Chapter Text
It was a day like any other, Kim Rok Soo was once again getting off of work late because he stayed to finish his work completely, actually, not just his work but also incredibly important papers for his company. But, contrary to usual, this day was a little bit special, since it was his last before his paid vacation.
He took a day off of work to read a novel that was recommended to him a long while ago. He had never had the chance to read it though, as he worked pretty much every single day, even on weekends and holidays.
Letting out a tired sigh, Kim Rok Soo shut down the computer in front of him, then readied his briefcase and finally got off work. It was a cold winter day, it was early November. Now that he was thinking about it, today was the 7th, which would mean that tomorrow would also be Choi Jung Soo´s birthday…and his.
Kim Rok Soo let out a deep breath as memories of his dead friend began to resurface. That´s right, Choi Jung Soo was dead and he died to protect Kim Rok Soo. It was quite the irony. If Choi Jung Soo hadn’t died, the company the both of them worked for would be so much better right now, especially since if Choi Jung Soo had stayed alive, Lee Soo Hyuk would have too.
Kim Rok Soo couldn’t even do half of what the both of them were able to. The only thing he was somewhat good at was paperwork. Naturally, it was only him who was thinking that way. Truth to be told, Kim Rok Soo was an employee who could not even be replaced by a hundred people. He was exceptional in anything he did, he it paperwork or field operations.
The only downside of him was that he came off as cold, emotionless and strict – someone whom the other employees would naturally want to avoid. He was the team leader of team 1 and a very good man, though he didn’t think so himself.
In his eyes, he was akin to trash, who let his new family die for his sake. He blamed himself for Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo´s deaths. It was because he had miscalculated a few things back then, which lead to his family´s deaths.
In this strange world in which Kim Rok Soo was living in, where everything had gone to shit, a single mistake, be it as little as alf a pea, could be responsible for the deaths of thousands if not millions. While humanity had already started to take back the world, the many monsters, especially the Grade 1 ones, could not be defeated that easily. There was bound to come a time where another apocalypse would come – and Kim Rok Soo had no doubt that the second one would be even worse than the first one.
The man finally arrived at the outskirts of Seoul, the place where he lived at. While the city was already restored quite a bit and looked almost the same as before the apocalypse and monster invasion, the outskirts hadn’t been restored yet. There were many reasons for that: First of all, the city had little to no money, and that money could not be spent foolishly.
Since there were only very few people who lived in the outskirts, that kind of investment wouldn’t pay off. Still, Kim Rok Soo wouldn’t want to move anywhere else other than here. It was already night-time and he couldn’t see anything in the dark. The man shook his head as he walked like he was used to.
His little house was a run-down shed that could hardly be described as a house. While it was built with bricks, it still looked like it could break at any moment. Still, it was Kim Rok Soo´s home and had anything that the man needed. It wasn’t all too little as well. It was big enough to have two rooms, a bathroom and even a separate kitchen.
While that didn’t sound big at all, other apartments nowadays hardly ever had two rooms and a separate kitchen, so having this little place was somewhat of a luxury to Kim Rok Soo. The place had no heater, but the team leader owned enough blankets not to get cold.
Kim Rok Soo entered his house and quickly took off his shoes. There was something akin to a carpet lying on the floor, which was actually just a thick piece of fabric. A carpet was too expensive to invest in, in Kim Rok Soo´s opinion. While he had lots of money, he didn’t want to spend any as he was saving for his slacker life. Therefore, he also lived a very minimalistic life.
The man sat down on the old couch that he once found in an abandoned building and decided to bring home. Finder´s keeper, wasn’t that right? The couch was very comfortable compared to his office chair and old matrass bed. Kim Rok Soo then proceeded with his plans and took one of the five books lying on his table.
It was the first five volumes of the story ´The Birth of a Hero´ which was recommended to him by his old friend Choi Jung Soo. It´s been such a long while since Choi Jung Soo had entered the office with a bright smile plastered on his face and excitement in his eyes. He had then talked about the new book he had stumbled on and recommended it to Kim Rok Soo to read. Naturally, the thirty-six year old hadn’t been able to do so yet because he had always been working.
Actually, he would still have come to work tomorrow, wasn’t it for his subordinated forcing him to take the day off. Well, not that it really mattered.
“Let´s get started.”
Kim Rok Soo nodded to himself, quite proud of what he was about to do. He planned to get through all of these five books before falling asleep and reading the other ones during his day off. Well, the story consisted of fifteen books, so it would be best to do it like this. And with his ´Record´ ability, he had even more advantages, though he didn’t like skimming through novels at all.
