Chapter 157

Jio had always known everything.

He knew that he had surpassed the limits of humanity long ago, that the anti-cat Dana was filled with gathered dead souls, and how he appeared to others.

"He simply does not place great meaning in it."

Aria shook a glass flask and continued.

"That is why, though he knows everything, he looks as if he knows nothing."

"Teacher's strange degree of indifference has startled those around him since long ago."

"Seeing that, it does not seem to be a trait that appeared after he became a portrait."

Had Jio not maintained that attitude even when he had been a whole human?

"Isn't it truly peculiar?"

"Teacher has always been special."

"I wonder whether one should call it special, or odd..."

"His way of thinking is rather unique."

"And it is an inborn nature not easily found among humans."

Now Jio was not human, but a portrait, divinity, and also an immense mystery incomparable to all of those things. He was loved by the construct and had become one with it.

"If he wished, my Teacher could do anything."

But those various powers held no value for Jio.

"The amazing part is that he can accept all that as nothing more than a single individual trait."

"Did he not even perceive the previous Sun God's divinity as an individual trait?"

"Even though it is the divinity of the god I served. I can hardly believe it..."

If he had simply not known its value, Aria would have understood it easily. But Giovanni had once been the most beloved priest, and a promising talent of the Sun.

Such a person could not be ignorant of the value and position of divinity, so this was simply an absurd level of boldness, or indifference. Aria organized the flasks filled with all kinds of liquids and continued.

"What on earth would it take to make him think of himself as something other than human?"

And, by doing so, to make him become disappointed in humans.

Despite his countless powers and immense stature, Jio firmly believed that they could not make him anything other than human. That belief was as natural and solid as believing in his own existence.

"No matter what you put before him, he will think that it gives him no reason not to be human."

"Even without testing it, I can clearly tell what sort of response he would show."

"Besides, even the reason he was slightly reluctant to use the powers of divinity was merely a matter of manners."

Aria found herself laughable for suspecting that perhaps he could not accept acting as a divine being because he considered himself human. Human or not, powers really meant nothing to Jio after all.

"And even that, once salvation was brought up, he accepted it immediately, did he not?"

"Though he himself would never use a grand word like salvation."

Iser smiled his distinctive smile.

"Has Teacher not always been that way?"

"He is a person who values salvation more highly than respect, is he not?"

"And yet the part where he prefers beings who are good and polite is truly..."

"The sort of human he prefers and his own tendencies are separate matters, are they not?"

Just because he liked good and polite humans did not mean he himself had to be good and polite. Jio kept boundaries and respected others, but when salvation was involved, the story changed.

If there was a wish someone could not bear to speak because of all sorts of circumstances, if they said no with their mouth but inwardly sought help, if even when they sincerely refused salvation those around them wished for it... Jio did it.

"He is the smiling tyrant of the sea village after all."

"He still seemed to dislike that epithet."

"The results were always good for it to be called tyranny."

When one watched from his side, there were times when one wondered, "Is that really salvation and not violence?" But those to whom Jio reached out always gained happiness in the end. That was the power Jio possessed.

"Seeing that, he is absolutely not a foolish person."

Jio always knew everything, but he accepted it only as information, not as emotion. He merely seemed as if he knew nothing because he took an attitude so far removed from worldly interests.

Though with excellent image management, that made him look like a mysterious sage.

"So he probably has a plan of his own."

"When you call it a plan, it sounds as if you are referring to some grand designer hidden in the shadows."

"Even when Teacher looks as if he has no thoughts at all, he is always preparing something."

"Though that plan is visible only from a distance."

"If we look at it that way, then this time... hmm..."

Having finished organizing, Aria adjusted her loose white coat.

"..."

She soon said,

"Teacher must also know the identity of his lovely daughter."

"Do you mean that monster filled with dead souls?"

"Yes, that monster taking the form of a cat."

It had been made from the gathering of souls killed by humans.

"Because Teacher sincerely considers her his child, she must have been able to grow that much."

"Since she grew that much in the world of a construct where all manner of deaths are gathered, that is probably true."

"There must be various other reasons for that child's growth as well, but... will Jio use that child?"

"He was considering a gift for the human named Ju-hyeon, so would he not?"

Jio always knew what he had to do.

"There must be many reasons to give such a gift."

