an unfortunate change in genre

Part 3

It was Kim Rok Soo's personal philosophy to avoid things that were troublesome, cumbersome, or complicated.

For anyone who knew him very well, that would also be aware of how truly terrible he was at adhering to that philosophy.

Although he would ardently deny that. He did avoid complicated things, it was just that the simplest way to avoid something was to march straight through it and reap any benefits that can be garnered along the way.

It all seemed perfectly simple to him.

The sort of man who would never have such a broad, unrealistic, and meaningless goal such as world peace, but would thoughtlessly place world peace as a stepping stone to his true goals as though it was a trivial matter.

To put it bluntly, Kim Rok Soo was a crazy son of a bitch who lacked self awareness.

But he was rather good at what he did.

Which was why for the week following his full realization that he had reincarnated into a potentially tragic romance novel as background character Roksu Henituse he was peacefully achieving his goals with effortless efficiency.

And, of course, making matters more and more complicated as he picked up new sub-goals along the way. Small things like settling political disputes with neighboring nations or infiltrating heavily guarded secret organizations to loot them of their priceless possessions.

The goals that any reasonable person should arrange in order to achieve the glorious endgame of a slacker lifestyle.

Some people just don't know how to be lazy properly.

Currently he was sitting with his elder brother in the garden while he contemplated whether or not it would be a beneficial venture to add another larceny to his ever evolving plans.

Cale observed Roksu with a peculiar expression.

For his part, the past week hadn't gone as planned at all. Whereas he wanted to get a headstart on the battle against the White Star and procure a means to protect his family, he was limited as an eight year old child.

And his suddenly needy younger brother was becoming a real time sink.

'Eat well, play well, and live well.' Was the motto that Roksu had been pushing down Cale's throat for the week.

It wasn't all that bad actually.

After the horrors of war, the brief peaceful days found with this queer child was a welcome change of pace. Cale was pretty sure he hadn't played this freely even in his actual childhood.

Roksu was quite strict about his expectations for a healthy childhood. Cale thought it was funny and strange how much self awareness he lacked though.

In the same breath that he'd be encouraging Cale to go play, he would sit still with an expression that made it look like the weight of the world was on his shoulders.

Cale had indulged Roksu's hypocritical nagging but only if he could drag the sullen child along.

Although there weren't a lot of childish games that both adult men enjoyed, they were able to find common ground in games like chess and hide & seek. Anything that involved tactical thinking was a lot more interesting for the pair than say, blocks.

The playroom full of childish toys bought for the explicit use of the noble children would tragically go unused until some actual children were introduced to the estate.

"You're frowning again." Cale commented, poking Roksu's chubby little cheek to draw his attention.

Roksu's gaze turned to Cale with a thoroughly unimpressed expression.