Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 580

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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 answered lightly.

“Seongsiji.”

Then he dismounted gracefully from Alberu’s back. Of course, this was only possible because Alberu had lowered himself.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He offered the four people standing rigidly alongside Choi Jung-soo the gentlest greeting he could muster.

“I am Kim Rok-soo, and I can assure you of my identity.”

Kale then placed a hand on the shoulder of Choi Han, who descended with a complicated expression.

“This fellow is also trustworthy, so you needn’t worry about any attacks.”

Pat, pat.
Choi Han offered a faint smile at Kale’s gruff reassurance, understanding his intent.
Kale exchanged a glance with Choi Han, then gestured toward the Dark Tiger—Alberu.

“And this one here is my older brother, the Dark Tiger Alberu.”

Older brother?
Strange expressions flickered across the faces of all five people.

Did he just call that monster his older brother?
There were so many questions they wanted to ask. But they couldn’t.

“Alberu, is it? Rather short. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Albert Crossman.”

The monster shook his mane with such elegance that one might wonder if such an expression was even appropriate, and offered a gentle greeting.
There was even a faint sense of majesty about him.

The young man named Kim Rok-soo gazed at the tiger and released a small sigh, then reintroduced the tiger to Choi Jung-soo’s group.

“My older brother’s name is Albert Crossman.”

The five people of varying ages stared at Kale Heniatus and Alberu with dumbfounded expressions.
But the Dark Tiger kept her gaze fixed on Kale Heniatus.

‘Ha! I’ve never seen him like this before!’

Alberu had never witnessed Kale Heniatus in such an excited state.

To others, he might still appear stoic, but to Alberu’s eyes, Kale Heniatus was clearly thrilled.

And just as Alberu had sensed, Kale Heniatus felt both remarkably astonished and genuinely delighted in this moment.

‘I never expected to see him here!’

He had only heard from Choi Jung-soo that Lee Soo-hyuk had been spotted at the Busan Seomyeon Central Shelter, but he knew little of Choi Jung-soo’s circumstances before that.

Choi Jung-soo had spoken to him sporadically, providing details only on certain matters while abbreviating the rest, so Kale Heniatus had been unable to track Choi Jung-soo’s movements during that period.

But Kale Heniatus could not reveal his joy.
After all, Choi Jung-soo was seeing Kim Rok-soo for the first time.

Then Choi Jung-soo’s lips parted.

“…What is the other person’s name?”

Unlike his casual speech moments before in response to Kale Heniatus’s informal tone, he now spoke with a more composed voice and formal politeness.
A flicker of surprise crossed Kale Heniatus’s eyes before vanishing.

‘As expected, he noticed.’

Kale Heniatus had vaguely glossed over introducing Choi Han’s name. The other four seemed too bewildered to catch the omission, but Choi Jung-soo had managed to perceive it even amid the chaos.

‘He’s quite perceptive and meticulous.’

And persistent.
That persistence was what had driven Choi Jung-soo to ascend from a Grade 10 ability user to Grade 1.
Kale Heniatus gave Choi Han a light tap on the back.

Hesitant steps. Faltering steps.
Choi Han moved forward with uncertain gait, taking one or two tentative steps ahead.
His gaze drifted aimlessly, unable to settle on any single point.
Dark Tiger, who understood the situation, let out a small sigh where no one else could hear.

‘…So even someone as composed as him can look like this.’

On the surface, Choi Han still appeared calm, even slightly subdued, but Alberu sensed that internally, his thoughts must be in utter chaos right now.

After all, it had been an eternity since he’d faced blood kin.

Just as Alberu suspected, Choi Han’s mind had transcended confusion—his thoughts were turning white, blank.

‘I never expected this.’

I never imagined I would meet Choi Jung-soo at a time like this.
Yet the moment I saw Choi Jung-soo, I recognized him instantly.

I had seen his face reflected in a mirror within Choi Jung-soo’s own memories before.
His voice was familiar too.

‘He doesn’t—he won’t—’

I gazed at Choi Jung-soo.

‘He doesn’t recognize me.’

My wavering eyes gradually steadied.
My mind, which had been turning white, slowly cooled and cleared.

‘…This is only natural.’

It was only natural that Choi Jung-soo didn’t recognize me.

How could he remember the face of a distant relative who had vanished so long ago?
Even if he had glimpsed that face in a photograph, it was only natural that Choi Jung-soo would envision his distant relative as someone quite aged by now.
Who would identify someone who hadn’t aged at all—someone younger than himself—as that distant relative?

‘…Would he at least remember the name?’

Could he perhaps pause at a familiar name, at the name of his missing uncle?
Choi Han’s lips parted.

“My name is Choi Han.”

And he extended his hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Choi Jung-soo gazed at that hand for a moment before grasping it in return.

“The pleasure is mine.”

After the simple greeting, he released his hand.
Choi Han stepped back behind Kale Heniatus, his empty hand falling slowly to his side.

‘He doesn’t recognize me.’

Watching how Choi Jung-soo regarded him as a stranger, Choi Han felt an inexplicable ache in his chest.
Even though I had made another world—not Earth—my home. Even though I had a place to return to.
Still, my heart ached strangely.

