chapter 212

Chapter 212

The familiar yet new monsters that Yoo Seongun ran into weren’t only in the ‘Four-Legged Rainforest Underground.’

Clatter.

“...What is that?”

“...A bird...?”

At some point, monsters that appeared indiscriminately across many dungeons were spotted.

“No, is it water?”

It was living water shaped like a bird.

Perhaps because it had no vocal cords, it didn’t make a crying sound, but it made faint noises using the plants or ores held within its transparent body. Well-ripened fruit or fallen leaves, jewels, and the like were usually the materials.

“What, if it’s water, can’t you just drink it?”

“We don’t even know exactly what kind of creature it is, treating it so rashly is...”

“Hey, wait a second. This could be something like living panacea water.”

“No...”

Grab.

“...”

“...Huh?”

The hunter looked at his teammate trapped inside the transparent body. Their eyes met. The teammate, belatedly realizing where he was, opened his mouth as if he wanted to scream, but not even a single common air bubble came out.

Then, in an instant, he melted away.

“...H, hwaaaagh!!!”

Information about this unusual monster became yet another hot topic among hunters.

The victims were mostly humans with malice. Even if that malice wasn’t directed at the monster itself, if you harbored impure thoughts, you would be attacked. Hunters who heard information about this peculiar monster, for some reason, felt a sense of familiarity.

“...Isn’t it the Black Cloak?”

“Ah, right, good you brought it up. That déjà vu just got resolved.”

“I wondered why it felt familiar, so it was the Black Cloak...”

Among them, some hunters who had previously participated in the ‘Four-Legged Rainforest Underground’ dungeon raid were able to make additional predictions.

“A bird made of water?”

“It kind of looks like the contract beast Hunter Seo Gio carries around.”

“Ah, right. Honey, was it... that... water bird. Right?”

“It does look a bit different, but even considering that, there are definitely a lot of similar parts.”

“I thought he’d tamed it in some remote dungeon, but there was a whole flock separately.”

It wasn’t that rare for a tamer to tame an unidentified monster. There were definitely dimensions among dungeons you could never visit again, and taming monsters that lived there was an ordinary thing for tamers.

Especially since even hunters, though public figures, do not easily disclose personal information in a world where overall individualism has deepened. And since the Collection Merchant also put in effort, Hunter Seo Gio’s contract beast wasn’t widely known, but... for the hunters who actually raided together, it was different.

Even if they didn’t witness it directly, through information posted on the Association community they belatedly realized that the protagonist of this rumor looked quite similar to Hunter Seo Gio’s contract beast.

“So has this monster species name been confirmed? I think Hunter Seo Gio just called it a water bird...”

“Appraiser says it’s just ‘water bird.’”

“Why is the name that lacking in sincerity? I thought he said water bird just because it’s a bird made of water.”

“Since it’d be a bird that lives in water, it’s not exactly wrong either...?”

“Anyway, how did he tame this? If its habits are similar, does that mean it’s a monster living in the Black Cloak’s dungeon?”

While thinking along those lines based on similar traits, different opinions still came up.

“Maybe it’s just that guys with good personality compatibility travel together. You know, those kinds of monsters. Their habitat is unclear, but they keep being found in places with similar qualities...”

“Ah, right. There are monsters like that.”

What gardeners call ‘children of the Origin,’ hunters called by another name.

“Share monster.”

This referred to “monsters that borrow other dungeons,” and strictly speaking, it was a different kind of mystery from ‘children of the Origin.’ But because they had similar traits, it was hard to distinguish the two unless you were a gardener.

“It’s not rare for monsters with common qualities to borrow dungeons.”

“That’s true too—this could be a newly appeared share monster.”

A dungeon is, simply put, another dimension. Even if no door opened on Earth, monsters could clash among themselves and a new monster could flow in. In other words, it wasn’t strange for an unfamiliar monster to suddenly pop out like this.

And as always when a new monster appears, there were also a few accidents.

“...Huh, right now. What’s he doing?”

“T-that bastard, where is he going now. Hey! Hey!!”

“Over there... over there, there’s a tree, a tree...”

“What’s wrong with this bastard? Stop him, he’s about to fall in!!”

This living water bewitched people.

“Pretty.”

They were mostly seeping into nature where flowers and trees bloomed lushly.

They would clump together and form a pool under a tree, or sit on branches in a rainy forest and look down at people.

If there were random jewels or fruit, maybe, but when only the water birds gathered alone, they couldn’t be distinguished from ordinary pools of water.

