Chapter 5

Chapter 5: They Met (2)

'He gets chased away from the gate early in the morning.'

Choi Han and Choi Han* remember that day. For both of them, it started them on the path they now walk. Choi Han remembers it rather fondly now, while to Choi Han* it just marks the beginning of his struggles.

'Although, it also marks the start of the path I took to find my new family, so I suppose it's not all bad.' Choi Han* thought.

Choi Han headed in the direction he remembered hearing about from the villagers after he finished burying all of his beloved villagers. He was heading toward Rain City.

Choi Han had been transported to this world when he was a freshman in high school, but he had lived here for tens of years already. Of course, the fact that most of that life was spent trying to survive in the Forest of Darkness made him mature in a slightly twisted way, and, as such, he was more rational than anybody would expect after such an incident.

At the reminder of the Choi Hans age, Dodam looks over to Choi Han and shouts, "Hey Choi Han, should I call you Gramps now?"

Shocked silence.

Followed by the entire room bursting into boisterous laughter. Choi Han and Choi Han* joining in.

Until another voice is heard saying, "Yeah, we can call all three of them Gramps now."

A grinning Raon was the culprit.

All three Choi Hans wish the ground would open up and swallow them.

'I need to go report this to the lord at the castle.'

Harris Village may have been a remote village, but it was still under Count Henituse's jurisdiction. That was why Choi Han headed to Rain City, hoping to at least prepare a small funeral for the villagers.

He was also planning on looking for information regarding the assassins he had killed when he had lost his calm, as he was unable to ask them any questions. However, sending the dead off properly came before revenge.

'If you think about it, he really is an affectionate person.'

"Thank you, Cale-nim."

But losing all of the first people who showed him love after tens of years in the Forest of Darkness at once made it impossible for Choi Han's mind to not become twisted. In the novel, that was when Cale messes with Choi Han and touches a nerve. He remembered what the Cale in the novel said to Choi Han.

["Why should my father care whether or not some useless villagers are dead? This cup of alcohol in my hand is worth more than all of your useless lives combined."]

"Ahem. That…sorry for what I said. It was wrong to treat their memory like that. I just…I hate that place. My mother died from an accident on the way back from there, but I shouldn't…I shouldn't have blamed the people there," Cale* told Choi Han, stumbling through his words.

Kim Rok Soo nodded his agreement toward the two.

Choi Han* nodded his acknowledgment, it didn't make what happened feel any better and he still thought Cale* was a bastard for having said it in the first place, but he could sort of see, in a small way, where he was coming from.

Choi Han starts to laugh at Cale's words as he asks back.

["What an interesting thought. I am very curious to know whether you will change your mind or not."]

['Shall we test it out?']

That test was beating Cale to a pulp so that he was almost dead. The amazing thing was that Cale never changed his mind even after he was beaten to a pulp.

"So that's how it was supposed to go," Choi Han says. He's really glad it didn't. He couldn't imagine his life without his family.

"Ah, I'm getting the chills."

Cale started to rub his arm after seeing the goosebumps that were developing. He quickly took a sip of the tea that Billos had brought for him. He then looked out the window once again, only to get the chills right back.

'It's that punk.'

The moment the gates opened for the morning, a young man wearing clothes with black marks everywhere, such that it made it seem like the clothes were burnt in multiple places, approached the gate. It was Choi Han.

Cale did not get up from his seat as he observed Choi Han.

His speed was admirable, as he ran like a lunatic through a distance that would normally take a carriage a week to travel, but, as a result, he looked like a mess. Of course, the events in the village were responsible for a bit of his messy look as well.

"Hey, doesn't that mean we could use Choi Han as a replacement for cars?" Lee Chul Min* joked.

"Yeah, it would make getting around way faster," Park Jin Tae* laughed back.

The guard blocked Choi Han's path as he walked in with his head down, looking completely exhausted. Cale didn't know what they were saying, but he could see Choi Han shake his head at the guard's question.

'I'm sure they're asking if he has any identification.'

"They were," Choi Han* confirms.

The guards of Rain City were generally gentle, but they were strict when it came to the rules. They replicated their liege, Count Deruth's personality.

"Good. They are doing their jobs properly," Deruth said happily.

"They kicked him out."

As expected, Choi Han walked back out of the gate. He did not even throw a fit. After continuously running for a day, his slightly recovered conscience told him not to kill an innocent man.

