Chapter Text
Cale Henituse tightly clenched the God of death’s divine book in his hands. His sharp gaze focused on the on the single word written on the page.
Endable.
The team leader had reincarnated in Endable Kingdom. Cale got up from the bed and urgently put his coat on.
‘I need to check the team leader’s condition as soon as possible.’
Just as he was thinking that, the door opened and the crown prince walked in.
“Where are you going?”
“Endable.”
Alberu blinked in confusion. ‘Endable? But isn’t that place in chaos right now?’ He wanted to ask why this unlucky bastard was going there of all places, but he could not do that as Cale had already left swiftly. Of course, he had not left without a comment.
“I'll leave it you.”
Alberu shook his head and sighed fondly. Choi Han and the other bid him goodbye before following suit. None of them were prepared for the disaster that would soon follow. Not even Cale.
-
“Let’s head to Endable quickly.”
Cale patted On and Hong before motioning to Raon.
“Got it Human! But, should we really not burn this book?”
Cale turned to the old black book clenched in Raon’s paws and shivered at the vicious expression on the young dragon’s face. Raon spoke before he could respond.
“Of course, if the human really needs it, then I will delay its destruction and loot the god of death’s temple instead!”
Cale was speechless for the first time in a while. When did Raon grow up to be so cunning? Of course, Cale did not know that it was because of his own influence on the young child.
However before he could respond the book suddenly flew into the air and rapidly flipped its pages. A bright emitted form it. Cale grabbed the glowing book and read the words written on the open page with wariness.
‘Cale Henituse, be careful. the god of balance is suddenly moving.’
“What is this bastard saying now-”
Dtok, Dtok.
The rest of the world suddenly stilled as a cold chill enveloped his body.
Dtok, Dtok.
It was the sound of heels hitting the ground behind him. His surroundings had suddenly turned pitch black and he could not sense Choi Han nor the young dragon near him.
“Raon-
His voice suddenly cut off as he lost his voice while his limbs frozen with a cold, instinctual fear.
The Dominating Aura was silent.
Dtok, Dtok.
Cale Henituse. Your actions have made too many changes. Your accumulated karma has caused an imbalance between the worlds.
“The balance?”
Yes.
Cale stared into the darkness as a wave of unease swept through him.
‘Something is off. No, something is terribly wrong.’ Cale’s intuition was warning him.
Cale Henituse. Until now, the gods have taken on the imbalance in your stead. However…
“What is it?”
It is not enough.
Cale clenched his eyes shut.
The imbalance is too great for the gods too handle. You must pay back the probability.
….What the fuck?!
Cale cursed in his mind.
‘What the hell?! These motherfucking gods can’t do anything right…they can’t even handle a stupid imbalance?!’
God damnit…seriously!
Cale steeled himself before opening his eyes.
“How do I pay back this probability?”
Give up your memories. Taking away your ability will balance the laws that have been broken. Otherwise,
The cold voice sounded next to his ear, as if the god was speaking right behind him.
Take off your human mask right now and become a god.
He froze.
“What…?”
He was expecting some sort of sacrifice, but this…?
“Are you crazy? You want to take away Record? No, you want to turn me into a god?!”
This is the only way. Be mine and come under my protection, or pay the price yourself.
The emotionless voice rang out throughout the dark void.
Cale wanted to grab her collar and slap some sense into her. However, only his lips were allowed to move.
“You crazy bastard, what are you saying?”
Lose his memories? Bullshit. He couldn’t afford to lose record, let alone any of his memories.
The voice grew loud, carrying a grave tone.
There is no other method. This is the best way to avoid risking any of your lives. Make your decision.
Cale’s mind became a complicated mess as the odd pressure controlling his body increased further. He closed his eyes and ran a thousand different scenarios through his head with the help of record. He could not afford to lose this ability. Record was what allowed him to save himself and others with the best possible outcome. This ability had saved Kim Rok Soo’s life countless times, and was inseparable from his memories. However….
“I can’t become a god.”
Very well. I take it that you’ve made your decision.
“Wait!-There must be another way.”
Become a god and work under me in the god’s domain. There is no other way to restore this imbalance.
“ If I become a god, will I be able to see my family? ” The silence in the darkness felt suffocating. After a while, the voice spoke.
I’m sorry, the child who is loved by nature. Your world is already strained by the weight of probability.
