chapter 206

Chapter 206

Everyone said Giovanni was special.

“...”

That might have been an undeniable fact.

Giovanni was born beneath sunlight even in a dark room without windows. On a cold winter day, he grew up sleeping in a bed positioned where the sun could never reach, yet still bathed in warm sunlight, and even as a newborn with an unclear sense of self, he performed small and large miracles as if it were only natural.

The son bestowed by the sun. Healing power filled with sunlight. Words and a gaze that breathed warmth even in winter. Watching that, people made Giovanni into a god, into an apostle, into a hero.

“...G-Gio.”

“Shouldn’t someone go talk to him?”

“If we just leave him like that...”

So Giovanni was always special.

“Gio.”

“...”

“Hunter Seo Gio.”

“...”

“...Do you need recovery?”

“No.”

Only those children made me into a single human. Just as I loved all the life I had lived, I also loved that modest everyday life with the same weight of heart.

“It’s okay.”

They might have seen me as a teacher they respected and a benefactor they loved, but Giovanni, too, did not know how much joy and peace he had received from his students. Grace was something he also wore together with them.

“I know the way.”

“Hunter Seo Gio...?”

“I can hear the sound of a heartbeat.”

Giovanni’s love was simply great, but he also knew how to resent. He hated the people who hurt him. He hated the villagers who made him part from his disciples. He hated the world that had no choice but to become that way.

It was only that the love that overcame that raised Giovanni back up. That was all. Nothing more.

“This way.”

He went down.

The temple was filled with seawater, but it wasn’t that cold. With familiar bare feet, he stepped down the stairs one by one and headed deeper inside.

Giovanni had not visited this place while he lived, but he stayed here after he died.

“A-are we really supposed to go in?”

“It looks like Hunter Seo isn’t in his right mind right now...”

“But he really might have found a clue.”

“Even so, his condition is kind of...”

He led the people and, in the end, reached the very bottom underground.

“...”

“...What is that?”

“That’s...”

It was a large flowerpot.

“What is that?”

“It looks like it’s meant to hold something...”

“Isn’t that basically a basin at that size?”

“The decoration’s pretty.”

“No, look at what’s inside.”

And it was liquid made of melted gold.

“Doesn’t it feel similar to that golden tree we saw earlier?”

“You shouldn’t compare it to that. It’s something like, um, a pure energy flowing...”

“At least it’s different from the tree that disgustingly stuffed itself with the sun.”

“...But it’s warm all the same.”

“It looks holy.”

It was water in which ‘Giovanni’ had melted.

“...”

“...Uh, wait.”

“Inside there right now...”

Before the others could come close, he approached the flowerpot. But even at that distance, people with good eyes could see something, and they found a faint something within the flowerpot carved from a huge crystal.

“Is there a person in there?”

A few with keen eyes turned to look at Gio.

“...I can’t see it well, but...”

“...Doesn’t it resemble Hunter Seo Gio?”

“What in the world is this...?”

It didn’t matter.

In the end, Giovanni brushed off the small fragment clinging to me, saying time was up, and it must have become a painful thorn even to the mermaid who was the living, breathing sea. Giovanni felt flowers blooming beneath the sea where the storm clouds had cleared.

Looking at the transparent ‘Giovanni’ form, no different from water, he muttered,

“...So you said you tried it many times.”

Aria said she had tried many times to revive ‘Giovanni,’ but all of them failed. Was this one of those traces? Or was it a new result, a fresh attempt after reuniting with him on Earth?

The mermaids of my sea had a rather blind side.

“It’s heavy.”

Thunk—.

On top of his own watery shell that couldn’t even breathe, Giovanni planted the golden branch.

“It’s heavy...”

The mermaids shaped my heart into the form of their teacher.

This would become another shackle for Giovanni and remain with him for his whole life.

* * *

“...”

Above the sea.

“...”

Flowers.

White flowers, soft yellow buds, shyly warmed pink, lively green that grew fresh and verdant—those thin, transparent petals bloom.

Countless fragile lives bloom.

“...”

Only now, belatedly, I’ll say it: the mermaid born from the sea had wanted to see this sight so badly.

“...Beautiful.”

It’s like my sea has turned into land.

“Back when I didn’t know anything, I used to dream of a sea like this.”

“With your level, couldn’t you create phenomena like this as much as you want?”

“It’s different from that, I...”

This meant nothing unless it was together with humans.

