Chapter Text
Kim Rok Soo some time in her twenties had acknowledged the fact that she was a depressed woman. Her world was bleak, she’s didn’t have a family, or friends or lover or even children. After running away from her uncle, she had tried hard to rebuild her life in the way she often dreamt of as a lonely, abused girl, make friends, go to college, find a good job, fall in love, get married and eventually have children. In the long nights that she spent in her childhood home, miserable, she made up stories in her head of what her future would be like, she made up hope.
She had tried so hard but every time she thought she had something to hold dear, it slipped away. People shied away from her because of her scars, her often stoic face; the men she tried to date couldn’t bare her for more than a few weeks, calling things off with same excuses she had heard all the time, ‘it’s not you, it’s me’, ‘you are so frigid, Rok Soo, sometimes I think you don’t give a damn about this.’ And all the time, her throat would choke up, the words she desperately wanted to say just wouldn’t come out.
Even the two people she barely managed to keep in her life died in front of her, one she considered her brother, the other something akin to a father figure, both dead on the same day. She tried still to live, to keep her promise to them. She tried, she had thought of becoming a parent but the doctors she consulted had been clear, her childhood had fucked up her body. And before she could even entertain the thought of adopting, the world as she knew had quite literally been broken apart. And after surviving this apocalyptic world, she had kept the idea of bringing a child into her life far away from her mind.
Living as an ability user, regularly on the frontlines, her survival wasn’t guaranteed and adopting a child in midst wouldn’t be fair to either of them. So, she had just gone on living as she always had, alone.
Until one night, when she had gone to sleep after reading a stupidly long novel halfway and had woken up a fucking character of the very fucking book!
--
When she woke up, she was inside a novel, The birth of a Hero. It was something of a regular isekai-fantasy novel, mainly of the main character Choi Han’s adventures and the friends he made along the way.
The thing is, she wasn’t the main character or even one of his friends, she had woken up as the spoiled young lady of Henituse family, who was for the lack of better term, a trashy noble. And the one who mouths off at the main character for his village’s slaughter and gets beaten up. ‘This is a problem…’
But… maybe it is worth a try.
--
Kim Rok Soo could feel someone gently tapping her shoulder, the hand was soft and unhurried, it was warm. “Young lady, please wake up, it is morning.” It was a voice she couldn’t recognize, it was softer than any of her team members and it jolted her awake. She sat up fast, surprising the young woman who was trying to wake her. She took in the sight around her, an extremely luxurious room and settled her eyes on the woman, no, girl who was dressed in a maid costume with her face caught in surprise. ‘What in the world?’
“My Lady, you woke up at the first try!” the girl had wide smile on her lips. It was rather cute.
“What...”
“The master would you like join them for breakfast today. Young lady Cale, I will be helping you this morning, should I ready the bath?”
‘She’s talking to me?’ Rok Soo glanced past the girl’s shoulder into the large mirror in the room and was surprised by the red-haired girl staring back.
“Young lady Cale?” she focused back on the girl who was now starting to look worried. ‘I guess she is talking to me.’ The name she used was familiar, Cale…
“Cale Henituse” she blurted out and the girl blinked back her, nodding as though she couldn’t understand what she was asking. “Yes, My Lady? Are you alright, perhaps you have a headache? Would you like me to call Mr. Ron? He’s waiting outside to escort you to the dining hall.” The girl asked her nervously.
“Ron?” the girl nodded, “Beacrox?”
“The chef, young lady? Do you need something from the kitchens?” Rok Soo could tell the girl was growing increasing nervous at her questioning. She once again glanced around the room and felt dizzy, she lowered her head into her palms and sighed. “Get me two glasses of cold water then prepare the bath.” She instructed the girl, maybe her maid. The maid’s face brightened immediately and rushed to follow her orders, “At once, My Lady!” and bolted out the room. Outside she heard faint murmurs of two people talking but ignored for now.
She looked back into the mirror that was now completely unobstructed and could see long blood red hair that fell around her body, entirely different from her original black hair.
