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Elisneh stared at the man in front of her in disbelief.
"W-what...?" she stuttered out in confusion, her mind completely empty aside from a very immature, adolescent-like screech.
How the hell did THIS outcome happen?!
The specialty of the Queen of the Molden Kingdom was casting powerful illusions and curses – the latter only possible thanks to the boost of power from the Fake World Tree. While brain-washing illusions were usually more practical in use, there was a certain... charming intimidation to her curses. None of them were lethal, but they could be very inconvenient – and the best part? Not even Dragons would be able to dispel them. The only way to get rid of an Illusionist's curse was to wait it out.
'This… This isn't how it was supposed to go!'
She deliberately chose this curse because of how famous the Crimson Commander was for his beauty. Attractive, confident and charismatic, no wonder he had no problem commanding armies. Her own beauty and charisma was part of the reason why it was so easy for her to put the whole capital under illusion. Before her sister discovered her Shaman powers, no matter how pathetic they were, even Jopis could not have escaped the power of an Illusionist. (Her previous failure with trapping Swordsmaster Choi Han in an illusion was nothing more than an outlier, that's all!)
And because surely the reason why everyone listened to the Cale Henituse was because of how attractive he was... it only made sense to curse him to become the ugliest, most disgusting thing he could think of! Right?
So, someone please explain this to her… why the hell, instead of a slimy, miserable creature, was there a tall, muscular, gorgeous hunk of a man standing in front of her?!
All the fighting in the underground maze stopped the moment the smoke of the curse disappeared, revealing the new silhouette of the Commander. His hair turned black and shorter and his face changed, but there was nothing displeasing about his features. In fact, he had an exotic look to his eyes. His new, much broader frame caused some of the fabric of his uniform to rip, revealing a well-trained, scarred body for all to witness.
He was… he was…
Absolutely stunning, that's what he was!
"HOW?!" Elisneh bellowed, her eyes bloodshot from fury.
This curse was supposed to expose all his deepest fears and insecurities! Not this… this… beefcake!
"Oh," Cale, in Kim Rok Soo's body once again, said quietly to himself once he saw his scarred hands.
'Was this supposed to turn me into something I despise?'
It was true that despite all the challenges he encountered as Cale Henituse, it was all much, much better than his previous life as Kim Rok Soo. Surrounded by new family and friends, rich, finally capable of protecting the ones he loved and with his dream of living as a slacker on the horizon – it was no wonder he loved his new, feeble form of Cale which suited him more than the previous body of Team Leader Kim Rok Soo, who had nothing worthwhile left in his life.
But of course, since Elisneh had no way of knowing all that, her spell must have worked in a far different way from intended.
"Cale-nim!" Choi Han was the first person to snap out of the confusion and approached his liege. "Are you alright?"
Same as everyone else, he was stunned to witness the transformation… at first. But once his head connected the current figure with the memories he got from Choi Jung Soo, he realized it was no time to stare; no matter the body, this was still Cale.
"I'm fine, Choi Han," Cale responded, his hands crossing and touching his exposed shoulders. The uniform had been custom made to his previous size; it stood no chance against the current width of his chest. "A little cold, maybe."
Choi Han immediately took off his own cloak and put it on Cale. Every ally of the Roan Kingdom relaxed, taking this as the confirmation despite the unexpected change of looks, that was still their Commander.
Meanwhile, Elisneh sputtered, unable to string a coherent sentence.
"B-but, you can't-! This! This is not-!" She made a loud, angry sound as if she was roaring. "Why, WHY! WHY ARE YOU SO HOT, YOU BASTARD!"
Cale blinked. Hot, who? Him?
"What are you talking about?"
"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO TURN UGLY!" The Queen gave up on all of her dignity, pointing at him accusingly as if he stole candy from her. "DISGUSTING! SOMETHING YOU DESPISE!"
Cale blinked slowly at her. "...Did I not?" he deadpanned.
Choi Han turned to Cale in disbelief.
'No way… does Cale-nim think his old body was not attractive?!'
There was a long moment of silence, eventually interrupted by Jopis whistling in appreciation.
"All that dead mana must have messed with your head, sister," she said with great amusement at Elisneh's very apparent failure. "That man is hot as hell."
'What the-?'
Cale turned to look at her with surprise. Perhaps she was under another illusion or something?
"You think dead mana is to blame? Please," Tasha snorted. "We Dark Elves consume dead mana regularly, but we still have eyes! This man is clearly very attractive!"
"I-it doesn't matter what Cale-nim looks like, anyway!" Choi Han interrupted the debate, flustered. "No matter his appearance, we're all following Cale-nim to the end!"
The others yelled in unison.
Cale was slowly getting a headache. He would have to ask Eruhaben for help, it seemed. All of his allies seemed to be under some illusion now.
But before he could say anything, Elisneh tried to cast another spell, and the battle continued.
