Chapter 117
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 117
The woman was never much of a sleeper.
Even now, as the other rookies who had just finished their first day of training at the Collector Guild slept soundly, she couldn’t find rest.
For the past few years, a gnawing anxiety—the fear of being left behind—had stolen most of her nights. The resulting insomnia was a relentless torment, but she couldn’t help it.
…I should be studying one more thing right now…
She didn’t harbor grand ambitions, but she possessed a desperate drive born from her bleak circumstances. She had no desire to become someone great or stand in the spotlight; she was simply one of those people who yearned for what others called “ordinary happiness.”
“I’ve already memorized all the handouts from the Collector Guild.”
As a Carnation Child, she had grown up working for a hunter from an illegal guild. Having spent her life searching for a way into the light, the hand extended to her by the Collector Guild was the opportunity of a lifetime.
“I’m not the only rookie here, and since I’m a C-Rank—the lowest among my peers—I don’t even know if I’ll get hired. I can’t just throw away a chance to gain the protection of one of South Korea’s Top 3 Guilds.”
She was currently in the Collector’s dormitory.
…The guild itself operates twenty-four hours a day, right?
She quickly threw on some clothes and headed for the main guild building.
It was just past four in the morning. The security guard at the entrance widened his eyes in surprise, seeing her arrive at an hour when almost no one was around. As the man stationed at the entrance, he knew the face of every single employee, the rookies included.
“You’re one of the new hires, aren’t you?”
“Ah, yes! That’s right.”
“I heard you were assigned to the gallery. Do you have work already?”
“Well… I’m not sure if this is allowed, but I wanted to get a head start on familiarizing myself with the place…”
“So you don’t have any official duties right now.”
“…Is that not allowed?” she asked, her voice faltering.
“Anything that happens from here on out is at your own risk. No reason you can’t go in.”
The guard gestured toward the security gate. She hurriedly swiped her employee ID, and once she was safely inside, she bowed to him.
“Um, thank you.”
“Just an employee coming in for work. No need to thank me.”
The friendly guard, possessing an easygoing nature, struck up a conversation.
“If you’re heading to the gallery, I’d advise against going below the first basement floor. There are still a couple of people working in the B1 gallery, so if you have any questions, you can ask them.”
“Would that be alright? I hope I won’t be a bother…”
“They’re only there because they have to keep watch during these sleepy hours anyway. They’ll probably be glad to have someone to talk to. It’s essentially night watch duty.”
“…Thank you for letting me know.”
“With a work ethic like that, I hope to see you become a full-time employee soon. I know you’re in a rush, but make sure to take your time with the elevator.”
“……”
Giving him a polite nod, she walked deeper into the building.
Even though it’s the middle of the night, the lights are so bright.
Perhaps for the benefit of the night shift staff, not a single light was off. Still, the absolute silence and lack of any human presence sent a sudden chill down her spine. Steeling herself, she pressed on toward the gallery elevator, the sound of her footsteps echoing loudly down the empty corridor.
The elevator Curator Yoo Seong-un had pointed out earlier that day required a rather convoluted route to reach.
“……”
After scanning her ID card to verify her identity, she pressed the gold button. Perhaps because everyone had already gone home, it took a long time for the elevator doors to finally slide open.
“…Ah, the logbook.”
Her eyes fell upon the paper logbook hanging on the elevator wall.
“I think they said we should make a habit of signing this.”
Did that rule apply to her, a rookie who wasn’t even a full-time employee yet?
“Hmm…”
After a moment’s hesitation, she picked up the pen and wrote her name down.
As a non-combat hunter, she couldn’t retrieve special items from dungeons. Having been born in the slums and raised in an illegal guild without a proper education, her administrative skills were also severely lacking.
But they said the most important thing in the Collector’s gallery is one’s affection for the works. They promised they wouldn’t assign anything beyond my capabilities, so as long as I put my heart and soul into it, I can do well here.
Desperate to secure her place, she carefully wrote out each letter with the utmost precision.
“Destination… Basement, 1st Floor…”
After briefly noting her purpose, she returned the gold fountain pen to its holder.
…Aren’t they worried someone might steal this if it isn’t chained down?
Then again, this was one of South Korea’s Top 3 Guilds. No one would be foolish enough to pull such a stunt here.