It was a wish the human named Ju-hyeon could not bring himself to speak out of shame, there must have been a need to adapt to the position that followed the previous god's wish, and he must have wanted an opportunity for his daughter to become truly his own child.

Above all else, would Jio not be living in the human world?

"He probably wants to establish the image of 'Mr. Seo Jio' as well."

"Every time I confirm such sly intentions from him, I suffer cognitive dissonance."

Behind that flawless, gentle smile, he would have finished all sorts of thoughts long ago. Those around him had no way of knowing since when he had been thinking such things, or what he had known.

"Teacher does not accept outcomes he dislikes."

In the first place, he did not even let a future he disliked arrive.

"And that must be why he died like that."

"... He is alive now."

"Can that be called living?"

"Who knows."

"Sometimes, I become afraid."

Aria continued with her distinctive smile.

"Because I never know when he will do something absurd again."

Jio was an uncontrollable variable.

"If he was going to be like that, he should at least not be lovable."

"..."

"I feel as though I have entered into a terribly unfair contract."

"... Noonim..."

"Yes, Iser."

The mermaid asked her younger brother.

"What should we do now?"

They could not be forgiven by Teacher.

"There were times when I hoped that perhaps that person would come to hate humans. That he might grow distant from humans and become hostile to them... but it seems Teacher has decided to love humans yet again."

For a time close to eternity, that would be so.

"I think we must make our own stance clear as well."

"You are right, noonim."

"... At the very least, his roots..."

"..."

"... Who knows."

Aria murmured.

"Responsibility, is it."

The end of her deliberation was drawing near.

"Ugh..."

Early February in Korea was still cold.

"Why is it so cold today?"

The woman sniffled.

"Is it because it's dawn...?"

The current time was a little past 1 a.m.

In truth, 1 a.m. was not such a late hour. Saying that people got off work at 8 p.m. was only when speaking of the "average"; there were no small number of office workers who left work after that.

'In the past, there would have been a few more people on this street.'

The woman looked around the empty street.

The signboards jutting out between the alleys occasionally crackled with static, and most of them had already gone dark. Somewhere on the slushy asphalt, wet from snow that had briefly fallen and melted, it seemed she could hear rats squeaking.

"..."

Between the old, rusted buildings, she could see the downtown area. That place, far cleaner and more stylish than the outskirts near the woman's hometown, was still glittering with neon signs unlike this commercial district, which had already closed for the day.

For no reason, one corner of her heart felt hollow.

'... Maybe there are even fewer people because of that terrorist incident before.'

There had been an incident where a dungeon door opened inside the Sun Cult, of all places, and every human inside was dragged in. As a person directly involved in that incident, the woman still remembered the situation vividly.

After that day, she avoided crowded places whenever possible. It seemed other citizens who had heard of the terrorist incident felt similarly. That must be why there were so few people on the street.

'And because this street is a mix of residential houses and shops, it was originally deserted at this hour anyway.'

The woman sniffled from the cold and huddled deeper into her padded coat.

"Ah, shit, why did it have to be a company dinner..."

At least ending around 1 a.m. was early, but she still felt upset. She had to go to work again at 6 a.m., and she had no idea how those damn drinking fiends had so much stamina.

It was when the woman was walking while looking down at the ground.

"Meow."

"...?"

A cat's cry.

'... No, that's a little strange.'

Wasn't that a very exact "meow," as though a person had recorded it? The woman, who liked cats quite a lot, knew that most cats cried more like "mraaaow" or "myaak."

No matter how much the city was protected by the Association and the government, this was an outlying area quite close to the city's slums. Feeling a little tense, the woman looked around the darkened street.

"... Oh."

And then she found it.

"It's a cat."

It was a large cat, shimmering with dark blue light like the Milky Way in the night sky.

"Holy crap, what is that? Is it a monster...?"

"Meow."

"It doesn't look dangerous."

It was exceedingly beautiful.

Of course, there was no such thing as a monster that was truly harmless just because it looked harmless. However, the chance that it was a native monster she did not know was not that low either, so the woman slowly backed away and put distance between herself and the cat.

And then—

THUD!

"M-M-MOMMYYYYY!!!"

"Oh dear."

"Hhhhaaaah...!!! Hwaaagh!!!"

It was when the woman had a fit at the hard something that touched her back.

"It seems I frightened you."

"Hh, hhua...!"

When she faltered and turned around, a man was looking down at her.

