chapter 204

Chapter 204

One day, a single portrait appeared in Yoo Seongun’s life.

“...”

It had artistic value.

A well-balanced body as if sculpted into the most ideal human, a taxidermied form that would never change, and above all, eyes that, by their mere existence, bewitched people and dropped them into a vast abyss.

Could you not be bewitched by it?

No, you couldn’t.

“...”

Yoo Seongun was a gardener. A curator. Ever since he came to serve the garden, he had lived his whole life that way and would never change. He revered, respected, and held dear “Gio’s portrait.”

But could that possibly be a person? Could it have been?

“...”

What was a “person,” anyway?

“Yoo Seongun-ssi...!!”

“...”

“Hey, fuck, Yoo Seongun, what are you doing!!”

“...”

“You fucking bastard!!”

Yoo Seongun blinked slowly. His eyes were dyed the color of glaciers.

“...It’s certainly a topic worth thinking about.”

His superior, Visabel, divided everything in life into works and non-works. Recently he had confirmed that a category called “hero” had been added there, but that wasn’t something Yoo Seongun needed to care about right now.

However, while he cherished his guild members—his collectibles—as works, he had also treated them as humans. Yoo Seongun was moving according to that framework. Then was that viewing a person as a work, or viewing them as a human?

‘Or can both coexist.’

Or can they not.

“How troublesome.”

Yoo Seongun did not welcome his own change. His change was the same as the garden’s change, and also the same as a work’s corruption, so whenever he changed, there were always sacrifices, big and small.

How many sacrifices would be needed this time?

“This is kind of unpleasant.”

Amid the noise that hurt his ears, Yoo Seongun gripped his spear again.

‘...You can’t freeze the sea.’

All the more so the Earth’s sea, salty as hell.

It was hard to freeze, and when it froze it hardened in an instant. Then it melted again in an instant. Yoo Seongun decided to think of another method.

‘Flames.’

If you evaporated it completely?

‘No, that’s hard.’

This ill-natured sea had shown that by using hail, they could even control the sky. Then no matter how much you evaporated seawater, it would only become rain and fall again.

‘If it’s a monster that is the sea itself...’

If freezing and burning won’t work. If, even then, it ends up remaining in the form of moisture.

‘We have to take the initiative.’

Just as those mermaids had done, someone else had to devour it.

“...”

It wasn’t that he didn’t know the method, but Yoo Seongun felt a little sorry toward Jung Yeongwon.

“Ah, what should I do...”

“Yoo Seongun-ssi, did you come to your senses?!”

“My ears are going to fall off, so step back and talk.”

“If we don’t freeze it, this will push inward—pull yourself together and throw the spear!!”

“That’s not going to solve anything right now.”

“Then what the hell do you want to do, die together?! This isn’t some ordinary bastard!!”

“I’m saying we should think.”

“Let other bastards think—*you* move!!”

“Ugh, no manners.”

Rubbing ears that were nearly numb, Yoo Seongun looked at a hunter he was acquainted with.

“Go call Hunter Jung Yeongwon.”

“What? Why the healer-nim?”

“Call all the tree-type hunters too, and also...”

“No, this is seawater, you know that, right?”

It wasn’t like they hadn’t considered making other plants absorb this overflowing seawater. If they succeeded in taking the initiative, then for the water that was absorbed, at least, they could exclude the danger.

How to restore the seawater reduced that way would be a later problem, but anyway, if you only considered the present, that was it. But the liquid they had to deal with right now wasn’t just water—it was seawater.

“How are plants supposed to eat this?!”

Unless it was some kind of monster, it would wither and die. And there weren’t that many hunters who could raise such bizarre plants. Because plants were still plants.

“Well, maybe if you just make them bloom like crazy you could win by sheer quantity, but then...!”

“It’s frozen.”

“Huh?”

“This is ice, isn’t it? We all froze it together.”

Perhaps because the cold-type hunters were firing off skills like crazy, the sea was gradually becoming even colder ice. And Yoo Seongun couldn’t make this solid ice in an instant, and freezing took time.

‘And I nearly died doing that.’

