MIRACULOUSLY ESCAPING SLACKERLIFE

IV

Two similar figures slump on the couch the moment they arrive back home. A redhead sighed, and a brown head pinched the bridge of his nose. The two are so similar that they garnered some unwarranted attention because they're so adorable to look at. They look like two peas in a pod.

"We messed up," Deruth comments comically. He slowly slouched on the couch and stared at his son with his arm resting on top of his eyes. "Greatly."

"I didn't think Father was such a coward," Cale says frustratedly.

Deruth defends, "Well... I also didn't think my son was such a bully."

"Of course, I want to become trash," Cale replied in a very proud tone.

"No... don't." Deruth shot back, alarmed by his son's dream. He just couldn't understand why his son dreams of becoming trash of all things.

"Why?" Cale curiously looked at him. His arms slightly lifted off his face.

"just don't. I'd rather have a lazy-slacker firstborn than a trashy-irredeemable firstborn." Deruth defended his answer with a much better word than "trash." Cale didn't know whether to cry or laugh at his father's reply.

"Firstborn... So you're going to marry her?"

His son is smart. He just knew that Cale had been feigning ignorance and idiocy for him and Jour to pamper him. Oh. Maybe my son thinks I won't spoil him after his mother's death. He was glad it didn't go to the part where he would ignore his son and let him become trash just as he wanted. He was thankful he was able to see it before it went worse. Imagining a young Cale trashing around for him to look at him breaks his heart. He regretted his previous thoughts of just working hard without any speck of consideration for his son. I'm glad I did not end up a bastard father. "Well, you don't want me to?"

"Go on. I'll cheer for you. It's your happiness, not mine..." Cale honestly replied.

"You won't hate me for it? Most children wouldn't want their parents to remarry," he asked. It's always been like this. That is why most first-born rebels are neglected.

Cale sat up straight and looked at him in the eye, "I won't... and I won't blame you." There was a moment of hesitance in Cale's voice, "I just don't want you to turn like any other father neglecting your children."

"I won't."

"Empty words." Unknown to Deruth, in Cale's mind, he had already expected that. If the real Cale was not neglected, he could have been saved from being a trashy person. He can remember the part of the novel where the treatment had a huge gap. The real Cale started his trashiness when he was eight and turned alcoholic at fifteen. There wasn't a part where Cale had problems when in front of his family.

Kim Rok Soo didn't want to turn out like that.

"I'm a man of my word."

"Promise?" How childish of him. In his one year of living as Cale, he had already taken Deruth as his father. He didn't have a father in his previous life since his mother died when he was young. He also couldn't remember the face of his mother. He only had memories of being abused, scorned, and despised for being useless. If anything, once Deruth decided to throw him away or neglect him, he had already decided to leave and live a life somewhere. First of all, he needed money to do so. Despite all this, Deruth was the first father he remembered.

"I promise."

Kim Rok Soo, who didn't know the warm affection of family, cherished every small interaction with Deruth. He may still be cold and indifferent, but towards this person, he can be who he was. He came to like how Deruth would pat his head or his shoulder, or kiss his forehead when there were changes, or when they just sat down before each other and did nothing. He likes how they talk to each other like friends rather than the stoic father-son canon from other noble families.