chapter 216

Chapter 216

After that day, one change occurred for Juhyeon.

“Mr. Juhyeon, that is...?”

“It’s a tamed snake, so please don’t worry too much.”

“Ah, yes. But I remember you were unawakened, Mr. Juhyeon... No matter how I look at it, that doesn’t seem like an ordinary snake.”

“It’s a friend Gio tamed and attached to me.”

“Aha...”

A snake a little thinner than a child’s wrist was swaying its tail as it showed off its entrancing red leather. Its two round, gleaming eyes and its catlike curved mouth looked very harmless and cute.

The Collection Merchant employee nodded.

“As expected of Hunter Seo Gio-nim’s taste, it’s a flashy snake. Shimmering like a jewel, it looks exactly like a monster that’s easy to get bewitched by. Did you say he created it himself?”

“Mm... it seems like it could be similar.”

“So that’s why you visited today. If you tell me the rough traits or habits like you did with the water birds, I’ll register it with the Association as an existing monster. That will be less troublesome for you to be active, right?”

“I’d be grateful if you helped like that. Gio gave me some snacks as a gift—are there people you could share them with? There’s so much...”

“In that case, the secretariat side seems like the best choice.”

“I’ll deliver them separately when I have time. For now, please register this friend first.”

The red snake coiled around Juhyeon’s neck raised its head.

“Hello.”

“Oh my, you startled me. It talks?”

“I would be grateful if you would call me San.”

“Mm... yes, nice to meet you, Mr. San.”

True to a Collection Merchant employee who ends up witnessing all sorts of strange sights, she wasn’t greatly surprised. She simply turned back to Juhyeon and asked additional questions.

“What can this child do? If Hunter Seo Gio attached it to you separately, it must have something outstanding, but is there anything you think is dangerous?”

“It isn’t that there’s nothing dangerous, but Gio is controlling it, so it’s fine. If we had to be strict, you could call it a mental-type monster. It has great talent in fascination and brainwashing.”

“If we think of your safety, Mr. Juhyeon, a physical-attack type would be better than a mental type, but, well, Hunter Seo Gio-nim must have his own thoughts. For now, understood.”

At the two of them talking, the red snake grew sullen.

“I am weak.”

It wasn’t self-reproach about being too weak to be a contracted beast assigned as an escort; it meant he was dissatisfied because the red snake body Gio gave him was excessively weak. Juhyeon, who understood it roughly, stroked the snake’s head.

“When we go back, I’ll give you snacks.”

“Oh, I like that. I like the bright red fruit from last time.”

“I’ll ask Gio, so for now, just behave quietly...”

“Understood.”

With the Collection Merchant’s help, Juhyeon registered Gio’s new contracted beast, “San,” then returned home. Gio, waiting in the form of a frame inside Juhyeon’s house, welcomed him back.

“Did it end well?”

“Yes, thanks to you.”

From now on, Sancalut would be trapped inside the body of a harmless snake and spend time together with Juhyeon. Usually he would guard Juhyeon’s side and protect him, and eventually, if he received Gio’s permission, he would be returned to that damn “home”—that was the condition.

Sancalut was satisfied just to have been caught by strong divinity and not erased. They say divinity can’t die easily, but it was different when facing “Gio’s portrait.” As if he were used to it now, Sancalut requested it.

“Give me fruit, fruit.”

“I believe you mean mangdug fruit.”

“Sweet-and-sour fruit suits my palate very well.”

“I’m glad you’ve found food you can enjoy.”

That’s right—Sancalut ultimately became a pig thanks to Gio.

“I wish I could gain more weight.”

“Uh... then wouldn’t I feel a bit heavy?”

“I understand there is such a thing as a lightweight spell.”

“If it gets bigger here, it’ll draw too many eyes.”

“That would be troublesome for you.”

Introverted Seo Gio quickly understood and gave up, considering the burden Juhyeon would feel. Anyway, a mere level of eating a lot wouldn’t make Sancalut’s skinny body, containing divinity, swell easily.

“You can stop by sometimes and take snacks.”

“I’ll do that.”

For Sancalut’s maintenance, too, visiting the cabin became necessary.

“Since it came up, could I visit right now? San ate all the mangdug fruit, so I want to collect some and take it. If not, he won’t even listen well...”

