Cale clenched his chest.
“Ugh.”
November 7th, 11:55 pm.
The sealed god started to speak to Cale.
“Gasp.”
Cale took a deep breath.
“Cale-nim!”
Choi Han could not hide his anxiety while observing Cale.
But Cale was looking up at the sky.
He heard the voice again.
He felt as if his heart was being ripped out.
‘No.’
It wasn’t his heart, but something deeper inside. It felt as if some spot deep in his body that he couldn't pinpoint was being twisted.
However, Cale had a different thought first.
‘Why?’
Why had he been connected to the sealed god instead of the God of Death?
And why did it have to be now of all times?
‘Furthermore, this bastard knows about how the other gods have interfered.’
That meant that he had realized Choi Han and Dark Tiger Alberu’s existences.
‘That means he was watching me.’
He had not said anything until now, but he had been watching everything.
‘That means that…?!’
The god’s voice echoed in his mind again as Cale’s eyes clouded over.
Choi Han had said the following to Cale.
‘The God of Death nonchalantly told me something. This is what he said. ‘The sealed god is not able to return to the past, but he is able to push his way into a different dimension.’ ’
Cale had thought that this was probably a different world and not his past after hearing that as well as hearing about Earth 3 from Alberu.
“…A, are you admitting, haaaa, that this is r, reality then? Are you admitting to it?”
Cale barely managed to ask while looking at the air.
The corners of Cale’s lips were shaking but curled up after hearing that.
Choi Han quickly realized that Cale was talking to someone right now after hearing that.
He realized that it was a god as well.
Furthermore, he realized that this world was ‘reality’ and a ‘real’ world.
‘It really was a parallel world.’
Choi Han’s eyes sparkled before Choi Jung Soo's face suddenly brushed past his mind.
‘That punk is not fake, nor a memory, nor even an illusion, but a living breathing person like me.’
Choi Han pushed Cale up a bit stronger.
“Ugh!”
“Cale-nim!”
However, Cale's condition was not good as he continued to groan and cough up blood.
This pain seemed much more painful than any other pain Cale had experienced in the past.
“Huff. Huff. W, why am I like this?”
Cale looked up in the air as he asked.
“…Is your way of interfering to give me pain?”
Cale barely managed to say the next sentence word by word as he thought about what Choi Han told him.
“Ugh. I, I thought you couldn’t m, mess with the test?”
The God of Death had said something while sending Choi Han here.
‘One of the absolute rules for the God of Death is to make a vow of death. Similarly, this sealed god can create tests per his absolute rule, but he cannot mess with the contents of that test.’
He could not mess with the content of the test.
That was what Choi Han had told Cale.
The god started to laugh out loud as if he was amused.
In addition…
Cale looked confused.
‘If he can't do anything to me… And he can't mess with the test… What is this pain?’
Cale's eyes clouded over after hearing that.
“Fuck.”
He started to swear.
He immediately thought about the person who would want to be with this god.
The White Star.
He was certain that it was that bastard.
And that bastard did not exist here, but in the world with Cale Henituse's body.
Yes, Cale's body was still on that side.
The god warmly answered, as if he was leisurely teaching Cale something.
Cale covered his mouth with his hands that were shaking in pain. He started to frown.
‘What does he mean by, ‘use his children?’ ’
Cale’s gaze was firm even though he was in pain.
"What do you mean by that?”
Boom!
His heart thumped wildly at that moment.
“Ugh!”
“Cale-nim!”
More blood started to drip out of Cale’s mouth.
It was so black that it didn't even seem like blood.
It almost seemed as if it was dead mana.
The god warmly laughed as he whispered.
His whisper started to become faint, as if he was slowly disappearing into the fog.
The whisper sounded as if the god was offering a sweet deal.
But for Cale, it was really, truly…
It was annoying for him to hear.
The faint voice disappeared and he could not hear the sealed god’s voice any longer.
“Haaaaaaaaa. Haaaa.”
Cale was breathing heavily.
The pain in his body was not going down at all.
But he stood up straight.
Click.
The watch hands were both at 12.
November 8th, at 12:00:00 am.
It was the promised time with the God of Death.
