An Ending for the Mermaid Princess

One day, the young mermaid said,

“I’m going to eat you up.”

“……”

Giovanni laughed awkwardly.

“…Is that any way to speak to someone who’s just come back from the market?”

“I’m going to eat you.”

“Seems you didn’t care for me leaving Aria alone while I went to the market.”

“Yeah. I didn’t like it.”

“But you’re the one who said you were absorbed in a book and wanted to stay home alone, Aria.”

“I’m going to eat you…”

“Understood. Next time we’ll go together.”

Iser, who had been anxiously reading the room behind Giovanni, assuming his sister was angry, received the bag of ingredients as Giovanni patted the boy’s hand. It wasn’t particularly heavy.

“Could you take this to the kitchen?”

“Ah—yes. I’ll do that.”

“Thank you always for your help, Iser.”

Watching Iser head for the kitchen, Giovanni sat down beside Aria.

“Looking at you like this, you don’t seem all that furious.”

“Is this what humans call being angry?”

“As expected, merfolk are dull when it comes to emotion. Maybe it’s because you live among sea creatures that almost never communicate.”

“Sea creatures communicate perfectly well. Stupid humans simply fail to notice.”

“Is that so. Still, it must have a different texture from life on land.”

His vivid blue eyes curved.

“What you’re feeling right now, Aria, is probably indignation.”

“The idea of a mermaid being angry is rather novel.”

“I’ve never seen an angry mermaid either. Even when they fought humans, they always kept blank faces.”

“They would have.”

Even when humans killed a mermaid’s young, the merfolk never raged. They simply delivered retribution with cool, expressionless faces, and people watching said they were monsters who didn’t care even if their own children died.

“Come to think of it, I heard humans and merfolk fought again in the next village. Did you see it, Teacher?”

“I didn’t see it myself, but every mermaid I’ve encountered in my life so far has been devoid of emotional expression.”

He smiled.

“As you know, Aria, the conflict between humans and merfolk is so old no one even knows who started it.”

Even they themselves did not know which side had begun the feud. Humans simply saw merfolk as eerie sea monsters; merfolk regarded humans as stupid, dangerous beasts.

The conflict was only escalating. Now merfolk drowned innocent humans in the sea, and humans dried innocent merfolk to death in the public square.

And each side shouted the same thing as they watched.

“Everyone says the same: we have to kill the merfolk. We have to kill the humans… How could anything but a devil create such a terrible situation?”

“……”

“I’ve watched the conflict between merfolk and humans with my own two eyes. As a Son of the Sun I traveled everywhere, and along the way I met many merfolk.”

“So you pride yourself on knowing merfolk well?”

“It may have been an inappropriate confidence to display in front of an actual mermaid. But even I find your angry face unfamiliar, Aria.”

“You may see it often from now on.”

“Oh dear…”

Giovanni carefully stroked her deep navy hair.

“As far as I know, the idea that merfolk eat humans is only a superstition circulating in certain regions. Why did you say you would eat me?”

“Because when I say it, everyone becomes obedient.”

“A product of learning, then. I understand.”

Giovanni understood that merfolk learning. Their indifference—never feeling the need to choose means or methods so long as they produced the desired result—only stoked human fear further.

But because he hoped this mermaid who was curious about humans would grow into a more amicable, social adult, he wished this would not remain a mere result of learning. He continued at once.

“In that case, it was a joke.”

“A joke?”

“You don’t truly intend to eat me.”

“Merfolk don’t eat humans. It gives us stomachaches.”

“Then let’s call it a joke after all.”

He did not want to place excessive weight on the mermaid’s cruel lesson. Humans and merfolk alike had fallen into this deep conflict precisely because they assigned too much meaning to each other’s “incomprehensible behavior.”

He merely offered advice. Light advice, the sort a teacher and a friend could give.

“Scaring people into obeying your commands is certainly convenient. But if all you do is frighten them, a great many will try to run from your side.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“At least for Aria, who wants to learn about humans, it isn’t a good thing. Humans are not creatures that show colorful reactions only under fear. They show far more when they are happy and joyful.”

