crest of the Church of Death on it slammed the beer onto the table. She was getting mad at the constant whining of the man in her head. The God of Death really never learnt when to shut up. The god had been going on and on for the past hour about a child that was very important to them.


Apparently, they accidentally made a small mistake- not that they would elaborate on what it was- but considering how much they were talking and whining about it, Cage wasn't so sure if it was indeed only a 'small mistake' anymore. So of course- she pried further.


"Hey- what mistake is it anyways you bastard? What's making you disturb my peace and quiet so much? I already have to listen to you constantly in the church but now you're venting to me even while I'm spending quality time drinking?" she cursed, clearly at her limit, judging by the amount of beer she had wasted by slamming it into the table several times.


"... So you see.. I might've.. uhm.. accidentally sent a child to the Land of Death..?"  the voice replied, reluctantly, as if foreseeing the woman getting mad at them. And they were right. The woman's grip on the drink became so intense that her joints turned pale. Her voice dropped an octave. "What?" she asked for clarification. "What did you say?" she asked. She was positive she had heard wrong.

"..Aha.. ha.. yeah.. I accidentally sent a child to the Land of Death instead of a-"  but they were immediately cut off by Cage, who screamed after hearing the confirmation.



"Could've never trusted you with a kid huh?"

_________________________________


A young-seeming white-haired man at a large table, presumably the God of Death, Ruslan, flinches at the scream of his unofficial Holy Maiden. The golden-haired woman across him snickers at him when he flinches at the screaming. The other people, including a black-haired man stares at the man with gazes- all holding slight amusement, but most of them held fury hidden beneath.


"It seems like your 'child' doesn't find you very easy to deal with? Hah. The day that a Maiden, unofficial or not, would have to control their own god.. I've truly grown old." the golden-haired woman lets out a laugh that half-sounds like a sigh and did not reach her eyes. The others did not refute the statement of this woman.


"You are in no position to ridicule me Angelina." the God of Death hissed. The woman, Angelina, or in another prospect, the God of the Sun, smiled mockingly at him. Angelina wasn't even remotely happy with the God of Death. Angelina, and all the other gods, including Ruslan himself, had already decided to transmigrate the being of light into the eighteen year old body of 'Cale Henituse', but the God of Death had messed up big time.


Instead of transferring the soul into Cale Henituse, Ruslan had accidentally sent him to a random location, which helpfully happened to be the Land of Death, a forbidden region that could make the kid end up dead any moment, and was the land where Angelina's least favorite race resided- dark creatures. Not only that, instead of transferring the rebuilt soul several gods helped in building, he sent the light being in solidified and shaped form of Kim Rok Soo into the world, in a different timeline, before the originally planned timeline.


And since he had done that- Kim Rok Soo no longer counted as human. He was a creation made by over six gods, including her, Ruslan, the God of Life, War, Hope, Time, and Space. Since his soul wasn't transferred and instead thrown into the world itself- he wasn't in a human vessel, thus he would count as a divine creation.


She scoffed. Her contempt and dislike of the dark creatures made her want to swoop in and send the child elsewhere. Although he was not a child in human means- he was nothing in god years, or in other words, in comparison to all of them currently sitting at this table- who all assisted in creating and fixing the child's body.


She knew the child was screwed the second the child woke up to see a desert. That was why she was cursing Ruslan out. The child couldn't be helped by them- unless they wanted him to be chased by every church in sight. And she was sure the child did not need that- he had just woken up, and he was barely adjusting.


If the gods hadn't decided to regulate his temperature or completely numbed his legs from the pain of walking constantly, the child would be in even worse condition. If they didn't put a translation barrier and forced the language into his records, he would be unable to communicate with the world. He would be alone. He would get hurt. This child would perhaps even die a second time.

She sighed.

___________________________________

Rok Soo let out a small 'oof!' as he landed on the cotton, down the slide. The cotton was extremely soft and he felt as if he could immediately fall asleep here, but the buildings and bustling place in front of him took his breath away and it made him focus on it first.


The place in front of him was a lively, bustling place with dark elves and  humans going about, doing their work and peacefully co-existing. He let out an involuntary gasp of admiration. He didn't know there was something like this. The book had never mentioned the Land of Death having a place as lively and non-deathlike as this under it. He could've never expected the dark elves to live in such a place.
 

