Chapter 90

90. Thank you for loving SeaEye all this time.

The 15-second ad ended with the scene of Siu and the monsters' battle, but in the 30-second ad, the story continued.

Amid the swirling snowstorm, a faint moonlight illuminated the world.

After the battle, Siu, with his small body, walked through the snow-covered darkness.

When Siu lifted his face, he saw a traveler's shelter with a bright and warm atmosphere in front of him.

Siu shook off the snow from his body and, like a traveler finding an oasis in the desert, forcefully pushed open the restaurant door.

"Owner! A glass of delicious milk! Ah, warm, please!"

Soon, a glass of milk was placed on Siu's table, and Siu gulped it down in one go.

"First time seeing a face in the Frozen World. Who are you? Hoo~ Al~ Yuu~"

"I~ Am~ A~ Retired Monster~"

"Oh! A Retired Monster~!?"

The owner asked with a puzzled look.

"But... that's strange. Where's your pet?"

Siu smiled, then whistled with his fingers.

Peep!

Suddenly, the shelter's door was roughly opened.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

With a grand musical score, two pets appeared from outside the door.

Bokshil, dressed in a priest's robe, and Nero, clad in armor, were staring intently at the shelter from outside.

"Ohh~!"

All the characters dining in the shelter gasped in surprise at the sight of Bokshil and Nero.

The excited owner shouted.

"Friends! Come in quickly! Wow! It's the first time we have pet guests!"

Turning to run to the kitchen, the owner turned back to Siu and asked urgently.

"Ah, what do your amazing friends eat!?"

Holding the empty milk glass with both hands and shaking it one last time, Siu smiled and replied.

"Koogi~!"

The ad ended with a shot of Bokshil and Nero, sitting on the chair, eating meat with cute faces.

The SeaEye logo in the upper right corner of the screen disappeared, and the final episode of SeaEye began.

* * *

In the past—

Young Sea was a child filled with curiosity about the land and humans, just like all young mermaids.

After the ancient mermaid ancestors suffered greatly, being captured, sold, and used as tools for extracting oil by humans, the free-traveling mermaids began to live in groups to survive.

They formed families, built villages, and eventually even created kingdoms, imitating humans.

The mermaids drew a boundary deep in the ocean to avoid contact with humans.

Any mermaid who crossed this line, regardless of status, was punished.

The only mermaids allowed to cross the line were highly trained scouts who moved between the land and sea.

Young Sea would rise to the boundary line every day to watch the human ships shimmering on the distant surface.

To Sea, the land was the universe, the ships were UFOs, and humans were mysterious aliens.

It was fate when Sea, who enjoyed imagining humans based on stories, discovered a girl sinking underwater.

Swimming to the girl, young Sea grabbed her unconscious hands and stared at her face for a while before looking around.

Mermaids on guard duty were patrolling nearby.

Sea hid the girl, who seemed to be about the same age, among the large coral reefs.

With a heart pounding, Sea placed a hand on her chest and took a sip of seawater.

With a curious and innocent face, Sea gently shook the girl's body.

Sea realized the girl was already dead.

Sea felt sad.

Deciding to follow the rules and send the girl beyond the boundary line, Sea, at the last moment, grabbed the girl's hand as she drifted away.

There was a way to save her.

The royal family of mermaids had a treasure passed down from ancient times.

Whether it was created by an ancient mermaid sorcerer or a natural wonder, it remained a mystery, but no one could replicate it despite numerous attempts, leading the mermaids to believe it was a royal artifact.

Using his status as a prince, Sea easily broke through the tight security and arrived at his father's room.

He found the pearl his father had shown him a few times and hid it in his clothes, using magic to conceal its aura before leaving the palace.

Passing through the beautiful city of mermaids, Sea returned to the boundary line and found the hidden human child.

Doubting if the old stories his father told were true, Sea tilted his head, closed his eyes tightly, and placed the pearl on the human child's body.

If I wish hard enough—

Life will return.

The luminous aura surrounding the pearl began to seep into the human child's body.

As the aura transferred to the child, the pearl's color darkened like an ordinary stone, but young Sea didn't realize this.

When the pearl's light completely disappeared.

