Chapter 658: Dawn

“…Hello, Teacher.”

A space where the floor, walls, and ceiling are indistinguishable.

In that place, Oliver greeted the man he met once again. It was the polite thing to do.

They had only met two or three times at most, but he looked exactly the same as before.

A comfortable sofa.

A table between the sofas.

On the table were chocolate cookies and a mug of warm milk.

It was a consistent sight.

Except for one thing.

“So we can meet even outside of dreams.”

Without asking for permission, Oliver sat on the sofa opposite the man.

The man seemed uninterested. He answered normally.

“I exist everywhere, child.”

“I see…”

Oliver replied with a voice that was a little weaker than usual, and then fell silent. A silence that lasted quite long. He rubbed the space between his eyes as if he was actually tired.

The man spoke first.

“Aren’t you going to eat the cookies?”

“No… I don’t have much appetite right now.”

Oliver, who usually ate at least one out of politeness, answered in that way.

Something was off. The man pointed it out.

“What you just saw, was it shocking?”

“Are you a god, Teacher?”

“…”

Instead of answering, Oliver responded with a question.

A direct and sudden question, lacking his usual thoughtfulness and caution.

The man hesitated for a moment and then shook his head.

“Sorry, child, but I am not that one.”

“Then, are you the Pied Piper’s father?”

The man shook his head once again.

“Why do you think so?”

“Just a feeling… You seemed to know him well.”

Oliver referred to past conversations with the man. He knew the Pied Piper’s identity and name well.

The man answered.

“I do know him well. I watched over him and even talked with him.”

“Could you tell me what you talked about?”

“We talked about choices. Life is a series of choices.”

“…”

“The boy chose what you saw. He donned a skin that didn’t fit, denying his essence and going against the natural order.”

It was something the man had mentioned before. Back then, Oliver had asked if that was wrong. But this time, he asked another question.

“So you just watched? Let the boy eat the poisoned stew?”

“It seems you’re angry, child.”

“Answer my question first, Teacher. Did you let the Pied Piper’s child eat the poisoned stew because he chose it? Going against the natural order? You saw it all, didn’t you?”

Oliver asked with certainty that the man had witnessed the Pied Piper’s tragedy.

Otherwise, this meeting wouldn’t make sense.

As Oliver asked, a deafening silence filled the space, amplifying the void where concepts of up, down, left, and right did not exist.

It felt like he could lose his mind if he wasn’t careful.

After a long silence, the man spoke.

“It wasn’t a punishment, but karma, child.”

“Karma?”

“The Pied Piper chose to deny his essence and became someone else’s husband and father. Because that was his happiness.”

“And both of them died.”

“He chose to remain in that place. You can’t have just the good. The bad comes naturally. The tragedy that happened to the Pied Piper is just one of the misfortunes that could happen to anyone.”

“So you just watched it happen?”

“It’s true that I watched and did nothing, even though I could’ve helped. But it wasn’t because of that. If it had been anyone else, not the Pied Piper, I would have done the same.”

Sincerity. Oliver couldn’t read the man’s emotions, but he had an instinctive certainty that the man was telling the truth.

“Child, how many times do you think things like that happen in a day? How many times do you think it has happened since humans first ate figs? One is a tragedy, but if there are a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, it’s just a number.”

“That’s a contradictory statement coming from a gardener.”

“A gardener’s job is to watch, child. Minimal intervention. Only at the most crucial moments. If I intervened in everything, that would be the real contradiction. It would go against the will of the divine.”

“You call that the will of the divine?”

“Why do you think you have a head to think, free hands, and legs to stand on…? If I interfered and controlled everything just because it’s right or wrong, good or evil, what would make you any different from livestock?”

What would be different? Oliver found himself at a loss for words.

Because he fully agreed with the man.

No matter the reason, no matter the form, having someone constantly interfere, control, and dictate would be more akin to being livestock than being human.

Even if it led to good results, it wouldn’t be healthy. Even the gods… at least the god Oliver met in the scriptures wouldn’t want that.

If the gods truly wished for that, they wouldn’t have given humans minds to think, free hands, or legs to stand on, just as the man said.

At that moment, Oliver realized one more thing. He understood why the man didn’t do anything, why he looked so tired.

“Watching is very hard, isn’t it, Teacher?”

“…”

“The job of tending the garden. Seeing things like that and being unable to do anything… isn’t that difficult?”

Oliver pieced together all their past conversations and the recent one, relying on his instincts to reach the core truth.

The gardener wasn’t a god, but someone entrusted by the gods to perform that role. And he was very, very worn out.

He had seen far too many cases like the Pied Piper, and his heart had worn down.

That’s why he wanted to leave that position. Waiting for the next gardener to arrive.

The most important thing now was who the next gardener would be.

Who would manage the garden on behalf of the gods.

Just imagining it felt terrifying and suffocating. As that fear grew, the man finally answered Oliver’s question.

“Of course, it’s exhausting. But do you know what’s the hardest part?”

“I’m not sure… What could it be?”

The man looked at Oliver’s face.

