Chapter Text
The scenery was one of a massacre. Ruins, large craters on the ground, fire and its smoke bellowing amidst the scorching sun. Lifeless bodies strewn about, some of them detached from their heads, some others incomplete, with gaping holes and bitten halves. Blood flowed in rivulets, filling through the cracks and shining crimson beneath the sunlight. It ripples, continuous circles sway the silhouette of the living, reflecting the horror of Kim Rok Soo in his twenties—a broken hand, kneeling helplessly before the sight of his dazed sworn brother. He screamed and ran, the fallen Lee Soo Hyuk growing farther behind him with every step, he couldn't afford to lose Choi Jung Soo too.
This mission was a destined failure. You couldn't deny data with sheer will. It was the price of exploring the unknown, it was the naivety of trusting a reinforcement, it was the false sense of hope and foolish determination his comrades had withheld against monsters far surpassed their limits. He reached out, grabbing Choi Jung Soo by the collar and throwing them against the pool of blood. Avoiding the claws of the unranked monster by a hair's breadth.
"GET YOURSELF TOGETHER!"
He grabs Choi Jung Soo tightly on his shoulders, knuckles strained and shaking with rage, with despair, with grief, he distinctly wonders if the cracking bones were his imagination. "Don't you die on me. Don't you dare."
But alas, he knew.
He knew the latter was not in a daze. He had gone. He was long gone, he knew his gasping breath was the only breath to last this long, and everyone around him was a corpse. Dead. Silent. Helplessly trampled by the roaring monster, and then—
And then—
His view rotates on its axis. The destruction blurred and in its place was a juxtaposition of falling stars. Orangish, reddish, the stars sparkling with the aurora of death. His hands still rested on Choi Jung Soo, his body stayed seated while his head splashed into red. Rolling a few more times as one last string of thought rang in his mind.
'... This is better.'
It's better to die together than to be the only one surviving. His hyungs might berate him in the afterlife for dying alongside them, but Kim Rok Soo ... found this situation as a mercy. He couldn't care less about the living, now that he's dead. Maybe the monster would continue on a rampage. Maybe it would destroy everything on its path and demolish humanity once more. There was no clear evidence of the reinforcement team being capable of defeating the massive incarnate of death itself, and that, for once, was no longer of his concern.
The last thing he registered was the monster devouring the bodies, slurping the blood and soaking its wings with a delightful roar.
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Dark ceiling. Dusted glass windows and moonlight that shone through. Makeshift beddings and children lying fast asleep. Kim Rok Soo blinked his eyes, running a hand to brush on his throat—feeling the jagged scar, like his head was a breath away from getting chopped off and he somehow managed to survive. He sat up, careful not to wake the children, and looked down at his small hands. So small, in fact, that it is smaller than the time he lost his parents in the car accident. He had the scars from his uncle's abuse, too, it's safe to say this was his own body. Albeit a far younger version, probably around the latter half of his three-year-old self.
Not far from him, a little girl woke up. With messy bob hair, dark as jade, blinking in utter bafflement. She looks shaken, for the most part, and terrified. The look of someone who had lost everything overnight. The same look as the children he had met in the apocalypse. There was something else that caught his attention, Kim Rok Soo felt his head whip around the moment he recognised the word she uttered.
"No ... no way ...."
That's ... Korean. He ain't possibly have mistaken the language he's spoken with all his life. Of course, this whole thing is already ludicrous and overbearing, yet it's not like Kim Rok Soo couldn't guess.
So he found himself asking before he could stop his younger body satisfy its curiosity, "You too...?"
She gasps and flinches, wide-eyed and jaw dropped. For a while, they were in a standoff, both parties having no clue how to proceed. Kim Rok Soo noted she looks no older than five years old, with gracious and remarkable features behind the dirt and soot covering her skin, much like a main character's appearance. He felt slight guilt pestering his conscience, but what can he do? His world was riddled with apocalypse and people with super powers exist, what's there for a transmigration story unfolding before his eyes to surprise him? Adding on that, he just lost everyone in front of his eyes, lifting the spirit of the despairing main character beside him wouldn't hurt in the long run.