Giovanni hoped this mermaid would not end up alone someday. And so, like her younger brother, he wished for a day when sea and sun would become one.

Merfolk live long ages and linger inside a single memory. Perhaps this young mermaid who found her present daily life pleasant would grow up just as she was and one day become a mermaid who helped humans. The beginning of peace.

Whether that would truly happen he could not know, and he did not wish to force it. But he clearly hoped that this mermaid, who would have to live out a lifetime carrying his brief existence, would become a little gentler.

“If you keep playing jokes like that, no one will remain at Aria’s side.”

The proud mermaid asked,

“What about my brother?”

“……”

“And what about you?”

“…We will always remain at your side.”

“Always?”

“As long as I don’t die.”

“You’re going to die.”

The mermaid complained.

“Human lifespans are too short. The sun that made you was an idiot.”

“Isn’t it precisely because our lives are short that we show more varied aspects?”

“I don’t understand. Isn’t it obvious that a long life lets you learn more?”

“If you give it time, you’ll slowly understand.”

“Understand what?”

“Desperation.”

Giovanni knew human limits. He also knew the infinite possibility that sprang from them.

“Because we are short-breathed creatures, humans strive without limit. A lazy human is easily left behind, the situation easily worsens, and humans cannot welcome that.”

“So they thrash about because they’re more desperate?”

“Perhaps. Is there another point we can consider from here? What might it be? Think about it, Aria.”

“……”

After pondering with her small head, the mermaid princess asked,

“Then if a mermaid becomes desperate, does she become as varied as you?”

“Of course. Merfolk are simply more familiar with water and live a little longer than humans. We’re not so different.”

“It looks like a great many things are different.”

“If a human grew gills that let them breathe underwater and could live a life closer to eternity, people would look at them and call them a mermaid.”

“Are you saying we’re the same?”

“No one is wrong. We simply have differences. What I’ve felt living with you is that in the end, Aria, you are the same as me.”

Giovanni believed that without the slightest doubt.

“Merfolk are creatures that create precious things as well, are they not?”

“What does that have to do with future diversity?”

“Because every living thing develops in order to protect what is precious to it.”

“Every living thing?”

“Even four-legged beasts that can’t speak, even the fish we so often eat— they use every trick and grow strong to protect their young.”

“That’s instinct for preserving the species.”

“Inborn instinct can also be called something precious.”

The mermaid seemed not to understand well.

“Then is human greed the same?”

“If protecting that greed is precious to oneself, then yes.”

Everyone becomes varied because they have something precious to them. Humans simply strive harder to reach their goals because their lives are shorter than merfolk’s.

“So merfolk will be the same.”

“…Then what exactly is different between humans and merfolk?”

“The truth is, nothing is different.”

They simply fail to understand each other.

“So nothing grand is needed. If only the number of people who understand each other’s differences grows…”

“……”

“If the voices calling for understanding and compromise grow, even this long conflict will one day end.”

The mermaid complained with a blank face.

“That’s a strange thing to say.”

“It does sound that way.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Is that so?”

“I’m going to eat you.”

“You won’t, and yet you’re so spiteful…”

“I’m going to eat you.”

“Very well, I understand perfectly.”

But there was something she absolutely had to remember.

“Aria, if you ever try to frighten someone by saying you’ll eat them, you must know this.”

“What is it?”

“Whatever Aria’s purpose may be, humans will each react differently, and Aria must take responsibility for those reactions. A creature that takes no responsibility can learn nothing.”

“……”

Responsibility.

“…Fine.”

The mermaid readily agreed.

“I’ll take responsibility.”

“Wonderful.”

“I’m going to eat you.”

“Oh dear… What else has displeased you this time?”

So it was only a joke.

“I’ll put you on my table.”

“This priest doesn’t taste good.”

An endlessly light joke.

“……”

“……”

The mermaid blinked and saw a light so dazzling it was intoxicating.

