Chapter 23.2 ?

Honey, who should have been on his shoulder, was gone. Sadness came flooding in.

‘I’m lonely.’

No, what kind of situation is this.

Due to the system’s trickery, Gio found himself in an operating room that one would expect to see in 18th-century Europe and muttered to himself.

‘I was just amazed by the system’s god-like management skills and vast content not even 30 minutes ago, but what is with this careless delivery service?’

He was hurt by the system’s lack of consideration. The system should have asked Gio’s opinion again and kindly informed him of the move before proceeding.

While Gio was wondering where the customer satisfaction centre was to file a complaint, he noticed that someone was standing in front of him and stopped his fussing.

“…….”

“…Ah.”

Startled by the sudden presence of someone, Gio momentarily felt embarrassed. Though he didn’t know who he was, the person had stealth skills comparable to Senior 007.

“…….”

“…….”

“…….”

“… Hello?”

At that moment, while Gio was lost in a ridiculous thought about a ‘fantastic self-introduction’ like in 101 Dalmatians, the first person to speak was the man who appeared to be in his early 30s who seemed to be the owner of the operating room.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Giovanni of the Batlan family.”

“… I’m Gio.”

“Yes, I know. You can call me Giovanni, Sir.”

The person had a kind and trustworthy smile that suited him well, and remarkably, he looked very similar to Gio. Gio thought that perhaps if he was a Westerner and aged a little bit more, he might look just like that.

And Gio bravely couldn’t hold back his questions.

“You look very much like me.”

“I’m sure we’re similar in many ways.”

“I can’t smile as kindly as you do. I’m not good at smiling at all, so I’ve been misunderstood a lot.”

“It’s a cute and honest concern, just like the students I used to teach. It’s okay, from now on, you’ll be able to smile like me.”

Giovanni, who had said those meaningful words, soon laughed with a little awkwardness. He was an adult who seemed much more cheerful than Gio.

“Sir Seo Gio seems to be a very straightforward and affectionate person.”

“I think the same is true for Mr. Giovanni. Seeing how you complimented me upon first meeting, I feel that you’re a kind person from the way you think.”

“To affirm the light of another is something that the priest of the sun should do. There’s no need to talk about being kind or not.”

“… Priest… .”

Priest?

“…This place looks like a hospital, weren’t you a doctor?”

“I’m also a doctor. Being a priest of the Sun doesn’t mean I must only chant scriptures in the temple. There are many priests like me who go outside and perform activities.”

‘Giovanni’ who said so, soon let out a sigh.

“No… there were many.”

“I see.”

“My world was covered and destroyed by seawater.”

Ah, all of a sudden?

“Isn’t the fact that Mr. Giovanni’s homeland was destroyed too deep of a topic for someone meeting for the first time ….”

“Listen.”

“Yes, I will listen.”

“Now, the only thing left in that world would be the mermaids hiding under the sea. Our planet has shrunk and become regularized like a game board.”

“Like a game board?”

“I believe it turned into… what they call a dungeon.”

“Do you know about dungeons?”

“It was a concept that didn’t exist in our world originally, so I didn’t know about it until I died.”

Judging from the way he spoke, it seemed like ‘Giovanni’ was already dead.

“But I found out the moment you called me, Sir Seo Gio.”

“…….”

“We are the same ‘Gio’.”

He spoke while still wearing a gentle smile.

“But it is by no means we are the same person.”

“Can I consider you as me in a parallel world?”

“No, that’s not true. We are just completely different individuals who miraculously share many things in common.”

“…….”

“Similar faces, similar voices, similar skills… but our souls are by no means the same colour.”

Gio thought for a while and asked.

“Do you like drawing? After all you’ve said, I’m really curious if your tastes are similar to mine.”

“It’s one of my secret hobbies. I really enjoyed drawing seas that resembled mermaids.”

“Seas that resembled mermaids…”

They even shared the same taste in drawing. That alone made Gio recognize that they were the same ‘Gio’.

“I want to see it.”

“You’ll see it soon.”

A voice filled with gentle confidence. Gio couldn’t help but feel a question arise from that soft yet resolute tone.