Kale opened his mouth as he watched Choi Han, then closed it again.
This was not a matter he should hastily involve himself in.

‘Surely Choi Han understands that it’s natural for Choi Jung-soo not to recognize him, yet his heart must be complicated.’

Any person would feel the same.

‘But will it always remain this way?’

Kale Heniatus knew that between Choi Jung-soo and Choi Han lay a bond that could never be severed.
Perhaps it would prove even stronger than blood.

‘And he’s a tenacious one.’

Choi Jung-soo is a tenacious man.
Certainly.
The time may be uncertain, but it will come.

‘Choi Jung-soo will definitely notice something off about us.’

Since Lee Soo-hyuk, the Team Leader, was rather dull-witted, there was a high chance he wouldn’t notice anything. But Choi Jung-soo would certainly pick up on the incongruity between Kale and Choi Han.

And Kale knew this. Kim Rok-soo knew it too.
That’s why.

‘Well, as long as we don’t make it obvious, it should be fine.’

I didn’t particularly worry about it. It was just a matter of being careful.

“…May I ask what this is all about?”

Kale turned his gaze toward the middle-aged man who had spoken to him.
Kim. Kim Po-chul.

“Ah.”

Kim Po-chul let out a brief exclamation at his own question, then watched as the man named Kim Rok-soo answered without hesitation.

“Are you aware that a new type of Central Shelter has been established?”
“…I am aware that New Central Shelters have appeared in various locations.”
“I see. We intend to go to Busan Seomyeon, where the largest Central Shelter among them is located.”

And he added,

“Because I have someone I know there. I need to meet them.”

Though he hadn’t explained in detail, every word was true.
I had to meet Lee Soo-hyuk without fail in Busan Seomyeon.

‘Hmm?’

As Kale answered smoothly, he caught a fleeting moment when Kim Po-chul’s eyes shifted to focus on something.

In the direction of Kim Po-chul’s gaze, I could see a young boy nodding his head.

‘What is that?’

I wondered about it, but Kale simply smiled as if he hadn’t seen anything, observing Kim Po-chul’s behavior as he looked at me without any indication of his earlier suspicion.
A soft sound.
However, Choi Jung-soo stepped in front of the boy, blocking him from Kale’s view.

‘I’ve been caught.’

Kale realized that Choi Jung-soo had caught him staring at the boy.

‘And he’s wary of me again.’

He also noticed that Choi Jung-soo was watching him quite carefully.
That must be why he was scrutinizing Kale instead of the monster Alberu or Choi Han with his sword at his waist.

Seeing how Choi Jung-soo remained cautious despite Kale’s efforts to be as gentle as possible, Kale realized anew that this man’s ‘instinct’ was still sharp.

But Kale did not know.
When a gaunt man with a sickly pallor wore even a somewhat gentle smile, he emanated a chilling atmosphere.
And when the Dark Tiger and a swordsman appeared to follow him.

Of course one would be most wary, wouldn’t they?
And in this world, a man who smiled without reason was the most suspicious of all.

Normally, Kale would have sensed this atmosphere, but he was too elated by thoughts of Alberu.
Unaware of the situation, Kale opened his mouth.

“Are you also heading to Busan?”

Kale surveyed the group of five people before him.
A middle-aged woman who appeared to be in her fifties and a man who looked to be in his forties whom he had just spoken to.
Then a young woman who appeared to be in her late twenties to early thirties, and a boy clinging closely to her side.
And finally, Choi Jung-soo.

Kale had never heard from Choi Jung-soo about this composition of people.

The meaning was simple.

‘They’re all dead.’

It meant that everyone except Choi Jung-soo was dead.
Choi Jung-soo had a habit of burying the dead in his heart rather than mentioning them separately.

“Yes. We’re heading to Busan as well.”

Kim Po-chul answered stiffly, his guard still raised.
He had no choice.

The woman who appeared to be the eldest opened her mouth.

“Kim. Just a moment.”

She stepped forward.

“Your name is Kim Rok-soo, correct?”
“Yes.”
“I am Park Mal-sook.”
“Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you, ma’am.”

Park Mal-sook glanced briefly around Kale before speaking.
One of her hands remained behind her back.

“How do you know our Choi Jung-soo?”

They remembered.
What this enormous tiger monster had said.

‘Hmm? Isn’t this guy Choi Jung-soo? He looks just like you described.’

They clearly knew Choi Jung-soo.

“Hmm.”

At that moment, one corner of the mouth of the man who appeared to be the leader of this bizarre group twisted upward.

“To answer your question about that, I’ll need to explain my abilities.”

Kale’s gaze turned toward Choi Jung-soo.

“Night will be upon us soon, and traveling further would be difficult. I believe we should rest here for a day. If there are misunderstandings between us, the night will be uncomfortable, wouldn’t it?”

Alberu’s eyebrows rose slightly.

‘Running nonstop day and night, and now this.’