It belonged to the sun.

“…I…”

Why am I shaken? The moment your heart wavers, you’ve already lost. I waited so long—I never wanted to lose.

Yet that light was hot enough to dry even the vast sea. It was the same sharp heat that had once withered merfolk tails on the water’s surface.

Her insides churned. A seasickness she had never felt even in the deep dark abyss, never felt even on the surface heaving under a storm, now visited her.

“…I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?”

“Well… this is…”

Is this also desperation? Then desperation toward what? She soon found words a mermaid could speak.

“Why do you think I would want you not to die?”

“Because you, Aria, did not create me.”

Giovanni’s voice was no different from the one of thousands of years ago.

“I saw the laboratory. You attempted to create and combine countless lives. The skill with which you dissected and organized living things was something I taught you, so of course I recognized it.”

Aria suddenly found it terribly strange. She had mulled over and remembered this voice for longer than she could count, yet knowing the reason for its long absence made it feel unfamiliar.

You fled to the sun’s side. Or you melted into the cold sea. How can someone who returned to nature come back alive and speak to me looking exactly as he did then?

“Some of it even succeeded, and some you deliberately ruined.”

“……”

“I suspected you meant to grant lives that were not truly living.”

The priest of the sun, preserved as if taxidermied in his most beautiful years, asked,

“Then why didn’t you do that to me? Why didn’t you bring me back?”

“…No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t succeed. There wasn’t even a proper corpse left, so I lacked material to study.”

“That was because you respected me.”

“If you had died in a more intact form, the result would have been different. It wasn’t intentional—it was simply beyond my ability.”

“If emotion is also an ability, then that is not a lie either. I know that merfolk feel emotion as well.”

Giovanni was certain.

“You love me, Aria.”

“Why would you think that?”

“There’s no strength in your voice.”

“That’s not true.”

It was a meaningful reunion with an old friend.

She had not intended to proceed in such a stupid fashion. Now that she had finally steeled herself thinking the end had come, she could no longer sneer as well as she used to.

For hundreds and thousands of years she had never been this foolish. She had killed so many humans, tormented them, toyed with them…

“……”

Yet the moment she saw one longed-for face, the words would not come. The only thing that had changed was Giovanni—your existence alone.

Only then did she remember that you were not merely her friend but also her teacher. An adult she could never defeat, her guiding star.

That’s right. Yes. That’s how it was.

Amazingly, Aria had never once beaten him. She newly realized a fact she had forgotten for a time.

With difficulty she opened her mouth.

“In the first place… Giovanni, you who carry divinity—could you even die like this? This is surely nothing more than a scheme to fluster me.”

“If this is a lie, I can die anew before you a thousand times over. If this is the truth, then ‘Giovanni’ vanishes from this place. He is merely a human.”

“…That’s true as well.”

She found herself ridiculous for not having anticipated such a counter. Unlike Aria, who could not even touch a fingertip of her teacher reunited by an absurd miracle, Giovanni could destroy himself as much as he wished.

If he had been someone who cherished his own flesh and life, he would have lived longer than this.

But Giovanni was a human who accomplished everything he desired. From long, long ago Aria had never been able to defeat her teacher.

“……”

Having come this far, Aria could no longer lie that she did not love Giovanni. For whatever confidence it sprang from, Giovanni was certain of the merfolk’s love—and unfortunately, it was true.

“Ah…”

From that moment the victory and defeat had already been decided. Aria knew it, and because she knew it she had placed her entire end in Giovanni’s hands. And yet her benefactor chose not to yank that leash but to torment himself.

Because he knew it was far more effective as punishment for Aria. That was certainly it.

“Why do you have to be this cruel?”

The reflexive question returned as an answer.

“Why were you that cruel?”

“……”

“To me, and to the countless humans you met afterward.”

“…I was angry.”

“Then you must take responsibility.”

She knew.

“I know.”

He had told her to take responsibility.

“From very long ago, you kept telling me that. Be ready to take responsibility for everything you do before you act.”