Cale gritted his teeth in frustration, however, his anger gradually died down as the strength in his body slowly disappeared. After all of this work...
“I…”
Tired russet eyes stared dully into the darkness.
“...Just wanted to protect my family.”
You have made your decision.
Commencing the extraction of ‘Record’ from Grade 1 ability user, Kim Rok Soo.
Cale felt a strange nausea overwhelm him and panic seized him. His heart started hammering in his chest.
“-!”
They will gradually return after enough karma has been restored.
“You motherfucking-”
Before he could retaliate, Cale felt himself falling into the dark abyss as his heart pounded urgently with a fear that made his mind go blank.
It was at that moment. He could feel something breaking inside of him, like delicate pieces of glass. However, that something was intangible.
Millions of memories swirled around in him, and he panicked as they suddenly flickered. They were the numerous records and the millions of memories he had collected as both Cale and Kim Rok Soo. Cale found himself overwhelmed with the influx of memories that had suddenly gone out of control. He could feel it. The records his eyes had painstakingly recorded and endured were breaking down and crumbling into the abyss.
He attempted to grab them, and recall as much as possible, but he could already feel the absence of thoughts, feelings, and emotions that were meant to exist somewhere. A strange, dizzying sensation overcame him, as if he was being slowly emptied, like a glass being drained of water.
Through his half-closed eyes, he desperately tried to reach out to the small speck of light above as fear seized him by the throat. He felt very faint, as if his presence was a flame about to flicker out of existence.
“...please… ,”
‘ –Roksoo, Being alive…is…’
‘I lea ve i t to y ou..’
‘Le e S oo H yuk ?’
‘Choi—-, Choi Han, Jungsoo...’
Roan…Hyung-nim..
Ra…on…?
‘I wan t to go home…’
His mind slowly turned hazy as more memories slipped away, further blurring his understanding of reality. However, in the midst of the chaos, there was one, fragile memory he desperately, just barely latched onto, even as he no longer understood its contents.
Everything else was forgotten, disappearing into the void as if it had never existed.
Af ter an indefinite amount of time in the dark void…
He opened his eyes to an unfamiliar world.
—-
“What?! Cale collapsed?!” Alberu raised his voice out of shock.
–T-that, young master-nim fainted just as he was getting ready to teleport to Endable.
Alberu massaged his temples with a worried expression while listening to the panicked Locke. Thinking about it now, it shouldn’t be all that surprising. His dongsaeng had stabbed himself in the heart just hours ago. How could he be completely fine after such a painful ordeal?
“Where are you?”
-Young master-nim’s father insisted to bring him to the Henituse estate in the capital for emergency treatment.
“I’ll be there shortly.”
With that, the crown prince cut the call and massaged his temple in worry. Everything was already so chaotic after the battle. News of Cale fainting couldn’t reach the wrong ears.
“That crazy bastard…What trouble did he get into now?” he whispered, hidng the worry in his voice.
He had to go confirm Cale’s condition immediately.
The teleportation circle shone, and he disappeared.
-
“Your Highness!”
He nodded towards Duke Deruth, who looked as if he was about to pass out at any moment.
“Duke-”
Before he could ask about his dongsaeng, the main entrance slammed open as a group hurried inside.
“C-cookie Prince!” Raon exclaimed with teary eyes.
“My son-”
“Move.”
However, Choi Han rushed past them, tightly holding an unconscious figure in his arms. Cale was as pale as a sheet, and the image of his delicate body lying limply in the swordmaster’s arms made them freeze momentarily.
Deruth hurriedly guided them to Cale’s bedroom, where healers were already present. However, Eruhaben appeared a second later, and told Deruth to dismiss them.
“But-”
“He is an ancient dragon, Duke Deruth.”
Alberu put a firm hand on his trembling shoulder.
He watched silently as the unconscious redhead was being laid on the bed. Eruhaben checked his pulse and vitals as they stared painfully at their dear family member who was suffering yet again.
Choi Han’s eyes were red and bloodshot, burning up with anger and pain. Wet patches slowly covered the crown prince’s shirt. Raon was crying.
“Choi Han, how did this happen?”
“Cale-nim read something in the book of death, and there was a bright light. After that,” Choi Han sucked in a deep breath, “He collapsed.”
Choi Han still doesn’t understand what exactly had occurred, but he retold it in detail anyway.
