If you put Kim Soleum in a room and handcuffed him with, well, Baek Saheon, he won't look for the key.
He'd rather cut his limb off just to be faithful in his psychopath persona. Better yet, he'd be kind enough to guide Baek Saheon on how to methodically 'adjust' each bone so they can 'safely' slide off the handcuff without cutting it.
I'm Zor, not Zoe. On that note I'll bald you next time in exchange of you being alive—the only reason I'm writing a shipfic is because it's purely shxtpost anyway and because I can mess around with you all I wants :33
if you’re not rereading your own 3yo one-shots every once in a while so you can shake your head at the ao3 tab and mutter god i’m fucking funny then what are we even doing all this work for?
if you’re not rereading your own 3yo one-shots every once in a while so you can shake your head at the ao3 tab and mutter god i’m fucking funny then what are we even doing all this work for?
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapter: 4/?
Word count: 5.5k
Snippets:
Phileo questioned through a grin, sinister, demanding, Beast Fang ran rampant and aimed sharply at the doctors.
"How would you convince me it's worth my time to spare you from bloodshed?”
The legend of the Phoenix is known as a tragedy. It is said to have been born from the eruption of an ice-capped volcano, one that destroyed the village at its base. When it learned the fact that its birth had caused so much death, the Phoenix grieved, and resolved to give itself to the people, piece by piece, until all that was left was its soul.
When its body was gone, and its soul was on the verge of disappearing, the God of Flame found it, and took pity upon it. The God offered the Phoenix the chance to be purified in the Divine Flame, and thus, reincarnate. However, the God of Flame's blessing always comes at a price. The God warned the Phoenix that it would be born from the ashes of disaster. The Phoenix asked if the disaster would occur regardless of its birth, and the God answered yes, but that the birth of the Phoenix would only worsen the flames. If it is to live, that life must first destroy.
The Phoenix answered,
"If I must be born from the ashes of death, then again, let my body be of use to the people destroyed by my selfish will to live."
And so again, the Phoenix was born, rising from the flames of war, and again, it offered itself to the people. Feathers, eyes, claws, beak, skin, meat, and bones. At last, all that was left was its soul, and again, the God of Flame asked, "Do you wish to live again? The price shall remain the same."
And again, the Phoenix answered, "Then my reply shall remain the same as well."
And so it continued. When disaster befell the people, the Phoenix appeared, an omen of both death and restoration. Its body, imbued with powerful magics, restored the scorched earth and red seas. It's blood cleaned the waters, it's feathers, sown into the fields, yielded bountiful crops, its meat could cause men on their death beds to leap to their feet, and its bones were both the strongest spear tips and the best kindling for the long winter nights. The people gave praise to the sacred beast of flame, who oddly did not flee from their hunter's arrows.
But alas, the God of Flame could forge and reforge, but the Divine Flame could not restore what was lost. Bit by bit, the Phoenix's soul was worn away, until at last, the God cradled the paper-thin soul in His hands and asked, "Do you truly wish to sacrifice yourself again? If you do, you will never be able to rise again."
And the Phoenix answered, "My lord, this is not sacrifice. The earth and its people give their lives so that I may live. I am merely repaying the debt."
And the God replied, "So your answer is the same."
And the Phoenix said, "Yes. I wish to live again. Even if for the last time."
And so, the Phoenix rose from the ash, its feathers burning bright. And when the arrows came to fell it once more, it spread its wings wide and declared, "I pray that there comes an era of peace, where no more is my blood needed to clean the waters and water the fields, and there is no more need for a beast such as I to rise from the flames of your despair. Now, go in peace, carrying my final blessing."
It was only then that the people realized all the Phoenix had done for their sake, giving itself to the hunters' arrows. They wept for its sacrifice, and at last came together and prayed for the soul of the Phoenix. They thanked it for its endless sacrifice, and again prayed to the Dragon God for the Godchilder to cease their endless warring. Only two months had passed when the last of the Godchilder retreated from their battle, and at last, an uneasy truce was declared between the remaining Dragons.
To this day, some believe that the spirit of the Phoenix moved the Dragons, and thus, the peace it prayed for came, and the world flourished in prosperity.
It may or may not get revisions tomorrow after I've slept we'll see
Btw, Arryn doesn't consider the story a tragedy because the Phoenix got what it wanted in the end, even if it wasn't there to see it. This is while the story of the Phoenix is considered the archetype of tragedy in the tradition of "noble suffering" in Emor culture...along with several others, though some have different interpretations of the tale.
+ text because i was honestly really torn on whether or not to include it
I just read chapter 166 of LCF manhwa, and... I kinda forgot how much I like Choi Han as a character?? Seriously, I think he's severely underappreciated in this fandom sometimes.
And I get why. There are so many complex characters to love: Cale, Alberu, Mary, Rosalyn, Eruhaben, Raon... any of them are interesting and deep enough to write a story entirely focused on them.
But, back to Choi Han.
He had this moment in this chapter, where he contemplates the reason WHY exactly their enemies are trying to kill all the strong people in the world, instead of making them their allies (which, as we can plainly see by Cale's example, is all more rational, effective and ethical). Whale Paseton tells him that it's probably easier to control the world that way, and that it doesn't really matter to understand their motives. Choi Han agrees and decides not to think about it anymore, ominously foreshadowing to the audience that there IS a deeper, darker reason as to why exactly ARM has the modus operandi that they do.
