Chapter 133
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 133
For the record, Arjio had a personal rule: “Do not interact with the mentally and physically weak.”
“I have picky tastes, you see.”
“That sounds quite fitting for an Evil God.”
“A healthy person is much more entertaining, after all.”
Arjio took off his hood and continued, “Those kinds of people are far more interesting to watch when they’re burning with rage.”
“……”
“Excuse me, sir. Is something the matter?”
“…Ah, my apologies.”
“Is it because I’m too handsome? I understand. It happens all the time.”
Why is he so incredibly smug…?
“You really are fun to tease.”
“No…” Ju-hyeon began, looking around warily with a slight frown. “Aren’t you angry that I’m being so insolent?”
“Seeing me angry comes with a steep price. Are you confident you can pay it?”
“I’m not saying I want to see you angry, I just mean… aren’t you annoyed?”
Whether the being before him was a monster or an Evil God, there was little point in distinguishing between the two. Either way, they rarely tolerated insolence from humans. Monsters capable of basic thought were, by nature, highly prideful.
In contrast, even though Ju-hyeon was fully aware he was pushing his luck, the Black Cloak showed no signs of displeasure. If anything, he seemed to be enjoying himself.
“Why should I be angry?”
“Because I’m being insolent?”
“Then I should be the first to die. Surely, no one is more insolent than I am.”
“I… don’t really understand your standards.”
“Neither do I.” The Evil God smiled, his brilliant golden eyes curving into crescents. “My philosophy is to avoid thinking about troublesome things.”
“You certainly live a carefree life.”
“In a world with so much to enjoy, is there any reason to make things difficult for oneself?”
“Ah… so you’re that type…”
He was a thorough hedonist.
“……”
More than that, his colors were far more vibrant than Ju-hyeon had expected. He narrowed his eyes skeptically.
I never would have imagined these colors when he was hidden beneath that dull black cloak.
Vivid, dark-red hair and golden eyes that held a cold light.
“…Those are striking colors,” Ju-hyeon remarked.
“Do you like this color best?”
“Pardon?”
“As I thought. You seem to prefer people who are stimulating and honest.”
“I’ve never really thought about it like that…”
“Then, as a special favor to suit your taste, I shall remain as Arjio today.”
“…Um? Ah?” Pushed onto the sofa before he even knew what was happening, Ju-hyeon asked, “Is this current appearance what you call ‘Arjio’?”
“Indeed.”
“Then… do you have other appearances, too?”
“The shape is the same. Only the colors change.”
“You’re like a chameleon.”
“A chameleon. You could say they’re a distant relative of mine.”
“You’re joking, right…?”
“The ability to change to suit the situation is quite similar, I suppose.”
In the next moment, his colors shifted, his hair becoming a bright platinum-blonde, as if drenched in sunlight.
“Wouldn’t you agree?”
“……”
What is this?
“…Is it like a split personality?”
“Our personalities aren’t different, however.”
“Your tone and expression are completely different, yet you claim your personality is the same?”
“As I said, I am merely changing my colors.”
“…Ah, I see.”
He was starting to get it.
Is it like changing clothes?
Since changing one’s outfit didn’t change the person underneath, from a god’s perspective, this was probably just a similar form of play. It was a reminder not to judge mysterious beings by human standards.
Ju-hyeon nodded. “I understand what you mean.”
“Thank you for understanding.”
“…But, well, I find the red one more comfortable.”
“Is that so?”
Instantly, the Black Cloak transformed back into his fiery, striking form and introduced himself.
“I am Arjio. If you promise to become my friend, I shall tell you my other names as well. I swear on my honorable friends that it will bring you no harm.”
“…But…” There were still things he didn’t understand. “Why do you even need a friend—a pen pal—in the first place?”
“Because I am timid.”
“Did you kill off every genuinely timid person on Earth before coming to me?”
“It’s simply too difficult to make friends.”
“And you think I was an easy target?”
Strictly speaking, Ju-hyeon—who had been thoroughly betrayed by the world and was on high alert—should have been the hardest person to befriend. It would have been easier to make friends with a random person on the street. The whole thing was absurd.
Then Arjio said, “You aren’t afraid of me, are you?”
“……”
“Everyone else is too busy looking at me with strange eyes.”
“…I see.”
That was certainly true.
Most people would either fear or revere him.
That was exactly how the Black Cloak was perceived in South Korea. He was famous enough for a child to know his name, yet considered highly dangerous. He was strangely kind, which kept people from being completely repelled, but it was impossible not to fear him.
