Chapter 127

It was a tranquil world.

“…….”

Wasn't it?

My esteemed teacher, who had died so horribly, was alive and breathing just fine, and he would always prepare a meal while waiting for Aria to arrive.

Soothing her with the same voice as back then, laughing, chatting, and enjoying himself with his new children….

She had no intention of diminishing this terrible peace.

“…Giovanni.”

No matter what happened from now on, Aria decided to cherish this tranquility.

“My teacher.”

“Yes, Aria.”

When the short meal ended, Jio returned to his blunt face.

With a calm face that looked as if it had never once smiled, but filled with familiar affection, her esteemed teacher asked.

“Do you need dessert?”

“Is that a dessert filled with lots of sugar?”

“That's right, it's very sweet.”

“The cake I had last time was really delicious.”

“As it happens, what Aria wants is right here.”

“What I wanted was always here.”

“How clever of you.”

He brought a small cake.

“Is this what you wanted?”

“Exactly. You gave this to the human named Yu Seong-un who visited here before, didn't you?”

“That’s right, and in return, I was hit with a Bungeoppang.”

“That’s quite a humble price….”

The ‘price’ that came out of that mouth was like children playing house.

“For such a delicious cake.”

The thing, resembling a small round cake, had a very light texture.

First, the cake sheet was like that.

A fragile crispness like chewing a well-baked meringue cookie, and a soft texture that melted right in.

Its surface was smooth, and there was sweet sugar powder sprinkled on top.

It was divided into four layers. Vanilla cream, green tea cream, and mascarpone cream cheese.

Although he said it was full of sugar, perhaps thanks to the exquisite harmony, it felt lighter than expected.

“I never knew my teacher had a talent for confectionery.”

“My baking skills aren’t bad either, so perhaps that has something to do with it.”

“That could be.”

There was a definite crispness when chewed, yet its weight and texture were so light that I didn't even realize it was going down my throat.

It was a rapturous texture that no human could ever create.

“Just because the taste feels human doesn’t mean you can hide the sense of disharmony.”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to say. Do you have any advice for me?”

“I was just saying. I couldn’t figure out what on earth my teacher wants to become….”

The taste was quite familiar.

When she spied on Earth, this kind of sweet and soft cream was highly popular.

Perhaps ‘Seo Jio’ wanted to imitate it.

Nevertheless, Aria, an excellent analyst, knew what an eccentric act this was.

She knew it from just one bite of the cake.

A human who could imitate this texture would not emerge so easily.

“I respect you, teacher.”

Jio was brilliant, but he was not one to be tied down by his surroundings.

He was a person who could even bestow his own death as a gentle mercy.

Ah, what an arrogant one.

“You can even make a cake like this, can’t you?”

“I feel embarrassed to be receiving such excessive praise for just a cake.”

“A dessert this delicious deserves even more praise.”

“Would you like a cup of tea?”

“Was I not drinking tea already?”

It was so delicious that I forgot for a moment.

“Will you give me a cup of what you are drinking now, teacher?”

“I will.”

A fragile, clear sound, like gems carved into beads colliding.

The sunlight coming through the window shattered in the light blue-green brewed tea.

It seemed as if what was inside should have been gems, not liquid.

Nevertheless, what Aria received was tea of a moderate temperature.

“…….”

Drinking it, she looks around.

“…I cherish this place.”

“I can tell even without you saying it directly.”

“But if you ask if I like it, I’m not so sure.”

“I know that too.”

“…Yes, Giovanni….”

Aria smiled, as if wincing.

“This must be sad.”

It was different from anger.

“And this must be what it means to miss someone.”

“…….”

“And it’s the emotion of regret.”

In this tranquil place, Aria felt such emotions.

“I wondered why I feel such emotions in this peaceful and silent world. A space where I can meet my teacher again at any time, a cabin filled with sweet honey and fruits, where the chirping of beautiful birds can be heard. A wooden house filled with warm air.”