Cale Henituse, Ron, Beacrox… these were the name of the characters she had been reading about before falling asleep in her room in her house in Korea! She rubbed her eyes aggressively before heaving a long sigh. ‘What in the world was happening?’
She stood up from quite frankly a ridiculously soft, comfortable bed, stretching her body as she approached the mirror. Staring back at her was a beautiful fucking face that was not her. In Korea, often her co-workers would remark about her good-looking appearance but this, the face and body in the mirror, her co-workers would faint.
Cale Henituse, in the novel, was described someone with a bad personality, frequently called a trash. She was a drunkard, crash-talking young girl from the Henituse who created trouble for those around her. Rok Soo lifted a hand to touch the face she was wearing, watching clearly as the body in the mirror mimic the action. ‘Huh… I am really Cale Henituse.’ It was difficult to not agree as the novel had taken time to describe each of its characters’ appearances
She carefully checked out her apparently new body in the mirror, turning this way and that. A frown marred the beautiful face as thought popped up in her head, ‘It is seriously unfair, how attractive this girl is.’
She wondered if people usually became calm and clear headed in such situations when they are surprised or shocked. She folded her arms under her chest and rather calmly recalled the night before. It was one of that typical day-off and she had decided to read something as it had been a while since she held an actual book. She had made the journey to the library and had borrowed an entire series which caught her eye. She had planned to do nothing except lazy around her home, order some spicy take out and read all day.
It was called ‘The Birth of a Hero’ and she had managed to read up till the fifth volume before sleeping. And waking up, suddenly she was the minor character from the first volume, Cale Henituse.
‘Will things from this point follow the novel?’ as she thought about, she recalled her initial thoughts on the novel, it was a very okay-ishly and strangely written, the author had truly tried their best but in some there had been excessive detailing, in some there hadn’t been more than a few lines.
She hummed gently, to herself, it felt odd how calm she was being. She naturally wasn’t a very expressive person but even in a situation like this, it felt unnatural to be this calm. She went and perched on the bed as she recalled the contents.
The Birth of a Hero was about birth of heroes across the two continents- Eastern and Western, about their trials and growth. Choi Han, the main character, was a Korean who had been transported into this world when he was in high school. Surviving in the Forest of Darkness that was under the Henituse County, his lifespan had become as long as that of a dragon’s, making him age at an extremely slow rate. “Ah…this could be bad” she sighed.
This person was going to beat her up, she moved from her perch and headed inside the annoyingly lavish bathroom to check something and inside was another large mirror, no one had two such mirrors in the household. She shifted the long white nightdress she had been wearing and lifted it up to reveal a pale unblemished side, a slight smirk pulled at the pink lips, she hadn’t been beaten up yet. That was good, now she just had to make sure not to get beaten up by the main character. She once again folded up her arms and leaned against the bathtub which was already filled with warm water.
In her life as Kim Rok Soo, there wasn’t anything she will miss much. She was an orphan without much money, neither did she have anyone she loved to death that wasn’t already dead. There really wasn’t anything, she just continued living because she couldn’t die, that’s it.
She really hated the thought of death or any kind of pain. No matter what, even if she had to roll around in dog shit, it was still better than being dead or being in pain.
‘First, I have to avoid being beaten up.’ She wasn’t sure of the date or day in this world, but she hadn’t met Choi Han yet for sure as there was no scar on her side that Cale gets after causing a ruckus when drunk and gets stabbed by a broken piece of desk leg. She meets him after she had gotten the scar. Cale Henituse was an interesting character to read about, she could be what would fit the very minor villain role in such novels. She gets beaten up by Choi Han who was already barely hanging on to his sanity after she messes with him.
And after that for a while, people were weary of Choi Han for his actions. Though, that weariness didn’t last long as Cale hadn’t been well liked by the people and Choi Han had moved on to becoming a hero in people’s eyes with his many encounters and trials. Whereas after the first volume, Cale Henituse had no further mention in the story, she had no idea of what happened to her after getting beaten up.
Cale frowned as she turned, discarding her clothes and getting into the bathtub, Kim Rok Soo before becoming Cale, had a very simple motto in life. Live long without pain, enjoying the small joys of life, living peaceful. She could try this… it could be worth trying.
