KALOPSIA

7. Together

"Yoo Joonghyuk."

A soft, raspy, voice called out his name.

"Don't cry. It was all meant to be."

Their hand reached out, touching Joonghyuk's face lightly.

Yoo Joonghyuk grasped the hand softly with both hands of his, wearing a miserable expression. "You can't die again.. I just found you!"

The hand started to slip from his grasp.

"You keep saying that. It makes me wonder.. what you mean..."

It finally dropped to the ground. With a gentle thud that disappeared within an instant, like a gust of common wind.

"CALE!!" Yoo Joonghyuk yelled, calling out for his name out of desperation.

The sound of heavy footsteps came along.

"Joonghyuk! What happened?!"

"Kalospia! ———— he's not ———!"

"Someone ——"

Beep.

Beep..

Beep.......

Yoo Joonghyuk sprang up from his bed suddenly. He was breathing heavily, sweat slid down his body, pupils seemed to be dilated. He pushed his hair back, trying to calm himself down.

"Cale..." He called out his name weakly. "I won't let that happen again." This time it was strong, with determination.

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"Everything feels so peaceful here." Dokja walked around the streets with his companions, including Yoo Joonghyuk.

"The air feels so refreshing here." Sangah pushed her hair behind her ear. "I wonder if Korea will return to this once it's all over."

"It'll definitely take some time." Dokja said. "But it's not impossible." He reassured her.

"I know." Sangah gave him a weak smile.

"Dokja!" Lee Hyunsung called out. "Me and Heewon will go explore on our own."

"Alright."

"They look like lovers, don't they?" Sangah said.

Dokja chuckled, "they do."

"Dokja," Yoosung called out, grabbing his coat to get his attention, "is that the shiny, blonde prince you were talking about?" She pointed outwards to the streets.

"Huh?" Dokja looked up to where she pointed towards, noticing a similar royalty-looking man. "It is.. what's he doing here?" Dokja questioned to himself.

"Hm? Cale's there too. Should we go say hi?" Sangah asked.

'What are they doing here?' Dokja questioned as they walked closer to them.

The blondie noticed the approaching people. "Hello." He flashed a quick, blinding smile.

Dokja held a tired expression, well, his eyes were kinda tired from having to see so many handsome and beautiful faces.

Cale didn't say anything and continued to stare blankly.

"I'm Alberu Crossman, emperor of the Roan empire." The man introduced himself. "You must be the ones Cale was talking about."

"He.. talked about us?..." Dokja didn't know how to respond to that, Cale didn't seem like the type to do that.

"Not much." Alberu furrowed his brows sadly. "He only said that there are new guests accompanying his house for some time, guests that are similar to Choi Han."

Joonghyuk stared at Cale.

"Yes.. I'm Kim Dokja, and these are my companions." Dokja introduced himself. "That's Yoo Joonghyuk." He also introduced the one next to him.

"Hello, I'm Yoo Sangah." Sangah waved at them with a soft smile.

"Lee Gilyoung..."

"Shin Yoosung."

"Oh?" Alberu's amusement was intrigued. "Are these you two's children?" He asked Dokja and Sangah.

They became flustered as they heard what he said.

"N-no! They're my adopted children." Dokja hurriedly explained whilst panicking.

"If you say so." Alberu slyly smiled. "My dear younger brother also has a few adopted children of his own, have you seen them yet?"

"No?" They looked at him confused, well, all except Joonghyuk.

"You didn't introduce your kids to them?" Alberu looked disappointed at him.

"No. I didn't have time to." Cale said.

Alberu felt annoyed, he had the time to annoy him but not the time to say something? Alberu violently but not physically smiled at Cale.

Cale just avoided eye contact with him.

"How old are they?" Dokja asked. "Maybe they could play with Gilyoung and Yoosung."

"The youngest is 6, then 9, and the oldest is 12." Cale replied.

"Oh? You have three children?" Sangah exclaimed.

"Yes."

"They're around the same age group." Dokja said. Then he looked down at the two kids clinging to his long white coat and knelt down on both knees, "do you want to play with them?"

They looked at him with large, wide eyes. "Alright..."