Episode 2. Victim Investigation

July 2, 2024

Blink, blink. Persephone’s vision repeatedly darkened and lightened.

“Ugh…”

A pained groan slipped through her lips.

‘Am I actually alive?’

Even immortal gods are said to be capable of suffering eternal pain or falling into a coma…

‘I haven’t already been dragged to the Underworld, have I?’

To pry her eyelids open, Persephone summoned the same desperate strength she had used as a child when running away with Demeter’s seed pouch.

Then, she saw a crevice splitting through the dizzyingly high cliff above her.

‘I must have fallen into a ravine.’

Staring at the sunlight pooling at her fingertips, Persephone flinched and gathered her senses.

Right. If she had fallen deep into a ravine, the chariot of the bastard who planned to kidnap her had to be somewhere nearby.

Every muscle in her body throbbed and screamed in agony, but this time, she squeezed out the strength she had used when secretly picking and steaming the chickpeas Demeter grew.

Exerting such immense effort, a pitch-black chariot entered Persephone’s line of sight.

“You… crazy… bastard…”

Persephone pushed against the stone floor with trembling arms. She muttered a few other colorful curses she knew besides ‘crazy bastard.’

Who causes a traffic accident just to kidnap the woman they love?

‘No, if you love someone in the first place, you shouldn’t kidnap them!’

A deep sigh escaped Persephone’s lips.

Should she have realized sooner that Hades was the kind of lunatic who would run over his prospective wife with a chariot just to abduct her?

‘Y-you son of a bitch. Just wait until I get up there later. I’m definitely telling my mom. Just you wait.’

It was just as Persephone, lying prone with her hands planted on the ground, was burning with fierce determination.

Rustle.

The chariot’s awning was pulled back.

Persephone’s face instantly stiffened.

The one who stepped out of the chariot was, as expected, a sturdy man. The man, who was slowly looking around, stopped moving his head when he spotted her.

Because there was still a deep shadow cast over the chariot, only the outline of his body was visible. However, a sliver of sunlight pierced the space between her and Hades.

If he took even a single step, his appearance would be exposed under the sun.

Just as Persephone bared her teeth and was about to scream at him not to come closer.

“Are you alright?”

A low voice pierced her ear like an arrow.

A tall man was reflected in Persephone’s light green eyes. The first thing she saw was his face.

Pale skin, as if he hadn’t seen the sun in ages. Striking, deep-set features. And on top of that, eyes that seemed to hold the pure darkness of Nyx.

Hades’s long robes spread out like the night sky. The baby hairs amidst his pitch-black hair swayed lightly with his urgent movements.

The distance between them—about ten of her footsteps—was closed in a single bound.

“You, can you stand?”

Witnessing his appearance, Persephone’s pupils shook violently.

‘…He’s not a middle-aged man?’

Until now, Persephone had assumed her uncle Hades would be a bearded, older man. Considering their family tree, it was a given that Hades was significantly older than her.

Persephone observed Hades, who carefully held her by the shoulders.

‘Could it be that he isn’t Hades?’

However, it was too much of a stretch to deny that the handsome young man in front of her was the ruler of the Underworld. Since Persephone was also a god, she roughly knew what kind of aura emanated from another deity.

‘It feels completely opposite to Mom’s aura, yet strangely connected to it…’

This man was definitely the King of the Underworld.

At that moment, perhaps finding her persistent staring strange, Hades gently cupped her cheek. A firm and calm voice dropped low.

“Even if you are sleepy, you can’t fall asleep in this state, alright?”

…Why is he being so kind?

Without realizing it, Persephone had let her mouth fall open, and she suddenly let out a sharp “Sslurp!” sound, smacking her lips.

She had hastily sucked back in the saliva that was about to drool out.

At that, Hades’s eyebrows twitched.

‘N-no, I shouldn’t be leisurely drooling! I need to run away!’

Seeing his questioning expression, Persephone scrambled to her feet.

“He, hehe…”

Hastily forcing up the corners of her mouth, she let out an idiotic laugh and wiped her lips. Touching her chin, she felt something slightly wet. Whether it was blood or drool, she couldn’t tell.

Her thighs were throbbing mercilessly, meaning she was likely quite hurt, but this was no time to care about that.

She had no idea why he was acting kindly to a woman he was trying to kidnap, but if she didn’t seize this opportunity, she might never be able to escape.

“Earlier, you asked if I was alright, correct?”

“Yes—”

“Yes, I’m fine!”

Persephone smiled brightly and took a step back. Hades, who had stood up as well, reached out a hand toward her. But Persephone was faster, throwing both her hands out in front of her defensively.

“I’m truly fine!”

“…Did you just say you were fine?”

“Yes!”

“But you can’t even stand properly and are staggering…”

“No, I’m okay. Really, truly!”

Persephone deliberately parroted her answer.

