Everyone said Giovanni was special.

"..."

Perhaps that was an undeniable fact. Giovanni had been born bathed in sunlight, even in a dark, windowless room. On cold winter days, he had grown up basking in warm sunshine in a bed the sun could not possibly reach. Even as an infant without clear awareness, he had worked miracles great and small as if it were only natural.

A son bestowed by the sun. Healing power imbued with sunshine. Words and gazes that brought warmth even in winter. Seeing these things, people made Giovanni their god, their apostle, their hero.

"... J-Jio."

"Shouldn't someone go and talk to him?"

"If we leave him like that..."

And so Giovanni had always been special.

"Jio."

"..."

"Hunter Seo Jio."

"..."

"... Do you need healing?"

"No."

Those children alone had made me a human being. Just as I had loved every life I had lived, I had loved those simple days with an equal weight of feeling.

"I'm all right."

They might have seen him as a respected teacher and beloved benefactor, but the joy and peace Giovanni had received from his students were immeasurable. He, too, had been blessed by their kindness.

"I know the way."

"Hunter Seo Jio...?"

"I can hear a heartbeat."

Giovanni's love was great, but he knew resentment too. He hated the people who had hurt him. Hated the villagers who had parted him from my pupils. Hated the world that had left no other outcome.

Only a love stronger than that hatred had brought Giovanni to his feet. That was all. Nothing more.

"This way."

He descended. The temple was filled with seawater, but it was not particularly cold. Barefoot as he was accustomed to being, he took the steps one at a time, heading deeper inside. Giovanni had never visited this place in life, but he had stayed here in death.

"A-are we really supposed to go in?"

"Hunter Seo doesn't seem to be in his right mind..."

"But he might really have found a clue."

"That's true, but the state he's in..."

Leading the others, he finally reached the lowest level.

"..."

"... What's that?"

"That's..."

It was a large flowerpot.

"What is that thing?"

"It looks like it's meant to hold something..."

"Isn't that more of a basin at that size?"

"Pretty decorations."

"No, look at what's inside."

And there was water with gold dissolved in it.

"Doesn't it feel similar to that golden tree we saw earlier?"

"I don't think we should compare them. There's something, um, pure about its energy..."

"At the very least, it's different from that tree with suns grotesquely crammed into it."

"... But it's just as warm."

"It looks divine."

It was water into which 'Giovanni' had melted.

"..."

"... Uh, hold on."

"Inside there, is that..."

He approached the flowerpot before the others could come closer. Even at that distance, however, those with keen eyesight seemed able to make something out. They spotted a faint shape inside the pot carved from an enormous crystal.

"Is there a person in there?"

A few particularly observant people turned to Jio.

"... That thing, I can't quite see it, but..."

"... Doesn't it look like Hunter Seo Jio?"

"What on earth is this...?"

It did not matter.

In the end, Giovanni had said his time was up and shaken off the little fragment clinging to him. That, too, must have become a painful thorn to the mermaid who was the living, breathing sea. He felt flowers blooming beneath the sea where the dark clouds had cleared.

Looking at the transparent figure of 'Giovanni,' no different from water, he murmured,

"... She did say she'd tried several times."

Aria had said she had made several attempts to bring 'Giovanni' back to life, and that every one had failed. Was this a remnant of one of those attempts? Or the result of a new attempt after reuniting with him on Earth?

The mermaids of his sea truly did have a blindly devoted streak.

"It's heavy."

THUNK.

Giovanni drove the golden branch into his own shell of water, which could not so much as breathe.

"So heavy..."

The mermaids had molded their heart into the shape of their teacher. It would remain with Giovanni all his life as yet another shackle.

* * *

"..."

Upon the sea.

"..."

Flowers.

White flowers, soft yellow buds, pink flushed with shyness, fresh green brimming with vitality—their thin, translucent petals unfold. Countless lives, infinitely fragile, bloom.

"..."

Only now, far too late, could it be said: the mermaid born of the sea had longed so dearly to see this sight.

"... Beautiful."

It was as though my sea had become land.

"When I knew nothing, I used to dream of a sea like this."

