A/N: This chapter is back online! Good thing that I have my AO3 backup for things like this. Thank you to the person who alerted me about the misposted chapters. This is one of the reasons why I disliked the posting system on this site, unlike AO3. And this is also why I would really like it for people to leave comments whenever there's something wrong posted on my fics cos I rarely check the site so often nowadays.

Chapter 4: Never far away...

If meeting Yeo again and finding out that the kid somehow managed to recognize him was shocking enough... nothing could've prepared him for what comes next.

Shin willed himself to stay calm as he confronted the man in front of him.

Since Hyuk somehow managed to get to the playground by himself, he had assumed that the kid's house was somewhere that was not so far away. Sure enough, he found the said house quite easily enough a few minutes later. He'd rang the doorbell, expecting to see no one he'd recognize from the past. Like seriously, what was the likelihood of Yeo being reborn with the same relatives he had in his previous life?

It was unlikely, he thought. The odds of a soul could be reborn with the same appearance, the same gender, as well as having the same familial relationship as in their past lives—For such odds to happen, something like that should have been a rare occurrence. Or so he thought.

It took all of his self-restraint to not burst into a startled yelp the moment Lee Hyuk's older brother walked out to greet him. What a surprise! What were the odds of him meeting the previous King—Wang Yeo's older brother and a very old friend of his—again after all these years? And what were the odds of his friend being reborn again as Hyuk's older brother?

xxx

"Sorry for the trouble..."

"Don't worry about it," said Shin as he took the glass of juice from Hyuk's older brother. The young man gave him a brief smile before sitting right across from him. He extended his hand towards Shin.

"Lee Geon, at your service."

Geon glanced towards his younger brother sleeping next to him before shrugging. "My little brother can be so impulsive. I told him that I couldn't keep him company and play with him outside, yet he still ran out by himself without me."

Shin just shrugged. "It didn't seem like a serious issue anyway. This residential area did look like a very safe neighbourhood after all. I've worried for nothing anyway."

"Well, my father did contribute a lot in making sure that this neighbourhood was safe enough for his children to roam around freely. But I guess because of that the Hyuk could be so clueless about his own safety."

Shin smiled before taking a few sips from the glass of juice that has been given to him. "The kid's still pretty gutsy, to be honest. Like earlier I thought he was being bullied by a few kids, but it turned out he wasn't even bothered by them. The kid even had some pretty interesting choice of language as well."

Lee Geon gave him a surprised look. "B-bullied? What did you mean—?"

Shin just waved off the concern. "It's just some kids calling him names because Hyuk didn't pay any attention towards them. I don't think you should worry too much about it."

"Oh!" the young man exclaimed. "Ah... I guess it couldn't be avoided. My brother can be quite indifferent to others. Other kids his age are usually so carefree and play around most of the time but Hyuk usually prefers to sit by himself and do his thing. It might also be due to our father's job that Hyuk's like that."

"What was your father's occupation?"

Lee Geon shrugged. "He's a Superintendent at the Seoul Metropolitan."

"Your mother?"

"She's a forensic researcher at a university. You can say that our family was quite an elite one." The young man let out a sigh. "I guess it can't be avoided. Since my parents are both working, most of the time Hyuk and I tend to have to do things on our own in the house. We had a housekeeper, of course... but today she had a day off."

The young man suddenly glanced at his wristwatch. "Ah! I know that this was so sudden as we've just met but can I ask you a favour? I had an urgent errand to do and unh—since Hyuk was still asleep..."

"I'll watch over your little brother," Shin immediately offered without thinking. Lee Geon let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank you so much, Mr Kim. I appreciate it so much," said the young man again as he went to the front of the house and put on his shoes. "It's just an odd feeling... but I sensed that you're someone that I could rely on. Thank you again for agreeing to take care of my brother. I'll come back as soon as I can."

"No problem," Shin said. And as Lee Geon was just out of hearing range he added, "I would always be at your service, Your Majesty. And this time, I'll do a much better job of watching over your young brother."

xxx

Yeo had it good in this present incarnation, it seemed. From the way the kid's brother told him about their family earlier, it sounded like the family was quite well-off. Well, they have to if they can afford to live in a good neighbourhood like this...

He took out a photo album placed on a rack near a work table and head back to the couch to look at it. Shin smiled as he skimmed the first few pages of the book.

It was an album full of Hyuk's baby pictures, how adorable. The latter pages contained more pictures of the kid growing up. Not to mention a few photos of the kid with his family, as well as the ones with a younger Lee Geon. He snorted.

Despite what the kid had told him before, he could see that the brothers were really fond of each other. And Hyuk looked very happy in the pictures whenever he posed together with his brother and his parents.

It made him very happy somehow. Yeo was being loved so much in this incarnation. He was really glad about that.

xxx

"Oi, you old Goblin. Wake up."

Shin groggily sat himself up before glancing up at the person that disturbed his sleep. "Who are you to call me—", he stopped himself mid-sentence as he couldn't believe what he saw in front of him. "Wang Yeo?" he asked in disbelief.

True enough, the person standing in front of him was not the 5-year-old Lee Hyuk but the adult Wang Yeo that he used to know and recognize as the annoying Grim Reaper that used to live with him in his house. That same Wang Yeo was now flashing that all too familiar smirk at him that always used to annoy him.

"Long time no see, Goblin."