'Choi Han will now wait until night time before he stealthily jumps over the city wall to enter.'

He then runs into Cale who was busy drinking away.

Screech. Since Cale was alone, the sound of the chair being pushed as he stood up sounded pretty loud. He went downstairs and informed Billos who was at the counter.

"I'll be back soon. Don't clear my spot."

"Yes, young master. I look forward to your return."

Cale ignored the smile on Billos's chubby face as he walked out of the tea shop.

"He didn't break anything!"

Cale could hear someone's voice coming from inside the shop, but he did not care. He needed to set the foundation to earn that Indestructible Shield today.

The Indestructible Shield.

It is not talking about a physical item. The best comparison might be a mage's mana shield. Something that does not actually have a physical form. However, it was very different from a mana shield, as it was closer to a superpower than magic.

The funny thing was that the human who created the power, but ended up dying, was someone who served a god but ended up being excommunicated.

"Sounds like someone you would have gotten along well with Cage," Taylor teased his friend.

"Of course I would, but what's with the backstory there? Kind of fishy if you ask me," Cage replied.

'All sorts of weird things are in this novel.'

As with the history of any fantasy world, this world also had its ancient history. During that ancient time, neither magic nor weaponry was developed.

Instead, it was a society where your own innate talent or talents gathered from supernatural occurrences played a pivotal role. The strongest powers in that society were superpowers, divine powers, and natural forces. It was a very primitive time.

Some of those powers have lasted all the way until now, staying hidden in certain locations or items. It was possible to take those powers for yourself if you meet the right conditions.

Ancient powers.

The heroes would find these powers, however, these powers were all supporting powers, not strong enough to be used as a hero's mainstay.

These were the powers that Cale was looking to find.

"He really does take them from others," Bud* blurted, before grunting in pain as Glenn's* elbow dug into his side yet again.

'Everything but the divine powers.'

Whether it be god or angels or devils, Cale did not want to get involved with any of them.

"Ha! You spectacularly failed to avoid that, dongsaeng," Alberu laughed.

"Haaa. You unlucky bastard. You said you wanted to avoid them and then went around getting all of their attention as well as all the divine items you could find," Eruhaben reprimanded.

'What? More than one god and even divine items? What the hell has that transmigrator been going around doing?' Alberu* thought.

That was why Cale was looking for the powers that people naturally developed or came from nature.

'That is the way to make sure I don't need to put in any effort.'

Those were the types of powers he was looking for. Something like sword art or magic would require him to put in effort to practice. He didn't want to do something like that.

"Hahaha! Hey, team leader, did all that overwork finally catch up with you and make you lazy?" Kim Min Ah asked.

"What? I've always been working toward my slacker life," Cale declared proudly.

"Sure you have, boss. You wanted to slack so bad your work ethic earned you the nickname the Tenacious Kim Rok Soo, so yeah sure, you were trying to be a slacker," Bae Puh Rum retorted.

Unlike other books, the ancient civilization in the novel, [The Birth of a Hero, was not that strong.

As civilization developed, the magic and summoning skills that were developed outshined the natural powers left behind by the ancient civilization. Superpowers were the same way. Most subtle superpowers would be blown away by a single hit from the, 'Aura,' that was used in present day.

It wasn't like the heroes just used these powers sparingly for no reason.

"I guess it's not really a big deal if they were all weak powers that didn't get used anyway," Bud* conceded.

'And my goal is to collect these subtle superpowers to become decently strong.'

It was a satisfying goal. Especially because he also knew the ancient power that could strengthen these subtle super powers.

"Wait a minute, ancient powers can be strengthened? Since when?" Bud shouted.

"I've never heard of such a thing," Eruhaben* agreed.

The memory of a rain of gold had Choi Han, On, Hong, Eruhaben, and Raon wisely keeping their mouths shut.

In order to take the first step in his plan, Cale started to look for the ancient power that was hidden in Rain City. He knew the requirement to earn that power.

"Youn, young master. Welcome."

Cale just nodded his head at the baker, who bowed so low that it looked like his head might touch the ground, to respond. Gasp. He could hear the baker gasping, but Cale pretended not to hear it. He felt bad about how his trash reputation was making this baker so fearful.

"You really are kind, young master Cale," Litana said.

Litana* agreed with her counterpart. This young noble reminded her of Elisneh. He was somewhat awkward about it though.

"Give me some bread."

