Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 657

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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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“The fact that my mother possessed an Ancient Power was something only I knew.”

Kim Rok-soo let out a soft chuckle.

“Because I was so young, I quite liked how my mother asked me to keep it as a secret between just the two of us.”

Kale Heniatus opened his mouth to unravel the tangled threads of confusion in his mind one by one.

“What Ancient Power did she possess?”
“Hmm.”

Kim Rok-soo pondered for a moment before rising from his seat. He left the area around the bed where Kale was leaning and slowly wandered through the bedroom.

“My mother possessed an Ancient Power with a wood attribute.”

Kale recalled the wood-attribute Ancient Power that had existed in the Heniatus Territory.

‘The Unbreakable Shield.’
It was the first Ancient Power I had ever obtained, and it was a strength that still wrapped around my heart and saw frequent use.
A power that had slumbered beneath the Black Tree that grew where the Glutton Goddess had fallen.
When I awakened that power, the Black Tree turned white, and that strength was transmitted to me.

“Ah. It’s not the Unbreakable Shield.”

Yet Kim Rok-soo immediately said it was not that power, as if he had read Kale’s thoughts. He flashed a knowing smile at my gaze.

“I saw the Unbreakable Shield mentioned in the Book of the Hero’s Birth. I was certain you would have claimed it. Am I right?”
“Yeah. I have it.”
“Just as I thought. My prediction was correct.”

Kim Rok-soo shrugged his shoulders.
Then he stood before the curtained window. It was where a large window existed that let sunlight reach all the way to Kale’s bed.

“Kale. Do you know about tree rings?”
“Isn’t it the circular rings you see when you cut down a tree?”
“Exactly.”

Kale didn’t ask why Kim Rok-soo had suddenly brought up the subject of tree rings.
Kim Rok-soo continued speaking as he smoothed the curtain fabric covering the window.

“By observing a tree’s rings, you can roughly estimate its age. Each ring represents one year. Of course, the rings display varied patterns depending on where the tree grows, its surrounding environment, and the weather.”

Tree attribute Ancient Power.

“My mother said she could see the rings of living beings.”

Rings.
Kale spoke the word aloud once. His expression shifted subtly. Kim Rok-soo added to this.

“She said she could see the rings spanning an entire lifetime.”

Kale’s Mother possessed a Tree attribute Ancient Power.
That power allowed her to perceive the lifetime rings of any living being.

“But here’s the thing.”

Kim Rok-soo turned to face Kale.

“One day, my mother sat me down and said something like this.”

He recalled a memory from his earliest childhood. It was a conversation that, strangely enough, had never faded despite the passage of time, despite a lifetime passing—a conversation he would never forget.

“‘Our Kale. Sometimes there are people whose rings are twisted. In such cases, there’s a high probability they walk an unusual path through time.'”

Kim Rok-soo spoke those words while recalling his mother’s hand stroking his red hair, and his own fingers playing with his mother’s red hair—the same shade as his own.

“‘Kale. You are a child destined to walk an unusual path through time.'”

Kale, listening intently, wiped his face with his own hands. Even as he did, Kim Rok-soo’s calm voice continued.

“My mother saw my lifetime rings and spoke those words. But I didn’t understand their meaning at all. Not until I was forty years old.”

At forty—at the moment of his death—he had been offered a deal by the God of Death.

“But, Kale Heniatus.”

Kim Rok-soo’s voice dropped to a low murmur.

“You must have witnessed this power before. Doesn’t someone you know come to mind?”

Kale Heniatus closed his eyes, pressing his lips firmly together.
Observing this, Kim Rok-soo whispered.

“Within your records, there must surely remain a moment when you experienced something similar to your mother’s power.”

From the instant Kim Rok-soo mentioned the Tree-attribute Ancient Power, Kale recalled the information stored within his mind regarding Tree-attribute Ancient Powers.

The book “The Birth of a Hero.”
And the records of Tree-attribute Ancient Power masters documented in the Mercenary Guild’s roster.
Finally, memories of those who actually wielded Tree-attribute power.

Kale slowly parted his lips.

“As you say, I have witnessed a similar power once before.”

Before Kale had obtained the Ancient White Star’s Earth-attribute Ancient Power.
He had lured the White Star and Bear King Sayehr into the desert—one of the mysterious regions and home to the Dark Elves’ Underground City.
The bait he used was false information claiming that the Ancient White Star’s Earth-attribute power lay dormant in another abandoned Underground City within the desert.
At that time, the White Star had encountered Kale in that abandoned Underground City and sustained considerable damage.

“The White Star—”

In that memory, Kale witnessed a particular action the White Star had taken.

“The White Star touched a dead tree.”

