Chapter 71

Turning time back a little, after Jio escaped the Temple of the Deep Sea and returned to the cabin.

“I knew that Earth today was quite a dangerous place, unlike the one I remembered from thirty years ago, but...”

“Purr...”

“I never imagined that a not-quite-terror attack would break out at that huge religious event. That was the first terrorist incident I’ve ever experienced in my life.”

Jio was composing himself.

“What a frightening world. At the bright young age of twenty-nine, I almost went to join my family.”

Having enjoyed a miracle beyond miracles by merging with the Root in the body of a mere human, he was not likely to die easily, but he himself truly knew nothing about that, so let us move on.

It was shocking enough that Student Eunha, whom he had met at the entrance ceremony, and Iser from Giovanni’s memories were the same person, but apparently that child had even orchestrated this terrorist incident.

“...”

Giovanni became deeply troubled.

“He wasn’t originally that kind of child. Why did he end up like that?”

“...”

“... If I had to find a cause, I suppose it would be my fault after all.”

“Coo.”

“O Sun.”

Yes, honestly, dying like that had been a bit much. Giovanni knew his own sin.

“Iser especially regarded me like a father. He was such a kind and diligent friend that the incident back then must have come as an even greater shock to him. When children who were originally good decide to go crooked, that can become very frightening...”

He let out a groan.

“I should at least make sure he eats.”

And these Jios had no habit of agonizing deeply over things. Two men whose basic creed was “so what?” had merged into one.

He was a good person, if one wished to call him good, but more than that, he knew how to make objective judgments to a cold degree. He did not blame himself or regret things that were not his responsibility. This terrorist incident was the same.

It looked like an incident caused by a student who had been shocked by his teacher’s death and gone crooked, but that did not mean it could possibly be the fault of Giovanni, the dead teacher. Someone else had caused the trouble, so there was no reason for him to be cowed.

“This teacher knows everything. It’s all because he was hungry and became sensitive.”

“Chirp...?”

“People only gain the composure to consider others’ circumstances when their own bellies are full.”

In a state quite far removed from guilt, Jio summed up the condition of his student, the mermaid Iser.

“Most incidents and accidents that happen as crimes committed by humans occur because the minds of those causing trouble are not healthy. Most people don’t commit such acts if they’re living stable lives.”

If Iser, who had once been unable to clean even a fish, let alone butcher a person, had continued to maintain a happy and healthy mind, would this have happened?

Jio, back to black hair, gave an earnest warning.

“Honey, you should remember this well too. There are almost no people who get irritable when their bodies are healthy and their stomachs are full. It means that as long as you fill their bellies, most people become gentle.”

“Chirp-chirp?”

“If someone is still irritable after that, they’re a truly strange person, so filter them out. If you even feed them and they repay kindness with enmity, then either the one who fed them killed their parents, or the one who ate is strange.”

“Chirp.”

“Then now comes the most important point, which is how I should respond. How should this inadequate teacher react to the student who ate him? The fact that he grew up into a terrorist is quite troublesome, so I could simply live the rest of my life without seeing him...”

Of course, Jio could not do that.

“After all the meals I fed those children, I can’t just see him once and pretend I don’t know him.”

If it was not something he was responsible for, he did not care. The terrorist incident at the Sun Cult entrance ceremony was certainly not his fault, but Giovanni was definitely responsible for making his old student Iser grow up that way.

“At the time, that was the best choice, but if I hadn’t been torn apart and eaten alive, Iser probably wouldn’t have gone that crooked.”

“Chirrup.”

Honey nodded. His face said, “That part does seem to be right,” so Jio had nothing more to say.

“... Anyway, so...”

As a human, an adult, and a teacher, he planned a way to meet the mermaid siblings again in order to deal with the aftermath.

“In my memory, the Breathing Sea and Iser’s dungeon had a fairly similar atmosphere.”

Even so, finding the Temple of the Deep Sea through the Breathing Sea seemed likely to be difficult. How would he know what was where in that vast world, enough to attempt such a reckless act? And he did not even know whether the two were truly connected.

Jio nodded.

“Fortunately, I have the ability to visit other people’s dungeons as I please.”

“Chirrup?”

“Yes, let’s try drawing a picture.”

Had he not already experienced it once with the Jewel Vein? Back then, he had failed at his goal of desirable social interaction, but thanks to it, he had been able to save a young student named Cha A-ra.

“At this level, it’s a fairly useful ability.”

If Yu Seongun had heard that, he would have offered a small retort along the lines of, “I don’t think it’s merely fairly useful,” but Jio was a shut-in.

“I can roast sweet potatoes with it too... Roasted sweet potatoes are really delicious if you add butter and a little salt on top, then drizzle honey over them.”

