Chapter Text
It was a cold winter morning when Rok Soo found himself on a train towards the Endable Kingdom. The scenery outside the window wasn’t that spectacular, it was an average landscape consisting of mountains and snow-filled fields. Endable Kingdom was located in between many tall mountains which led to its isolation.
The kingdom itself didn’t seem to be anything special on the surface.
Yet, the more information Kim Rok Soo, also known as Record, dug up, the more cracks appeared. Perhaps the kingdom wasn’t as innocent or cut out from the rest of the world as it showed itself to be.
Hence why, when God of Death gave him a mission he didn’t refuse. The Rowoon Kingdom was still extremely weak from a war against the Mogoru Empire years ago. The losses were huge, it left the kingdom weak and shattered. Yet, little by little, the kingdom managed to recover with the help of good nobility, civilians and the Company.
The Company was Rowoon’s secret spy agency whose task was to remove all possible risks and dangers that could threaten the fragile peace the kingdom earned. Thus, as one of the most competent spies, Record was tasked with a rather troublesome mission.
The Endable Kingdom is one of the newer kingdoms that appeared as the result of the long-lasting war. Yet, it seems like it already managed to risk the safety of Rowoon.
Despite the kingdom taking a good portion of the Mogoru Empire’s land, it was rumored that Endable had better and better relationships with the Empire in the last decade.
Rok Soo’s mission was rather simple: infiltrate the kingdom and try to get closer to their king in order to find out how close the Mogoru Empire and the Endable Kingdom are. If he perceives it as a threat, he should do his best to destroy their relationship and hinder their plans.
‘You see, this mission is very simple…! And it really won’t require a lot!’ Rok Soo remembered when his boss told him— through an old payphone— about the mission. His voice was annoying as always. At first, when he heard that it would be an infiltration mission, he truly thought it’d be simple, despite God of Death making it sound extremely iffy. He’d just have to become a servant, ideally a butler. Not a big deal.
‘You just have to get a family!’ But of course, Rok Soo was reminded of exactly why he hated his boss so much.
‘You’ll infiltrate the kingdom and adopt a child. Forge your identities and enroll the child into the prestigious Molden school.’
Just as Rok Soo was about to open his mouth and ask why God of Death continued, ‘Before you ask why it’s necessary… It’s because we need a 100% successful mission! And there is no easier way to bond with the king than through parenthood! Two of King’s children attend Molden school for the rich! So there’s nothing better than making your child befriend the other two! There is another part to this plan.’
‘At the end of each year, a child with the most White Star will get an exclusive family dinner with none other than King himself! Thus in order to actually gain the audience with the king, your child must earn the most white stars!… And ideally, befriend the king's children.’
It sounded like a pile of bullshit. The biggest pile of bullshit ever that God of Death ended up spitting out…
He was still in disbelief as he found himself standing in front of the sketchiest orphanage ever. He was greeted with the broken playground that was probably there for decades. Behind it, Rok Soo laid his eyes on the building that did not fare much better. It was old, dirty and full of questionable moss growing on its walls.
The children were wearing rags— it didn’t deserve to be called clothes— and they were thin and dirty. It left a bitter taste in his mouth. He needed to focus on his goal.
He was here to adopt a child that can read and count.
Rok Soo, a 36 - year - old man, made his way inside. He saw how almost all the children ran away or peeked out of the corner at him. Perhaps they found his big build intimidating, or it was perhaps the scars on his neck that still managed to peek out from his black turtleneck shirt.
“Welcome here sir! Were you the one that contacted us regarding a possible adoption?” An ugly, piggy-like-looking man approached him. His appearance was clean unlike children’s. An expensive-looking clothes hugged his grotesque appearance. The smell of alcohol was mixing with some expensive perfume that definitely wasn’t applied properly.
It seems like the majority of this orphanage budget was going into his fat pocket. It wasn’t even surprising… But it really wasn’t any of Rok Soo’s business.
-I can’t believe it! He’s worse glutton than me!- the furious complaints full of disbelief came from the Glutton Priestess. He ignored them for now.
It really wasn’t his business to meddle in it.
The orphanage director moved his hand up for a handshake but Rok Soo deliberately ignored it. The nervous man moved it up behind his head and laughed. “Usually couples come together to adopt a child. Where is your wife, sir?”
