A Guest from the Sea (2)

After I finished talking with Bang-ul, the turtle really did seem to have understood. It no longer hauled itself up onto land, resting comfortably out in the sea instead.

Until the mermaid the officer had contacted arrived, everything I knew came from what the veterinarian had told me and what Bang-ul had said. Fortunately, it was a male, so there would be no headache of it laying eggs. And living up to its reputation as a sacred creature, the turtle was well over a hundred years old.

The morning after the giant turtle's visit, a call came in early — uncharacteristically so for a civil servant who supposedly embodied the aesthetics of taking things slow. It was the officer from the Environmental Division.

After hanging up, I stepped out into the living room and met Bang-ul's eyes through the glass of the tank. She was floating still in the water — not spinning in circles or playing the way she usually did, just quietly looking at me.

"Is something going on, Unnie?"

"Yeah. Some people from your hometown are coming."

"...Really?"

Bang-ul's fins trembled, just a little.

"Happy you're going to meet people from home?"

"Yes... but there was that whole commotion because of me..."

She must have been carrying a lot in her heart all this time. Her voice was careful, almost timid.

"It's okay. They said they'd come because they already forgave you."

At that, Bang-ul finally seemed to let go of something. She answered not with words but with a bright, open smile. Even so, her fins were still trembling faintly.

Sending the giant turtle back to the sea, and meeting Bang-ul's family on top of that. It was going to be a pretty busy day.

When I arrived at the beach with Bang-ul, the atmosphere was nothing like yesterday. The onlookers and elderly folks who had crowded around the barricade were gone — the novelty had worn off. Only the one police officer I'd seen the day before was still lingering near the tape, fiddling with his phone.

Bang-ul, who always rode around in a water-filled pocket, was today swimming freely in the sea like a fish that had finally found water. A mermaid really did look far more at home gliding through that vast ocean than floating in a cramped tank or a pouch.

After swimming around excitedly for a while, she poked just her head above the surface and looked at me. I sat down on the sand and smiled back.

"Feels good being in the ocean, huh?"

"Yes! It's been so long — it feels amazing!"

She was in such a good mood she even started showing off, leaping high out of the water and splashing back in. Even though she was a mermaid, watching her like that she looked just like ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a delighted dolphin or a seal. It was adorable.

I was watching her play, thoroughly pleased, when she suddenly stopped swimming and started looking around.

There weren't any anomaly warnings or mutant ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reports today...

I was on my feet before I knew it, ready to throw myself into the water. But Bang-ul just grinned, bright as anything, and dove back under.

A moment later, she surfaced — and she wasn't alone.

Another mermaid was with her. Unlike Bang-ul, who still had a childish air about her, this was a mature mermaid who looked around my age. Long wet hair spilled over her shoulders, and her calm eyes held a quiet ease. She seemed quite close with Bang-ul, gently stroking the girl's dripping hair.

Then her gaze turned toward me, and she bowed her head politely from the water.

"Hello. I'm... well..."

"You're the unnie from Eunseo's hometown, then?"

"Hmm~ well, you could think of it that way."

I didn't know the first thing about mermaid social structure, but if she said so, I'd take her word for it.

She pulled a phone from her waist, pressed something, then walked up onto the sand and held it out to me.

A phone?

Adult mermaids really were on a different level from Bang-ul. Her fins became legs in an instant, and she even carried a waterproof phone that looked made specifically for mermaids — though it didn't have a touchscreen. I took it and looked at the display. Something like a simple resume was written there.

She could've just told me this...

"Uh... nice to meet you, Ms. Hae Eunha."

"Yes, a pleasure, Huntsman Jang."

She seemed to have heard about me, too — calling me Huntsman Jang instead of my name. The conversation with the officer must have gone well.

"Did you come because of that turtle over there?"

"That's right. Eunseo told me it's resting for a bit. But we don't know when it'll leave... if it keeps staying on land like that, it could become a problem for both us and the turtle."

"You folks are pretty kind around here."

"Pardon?"

"In other regions, or other countries... they tend to get rather aggressive in situations like this, I suppose?"

I shrugged at Eunha's words.

"For one thing, people have been treating the turtle as a sacred messenger from the Dragon Palace... and we managed to communicate just fine. Plus it wasn't even beach season."

Just because they were the people of Dohwang-ri didn't mean they were some fairy-tale village of elves. If it came to it, they could strike first the way they had hunting frogs, or put something down before it caused more damage the way they had with the wild boar family.

"You don't need to be so modest. This is plenty impressive as it is."

Leave it to a mermaid. She seemed to see right through to what I was thinking. She gave me a bright, easy smile, then turned back toward the sea.

"I'll go talk with the turtle along with Eunseo. It's about time she learned how to have a proper conversation anyway."

As Eunha slipped into the water, Bang-ul waved at me once and followed her under.

I walked slowly toward the beach entrance, where the police officer was standing guard. In the distance, Bang-ul and Eunha had already reached the turtle, facing it and exchanging some kind of conversation. All three had their heads bowed, seeming to earnestly give and take something between them.

The young officer at the entrance was staring, transfixed, at that surreal scene. I tapped his shoulder.

"Fallen for them? Those mermaid princesses?"

He jumped as if he'd been electrocuted.

"Uh... what?!"

