AU where Ashborn never intended to possess Sung Jin-Woo and since Ashborn is in control over the system after the Architect casts it, what he’s doing with it is actually ‘Queen Raising Simulator.’
Instead of ‘welcome player,’ when the real purpose of a player character is to be a plaything of a being from another world, it addresses him as Chosen One ‘you have spent years fighting for what matters to you in the face of inevitable death. Your world is in peril. Will you fight?’
Since Sung Jin-Woo has been so close to death for so long, and he did it out of love, to preserve the souls of those precious to him, even one who was given up for dead, Ashborn realizes before the start of the series that he has the capacity to become the same kind of being Ashborn is.
In the timeloops, Ashborn has been in a godawful strategic position and has been zombie apocalypsing humanity to add to his forces/preserve their souls since that’s the only way he could get into a position where he’s able to protect them, but having another Shadow Monarch to fight by his side would dramatically unscrew things. They might actually be able to win with Earth still intact (and the Greatest Fragment of Brilliant Light was created to protect a world).
…Of course, Ashborn still comes from a War World and the monarchs are going to want Sung Jin-Woo dead if they realize this pawn is about to cross the board, so he 100% will toss him in a desert full of scorpions if he doesn’t do the training he needs to do to not die. After Jin-Woo acquires Igris the daily quest changes to ‘training with Igris 1hr.’
The blurb for the Necromancer job title contained ‘assign armies of loyal soldiers to protect your important people’ and Jin-Woo reads that and finds he has already signed up. The advanced class Jin-Woo gets is ‘Shadow Co-Consort.’
Jin-Woo side-eyeing that and some of the words of praise from the system earlier (he’s not USED to praise, it immediately prompts suspicion) and goes ‘am I Persephone here?’ But like, if getting hitched to a monster king is all it takes to get the power to dispatch An Actual Army to bodyguard his family members large enough that the call from Woo Jin-Chul about ‘I understand your feelings about the location, but please don’t unilaterally clear A-rank gates without contacting the Association’ is the first thing he even knew about his sister’s troops curb-stomping a gate at her school? Then he already has the cake flavor picked out.
Another plotbunny: At the end Sung Jin-Woo goes back in time, and at that point it makes sense that the timestream/universe is treating him as like, both himself and Ashborn but… hmm. The rulers and monarchs including Ashborn remember the previous timestreams, and in the novel epilogue stuff it’s discussed that it’s just earth’s area getting reset, not the whole universe: the Chalice isn’t THAT powerful.
But if, hmm, the Ashborn from the timeline where he met Sung Jin-Woo was asleep and had let go of his powers, and his memories didn’t come back in time, then the Ashborn waking up ten years ago would have the memories of the loop before that, which he came out of wanting to do the ‘host body’ strategy again, but. Apparently the host bodies from previous timelines weren’t suitable, since he went looking and found Sung Jin-Woo, who only would have been Like That because of how that specific timeline played out.
So an Ashborn who tried blitz to gather souls as a strategy to save what he could of humanity multiple times, and then lost those souls due to coming back in time, an Ashborn who hasn’t seen Sung Jin-Woo’s struggles yet and identified with them so damn much…
The new timeline rolls over, and the dimensional pocket he’s in is invaded by a human with the same unique ‘gift’ his creator gave him, his power and soul and the human’s blending together seamlessly.
And he finally has help to fight the other monarchs with him before they can make earth their battlefield. Someone knows what he went through, over and over, and doesn’t despise him for it. Someone cares.
Sung Jin-Woo absolutely quoting the, “I am the reward for all your suffering” line.
Solo Leveling AU where some Guild person notices Sung Jin-woo is in a lot of raids, and goes ‘that guy’s very hard-working and experienced, we should probably recruit’ and goes to look him up and goes ‘HOLY SHIT THIS DUDE IS HOW WEAK AND HE’S DONE HOW MANY MISSIONS WITH SHIT EQUIPMENT WITHOUT GETTING GANKED???! You’re telling me someone who might as well not be a hunter at all has been doing missions on pure skill?!?’
