"Are divinities usually a little childish?"

"What is that supposed to mean now?"

Yu Seongun, who had been waiting for Ju-hyeon at home, asked with his usual smile.

"I guess a lot happened to you in the portrait today?"

Ju-hyeon, who was strangely bold in odd places, had visited the portrait today.

It was to ask Iser, the younger sibling, what he thought, unlike Aria, who was certain to be the ringleader of the incident about to erupt.

"Why? What did Jio do this time to make you react like that?"

"Sankalut visited Jio's portrait."

"Oh, I remember that name."

Yu Seongun's expression turned serious.

"Why did an evil god suddenly show up?"

"Exactly. A divinity that should have been trapped in the research lab suddenly appeared, so I was very surprised too."

"Is it really okay to describe that as just 'very surprised'? That's an evil god deeply tied to what happened to you, Ju-hyeon."

"It would be right for me to react more violently, but, well, how should I put this..."

Ju-hyeon, who had been working his mouth silently, soon gave an answer.

"It didn't feel real."

"Ah, if that's it, I understand."

Yu Seongun quickly understood what he meant.

"Your brain still hasn't accepted reality."

Yu Seongun set a cup of warm coffee down in front of Ju-hyeon.

"Drink this first and wake your brain up."

"I feel a little dazed right now, but once I come to my senses, what sort of fuss will I make?"

"Don't worry, I was shocked too."

After soothing Ju-hyeon, Yu Seongun asked,

"Do you feel any desire for revenge?"

"... I did think about that part too..."

After thinking it over carefully, Ju-hyeon soon shook his head.

"Not particularly."

"You're calmer than I expected."

"I'm finding that surprising myself."

"Did you decide it was a kind of natural disaster?"

"Maybe I did."

Or perhaps the situation at the time had been so childish that he had not even had the energy to get angry.

He was not sure.

If he had to describe his current state, dumbfounded would probably be the right word.

"It feels like I was slapped while sleeping peacefully..."

"It's not as if you don't feel any resentment."

"Of course I resent him."

"I know that the resentment of a mere human is nothing more than a decent snack to an evil god, but even so... he is an entity understood to be the divinity that harmed my family and friends."

"I suppose so."

Jio had never told them clearly, but both Ju-hyeon and Yu Seongun had judged that the previous tragedy must have been Sankalut's scheme.

And they had never taken any measures beyond that.

Ju-hyeon fiddled with his coffee cup.

"I think I can be calmer thanks to Jio too."

He had already properly buried what had happened back then and arrived at the present.

"Even with that sudden encounter, Jio responded as if it was nothing, so I think it didn't become any more serious."

"The topic of the conversation wasn't me either, so..."

"Right, why did that evil god Sankalut come to Jio's portrait in the first place?"

"Was he planning to have some kind of showdown with Jio?"

"With the mermaid matter going on too, this is troublesome."

Since it was something he could not help but worry about as a Curator, he asked, and Ju-hyeon made an awkward face.

"Well, rather than visiting of his own will..."

"Don't tell me he was dragged there?"

"That was how I judged it."

"How on earth did that happen...?"

No matter how weak and foolish an evil god was, once it held divinity, it could perform countless miracles.

If it was Sankalut, who had received the worship of an entire planet, he would not be an easy opponent, so Yu Seongun could not quite understand.

Ju-hyeon asked him,

"Do you remember the student Cha Yisol?"

"He's a child Jio is quite fond of."

"It seemed he had been trying something with that child and got scolded by Jio."

"Even when you put it like that, I don't really understand."

"He was dragged over while possessing the body of a child named Iru-da."

"... So..."

Yu Seongun roughly grasped the situation.

"... You mean, in order to try something with Cha Yisol, he possessed the body of his partner Iru-da and plotted something, but for some reason, Cha Yisol and Iru-da's body were dragged into Jio's portrait, and Sankalut's scheme fell through?"

"You understood well."

