He saw someone that he did not recognize as soon as he opened his eyes.
‘Who is this?’
His eyes opened wide once he made eye contact with Cale.
“Oh, my lord. You woke up right away, unlike usual.”
Cale started to frown after seeing the teenager calling him, ‘lord,’ while looking directly at him.
‘The moment you fear the most will greet you.’
The contents of the test popped up in his mind.
“…I'm the Lord of the territory?”
‘Is this related to what I fear the most?’
Cale's expression turned odd.
“Are you still not fully awake yet, my lord?”
The way this teenager treated the Lord of a territory was similar to how he would treat a close adult. The teenager shook his head and continued to speak as Cale just quietly looked at him.
“Yes sir, yes sir. You are a very famous lord. You are the great hero who saved our Roan Kingdom as well as the Western continent and the Eastern continent from the evil White Star.”
Cale started to frown again.
The teenager has a mischievous smile after seeing Cale's reaction.
“The Lord-nim always puts on such an expression whenever I say that. Please get up. It is time for breakfast.”
Cale looked toward the teenager who was heading toward the half-open curtains.
‘Saved the world from the evil White Star?’
That phrase struck Cale the most over being called a great hero or the territory's lord.
‘…Is this after everything is over?’
Cale's gaze that was following behind the teenager stopped somewhere.
He then flinched.
He could see a mirror.
‘…I look to be in my mid-thirties.’
A mature face different than the original Cale of his twenties was looking back at him in the mirror.
It was a very tired and weak-looking face frowning back at him.
He was frowning the same way right now.
Chhhhhhhh.
He could hear the curtains being opened. Cale looked at the sunlight reflecting off of the mirror as he started to speak.
“How old am I?”
“Excuse me?”
The teenager asked back in confusion, but Cale did not mind.
He was in the middle of a test. He needed to gather as much information as possible if he wanted to quickly complete this test.
The teenager sighed as he responded back.
“You are 36 years old this year.”
36 years old.
That gave Cale an odd feeling.
The Birth of a Hero. Kim Rok Soo’s age before he transported into the novel and Cale Henituse's body was thirty-six.
Cale thought about his past when he had sat in a corner of his room rolling around his bed and reading ‘The Birth of a Hero.’
The frown on Cale's face did not seem like it would ever go away, and the teenager must have been looking at him as he purposely made himself sound excited as he started to speak.
“It's been over 10 years since peace returned to the continent. It is all thanks to you, my lord.”
“Thanks to me, my ass.”
Cale subconsciously commented and the teenager responded back.
“Pfft! My lord, that is always your answer to that statement!”
He could see the window that had been covered by the curtains.
He looked at the scenery outside the window.
“…This is the Lord’s Castle.”
It was Cale's bedroom in the Henituse Estate. The fact that the bedroom looked the same made Cale believe that this was the Count’s Estate.
However, the scenery outside the window was higher than usual for it to be his bedroom.
Only the Lord’s Castle had a room this high up in the Henituse territory.
It looked as if the Cale Henituse of this life had created his bedroom in the Lord’s Castle.
‘…Why did he put his bedroom in the Lord’s Castle instead of the Count’s Estate? Is he so busy that he can’t even go home?’
Being a lord was already annoying, but he was also a busy lord.
Cale inputted that piece of information in his mind as he focused on the scenery outside the window.
He could see a clear sky and more buildings than he remembered down below, along with small specks of people walking by.
He watched this for a moment before starting to speak.
“…But.”
Something that was supposed to be here was not here.
36 years old.
Cale Henituse who was now at the age where Kim Rok Soo disappeared started to speak.
“Where is Ron?”
He wasn't here.
The person who should be waking Cale up was Ron.
There were also other existences who should be here when he woke up that were not here. The existences who would yawn or say that they were hungry or wake up earlier than Cale and talk with each other about traveling the world were not here.
The children were not here.
A completely emotionless face turned toward the teenager.
“…Ah.”
The teenager had a complicated expression on his face.
“That, my lord. Are you very tired?”
However, the teenager could only smile awkwardly and start to speak after seeing Cale’s quiet demeanor and serious expression.
“Hero Ron Molan is in your heart lord-nim, along with the hearts of myself and the rest of the citizens of the continent.”
“Haaaaaaaaa.”
Cale let out a sigh. He closed his eyes.
He suddenly recalled the people who came to console him when he was watching over that funeral during his life as Kim Rok Soo.
Some of them had looks of pity on their faces as they spoke to him.
‘Mr. Rok Soo, no, I guess I should call you team leader-nim now. Team leader-nim, we will all remember the sacrifices of the former team leader-nim and the others.’
‘Everyone will know of their great deeds.’
It was when the cataclysm had happened on Earth.
Many people had lost one or two family members.
The people under team leader Lee Soo Hyuk in the company that Cale had entered as a rookie were all people who were left alone with no family members.
Unlike Kim Rok Soo, who was an orphan long before the cataclysm, team leader Lee Soo Hyuk and the other team members had all lost family members due to the cataclysm.
And now…
What the teenager just said passed through Cale's mind again.
It was the answer to Ron's location.
‘Hero Ron Molan is in your heart lord-nim, along with the hearts of myself and the rest of the citizens of the continent.’
Cale closed his eyes.
Was he joking?
