Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 502

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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Kale’s mouth opened.

“Jung So-hoon.”
“Why are you calling my name all of a sudden? Did you not sleep well?”

The man who responded curtly was eating cup ramen in the corner of the room.
Kale stared intently at the sight. At that, Jung So-hoon set down his chopsticks with a considerably uncomfortable expression.

“…Should I make you a cup of ramen?”
“Not cup ramen. Just regular ramen. With an egg stirred in.”
“Ugh.”

Jung So-hoon rose with a grumble and shuffled toward the small kitchen attached to the room.

“Team Leader! Is this really the time to eat ramen? Are you eating ramen just because that bastard Jung So-hoon is?”

At that moment, a woman who appeared to be in her early thirties gathered documents from a desk in one corner of the room and shot Kale a deeply furrowed frown.

“…Kim Min-ah.”

She was the one who had shaken Kale’s body roughly earlier. When Kale opened his eyes, she had turned her attention to the documents without hesitation.

“Yes, yes. My name is Kim Min-ah and that guy’s name is Jung So-hoon.”
“Hey, Deputy Chief. Stop calling him ‘that bastard’ all the time. It’s sad to hear.”
“Sad, my foot.”

Kim Min-ah let out a scoff, and the man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties—Jung So-hoon—opened his mouth with a grumble.

“Should I make some for you too, Deputy Chief?”
“Mine without the egg.”
“Ah. I’ll need two pots then.”

Jung So-hoon rummaged through the kitchen cabinet while muttering, pulling out two pots.
Kale sat in a daze, quietly observing the scene unfold.

Kim Min-ah, Vice Team Leader.
And Jung So-hoon, Assistant Manager.
These two were members of the team led by Kale—no, Kim Rok-soo. One handled support duties exclusively, while the other specialized in offensive operations.
Kale remained silent for a moment before speaking.
Since a short while ago, Kim Rok-soo’s voice had been flowing from him.

“I didn’t come to work today?”
“That’s right. You should get to the office quickly, shouldn’t you?”

Kim Min-ah, the Vice Team Leader, fixed Kale with a sharp, piercing gaze.
Kale lowered his head and caught sight of himself wearing a tracksuit.
Looking at the mirror hanging on the wall—the only one in the room—he saw the unmistakably disheveled hair of someone who had just woken up. It was Kim Rok-soo’s hair.

“I came to wake up the Team Leader, and we didn’t even go out for the morning shift today. Do you know how much that allowance is worth!”

Kim Min-ah, the Vice Team Leader, served as one of the offensive unit members within Kale’s team.
She was one of the frontline assault operatives.

“I have a lot of documents to organize too.”

Jung So-hoon, the Assistant Manager, grumbled as he added noodles and broth to boiling water.
He was someone brought in from a guild that had shut down roughly two years ago—a supporter with healing abilities.

Soon, a pot of ramen that he had prepared was placed in front of Kale.

Thunk.
Two pots of ramen were set down on the table that served as their makeshift dining surface.

“Kimchi.”

Kimchi was placed between the pots.
Jung So-hoon, the Assistant Manager, had already rummaged through the refrigerator and located all the side dishes.

“…Sigh.”

Kale let out an exasperated sigh, as if at his wit’s end.
At that, Jung So-hoon’s lips twitched slightly.

“Isn’t it frustrating? I make a mean bowl of ramen.”
“Team Leader, eat this and let’s get moving right away. Understood?”

Kale picked up his chopsticks as he listened to the two voices in turn.

The noodles entered his mouth.
Familiar yet longed for, and utterly delicious.

‘…Is this a hallucination?’

Kale was astounded by how vivid the taste was.
At the same time, he lifted his head slightly.

Jung So-hoon, pushing aside the bloated cup ramen noodles, ate warm rice and kimchi. And Kim Min-ah, rapidly slurping down her ramen.

‘…Are those two hallucinations as well?’

After Team Leader Lee Soo-hyuk, along with Choi Jung-soo and the other team members, had passed away, Kale had drawn an even firmer line between himself and his subordinates.

“Oh! Team Leader, Eun-soo will be back soon, right? You said she went to Grandmother’s House, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Eun-soo’s father and I will come back this evening. You said you’re taking next Friday off?”
“Yes. It’s Father’s birthday, and he keeps insisting I come down. I’m planning to visit.”
“Good. Have a safe trip. What about a gift?”
“He says cash is best. He’s asking for cash.”
“Cash really is the best.”

Because they had families.

Unlike the Team Leader Lee Soo-hyuk era when those without families gathered together, when those people all departed and Kim Rok-soo reformed the team, people with those they had to take responsibility for and protect came together.