And Sung Jin-woo gets immediately snapped up at a good salary with a family health plan to make it hard for anyone else to headhunt him and assigned to babysitting the newbs and teaching them his survival skills.
Because they probably lose a lot of hunters to overconfidence, overreliance on their powers, and pure inexperience, on top of untrustworthy other hunters. Inn order to git gud, people have to survive long enough to get good, and Sung Jun-woo is the master of that.
Not just the guild’s newbies: the guild person realizes what a huge opportunity for recruitment he’s got here and cuts a deal with the Hunter Association for intro dungeon runs for newbies, open to all, which gives his guild a chance to win over the new talent.
And Sung Jin-woo has such Big Brother Energy~ So you end up with a few years where every new hunter with two brain cells to rub together and a working survival instinct had a three month-long course with Sung-ssaem and his friends making them lunches and teaching them how to watch each other’s backs and leapfrog and use teamwork to leverage power synergies. With an A-rank hunter from the guild or the association along in case they need backup who defers to Sung-ssaem despite the difference in rank, helping nip delusions of high-rank godhood in the bud (the other guilds are grateful to get such well-behaved new members out of this program!).
And then near the end of one of the training courses, a safe dungeon isn’t, and organizing tactics for a group retreat leads Sung Jin-woo to realize that he specifically is being targeted when Woo Jin-chul and the baby tanks can’t hold aggro… And he’s responsible for these kids, and he knows his sister and Mom will be well looked-after…
In the aftermath it becomes clear that some force targeted the clear choice for next head of the hunter’s association for some kind of fuckery? Like, giving phenomenal cosmic power to Sung-ssaem is *nodsnods* and indicates a being with good taste, but this punishment shit??
Sung Jun-woo’s rep in hunter circles and online as ‘the kindergarten teacher of Korea.’ On the island raid at first his former students were excited to show him how badass they’d gotten and let him be the one to get learning on the job while being looked after to pay him back, but then shit went down, Sung-ssaem went ‘not my students you don’t’ and The Kindergarten Teacher Put The Boss In Time-Out (shadow army servitude). Giant effing wyvern? ‘Sung-ssaem’s newest TA’ Sung Jin-woo putting shadow army members in the shadows of all his former students is memed as ‘the buddy system~’
Korean hunters and shadow army: Sung-ssaem/Shadow Monarch Protection Squad Go!
Monsters, normals, hunters from other-countries: That is a whole-ass OP eldritch necromancer.
In my house (and a lot of other French Canadian homes), Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve are the traditional times for Tourtière, or pork pie. We make it just about every year, and it’s one of the few kinds of pie I genuinely enjoy. This particular iteration of the recipe has been in the family for several generations.
these cats are displaying remarkable theory of mind skills by not only registering that the humans can perceive them but actively trying to manipulate that perception! that requires one to be aware that other individuals have complicated interior thoughts of their own, to know that those thoughts are not always based on truth, and to quickly decide on the best possible “lie” for the situation. this is why I despise animal intelligence tasks based on obedience— some of the most clever moments stem from intelligent disobedience.
As a fandom, we are missing out on a crucial element of regression. Making people other than Cale do this. Later on in the first novel we see a peak into this idea- though more alternate universe flavored.
Eruhaben wakes up 20 years ago. On the dot, he bursts into Henituse Mansion, precisely 24 hours after Cale's birth, and wrangles himself into being The Dragon Father. This is similar to being the God Father, but a dragon barges into your house and says if you don't want him to steal your baby you better let him have visiting rights. No, your child doesn't have even a speck of mage ability. He just looks kind of neat.
I felt kind of guilty for not doing anything for Choi Han and Choi Jung Soo on the eighth so I made this little comic as a compensation present for both of them. First time making a comic, pls go easy on me!
This is what I think Cale's Fables would be like in ORV world.
Anyone who has something to add is welcome to do so. (Pls do so, bc I haven't finished tcf and this is not comprehensive enough)
Overall:
Victim of Variables (Unranked): Acquired through being affected first by a reincarnator and then by a transmigrator.
