Chapter Text
Cale didn’t know how he had ended up in this situation, but it happened—he had arrived in another world, or more precisely, a parallel universe. Considering the fact that his hands were currently tied to the head of Emperor Alberu’s bed—and the fact that Alberu was a crown prince and not a king—it gave Cale an indication that this was not his universe.
“My crimson treasure, how long I’ve waited for you to come to me,” the fake Alberu said. Well, he’d call him King Alberu to distinguish him from his hyung.
Is he really as beautiful as his hyung? He definitely wasn’t. But Cale was under pressure—he couldn’t hear the voices of his ancient powers, and the fact that his hands were tied to the edge of the bed, his legs bound to two different corners of it, and that he was currently wearing a robe didn’t help the terrible helplessness he felt right now.
Why in this world did this fake Alberu have such tendencies? He could almost taste the betrayal he felt, and at the same time, he thought about how his Alberu (his?) would never even dare to think about this, let alone touch him without permission.
“What do you want from me?” Cale asked, even though he was angry at himself for the slight tremor in his voice that let his enemy see it.
The fake Alberu only stepped closer and gently caressed Cale’s cheek as if Cale were a delicate ruby, before gripping his face tightly—so tightly Cale was sure it would leave a mark on his sensitive skin—and kissed him forcefully, his tongue invading. Cale tried to move and fight back, but the chains—he was sure they were blocking his ancient powers—stopped him.
The fake Alberu chuckled and bit Cale’s lips, then moved to his neck, continuing to kiss it harshly.
“Ah—” Cale’s eyes widened as he felt the fake Alberu bite him, letting out a small cry before quickly shutting his mouth, unwilling to give the stranger in front of him the satisfaction of thinking he enjoyed it. A tear slipped from Cale’s eye.
“Don’t worry, my ruby, we’re only just beginning, right?” The first part Alberu said to Cale, and the second—to a strange presence behind him. Cale’s eyes turned dull when he realized that the one who had been watching all this time was one of the only people he had been able to trust—his knight, Choi Han.
Cale closed his eyes as the fake Choi Han joined in.
(I’m really not writing what happens next, but you can clearly understand what’s going on. Sorry, Cale ☹)
After what felt like eternity, Cale regained consciousness, his entire body aching terribly. His back hurt so much, and he felt… not himself at all, as if he had been violated, as if someone had used his body before his very eyes. He stopped the tears—he couldn’t let them see any more of his weakness.
He realized he was alone in the room. He was still tied to the bed, but it seemed someone had cleaned him, considering he was now wearing a different robe.
—Cale!!— Super Rock shouted suddenly. Cale almost wanted to cry in relief.
—We’ll kill them, we’ll destroy the world and ******!!!— the Sky-Eating Water shouted and cursed.
—‘sob’ sob… Cale, are you okay?— the Crybaby cried and asked about Cale’s condition, who had clearly gone through trauma.
All the ancient powers fell silent, as if they first wanted to know about Cale’s physical and mental state.
“Mm…” Cale couldn’t get a sound out. It hurt too much, and he was terrified that if he spoke, he would break. The memories of the night began to replay—‘Record’ had captured everything and played it again and again—but first, he had to get out of this place.
“Help me.” Cale hated how pathetic and pitiful he sounded, but the ancient powers didn’t comment on it—they simply freed him from the chains.
.........
“Choi Haaaan, we need to keep searching for our human!!” Raon shouted as he landed on Choi Han’s shoulder, starting to complain. Even though only two days had passed since Cale disappeared, they hadn’t stopped searching for him. Then, a few hours ago, Cage had arrived at Super Rock Villa in a hurry and said they had to bring Cale back immediately.
She gave Choi Han the God of Death’s book so he could speak with him. There, the God of Death explained that an external force had kidnapped Cale and placed him in a cruel universe where Cale was the villain that the “heroes defeated years ago.” The God of Death was afraid of what they would do if they caught him, because the heroes in that world weren’t necessarily good people.
