May Soul Dissonance Bow Before Me

Chapter 5

"I plan on living the rest of my life in this body. That's why I plan on throwing away the name of Cale Henituse and living as Kim Rok Soo."

This time the TBOAH!Henituse Family as well as the TCF!Henituse Family flinched. However their reasons for doing so were vastly different. TBOAH!Henituse Family know that after their death Kim Rok Soo had no one left in his life as TBOAH!Cale, while on the other hand the TCF!Henituse Family only knew that TBOAH!Cale had almost been killed by White Star and had thus made a deal with the God of Death.

When Cale had confessed and told them that he was a transmigrator and not their real son, he had purposely left out the detail that in the future before his transmigration their TBOAH!Cale had been all alone because they were already dead - he didn't want to burden them with that guilt and grief and as such had chosen not to tell them. It occurred to him that now they would find out about it, however he decided this was probably for the best, since Rok Soo was here to comfort them as well.

The real Cale Henituse's eyes were calm. They weren't shaking at all.
The real Kim Rok Soo quietly looked at the person who was in his real body before opening his mouth.
"...So you want me to call you Kim Rok Soo?"
"That's right. Why? You don't want to? Don't you plan on finishing your life as Cale Henituse as well? Then you should throw away the name of Kim Rok Soo now."
"Pffft."
Kim Rok Soo inside Cale Henituse's body... No, the person who had made up his mind to become Cale Henituse nodded his head and continued speaking.
"Sure. We'll do as you said, Kim Rok Soo."
"Good, Cale Henituse. Now our outer appearances match our names."

Cale, Rok Soo, and Grigori purposely ignored the subtle sighs of relief that were heard from the TCF!World side.

Cale looked at Kim Rok Soo, who was laughing and making gestures that he would never have made, and nonchalantly added on.
"I guess you've really been happy."
Kim Rok Soo had a bright smile that suited a twenty-year-old person and not someone in his mid-thirties.

"You're off by ten years there..." Kim Rok Soo snickers quietly toward Cale and Cale huffs out a sound of feigned annoyance and rolls his eyes - deciding to ignore Rok Soo's baiting.

"Yeah. I met someone I wanted to see for a long time."
Cale felt quite odd facing Kim Rok Soo, who was smiling in a way he had never smiled when he had been Kim Rok Soo.
"Who was the person you wanted to see?"
"My mother."

Once again, many members of the audience jolt in surprise at this. Grigori smiles to herself and keeps her gaze upon the Palantír as it continues. The other's also soon lean in with interest and some even feel happy that Kim Rok Soo received a reward for the sacrifice he'd made. TCF!Henituse Family nodded at these sentiments as well - they were glad that their son was living happily even if it was in another world with someone he loved.

Cale was at a loss for words.
It was someone who had felt distant to Cale because she was not mentioned much in < The Birth of a Hero >. Duchess Violan felt more like a mother to him.

TCF!Violan felt her heart flutter with delight and her soft and subtle smile made the piercing stare she was receiving from her counterpart - the TBOAH!Violan - lose much of it's sting. TCF!Violan couldn't understand why TBOAH!Violan was glaring at her so fiercely, but she decided to do like Cale and just ignore it, since it felt harmless.

Now that he thought about it, Cale had never heard anything about Cale Henituse's birth mother during his time at the Henituse Estate.
It was pretty much taboo to talk about Cale's birth mother in that house.
Kim Rok Soo shrugged his shoulders and continued speaking after seeing the confused look on Cale's face.

"Cale Henituse, my mother reincarnated in the world you used to live in, the world I live in now."
"...She reincarnated on Earth?"
"Yeah. Earth 1. That's the world Team Leader Kim Rok Soo in his thirties is in."
Cale learned that his original world was Earth 1. He also recalled that Alberu's Unbreakable Spear Taerang came from Earth 3.
'Does that mean that the sealed god's test was on Earth 2?'

"What sealed god's test?" Kim Rok Soo rumbled with an expression of sharp concern.
"What's Taerang?" TBOAH!Alberu questioned urgently.
"You've been to other Earths?!" TBOAH!Choi Han demanded with an aggressively reckless glare that made Grigori frown slightly.

"Calm down everyone... All will be explained in due time." She assured them, and everyone obediently settled down. They were all completely unaware that Grigori was using a great amount of her divine power to keep the TBOAH!World counterparts as calm and as docile as possible. Once everyone settled down, Naur continued his narration.

Cale pushed that potentially true but unverified thought to the side to focus on Kim Rok Soo's words.
"My reincarnated mother lost her parents when she was very young because of an unranked monster's attack and was left all alone. I'm trying hard to become her family."
A bitter yet proud smile was on Kim Rok Soo's face. Cale thought for a moment before asking.
"If she reincarnated, she should be younger than you, no?"
"Ha. She currently calls me uncle."

These words spoken in the voices of Kim Rok Soo and Cale respectively cause several people to chuckle lightly in amicable amusement, but no one spoke, so the record went on without stopping.

Kim Rok Soo shook his head as if he still couldn't believe it.
But the fact that he did not seem lonely made Cale understand why the real Cale Henituse made up his mind to live as Kim Rok Soo.
Kim Rok Soo sat up and looked toward Cale, who was leaning on the head of the bed.
"I want to tell you the details, but I don't know how much time we have so I'll stop this story there."
"Okay."
Cale shared his honest sentiments.
"I want to hear the details, but I'm kind of in a rush right now."
He was worried about what might have happened in Puzzle City and how his friends would be fighting while he was unconscious.

"Ahhh... so this happened not too long before the end, huh?" TCF!Bud mused softly and in response Cale and Rok Soo both nodded without looking toward the Mercenary King.

"...The family is all well?"
"Of course."
Kim Rok Soo smiled differently after hearing Cale's nonchalant but firm response. His sorrowful smile made Cale a bit emotional.
That was why he added on.
"Everybody is doing well. Father and mother are healthy. Lily is learning to use the sword. I want to make Basen be the territory Lord. But for now, he is just helping out with the administration of the territory."
"Cale, don't you think that Basen should be the next territory lord?"
"I'm not going to do it. Lily or Basen can do it if they want. Basen seemed almost willing to do it when I saw him last time."

Cale looked disgusted at the thought of becoming the territory lord, and Kim Rok Soo looked at Cale Henituse's expression that he would have never made if he was still in his body and started to speak again.
"His personality is a perfect fit for the territory lord. I guess he still doesn't think that the position should be his though."

Cale stared at Kim Rok Soo when he heard that.
Kim Rok Soo flinched before realizing something and quietly laughing.
"Basen... Yes, you're curious about Basen, right? You've probably been thinking about his age. We're only three years apart. You probably thought it was weird. It wasn't mentioned in The Birth of a Hero after all." '
"The Birth of a Hero? You know about the book?"

"Excuse me, Goddess Grigori-nim... Would it be correct to say that this reference to 'The Birth of a Hero' is the book that Teacher read before his transmigration?" TCF!Dodori asked, unable to hold in his curiosity.