Getting You Back (And Closer)

Ch. 5 - His Back

"I'm alright."

Cale Henituse calmly spoke to the children averaging 11 years old on his lap who were looking up at him with concern.

"Tch."

Ancient Dragon Eruhaben sat beside them on the bed.

He had been there since Cale woke up, but had not left since Cale didn't seem to mind.

'Scary.. why is he glaring at me like this!?'

Cale felt threatened and decided not to say anything since Eruhaben seemed to be in a bad mood.

Eruhaben gave off an aggressive energy as if he were defending his own lair. 

Cale tried scooting away earlier, but the drop in atmosphere changed his mind.

Ron stood at the other side of his bed with a benign smile and tea.

The corner of Cale's mouth turned down.

'Am I being held captive again? What's with everyone?'

-Sigh..

-Cale, you really..

His ancient powers seemed to be shaking their heads.

This only made Cale frown more.

"Human, you're-!

Raon paused and lowered his voice.

"You're frowning, does something hurt?"

Choi Han warned everyone that it would probably be best to lower the volume around Cale for the time being, along with a list of other things they could do to help him be more comfortable.

"Mm."

Cale thought about it for a moment.

Parts of his body felt rubbery, as if they didn't belong.

Upon further analysis, he deducted it was not a physical problem but a mental concern.

When he lived his life as Kim Rok Soo he had times where parts of his body felt unnatural after using his ability 'instant' or falling asleep on his arm, although never to this extent.

It felt like he had lost pieces of his body and regrew them, and now he was adjusting to the filled empty space.

-...

After thinking some more, he decided to give them his honest response.

"I'm fine."

Eruhaben thumped the back of his head against the headrest.

The children's mouths opened and closed, wanting to say something but unsure of how to get through to their dense human.

Ron sent the tea down with a passive aggressive clack.

'Seriously, what's with them?'

He was slightly embarrassed from the previous night.

All of his life, whether as Kim Rok Soo or Cale Henituse, he was labeled as an apathetic or emotionless figure.

He never really bothered to correct anyone since they weren't entirely wrong. 

He thought it was better for them to think of him that way, so in case anything were to ever happen at least one thing would be stationary.

It made it easy for people to blame him; a scapegoat.

Even in the end, he found it too bothersome to refute and eventually settled with the emotionless front.