Hades’s eyes sharply scanned her. Rubbing his chin, he crossed his arms as if dissatisfied.

“…Are you serious?”

A bizarre light swirled in his obsidian-like eyes.

Chills raced down Persephone’s spine.

‘N-no way…’

Are those the eyes of a madman calculating the optimal angle for a kidnapping? She didn’t know what had triggered it, but she needed to flee immediately.

Persephone drew upon every last drop of her strength. Her foot stepped backward.

“I am!”

One step.

“Really!”

Two steps.

“Fine!”

And three steps.

Thinking she had secured a safe distance, Persephone gradually melted into the shadows. The further she got from Hades, the more her shouts began to echo.

“So let’s just go our separate ways, okay?”

“…Go our separate ways, you say?”

“Yes, you just said ‘go our separate ways,’ right? Exactly.”

Persephone shouted at Hades, who was staring blankly at her. She clenched her fist in the air as if stamping a seal on a contract.

“You can’t go back on your words later! You’ll definitely get scolded by my mom. You have no idea how terrifying she is when she’s angry…”

“Your mother? What do you mean?”

Ah, right. If I say this, it’ll give away that I’m Demeter’s daughter!

“…Well, as you can see, I was born too, so I must have someone I call a mother, right?”

“…”

“That’s all it means.”

Smiling awkwardly, Persephone pressed her lips tightly together. Having nothing more to say, she turned her body toward the exit of the ravine.

“Goodbye then!”

She turned her back on the bewildered Hades and ran. She ran with everything she had.

Completely unaware that Hades’s eyes held a confusion that went far beyond mere bewilderment…

Here, where iridescent white clouds scattered across the sky, was the entrance to Mount Olympus.

This place, where mortals sometimes lingered before departing, was also a favorite spot for Hermes, the god of messengers and travelers.

“Hm?”

Hermes, who was adjusting his winged sandals, suddenly raised his head.

“What’s this? A messenger bird?”

He was just wondering what kind of creature was tapping at his hat, only to find a dark-feathered messenger bird circling above him. Seeing the long shadow stretching from the tip of its tail, he made an educated guess.

‘Did it come from the Underworld?’

And if a god from the Underworld was contacting him this urgently, it could only be one person.

“Yeees. Did you call, Lord Hades? The messenger for us all, and your swift-footed personal courier—Hermes has received your urgent dispatch!”

Hermes cheerfully called out as he let the messenger bird perch on his finger.

[I have something to ask, Hermes.]

Sure enough, cutting stiffly to the chase was exactly the style of the King of the Underworld.

Hermes smirked and rested his chin in his hand.

“If you’re the King of the Underworld, shouldn’t ‘burying’ someone be a piece of cake for you?” (Note: Hermes makes a pun here, as ‘to ask’ and ‘to bury’ use the same verb in Korean).

[…What?]

“No, I mean, it’s true. Just like how you stay cooped up in your palace, you can just drag whoever it is down into the Underworld with you.”

Hermes shrugged as he made his playful banter.

[I don’t have time for wordplay.]

A sinister chill crawled up his spine like a spider.

[For the record, I am right behind you, so just answer the question.]

Hermes’s body went completely rigid, his smile frozen in place.

“Aw, come on, getting so worked up over a little joke…”

Shrinking back slightly, he blinked his eyes at the seemingly empty air.

[Enough. From now on, listen to the physical description I give you and guess who this person might be.]

Ignoring the brazen Hermes, Hades continued.

[First, she was a woman with pale skin and a slender build. In her hair, there was an ornament woven from grass and flower petals.]

“You must have met her in person?”

[I told you to stick to the matter at hand.]

“…Yes. A woman with pale skin, slender, and an ornament in her hair. And then?”

[Pink hair, and light green eyes like fresh spring sprouts. Her pigmentation was pale, but it was a clear and bright color rarely seen in the Underworld.]

“Her eyes were like ‘fresh spring sprouts’? Isn’t that a bit too subjective?”

[It’s just a figure of speech.]

A deep sigh was heard coming from the Underworld’s messenger bird.

[And it seems her mother’s side is a high-ranking god. But whether her father’s side was a mortal or a lower god, her blood was red.]

“Hmm… In any case, you mean she didn’t have golden blood like you, Lord Hades.”

[Do you know who she is?]

Rolling the information around in his head for a moment, Hermes tossed a question back.

“By any chance, did you meet this friend you’re describing on the island of Sicily? You know, the place at the tip of that boot-shaped peninsula.”

[…How did you know?]

“Well, because that friend you mentioned…” Hermes trailed off, touching the corner of his mouth. “She’s Lady Demeter’s daughter.”

[…]

“She goes by ‘Kore’.”

A brief moment of silence hung in the air.

At the end of it, a faint, thin voice leaked out from the messenger bird.

[…The child I just hit with my chariot is my sister Demeter’s daughter?]