Rain fell from the sky.
The red sky turned dark blue, then transformed into white and black, stealing the light from the theme park. With a pop, the streetlights of the theme park flickered on.
Whoosh!
Raindrops slid down the red lighting. Shadows fell along the rainwater under the red light.
“Ugh, uwaaah, what’s with this sudden rain…”
Yuna stood at the entrance of the public restroom, staring at the rain pouring down like crazy. Kim Yul added from beside her.
“This is no ordinary rain. Since it doesn’t react to my ether, it’s most likely something else pretending to be rain.”
Kim Yul could manipulate moisture directly. Having mastered the power of the four elements, she could cause light splashes through ether without even using magic.
But the rainwater that fell from the sky, though it had long since pooled, did not obey her will. The more she tried to handle it, the more her head throbbed.
It was like pain from driving a screwdriver into her temple.
Perhaps it was because the sound of the heavy rain had affected her hearing.
‘No, that’s ridiculous. My ears wouldn’t go bad just from listening to some rain.’
She shook off the idle thought. Exhaling heavily, Kim Yul looked down at the freshwater that had begun to seep into the restroom.
“T-teachers. Is the situation bad?”
One of the survivors hidden inside the restroom asked cautiously.
No answer came. Yuna and Kim Yul were just staring at the rainwater with serious expressions.
“Shh…”
On their behalf, Han Yuri brought her finger to her lips. The survivor shut their mouth.
Whooooosh!!
The noisy rain filled the space. Not a single monster was visible, and no sign of any person could be felt. The dark sky and eerie red lighting were all that composed the world.
Patapatapat.
The thick raindrops drummed on the restroom ceiling, creating a dull noise. Yuna swallowed hard, peeled her wet shirt from her skin, and looked up at the sky.
“…”
Originally, the sky of the theme park was red. But now the sky was just dark.
It resembled Earth’s night sky, but was slightly murkier and gloomier.
The raindrops that streaked straight lines across the world seemed less like they were falling due to gravity and more like a mass suicide. If so, the rainwater flooding the theme park ground would be no different from a pile of raindrop corpses.
“…It’ll be hard to move properly like this…”
Yuna muttered to herself, roughly wiping a droplet running down her nape.
Just then, a splashing sound came from far away. Reflexively, she reached for the cane she’d placed beside her and turned her head toward the direction of the sound.
[Ppyak!]
There, a reptilian entity about the size of a small dog—no, closer to a salamander—was walking along, splashing in puddles. Behind it, a group of seven survivors followed in the exact same posture.
It was a familiar salamander.
It was the summon Shin Ian had released beforehand for rescuing survivors, before entering the theme park. It was marching through the flooded streets, leading the group of survivors with splashes.
Perhaps the pouring rain felt good, because the salamander lay down on the ground and even spun around. With a splatter, the splashed rainwater smacked right into the face of the woman directly behind it.
“Hueeeng. It stings. I’m gonna tell on youuuu.”
She whined sorrowfully. Watching this, Kim Yul burst into a chuckle.
Unlike its cute appearance, its abilities were certainly real; there wasn’t a single injured person among the survivors following the salamander—that is, Sunhwanja. All were crawling on all fours in perfectly fine condition.
She didn’t know why they were moving like that, and she didn’t want to know. What mattered was that Sunhwanja had shown up with survivors.
Kim Yul cleared her throat once, then called out to Sunhwanja.
“Doggy! Come here!”
[Ppyak?]
Sunhwanja’s head snapped directly toward Kim Yul.
As if the playful splashing from moments ago had been a lie, Sunhwanja stood there like a statue, staring intently at Kim Yul. Of course, Sunhwanja had no eyes, but its developed sense of smell allowed it to pinpoint Kim Yul’s location.
[….]
…
An awkward atmosphere crossed between them. Kim Yul tilted her head as if to say ‘why is it like that,’ while Sunhwanja swallowed hard and furiously racked its brain.
[Ppyak…]
The scent was unmistakably that of the odorless woman who had stuck close to Daddy.
An inferior species she wasn’t close with and had no intention of befriending. But a ‘female’ of the same species as Daddy.
Yes, a female. Just like Mommy.
[Ppyak.]
It was no surprise, but Mommy was extremely emotional, petty, destructive, and had an immense desire for monopoly and possessiveness. She didn’t show it to Daddy, but every time Daddy talked to another female, she would get irritated and stir up the Outer Sea. And the number of dead siblings alone was easily in the hundreds of millions.
Even so, if here, suddenly, not even Daddy but I acted friendly with that female? Only bad results would come. The moment I returned to the Outer Sea, I’d definitely be torn to shreds and become plankton food. For daring to have a friendly conversation with a woman other than Mommy.
[Ppyyaaak!]
Having finished its thoughts, Sunhwanja screamed and jumped up and down on the spot. From deep within her mind, a hallucinatory murmur from the ruler of the Outer Sea slipped in.
[I don’t need a child that wags its tail at other bitches. I’ll kill you along with your entire species.]
[Ppyak!]
Just imagining it made her whole body tremble and her blood feel like it was boiling. Simply imagining being targeted by Mommy, the number one creature you must not encounter in the sea, was enough to make her breath catch in her throat.
