chapter 221

Chapter 221

“Hey, Gio?”

Yoo Seongun called out to Gio.

“What have you been doing lately...?”

“I am making friends.”

“I can hear your friends praising you all the way over here, though?”

“If you’re loved, that’s a good thing. It’s only natural.”

“A religion’s going to pop up soon, then.”

At that, Gio tilted his head.

“I believe it is a club.”

“Yeah, sure. A religion wearing a club’s skin.”

“I understand that religious groups do not form that easily.”

“If there’s a trigger, they can form anytime, so that’s...”

Especially when divinity was already in place.

“Even a nobody of a human can make a religion if they’re good with their tongue. Of course, in that case it’d be classified as a cult, but you even charm people well, you’ve got divinity, and you give good rewards, you know.”

“Is that wrong?”

“You did this knowing all that, didn’t you? I mean, it’s weird to call it wrong, but... when I think about what kind of ripple effect your believers will create, and which direction it’ll spread in, it leaves me with a mixed feeling.”

“I borrowed the form of religion for my own sake, but I only want family and friends, not fanatics. I am certain it will never be a bad direction.”

Gio asserted confidently.

“The world these days is too cold.”

“For me, this is what’s normal.”

But.

“...I do agree that it’s a good-looking sight.”

It feels like watching neighbors turn into neighbors-next-door. This doesn’t peel away all the world’s cruelty, but still, it feels better to have it than not.

“Why are you suddenly doing this?”

“As I have said repeatedly, I would like to have many friends.”

“Was I and Ms. Juhyeon not enough? Ah, this is kind of hurtful.”

“But someday, won’t you also leave me? Of course, if you would be my friend for life, I would gratefully try drafting a contract, but I thought you would not want that.”

“I’m going to die as a human.”

Juhyeon would be the same.

“So you make a religion because you don’t want to be alone? You’re bold.”

“Additionally, if I were to state another reason, I wanted to give proper compensation to those who defend and cherish me, and perform good deeds.”

“...Ah, that.”

Yoo Seongun recalled the Black Cloak’s one-to-one rule. Gio had always enjoyed rewarding humans who made him happy, so subjectively and objectively it was something that would happen someday.

‘It’s just that the timing is awkward.’

The fact that the Black Cloak was divinity had been revealed, and gatherings that cherished him were increasing.

Among them, Gio often turned his gaze to the group that focused on fundamental good deeds, and with that boost, that club was practically medieval knights.

‘Everyone’s a little off their rocker...’

Wasn’t there a phrase for that—lunatics with clear eyes? They all looked good and wholesome, but somehow you could feel a strange madness in them.

“...You could call it a kind of management, too. Leaving the results of the influence that branches from you completely alone isn’t your taste either.”

“What you say is correct, Mr. Yoo Seongun.”

Gio in the frame spoke in his usual blunt tone.

“Because the day will not come when the fact that I have gained divinity changes.”

“...That’s true.”

“There is a saying: if you cannot avoid it, enjoy it.”

“That too, and.”

Yoo Seongun laughed easily.

“Sounds like you’re enjoying it well, then.”

“I am.”

“Then have you fully defined yourself as divinity now? You used to gently deny it, saying what kind of god you were. Watching that, do you know how frustrating it was?”

“? I am not a god.”

“Why are you doing this again?”

“Gaining divinity and being a god are different.”

Gio insisted as usual.

“If you live long enough, you can inherit divinity and become a portrait.”

“A normal human?”

“I have a conscience, so I may not be able to call myself normal, but if we assume I am normal, then I could say I am nothing more than an ordinary person who gained various traits and abilities.”

“You’re really stubborn...”

Well, if the source changed its stance from a few human words, that would be the stranger thing. In the end, Yoo Seongun accepted Gio’s decision and rubbed his neck.

“To sum it up, is that it? You’re going to eat it all yourself?”

“You summarized it well.”

He planned to do both human and god.

“Isn’t that splendid?”

“You’re really something.”

“I am, indeed.”

Is there anything he can’t do?

* * *

Gods are defined by many concepts.

They were immense nature too vast to hold in one’s eyes, and they were a fate one could not dare seize with one’s hands yet would come someday; they were parents who birthed all things and raised them with love and providence, and yet—

Sometimes, they were simply a vast mystery.

“...”

They cannot distinguish good and evil.

Human good and evil was born, in the end, under their measure, and so it has nothing to do with those lofty beings floating in the high sky. Just as you cannot argue human law to the sky where clouds drift...

And so countless divinities, as naturally as breathing, ruin dimensions with a single glance.

“...”

They made people suffer, turned them into toys, and enjoyed their play.

Do not call gods in. Do not look into their eyes, do not speak their names, do not listen to their voices, lest you go mad.

Every human who knew gods said so. Because they were such an enormous calamity, humans had no choice but to hold their breath.

They had to hide. They must not see, must not call, must not listen. They had to.

“...”

But humans, in the end, cry out to gods even knowing all that.

“...Sa...”

Save me.

“...Save, me, ple...”

Help me.

“It hurts, so... m...”

I’m too scared to endure it.

“...Please...”

His whole body was pierced through, and he gagged and wheezed.

His body hurt so much he couldn’t gather his senses. Ah, he couldn’t even know how much time had passed. Even trying to hold in his mind and imagine what state he must be in was painful.

‘It hurts.’

There was only him here.

‘It hurts so much.’

No—was he truly alone only in this place? Probably not, he thought. Otherwise, it couldn’t be this quiet. This grave of countless heroes couldn’t have gone this cold.

As loneliness grew, it became fear. As the pain stretched on, it became a haze; as the groans dragged on, it turned into thirst and gnawed at the man. He couldn’t even tell whether he was rotting, burning away, or being torn apart.