Smoke flowed from the White Star’s hand, caressing the lifeless tree within the Underground City.

“With merely that gesture, he instantly discerned when that tree had perished.”

Despite its withered appearance, the tree had died less than a week prior—yet the White Star grasped this truth immediately.

“The White Star has repeatedly told me and Choi Han that our time is twisted.”

The words the White Star had spoken to Kale countless times flashed through his mind.

‘That swordsman’s temporal axis is twisted.’
‘Choi Han is the same, and your time is twisted like mine. But while I understand your time is distorted, I cannot fathom what exactly has been twisted.’
‘Possession? Who are you inside Kale Heniatus’s body? Moving from body to body. You prepared while transferring. For such a very long time. By moving around for so long, you continued to survive.’

Of course, the White Star had stumbled blindly, unaware that Kale was an existence who had possessed bodies across countless ages. But regarding the twisted temporal axes of the White Star, Choi Han, and Kale, I held an exceptionally strong conviction.

“At that time, I harbored slight suspicion about whether the White Star’s wood-attribute power was related to time, but I soon believed he possessed another time-attribute Ancient Power instead.”

Even though I had clearly witnessed the phenomenon of observing wood through smoke, I had easily dismissed it.

“…That must have been tree rings.”

Kale stopped speaking there, unable to continue further.
What he would have said next.

‘Then does that mean the White Star possessed Kale Heniatus’s Mother’s power?’

Or perhaps.

‘Could that carriage accident and Mother’s death have been the White Star’s doing?’

He could not bring himself to speak these words aloud.
Kale’s eyes twisted as he pressed his lips firmly shut.

“By the way, don’t misunderstand.”
“…What?”

Kim Rok-soo’s voice reached him, and Kale turned to look at him. Kim Rok-soo wore a faint smile.

“Your mother’s death was not the White Star’s doing.”
“Ah.”

A small sigh escaped Kale’s lips.
In that sigh tinged with relief, Kim Rok-soo understood who had taught his company team members to care for him with such devotion while he floundered, unable to adapt to the modern era.

‘With someone like this, I should tell him everything.’

Kim Rok-soo opened his mouth again.
It was a moment—he did not know when he would return again.

“Have you ever wondered what would have become of the future within the birth of a hero?”

Kale Heniatus could not answer that question easily now.
It would have been naive to simply assume that Choi Han would have resolved everything on his own—the trials he had endured over the past two years had been far too arduous for such a simplistic answer.

“When I was forty years old.”

Kim Rok-soo continued.

“The Roan Kingdom lay in ruins. The Heniatus Count Family was destroyed. I was the only survivor from that household.”

Kale drew in a sharp breath.
It was a tale that naturally stole one’s breath away.
It reminded him of the trial he had once faced before obtaining the golden spinning top on Wind Island.
The future Kale absolutely did not desire—that very future now spilled from Kim Rok-soo’s lips.

“The White Star, who dominated the Eastern Continent, chose the Roan Kingdom as the first target on the Western Continent—specifically, Pursulsi. From Pursulsi, the White Star began invading the Northeast Region, then the Southeast Region in sequence. I never learned why Pursulsi was chosen as the first target.”

Kim Rok-soo did not know, but Kale understood that part.

‘It must have been to conduct the Sealed God’s summoning ritual in Pursulsi.’

He could discern the White Star’s true intentions.

“King Jed Crossman died in battle against the White Star, and the surviving Crown Prince Albert Crossman fought countless battles against the White Star to reclaim the eastern territories of Roan. During that time, Choi Han, Rosalind, and Rak—those three—aided Albert.”

Kale’s lips parted.

“Did that war last nearly twenty years?”
“Yes. It continued until I reached forty. While the White Star occupied other lands like the Wipper Kingdom and the Breck Kingdom, the Roan Kingdom defended the royal palace and western territories, launching endless counterattacks against the White Star. It was tenacious. A fitting display of a kingdom that had endured for ages.”

A war spanning twenty years.
Contemplating how devastated the East-West Continent must have become, Kale felt his fists clench involuntarily.
The events following Volume Five of the Hero’s Birth were unfolding in a direction Kale desperately did not want.

By now, the weariness accumulated over those long years was evident across Kim Rok-soo’s entire face, replacing the clear smile that had once graced it.

“The Roan Kingdom needed troops to face the White Star and his subordinates, so they continuously recruited soldiers. I volunteered.”

Kim Rok-soo gazed down at his arm.
When I first possessed this body, I was quite pleased to see it covered in wounds.
The original owner of this body had suffered greatly too—like me, their entire form bore countless scars.
With such thoughts, I began to grow attached to this body.

