Chapter 59

"Was he a foreigner?"

"Huh?"

Yu Seongun asked back at Jio's words.

"What do you mean?"

They had finished the first induction ceremony and parted ways with the Cha family on the way back.

At Jio's out-of-nowhere murmur, Yu Seongun tilted his head.

He did not understand exactly what Jio was asking.

"A foreigner?"

"The blond priest I saw at the induction briefing earlier..."

"Oh, I was wondering what you meant."

Jio was old-fashioned in strange ways.

He had old-fashioned common sense, like an elderly man, and it seemed he was worried he might have been racist without realizing it.

Even though he was always polite and gentlemanly.

What a thing to worry about.

"He is probably Korean too.

You were confused because his appearance was a little different from the traditional Korean look, right?"

"So he was Korean.

With blond hair and blue eyes, and a build a little different from the Koreans I know, I thought he might be a foreigner from the West.

Would that have been a rude thought?"

"It is a slightly old-fashioned mindset."

"I will be careful."

"You were shut away in a frame all this time, so it cannot be helped that you do not know."

Besides, from the perspective of a Root entity, it would have been a little difficult to distinguish even human nationalities.

Just as it would be difficult for a human without specialized knowledge to distinguish all the countless species of ants.

'Above all, Root entities have a tendency to take any human rule they learn at face value...'

Root entities did not understand human exceptions very well.

Some did not understand people not eating three meals a day without fail, and some did not understand why someone did not have hair that should obviously be there.

'They ask, "Aren't humans supposed to be like this?"'

If anything, Jio was impressive for distinguishing him enough to define him as a "foreigner from the West."

In this case, though, it seemed that clumsy knowledge had instead become poison...

"Of course, traditional Koreans generally have black hair and black or brown eyes.

Their bone structure is a little different too.

But in this day and age, distinguishing nationality by hair color or bone structure is a little... not easy."

When making a Root entity understand humans, it was best to tell them the flow that originated from its history.

Yu Seongun began an old story again.

"You seem to know about the Great Catastrophe too, but Earth was turned upside down once during the Great Catastrophe, after all.

It was not my generation, so I do not know exactly what it felt like, but it must have been far more chaotic than now.

The atmosphere must have been downright apocalyptic, right?"

"..."

"... Do you know what an apocalypse is...?"

"I do."

"Oh, impressive."

It was probably one of the memories the human personality "Seo Jio" had known.

"Anyway, back then, the concept of national borders was vague.

More precisely, it became vague.

People began immigrating here and there to escape the disasters in their own countries, wherever they could, and in the process, races all across Earth began mixing like one giant salad bowl."

Because of that, beings called "authentic Koreans" had become rare now.

"If you are talking about pure-blooded Koreans, in our country, you could probably only find them very rarely in rural areas with very little exchange with other regions.

Among some rather old-fashioned elders, there are cases where they feel extreme resistance to their children's blood mixing with that of foreigners..."

"Such people exist everywhere, I see."

"There are always people who hate change.

So it is difficult to figure out someone's nationality simply by appearance.

Still, that blond priest you mentioned is presiding over an event like this, so I think he is probably Korean."

"Do they not entrust events to foreign priests?"

"No, rather than that...

If he is presiding over a big event like this, he must hold quite a high position in the Sun Cult in Seoul.

Then he would be living in Korea, so would it not be harder to think someone like that is a foreigner?"

"Ah."

He understood.

'In effect, the distinction between races has disappeared now.'

No matter where one's blood originated or what one looked like, if one had Korean nationality, one was Korean.

Even before the Great Catastrophe, that had been an obvious fact, but the atmosphere then and now was a little different.

'It is as if nationality is treated like a light qualification, like a driver's license.'

Yu Seongun had said that because the priest would commute from here, his race was probably Korean.

Where and to whom he was born was not important; he judged him Korean simply because he was registered as Korean.

"..."

Truly, Earth had become one.

'... I think that is good.'

This seemed rather desirable.

'Though it is a little unfamiliar.'

Jio was still shy around his hometown.

He wondered if he might not even be able to go to a hamburger place and order food now.

To Seo Jio, a living ancestor, this world was moving far too quickly.

"Then issues like racial discrimination must not arise."

"That kind of conflict is practically something you only see in textbooks."

Yu Seongun shrugged.

"I said it that way, but honestly, I cannot say there is no racial discrimination."

"Did you not say there was no distinction of nationality?"

"No, that is not the issue..."

He looked around, confirmed that no one was listening, and continued.

"There is discrimination by grade."

"Ah."

"It sounds like an excuse, but... I personally do not really think much of it, but Grade 1 or Grade 2 citizens do seem especially haughty.

In particular, Grade 1 Hunters find the very act of interacting with citizens Grade 3 and below unpleasant..."

"..."

He had felt uneasy from the moment he heard citizens were classified by grade, and had the status system truly been revived?

"... Is that the difference between nobles and commoners?"

"Ah, would that be easier to understand?

It could certainly be called a similar perspective."

"I am surprised that the classification and treatment are clearer than I expected."

"Well, anyway."

Yu Seongun laughed softly.

"So if you distinguish race by looks, people will call you a crazy old man, so be careful.

I understand your situation, but if other people heard it, it would probably feel like absurd discrimination."

"Thank you for telling me."

"I wonder whether any truly pure-blooded Koreans remain in this day and age.

Even I am not native stock, for starters..."

The nuance was subtle, but Jio let it pass for now and asked another thing he had been curious about.

"Is hair color and eye color varying from person to person also because races have mixed?

Of course, I know there are no pure genes that produce blue hair, but just in case..."

"Ah, in my case, it is simply the influence of Awakening."

By Awakening, he likely meant that thing related to "Hunters."