Resting because it’s night?
Does that word even exist in your vocabulary?
All you know is idleness—you don’t even understand what rest means!
Alberu felt his irritation bubbling up, but he quickly clamped his mouth shut.
It was because Kale Heniatus had looked up at the sky.

At that sudden gesture, Choi Jung-soo’s group instinctively followed his gaze upward.
In that moment.

“Keeeeee—!”

A sharp bird’s cry pierced through the crimson sky painted with the glow of sunset.

“That, that—”

Kim Po-chul’s mouth fell open.

A hawk.
A massive hawk with steel feathers came into view.
And there were people riding upon it.

“Flight ability?”

And there was also someone flying through the air independently.
Then, Kale Heniatus opened his mouth.

“Come down.”

At his gesture, the Steel Hawk and the people began to descend slowly.
Kale Heniatus turned his gaze from that sight toward the brush beside the highway.

“Come out.”

Crack. Crackle.
With the sound of branches snapping, something white emerged from the Forest.

Rabbit ears.
A White Rabbit.
Except it was a colossal White Rabbit standing three meters tall.

People were perched upon the rabbit’s shoulders.

“What… what is this?”

Since the Great Cataclysm, I had never witnessed humans and monsters appearing together in such harmony.
Well, they seemed amicable enough, yet to those observing them, they exuded an overwhelming sense of dread.
Because these monsters were among the most formidable beasts known to exist, each one a pinnacle of power.

Both humans and monsters stood behind Kale Heniatus.

“These individuals all travel with me, and we are all heading toward Busan Seomyeon. We are allies.”

Park Mal-sook studied Kale Heniatus’s entire group carefully, then swallowed hard and spoke.

“…What is your ability? Didn’t you say you would tell us that?”
“That’s correct. How did you know about me?”

Choi Jung-soo stepped forward.

Kale Heniatus swallowed a sigh inwardly at the piercing gaze Choi Jung-soo fixed upon me.
The Kale Heniatus of my memories would have scoffed at such an action, but performing it before this Choi Jung-soo who knew nothing was genuinely awkward. Still, it had to be done, so I spoke as naturally as possible.

Kale Heniatus spoke with confidence.

“My ability is ‘Foresight.'”

Silence fell in an instant.
Regardless, Kale Heniatus’s hand pointed toward Choi Jung-soo.

“And in my foresight, I saw you, Choi Jung-soo.”
“…What? Foresight? That’s completely unreasonable—”

A young woman in the group cried out in surprise.
At that moment, the boy murmured softly.

“That’s a lie!”

Soon his voice grew louder.
The boy stared at Kale Heniatus as if boring holes through him and shouted.

“That’s a lie!”

In an instant, Park Mal-sook and a woman in her late twenties grabbed the boy in alarm.
Even as this unfolded, Kale Heniatus spoke to the boy.

“…That cannot be. I know what will happen ahead.”

Confusion flickered across the boy’s eyes.
Without thinking, he blurted out.

“Huh? …That’s the truth.”

In that instant, something unusual gleamed in Kale Heniatus’s eyes. Seeing this, the woman quickly tried to hide the boy behind her.
But the boy gazed at Kale Heniatus with wonder, staring intently.
Under that gaze, Kale Heniatus opened his mouth.

“I harbor no ill will toward you all. Rather, I am going to Busan Seomyeon to save people.”

And he directed his gaze toward the boy.
The boy received that gaze and slowly opened his mouth.

“…That’s the truth.”

Just as I thought.
Kale Heniatus realized this child possessed a special ability.

‘This child can distinguish truth from falsehood in words.’

It was a special ability that rivaled—no, surpassed—Joo Ho-sik’s ‘Belief’.
And so Kale Heniatus spoke with sincerity.

“Terrifying things will unfold ahead. If I can endure what’s to come, if I can save people…”

If I can prevent that despair.

“I can fight until my dying breath.”

Because I despised death.
And because I must not die.
Because I refused to show death to my comrades.
Kale Heniatus had no intention of fighting with the resolve to die.

He would fight only with the resolve to save everyone.

“In any case, I will save the people.”

Kale Heniatus finished speaking, and the Boy’s mouth opened.

“It’s… the truth.”

The atmosphere among Choi Jung-soo’s group shifted.
They seemed bewildered by the sudden situation and the magnitude of what was being said.

Then, from behind Kale Heniatus as he regarded the bewildered group, a voice rang out.

“I believe.”

Kale Heniatus’s brow furrowed.
Joo Ho-sik, dressed in pristine white, stepped forward with his hands clasped together.

“This person performs miracles.”

A gentle smile played at the corners of Joo Ho-sik’s lips.
Unlike Kale Heniatus, it was a genuinely soft smile.

“This person’s foresight has never been wrong. You must believe.”

A sigh.
Kale Heniatus’s face contorted as he exhaled.

“…Clophe Seka.”

The name that Choi Han murmured softly to himself lodged itself in Kale Heniatus’s ears.
Alberu’s lips trembled as if he were suppressing laughter.

Kale closed his eyes briefly, then opened them and spoke to Choi Jung-soo and his group.

“It’s evening. Let’s have dinner first and discuss this matter over the meal.”

His tone was quite understated and composed.

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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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