Chapter 74
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 74
Even so, Gio did not wipe the paint off again.
“Everyone was already terrified even without the paint.”
“Well, I suppose… that’s true.”
“More than anything,” Gio added, “I don’t want to reveal my face.”
Having his identity exposed was a terrifying prospect. Timid and lacking any means to defend himself, Seo Gio had no desire for his face to be known.
The fact that I’m already a haunted portrait is problematic enough.
Although Seo Gio took pride in having lived an honorable life, now that he was a haunted portrait, he had to take every possible precaution. Being sold with his face hidden was entirely different from being sold with his face and name exposed to the world.
“Wow, we’re on the same wavelength.”
With that, Yoo Seong-un felt a wave of relief.
He could have easily gotten annoyed and asked why he should care about human circumstances. But seeing him like this, Gio really is gentle. Even if this consideration stems from him forcing himself to meet human standards, it’s still exceptional.
It was truly a miraculous mystery. As a Gardener, Yoo Seong-un felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude and affection. An Existence of the Origin who was so rewarding to care for—every Gardener in the world would surely envy him.
Well, anyway…
Now that they had his consent, the scope of what the guild could do expanded significantly.
“There might still be records of your face at the auction house where you used to be, but the Guild Master and I will take care of that.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“We can’t do much about the memories of the guests who were there, but… it’s better than nothing.”
“Please, I’m counting on you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
With that, they left the gallery.
Yoo Seong-un, who had set to work erasing all information regarding “Gio’s Portrait” from the auction house, blinked in surprise at an unexpected development.
“……?”
Staring at his monitor, Yoo Seong-un headed up to the Guild Master’s office.
“Guild Master.”
“Ah, I was just about to call you.”
“…Were you checking on this as well, Guild Master?”
“Were you also in the middle of erasing the records of ‘Gio’s Portrait,’ Mr. Yoo Seong-un?”
“It is my job, after all. I didn’t realize you were already on it, Guild Master, but since you’re looking into it, this makes things easier.”
Yoo Seong-un handed over a thin folder he had hastily put together.
“Gio’s face has been erased.”
The records remaining at the auction house had changed. They now showed a portrait with its face completely obscured by black paint.
“I wasn’t sure if just the online data was corrupted, so I went to check in person. It’s not just the digital records. Everything from physical paper documents to the memories of the clients who attended that day has become hazy.”
“……”
Bisabeol wore a rare, expressionless look. He rolled his vivid, reptile-like golden eyes.
“What did Gio do?”
“…I asked him if he could cover his face in the portrait. He thought about it for a moment, then completely covered the canvas with black paint. He also said that unless he wipes it off himself, the portrait will remain like this.”
“This might be one of the portrait’s unique traits.”
“A trait of the portrait…?”
“At its core, a portrait is a painting of a person, isn’t it?”
The documents Yoo Seong-un brought included a printed image of “Gio’s Portrait.” Sure enough, the face was obscured by a thin, ink-like paint.
“In that case, is a photograph of the portrait—not the original painted canvas itself—still considered a portrait? What about a paper printout?”
“…Since it wasn’t painted directly, one could argue it isn’t.”
“Or one could argue it is. In the end, it’s still a ‘picture’ of a ‘person.’”
A picture, by definition, is the representation of an object’s form or image on a flat surface using lines or colors.
“So, whether it’s a printed image like this or a photograph of the portrait, couldn’t you ultimately call it a picture as well?”
“Broadly speaking, I suppose that’s not wrong, but…”
“At the very least, it seems Gio thinks so.”
Bisabeol narrowed his eyes and smiled faintly.
“To be able to exert such a direct influence on the entire world just by thinking it… What a truly magnificent portrait.”
“……”
“…Ah, indeed…”
Wiping the smile from his face, Bisabeol murmured softly, “This is why I love art.”
With the arrival of the Great Catastrophe, the changing of the world, and the emergence of absurd abilities, the scope of “art” had also expanded. Bisabeol dared to believe that if there was one field in the world that was the most interesting and diverse, it was art.
“It’s certainly a shame that his face is hidden now. I was planning to go see it sometime, so this is quite disappointing. But thinking of this as one of Gio’s performance art pieces fills a corner of my heart with excitement.”