Hence, he began his reading journey.
A journey which would become his first step into a newfound horror for him – well, at least at first glance.
~
At another place no living or dead being that wasn’t a divine species had access to, an ascended being let out a sigh. It was, naturally, one of the many gods overlooking the many earths. The god who was responsible for all living beings, for life in short, could not believe what she was witnessing.
One of her children was not just cursed, but also about to be transferred to another world he did not belong to. While she did not know many things, she did know that the world he was about to be transferred to was bound to be destroyed. Unable to keep her calm any longer, after all she had to endure so many things and let this child suffer; she jumped up from her chair and exited her vast room.
She had long, ginger hair that had a similar color to copper and amber colored eyes that looked just like the stone. She had light and pale skin but still maintained her rose colored cheeks and nose. She was very beautiful, gorgeous even, and the ruby, somewhat exposing dress did not help hide her sexy side which showed more than a certain innocence than could be seen in her eyes.
The golden high heels she was wearing were sounding loudly through the marble floor she was walking on. The people who were no simple beings but either other gods or a god´s helping hand, quickly hid themselves and made place of her to pass through.
The God of Life – that was who the woman was.
She was no simple god, and even though she wore such revealing clothes, she would rather stay in her chambers for herself and not leave until it was incredibly important. That was why she wasn’t seen often in the divine space, but when she was, she had no time for chitty chat whatsoever.
The people, who made room for her to pass through, stopped in their tracks and turned around to look after her, admiring her beauty.
But the God of Life ignored them. She had a single target in mind, and nothing in existence would be able to stop her. She was one of the most powerful gods up here, after all, and it wasn’t for nothing. The God of Life who was just as important as the God of Death and God of Time and Space did not fear any other god. It was for that very reason that none of the three of them was more powerful than the other.
Finally arriving at her destination, the God of Life swiftly opened the closed doors to the Korean looking office. She hated the interior design just as much as she hated the man residing in it. There he sat, on a comfortable chair while going through files lying on his desk.
His white hair, that didn’t match the dark skin and black eyes, looked amess, like it did usually. The God of Death looked just like she had remembered him, which fueled her hatred for him even more.
Contrary to many beliefs, the two of them didn’t hate each other because their tasks were complete opposites. It was the opposite; it was the one thing the two of them respected about each other: the God of Life created existences which the God of Death led to their next life – it was their task as gods.
Their hatred arose because of the God of Death´s continuous meddling with the worlds. At first, it was just one time, a misstep he accidentally did to save the world: it was when he transferred Choi Jung Gun to another world where he then became Nelan Barrow. Choi Jung Gun, back when the God of Life had created him, she decided to give him a wonderful fate with little difficulties in his life. There were rarely any human beings she decided to give such a thing to, and Choi Jung Gun just happened to be one of them.
Yet, before he turned twenty – the time where he´d meet his soul mate, the love of his life, the woman who was supposed to give birth to his two daughters and spend the rest of their lives together until both of them died at the same time so that none of them would have to grieve the loss of the other one – the God of Death brought him to another world where his life became filled with sorrow and despair. Back then, she had hated the God of Death for breaking the laws of the gods just to save a world that had been destined to die, just because he originated from there!
But she forgave him. She forgave him, and let him be. But then, he had to meddle with that very world again and again. And it went as far as to meddle with Choi Jung Gun´s family, his relative Choi Han. He was the human whom the God of Life decided to give Choi Jung Gun´s fate to – he was supposed to meet a nice girl on his eighteenth birthday and it´d be love at first sight. He saved her from killing herself because she was ugly, but to him, she was the most beautiful being on the planet, someone he´d kill and die for. They were then supposed to live happily ever after, having two sons and a daughter as well as a dog. Yet, the God of Death meddled with Choi Han´s life a month before he could meet the girl who then died instead of having a great life that she deserved.
But the God of Life forgave him once again. It was because she didn’t think it would happen a third time. The years passed, and she decided to create a human being with the best life possible, until the apocalypse hit at least. Kim Rok Soo was supposed to be that human. His parents were supposed to live long lives and survive the apocalypse with him, develop the most unique abilities and give him unending mental strength. While his uncle was a bastard, he wasn’t supposed to ever meet him as his fate had been to die in a car accident. Kim Rok Soo was supposed to get a little sister by the time he turned seven and he was supposed to meet a handsome man in the apocalypse. They would fall in love, marry and survive together. He was supposed to lose not a single thing in his life and become the happiest human in that ugly apocalypse with special grade abilities.