If you suddenly freeze it quickly, it doesn’t become hard ice. To make a sturdy glacier like this, you need time. He was a bit out of it, but anyway, what Yoo Seongun wanted to say was...

“The salt will have settled to the bottom.”

One bit of common scientific knowledge.

“That’s how seawater is.”

“What are you talking about—no, ah, ah... ah...? Ah!!”

“I’m telling you.”

Water and salinity have different freezing points.

‘Water first, then salt.’

So if Yoo Seongun’s thinking was right, it meant that while the sea around here froze solid like a vast snowfield, the salt would have gone down below. At least, Earth’s sea was like that.

“I didn’t freeze it carefully with that in mind, but...”

Kwa-deuk—!!

He pulled out the spear he’d driven into the ice.

“If we just melt the top, there won’t be a problem feeding the flowers.”

“Fuck, you’re right.”

“Go.”

“I’ll call them right away.”

What they needed were tree-type hunters who could raise flowers and trees in an instant, and flame-type hunters who could melt the upper layer of this ice. Luckily, they had all that manpower here.

Sending the runner off like that, Yoo Seongun thought.

‘There’s no way that mermaid doesn’t know this.’

A doctor and a PhD who had built achievements almost on the level of an evil god, and produced countless research materials.

‘And yet, they didn’t do anything until these humans froze the sea... that means...’

Yoo Seongun clicked his tongue.

“Am I being looked down on?”

This was mercy and a condition. If they were intelligent beings so stupid they couldn’t even think of this much, then they should all just die.

‘They kept saying Earth is too small to be Gio’s flowerpot, so maybe, before they leave forever, they’re testing whether we’re qualified, one way or another...’

In a situation this exhausting and noisy, would that kind of common sense come easily? Still, from the mermaids’ point of view, even that would be pathetic. Yoo Seongun felt thoroughly foul.

‘...For a slaughterer who doesn’t even know the value of life, what an arrogant thought.’

Rarely, Yoo Seongun—who was not a monster-hater among hunters—ground his teeth.

“Tired, aren’t you?”

This flowerpot is the place Gio chose himself.

To dare doubt the Origin’s choice was utterly blasphemous.

* * *

“T-this, what in the world...!!”

Just like the other hunters, the priests of the sun were greatly horrified.

“Such an amount of the sun’s energy...!!”

“B-blasphemy! This must not happen!!”

“What in the world is this insane monster doing...?!”

What they felt from the gigantic golden tree wrapping the temple everywhere was unmistakably the sun. And the priests of the sun belonging to Earth felt that countless suns were gathered there.

That lunatic monster had been devouring suns.

“...”

“...Fuck...”

There were also hunters with a strange coloration.

‘This is... for something made by a monster... too...’

Isn’t it holy?

It was too beautiful. At the enchanting sight, their eyes naturally locked in place.

Warm sunlight like gold dust falling illuminated the whole temple, and accordingly, all the gold and jewels adorning the temple emitted a blindingly brilliant light. At that riot of colors, the hunters hesitated.

‘Truly the sun’s...’

‘And you’re saying this isn’t holy?’

It was a beautiful sight, like only the sun’s most precious, pure light had been gathered.

“...Huu...”

Kang Seodam pulled Cha Isol back.

“Stay among the hunters.”

“Am I useless here?!”

“You have plenty of use, but Brother Cha Isol’s position is healer, isn’t it?”

“B-but if you get hurt, teacher...!”

So you have favoritism, pretending not to.

‘Well, if he didn’t have at least this much preference for humans, he’d just be the Black Cloak.’

Rather than a stranger he didn’t know at all, or other priests who had never properly taken care of him, Cha Isol seemed to want to protect Kang Seodam more. To be protected by a kid this tiny—there was no greater humiliation.

Kang Seodam hesitated for a moment, then spoke firmly again.

“Cha Isol.”

“! Y-yes.”

“Go back.”

“...Understood!”

They say even rotten pollack is still pollack, but Cha Isol wasn’t rotten at all—he was valuable talent. Still a young student, he immediately understood the seriousness of the situation and followed Kang Seodam’s words at once.

Kang Seodam adjusted his grip on his staff.