"Excuse me?"

Cale pointed at all of the bread in the bakery and sternly responded.

"Everything from here to there."

Clang. The gold coin that Cale took out started to spin on the counter.

"Pack it all up."

The baker seemed to be frozen in place as Cale continued to speak.

"Two or three more gold coins should be enough for a week's worth of bread, right?"

The baker's gaze, which had been on the gold coin, moved to Cale. It was too much money to pay for the bread. Cale just stoically responded to the baker's shaking eyes.

"I can go somewhere else if you don't want it."

"No, it is nothing like that! Young master! I will pack it as fast as possible!"

The baker was extremely respectful for a different reason than before as he moved around quickly. After a few minutes, Cale left the bakery with a bag full of bread over his shoulder.

Even though it was just bread, it weighed quite a bit. The weight made Cale start to frown, and he ignored the baker who was watching him leave as he stepped into the street.

"Seriously, you've only been in that body for a day and it's already so weak that bread is too heavy? Did your mere existence in that body suck the muscles out of it?" Kim Rok Soo complained, causing many others to chuckle at Cale.

"I've been thinking about it for a while now, your original body was quite fit and very handsome as well, young master Cale," Tasha pointed out.

"Very handsome indeed," Rosalyn agreed.

"Looks very strong," Hannah added.

"Young master Cale looked good in both of his bodies," Mary contributed.

"What?" Error 404 file not found. Cale.exe has stopped working. A second later Cale's brain rebooted.

'All those scars are handsome? I suppose everyone has their own tastes. It was definitely stronger though.'

"Thank you very much. I quite like this body," Kim Rok Soo replied with pink ears.

Cale leisurely walked down the street, noticing that anybody who made eye contact with him would quickly turn and walk away. The majority of the people even ran away to avoid eye contact with him.

'It really is different than Korea. It is truly a fantasy world.'

Cale looked around as he wandered around this market that gave off the typical fantasy feel.

"Mm."

"Mmph."

Any time he made eye contact with a merchant, they became shocked and avoided his gaze. Tsk tsk. Cale really must have lived up to his title of trash in the past. Cale was talking shit about himself as he walked past the market and toward the western part of Rain City.

"Terrible bastard, why would you talk shit about yourself when none of it was something you did?" Dodam questioned.

"That's right Cale-nim, you really shouldn't call yourself trash," Choi Han said.

"But I am trash," Cale stated.

"Tsk. Unlucky bastard really is an idiot," Eruhaben grumbled under his breath.

The slum is located to the west. No matter how wealthy a territory may be, there are always going to be poor people. In a situation like this, most people would probably expect something along these lines to happen.

'Ah, it is a fateful encounter that you can earn by sharing food with the poor.'

"That's wonderful. A truly noble action," Litana said.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

"Huh? Then why else would he need that much bread and then go to the slums?"

Cale could feel people peeking at him as soon as he entered the slums. This was the place where both the idlest and the most vicious people lived together.

Although the poor may not know the face of their liege, the count, they knew Cale's face. These people who had nothing needed to pay even closer attention to the type of person that would cause a ruckus in the market, pub, plaza, well, you name it, and Cale has probably caused a ruckus there too.

Cale* and Kim Rok Soo groaned and covered their faces in embarrassment.

"It sounds pretty bad when laid out like that," Kim Rok Soo mumbled while hiding his face. "Please don't pick up any of my past bad habits. I can only say that I was young and stupid. Learn from my mistakes," he said to his niece.

"Of course, Uncle," came her cheeky reply, complete with a matching grin.

"Tsk."

Even though they knew all these stories about Cale, they couldn't resist the sweet smell of the bread in Cale's bag. Cale just ignored all these gazes as he continued to walk.

The tip of his expensive leather shoe started to become dirty from the dirty water. An unknown stench also filled Cale's nose, making him naturally start to frown.

This made him start to walk even faster. The slums were on one side of a small hill and constituted of old houses. Cale was heading toward the top of that hill. As he got closer, the gazes and steps of the people following him started to lessen as well. Cale's sharp glare probably played a role in this as well.

'It's better here.'

After being freed from the stench, Cale stood at the top of the hill and turned around to look down at Rain City. Of course, this hill was not as high as the count's estate. There was no way that they would allow the lord of the territory to live somewhere that was lower than that slums.