Yet, that wasn’t the case.
The God of Death´s curse that was put on the White Star´s copycat in the world the God of Death was trying to save so badly, that very curse got on Kim Rok Soo and caused him to lose all of his blessings which the God of Life so carefully put on him. He lost his parents at a time he wouldn’t be able to remember their faces in a car accident – the very car accident that was supposed to take his uncle´s life. He was then forced to live with that very man who was a monster with human´s skin. He lost anyone he loved and didn’t even have time to develop romantic feelings for his supposedly soulmate.
His fate was by far the worst out of everyone.
That was also the first time the God of Life got herself involved in mortal matters as she did her best to stabilize the curse. It wasn’t as strong as it had been, but he´d still lose anyone he lost, yet it was better than before, where he lost anyone he even liked. And Kim Rok Soo was unable to love anyone ever again – at least both he and the God of Life thought so.
And now, now that he was supposed to live the rest of his life in peace and attain his dearest slacker life in his mid-forties, the God of Death meddled with his fate again? That bastard dared to do that?
The God of Life could not leave him be. She simply couldn’t. Kim Rok Soo, that one child, he was special, more special than any of her previous creations. It was because he was a child who defied fate. Back then, when the curse of the God of Death had been active, when he, Choi Jung Soo and Lee Soo Hyuk had been fighting against that unranked monster and Kim Rok Soo miscalculated, that was the time he had been supposed to die. But both Lee Soo Hyuk and Choi Jung Soo had given their best to let him continue his life.
And Kim Rok Soo had gone through enough hardships. He was merely eight years away from his slacker life, and now the God of Death meddled with him again? For what, his original world? It was worth nothing to the God of Life who prioritized her creations. The many different worlds had been there before the gods, and each one of them had a time limit. The time of the world the God of Death came from was already up. Saving that world would mean defying the laws of the universe. It would be absolutely impossible!
The God of Death looked up, a strange and unusually serious expression on his face for once. He frowned upon laying eyes on the God of Life standing in his office. He let out a sigh and shook his head, which made the God of Life return to the here and now.
“You son of a bitch-!”
The God of Life approached the God of Death rather quickly and elegantly in those high heels of hers. She then hit the god´s desk with her powerful fist, breaking it immediately. Naturally, that had been her intention from the beginning.
The God of Death didn’t even look innocent, only a tired expression on his face. He looked like he didn’t even know what the word sleep meant, but the God of Life knew better than to worry about him. It was because the God of Death would always look like this, even if he had just slept and was full of energy.
“What is it now?”
The God of Death sounded annoyed but also a bit teasing, which got the God of Life only angrier.
“You know exactly what´s up, you motherfucker! You did it again! AGAIN! How often must you play around with my special children?!”
The God of Life wanted to cry, but not in front of that bastard, so she got angrier instead.
“My children are not tools for you to use to save that fucking world that was supposed to go to shit more than ten years ago! You bastard, how dare you first take Choi Jung Gun then Choi Han and now even Kim Rok Soo from me?!”
The God of Death stayed silent. He knew better than to respond – or rather interrupt – the God of Life´s little speech.
“No, it wasn’t enough that you just took first Choi Jung Gun and Choi Han, you even had my poor child Kim Rok Soo suffer his whole thirty-six years of living! He looks like a dead fish! He was supposed to live with his parents and Choi Jung Soo a happy life, but no, he´s lying on the shitty, ass cold floor of that run down shed! You took Choi Jung Gun from me, then Choi Han and now Kim Rok Soo as well?! Do you even have a brain?! You´re meddling with the mortal realm more than you should!”
Finally, the God of Life stopped talking, or rather shouting, and breathed in heavily. She was obviously out of breath after shouting for so long without a break. After a few moments, she cleared her throat, yet the betrayed and anger-filled gaze in her eyes didn’t disappear for a single second.
The God of Death was uncomfortable, but he knew better than feel sorry. He did what he had to do. It was because Kim Rok Soo was a variable not even the gods could tell what he would do. While the God of Life lived in the delusion that she still controlled that child´s fate, it was impossible. The God of Death knew that better than anyone else. How often had he been sent down to collect his soul and came back empty handed? It was even before the apocalypse and monster invasion that the child defied his fate.
He was the variable the God of Death had been looking for so desperately. And he was a child that had been blessed by the God of Life and hence was the only perfect choice to save the world he had come from. Now, he just needed to tell that to the God of Life.