One Who Has Death’s Attention (Myth): Acquired time unknown. Effect unknown.
Seed of Hope (Myth): Acquired time unknown. Effect unknown.
One Who Is Hope (Giant Story): On-going. For as long as he lives, this Story will never end.
Earth 1:
One Whose Birth Was Stolen From Him (Quasi-Myth): Acquired at birth after being pushed out from his own body.
One Whose Love Means Death (Myth): The curse, inflicted upon him by the White Star and a God. This Story is later on destroyed by that very same God.
The Tales of Three Brothers (Legendary): Acquired after becoming family with Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo.
One Whose Fate Is Broken By Humans (Myth): Acquired after surviving the unranked monster that should have been his death.
Successor to a Legend (History): Acquired through succeeding Lee Soo Hyuk as the Team Leader.
The Tenacious Team Leader (Legendary): Acquired through being known as such during his time as Team 1’s Leader.
Survivor of a Ruined World (Giant Story): Acquired through surviving the Apocalyptic Earth 1.
Part 1:
Transmigrator (Unranked): Acquired after waking up in someone else’s body in a new world.
One Who Was Chosen By A God (Myth): Acquired after transmigrating.
One Who Dreams for the Impossible (Myth): Acquired after deciding to be a slacker in the new world. The [Prologue] of the Giant Story The Birth of A Hero.
Ancient Powers:
The Glutton Who Died of Starvation (History): Acquired after getting [the Indestructible Shield]
The Indestructible Wood (Legendary): A status upgrade of the previous Story. Acquired in the Jungle battle against the Golems.
The Vitality of Human Who Wished To Die (History -> Legendary): Used to be a Historical-grade Story, but is upgraded to Legendary as the Story goes on. Acquired after getting [the Vitality of the Heart].
The Thief Who Died After Getting Caught (History): Acquired after getting [The Sound of Wind]
The Blind Who Was The Wind (Legendary): A status upgrade of the previous Story. Acquired after the Wind Island’s test.
Friend Of The Wind Elementals (Legendary): Acquired after the Wind Island’s test.
The Cheapskate Who Devoured Money (History): Acquired after getting [The Fire of Destruction]
The Fire That Burned The North (Legendary): A status upgrade of the previous Story. Acquired after upgrading [The Fire of Destruction] and encountering the Golems
The Water That Ate The Sky (Legendary): Acquired after getting [The Sky-Eating Water]
The Guardian Who Died After Killing A Supposed-God (History): Acquired after getting [The Giant Cobblestone]
The Earth That Was Home To All Life (Legendary): A status upgrade of the previous Story. Acquired at the Battle of the Gorge of Death, after answering ‘yes’ to Super Rock’s question.
The Earth That Was Death To All Life (Legendary): Acquired after getting [The Blood-drenched Rock]
Proof of The Dragon Slayer (History -> Legendary): Acquired after getting the [Dominating Aura]. Upgraded in status after gaining Syrem’s [Dominating Aura]
Successor of The Dragon Slayer (Legendary): Acquired upon acquiring the Crown that drank Dragon’s blood.
Fragments of the Annual Rings of Life (Legendary): Acquired after going to Jour Thames’ grave and getting half of her Ancient Power.
Annual Rings of Life (Quasi-Myth): A completed version of the [Annual Rings]. Acquired after killing the White Star.
One Who Is The Sky (Myth): Acquired after killing the White Star. Effect unknown. Side effects unknown.
General:
Guardian of Beasts (Legendary): Acquired after becoming the primary guardian to 2 Cats, 11 Wolves, the Tiger Tribe, the Flame Dwarves, a small fraction of the Bear Tribe, etc.
Father of A Dragon (Myth): Acquired after he takes in a baby dragon as his own.
Single Father of Three (Unranked): Acquired after he takes in 2 Cats and a baby dragon as his own.
Friend of Dragons (Myth): Acquired after befriending 6 dragons.
One Who Twisted The Fates (Myth): Acquired after saving those who should have died.
One Who Is Loved By All (Myth): Acquired after gaining alliances and loyalty of many races and tribes and nations.