“She’s not with me currently,” Rok Soo answered following the director, who laughed a bit nervously, through the orphanage. The building looked as bad from the inside as it did from the outside. Every step of his made a loud creaking sound. The walls looked like they hadn’t been painted in decades, filled with unknown stains to crayon drawings. The broken toys were scattered all around— while a mess of the toys was to be expected in a place full of kids— there wasn’t a single new or unbroken toy.
“Hahaha, I apologize about the mess, you should understand sir, the kids are messy like that.” The director explained after noticing Rok Soo’s gaze wandering around. It was obvious in the man’s voice that he wasn’t comfortable.
“They are.” Rok Soo simply agreed. The kids were indeed messy and playful and troublesome, but they were kids. They should be all of that. They deserved happiness and a happy childhood, even though this cruel world didn’t grant that to everyone.
After arriving at the director’s office, Kim Rok Soo took a seat on the chair.
-So many expensive things! We should totally loot it, kid!- The excited voice of Cheapskate yelled.
Rok Soo found it almost laughable. While the whole orphanage looked like a horse stable, the director’s office looked like the king’s bedroom in comparison. The scarred man truly didn’t like to deal with people like this.
“Alright, so what do you and your partner look for in a child?” Taking out the record of all the current orphans.
“Ideally, a six-year-old child that is able to read and write.” That was the only requirement Rok Soo had. As long as the child could read and write, he’d be able to teach them the rest that they needed for the entrance exam for Molden School.
“Ah! Then we have a perfect child for you, sir!” The director smiled widely. The bad breath reached Rok Soo. It was hard not to scowl.
“Let’s go and find him. He usually stays in his room,” the man said while taking out the files of the presumed child and getting off of his chair. Rok Soo followed the suit while taking a glance at the file.
Sui Khan, a kid of unknown origin, ended up in this orphanage around 6 months ago. His age and birthday were left empty, but it didn’t matter to Rok Soo as long as he could pass as six years old child. They almost got adopted three times but the adults backed out at the last moment due to his ‘creepy eyes’ . The child was of unknown origin, and his parents were unknown.
Weirdly enough the child appeared to be a perfect fit.
They went upstairs towards the children’s bedrooms.
The bedrooms looked depressing, but the scarred man couldn’t even force himself to be surprised. The blankets were far too thin to be comfortable in the wintertime, especially considering there was no heating. There were almost no children playing upstairs as most of them were downstairs in the living room, the warmest room aside from the director’s office.
‘How nice, the director allowed them to have at least some heating in the living room,’ Rok Soo thought sarcastically.
Eventually, they came to the room and the director opened the door.
Reddish-brown stoic eyes met bright red.
The white-haired kid gasped loudly in shock as his ruby-like eyes widened. The two of them stared into one another.
‘He looks too young,’ were Rok Soo’s first thoughts as he looked at the thin short child who was reading a book before they came. ‘He looks like he is barely 4 years old. I asked for 6. This won’t work. He won’t manage to get into Molden School.’
Rok Soo frowned slightly before averting his gaze.
‘He keeps looking at me… I’m probably scaring him.’ Rok Soo thought awkwardly. The stoic man couldn’t stand having a staring competition with a child who was most likely scared. He really wasn’t that good with the children.
“This is Sui Khan. He knows how to read, write and count!” The director said gleefully. Rok Soo didn’t pay much attention to the director as the kid came towards him and announced loudly, with a smile. “Mister, I know how to solve crosswords too!”
“Look!” He said before hurrying to a small drawer and taking out the old newspaper and bringing it to Rok Soo, before rushing towards the desk and tugging Rok Soo along the way. After comfortably sitting down, he took a pen and started writing some of the answers.
Rok Soo was slightly amazed as he watched the child fill in the crossword puzzle. The blank boxes were filled rather quickly for a child and the child seemed to have a good grasp of motoric skills needed for writing.
‘Who was given the prize for the best action actor 10 years after the Rowoon - Mogoru war? … Ah, right. It’s Lee Soo Hyuk.’ Rok Soo couldn’t help but solve the puzzle himself as well. To his surprise, the child wrote ‘Lee Soo Hyuk’s’ name right after.