“Listen, he won´t have a bad life.”
The God of Life snorted and shortly after broke out in laughter. It was because she didn’t believe the God of Death´s words. The latter sighed and shook his head.
“I made a deal with the God of Time and Space. He will exchange Kim Rok Soo´s soul with Cale Henituse´s. That means that he´ll be free of that curse you´ve been so mad about, isn’t that a good thing?”
The God of Life finally stopped laughing upon hearing the God of Time and Space´s name being mentioned and stared at the God of Death in shock. She stared at the God of Death, unable to hide her true emotions any longer, which were worry and sadness. The God of Death did feel sorry, but his world was simply more important to him that another god´s petty feelings. And wasn’t it like she could simply create another human with the same fate as Kim Rok Soo? Why was she cherishing so much? She didn’t make that big of a fuss even as he transmigrated Choi Jung Gun and Choi Han into his world.
“What on earth have you been drinking?”
The God of Death shrugged and pointed towards his coffee cup.
“Coffee that my left hand made?”
The God of Life rolled her eyes, still unable to hide her true emotions. But now there was also anger in there. Perhaps it was because the God of Death´s left hand man was actually one of her special creations, Choi Jung Soo. While he hadn’t been as special as the others, he had been the partner she chose for Kim Rok Soo to end up with – which naturally failed because of a certain, stupid ass god. Worst of it all was that he didn’t even know of that fate.
“Tsk, you´re the same dipshit as always, tell me, since when did you´ve got your head in your ass?”
The God of Death ignored the God of Life´s vulgar vocabulary and instead simply shrugged.
“Who knows? Anyways, you can´t change anything about this. The God of Time and Space agreed to help me, so just create another human with the same fate.”
The God of Life shook her head, her anger overtaking her once again. She was a bit of a…let´s just call it hothead.
“What did you just say?! Do you have any idea of how I create life? No? Then stay fucking silent!”
Her loud and angry voice still couldn’t hide the hurt she tried to hide in it. The God of Death sighed and got up from his chair.
“I don´t care about that, but what I do care about is the world I come from. And Kim Rok Soo is the only one who can save it. He is a variable, the only variable I know of. He is perfect because none of us can foretell what that child may do in the future.”
The God of Life stayed silent. It was because the God of Death was right. While she did know of Kim Rok Soo´s future, it wasn’t as clear as the others. The fact that she didn’t know that the God of Death would come along and transfer him to another world was the prime example. What she saw was just one of many possibilities of his future, the most probable one. Naturally, nothing was set in stone for him – contrary to other humans. Perhaps that was the reason she fancied him so much.
The God of Death who had been about to exit his own office, stopped in front of the closed doors. He then turned around to add one last thing before he would go and meet up with the God of Time and Space. He sighed. He was no softie, but neither was he a cold-hearted bastard contrary to many beliefs.
“Shouldn’t you be happy? This will free Kim Rok Soo from the curse you´ve been complaining so much about. It will give him a new life and new chances. And with that personality of his, wouldn’t he find many people who would give everything they´ve got – including their lives – for him?”
The God of Life hesitated, then let out a deep sigh. It showed that she had given up and was defeated.
“You are a motherfucking bastard, God of Death. Every single time I decide to create someone with a very fortunate fate with no hardships at all, it´s always you who ruins my creation. It´s always you who destroy everything I´ve worked on for so long. Did you know? To create someone with a fate as fortunate as luck itself I have to give up on a part of my power? And to add a soulmate for life I have to add even more? And every single time I decide to do that, you come along and destroy it.”
The God of Death stayed silent. It wasn’t that he was entirely stupid and had no idea that creating special children with good fortune was hard work. But he simply did not care. It was because he had no interests in such matters, unlike the God of Life. His only goal was to save his world, and he would do anything to do that.
Little did the God know, even gods were powerless against variables and he would come to regret thinking that way tenfold.
But now, the only thing on his mind was his world and how he would finally be able to save it. He finally exited his own office chambers, leaving the God of Life alone. The gorgeous woman finally couldn’t hold back her tears any longer and started crying. It was because Kim Rok Soo was very dear to her. She had looked after him ever since he had been born. He was like her own son, yet she was no mother as she was unable to do anything for him. Sure, she lessened the curse, but that happened after that child lost everything he had held dear. She was a powerless god.