A literal ghost story.
Or an urban legend.
If Ju-hyeon had met him under normal circumstances, he probably would have reacted the same way. There was nothing to gain from getting involved with a mysterious entity of questionable identity like the Black Cloak.
“……”
It was just that right now, he didn’t have even the bare minimum of energy for caution.
…I don’t even know how things ended up like this in the first place…
He was barely holding onto his sanity, and his sense of reality was beginning to fray.
It would be much more believable if this were all a dream.
That was also why he spoke so casually. He had been half out of his mind ever since creating the Mark of Sankalut, and because he had done it with the full intention of dying, he had been in a daze ever since. The Black Cloak’s sudden appearance and invitation into the portrait only added to the unreality of it all. He simply lacked the energy to be guarded or react normally.
“…This is… a really nice place,” Ju-hyeon said, looking around. “It’s much cozier and more peaceful than I imagined.”
“I like my home very much, too.”
“Is this place your home?”
“I can make homes in many places, but this one feels like my hometown.”
“I see. A hometown…”
The atmosphere certainly justified the description.
“So, what am I supposed to do here?”
“Eat and play.”
“Pardon?”
“Do you have to go to work?”
“…I’ve been suspended.”
“Then you should eat!”
“How does that follow?”
More than that, he didn’t understand why the entity was so obsessed with food.
Come to think of it, I did hear that most of the Black Cloak’s gifts are snacks…
Was his ultimate goal really just to fatten up humans?
Can someone like that even be called an Evil God?
It felt strange. He had only thought of him as an Evil God because the entity called himself one, but the more they talked, the less he seemed like one. Was this some highly sophisticated deception? An act to win over an exhausted human? Or was it mercy, like a god tossing a coin to a beggar? Or perhaps just a passing whim?
“…Should I help prepare the meal?”
“I cannot leave the kitchen to a guest.”
“Then do I just sit here and wait?”
“How about a cup of tea?”
“That sounds nice, but…”
Just then, a teddy bear brought over the tea.
“…A teddy bear?”
“He is my father.”
“Your father?”
“He is quite squishy.”
“Why…?”
The fruit tea served by the teddy bear was ridiculously delicious.
“Suddenly, I’m not hungry anymore.”
“Ah, dear. I made another mistake.”
“Please don’t make mistakes with a fragile human.”
“You don’t look particularly fragile to me.”
“So, what exactly was the mistake?”
“This tea induces a feeling of fullness.”
“So I shouldn’t have drunk it before eating?”
“Something like that.”
“Ah.”
Ju-hyeon nodded. “I knew it. This is a dream.”
“It is reality, though.”
“I’m sleepy.”
“Then you may sleep.”
A large hand stroked Ju-hyeon’s head.
“Sleep deeply. Wake up to eat. And after you’ve had some snacks…”
“……”
“Once you have washed up and lain down in bed, I shall sit by your side and listen to those screams.”
“…Okay.”
“After we have chatted endlessly, we will have become friends. You only need to talk to me.”
“Okay.”
“I wonder what your anger tastes like…”
A voice filled with curiosity and mercy drifted down from above. Soon, the hand gently closed Ju-hyeon’s eyes.
“I can be a good friend to you.”
And it truly felt like he could.
“……”
“Do not dream.”
Letting go of everything, Ju-hyeon fell asleep.
* * *
“…Ah, I see.” Yoo Seong-un nodded. “So an Association researcher is currently sleeping at your house?”
“Two days have passed, and he still hasn’t woken up.”
“Has it already been two days? I only drop by at dawn, so I didn’t realize.”
The scenery inside Gio’s portrait changed according to the shifts within it. Morning became morning, evening became evening. Occasionally, a new animal would appear, or unfamiliar flowers would bloom.
Still, to think that two days have already passed inside the painting in such a short time.
Perhaps because he had finally found the “pen pal” he had been clamoring for, Gio seemed to be enjoying his guest’s visit. After all, the flow of time inside the portrait world varied depending on the mood of its owner.
When I visited before, had a meal, and stepped out, only about twenty minutes had passed. He said that time flows quickly when he’s happy and slowly when he’s resting…
Which meant he was currently very happy. Yoo Seong-un wore his characteristic gentle smile.
“I’m very glad you have a new friend, but…”
“He and I are not friends yet. I always give my guests a choice. He might become my friend, or he might not.”
“I think it’s a relief that you have such an open mind.”
How disastrous would it be for an individual to be forced into a friendship with the Eye of the Origin?
