Chapter 108

A few days later.

“Jio, are you awake?”

Yu Seong-un sought out ‘Jio’s Portrait’.

“I’ve brought the seedlings I mentioned last time.”

“I am awake.”

“Alright, check if these are the seedlings you wanted.”

What Jio had requested from within the picture frame, in exchange for guaranteeing Yu Seong-un’s life, was one flower and one tree.

They were the ‘Honey Pot’ and the ‘Rock Salt Tree,’ and as their names suggested, one could obtain honey and salt from them respectively.

‘Jio prefers such pastoral items.’

Indeed, he had said his own home was a cabin in the woods.

He had also requested various seeds to do some farming.

‘His taste is certainly firm.’

Yu Seong-un went inside the picture frame and looked at the seedlings of the Honey Pot and Rock Salt Tree that had become a painting.

“…….”

“…….”

Jio was caressing them as if they were newborn animals.

‘…Perhaps he has a skill to communicate with plants….’

The thought occurred to him as it wasn't a skill completely unheard of among humans.

He didn't know what it was exactly in reality, but Jio certainly liked things that were rewarding to care for, like plants, animals, or young children.

Soon, the portrait gave an answer.

“This is exactly what I wanted. Thank you for complying with my request, Mr. Yu Seong-un.”

“I’m glad you’re satisfied with them. I’ll organize and hand over a list of edible plants from Earth and the dungeons later, so tell me if there’s anything you want.”

“I, too, will prepare a gift that might be helpful to you, Mr. Yu Seong-un.”

Jio, holding the still-frail seedlings in his arms, asked.

“Is that all for today?”

“Well, I just… thought we could chat about this and that.”

“That sounds good. I am curious about how student Cha Isold is doing.”

“Cha Isold? He entered the temple now.”

Yu Seong-un pulled a nearby stool, sat in front of the portrait, and continued.

“He’s quite late. Originally, he should have entered right after the initiation ceremony to prepare to become a priest, but Priest Kang Seo-dam was tired, saying that time became very tight due to the ‘Kingdom of the Deep Sea’ incident.”

“I am sorry that my disciples have caused trouble. I have tried to reason with them a few times, but they still hate humans. I will let you know if there are any results soon.”

“It’s fine since there are no monsters that don’t hate humans. It’s impossible to deny a feeling that is the foundation of their power and reason just by reasoning with them. Still, it’s reassuring that you, Jio, said you would stay by those mermaids’ side.”

As he said that, Yu Seong-un recalled the stories of the mermaids being witnessed in the ‘Kingdom of the Deep Sea’.

‘They say they are unbelievably ferocious.’

The exact cause was unknown, but it was reported that the mermaids witnessed recently had a higher risk level than the ones witnessed in the beginning.

They said their anger and hatred were in an uncontrollable state.

‘Did their animosity grow due to a backlash from Jio telling them not to hate humans? But even though I didn’t see it myself, the report said the signs of despair and sadness were greater.’

Judging by Jio’s reaction, it seemed they maintained a normal appearance when they met with him.

‘I don’t know what’s going on…’

However, it was not so rare for monsters to display a chilling level of duplicity.

There was no need for Yu Seong-un to worry about a monster that wasn't even a child of the Source.

“…And as for Cha Isold….”

Yu Seong-un soon recalled the recent news of the cheerful child.

“The partner assigned by the temple was Eun-ha, right? Iseur, who had taken a young form.”

“Yes, I remember. Since Iseur has left, student Cha Isold must not have a partner.”

“So there was a bit of chaos for a while, but it seems he managed to find a partner one way or another.”

The recent ‘Temple of the Deep Sea’ incident had a big impact.

“Having gone through such a tremendous event while still a prospective priest, it seems a few children left the temple thinking they couldn’t do such dangerous work. Apparently, the number of remaining prospective priests was an even number, so they re-formed the partnerships from scratch.”

Yu Seong-un shrugged his shoulders.