No matter how much time has passed, I could never have forgotten your teachings.

But she had taken responsibility for nothing. Because she had not wanted to answer for mere human death and pain. If she had meant to weigh the cost of her venting, she would never have begun in the first place.

“If I take responsibility for what I’ve done, doesn’t that erase the meaning of the venting?”

Ah, she hated humans. She loathed them. Even this emotion of rage was so precious to Aria that she could not bring herself to soften it. Her resentment and hatred weighed as heavily as the love she had once felt for him. It was truly precious.

So of course she would not take responsibility. If she took responsibility, if she atoned, she would have to conclude that this emotion was wrong. She did not want this terribly precious memory dirtied or dulled.

“No one ever told me to take responsibility.”

“Quite a few people would have wanted you to.”

“They would have—the countless humans who died and were hurt by my hands.”

They would have hoped this terrible sea monster would meet the most wretched death in the world, or continue days more terrible than death in atonement.

“But isn’t that a laughable story? How could anyone expect human emotion from a monster like me?”

She glanced for a moment at the white-haired hunter with his unreadable face. Yu Seong-un, was it? Aria asked him,

“Do you hunters want the monsters that live in dungeons to receive the judgment of the law? Or do you want them to apologize or grieve?”

“…Monsters are simply targets for subjugation. We don’t waste emotion on that. We don’t have the resources to put creatures that aren’t even criminals on the judgment stand.”

“Yes. Exactly that. Most humans wipe out monsters without emotion because it’s a mission. I too have killed because I hate humans.”

Aria looked at Ji-oh.

“Why should someone like me take responsibility? Giovanni, you taught me as a human… but the me of now is only a monster.”

“Hearing you say that truly pains this priest’s heart. I taught a human who loved the sea, yet it turns out she was a monster.”

Giovanni said,

“You know all of this is just venting.”

“I don’t not know.”

She knew perfectly well.

“I didn’t want to justify my actions with your death.”

“Thank you.”

“Because you were… too merciful. You wouldn’t have wanted something like this.”

“I see.”

“It simply wouldn’t have been suitable as an excuse.”

She asked for confirmation.

“Do you still not resent them?”

“I resent them and I hate them.”

“Then why press me like this?”

“Because I do not resent them enough to take responsibility for their deaths.”

He resented them, yet he had not wished them dead. It was an answer only Giovanni could give—someone who believed that if you affected anyone in any way, you must take responsibility for every reaction that followed.

He said,

“Choose.”

“Choose what?”

“Human, or mermaid?”

“…What…”

It was a question hard to understand.

She saw the sharp light of the sun. It was ready to pierce Giovanni at any moment.

“Taking a hostage—how cunning.”

“Since I’m using myself, the responsibility I bear won’t be light either, will it?”

“You’re right.”

Nothing had better cost-performance than consuming oneself. Aria knew that too. That was why she had planted fear in countless humans by using herself all this time.

This was not the first human she had seen make such a choice. Humans who used themselves in transactions had been numerous enough to count, only… they had not been Giovanni.

That was why she had tormented them.

“……”

Of course she did not regret it. Aria had known from the start that her and her brother’s actions were nothing more than venting built on favoritism and unfairness.

Yet she had vaguely wished that someday their teacher would return alive, thoroughly scold them, and punish them so this long life could end. Only Giovanni could do that. For these merfolk, nothing held meaning unless it was him.

…But in the end it turned out like this. How is it that nothing has changed?

He almost never let himself be swayed by his students. The scolding of her truly reunited benefactor took a form quite different from what she had imagined, leaving her speechless.

“To be honest…”

“You may speak honestly.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“Oh dear. How pitiful.”

“I was full of confidence, you know.”

She felt hollow.

Until the moment she forced a choice on Giovanni, she had been certain the “ending” was right in front of her.

“…Now I have no idea what I should do.”

Crack—!!

A spear fell.

“……”

“……”

Blood ran from Giovanni’s shoulder.