“...Ahaha.”

How childish.

‘So I still had thoughts like this left.’

She, too, had once dreamed of a world where the sea and sky, the mermaids of the deep sea and the humans of the land, coexisted.

Not for any earnest thought like her younger brother’s—simply because she thought it would look cooler and stronger that way.

‘...My fragment collapsed.’

In the end, Giovanni brushed off the dream fragment and returned to Earth, and Aria, who had planted a part of herself into that dream, took a hit. On top of that, her heart was torn out—there was no longer any reason to keep living and breathing.

With no strength, she slumped on the surface. It felt like becoming a jellyfish she’d seen in Earth’s sea.

“Hey, isn’t it pretty?”

Aria looked up at the sky.

The storm clouds were clearing.

“The sun that was covered is rising, the sea is becoming a flower field, the sky is clean.”

“Are you sure you’re dying right now?”

“Yeah, of course. The dungeon’s heart was stolen too—what else could I possibly do?”

“So what do you get out of this?”

“Maybe... hope?”

It would be excessive for a monster who had sinned, but she succeeded in stealing it in the end.

As the human I love lives for a long span of time after no longer being human, there was hope born from the gentle belief that he would never be able to forget us.

‘With a wound carved this deep, how could he.’

And with this, the mermaids also wrapped up their story. They would reach the hell their teacher led.

“...”

After the cool dawn passed, the sun cast down over the clear sky.

“...It’s really the end now...”

It was too long.

It was too long, teacher.

* * *

“Cha Isoooool—!!!”

“Rudaaaaa—!!!”

At the sight of the children holding each other and bawling, the adults wore pleased expressions.

‘Cute.’

‘I used to be like that with my partner too.’

‘They’re really close.’

Even in this situation, both of them did their part and acted composed, but no matter how proudly the Sun Church touted them as talent, they were still young. It was a nice sight.

Perhaps sorrow turned into anger, because Ruda shook Cha Isol by the collar, then soon collapsed with a thud. Cha Isol screamed in shock and scooped Ruda up in his arms. It was a tragic scene that could have come from a classical masterpiece.

“What’s wrong, you didn’t eat?! I told you never to skip breakfast...!!”

“You... you got kidnapped, how could I eat by myself...”

“Even if I die, the living have to live!!”

“Who’s... going to... kill you... don’t talk nonsense...”

A hunter from the Eununwol camp smiled awkwardly.

“She used the sun’s power like that... guess it was too much.”

“Well, they say the god Ruda has a contract with isn’t a sun-god line, so.”

“It was power she forcibly borrowed, so she must still be very tired.”

Creating a flower field on the sea wasn’t as easy as it sounded.

It needed not only tree-type hunters who could bloom plants, but also fire-attribute hunters to melt the frozen sea, water-attribute hunters to clear away salty ice and water, and even priests of the sun to help plants bloom stably.

Since the mermaids had already seized the sky, even someone like Lee Ruda, an apprentice priest, couldn’t just sit still. She must have suffered a lot, awkwardly imitating the sun’s power among the sun priests left in the camp.

“And that wasn’t even at the level of an apprentice priest, either.”

“They say she was preparing for early graduation—she really is a different sprout of talent.”

Until apprentice priests formally contract with divinity, they belong to the sun and borrow its power. The initiation ceremony was the event of pleading for that contract and mercy, and living in the temple, they learn how to borrow the power.

Considering that a considerable number of even formal priests who haven’t contracted with divinity yet are active in that way, you could see how big a role Lee Ruda played with her apprentice-priest body.

“...”

“...”

“...Haha!”

“Laughing, are you.”

Cha Isol and Lee Ruda weren’t the only ones to have a tearful reunion.

“...M-me... I’m Gio... My heart really fell...”

“Why are you crying like that. With the way you look, it wouldn’t be strange if you said it wasn’t tears but tears of blood.”

“You’re the one making me cry right now. I’m not someone who cries easily, but you’re really amazing.”

“I feel very proud to have given Mr. Yoo Seongun an unfamiliar experience. Where in the world is there a friend as good as this?”

“Of course you really are a good friend to me, but even so, do you really think this is the time to say that...?”

“Of course I also feel very sorry. I was wrong.”

“You, let’s see you at home.”

“Now that I think about it, Juhyeon won’t leave me alone either...”

