Chapter Text
It all started when Joshua’s beloved father planted a death flag in his life.
“Father, who is he?” The curious question comes from one of his younger siblings. Ah, what a bliss it must be to be ignorant… Joshua thinks to himself as he stares ahead at the mentioned man. “He’s a bit different than the toys we’ve had so far.”
His father scowls, eyes glaring daggers at the male stranded below his feet. “He’s the son of that arrogant bastard.” Vague would be the correct answer to describe the reply in one word, but only if you’re not part of the Hong family. It’s a child’s knowledge about who is the arrogant bastard. “Bought here to be taught a lesson,” he continues as he presses his shoe against the man’s head.
Joshua recognized who the boy was from the first glance. Silver hair that sticks out like a sore thumb among the sea of blonde and black, golden eyes that shone fiercely even while kneeling. The chains on his hands rattled with each movement. Even the marks on his skin failed to hide his pristine face.
Someone with that much presence had to be the main character in this world.
“Can I play with him?” Maria sing–songs, battling her eyelashes as she tries to please their father. “I’m good at teaching lessons now, too!” Her sharp canines flickered in view as she smiled creepily.
“Me too, me too!”
Joshua’s siblings, who took after their father and were almost as equally rotten to the core, chirped greedily like baby birds in front of food. Joshua had learned to get used to it yet still, even after 17 years, it never failed to make him uncomfortable.
Like usual though, his father doesn’t listen to whatever his siblings have to say. Maybe he’ll rather have it that they fight over it, prove their worth– Joshua grimaces at the thought. “Lock him in the basement until he becomes more obedient.”
The subordinates, following his father’s orders, grab the man by his hair.
He was wearing restraints for dealing with wild magical creatures and had a gag in his mouth. However, still, the power emanating from him was immense, hard to believe that he was alone and thrown into this situation with how fearless he looked. Even as he was dragged to the underground prison, he glared fiercely at his family until the end.
His murderous, piercing gaze caught Joshua’s eyes. The look enough to make his knees go weak and almost fall down. Joshua took a step back despite the other’s body being led away from him.
“This toy looks like it will be fun.”
“I want to play with him soon!”
His siblings continue on with their excitement, just as expected, ignorance is bliss. They objectify him, as if he’s not an actual person and talk about the things they’ll do if they get their hands on him. Ah, it’s sickening, Joshua swallows a lump, it makes him want to throw up.
As mentioned earlier, Joshua already knows who he is. He’s been dreading for this moment to come ever since he was only twelve. Fate, as he has learned quickly after his death, is a very cruel thing.
It was Yoon Jeonghan, the older brother of this novel’s heroine.
Unlike his siblings who were excitedly chattering, making bets about who will get to have the new toy their father had bought– by himself as well! A rather rare occasion in the Hong Mansion. There was only one thought running inside Joshua’s mind:
Wow. He’s completely fucked.
That damn father of his had finally planted a death flag on him.
Of course Joshua didn’t know from the start that this world was a book.
He hadn’t always been Joshua, instead he was Jisoo, an orphan with only debt to his name. He died in an almost tragic way, a traffic accident during the peak of winter with a blizzard as he was going back to his way home. He was struggling with his graduation thesis, returning back to his place after a late shift at the coffee shop when a car — almost moving against the law of gravity — slided on the frozen road and crashed into the sidewalk.
Unfortunately, he happened to be passing by that exact spot. That’s how he died and got reincarnated.
The moment he opened his eyes again, to the bright light and the soft voice of his mother, he hadn’t felt anything about his death. Maybe it was because he was tired of his life, about juggling from places with no one with him that he had felt almost glad to have died. Still, it’s useless to talk about that life now.
“A son, huh?” The voice was low and sweet, with a small smile on the speaker’s face, “it’s perfect since we already have Sana.”
The first voice he heard after being born was his mother’s, gentle and warm. Apparently, she wanted a son – which she got – since she had a daughter before him. Even though Jisoo’s eyes were barely open, he could recognize that his mother was a beautiful lady, with blonde hair and an elegant face.
It wasn’t that Jisoo wasn’t shocked at being dead and reborn but rather he had always been quick to adapt. There’s nothing good which comes from clinging to the past, you only lose the present that way. Besides, what could he have done? He was already dead and he couldn’t go back, no matter how much he would have wanted.
