Chapter 69
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 69
“A complete miracle, isn’t it?”
Bisabeol greeted Yoo Seong-un with a bright smile.
“……”
“Whoa, whoa, don’t you turn back around. Come on in. You can’t just turn your back on someone who’s right in front of you.”
“Ah, I really don’t want to go in…”
“I trust you know who signs your paychecks, don’t you?”
“I do, which is why I made it all the way to the door, isn’t it?”
“If you know, then why aren’t you stepping inside, Curator Yoo Seong-un? Your Guild Master is waiting.”
Yoo Seong-un finally entered the office, muttering as he sank onto the staff sofa.
“I’m definitely saving up and quitting.”
“And you really think that’s possible?”
“If I have a valid reason, you should approve my resignation, shouldn’t you?”
“Just keep in mind that if my feelings get hurt, I might ‘accidentally’ forget to process your resignation paperwork.”
“That’s blatant corruption…”
“When has this country ever been free of corruption? What a naive thing to say.”
“Ugh, I hate this so much.”
Yoo Seong-un roughly rubbed his tired face with both hands. Only after letting out a sigh so deep it felt like it was dragging his soul out with it did he slowly raise his head. The dark circles under his eyes made him look like a panda.
“So, what is it you want to know? I submitted a comprehensive report just yesterday. What more could you possibly be curious about that you had to summon a poor employee like me?”
Bisabeol cut straight to the chase.
“Looking at the report, it seems that, unfortunately, Gio hasn’t caused any human casualties yet.”
“‘Unfortunately’?”
“Ah, my true feelings slipped out. I was just curious about how that portrait operates.”
“And how am I supposed to react to that? Should I applaud?”
“Let’s set that aside for a moment. I’ve developed a few questions about Gio’s Portrait.”
“I figured as much. Go ahead.”
“The part about it mutating in response to the dungeon and monsters was highly intriguing. But who exactly is Giovanni?”
“Well…”
He certainly hadn’t included that part in the written report.
“As you know, matters regarding ‘Gio’s Portrait’ are classified, even within our guild. I left it out of the report to prevent any potential leaks. Was that out of line?”
“Out of line or not, who is Giovanni?”
“Right, of course you’d react like that.”
“Giovanni is…”
“I’ll tell you, just give me a second. I need to organize my thoughts.”
Scratching the back of his neck, Yoo Seong-un continued.
“…I believe he is one of the ‘Gios’ from another dimension. I became certain of this after gathering data while exploring the virtual dungeon I was dragged into—the ‘Deep Sea Temple’.”
When he had gone around checking for survivors, Yoo Seong-un hadn’t just been looking for people. Conducting a basic investigation upon discovering a new dungeon was a fundamental duty for any hunter.
“As a result, I found traces of a man named ‘Giovanni.’ He was likely a priest and doctor in his early thirties who served the Sun God, with platinum blonde hair and blue eyes… It matches one of the appearances of Gio that I reported previously.”
“Then, as expected, Gio must have a deep connection to the Origin. That would make him qualitatively different from ordinary monsters or other beings from the Origin.”
“That is my current assessment. It seems he reincarnates as another ‘Gio’ in a different dimension, and after his human life ends, he returns to the portrait to recuperate. Once he’s fully recovered, he repeats the cycle. At least, that’s my theory for now.”
It was also possible that these events weren’t bound by linear time and were happening simultaneously. After all, this was a process occurring between dimensions.
Therefore, ‘Gio’s Portrait’ was neither human, monster, nor item—not even one of the Children of the Origin, who were said to be the most shrouded in mystery.
Yet, he couldn’t be defined simply by the word ‘god’ either.
“Gio’s Portrait can become anything.”
Just like an artist who can express anything with paint and sculpture.
“And something like that is, well… how should I put it…”
“It might be a hasty judgment, but wouldn’t the word ‘Origin’ itself be the most fitting description?”
“…Perhaps.”
If he weren’t closely linked to the ‘Origin,’ hailed as the world’s greatest secret, Gio wouldn’t be able to maintain such a vast presence.
“Still, I suppose we should be glad he hasn’t abandoned what little humanity he has left. I don’t know if I should call his willpower incredible, or if this is just another of the Origin’s systems…”
Yoo Seong-un stroked his chin and asked, “Do you have any other questions?”
“Oh, is that all?”
“I’m not your father reading you a bedtime story. If you’re bored, find someone else to talk to. Despite how I look, I’m busy dealing with the aftermath of this virtual dungeon incident.”
“My apologies.”
Bisabeol let out his signature thin laugh.
“You must be swamped trying to forge an identity for Gio. After all, you’re creating an A-Rank hunter out of thin air.”
“Even for the Collector Guild, which is notorious for its unusually high number of unregistered hunters, there’s still an endless amount of paperwork to deal with. We’ll have to convince the Association somehow, too.”
“I’ll handle the Association, so you only need to worry about the basics. It’s not like they’re completely ignorant of ‘Gio’s Portrait’ anyway.”
“Thank you for taking that off my plate. Thanks to you, I might actually get to sleep in my own bed tonight for the first time in a while.”
