Chapter 44
The so-called Breathing Sea was, just as the name implied, a world submerged in water.
There was no one there except Jio.
The water filled the world to such a height that even the sun seemed trapped in it, and traces of humans, such as brick houses and fences, were submerged as they were.
Among them, Jio was sitting at the edge of a cliff.
“I have no idea how I’m supposed to fish when I’m entirely underwater.”
“Grrrrrrumble.”
“Honey, stop drinking seawater. Your body is getting too big, so the fish are running away.”
Aquatic creatures could be seen everywhere.
A creature that looked like an enormous hermit crab moved clumsily with clacking steps as it crossed a red roof with its companions, and a gentle-looking snake that appeared to be a water snake kept popping out of the sand and hiding again.
Aside from them, there were a pod of huge whales floating far up in the water-filled sky, colorful seahorses dancing in pairs as if singing, and fish hiding among the seaweed growing between the bricks...
“Am I just not talented at fishing?”
" "
“True, in a situation like this, a fishing rod seems completely useless.”
" "
“A scoop net? That is not bad either.”
He was admiring the dreamlike scenery, but he had not caught a single fish.
“It is not as if I am especially good at swimming, either.”
Because Giovanni’s world had a very close relationship with the sea, ninety percent of humanity was skilled at swimming.
Giovanni belonged to the five percent among them who were especially bad at swimming.
“When I first met Aria, our connection continued thanks to her dropping me into the sea.”
“From what I personally gathered, I cannot say Aria was a good child, but even so, she was a diligent student.”
" "
“My heart is at ease because Father does not resent Aria.”
Jio, wearing his uniquely kind smile, soon looked troubled.
“But... how am I supposed to catch fish after all?”
Giovanni was not good at swimming, and Seo Jio, though good at swimming, had never caught fish like this before.
Whichever one’s specialty he tried to use, he did not think he could snatch up fish that looked agile at a glance.
“...”
" "
“Pardon?”
When the Sun God pointed to none other than Honey, Jio looked back at the bright yellow waterbird.
Honey, caught in the Sun God’s spotlight like an actor on a stage, was sparkling brightly.
It was practically a divine revelation.
“Honey?”
“...”
“Honey, can you catch them?”
“... Mm...”
“Why are you avoiding Daddy’s gaze?”
At the face that clearly seemed to say, ‘I can, but I do not particularly want to,’ Jio tilted his head.
If Honey simply did not want to work, he would not force him, but it did not seem like he disliked labor itself, so it was hard to interpret.
“Why does he dislike it?”
“Mm-mm-mm...”
“...??”
At the sight of the father and son failing to communicate smoothly, the Sun God quietly told him the truth.
" "
“...”
" "
“... Ah.”
Only then did Jio belatedly remember anew that his waterbird was not ordinary.
No, of course, living water in the shape of a bird could never be ordinary, but anyway.
Honey had far more intense potential than Jio had expected.
“Our child can evolve?”
“...”
“O Sun.”
Honey was extremely capable.
“To catch fish, he has to evolve, but he does not want to take that form, so he has been acting coy like this...? Really? Oh, my goodness, that is truly wonderful and absurd. As expected, you have a conviction that you must maintain your cute form.”
His son definitely had prince syndrome.
“I feel like I told you thirty minutes ago that no matter how cute and adorable you act, the only one you can conquer is your daddy. What am I supposed to do when you are this recklessly cute?”
" "
“I apologize. I was being a bit foolish. But Father, do you not also find your grandson very cute?”
The Sun God merely laughed.
He said the family’s relationship was very pleasant to see.
He had not received a clear explanation, but Jio decided to be satisfied at this point.
What mattered more than anything right now was that, in this hopeless situation, everyone joined forces, overcame the difficulty, obtained fish, and prepared a meal.
“... Hm...”
Because he did not particularly want to force labor on Honey, Jio simply told him the reality they were facing.
“Honey.”
“Mm.”
“Daddy cannot swim.”
“... Mm?”
“So I cannot catch fish either.”
“...”
“If you truly hate it, then there is nothing we can do, but if you do not catch fish for us, we will all have to starve. If you still refuse, then for lunch today, we will have no choice but to grill the sausages left over from last time.”
At those words, Honey’s pupils trembled.
He had no idea where pupils existed in those eyes made of water, but in any case, it was clear that Honey was shocked by the reality they faced and trembling.
Jio nodded solemnly like a judge passing sentence.
“Yes, we are in a situation where we must eat the same menu in a row.”
It was a miserable reality difficult for the gourmands and big eaters to accept.
“Even so, if you still hate it, this daddy will do his best to prepare today’s lunch with stir-fried sausage, sausage fried rice, and sausage soup.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
At the strange standoff, the Sun God was horrified.
Even in his opinion, stir-fried sausage, sausage fried rice, and sausage soup were a little too much.
The Sun God, recently spoiled by the meals Jio prepared, watched the situation with an anxious heart.
“... Coo...”
The winner was Jio.
“Gurgle.”
But there was a condition.
“You want me to close my eyes?”
“Mm.”
“Daddy can love our son no matter what form he takes, you know? Why?”
“Mm.”
“So puberty has come after all.”
Well, no matter how much the other party was one’s parent, everyone had secrets they wanted to hide.
Though Jio had never had children, married, or even dated, he at least knew it was important to protect a child’s own space.
Jio nodded with his eyes closed.
“You really do not want to show me your evolved form that badly? Daddy is truly very, very curious, but still, if this can help you feel at ease, Honey, I can close my eyes as much as you want...”