Cale came back to his senses as he headed toward a tree that was fenced off in all directions. The fence, that was made of planks the width of Cale's body, had an entrance that had rotted. It was easily broken once Cale pushed at the fence.

This large tree seemed to have lasted for hundreds of years. Trees in the slums were usually chopped into firewood or had its layers peeled off to make it useless, but this tree was not like that.

The reason was simple. The reason could be heard in Cale's ear. These two were the only two who had followed him until the end from the slums.

"You can't approach that t-tree!"

"Noona! It's us, noona!" Hong shouted in excitement.

"It is, nya," On said while her tail swished happily.

Cale ignored that warning. He heard another worried voice as well.

"You can't go there! It's a man-eating tree!"

A man-eating tree. Anyone who hung themselves on this tree became mummies overnight. Furthermore, any blood that lands on this tree instantly disappeared.

Finally, there was only dirt around this tree. Grass, and even weeds, were nowhere to be found.

"That's creepy. Like something right out of a horror movie," Park Jin Tae* shuddered.

This was the tree that Cale was looking for.

A long time ago, during ancient times, there was a person who loved food so much that his gluttony in the place of worship got him kicked out. That person ended up starving to death.

This tree is said to have grown on top of his body, and that person's grudge and strength were both in this tree. The Indestructible Shield that Cale was looking for was here.

Cage felt odd that the novel kept mentioning a backstory for the ancient power and asked, "Anyone else find it weird how the ancient power has a backstory?"

"I do," Cage* agreed.

"I really hope I'm just reading into this too much and it's nothing, but knowing young master Cale, that's not likely," Cage said.

Cale decided it was too much effort to explain anything, so pretended not to hear anything.

How primitive, mysterious and strange was this! The majority of the ancient powers were mysterious like this.

Cale took a bread out of the bag and carefully observed a hole that was the size of an adult's head. He needed to first send away the owner of that voice before starting his work. However, before Cale could even say anything, the voice was even louder this time as they could no longer see Cale from outside the fence because he crouched down. The voice was shaking quite a bit.

"You're going to die! Don't do it!"

Cale pressed his temples with his fingers.

"Sigh."

The number of people following him decreased the closer he got to the man-eating tree at the top of the hill, however, the owner of that voice continued to follow him.

'There are always nosy punks no matter where you go.'

"Hey, bad Cale! We weren't being nosy, nya," Hong protested.

"Yeah, we were being concerned, nya," On defended.

"Yes, yes. You're both right," Cale consoled while petting them.

Cale frowned as he turned his head around. When he did, he noticed a girl who seemed to be around 10 years old, holding her younger brother's hand while looking at him. Her eyes were full of concern.

Seeing that Cale was frowning and staring at her, the young girl stumbled on her words and started to mumble.

"It's a man-eating tree. You're going to d, die."

"I won't die."

Cale took two breads out of the bag and threw it toward the little girl. It didn't matter if it rolled on the ground because they were all individually wrapped.

"Take that and get lost."

"And here's where young master Cale's habit of picking up and feeding strays began," Rosalyn jokes.

Her words caused chuckles throughout the room.

The young boy instantly grabbed the bread, but the young girl was still hesitating. In the end, Cale needed to use his identity. He stood up and pushed his head outside of the fence.

"You two don't know about Cale the trash?"

The young girl's face turned pale. Her younger brother just looked toward Cale before picking up the other bread for his sister and started to tug on her arm.

"Noona."

"Uh huh."

The young girl looked back and forth at the tree and Cale even as she was being pulled.

"You can't die."

Cale clicked his tongue at the young girl who continued to say that, before making sure nobody else was around as he sat down underneath the tree. Nobody would be able to see what he was doing unless they came right up to the fence.

"Let's get started."

Everyone sits a little straighter waiting to see just what he will do.

He started by taking a loaf of bread out of the bag and putting it into that hole. His hand soon disappeared into the darkness underneath the tree, and Cale could feel a cold sensation as the bread in his hand disappeared.

He felt like his whole hand might be sucked in, and quickly took it out.

"Yeah, not doing that. That's freaky," Park Jin Tae* mumbled.

The darkness in the hole underneath the tree was still the same.

"If you die with a grudge, you have to resolve that grudge."

This man-eating tree wasn't actually a man-eating tree. It was a tree that would eat anything. It was the side effect of the power that was left behind by the person who starved to death. But for such a thing to be related to an ancient strength…it was comical, but made it seem more realistic.