Gio had openly played an active role in the dungeon at the center of this incident, the ‘Deep Sea Temple.’ Although Priest Kang Seo-dam was the only one who recognized his divinity, it wasn’t as if his holy power could be hidden completely.
“At this point, we can’t exactly pretend he doesn’t exist…”
“With so many witnesses, what else can we do? Honestly, it would have been much easier to handle if he had just killed everyone from the start.”
“Are you telling me to become a Red Hunter? To be demoted to a 5th-Grade Citizen? Just like that?”
“No, I was thinking of Gio. If he had done it, I would have been able to appreciate his fighting style, wouldn’t I?”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. For some reason, Gio seems to think you’re a reasonably decent human being, Guild Master, so please maintain your image.”
“That happens to be my greatest talent. It’s the very weapon that allowed me to build one of the top three guilds with this frail body of mine.”
“But there really are a lot of witnesses. Because the atmosphere in there was so harmonious, the survivors’ accounts are spreading like wildfire…”
Perhaps because the survivors had found great comfort in the dungeon, expressions of gratitude toward ‘Hunter Seo Gio’ kept pouring into the Collector Guild.
Under these circumstances, they couldn’t possibly claim that ‘Seo Gio’ didn’t exist.
“Because of that, the staff is a bit shaken up. The official notice you sent out clearly listed an employee named ‘Gio,’ so they’re wondering if he’s the same person…”
“Well, of course they’re the same person. I don’t recall hiring employees who are that slow-witted.”
“Everyone has guessed it. No one wants to acknowledge it because they know things will get complicated, but they at least know that the ‘Gio’ in the notice and the ‘Seo Gio’ from this commotion are the same entity.”
“They all know, and yet not a single person has brought it up to me?”
“They don’t want to be assigned extra work.”
Yoo Seong-un let out a long sigh.
“Just like me.”
“I pay you.”
“Damn capitalist society.”
In a world where you could literally buy lifespan if you had the money, there was no such thing as labor rights. Yoo Seong-un massaged the stiff muscles at the back of his neck and said, “Still, since you introduced him as an employee in the official notice, some people are just letting it slide, thinking, ‘I guess he really was an employee.’ Though most are wondering if you’re planning to hire a monster instead of a human…”
“Now that you mention it, should I try that next time?”
“It’s because you act like this that distrust runs deep among the staff. There’s a reason people call you a ‘madman who loses his mind over anything art-related.’ Please, maintain some dignity as a Guild Master.”
“I’m terribly sorry, but I don’t possess any of that. He’s quite an interesting person, isn’t he?”
“You’d think you’d have some at your age, but why don’t you? Seriously, why?”
Yoo Seong-un rubbed his face once more and continued.
“Anyway, Gio will be officially registered on the Collector Guild’s website soon. Since he’s already known for his blonde hair and blue eyes, he’ll have to use his ‘Giovanni’ form if he wants to operate without his cloak. But I think… Gio will understand that much.”
Gio didn’t seem to have any particular aversion to his personality shifting. Even that trait was so characteristic of a being from the Origin that you couldn’t help but nod in understanding. Since it wasn’t a major burden to him, he would likely accept it.
“In short, Gio will now be… actively operating out in human society.”
“Can’t we go to an amusement park together?”
“‘Gio’s Portrait’ dislikes loud and crowded places, so I’d appreciate it if you refrained. While he remains incredibly gentlemanly toward humans, that doesn’t mean he has stopped hating the rude and the wicked.”
“Of course I know that. That’s why I was thinking of renting out the whole park.”
“Please do that for a lover instead…”
“A lover? Who would go to an amusement park with an old man like me?”
“Then why did you think Gio would go with you? That makes absolutely no sense.”
He knew it was just nonsense meant to elicit a reaction from him—since he was one of Bisabeol’s collection pieces—but it was still incredibly exhausting to listen to. He was already tired, and this was completely draining his energy.
“Anyway, if you don’t have anything else to ask, I’m leaving. I have to deliver the newly made Hunter license to Gio, and there are plenty of other things I need to teach him, like how to use textbooks and whatnot…”
“Ah, wait a moment.”
“What is it?”
“An anomaly has occurred in the sea.”
“……”
Yoo Seong-un pressed his hand to his forehead.
“By ‘the sea,’ do you mean… you’re bringing up the anomaly I went to investigate before? Now? Just as I’m about to leave, after you’ve spouted all this nonsense?”
Bisabeol nodded nonchalantly.
“I completely forgot about it for a second.”
“Don’t lie to me. That’s just infuriating.”
But Bisabeol would never stop playing these pranks, if only to enjoy Yoo Seong-un’s reactions. It was an eternal truth: giving up brought peace of mind.
Having wisely resigned himself to his fate, Yoo Seong-un sat back down on the sofa.
“So, what happened?”
“There hasn’t been an official announcement yet, but if there’s one great thing about the power of South Korea’s top three guilds, it’s fast intelligence.”
“Ah, yes.”
“I’ve caught wind of some hot-off-the-press information the Association just confirmed.”
