Chapter 773: Gardener

As the door opened, a strange yet familiar scene unfolded.

A void with no floor, walls, or ceiling.

In the middle of it stood a table with two sofas.

A man was sitting on one of the sofas, his face obscured by shadows.

Without looking at Oliver, the man asked if he had arrived. Oliver, as if they were old acquaintances, greeted him.

He walked over without hesitation and sat on the empty sofa opposite the man.

Plop.

“Ah, this is so soft and comfortable.”

Oliver let out a groan as he sprawled out on the sofa.

He had been walking for an incredibly long time and was exhausted.

Creak, creak. Slaaash…!

While sitting on the sofa, Oliver stretched his stiff body. In the empty space, the sound of joints cracking and his tired muscles being squeezed and relaxed echoed alternately.

As Oliver loosened his body, he intermittently glanced at the man opposite him, who still wasn’t looking at him.

Well, it wasn’t clear, given the shadows covering his face.

‘Not like it even matters, anyway.’

As Oliver continued to stretch, the man finally opened his mouth.

“In the end, you–”

“Now that’s just unfair.”

Before the man could finish his sentence, Oliver interrupted, burying himself back into the sofa as he spoke in a whiny voice, somewhat like a child pouting.

The man, seemingly taken aback by this unusually immature display from Oliver, tilted his head slightly.

As he looked, Oliver pointed toward the empty table.

“Before, you used to prepare hot milk and a mountain of chocolate cookies without me even saying anything. But now? Nothing? I must say, I’m disappointed.”

“…Didn’t you say you weren’t hungry?”

“When was that? Times change. I’m at an age where I eat a lot.”

Oliver grumbled playfully, and the man, after a moment, snapped his finger. A mug of hot milk and a towering pile of chocolate cookies appeared on the table.

“Thank you.”

Oliver picked up a cookie, showed it to the man, and quickly shoved it into his mouth.

The rich and smooth taste of chocolate filled his mouth, the sweetness overwhelming his senses.

It was just as addictive as he remembered.

Reaching for another cookie, Oliver repeated the process, occasionally dipping it in the milk, sometimes stuffing several cookies in his mouth before gulping down milk.

“Mmm, mmm.”

When Oliver shook the empty mug, it immediately refilled with milk.

He kept drinking milk and eating cookies, until the towering pile on the table had vanished entirely.

“These are incredible. Could I get some more?”

Snap!

The man once again snapped his fingers, providing more chocolate cookies.

Oliver, evidently still hungry, continued devouring the cookies with gusto.

“You must’ve been really hungry?”

“It happens when you walk a lot.”

“It must’ve been a long journey.”

The man nodded as he spoke, his voice carrying emotions like sympathy and guilt.

Oliver gave the man another look.

Though the shadow still concealed the man’s face, his body seemed more defined compared to before.

In the past, it had been hard to pin down whether he was thin or fat, well-dressed or shabby. His appearance had always been confusing and elusive, but now it was clearer.

Little by little, his form grew more apparent.

The man spoke again.

“Has it been hard for you?”

“Honestly, it’s been boring.”

“Excuse me?”

“Boring. Every single person I met on the way here said the same thing. ‘It’s going to be a long journey.’ ‘It’s going to be tough.’ ‘It’s so far away…’. All this talk of ‘so long’, ‘so hard’, ‘so far’. And now you’re saying the same thing, which just takes the joy out of it. Frankly, it’s a bit disappointing.”

Oliver faked a sulk.

“I came all this way to see you, but instead of welcoming me properly, you’re telling me such dull things. At least give me a fun story or something.”

“I don’t know any fun stories.”

“I suppose that makes sense. Someone who stays cooped up in a gloomy place like this wouldn’t have exciting stories to tell.”

“…”

“Ah, you were about to get angry, weren’t you? Don’t do that. It would make me sad.”

“I’m wondering what it would take to stop disappointing you?”

Oliver shrugged.

“Well, how about this? Why don’t you tell me a story from your past?”

“My past?”

“Yeah, you seem to know a lot about me, but I don’t know much about you.”

“You already know enough. I’m the Gardener, and after all this time, I am tired and do nothing. Now, all I do is maintain my position and–”

“No, no. I’m asking about you, not the Gardener. There’s a difference.”

“…Why are you curious about that?”

“Is it wrong for me to be curious?”

“…”

The man fell silent at Oliver’s question.

It wasn’t the first time he had been quiet, but this time, the silence felt different.

It wasn’t that he deliberately chose not to answer. It seemed more like he was caught off guard.

Oliver sensed that and shrugged again.

“Of course, if you don’t want to talk, I won’t force you. I have no desire to—”

“—In the distant past, I was called the Brightest One.”

Before Oliver could finish, the man began speaking.

“There was a time when I stood beside the Most High. One day, He asked if I would manage the garden below on His behalf.”

“So, you had the choice to refuse it?”

“Exactly. I had the right to refuse. In fact, He even granted me that right. He’s not the type to force anything on anyone.”

“So, why didn’t you refuse?”

“…”

“Why walk the path of a Gardener, when there were easier roads to take?”

“…”

Once again, the man remained silent in response to Oliver’s question. A long stretch of quiet hung over them.