“I know I’m taking your soul and body. Aren’t you afraid or resentful? I’m just robbing you of everything for the sake of exploring a new dimension.”

“This isn’t robbery. In the first place, I already died, my soul had returned to the Sun’a side, and my body had become earth and was buried in the ground… well, it didn’t exactly become earth or get buried either since even the land must have been flooded by seawater now.”

“Isn’t this sound like one of those dark jokes where old people say ‘I’ll die soon, so no need to buy anything expensive’? You may not mind, but I do. You seem to have forgotten that we’re meeting each other for the first time.”

“Hahaha….”

Giovanni, who laughed as if he had just told a hilarious joke despite it wasn’t funny at all, soon continued.

“My soul will be one with Sir Gio’s. You might call it a sort of resurrection or reincarnation. I’ll merge into you, spend more time, build memories, and live within the origin that way.”

“… The origin?”

“It’s probably still a strange concept to you.”

He gave a gentle smile.

“But you are already living there.”

“Are you saying that the place where I reside is called the ‘origin’? I’ve recently heard about it from a new acquaintance.”

“Actually, even that was probably the name given by people on Earth. No one knows what it’s truly called, or what rules and form it has. As a humble soul, I merely respond to the call and respond to you.”

Soon after, Giovanni opened his mouth, looking somewhat apologetic.

“If possible, please take care of the Sun God. To be precise, the Sun God from the world I was in.”

“I can’t believe such a request to take care of a god came from a mere humble soul. You’re making quite the joke again, though it’s not very funny.”

“I thought the same when I was alive, but without the origin, even gods are forgotten when they have no followers. The Sun won’t cease to exist, but as his son, I can’t help but be concerned.”

“How can I take care of God? I’m just an ordinary human being.”

“Just remember him, talk to him from time to time, or borrow his strength. As a priest of the Sun, I swear on my honourable soul that it won’t be too much of a burden for you.”

Gio nodded.

‘He said God, but to summarize, does it feel like visiting elderly people who live alone?’

Gio, who had been an art teacher, often volunteered since his university days. Some of those he encountered were elderly people with unfortunate stories, growing old alone.

Thinking about it this way, Gio was a career person. His confidence which had been shrinking at the mention of god returned.

“I’m good at that.”

“Haha, that’s a relief. I ask this of you then.”

“Is there anything else you want?”

“Isn’t it burdensome just to ask you to take care of God?”

“It was burdensome just before, but not now.”

In the super-duper ageing society of the remote mountain village in Gangwon province, Gio was the only child. At the very least, he was confident in entertaining the elderly.

Feeling such confidence, ‘Giovanni’ hesitated and opened his mouth.

“…Aria….”

“Aria?”

“It’s my student’s name.”

“…….”

“The story has become quite long.”

His tone was still gentle, but now it carried a hint of sadness.

“Please give her an end.”

At that moment.

“… Ah… ”

Gio returned to the cabin bed.

“…….”

“…….”

“Cooo….”

“…Yes….”

“It’s okay.”

“Dad is okay.”

“Really….”

“It’s okay.”

“…….”

“There’s no problem.”

It was a strange feeling.

With cold running through his entire body, pain cutting through his bones, and even sadness far greater than that, Giovanni cried without even knowing why.

He couldn’t remember anything.

“…….”

“…….”

He cried like that until the moon set and new sunlight came….

“… I don’t regret it.”

With swollen eyes, he smiled.

He was happy.

t/n: Giovanni uses ???, while Gio uses ?. I keep ??? as ‘Sir’ and ? as ‘Mr’ mostly since I started this series.

Senior 007 means James Bond if anyone doesn’t know and needs to search it first to know (like me).

you know when I first read this chapter, I kinda let out a speechless scream, like daaaaaaamn—I love love LOVE how I literally can’t predict what will happen in this story, and it went in an amazing direction too aahh!!!

I never like westernizing names unless it was a European setting or something similar, so this series is probably the only one I chose to use ‘Seo Gio’ instead of ‘Seo Jio’ because of this chapter. the foreshadowing of this series is crazy huhuhu I live for it. there are so many details in this chapter it was so damn good AGHH.