chapter 215

Chapter 215

After finishing the meal, Juhyeon got a seat to talk with Sancalut.

“...It smells delicious...”

“...Do even evil gods feel appetite?”

Sancalut had been summoned while possessing the body of a water bird. The living water, with neither color nor vocal cords, had somehow turned into an entrancing red light, but thankfully, Juhyeon—under Gio’s protection—was not harmed.

Sancalut, trapped in a tiny body, was depressed.

“I want to go home.”

“Uh...”

At the unexpected reaction, Juhyeon turned to Gio.

“Please help me.”

“Ah, may I step in?”

“It... feels like the conversation isn’t going well.”

“In that case, I should step in.”

For reference, Yoo Seongun had fallen asleep in the second-floor guest room while hugging the Golden-Step Sheep fur blanket and basram flower tea Gio had handed him. Having gained the sense of achievement of satisfying his friend, Gio confidently sat between Juhyeon and Sancalut.

At the situation, like a small court, Sancalut looked miserable. The water bird form had no expression to speak of, but divinity communicated not through appearance, but through the soul.

“You definitely summoned me to scold me.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m attending for smooth communication.”

“You scolded me last time too.”

“You deserved to be scolded then.”

“I even thought and thought and chose a body so I wouldn’t steal the adults’ stuff...”

“So I believe I told you last time that that isn’t the issue.”

“You only say difficult things.”

At the childish way of speaking, no different from a little kid, Juhyeon turned to Gio again.

“It’s... younger than I thought.”

“It’s tuned to the soul of the water bird that lent the body.”

“Ah, the water bird’s soul?”

“More precisely, you could call it a wavelength.”

That was how Sancalut’s possession worked.

“When it takes another existence’s body, it imitates accordingly. That’s why, when it borrowed Student Lee Ruda’s body last time, it could handle that young body without trouble.”

“Such a secret...?”

Thinking about it, there was no way wicked divinity would fit perfectly inside a frail child’s body. Unless Sancalut had accommodated it from the start. Of course, that would have been for its own convenience rather than for Lee Ruda, but fortunate was fortunate.

“Mr. Sancalut.”

“Yes.”

“We summoned you today because Juhyeon here requested a conversation.”

“Hello.”

For an evil god, it was a rather guileless greeting, but Juhyeon no longer flustered and accepted it calmly.

“Hello, I’m Juhyeon.”

“Yes, Ahn Juhyeon.”

“Uh...”

“Don’t you use a discarded name?”

“...I didn’t expect you to hit a sore spot from the start.”

“It’s more convenient.”

“...”

Juhyeon had discarded the surname “Ahn.” Because that was the only way he could be entered into the other orphanage. Once, he had been seized by self-reproach over this, thinking, “To survive, I threw away memories with my family.”

‘...So an evil god really is an evil god.’

To stab at a weakness out of nowhere.

“...”

And just for convenience.

“...I was really glad that day that the one who spoke to me was you, Argio.”

“I am deeply grateful that you value my excellent eye for talent like this.”

At his hair turning red in an instant, Sancalut’s eyes shone.

“What a wonderful color! Wonderful color! I like that color!”

Sancalut had once been a simple jewel that radiated entrancing light, but it became an evil god through a process where humans, bewitched by the color resembling its blood, offered blood sacrifices. There was no way a Sancalut like that wouldn’t like Gio’s hair.

“What color is your blood? Show me the color, it’ll be wonderful.”

“It really... feels like the conversation isn’t going well.”

At Juhyeon’s awkwardness, Gio grinned and said,

“Because it’s young.”

“...Young? Divinity?”

“This doesn’t know how to converse, my friend. It knows human ‘language’ and can even gather its own ‘thoughts,’ but it knows absolutely nothing about how to exchange with others.”

“But Sancalut was the evil god of a religion once worshiped by humans across an entire dimension.”

“Juhyeon, if a pack of cute puppies comes barking and wagging their tails, do you know what it means?”

“Roughly... don’t you? If they wag their tails, it seems like it means they like you.”