'I remember it said I need to feed it until the darkness disappears.'

The darkness in the hole underneath the tree was not the result of shade. It was darkness formed by the grudge.

This could not be done with other people. One person had to continue to provide a large amount of food until the darkness disappeared. Once the darkness finally disappears, the light that was hiding underneath would appear.

Alberu* and many others in group 3 made sure to take notes. Any and all information they could use to get ahead in the upcoming war, was important. Alberu notes down the location and method to acquire the power as well.

Once he eats that light, the, 'Indestructible Shield,' will become Cale's.

"Eat all you want."

Cale put the opening of the bag into the hole and emptied all of the bread into it. In a normal situation, that small hole should have become filled with bread, however, only the darkness continued to remain once Cale removed the bag.

"I guess I'll need about ten more large bags."

The darkness in the hole was slightly fainter than before.

Ten bags. Only someone like Cale, with 3 million gallons as allowance, could casually say such a thing.

Rumble-

An odd cry seemed to resonate from the tree. It seemed to be saying that it was hungry and asking for more food. Cale felt like the darkness might suddenly reach out and grab him.

"Oookaay. That's just getting creepier the longer you are there. That's a definite no from me. I've seen how those movies end and that's not going to be how I go out," Park Jin Tae* said. Lee Chul Min* vigorously nodded along.

"…It is a bit scary."

"Such a coward," Toonka* loudly declared, earning glares from group 5, while many in group 3 secretly agreed.

Cale quickly got up. He felt like he should not be here for a long time.

"Just what can a stupid grudge do?"

Gluttony was a scary thing.

"I'll come back tomorrow."

Cale said goodbye to the rumbling tree as if it was a person and exited the fenced area. Cale noticed the siblings eating the bread as soon as he entered the slums.

For someone who was claiming that he should not go there because it was a man-eating tree, they seemed to be enjoying the breads. They must be liking the flavor, because both of them seemed very happy.

"My my."

Cale snorted at the siblings before ignoring their gazes. However, their gazes were not on him, but on the bag that was filled with bread earlier but was now empty. They were probably curious.

But what could they do? They couldn't do anything.

These children were probably too scared to even go near the man-eating tree. However, it is always good to be on the safe side. It would be bad if they went up to the tree and put their head into the hole and got eaten.

"Look noona, he was worried about us even then," Hong happily declared.

"Of course. Our human always cares about us, right?" Raon asked Cale.

"Why ask something so obvious?"

[The children of the slums have no fear. It was because they treasured a single grain of rice more than a blade coming their way. Death is always around them, so they do not fear death. They fear being hungry more than death.]

It was something that was written in [The Birth of a Hero].

That was why Cale decided to speak to the pair of siblings.

"If you want to eat bread again tomorrow, don't say a thing."

The two siblings did not say anything. They were immediately following Cale's order. The young girl, who seemed hesitant earlier, put her hand on her brother's mouth and pretended to not see Cale. Cale smiled and thought that she was pretty smart, as he quickly left the slums.

At the praise, On sat up straighter, her tail swishing quickly behind her.

The people in the slums who knew Cale had gone to the top of the hill were looking at him wondering what crazy thing he was doing now, but Cale liked that kind of gaze.

The people outside the slums looked at Cale weirdly as well, but Cale didn't care about these gazes.

"Ah, young master. You are back."

Once Cale returned to the tea shop, Billos greeted him pretty happily.

"Yes. Bring me a new cup of tea. A refreshing one this time."

Cale headed back to his seat on the third floor. It should have been pretty busy at this time, but there was nobody else on the third floor. They were all avoiding the trash of the Count's family. That was why Cale could relax.

"Here is your tea, young master. I also brought up some desserts."

"Ah, great. Thanks."

Cale only continued to look toward the city gate as he took a sip of the tea. Billos observed Cale's face with an odd expression before he quietly left the third floor. It was weird to hear Cale thanking someone.

"I told you a trash never thanks anyone," Cale* whined.

Cale continued to order tea and desserts as he looked outside the window until the sky slowly turned orange and the sun set. He only got up when night arrived and it was dark outside.

It was now time to go interact with the dangerous dude who will come from outside the wall.

"Pfft. Hey, Choi Han. Can I call you the dangerous dude from now on?" Bud teased Cale and Choi Han.

Twin glares (and many snickers from around the room) were his only answer.