Chapter 22
Yoo Seongwoon asked the Guild Master for help.
“Help.”
“Oh, what is it now?”
“I’ve come to practice the virtue of sharing.”
“I’m everyone’s favorite punching bag, aren’t I?”
The moment the clock struck nine in the morning, Yoo Seongwoon went to find Bisabeol with a large glass crock in his hands. It was big enough to seize even the gaze of Bisabeol, who had received the unexpected visit.
“Your tastes are unusual, Curator Yoo Seongwoon. That is a rare Item.”
“Don’t needle me when you already know everything. Just help me.”
“Shall I?”
Despite the sealed mouth of the crock, Bisabeol immediately recognized from the sweet aroma escaping it that it held fruit cheong. He also knew Gio must have given it to Yoo Seongwoon.
“You’ve Appraised it, I presume?”
“As soon as I received it from Gio.”
“Its grade?”
“Still unknown.”
“Dear me.”
Clack.
Bisabeol stared at the fruit cheong set on the table.
“……”
“Can you see anything?”
“It is exceptionally good for the body.”
“I doubt ‘exceptionally good’ begins to cover it, but understood.”
“Did you not say you still haven’t finished the cookies from last time?”
“If I eat too many, I can’t sleep. I may be a cog in the capitalist machine, but even a slave is human and needs to sleep.”
“You would become immensely popular if you handed them out to employees working overtime or the guards on the Dawn Shift.”
“If I did, the Association would take our portrait away. Those people may know how to keep their mouths shut, but there’s no telling where information might leak.”
“I know. I’m exercising restraint.”
Bisabeol chuckled softly.
“More importantly, we must not treat Gio as an Item dispenser.”
“Regarding that…”
After considering Bisabeol’s words, Yoo Seongwoon nodded in satisfaction.
“I’m glad you seem to be keeping that in mind.”
They still could not be certain of the true identity of Gio’s Portrait.
The best way for humans to extend their lives was not to fear it excessively, but to remain as vigilant and conscious of it as possible.
“Even setting its effects aside, it looks sacred enough that donating it to a temple would earn tremendous praise.”
“Yes, well, the description said it was particularly effective against malnutrition. I’m not in that condition myself, so I can’t say how noticeable the effect would be.”
“If nutrition is the issue, the Temple of the Sun would be especially pleased. With this much, they might even save impoverished people already halfway to becoming mummies.”
“If even the Sun Church would welcome it, I can certainly tell it’s an Item with warm energy. Is it really that effective?”
“Since it is concentrated, would not even a single spoonful per person greatly benefit a dungeon exploration team?”
Exploration teams were Hunters dispatched not to clear dungeons, but to locate people who had disappeared within them or determine the dungeons’ layouts. Since it was impossible for such teams to leave again after only a short period, they consumed a great deal of food.
The problem was that the nature of dungeon environments made it impossible to carry very much. As a result, teams typically brought mostly flavorless nutritional products or potions.
“Judging by its appearance, this seems delicious as well. Because it is concentrated, a small quantity is enough, and since it is consumed as fruit tea, it is as convenient to ingest as a potion.”
“……”
“It would be rather burdensome to enjoy privately. If the public learned of it, the government would impose regulations.”
“So I thought.”
“But, however regrettable it may be for humanity as a whole, it seems we must enjoy it privately.”
Bisabeol grinned like an immature young man.
“We can’t sell it, can we?”
“Ah, absolutely not.”
It was a gift given out of goodwill by a being of the Source. Gio had never given them permission to sell it. If he discovered it circulating at auction, the hatred and resentment Yoo Seongwoon would have to endure would be beyond anything he could bear.
That was the nature of a “rule.”
“I think this every time, but the government is far too unwary of the Source.”
It had been thirty-one years since the Great Cataclysm. That was not a short time, but neither was it terribly long.
Unlike dungeons, whose anomalies were easy to detect, the Source was indifferent toward humans. Perhaps it was inevitable that the government’s understanding of it remained so poor.
