Cha Yisol was moved to a truly safe place.

“??”

This place felt like a whole different world.

“It’s really bright here?”

“The other parts of the temple were not that dark either.”

“No, they were dark.”

“I said this last time too, but please either speak politely or casually, just pick one...”

“Then, Eunha.”

“You go straight to casual speech? Very well, what is it?”

“Eunha, you can speak casually to me too.”

“I refuse.”

Iser looked disgusted.

“I do not want to become that close with a human.”

“But I want to become close...”

“That is what you think.”

“I thought that might be the case.”

Cha Yisol nodded.

“You were like that from the first time we met.”

“... Was it that obvious?”

“Yeah.”

Eunha’s eyes were always cold.

“Still, I thought it was a relief that it didn’t seem like you hated only me.”

“Why did you think that was a relief?”

“You hated everyone else too. That means something must have happened before that made you hate people.”

“You are sharp in strange places...”

“Why do you hate people?”

“...”

Iser smiled.

“I even hate that ignorance of yours.”

“Yeah, so why?”

“Because they took away what was most precious to me.”

“That’s Jio hyung, right?”

“That is correct.”

I dreamed of becoming a priest of the Sun as I watched him.

“That is why I tried to kill you too, Cha Yisol.”

Because I could not bear this revulsion.

“But now you have become Black Cloak’s first believer. No matter what happens, I will probably be unable to harm you.”

“Is there a reason for that?”

“Because someday, I wanted to be in your place...”

“My place?”

“In the embrace of the Sun.”

Someday, when Giovanni became pope, beneath the sky he had cultivated. And upon the earth as well.

“I wanted to live as my Teacher’s one and only disciple.”

It had seemed like a destined fate. Like a future that would come on its own if they simply enjoyed their sweet daily life without any particular incidents or accidents. There were so many reasons it should have happened.

“But humans trampled me.”

“...”

“... And Teacher too...”

Iser knew.

“...”

“...”

He knew very well that on that day, he had devoured his Teacher while he was still alive.

“... There is nothing I regard as more horrific than myself. I hate my sister, who piled up dreadful corpses on the path forward, the priests of the Sun who locked Teacher and me in a tank, and the humans who knew nothing and were busy pointing fingers, but not as much as I hate myself.”

Iser asked.

“What do you think?”

“I don’t know what you’re asking.”

“What do I look like to you?”

“Eunha?”

“That is just like you.”

But he was not Eunha. He was certainly not the Milky Way that was the meaning of his name. He could not be compared to the jewel of the night sky that could only barely be seen once every flame on earth had gone out.

“Do you like this room?”

“It doesn’t seem dangerous.”

“I put some care into it.”

The room, filled with soft dolls, was nothing but round, without a single sharp corner. The lighting was so warm and bright that one could hardly believe this was a dungeon of the deep sea, and it resembled the languor of a spring afternoon, with some gentle energy drifting through it.

“I used Teacher’s cabin as a reference.”

“Ah, that place is nice. It has lots of tasty things too.”

Cha Yisol spoke while eating the dried fruit Iser had handed him.

“But it’s different from that place...”

The fluffy, warm heat clearly resembled Jio’s cabin, but something was strange. Like the buzzing sound of fluorescent lights ringing in his ears, it felt damp and unpleasant somehow.

“It feels less like taking a nap and more like getting dementia.”

“You say some peculiar things.”

“Hey.”

Cha Yisol said.

“I want to be friends with you.”

“...”

“Whoa, your face...”

“... Please do not act so repulsively.”

He rubbed his mouth as if he felt nauseated. Iser barely managed to answer with a pale face.

“Continuing to force something after someone says they hate it is violence too.”

“But haven’t you already committed an enormous amount of violence, Eunha...?”

“You know how to strike back, surprisingly. But you are wrong. To begin with, you should not think of acting as if you are the same kind of being as me.”

Iser was firm.

“If you are my Teacher’s third disciple, that is.”

“...”

Cha Yisol’s mouth jutted out in a pout.

“Jio hyung isn’t my Teacher, though.”

“You should consider it an honor to have become his disciple.”

“We’re friends.”

“How dare you?”

“About Jio hyung.”

The child asked.

“What happens if the Root is moved?”

“... He will return to the sea.”

That was the last hope the mermaids could hold.

“It will probably be difficult, though.”

Jio always did only what he wanted.

It would be the same this time as well.

Giovanni took the world into his eyes.

“...”

He looked down at his two hands.

“... Hm...”

They were young.

'How old was I again?'

He seemed to be about thirteen.

The place he was in was a noisy marketplace. The clothes he wore had somewhat shabby parts to them, unbefitting the status of a noble. Young Giovanni had truly loved wearing these clothes and coming out into the world.

“Saint.”

“I am not a saint.”

“Yes, priest...”

“What is the matter?”

“You healed our son last time.”

“It was nothing. It was my own desire.”

“Please accept this.”

An old man with deep wrinkles handed him a single apple and disappeared.

“...”

It was a round, unblemished, prettily red and well-ripened apple.

“... It’s delicious.”

That old man was growing a small apple tree in his yard. As a young tree, it could not bear much fruit, nor could it hold them skillfully. So this glossy apple was extremely precious.

'I like it.'

He felt good.

“Little saint.”

“I am not a saint.”

“Yees, little priest. It is hot today, isn’t it?”

“It seems the Sun is in especially good spirits today.”

“My daughter received your blessing and gave birth without any trouble.”

“That was not because of me, but because your daughter found her strength. It is something to celebrate.”

“Please take this water with you. It is very hot today.”