The voice was warm yet cold…
Quiet yet firm…
Making it difficult to tell who was speaking.
He heard the voice of the God of Death.
Cale started to smile after hearing the voice echoing in his mind.
However, he just focused on catching his breath as it was difficult to say anything.
The God of Death continued to speak, as if he understood that Cale could not respond right now.
His voice sounded oddly amused.
Cale slowly lowered the hand that had been covering his face while he was chatting with the sealed god.
The corners of his lips were curled up.
The God of Death asked him a question.
Cale slowly closed his eyes before opening them back.
There was only one answer.
"Death.”
The only human future the God of Death could see was ‘Death.’
The god asked once again.
Of course, Cale remembered everything that had been written on it, word for word.
He recalled what had been written on it.
< Grade 1 ability user Kim Rok Soo. >
An opportunity to decide given by a god.
Cale had thought that the original world it was talking about was his life as the 36 years old Kim Rok Soo.
However, right now, on November 8th…
At this exact moment…
“Or will you die in this world?”
This world was Kim Rok Soo's world.
That meant the original world was talking about Cale Henituse’s world.
Cale started to laugh even though he was in pain and asked a question.
“God. You must have seen me die today.”
The future that the God of Death could see was the date of a person's death.
The god laughed as he responded.
Cale had debated about it for a long time.
What could the God of Death have been trying to tell him?
Why did he randomly tell him to pick a world?
One of the two would die.
He then had a thought.
Wouldn't the God of Death only be able to give him an opportunity to decide when he was in front of the crossroads of death?
In that case, was this the God of Death giving him a hint?
‘I don’t know if that hint will be beneficial to me or not.’
Choi Han had said something when he came over to this world.
‘Miss Cage said that the God of Death needed to make a sacrifice as well. This god is strong even if he is sealed, so the God of Death had to pay a steep price to meddle in that god’s test. Don’t hate the God of Death too much. That is what Miss Cage said.’
The God of Death had to pay a price to send Choi Han here to help Cale.
The god asked once again.
Cale continued to smile through the pain.
Today was the day that one of his two identities would die.
“Of course, I prepared for it.”
***
“What?”
Alberu Crossman jumped up from his seat.
Tasha's face looked urgent. The Vampire, Duke Fredo, was standing next to her with a frown on his face.
“What did he say?”
Tasha immediately answered Alberu’s question.
She continued to speak.
***
The God of Death asked Cale once more.
The corners of Cale’s lips twisted up.
“But you see…”
November 8th.
That day was not the same.
“This place and that place are not having the same November 8th right now.”
“Don’t you know about that as well?”
The god ended up laughing out loud.
The god admitted that Cale was skilled.
The today here was not the same as the today there.
The time in Cale Henituse's world was about three times as fast as this world.
The God of Death sounded happy as he asked.
Cale responded while smiling.
“It was written on your letter.”
The God of Death had clearly written it on the letter that told Cale that he had an opportunity to decide.
< Kim Rok Soo. >
< You were the one who was supposed to die. >
< Yes, you were the one who was supposed to die. >
< However, the world’s laws and coincidences… Humans are one of the few existences who can destroy all of those things. >
< The people who tried to save you broke the law that said that you were supposed to die. >
< That is why I respect and admire humans. >
The God of Death had said that he respects and admires humans who broke the world’s laws and coincidences.
< You learned many things from those people and put those lessons to use in your life. >
< I'm curious to see what your decision will be. >
The God of Death had already given Cale the answer in advance.
Cale responded to the gods who were bound to be watching him from who knows where.
‘I don’t trust the sealed god and I don't trust the God of Death either.’
What he did trust was…
“I trust my friends and I trust myself.”
The God of Death responded as if he was truly happy.
The god mischievously asked.
Cale mischievously answered back.
“Of course.”
***
Alberu turned away for a moment after seeing Tasha's anxious face.
He looked toward the couch that was past the table with the video communication device.
People he could call his companions were all there.
Raon, Rosalyn, Mary, Ron, Beacrox, Lock, Cage, etc were all sitting on the couch looking at him.
Alberu looked back at them as he recalled what had happened a few days ago.
It was a short conversation that took place when even Choi Han was not around and it was just Cale and Alberu.