“I guess it can’t be helped since priests are basically a 2-person team.”

“I heard that a priest’s partner is for life, does that not change?”

“It can change a few times when they are prospective priests, but it’s true that the partner one has when they become an official priest registered with the temple is for life.”

“I am curious as to what happens if one of them can no longer perform the duties of a priest due to unavoidable circumstances.”

“Unless the priests who lost their partners agree to form a new team, I understand that they usually work alone.”

A representative example was Priest Kang Seo-dam, who had appeared alone even at the initiation ceremony.

‘It’s a common thing.’

Most priests in their 40s did not find a new partner.

It would be quite tiring to collaborate with someone other than the partner they had matched with their whole life.

“From the perspective of an ordinary office worker, I do wonder why they created such a tiring structure….”

“I am curious as to why a 2-person team is the standard for priests. Is there a reason other than tradition?”

“Well, the tradition part is big. What was it, the religious circles don’t change easily in the first place.”

But that wasn’t the only reason.

“They say the holy power a priest can use is most effective when cooperating with others.”

“Is that so for the holy power of all priests?”

“At least as far as I know, yes. There are exceptions, but priests who serve evil gods are strongest when they are alone.”

No priest knew the exact reason for that.

“But if I were to guess, it’s probably because the virtues pursued by the gods they serve are different. Most gods value friendship and peace, but evil gods require ruin and suffering.”

Yu Seong-un nodded his head.

“The Solar Cult, in particular, refers to each and every priest as a ‘little light’. They especially value cooperation because even a faint light can become a great light when gathered together, and it will become hotter when gathered like that.”

“That must be why the holy power gets stronger when they cooperate. Because the more they gather, the hotter they will become. The Temple of the Sun was warm and felt good, and now I understand why.”

It was ‘Jio’s Portrait’, its eyes painted over with black paint and invisible, but Yu Seong-un could tell that it was gazing at him. The portrait soon continued.

“What kind of child is student Cha Isold’s partner?”

“I don’t know the details, but I do know that she’s a 1st-class citizen.”

“A 1st-class citizen, I see.”

“Considering she’s a young child, she must be quite wealthy.”

The biggest difference that could distinguish between 1st and 2nd class citizens, even while living together in the city, was economic power.

If a child young enough to have just been initiated was 1st-class, there was a high possibility that their parents were also 1st-class citizens for generations.

“They don’t normally pair them up like that. For priests to become partners, they first have to share the same dormitory room, so they are of the same gender, and they are grouped by similar class to make it easier to understand and rely on each other… a case like this is rare.”

Yu Seong-un smiled awkwardly.

“Cha Isold’s partner has a different gender and a different class. Well, once he becomes an official priest, Cha Isold will also become a 2nd-class citizen, but….”

“Still, is there no problem?”

“Why would there not be? But it seems the number of prospective priests has decreased significantly because of the mass exodus after this incident.”

“It must have been difficult for the priests to pair up the children.”

“So this time, they said they referred to the prospective priests’ opinions a lot.”

The result was this.

“I heard that that kid threw a fit, saying she would become Cha Isold’s partner.”

“I see, a very bold student. It seems like it would be fun to meet them together with Cha Isold later.”

“To get a good evaluation from you already without even seeing her face, she’s a kid who’ll go far.”

It wasn’t as if there were no boys among the remaining prospective priests, nor was it that there were no 3rd-class citizens.

Yet, for them to have deliberately grouped children of different genders and classes meant it would have been difficult without a strong expression of their own will.

“Cha Eun-hyeok told me with a very tired face when I met him to buy bungeoppang.”

“Indeed, she is not ordinary. So, are the two students satisfied with becoming partners with each other?”

“Cha Isold says he doesn’t think much of it, but… wouldn’t the other side be happy, at any rate?”

Since what she herself had insisted on came true.

“Of course, they use separate rooms, but it seems the Solar Cult decided to combine the dormitory rooms after this incident. Broadly divided into a boys’ room and a girls’ room. Cha Isold won’t be lonely.”