The water the seasoned woman handed him was cool. She must have just brought out water that had been left to cool deep in the yard of her home. On her way past, she had seen him, and on this hot day, gone back and forth to that deep place.

It was something to be grateful for.

“How refreshing.”

The water in the porcelain cup smelled of a cool forest. It must have been drawn from a good waterway. It must have been managed thoroughly so that no dust or insects could get in.

“Um, Saint.”

“I am not a saint.”

“Ah, I see. But you treated my leg before, didn’t you?”

“I remember. Was your bone broken?”

“I wanted to repay you, so I brought honey from home.”

“That was something I wanted to do. I do not need repayment.”

“But Saint, you should eat plenty of sweet and delicious things.”

“Why is that?”

“Because you are someone who may do so as much as you like.”

“...”

Honey streamed down into the bowl.

“... Thank you.”

People called him a saint.

They called him the son bestowed by the Sun. They said that god had incarnated and become a small body. They said the smile he wore was sunlight, and the steps he took were destiny.

Then was that not something other than human?

'Why is that?'

He was human.

'I am only living as I wish.'

People always placed meaning on top of that.

Giovanni kept walking. He walked and walked again. A familiar village appeared. Warm sunlight, carrying the scent of summer, fell over the land and sea. Jio realized that he was looking at the sea.

This place was the sea. It was the end of the land. It was the dazzlingly beautiful sea of the sea village.

“...”

The wind stroked him, and without realizing it, he turned around.

“...”

It was the sea.

He looked forward again.

“...”

It was the sea.

“... Did I come too far?”

Before he knew it, his feet were floating above the surface of the sea. If he plunged in like this, it would probably feel very cool.

The sunlight was terribly hot, and there was not a single cloud in the sky. The surface of the sea touching Jio’s bare feet was so cool that, for a moment, he felt entranced.

'I feel like I fell into this place once, someday.'

If he went inside, it felt as if the small, beautiful Little Mermaid would welcome him.

“...”

“Teacher.”

A young mermaid reached out a hand.

“Aren’t you hot?”

“Where did the land I was standing on go?”

“It’s gone now. I ate it all up.”

“How old was I again?”

“I think more than thirty years had passed since you were born.”

“Aria, what about you?”

“I don’t remember.”

The mermaid, who had become the sea before he knew it, withdrew the hand she had extended. As if her young appearance had been a mirage, a beautiful woman whispered.

“Too much time has passed.”

It was a calm and sweet voice.

“It was far too long. We could have taken a shorter path.”

“Was it greed?”

“You may say that.”

In the mermaid who had become the master of the sea, there was no trace of the small, delicate successor. She was no longer a child, but a villain who had to take responsibility for everything she was, and also a vast sea.

“Draw me a picture, Teacher.”

“What kind of picture shall I draw...”

“Draw me. My younger sibling is fine too.”

“This sea is truly beautiful.”

“I truly loved the sea you used to draw for me.”

“Why?”

“Because I could feel life in it...”

Before he knew it, the mermaid had two feet and had risen onto the surface of the water. Standing straight, she was only a little shorter than Giovanni. Aria leaned against Giovanni and lightly hugged him.

“Do you know? When you hug someone like this, you can hear the beating of their heart.”

“I cannot hear it well.”

“That’s right. Teacher, you’re dead.”

She asked childishly.

“Why did you do that?”

Pitifully.

“You could have run away, surely.”

“I would have been caught while running.”

“That would have been better. Don’t you think dying together would have been less terrible than this?”

“I did not think anything was terrible.”

Even the mermaids’ evil deeds were like that. Apart from the weight of their sins, he understood their choices. That was how it ended up being.

“As all of you said, I am already dead.”

“... Your body is cold.”

Aria asked without lifting her head.

“Did you fall into the sea?”

“I did.”

“Wasn’t it cold?”

“It was very cold.”

The sensation of salt water filling between torn flesh and bone was not exactly refreshing. The shackles binding his legs tightened as if they would sever his ankles, and Giovanni wanted to writhe in pain, but he had no strength, so at times he floated through the tank like a dead ornamental fish.

“I did not know Iser, of all people, would end up entering that place...”

That hurt so much.

“I am grateful to Iser.”

“Why?”

“That child killed me.”

“Why didn’t you die before that?”

“I wanted to see you.”

It felt like quite some time had passed, so how much had they grown in the meantime? What kind of expressions would they be wearing? Would they fail to get along with humans, go hungry, or become absorbed in strange research again? Would they be suffering from deep wounds?

“In the tank, I could not actually see Iser’s face.”

His eyes hurt too much, making it hard to see what was in front of him.

“But I was glad.”

“Didn’t it hurt when you were torn apart and eaten?”

“To be honest, the haze was stronger, so it was all right.”

When he thought about what the Sun had kept Giovanni alive for, after all,

“It was to let me hear that child’s voice.”

That voice, at least, reached his ears. It was thanks to mermaids being able to speak even in the deep sea.

“Wouldn’t this be enough to be grateful to the Sun?”

“... Teacher, you’re far too optimistic...”

“Somehow, it feels as if my chest is getting wet. Is that my imagination?”

“It must be your imagination.”

Aria wept sorrowfully.

“Mermaids do not cry.”

They cannot cry.

“This is a dream, after all.”

“May I call you Aria?”

“... I am only her thought-form.”

“Then in the end, you must be one of her fragments.”

“You really... have a way with words, don’t you?”

“What is she doing?”

“She must be struggling desperately.”

“Do you want me to stay here?”

“... Haha...”

An awkward laugh.

“...”

“...”

The mermaid could not bring herself to ask him to stay here.

“I see.”

And Jio, too, did not say that he would return.