Whether because she had once been his student or simply because Aria was sharp, she instantly grasped the meaning of that action.

It meant that was not the answer.

“What am I supposed to do?”

Crack—!!

A second spear fell.

“Should I apologize for my rudeness…?”

Crunch—!!

A third spear.

“Don’t die.”

“Wrong.”

Bang!!

“Don’t die in front of me.”

“Wrong again.”

Crack—…!!

“I…”

“Are you ready to respect me now?”

“…Are you angry, Giovanni?”

“Did you expect me not to be angry?”

His voice was still gentle and soft, yet Aria realized he was extremely angry.

No—more than that.

“Did you expect me not to be disappointed?”

He seemed disappointed.

“……”

“…That’s rather chilling.”

With only a few gestures Giovanni was covered in blood. There were many holes, many places sliced away. A frail body unworthy of the new Sun God’s honor.

That was why it was frightening. The sickening smell of flesh cooking before the sun’s fire filled the air. A stench announcing that her long-time friend was becoming nothing more than a lump of meat.

“…Was it like this back then too?”

Seeing him this injured under the sun’s light of all things brought that day back.

“You said you were tortured.”

“I was.”

“Did it hurt as much as now?”

“I think now hurts more.”

“Then you can just stop. It isn’t wise.”

“Humans who become emotional were never wise to begin with.”

“That’s…”

“You’re the same, aren’t you, Aria.”

“……”

“That’s why you’ve done such cruel things.”

It was so absurd and left her so speechless that Aria could only laugh.

“…Why do you…”

“……”

“…still see me as human…”

But she was crying.

“How can you do that?”

Onto the floor, onto the hem of her dress, pearls fell.

“Why haven’t you changed even a little?”

When we have changed so much.

“Isn’t this a mockery of the humans who died because of me, because of my brother? How can you be so kind?”

“I do not see you as human because I am kind. I treat you that way simply because it is the truth.”

“Truly laughable. A ridiculous story. No one sees us as human. So you are still kind after all.”

Because the pearls fell from eyes that did not redden and remained pale as wax, she did not look especially sad. They seemed mere ornaments.

“I am not human, Giovanni.”

Aria found that a little unpleasant. She did not like it. She wanted to become comfortable even if it meant eating everything.

“But you could be human.”

“Isn’t it natural for a monster to eat and torment humans?”

“Claiming that monstrous evil is natural simply because one is called a monster is nothing but an excuse.”

Giovanni still wore a smiling face, and his voice remained quiet and measured. The smile that did not scatter even while broken and disordered looked like a taxidermied painting and felt chilling.

It was like looking at a portrait whose expression never changed even as it burned. The bloodied body that might have been living or dead continued,

“You could have chosen not to eat humans. You could have chosen not to torment them.”

“……”

“You could have chosen not to be called a monster, Aria. You were capable of that.”

A mermaid unaccustomed to fear and anxiety did not know exactly what emotion she was feeling. Even when the teacher who had been the sole meaning of her long life died, she had never felt anything like this.

She simply pleaded. Because the other party happened to be Aria’s only meaning, it was an uncharacteristically stupid display.

“Don’t be angry at me.”

“Aria is my student.”

“…Still?”

“Still.”

If he is this angry because I am still his student…

“…Then isn’t that too cruel?”

She knew. For someone who prided herself on being a monster, saying such a thing was not right. Those who had died by her hand would sneer and despise her. But if she had followed the right path she would never have thought of becoming a monster in the first place.

Aria simply repeated it because only her own heart was precious. You know, I missed you for longer than I can count.

“Don’t hurt like that in front of me. You mustn’t.”

“If you are a monster, this is fine.”

“……”

In the end the mermaid had to admit it.

“…That I am still your student.”

“Yes.”

“If I am not a monster, can I be scolded in a different way?”

“Of course. This is a conversation between humans.”

In a voice gentle and firm like a teacher’s, Giovanni said,

“I have always treated you as human. As beings the same as me.”