The elevator was a harmonious blend of ivory and gold. Before pressing the button, she found herself admiring its sheer elegance. Spotless and brightly lit, it possessed a distinctly antique charm.
…Come to think of it, it’s strange for a major corporation’s elevator to have metal buttons. The paper logbook is odd, too. Is this design choice meant to evoke the classic aesthetic of a gallery?
Suddenly, a chill washed over her.
“……”
The atmosphere felt far stranger than it had during the day.
“…Maybe it’s because I’m alone, but this is definitely creepy…”
When it had been crowded with people earlier, it might have been cramped, but it hadn’t felt frightening at all.
This was the Collector’s Gallery, a place rumored to house the most bizarre and dangerous works in the world. If she passed her training and became a full-time employee, she would have to ride this elevator alone all the time. She needed to get used to this eerie feeling.
Right. Once I’m assigned a work, I’ll have to build a proper rapport with it. If I’m already getting cold feet in the elevator, how am I supposed to handle what comes next?
Steeling her resolve, she reached out to press the button.
“……”
She tilted her head in confusion.
“…The buttons…?”
Every single button was labeled with the number 4.
“W-Why is it like this? This shouldn’t be happening…”
Just then, a memory flashed through her mind—a line from the handouts she thought she had perfectly memorized back in her dorm room. Specifically, the section detailing precautions for using the gallery.
“Ah.”
Please refrain from using the gallery elevator at 4:44 AM.
There was a work on the fourth floor of the gallery that liked to play pranks using the number four—a number widely considered unlucky in East Asia. It was so obsessed with the number that even if they moved it to another floor, it would always find its way back to the fourth.
“W-What kind of work was it, exactly…?”
The guard’s warning to “take your time with the elevator” suddenly made perfect sense. She had assumed it was just friendly advice to relax, but it had been a literal warning. She felt incredibly foolish for not realizing it sooner.
He could have stopped me!
A brief flash of resentment flared up, but she quickly suppressed it. She was a mere 5th-Grade Citizen. In a world where even 1st-Grade Citizens died without a trace, no one would shed a tear if someone like her vanished.
But if I cause an accident and damage the works, that’ll be an even bigger disaster. No. Instead of panicking, I need to remember how to handle this.
But her racing heart made it impossible to think straight.
“They said it was… a work that took the form of elevator buttons…”
Flicker…
The overhead light blinked.
“……”
Flicker, flicker.
The flickering grew faster, more erratic.
“…Oh no…”
What was happening?
What do I do?
Overwhelmed by panic, she stumbled backward, her back hitting the wall. She had indeed memorized the handouts, but the sheer terror of the moment scrambled her thoughts. The descriptions of different works blurred together in her mind, overlapping and creating a confusing mess.
“Ugh…”
Why do I always screw up when it matters most?
“Th-There has to be… an emergency call button… in here…”
Screeech—
With an ominous groan, the elevator shuddered violently. It began to slip downward, the doors repeatedly opening and closing in a frantic, broken rhythm. Her heart hammered against her ribs, matching the chaotic din. The sheer noise and vibration threatened to overwhelm her senses.
“Please, just…”
Panic choked her, making it hard to breathe.
This elevator was equipped with an emergency rescue button. Curator Yoo Seong-un had explained during their training that pressing it would immediately summon a standby rescue team.
“……”
A loud creak echoed through the small space. As the elevator vibrated violently, as if it were about to plummet, she desperately reached out to press the emergency button.
But her hand froze just inches away.
“……”
It wasn’t a monster’s trick that stopped her.
“…I…”
It was her own self-preservation—or rather, her fear.
Will I get fired?
It was highly likely. She had snuck into a dangerous area outside of working hours, bothered the night guard, and triggered an entirely avoidable accident by doing exactly what the manual warned against.
What if she damaged this incredibly expensive elevator?
And I’m only a C-Rank Hunter.
C-Rank Hunters were a dime a dozen. Most of her fellow rookies were higher ranked, and the only other C-Rank had a sturdy build that clearly marked them as a combat type.
I have the worst specs out of everyone.
If she caused a scene and made a nuisance of herself on her very first day…
“……”
She couldn’t afford to make things any worse.
Just as she hesitated, hand hovering over the button—
“…Huh?”
Flicker…
The eerie flickering stopped. The overhead light returned to normal.