“How old are you?” The scarred man ended up asking. The kid looked at him and with a small but cheerful smile answered, “Six, mister.”
“Would you like to come with me?”
“Yes.” Sui Khan nodded.
“Alright.” Kim Rok Soo accepted.
“My name is Kim Rok Soo.” The man introduced himself and moved his hand up, the boy looked at him with a smile and shook their hands. “I’m Le- Sui Khan.”
Rok Soo smiled slightly and slowly stood up.
He was about to walk towards the director when he felt a soft tug on his sleeve. His gaze turned towards the child who looked at him a bit shy. Sui Khan moved his hands up and looked at him with those big baby-doe eyes.
Kim Rok Soo looked at him dumbly, not understanding the gesture, until the child said ‘Carry me’ . To say that the raven-haired man was surprised would be an understatement. Usually, kids were intimidated by him. At best, they would hide and at worst they’d cry…
He just didn’t have the pretty face like a certain blonde or was a handsome actor. His own body didn’t help his overall image… Yet this child didn’t mind and wanted to be carried.
Was the child perhaps that desperate for love and attention that he wouldn’t mind being in his arms? Rok Soo wasn’t sure how to feel about it, but he didn’t question it any further when he saw the kid frown. He kneeled and gently, as if a little wrong move could break him, picked up Sui Khan.
‘The child is far too light…’
This was a new unexpected experience that perhaps, he didn’t mind all that much.
Rok Soo made his way to the director. He took a glance at the files. One glance was more than enough for his ability to record it.
“Oh, it seems like you’ve made your decision, right sir?” The piggy-like man grinned.
The other looked at the white-haired child, who looked at him with hopeful red eyes. Sui Khan, a child who has been here for over half a year. His age and date of birth were unknown. His origin was unknown. A child who looked for someone who would give him some parental love…
Perhaps it was a good fit.
“Yes. I will adopt Sui Khan.” Rok Soo said curtly.
“Then let’s fill out the papers.” The director was all too happy as they made their way to the office.
Their whole papyrology session went smoothly, and the stoic man noted that Sui Khan was a rather calm child. Content to just cuddle with him. He ignored the way the drool from the sleeping kid slightly stained his shirt as he wrote down his signature. It was one of many fake identities that he had. If the director tried to find something more about him, he would come empty-handed… Though he doubted a man like him would look him up.
Once done, the older gently nudged the child who stirred slightly in his arms.
“Mmm…” Sui Khan let go of his vice grip around the man’s neck and rubbed his eyes.
“Go and quickly pack your belongings, we will be leaving soon,” the older said with a slight smile. The child stared at him for a while as if he was just realizing that he existed in this plane of existence. Then he moved his tiny arms and pinched the stoic man’s cheek, making the older frown slightly in confusion. The reaction seems to have woken up the child completely.
“You’re right. We should get going.” Sui Khan grinned and jumped off of Rok Soo’s arms, making the older flinch in surprise and fear— the young lad didn’t notice it though.
The stoic man watched the white-haired child pack one small box with his belongings, which contained a stuffed toy, some clothes and two books.
They soon entered the vehicle that was gifted to Rok Soo. They will leave this small town and head towards the capital… Yet just as the man started the car, a loud unashamed stomach growl was heard.
“…” Sui Khan stayed quiet, and Rok Soo simply shrugged in acceptance.
“We’re in no rush, let’s get something to eat.”
Instead of focusing completely on the mission, Record, one of the scariest Rowoon spies, took a detour to a homey restaurant.
He didn’t have to do too much guesswork to come to the conclusion that the kids in the orphanage weren’t fed correctly.
He himself was getting a bit hungry anyway.
“What would you like to eat?”
“Are you loaded, mister?” Sui Khan asked with a slight smirk while looking at the menu.
“Yes, I do have enough money. You can order whatever you want,” the older answered as they placed down their own menu.
“You can drop the ‘mister’.” Rok Soo frowned slightly, he was glad that the restaurant was rather empty. It was a weird conversation to have with a child in the middle of a restaurant. He was sure that if there were people around to witness it… They’d think the worst. “Rok Soo or… dad is fine. We’re family now.”
‘ At least until this mission is over…’ Sui Khan looked at him with furrowed red eyes.
“I want to eat rice with meat and veggies, Dad.” The child answered, seemingly determined about something.
