IF Side Story. Northern Duke Selina (1)

Alpha Male.

The epitome of male hormones.

The most perfect male specimen.

These were the titles bestowed upon model Kalcion. Despite such grand titles that could make one arrogant, Kalcion consistently dedicated himself to his work. He never missed a busy schedule or a disliked photoshoot.

Always giving his best in his responsibilities, he didn’t hold back even during this cliff photoshoot.

“Mr. Kalcion!”

“Kyaak!”

Then, the accident happened.

Kalcion fell off the cliff, hearing the distant shouts of people fading away.

‘Is this the end…?’

He thought his life was ending.

From start to finish, his life had been remarkable yet unfulfilling. He was living just for the sake of being alive. So, even as the end approached, he wasn’t particularly panicked or startled. He was simply prepared to accept it calmly.

* * *

However, waking up in an unfamiliar land, he couldn’t remain calm. Even though he had fallen off a cliff above the sea, when he opened his eyes, he was in a snow-covered forest. It made no logical sense.

He instinctively felt it.

‘Something illogical has happened!’

Kalcion sharpened his senses, surveying his surroundings. None of the cameras that had surrounded him were in sight. Not just the cameras, but also the staff, managers, everyone was gone.

“What in the world…”

Logically, he couldn’t explain this situation. Nor could it be explained emotionally.

‘Could it be that I was unconscious after falling off the cliff, and just before waking up, I was put into a surprise camera show?’

That was the limit of his imagination.

Still, even that imagination became useless with the growling sound coming from the other side of the forest.

‘A wild boar? A deer? A bear?’

Among the three animals commonly found in the Korean peninsula, none growled at humans. Once again, a sense of danger overwhelmed him.

Kalcion looked for something that could be used as a weapon.

“Hup!”

But before he could even pick up a branch, the growling animal charged at him. He reflexively extended his arm to block the animal.

‘What is this?!’

It was a creature with an unimaginable appearance. Such a creature did not exist on Earth. In short, it was a monster. The monster was as ferocious in strength as it was in appearance. As powerful as a tiger or a bear, perhaps.

Bears tear people apart. However, a really strong person with the right skills could tear apart a bear.

Kalcion was one of those truly strong people.

“Haaat!”

He gathered all the energy from lifting weights in the gym, day and night, and strangled the monster’s neck.

Kieeekk!

The monster struggled violently. Kalcion dodged the monster’s attacks, using his long-trained martial arts skills to strike. Initially, he hit wherever he could, but as he fought, he identified its weak points.

Kieeekk! Kyaargh!

The monster’s struggles intensified as its weak points were continuously hit. This caused his grip to loosen.

‘Oh no!’

The monster, having been strangled and then released, didn’t give him a chance. It was a disaster. Just as he thought he was about to die unknowingly once again.

Swish!

The sound of a metal object cutting through the air echoed.

It was an arrow.

Kieeekk!

Pierced at its weak point, the monster howled and twisted its body. An opening appeared. Kalcion didn’t miss the opportunity and rushed in to strike. Concurrently, more arrows flew.

The monster couldn’t last long and collapsed.

“Haa… haa…”

Kalcion breathed heavily and turned towards the direction from which the arrows came. And he was even more surprised than when the monster appeared.

He saw a woman with a face as unreal as his situation. Even though he had met all the beauties of the Earth, this was the first time he had encountered such an overwhelming beauty. Her beauty was more than just having perfect features and body proportions.

For the first time, he understood why people looked dazed when they saw someone beautiful and handsome.

Her beauty seemed to stop time when he gazed at her.

The woman, with her long hair flowing, looked at Kalcion with emotionless eyes and suddenly spoke.

“****** ***?”

“…Yes?”

“…***?”

Kalcion couldn’t understand a word she said.

Seeing his confused look, the woman shook her head and approached swiftly, her movements almost too quick to see.

She grabbed his wrist abruptly.

Kalcion flinched and tried to pull away, but her grip was strong. In the brief struggle, she attached a metallic device to his wrist. Then, with a clink, her clear voice reached him in an understandable way.

“Can you hear me now?”

“Oh…?”

“Say something other than that.”

