Chapter 86

Though it had not been intentional, the Cha family, whom he had somehow ended up meeting again, looked surprisingly peaceful despite even having been kidnapped by mermaids.

"If I got scared over something like that, I couldn't work as a Hunter..."

Because Cha A-ra was F-class, she knew better than anyone that people were scarier than monsters.

Compared to the absolute bastards she had met until now, the mermaids had been extremely polite.

"I had fun there too. If you see Eunha next time, could you call me? I want to be friends with the tall Eunha. She said she'd be friends with me, but she gave me my partner and then took it away."

Cha Yi-sol's nerves of steel were already famous.

"... Yes, well, when you raise guys like this..."

Cha Eun-hyuk, who saw monsters others could not, was also exceptionally unfazed.

If his siblings had suffered mental or physical harm from this incident, Cha Eun-hyuk would not have been this calm either.

But since both of them looked mostly fine, there was no need for him to step in and exhaust himself over it.

Yu Seongun accepted the Cha family's reaction as fairly normal.

"That kind of indifference is an important virtue for modern people too."

"..."

"The Cha family will survive for a long time. You've got good life skills."

It felt less like good life skills and more like good survival skills.

Today, too, Jio shrank back deeply from the terrifying realities of his homeland.

'So for modern people these days, not getting scared even after being kidnapped is a virtue.'

Even if there had been no direct harm, it was still clearly a kidnapping.

'What on earth do Hunters see and how do they live that they don't get scared even when their cherished younger sibling is kidnapped? What is modern life like that the child victim talks about making friends? And how does the guardian of those two just let it pass because everything seems fine?'

Thirty-one years ago, this would have caused an uproar like no other.

He did not know for sure, but Jio would probably have been grabbed by the collar at the very least, and it would have made headlines on the news.

But Jio's collar was not just intact, it was crisp and unwrinkled, and according to Yu Seongun, it had not even made the news.

'What a truly terrifying world.'

For the sake of those who lived so steadfastly in a world like this, he felt like feeding them five or six meals at least, but in any case, the Cha family was all safe.

To be perfectly honest, the bulgogi tempted him terribly, but he thought it would be rude to intrude on a cozy family meal without prior notice, so out of conscience he returned to the portrait.

Jio praised himself for how admirable he was.

"..."

TA-DA.

"Did something get skipped just now?"

"Mmm."

"Dana is cute, so it's fine."

Cute Dana provided the plausibility for the omission.

"Sluuurp."

"Woof."

Jio inhaled Dana's belly.

At first, Dana had expressed pure doubt with, "Has he lost his mind?" but by now she seemed to have grown used to Jio's strange behavior and accepted it as, "Dad has lost his mind."

Not long after, Dana was released from Jio and headed straight to the teddy bear.

"You two are still on good terms."

"Mrrr..."

"She feels like a granddaughter to you?"

"Mrr."

"Yes, Father, that is indeed so."

With one grandfather, one father, and two children, they had become members of a household with a proper family tree in their own way.

"Hmm..."

If they added two mermaid friends to this, even the role of neighbors would be perfectly filled.

"..."

Even though he had told them how to come, the mermaids still showed no sign of visiting Jio's cabin.

'You're our next-door neighbors, kids.'

What had happened to all that fuss about being glad to see their teacher's face?

No, if they were this close, why on earth were they not coming?

"If they are neighbors, should they not come over promptly with a steamed rice cake on the first day of moving in?"

The storeroom where "Breathing Sea," one of Jio's works, was kept remained quiet today as well.

Jio, who had been staring at the wooden stairs no one came down, turned back to the teddy bear.

"Do Aria and Iser still need time to think?"

"Mrr mrr mrr."

"It feels like quite a bit of time has passed, but they show no sign of coming to our house. Since 'Breathing Sea' and the 'country of the deep sea' are connected now, visiting should clearly be convenient..."

The system had informed him that some tutorial or other had ended.

It said that Jio's painting "Breathing Sea" and the mermaids' dungeon, the "country of the deep sea," had been connected, and when he checked, Jio's painting was hanging proudly in the temple.

Even then, he did not see the mermaids.

"Seeing that, I can't help suspecting they are not coming because they are afraid of being scolded."

Jio's perception of the mermaid siblings was on the level of children who did not come home because they did not want to be scolded.

"They've become more spoiled while I wasn't looking."

"Mrrp?"

For a moment, Honey wondered, "Was that really being spoiled?" but soon stopped thinking when he realized mealtime was approaching.