But even so, she couldn’t just ignore Daddy’s comrade. Sunhwanja stood still, rolling its tiny brain around, then, having perhaps found a compromise of sorts, it led the survivors and padded over to the restroom door.
Kim Yul smiled brightly at the sight.
“That’s right. Come to Mommy.”
At the word ‘Mommy,’ Sunhwanja flinched, then resumed its steps.
When about two meters remained to the restroom, she stopped and jerked her chin toward the survivors.
The survivors, who had been crawling by her side for quite some time, immediately understood the meaning of her action. It was basically telling them to scram.
They quickly scrambled up from their places and entered the restroom.
“Hoo, hooaaah…! I’m alive, I’m alive…!”
“Urk… Suddenly straightening my back hurts…!”
“Hnngg.”
The survivors showed different reactions as they distanced themselves from Sunhwanja.
The group vanished in an instant, but Sunhwanja paid no mind and plopped down on the ground, turning its back. After roughly shoving the survivors into the restroom, Kim Yul spoke toward Sunhwanja.
“Doggy?”
[….]
“Doggy, don’t stay there, come here. Getting rained on is bad for your health.”
“Uh, earlier it seemed to like playing in the water… Maybe it’s better to just leave it be?”
“It’s the newbie’s summon, how can we do that? I must take care of it with a mother’s heart.”
Kim Yul replied to Yuna’s words, staring warmly at Sunhwanja’s back.
[…Ppyak.]
Oh, what a gaze full of warmth!
Lacking most of the five senses, Sunhwanja’s sensory perception was far superior to that of other Outer Sea creatures. Thanks to that, it could feel the emotions in Kim Yul’s eyes intact.
But it did not respond. If it reacted needlessly and touched the mood of the Outer Sea’s ruler, it would undoubtedly die.
Only Shin Ian was an exception to her. The rest weren’t even worth the broth.
“Doggy, come quickly. Can’t you hear my voice? Aren’t you cold? You’re shivering. Want me to hug you?”
“Uhm… If it’s Ian’s summon, then I too… Ahem. Uh, I’m Mommy. I’ll wipe you off, so come here.”
“Doggyyyyyy. Woof! Woof!”
“C-come to Mommy….”
[…Ppyak.]
Sunhwanja let out a short cry and shook its head.
“Umm…”
Yuri watched this and let out a groan.
“W-wouldn’t it be better to ask other things rather than forcibly holding onto a child that says it doesn’t like it? Like where Shin Ian is, or if there are more survivors remaining…”
It was a reasonably sound point. Kim Yul and Yuna tried to entice Sunhwanja for a while longer, then finally gave up and asked the curious things as Yuri had suggested.
“Doggy, are there any other survivors in the theme park? Places that smell like humans, that sort of thing.”
[Ppyak.]
Sunhwanja shook its head. It meant there were no more survivors left.
There were fifteen people remaining at the restaurant. Including the twelve here, a total of twenty-seven survivors had been rescued. Before handling the chef, the remaining number had been around thirty-six; it seemed quite a few had died in between.
It was regrettable, but it was good news for Yuna and Kim Yul. They wouldn't need to roam elsewhere; they could just take the people at the restaurant and escape.
Yuna nodded, gripped her cane tightly, and spoke.
“Wh-where is Ian?”
[Ppyak.]
At her question, Sunhwanja pointed toward the central tower with its short arm. Yuna stuck just her head out and stared at the tower.
“….”
The huge central tower with three corpses impaled upside down. Above it, a giant black cloud.
“…Urk.”
It was unmistakably forming the shape of a ♥.
*
Splash, splash.
Ian, having exited the tower, walked through the empty streets holding a grimoire in his hand.
The pouring rain twisted its trajectory strangely and clung to his entire body. But perhaps due to some odd surface tension, the raindrops merely stuck to Ian’s body without separately wetting his clothes or skin. Thanks to that, Ian remained dry despite being in the rain.
But his expression was not very good.
[Daddy, Daddy.]
A young girl’s voice slipped into his ears. Ian let out a deep sigh.
“What.”
[Daddy, you love me, right? You won’t torment me like Mommy does?]
“Of course. I love my daughter.”
[Hihit. Ahihihihihiht.]
A sinister laugh rode the sound of rain and pattered down. Listening to it, Ian brushed off the raindrops clinging to his face.
‘…She’s already asked the same question forty-two times. Is she love-starved?’
Just as he thought that and habitually fiddled with his cigarette,
[Daddy, Daddy. Tell me you love me. Say ‘I love you~’ affectionately. And say you like our daughter more than Mommy.]
The Deficient One murmured as if whispering. Ian squeezed his eyes shut.
“…I love you, my daughter. I like my daughter more than Mommy.”
[Hahihihihihihihihihit!!!]
Along with her laughter, the heart-shaped cloud in the sky grew even larger.
[Daddyyyy… I love you too….]
A sticky voice dug into Ian’s ears as if licking them. At the same time, another question came back.
[So Daddy really likes me more than that stupid Mommy…! Th-then how much more? How much compared to her?]
“…”
[Daddy? Answer.]
Ian felt his mind growing hazy and staggered.
It seemed that among the children of the Outer Sea, there hid one anti-tank mine of a woman.