‘Save me.’

Truly, he endured for a long time.

‘Save me.’

Alone in this pain, in this darkness, he spent a very long time.

‘Save me...’

It would have been fine if they did not solve this pain. It would have been fine if they did not restore his appearance, surely turned grotesque, to what it was. The man who had spent time beyond eternity wanted only one thing.

He knew this should not be done.

“...Argio.”

He didn’t want to be alone anymore.

“Argio...”

And so the old, crumpled former hero called the evil god.

“...I, see you.”

He saw him, called him, and heard him.

“Mercy...”

If not that, then greater pain.

By now, even that would feel like mercy to him.

* * *

“...?”

Gio, who had been picking up his forty-first dumpling in the cabin, blinked.

“...I feel like someone called me.”

“Oink?”

“If I’d been called at the sea or in the city, it wouldn’t have sounded this faint. If I’d been called on Earth, it would have sounded clearly, so there’s only one candidate left.”

“Oi...”

“It has been quite a while since I left it unattended.”

Gio obediently took his hand off the dumplings.

“You know that twenty-three of the remaining dumplings are Dad’s, right, kids.”

“Oiiiiiiink.”

“Nomnomnomnom...”

“Why does nobody listen to me.”

He could see their impure intent to snatch them all the moment he looked away.

‘Is this the power of divinity.’

No, it was a pig’s intuition.

“In any case, if you called my name, it aligns with the meaning that you want to become my friend.”

“Oink...?”

“To call my name when we haven’t even met? That is no different from a proposal. The moment you call my name, you must naturally be prepared to make me your friend.”

“Oink??”

“Then I’ll be off. Kids, let’s go. I have no doubt you’ll choose Dad, not dumplings.”

The teddy bear looked like it had something it wanted to argue, but soon waved its cotton-stuffed hand as if telling them to go safely, seeing off its son and grandchildren. Strengthened by that warm love, Gio went up to the second floor.

Then he lifted the black cloth covering a work he’d stuffed into the storage.

“...”

A painting of the steppe.

“...I’ve always wondered why animals could come out from here, you know?”

At last, it was time to solve that curiosity.

Gio reached his hand into the painting, and he melted in, becoming yet another painting.

* * *

“...”

“...”

And what Gio saw was not a person.

“...? A deer?”

It was a deer.

“It’s a deer with a gentle look.”

“Eeeek...”

“Even its cry is gentle.”

He had heard a spotted deer cry like this before, but no matter how he looked at this one, it seemed far from a spotted deer. It wasn’t small, and its antlers rose with dignified steadiness.

Aside from the antlers’ unique shape, it was an ordinary deer you might see on Earth.

“There’s a deer like this in a place like this?”

A question rose.

“Come here.”

“Eek...”

“That’s right, good child.”

Whether it understood words, understood gestures, or simply wanted to come— the deer with a mild impression walked over with a cherry-blossom-like neatness and leaned its head against Argio.

“You’ll make a good friend.”

Deer

It is a small, young deer

It was so simple it made him suspicious instead.

“I don’t know what part of you is small and young, though.”

It was suspicious, in truth. The animals that had flowed out of ‘the animal kingdom’ so far were all hulking, twisted in one way or another—and even their temperaments were nasty, tough bastards.

So even if this deer was actually mimicking a docile appearance, it wouldn’t be that surprising. Still, Gio didn’t care too much. If it was that smart, it was rather something to welcome.

‘It’s more worth doting on than those crazed ones I can’t even talk to.’

Gio gently stroked the deer’s chin and cheek.

“Oh... so soft.”

“Eeeek...”

“And even its cry is so cute.”

“Eeeh...”

“So cute.”

Maybe it was making an even cuter sound because he called it cute, but whether that was true or not didn’t matter. If it was the former, it was pure and lovely; if it was the latter, it was clever and had a chewable kind of cuteness.

“...”

But what is this, really?

“There’s nothing.”

“Eek.”

“Yeah, friend.”

As he petted the deer that stuck to his side and acted familiar, Gio asked,

“Was there not someone here who called the name Argio? Someone definitely called my name, but the voice cut off again. It was so faint I could barely hear it, but this is troublesome.”

No matter how he looked, there was only a barren wasteland where not even a blade of grass could be seen; no creature that seemed likely to have clearly called ‘Argio’ entered his eyes. It almost felt like a hallucination.

“But even so, it wouldn’t be a hallucination. Hey, friend.”

“Eek.”

“Have you perhaps seen a person here?”

“...”

The deer stepped back a little and tilted its head.

“Hm, fine.”

Gio widened the area a bit more.

“Then any creature besides you?”

“Eeeh.”

The deer began to move as if to show him.

Even when he looked around, he couldn’t confirm a single animal—no, not even a blade of grass. There was no life anywhere, but Gio decided to follow, on the chance he was being fooled.

“...? Aha.”

And Gio realized something.

“They were underground.”

“Eeeek...”

“Good job.”

An underground entrance that had been hidden by dirt and withered weeds was revealed.

Gio handed the deer some jerky he’d brought just in case, and the deer sniffed at it for a bit before cautiously holding it in its mouth. Leaving the deer to enjoy the jerky, Gio descended deep inside and looked around.

“...”

There was a name attached to the beasts he had eaten so far.

‘The ruined Avilas rainforest.’

A ‘black forest’ familiar even to Argio.

“...No, but why did it sink underground?”

“Eeh?”

“That wasn’t to you, so keep eating.”

It was just a bit absurd.

‘It wouldn’t be easy unless it was a major accident, though?’

What kind of tectonic upheaval had happened while he wasn’t looking?

(To be continued in the next part)