Better yet, she might be able to provide more information, and for Kim Rok Soo who just learned the massive impact information holds—this girl was his lifeline. Dealing with the main character's problem might be annoying, but again, it's not as if his life had ever been spared from problems.
It's decided that taking her side would be more favourable.
Her words resounded, then, tiptoeing in the thin silence, "... Superman?"
He ... He didn't expect such a way of verification, but okay.
"Hulk."
She sniffed, eyes sparkling in recognition. "Tteokboki."
"Kimchi Jigae."
"I'm 25 this year, how old are you?"
... Isn't she so quick in taking this all casually? Again, though, it's not like he's complaining.
"I'm 22."
"...."
"...?"
"Call me Noona, then."
"I donn even know youw name."
"We can decide on that later," she brushed it off, decidedly also brushed off his lisps, "lest the child's body mess up and blurt it out accidentally."
... As expected, the main character is different. He nodded in agreement, the sombre tone had softened and he could feel she was calming down. Kim Rok Soo sighed, feeling his eyes drooping. This would be bothersome, he doesn't remember much of his childhood before the accident, but he does remember that his childhood body had been quite sickly—especially so in the years he lived with his uncle.
At this rate, it's not that he'd had to face the main character's problems, but him becoming one of the problem's sources. Not that it matters, the one who'll face the headache is her after all.
"I'll look fowwad to woking with you."
She chuckles at that, hand waving off his words like he was being silly. "Noona. Call me properly first."
"... I'll look fowwad to woking with you, Noona."
"Hehehe."
Well, whatever makes the main character happy and he gets to live on.
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Was this how it was supposed to be with every orphanage out there? His frown couldn't be any deeper. Inadequate food, lack of hygiene, shortage of staff, aggressive and violent adults—nothing new, but that's not supposed to be the case. The girl, or Nia, according to the staff and other children called her, seems to be fuming at their new environment.
"Children shouldn't live in a place like this!"
Indeed.
"Look at those motherfuckers pocketing embezzled money while the children starved!"
Exactly.
"Why do you keep nodding?! Speaks!"
Yeah—
"Oh ...," he blinked back at the eyes glaring at him. "I'm speaking tho? In my mind."
She already spoke his mind, nothing to be added. He ignores her berating on how it was a disrespect for his Noona and whatnot, and instead tightened his grip on the bucket of water they were carrying to the bathhouse.
Listening to her speak while huffing and puffing somewhat reminded him of Choi Jung Soo, he looked down at his hands. The feeling of gripping the lifeless shoulders so hard that it cracked was still vivid–almost as if the phantom sensation remained. His head had been so easily cut off that he didn't have the chance to look back on Lee Soo Hyuk one last time, he doubted their bodies could be salvaged before mercilessly devoured.
He sighed.
"Stop sighing, Dongsaeng. You're not that old yet."
He retorted, "The age gap ish only thwee yeash."
She ruffled his head once they arrived at the bathhouse, ignoring the staff scolding them for being too slow and just heading back before they were tasked with another workload too much for children to bear.
Nia only replied to him when they were far enough, "Grow up first before retorting, those lisps are too cute to be taken seriously."
"You look no owdell than five."
"You look three."
He frowned. For the past month, they were becoming more familiar with each other, and during that time Kim Rok Soo learn that this girl is far more annoying than Choi Jung Soo sometimes. Even though the age gap of their current bodies is merely two years, she was smug whenever she mentioned that the real age gap was three years. It didn't help that his toddler body is more expressive, and it only served to intensify her teasing when he cried out of frustration.
If there's a time when she resembled Lee Soo Hyuk ....
"You shithead of an adult!"
... Is that they both throw fists once their patience snaps. Which is an achievement, because that particular hyung has an exceptional level of patience compared to anyone else Kim Rok Soo has ever seen. Upon seeing a male staff member trying to pinch and grope their roommate, Nia precisely targeted the abdomen, taking advantage of her height to kick the male staff in his crotch area and bite off his neck all the while the poor man screamed in pain.
