chapter 200

Chapter 200

Cha Isol was moved to a truly safe place.

“??”

Only this place felt like a different world.

“It’s really bright?”

“The other parts of the temple weren’t that dark either.”

“No, it was dark.”

“As I said last time, either use honorifics or informal speech, just one...”

“Then, Eunha.”

“Straight to informal, huh. Fine, what is it?”

“Eunha can speak informally to me too.”

“I don’t want to.”

Iser recoiled.

“I don’t want to be that close with humans.”

“But I want to be close...”

“That’s your problem.”

“Yeah, I figured it would be.”

Cha Isol nodded.

“You were like that from the first time we met.”

“...Was it that obvious?”

“Yeah.”

Eunha’s eyes were always cold.

“But I thought it was lucky that it didn’t seem like you only hated me.”

“Why did you think that was lucky?”

“Because you hated everyone. That means something happened in the past that made you hate people.”

“You’re sharp in weird places...”

“Why do you hate people?”

“...”

Iser laughed.

“I hate even that ignorance.”

“Yeah, so why?”

“Because they took what was most precious to me.”

“That’s Hyung Gio, right?”

“That’s right.”

I dreamed of becoming a priest of the sun while watching him.

“So I tried to kill you too, Cha Isol.”

I couldn’t endure this revulsion.

“But now you’ve become the Black Cloak’s first believer. No matter what happens, I probably won’t be able to harm you.”

“Is there a reason for that?”

“Because someday, I wanted to be in your place...”

“My place?”

“In the sun’s embrace.”

Someday, when Giovanni became pope, beneath the sky he cultivated. And on the earth, too.

“I wanted to live as my teacher’s true disciple.”

It felt like a fated destiny. Like a future that would come naturally if all we did was enjoy sweet everyday life with no particular incidents or accidents. There were so many reasons it should have been that way.

“But humans trampled me.”

“...”

“...Teacher too...”

Iser knew.

“...”

“...”

He knew very well that on that day, he had eaten his living teacher.

“...There is nothing I regard as more horrific than myself. My sister, who piled up gruesome corpses on the road ahead, the priests of the sun who locked me and teacher in a tank, and the humans who pointed fingers without knowing anything—I hate them all, but not as much as I hate myself.”

Iser asked.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know what you’re asking.”

“What do I look like to you?”

“Eunha?”

“Just like you.”

But he was not Eunha. Even more so, he was not the Milky Way, the meaning of his name. You couldn’t compare him to the jewels of the night sky that only barely come into view once all the lights on earth are turned off.

“Do you like this room?”

“It doesn’t seem dangerous.”

“I put some effort into it.”

The room filled with soft dolls was nothing but round, without a single sharp edge. The lighting was warm and bright enough that you couldn’t think this was a deep-sea dungeon, and there was a gentle energy in it, like a spring afternoon nap.

“I used teacher’s cabin as a reference.”

“Ah, that place is awesome. There’s lots of tasty stuff too.”

Cha Isol said as she ate the dried fruit Iser gave her.

“But it’s different from there...”

The cozy, warm comfort definitely resembled Gio’s cabin, but something was strange. Like the damp, unpleasant feeling of a fluorescent light buzzing in your ear.

“I feel like I’m going to get dementia instead of taking a nap.”

“You use strange sentences.”

“You know.”

Cha Isol said.

“I want to be friends with you.”

“...”

“Gasp, your face...”

“...Please don’t be disgusting.”

As if nauseated, he wiped at his mouth. With a pale face, Iser barely replied.

“Forcing it even when someone says they don’t want it is violence.”

“But didn’t Eunha already commit tremendous violence...?”

“You know how to counterattack unexpectedly, but you’re wrong. From the start, you shouldn’t act like you’re the same kind of existence as me.”

Iser was firm.

“That is, unless you are my teacher’s third disciple.”

“...”

Cha Isol’s mouth stuck out.

“Hyung Gio isn’t my teacher.”

“Consider it an honor to have become his disciple.”

“We’re friends.”

“How dare you?”

“Hyung Gio, I mean.”

The child asked.

“What happens if the roots get moved?”

“...He’ll return to the sea.”

That was the last hope the mermaids could hold.

“It’ll probably be hard, though.”

Gio always accomplished only what he wanted.

This time would be the same.

* * *

Giovanni took in the world with his eyes.

“...”

He looked down at his hands.

“...Mm...”

Young.

‘How old am I, again.’

He seemed to be about thirteen.

Where he was, it was a bustling marketplace. The clothes he was wearing had a somewhat shabby part, unbefitting a noble’s status. Young Giovanni really liked wearing these clothes and coming out into the world outside.

“Saint.”

“I am not a saint.”

“Yes, Priest...”

“What is it?”

“You healed our son last time.”

“It was nothing. It was my own desire.”

“Please accept this.”

An old man with deep wrinkles handed him a single apple and disappeared.

“...”

A round apple with no blemishes, ripened red and very pretty.

“...Delicious.”

The old man was raising a small apple tree in his yard. Since it was a young tree, it couldn’t bear many fruits, and it couldn’t hang them skillfully. So this glossy apple was very precious.

‘I like it.’

He felt good.

“Little saint.”

“I’m not a saint.”

“Yes, little priest. It’s hot today, isn’t it?”

“It seems the sun is in a good mood today.”

“You blessed my daughter, so she gave birth without trouble.”

“That wasn’t because of me, but because your daughter found the strength. It’s something to celebrate.”

“Please take this water. It’s very hot today.”