“Alright.” The older shifted, unused to being referred to as a parental figure.
“Eat well, we will be traveling for a while.”
“Dad, where will we live?” Sui Khan asked while swinging his legs on the chair. He was still quite short, unable to reach the floor.
“We will live in the capital city,” Rok Soo answered promptly.
The waitress arrived and picked up their orders. Sui Khan’s order was rice with meat and veggies, as for Rok Soo— a steak.
“I have never been there. Will we get to see the statue of a fallen god??” Sui Khan asked.
“I don’t see why we wouldn’t,” Rok Soo indulged the child.
“A big library of the mythos and magic?”
“It would be an interesting place to visit.”
“Black gardens of Endable and the black hole with no bottom??”
“I heard the scenery is the most beautiful during the winter.”
“Oh! What about the gigantic figurines of white radish and its lackeys??”
“What is that?” Rok Soo was a bit taken aback. In his research about the kingdom and all its sights, he didn’t hear about that.
“A cartoon! White Radish is a hero who fights against evil with his lackeys, a bear and a lion.” Sui Khan explained. “White radish is always shown as super strong.”
‘Ah… So it was a political cartoon,’ Rok Soo thought. Before nodding.
“Yes, we can go and see those statues. Who is your favorite character from the cartoon?”
“A villain, the Evil Kale!”
“Why a villain?” Rok Soo asked, a bit surprised that a child would choose an antagonist as their favorite. The white - haired kid hummed touching his chin theatrically to physically show that he was, in fact, thinking.
“Because he is cool. Way cooler than White Radish.”
The man hummed and accepted the childish answer. Who said that villains can’t be cool?
Their food arrived and comfortable silence fell between the father-son duo. The steak was well made and juicy, a bit surprising because it was a bit on the cheaper side.
The man glanced towards the kid who looked quite happy eating his rice. There wasn’t much mess, but there were one or two grains that made their detour elsewhere and not in the child’s mouth.
‘That’s Lee Soo Hyuk’s favorite dish too,’ Rok Soo thought while returning to his own steak.
“Will I be able to et a lotf rise wif vegg at hme?” Sui Khan asked, mouth still full of food.
“Don’t eat with your mouth full… But yes, you’ll be able to eat lots of rice with meat and veggies at home.” It was a rather easy meal to prepare, all you needed was a bowl of rice, meat and some vegetables. Though a certain actor always preferred strong seasoning and super spicy food.
The child theatrically swallowed, perhaps copying what he saw off of television.
“You seem to really like this dish, huh?” Rok Soo commented.
“Yes! It’s my favorite!” The red-eyed child answered happily. “What about you dad?”
“I like …” Rok Soo thought for a bit.
He liked the food, frankly, all the food was equally good and he wasn’t a picky eater… But, perhaps, since he was asked what his favorite was… Only one thing came to his mind, it wasn’t a dish, but so far it was his favorite. He had settled onto an answer.
“Chocolate bars. Those are my favorite.”
“Ehh but eating lots of Chocolate bars isn’t healthy,” Sui Khan commented and Rok Soo nodded in agreement.
“You’re right. Eating too much chocolate isn’t healthy. But I don’t eat just chocolate.” The man smiled slightly.
“Alright! So we should have rice with meat and veggies and chocolate bars for breakfast every day!” Rok Soo winced slightly at the child’s happy announcement. It was going to be a bit hard to raise a child, huh…
Their late lunch was spent in comfortable silence and with many questions that the young lad could think of. Rok Soo entertained and answered all of them dutifully to his best ability. Sui Khan was visibly enjoying his food, and it did make the man rather happy.
With their bellies full, the father-son duo made their way towards the capital city. The trip itself was long and boring. Sui Khan was looking at the scenery before him. The gaze of his vibrant ruby eyes was distant, as if in deep thought. Rok Soo, on the other hand, was mainly focused on the road. The radio in the vehicle was sometimes picking up the sound and numerous local songs and sometimes it was silent.
The trip was peaceful and calm and they arrived at the capital in a record time, much to Rok Soo’s surprise and Sui Khan’s anticipation.
Even more, happiness erupted from the tiny body when Rok Soo parked close to the few tall house buildings. The neighbour itself was well off, but not dirty rich. A perfect place that did not gather too much attention. A place that would allow them to play this ‘pretend family’ and enroll Sui Khan into the Molden School.