Thump—

The girl's heart beat.

Thump—

Sea's heart was also racing as he watched the girl slowly open her eyes.

Sea quickly cast a spell to help the girl breathe underwater.

The girl, waking up in the sea, saw a small mermaid, Sea, wagging her tail in front of her.

The beautiful and adorable Sea greeted the land child in clumsy human language.

"......Hello?"

In a daze, the girl also spoke.

"Hello."

It was a long time ago.

When she was six?

A young mermaid, about the same age as her, had brought her to the land.

Like people see hallucinations before death, everyone said it was a dream.

So Eunsoo thought it was a dream and gradually forgot about it as she grew older.

However, everything Sea said was true.

With her memories returning, Eunsoo slowly opened her eyes, just like in her childhood.

The sound of waves crashing.

A beautiful horizon at dusk.

And a small child sitting in front of her.

Clearly an adult before she lost consciousness—

The magical and adorable Sea, who grew and shrank in size, was in front of her.

"Am I... alive?"

Eunsoo asked.

Sea, with a very tired face, forced a smile.

"Yes. I promised I wouldn't let you die."

"How...?"

On the vast sandy beach, only Eunsoo and Sea were there.

There were no scary mermaids, no fisherman uncle, and no henchmen.

Sea vividly remembered the man who called himself her uncle, grabbing her and extracting the aura of the royal pearl from her body.

He said she would die if the aura was taken away, right?

Without answering Eunsoo's question, Sea said something else.

"Uncle returned to the sea. The fisherman uncle chased after him. Since the king knows everything... reinforcements will probably come. Don't worry about the fisherman uncle."

"How... am I alive...?"

Sea lay down next to Eunsoo.

Lying on the sunset-drenched beach, facing Eunsoo, Sea smiled and whispered.

"If I wish hard enough—life will return... I tried it."

"That's... when you had the pearl, right?"

This time, it was before Eunsoo died, and... Sea used her own life as the offering instead of the pearl.

"Humans don't need to know. I'll take care of it... as a mermaid."

Despite the playful smile, Eunsoo instinctively knew.

Sea was dying.

"Are you... turning into foam?"

"......Yes. Mermaids do. The story of the mermaid princess is sad. Even in fairy tales, mermaids... can't be with humans."

"No. Don't go. Quickly, take back the aura you gave me. Quickly... quickly!"

"Sorry."

"No... no. How can you suddenly do this?"

Eunsoo grabbed and shook Sea's small body.

Sea closed her eyes and said softly.

"Thank you for being so kind to me. Next time... I want to be born as a human. I wanted to go to school with you... together..."

"Sea... Sea..."

"......Goodbye."

The young mermaid, Sea, returned to her original form and greeted the land child, Eunsoo, just like the first time they met.

The now grown-up girl hugged Sea, who was turning into a handful of foam, and shouted.

"No-!"

The air at the beach rippled, and the space distorted.

It was the mermaids' magic to avoid human eyes.

Many mermaids appeared from the sea.

Eunsoo, holding Sea's lost clothes, watched the scene with a dazed look.

The mermaids parted, and the fisherman and a middle-aged merman walked up to the beach.

The middle-aged man, looking at Eunsoo with a complicated expression, ordered the fisherman.

"Collect Sea's scales."

"Yes... Your Highness..."

The fisherman, with red eyes, accepted the king's command.

The king, feeling his son's aura in Eunsoo, sighed and spoke.

"Unaware that the aura of the artifact was transferred to the human girl, you suffered for so long. After the artifact, did you receive the aura of the sea? This girl is destined to live."

Eunsoo couldn't understand a word of the mermaid language.

"Let's go. This fight was bound to happen eventually. Use the recovered artifact to revive the sea and prepare for the war against the rebels who dare to challenge the throne!"

"Yes!"

An enormous number of mermaids answered in unison.

"And immediately capture and escort the fisherman, who violated the rules countless times with Sea! Sea and the fisherman will fight on the front lines until the war ends."

The king gave orders to his subjects and turned away calmly.

The king's guard threw a net over the fisherman's head.

"Eunsoo...!"