The water the seasoned woman handed him was cool. She must have just taken it out from where it had been chilled deep in the yard. She saw me as I passed by, and on such a hot day, she went back and forth to that deep place.

It was something to be grateful for.

“So cool.”

The water in the ceramic cup carried the scent of a cool forest. It must have been drawn from a good waterway. She must have managed it thoroughly so that dust or bugs couldn’t get in.

“Excuse me, Saint.”

“I’m not a saint.”

“Ah, I see. But you treated my leg before, didn’t you?”

“I remember. Was your bone broken?”

“I wanted to repay you, so I brought honey from home.”

“That was something I wanted. There’s no need to repay me.”

“But the saint has to eat lots of sweet, delicious things.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re someone who can do that as much as you want.”

“...”

Into the bowl, honey dripped down.

“...Thank you.”

People called him a saint.

They called him the son bestowed by the sun. They said god had manifested and become a small body. They said his smile was sunlight, and his footsteps were fate.

If so, then wasn’t that not human?

‘Why?’

He was human.

‘I’m only living the way I want.’

People always placed meaning on top of him.

Giovanni kept walking. Walking and walking again. A familiar village appeared. Warm sunlight carried the scent of summer and fell over land and sea. Gio realized he was looking at the sea.

This was the sea. The end of the land. The dazzlingly beautiful sea of a seaside village.

“...”

The wind stroked him, and without realizing it, he turned around.

“...”

It was the sea.

He looked forward again.

“...”

It was the sea.

“...Did I come too far?”

His feet were already floating on the surface of the sea. If he plunged in like this, it would feel very cool.

The sunlight was terribly hot, and there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. The sea surface touching Gio’s bare feet was so cool that for a moment, he felt rapture.

‘I think I fell in here once, long ago.’

If he went inside, it felt like a small, beautiful mermaid princess would welcome him.

“...”

“Teacher.”

A young mermaid reached out her hand.

“Isn’t it hot?”

“Where did the land I was standing on go?”

“It’s gone now. I ate it all.”

“How old was I again?”

“It feels like it was more than thirty years since you were born.”

“Aria, what about you?”

“I don’t remember.”

The mermaid who had become the sea withdrew the hand she had extended. As if that childlike guise had been a mirage, a beautiful woman whispered.

“Too much time has passed.”

A calm, sweet voice.

“It was so long. We could have taken a shorter road.”

“Was it greed?”

“You can say that.”

From the mermaid who had become the owner of the sea, you could not find the appearance of the small, fragile successor. She was no longer a child. She was a villain who had to take responsibility for everything, and also a gigantic sea.

“Draw me a picture, teacher.”

“What kind of picture should I draw...”

“Draw me. My younger brother likes it too.”

“This sea truly is beautiful.”

“I really loved the sea you used to draw.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I could feel life...”

The mermaid had two feet now, and stepped up onto the surface. Standing straight, her height was only a little shorter than Giovanni’s. Aria leaned her body in and lightly hugged Giovanni.

“Do you know? When you hug like this, you can hear the heartbeat.”

“I can’t hear it well.”

“Right, because you’re dead.”

Carelessly, she asked.

“Why did you do that?”

Pitifully.

“You could have just run away. I’m sure.”

“If I ran, I would have been caught.”

“That would’ve been better. Wouldn’t dying together have been less horrible than now?”

“I never thought it was horrible.”

Even the mermaids’ evil deeds were like that. Separate from the weight of their sins, he understood their choices. It ends up that way.

“As you said, I’m already dead.”

“...Your body is cold.”

Without lifting her head, Aria asked.

“Did you fall into the sea?”

“I did.”

“And you weren’t cold?”

“I was very cold.”

“You resent humans, don’t you?”

“I resent them, and I pity them.”

“That must have hurt.”

“It was painful.”

The feeling of saltwater filling between torn flesh and bone was not refreshing. The shackles tying his legs tightened as if they would cut through his ankles, and Giovanni wanted to writhe in pain, but he had no strength, so from time to time he floated in the tank like a dead ornamental fish.

“I didn’t know Iser would come in there...”

That hurt so much.

“I am grateful to Iser.”

“Why?”

“That child killed me.”

“Then why didn’t you die before that?”

“I wanted to see you.”

It felt like quite a long time had passed. In that time, how much had they grown? What expressions did they make? Would they starve because they couldn’t get along with humans, or immerse themselves in strange research again? Would they suffer under great wounds?

“In the tank, I couldn’t see Iser’s face.”

His eyes hurt too much to look ahead.

“But I was glad.”

“Did it not hurt when you were torn apart and eaten?”

“To be honest, the daze was greater, so it was fine.”

When I thought about what the sun kept Giovanni alive for.

“It was so I could hear that child’s voice.”

At least that voice reached his ears. It was because mermaids could speak even in the deep sea.

“At that point, wasn’t it enough to give thanks to the sun?”

“...Teacher, you’re too positive...”

“Somehow, I feel like my embrace is getting wet. Is it my imagination?”

“It’s probably your imagination.”

Aria cried bitterly.

“Mermaids don’t cry.”

They cannot cry.

“This is a dream.”

“Can I call you Aria?”

“...I am only one of her lingering thoughts.”

“Then in the end, you’re one of her fragments.”

“You really... speak well, don’t you?”

“What is she doing?”

“She’s probably struggling.”

“Do you want me to remain here?”

“...Ha ha...”

An awkward laugh.

“...”

“...”

The mermaid couldn’t bring herself to say, stay here.

“I see.”

And Gio, too, did not say that he would return.

(To be continued in the next episode)