‘For the staff I usually carried to grow into a tree like that...’

Kang Seodam had seen Iser’s staff before. A golden staff shaped to resemble the texture of wood with an old-fashioned charm. And he also knew the fact that it had once belonged to “Giovanni.”

‘Obsession, is it.’

The mermaids in this dungeon were excessively emotional.

“Looks like you’ve finished all your conversation.”

“You’re considerate, somehow.”

“I don’t want to make an uncultured ruckus here.”

Iser still stood blocking Hunter Seo Gio, who was bound to the pope’s chair. Iser’s long, straight hair dyed gold and Seo Gio’s—Giovanni’s—had something similar about them.

Only the mermaid’s eyes were a painfully blue pearl.

“Let me take this person.”

Veins rose on Kang Seodam’s face.

“You’re forcing a sacrifice.”

“A sacrifice? No, it’s not like that. It’s better development.”

“Did Hunter Seo Gio agree to that development too?”

“He promised he’d stay in place of weak, incompetent humans.”

“That’s a threat. Barbaric.”

“I didn’t expect to hear that from humans.”

Iser laughed as he descended one step at a time.

“I’m quite honest, and I don’t know how to do barbaric things.”

“What a surprising story.”

“Instead, I will propose a deal.”

“A deal, in this situation?”

“I’ve been very weak since I was young.”

“...”

“Even now, I’m not exactly strong...”

That was why Iser always pulled other tricks.

“Let’s test it.”

When Iser lightly spread both arms, the golden tree shone with a holy light, bright like the sun.

“This tree will show them a dream.”

“A dream?”

“It may be a dream, or a hallucination, or a fragment of the future or the past. That will be decided within providence by yourselves and by these many suns.”

“You’re spouting nonsense.”

“If you wake up properly, you can fight me.”

“And if we can’t wake up?”

“Then you’ll become fertilizer for the tree.”

“Can we refuse?”

“No.”

With a smile, the mermaid clasped his hands behind his back and waved one hand.

“May the sun’s blessing be with you.”

And like that, the humans lost consciousness.

“...”

“...”

All but one.

A strange hush flowed, like behind the curtain after an actor’s stage ends, and the two beings’ gazes met.

Cha Isol’s pupils trembled.

“...”

“...Uh, uh, uh...”

“Cha Isol.”

“Why am I not sleeping...?”

“Because I knew you’d wake up anyway.”

“Huh!”

Cha Isol’s face brightened in an instant.

“You’re speaking casually now!”

“...Yeah.”

“Are we friends?”

“Even at a time like this, you say that to me?”

“Eunha didn’t knock me out either...”

“That’s...”

Iser let out a sigh.

“...How did two humans like this end up being born in the same dimension?”

Seo Gio and Cha Isol, that is.

He slowly walked down the steps. The priest robe he was wearing followed him one step at a time, bathed in gold light, and soon Iser carelessly shoved aside the collapsed humans with his foot and stood before Cha Isol.

As if scolding a younger sibling, he made a stern face.

“Didn’t I tell you to stay somewhere safe?”

“I didn’t want to be alone...!”

“I didn’t know you were the type who gets lonely.”

“You are too.”

“...”

For a moment, the mermaid lost words.

“...Me?”

“No?”

“...I don’t know.”

“Why don’t you know?”

“Because it’s been too long since I was with someone.”

“Huh? Weren’t you with hyung?”

“That’s true, but...”

Eunha opened and closed his mouth.

“...”

Then he said.

“...Yeah, I was lonely.”

This cold dungeon was cozy, damp, and quiet.

“So, for a moment, won’t you talk with me?”

“Talk about what?”

“Just... this and that...”

Anything.

“Because it feels like this will be the last time.”

“...”

Cha Isol nodded after a moment.

“Okay.”

He wasn’t ignorant of the fact that the mermaids had committed horrific massacres, and were still doing so even now. The mermaids were truly terribly bad guys who had committed unforgivable sins.

But what stood before him now was Eunha, Cha Isol’s friend. Even if everything had been a lie, they had once been partners...

‘Maybe I can listen to his last words.’

Because it really feels like the last time.

(To be continued in the next episode)