Yu Seong-un, speaking as if to say not to worry, rubbed his tired eyes.

“…Oh my, I’m so sleepy….”

“Were you not able to leave work?”

“…I couldn’t sleep because I was running around looking into this and that.”

He was mainly looking into matters concerning the ‘City of the Void’.

“…….”

Perhaps because they had talked about Cha Isold, whom Jio had shown particular affection for, the atmosphere had loosened up considerably.

Yu Seong-un, who was reading the room, soon opened his mouth carefully.

“…Thank you for releasing Hunter Park Eun-gyeom.”

Among the things he had looked into was Park Eun-gyeom, who was at the center of this missing person case.

“I looked into it, and he apparently returned home safely.”

“I am glad to hear that.”

“I expected as much, but you’re still so indifferent.”

Jio truly did not care what happened to the sinner who had entered his stomach.

‘It must have been just a quarantine to make the average value of humans good.’

Yu Seong-un understood Jio's indifference.

But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand what kind of eyes he was looking at humans with, or how he thought of himself.

Overwhelmed to get to the main point, he unnecessarily brought up Park Eun-gyeom’s story and dragged on his words.

“Of course, he was caught by the Association as soon as he returned home. There was clear evidence that he abused and even abandoned his own colleague, and besides that, what happened in the ‘City of the Void’ is important data for the Association.”

Yu Seong-un also played a significant part in that ‘important data’.

“That human Park Eun-gyeom also seems to be careful these days after finding out why he was dragged away.”

“That is a relief. But I am not holding out much hope.”

“Well, humans don’t change that easily, I guess. But people from the Association are monitoring him, so I don’t think there will be any particular problems.”

“If he does something bad again while the Association is watching, I would say that in itself is truly amazing.”

“I think so too.”

Yu Seong-un chose his words again.

“…Did you know? Your name has become quite famous these days.”

“In what way has it become famous?”

“First of all, congratulations, you’ve got yourself a fan. They say they like your paintings.”

“I am grateful that they love my lacking work.”

“Isn’t that too humble a response?”

Jio’s ‘works’ had great artistic value.

The works of ‘The Black Cape’ known so far were two in total. ‘The Breathing Sea’ and ‘The City of the Void’.

For the former, there were many stories that it felt like they could feel a person’s gaze and breath even though it was just a painting of the sea and for the latter, they said that just looking at it made them feel lonely and sad and want to return to their family and friends.

“You make the paints yourself too, right?”

“That is correct. In this forest, there are many materials that help my work. I receive their help.”

“They said they like it because the colors are very unique. Since they are your own colors that cannot be easily imitated. Some people apparently try to imitate them….”

“It would be difficult without the materials from the place where I am.”

“Anyway, I was just saying that your work is that popular.”

As if a single painter had truly appeared, some people were mesmerized by Jio’s works.

A whole day would fly by just by simply appreciating them, and they would even be ecstatic, saying there was a world inside it.

It meant that Bisabeol wasn’t the only artist blinded by the works.

‘I just hope this doesn’t flow into a dangerous atmosphere.’

Jio was exceptionally skilled at bewitching and shaking people.

‘There was a time when I thought that was just Giovanni’s ability, but he had a tremendous impact even when he was just a portrait….’

He had thought about it when he was first dragged into the ‘Temple of the Deep Sea’, but it would be a real headache if a pseudo-religion were to form with this being as its object.

“Anyway, for now, it feels like everyone is lightly enjoying the new event in the city.”

“Is that so….”

“Ah, did you not like it? I told you since it’s a story that’s actually in progress.”

“I do not like large crowds.”

“That… well, I guess covering your face when you go around would cover that to some extent.”

Yu Seong-un, who had been chuckling as if it was fine, couldn't hold back the question that suddenly surged up and asked.

“So I became curious.”

“…….”

“Who are you?”

He had to know that.

“…What should we do?”

Only then, could coexistence be possible.

Could they live on.

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