‘Your highness, if I am unable to return by November 7th…’
Alberu looked toward the clock.
The current time was November 8th at 12:00am.
Cale had said the following.
If he was unable to return by November 7th…
‘For about a day.’
Actually, for exactly a day…
‘Please keep me alive.’
Alberu had felt his heart sink when he heard Cale calmly tell him that.
He had turned toward Cale who was caressing his mane at the time.
‘…What do you mean by that?’
He asked that question, but was looking for an answer on his own as well.
November 8th was the day they were supposed to catch the unranked monster if things went according to plan. But a variable must have come up if that failed.
That was why Alberu thought that Cale was asking him to be the Dark Tiger and support him to deal with the fall out of that variable.
‘You want to fight together?’
Alberu had asked while being slightly concerned.
‘Yes, your highness. Let’s fight together.’
Cale had continued to calmly respond and caress Alberu's mane.
Cale’s hand appeared and disappeared over and over as he caressed the Dark Tiger's abundant black mane.
Cale had started at some point to caress Alberu’s mane whenever he had the time.
‘Dongsaeng, why do you need to be so serious to ask me to fight together?’
‘I guess you’re right.’
‘Hmm?’
Alberu had flinched internally at that moment.
Cale had pretended to caress his mane while writing with his finger that could not be seen.
His movements were very stealthy, as if he could not let someone see it. Alberu saw that Cale's face was completely calm, as if he was not doing anything.
Cale was stealthily writing on the skin underneath the Dark Tiger’s mane while standing there with a calm expression on his face.
< In different places. >
Let’s fight together in different places.
Alberu had barely managed to keep his expression from changing.
He was acting stealthily. He knew that he had to do so since he saw how Cale was moving so that nobody could see what he was doing.
Cale was only telling Alberu about this.
He continued to leisurely caress the mane again, as if he never did anything else, before he continued to speak.
‘We need to all survive. Everybody should survive without dying.’
Cale’s hand that was hidden underneath the mane again stealthily wrote something else.
< Definitely. >
Everybody must definitely survive and not die.
Alberu gave a short response to everything Cale had just asked.
‘Let’s make sure to fight together.’
Cale had then laughed, as if he was very happy.
That had happened a few days ago.
Alberu snapped out of his thoughts and started to speak.
Although they were in different places…
‘Today, we will fight together.’
“We only have one goal.”
All of his companions looked toward Alberu.
Alberu was speaking not as the crown prince, but as Cale Henituse's sworn brother today.
“We will definitely keep Cale Henituse alive for the whole day.”
Alberu, who was wearing his armor, picked up his helmet.
“We will also not die either.”
In the quiet area where nobody was saying anything…
Alberu asked his companions a question.
“Do you understand?”
Their gazes had already given him their responses.
***
Cale grabbed Choi Han's shoulder as he was being supported.
Choi Han would not have heard the gods’ voices, but he would have heard everything Cale had said. He was the person Cale could trust the most right now.
On top of the quiet watchtower now that the God of Death's voice was gone…
“Choi Han.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
"Do you see that?”
In the distance…
They could see something large approaching them through the fog with its head up.
“Yes, I can see it.”
The yellow head had shown itself once again.
Beeeeeeeeep- Beeeeeeeeeeeep-
An alarm echoed throughout the castle, breaking the night of rest at the Seomyeon shelter.
“Choi Han.”
“Yes, hyung-nim.”
“Until 8 am…”
A day for Cale Henituse would be about 8-10 hours for Kim Rok Soo.
“Keeping everybody here alive. That is my goal.”
Choi Han looked at his shoulder.
Cale's voice was calm, but his hand that was on Choi Han’s shoulder was still shaking quite a bit.
‘The pain is still there.’
Cale was barely keeping himself together with his amazing perseverance.
Choi Han knew that was it.
That was why he pushed aside the things that Cale had said into the air, most likely to the gods, to a corner of his mind.
He then focused on what he needed to do.
He grabbed Cale’s shoulder to support him as he responded.
“I will be with you.”
Cale started to smile again.
“Good. Let’s do this.”
It would be an extremely blood-drying 8 hours, but…
It was worth trying.