“In which building will we live?” Sui Khan asked in excitement while tugging Rok Soo’s hand.
“The middle one, third floor—” Sui Khan let go of Rok Soo’s hand and ran towards the middle building and entered quickly much to the older’s dismay.
“Shit—” Rok Soo mumbled as he rushed right behind the excited kid. It would be bad if he got lost. Sui Khan ran up the stairs, and it made Rok Soo wonder where the kid got so much energy… Was it the desserts Rok Soo got after their meal?
The kid grinned at him as he waited for him on the second floor. Brat.
“You’re quite slow, Dad! Where’s the excitement? Are your bones creaking already?”
Yes, his child is a brat.
Despite the child’s encouragement to hurry up, Rok Soo continued with his slow pace. Some old lady who was just coming down gently laughed at their interaction.
“Aren’t you an excited little fella?” A woman asked Sui Khan.
“Oh, miss hello! Do you live here?” Sui Khan asked with a small cute smile. The lady nodded.
“I live on the fourth floor,” She answered.
Rok Soo, who managed to reach the floor, put on his customer service smile. “Oh, that’s great to know. My son and I just moved to the third floor.”
“Oh, so someone finally moved in there. That’s nice to know.” The lady commented. “Your boy seems really bright.”
Sui Khan didn’t appreciate getting his cheek pinched, but he decided not to make a scene.
“Thank you.” Rok Soo agreed with her. Sui Khan was a really bright child.
“I’m Kim Rok Soo and my son is Sui Khan,” Rok Soo answered. He noticed the boy’s growing frown and gently picked him up in his arms. It was a good way to prevent both unnecessary pinching and him running off. Kill two birds with one stone.
“You can call me Grandma Kim.” The lady, Grandma Kim introduced herself. “If you ever need anything, feel free to look for me. It’s always nice to meet new faces, and living alone gets really boring sometimes.”
“Thank you for your kind offer. ” Rok Soo said politely and Sui Khan chimed in, “It was nice to meet you granny Kim!”
An old lady laughed softly at that. Her wrinkles shifted along with the smile that reached her eyes. “I will be seeing you around.”
With that, both adults went their own way. Grandma Kim left the building and Kim Rok Soo went upstairs at a slow pace.
Sui Khan squirmed in his arms with a slight pout.
“I will put you down if you promise not to run off,” Rok Soo said. The reddish-eyed child looked at him with accusatory eyes before huffing and grumbling while simply getting into a comfortable position in the 36-year-old’s arms.
They reached the apartment and Rok Soo unlocked the doors. The apartment was surprisingly more spacious than the man expected. There wasn’t anything he could complain about— as long as he didn’t look at the numerous boxes that were waiting to be unpacked.
“Can I choose my own room?” Sui Khan asked excitedly as his dad finally put him down.
“Go ahead,” Rok Soo said as the child happily ran around the apartment looking for the perfect room to call his bedroom. The rooms were big, but eventually, Sui Khan settled down in the somewhat small bedroom closest to the living room.
“This one, Dad!” Sui Khan smiled, and the other nodded.
“Let’s set up your bed then. We will shop for more necessities and decorations tomorrow.” The older man answered, taking a big and heavy box in his hands. He made his way to the child’s bedroom and slowly set up the bed. He was glad it wasn’t complicated and that the kid was, surprisingly, cooperating.
After setting up Sui Khan’s bed, Rok Soo set up the couch in the living room while Sui Khan entertained himself by looking through some boxes. It did end up making the man stop setting up the couch in order to prevent the child from touching numerous boxes filled with weapons, poisons and all kinds of gadgets and devices. Eventually, he managed to distract Sui Khan with some isekai books he owned.
With a distracted child Rok Soo returned to setting up the couch. He will need to hide the box first thing tomorrow.
“What would you like for dinner?” The older asked nonchalantly after a while. He was looking at certain metal parts, trying to figure out where it should go. The instructions didn’t even mention them.
“Rice with mea-” “No.”
“…Do you even have food here?” The child asked in an accusatory tone, perhaps he was angry due to having his favorite dish denied so quickly.
However, Sui Khan might be correct.