Which brings us to Choi Han and Raon, who had snuck into that parallel world and were now on their way to the borders of the Roan Kingdom.
Boom
“Choi Han, that’s our human!” Raon shouted, and Choi Han was already running toward the explosion. It looked like the parallel version of Crown Prince Alberu’s palace had just exploded in pink and golden lightning and flames.
“Our human?!” Raon suddenly stopped Choi Han from continuing to run. Choi Han looked to where Raon was pointing—and there was Cale, the most important person to Choi Han, and he looked terrible.
His long, beautiful red hair was now messy. His skin had turned even paler than before, and there were hand-shaped bruises on him, as if someone had held him tightly. He was wearing a nearly transparent white robe, and his entire body was covered in red and purple marks. But the worst thing was his eyes—his eyes were red, as if he had been holding back tears for a long time. Choi Han hated it. Cale was clearly afraid of him.
But Choi Han didn’t have time to react before Cale lost consciousness. He caught him before he fell, and he hated so much the fact that Cale had clearly flinched away from his touch before completely passing out.
......
“Come on, hurry!” Cage, extremely anxious, was inside the Temple of the God of Death. She was waiting for Choi Han to bring their young master back home. She hadn’t had time to warn the others, which meant everyone was still searching for Cale.
Suddenly, the summoning circle glowed black with an aura of death, and Cage saw Choi Han and Raon, who looked very worried—and someone wrapped in Choi Han’s black cloak, whom Choi Han was currently carrying in a princess hold. Cage sighed in relief when she saw a bit of Cale’s beautiful hair from within the cloak in Choi Han’s arms.
But her face quickly turned anxious again when she saw Choi Han’s expression turn cold and dark, as if he wanted to kill someone right now.
“Raon, teleport us to Super Rock Villa!” Choi Han shouted. Raon said nothing and simply did as Choi Han said, and just like that, they disappeared—leaving Cage alone in the temple without any explanation.
Cage was extremely worried. She had never heard the God of Death so anxious and concerned before.
....
Meanwhile, at Super Rock Villa—
“Update me immediately the moment you find Cale!” Crown Prince Alberu was currently on the video device, speaking with Rosalyn the mage, who had stayed at the villa along with Vicross and Lock, while the rest of the residents and Cale’s companions searched for him like mad.
They had been in the middle of a battle against the “arm” when Cale simply disappeared as if he had never existed, and it drove them insane. No matter how much they tortured the “arm” members they had captured in the fight, they couldn’t tell them where their young master was.
Suddenly, Rosalyn jumped. She immediately felt the presence of Raon and Choi Han—and of course, their young master—and ran straight to the living room. Raon immediately leapt into her arms and started crying.
“Rosal—Rosalyn the Great, I don’t know what happened to our human, but Choi Han won’t let me see him, but he was covered in red and purple marks. I don’t know what it means, but it has to be bad, right?!”
Raon cried harder in Rosalyn’s arms, and she flinched. What Raon was describing—no, there was no way that was happening right now! Not to Cale, not to someone she saw as a little brother. It couldn’t be! Maybe Raon was mistaken?
But one look at Choi Han’s face made her realize she was completely wrong. It had happened—and there was nothing they could do to undo it.
She held herself back from crying when she suddenly saw Eruhaben and Ron rush in through another teleportation circle, running toward Cale. Ron immediately took Cale from Choi Han without a word and ran to the bathroom, Eruhaben following right behind him.
“What happened?” she asked hoarsely, and Choi Han told her what he had seen.
“Oh no… not Cale…” She immediately sat back down in her chair, looking at Choi Han, who was clearly on the verge of committing murder.
“Who was it?” she asked.
“I don’t know. But when I see them, they’ll beg to be dead.” That was the only answer Choi Han gave her.
………
Consciousness came back to Cale slowly. He felt something warm yet liquid around his body and realized it was the scent of his soap—he was in a bath.
He was naked! Someone was touching him!