"It seems some bizarre incident almost happened again without us knowing."

"It also seems like an extension of what happened to me."

"That... certainly seems likely."

Yu Seongun, who was used to the schemes of Root entities, understood Sankalut's trick.

"It seems he wants a new start."

"I thought he was currently sealed, so if that's the case..."

"It seems there is a problem with the research lab's seal."

"Otherwise, there is no way Sankalut could reach as far as the Sun Cult's children."

"The Sun Cult will have to file a formal complaint with the Association's research lab about this."

"Since it is connected to Jio, I will contact them separately."

"I have already met Priest Kang Seodam once before, so he probably won't ignore my message."

"He's flexible for a priest, so he'll handle it well."

If they had failed to notice and passed it by, it could have become a major incident, but since Jio had stopped it in advance, it was not something humans needed to worry about too much.

As long as they handled the aftermath appropriately, the rest would be fine.

Yu Seongun examined Ju-hyeon's complexion.

"But are you really okay?"

"... I don't know."

"... It would be better to talk again later, once your thoughts are sorted out."

He skillfully changed the subject.

"What was Iser's reaction?"

"Did you meet him?"

"Yes."

"I don't know whether it was because Jio called him, whether he had a separate interest, or whether there was some other reason... but he responded to my request more readily than I expected."

"What did he say about this situation?"

"He said he agreed with what Aria is doing."

"I did think it would turn out that way, but..."

Yu Seongun smiled awkwardly.

"I'm glad you talked to him and came back safely."

"I expected there would be no problem as long as Jio was there, but beyond that, we had a cooperative conversation."

"I was worried because you were too brave, Ju-hyeon."

"I'm sorry for making you anxious."

"You really become fearless in such strange places."

"Still, I couldn't just not hear his opinion."

"Of course, I am by no means the main party in the war the mermaids will wage, but we do know each other, after all."

Aria had expressed her opinion sufficiently, but Iser had not.

Ju-hyeon had been worried about that, and Iser had told him his position and opinion.

Ju-hyeon was satisfied with that.

"I know it isn't something I, an Unawakened, should be worrying about."

"Thanks to that, both sides could make their positions clear, so in the end, it wasn't a bad thing."

Yu Seongun rubbed his neck.

"Still, you should be careful."

"You don't have many means to protect yourself, Ju-hyeon."

"I'll be careful from now on."

"I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm nagging too much."

"I know you were worried about me."

"Yes, well, if you think of it that way..."

Yu Seongun trailed off and sipped his coffee.

"... Any other information?"

"He said they would likely act in about a month."

"Is there no chance that was a lie?"

"Since he said it in front of Jio, after all."

"Jio didn't say anything in particular either, so I think he was serious."

"What a strange way of doing things."

This must be what people called the eye of the storm.

'It absolutely isn't, but it feels peaceful.'

The world had truly gone insane.

Iser had returned to the sea as well, and only Cha Yisol and the sleeping Iru-da remained in the portrait.

"Have you calmed down a little?"

"Hyyyuung..."

"You have not."

"I thought as much."

"I really feel so wronged."

"You still have an excellent vocabulary."

Even at his young age, being able to skillfully express his emotions in words was an impressive thing.

"What made you feel so wronged?"

"People are heartless."

"I find the world these days quite frightening too."

"You did too, hyung?"

"Of course."

If anything, it had been worse for him than for Cha Yisol, not better.

Seo Jio was, in his own way, a modern person from the old era who remembered the time before The Great Catastrophe, when public order had been maintained.

"The Earth of the past was not as openly dangerous as it is now."

"The Earth of the past?"

"I mean Earth before The Great Catastrophe."

"How do you know about that time?"

"Wasn't that a really long time ago?"

"I don't think it was that long ago..."

Had it not been less than a hundred years?

"So is that why you felt wronged, Cha Yisol?"

"Because people are heartless?"

"It's too scary."

"Our village wasn't like that, but city people are cold..."