“Uh, wait…?”
She hadn’t even pressed the button.
For some reason, the heavy, suffocating atmosphere vanished, replaced by a normal, light air. She quickly checked the buttons. The five panels that had all read “4” were now back to normal, labeled sequentially from 1 to 5.
Then, she looked up at the floor indicator.
“…The fifth floor?”
Ding—
The elevator doors slid open.
“Ah? The fifth floor? No, wait, hold on—!”
Realizing she had just stepped into the absolute worst danger zone while her mind was scrambled, she panicked and stumbled backward, falling to the floor with a loud thud.
Before she could even groan from the sharp pain, the doors opened fully, revealing a tall silhouette standing in the opening.
“……”
“……”
It was a blond man draped in a black cloak.
“Hello.”
It was Seo Gio, currently taking the form of Bartlan Giovanni.
* * *
“…So it was like… an initiation.”
“To be precise, it’s more like an annual tradition,” the blond man said, nodding in response to her hollow, disbelieving question. “It’s a work that only scares people without causing any actual harm. Apparently, rookie curators who haven’t fully memorized the rules often fall victim to it when they let their guard down.”
“Ah…”
“Since it’s a relatively safe way to teach them that failing to internalize the manual can be truly dangerous, I suppose the others don’t go out of their way to warn them.”
Her mind flashed back to the security guard at the entrance.
“Right, he only told me to ‘take my time with the elevator.’ I thought he meant to just relax and take it easy… Ugh, so that’s what he meant.”
In any case, she was incredibly relieved that it wasn’t actually dangerous.
“Since it was a work on the fourth floor, I thought I had caused some catastrophic accident.”
“It’s not a particularly dangerous work, so they tried moving it to the first floor several times. But because it’s so obsessed with the number four, it kept returning to its spot. That’s why it ended up staying on the fourth floor.”
“…I was so panicked that I didn’t even think of that…”
The gallery only went down to the fifth basement floor. The manual had mentioned they tried to move the work elsewhere, which likely meant they had tried moving it to a higher floor, not deeper down.
“I still can’t quite remember… what was the solution?”
“If someone outside the elevator calls it, the anomaly stops.”
“…So all I had to do was press the emergency button or just wait until morning? It really wasn’t dangerous at all.”
“You don’t need to blame yourself. Even if it’s just a prank, it’s a highly distressing experience. If you had stayed in there until morning, it could have easily traumatized you.”
“Thank you for saying that…” she said, letting out a soft sigh of relief. “To be honest… at first, I thought you were part of the anomaly, Mr. Seo Gio.”
The very first thing he had said was a completely casual greeting. To look at someone drenched in cold sweat, sprawled pathetically on the floor, and calmly say, “Hello.” That nonchalant politeness, as if he had simply run into a neighbor in the morning, had felt incredibly bizarre, even in her panicked state. It was reminiscent of monsters, who couldn’t care less about what happened to humans.
…Of course, I can’t tell him he felt like a monster to his face.
She wiped the cold sweat from her forehead.
“And then you immediately introduced yourself and asked for my name… I genuinely thought I had run into a real, dangerous work. I was terrified you were going to force me into some horrible, evil contract.”
“How embarrassing. You seemed so startled that I thought introducing ourselves would help ease the tension, but it seems I only frightened you more. I apologize, even if it is a bit late.”
Seo Gio bowed with impeccable politeness. Despite his humble words, he carried himself with the elegant grace of nobility, causing her to blush. It felt like far too much respect for someone of her standing.
“Y-You don’t need to go that far. If anything, I’m the one who should be thanking you for your help.”
She had just been a little startled. The heavy atmosphere and his unusually formal tone had simply overwhelmed her already frayed nerves.
“You’re incredibly polite, Mr. Seo Gio.”
“I have always wanted to be a polite person.”
The man in the black cloak smiled.
“Your words please me.”
“……”
“You are a polite and good-natured person.”
“…Ah, well…”
“Thank you for speaking well of me.”
There was no falsehood in his words.
“……”
He was a good person.
His golden hair, warm as sunlight, fell in soft waves. The smile on his flawless, porcelain face was gentle. His mysterious eyes, reminiscent of a calm spring sea, were beautiful. Everything about him radiated goodwill.
…He’s such a warm and kind person, so why…
…why does he feel so terrifying?