“Chirrrrrrup!!”

“It’s similar to honey-glazed sweet potato stir-fry, but a bit moister and softer. Ah, if you add a little whipped cream on top of that, it’s truly fantastic...”

There was no way a lonely young man holed up in a cabin without even internet access would know such common sense. To him, his drawing ability was no different from a food truck that kept his belly full.

Jio went to find his father.

“Father.”

“Coo.”

At some point, the bear-plush version of the Sun God had begun living in the cabin.

“You were playing with Dana.”

“Coo-coo...”

“I’m glad you look well.”

Dana, the jewel cat and anti-cat he had brought back from the Jewel Vein last time, had a cold body. That was why he had wondered whether she would suit the bear plush that held the warmth of the sun, and they seemed highly compatible.

“The reason I came is that I’m planning to meet Iser once more.”

“Coo.”

“Thank you for cheering me on. I’m thinking of drawing a picture and creating a passage, but I think the process will take quite a lot of time...”

“Coo-coo.”

“Thank you for your consideration. I put snacks in the storage room, so please eat them as you like.”

Even on this trip to Seoul, he had thought, “Hehe, I’ll just watch the event and come straight home,” only to spend who knew how long in the temple.

In preparation for a similar situation this time, Jio sincerely finished every preparation so the cabin could remain harmonious even without him.

“...”

Then Jio, sitting in his studio, blinked about twice. He muttered.

“... Come to think of it, that temple was probably...”

The Temple of the Deep Sea Jio had seen had, for some reason, felt familiar.

“Was it where I died?”

“Chirp.”

“I don’t remember that part in detail.”

“...”

Still, he properly remembered what the dungeon looked like.

“Let’s draw it.”

Jio began to draw the Temple of the Deep Sea.

Pure white pillars bearing holiness, a lofty ceiling, and a laboratory that was not entirely alien.

Countless monsters wandering here and there, and air where water-scales rippled...

“...”

Jio became absorbed in the painting.

* * *

The storage room where the finished work had been covered with a black cloth.

“...”

The Sun God, sitting in the middle of the storage room with the anti-cat Dana in his arms, raised his head and looked toward one side that was giving off a cold light.

“... Coo.”

“Meow?”

“Coo-coo...”

The Breathing Sea, which could be called the Sun God’s homeland, was resonating.

“Coo.”

May that story come to an end.

The sun submerged in the sea prayed earnestly.

* * *

“...”

Jio, with his black cloak pulled low over himself, was in the Temple of the Deep Sea.

“Oh.”

So this actually works.

“I felt this when going to the Jewel Vein too, but this really is a convenient means of transportation.”

“Chirrup.”

“Shall we look around a little?”

Perhaps because the place itself was so vast, he did not immediately feel that he had to find Iser right away. Strictly speaking, he had trespassed, so Jio wanted to look around a little more cautiously.

Since he had come here as soon as he drew the picture in his studio, he was still barefoot, but as expected, it was not that cold. The shallow seawater spread over the floor made a pleasantly splashing sound.

“...”

Giovanni, who had become a ruffian entering his neatly groomed student’s house without permission, felt a moment of self-loathing.

“Should I buy a cell phone again?”

“Chirp...”

“Yes, there probably won’t be any signal.”

It was unavoidable due to the nature of the portrait, but considering what he had done at the gallery of the Collector guild as well, Jio seemed destined to get used to trespassing.

‘No one would expect a living person to pop out of a portrait and let them into their house.’

Jio humbly accepted his destiny of startling countless people in the future as well. It was a little funny, so it was fine.

“It hasn’t changed much from what I saw last time.”

“Chirrup.”

Fortunately or unfortunately, finding his way was not very difficult.

“It also feels... familiar somehow.”

It was largely thanks to Giovanni’s memories.

“Because it was where I worked.”

“Chirp?”

“Ah, that’s right. It was where I worked. I remember.”

Giovanni nodded.

“I wasn’t settled here completely, but I did receive my education here. Only after being properly recognized as a priest could you go to another region and carry out your own activities. Until then, you had to train in a temple like this.”

“Coo.”

“You don’t have to worry. My memories aren’t complete, but it’s not as if I’ve forgotten the way itself. Spending time here with the others before made this and that come back to me too...”

Jio, walking down the path, looked around.

“But even so, it still feels unfamiliar.”

There had been no research facilities like this in the temple he remembered.

“...”

After sensing the difference brought by those years, Giovanni’s nature grew faint.

“Let’s go to the exit.”

“Chirrup.”

Jio found the temple stairs and climbed them.

Then he met someone.

“...”