“I had to take revenge. Against the White Star who destroyed our territory, our family, our house—I absolutely had to. I knew I couldn’t take his life, but I thought if I could inflict even the smallest wound, even a scratch, I could die with peace of mind.”

Kim Rok-soo’s gaze drifted into the void.

“And finally, the opportunity came.”

The corners of his mouth gradually lifted.

“With Choi Han at the center, the strongest warriors from across the East-West Continent gathered. Moreover, Albert Crown Prince negotiated with the defeated nations that had resisted the White Star faction and those still standing, amassing military forces.”

Even now, thinking of that time made Kim Rok-soo’s heart race.

“And when I received intelligence that the White Star was staying in Pursulsi preparing something, I headed there.”

And then came the great battle.

“It was truly a fierce conflict. Countless fell in that carnage. I was fortunate enough to endure quite long—buried beneath the corpses of my comrades.”

A strange fervor ignited in Kim Rok-soo’s eyes.

“That’s when! I saw it.”

His gaze turned toward Kale Heniatus.

“The White Star grasped Choi Han’s arm with his hand, and smoke rose from it. And he spoke.”

Thump. Thump. Kim Rok-soo’s heart pounded violently.
He uttered the White Star’s words that he had heard from beneath the corpses of his allies.

“‘Time has twisted strangely.'”

In that moment, he understood.

“That bastard possessed our mother’s power.”

At that moment, Kim Rok-soo’s eyes met those of the White Star, whose face was concealed behind a mask worn above his nose.

“The White Star discovered me and unleashed flames in my direction. I was on the brink of death.”
“…Did you make the deal with the God of Death at that moment?”
“Yes.”

Kim Rok-soo fell silent after that point, exhaling softly. The hand gripping the curtain was already damp with perspiration.

“Through my deal with the God of Death, I learned how my mother had passed away.”

The condition the God of Death had presented to the real Kale Heniatus was to journey to that pivotal moment when I first met Choi Han—the starting point that would alter the fate of this world—while simultaneously allowing me to inhabit the body of Kim Rok-soo, a human from another realm.

“Because my condition was to learn the truth about my mother’s death and to save our territory and our family.”

Kim Rok-soo recalled the moment of his conversation with the God of Death.

‘If you enter the body of the one you’re about to possess now, that alone will be sufficient to alter the fate of this world. It’s the best I can do.’

He had chosen not to relay this statement to Kale Heniatus.
Instead, he had shared the truth about his mother’s death.

“My mother went to Harris Village to secretly bury a portion of the Ancient Powers she possessed.”

Kale couldn’t help but speak at those words.

“Can the Ancient Powers be transmitted while one is still alive?”

The Ancient Powers were the strength left behind in a location after the death of one who possessed them.

“Yes. It’s possible.”

Kim Rok-soo laughed with melancholy.

“All it takes is the resolve to shatter the vessel.”
“…I see.”

Kale exhaled a sigh.

Humans possessed what could be called a vessel.
The Ancient Powers were contained within such vessels, and while Kale Heniatus’s vessel was large, it was considerably fragile.

Kale’s Mother had shattered her own vessel and secretly buried a portion of her power in Harris Village.

Kale barely managed to open his mouth.

“…If the vessel breaks—”
“You die.”

Kim Rok-soo answered plainly, but Kale read the sorrow and understanding in his eyes. And resentment.
Those were likely the emotions Kim Rok-soo harbored toward his mother.
He quickly buried those feelings at Kale’s unwavering gaze fixed upon him, then broached a different subject.

“The moment I opened my eyes in your studio apartment, I started reading ‘The Birth of a Hero,’ right? This is just my speculation while reading it, but—”

Kim Rok-soo stated it was purely his own thought and that it might not be the truth.

“When all the people of Harris Village died and Choi Han began to venture beyond this world, the White Star would have definitely needed to visit Harris Village at least once to obtain your mother’s power.”
“Mm.”

It was something Kale had already been considering. Kim Rok-soo voiced his thoughts.

“What if the White Star obtained your mother’s power from Harris Village while Choi Han was briefly away? And then he left his subordinates behind to clean up the mess.”

In ‘The Birth of a Hero,’ Am transfers the dead mana from the Dark Forest Black Lake to the Mermaid Tribe.
The Mermaid Tribe wages war against the Whale Tribe using that dead mana, and Choi Han sides with the Whale Tribe to fight alongside them.

Various pieces of information rose and fell within Kale’s mind repeatedly. Watching his face grow rigid and his contemplation deepen, Kim Rok-soo quickly spoke.

“Well, it could be wrong. The probability that my speculation isn’t correct is pretty high, right?”
“…Yeah.”

Kale nodded and exhaled softly.
Kim Rok-soo released the curtain fabric and approached Kale.