“Right, it’s one-way. If a dog barks, can you understand what it’s saying?”

“Ah...”

It truly couldn’t exchange.

“So it doesn’t know humans.”

“If we’re being precise, it likely knows ‘how to use them.’”

“Like a tamer taming a monster?”

“Similar.”

“Then I understand.”

Juhyeon grew quite troubled.

“...”

It was just... a bit bleak.

‘...My family and friends died to an ignorant child.’

This was truly nothing more than a child who knew nothing.

“Mr. Sancalut, can you have a conversation with me?”

“Show me blood, blood. Make a deal with me.”

“Gotta show you’re an evil god—already proposing a deal.”

Juhyeon let out a hollow breath.

“...Mr. Gio, sorry, but do you have something sharp?”

“It would not be a very wise judgment to readily comply with this immature child’s request.”

“I know. The more I comply, the more frightening a price it will demand.”

“If you know that, then.”

Argio held out a pin that had been stuck in his hair. It was a gold jewel pin decorated quite flamboyantly, and it was harder and sharper than he’d expected.

“You were sticking something like this in your hair?”

“More precisely, it’s hair...”

“...Looks like this was a kind of weapon too.”

“It was usable as a dagger.”

“Ah-ha.”

Tap.

Juhyeon lightly pricked his fingertip.

“Here.”

“Blood! Big blood!”

“Are you satisfied?”

“I’m satisfied.”

The water bird, Sancalut, tilted its head.

“Can I eat it?”

“That wasn’t part of the deal.”

“What a shame.”

Even while saying that, perhaps because Gio was watching, Sancalut didn’t force a deal. Sancalut, grown sullen, continued.

“Ahn Juhyeon, you can talk with me. What would you like me to do for you?”

“I didn’t come here to make a wish.”

“Do you want paradise?”

“I can make my own paradise.”

“Humans can’t make paradise, pitifully.”

“Even if it’s not paradise, it’s fine.”

“I really liked you, though.”

Sancalut lightly flapped its wings. It didn’t seem like an action with meaning so much as a water bird tidying its posture, like it sometimes tended its water body.

“Could you have been my son?”

“If you had approached me with goodwill, Mr. Sancalut, maybe.”

“Goodwill isn’t effective at moving humans. Humans become fastest and strongest when they feel anger, hatred, and fear. Don’t you want the world’s peace?”

“The peace I want doesn’t include anger, hatred, or fear.”

“I really liked you, though.”

“Is that so.”

“I liked you, Ahn Juhyeon. I want to go home.”

The small bird tilted its head this way and that.

“Do you resent me?”

“Yes.”

“Do you want to kill me? If you do that, will you be my son?”

“Ah... I absolutely hate that.”

“...Everyone only hates me...”

Juhyeon turned to Gio once more. Gio smiled and answered.

“It’s copying my child’s speech habits.”

“...But your water birds don’t have vocal cords, do they?”

“To Dad’s ears, it all comes through.”

“Parents really are great.”

Anyway.

“Hoo...”

Juhyeon looked up at the ceiling, then looked back at Sancalut.

“...Recently, there was a big war. It was a war caused by two mermaids, and thanks to that, Korea’s front sea became a complete mess. There was also news that it affected overseas a bit and nearly turned into a global issue.”

“I know too, strong mermaids. Feels like they could have become my friends.”

“They started the war to ‘take responsibility.’ I don’t think that’s the right way of taking responsibility. But their regret wasn’t for the people sacrificed by their hands—it was for themselves and Giovanni, so maybe it was the best they could do.”

“Didn’t you like it?”

“That’s right. But there were certainly things to learn. Separate from the sins they committed, the fact that if you drag a story out, in the end nothing remains. I also thought my situation wasn’t that different from that.”

“So you looked at me?”

“So I look at you, Sancalut.”

Juhyeon didn’t think he, a mere human, could do anything about Sancalut. He was weak, had no authority, and was someone who had failed again and again.

But precisely because of that, he was an existence that could become better.

“I know you were born that way from the beginning.”

