After elaborating about his plan, Cale watched Bori and Joonghyuk fly down towards the station. Without averting his gaze away, he calls out.

"Saga."

The cream-colored dokkaebi revealed himself to Cale, as if he had been waiting.

"Buy me the stealth skill and mental restoration medicine."

Without any further questions, Saga replied.

[ That'll be a total of 8,000 coins. ]

Cale nodded, and soon, a pop up window appeared in front of him.

[You have consumed 8,000 coins.]

[You have gained the skill, 'Stealth'.]

[You have gained the item, 'Mental Restoration Pill'.]

Good. With these, his plans should go smoothly.

"Ah, also. Please shut down all indirect messages to me."

[ Okay. ]

[Many Constellations cried out in agony.]

[Some constellations are complaining and begging you not to do this.]

Unfortunately, he didn't care. Their messages would simply be a distraction.

The black haired man thanked the dokkaebi, watching the creature wave before it disappeared with glitches. He slowly lowered himself and activated his stealth skill, then Cale discreetly flew through the tunnel by using the Sound of Wind.

He peeked from behind the wall, watching people converse amongst themselves.

This is it.

Dongmyo is a station that's supposedly led by Han Donghoon in Ways of Survival, but a self-proclaimed prophet had hypnotized him in Omniscient Reader, making him act as a puppet who can only follow orders. Although Donghoon is skillful, his mentality is quite weak, so it's impossible for him to break out of the hypnosis.

Honestly, without Kim Dokja, there's no telling when he might be released from it in the novel. The hypnosis caused Han Donghoon to be traumatized and making him more timid than ever before.

'Just because he's a character from a novel doesn't mean you bastards can do whatever the hell you want to him,' Cale thought with a deep frown.

He had never once treated anyone from the Birth of a Hero as a mere character, and he's not going to start now.

Han Donghoon deserves to live freely as his own person, not controlled by anyone, not even the plot of this world's story.

Cale silently walked past them, and none of these people had noticed him. Since it's only the beginning of the scenarios, there's no one skilled enough to detect his presence, except Yoo Joonghyuk.

'There.'

His eyes lit up upon seeing the biggest tent, and he chose to hide beside it, awaiting for the signal.

Just then,

BOOM!

A loud explosion could be heard, and everyone inside the station panicked. Two people from the tent rushed outside— which Cale could only assume to be few of the so-called prophets in the novel, Lee Sungkook and Jung Minseob.

However, he couldn't care about that.

'Didn't I tell them to just destroy the entrance? What's up with that loud noise?'

Well, it doesn't matter. Yoo Joonghyuk and Na Bori had bought him time, so he quickly entered the tent.

Much to his relief, he found a teenage boy with a frail figure, hunched over in his seat while typing away in front of the computer as if he had not heard the explosion at all.

Cale quietly approached the quiet boy and clasped his mouth shut from behind, shoving the mental restoration pill inside. The teen thrashed in his hold, but Cale pinched his nose, forcing him to swallow it.

A few seconds later, Han Donghoon finally relaxed, and the man stepped back to see light returning to his lifeless eyes.

"Have you regained your senses?" Cale pulled down his mask and asked to make sure, observing him from head to toe before clicking his tongue.

'Tsk. Are they even feeding him? He's so thin.'

Han Donghoon blinked a few times, finally noticing his presence and he immediately trembled before inching away.

"I'm not going to hurt you," He said in his usual indifferent tone.

The boy stayed silent, and Cale understood. Three days of being hypnotized won't make your trauma better. It's best if he approached the situation more gently.

"You hate the prophets, don't you?"

The question finally made Donghoon look up, his pupils slightly shaking.

"I'll kill them for you."

The boy's eyes promptly widened.

Then they stared at each other in silence.

"W-Why would you..."

"To get rid of a grudge, you have to resolve that grudge. Killing them would do just that, am I right?"

Han Donghoon blinked, and slowly, his tense shoulders dropped.

Cale took this as a good sign.

But before he could ease his mind, another explosion occurred and the ground shook, causing Han Donghoon to lose his balance and the older man swiftly caught him.

'Damn it. What are those two even doing? Are they trying to destroy the whole station?!'

He could hear panicked approaching shouts from outside the tent, and he turned to look at Donghoon's fightened state.

"Do you want to come with me? I won't force you if you want to stay."

"... H-How can I trust you?"

"You can't, and you shouldn't. I'm the biggest trash you'll ever meet, and like them, I'm only here so I could gain information from you. But at the very least, I won't force you to do something you don't want to do nor will I control you."

Han Donghoon seemed to search for something in his eyes, before settling on an answer.

"...Anything is better than being here."

Cale nodded, putting his mask back on. "Then hold on."

[26,000 coins have been consumed.]

[Strength Lv.1 -> Strength Lv.15]

[Stamina Lv.3 -> Stamina Lv.15]

He carried the boy on his back, and Donghoon circled his arms around his neck— not too tight, but enough for him to not fall.

Cale summoned his whirlwind and shot forward, earning a yelp from the teen. He flew past the station members, not caring about the yells and shouts from behind him.

He could feel a shaky hand clutching onto his shoulders upon noticing them heading towards a blocked ruined entrance.