“The current President pays a fair amount of attention to it, and it isn’t as though no one understands beings like these… Even so, nothing is being implemented in society in practical terms.”
Yoo Seongwoon released a frustrated sigh.
“I wish they would provide preventative safety education not only about dungeons but about the Source as well. I feel terrible whenever I see someone who was killed by a Child of the Source without ever knowing why, or the family they left behind. There is a limit to what Gardeners can do in response.”
“The matter hasn’t even been properly understood yet, and aren’t the dungeons on its surface the greatest threat at present? It’s inevitable that they pay more attention to dungeons, which cause havoc at every turn, than to the Source, which causes no trouble as long as it’s left alone. We’re short on personnel too.”
“Even though all we’re doing is gnawing on the watermelon rind.”
“The scarcity of people capable of perceiving the Source likely contributes to that.”
Unlike dungeons, which anyone could see and recognize, and the Monsters who made their homes within them, the entities known as Children of the Source were difficult for most people to perceive.
Many theories had arisen, but the most widely supported was that they existed in a domain imperceptible to the human body. According to that theory, only a small number of humans who evolved or were altered as Earth’s environment changed could see Children of the Source.
“If I remember correctly, even people with the proper aptitude cannot see every Child of the Source.”
“Correct. This is a kind of talent as well. Just as everyone’s hearing differs, there are Children that every person with the aptitude can see, and others that some cannot.”
“Stories about your field are always fascinating.”
“There is also a theory that the fewer people with the aptitude who can see a Child, the closer that being is to the Source. Somewhere out there, there must be a Child even I cannot see.”
“The idea that danger could be close at hand with no one able to see it is certainly chilling.”
“If you can neither see nor perceive it, you cannot touch it in the first place. And if you do not touch it, it will not become angry…”
Yoo Seongwoon sighed.
“I complained out of impatience, but honestly, it probably doesn’t matter if citizens remain ignorant of the Source for now. Its beings are indifferent toward humans.”
“Did you not say last time that there were exceptions?”
“Yes, of course there are exceptions… But they are not as aggressive as Monsters, so the harm they cause is limited.”
That scarcity was another reason the Children of the Source had remained unknown until now.
“Well, in any case.”
“Yes.”
“We do need to consume this.”
“Indeed.”
“It’s a rich concentrate, and there’s so much of it that it would be awkward for only the two of us to have it.”
“…Are you thinking of summoning more victims?”
“We should call the Human Resources Team.”
Like the Secretarial Team, the Human Resources Team was composed of those with the tightest lips among all the guild members. They had to handle everything from the general care of the guild members to Guild Master Bisabeol’s confidential orders.
“At the very least, word won’t spread to the other teams.”
“That much is true, but…”
“They’ve also been run ragged with overtime lately.”
“Why don’t you reveal my cookies while you’re at it?”
“I’ll lie and say I purchased this Item separately.”
“I appreciate that. Though I don’t know whether such an excuse will fool those intelligent people.”
“Oh, they know how to read the room, so they’ll keep quiet on their own. Those employees hate extra work more than death itself.”
“True. That is the sort of person you gathered there…”
Yoo Seongwoon breathed a sigh of relief.
‘…Gio won’t mind that I shared it with my colleagues.’
Of course, the rules of the Source could not ordinarily be muddled through in such a careless manner. There were many cases in which something became poisonous when consumed by anyone other than its specifically designated recipient.
‘But from the beginning, Gio clearly said…’
That he wanted to share it with “all of you.”
‘That was what he said.’
He had been referring to every employee in the guild.
“……”
“Are you certain there will be no problem?”
“Yes. I reviewed the conversation, and it was indeed a gift intended for every employee, myself included.”
“Presumably, that was why he gave you such a large crock. It’s far too much for you to consume alone, Mr. Yoo Seongwoon.”
“Honestly, I don’t think he considered that at all when he gave it to me…”
The fellow was notoriously generous with his portions.
“It would be strange for a being of the Source to know what quantity humans considered appropriate.”