“……”

“I know full well that you are merfolk and I know the differences, but that does not mean you are monsters.”

It had been too long a story; she had thought this the perfect moment to end it. Yet Giovanni seemed to have no intention of writing the ending here.

“Why isn’t killing me the perfect ending?”

“Because that too is a choice that avoids responsibility. It is cowardly.”

“I will never regard my sins as sins for the rest of my life.”

“But as long as you remain at my side, you will come to regard them as sins.”

“Being able to remain at my old friend’s side is a great honor.”

It became so ridiculous she asked,

“Do you think that can be enough punishment? Giving me back someone precious?”

“First, I am not in a position to punish any of you. Second, I will give you nothing back.”

“Then why keep me alive if you won’t punish me? Why stay by my side if you’ll give nothing back?”

“My existence itself will become your punishment. I like good things, so you will take interest in good things, and someday you will be moved.”

“That will never become hell for me. If the people I’ve killed and tormented found out, they would shed tears of blood. This isn’t any kind of punishment…”

“I say again: I am not in a position to punish you. I have neither the responsibility nor the duty. Isn’t that so?”

He continued,

“But if time passes, someday you will come to regard yourselves not as monsters but as human.”

“That’s impossible.”

“When that day comes, even without anyone else stepping forward you will seek out hell on your own. You will punish yourselves.”

“How do you know that?”

“I raised you. I taught you and watched over you. I know how good the children you were when you were at my side.”

Giovanni spoke as calmly as if discussing the perfectly obvious fact that the sun is hot.

“You are so full of curiosity and clever. You have the will to improve, and you are not afraid of trying new things.”

“……”

“That is the you I know. So remain at my side. You must take responsibility for everything until now.”

In the banquet hall ruined by the noble priest’s blood and the sun’s fire, Aria delivered her surrender.

“…Then that’s enough.”

She acknowledged defeat.

She felt no regret for the long, meaningless venting, yet it had been far too long. And because the hatred and rage never stopped, she could not stop and did not want to.

So if possible she had hoped Giovanni, you would return and give the merfolk’s story an ending. Only you could end a mermaid’s life. Only he was qualified to finish this insane fairytale.

“I wanted to win, but I lost.”

“Even someone like me is still a teacher in name, after all.”

“So give me time.”

“Time.”

“I need time to decide in what form I will remain at Teacher’s side.”

“I need that as well.”

In that moment the few remaining spears of light vanished. Aria gazed into empty air with a face still tinged with regret.

“…You should have killed the monster.”

“As I keep saying, that is not my role. Why do you seek punishment from me?”

“Will you call me a coward?”

“Yes. Don’t act like a coward. Don’t stay stuck in the time when I died—conduct yourself properly like an adult.”

“What will you do if I keep killing people?”

“That too is none of my concern. I have never encouraged you to murder, nor have I ever stopped you.”

“Then how can you call this an ending? Nothing has ended.”

“Instead, now I am here. Nothing may end, but that does not mean nothing will change. Right?”

“I won’t deny it.”

“Personally I think this is a rather decent ending. Did you know?”

Giovanni smiled.

“In Earth’s fairytales the mermaid princess sometimes turns into sea foam and vanishes, but she also becomes human and lives happily with the prince.”

“Yes, my prince. From the first moment I saw you I thought of you that way. So will you live happily with me now?”

“If that is what you wish, then do so. The ending of rage can be reconciliation, or forgiveness, or ruin. It changes according to how and how much responsibility you take.”

“And that will be a story that has nothing to do with Teacher? I can’t tell if you’re kind or indifferent.”

“Ah, well. I’m sorry to say I’ve done enough. Honestly I wanted to just cut ties and pretend I didn’t know you, but you caused so many accidents in every direction that I gritted my teeth and came to see your faces.”

“How cold of you.”

“So… let’s slowly think about the rest. From now on, what story you create depends on your choice.”

Ji-oh finished.

“We have all the time in the world.”

“……”

“Don’t we?”

(To be continued)