Divinity was fate and nature. No one could blame the cruelty of fate, of nature. It was no different from a planet formed by the universe, so even human resentment could not reach it.

“So I intend to pull you down from fate and nature.”

“I can’t go home?”

“You can’t.”

“That’s too much...! I want to go home! I want to be loved!”

“I’ll teach you another home, and another love.”

After all, isn’t divinity alive even until a dimension dies?

“What if you think of it as enjoying a new game for a while?”

“You’re trying to die with me?”

“If I can.”

“That’s impossible.”

“All sorts of impossible things happen in reality across the universe.”

“I don’t want to.”

“If you cooperate, I’ll send you home.”

Juhyeon looked at Gio.

“Will you help me?”

“Ah, of course. Friend.”

Argio smiled in satisfaction.

“I respect your judgment.”

“...”

Juhyeon felt immense trust and affection.

This was kindness he received from getting just a few letters he couldn’t even read. It was a relationship and time that would become distant as soon as the portrait took it back. And yet, because he trusted his humanity, Juhyeon wasn’t worried.

Because this red, wicked divinity would deliver an unfair verdict at any time. As long as he was a divinity who rose onto the fate of rebellion, the unfair support and praise Juhyeon received were inevitable.

Within this immense favoritism, Juhyeon always felt that Gio was human.

“...If I can use it, I should use it.”

“Of course.”

Argio shrugged.

“If you’re too straight, you break.”

All beings were like that.

“Especially those called heroes.”

“...Can you stop with the hero talk?”

“I find it fun.”

“I don’t.”

“Oh, dear. Then I suppose I should keep my mouth shut.”

“You’re snide in the weirdest places...”

Juhyeon glared at Gio, then looked back at Sancalut.

As if it sensed something, it no longer fidgeted, no longer chattered noisily, and only quietly stared at Juhyeon with red eyes holding a beautiful light that felt like it would blind you.

“Are you going to make me human?”

“...Yes.”

“That’s impossible.”

“That is not a reason for me to be frustrated.”

“It seems inefficient, Juhyeon.”

“For some reason, you’ve become more earnest and polite.”

He knew. This was authority Juhyeon enjoyed, riding on the back of the divinity named Gio. It was like a fox borrowing the tiger’s might, but in the end Juhyeon was an ordinary human.

If he couldn’t use what he could use, the only one who would lose was him.

“I’ve already seen a case like Mr. Gio. Even this enormous mystery holds humanity, so Sancalut, there’s no reason you can’t. That’s what I’ll believe.”

“I don’t want to... That path has no blood, and it doesn’t sparkle. I’ll get dull too.”

“I see. That’s wonderful.”

This was the greatest responsibility and revenge Juhyeon could manage.

“Mr. Gio.”

“Please say anything you like.”

“Could you make a body for Mr. Sancalut?”

“Hm, a body...”

Argio grinned.

“I’ll make you into an adorable child.”

* * *

When Yoo Seongun woke from sleep, he blinked at the bright red leather snake.

“...So this is Sancalut?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“First time in my life I’ve seen a god go into a snake.”

The snake rose straight up.

“Hello.”

“Oh, it talks.”

“I have no legs, and I have no arms. A body without wings is extremely inefficient.”

“Somehow the way you talk sounds like Gio?”

“I follow the body’s memories.”

“It really is similar. I couldn’t tell because it was a blunt tone, but were you complaining?”

“Would you like to see?”

“If you’ll allow it, of course.”

Since Yoo Seongun was a gardener, his resistance to this kind of novel phenomenon was strong, and Sancalut drooped as it was caught in Yoo Seongun’s hand. Leaving the two of them like that, Gio went back up to the second-floor guest room.

It was the room where Juhyeon had stayed before.

“Mr. Juhyeon.”

“...”

He was sitting on the bed, head bowed.

“Mr. Juhyeon, are you tired?”

“...Very tired.”

“Are you blaming yourself?”

“Was I wrong?”

Like confessing sin before a priest, Juhyeon opened his mouth.