‘As long as I can make the story progress like normal while taking out the fact that I get beaten up, the main character should take care of the rest.’
Hm, how odd, she could recall every single line in the book without any issue, perhaps…? She leaned her head back on the tub, completely relaxing in the water, coming to a conclusion as she felt clear headed now. ‘It’s worth trying, to avoid the whole upcoming war and living peacefully.’
This trashy noble Cale’s situation was better than her own as Kim Rok Soo in Korea. The location of this estate was in the corner of the western continent, ideal for avoiding war and even if the war couldn’t be avoided completely, she could minimize the damages.
She hears the earlier girl’s voice calling out from the bathroom door she had left ajar. “Young lady, are you already inside the bath? I have your water, may I come inside to help you?”
She thought about it for a moment, it is rather embarrassing and weird, but it was a common practice in such era. Whatever, it’s not like she hasn’t been naked in front of someone before. “Come in, bring the water with you.” She replied.
The maid entered and handed her the first glass of cold water which Cale gulped down and proceeded with her tasks, helping her wash out her long hair, scrubbing and then helped wrap her and her hair up with a robe. The two walked out the bathroom and into Cale’s room and Cale sits her ass down on the vanity, the girl following behind her.
“What’s your name?” Cale asked and gestured her to hand her the second glass of water. The maid was rather surprised, and it made Cale wonder if it was strange or out of character. “Its Miran, My Lady.”
Cale hummed, “How long have you been working for my family?” Cale could not recall or access any of the original Cale Henituse’s memories. It might be a little to navigate her relationships but if she behaves even a bit like the original Cale, she should be fine, hopefully. She gulped down the second glass, feeling very refreshed.
“Three months, My Lady.” Cale nods to herself and asks, “In three months, how many times have you served me?”
The novel had specified that because of Cale’s bad behavior, she hadn’t managed to keep any maid longer than a few weeks and the only one who could manage to serve her was the butler, Ron because he had been around her since her birth and Deruth, her father had trusted Ron with instructing the maids on attending to Cale as Cale had been very resistant on letting head maid and Viola doing it.
“I have served you four times, My Lady.” Miran replied, a small smile on her face. Honestly, Miran’s personality so far seemed rather pleasant, if she had any issues with Cale or her personality, she didn’t let it be known, Cale could get used to having Miran serving her regularly. Miran reaches the towel holding up her hair and gently began drying them. It was rather relaxing having someone else do it for you, so Cale decided to absolutely enjoy it.
“What would you like to wear today, My Lady?”
Without hesitation, Cale responded, “Something simple and light to move around easily.” She knew exactly how noble women of this era dress and how the novel described Cale would dress, she had an extravagant wardrobe, expensive enough to feed a family of four for a whole year; jewelry matching each of her clothing, extensive footwear.
“Understood, My Lady”
Right now, she could not be bother with any complicated clothes. Miran then, lightly pat her face with another towel, applied what she assumed might be face cream and went to apply make-up and Cale stopped her. “Not today and no need to style my hair either, just comb it.”
Miran nods, putting away the products and takes a comb to brush the hair. Once she’s done, she goes to pull out her clothes. With Miran’s attention away, Cale runs a hand through her hair and begins to think about this world she had ended up in.
‘There are so many strong people here.’ In fact, there were too many, no matter what place the main character went to, there were many strong individuals or with secrets. These people were either humans or some other races.
‘I need strength to protect myself at least.’ To survive here in this continent which would soon be at war, to live long without any pain, she needs decent level of strength. The novel mentions such powers, not too strong or too weak, Ancient Powers. She just needed to pick one of them up. After all, first come first serve.
“My Lady, I will dress you now.” She nodded and stood up. Miran had understood exactly what Cale was asking for and brought out a light-colored flowy dress for her. She frowned lightly after Miran finished, the reflection in the mirror was gorgeous, even though, the dress was simple, it was still extravagant, for her liking.
‘She’s truly gorgeous and makes any clothes look great.’ The face was really the final piece to fashion.