“So, what is it?”
“They’ve observed a new dungeon forming in the sea.”
“…A new dungeon, in the sea…”
Yoo Seong-un turned pale.
“…At a time like this?”
“At a time like this.”
Bisabeol smiled slyly.
“Does it ring a bell?”
“Could it be… a place connected to the ‘Deep Sea Temple’?”
“It seems to be the same dungeon,” Bisabeol confirmed. “A few brave hunters from the Association went in to check the interior, and they say the deeper you go, the more the environment resembles a temple.”
“It must be the same as what I saw in the ‘Deep Sea Temple.’ Was there another connected dungeon?”
A sigh escaped his lips.
“If it’s causing anomalies in the sea, could it be a Villa Dungeon? Did an entire… temple manifest?”
“No, it’s just an ordinary Entry Dungeon.”
“It’s going to be ridiculously massive.”
One of the characteristics of an Entry Dungeon is that its boundaries are limitless. The largest interior of an Entry Dungeon discovered so far was the size of an entire country—specifically, Russia.
Because of this, Entry Dungeons were known to be the most stable, but also incredibly tedious and annoying to clear. This was especially true for one expected to be as vast as this.
“The ‘Deep Sea Temple’ I explored seemed to be a mix of a temple and a research lab. Since the report from those hunters stopped at the temple structure, the place we saw was likely much further inside… deep underground.”
If that was the case, that bastard Eun-ha had basically thrown people in there to die.
It’s common sense that the survival rate drops the deeper you go into a dungeon.
No matter how many times he experienced it, he could never get used to the hatred and malice of monsters.
“Ah, about the child named Eun-ha I reported…”
“He couldn’t be found after your return. He likely remained in the dungeon or changed his appearance. He probably took the form of a human child to pass as a novice priest during the initiation ceremony.”
“I figured as much.”
Realizing it would be difficult to pretend to be human anymore, ‘Eun-ha’ had vanished.
At that, Bisabeol asked, “Did Gio show any signs of confusion regarding that? It seemed he cared for him quite a bit.”
“……”
“Since the cause of this whole incident was actually Eun-ha, he must have been shocked.”
“On that front… he seemed fine.”
“Hmm.”
Bisabeol tilted his head, showing interest.
“So he knew all along, then?”
“…We don’t know how much of his memories or personality he has sorted out, so I can’t say for sure, but seeing how he didn’t show any shock or surprise afterward…”
“Gio knew what Eun-ha really was from the very beginning?”
“Isn’t that the only logical conclusion?”
Actually, he didn’t.
In truth, Gio simply hadn’t been thinking about anything while in the dungeon. When he learned Eun-ha’s true identity after escaping, his stiff facial muscles had merely hidden his confusion.
He had only become certain that Iser from Giovanni’s memories and Eun-ha were the same person after exiting the dungeon.
“Since a humanoid monster rules the dungeon, it would be a great help if we could learn more about ‘Giovanni,’ who seems to be the key to bringing peace there. Is that possible?”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Ah, and…”
“What now?”
“……”
Bisabeol looked at Yoo Seong-un with an expression of mock pity.
“According to a hunter from the Association, they spotted ‘Gio’s Portrait’ in that sea dungeon I just mentioned.”
“…Excuse me?”
“To be precise, they said it wasn’t ‘Seo Gio,’ but the ‘Black Cloak.’ The Association hunters apparently managed to escape with the help of a tall man draped in a black cloak…”
“Oh, for crying out loud…”
Yoo Seong-un clutched his head.
“Please, just cause trouble within the limits of what I can actually handle…”
“Oh dear, you poor thing.”
“Ughhhhh…”
He could already see his future filled with overtime.
* * *
Of course, Gio hadn’t done this just for fun.
“I had no idea there would be other people in the dungeon I visited just to see my mermaid students.”
“Kkooroo-roook.”
“Even if I’m a multi-talented dad who can roast sweet potatoes with paint, I can’t predict the future.”
Gio recalled the burly hunters he had run straight into at the place he visited, thinking, Surely, there won’t be anyone in that dungeon by now.
They had looked quite terrified.
“Just like the Collector Guild employees when they ran into me at dawn.”
“Kkoong.”
“Even though they looked like highly intelligent elites, those healthy employees were so frightened…”
“Kkoong-kkoong.”
“…Frightened…”
“Kkoong-kkoong-kkoong.”
“……”
To be clear, Gio was perfectly capable of reading the room.
And he also knew that a ghost story about the ‘Black Cloak’ had cropped up in the Collector Guild. Part of it was due to Guild Master Bisabeol’s teasing, but it was mostly because the employees had taken it seriously and gotten utterly terrified.
“…Ah.”
The Black Cloak, standing alone in a company hallway after everyone went home. The Black Cloak, suddenly appearing in a supposedly empty dungeon to show the way out.
The striking similarity gave Gio a sudden wave of déjà vu. Only then did reality hit him, and he realized his mistake.
“…Did I mess up?”
“Kkoor.”
“Good heavens.”
And that’s how it happened.