When the silence reached a weighty peak, the man finally broke it.

“It just felt… a bit off.”

With that ambiguous answer, he shattered the silence.

Oliver asked what exactly had felt ‘off’.

“Once, the Most High swept the humans away with water. Humanity had grown wild and corrupted the world with countless sins, so He washed it all away. I watched it happen.”

The man raised a finger.

“Don’t misunderstand. I didn’t pity them. They had desecrated the blessings given to them and deserved what happened. Do I sound too harsh to you?”

“Well, that’s hard for me to judge.”

For the first time, the man stared directly at Oliver, as if gauging whether he was being honest.

“After wiping it all away, the Most High rebuilt the human world with the few survivors. Time passed.”

“And they fell into sin again. Humans tend to do that.”

“…Yes.”

The man quietly confirmed. But the weight of that short word was greater than any lengthy speech.

“Then, He asked if I wanted to manage His garden. At first, I thought of refusing. After all, I never really liked humans.”

“But despite that, you accepted.”

“When I watched Him sweep them away, it just felt… a bit unpleasant.”

“…”

“Compared to before, it seemed like there was a bit more hope. And so, I took on the role.”

“You became the Gardener.”

When Oliver guessed correctly, the man nodded slowly.

“Does it disappoint you? That I took on the role for such a small reason?”

Oliver shook his head.

“No, I think it’s admirable, actually.”

“…”

“You didn’t need some lofty ideal of ‘love for humanity’ to take on such a massive responsibility.”

“…Not anymore.”

“Ah, but let’s leave that boring talk aside for now. After you became the Gardener, what did you do? I’m excited to hear this.”

Oliver playfully prodded, pressing the man for more.

For the first time during their conversation, the man took a sip of the warm milk from his mug.

The first time since they started talking.

“I left the side of the Most High, where I had stayed my whole life, and came down here. Back then, the 72 Lords that ruled this place each tried testing me in their own way.”

“Even though you had come here on the orders of the Most High?”

“It wasn’t an order, but a suggestion. And the 72 Lords had also been granted the right to resist.”

“Hmm… Did you subdue them?”

“I did.”

“Wow, that’s impressive.”

“It wasn’t as impressive as you think, child. It wasn’t much different from what you’ve done.”

“Well, then, I guess I’m impressive too!”

The man was at a loss for words, while Oliver shamelessly continued.

“I like being praised, you know. Go ahead and praise me.”

“…Yes, you did quite well.”

“Thanks for the compliment. So, what happened after you earned the recognition of the 72 Lords?”

“I organized the Hell, then established the rules governing the interactions between the human world and Hell. Sometimes, I ascended to the human world to spread His teachings and offer warnings. In the process, I also gifted powers like Holy Power and Dark Magic. I thought if both sides had power, they’d respect each other. But that failed spectacularly.”

“Can we really say that it failed? There’s no final result yet.”

Oliver countered the man’s statement.

After all, the world hadn’t ended, so it was too early to call it a success or failure. At this stage, it wasn’t fair to judge.

“If you say so.”

“Yes, I do. So, could you continue the story?”

“There’s really nothing left to say. After that, it was just the same thing over and over again.”

The shadow on the man’s face seemed to weigh him down, making him look tired.

“When I thought I had done enough, I would return here to watch over the garden. And when trouble arose again, I would once more go up to tend to it. Over and over, endlessly.”

It seemed like a simple task, but something about that last statement bothered Oliver.

Endlessly.

One day, two days, three days, four…

One year, two years, three years, four…

One hundred, two hundred, three hundred, four hundred…

The time Oliver had walked to get here seemed like a speck of dust compared to the weight of that statement.

It could be a thousand years, or ten thousand. But ‘endless’ meant there was truly no end.

Anything without an ending might as well be Hell itself.

The man who had lived through such torment spoke.

“I saw aphids clinging to flowers, vibrant green leaves turning brown, twisted branches spreading greedily, casting shadows. I saw bugs gnawing away at fruit and pests running wild through the garden.”

“I’m listening.”

“At first, I held back and tried to fix things. I couldn’t do everything I wanted, but I managed what I could. Then soon after, the garden was a mess again.”

“I’m listening.”

“I repeated my work, and each time, the garden fell into worse disarray. There were times it was even worse than before. Over the endless span of time, I kept the cycle going and, at one point, I realized: wiping it all away wouldn’t be so bad. Whether it be with water or fire.”

“But you didn’t, did you?”

Oliver pointed out the flaw.

After all, if that had happened, they wouldn’t be having this conversation now.

The man admitted.

“It felt a bit wrong to erase everything I had touched.”

The man averted his gaze from Oliver again, gripping the sofa’s arm tightly.

“…So, I asked Him if I could stop managing the garden.”

“What did He say?”

“He said I couldn’t quit so easily. As soon as I accepted the task, it became my burden. Even so, I told Him I was too tired to continue. Then He gave me a way out. A way to free myself of the burden.”

“What was it?”

The man looked at Oliver again. Though his face was still hidden in shadows, it appeared sorrowful.

“I had to create a new Gardener to take my place, handing over all the responsibilities.”