Perhaps Shawn had heard his gasp or his saw his momentarily awe-struck eyes, he let out a chuckle. "It's nice, isn't it?" he said, trying to keep his voice level. Kim Rok Soo noticed the pride that had been buried underneath the carefully kept level tone. He nodded and stubbornly looked away when the man audibly cooed at him. 


Shawn was trying his best not to hug the adorable child. His elemental was squealing at the adorable child as well. But Shawn held himself back when he remembered the child's wide-eyed look and flinching when he touched him.

He chuckled and held out his hand, a sign for the child to take it. The child did. The child's hand was small in comparison to his, and Shawn wasn't even a large dark elf. The child's hands were small, thin and it seemed as if there was barely any meat on the bone. He gently guided the child through the City of Life.


When Shawn first saw the kid, he had ran with all his might towards him. He was panicked that a child was alone in the desert. Usually, a child would have an adult with them as it was difficult for them to climb the walls of Dubori. But there was this child. He was walking alone in the desert, his gaze blank, scarily much so. Shawn had grown even more panicked when he realized the child wasn't responding to his shouts. 


He swore his heart barely survived, and it was only because of the kid's blank look switching to a wide-eyed one when he came in contact with him. The kid had flinched upon contact with his wide eyes having a fearful undercurrent. Shawn had barely managed to console the child who had quietly told him his name, Kim Rok Soo. At first the kid was uttering a set of jumbled up words that he couldn't understand- presumably a foreign language. But then, the child switched to the native one.


Of course, Shawn was worried, but the child's hand was warm when he took it in his hand. And currently, the child was looking around in awe, as if these type of places were completely new to him. Shawn felt anger simmering at the thought of the child not being able to see something as simple as a city of people with food stalls and so on. The child felt weird- according to his elemental when he first met him. The boy, Kim Rok Soo also felt like hot coals when he first came in contact with him, before it simmered down to just warm.


It was odd, but he didn't pay it much mind. Little did he know, this was going to clap back at him full-force with paid interest very soon.

Chapter Text

Little did he know, this was going to clap back at him full-force with paid interest very soon..

But currently, they both decided to enjoy themselves. When the man, Shawn, had asked him if he wanted to rest first, Rok Soo had shook his head, replying quietly that he wanted to eat first. Kim Rok Soo decided he would at least fill his stomach before going back to rest. He was sure he had slept for a while at the desert before waking up, as he felt more refreshed than usual.


Perhaps these were the perks of being a child. Kim Rok Soo finally learnt to value his small size and endearing nature after going through many horrendous things as an adult. As an adult, he had to work, work, work and work. And work. He barely managed to cram in time for his own personal hobbies and spending time with his friends.


Kim Rok Soo snapped out of his musings and looked around. There were all sorts of stalls. Some were selling food, some were selling things he couldn't identify. If Rok Soo had to be honest, when reading the webnovel- he wasn't expecting a place that the notorious dark elves lived in was so harmonious and likeable. No wonder the people who ran to here never went back. 


If he had run to here from a tyrant, he would also stick to this place like a pesky leech. It was incredible that they made these sort of things. The humans back in Earth couldn't even hold a candle to what these civilizations were coming up with. He looked around in awe, unaware of the small genuine smile blooming on his usually stoic face.


But of course, although he hadn't noticed- Shawn and his elemental certainly had.


His elemental started outright sobbing, attracting the attention of the other dark elves and elementals. Kim Rok Soo unaware of this, looked at Shawn with an odd expression when he started waving his hands and grabbing at the air, while he was actually trying to shush his elemental.


But the damage was done. 


One of the elementals mutter, "The kid gives off an aura of nature.. there's a lot of nature in him. It's almost even more than a dragon I've met."  while another replies cheekily- "Hah. You only say that because you've met a dragon once. It's not 'almost', it's most certain. The kid feels as if they are part of nature."

Another elemental pipes up as they butt into the conversation, "I think they remind me of a divine item! But it doesn't at the same time! It's very weird! But interesting!"  to which a fire elemental replies with, "I can feel divine power in him, most certainly, but I can't pinpoint on which specific one.." 


The dark elves, who heard many elementals muttering about the kid being drenched in divine power, either scurried away from him, or watched him with a guarded and cautious gaze- which melted, the second they saw his innocent and questioning gaze at the sudden shift in mood.