"Please calm down."

"..."

"Excellent. You did well."

"... Uh..."

At the softly flowing voice, like that of someone teaching a young student, her pounding heart gradually calmed.

Her startled chest still thumped and made her breathe in short little gasps, but the woman soon realized she was not in any particularly dangerous situation.

"... Ah...!!"

And then the woman realized.

"Hunter Seo Jio?!"

"Oh, you remembered me."

"O-Of course... you left an impression."

"I am glad you seem to have seen me favorably."

"No, um, yes...!"

Thinking that they were too close, the woman took one step back. Then she could see clearly what sort of face the tall Hunter had.

Platinum blond hair resembling the sun or moon, blue eyes like shattering light. And a sacred smile unique to a believer...

"Whoa."

"What is the matter?"

"I was a little surprised."

Even seeing it again, it was a face no different from the work of a century.

'Can't they recognize that as a cultural asset?'

It was a face fully worth preserving.

"What brings you here? I remember you're working as an unofficial Hunter, so are you out on duty today too, by any chance... It's really nice to see you again like this. You don't exactly appear on TV, so there was no way to know how you've been."

"I understand well that you are truly glad to see me."

"W-Was I too excited? I'm sorry. I really wanted to see you again and thank you, but I had no way to contact you... Well, contacting a Hunter personally would be terribly rude, but Collector did not say anything in particular either."

Meeting him by chance like this made her so happy.

"But really, what brings you here...?"

"I came to help a friend."

"A friend?"

"Yes."

Having said that, Hunter Seo Jio looked around between the alleys and said,

"Dana."

At that call, the cat answered.

"Mrrrow."

"Oh, cute."

"Mraow."

The cat, having given a fairly catlike cry, walked out from the darkness and went to Hunter Seo Jio's feet. The cat, whose body was as large as a Maine Coon's, brushed its body against Hunter Seo Jio's calves.

After a brief display of affection, the cat soon sat at Hunter Seo Jio's feet.

"Mmmrr."

"What a good girl."

Hunter Seo Jio stroked its head, and the cat closed its eyes and enjoyed his touch.

"... Oh, right. That's true."

Having barely understood the situation, the woman nodded.

"I think you said you were a trainer, and it really was true."

"It seems I did not look like a trainer."

"Your image is more like that of a priest, after all..."

"That is understandable."

Seo Jio smiled and continued.

"Honey, whom you saw last time, is also here."

A small, round, honey-colored bird no bigger than a child's fist peeked out from the hood of his cloak. The little bird tilted its head when it saw the woman, then went back inside the hood.

"It seems he is shy around strangers."

"I-I understand. Monsters do not usually like humans."

Having once had experience fangirling over Hunters, the woman knew a little about their "professions" as well. Trainer was an extremely rare profession, but even if one succeeded in training, that did not necessarily mean a contracted beast and its master would be close.

"I knew that most contracted beasts do not like their masters, but you two seem to get along very well. As expected of a Hunter from Collector..."

"I think it is because I cared for them like my children."

"It must not have been easy to care for monsters to that extent. That's amazing. Ah, um, am I taking up too much of your time?"

"You are not."

Hunter Seo Jio tilted his head and asked,

"Do you perhaps know where Gita Orphanage is around here?"

"Gita Orphanage?"

The man's voice was far too calm and steady for someone asking for directions, creating the illusion that he already knew everything and was asking anyway.

'... If he came for a mission, Collector would have given him the location information separately, but he said he came because of a friend... Did he come in a hurry? Or maybe it's a surprise and he came without telling his friend?'

The woman was briefly lost in thought, but soon, on Hunter Seo Jio's sculpted, perfect face, there settled the troubled smile unique to someone asking a passerby for help. Only then did the woman come to her senses.

'I shouldn't space out in front of someone. Am I out of it because I'm tired? Thinking strange things...'

Pushing aside her own foolish impression, the woman returned to reality and thought.

"Uh, if it's Gita Orphanage..."

The woman, who often roamed this area, answered with a troubled expression.

"It burned down not long ago."

"Ah, that is right."

Hunter Seo Jio spoke with a pleased expression, as if that was exactly it.

"I am looking for that building."

"That building?"

It was an abandoned building in a secluded location, so monsters might be living there, but perhaps he really had received a report and come here for his friend.