“I couldn’t tell what I should do to make the right choice. But Mr. Gio was always kind to me, and I didn’t want to let that chance go. I’m such a selfish person.”

“That is called being smart. You weren’t trying not to miss an opportunity—you were trying to take responsibility, and Mr. Juhyeon found the path that seemed the most effective and reasonable among them.”

“I’m not sure it was the right thing. But I pushed it through, because a miracle like this might never come to me again. I did think it was crazy, but...”

The hand covering his face trembled lightly, then lowered.

“Will my family hate me?”

He was crying.

“Will my friends resent me?”

“Mr. Juhyeon confirmed directly that they do not.”

“I couldn’t even spit harsh words at Sancalut, who is clearly my enemy, and I couldn’t even decide to inflict pain, and all I could do was drag him down into the human world... that that’s all I could do...”

“‘All you could do’?”

Gio respected Juhyeon.

“I thought Mr. Juhyeon was truly wonderful.”

“Don’t lie.”

“I thought it was great. Anyone can get angry and blame, but not anyone can get back up and look ahead even after being broken and toppled.”

“This is just flailing. I’m borrowing your power because I don’t want to carry heavy burdens, and... it’s... a terribly selfish and arrogant act.”

“What you have should be used.”

“I don’t have you, Mr. Gio. I don’t want to mistake what you give as something that’s mine. That’s too ugly. And I can’t even return properly what I already received from you.”

“Is that needed between friends?”

“...”

Juhyeon already knew the answer.

“...No.”

What he knew—and what Gio knew—was that friendship wasn’t some transactional relationship. Juhyeon also knew well that Gio’s gifts were no different from a light joke tossed out casually.

Something surged up, and without meaning to, his true feelings pushed through his lips.

“I’m afraid that someday I’ll come to revere you.”

“Even then, we’ll be friends.”

“...”

“Look.”

Gio declared.

“I respect you, who guards against everything and cleverly seizes opportunities. I am grateful to Mr. Juhyeon, who fears me but respects my humanity. I receive much help from your consideration, that you act light while handing me the gifts you feel burdened by.”

That was why they could be friends.

“I don’t think Mr. Juhyeon can easily do so, but if it’s truly too heavy, it’s fine for you to revere me. Because that is not an act of hurting me or ignoring me.”

“Then what hurts you, Mr. Gio?”

“When I cannot do what I want, I am hurt.”

“...Isn’t that just throwing a tantrum...”

“Similar.”

Gio declared.

“I am simpler than you imagine.”

He just wants you to play with him, but people like this with deep thoughts.

“I’m grateful that you, Mr. Juhyeon, who is calculating and altruistic, are my friend.”

“...It’s a relief you don’t find it gross and annoying.”

Juhyeon’s voice gradually steadied.

“Is it right that I don’t go down the wrong path?”

“That is something only Mr. Juhyeon can decide.”

“Right. Even if you walk the same path, what’s right and wrong differs by person.”

“Think fiercely, and walk the path you want.”

That was enough for Juhyeon.

“And eat the food I give you.”

“...Why does food come up every time we meet...”

Not that he disliked it.

“...”

He was special. Truly special.

A big, merciful vessel that gave goodwill easily and spared no affection. Also, he does not regret or collapse, so he is strong beyond anything. Anyone would want to lean on a person like this.

‘Like I am now.’

So Juhyeon dared to pity this man.

‘...The time I remain in your long life will be only an instant.’

He was afraid that even that brief moment, he might not be able to treat this pitiful friend as a human.

Leaning on his specialness, he was afraid he would forget that he was a childish person who enjoyed silly tricks and exchanging letters. He was afraid he would forget that he once had a friend like this, and end up praising his omnipotence.

Because he was just an ordinary, paltry human...

“...Don’t be too kind.”

“Why?”

“Because I feel like you’ll become lonely, Mr. Gio.”

“Everyone goes through such a time.”

His voice was even.

“In the end, I will make friends again.”

“...”

It stings.

‘...If that sounds like resignation, that too must be because I’m an ordinary person.’

Even so, truly, he was a pitiful person.

(To be continued in the next episode)