“Oh, oh…?”

Kalcion glanced at his wrist in astonishment. He had seen translators that exchanged one word at a time where he lived, though a translator that conveyed the exact meaning of the original language was literally ‘magic.’

“Magic?”

“Yes, magic. Did you have something like this where you lived?”

At the woman’s words, his eyes widened.

‘…Where he lived’?

“What are you looking at? You’re a foreigner who crossed dimensions, right? …Or not?”

The woman tilted her head, then her gaze sharpened. She even reached for the sword at her waist as quickly as a flash.

“If you’re lying, you die here.”

He had to be a foreigner who crossed dimensions. It seemed to make sense that he had actually crossed dimensions. Yes, all these unbelievable circumstances were due to dimensional travel.

It was the answer that cleared Kalcion’s confusion.

“I must be, yes.”

“Alright.”

At his words, the woman relaxed her aggressive stance. If dimensional travel was real, then her readiness to kill someone effortlessly must be real, too.

Kalcion, who nearly died after falling off the cliff, heaved a sigh of relief.

“So, was your world a world of magic?”

“…There was something similar, but—”

“Is that so? Good, it might come in handy.”

“…I can’t do it.”

“A useless thing has come then.”

The woman’s blunt words stung a little.

“I wasn’t entirely useless.”

“Really? What were you useful for?”

“Making the world bright and beautiful…”

As he spoke, Kalcion realized the woman before him seemed more capable of brightening and beautifying the world. For the first time, his unshakable confidence wavered.

“…I’m good at physical tasks.”

He quickly changed his words. The same fact could be perceived differently depending on how it’s presented.

“…The physic, huh.”

Kalcion nodded solemnly.

Compared to the woman’s archery skills, his physical abilities might not be exceptional, but being a sports talent lost to the modeling world was also one of Kalcion’s identifiers.

“Alright, then, show me.”

“….?”

He was taken aback by her sudden demand. How was he supposed to ‘show’ his physical ability? But before that, who was this woman to make such a bold request?

“Do I have a reason to show you?”

“….”

This time, the woman stared intently at Kalcion.

Despite not saying a word, her gaze conveyed her message clearly.

‘Oh, arguing now?’

It was a look of ‘oppressor’ something Kalcion, who was adored by the world as a model, rarely encountered. Clients who provided work were the ‘oppressors,’ but he had the luxury of choosing his contracts, making him a ‘super subordinate.’

“If I may ask, who are you to demand that?”

The woman looked at Kalcion as if he was pitiable, then thrust her sword deep into the snow. With a cold gaze and voice, she declared.

“I am the ruler of the North, the head of the Renbird family, and the Duke of the Kingdom of Aclion, Selina Renbird.”

“The ruler of the North… The Duke…”

Kalcion repeated her words in a daze. Her introduction perfectly aligned with the unbelievable situation he found himself in.

‘A different world for real!’

Seeing his surprised face, Selina smirked slightly.

“This must be quite shocking for you.”

“Yes. Everything is surprising.”

Kalcion candidly admitted it.

He also quickly realized that his life was in the hands of this woman.

“The fact that I came from another world, the appearance of the monster, this translation device, and that my first encounter in this world is with ‘the’ Duke of the North, who is incredibly beautiful… Oh, I apologize.”

Selina didn’t react much to Kalcion’s unintended mistake. She just slightly raised an eyebrow and uttered.

“You’re quite the flatterer. You might be useful!”

“Thank you.”

The beautiful Northern Duke generously overlooked the comment on her appearance.

It was a relief. She could have easily taken offense at his audacity to assess her looks and acted on it.

“Still, that alone won’t do. If you’re useless, I have no reason to take you with me. Do I look like a kind person who picks up everything that seems pitiful?”

“Of course not.”

“That’s somewhat displeasing.”

“I meant you seem decisive.”

“We’ll see.”

Selina gestured with her chin as if to say, ‘Show me.’

…A strange world, snowy mountains, monsters.

To survive here, Kalcion realized he needed to hitch a ride with the ruler of the North. Contemplating how to prove his ‘physical ability,’ he spontaneously ripped off his shirt.

__