'Vicious.'
He saw Lee Soo Hyuk beat an arrogant higher-up to a pulp before, so much that Choi Jung Soo that day became the calmest version of himself. There was a surge of foreign fury bubbling in his stomach when he watched how angry Nia looked, and when he noticed the male staff member stood back up and was about to slap her—
Kim Rok Soo prepared his hands, running and dodging the upcoming kick aiming his way when the male staff spotted him. His stride was too small in this child's body, but the good side is that he could avoid things more easily and faster within proximity. He smacks the staff's ankles, forcing him to fall on his butt once more before jumping over him and landing both his clenched fists on his eyes—blinding him for a while.
"Aaaargghhh!"
Nia took that chance to land another harsh kick on his manhood, eliciting such a guttural scream that all the children ran away to their rooms. She grabs his hands and runs, heading to the forest behind the orphanage knowing they have to avoid the enraged staff chasing after them.
"What do you think now?"
She asks between bated breath, they've reached a small river bank deep in the forest and were trying to cool off from the sweat. Her splayed and wet hair resembled a newborn kitten's fur, but her fiery eyes still had that spark Kim Rok Soo first saw on the night they woke up in this world.
He sighed, knowing exactly what she wanted to hear. "Yeah," he relents, "Youwe awesome, Noona."
"Hehehe."
She laughed in delight, she sounded so carefree despite having just fought an adult. "It's so fun," she muses aloud, "Beating bad men is the best thing in the world."
He couldn't disagree. Unlike his past self who had given up and stopped fighting against his uncle's abuse, knowing that he could fight back here–together at that, was not so bad. "It would be bettew if we can loot them dwyy."
"...."
"Why?"
"... As much as it's a genius idea, I hate to admit that we're too small."
It was meant as a joke. His baffled face must have been obvious. "You actually cossidewed that?"
"Yeah? I mean, imagine! We're gonna sucks them dry and make them suffer all their lives!"
She looks a bit too excited ....
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With the main character existing, there was bound to be a fortuitous encounter. He might not know anything in that regard, seeing how it had been too eventful of times for things such as novels and comics to be found in an apocalyptic world, more so to come across stories similar to this world setting. So the best course of action was to bulldoze through while trying to deduce any event from the side. For example, the encounter with the female staff Miss Connie. The lady looks too much like a younger version of a typical assassin in disguise no matter how he looks at it. At least she gave food—but there's that, so when he warned Nia about it the girl had been sceptical, even though she made sure to keep it in mind in case anything suspicious happened.
And that suspicious event happened all too soon because one day, she announced the adoption of an older kid. So suddenly, with too much of a script-like house-play to believe it at face value.
"Wow." Nia sighed in disbelief, "Had I not known that every bitch here is such a jerk, I would have fallen for their scheme and felt envious."
"You know the cliche, owwphanage in a setting like this ish eithew involved in a human twafficking owu human expewimentation."
She ran her hand through her hair, ignoring the tangled knot as she furrowed her eyebrows. They were back in their rooms. Even if their mental age was older, they figured their child's bodies appreciated cuddles for better quality sleep. And since they were part of the younger children, they were allowed to sleep earlier than their peers. It was moments like this when they could talk without the staff checking on them every so often.
"Have any clue whew ish this wolld might be?"
She shakes her head, "Not yet. There are too many fantasy stories in a medieval setting."
That's true. If it were that easy to find out, they would have long since been planning how to move forward. They were stuck in a waiting game, all the while not knowing if they could have escaped this orphanage before something bad could happen.
"Well, then," he yawned and hugged the makeshift doll Nia had once attempted to make after Miss Connie taught them how to sew, "We can only gwow biggew."
She pats his head for a while, watching the younger one fall asleep. Nia realised then that no one in this orphanage had ever referred to him by name—because he's the youngest, so everyone just calls him Little One or Younger Brother. Didn't help that he's too unbothered for his own good she failed to even realise she didn't know his name. "Hey, what should I call you?"