Honey poked Jio's crown with little jabs that did not hurt, complaining of his hunger.

"Mrmm, mrmm..."

"Are you hungry?"

"Mrr."

"Then we should eat."

Seo Jio, who had inherited hands and a heart imbued with the spirit of his grandmother's remote mountain village in Gangwon Province, could not bear to see his child go hungry.

"Hmm."

After thinking for a moment, Jio turned to the teddy bear.

"Father, do you like clams?"

"Mrr...?"

"Come to think of it, you have probably never tried them."

"Mrr."

What bold priest would have offered clams, of all things, as tribute?

At that time, clams were not such a precious ingredient either.

'... There were clams sold as a famous local specialty, but even so, if you asked whether they were valuable and rare enough to place on an altar, not particularly...'

To begin with, before meeting Jio, the Sun God had not possessed anything like appetite itself.

Even if he had ruled over a world where the sun and sea were close, that meant the chance he had tasted clams was nonexistent.

"To think they did not even let you taste those delicious clams. Is this not exactly blasphemy and heresy?"

"... Mrrr..."

"This son cannot tolerate such unfilial conduct. I should have presented you with the delicacies of the sea sooner, and my regret is immense. If you wait just a little, I will serve you grilled clams and tomato stew, the pride of the Edlen region."

"Mrr."

"What do you mean, calm down? I was not excited in the first place."

Jio gathered his things and headed toward "Breathing Sea."

"I still vividly remember where Edlen Village was. And even if I do not go to that exact region, the clams I am looking for must be here and there. If you wait just a little, I will dig up clams and be back in no time."

Honey followed along beside Jio.

Honey, a creation he had made, always wished to remain by his parent's side, and also wished to remain in a form that suited his tastes.

"Rrrrmm."

"Will you help me?"

"Mrr."

And Jio liked what was good and polite.

Honey could help his creator as much as he liked.

As long as it did not disturb this cute and lovely appearance, anything was fine.

And so the clam-search expedition was formed.

* * *

A fine pig had to know how to eat anything deliciously, but at the same time, it also had to know how to enjoy gourmet food.

"In that sense, I can be called a true pig."

"Mrrp."

"Yes, you too. A pig without standards is not a real pig."

Jio had somehow managed to find Edlen Village, where he had lived in life, in this ruined world.

It was thanks to Honey, who had enlarged his body and flown with Jio on his back.

"Is this how Hunters feel when they raid dungeons?"

It was probably a little different from that, but it was fun, so it did not matter.

He was very proud.

"It's been a while since I came here too."

"Mrr?"

"Ah, no. Should I not say it's been a while?"

"Mrr..."

"Come to think of it, both are me, so it doesn't matter."

Jio's hair had turned platinum blond before he knew it.

"It really is a charming countryside."

There was no sign of people.

The shoreline stretched out shallow and long, and just a little beyond it, green grass grew.

The little houses visible inside revealed white brick walls and orange roofs, in accordance with the old traditions of Edlen Village.

"..."

Seaweed had grown in the corroded windows of houses now submerged and inhabited by no one, swaying gently.

"... It's amazing that the shape of the village still remains even though this place has become such a deep sea. If this had happened on Earth, everything, houses and all, would have been broken and ruined."

"Rrrrr?"

"The space that was reality to me has turned into something like a fairy tale, so it feels strange. Now fish and jellyfish stay in this village instead of people."

It was an eerie and beautiful sight.

"The light is faint too."

Strictly speaking, the teddy bear in Jio's cabin was like the Sun God's soul.

The light that could be called his empty body, or perhaps his remains, had grown even weaker, dimly illuminating the sea.

"It is darker than before, isn't it?"

"Rrrrumble."

"Now that it's like this, it feels as if night has come."

"Mrr."

"And there are stars."

When he lifted his head to check the sky, or rather, the deep sea, something sparkling in dots was floating there.

"It's like the Milky Way."

It was a swarm of jellyfish that emitted light on their own.

Those with small, round bodies formed a long line like a river and moved very slowly.

Thanks to that cluster of light that looked ready to pour down, the kind one could only find in the middle of a desert with no light at all, he could see ahead even in this dark deep sea.

The rapturous emptiness was truly beautiful.

"When the sea was bright because Father was here, I couldn't see them, but jellyfish like that existed. Now that it's dark, I get to see things like this too..."

"Rrr."

"Hmm."

Giovanni thought.