— I got it, Cale!

An excited voice said and sparks of rose gold lightning started to surround them.

Instead of slowing down, Cale picked up his speed, and Han Donghoon shut his eyes tighter.

Before they crashed onto the rubble, a giant lightning that could easily blind anyone had flashed and hit it in a zap.

BOOM!

Another explosion, but this time, it came from him.

The broken walls had turned into specks of dust.

The two flew outside the station, towards Na Bori and Yoo Joonghyuk who were already waiting for him in the air.

"Ahjussi!" Bori called out in relief, and her smile widened upon spotting the stranger behind Cale's back.

Meanwhile, Yoo Joonghyuk is still processing the fact that he had assisted someone in a kidnapping attempt.

"Is everyone okay?" He asked once he got close to hearing range.

"We're okay." Na Bori nodded. "Though..." Her attention drifted to Yoonghyuk, sending him a side look.

She still remembered clearly of what happened moments ago.

< The second explosion could be heard, and Na Bori frantically looked at Yoo Joonghyuk in bewilderment.

"Oi, Mister! Cale Ahjussi said we just need to destroy the entrance! What are you doing?!"

"... You're loud."

"HEY!" She glared.

Their conversation was cut short when they heard several footsteps approaching, followed by someone shouting at them.

"W-Who are you?! Did you- Why are you doing this?!"

Just as planned, Na Bori didn't bother sparing the crowd a glance, but Yoo Joonghyuk looked down upon them with a sharp gaze.

"We..." His commanding voice spoke, causing everyone to hold their breaths, awaiting for his words.

"We are the secret organization."

Na Bori wanted to throw herself into the rubbles in embarrassment. >

She shudders. "Basically, this mister is surprisingly pretty good at playing the villain," Bori said, sparing Cale from the awful details.

The teenage boy peeked from behind Cale's back, his eyes meeting Na Bori before going to Yoo Joonghyuk, and he flinched. The latter's gaze was so intense that he easily cowered under it.

But there's only one thing in the protagonist's mind.

'The person that Cale Henituse kidnapped is...'

There are seven people that participated in War of Kings and Master of the Throne. They are called The Seven Kings and are the most powerful people of the fourth main scenario.

This boy is one of them. Han Donghoon, Hermit King of Shadows.

But why does he look so disheveled and rugged?

The sight made Yoo Joonghyuk frown. Not out of worry, he had discarded those feelings after finishing his second regression. The recent betrayal had scarred him, and Joonghyuk decided to not lean on people again, so right now, no one matters to him. Nothing but reaching the final scenario.

But... too many changes are happening, so he couldn't help but be curious.

"What happened to him?" He asked the stoic black haired man.

"Some bastards hypnotized him." Cale glanced at the boy, trying to see his reaction but realized he couldn't because of the way Donghoon buried his face on his back. "Practically turning him into a puppet."

Donghoon flinched, and Joonghyuk stayed silent after his explanation. Na Bori also seemed to be shocked at the revelation.

'No matter how much he denies it, Yoo Joonghyuk is still in his supposedly third regression. He's bound to feel sympathy when it comes to children,' Cale thought to himself.

"...Your objective had been him all along?" Joonghyuk finally asked again.

"Yes."

'Ah! Ahjussi meant to save him from the start!' Na Bori's eyes sparkled in admiration. 'Aiya, he's such a good man!'

Cale could feel Han Donghoon shaking slightly, and his grip on the boy tightened to not let him fall. But apparently, the gesture ceased the trembling. Unknowingly to the man, Donghoon took it as comfort.

"Let's—" hurry back, he wanted to say.

— I'm sorry, Cale... I forgot to control my strength, and...

His eyes widened slightly, then—

Cough!

He swayed, and the others thought he would've fallen if not for the way Bori had quickly taken Donghoon onto her nimbus cloud while Joonghyuk firmly gripped his arm.

"Ahjussi!" The girl called out in panic and concern.

Cough, cough!

'Damn it, this is more than the last time I overused the wind.'

Blood kept dripping from his mouth as he clasped it shut with his other hand, but the coughing still didn't stop. As always, it wasn't painful. He just hated the way his throat itched because of the liquid, it's annoying.

Then he blinked dazedly. One second, he was leaning on Yoo Joonghyuk for support, and the next, he's on the man's broad back— blood gradually tainting the protagonist's shoulder, but he doesn't seem to care.

They quickly rushed back to Gumho Station, faster than they did when they departed.

Oblivious to the chaotic atmosphere, Cale coughed again, leaving specks of dark blood on Joonghyuk's black coat before slowly closing his eyes.

'Ah, I'm hungry... and tired... I'll rest for a bit and leave everything to the protagonist. He won't kill me when I'm unconscious, right? Hopefully, I won't see the afterlife once I wake up.'

Not hearing the constant calls of his name, Cale peacefully drifted off to sleep.

———

a/n: based on the inputs i've gotten, i think i'll stick with short chapters and more frequent updates (like what i've been doing so far).

alsooo, i'm going to disappear again for a few days because of college. sighs.

but hey, at least i released 3 chapters. ha ha ha.