'It seems he came without hearing detailed information from his friend. Maybe he is trying to handle it without his friend knowing, so they don't feel burdened.'

Certainly, the Hunter Seo Jio the woman remembered was someone suited to the saying, "Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." Was he not a Hunter who had helped people in the Temple of the Deep Sea and yet not let a single article be published about it?

'There were rumors that he was shy. I thought people were just saying that, but seeing this, maybe he's the type to feel burdened by being thanked for the things he helped with.'

Thinking that, the woman nodded.

"Yes, I know it. Would you like me to tell you?"

"I am sorry, as it seems you were on your way home from work. I will shamelessly receive your help."

"The roads in this neighborhood are complicated, after all. More importantly, if not for you, Hunter, I would already be dead, so this much is nothing..."

"It must have been thanks to your willing cooperation that everyone was able to escape together."

"Wow, how can a person say things in such a pleasant way?"

The woman felt a little regretful.

'If he were an official Hunter, I would have made a fan account ages ago.'

Chewing on that regret, the woman guided him. No matter how deserted and secluded it was, this place was also part of a city where people lived. There were lamps and signboards giving off sparse light, so it was not that dark.

Soon, the woman led Hunter Seo Jio to Gita Orphanage.

"This seems to be... the orphanage you mentioned."

Seeing the burned building made her feel a little strange.

'They said people died here, and it kind of gives me chills.'

She did not suspect Hunter Seo Jio, who had saved her life, but coming to such a deserted place was dangerous. Looking at the abandoned building, the woman smiled awkwardly and asked Hunter Seo Jio,

"C-Could I perhaps wait until your business is finished? I'm scared to go back by myself..."

"Of course. I was thinking of doing so as well. It is dangerous to return home alone late at night."

Hunter Seo Jio, who readily nodded, curved his eyes gently and continued.

"It will not take that long."

"Ah, really? Then are you here to catch a monster after all..."

"No."

He said,

"I came to make friends."

"..."

Was it her imagination?

His voice seemed as if it had sunk beneath the sea.

"...? Ah, um..."

Had he come to train a new monster, perhaps? Around the time the woman was thinking within the bounds of common sense she could call to mind, Hunter Seo Jio gently stroked the cat's head and said,

"Dana."

The cat answered.

"Meow."

The answer continued.

"Meow."

"Meow..."

"... Meow..."

The cat's moonlike eyes curved.

"Meow."

Young voices, not yet fully matured.

'... They sound like bells.'

Something entered the eyes of the woman, who had thought of that strange impression.

Unfamiliar children were imitating the cat's cries as they walked out of the abandoned building.

"Meow..."

"The kitty called us."

"It went meow."

"Me too, me too, I went meow, cat."

"Meow!"

Childlike, rambling sentences continued one after another.

A girl with her hair tied back in one bundle. A boy with a mischievous look. A child taking careful steps as if frightened. A child walking with heavy steps while, for some reason, sniffling back tears. A child who hugged the large cat tightly as if overjoyed to see it...

"... Oh."

At the end of them, the woman saw a person appear.

"..."

"..."

An elderly woman who had awkwardly smiled and sent all the children out.

When her eyes met Hunter Seo Jio's, the apron-clad woman bowed deeply in greeting.

"... I leave them in your care."

"Will you not come with us?"

"I have a god I serve separately."

"I would like to hear that name."

"My god illuminates the world with moonlight."

"Before long, I will visit together with the children."

"... Yes, if you would do that..."

"You will not be lonely."

The old woman, who had been silent, burst into tears.

"... Thank you."

And when the woman blinked once.

"..."

"..."

There was no one there.

"... Uh, uh... huh?"

"I have finished my business, so I will escort you home."

"Huhhh?"

"Oh dear, are you all right?"

"Huh??"

Belatedly, the woman realized that she had seen ghosts.

At the window of the abandoned building.

"..."

Ju-hyeon, who had been watching everything, soon crumpled to the floor.

His voice, submerged in moisture, trembled terribly.

"... I'm sorry..."

"It's all right."

"I'm sorry. If I had done a little better..."

"It's all right, Ju-hyeon."

"I'm truly sorry."

"It isn't your fault."

"I, I did wrong..."

A reunion amid principles and providence twisted by the mercy of an evil god.

"... I'm sorry I hurt you..."

Ju-hyeon received his friend's gift.