Chapter 119
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 119
Some time passed, and the initial training for the rookie curators came to an end.
"Over the past three weeks, you have worked alongside your designated curators, encountered various works, and learned the attitude a curator of the Collector must maintain toward both the works and our clients. Thank you for your hard work."
However, this did not mean they were immediately hired as full-time employees.
"From now on, each of you will be assigned a specific work. Based on your performance over the last three weeks, we have selected the works we believe are most suitable for you. If you are deemed unable to manage your assigned work, you will be dismissed."
"..."
"Even if you are dismissed, it only means dismissal from the gallery. Unless you cause a major incident, you will simply be reassigned to an office or field position within the Collector. We are merely selecting individuals who can demonstrate stability in the gallery, so you don’t need to worry too much."
Yoo Seong-un continued, addressing the five rookie curators standing before him.
"We gave you a three-week period, and since none of you raised any objections or expressed a desire to transfer, I assume you all agree to become curators for the Collector. If you wish to continue working in the gallery, please sign the agreement form in front of you."
All five rookies signed the agreement. The document stated that they would do their utmost to care for their assigned works in the gallery and would bear a certain level of responsibility for any issues that might arise.
It was almost like signing their lives away, but the rookies were not the type to be frightened by such things at this stage. It was enough for them that they wouldn’t have to take sole responsibility for every single problem that occurred.
Having already hit rock bottom in illegal guilds, they were eager to work for one of the Top 3 Guilds of South Korea, where at least some safety measures were in place. Among those options, being a curator for the Collector carried immense prestige.
"You have all agreed, then."
Yoo Seong-un nodded.
"Some of you may have already checked, but on the back of the agreement form, you will find information about the work you will be managing from now on."
"...Ah..."
"The Collector is a warehouse and research institute where the most dangerous and sensitive items on Earth end up. Naturally, there are many unidentified works whose true nature and countermeasures remain unknown, but..."
"..."
"For you rookies, we have assigned works for which almost all information has been thoroughly documented. As long as you do exactly as you were taught and follow the manual, these works will not cause any trouble."
The longer a curator worked at the gallery and the more works they managed, the more dangerous their assignments became. However, that was not a concern for the rookies, who were just beginning to adjust.
"One year," Yoo Seong-un said. "I will give you a period of one year. During that time, some of you might find it unbearable and want to leave, while others might find a work that suits them perfectly. I hope you will make the most of this long yet short time as curators for the Collector."
"...In that case... is it possible for our assigned works to change midway through?"
"Because many of these works possess strong wills of their own, mismatches can occur despite our best efforts. If we determine that a pairing is harmful to either the work or the curator, the assignment can be changed even before the year is up."
This wasn’t necessarily a problem on the curator’s end. No matter how attentive a curator was, the state of a work could occasionally shift.
"Well then, I look forward to working with you."
With those final words from Yoo Seong-un, the basic training for the curators officially concluded.
"I’d love to say we should greet each other whenever we cross paths, but I am usually in charge of the works on the 5th Floor and I travel frequently, so it won’t be easy for us to meet."
"Thank you for everything."
"No, thank you for following the training so well. Please, everyone, do not cause any accidents. As you’ve probably heard throughout the training, if you make a mistake, it won’t just be you who dies—a lot of other people will go down with you."
After delivering this chilling warning, Yoo Seong-un flashed his trademark easygoing smile.
"Once again, welcome to the Collector’s Gallery."
And just like that, the rookie curators were thrown into the wild.
"..."
"..."
A rather chilling wild, at that.
* * *
The work assigned to the man was a set of porcelain dolls.
"..."
Its official name was Sweet Tea Party, and it consisted of three porcelain dolls gathered together, each smaller than an adult man’s hand.
'Danger level: Grade 6.'
The works in the Collector’s Gallery were classified by danger grades from 1 to 10, with higher numbers indicating safer items. Among them, the work assigned to the man, who had just finished his basic training, was a Grade 6 work located on the 3rd Floor.
'Compared to the other rookies, who were assigned works around Grade 8 to 10, the danger level of this one is quite high.'
He didn’t know whether to be pleased that his abilities were being recognized or terrified by the increased danger.
Even Curator Yoo Seong-un had told him in passing, "If it really doesn’t work out, ask to be reassigned to a different work."