"I think this would sell well if turned into tourism."

Yes, this priest had not been sentimental for a long time.

Even after seeing his ruined hometown, the only words that came out of him were business ideas.

"Mr. Yu Seongun said Collector bought up all the entry rights to the 'country of the deep sea.' If only the monster problem can be resolved, would it not work quite well as a tourist attraction? The fact that it is inside a sea where you can breathe is already novel, is it not?"

"Mrmm..."

"We can try adjusting the brightness too. If the themes are different during day and night like that, there will be even more things to see, and I feel like I can manage that much, since I inherited Father's license as the Sun God... Is this not a truly decent business idea?"

Jio's hair had returned to black again.

"We shall think about all of this once we are full."

"Rrrrrrrrr."

Honey agreed fervently.

"Mrrp? Rrr?"

"You're asking where the clams are here?"

Jio looked around.

"It is true that everything is now submerged under the sea, so I wonder whether it would really remain as it was, but seeing how the shoreline and the shape of the village have been maintained, that place is likely fine too."

"Mrr?"

"There is a separate place where clams can be dug. It is an underground cavern on the eastern side of the village, and though I don't know exactly what principle is behind it... there is mud."

There had been a lot of clams there.

"Clams can live in quite a variety of places. There are clams hidden on sandy beaches, clams hidden in mud, and even clams that inhabit freshwater instead of the sea. The types would differ considerably depending on where they live, but..."

Jio moved toward the underground cavern he remembered.

"For reference, there are no clams on the shoreline of Edlen Village. Maybe because the beach is not that wide. So the people of Edlen usually caught fish in the sea and dug clams in the cavern to sell."

The cavern was not that far.

"This is the entrance."

When he lightly pushed aside the seaweed hanging down like undergrowth, uneven stone steps that looked as though they had been carved from solid rock appeared.

It was a dark entrance, but thanks to Honey, who glowed with warm light, there was no need for a separate fire.

"Let's go down."

"Rrr."

"But..."

Jio looked at Honey.

"If you want to go down, it is only proper that you reduce your body size."

"Mrr?"

"You have gotten too big."

Because he had brought Jio all the way here, and because he had soaked up seawater to his limit, Honey was swollen larger than Jio.

"You are cute even like this, but it would be impossible to dig clams together. As you can see, the entrance to the cavern is not that wide, so it would be better to adjust, my son."

"Rrr..."

Honey accepted this and shrank.

Because of the water pressure from the seawater draining out, Jio, who could not even swim, nearly got swept away.

Honey's father was on the lighter side even underwater.

The path leading underground was neither very wide nor very narrow.

The path, wide enough for a grown man to pass through with a little room to spare, continued for quite a long time.

"Do you see the holes carved into the wall here? Originally, lamps or things like that were placed inside them to light the path. Ah, there they are. I can't believe remnants of the lamps are still left."

"Mrrp, rrr."

"... Even moss-covered shards of glass are props that suit your taste? Come to think of it, since a lot of time has passed and the sharp edges have grown blunt, a rounded glass shard like this would not be dangerous."

As Jio watched Honey quietly pick up a shard of glass, he arrived at the underground cavern before he knew it.

"..."

An endlessly high ceiling, and seawater filling it all the way to the top.

"... No, that is not right."

He lightly stuck out his tongue.

"Hmm, it isn't salty."

"Mrmm?"

"It's freshwater."

Jio nodded.

"This place was close to... a spring where freshwater flowed out."

For people on the coast, obtaining water was always difficult, but Edlen Village was not like that.

It was thanks to the fact that they could use as much freshwater as they wanted from this vast cavern, where it endlessly welled up.

"It seems the seawater was purified once through some process and filled the cavern as drinkable water. It was clean water with no lime in it, and it was the pride of this village."

Jio set foot on the floor of the cavern.

"This is the mud."

The freshwater of this cavern, which had ebb and flow, came and went like seawater and created this white mud.

The clams hidden in between were excellent in both taste and quality, becoming a specialty of Edlen Village.

"And sometimes, I also brought the mermaids here..."

"..."

"...and enjoyed noisy clam hunts together."

Jio, whose hair was still black, took in the child standing in the middle of the cavern.

"Aria."

"It's been a long time."

"It has."

He was still in the form of Seo Jio, but soon Giovanni's smile faintly settled over his face and disappeared.

"It has been a long time."

A mermaid in the form of a child.

That was her appearance from very long ago, from the time Giovanni remembered.