He immediately jumped away from the arms that had been washing him and raised a water spear with the help of the Sky-Eating Water, launching it at whoever had touched him—without identification and without warning.
But the spear was quickly deflected by a mana shield. His vision cleared, and he saw Ron Molan, his servant, and Eruhaben, the ancient dragon—two beings strong enough to kill him easily.
He didn’t like this. He needed to get out of here! He didn’t care that they were looking at him with pity and concern.
He saw a robe to the side and felt relief that it was brown. He immediately wrapped himself in it and fled using the sound of the wind, leaving the two behind, soaked in water.
“Young master,” Ron said immediately, dropping his noble mask. Together with the ancient dragon, they began to follow Cale—but clearly moved calmly, as if they didn’t want to stress him more than he already was.
Cale reached his room on the fifth floor of Super Rock Villa and entered his private bathroom, locking the door behind him and, just to be safe, placing a small shield on the handle.
He walked to the mirror, looked at himself—and felt nauseous.
He looked disgusting. His entire body was covered in red and purple marks that hurt terribly. Around his neck, aside from the marks, there were signs of choking. It looked like someone had slapped his face. His eyes were still red, and his back still hurt badly.
Why am I not healing?! he thought to himself.
—I’m sorry, Cale… it feels like someone sealed me. I think I’ll only be able to return to full power in a few days… I’m sorry—
Cale ignored the crying, apologetic voice and leaned against the floor, placing his hands over his face.
“How did this happen to me? Please, why can’t I forget this?” he screamed in his mind, as if someone could hear him.
I’m pathetic and weak.
Choi Jung Soo, Team Leader Lee Soo Hyuk… are you disappointed in me?
Cale didn’t notice that he was starting to hurt himself by gripping his arms too tightly. He definitely didn’t notice that he was clearly crying and trembling.
“Young master, this Ron here only wishes to speak. May I come in?” Who knew Ron could sound so gentle?
Cale didn’t want anyone to see him like this! No! They had probably already seen him like this—they must have been disgusted—they would leave him like everyone else and—
Cale definitely didn’t notice that he was having a panic attack. He also didn’t notice that Ron had entered without touching him, trying instead to get Cale to breathe.
“Young master… may I please touch you?” Cale heard so many voices right now, but he also heard Ron’s. Would Ron assassinate him if he refused?
“Y-yes…” he stammered, clearly trembling. Was what he was feeling now… fear?
“Everything will be alright, young master. You are safe. Please drink this.” Ron handed him an especially high-grade healing potion, likely having noticed that he wasn’t healing on his own.
Cale immediately took it and drank it all—but no matter how many times he looked at himself, nothing healed.
Why?
—Cale—
—I think it’s because you received those injuries from another universe. A healing potion won’t help—
—Those sons of b****—
“May I help you put on pajamas?” Ron asked again calmly, though there was clear concern in his voice.
Cale nodded. Ron helped him up from the bathroom floor and helped him put on simple blue pajamas, thick and warm.
“Who did this?”
Cale didn’t answer. He looked ashamed of himself.
“Cale, I came as fast as I could. Are you okay?” Alberu Crossman’s unusually informal voice came from beyond the door.
“Cale-nim, are you alright? I just want to make sure you’re still here.” Choi Han’s voice appeared as well beside Alberu’s.
Ron immediately flinched when he saw Cale’s eyes widen. He was clearly afraid—he was breathing heavily, crying openly—and Ron simply let Cale hug him. Cale cried into his arms, and Ron’s eyes turned cold.
It seemed like they had rabbits to catch.
From what he knew from Miss Cage, Cale had been kidnapped to a parallel world. How could he punish people from another universe?
For now, he had another mission—and it was the most important one: to take care of his son—meaning, his young master.
He gently stroked Cale’s head as he continued crying in his arms, until he felt Cale lose consciousness again. Ron lifted Cale’s body—far too light—and placed him on his bed, covering him with a warm blanket before leaving the room. His young master would probably panic if he realized someone was watching him sleep.