So, there are two reasons why I really love this moment. First, like I just said, it's the foreshadowing that there is something going on behind the scenes of it all; that ARM has other goals other than generic "world domination". You can already see the first seeds of the larger universe of conspiracy that eventually leads to the exposure of the Hunters organization and so on. There is so much more going on under the surface and it's hinted on so early on. That's just good writing.
The second reason why I like this scene so much is how much it shows of Choi Han's character.
First of all; he's such a good guy. No matter how vicious and "crazy" he is, his main concern in this situation is: "Why? Why even do this?" As in, he wonders why would those guys do these terrible things? Why hurt so many people with the power and motivation to stop them, once they unite under one cause? Why not do it like Cale and make allies instead? He knows it makes no sense to do such evil, terrible things, when the consequences are so obvious. It says so much about him that Paseton's answer – that they just want to get rid of the top dogs to BECOME the top dogs – doesn't occur to him immediately. It doesn't make Choi Han dumb; quite the opposite. Because he would never do such dumb things as ARM does. He's too good of a man to ever understand the blind greed that must drive those people to commit atrocities like that.
Secondly, as much as Choi Han "blindly" follows Cale, it's clear he is still using his own head instead of trusting without reason. If Cale was actually the "terrible selfish bastard" he considers himself to be, and was ACTUALLY using Choi Han for his own ends with no regard towards morality... Choi Han would have sussed him out very quickly. Heck, Cale already KNEW as much when they made the Vow of Death: "this guy might trust me for know, but he's the type of person to take charge if things are not the way he disagrees with, so I need to give him SOMETHING to base his trust on".
This kind of introspection shows us that Choi Han is very much worthy of Cale's earlier regard, and why Kim Rok Soo admired him as a protagonist of a fantasy novel. Choi Han is a person who has a strong sense of justice, who would only follow someone he respects. Seeing him analyze this situation and their enemy makes me believe that if he ever found himself on the opposing front for whatever reason – like for example, he was picked up by ARM right after transmigration – he would quickly realize they were the bad guys and betray them, no matter the consequences. Choi Han is not someone to be manipulated easily.
He is in this place, on this battlefield, because he can see the truth this his own eyes, and sees who the real bad guys are here. By trying to understand their point of view, he show that if there WAS something else to ARM and their motives, he would have at least felt bad for them. If there was a compromise and a peaceful resolution, Choi Han would have supported it. The only reason why he's here, happily serving as an agent of chaos and slaughtering human beings with no remorse, is because he KNOWS those people deserve the wrath of everybody else. They had it coming. So much so, it's hard for him to comprehend WHY they dared in the first place.
It's just... I don't even know why, in my eyes it just - makes Choi Han so cool.
Thank you blueteller-nim, you put it in a way that quenched my thirst for his much-deserved spotlight.
Choi Han is very cool, very smart, and he's very contemplative and actually does not move simply because he trusts Cale as a whole. While it was understood why the portrayal of him was quite biased to, well, 'loyal knight of the mc', it is honestly admirable to see how much he could do to navigate the world. The tboah Choi Han managed to endure 20 years of war, he must have concluded the bigger picture and–in the ruins and despair–yet still fought with gritted teeth to the end, even when he knew they were played at the top of someone's palm.
Tboah Alberu and tboah Choi Han must have had a lot of deep discussions, and with Rosalyn in between the premise of the endless war would have sunk in earlier. Kingdoms collapsing one by one, casualties too many they couldn't afford a proper burial, resources and basic rights to survive the world of the living actively dwindling before their eyes. Choi Han as a person had experienced how it feels to lose his world, no family and nothing, he had lost another family he barely had after years of being in the forest of darkness. He never would have imagined the first one, his heart was crushed and mangled on the second, he figured out the third but nothing he could do to stop it—
And taking that into account, the process of "Beacrox becoming Choi Han's ally" would have taken more things to consider. He did beat original Cale 'to a pulp', albeit from his point of view it would be because the buttons were pressed while the iron is still hot, imagine if that was an intentional decision on his part?
See, he had no such thing as identification, he literally set foot there for the first time, all he knew about knights in the foreign world was how they would drive away people who couldn't meet their established law. Or worse, he did have an identification issued by the villagers, but even that was left to burn to ashes. Issuing another one would be illogical at the moment when all he focused on is his family's demise.
The quickest and most effective method would be to lay his hand, or rather, punch, on the blatantly apparent son of the one in charge. It enables him to bypass regulations, enables him to communicate directly with the Count, and enables him to immediately request a proper burial for the villagers while diverting the faults of harming the original Cale. He must have heard Cale's reputation during the day he waited for the night, he knew the Count wouldn't order his execution for daring to hurt the young master.
And as for Beacrox's admiration? Remember he used a great sword. Those who tread the path of the swords recognised each other, now don't they? And what is the criterion usually depicted in this setting? "Couldn't fathom the strength of the other party", for assassins who had been lying low, such immense strength bound to invoke suspicion, especially when Choi Han still had the 'smell of Arm'.
So the spar would likely happen even in tboah, and Choi Han would easily accept it because he's also not a fool. He knew Ron and Beacrox were not your average subordinates, and again, he needed manpower to track down the culprit who had obliterated his second home. What could be better than having assassins who had gathered and withheld necessary information and network as allies?
Indeed, why would Kim Rok Soo admire Choi Han if Choi Han is the typical archetype of a protagonist? And went along with five volumes of the novel in one sitting? This unreliable narrator is omitting so many things it's quite frustrating sometimes (affectionate).