"Couldn't someone like you create a sight like this whenever you wanted?"

"That's different. I..."

Something like this meant nothing unless it was shared with humans.

"... Ahaha."

How childish.

'Did I still have thoughts like that left in me?'

She, too, had once dreamed of a world where sea and sky, the mermaids of the deep and the humans of the land, could coexist. Not out of any noble sentiment like her younger brother's, but simply because it seemed more magnificent and powerful.

'... My fragment has crumbled.'

Giovanni had finally shaken off the dream fragment and returned to Earth. Aria, who had planted part of herself in that dream, had suffered a blow. Now that her heart had been torn apart as well, she had no further reason to live and breathe.

Without strength, she lay sprawled upon the water's surface. She felt like one of the jellyfish she had seen in Earth's seas.

"Look. Isn't it lovely?"

Aria looked up at the sky. The dark clouds were clearing.

"The hidden sun is rising, the sea has become a flower garden, and the sky is clear."

"Are you really dying right now?"

"Yes, of course. Even the dungeon's heart has been taken. What more could I possibly do?"

"What do you gain from this?"

"Perhaps... hope?"

It was surely more than a sinful monster deserved, but she had succeeded in seizing it anyway. There was hope in the tender belief that the human I loved, no longer human, would never forget us throughout his long years of life.

'How could he, with a wound this deep carved into him?'

And with this, the mermaids had brought their story to a close. They would reach the hell their teacher led them to.

"..."

The chilly dawn passed, and the sun shone in a clear sky.

"... Now it's really over..."

It had been too long. Far too long, Teacher.

* * *

"Cha Yi-sooool!!!"

"Rudaaaa!!!"

The adults smiled fondly at the children clinging to each other, tears streaming down their faces.

'How cute.'

'My partner and I were like that once.'

'They really are close.'

Both had done their share and behaved maturely even in these circumstances. But for all that the Sun Cult proudly held them up as prodigies, they were still children. It was a heartwarming sight.

Grief must have quickly turned to anger, because Ruda grabbed him by the collar and shook him, only to crumple a moment later. Cha Yi-sol caught her in his arms in alarm. It was a tragic tableau worthy of an old masterpiece.

"What's wrong? Haven't you eaten?! I told you never to skip breakfast...!!"

"You... you were kidnapped. How could I eat without you...?"

"Even if I die, the living have to go on living!!"

"Who... would kill... you... Don't talk nonsense..."

A Hunter from Eunwol's camp smiled awkwardly.

"After using that much of the Sun's power... I suppose it was too much for her."

"Well, they say the god Ruda has a contract with isn't a sun deity."

"She forced herself to borrow that power, so she must still be very tired."

Creating a flower garden on the sea was not as easy as it sounded. It required not only tree-type Hunters to grow plants, but fire-attribute Hunters to melt the frozen sea, water-attribute Hunters to remove salty ice and water, and even Priests of the Sun to help the plants bloom reliably.

The mermaids had already seized the sky, so Iru-da could not simply stand by, prospective priest or not. She must have struggled to imitate the Sun's power, however clumsily, alongside the Priests of the Sun who remained at camp.

"Though even that was beyond a prospective priest's level."

"I hear she's preparing to graduate early. She certainly shows exceptional promise."

Until they formally contracted with a Divinity, prospective priests belonged to the Sun and borrowed its power. The initiation ceremony was precisely the occasion on which they prayed for that contract and mercy, and they learned how to borrow power while living at the temple.

Considering that many fully ordained priests who had not actually contracted with a Divinity also served in this manner, it was clear just how significant Iru-da's contribution had been as a mere prospective priest.

"..."

"..."

"... Haha!"

"You can laugh?"

Cha Yi-sol and Iru-da were not the only ones having a tearful reunion.

"... I, I... Jio, I... My heart practically stopped..."

"Why are you crying? At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if those were tears of blood rather than ordinary tears."

"You're the one making me cry right now. I'm not normally someone who cries easily. You're really something."

"I'm so proud to have given you a new experience, Mr. Yu Seongun. Where else would you find such a good friend?"

"Of course you're a very good friend to me, but do you really think that's the thing to say right now...?"