Family By Blood Or By War (Unranked): A growing Story. Each time a new person, regardless of race, joins his family, the Story grows.
War Arc:
Young Master Silver Shield (History -> Legendary -> Quasi-Myth): Acquired in the Plaza Terror Incident. As time goes on, though, this Story keeps getting upgraded to higher and higher levels, much to his disgust. The start of the [Body] of the Giant Story The Birth of A Hero.
The False Priest (History): Acquired after donning the Priest disguise.
The Fake Son (Legendary): Acquired after donning the disguise of Naru Von Ejellan. (Or was it after becoming Cale Henituse? Who knows. Certainly not Deruth.)
The Conductor of War (Legendary): Acquired after successfully winning his first battle.
Supreme Commander of Allied Armies (Giant Story): Acquired after assuming command of the Allied Armies. A solid addition to the [Body] of the Giant Story The Birth of A Hero.
The Instigator of Rebellions (Myth): Acquired after first instigating a rebellion in the heart of the Empire
The King Maker (Quasi-Myth): Acquired after putting one of his people on the throne.
Earth 2:
The Regressed Oracle (Quasi-Myth): Acquired after going to Earth 2 in the body of his past self and pretending to be an Oracle.
Friend of Monsters (Myth): Acquired after befriending Grade 1 monsters.
One Who Overcame Despair (Giant Story): Acquired after winning the Sealed God's Test. A solid addition to the [Body] of the Giant Story The Birth of A Hero.
Temple’s Tests:
The Second to Finish (History): The second fastest in history of all worlds to finish the Temple’s Tests.
Final Battle:
One Who Killed A Reincarnator (Myth): Acquired after killing the White Star. Part of the [End] of the Giant Story The Birth of A Hero.
One Who Sealed A God (Myth): Acquired after sealing the God of Despair. Part of the [End] of the Giant Story The Birth of A Hero.
The Birth of A Hero (Giant Story): Acquired after reducing a 20-year-war to a 2-year-war and then winning it.
Part 2:
The Great Purifier (Myth): A status upgrade of The Fire That Burned The North. Applicable only in Xiaolen World.
One Who Hunts the Hunters (Myth): Acquired during the hunt for Hunters.
Savior of Worlds (Giant Story): Acquired after going to other worlds and saving them.
You know how react fics are actually thinly veiled excuses to show off what an awesome person Cale is? What if we twist that around a little bit?
So everything's the same at first glance, right? Literally everyone and their mother is here (kidding, just the most important ppl), and this host comes up.
(Or the unseen organizer, depending on whether or not you like a host OC here)
But.......
This host/organizer hates Cale. Like, despises him. Probably a Sealed God's follower or smth the like. They can't just make something out of nothing and put untrue bullshits on the screen, but they sure as hell can cut things around to paint Cale in the worst light possible.
Like, him being a transmigrator, him being happy at his "stolen" identity, him going around and scamming people, him using his knowledge to manipulate ppl around him, him generally acting even remotely "villainous".
No heroics to be found, just a video reel of Cale acting trashy.
Cale, at first, would be scared. He would be terrified, really. But as the video went on and he caught onto the malice directed at him, he calms right down, because that's who Cale is.
He would then spend the rest of the time prying the host/organizer's identity out of them, and plan an appropriate payback for this invasion of privacy.
Hell, at some point, he even nods in agreement, because, yeah, he's a trash, and it's about time everyone wakes up and notices that!
The rest of the participants, though, while may be confused at first, take one look at the badly edited slander on the screen, and collectively goes "Bullshit!"
Cale stealing og!Cale's identity? Kim Rok Soo, the og!Cale, smiles at the screen nastily.
Cale planning on using Choi Han? Choi Han wants to say that he doesn't have to stab his heart to kill a bastard.
Cale scamming Whipper? Harol lays out the enormous help Cale had given them, and that at one point, Cale was fighting for Whipper more than Whipper was fighting for itself (a la Whipper King, the bastard)
Cale scamming the Jungle? Litana raises the issue of Cale waking up from fainting, goes straight to save the Jungle and then fainting again.