“Mr. Ron is outside, to escort you to the dining hall, My Lady.” Miran was smiling at her happily. Cale couldn’t understand what exactly was causing her to nor wanted to.
“Right, let’s go.” She walked towards the door, Miran followed and rushed ahead and pulled it open. Immediately, she saw Ron standing there, smiling a kind smile. “Good morning, young miss.” He greeted her and Cale just nodded back. Ron understood there won’t any response, proceeded to guide her to the hall and Miran bowed to her and walked away in the opposite direction. That’s good, Cale couldn’t be bothered to keep up with etiquette or having to verbally dismiss them or greet them. She just followed Ron as she was unfamiliar with the layout.
While, in Cale’s head, she was taking in the old man walking in front of, this man could easily kill Cale with a single blow but instead treated her like a puppy that you felt bad about, that left a bad taste in her mouth. He did not genuinely care for her, in fact in the Ron and his son Beacrox left with Choi Han after he had beaten her up.
As they walked Cale saw the servant that they came across, flinched and bowed hurriedly and ran away. ‘Why were they so scared of her?’ Cale never hit anyone though. She just drank, played and would behave crassly or break something, but whatever, this was make things easier for her as she would have to worry her actions.
“I will open the door, young miss.” Oh, they were here. “Sure.”
She recalled the novel mentioning that Cale treated Ron as nicely as her father for Ron raised her like his own grandchild. It mentioned that Cale would always respond to him and treat him like a person. But whatever Cale thought of Ron, he did not really think that way.
“I hope you enjoy your breakfast.” There was benign smile at his lips as he said that. Cale nodded, “Sure, you have a good meal too.”
She walked past him and into the dining hall where the rest of the Henituse family was already sat. Deruth sat at the head of the table, to his right, leaving a seat empty, perhaps for Cale, sat her stepmother Violan and to the left sat her two siblings, Lily and Bassen. Their eyes on her as she entered, “Take a seat, you are late again today.” Her father spoke and she met his eyes and simply said, “Yes, father.” And took her seat at the end of the table
The novel had described their relationship as her father being the one person that Cale listened to. The reason the trash lady of the county did not leave the area and got everything she wanted within the territory was because of her father. But unlike in typical fantasy novel, her father Deruth wasn’t strong, he did not have any special skills or great influence. He just had a lot of money.
However, Cale liked this a lot, it was the perfect family to live a simple and easy life. Then there was her stepfamily, Violan who knew that Cale didn’t like her and avoided her; Bassen, the smart and only son who found it difficult to deal with his older sister and Lily, the cute youngest who did not know how to interact with her sister and too avoided her. But Cale didn’t bother them either, they just treated each other like perfect strangers.
To her, it was a great environment to live in quietly. She looked at the feast on the table which was far from her definition of breakfast. She felt something was odd and lifted her head up to see her father staring at her with emotions she couldn’t understand or name.
Her head tilted slightly and questioned, “Is there something wrong, father?”
“No…its nothing.” She noticed that the rest of the family was doing the same and met their gazes. They all quickly looked away and focused on eating.
‘I guess, they truly find me difficult to handle.’
Cale just ignored that and dug into the feast laid before her. It was delicious, everything was tasty, well-cooked, the meat was juicy, and the fruits looked so fresh. This was one of the best meals she’s had.
“Cale…” her father called out hesitantly, his face beginning to frown. She hummed, absolutely enjoying the food. “It’s delicious” she spoke out loud unconsciously.
“Yes, yes, it tastes li- what? It’s delicious?” he asked in surprise. She nodded and feeling the need to explain, said, “Yes, everything is fresh and delicious.”
She was probably breaking some or the other protocol, talking to the head of her house whilst eating but nobody really cared or tried to criticize her on it. Ah, being the trash was really the best in her situation. In fact, her father was smiling.
“Yes, it really is good. It is nice to see you enjoy food like this.” He really seemed to care for his elder daughter, didn’t even mind or flinch at her lack of manners. Though, as a caring father, he should have tried to correct her behavior, but she was not the real Cale therefore did not care.