“One of the easiest things to find in my forest is mangdug fruit. You may come in as much as you like and collect comfortably. The water birds will help you.”

As if they heard Gio’s words, the transparent water birds, including Honey, trotted over and sat on the frame. Seeing them look up at him as if saying, ‘When are you coming in?’ ‘Now?’ ‘You’re coming in now?’ made him laugh foolishly.

“Excuse me for a moment.”

Juhyeon visited “Gio’s portrait” quite familiarly.

“...”

“Are you all right?”

“...A bit of motion sickness...”

“It seems to be because of Mr. Sancalut.”

The bright red snake raised its head as if it were wronged.

“I am innocent.”

“Just by existing you can have an effect. Especially inside the portrait.”

“...Mr. Juhyeon is too weak, he needs remodeling.”

“Mr. Juhyeon will live his own life on his own as he is, so don’t interfere.”

“I am wronged.”

At the two of them, Juhyeon made a slightly fed-up face.

“Somehow, the way you talk overlaps with Gio’s.”

“It can’t be helped, since it’s a flesh body that imitated me to a certain extent.”

The two of them moved. The fruit most common in Gio’s forest was mangdug fruit. The water birds that had come out of their nest after a long time trotted over and sat atop Gio’s body. Gio and Juhyeon focused for a long while on collecting mangdug fruit.

When the basket was nearly full, the two went to the stream and lightly rinsed the fruit.

“I never imagined an evil god would like fruit.”

“I like red, give it to me. I am waiting.”

“What are you going to do if you really become a pig...”

“I can diet. Please believe me, Mr. Juhyeon.”

“Can snakes even diet...?”

It hadn’t been that long, but over a few days, Juhyeon and Sancalut adapted to each other.

Of course, it only looked like they got along because Juhyeon was driven by the single-minded determination to ‘roast it or boil it or cook it somehow,’ and Sancalut was thinking, ‘If this keeps up, maybe one day I can find a gap and dig in.’ But anyway.

In any case, from the outside, it looked quite natural.

“Since you’re here anyway, would you like to eat a meal?”

“I was wondering when you’d say that.”

“Were you expecting it?”

“No, I was prepared.”

Gio’s meal still brought Juhyeon a strange sense of burden. It felt like a human was consuming something they mustn’t eat, through an absurdly familiar method in an absurdly familiar form.

“What is this meat, exactly?”

“Rabbit meat. Isn’t the fragrance unique? The texture is chewy too.”

“As far as I know, the rabbits that live in your forest didn’t have bodies this large...”

“Recently, animals have been sneaking in from beyond the frame.”

“Beyond the frame? Do you mean the painting?”

“Yes, it is called ‘Animal Kingdom.’”

“That’s a direct name.”

“I didn’t name it, though.”

It was direct, all right.

“I tried it, wondering if it would be possible to raise them, but most of them fell into a berserk state. To know the exact cause, it seems I would have to visit the world beyond the frame, but I’m diligently postponing it because it’s bothersome.”

“Diligently postponing is a contradictory statement.”

“I’m glad it seems the foods suit Mr. Sancalut’s palate well.”

“Are you changing the subject.”

The snake, which had been listening with one ear and letting it go with the other, raised its head. It tilted its head. After chewing and swallowing the rabbit meat bones and all, it opened its mouth.

“This is truly delicious. It is full of anger.”

Juhyeon looked puzzled.

“Anger? Why is there anger in rabbit料理?”

“It seems it is expressing the tingling pain felt on the tongue as anger.”

“No, if you were being strict, shouldn’t it have expressed it as pain...?”

“...”

“...Gio?”

Gio didn’t answer and only looked at the snake again.

“I thought Mr. Sancalut would enjoy fear more than anger, so it is unexpected.”

“I am not picky.”

Then he chewed and swallowed a huge amount of the bright red peppers placed atop the dish.

“But red is good.”

“...If the lab people found out that the evil god Sancalut of pain and fear actually just liked anything red, they’d definitely pass out.”

Juhyeon said that with a hollow expression, but in truth, if it hadn’t been the “red food” Gio served, Sancalut wouldn’t have been this satisfied. Of course, Juhyeon knew that too.

‘It’s just absurd to see an evil god enjoying gourmet food.’

Humans are animals weak to the visual. Even if what’s set before you is a lump of mystery, it’s still in the form of food, isn’t it. Seeing a deep-rooted divinity stuffing nutrients into its own flesh made the feeling strange.