It’s incredibly merciful of him to at least give them a choice.
At any rate, Yoo Seong-un had something else he wanted to say. “You said this prospective friend of yours tried to summon an Evil God?”
“Yes.”
“Why did you stop him?”
“He had the look of someone who would cause an absolute catastrophe if he made a mess.”
“Oh…” Coming from the Origin, an assessment based on “looks” was certainly credible. “You said he was suspended, so he doesn’t have to go to work?”
“Yes. He didn’t seem to have done anything wrong, so I am curious why he received such a punishment.”
“I suspect they forced him to take a vacation. It’s a common occurrence, unfortunately.”
“Are such coercive measures common?”
“Yes. It’s also a form of constructive dismissal. The atmosphere at the Association is completely different from the Collector Guild.”
In fact, on a global scale, South Korea’s top three guilds—and the Collector Guild among them—were rather unique. They were one of the few organizations that actually treated people like human beings.
“We receive all kinds of benefits because our Guild Master dotes on the employees, but the Association… it feels like a demon’s den. Since it’s such a massive organization, you have some departments where people work selflessly, while others are bloody battlegrounds of factional warfare.”
“I see.”
“That new guest was probably part of a team caught up in a fierce power struggle. At the Association, a single ‘team’ can be large enough to occupy an entire research building, so things tend to happen without any cohesion. They’re isolated from one another.”
Because of that, entire departments were sometimes wiped out without warning. Some artifacts had properties that could contaminate or infect the mind and body. Since the researchers had to analyze such things, it was no surprise that countless people died.
“There are an immense number of people working at the Association, but the work they have to do is far greater and much more dangerous. They even conduct various clinical trials for different projects…”
“Are you sure they’re clinical trials and not human experiments?”
“They just call them clinical trials to make it sound better to the public. To be fair, the team I used to lead had a very moderate atmosphere, and none of our projects required human sacrifice, so I don’t know all the details.” After all, the atmosphere of the research labs varied wildly from team to team. “So… well…” Yoo Seong-un said with a slightly awkward expression, “It’s really not an uncommon occurrence.”
“That is highly terrifying.”
“Of course, the fact that he tried to summon an Evil God is a bit surprising.”
“Is it?”
“Because people don’t usually go that far,” Yoo Seong-un let out a hollow laugh. “But even if he had, things probably would have been resolved somehow. If something like that happened at the Seoul Branch Research Institute, the director or the Association President would have heard about it immediately and stepped in. So even if he had succeeded in making a deal with an Evil God, it would have been taken care of.”
Gio summarized, “It sounds as though the Association President’s mercy is the only thing holding it all together.”
“That’s not wrong. That is the current state of Earth.”
It was a world where humanity barely clung to life through the mercy of a handful of powerful individuals. If even one of them harbored ill intentions, this fragile peace would instantly shatter.
“That’s why this country hasn’t collapsed, despite the overwhelming concentration of dangerous items flowing into South Korea. We are particularly well-organized, and we have many strong Hunters.”
“That is a relief.”
“Anyway, I feel bad for your guest. I also got sick of that atmosphere where people are treated as tools and means to an end. That’s why I came to the Collector Guild. It really drives a person crazy over there.”
They had a knack for utterly destroying people who had perfectly intact bodies and unwavering convictions. What was even more ironic was that because of this, they could collect a wide variety of data, which greatly aided development. South Korea’s rapid advancement was built upon countless such sacrifices.
“If you want to survive in the Association’s research labs, you need the mindset that, in the end, you are entirely on your own.” You had to trust others’ abilities, but you could never trust or rely on the person themselves. “Actually, this isn’t just a problem unique to the Association.”
“Is everyone else living like this, too?”
“The intensity is just particularly high in the research labs, but… yes, more or less.”
It was a pity, but in this small country, even worse tragedies occurred on a daily basis.
“Still, people don’t usually think of making a deal with an Evil God. Did someone instigate him?”
“I do not know.”
“Once your conversation with him is finished, could you arrange a meeting for me? I’d like to hear his story.”
“If possible, I will.”
“If there’s any hint of danger, I’ll have to investigate that aspect.” He felt the same unease he had when investigating the turbulent sea before the mermaid siblings appeared. Yoo Seong-un maintained his smile but let out a brief sigh. “…Send me a letter if any problems arise. I’ll come right away.”
He entrusted the poor soul, who had been betrayed by the entire world, not to other humans, but to the Origin.
As a Gardener, he knew the mercy of the Origin was far more trustworthy than that of his fellow man.