But.
"...There’s no need for that just yet."
The porcelain doll set, Sweet Tea Party, depicted three girls wearing voluminous dresses. All he had to do was serve them the tea and treats they requested at the exact designated time, then prepare the snacks they mentioned after they finished eating.
'Aside from having to keep time with absolute precision, the management method isn’t that difficult.'
The margin of error was five seconds. If he served the snacks even a moment too early or too late, he would be turned into a porcelain human. It was a terrifying penalty where a single mistake meant death, but the same had been true when he was active in the field as a combat-type A-Rank Hunter.
"Besides, for a hunter, five seconds is a very generous amount of time..."
As an A-Rank Hunter, he was capable of making decisions and taking action within 0.01 seconds. If anything, this was far safer than a dungeon, where he had to exert immense strength and risk injury.
"..."
Sweet Tea Party was located in the 28th hallway on the 3rd Floor. Seeing it sitting out in the open in a public space, the man’s tense expression softened slightly. The fact that it wasn’t locked away in a separate storage room, but placed in a hallway where any curator could pass by, was a testament to its relative safety.
'Well, calling it safe might be a stretch since it’s a 3rd Floor work, but still, at this level...'
He felt relieved.
"...It’s quite charming and cute."
The porcelain dolls wore dresses adorned with voluminous frills, looking as though white powder would rub off if touched. Their cheeks were painted a ripe peach-pink, their eyelids a soft golden-peach, and their delicate eyelashes stood out beautifully. Their eyes, perhaps made of embedded gems, sparkled in shades of purple, yellow, and green.
'Because the entire eyeball is a gemstone, there’s no distinction between the sclera and the cornea. It would be hard to tell if they were looking at me.'
If not for the eerie atmosphere and the unsettling feeling of being unable to track their gaze, these dolls would have been highly sought after by collectors.
"Today’s snack is star candy, right?"
Each doll had requested a purple, yellow, and green star candy, respectively.
"..."
Waiting until exactly 4:00 AM, the scheduled tea party time, he placed the requested star candies onto tiny plates. Compared to the dolls' diminutive size, the candies looked massive.
Then, the dolls began to move.
"...Oh..."
Scritch-scratch, clack.
Using completely blunt knives, the dolls sliced and ate the star candies as if they were sharing a cake. It was fascinating to watch the hard candies slice as smoothly as mousse cake.
"It is a good sweetness."
"It is a good tea party."
"It was a good time."
After finishing their tea party, the dolls would each give their evaluation. It was said that the curator’s fortune for the day was determined by the number of negative reviews received. Recalling this, the man let out a quiet sigh of relief.
'My fortune for today shouldn’t be too bad.'
Just then, an anomaly was detected.
"It is a good crunch."
"It is a good firmness."
"It is a good fragrance."
"It is a good dawn."
"It was a good snack."
"It is a good choice."
"It is a good gift."
A total of seven additional remarks.
"..."
It was a clear anomaly.
"...There was no mention of this in the manual..."
As if completely ignoring the man who was frantically flipping through the manual, the dolls spoke once more.
"Godfather."
"Godfather is coming."
"Let us dress up sweetly."
The porcelain girls added remarks that were completely absent from the manual.
"...There was no information about this."
The porcelain doll set, Sweet Tea Party, was only supposed to speak three times per tea party. Every sentence was supposed to start with "It is a good..." or "It is a bad...", and there was certainly no entity they should be calling "Godfather."
"What on earth is..."
It was just as he reached for his radio to call for help.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The dolls were all staring at the exact same spot.
"..."
When the man turned around—
The sea.
The sun.
The deer.
The bird.
The clouds.
The flowers.
The mist.
The spring water.
The sigh.
The touch.
The teeth.
The eyeballs.
The eyes.
Eyes.
"..."
A human?
"...Ah..."
He saw it. A blonde man wearing a gentle smile came into view.
"W-Who are you...?"
Though slightly flustered, the man positioned himself to block the stranger’s view of the porcelain dolls, acting to prevent any potential danger.
'I didn’t sense any presence at all.'
He was bewildered.