His new mother was indeed beautiful, Jisoo realizes as he plays with her hand while she cradles him. With honey–like golden hair that seemed like melted gold, deep blue eyes that resembled a lake, and fair skin that looked divine under the sun; his mother was as beautiful as any fantasy female character.
To believe that a man won over such a beauty… his father was one damn lucky man.
Jisoo had always been weak to good looking people, especially if they were older than him. He wondered if everyone in his family was as good looking as this, wouldn’t that feel too unreal and fantastical? His mother was a mix of Western with Korean features, a perfect beauty.
Being a child, with nothing better to do, Jisoo would admire his mother’s face every day.
He silently wondered what she would name him, why she hadn’t called him by any name so far. Was there nothing in this world known as a birth certificate or something? Jisoo stared aimlessly as he listened to his mother chat with one of the maids.
“So, this is the child?”
As fate would have it, it turned out that his father had an even more impressive appearance than his mother.
“He looks just like you.” He commented as Jisoo’s eyes made contact with him. Luscious black hair that looked like it could suck anything in and eyes that matched the hair, a face that almost looked like it was of a vampire. Jisoo held back his surprise, his father looked like the complete opposite of his mother – in terms of both appearance and personality.
Maybe it was because his features were so distinct or perhaps it was because the aura that he exuded was unusual that Jisoo felt uncomfortable under his glance. He had a face that wasn’t easy to forget and of someone that you would rather not make an enemy out of. Just what kind of man was his new father?
He was handsome, as Jisoo had assumed, but the atmosphere surrounding him was so suffocating that it was hard to focus on his appearance.
“Yes, but his eyes are like yours.” His mother replied with a pure smile. He was starting to look forward to growing up and wondering just how he would look, combining his parents' genes, wouldn’t it be a given for him to look beautiful as well? His past life appearance wasn't anything special so he hopes to have at least inherited his parents’ appearance.
“Joshua.”
There was something indescribable about the way his father looked at him in his mother’s arms, with no warmth in his eyes but just indifference.
“The child’s name will be Joshua.”
His father gave him his name and left quickly after, as if it was just another daily chore for him to do. Joshua, it was a nice name in its own way. Thinking about it, this bastard of a father never came to visit him until his vision cleared, had Joshua gotten stuck with an emotionally absent father? Ah, what luck he has.
The look in his father’s eyes as he looked down at him was so dry and lacking of any feelings that Joshua couldn’t believe that he was looking at his own son. How could such an emotionless person be his father? What was his mother thinking?
“Joshua, my beautiful son…” There was something almost akin to sadness in his mother’s face but it faded quickly. She smiled brightly as usual and looked down at him, “grow up healthy and become a great Hong.”
Hearing the name, Joshua felt a strange sense of déjà vu. Hong… he has heard that name before, hasn’t he? Somewhere… but he can’t seem to remember. It’s a common surname in Korea, perhaps he knew someone with that surname.
Seeing what his father and Mother looked like, Joshua wondered if he was reincarnated somewhere abroad. The language they used doesn’t seem anywhere near English or Korean, but he can understand it well so it must be some kind of reincarnation buff, maybe the universe wasn’t as useless as he thought.
Soon after, Joshua started to feel sleepy again so he couldn’t think about it for long. Babies sleep a lot, they say, and now he knows that it’s true. What a simple life, only having to sleep and blabber nonsense… he wants to stay like this forever, while being patted by his mother.
Joshua didn’t know it back then, just how vicious, cruel and terrible this Hong family that he belonged to was. The fact that he had been reincarnated in such an absurd place made him regret immediately for ever even feeling like he was glad to die. It made him want to pluck his own hair.
Well, even if he had known, there was nothing that he could have done about it.
It turned out that this place wasn’t on Earth, rather an alternate universe of some sorts – with a mix between fantasy and historical. This world also allowed polygamy and his father, as it turns out, had a total of four wives and five children, including him.
Among all of his siblings, Joshua only had one older sister who shared the same mother as him. His sister, Sana, who was 2 years older than him.
Unlike Joshua, who had inherited all of his mother’s traits aside from the colour of his eyes, his sister was the exact carbon copy of their mother from head to toe. Blonde silken hair, blue doe eyes that sparkled clearly and a sweet smile. She was like their mother in terms of behaviour as well, gentle and puppy like.
