“Will you not call me Father anymore? You were the one who made me your father.”
“……”
Unable to bring himself to meet Sheyer’s eyes, Mephisto lowered his head deeply and kept his mouth shut.
It was true. He had been the one to call Sheyer Father and try to bind him with the ties of family.
And he had been the one to sever those ties, too.
In truth, even now, he felt as though his entire body were being crushed beneath the weight of guilt.
But even so, there was something he absolutely had to say to him.
Mephisto forced the words out.
“Please return On Jurim to Gru…….”
Could Sheyer truly understand?
How special the affection Gru and Jurim held for each other was.
Mephisto knew it all too well. He had felt the same.
He had longed for affection as a family, while Gru had told him that family was precious.
Mephisto wanted to return his father to Gru.
Even if it meant burning through Sheyer’s seal once more.
Though he did not know whether that would be possible now…….
Just as he bit down hard on his lip, Sheyer grasped Mephisto’s chin with his long hand and lifted his face.
“……!”
Mephisto faced him without even being able to breathe.
It was the first time they had met since he had sealed his father in the snowy field.
Until he lost his memory, he had always been afraid of meeting him.
He had been terrified of how his father would react.
He had spent nights wondering whether there would be harsh condemnation or a thunderous scolding—or whether, as always, there would be nothing at all but his cold indifference.
Watching the anxious child, Sheyer muttered as though sighing.
“Now that you keep your distance from me, it feels as though a great hole has opened in my chest. Is this regret, or sorrow? Or both?”
“What?”
Mephisto looked at Sheyer with a puzzled expression.
The child blinked with a bewildered look.
“What must I do for you to call me Father again?”
“……?”
The words would not register in Mephisto’s mind.
As Mephisto stood there in stunned silence, Sheyer tilted his head.
“Parenting really is difficult. I can understand why On Jurim suffers.”
Understand? He understood?
Mephisto struggled to keep up with Sheyer, but the mention of On Jurim brought him back to himself, and he spoke.
“P-Please return On Jurim……”
“Yes.”
Mephisto stiffened in surprise at the curt reply. That easily?
Sheyer answered his unspoken question.
“If that is what you all wish for, I want to do anything for you. Is this what a father feels?”
He asked Mephisto as though he truly found it puzzling.
“……?”
Mephisto blinked again, genuinely unable to understand.
When Sheyer failed to find an answer, he turned to Beilak, who opened his mouth solemnly.
“Myu-myu. Myumyu-myu.” (I am single. ‘Single’ is an Earth term meaning that one has never had a spouse in one’s life. Therefore, I do not know what a father feels, either.)
Sheyer spoke happily, as though pleased to have learned a new word.
“Then I am single as well.”
“Myu.” (That is correct.)
“There is no one here whom I know, so it would be better to ask On Jurim.”
“Myu.” (It would.)
Sheyer raised the corners of his mouth slightly and continued naturally in response to Beilak.
“I feel something that makes my heart tighten when I look at you. This must be guilt.”
“……”
Beilak’s mouth fell open. So did Mephisto’s.
Sheyer gazed at the child and the ugly hamster standing there with their mouths agape in surprise, seemingly entertained. Then he took a piece of bread from Gru’s arms and put it into Mephisto’s mouth.
As Mephisto chewed the bread, Sheyer stroked his head.
Mephisto flinched violently and took two or three steps back.
Sheyer looked at the hand that had felt the soft hair and said,
“I will return for today, so you need not worry.”
Mephisto opened and closed his mouth, trying to say something, but Sheyer continued regardless.
“It is unfortunate that Gru lacks the strength to make me a body right now……. Instead, I will watch over you all from the snowy field. Let us meet again when the time comes.”
“Are you, are you really?”
“For the sake of that day, help Gru.”
Mephisto nodded vigorously in relief.
If Sheyer returned quietly, there would be no need to seal him again as they had before……
The dull ache in his chest lasted only a moment before Sheyer approached and whispered in Mephisto’s ear.
“Until then, I shall look forward to hearing you call me Father again.”
“……!”
After saying that entirely on his own whim, Sheyer closed his eyes as though his business were finished.
Mephisto opened and closed his mouth blankly.
Is it really all right? Can I really call you Father?
There were still so many things he wanted to ask.
Crackle!
The dungeon broke apart at the exact moment those words ended.
Clang!
*
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Gidan stood with his back against the Guild Master’s office door, having driven the team leaders of Hyeonak outside.