“But did you not say he possesses memories from when he was human, Curator Yoo Seongwoon?”
“He does, but I suspect they are incomplete.”
The employees who had encountered the figure known as the Black Cloak testified that Gio had introduced himself as “Seo Gio.”
Gio, a young man who had died at the age of twenty-nine—or had been configured that way. Those were likely the memories Gio’s Portrait possessed.
“However, the point we must consider here is why the portrait was defined as ‘Gio.’”
That was not a name humans had given it.
“It is a name defined by the Source.”
Every skill used by Awakeners—that was to say, Hunters—drew upon the aid of the Source. The same principle applied here.
The Source, which could be described as a kind of god or a system spanning all dimensions, had given that name to a single portrait in the basement of a single building in a single country on a single planet.
“Therefore, the portrait’s name is not ‘Seo Gio,’ but ‘Gio.’ Does that not contradict his own claim?”
“Perhaps… it means the Source’s judgment and Gio’s memories do not align?”
“Correct. The name we are discussing was not chosen by us for ourselves, nor given by one human to another. It is the name of our essence.”
In other words, it could be called a “true name” bestowed by the Source, their progenitor.
“The name displayed by the System is, in other words, the Source’s evaluation of that subject’s essence. It is not something a mere human can easily disregard.”
“And Gio was assigned such a name directly?”
“It is even displayed in a form anyone can interpret. Whether one uses a low-level Appraisal Skill or a high-level one like yours, Guild Master, everyone can recognize the name. But…”
“The problem is that nothing beyond it can be learned.”
“Correct.”
Yoo Seongwoon waved his hand as though cutting something away with scissors.
“It is as though the Source has blocked it off and declared, ‘This must not be read.’ It revealed only one thing: the name ‘Gio.’”
“That sounds like a tale about a god.”
“They say those upon whom a god casts its gaze go mad.”
Yoo Seongwoon did not deny it.
“The Source is generally benevolent toward humans. No—it is benevolent toward everything it contains. That is precisely why it can also appear indifferent.”
“……”
“If it were benevolent only toward humans, dungeons, which are among its children, should never have been born. It merely helps all its children fight on equal terms.”
Such distant arrogance certainly deserved to be called “divine,” though the gods of the modern era had become quite far removed from omniscience and omnipotence.
“This is a self-aware portrait that the Source itself has declared dangerous and forbidden us to investigate.”
“……”
“…It truly may be a god. Or perhaps something beyond a god—something mere humans cannot define.”
A “something” laboring under the delusion that it was human.
“……”
“…In a world like this, I wonder how surprising something with the traits of a god could really be, but in any case…”
Yoo Seongwoon heaved a deep sigh.
“It is only one conjecture. He does not appear to be a Monster, an Item, or one of the Children of the Source, so bizarre hypotheses inevitably come to mind.”
“I thought it was a reasonably plausible hypothesis. Priests already serve gods, and gods who enjoy amusing themselves exist in this world. He may be a god who enjoys interacting with humans.”
“If that’s true, the Earth is in danger, so let’s stop. The moment Gio realizes he isn’t human, something beyond a calamity… a calamity-like miracle will occur.”
“Hmm. Do you think so?”
“It would be best if we also regarded Gio as an ordinary human. Because the Source is a ‘living story,’ the danger posed by a subject changes according to how people perceive it.”
“That is truly astonishing.”
Bisabeol was deeply intrigued.
“Do not Children of the Source of that sort appear primarily in Japan? Perhaps because it is a country with so many shrines, there is an equally diverse array of Children of the Source that affect reality. What changes would occur if we came to believe in the god named Gio?”
“That is precisely why I’m telling you not to entertain such thoughts. Don’t pour the terrifying oil of a divine narrative over a creature already dangerous enough.”
“Living stories certainly are frightening. The mere moment people learn more about them or incorporate additional details into their setting, they become more terrifying beings… They say accidents are particularly common in cultures fond of mythology, do they not?”
“Don’t think strange thoughts. What disaster are you trying to cause…?”