*Meal passes much the same as the book*
-
In her hand was the allowance she had requested from her father, given to her via the deputy butler, Hans and she was a loss of words. ‘So much money!’
This family didn’t just have a bit of money, they had a lot! The novel alluded to Cale’s large allowance but never the exact amount. 10 million gallon, it was equivalent to 10 million Korean Won (roughly 6-7 thousand USD and 6lac INR).
This changed things, Cale quickly began rethinking her plans and options. Hans done with his task and bid goodbye, “I will be head out then, young lady.”
Cale though didn’t respond, and the butler treated it as normal and headed towards the door. She called out to Ron who had been the one to accompany her instead of a maid, “Ron, let’s go, I need to use the study”
Hans who was heading out and Ron who was standing by her side jolted in surprise. “Did you say the study?” Ron asked oddly. Even Hans became anxious.
“Yes, why?” She quickly needed a desk to sit down with pen and paper to plan out her actions. “Excuse me, young lady”
She turned to anxious Hans who had spoken, “What is it?”
“This... we have not been able to do the morning cleaning yet.”
“Is that it? That’s fine with me.”
“No, young lady! We cannot let that happen!” he was being rather relentless about it, even Ron’s face was odd.
Hans then smiled brightly, putting up one finger, “Please give us one hour. I will make sure that the study is completely clean, not like it hasn’t been used in ten years, but like one that was used yesterday.”
That statement gave her a pause and her sharp gaze pinned Hans to the spot. According to the novel, Cale had completely abandoned her studies and had stopped using her personal study, but it seems, she forced the smirk pulling at lips down, the servants took this to means they didn’t need to clean it anymore. Hans was sweating nervously at her face, even Ron was frozen to the spot, caught off guard.
In all honesty, she didn’t care all that much about whether they had been cleaning the study or not. It was something else, as Kim Rok Soo, she had suffered through her childhood with no adult giving a damn about an orphan, even her adulthood had been full of it because of the apocalypse, it was something similar. It reeked of neglect.
Up until now, she had noticed these things: first, the Count’s oldest daughter who despite her behavior and actions was still the heir, had no maids assigned to her except an old butler. Whether the maids lasted or not was irrelevant, everything that would need to be taken care of for a Count’s daughter was likely left up to Ron, simply for being born into nobility, to keep face Cale should have been forced to keep maids. Second, according to the novel, she had begun drinking at 15, and her father hadn’t stopped her at all, even in this world, 15 was considered young. And third, again, for being a Count’s daughter, she shouldn’t have ever been allowed to stop her studies.
‘Is this some kind of out of sight, out of mind situation?’ why had Cale Henituse been allowed to run wild as she had?
‘Fuck… whatever, I don’t need to get so worked right now. I will handle this later, first I need to focus on making a plan.’
“Fine, one hour. Now, get lost.” She didn’t mind waiting an hour, she could laze around in her room.
“Yes, young lady! Then, I will report this to the lord.”
She smiled at Hans, “Sure, do that and be sure to let him know exactly why I will have to one hour to access my study.” He visibly cringed at her response. She waved him away, let him bear whatever consequences would be. He rushed out and like a well-trained deputy butler, he closed the door without making the slightest of noise.
“Ron” she addressed the old man. “Young miss?”
“Why are you blanking out?”
“Ah, my apologies, young miss.”
“Don’t apologize.” As she said that, Ron made another odd expression, but Cale ignored that, her fingers clenching around the precious check and asked, “What’s the date today?”
“It is the 29th day of the 3rd month in the 781st year of the Felix calendar.”
“That’s a problem…”
“Pardon?”
“Nothing” Cale focused her attention on the cheque and puts it away into the pocket which had surprised her about the dress. In this world, the only thing she could trust whole-heartedly was money.
“Ron”
“Yes, young miss?” ugh she was already getting tired of that smile of his
“A glass of cold water and a sweet tea, please.”