Nia half expected her question to go unanswered, so she was surprised when the child lazily replied, "....Soo."
"That's not a good idea to mention your Korean name, silly. Let's go with Shou for now."
"...."
"...? You fall asleep already?"
As much as Nia wants to just escape and be done with it, Shou was right, they can only grow bigger if they want to do more things and survive.
"Sleep well, Dongsaeng."
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Two years later.
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Kim Rok Soo woke up with a pounding headache assaulting his skull. The day before, Miss Connie had punished him for stealing leftover stale bread. Assigning tasks to fill the bathhouse by himself and ending up leaving him all drenched. Nia sighed beside him, the already skinny girl looked gaunt after living in the orphanage for two years. Which, in her defence, he was no better.
"I told you I can do it myself."
"The same 'I can do it myself' with a 4/10 success rate."
"As if 6/10 is something!"
"But it is?"
"You little shit!" She half-smacked the wet cloths on his feverish forehead, grumbling. "At this point, shouldn't whatever the novel's plot have commenced?"
"If it's a novel involving war, maybe."
She shuddered, "Never mind."
Indeed, who in the world wants to be caught in a war?
Nia sighed in exasperation, grabbing the wet cloths to properly wipe his face, the cold contrasting with his hot skin was refreshing. They were the only children left in the room, the others headed to the shared dining room to have breakfast, and it's not like there's staff kind enough to look after sick children.
"... But I have a feeling...."
"I'm not interested in you. I'm interested in the mighty muscles."
Kim Rok Soo frowned at that, "I know you love muscles. Anyway, that's not what I mean."
"Huh, a fellow devotee brushes aside the might of muscles?!"
"It just feels like shit about to hit the fan real fast."
"...."
"...."
"... Plot?"
"Plot."
"... Your damn gut and its accurate deduction."
And right on cue, there was a commotion outside—the sounds of staff members rushing to this room in a hurry, knowing from experience, that was never a good sign. Kim Rok Soo immediately signalled for Nia to jump out of the window, if one of them is out of commission, then the other should know what's happening and take action. It was a great alibi to observe what's happening inside, too, it's not like he can even stand, let alone run to hide.
"Go."
"Okay. Scream if they do anything funny."
"Alright."
The staff barged into the room not long after Nia exited. They appear flustered, eyes darting left and right before stomping their way to his poorly made bed. As for Kim Rok Soo, he's already sick, so playing the role of a bedridden child isn't exactly 'acting' anymore. He grunted and cried when they tried to wake him forcefully, each one of them impatiently asking where Nia was. Well sucks to be them, he had no intention to open his mouth except to cry and whine.
But when one of them decided to have enough and pinched his waist hard? A genuine cry resounded clearly in the room. He coughs and gasps and cries.
'... These disgusting, entitled motherfuckers....!!!'
It hurts as fuck. He cried louder when they tried to muffle him from attracting attention. Having a child's body means having lower pain tolerance, and this situation had made it clearer how much pain he would experience despite it being a trivial thing.
These staff acted as if they could not fulfil their sickening heat if not now–which is probably true, if his gut serves him right–but still!
Baaang...!
The sound of the door being barged open surprises him so much that his cries turned into hiccups. When was the door locked anyway? How long has it been? Kim Rok Soo almost made a blunder in his acting, thankfully, he noticed short black hair—
"... Noonaaaa....!!"
And screamed at the top of his lungs until he felt the hug that had become so familiar in this world encompass him. Since the body had genuinely cried, he could only let it out as he hugged back, telling the audience what these sorry excuses of humans had done. Because what else is more joyful aside from throwing bad people into a problem?
By the time he had tired himself out, sleep was hovering close, and he made sure to clutch his sister's clothes tightly. She was the only ally in this world, had to stick with the safest person for survival.
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Nia, no, Leonia Boleoti, is angry.
