Chapter 280

Chapter 280

Gio also met with Sanarae.

“Hello, have you been well?”

“Wow, that’s such a textbook greeting.”

“I hope you have been well.”

“At this point it’s starting to get kind of scary...”

Sanarae greeted Gio with a somewhat awkward face.

“What brings the precious Hunter Seo Gio to our guild?”

“I came to see Ms. Sanarae.”

“Somehow that ‘see’ really sounds like you came to look at me like an exhibit... well, maybe it’s just my imagination.”

“It must be your imagination.”

“Seriously, why did you come, did I do something wrong??”

Unlike before, he was afraid of Gio. More precisely, he seemed very wary. It wasn’t an unpleasant sense of rejection, so Gio simply felt pure curiosity.

“Are you scared?”

“Mm, fine... how much right do I have to speak here?”

“You may say anything.”

“I know the world can’t possibly be that kind to me. And now I also know that Hunter Seo Gio can lie pretty well. In the end, I guess I just have to be careful on my own.”

“That is an exaggerated expression.”

“Listening to the way you talk, it doesn’t really feel exaggerated...”

Sanarae hesitated for a moment and asked.

“...Can’t you do something about that vibe?”

“I am doing my best.”

“On your way here, I know two or so of our guild people got bewitched. I don’t know whether you intended it or not, but I’d like you to undo it on your way out. I’ll put on a real show for you.”

“I had no such intention. Even if you do not put on a show, I will naturally do so. It is terribly pitiful to see, so please do not worry.”

“Strange. I don’t think you used to be this awkward.”

“To put it simply, the trial period for the tool that arbitrarily helped with the convenience of my life has ended. Until I find a new tool, I expect I will remain like this.”

“Ah, then, um...”

Rarely, Sanarae faltered.

“...It’s not easy to say anything. All of a sudden, I kind of want to talk somewhere private.”

“This does not seem to be such a place.”

“Yeah, to be honest, it isn’t. My family’s people are pretty rough, so reception rooms like this always have eavesdropping devices. You heard it when you came in, right? It’s a measure to determine precisely whether an accident is our fault or not when something happens.”

“Then shall we move to the place you desire?”

“...Now that I think about it, that’s scary in its own way, so let’s just keep talking here. Like I said earlier, I’ll filter it properly on my own. Even if there’s an eavesdropping device, it can be deleted by mutual agreement. You probably got notified about that too before coming in, but why did you come looking for me even while being treated like this— ha, no...”

Sanarae simply resigned himself.

‘There’s nothing more stupid than measuring someone who isn’t human by human standards.’

That was why.

“Is that really the only reason you came? You came to see me?”

“I was curious whether you are healthy.”

“Hearing Hunter Seo Gio say that is kind of scary.”

“You still seem quite prone to fussing.”

“Thanks to you keeping an eye on me, I’m very healthy. I’m more curious about how you’ve been, Hunter Seo Gio. You know? You probably do, but I was also one of the hunters who participated in this ‘Dream Amusement Park’ subjugation.”

“I do not believe I saw you.”

“Haha, that’s funny.”

In this ‘Dream Amusement Park’ incident, ‘Hunter Seo Gio’ did not participate. He wasn’t an existence that could be hidden even if he acted in secret. So if you said something like, “Ah, I was there too,” you couldn’t help imagining things.

“...”

No wonder he had a similar scent to that evil god.

“...I don’t know anything, okay? Right? Yeah?”

“Of course, Ms. Sanarae knows nothing.”

“Anyway, because of something like that, I worried a lot too. Listening to you talk now, your condition, how should I put it, doesn’t seem like before.”

“Are you scared?”

“That’s the same question as earlier.”

Well, he hadn’t answered.

‘How did an existence like this manage to blend in among humans?’

For a moment, he even felt envious.

“...I’m scared.”

That was his honest feeling.

“I know you’re a good ‘person,’ Hunter Seo Gio. I know you’re a good ‘priest,’ and a good ‘hunter,’ too. Anyone could have something shady in the back, but you wouldn’t be like that.”

Wasn’t he truly an ideal existence?

“But I don’t know if it’s because I’m so poorly raised, but I get scared of someone I can’t bite into anywhere. You’re that kind of existence to me. You’re too ideal.”

“I am not perfect.”

“No, you probably just make it look that way. It’s only because you wanted it that way. Do you think I could beat you with my head? Or with strength? Skills? Schemes? Politics? Power? Money?”

“Do you always wish to win?”

“I was taught that I have to, to survive. I said it earlier— I’m poorly raised. Maybe that’s why I’m scared of you. Honestly, what you’re thinking... I don’t really know.”

Even if he was human, it wouldn’t change.

“You also know about the Symbols of Eternity, right?”

“I hear of them often.”

“They made the system on Earth. As far as I know. They restricted outside intervention like divinity and helped people deal with the monsters and anomalies of the Great Calamity more easily. And they offered up their fate.”

“Fate.”

“A human fate. So the Symbols of Eternity no longer age and no longer die. That’s why they can handle that bloated power so easily, I guess... but personally, I think it’s too much.”

It was horrible.

“A person has to die when it’s time to die for them to be a person.”

Sanarae’s eyes curved like a crescent moon.

“...So I don’t like the Symbols of Eternity that much. They don’t feel human. They can’t even die when it’s time, they don’t age with time, their power is excessive, and if they’re properly bearing it, how could that be a person? Isn’t it just a natural disaster with will and disposition?”

He shrugged.

“Ah, of course, I don’t like most people in the world that much.”

“Do you hate humans?”