It was possible that this mischievous teenager was joking.
A calm voice started to come out of his mouth.
“What about On and Hong? Raon?”
The teenager responded back.
“…My lord-”
He sounded full of sorrow and concern. That was enough.
Cale thought about the contents of the test once again.
‘The moment you fear the most will greet you.’
“…What a cruel test.”
His eyelids were shaking. He didn’t really know what kind of expression he should have right now.
‘Wow, Kim Rok Soo was so terrible. He didn’t even shed a tear.’
‘I know, right? His friends and sunbaes all died, but how could his expression not even change?’
‘Expression not change? I did see him frown a few times.’
‘He’s terrible. What a terrible bastard. I wonder if he even knows what sadness is.’
Cale jumped up from the bed. The teenager who seemed to be his servant came over as Cale walked toward the door he assumed was the restroom.
His servant started to speak.
“You do not have anything planned this morning.”
‘I'm the lord but I have nothing to do?
My father, Count Deruth, was always busy.’
Cale opened his mouth to speak.
“…What about the administrative tasks for the territory?”
The teenager tilted his head in confusion at Cale's question before responding back.
Cale’s expression turned odd.
His majesty.
Cale's wish.
It made him think about Alberu Crossman.
The king gave him enough support to be a lord who could slack off.
That sounded similar to how Alberu Crossman said that he would allow Cale to be a slacker.
“…What is his majesty’s name?”
The teenager responded back to Cale’s question with confusion.
“Robbit Crossman?”
It was not crown prince Alberu’s name.
That was the second prince’s name.
Cale started to feel angry. On the other hand, his body became extremely cold as if he had been covered in cold water.
Cale did not know this, but the tips of his fingers were shaking.
However, his voice was still calm.
“I will be moving on my own this morning.”
He then turned around and entered the restroom. He could see the confused servant outside the door, but Cale did not care.
He did not ask for his new servant’s name.
He did not want to ask.
“…My lord?”
Cale could see some knights calling for him, but he just glanced at them before continuing to walk.
The knights could not stop Cale, but their expressions were odd.
‘Damn it.’
Cale, who knew the meaning behind their expressions, couldn’t help but be annoyed.
There was a thick book in Cale's hand.
He was tightly clenching on the book, but it was so thick that it was hard to even leave a dent.
He had taken this book from the library at the Lord’s Castle.
He wanted to know what had happened in the past.
He wanted to know what happened in the 16 years that had passed by.
He swept through everywhere looking for information.
Crunch.
He could hear the crunching of the leaves.
It was Fall right now.
It was late Spring in the real world, but it was late Fall here.
Cale only looked forward as he walked.
Crunch, crunch.
Leaves crunched under his feet.
However, Cale only continued to look forward and there was no emotion on his face.
Cale stopped walking.
“…Haaaa.”
“…This is definitely a fake and crazy test, but…”
The book fell to the ground.
Plop.
The fallen book opened.
< …Final battle against the White Star. The Count’s Estate was destroyed when the White Star attacked the Henituse territory. >
Cale could see the destroyed Henituse Estate.
< The people of the Count’s household protected the citizens in Cale Henituse’s absence while waiting for him, but ended up either critically injured or killed. The critically injured ended up all dying in the end as well. >
Count Deruth, Countess Violan, Basen, and Lily.
Deputy Butler Hans, chef Beacrox, and servant Ron.
None of the people related to the Count's household were in this test world.
Cale was the only one left.
It was a severance.
He was split away from the world.
Chhh.
The late Fall wind turned the pages of the book.
< …Choi Han and Rosalyn, the two of them were working together to fight the White Star until they were hit by white lighting from above. However, the people of the Western continent who were underneath the lighting were able to survive thanks to their sacrifices. >
< …No more necromancers were left on the continent. Mary, the final necromancer. She was the last one. >
Many names passed by as the pages turned.
On, Hong, Lock, Beacrox, Eruhaben, Jack, Hannah, etc.
All of the pages with names were crumpled.
There were some light cuts on Cale's fingers.
He had gotten those papercuts while crumpling or quickly turning the pages.
His eyes were bloodshot.
< Hero Cale Henituse’s forever close friend, Raon Miru. We must talk about that Dragon. We must talk about his noble death…… >
Chhh.
< The final battle. Hero Cale Henituse was the only one to survive. >
< …He indicated that he wanted to keep the traces of his friends and family who were with him in the final battle at his estate. The Roan Kingdom's current ruler, Robbit Crossman, decided to honor hero Cale Henituse's desire rather than creating a monument to keep these articles left by the deceased. >
< …However, nobody could tell where that Estate Cale Henituse mentioned was located. He secluded himself in his territory after the final battle and never appeared to the world again. >
Cale started to speak.
“Super Rock.”
There was no response.
He tried calling all of the owners of the ancient powers. None of them responded to his voice.
‘I need to hurry up and complete this test.’
Cale had a reason to finish this test. No, he wanted it to end.
Cale picked up the book.
< His estate. >
Those words caught his attention.
Cale changed directions.
The Super Rock Villa. The place Cale wanted to live in once everything was over.
The Forest of Darkness.
That was where he was headed.
“…I hate this.”
He hated tests like this.
The back of the walking 36 years old Cale Henituse was extremely similar to the 36 years old Kim Rok Soo’s back.