After muttering with a disgusted expression, Yoo Seongwoon returned to his usual placid demeanor.
“In any case, I believe Gio’s memories are incomplete. Setting aside all that talk about his essence in relation to the Source, the fact that he considers himself human yet displays no agitation over his condition or abilities proves it.”
That was not true. Gio simply had no thoughts in his head.
But the absurd indifference that allowed him to reduce his transformation to, “I was human, then I came back to life thirty-one years after dying and evolved into a portrait—ta-da,” lent support to Yoo Seongwoon’s argument in an utterly nonsensical direction. Ordinary people were not so oblivious to the state of their own bodies.
“If he had been a normal human, he would have been terrified of his condition. He began as a human and became a portrait. He could not have avoided feeling horror or disgust at that alone. Moreover, the fact that he has not become intoxicated by the omnipotence that lets him create everything but humans inside that world… is inconceivable for a human.”
And yet that inconceivable thing had actually occurred. Gio’s miraculously carefree disposition was demonstrating its worth in the most preposterous manner.
“It is a situation impossible for human sensibilities.”
“He certainly isn’t ordinary.”
“Naturally, I don’t know everything about the Source either. I cannot be certain whether he was human before becoming part of the Source, or whether some entity of the Source assumed human form.”
“Hmm…”
“But separate from his willingness to answer questions, Gio rarely speaks about himself.”
Once again, Gio simply had not thought about it. He was not someone who dwelled on the past, and along the same lines, it had never even occurred to him that Yoo Seongwoon might be curious about his history.
“Although he calls himself human, Gio very naturally accepts doing things no human can do.”
This, too, was a misunderstanding. He lived so thoughtlessly that he had yet to fully grasp the situation. Now that Gio was enjoying a life like a hurricane, he spared no time for worries that made his head hurt. Life was already busy enough when one simply enjoyed it.
Even if he had grasped the situation, Gio was the sort of person who would have remained shocked for roughly five seconds out of courtesy before immediately contemplating what to eat for lunch. He was an unassailable man of the modern age, never allowing cold water to be thrown over his clear, crisp mind.
“Most people could not remain that calm.”
“That is true.”
“Isn’t it strange that he feels nothing despite possessing the power to commit mass slaughter or unleash a natural disaster at any moment?”
The same point had been repeated several times now, but Gio simply had not thought that far. To him, the only trials and hardships in life were deciding what to eat for three meals a day.
From the beginning, Gio had regarded even his superhuman abilities as little more than “the power to make food with paintings.” It had never occurred to him that this power could threaten humanity.
Gio was the sort of great man who could say, “Why would I do that when I can roast sweet potatoes with it?”
“I do not believe humans are beings with that much capacity.”
Gio’s capacity was that great. His lucid way of thinking, which admitted nothing impure, had a talent for accepting only the “information” contained within “serious information.”
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Other than the facts that he had evolved into a portrait and could make a living in this particular way, Gio was not especially curious about anything. He was muddling through life in the truest sense.
Naturally, ordinary people could not begin to imagine such inner circumstances, so the two men remained perfectly serious.
“He also lacks a considerable amount of information any human should know.”
“……”
“Then there must be a gap in many respects between his perception and reality…”
“Yet Gio continues to insist that he is human?”
“Perhaps he knows the truth but is desperately denying it.”
He simply had not yet adjusted to the present world after thirty-one years. It was no different from a ninety-year-old struggling to use a kiosk.
But Yoo Seongwoon reached his own conclusion.
“If that is the case, it would amount to self-hypnosis. Either way, it would be unwise for us to question Gio about his identity first.”
“Fascinating, as always.”
Bisabeol looked at Yoo Seongwoon with envy. In the insinuating tone of a child who wanted another ice cream from the freezer, he said,
“I would like to speak with him as well…”
“I see.”
“Please arrange it for me.”
“That would be rather difficult.”
“Ah, why?”
“Gio dislikes you.”
“He doesn’t hate me, does he?”
“You stress him out.”