Shawn, who had heard all of the mutterings and conversations, felt his palms become damp with sweat and stared at the child with fear flickering partially, buried beneath affection when Kim Rok Soo's confused gaze landed on him. He sighed, running a hand through his hair, before patting Kim Rok Soo's shoulder, flinching at the burning feeling, thinking the child was confused due to the sudden isolation, unaware of the war currently breaking out in Kim Rok Soo's head.


Kim Rok Soo, however, was confused because, he could hear all the conversations- although he could not see the elementals. 


Kim Rok Soo stared at Shawn incredulously when he heard more gossip reaching his ears. Last time he checked- he was most certainly human, so what was this nonsense about him being on par with a divine item? And he was certainly not stronger than a dragon out of everything. If he was, then he would have at least decent stamina. He didn't know why this was happening to him, but a part of him suspected it was the fault of the voices he had heard when he first woke up.


He then flinched when Shawn touched his shoulder. He saw that Shawn had also done the same. He frowned and rubbed his shoulder. It was a flash of pain- but it was gone in an instant as if it had never happened. He then heard a voice from behind Shawn's shoulder.


He suspected that was the reason why Shawn was waving his arms and trying to cover something when a loud sob had cut through the air earlier. His confused expression, dropped into a pout-like frown, and that caused the voice to let out a loud squeal. He felt the voice move closer in proximity and felt a small breeze beside him.


He slapped at the air when he felt the breeze, scared of whatever it was- but he knew he hit when he heard the 'Ow!' although his air hit nothing but cut through a blank space. The breeze disappeared, a sulking voice now positioned back behind Shawn. Shawn however, contrary to the thing that had the voice and made the breeze, seemed to have a shocked expression with a mix of amusement as his shoulders shook from holding in laughs. 


The elemental, unaware that Kim Rok Soo could hear them, thinking he had guessed its location due to the erratic breeze, huffed and snapped at Shawn, while Shawn just took in a deep breath and picked up their leisurely pace to a quicker one. But he still made sure Kim Rok Soo could follow him without much exertion of energy.


Kim Rok Soo jogged after the dark-toned man, going back to his gawking at the food stalls. But then he stopped and lightly tugged on Shawn's clothing and pointed at a food stall that caught his eye, praying that the customs of pointing being rude did not apply here.


But then he remembered that no one would really scold a kid that seemed 7 years old about it. So he looked up at Shawn and finally decided to try out a card he had never pulled back in Earth with his uncle.

He stared up at Shawn with wide puppy eyes in a pleading manner while still pointing at the food stall.


The elemental fainted.

Shawn gaped at the adorable expression on the kid's face, immediately giving in, unaware that his brain decided to let his body run on auto-pilot and buy what the kid wanted. He didn't even look back at the elemental who had fainted at his expression. Call him exaggerative all you want. He knew that no one could resist against such an adorable child with those eyes.


Rok Soo watched as the stall vendor prepared the chicken skewers, doused in sauce that seemed to drag him into bliss. He had asked for two skewers. One for him. One for the immobile man behind him. But the stall vendor chuckled and handed him three instead, warmly staring at the wide-eyed child and letting him take one for free. 


Rok Soo tugged on Shawn's clothes, snapping him back to reality from the daze. The elemental seemed to have recovered once they paid as he heard its familiar voice of it cooing about how cute he was and how Shawn 'should definitely adopt him as a dongsaeng!' to which Shawn smiled slightly at, noticed by Rok Soo.


Rok Soo snorted inwardly and handed Shawn one of the three skewers, to which Shawn accepted with a beaming smile on his face, so bright that Rok Soo had to rub his eyes aggressively, although the glow did not fade. 


Shawn was inwardly cheering while the elemental begged him for a bite to which Shawn shot them a clear look of 'No.' which caused the elemental, usually reserved and calm, to throw a mini-tantrum. They did not realize that the tantrum was adding onto the headache he originally had from the voices of the others talking which funnily enough, felt amplified in his ears. He wondered if he could get a choice to turn down the volume by willing himself as he felt more and more fatigued, the more he heard them talk.


And since fate was a bitch, the answer just happened to be 'No.'  He suspected that he would have to do something else than will himself to- which was extremely troublesome.


He continued his 'peaceful' stroll with the man, until a voice shot through his thoughts, it was loud and clear.