“Come to think of it... Mr. San, you used to like the blood of children and the elderly.”

“Yes, I like it very much. I prefer it.”

“Looking now, it seems you like all red things, so was there a reason you distinguished age groups?”

“They are children of providence who stand at the beginning and the end.”

It meant it was a kind of delicacy.

“They are also suitable existences to enter my paradise.”

“I also know well the paradise of the Sancalut faith. They say that after offering blood, pain, and fear, the sacrifices spend their whole lives in the most ideal paradise that no one can criticize...”

“That is correct.”

“...Is there truly a paradise?”

“Of course.”

Perhaps because he liked the rabbit dish full of peppers, Sancalut smacked his lips.

“It is the same as Gio’s diary.”

“That’s hard to believe...”

When Juhyeon frowned, Argio’s eyes sparkled with interest.

“An afterlife world created by another divinity—that is a story I truly want to hear. Could you accompany us a bit more?”

“...It’s nothing as great as Gio’s...”

“I only want to take it as reference. I merely drew a picture, after all. I’m curious what kind of afterlife a proper divinity creates.”

“...Ugh...”

The snake, twisting its body as if Gio’s interest was extremely burdensome, soon opened its mouth.

“...I gave them everything they assign value to. If they lost family, I gave them family; if they wanted a mate, I gave them a mate; if they wanted a child, I let them conceive that seed.”

Juhyeon’s eyebrows twisted.

“But those people all died, didn’t they?”

“In my paradise, they are alive.”

“I want to call it sophistry, but since I’ve never died, it’s hard to refute...”

“Humans classify life and death and assign value based on the biological activity of the flesh body. I think it is a very foolish and inefficient method. I treated their souls very well.”

“And where are those souls now?”

“In my belly.”

The snake said it as if it were obvious.

“They are a part of me that I ate. There is no way they would be elsewhere. They are tasting the emotion called happiness and continuing joyful stories.”

“Using those souls to devise some wicked scheme...”

“That is a difficult question. I would be grateful if you would speak easily.”

“Are you changing the subject?”

Gio waved his hand.

“It seems he is asking because he truly does not know.”

“Was what I said that difficult...?”

“If I must use an analogy, it is as though someone asked Mr. Juhyeon, ‘Can you devise a wicked scheme with the rabbit meat you ate today?’ Seen this way, it is a question whose context itself is hard to accept, is it not?”

“Uh...”

“Questions that harbor doubt about parts that are too trivial and obvious to even chew on seem difficult for a young divinity to understand. As I keep saying, Mr. Sancalut does not seem to have been a divinity who enjoyed communicating with humans.”

“...”

Juhyeon rubbed his chin.

“As expected... the more I hear about the world after death, the more there are many uncomfortable parts.”

“The living have no need to worry about the afterlife. There would be various side effects as well.”

Argio nodded as if he understood.

“That perspective explains why most divinities treat human lives as cheap. The body is nothing but a shell, and a human’s life depends on whether that shell exists.”

“Do you think that too, Gio?”

“Then would I be eating like this?”

“Ah, right...”

Once again, Juhyeon’s feeling became strange.

‘...A disaster caused by divinity truly has no malice.’

Good and evil—those were, in the end, standards made by humans. Divinity was truly nature and fate with will. It could never be separated into right and wrong.

As you cannot distinguish the up and down of a star floating in space...

“...”

Of course, it was certainly bad that such a “rightness” of Sancalut tried to spread that cruel disposition even on Earth, where it was absolutely not right. No matter how divine you are, you should at least know how to read the room and adapt.

Having reached that conclusion, Juhyeon’s interest returned to Gio.

“What concept is what you made, that... ‘diary’?”

“Literally a diary. It could be someone’s home, or a travel destination, or a waystation.”

It was like a villa with doors flung open so that people Gio wanted to be friends with could come in as much as they liked. They could settle down entirely, or rest briefly and move on to where they wanted—either was fine.

At that, Sancalut tilted its head.

“Do you not eat?”

“I am not someone hungry enough to devour my precious guests.”

“That would be delicious...”

“That is Mr. Sancalut’s view?”

It truly was interesting.

“...Fun.”

After all, he only contained divinity; he couldn’t be called a proper god.

(To be continued in the next episode)

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