Cale scamming Alberu? Alberu dignifiedly says that it's a partnership, and that it's his money, his choice.
Cale being implied saying he's ignoring the atrocities in front of him? Everyone snorts because they all know that immediately after that, Cale has bled to put a stop to all of those acts.
Cale saying he's not getting involved with that? On rolls her eyes: "So he said. Like a liar."
Basically, I just want a bastard who tries so hard to discredit Cale in his ppl's eyes only for Cale to nod along like he agrees with it and for the rest to become even more sympathetic to Young Master Cale who has such a soft heart who keeps getting himself hurt to save them all-
Cale: See, I am a tr-
Everyone: A HERO!!! OUR HERO!!!! OUR LORD AND SAVIOR!!! OUR GUIDING LIGHT FROM ANOTHER WORLD, THE CHOSEN OF THE GODS-
tldr: Cale suffered from Emotional Damages, but not the kind the host/organizer wants :)))))))))))))))
At long last, I made a semi-coherent tBoaH/TCF timeline for myself
Obviously there are many characters I didn't list, but at least the main players are all there. It's a bit confusing in places, but that's how it is when you deal with time travel, lol
(Sorry for the crude "___" form but apparently the Tab key doesn't work!! 😕)
Ancient times______-_______~10,000 B.F.C*__-
Sheritt's death____~800____8-9,000 B.F.C___-
Cale B.'s birth____0_______~220** B.F.C____-
Eruhaben's birth___0_______219 B.F.C_______-
Choi Han arrives___17______600-700_________-
KRS's og birth***__0_______<=763___________<=767
1!KRS's birth______0_______767_____________745
2!KRS's birth______0_______-_______________763
Ron's birth________0_______721_____________-
Beacrox's birth____0_______751_____________-
Alberu's birth_____0_______758_____________-
Destr. of Molan____-_______~759****________-
Cale's birth_______0_______763_____________-
On & Hong's births_0_______771, 774________-
Raon's hatching____0_______777_____________-
Destr. of Harris___-_______28th March 781__-
OG!Cale regresses__40______803_____________-
KRS transmigrates__36______-_______________781
Cale meets ChoiHan_18______781_____________-
Meeting On & Hong__7, 10___-_______________781
Meeting Ron________60______781_____________-
Meeting Beacrox____30______781_____________-
Raon's escape______4_______781_____________-
Meeting Alberu_____23______-_______________781
Meeting Cale B.____16-21___-_______________783
Sealed god's test__20/38___783 (for 2!KRS)_765 or 787 (for 1!KRS)
28th March 781 - the only exact date we got I believe
Events which happened only in tBoaH (the Birth of a Hero timeline) or in both are on the left, events from TCF (Trash of the Count's Family timeline) are on the right.
"Destr." is short for "destruction", since I couldn't find a better shorter word
1!KRS and 2! KRS refer to Kim Rok Soo from Earth 1 (the 36 years old KRS turned MC Cale) and Kim Rok Soo from Earth 2 (the KRS who's 20 years old).
(...which lead me to the whole confusion with dimension travel ages?? That's why there are 2 sides. How do you count age, from which timeline, before or after regression? So I decided to include both.)
* - Before Felix Calendar begins
** - or >240 B.F.C if his first life counts
*** - the birth of KRS's originally intended body, taken over by White Star (Cale B.) through reincarnation
**** - I think it was mentioned that Beacrox was 8? I'm not 100% sure tho since I don't remember the chapter
DP x DC Prompt (picked up AC Black Flag, the sea shanties inspired me for this one)
The entire DC world knows of the historical figure known as Captain Nightingale. The youngest pirate captain to ever live, as the stories tell that he was just a teenager when he began to earn the respect of adult piretes with his combat skills and his magic. Captain Nightingale had the largest navy to exist during the time of his reign.
Captain Nightingale was a boy who had pure white hair and tanned skin. His pirate outfit was mostly black with white accents and an amulet around his neck that is said to guide him to whatever he desires, yet the hear didn't seem to bother him. And he remained looking like a teenage boy for decades before he just vanished, leaving his ship, his sword, his outfit, and his amulet behind.
