38

Chapter 38

Around the time Gio fell asleep after successfully completing his jerky project,

the world outside the Frame was in the middle of its working day.

“So that’s why you called me.”

“Come now, let’s talk. Why do you look so frightening?”

“It would be a serious misunderstanding to think that ‘Gio’s Portrait’ is my only responsibility….”

“I give you bonuses.”

“Damn capitalist society.”

Yoo Seongwoon had been summoned by the Guild Master.

“Did I not tell you I would organize the report and submit it soon?”

“How am I supposed to wait until then?”

“Why can’t you wait for this?”

“You know me.”

“I’m not sure I do.”

“People ought to speak face-to-face.”

“What an outrageous insult to our highly advanced modern society.”

“There’s too little warmth in the world these days. Our employees are even worse.”

“I don’t know what warmth you expect from this miserable world, or why you’re demanding it from me.”

“Everyone is so coldhearted.”

“That’s your own preference, so stop spouting nonsense.”

Smiling brightly at an utterly exhausted Yoo Seongwoon, Bisabeol mixed him a drink with fruit cheong.

“Shall we drink this and find our strength?”

“Is it poison?”

“Now, now. This is a gift from our precious Portrait. How could you call it poison?”

“I’d rather you gave me poison. Then I could drink it and collapse….”

No matter how gentle ‘Gio’s Portrait’ might be, he was a being of the Source and, to put it simply, a Monster. Dealing with a rare Humanoid Monster was difficult enough, but that was not Yoo Seongwoon’s only duty.

“The sea has been so unsettled lately that I was summoned again.”

Yoo Seongwoon handled outside commissions as well.

“When I investigated, the movements of the Children of the Source were peculiar. I’ll submit a report on that soon too. Probably tomorrow or the day after….”

“You can report that later. It wasn’t my commission.”

“Of course you’d say that.”

“Then will you tell me about Gio now?”

“I knew this would happen.”

For reference, Bisabeol had still never managed to speak with Gio.

“Perhaps Gio avoids talking to you because you behave so overbearingly.”

“What did I even do?”

“Plenty of employees have seen Black Cloak, yet the Guild Master himself has never had a single conversation with him. At this point, it’s a dereliction of duty.”

“I told you, I tried to talk to him.”

“I meant that you should change your approach.”

This was an issue related to Gio’s nature.

“Doesn’t Gio dislike rude people?”

“He doesn’t hate them.”

“That’s true, but….”

There were two things ‘Gio’s Portrait’ disliked.

Rudeness and evil.

‘…But although he avoids rude people, he doesn’t regard them especially negatively.’

Among humans, were there not people who liked dogs and cats but disliked reptiles?

Gio avoided rude people in roughly that fashion. He did not disparage their very existence, but neither did he enjoy associating with them.

“That detached side of him is quite similar to a Child of the Source.”

“I suppose it would be. Even if he insists he’s human, not every part of him can be the same as a human. He may be trying hard to ignore the fact that he isn’t one….”

In reality, Gio simply had not thought about it at all.

“Though he doesn’t seem to show even that detachment toward criminals.”

When faced with rudeness, Gio thought, ‘That happens.’ Yet when confronted with malice, he displayed unmistakable loathing. He had never actually encountered a criminal, but his usual words and behavior made that much clear already.

“Either way, we need to exercise caution. You should be more careful too, Guild Master.”

“I’ll try to restrain myself.”

“You’ll say that and do the same thing again. Anyway….”

The reason Bisabeol had summoned Yoo Seongwoon was obvious.

“You want to know how Gio behaved during his tour of Seoul?”

“Of course I do. A being of the Source whose identity we don’t even know wandered through the human world. And I heard he returned peacefully without causing any major incidents?”

“That’s correct.”

There was, of course, one troubling fact.

“Wasn’t a priest of the Sun reported missing?”

“Oh, that’s hardly anything. I looked into him, and his past didn’t seem particularly clean.”

“It seems the church is keeping it quiet internally for that reason as well.”

“With the initiation ceremony coming up, they’ll want to avoid making it a public issue all the more.”

“…It appears Gio had a hand in the disappearance.”

A Hunter capable of serving as a Curator could not possess merely ordinary powers of observation and memory. Yoo Seongwoon remembered the man dressed as a Joseon scholar whom they had encountered at Gyeongbokgung Palace, and the priest now missing was that very man.

“That day, Gio shaped his hands like a camera and looked at the man.”

“A camera? Considering Gio is a Portrait, wouldn’t it be closer to a frame?”

“Perhaps so. In any case, after their gazes met, Gio said he wanted to leave Gyeongbokgung Palace. He didn’t seem to be in a good mood.”