So Kim Rok-soo could not grow close even when his subordinates approached him.

Slurp.
Eating the hot ramen warmed his insides naturally.

‘…Despair, was it?’

Previously, Elysnet I had shown Choi Han a hallucination and said she would bestow despair upon him.
She had shown him the most despairing moment.

If that was the case, then this moment was the most despairing one for Kale as well.
Kale’s eyes gazed into the void.

‘Why not the past?’

He questioned himself.

Why hadn’t the memories of despair from his past consumed him?
Why hadn’t it shown him that moment?

But the answer came swiftly.

Because he had met Lee Soo-hyuk, the Team Leader he had to let go of—the moment when a dagger had pierced his heart most deeply.
He was dead, but that past in which he died no longer remained merely as a lingering sorrow in my heart.

“Heh.”
“Huh? Team Leader, why are you suddenly laughing? Is my ramen that funny? Haha!”
“Hey. The Team Leader will find it even funnier when you do that.”

Kale laughed.

When I first opened my eyes as Kale Heniatus in ‘The Birth of a Hero’.
I had no lingering attachment to reality, nothing at all.
No precious friends, no family, nothing whatsoever.
But a small worry had crept in.

What would happen to this team without me?
That kind of concern.

The company probably sent people to my house looking for Kim Rok-soo, who hadn’t come to work, and subordinates like Jung So-hoon and Kim Min-ah would have arrived.
And what would they have found?

Kim Rok-soo’s corpse?
Or something else entirely?

Kale was curious, but he had no desire to trade something great that he possessed for that curiosity.
It was merely a curiosity that surfaced from time to time, nothing more.

However.

“I’m sorry.”
“What? Oh! It’s fine. You don’t need to apologize to us.”
“Oh no, I, I— I shouldn’t say this. Team Leader, is that why you’re doing this? You’re apologizing because you had to come find us at home? Team Leader, we’re fine. Honestly, it’s nice not working!”

Jung So-hoon and Kim Min-ah dismissed Kale’s apology in turn without making a fuss.
But for Kale, it was quite a significant matter.

Because I understood now.
Because I understood what despair had found me.

“We’ll wait in the car. Come down when you’re ready.”
“Should we do the dishes?”

After finishing the ramen, Kale answered as Kim Min-ah and Jung So-hoon spoke in turn.

“Yeah. I’ll get ready and head out right away. And leave the dishes.”
“Yes!”
“There’s no rush, so take your time.”

Creak.
The two of them opened the studio apartment door and stepped outside.
Kale watched them quietly.

The scenery beyond the door was the world where Kim Rok-soo had lived.

“Then we’ll see you in a moment!”
“See you soon.”

Click.
The door closed and soon the sound of the lock mechanism rang out loudly as the door was secured.

Kale was alone in the room.
I looked around.

The formal suit I always wore came into view.
I reached toward the black shirt.
My scarred arm became visible, and through my rough fingertips, I felt the texture of the shirt.

Should I go to work once?
Even if it’s within a hallucination, wouldn’t it be nice to see my teammates after so long and experience Kim Rok-soo’s difficult yet manageable daily life—the tedious and exhausting company work?

“That’s absolute nonsense.”

One corner of Kim Rok-soo’s mouth twisted upward, forming a chilling smile.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

In that moment, Kale let out a quiet laugh at the sound filling the silent room.
His hand moved toward the inside of his training jacket.

“Is this truly something given by a god?”

From the beginning, I was certain it was a hallucination.
Ever since I confirmed that Kim Min-ah and Jung So-hoon couldn’t hear this sound, I had believed it was a hallucination all along.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

A letter given by the God of Death.
It remained inside Kim Rok-soo’s training jacket.

Tick. Tick. Tick.

“With this sound ringing in my ears, how could I possibly leave this room?”

This letter, this object given by the God of Death, was telling me that my time continued to dwindle even now.
And so I came to understand the despair I possessed.

Perhaps it was fear rather than despair.

The true nature of my fear.
In this world.

“It doesn’t exist.”

Within Kim Rok-soo’s continuing tomorrow, the “birth of a hero” was a fabrication.
Not reality, merely a story confined within a novel.

Everything that Kim Rok-soo experienced as Kale Heniatus becoming nothing more than fiction rather than reality.

“Turns out I’m quite the coward, aren’t I?”

I realized my own fear and let out a dry laugh.
Then I gazed at the closed door.

The world would exist beyond that door.
Which is precisely why I won’t step outside it.

“I have to go.”

I needed to wake from this hallucination quickly.
I had a vague sense of how to do it.

The medium connecting Kim Rok-soo and Kale Heniatus.

I picked up the book “The Birth of a Hero.”
To be precise, it was Volume Six.