"Does one's color change upon Awakening?"

"Not for everyone, but if you have an especially compatible attribute, your color often changes according to that.

Colors like the blue hair you mentioned cannot occur naturally, so it is probably the influence of Awakening."

"I see."

"An attribute is not something the system clearly displays like rank or profession, so people tend to define it as they come to understand their own abilities.

For the record, my attribute is 'freezing.'"

Only then did Yu Seongun's snow-white hair and glacier-cold blue eyes enter his view.

They were colors similar to those of "Giovanni," but unlike his, they were certainly hues that gave off a chill.

"I used to have brown hair and brown eyes, but after I Awakened, I became like this."

"... I see..."

'I thought dye jobs were just in fashion these days.'

'Was I too free of prejudice?'

To be honest, even after becoming a haunted portrait and seeing unusually striking hair or eye colors, he had not paid much attention.

That was because Jio was an unprejudiced person who respected human diversity.

'The world turned upside down once, and fashion became hard to understand too, so I thought there was no reason people could not dye their hair...'

If not that, then it seemed he had just thought of it as a kind of evolution and passed over it roughly without thinking.

Even in his own opinion, he was a truly indifferent person.

"I can change color too."

"Hm?

All of a sudden?

You were originally black.

Was that not your identity?"

"The idea that color can become a person's identity sounds very interesting, but I am not black.

I only added that because you said your color changed, Yu Seongun."

"No...

To begin with, your black is a little... that... to call it native Korean..."

'Is it not too pitch-black?'

'Like an abyss or obsidian.'

Jio's color was difficult to call a simple color.

That black, as if it had taken the form of death or silence, often made people's minds grow distant.

'Even now that he has lowered his class to the level of a human, it is a little burdensome to meet his eyes directly.'

As if he found Yu Seongun's reaction strange, Jio asked back.

"Is it not ordinary black?"

"... If that is what you think, then fine."

Yu Seongun returned to the topic from a moment ago.

"So, you change color too?"

"If I pay a little attention, I can change it.

Would this be enough for me to be considered a person of the times?"

"What kind of twenty-nine-year-old young man says something like an old man who cannot keep up with the times...

No, wait, is that it?

Platinum-blond hair and blue eyes?"

"You knew."

"You changed to those colors at Cheonggyecheon too, and when we rode the water taxi."

"Did I evolve into a chameleon, unlike other people?"

"Rather than that..."

He thought it might be a change in personality.

"..."

"What were you about to say?"

"... I just thought it was fascinating."

At this point, Yu Seongun was starting to get a sense of Jio.

'Jio... is highly likely to have countless personalities.'

With the personality named by the Root as the "Portrait of Jio" at the center, various personalities spread out like branches around it.

Ordinarily, he acted as the personality called "Jio," and it seemed that when certain situations arose, the corresponding personality reacted.

*'He really is hard to deal with.

Out of my own and the Guild Master's greed, we sent him into society too hastily, but... if a personality hostile to humans emerges, things will become quite troublesome.' *

Even if that happened, Bi Sabeol would preach his difficult-to-sympathize-with tastes, saying that "dying while appreciating a work is part of art," but to ordinary people who were not like him with his irrational compulsion to collect, or Yu Seongun as a Gardener, it would be nothing short of a disaster.

'I am aware of at least that much.'

Though his conscience had already been rounded down considerably after going through all sorts of things, he still had a minimum line.

Yu Seongun, who had been thinking for a moment about how to handle Jio, opened his mouth.

"By any chance, um..."

"Yes."

"..."

Was this not a conversation to have here?

"Can you tell me about yourself?

Not here, but when we return to the hotel."

"I thought I had told you much about myself so far."

"I want to know about something deeper.

When we get back to the hotel, let me hear it once, and if you are not uncomfortable, answer me.

It is also something I must do as a Curator."

"I will do so."

"I really appreciate that."

Perhaps thinking this subject would not come up again until they arrived at the hotel, Jio brought up something out of the blue.

"I am worried about the cat I left at home."

"... A cat?

You brought a cat into your house?"

"It is called an Anti-Cat, and I first met it in the Jewel Vein this time."

"..."

"But the teddy bear is watching over it, so it should be all right."

"... I have not known how to react for a while now..."

Yu Seongun asked with a subtle expression.

"An Anti-Cat, well, I will let that go because it is you."

"I do not understand what you mean."

"What do you mean, a teddy bear is watching over the Anti-Cat?"

"Exactly as I said.

The teddy bear is watching over Dana."

"Did you make it?"

"An elder entered a doll that had been abandoned in the sea."

"Who is that elder, and why, of all things, did he enter a teddy bear?"

"He is the Sun God I serve."

"..."

After a brief silence, Yu Seongun decided not to ask anymore.

"Hm, I see."

He was already confused enough.

* * *

A soft, blunt hand.

The hand of a doll with fur in a color resembling Giovanni's slowly stroked the back of the kitten curled roundly in its arms.

As if those arms were comfortable, the jewel cat's body lay languidly spread out.

"..."

The teddy bear continuously stroked that small jewel filled with dead spirits.

It patted, smoothed down, and at times covered it just like that to share warmth.

Though it had now become a sun that had not even divinity left, only traces, it could perform a miracle enough to warm this cold body.

After all, they were only holding each other close.

"..."

With its stuffed smile, the teddy bear looked into the framed painting of the blue sea.

A tranquil vitality could be felt from it, as though it depicted a single personality.

Its child had called this the "Breathing Sea."

"..."

And this was certainly connected to the world of mermaids.

"..."

Jio would meet the mermaid.

The teddy bear hoped that Giovanni would, please, embrace the Little Mermaid again.

"..."

For that, even its divinity was not a waste.

Even without something so grand, this place was... bright and warm enough.