'If someone like me, who prides himself on sensing presences, couldn’t detect him, anyone B-Rank or below wouldn’t even register him. I’ve never heard of a new S-Rank appearing in Korea. His face is unfamiliar, too... Is he an unofficial hunter close to S-Rank?'
He was already tense, and witnessing an anomaly on his very first day working alone had left his mind in a whirl.
Despite his confusion, the man gradually gathered his thoughts and observed the stranger, who was merely smiling in silence as if waiting for him to compose himself. The stranger had softly waving, bright blonde hair and a smile that suited him perfectly.
Soon, the stranger spoke.
"Hello."
"...Ah, yes."
The casual, gentle tone naturally made the tension drain from his body.
"It is a good dawn."
"My name is Seo Gio."
"Seo Gio..."
The man clenched and unclenched his fists. For some reason, a cold sweat began to break out.
"You’re 'Mr. Seo Gio.'"
This was the person Curator Yoo Seong-un had warned him about. One of the C-Rank rookies had run into him, and the other employees had only smiled strangely, reluctant to describe him in detail. He was 'Seo Gio' of the Dawn Shift, often referred to as the Collector’s unofficial special force.
"I’ve heard about you."
"What is your name?"
"..."
"I am curious about your name."
Is he even listening to me?
'...His tone is so clipped and precise, it’s strangely confusing.'
The man spoke his name.
"...I am Binari."
"Nari?"
"No, just Binari. No surname."
"I see."
"You can call me whatever you like."
"Understood."
The blue eyes crinkled gently.
"Would you like to converse with me?"
"..."
The man instinctively checked his watch.
"..."
4:51 AM.
'...51 minutes.'
The time he had managed the work was exactly 4:00 AM. The current time was 4:51 AM. A gap of nearly an hour.
"...Yes, having a conversation... would be nice."
The man nodded. It wasn’t as if he could leave right away anyway. Even if they talked, there shouldn’t be any problem.
"Since it seems I won’t be able to go home immediately."
"It would be nice to pass the time by talking."
"Yes, you are right..."
The man sighed and turned back to look at the porcelain dolls.
"..."
"..."
"..."
They sat quietly in their elegant, beautiful poses.
"...Um, Mr. Seo Gio?"
"Yes, go ahead."
"I heard that you also manage the gallery from time to time, Mr. Seo Gio."
"That is correct. There are many wonderful and beautiful works in this gallery."
"Then..."
Although he would have to file a separate report, he wanted to hear Mr. Seo Gio’s opinion first. He recalled the word "Godfather" that the dolls had whispered.
"Could you perhaps take a look at these dolls?"
The man stepped aside slightly, showing him the dolls with their innocent, cute faces. Though the porcelain dolls remained motionless, they seemed to be in a rather good mood, perhaps because their tea party had just finished.
The man described the anomaly that had just occurred.
"I understand that this work is supposed to speak a total of three sentences—once for each doll—during a single tea party. But just now, they spoke ten additional sentences."
"Were they bad words?"
"No, they weren’t. They were good words. They sounded like sentences expressing complete satisfaction with this tea party. It’s just that I never expected them to speak at such length..."
"It means that a fortune too grand to be contained within a mere twenty-four hours is about to arrive."
"..."
The man wore a complicated expression. "Isn’t that just a disaster?"
"That is a novel perspective."
"I prefer moderate good fortune."
"I will keep that in mind."
"...Ah, yes."
He was a peculiar person.
'The cadence of his speech is incredibly gentle... but the structure is so rigid.'
Yet, he didn’t sound awkward like a foreigner unfamiliar with Korean. This blend of a gentle yet blunt tone suited him perfectly, but thinking about it logically, there was a strange sense of incongruity.
"May I look at the children for a moment?"
"...Of course. Anything you do would be better than a rookie like me."
"Thank you for permitting me."
Seo Gio approached with quiet movements and examined the porcelain dolls. Although the manual stated there would be no penalty for touching them as long as they weren’t damaged, he stroked the dolls with a benevolent touch, like an old man cradling his own grandchild. His touch was filled with affection.
It was a noble, fairy-tale-like scene that looked as if it had been pulled straight from a famous painting, but...
"..."
It was somewhat chilling.
'...The atmosphere itself is clearly warm, but...'
It was hard to breathe. The air was heavy, as if someone had just died.