Cale had been preparing to leave for endable in extreme urgency. However that damn book of the God of death had suddenly started glowing and by the time Cale had read the contents of the message, he had gone completely still. After that bright light, Raon had poked Cale, but he was entirely unresponsive, as if he was transported somewhere else entirely. Choi Han had called out the redhead’s name and held his shoulder, and Cale had just…collapsed. Like a puppet cut off his strings, he tilted to the floor just as Choi han barely caught him. That damned book had fallen from his hands and closed shut ever since. He asked Raon to contact Cage, who was currently trying to communicate with that bastard of a god, who’d only said that it wasn’t his fault this time before going silent.
“If I was more capable...then Cale-nim wouldn’t have ended up like this,” he mumbled to himself.
“Strange…He seems to be fine. His heart is beating well, and there’s nothing wrong with his body.” Eruhaben frowned.
Physically, he seemed fine.
“It may be a side effect of…that incident, or the gods are trying to communicate with him,” He sighed.
“My son, what do the gods want to do with him?!”
Deruth looked ready to burn down every temple on the western continent.
“Let’s monitor his condition for now. Crown prince, last time he fainted for two weeks. We don’t how long it will be now.”
“Yes, Eruhaben-nim.”
Alberu moved closer. He squeezed the pale hand lying motionlessly with a dark expression on his face.
“We must find out who did this to him. They must pay, even if they are gods.”
—
60 days.
Two agonizing months that felt like years for cale’s loved ones. Choi Han clenched the hilt of his sword for the upteenth time, and frowned once more. It had been so long, however Cale had shown no signs of waking up since the incident on that day.
“...That day.”
Choi Han still doesn’t understand what had occurred that day.
He turned to look inside the bedroom with dull eyes.
“When will the human wake up? I’ve counted to a hundred a thousand times already!”
Raon sniffled as he clung to Eruhaben, who gently stroked his scales as he looked over to the quiet kittens. They were curled around the redhead, waiting impatiently for his wake. Too much had happened in the 2 months since their victory. For one, the crown prince’s palace had been bombed by the hunters and was almost finished rebuilding with the help of Rosalyn. The rest of Arm was being cleaned up and dealings between the other kingdoms had been nonstop. People were slowly beginning to recover from the war, while the person who ended that war was laying on the bed motionless.
Not a single movement nor a change in breathing pattern. Saint Jack, Eruhaben, and even Sherritt-nim had attempted to treat him or figure out the cause of this sudden collapse, however nothing had been determined except that his health was relatively fine, if not stronger thanks to the vitality of the world tree’s dagger.
That was why it was so concerning.
Eruhaben wanted to know which god had meddled with the wellbeing of his child and landed him in such a state.
He looked down at the unconscious redhead and lightly held his limp wrist. He sighed after feeling the normal pulse and gently put it down again. He steadily patted Raon’s head and dissuaded him from destroying the world, as much as Eruhaben himself wanted to. Cale would be displeased with such a revenge. They needed to smack the gods instead for harming the redhead. Just as the gold dragon was about to get lost in his revenge plans, a certain butler arrived through the door silently.
“It is time for lunch. Children.” Ron entered the room with a trolley of washing towels and medicinal teas for the young master.
“I don’t want to,” Hong replied while On turned away from the butler.
“The young master will be upset if you don’t make sure to eat well and sleep well. Right, Eruhaben-nim?”
“Of course.” The gold dragon managed to peel away Raon from his chest and urge him to go for lunch. The three children averaging 10 years old reluctantly left the bedroom.
“Eruhaben-nim, please also have lunch. Take that punk with you.”
Ron said the last part with a bitter expression. As much as he hated Choi Han,
“He hasn’t slept in thirty days and only eats one meal each day. Young master-nim will be upset.”
Eruhaben nodded reluctantly and left the bedside. Choi Han that punk, had been guarding the bedroom everyday for 2 months straight. He had only slept once at the end of the first month, and then tortured himself by not sleeping for not being able to protect Cale.
Ron cleaned up Cale with a wet towel and fed him some liquid medicine with a spoon. Cale’s face was pale and his body had gotten even more delicate and thin than before. But there was nothing Ron could do except give him liquid nutrients in this state. He finished taking care of the young master and left.
He did not notice the miniscule twitch of the redhead’s fingertips, nor the small flutter of his closed lids as he closed the door.
In the empty room…
Finally,
a young man woke up to a new world.