“Perhaps encountering a wicked man who didn’t suit his tastes soured his mood?”

“I believe that is highly likely.”

“So that’s how Gio appraises people. Good information to have.”

Bisabeol’s intelligence network had confirmed that the priest was already involved in suspicious dealings. Yoo Seongwoon trusted Bisabeol, and neither of them gave any thought to the possibility that the priest Gio had dealt with might not have been evil.

“Still, the fact that he handled it quietly shows us how well Gio understands human society. He probably wanted to avoid causing a commotion.”

No. It had simply been Honey acting alone while Gio lay sprawled out asleep. Nor had Honey particularly wished to avoid a commotion. He had merely detected a threat to his father, disposed of it, and returned.

However, Gio did not give the impression of being quite that thoughtless. Rather, he often felt like an even quieter being precisely because he knew so much. The two continued their discussion under the assumption that Gio was aware of everything.

“In this case, I am curious what would happen if he encountered a criminal head-on.”

“Why would you be curious about something like that? Don’t indulge in strange curiosities.”

“How coldhearted.”

“……”

Did he really want to behave like this at his age?

‘I must never grow old like him.’

Yoo Seongwoon ignored Bisabeol’s feigned pitiful expression.

“The most surprising aspect of this tour and observation was undoubtedly that Gio lowered his own stature to a human level.”

“…Lowered his stature?”

For the first time in a while, Bisabeol looked surprised.

“Gio did? You mean he lowered his stature to the level of a human of his own accord?”

“Yes. Astonishing, isn’t it?”

“Before astonishment, it’s….”

Bisabeol chose his words for a moment. Soon, he found a suitable one.

“Revolting.”

As expected, Gio was not human.

“To carve away his own flesh so casually….”

“It horrified me when I first saw him too. If Gio were human, he could never have made such a decision.”

“And if he did it merely to avoid causing a commotion, that makes it even more incomprehensible.”

Bisabeol had never spoken to Gio, but he had ‘seen’ him many times. The stature of the Gio that Bisabeol knew existed on a level incomparable to that of a mere human.

“Yet he deliberately dragged himself down far enough to feel human….”

It was no different from torture by live dismemberment.

“Did he show any signs of ill health?”

“None that I could detect. He wore the same expressionless face as always.”

“I see.”

Gio had originally been human, so the sensation was not strange to him. To everyone else, however, it was an act of madness even worse than plucking out one’s own eyes, severing one’s limbs, and removing one’s organs.

“Were there any other unusual details?”

“Uh….”

Yoo Seongwoon chose a lighter topic.

“He likes food.”

“So that’s why he keeps giving food as gifts.”

“He seemed interested in both eating and cooking.”

There was something about that which had worried Yoo Seongwoon.

“It looked like someone might easily take advantage of him.”

“Oh dear.”

That was somewhat problematic.

“You said you spoke to him about that, correct?”

“I’m not sure he understood.”

“A benevolent being of the Source is actually far more difficult to deal with.”

An ordinary Monster could simply be dealt with in the usual way, but because Gio required steady mutual interaction, there was far more to consider. Just as protection was more difficult than attack.

“Still, it’s fortunate that he appears strongly willing to cooperate.”

“He is a good fellow, after all….”

Aside from the eeriness of his stature, Gio was undoubtedly a good fellow.

…Read only on MUGEX…

“The problem is that his very existence is a threat.”

“That isn’t something we can do anything about, is it?”

“I know.”

Nevertheless, regardless of Gio’s sincerity, continued vigilance seemed necessary.

“…Ah.”

“Is there something else?”

“It concerns Gio’s personality.”

“His personality? This already sounds interesting.”

“After lowering his stature, Gio truly looked human.”

This required some explanation.

“To the point that he seemed like an entirely different being from his usual self.”

“If it went that far, it can’t merely be a matter of high or low stature, can it?”

“We confirmed that it also has some effect on his personality.”

“A side effect of lowering his stature?”

“Isn’t that the most likely explanation? We prefer this version because he’s more harmless, but….”

The Gio inside the painting—or the one who occasionally wandered the building at dawn—possessed something eerie. He was like a grim reaper.

‘No. He would be closer to death itself, without will or emotion.’

He wore a pitch-black cloak and walked with scarcely a sound, his hands always clasped behind his back. He carried himself with the refinement of an aristocrat and looked at the world with curiosity in his eyes. Yet his somber, expressionless face also held a certain chill.

That low temperature did not suggest coldness in Gio’s personality. It merely seemed to say that his very existence was incapable of holding warmth.

“When Gio hasn’t lowered his stature, he’s exceedingly polite, composed, and grave. Even among people who’ve never spoken with him and have only seen the Portrait, many say things like, ‘It looks as if someone’s final moments were painted.’”