“...”

“...?”

Why are you coming out there?

* * *

“...”

Back to the present, Jeong Da-un, a Hunter of the Association, continued speaking.

“... Does it still sound a little strange?”

“To be honest, yes, it is difficult to understand.”

The researcher nodded.

“But I understand what you wish to say, Hunter Jeong Da-un. You mean that although your reason clearly recognized that the other party was not human, the way you instinctively felt made them seem human, correct?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then is there no possibility that it was a type of brainwashing?”

Among monsters, especially humanoid monsters, many individuals possessed mental-type skills.

“Even aside from humanoid monsters, many monsters attempt to disguise themselves as humans. If it hid its body with a cloak so its true form would not be revealed, and then used a mental-type skill to make you regard it as human, I think that would fit the sequence of events better.”

“... I don’t think that was it.”

Recalling the memory, the Hunter shook her head.

“It was a dungeon that appeared in the sea immediately after the Temple of the Deep Sea, which had been judged to be a dungeon of considerable danger. Though we didn’t know at the time that those two dungeons were connected, we entered while guessing that there was at least some relation.”

“You mean you entered after preparing that thoroughly.”

“Yes. Among the things we prepared, there was also an item to guard against brainwashing. You must already have received the report, but that item is A-rank and nullifies mental-type skills for up to ten people. Of course, one could say that Black Cloak used a skill above A-rank, but...”

After hesitating for a moment, the Hunter continued.

“I’m certain. In the first place, the item did not react to Black Cloak.”

“Not even a little?”

“I don’t mean it simply failed to defend us. I mean it was not applicable at all. Black Cloak never once used a mental-type skill against us.”

“And yet Hunter Jeong Da-un felt the other party was human. Even though the other party had such a great sense of dissonance that you yourself felt it was alien.”

“It was even an emotion close to certainty. To the point that I felt denying it myself was unthinkable.”

That was truly absurd.

“For some reason, I felt safe, as if I were lying in a cozy bed, and then I was startled by myself and got chills. It was a little reassuring, and... I’m sorry, I can’t describe it in detail.”

“I understand.”

After offering brief consolation, the researcher continued questioning her.

“Then let us return to the previous topic. Do not focus on Black Cloak’s identity. Please describe the entity’s actions. How did you and the others first encounter him?”

“... First, it was after we entered the stage-three Temple of the Deep Sea. Perhaps because it had once devoured people in the form of a Virtual Dungeon, we could definitely see traces of other people. Of course, in the end, there was no being there that could be called human...”

The Hunter spoke as if she were still dizzy from it.

“As we wandered through the temple like that, we encountered a humanoid monster.”

“The report says ‘the mermaid Iser.’ Do you judge it to be the same being as Eunha, whom Priest Kang Seo-dam of the Sun Cult reported?”

“How could it not be? Ah, of course, the being we encountered was not a child but took the form of an adult. It was the first time any of us had encountered a humanoid monster, so we were all tense.”

“Indeed, it has been a very long time since a humanoid monster was officially witnessed.”

The Hunter dipped her head as if grateful for his understanding, then continued.

“He introduced himself as a mermaid, and said his name was Iser. As Priest Kang Seo-dam described, he had pearl-colored eyes and bright blue hair. Based on the photo of Eunha he reported, it seemed certain that they were the same individual.”

The Hunter, her face weary, folded her arms and leaned back against the chair.

“The dungeon’s story, as you already know...”

“In the report, it was described as ‘a monster born from the tragedy of losing a beloved human in a horrific way.’”

“As all monsters are, he had a very great hatred for humans. But his skill at disguising himself as a human was so excellent that at first, we wondered if he was a priest who had not managed to escape.”

The way he approached them with the benevolent smile unique to priests had certainly been closer to human.

“That said, he did not keep up the disguise. We were only confused for a moment before we soon realized the other party was a monster, and the mermaid Iser did not seem to intend to act for long either... because the battle began.”

“And you said you escaped safely. Correct?”

“For reasons unknown, the other individual showed a strange reaction. At the time, our team judged that perhaps some problem had occurred in the dungeon. He had the dungeon’s other monsters deal with us and went somewhere else.”

“But the cause of that was...”

“Yes.”

As if to say what he was thinking was correct, the Hunter nodded.

“The moment I had that being before my eyes, I realized that the reason Iser fled was probably Black Cloak.”

“I will ask again. How did you say you met him?”

“... He asked our identities.”

She still remembered it vividly.

“He asked what... our names were.”

The Hunter added that the creepiness of that moment had been beyond description.

It was, as expected, a statement that Jio would feel wronged by, saying, “Am I not even allowed to introduce myself?”