Chapter Text
Kim Rok Soo ran from his rear position, bolting towards the figure 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 was dented from the blow. His arm was sore, 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 had 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 made 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-" , a 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 some reckless child and how they blocked a hit. The being of light made a squeaky noise, alerting the white-haired man and the others in front of them.
The man looked up with a tired look before snapping his fingers, as the small being suddenly compressed into a small ball and tapped out of the place.
Back at the man's table, the others who had watched the interaction let out inaudible snickers at the man who hadn't noticed the being until the noise was made.
"I must say, you must've been in deep thought to not have noticed the child waking up. You didn’t become the God of Death for nothing," a young person with dove wings encircling his face 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 scoffed. He shot back with a retort of his own, and the conversation changed to a flurry of verbal attacks from both sides of the table.
Nobody minded intervening. 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 with the child, albeit some decided it would be improper for many gods to do so, so they chose only specific gods to communicate with them, 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 of being a slacker and reject all their advances.
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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 scratched in the face by the burning hot grains of sand.
Even the air in this desolate-seeming place was boiling hot. What he saw, instead of a white ceiling of a hospital of sorts, was sand, in a deep shade of blood. Sand dunes as far as he could see, and a sea of red and blue that made 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 as 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 sent 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 his 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, 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 to pay attention.
While walking, he had realized, it was quite similar to the description of one of the forbidden regions in a novel Lee Soo Hyuk (Rok Soo missed him-) had read to him and Jung Soo- it was called 'The Birth of a Hero', where a young high schooler named 'Choi Han' 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 gone berserk, killing all the assassins. This was the first time the high schooler 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 Soo Hyuk had only read up to the fifth volume for them, he still had a pretty good grasp of 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 his thoughts that he didn't even notice when someone had entered his periphery, face now blocking his blank view of the slowly darkening sun and desert.
Kim Rok Soo flinched, looking up at the man with his 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, just like a '''normal''' person, he told him, "Huh?? Calm down- what do you want from me???"
But instead of fully calming down, a confused expression went across his face, and he tilted his head. It was then that 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?
What Rok Soo didn't know, that the feeling he felt was the feeling of his beloved slacker life slowly withering away.