Sure, she did say that if anything happens, Shou should scream for help—but she never wishes for it to actually happen. Listening to him crying, gasping for breath, weakly tattling on how these bastards had dared to assault him? His fever had barely weakened, but now he's practically boiling. She knows he's like her, mentally older than their current bodies and is pretty much an adult himself, yet it served no reason for her care for him to be superficial.
For fuck's sake, if there's a reason why she could hold on in this world without getting betrayed, it was because of him! And as the older one, of course she had to take care of her younger brother! The moment she saw the Boleoti emblems, she gave it her all and prayed for the Duke to spare her and give her a job. It would be much better than here. Anywhere is better than here. She could also take care of Shou while she works as a maid.
She couldn't have guessed the Duke would take her as his daughter instead. Naming her Leonia and all. He had stared at her unblinking until she could literally see his eyes shining like in the illustration she occasionally drew and had seen. And then—
A scream.
From her brother, no less.
Anything else feels like a blur, she had never run that fast in these two years filled with running away. The Duke had followed her, easily catching up and kicking the door open, the knights had swiftly subdued all the staff members who had discharged their clothes—but her focus was somewhere else. Her brother had his clothes torn, the scars she never dared to ask about were exposed for all to see, even the bruises she didn't know he had were glaring at her in contempt.
He must be so surprised by his own hiccups, he lets out short gasps and wheezes that were hurting her to hear. When he calls out to her ....
"... I'm sorry."
As she hugs him, as she reaches out for the nearest blanket to cover him, as she listens to her brother crying in fear.
"I'm so sorry."
The little shit was so good at hiding things. He was too unbothered with things concerning himself. She should've known. They have known each other for two years now, she should've pressed on so this. This. Whatever this is, which she just found out was not a first would not happen.
Leonia didn't know she was crying all the while, she feels like shit, she feels terrible and upset. It feels like the world is too big and she was pressured to somehow hold it on her shoulders. When the Duke lifted her alongside her brother to his embrace, when she cried her heart out on his shoulder while stubbornly holding her brother tight, it was like everything finally catching up to her at once.
Kim Rok Soo would be absolutely horrified if he knew what she just felt, he would never have thought of acting when nothing really happened, but he was basically knocked out. Spared from the terrifying anger radiating from the Duke and his knights, unknowing of the events happening until a certain incident unfolds in the future.
"Waah ... It's my fault ...."
"It's not." The Duke retorted, firm and left no room for objection, "You hold no fault. You're thinking unnecessary things."
He glanced at the children who'd cried themselves to sleep, feeling the youngest burning with high fever and his oldest gradually burning up alongside him. He calls on to Rupert, "Clean this place up. We shall greet the honoured guests with utmost hospitality."
As it happens, Phileo Boleoti would take it on himself to torture those vermin with his own hands.
"Look up any available doctor as we're heading for the nearest inn."
"Understood!"
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"Hey, Mister. You have to take my brother too."
The child, his daughter demanded once she woke up. She had been bathed by Dame Levipath, clothed in a new dress and had her hair styled. The gaunt cheekbone reminds him of the old folk he'd have fun torturing once he reached the mansion, they had the nerve to lay their hands on his children, it's only right for him to reply with the most fitting answer for their pathetic lives.
Phileo had considered them both as his children even if she didn't say that, but knowing what had happened throughout their lives in the orphanage, he took her words seriously and responded with her deserved respect befitting of a Boleoti.
"Did you think I would separate you two?"
"... You're not?"
"Nothing could have served as a reason to do that." He picked her up and let her sit on his lap, "Both of you are my children, bearing Boleoti's names. Just as you've become my oldest child, your brother has become my youngest."
His daughter seems to have a complicated mind, Phileo could have the world wait so his children could speak at their own pace.
She clenched her dress, avoiding eye contact and looking downcast. "Give him a name too."
"A name...?"
"The teachers never call him by name, we had secretly decided to call him Shou when we're together, but I want a pretty name he can be proud of."