But at night, things were different.

“Look, life is melted into it.”

It glowed red, or blue, but rarely, there were times it shone in an entrancing golden light you couldn’t tear your eyes away from. Without realizing it, people were bewitched by that light.

However, for something described as ‘bewitched,’ the situation wasn’t that serious. No matter how many tiny bits of water gathered, it was only a pool, and by nature, unless they clumped together in a deep place, it was no more than a shallow stream.

But.

“Hey, right now that lake...!!”

“Grab him!!”

Sometimes that wasn’t the case.

—Splash!!

A large number of water birds too many to be dismissed as a few dozen, and a deep pit, or a lake or sea that already existed. Water birds sparkling and giving off light in such places were no different from living water ghosts.

However, even this depended on the victim’s good or evil. Those who had lived kindly or ordinarily, even if they fell into the water while bewitched, could belatedly come to their senses.

Tap! Tap!!

“Ow!!”

Tap tap tap tap tap!!!

Because the water birds rushed in and pecked diligently as if saying, ‘Wake up, idiot.’ They were surely water you couldn’t even grab with your hands, but strangely, it hurt with a fairly sharp sting.

“W-what is this all of a sudden...!”

“You were about to fall into the water-bird lake!!”

“M-me??”

On the other hand, evil and vile people fell into the water and died 그대로. They didn’t directly chew and swallow them the way they did when someone revealed malice, but they acted indifferent, as if it didn’t matter if a wicked human drowned.

Watching that behavior, people nodded.

“Looks like they really are on the Black Cloak’s side.”

“They really do look alike...”

And naturally, Yoo Seongun was hearing all of this murmuring as well.

* * *

“I heard your kids have been showing up a lot lately.”

In a corridor meeting gathered for the first time in a while, Yoo Seongun chuckled softly.

“There was even talk calling them the Black Cloak’s angels.”

“I have never drawn angels.”

“Mm, in this era, angels are often compared to workers handled by the divine. I suppose that’s what they meant. You wouldn’t have drawn them in that context, but...”

How could the Origin have intent and create children? Do trees think and make flowers bloom?

Unlike divinity, called fate and nature with will, Gio would have simply created life.

‘That’s the more frightening part, isn’t it.’

He was an existence for whom birthing a single life was that easy.

“Do you like the work you made this time?”

“There’s no reason to draw a picture I don’t like.”

“As expected...”

Yoo Seongun flicked his eyes over Juhyeon’s peaceful face and Gio’s face hidden from view.

‘...Looks like those two worked it out among themselves.’

The ‘White Frame’ that created a deep, quiet resonance this time was likely a concept equivalent to the ‘gravestones’ Gio had spoken of before. But Juhyeon didn’t look any different from usual.

Their gazes met.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Mm, it’s nothing.”

Anyway, if there’s no problem, it doesn’t matter.

‘Mr. Juhyeon isn’t the type to lose control of his own greed and cause an incident.’

Yoo Seongun also didn’t have that much interest in the ‘White Frame.’ Since it was another child Gio created, it wasn’t that he had no interest at all, but only that much. Even if it was a materialized heaven, it didn’t particularly appeal to him.

He was already a gardener who held within his body a gigantic mystery no different from purgatory.

“...It’s embarrassing that we gathered and there doesn’t seem to be any decent topic. Right, do you all know how Cha Isol’s doing? Just in case, I looked it up—can I tell you?”

“There’s no reason you can’t.”

“First, I heard he got scolded a lot by Student Lee Ruda.”

“Ah, scolded... I see...”

“Apparently he told Student Lee Ruda that he wasn’t kidnapped by a mermaid, but that he crossed through the frame himself. If your partner dashed somewhere dangerous without a word, there’s no way you wouldn’t be angry.”

Cha Isol pretended he wasn’t, but he was quick-witted, and he hid things well. They said he even wrote and submitted a reflection letter, but that he told the truth separately only to Priest Kang Seodam, who knows Gio’s identity.

“And separate from that, I heard he also had an achievement.”

“An achievement?”

“I heard he did a fair amount of work in this raid?”

Gio nodded at that.

“He was a big help in dealing with Iser. The reason my father deliberately pushed Student Cha Isol into that dungeon was for that. He likely wanted him to properly learn how to handle the power of the sun.”

In addition, he would have wanted him to build ‘experience killing a living being you can communicate with.’ From divinity’s point of view, there was no better opportunity than this. Since the target being killed accepted the end on their own, the burden would be less, too.