The God of Death, who could hear her cries rather well, let out a deep sigh. But it was necessary, and in the end, the God of Life would be happy with the results as well. After all, breaking the curse was one of her main interests.
The white haired god walked out of the marble building and into a wooden shed that looked shabby but was actually more lavish than the marble buildings most of the gods resided in. This was the place the God of Time and Space lived in.
It was time to do what had to be done.
There was a satisfied smile on the God of Death´s face as he greeted his old friend. The man just sighed and replied with a nod. The God of Time and Space was probably the one god who actually looked like a god. He had shining, golden hair that reminded of actual gold and dark red, ruby irises. With a skin clearer than anyone´s and handsome features, he reminded of a Greek statue. And the way he dressed was godly as well. He was dignified, well-mannered but also arrogant and quick-witted. He was the one god most other gods avoided.
Obviously not the God of Death though.
“Ready to exchange two souls?”
The God of Time and Space rolled his eyes at that, but there was a smirk on his face nonetheless. It was naturally because he loved to experiment and play around with souls, switch them or be it something else. He was a bit of a rascal of some sort.
“Do you have to ask?”
The God of Death smirked as well and shrugged.
“Who knows, maybe you chickened out or something. Didn’t the God of Life complain to you as well?”
The God of Time and Space shook his head, a neutral and rather uninterested expression on his face.
“I heard her when ya talked to her. It´s like ya said: it´s the best option for that Rok Soo and the guy who ya made a deal with.”
The God of Death nodded. That´s right, he had first made a deal with Cale Henituse, the owner of the body the two gods would transfer Kim Rok Soo´s soul in and the man whose soul would replace Kim Rok Soo´s.
“That´s right, he´s gonna see his mother again and Rok Soo will be free of the curse.”
The God of Time and Space rolled his eyes.
“Tsk, ya´re such a hypocrite indeed~ ya wouldn’t care even if that poor child would still be affected by ya curse, as long as he´d save ya world.”
The God of Death simply shrugged. But both of them knew that what the God of Time and Space said was the truth.
“Well, he won´t be affected by the curse anymore, so it doesn’t matter either way.”
The blonde and handsome god shrugged; a smug expression on his face. He knew he was right, the God of Death knew he was right, so what did it matter whether he really admitted it or not, as long as both of them knew?
“Alright, ya ready?”
The white haired god smiled and nodded his head.
“Just make sure you don’t make any mistakes. Kim Rok Soo is a variable after all, one we can´t control.”
The God of Time and Space stared at his old friend with an expression that said “are you serious right now? Ya talking to me, someone who can do anything” but the God of Death swiftly ignored it.
“Okay, okay, who do ya think I am, huh?”
The God of Death shrugged his shoulders and the God of Time and Space first turned time back for the world the God of Death came from. It was now a time when Cale Henituse was about eighteen years old – the time the God of Death and Cale Henituse had agreed on for Kim Rok Soo´s sake.
The God of Time and Space then looked at the God of Death to do his part in this and the god immediately nodded, grabbing Kim Rok Soo´s soul while the man was asleep. At the same time, he did the same with the sleeping Cale Henituse´s. He first took out Kim Rok Soo´s soul and put Cale Henituse´s in, then proceeded to transfer Kim Rok Soo´s soul into Cale Henituse´s eighteen year old body.
The moment the foreign soul entered the new world-domain, the God of Time and Space felt a pull and the very moment the God of Death almost transferred Kim Rok Soo´s soul, the time went back another ten years and without noticing, the God of Death transferred the soul of Kim Rok Soo into the body of an eight year old.
Just as the transfer was done did he hear the God of Time and Space´s loud and vulgar cussing which was even more brutal than the God of Life´s cursing.
“What on earth-“
“Ya think I know what the hell happened? Let me tell ya! Ya dear fucking variable happened! The fuck! Nothing like that ever happened to me! Fucking shit- haaa, anyways, not ma problem anymore~”
The God of Death wasn’t even surprised at his old friend´s sudden mood changes, but he had no time to say something. That situation-
“Can´t we fast time forward?”
His voice sounded more scared than he anticipated which made the God of Time and Space answer in an honest and for once serious manner.
“No, there ain´t nothin´ we can do. But we can always sit back and watch. Wasn’t that Rok Soo a variable? So shouldn’t he be fine?”
Yes, that´s right! Kim Rok Soo was a variable; his fate couldn’t be set in stone! He would be able to survive, rescue the God of Death´s world and anything that came after that! Man, the God of Death sure was a genius!
Well, hopefully that is.