It’s nothing but good.

“Whenever I enter this place, my stomach churns.”

Aria asked.

“Why does this place feel like a tomb to me?”

“I am alive.”

“It feels like you’ll just go off somewhere again.”

“I will continue to be here.”

“Speaking of such eternity is so unfamiliar.”

Giovanni never had the word ‘eternity’ on his lips.

That was proof that we had walked a very long road.

The person before her eyes had already died once, and would experience countless more deaths in the future and he would reveal even more changes to the people he loved.

That’s how it would be.

“A human who misses the dead is a failure. They will be buried in the past for their entire life as they can never bring them back, and one who defies fate can no longer be called human, thus becoming a monster.”

The current situation was like that.

“I have become that monster.”

“You don’t have to think so complicatedly.”

“Jio, what about you?”

Are you human?

“Can you consider yourself human?”

“Let me ask you back, how could I not be?”

“Well.”

Aria couldn't bring herself to say ‘no’ to his face.

“You are always right.”

Drinking tea with me before my eyes is not human.

It could perhaps become human, but its essence itself could not be called human.

In the end, the conclusion is that Aria’s only human teacher, despite being here, is not the same as he was.

Giovanni is living while dead.

‘Preserved.’

Like a faded portrait that depicted the most beautiful time.

‘How many more of the most beautiful times will be preserved in the future.’

She feels a sense of faintness at that short and colorful life and the eternal changes.

Jio would not be stagnant for a single moment, and Aria would always be busy trying to keep up with his changes.

Even though they were drinking the same tea together, she felt upset. It felt too distant.

“…Longing is such a peculiar emotion.”

Aria continues.

“It seems good, but it turns your insides into mud.”

“It’s because you have no immunity to emotions.”

“Have humans gotten used to such feelings?”

“Everyone lives with a sense of longing, regardless of who or what they think of.”

“It’s horrifying to think I’ll live like this for the rest of my life.”

“It’s not as horrifying as you think.”

Jio’s voice was quiet as if it had no sound.

“Because we long for things, we can have memories.”

“Do you call this a memory too?”

If so, then Aria right now.

“I am now lost in that memory.”

It felt like she would suffocate.

It felt like being a fish that had entered freshwater instead of the sea.

It felt like being a human trapped in a world full of nitrogen instead of oxygen.

It felt both painful and peaceful. It was a really strange feeling.

“How should I define this peace?”

“Wouldn’t it be fine to just enjoy it without overthinking?”

“It sounds like a devil’s temptation, a proposal more cunning than any devil I’ve seen.”

“Oh, you’ve encountered devils.”

As if to soothe his student, warmth crept into the blunt voice.

He asks with a gentle voice and smile.

“What were they like?”

“Well, they were of a much lower quality than you.”

In various aspects.

“To be honest, I don’t have the confidence to accept this peace. I think it’s a lie even while knowing it’s all true. It’s like considering a mirage to be real even while knowing it exists.”

“Aria, your problem is that you think too much.”

“The way I see it, it’s you, teacher, who isn't thinking deeply. I don’t know what kind of disposition allows you to confidently declare yourself a human without a moment’s hesitation.”

“Is there a reason why my changes would make me not human?”

“There are many reasons. Many indeed, but you, teacher, would probably not consider them valid reasons. I should say that stubbornness of yours is really dependable…”

Or should she say ominous.

“You can achieve everything you desire.”

But compared to that ominousness, Jio was a being she could not control, could not possess.

Even if the current, longed-for peace were to suddenly disappear one day, Aria could accept it.

And on that day, she would learn despair.

It was an inevitable fate, as the long path they had already walked proved.

“I have already learned fear.”

“How did that happen?”

“Because you were not in my dungeon.”

When I lived as a monster, thinking you were gone, thinking you had already left my hands, I could at least laugh.

But having my esteemed teacher, who I can’t even grasp, hovering by my side with a smiling face was so frightening.