“…I understand.” He bowed slightly and left to get her the drinks. She tilted her head staring at the old man’s back, why wasn’t there even a pitcher of water in her room? Whatever…
Yesterday was the 28th, the day the Harris Village was attacked and the villagers murdered by an unknown group of assassins. Choi Han after having escaped the Forest of Darkness, had ended up in that village where he had been welcomed. He had for the first time after tens of years felt human affection, made friends and had created a second family which he had found slaughtered after returning from collecting herbs for the lady who had created him like her own son.
Choi Han went berserk after seeing and for the first time killed a person. Of course, they were the assassins who were members of this secret organization that clashes against Choi Han every so often throughout the novel.
She covered her face with her hands, sighing deeply. She had thinking out head out and helping him out. And now the problem was that the Choi Han that arrives in the city, is twisted by his loss and in novel this is when Cale runs into Choi Han and ends up getting beaten. The scenario to avoid the main character is no longer available.
‘I would have preferred to have saved the innocent villagers but at this point, nothing can be done about it.’ If she was to avoid Choi Han who was likely speeding towards the city right now, Ron and Beacrox might not run into him. She needs the three of them to run into each other so that they can leave together, she doesn’t need two assassins around her when this body is so weak and can’t put up a fight and especially two who have interacted with her, her whole life and could potentially catch on her changed personality.
A knock pulled her out of her mind, “Young miss, may I enter?” it was Ron carrying a tray with two cups.
“Yes, come in” he came in with her drinks and handed the water to her, putting down the tray on the table. She happily drank the cold water; it truly made her feel so good. She put it back on the tray and reached for the tea. ‘hmm?’
“What is this, Ron?” she asked, a frown on her face.
“It is a lemonade, young miss.” The insidious man had a benign smile on his face and Cale wanted to chuck this cup to his face. She could tolerate many things but never anyone messing with her food and drinks. This bastard knows that Cale, much like herself, did not like sour things, but he still chose to bring this to her. If only she wasn’t wary of this assassin, this cup would be meeting his face. She put it back down and stood up, “Wonderful, enjoy it yourself. Let’s go to the study, it’s been long enough.”
“…of course, please follow me. I will bring you your tea in the study.”
“Whatever”
--
She really couldn’t think about anything else when such delicious food was in front of her. So much so, she tends to blurt out her honest thoughts in front of food. “So delicious”
Hans, who had brought it to her, flinched hearing those words and she felt a twitch in her brow at his reaction. Other than breakfast, the Henituse family took the rest of the meals freely due to their responsibilities often interfering or needing priority. She placed her fork and once again noticed Hans flinching and she didn’t care about him or his nervousness, she thought back to the novel and the information in it about the Roan Kingdom.
‘There are a lot of experts hiding here as artists or craftsmen.’
The Roan Kingdon was advanced in construction and the arts, sculpting especially as there was a lot of marble available in the Kingdom. Thanks to that fact, the Henituse region became the fifth best marble mining region which brought in a ton of money. And a mountain range took up most of the Henituse territory, this mountain range was extremely fertile, the residents easily grew grapes for wine, which is one of the best wines in the entire continent.
However, it had been these ‘strong individuals’ that were occupying her mind the whole of the afternoon, that she even missed eating her delicious lunch. ‘Roan Kingdom wasn’t anything special, so why were so many experts hiding on this land. This wasn’t the murim but there were still many experts hiding like in the murim.’
The conclusion she draws is simple enough, don’t mess with just anybody. Anyone could be anyone very dangerous.
Ugh… she just wanted to not die and live peacefully.
“Young lady.”
She turned her gaze to the source of the voice who was being very cautious. “What?”
“Should I bring you something else to eat?” Hans watched as the young lady’s face changed, he was worried she might flip the table or throw the plate. Earlier the count had reprimanded him for his lapse in duties and had assigned him to her until he decided otherwise.
She frowned at him, “Why? There’s no need to remake something this delicious, I was just taking a break.”
“Huh..” Hans could only utter that as he watched her pick her fork back up and begin eating.
“Hans.”
“Yes, young lady!” she gave him an odd look.
“Who made this food?”
“Oh, the second chef Beacrox.” She suddenly wasn’t enjoying the food very much. Ugh…