For a moment, without a shred of conscience, Gio had expected, ‘I did something admirable, so won’t they let it slide?’—and he clicked his tongue inwardly. He knew that if he’d set his mind to it, he could have broken free of the confinement, and yet he didn’t run.

But thanks to that, he was able to say a sufficient farewell to his disciples, so he had no regrets.

‘That’s just how I am.’

Embarrassingly, by nature he wasn’t the type to regret the choices he made.

“I feel deeply apologetic, so if Mr. Yoo Seongun steps in for the follow-up work, I will also join you.”

“No? No need. Just go back to the Collection Merchant and rest. Please, don’t come out, don’t go anywhere, don’t use your strength, don’t mingle among people...”

“What are you trying to make me into? A maladjusted shut-in?”

“Just in case I’m asking—do you have any intention of cutting yourself off from society again?”

“Are you trying to turn me into canned food?”

“You were like that already. What changes if you become canned for a few more years. I really want you to stay safe and peaceful only inside the Collection Merchant, without ever having to be looked at by people.”

“People are looking at you strangely, Mr. Yoo Seongun, so it would be better if you stopped here. We do still need a minimum dignity to live, don’t we.”

In the middle of the rumor going around that ‘The Collection Merchant raised Hunter Seo Gio locked up until he was twenty-nine,’ what in the world was this man saying?

He might be trying to solidify the setting, but it seemed also likely that he was so exhausted and frazzled that words were just spilling out, so Gio soothed Yoo Seongun.

“It seems you worried about me a lot. But it’s okay—I came back safely like this, didn’t I? Unlike last time, I’m not badly hurt anywhere, so it seems like it’s actually a better situation. Thanks to sucking up the mermaid’s power in reverse, I think I’ve become stronger than before.”

“I knew that would be the case, but your positive mindset really is amazing.”

“Ah, of course.”

Gio’s ultimate positive mindset didn’t get discouraged just because he was kidnapped.

‘If I say it like this, he’ll feel upset.’

Gathering whatever social skills he had and didn’t have, Gio continued again.

“I’m truly sorry for making you worry. I have no face.”

“Then next time, even if people are taken hostage, just ignore them...”

“I never promised that.”

“Firm, huh. Do you really want me to shed tears of blood?”

“Still, shouldn’t we save people in danger?”

“I’m someone who really likes that utopian, idealistic altruism, but you’re a bit too much.”

Yoo Seongun spoke, filled with greed.

“I want you to shave some off. About 94%...”

“Just tell me to go back and stay stuck in the gallery.”

“If you stayed stuck in the gallery, that would be wonderful.”

“No.”

“Please.”

“No.”

Sanarae was watching the two of them with a resigned face.

‘He knows it sounds weird and he’s saying it anyway, right.’

The more that conversation continued, the ones who would become trash were Visabel and Yoo Seongun of the Collection Merchant, and yet they were really yapping away. Sanarae turned his head as if he hadn’t seen anything, and his eyes met Priest Kang Seodam’s.

“...”

“...Haha, it’s a relief it ended well. Right?”

“...Yes, it’s a relief it ended well.”

In Kang Seodam’s eyes as he answered, there was a strange suspicion.

‘...He was definitely awake.’

When dealing with the mermaid Iser, Kang Seodam had thought he was the first to break free from the golden tree’s trick, and he recalled Hunter Sanarae, who sprang up without a sound the instant the roar occurred. It was far too quick and sharp a reaction for someone who had just woken up.

‘But I can’t exactly press him about it either.’

It wasn’t as though he’d answer willingly even if pressed. He’d only come up with a way to gloss it over and run away.

Kang Seodam humbly gave up and decided to bear this burden alone. In the end, the Goddess of the Sun had been with him too, so it wasn’t an unearned burden.

“Gio, just one year, okay? Just one year...!”

“This is being a nuisance, Mr. Yoo Seongun.”

“If you just stay quietly in the Collection Merchant for one year, I’ll serve you even more nicely!”

“No.”

“Just once!”

“No.”

It was funny that he felt a sense of stability from that childish conversation.

“...”

Kang Seodam looked at the sea, with chunks of ice floating everywhere, then lifted his gaze to the sun in the sky.

‘The Sea of Hatred’ has disgorged the authority it swallowed

Dungeon: ‘Nation of the Deep Sea’ has been conquered

Please check the receipt rewards

“...Is it over.”

Now it was time for everything to return to its proper place.

(To be continued in the next episode)