Once was enough.

She could not lose him a second time.

There was no way she could endure such a loss again.

“The person named Giovanni is like that. He comes up with ideas an ordinary human couldn't even imagine, and on top of that, he gives so much as to tear off a piece of himself, he understands even insignificant creatures, and his patience is beyond imagination.”

He was a person who tried anything.

“But now, you don't just stop at trying, you have the power to actually do it. I’m not sure if you were always like that or became this way later… but nevertheless, you are, in the end, my teacher.”

“…….”

“You will change countless times. Someday, you will disappear. You could die before me, or you could live longer than me. It will be so if you wish it, and even if you don’t, you will simply enjoy fate.”

“…….”

“I accept that. But Jio, you know, don’t you? We learned hatred from your death and killed and harmed so many humans. We endured those long years. But what is this.”

Aria looked at Giovanni.

“You, to reassure us for those long years, are too….”

It soon turned black.

“…….”

“…….”

And then it turned red.

“…too capricious.”

“You understand me well.”

“That makes me very anxious.”

It was too long a time.

“I have lived through that long time, enduring with hatred and anger, yet the teacher I unexpectedly met again does not indulge that greed. If I had my way, I would put you in my dungeon, admire you without ever taking my eyes off you, and spend all of that flowing time together.”

At the mermaid’s greed, Argio smiled cunningly.

“That would be no fun at all.”

“I knew you wouldn’t be caught easily, and I knew I would fail if I tried, so I didn’t.”

It was because Jio had not forgiven them, and therefore would not accept them.

That could not hurt Aria. She thinks it's a natural and obvious thing.

But because of it, the mermaids could not fully possess their esteemed teacher.

“Who knows in what way you might disappear in the meantime.”

“So that is what makes you anxious.”

“It is, in the sense that the only thing I acknowledge and love is my only variable.”

Aria smiled, much like him.

“How can I trust this peace?”

“I believe that is the homework left for you.”

“Indeed, a statement worthy of you.”

The fact that a mere human was invited to this place, the future where Jio’s colors would change countless times, and the mermaids’ immense responsibility that couldn't be repaid even after tens of thousands of years.

All of this was, in the end, no different from homework Aria had to handle.

Homework to believe in the current peace.

“It would have been better if I were a stupid human.”

Then I would have believed.

“Isn’t that right?”

“But that’s not a wise choice.”

“…Is that so?”

“Continue to ponder and doubt.”

The golden eyes curved with affection.

“That will be your proof.”

“As expected, you are….”

Aria smiled weakly.

“…truly my teacher.”

A human who had no limits in strange areas, who always spoke of a realistic future, and who was busy teaching something.

Remembering that the one before her eyes was the same person who had been the only one to love us mermaids….

“I love you.”

“I do too.”

Only then did she feel at ease.

We are in our daily lives again today.

***

Giovanni always said, ‘learn as many emotions as you can while I am here.’

“That will become a token of your life as a mermaid.”

“A token?”

“Emotion is a token of memories, of learning, of all those recollections.”

He said that it would make you, a mermaid, grow.

“Your current emotions will show you the path forward.”

“Jio, can’t you just show me?”

“I, who am not completely the same as Aria, can be erased and disappear from that life at any time.”

“I won’t let you be erased or disappear.”

“In the end, even now, we are drawing different futures, are we not.”

“…….”

“…Whether I am by your side or not.”

Jio always said.

“I hope you use that token to understand many more things.”

But before she could understand those many things, Giovanni died.

Death took away far more than she thought.

It meant that the person who would smile brightly when she woke up in the morning was gone, it meant the person who would urge her to eat at a set time for no reason had disappeared, and it meant that no one would pull the blanket up to her neck even when night fell.

Each and every one was so ordinary, yet so large. So small, yet so many.

“…….”

We had always learned about death.

So today, too, was a day no different from any other.

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