“….” Rok Soo shifted his gaze towards one of the boxes and approached it.
“…What do you say about the noodles for tonight?” The box was rather empty and full at the same time. It was filled with spices and some other ingredients, but there wasn’t anything that would make a decent dinner. So Rok Soo had to settle for the dry cup noodles that found themselves in this box. He was a bit happy that he didn’t have to order takeout or go to the store. He was tired, and … who wouldn’t be? You can’t blame him.
“It’s good!” Sui Khan accepted with a grin. Rok Soo nodded as he moved to the kitchen, feeling glad that he didn’t need to assemble the kitchen first. He made cup noodles for both of them. The kid climbed onto the counter and sat down. Rok Soo would’ve placed him off of the counter but alas there was no chair for him to sit on just yet.
The list of things that Rok Soo needed to do was just growing. Though, he was a bit surprised that he didn’t feel as doomed or tired as he would usually. Was it perhaps because he wasn’t in all this completely alone?
Ah, he shouldn’t get attached.
He filled noodle cups with boiled water and waited for it to be done.
“Where will you sleep?” Sui Khan asked.
“For tonight I will sleep on the couch… Tomorrow, I will set up the rest of our apartment and we will have to go shopping.”
‘I will also need to notify God of Death that I managed to find a child, I will also tell him to deal with the orphanage. Alongside shopping, I should go through the list of possible partners.’ Rok Soo thought. His gaze shifted to the white-haired child who tilted his head.
‘We should also get him some clothes and take measurements for the uniform. It wouldn’t be bad to get him some toys as well… I heard that kids his age also like comics and cartoons… Though should I really let him keep watching White Radish? I will let future Kim Rok Soo deal with it.’
The three minutes passed, and the man took the cups, poured out the water and put the little packs of seasoning inside. Once done with the stirring, he gave a cup to Sui Khan, who blew into it— in hopes it would cool down sooner.
The noodles tasted decent, just what one would expect from the cup noodles. The duo enjoyed them in silence.
It was nice having to eat with someone.
“Mmm!! These are the best noodles I’ve ever had, Dad!” Sui Khan exclaimed after slurping the last remaining pieces of food. The cup was almost completely clean.
The older simply huffed, the food was alright, not the best but decent . The noodles might’ve tasted better than he gave them credit for. Or maybe it was simply seeing a starved child eating something so simple so happily.
“Now that you’re all full, you should take a shower and go to bed.” Rok Soo said, “It’s around the time kids your age should go to bed.”
“Will you tuck me in?” Sui Khan asked while looking at the older man.
“I would like to listen to a bedtime story too.”
Rok Soo looked at those ruby eyes that were asking for a rather childish request. He wasn’t cruel enough to refuse it.
“Yes, I will tuck you in and tell you a bedtime story.”
With that, the kid rushed to the bathroom.
“If you need any help, yell,” Rok Soo said before returning to those couch pieces. They were perhaps the most annoying part that he experienced today… Aside from, perhaps, a certain shady orphanage.
It wasn’t long before the 36-year-old found himself drying off the long silky white hair.
“It’s fine—” “You’re not going to bed with wet hair.”
The child pouted but stayed put on the couch. Rok Soo dropped down the towel and then went to his boxes and looked for the hair drier. Once acquired, he moved back to the kid and dried it off. It was past 10 pm by the time he was done with drying that hair.
He looked at the kid who was surprisingly calm throughout. The child in question was nearly falling asleep. Whenever he almost fell asleep, his head would fall forward and he’d wake himself up.
Rok Soo huffed slightly and picked up the almost-sleeping child. He laid him in the bed and covered him with a warm thick blanket. The child seemingly woke up, so Rok Soo did the second part of Sui Khan’s request.
Sitting down on the floor, Rok Soo retold a story he heard a long time ago.
Sui Khan looked content with the story if his snores were anything to go by.
If someone asked Kim Rok Soo, also known as Record, what would his life look like at 36, he definitely wouldn’t answer that he’d end up building … this fake family. He wasn’t sure if he would be a good parent. But he’d try his best, at least while he’s part of this mission.
He could only hope that when the time comes for him and Sui Khan to separate, the child won’t hate him too much.
But for now, he had to focus on filling up their fridge and setting up their apartment... As well as getting him new clothes.