Just as the fisherman, caught in the net, was about to shout something to Eunsoo in human language, the king flicked his finger.

The fisherman's body turned into a fish.

The mermaids, carrying the net with the struggling fisherman, coldly left for the sea, ignoring Eunsoo.

Eunsoo buried her face in Sea's clothes and cried.

* * *

Two years later—

On a sunny day.

Eunsoo was sitting in a cafe, filling out a resume.

"Please... just a little more..."

As a job seeker, Eunsoo moved her pen habitually, despite her desperate words, due to her lack of qualifications from only working part-time while others were attending academies and getting certifications.

"Ah. I have to pay back my student loans. Life is nothing but sad."

Someone spoke to Eunsoo.

"Did you finish cleaning?"

Eunsoo jumped up and answered.

It was the older sister she worked part-time with.

"Yes."

"Then go home. Resume?"

"......Yes."

"Good. Work hard. Oh, by the way, the manager said your necklace is very pretty and asked where you bought it."

"Th... The necklace? Ah... I got it from a friend."

Eunsoo touched the mysterious, shimmering scale hanging from her neck and answered.

"Then where did your friend get it... Eunsoo?"

"Actually... sniff... I didn't exactly get it, but I sort of forced it from her... but she's nice, so she gave it to me."

Seeing Eunsoo suddenly sobbing and crying, the older sister, looking flustered, patted her back.

Eunsoo, stopping her tears, clutched the scale from the necklace and forced a smile.

After finishing her resume, Eunsoo left the cafe with tears still in her eyes.

She took a deep breath and checked her watch.

She thought she would go home, have a quick meal, and then head to her next part-time job.

Walking through the neighborhood, Eunsoo stopped at a certain point, looking at the ground.

Every time she passed this place, she would glance at the store, which had become a routine.

Tears rolled down Eunsoo's cheeks as she watched the fish swimming in the tank in front of the Ssingsing Sushi restaurant.

It was the sushi place Sea loved and always ordered delivery from.

"Sniff..."

Three years ago, Sea, who appeared out of nowhere in front of her, had spent a year with her and was especially missed today.

Even though it had been two years since Sea disappeared from her life, the void was still too large.

Eunsoo, determined to live hard for Sea because she felt too guilty to live a mess and because Sea gave her life, tried her best.

However, just as a person can't breathe and live underwater without a mermaid's magic, Eunsoo's life without Sea felt like that underwater world.

Just like when she was sinking in the sea as a child—

Not living, but suffocating to death.

Immersed in sadness, Eunsoo reminisced about the times with Sea.

Playing in the bathtub every day with the water running—

The stalker senior who chased her to her house and was beautifully chased away by Sea in power mode—

The embarrassing moments when rumors spread that she had a boyfriend at school—

Complaining about food and secretly ordering flounder and sea bream sashimi...

"Uncle~ This place has the best sashimi. It was so much fun secretly ordering sashimi with Eunsoo back then..."

A strangely familiar voice reached Eunsoo's ears.

"......"

Eunsoo's memories of the past were abruptly cut off.

An adult Sea, with hands in her pockets, walked out of the Ssingsing Sushi restaurant.

The muscular fisherman followed, picking his teeth with a toothpick.

"Prince. No, by the king's grace, or rather, command, we were exiled to the land together, so we can call each other by our names now, right, Sea?"

"Right, Fisherman. We're all on the same level now. Haha."

"Except for age, right?"

"Yes, Uncle."

"Ah, but if Eunsoo finds out we came to the sushi place first without meeting her, she'll be disappointed."

Sea put her hand on the fisherman's shoulder, ran her fingers through her hair, and said.

"Uncle, when I lived on land, I watched a lot of dramas. When lovers reunite after a long time, it's supposed to be in a romantic place, a place with memories."

"......Sea"

"At night, when Eunsoo is tired and comes home from work, I'll be waiting in front of her house with a bouquet of flowers... That's how we should reunite. If I suddenly show up at her part-time job and say 'I'm here~', it wouldn't be romantic..."

"Sea... Excuse me, Prince Sea."

"What is it, Uncle?"

As the fisherman, who kept calling her, stopped speaking, Sea noticed his pale face and