Rustle—
The pages turned, and I scoffed.

“Ha! So it really is just a hallucination.”

Blank pages. Not a single word in Volume Six.
Of course—I’d never read it before.
It was never recorded in Kim Rok-soo’s mind.
I tossed Volume Six carelessly onto the corner of the sofa and reached toward another book.

“The Birth of a Hero” Volume Five.
I held this book and pondered.
I had a distinct intuition that this book would shatter the hallucination.
But I had no idea what to do with it or how to do it.
Something told me it wouldn’t be a simple method.

Tear it?
Burn it?
Or eat it?

Kale, who had been mulling over various concerns, simply opened the book.

Rustle. Rustle.
He flipped through the pages rapidly, one after another.
And finally, he reached the last page.

【To be continued in the next volume.】

Upon seeing those words, Kale found himself laughing without realizing it.

“How tedious.”

With that remark, he closed the book.

Snap!
The moment the book closed.

“…What? …So easily?”

Kale could see the world darkening around him.

Could an illusion really shatter this easily?
Kale felt puzzled.

Tick. Tick. Tick.
Then, the sound of a clock reached his ears. Kale lowered his head, and light was emanating from the letter from the God of Death held in his hand.

Ah. So this is what happened.

He could infer that a god’s possession had lent a hand in breaking the illusion.

“I need to return.”

To reality.
Kale slowly closed his eyes.
His companions, who would surely be shocked, came to mind. Kale opened his eyes, thinking he needed to get up and resolve the situation quickly.

Boom! Crash! Boom! Crash!

“…What is this?”

Then he opened his eyes to the sound of thunderous crashes erupting from all directions.

“Huh?”

He could see the black branches wrapped around him, along with the wooden branch that had bound him.
Kale, now separated from Destructive Fire, was trapped within branches arranged like a birdcage.

-…A-are you alright?

A timid voice accompanied the thin branch he had grasped earlier as it drew near.

-This is all I can manage on my own.

The Tree’s voice reached him.
Kale couldn’t see clearly outside through the gaps between the black branches.
He adjusted his gaze through the crevices and opened his mouth.

“What’s happening right now— Ugh!”

And he was startled.

Something flew toward him.
Kale, squinting through the narrow gaps, flinched in surprise.

Crash!
The Tree trembled slightly as a tremendous impact echoed through it.
The figure that had collided with the base of the Tree tumbled to the ground with a heavy thud.

“Cough. Hack.”

Kale recognized him.
It was the Middle-aged Man with Glasses, one of Elysnis’s subordinates.

“Ugh. Ah, it hurts.”

The middle-aged man trembled violently as he moved his hands.
Severe pain engulfed his body, and his limbs felt trampled, yet he had to move. His hand reached toward the glasses perched on his ears.
He had to grab them.
Only then could he fight.
No—only then could he survive.

That was when it happened.

“Not so fast.”

The glasses were torn away.
Despite his intact vision, he watched as someone’s hand seized the spectacles and they plummeted to the ground.

Crack.
A foot came down, crushing the fallen glasses beneath it.

“Gasp! Cough!”

Soon he was seized by the collar and hoisted into the air by the one who had destroyed his glasses.
His feet, belonging to a man of modest height, dangled uselessly above the ground as his body thrashed.

“Please, I—I beg you—”

The middle-aged man with glasses grasped at the hands gripping his collar with both his own, desperately trying to pry them loose as he stared at his assailant.
His eyes pleaded with desperate urgency for his life.

Yet the man was not looking at him.
He remained frozen, collar still clenched in his grip.
Beyond the middle-aged man’s shoulder.

A figure ensnared like a hostage, bound by grotesque branches.
That person was looking directly at him.

“…Kale?”

Kale, covered in blood of indeterminate origin, turned toward Choi Han with an awkward smile, his gentle face registering surprise.

“Hello?”

And he could see the sights beyond Choi Han’s shoulders—a grim and brutal tableau.

“Destroy it all!”

Though invisible, Raon’s cry pierced through the empty air, and in that same instant, the maze walls collapsed in perfect domino succession.

“Roooar!”
“Grrrrr!”

From every direction came the sounds of monsters shrieking and fleeing from the tumbling walls.

“Hah. The moment I use power, it recharges and grows stronger!”
“Kill every last one of these bastards!”

Dark Elves came into view, drenched in dead mana bursting from between the maze walls, rampaging with newfound ferocity.

“…You’re doing well.”

I could see Choi Han smiling gently at my words.
Drip. Drop.
Blood—unmistakably not his own—traced down his jaw and fell to the ground.

…I seemed to have opened my eyes at a particularly brutal moment.
Without thinking, I clenched the branches tightly.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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