The team leaders pounded on the Guild Master’s office door like a horde of zombies, trying to meet the amnesiac On Jurim.
Even people who knew nothing about the situation began peering over to see what was happening, and the crowd stationed outside the Guild Master’s office continued to swell.
Leaning against the door with his arms crossed, Gidan looked into the empty Guild Master’s office and spoke.
“……You found Gru, right?”
Serhi, who had been sitting in Jurim’s chair, spun around in it.
“You said you were going out to find Gru. You found him, right?”
Though he spoke as if he did not care, concern tinged the end of Serhi’s words.
That was when it happened.
“Oh, Gru’s GPS is showing up.”
“He’s at home.”
Gidan and Serhi confirmed that Gru was at home and let out sighs of relief.
They had been so startled when he disappeared while they were distracted.
The one who had stopped the two of them when they tried to go search for Gru had been Sheyer.
“Why don’t you stay behind and sign the papers for me?”
He had left them with those words……
“Gru really is amazing. From Gnosis to the master of the 99th floor…… I wonder if Brother Jurim is all right……”
As Gidan muttered in astonishment, the pounding on the door continued without pause.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
“The team leaders are really being too much……!”
Watching them, Serhi rested his chin on the desk and casually twirled a pen.
“Can’t we just tell them On Jurim has gone home?”
“……Huh?”
“I’m going home now.”
After confirming that it was six o’clock, Serhi rose from his seat.
“Uh, what?”
Serhi shoved Gidan aside and opened the door in front of the horde of zombies.
“Work is over.”
At that, the team leaders, who had been glaring with fire in their eyes until then, relaxed their grip as though waking from a dream.
“You’re right.”
“It’s already this late?”
“I should go home.”
Before long, everyone began to scatter in a sparkling flurry.
“……Huh?”
Gidan stood there with his mouth hanging open as he watched Serhi’s back disappear along with the team leaders.
*
“Gasp!”
Jurim opened his eyes and sat up.
Where is this……?
He looked at his hand, drenched in cold sweat, then surveyed his surroundings.
Home?
Everywhere he looked, it was his room, which Gru had gradually filled with dolls.
As if to prove that this was not an illusion, a warm child was clinging to his right arm.
Grouped around the child’s head were an ugly hamster, a baby rabbit, and a white bird, all asleep on their backs with their bellies exposed.
The cozy sight naturally put him at ease.
After staring at the children for a while, Jurim let out a sigh.
“……Haa.”
He exhaled at length and lay back down.
Somehow, it felt as though he had had a very long dream.
His last memory was of returning after meeting Jeon Byeongho.
Sheyer had suddenly appeared, and before he knew it, he had found himself seated on a throne, gazing out over the snowy field.
In that lonely, desolate plain, he had shared the emotions and consciousness of Sheyer, who had taken possession of his body……
As he dredged up his memories, he wiped his face with his left hand and checked his phone.
There were missed calls from all sorts of places, including Kazuki, Gidan, and Serhi.
“……Ah.”
As he recalled how Sheyer had pretended to have amnesia and played along with him, a surge of anger welled up.
You should have simply forgotten everything. Why do you remember it all? Frustrated, he smacked his forehead repeatedly with his palm.
No matter how many times he provoked him like that, Sheyer gave no answer. He must have been feeling everything.
Perhaps he was enjoying watching Jurim struggle.
Did Sheyer choose to seal himself again of his own accord?
Jurim had regained consciousness, and Sheyer was once again asleep in his left hand.
The only thing that had changed was that he no longer needed gloves.
He quietly stared at his bare left hand.
Since Sheyer had chosen to seal himself of his own will, Jurim would no longer need to spend night after night fearing that he might permanently lose control of his body.
Jurim let out a quiet, humorless laugh.
All of this was because of the little child clinging to his right arm and smacking his lips as he ate.
No one could have imagined that the master of the 99th floor would so readily grant a child’s wish. Even Jurim himself could hardly believe it.
Jurim lay back down and pulled Gru into his arms.
He remembered Sheyer’s final question.
“Is this what a father feels?”
Jurim answered his question belatedly.
Yes.
Even when he was suddenly seized by anger at Gru for going outside alone, not knowing what might happen to him—
Whenever he thought of the child who had said he missed his dad, the pity and remorse became unbearable.
Feeling a tender and profound affection, Jurim kissed Gru on the forehead.
Perhaps awakened by the movement, Gru asked in a mumble,
“……Dada?”