Even though a thick shadow hid his expression, hiding not only his face but even his features, Oliver felt that the man was giving him a sad smile.

“There’s no end.”

“…”

“It’s an obvious answer, isn’t it? A job like tending the garden doesn’t have an end. It’s not a task with a finish line.”

He was right. Tasks have goals, and most tasks are completed once those goals are achieved. However, tending the garden wasn’t one of those tasks.

Gardening, in the literal sense, meant maintaining the garden to a certain standard.

It wasn’t about achieving a goal and then finishing it, but about continuously keeping it at that goal state. In other words, it was an endless task.

Like an unrelenting ordeal without enlightenment.

“And if you think it’s easy, it’s not.”

The man spoke again. His voice carried exhaustion, sadness, lamentation, and something that felt like self-loathing.

“Green grass turns brown if left for a moment, and beautiful flowers attract aphids.”

“…”

“Branches grow in all directions, ruining the landscape, and fruits get eaten by pests. The most infuriating part is the garden is overrun by unwanted pests, snakes, and toads. And I’m forbidden from disturbing it. Even though I could.”

At that moment, the man’s form fluctuated indescribably. It looked as if dozens or hundreds of people overlapped.

His appearance and attire were at once fat and thin, strong and weak, wealthy and poor, dignified and humble, noble and common.

The indescribable image resonated in the shadowy space, making everything tremble.

As if flesh, bones, and even his innards were about to explode. Amid all this, Oliver pointed out the man’s contradiction.

“But isn’t that the nature of the garden?”

Oliver spoke. The garden he tended wasn’t just full of beautiful, pretty things.

Whether it was because it was a sharp observation or not, the resonating space calmed down.

“That’s right, child. Such is the garden. Free, full of life and will… But that doesn’t mean there’s no righteousness. Freedom is a right accompanied by responsibility. Freedom without responsibility is indulgence, and indulgence is a sin.”

“Is that why you want to uproot the garden?”

Oliver brought up the issue he had been avoiding on purpose. Feeling this was his only chance.

To his relief, and also to his dismay, the man answered his question.

“I haven’t uprooted it yet, child. But it is my rightful authority.”

“You mean uprooting the garden?”

“Yes, it’s the garden I’ve been tending to. Who could say anything if I decided to uproot it?”

“Is that the best course?”

“Maybe… When the old garden is gone, a new one will grow. New life will bloom.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to try to save the garden first?”

Oliver spoke without realizing it.

Knowing his own shortcomings, he unconsciously avoided saying what he thought was presumptuous.

At that moment, he recalled what Amelin, the director who had turned into a tree, had once said at the Ark Orphanage.

“It’s easy to talk about good things, but if you don’t act on them in crucial moments, you’ll get hit by stones… But you still have to do it. If you can’t even do that, the children won’t even have a chance to learn what’s right.”

Even if you’re afraid or might regret it later, you should still say the right thing.

Using those words from Amelin as his support, Oliver spoke again.

“Wouldn’t it be right to try to save the garden first, Teacher?”

Oliver, who had been avoiding the issue of the end, asked the gardener.

Now that Joanna had lost her siblings.

Now that Derek had died for unknown orphans.

Now that Oliver had seen the Pied Piper’s past.

Now that Amelin, the director, had turned into a tree.

Though it was very late, Oliver brought up the issue now, at this moment.

He waited for an answer while looking at the man, and the man also looked at Oliver silently. Very, very sadly. As if he wanted to say something but couldn’t.

A long silence filled the space before the man eventually spoke.

“…What about you, child? What will you do?”

“Excuse me?”

“Will you save the flock of lambs?”

Oliver was at a loss for words, caught off guard by the unexpected question. As he hesitated between following his desire to leave, or doing what he believed was right.

At that two-way path, Oliver hesitated and the man offered advice.

“If you choose the latter, you will suffer.”

“What?”

“I said, if you choose the righteous path, you will suffer. Just like the Pied Piper did. Even righteousness has its own consequences.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

Oliver asked sincerely. How come? The man responded with another unexpected answer.

“Because I feel conflicted emotions about you. Emotions that might be considered despicable.”

The shadowed face looked straight at Oliver. He felt as if he could be swallowed by the unseen gaze.

“I want you to just enjoy the privileges, to taste all the blessings and joys without any suffering. Because you deserve it… However, at the same time, I want you to take on the burden, even if it’s not your duty.”

“…”

“I want you to walk a comfortable and safe path, yet I also want you to walk the thorny road.”

“If I choose the comfortable path… What happens to the children?”

“You already know the fate of the lambs that the shepherd doesn’t find.”

“Is that the price of choosing the easy path?”

“It is karma.”

“…Can I ask one more thing?”

“Speak, child.”

“What is the name of the Pied Piper and… his child?”

The man hesitated for a moment, then spoke.

At that moment, the man’s figure began to blur as the encompassing darkness slowly faded away, like curtains being drawn back.

As if he had never been there.

Beyond the receding darkness, Oliver could see something bright.

The light of dawn breaking after the night. That light illuminated Oliver’s face.

It was dawn.