The "artifacts" of Captain Nightingale's reign have been scattered in the modern era of the DC world. Ra's Al Ghul has the entire outfit of Captain Nightingale, Ra's Al Ghul himself, has lost many times to the young Captain after it was decided that the pirate Captain would become a problem to them. Lex Luthor is the current owner of Captain Nightingale's ship, having used all of his devious methods to obtain it. Selina Kyle had stolen Captain Nightingale's amulet from a museum across the seas before arriving in Gotham. The Wayne family has the Sword of Captain Nightingale, as it is rumored that the Wayne's of that time were somehow part of Captain Nightingale's crew.
Danny, sent to the DC world on a vacation because of overworking himself on his Ghost King duties, learns about his other vacation as a Pirate Captain through a Lex Luthor funded tour about his ship, the Sagittarius, on display like a trophy.
Danny debates whether he should rally his crew again or remain a normal person. His debate is interrupted by a sticky note appearing on his forehead that reads:
"Try not to kill anyone, My King
C.W."
It looks like Captain Nightingale is going to make a dramatic reappearance into the living world after all.
The Justice League is looking for a mysterious thief that has been stealing the artifacts of Captain Nightingale. They learned of the artifacts going missing through Batman, as Catwoman complained to him about the Amulet of the Pirate Captain she stole was now stolen from her. Then Batman learned from Talia that the outfit of Captain Nightingale was stolen from her father's personal treasury. The sword of Captain Nightingale was just recently stolen from Wayne Manor, and only the ship remains, which Lex Luthor us doing all he can to prevent it from being taken.
The Justice League needs to catch this thief to stop them, as they learned from Constantine that the artifacts could be used in a ritual due to their strong magical affinities.
The Justice League had rushed to Lex Luthor's museum, where they caught the "thief" in the act of stealing the ship of Captain Nightingale. A teenage boy wearing the outfit, which looks to be a perfect fit, of the Captain, sword hanging off the hip of the "thief," and the Amulet glowing brightly while hanging off the neck of the "thief." But it's when the "thief" turns around to face them as he's climbing the ships side that shocks them. It's the spitting image of Captain Nightingale that looks at them.
"Ahoy there, landlubbers! I am ashamed that my personal property has been kept as far apart from each other for so long. Didn't none of you respect others' property?"
The ship began to float as the boy got closer to the steering wheel of the ship.
"I've come to teach you all a lesson for disrespecting the dead, but I won't be doing it alone"
The boy had grabbed the sword from his hip and raised it high.
"Rise from the grave, me hearties!"
The ship of Captain Nightingale began to be filled with undead pirates, all looking at the Justice League. Then, right before the ship had flown away, they all heard the boy, no, Captain Nightingale himself, say:
"It is time to set sail once again! Prepare for the return of Captain Nightingale!"
Whenever Cale gets a cold, he immediately starts bleeding like a faucet since the Vitality of the Heart is working to get rid of disease. Meanwhile, everyone thinks that this dude is so weak he sneezes and starts bleeding.
Lord Sherrit is literally a mythical/fairytale bedtime story for dragons in their world. A cool af dragon lord the likes of which has never been seen for 10,000 years? Baby Eruhaben definitely went around pretending to be the next Dragon Lord/daydreaming of meeting Lord Sherrit.
Choi Jung Soo is 100% the reason why Kim Rok Soo began working out and knows how to use different weapons. The two rookies would be seen in early mornings with Choi Jung Soo snapping at Kim Rok Soo like a drill sergeant.
On and Hong remain in their cat forms the majority of the time because they're light enough to be carried by their family members especially Cale. They like being close to their adults, after being rejected and neglected for so long.
Choi Jung Gun helped write some of the storybooks Lord Sherrit put in the Castle of Light for her children. Some of them were stories from the fantasy world, but majority of them were fairytales like Little Red Riding Hood and The Tale of Shim Chŏng.