“I hate humans, and I’m afraid of natural disasters. If they won’t become my family, I can’t trust them. Humans are fickle, and natural disasters are something I can’t endure...”

“You seem to have a lot of fear.”

“...By the way, what do I look like to you?”

“...”

‘Hunter Seo Gio’ met his eyes.

“I see you as Ms. Sanarae.”

“...And?”

“No more, and no less.”

“Then what can you express me as? Why did your daughter show friendliness to me?”

“Regrettably, I have no reason to condemn you.”

“Yeah, really... how merciful.”

Sanarae admitted it too—he was a coward.

“Try to understand someone as cowardly as me. You’ll see at a glance, and if you don’t then you just don’t want to see, but I was born really pitiful. I’m a beggar dog who desperately needs the one scrap of mercy you give, Hunter Seo Gio.”

“You seem angry, and unlike what you just said, you do not need help. More than anything, are you still not afraid of me?”

“...That’s what’s scary. No matter how much I jeer, it doesn’t work. Even if I wrap the outer shell as hard as I can, you judge and react only by looking at the core. Why do you have to act so frightening?”

Because you’re a god.

“...”

And all gods were cruel beyond measure. Just by existing, they were cruel.

“...Like I said earlier, I know you’re a good... existence. You probably don’t have malice, and from what you do it doesn’t seem like you’d be fickle either. Yeah, you’re a really good adult.”

But he couldn’t trust him.

“It would’ve been nice if you weren’t so strong.”

“Do I look that way to you?”

“You can’t be weak, so if you were someone who got hurt easily and crumbled easily, that would’ve been great. Then I could have trusted you. I know very well how an existence with a weak part tries to live... I can understand it...”

“Shall I help you understand?”

“...No, my family is enough, right here.”

“I want to be friends with Ms. Sanarae.”

“...”

Ah, as expected.

“...Don’t act scary...”

He was afraid.

His sharp five senses screamed.

His eyes, nose, ears, his parched tongue, and the intuition of his bristling skin all cried out. Run. This isn’t an opponent you can endure. Goodwill is malice and mercy is calamity.

Even though a ‘person’ sat right in front of him, all he could feel was an immense forest and a budding pulse...

“...”

A disaster imitates a human.

“...Sorry, don’t get mad, just listen. I’m just...”

“I know well that Ms. Sanarae is very afraid.”

“...Yeah, sorry.”

“I also know that I am rather greedy.”

“...”

When Sanarae lifted his head to look at the other, he was smiling with his eyes lowered. It was the same smile as when he had seen him in the reception room, but Sanarae could find a slight difference.

It was a human smile.

“Poor thing.”

It was sad, and filled with love.

“Then shall we do this, Ms. Sanarae.”

“...Do what?”

“I will soon make a candy house.”

“A candy house? Ah, that thing I said back in the dungeon... you’ll really make it?”

“And I will call you.”

The priest who resembled sunlight smiled kindly.

“May I send you an invitation?”

“...I’ll think about it.”

Sanarae, too, smiled along, clumsily.

Because thinking he was a good person had been sincere.

* * *

“They say power comes with responsibility.”

Gio stroked the sunlight entering the attic. At his gesture, the sunlight found its place neatly, as if threads of silk were being woven together. Becoming a single plane, it curved like an aurora, too.

He caressed the sunlight that fluttered like butterflies and petals, like black tea and frills.

“I do not think one must take responsibility simply because one has power. That is unfair. However, because one has power, there are certainly things that naturally follow behind it. People call that... responsibility.”

The sunlight grew faint. It resembled cellophane that children draw and play with. The sunlight, softly wavering like layered sheets of wood, soon covered the attic like a blanket. Step by step, very quietly.

“So it is not that one becomes responsible merely because one is strong. If it had to be so, then why did my merfolk friends have to be twisted like that? Only because they became calamity?”

That did not seem to be the case.

“A society where the strong take responsibility may be quite an ideal form of society. Those with more give, and those with more leeway help others. But that inevitably demands even greater sacrifice than that.”

Gio thought strong people were very pitiful.

“How regrettable.”

How many in this chaotic world were forced, unable to choose, simply because they could? Perhaps Gio himself was one of them, but he didn’t want to think that far.

He was always free.

“What do you think, Mr. Ather?”

“...”

“You too were called a hero...”

Looking at the clean body sleeping, Gio asked.

“It must have been hard, right?”

The righteous strong bear responsibility.

Ather was a righteous person. He cherished life, raged at injustice, and wanted to help the weak. Even while feeling wronged by the irrationality poured upon him, he still made efforts.

It was not something just anyone could do. That was why he was grateful and tender. Lovely. Gio was someone who truly liked people. Those who accomplished wonderful things looked all the more admirable.

“It must have been hard.”

So was that why he was sleeping for so long like this?

“You may sleep longer. This is my home, and your fortress. In this cozy attic where neither birds nor cats enter, sleep for a very long time. I will cover you with sunlight. When the moon rises, I will cover you with moonlight.”

“...”

“And after you have slept it all away, tell me what you wish to do. I like people like you very much. Aren’t we friends? If a friend tells what they wish to do, helping by their side can also be called friendship...”

And then he returned to black hair again.

“...”

“...”

He quietly closed his eyes at the sight of sunlight glittering and breaking apart as it fell.

“...It would be nice if things could become simpler.”

The world was still only complex.

* * *

A few days later.

Gio met Hunter Seo Seohui.

“...Um, this is...?”

“It is a gift.”

Holding braised short ribs.

(To be continued in the next chapter)