“I’m worried because it seems he wants Student Cha Isol to grow into an outstanding priest of the sun.”

“Ah, worried, huh...”

“Kids are busy enough just being healthy.”

“I keep thinking you know kids surprisingly well, Mr. Gio.”

“Even if I look like this, I was a high school teacher.”

“Isn’t calling someone seventeen or older a kid a bit old...?”

They were modern people with a slightly different perspective from Seo Gio, a pre-Catastrophe modern person. In today’s world, even fifteen is enough for people to say, ‘They’ve grown as much as they’ll grow,’ after all.

“It’s a relief Cha Isol doesn’t seem to have been too shocked.”

“Well, it wasn’t only Cha Isol who acted alone. From what I heard, Priest Kang Seodam was also together when dealing with Iser. Since it was something the two did together, it probably wasn’t that heavy of a situation.”

“No, it was a heavy situation.”

“You’re awfully firm.”

Yoo Seongun shrugged.

“...I also agree it’s fortunate Cha Isol didn’t take a big shock. He kept calling the mermaid Iser ‘Eunha’ and seemed pretty friendly.”

It was a situation where he killed with his own hands an existence he thought of as a friend. At such a young age, he might have sunk into self-reproach, but Cha Isol was as spirited as ever.

Gio spoke.

“He seemed to understand that it was a necessary process for Iser. Cha Isol resembles me in many ways, so he does not place excessive weight on the state called death.”

“...That sounds a bit eerie.”

Yoo Seongun laughed awkwardly.

“When Cha Isol grows up later, will he become like you?”

“He will be very different from me. It’s that his thinking structure is similar, not that his attitude toward life and his surroundings is the same as mine. Cha Isol has incredibly good affinity.”

“He did seem like that.”

As he stroked his chin, he asked.

“About the gift you gave Student Lee Ruda.”

“Yes, the basram flower tea.”

“Did you give it, anticipating it too?”

Yoo Seongun and Juhyeon share information. Thanks to that, he also knew that when Gio visited the Sun Church before, he gave Ruda a tea gift. It was quite a coincidence.

‘Thanks to that, Student Lee Ruda was able to perform in this raid.’

She offered the gift she received from Gio to the Sun Goddess under Priest Kang Seodam’s management. You wouldn’t know about divinity’s joy or happiness, but in any case, perhaps it was an offering she liked—recently, they said Ruda had been showing outstanding performance in handling the power of the sun.

‘And with that power, Student Lee Ruda contributed to killing the mermaid Aria.’

Gio answered shortly.

“I only thought it might be usable in some way.”

“Really?”

As expected, should I say he’s unexpectedly cold?

‘Would he react like this even if I died?’

A question rose, and with a mild laugh he asked.

“Still, it’s a cleaner reaction than I expected. Are you really okay? The other Gios might not be, but Giovanni, at least, had meaningful bonds.”

“It’s a mischievous question.”

As always, Gio answered in an even, mechanical tone.

“But I really am okay. As I told you last time, I organized things in my own way.”

“...Wait.”

“Yes.”

“You answered like that before too, I think, but something feels off. You said you organized it in your own way, right?”

“Yes.”

“Uh...”

For a moment, he thought, ‘His tone is similar to that black suit that lives in the City of the Void,’ but then Yoo Seongun caught the hidden meaning he hadn’t realized before.

“...Did you take some kind of measure? Like they’re inside your White Frame or something.”

“Those two are not residents suitable for the ‘Diary.’”

“Then did you revive them?”

“What is already dead is dead. It can’t be turned back. And it must not be.”

“I’m surprised an answer this sensible came back.”

“However, I did retrieve the bodies that melted and remained.”

“...?”

Yoo Seongun turned to Juhyeon.

“Did the mermaids leave bodies behind?”

“...Ah, no? I heard both of them melted into water...”

Gio nodded.

“Mermaids are born from the sea, and when they die, they return to the sea. It must have been part of that.”

“Then how did you retrieve the bodies?”

“They were residents I had already retrieved.”

“Residents?”

“Residents on my palette.”

“...Am I the only one this sounds ominous to?”

“Mr. Juhyeon, you do not need to worry about anything.”

The portrait said it without any rise or fall.

“The mermaids are dead, and now they cannot harm anyone.”

“...”

Juhyeon answered only after a long while.

“...I see!”

“Exactly.”

“But could you please tell us more specifically, properly, and in detail?”

These mysteries really needed to attend a speech academy or something.

(To be continued in the next episode)