"Hi." the woman's voice greeted.  Kim Rok Soo sharply drew in a breath at the sudden intrusion. But then he calmed down, and the lady took it as a sign to continue- "You're not holding up very well."  she commented. And unwillingly, his brain shot back with a sharp thought, 'Yeah, I wonder.', but instead of getting mad at him, the lady's voice cackled, "Well, you most certainly have guts- no wonder Ruslan likes you so much. Speaking of that bitch, he really messed up y'know?" 


Rok Soo frowned. Now who the hell was this 'Ruslan'? He was curious, so he thought back- 'Who's Ruslan? And what do you mean mess up? And how are you talking to me?' he shot a flurry of questions at the voice.

The voice let out a cough and continued, "Ruslan is... hm.. let's say you'll understand soon. He messed up by sending you here. He was supposed to send you to the Henituse territory- not here. And as for how I'm talking to you... hm- I'm not in the mood to give you a full explanation mhm? So just like your first question, you'll understand soon. Someone will explain it to you- although it most certainly won't be me." the lady replied.


Rok Soo's face tugged back into a frown, making Shawn and the elemental, whom Rok Soo just forcefully tuned out, to look at each other and stare at Rok Soo in concern, wondering why the kid seemed so upset. "Rok Soo." Shawn called. No reply. "Rok Soo?" Shawn tried again- to no avail.


So he decided to risk it, despite the pain that came along with it, he gently set his hand on Rok Soo's left shoulder, making sure to avoid touching the right shoulder this time, as he suspected that it might've hurt for the kid as well, because he saw how the child had flinched along with him upon earlier contact.


Kim Rok Soo, who had been peacefully chatting with the woman, who was decently likeable, in his mind, flinched at the intense pain in his left shoulder. His vision blurred and he heard the woman screaming curses at Shawn. He brought a hand to his lips when he felt the urge to cough- but the feeling was gone in a blink (oh in a blink gone) unlike the pain that remained in his shoulder.

He then blacked out.

_____________________________________________

There were several gods at a table, and all of them, except for some, had flinched slightly when a golden-haired lady started hissing and spitting curses at the dark elf who had merely just tried to make sure the kid was okay.


The God of Death, Ruslan, a white-haired man, scowled at the lady and cut off her access to the child's mind-space. But perhaps he had done it too late, as the child passed out, and now was sitting at the table in front of them with a murderous scowl on his face.

....

"Okay. So you're telling me that I'm indeed not human?" 


A nod.


"Then what am I?"


Ruslan pondered at the question for a moment.

"The closest thing we could call you is a sentient divine item." he replied, earning nods and affirmation of all sorts from around the table.


"..A- what!?"


Perhaps Ruslan had gotten completely spooked by the kid when he shouted the sentence, because he toppled from his chair. A god. Being scared. OF A KID.


The other gods started cackling at his fall and embarrassment, while the child stared at him, forgetting what he was even going to shout at him.


"Hoo.. Alright. Fine. Then how are we talking? Are you gods or something?"


"..."


"Oh g- haah.."


The God of Life clapped, putting an end to the awkward atmosphere and spoke, their voice calming and similar to that of a gentle wind chime.

"Alright child, you're about to wake up now I believe. Do not fret- try to act as if you're a saint of sorts. Just do not say you are a saint of the Sun God, Angelina," he said, motioning to the golden-haired lady, "She does not like the dark elves or any dark creature in general. However, the rest of us, excluding the God of Death, Ruslan," he motioned to the white-haired man, "are neutral with them."


"We could also somewhat help you suppress our divine powers in you. It was certainly nice to talk with you."

__________________________________


Kim Rok Soo woke up, drenched in cold sweat and looked up to see a worried Shawn, talking to a doctor outside their room, from the window, and turned to see a black-robed person on the couch beside him.


The two quietly had an awkward stare-down before the black-robed person cut through the silence.


The black-robed person looked up and spoke in a monotone GPS voice. "You are weird, but interesting. I feel death on you. But it is as if the death is embracing you, rather than attacking you. I also feel a force repelling the death. I wonder why it is like that?" the person, whom he determined as female, spoke. She then continued, "I am Mary. What is your name?"


Rok Soo stared at her before meekly replying, "Kim Rok Soo."



The two had yet another awkward stare-down before Mary cut through the silence once again.


"Would you like to be my friend?