It was uncharacteristic of someone to be born and raised in such a cruel family and still be able to maintain a bright smile and a kind heart. Ever since Joshua was a baby, in a cradle, his older sister would look after him making childish remarks about how she would take care of him and be the best older sister.
Even if she was much younger than Joshua, at least mentally, it was amusing to see her acting like an older sister and taking care of him.
Sana, his sister, played a huge role on why he was able to adapt and live in this awful family. Live… or maybe survive, he doesn’t know the difference too much.
His family name was Hong and to say that his family’s traditions were unique would be an understatement. For context, Hong was a criminal family based in the underworld. If Joshua had to be reborn, couldn’t his fate be nice enough to at least give him a normal family with decent parents?
The Hongs were notorious for many things, for example, they would steal, cheat, smuggle drugs or poisons, if necessary– kill people. Though more often than not, even during the unnecessary cases, people would still end up dying. It wasn’t like a mafia group, which surprised him.
What was even more insane was that all children born into this family had to follow such traditions, or could it be even called a tradition? If you don’t follow it then… Joshua would rather not talk about it right now. Until now, The Hongs had maintained their lineage perfectly in that way, and Joshua was told from a young age that he had to be constantly educated to become a true Hong.
“Joshua,” his mother’s voice was always calm compared to the chaos of the estate. She’ll cradle his hair gently, brushing up his strands, “you’ll have to learn well to become a proper Hong, alright?” There was always something regretful in her tone whenever she would say that.
But there was no way that Joshua, who had been an ordinary person in Korea, could easily accept such a family tradition. No matter how good he was at adapting, this type of situation was something he had never even dreamed of! It was an exception, with all its crazy rules and such.
All he studied here everyday was how to handle weapons, poisons and drugs, stealth, people’s vital points, seduction, and so on and forth. It would have been fine if it was just memorizing, theory is something that Joshua could do but he had no talent in practical skills.
“You don’t have any outstanding qualities.”
The man, who was his father, also commented mercilessly.
Joshua was only eight at that time, and that was corresponding to how many times he had seen this man’s face. To call him a father would be an insult to all the fathers around the world. To put it simply, Joshua and him were a father and son with severely lacking affections, something that was drier than the Sahara dessert.
The man sitting in front of him, Lant Hong, was not interested in his children at all. Although the numbers of his wives and children had increased over the years, so now there were seven mothers and ten siblings in this hellhole, it was impossible to give equal attention to all of them. Not that it seemed like he would even if he could.
“If you had even one outstanding trait… I would develop that side of you further.” He talked about Joshua as if he was supposed to be a useful object rather than his son, is that what he thought of him? Most likely. But Joshua doesn’t remember ever agreeing to work for this damn family.
Joshua wanted to reply back with something of equal displeasure but he stayed still, knowing that his mother and sister wouldn’t be proud of him and had been begging him for days to stay quiet. His mother was sweating nervously before Joshua had entered the office of Lant Hong.
Finally, after a long pause, his father looked at his face– almost studying him for a moment and then opened his mouth again. “Still, you’ll be useful in other ways.”
Having decided what he would be used for, his father ordered him to receive a different training from then now. And it was that day onwards that he learned…
The art of seduction.
Joshua almost threw the book at the servant’s face in frustration. He couldn’t believe it, was his father a madman? Completely insane? No, no, he knew that but… still. This was crazy! Of course Joshua was outstandingly beautiful because he resembled his mother but would a normal family teach an eight years old the art of lovemaking?
To know that he would be useful in other ways meant this… this was so messed up.
They were training him to seduce men or women to extract information or to assassinate them later on… Teaching such things to a child, even if Joshua was older mentally, skills like how to please people, this was really a disgusting family that he had been reborn into.
“I don’t want to learn this!” Joshua threw the book on the floor, stomping his feet in a mini tantrum. “Why do I have to study this? Mom, I think you’re forgetting but I’m only eight years old… what would I ever do after learning such stuff?”
“Shua, you can’t say that!” His mother picks up his book from the ground, placing it back on the table. “You are a Hong. You have to study hard to become a great member of the family later.”