Yoo Seongwoon firmly shook his head.
“You were the one who entrusted Gio to me, Guild Master. I have a duty to protect Gio’s condition. As long as he considers himself human, he requires adequate care.”
“Are you saying I am not a person suited to providing that care?”
“Do you really think you are?”
“As expected of Curator Yoo Seongwoon. You never speak nonsense.”
“…Haa…”
So he did not dispute it in the end.
‘It’s fortunate he possesses at least a trace of conscience.’
Yoo Seongwoon smiled bitterly.
“As before, we still need to learn more about Gio. We do not yet know his identity, his precise way of thinking, or whether he has other rules.”
“Since I was the one who brought him here, make certain he is treated properly. Gio’s Portrait being satisfied with the service in my Gallery—that is all I desire.”
Bisabeol nodded.
“And make sure he can continue believing himself human.”
“It is a tremendous burden, but I will endeavor to preserve peace for humanity.”
That was why Yoo Seongwoon had devised an idea.
“…Soon, I’m thinking of taking Gio outside the company building.”
The portrait where Gio resided was far too alien a place for a human to inhabit.
Perhaps because Gio did not want to stray from his image of himself as human, he dismissed it as merely “having come to reside inside a portrait.” But if he remained in there forever, he would eventually realize his true nature.
“The fact that Gio mistakenly believes himself human is an enormous stroke of luck for us. If possible, we must allow him to continue under that misconception. To do so, we need to place Gio among humans.”
“Hide a tree in a forest?”
“…Isn’t that a little different? In any case, if we create a human environment for him, the misconception should endure longer. With that in mind, I plan to show Gio around the city.”
“And the danger?”
“……”
Yoo Seongwoon averted his gaze.
“…We will have to be careful.”
“Will that be sufficient?”
“What else can we do? It’s better to try something than wait for Gio to realize his true nature and erupt.”
“It is a choice so bold that I can hardly believe it came from you, Curator Yoo Seongwoon. Naturally, I approve.”
“I am aware that I’m taking a dangerous gamble. I have simply judged it necessary.”
Yoo Seongwoon had never seen him properly, so he could not say for sure, but was this not a portrait capable of making people faint merely by meeting their eyes?
“Gio is deeply considerate toward humans. He is gentlemanly and polite. None of the employees he has encountered so far have died… and there are several Hunters in the real world who exert as much pressure as Gio.”
“It will become troublesome if the media announces the sudden appearance of an S-rank. These days, every country takes such pride in its Hunters—treating them as celebrities and idols—that once a rumor begins, it will spread in an instant.”
“That may actually be preferable. Disguising him as a Hunter would make it easier to conceal him. One way or another, we could force Gio into human parameters.”
“……”
“The danger posed by a Child of the Source changes according to the magnitude of the story it contains. If Gio’s ‘story’ is reduced to a human scale, his safety will increase.”
Yoo Seongwoon sighed.
“…That is assuming Gio grants permission.”
“What do you think he will say?”
“Ah, I don’t know. Don’t ask me. My head is already about to explode.”
“That is why I added extra compensation.”
“Damned capitalist society.”
After thinking for a moment, Yoo Seongwoon spoke.
“Could you tell the employees not to be so afraid of Gio?”
“Do you imagine that will work? Has your brain dissolved in caffeine? Has it been canned and ceased to function?”
“Why must you be so scathing? I was asking you to establish rules, at the very least.”
He looked troubled.
“Gio was displeased because everyone he encountered became severely rigid. He judged them to be rude.”
“……”
“There is a limit to how often we can tell Gio not to take offense, so we humans must do everything possible to observe proper ‘manners’ toward him as well.”
“…Hmm…”
Bisabeol nodded.
“If all we need to do is regulate their behavior, I can manage something.”
“Is it possible?”
“There’s no reason it wouldn’t be.”
This was the Collectors—the collectors’ kingdom. There was nothing Bisabeol could not do here.
Such was the power enjoyed by a Guild Master in modern society.
(To be continued)