“Anyway, what I’m about to say now is important. What is the White Star doing right now?”

Kale answered without hesitation.

“They’re targeting Pursulsi.”

Kim Rok-soo’s expression hardened as he spoke the words aloud.

“There must be a reason the God of Death brought you and me together.”

Kale Heniatus grasped the meaning as well. He rose from the bed and stood before Kim Rok-soo. The two faced each other, and Kale posed a question.

“The Tree attribute Ancient Power—where is the rest of it?”

Kale’s Mother had supposedly buried a portion of that power in Harris Village.
If that were true, the remainder had to be hidden somewhere.

“Kale.”

Kim Rok-soo whispered low.

“It was strange that the White Star killed me. Do you know why?”

He recalled that moment when he might have perished and realized something.

“He knew Choi Han’s time was twisted, but he didn’t know mine was. What does that mean?”

Kale answered matter-of-factly.

“It means he could only see the past. At that point in time, you hadn’t yet had your time twisted.”

Forty-year-old Kale Heniatus.
His time had not yet been twisted. That would happen soon, through a bargain with the God of Death.

“Exactly. But my mother’s power saw even my ‘future’ when my time would be twisted.”

It was then.

Whoosh—

The curtains began to move of their own accord.
The heavy drapes that had covered the large window drew back, and the view beyond came into sight.
Kim Rok-soo’s mouth fell open as he gazed out past the curtains.

“Hey. What did you do with my body?”

The view from inside the Puzzle City Administrative Office unfolded beyond the window.
A space brimming with beige mana. In the center bed lay Kale Heniatus, his entire body fractured with cracks, which the Dragon Mila was painstakingly mending—nearly halfway through.
Kim Rok-soo regarded Kale with a disgruntled gaze, and Kale deftly averted his eyes.

“Ahem. Mm.”
“Hah.”

Kim Rok-soo shook his head slowly, disapprovingly.
In that moment, the window began to creak open gradually.

Creeeeak—

Wind swept in from outside, flowing into the space where Kale and Kim Rok-soo stood.

“It seems the time to part has come.”
“Indeed.”

Kim Rok-soo extended his hand toward Kale Heniatus.

“Kale. Go to your mother’s grave.”

Kale grasped that hand. The warmth that proved each other’s existence flowed between them.
Kim Rok-soo spoke with a grave expression, devoid of any levity.

“There will be something near the grave—an object imbued with half of that power.”

Like the spinning top of the Voice of Wind.
Like the stone of Scary Rock.
Some object would be waiting there for the one who came to find it.

The person who had decided to live as Kale, not Kim Rok-soo anymore, spoke to the one who would live as Kim Rok-soo from now on.

“Live comfortably.”

To those words, the other replied with a smile.

“You’ll have to endure a bit more suffering, but you’ll live well regardless. I’m counting on you to look after my family.”
“I’m asking you to look after my teammates as well.”

The two of them released each other’s hands with a hint of reluctance.
Kale Heniatus headed toward the window. Kim Rok-soo headed toward the bedroom door.

“It seems like I’m leaving through the door, and you’re going over the window?”
“That appears to be the case. I wish we could talk more, but I’m rather busy.”
“So am I. Why is there so much overtime? Ugh. I should become the president of your company and put an end to all this overtime.”

Click.
Kim Rok-soo turned the doorknob. Through the crack of the opening door, Kale Heniatus caught a glimpse of the office scenery he somewhat missed. But he quickly turned his gaze away.
He grasped the window latch and pulled it open.

Whoooosh—
Wind swept across his face.
He stepped onto the window sill and bid farewell to the other self behind him.

“Farewell, Kim Rok-soo.”
“You too. Take care.”

Kale Heniatus climbed over the window while Kim Rok-soo opened the door wide.
The two of them stepped outside, each heading toward their own world.

* * *

“…Ugh… Uhhh….”

Groans escaped involuntarily from Kale Heniatus’s lips.

“Aunt! Our human’s consciousness is returning!”
“No! I haven’t finished reattaching everything yet! Raon, put him back to sleep!”
“Huh? Aunt, that doesn’t seem right!”
“Hmm. You’re right, it doesn’t.”

Mila, who had spoken so harshly about putting him to sleep, now addressed Kale Heniatus with a gentle voice as his eyelids fluttered open.

“Teacher, are you awake? You can open your eyes now.”

The moment Kale returned to reality, a single thought crystallized in his mind.

‘…These terrifying dragons.’

He slowly opened his eyes.
And then.

The door burst open.
“Gasp, huff. Young master!”

Rak rushed into the office, cradling the orb hastily wrapped in cloth against his chest.

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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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