There was a sense of desperation in his mother’s eyes as she held on to his shoulders tightly at that time. Even if Joshua wanted, he couldn’t do anything to go against his mother’s pitiful and sorrowful eyes, if it could make her happy… And this family had a strict concept of command and obedience, so it was impossible to disobey the orders of the family’s head– his father.
The system was nothing like he knew of, it was dirty and despicable. But in the end, in a situation like this, he couldn’t overcome it and had to do everything he was ordered. Still, because he couldn’t bring himself to work hard, his grades remained sluggish.
In the meantime, his sister, Sana, was disposed of.
It happened when she was only fifteen years old.
“SANA!”
The sound of his mother’s scream echoing in his ears was almost unrealistic, the loudness of it, the feeling of it… it felt unreal as Joshua stood frozen on the ground. Sana, who had been smiling brightly in front of him just a few days ago, who was joking around with him just a few days ago, returned to his mother and him as a cold corpse.
Joshua couldn’t move.
He felt the need to throw up, to cry, to scream but there wasn’t anything that he could do aside from watching his mother hold onto the body of his now dead older sister.
The woman, standing straight in a uniform Joshua didn’t recognize, who had introduced herself as an ‘executioner’ said that Sana had been judged unsuitable to be a true Hong, so she was disposed of according to the rules.
This was the first time the rule had been invoked in their generation.
Joshua felt as if he had woken up suddenly by being hit by cold water, he felt as if he had been reborn again. This life… the entire time which he had been dealing with, he never knew it would take such a turn. He felt chills run all over his body, trying to understand what it meant.
“You don’t have any outstanding qualities.”
Those words repeated inside his mind, he remembered the way his father had looked at him three years ago with eyes that seemed as if examining an object, wondering how much benefit he would get if he invested in it. He remembers his mother’s unusually nervous appearance that day.
He had known from early onwards that this family of his was strangely twisted, but he never imagined it would be to such an extent… This wasn’t normal. Not at all. What kind of fate had he set himself up for? For the first time since he was reborn, he felt a familiar fear claw at his heart.
His weak–hearted mother fainted in front of Sana’s body, she was bedridden for about ten days after that but her condition didn’t seem to be getting any better. She would get sick and nauseous from time to time, and it would only be a lie to say that Joshua’s condition was okay.
This wouldn’t work, Joshua thinks to himself, if Sana was disposed of, then he could be next. Just the thought of it sent shivers down his spine, he had already died once, was his chance at life once again have to be this miserable?
His father liked people who were useful in some ways… For the first time ever, Joshua had started working harder than ever during his lessons. At the same time, he was slowly realizing the situation that he was stuck in.
“Shua,” his mother’s voice was weak, these days it lacked gentleness – rather it was fearful. She came behind him while he was studying, brushing the front bangs of his hair back, “are you doing well in your studies these days?”
“Yes,” Joshua replied timidly.
“Of course… you must do your best to become a great Hong, promise me, Joshua?” She made him turn towards her, “you will work hard to become a true Hong, right?”
“Yes Mother,” Joshua gulped back the lump on his throat. He could no longer argue with her words.
Since the age of eight, after what his father had recommended, Joshua’s main focus had been on the skills to seduce. But there were still various things he had to learn for his future, in order to survive in a place like this.
From basic martial arts to how to handle various weapons, knowledge of poisons, information gathering on the overall situation, and speaking skills, these were part of the many subjects he had to study in order to keep himself at least alive.
This family, which had no trace of family like love, had another tradition– a grand banquet which was held once a month.
His father would invite the top three children who had made great achievements during the month to spend time with him. Of course, until now, neither Joshua nor Sana had ever been invited to that thing. Not that Joshua would have wanted to, but times had changed now.
After Sana, two more children were disposed of.
One of them knew that he was destined to die and tried to run away from the Hong family, a dumb decision but Joshua couldn’t put it against him since he had thought of something similar earlier too. He was eventually caught and brutally killed in the most horrific way ever.
It was around that time that Joshua started questioning this world, away from all the technology of the modern earth. What was this world based on, what were its principals? He soon realized that the only place to find the answer was through his father, Lant Hong.
In the summer of his fourteenth year, one year after Sana’s death, Joshua was finally invited to the grand banquet.
By that time, he was convinced that this world that he had reincarnated into was not just any world, but a novel.