"I can sympathize with that part too."

Jio, who had once lived in a warm-hearted mountain village in Gangwon-do before moving up to Seoul, understood how Cha Yisol felt.

Of course, public sentiment had not been as vicious then as it was now, but the feeling was roughly similar.

"So did you come to hate people?"

At Jio's question, Cha Yisol worked his lips.

"... A little."

"You dislike seeing people hate each other so much."

"I think so."

"I wish they wouldn't."

"But no matter which dimension one looks at, humans hate one another."

"... I don't like that..."

"You resemble me, Cha Yisol."

His way of thinking was unusual.

"Because you cannot hate easily, you cannot understand people who slander each other as if it were nothing."

"You start to feel that distance, and in the end, you grow distant from them."

"... What did you do, hyung?"

"I failed."

In every version of Jio, people had not been able to feel close to him.

They had idolized him as they pleased or turned him into an object of fear.

Jio could not bring himself to ignore that and approach them.

Because that was what those people had wanted.

"But you are different from me in that regard, Cha Yisol."

Cha Yisol had very good affinity with others.

"You are friendly."

"But what if I live like this and end up too far away, and come to hate people?"

"Even now, I want to run away back to my village..."

"It seems to me that what you want is rest rather than escape."

"You like the family of the Sun Cult more than you think you do."

"Do you hate people, hyung?"

"I do not hate them."

Fundamentally, he was not very good at thinking that way.

"Because I understand them."

"What do you understand?"

"Why they became so wicked and base, why they struggle so desperately."

"Why they are crying..."

He understood all of those things.

"Do you understand what I mean?"

"... You pity them?"

"You understood correctly."

Jio pitied people.

"They are pitiful beings."

They were people who spent their whole lives tormented by anguish and agony before meeting their end.

"What do you think, Cha Yisol?"

"But Lu-da and I were the ones who got hurt..."

"Oh dear, I am not forcing my thoughts on you."

"I was only asking."

"... I don't know what I want to do."

"That is truly a kind answer."

Contrary to his words, Cha Yisol had chosen progress rather than escape and avoidance.

"Do you want to get angry?"

"A little."

"Do you want the mastermind behind this incident to die?"

"N-No, not that."

"Do you want him to live his whole life in pain?"

"Not that either..."

"Then you want him to reflect and repent."

"... Will he say he's sorry?"

"There are many choices."

As long as one was not buried, one could do anything.

"You may simply accept fate and wait for the one who committed sin to repent, or you may help him at his side so that he can do so, or scold him."

"I don't know if I can help."

"Lu-da, and the other friends too..."

"It seems you do not have confidence in yourself."

"I'm not a god who can do anything."

"I can try hard to do as much as I can, but what if I make things worse that way?"

"At that time, another path will appear."

"I'm scared to walk a path I don't know."

After hesitating, Cha Yisol reached out his hands.

"Can you help me?"

"How shall I help you?"

"Hug me."

"That is not difficult."

Giovanni gently hugged the little priest, and only then did Cha Yisol smile as he usually did.

"... I think I'm feeling brave."

"That is good."

Cha Yisol pulled away from him and asked,

"What do I have to do to become your priest, hyung?"

"You have to become my friend."

"Then be friends with me."

"This is a joyful day..."

Giovanni lightly brushed Cha Yisol's forehead with his thumb.

"Your soul will always remain within warmth."

Warm energy seeped into that forehead.

"I did it!"

"... Wh-What is this?"

"Lu-da, nothing hurts anywhere, right?"

"What is this?"

"Cha Yisol, what are you?"

"I'm a healer now!"

"What are you?"

Iru-da, who had woken up again in the order's infirmary, grabbed Cha Yisol's shoulders while trembling.

"Why do I feel... the weight of divinity from you?"

"I decided to be friends with Black Cloak!"

"I told you to discuss things with me before you caused trouble...!!"

What accident had this protected natural treasure caused while she was unconscious?