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“Do you miss Korea?”
“Do you?”
“I think so. It’s been too long but… I still get a sense of longing towards it every now and then. Even if I may not remember what it was like anymore.” Choi Han tilts slightly to look back at Cale.
The two men leaned against a railing on a small balcony, one that presented a view of the entirety of Rain City, save the Henituse manor it belonged to.
Snow lightly fell to the grounds in gentle cascades.
Their breaths came out in small visible puffs. It was certainly not weather you’d want to be in when wearing loose and casual clothes but the two men faced no trouble, not with the warming enchantments that reached every corner of the manor, including the balcony.
“What about you, Cale-nim. You haven’t been here for as long, do you miss it?”
Cale gives a slight smile, raising an eyebrow at Choi Han. “I think the answer should be obvious.”
Choi Han nods, wanting his liege to continue. Too rarely does Cale ever share anything about himself and so Choi Han hoped Cale would expand on this, if only to allow Choi Han to better understand him.
Him, whose face bears only Eurocentric features and yet allows the underlying roots of Korea to show through. In the way he sometimes bows slightly to elders, in the way he nods in respect to his fellow colleagues and in the way he would always receive things with two hands.
“Well, of course I miss it. I spent most of my life there.” Cale looks to the view and his arms cross on the railing.. “However, I wouldn’t go back if I were ever given the choice.”
“...May I ask why?”
Cale gives a light but thoughtful hum, eyes glued to the horizon although they seemed to not be perceiving the scenery but rather, something beyond it.
“I have a family here. I had a family there.” Cale’s grip on his elbows tighten ever so slightly. “That’s not to say that the team I had wasn’t nice… It just wasn’t a family. Wasn't quite like… This.”
Choi Han nods once again. His eyes were fixed on the flaming red hair that danced with the whispers of wind. “I understand.”
Cale turns his head back towards Choi Han, their eyes locking together immediately. “And well, I suppose it’s much safer here than back there; which gives me much better chances of obtaining a slacker life.”
“Pft, what slacker life, Cale-nim?” Choi Han teases.
Cale’s gaze immediately turns threatening towards him and his lips curl downwards. “I will achieve my slacker life and build a farm. Nothing will stop me. Not when I’ve already promised to do so.”
“Sure, sure.” Choi Han lets out a light laugh. “May I know more of this promise?”
Ah.
Cale’s face melts of all previous expressions and in quick succession, his disapproving frown turns into a melancholic smile.
“It’s a promise I now hold onto for 3 people. A promise whereby living is the best and farming was the dream retirement.” His eyes close for a moment. “It’s a promise I hope to achieve with my new family here.”
Choi Han gives Cale a smile.
“I’m sure everyone here would be very happy to fulfill it with you.”
Cale’s eyes open again and he returns Choi Han’s smile.
“I know.
Thank you.”
———
“-Leader! Team Leader!”
“Oh no, do you think he’s dead?”
“Hm, no fever or nosebleed and no obvious gashes…”
A well toned as scarred hand reaches up to swipe away at any and all contact. “I’m not dead, let me rest.”
“No can do. Ever since you came out from that mysterious building, you’ve been acting weird.” A frown can be heard in the voice. “Mopey, depressed even. I’m starting to get concerned.”
He can feel his eyebrows knit together and his eyes scrunch. He has half a mind to turn away and face the back of the couch like a petulant child would. Like Raon turning away and refusing to look at him when he does something stupid.
Not hearing a reply, the same voice decides to continue. “Everyone’s worried about you.”
“Yeah!”
“If you need anything you can tell us!”
Annoying.
Cale opens his eyes. Radiant sunlight blinded his vision for the shortest of moments before he was able to truly make out the voices before him. Ah, what was he even expecting to see…
After all, the people here were always speaking in fluent Korean to him. Not the continental language. Never continental.
Four people had taken uninvited residence in his living room whilst he was taking a disturbed nap on his couch. People? Could they be addressed as such? Everyone’s faces looked like dark empty voids, reminiscent of a black hole.
How he wondered if they were black holes.
“Hey, you okay?” A ‘face’ leans closer down towards him. No worried expression faced him, just a dark empty shadow. How disgusting. How unfamiliar.
An ‘arm’ reaches up to wave in front of Cale and for just a moment, it blurs and blends with the head in a mixture of nothing.
He grits his teeth and purposefully turns his head away from it. He could feel shivers crawling up his spine at its appearance, it was repulsive.
“I just want to go home.”
“Home? What do you mean by that? You’re already in your apartment. Are we sure that he doesn’t have a concussion?”
“This is home!”
“The team is your family and home is where family is.”
It was worth a try to maybe have a god hear his desperate calls, he supposed.
The last person figure vacates from its place behind the other three. It moves swiftly and languidly, like you would expect very soft slime to, to the place next to his head.
The figure bends its head to look straight down at him.
“Isn’t it nice?
To be back in Korea ,
Cale Henituse. Kim Rok Soo.”