"Naturally, I feel sorry as well. I was wrong."

"We'll talk when we get home."

"Come to think of it, Ju-hyeon won't let me off either..."

Jio inwardly clicked his tongue. For a moment, he had shamelessly hoped they might let it slide, since it wasn't as though he'd done nothing commendable. He was aware that he had not bolted despite being able to escape his restraints if he put his mind to it.

But that had allowed him to say a proper farewell to his pupils, so he had no regrets.

'That's just how I am.'

Regrettably, he was fundamentally not the sort of person who regretted his own choices.

"I feel deeply apologetic, so if you help with the aftermath, Mr. Yu Seongun, I'll join you."

"No? I don't need you. Just go back to Collector and get some rest. Please don't come out, don't go anywhere, don't use your powers, don't get mixed up with people..."

"What are you trying to turn me into? A social misfit?"

"I'm only asking on the off chance, but would you consider cutting yourself off from society again?"

"So you really do want to seal me in a can?"

"You were already like that. What difference would a few more years in a can make now? I honestly just want you to stay safe and peaceful inside Collector, without attracting anyone's attention."

"People are giving you strange looks, Mr. Yu Seongun, so I suggest you stop there. We do need a certain amount of dignity to get by in life."

What was this man saying, when rumors were already circulating that Collector had raised Hunter Seo Jio in captivity until he was twenty-nine?

Perhaps he meant to reinforce their cover story, but it also seemed he was so exhausted and frazzled that the words were simply spilling out. Jio soothed him.

"You must have been very worried about me. But it's all right. Haven't I come back alive and well? I haven't suffered any major injuries like last time, so I'd say things have actually improved. I think I'm even stronger than before, thanks to turning the tables and sucking the mermaids' power dry."

"I did expect that, but your positive outlook really is incredible."

"Ah, of course."

Jio's supreme optimism could not be dampened by a mere kidnapping.

'He'd be upset if I said that.'

Scraping together every last shred of social grace he possessed, Jio continued.

"I'm truly sorry for making you worry. I have no excuse."

"Then next time, even if people are being held hostage, just ignore..."

"I never promised that much."

"How firm. Do you really want to see me cry tears of blood?"

"But shouldn't we save people in danger?"

"I happen to love that sort of utopian, idealistic altruism, but you take it too far."

Yu Seongun gave full voice to his selfish wishes.

"I'd like you to tone it down a little. By about ninety-four percent..."

"Just tell me to hole up in the gallery again."

"I'd really love it if you'd hole up in the gallery."

"No."

"Please."

"No."

Sa Narae watched the two with a resigned expression.

'They must know how strange all of that sounds.'

The longer this conversation went on, the more Collector's Bi Sabeol and Yu Seongun would look like scumbags, yet they kept blathering away. Sa Narae casually turned away, pretending not to have seen anything, and met Priest Kang Seodam's eyes.

"..."

"... Haha, glad it all ended well. Right?"

"... Yes, I'm glad it ended well."

An odd suspicion lingered in Kang Seodam's eyes as he answered.

'... I'm sure that one was awake.'

During their confrontation with the mermaid Iser, Kang Seodam had thought himself the first to escape the golden tree's trickery. Now he recalled Hunter Sa Narae, who had sprung up without a word the moment the tremendous roar rang out. The response had been far too quick for someone who had just awakened.

'But I can't exactly press the issue.'

Nor was Sa Narae the sort to answer willingly if pressed. There would only be evasions while looking for a way to escape.

Kang Seodam humbly gave up and decided to bear the entire burden himself. The Sun Goddess had been with him, after all, so it was not a burden known to him alone.

"Jio, just one year, okay? Just one year...!"

"You're making a nuisance of yourself, Mr. Yu Seongun."

"If you stay put at Collector for just one year, I'll take even better care of you!"

"No."

"Just this once!"

"No."

He found it laughable that such a childish conversation made him feel at ease.

"..."

Kang Seodam gazed at the sea strewn with floating chunks of ice, then looked up at the sun in the sky.

"... Is it over?"

It was time for everything to return to its proper place.

(To be continued)