... The more he finds out what these children had experienced, the stronger Phileo's desire to tear them to shreds.
"Shou is a pretty name," he reassures, "We can think of names he might like and have him choose when he wakes up."
She nodded along, seemingly about to mention something else before her stomach betrayed her. Right on time, Sir Pabo Gabel knocked on the door, informing that the table had been set and dinner was ready.
He could feel his lips curl up at the reddish blush Leonia had, "Let's have dinner first."
He motions the knights from mentioning his youngest for the time being, letting the doctor thoroughly check on him is crucial. Phileo could feel his daughter would forego dinner altogether once the topic of her brother came up, which he could understand, but just as she worries about him—he too, worries about Shou. They needed all the strength required for the long journey ahead.
"... It's delicious...!"
It was a simple soup, taking into account the long starvation period and lack of food that had done to her body, they couldn't afford to be careless even if everyone was dying to have the best food out there for her to eat to her heart's content.
'But for such a simple soup to make her this happy ....'
He would need clothes to get tailored, books befitting children to get ordered, every necessity needed and proper teachers on board. The work at home ... would take a while.
They take turns feeding each other, the child babbled about his meagre experience in child rearing and had, as per her words, generously taught him how to do it correctly before he could mess up when he did it to Shou.
His child is such a genius. Where did she learn 'child rearing' from?
When they visited the youngest after dinner, Leonia had run up to her brother and bombarded the doctor with questions. Asking how's he's doing, does it appear that anything serious happens, he keeps having a flare every so often so what's actually wrong with him— the doctor had been kind enough to answer each question, but as he signaled him to stop and had her being accompanied by Dame Levipath outside despite her protests, Phileo finally take proper look to his youngest son.
Black hair ... from the glimpse he had seen when the boy had cried so fearfully, he had black eyes too. He couldn't look older than five years old. Leonia was seven years old. For children so young to have to take care of each other because of the incapable adults around them, nothing could be more upsetting.
"Doctor, proceed to explain. Don't leave out anything."
“Y-yes! Of course, Your Grace." The doctor readily held out the board he was holding, showing him the notes on the diagnosis as he explained. "Taking into account the poor environment the Young Master had lived, he was actually in a better shape than expected given his conditions."
"There are signs of prolonged infection, and his respiratory tract has taken quite a hit. It also caused his immunity to drop easily, since the body has been constantly fighting the infection."
"The bruises would take a much longer time to heal, again, his body was in such a state that it could not afford to focus on healing anywhere else. His lungs, his heart, and his digestive tract would require an extensive observation to see the most favourable treatments to provide. And he had—"
Phileo belatedly recognised the cracking board in his hands, paper sheets crumpled and the notes growing unintelligible. The information had been screeching in his mind, there were ripples in the air, and he was silently grateful to have a keen control of his power before he could commit something he would deeply regret later on.
The poor doctor was sweating bullets, head hung low and hands grasping his coat. To say the truth, he did not expect much from an unknown doctor in some unremarkable inn, but for him to deduce this much was a testament to either his ability or his youngest had simply been that gravely ill. Was it Wilhelm? For a random doctor, he sure had quite a fancy name.
"... Continue."
"... Your Grace, with utmost respect, I would like to mention it was a miracle for the Young Master not to have any of his organs fail yet."
"...."
"With my limited knowledge, I do not dare to do any more for the diagnosis. This would take several more doctors specialised in different fields to ensure none of the treatments collide and cause an unwanted reaction."
"Like what?"
"... His body missing the medication's signal and instead causing harm—this is too early to be sure, Your Grace."
Phileo looked over to his son, the fever had decreased and he appeared more at ease. No longer could he hear any wheezing. His lips had regained their pinkish hue instead of bluish purple. The doctor must have known, but he had no intention to address Shou's scars, that must be one of the reasons his son would require more doctors for his care. He would need to confirm if his youngest possessed the Fang, and if he did—
... Two of the Boleoti bloodline had been brought down to this state.
The hunt will be a long and tedious process moving forward.