After the Alberu PJs fiasco, his family keeps giving him fancy pajamas with increasingly absurd enchantments on them in case he has to head to battle again. Think baby pink pajamas with little cats on them charmed to protect against a literal Dragon's Rage.
After his mother's passing, Beacrox learns how to cook as a healthy coping mechanism for his anger and resentment. He is hesitant to tell Ron when he develops a genuine love for cooking, but Ron is supportive because he wants his son to not be tied down by revenge like he is.
As thanks for Choi Han's sacrifice during the Sealed God Test ("I can't even feed you properly here."), Cale quietly makes green onion pancakes for Choi Han. The swordsman tears up on his first bite because of the familiar taste but refuses to cry.
The first time Raon sleeps in Cale's bed is after a nightmare. It's before he gets his name and he is still guarded around humans. Cale notices him whimper, carries him in his arms and soothes the baby dragon each time. They never address it in the morning. After one point, Raon never leaves.
Choi Han has a diary he writes in so that he can never forget his beloved family members again, no matter how much time passes. He puts in every doodle or drawing the children make for him.
After meeting Raon, Eruhaben secretly begins preparing his lair for the baby dragon after his death as a gift. However, all his preparations get destroyed by the White Star.
The first thing Raon learned how to write was Cale's name, back when he was learning from Rosalyn.
The reason Cale's hair is so long is because he is too lazy (read: busy) to cut it. He has so many split ends that it gives Eruhaben a heart attack. Cale has a bigger heart attack when he finds out Ron is going to be the one give him a hair cut.
Alberu always, always carries a white handkerchief with cookies wrapped inside with him wherever he goes. His study and his bedroom are always stocked too: both for the children and for his dongsaeng who never eats enough.
Hong has a habit of rolling around in bed seeking warmth. At one point, he rolls on top of Cale's face, choking the man awake with a mouthful of fur.
Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo would talk about farming so often that at one point, Kim Rok Soo secretly went out and gathered a lot of farming/gardening books. He would record them all secretly.
Cale takes special care of recording each and every moment with his family. Raon's giggling when he wipes off the steak sauce on his face, On's quiet purring cuddled in his arms, the sunlight on Eruhaben's hair as he sits and reads etc.
The God of Death definitely giggled at being the first person to read Choi Jung Gun pen name Nelan Barrow's debut novel, The Birth of A Hero. He rated it five stars ofc, Choi Jung Gun held a broom to his head.
Dragon krs idea- this is before the start of the novel and before Choi Han reaches Harris Village.
He's warm. What had once been the neutral temperature of his house as he drifted to sleep, after reading the novel The Birth of a Hero, became a warm, wet blanket. It wrapped around him slickly. It feels uncomfortable.
That isn't good. Not knowing something isn't good. The wet was suffocating and he stretched out his hand to find the end of the blanket.
Kim Rok Soo shakes abruptly. He frowns, but finds that his face feels strange. His limbs are cramped in a tight space, but the walls begin to give way under his squirming. He shrugs his shoulders, butting his head forward, kicking with his legs.
The wall which is also wet and slippery cracks under his arms and he pushes up with his feet.
His nose breaks into the cold air. Kim Rok Soo breathes, opening his eyes to a dark expanse above him, the stars looming above him. Except the stars aren't the same as he remembers. And he feels strange, in a foreign body.
He looks down to see what are clawed, red paws, and the remains of a wine-red shell. Whatever he had been thinking was happening... it wasn't this. Was it because of his nature, or the environment he grew up in? He didn't bother to think any further about his body when he still didn't know what was around him.
He was in a forest, regular as any that he'd seen before in Korea. Minus the wavering motions of something in the air. It was an odd, instinctive feeling, rather than something he could see.
It told him that something was approaching.
Without any time to think further Kim Rok Soo scampered over the broken remains of his egg and stumbled with chubby little paws over to a bush. Unfortunately for him, he appeared to only be the size of a small dog, or a medium sized cat. His senses expanded naturally to feel across the forest floor and towards what was approaching.