"Want to go down there together? Who knows? Maybe you'll hit it off with that C-Rank Hunter mermaid princess."

When I poked him, the corner of his mouth twitched upward for a second — then dropped the instant he heard C-Rank Hunter. At C-Rank, you'd start looking like something beyond the human category to ordinary people. Of course he'd gotten scared.

"...I'll just be satisfied watching from here."

"Alright~. But if you violate anyone's portrait rights, you're in trouble."

"Come on... I'm a police officer, Huntsman Jang..."

Leaving him with an awkward smile, I walked down to the beach.

The turtle seemed to have communicated well with Eunha. It was slowly turning its massive body. It moved heavily, unhurriedly, but even to my human eyes it looked at ease — the unhurriedness of a being that had lived a hundred years, I supposed.

Eunha gently stroked the turtle's head. The turtle closed its eyes and accepted her touch, as if bidding farewell to an old friend. Bang-ul carefully approached as well, running her hand over the turtle's shell and whispering something small. I couldn't hear what she said, but her expression was soft.

Having finished the conversation, the turtle slowly began moving toward the sea. It grew farther from the beach, then slipped into the water and vanished beyond the horizon.

I just stood there, staring blankly at the empty stretch of water. Before I knew it, Eunha had come to stand beside me.

"We told it where we live. We protect simple mutants like that one at a nearby pier."

"They don't cause trouble?"

"When they go berserk, huntsmen or other hunters handle them. And when we can communicate well, like with this turtle, we protect them."

"Oh... so later you'll ride out hunting on that turtle's back or something?"

"Haha... as if. The research lab will take some blood samples, feed it well, and send it back out to sea."

"And just releasing it like that doesn't mess up the ecosystem?"

"You're sharp. But the ocean is wider than you'd think. It's as harsh as the land — but its capacity to embrace is just as vast."

There was pride in Eunha's voice, the way someone speaks of home.

The work talk seemed to be wrapping up, so I sat down comfortably on the sand. Bang-ul, who didn't often change to legs except when she needed the bathroom, wasn't coming over to us. She was swimming and playing by herself farther out in the water.

"Eunseo told me about her life on land."

"Uh... you two haven't even been together that long."

"Hehe... a mermaid's Telepathic Resonance is another language unique to us. Did it look like a psychic power to you?"

I just nodded, saying nothing.

"Did she badmouth me at all? I'm the one who caught her, after all."

"And the one who took care of her is you, Huntsman Jang."

"Well... at first it was more like the folks at the police substation dumped her on me."

Eunha covered her mouth with her hand and laughed, finding the situation genuinely amusing.

"So, are you going to take Eunseo back?"

"Well? Mermaids Eunseo's age are around the time they start becoming independent... and more than anything, Eunseo is blessed. She's found a good new family."

"Uh... is that so? But she still needs to go to school and all that, right?"

"Hmm~ you talk just like someone from the old days, even though you don't look it."

"I hear that a lot."

In the old days, Nureongi, Poppy, and Bang-ul would all have been school age, obviously. But now... the country and other adults were trying their best to get kids into school somehow, but it wasn't as easy as it sounded. Suddenly I felt the helplessness of adults who couldn't do anything about it, and a deep sigh escaped on its own.

"Still... don't blame yourself too much. The world will find an answer somehow."

I looked at Eunha, who was talking like a mermaid princess again, then turned back to Bang-ul swimming freely out in the water.

"Well... these days, kids would just think of school as a hunter academy anyway. It's an era where you take classes on a smartphone... I guess I was thinking too much like an old fogey."

Eunha didn't say anything more. Instead, she quietly walked into the sea and approached Bang-ul in the distance.

When Eunha came near, Bang-ul stopped swimming and looked at her. The two faced each other in silence for a while. Then Eunha held out her hand first. Bang-ul hesitated a little, then took it. Eunha stroked Bang-ul's hair, and the two pressed their foreheads together.

How much time passed, I couldn't say. Eunha pulled her head back first and said something to Bang-ul. I couldn't tell what from her lip movements alone, but Bang-ul nodded. Eunha smiled, then slowly turned and swam toward the deep sea. True to a C-Rank Hunter, her movements cutting through the water were powerful. And she vanished beyond the horizon where the turtle had disappeared.

Left alone, Bang-ul floated in place for a while, then came toward me.

Eunha's last action seemed to be telling me to find the answer to the question I'd asked from Bang-ul herself. Or maybe she'd just gotten tired of me talking like an old man. Well, setting a mood isn't my style anyway. Thinking it was the latter sat better with me.

I chuckled at my own idle thoughts and waved at Bang-ul as she approached.

"Unnie."

"Yeah?"

"I'm... it's okay, right?"

"What is?"

"Staying here... continuing to."

"...Thank you, Unnie."

"By the way, what did Unnie Eunha say?"

"Um... she said to take care. And to contact her anytime if I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have questions."

Bang-ul held up her wrist, showing me a bracelet.

"If I press this, I can contact my family!"

"Oh... mermaids these days are pretty high-tech."

"Hehe."

Bang-ul spun a full circle in the water, clearly in a good mood.

"Shall we head home now?"

"Yes! Let's go, Unnie!"

The turtle was gone, and so was Eunha — but Bang-ul was still by my side. For me, that was enough.