“Gurgle.”
“Teenagers really are not easy.”
The sound of something large and watery swelling once, followed by the sound of seawater being stirred, rang out one after another.
It was not long after he focused on the sound.
“Mm-gurglegurgle.”
“...?”
Already?
“Can I open my eyes, son?”
“Gurgle.”
“All right.”
And Jio saw it.
“Oh.”
Inside Honey’s plump body, swollen with seawater, roughly thirty fish had been caught.
“That is impressive.”
“Gurgle, gurgle.”
“You are like a fine pig.”
“...”
“That was a compliment.”
Honey had been this large ever since they came to the Breathing Sea, so this form was probably not Honey’s evolved form.
‘He probably swallowed the fish in his evolved form, then returned to his original form.’
In any case, it was funny and good.
“A pig...”
“Mm.”
“A pig full of fish...”
“Mm-mm-mm.”
“Nice.”
Giovanni smiled brightly with his uniquely cheerful smile.
“How reassuring.”
Jio tended to be generous with portions.
* * *
After returning to the cabin, Jio immediately began cleaning the fish.
“Exactly thirty-three.”
It was a number that meant Jio’s hands were going to get wrecked today, but he decided not to mind.
Showing weakness before a mere thirty-three salmon-sized fish would be an enormous disgrace as a pig acknowledged by his grandmother.
“Fortunately, they are all edible, so I can clean them without worry.”
“Gurrrrrgle.”
“Honey, spit one out.”
“Mm.”
PTOOIE!
Honey, still enormous, spat out one fish.
“...”
Jio staggered as he caught the fish and felt dizzy for a moment.
‘What kind of challenge have I gotten myself into?’
In any case, it was time to clean seafood, where freshness was life.
Though food did not rot in this painted world, he could not know whether it would stop already-dead fish from becoming fishier as time passed.
Jio jabbed the forehead of the first fish with an awl and sent it off to the Dragon Palace.
“Hm.”
He prided himself on the technique being as swift as that of an assassin in a martial arts novel.
“It was worth having sliced up a bit of fish before.”
“Gurgle?”
“There is a special taste to slicing and eating freshly caught fish yourself on a boat.”
Reminiscing about the fond past, Jio moved his hands quickly.
He cut off the fin section, scraped away the scales with satisfying strokes, then inserted the knife to an appropriate depth so the intestines would not burst and cut straight down to the vent.
“Seeing as even the intestines barely smell fishy, it really must be fresh. Now, once the intestines are removed like this, next...”
“Gurrrrrrrrrumble.”
“Honey, if you only eat intestines, someday you will become as fishy as intestines.”
Where on earth had that impudent habit of snatching only the intestines while Daddy was cooking come from?
‘... More than that, the way he selectively dissolves things is fascinating every time I see it.’
Waterbirds enjoyed decorating themselves while putting something inside their bodies.
Honey, who liked jewels, was not much different, but in the case of food rather than things used simply for decoration, it quickly melted inside Honey’s body.
To be precise, rather than saying it melted, it seemed more accurate to say that the nutrients that entered his body were also converted into water.
The food he swallowed gradually became transparent, rippled, and then disappeared from sight.
“...”
Whose son was he, to be born this interesting?
‘How fascinating.’
Seeing as even the way he ate was funny, Honey was definitely Jio’s son.
Every last thing he did, even breathing, made excellent content.
“Hmm...”
“Mm?”
“I was just estimating when I would finish cleaning all this.”
If they were already-cleaned fish from a supermarket, he would have happily bought them in heaps, but cleaning live fish himself took quite a lot of effort.
“I will continue.”
For fish whose intestines had been removed and bellies emptied, if one compared it to a person, all the blood pooled inside the ribs had to be scraped out.
Jio faithfully washed the inside of the belly clean, then continued dismantling the fish.
“...”
“...”
And then he learned a surprising fact.
“... Was it actually salmon?”
“Gurgle?”
“No, I am sure it is not salmon.”
But the flesh inside was very unusual.
“The texture is that of white fish, but the color is orange like salmon or trout.”
When he separated it like sashimi, the inner flesh he saw was soft enough to crumble with the slightest pressure, just like salmon.
But like types of white fish such as flounder or sea bream, its grain divided into rounded, chewy sections.
“...”
Chew.
“...”
The taste was similar to salmon as well.
Seeing as it had a refreshing watermelon flavor that felt almost cool, it also seemed closer to trout.
‘Though the texture is much springier and chewier than that...’
It felt incredibly strange.
No matter how much of a fantasy world this was, was it not somehow subtly funny that elements he knew and something else overlapped at the same time in this way?
“Uh...”
“Mm?”
“... It tastes good, so that is enough.”
Thanks to the flesh being soft, the cleaning went quickly.
“I should slice a few for sashimi, and clean a few appropriately before frying them whole in oil.”
“Gurgle?”
“It is better than I expected. To begin with, there is no way food fried in oil could turn out bad. Honey, do not worry and just wait comfortably for fried fish.”
“Gurrrrr...”
“It tastes even better if you add spicy sauce too.”
“Mm-mm-mm...!!!”
“Is there a need to hate it that solemnly? There are many fish left, so would you consider proceeding with at least one spicy fried fish for this daddy, my son?”
After finishing all the cooking like that, Jio half-fainted.
“...”
“Gurrrumble.”
“It was a record-breaking day.”
He concluded that thirty-three large fish was too much.
Emphasized and repeated labor exhausted Jio.