A bear-like creature-- with purple fur, 4 extra limbs, and long horns trailing down its back and a long tail-- emerged from the growth and quickly went to sniffing his egg shell. Then, Kim Rok Soo's heart dropped, it looked directly at his position in the bush. Well, that isn't good.
Kim Rok Soo jumped out of the bush right as the bear leaped forward powerfully. Moving quickly he loops around a tree right as the bear slams into it and hides in the monsters blind spot, instinctively using the strange movement he sensed in the air before to turn the attention of the bear away from him.
It must only work to confuse the bear because while it doesn't follow the motion, it struggles to catch a whiff of Kim Rok Soo again. He skillfully uses his paws to silently move behind and away from the bears line of sight. It must not have very good hearing, and it ambles around, disoriented. In a moment of instinct alone, he uses something to prevent the grass from making any noise, too.
Kim Rok Soo is panicking about how to escape the bear when a black line suddenly appears in his line of sight, and it pierces the bears skull out of nowhere.
The beast slowly falls over, dead.
The black line moved so fast that not even Kim Rok Soo saw it. His red paws tremble. He looks at the felled bear, revealing a small tree branch embedded in its head, bleeding steadily from the fatal injury.
...
Kim Rok Soo stiffly looks around him. Is he going to end up being a snack for whatever killed that bear? The bear has enough meat doesn't it? Can't it leave him alone? He was just born.
Unexpectedly it isn't a monster but a boy, a teenager, that emerges from the trees and stares at Kim Rok Soo. He's wearing makeshift clothes and holding a rusty knife. Kim Rok Soo shudders. Can he escape from this guy? Then the teenager notices the egg shell on the ground and looks back at Kim Rok Soo.
"You..." he speaks in Korean. "You're just a baby." The Korean teenager lowers his eyes. "I can't kill a baby."
Insulted, Kim Rok Soo opens his mouth to argue. He's 36 years old. He isn't even close to being a baby!
The teenager looks at the wine red dragon blankly. The brief emotion in his eyes falls away like an illusion, and he anxiously taps his knife with a restless finger.
...
Kim Rok Soo sees the dead bear out of the corner of his eye.
Actually, being a baby isn't so bad. This guy looks strong, let's piggy back off of his strength and get a free ride out of this forest.
With his mind set, Kim Rok Soo sits his bum on the ground and curls his tail around his waist to sit on his paws, not the floor. It's comfortable. Should he try to be cute or something?
He yawns, tired from running around immediately after waking up from the egg. This is annoying. If the teenager doesn't take him in, won't he have to survive out here on his own? He doesn't know if the monsters here are edible.
Unbeknownst to him, Kim Rok Soo just displayed behaviors identical to those of a cat.
His eyes closed from yawning, Kim Rok Soo opens them to find the teenager crouching directly in front of him.
Way too scary!
"You aren't trying to attack me. You... is it because you're a baby?"
Kim Rok Soo tilts his head. Does this guy expect a baby to respond to him?
Choi Han swallows. In this place... maybe he can have a friend? It has wings, maybe he could teach it to lead him to people like him.
Choi Han stiffly opens his arms, keeping the knife positioned outward, and though his blank expression is unnerving Kim Rok Soo is tired and hungry, so he yawns again and steps closer. It couldn't be too dangerous, right? The teenager carefully wraps his arms around the small, wine red dragon, lifting it up and holding it as if it were a human baby.
Briefly, Kim Rok Soo wonders if the teenager can properly fight if he's holding something, but he decides to not worry about it. If a dangerous creature comes again like the bear, he's sure the teenager would throw him away or something.
Kim Rok Soo tucks his chin into the teenagers neck and shoulder, appreciating the warmth, and slips into a light sleep. Choi Han strokes the baby dragons back. The scales are slightly chilly. Faintly, Choi Han senses a deep strength within this creature.
Maybe it would be better to kill it young.
Kim Rok Soo sleeps, unaware of the rising killing intent.
Choi Han shifts the baby to one arm and taps his knife handle with the other. He should get it some food. It's a baby, so it'll be hungry. It should be fine without milk, right?