Fighting with a different body did not change the outcome of the next new few battles… thanks to Choi Han presence by his side, everyone naturally assumed that Cale was merely in disguise and listened to his command as well as ever.
He got a couple of stares, sure… especially from women, for some strange reason… but nothing noteworthy happened aside from that.
That is, until they got to Puzzle city, where the White Star was currently holding the Crown Prince by the neck.
"So, you finally arrived-" the White Star paused upon seeing the form of Kim Rok Soo, and dropped Alberu before Cale could demand his release. "...What the. What's the meaning of this?" The White Star was suddenly furious. "Are you mocking me?!"
"Huh?" Cale intelligently responded.
"Why are you wearing THAT face?!" The White Star demanded, his eyes burning in fury. "And- Why are you in better shape than me?! How dare you!"
'What the hell is this crazy bastard talking about?!'
"This mockery can only mean one thing…" The villain suddenly turned gleeful. "I knew it! You ARE my fated rival, the chosen one of the gods!"
'What???'
But before Cale could ask for an explanation for all of this nonsense, the White Star ran away.
A little while later, once things finally settled down...
"So let me get this straight," Eruhaben said slowly, "The Illusionist cast a curse on you, which was meant to transform you into a form you consider ugly, and you turned into… this."
"Yeah?"
The golden dragon sighed, rubbing his temples. "Well... it clearly didn't work properly, which can make things complicated."
"Huh?"
"Young Master Cale," Mary approached him, glancing down at his chest for some reason. "You can't possibly think you're ugly like this… right?"
Cale blinked. "But I am?"
Everyone stared at him in dead silence for a second. Then the whole room erupted into chaos.
Cale was so tired.
The good news was, the curse should lose its power by the end of the week.
The bad news, everyone among his group, and that means EVERYONE, was determined to convince him that he was not ugly within that time-frame.
So obviously, the only solution was to hide in the Super Rock Villa until the storm passes.
...Too bad for him that he had granted most of his allies access to the Villa already.
"There is nothing wrong with scars, young master Cale!" Rosalyn was the one currently trying to convince him of his 'attractiveness'. "In fact, they only enhance your beauty if you dress right for it!" Then she magically pulled out a whole closet out of nowhere. "Allow me to demonstrate." Her smile was viscous.
Cale shuddered.
'I just wanna be a slacker, dammit!'
Cale stared at the whole pot of lemon tea in front of him in dismay "...What did I do this time, Ron?"
His butler smiled. "Naturally, only attractive young masters get to drink this special brand of tea."
Ron's stare dared Cale to disagree with him.
Cale of course did not disagree. He obediently drank all the tea.
"Fight me!"
"No!"
"FIGHT ME, FRIEND!"
"NOOO!"
Cale and Toonka run in circles around the Villa for a while.
"Ripped!" Cage said angrily into his face. "Big chest! A goddamned SIX PACK! What more could you possibly want, you buffoon!?"
'Not being yelled at, thank you?'
"Fine, so I am not ugly," Cale sighed, covering his eyes. "You have convinced me. Can I go now?"
"Not until you swear to me under the Vow of Death that you understand that your current body is a f***ing snack, you're not!"
Cale groaned.
Suspiciously, Clopeh Sekka did not approach him once during the whole debacle.
Little did Cale know, the Guardian Knight of the North had added quite a few more recordings to his ever-growing collection that week.
"I suppose you consider us all slugs if those are your beauty standards," Alberu remarked with suspicious calmness.
Cale looked at the Crown Prince with despair. "Not you too, Hyung..."
"Don't worry, I won't lecture you. I just…" He looked at the body of Kim Rok Soo blankly. It was suspiciously close to his 'you are driving me nuts' expression. "I just don't get your brain, that's all. How is this ugly, Cale?" He gestured at him with his whole hand. "Unless you consider Choi Han so unattractive that you think having dark hair and light skin is a crime against fashion? Sure, Instructor-nim's no taste in clothing is not the most refined out there but surely Choi Han is NOT that bad, Dongsaeng!"
Cale laid down on the couch face down, refusing to speak anymore on the subject.
"I like this form of you, Human!" Raon declared, sitting on Cale's shoulders. "Finally you have enough strength to carry this Great and Mighty Dragon without collapsing!"
"It is only temporary, Raon."
"We like you no matter how you look like, nya," On said sleepily from Cale's lap.
"The petting still feels the same!" Said Hong with a wide smile, purring softly under the warm palm of his guardian.
Cale smiled.
Maybe this wasn't so bad after all.
Meanwhile, the White Star finally connected the dots.
"That bastard, Cale Henituse… he considers me the most ugly form to turn into? Me?!" The last Dragon Slayer burned with the righteous desire to prove his rival wrong. Such a blow to his pride could not be tolerated! "Dorph, bring me the best tailors and hairstylists in the Endable Kingdom immediately!"
"Yes, my liege."
He would prove to Cale Henituse once and for all, that his body… it was the body of a GOD!
The end.