Gio felt like the embodiment of a funeral.

And there was that unfathomable quality.

“You could never call him human.”

“But is it significant enough to say his personality changed?”

“We confirmed that it definitely has an effect.”

After lowering his stature, Gio truly seemed like an ordinary person.

“A rather taciturn and very courteous person.”

But the usual Gio was different.

“He’s somewhat more arrogant.”

“Hmm?”

“No, arrogant isn’t quite the right word… How should I put it…?”

It was difficult to express.

“…As though he were a person of very high standing….”

Gio looked down upon humans.

Like someone who kept insects as a hobby watching a commendable ant carry its burden—or even adoring the ant.

“Gio has, in fact, given people gifts many times. Those were rewards, but they unmistakably took the form of a bestowal from above. Even while calling himself an ordinary twenty-nine-year-old human, he evaluated and praised employees far older than himself.”

Bisabeol asked in response,

“But Gio was different after lowering his stature?”

“Yes. At that time, he truly seemed like an ordinary young man.”

The ‘Gio’ Yoo Seongwoon had observed was a well-mannered, quiet twenty-nine-year-old.

“He was also somewhat… excessively curious, and there was the time he tried to settle his bill with jewels, but….”

“He isn’t truly human, so those peculiarities are unavoidable. Even so, the fact that he behaved convincingly like an ordinary young man is quite remarkable.”

“He said he had taken separate measures. That was probably the cause.”

There was a cause for concern as well.

“Ordinarily, his lofty stature makes it impossible to even imagine trying anything against him. But when he looked like an ordinary twenty-nine-year-old man, I began to wonder whether he might fall victim to some strange scam.”

“…Would it really be that bad? He still has his Appraisal Skill….”

“When he was transformed into a human, not only did his personality become much gentler, but his abilities also seemed restricted. Even to use that Appraisal Skill, he had to deliberately make a frame with his hands.”

And one more thing.

“The longer he remained outside, the weaker he became.”

In truth, it was merely that exposure to modern society for the first time in so long had completely drained his energy. But Yoo Seongwoon paid close attention to every aspect of Gio’s condition and could not help assigning the observation a wider range of meanings.

“I’m worried someone else might interfere with him.”

“That would certainly be a problem.”

“Wouldn’t it?”

“For Gio too, of course, but the thing is….”

Bisabeol stroked his chin.

“Lowering his stature doesn’t make his fundamental nature disappear.”

Suppose that, of two large pieces of metal, one were compressed until it became very small.

One would certainly be large and the other small, but their weight would be the same. In fact, the smaller one might injure a human more easily precisely because of its size.

A bomb offered a similar example. Processing a bomb into a small, adorable shape did not change the fact that it would explode the moment it was lit. Because it had been compressed, its detonation might actually be far more violent.

“Without a proper analysis, this is only speculation… But because Gio thinks of himself as human, any attempt to strike at his fundamental nature would likely provoke a much greater recoil. There’s no need to cause such a disaster deliberately.”

“I agree.”

“Unless the entire population has agreed to a mass suicide?”

Thus, Gio appeared to require definite protection while he was ‘human.’

“We should issue him a Hunter license.”

“That alone would certainly discourage most people from provoking him.”

In this world, Hunters were a kind of powerful elite and celebrity. If a dispute arose, merely showing a Hunter license resolved most conflicts. That was because the Association rigorously prevented fights between Hunters.

“And one more thing.”

Yoo Seongwoon continued.

“This also concerns his personality.”

“What further problem could there be?”

“The human Gio could be defined as ‘Seo Gio,’ a twenty-nine-year-old man. Correct?”

But Yoo Seongwoon had witnessed it clearly.

“When Gio dipped his feet into Cheonggyecheon….”

“……”

“And when he rode the water taxi.”

A change came over Gio.

“He looked at the water through the eyes of another person.”

That gaze did not belong to Gio, the blunt and taciturn twenty-nine-year-old man.

It seemed more seasoned, his emotions more distinct. There was a clear sense of distance, but no chill. Instead, it was gentle, like the gaze of a beloved model student. Even the fleeting smile carried a light, cheerful quality like a cool sea breeze.

In many respects, it differed from both the existing ‘Seo Gio’ and the ‘Portrait.’

“His appearance changed as well. His hair turned white, and the color of water shimmered in his eyes.”

“Oh, that sounds rather similar to Curator Yoo Seongwoon, doesn’t it?”

“It felt somewhat… different from me. The qualities were similar, yes, but….”

Those colors were much warmer.

Like summer sunlight or the surface of the sea.

“……”

He was not certain.

“I’ll investigate further.”

“Let’s do that.”

They knew far too little about Gio.

(To be continued)