“You’re saying some rather perverted things with such a serious face…”
“I am serious, so of course I have a serious face. Good heavens, a performance art executed by the portrait itself is something you can’t expect from other artifacts. You can’t even call this a mere Fragment of the Work.”
“To begin with, there aren’t many sentient objects in existence.”
“I have a good feeling about the new year.”
Winter would soon pass, and spring would arrive.
“I feel like something is coming…”
It felt as though some very interesting things were about to happen.
* * *
“……”
“What are the results?”
“Well…” Her wavy hair cascaded down. “The tests aren’t going well.”
The mermaid, Aria, adjusted her oversized doctor’s gown as she spoke.
“I’ve been running various experiments using the hair left behind by the human named Seo Gio as a sample, but the results are inconsistent. It keeps changing and shifting, making the analysis itself difficult… and it won’t stabilize.”
To that, Iser replied, “Then he is certainly not human.”
“Yes, he’s not human.”
“……”
“But that doesn’t mean he isn’t human, either.”
At times, it exhibited the clear cells of a human. It could literally become anything.
“How interesting.”
Contrary to her words, Aria’s face remained as inorganic as a mineral, even with her usual smile.
“And to top it all off, it also contains traces of Giovanni.”
“…Then is he truly our Teacher?”
“At the very least, there is a very strong connection.”
They hadn’t just conducted physical tests like cellular analysis. Having crossed multiple dimensions, they had firmly established themselves as the masters of this place, and Aria’s abilities as a doctor and researcher had long since surpassed their limits.
And yet, this is the first time the results have been so unclear.
Aria spoke to her younger brother. “Iser, my brother. I need your help.”
“Tell me.”
“Bring him back here. I need to speak with Teacher.”
“……”
Seeing her brother’s silence, Aria let out a soft laugh.
“Of course, I know how difficult a request this is.”
It was only a few days ago that the ‘Black Cloak,’ presumed to be Giovanni, had visited their dimension and smuggled the humans away. Capturing someone who could vanish like a ghost, whose very presence was difficult to sense, would be a daunting task.
“We’ve been avoiding him on our end as well. We couldn’t speak with Giovanni without being certain.”
There were too many uncertainties to face him without any preparation. But now, they were certain. He was indeed the only human Teacher they had ever had. It was Giovanni. It was just that, for some reason, he had changed immensely, grown vast, and become so powerful that they couldn’t easily steal him away.
They couldn’t capture him recklessly.
“And he doesn’t seem to have many memories of this place, right? You said he couldn’t remember this temple.”
“He seemed to recall parts of it, but it’s likely…”
“Then it will be hard to appeal to his emotions. Well, he was always a bit cold-hearted to begin with,” Aria murmured. “And he probably isn’t even human anymore.”
“……”
“That part certainly… makes me feel a bit, how should I put it, strange…”
It was Aria and Iser who had once studied human emotions and ways of thinking because they couldn’t understand them. Now, the thought that Giovanni, their beloved teacher, had lost all of that evoked a bizarre sentiment. It was close to a sense of deprivation. The realization that the most cherished memory of their mermaid lives had been resurrected, only to return in a form they did not recognize…
“……”
“Still, I’m asking you.”
The two siblings did not lose their smiles. Through hundreds, thousands, or perhaps even more years, they had never once stopped smiling.
“Bring him here, by any means necessary.”
“……”
“And keep him here.”
“…Yes.”
“I trust you’ll do well.”
“You don’t have to worry.”
The hunter clad in a black cloak, ‘Seo Gio,’ had shown a tendency to particularly cherish and care for children.
“There are plenty of ways.”
Iser recalled a child who had spoken to him so warmly.
Was his name Cha Yi-sol?
* * *
A new Entry Dungeon, the ‘Deep Sea Kingdom,’ was officially opened.
“Deep Sea Kingdom? It has ‘Kingdom’ in its name?”
“If even the Association officially named it a kingdom…”
“Fuck, it must be huge.”
Entry Dungeons were already notorious for being the most tedious grind among dungeons. If the Hunter Association used a word as grand as ‘Kingdom,’ it meant the map was exceptionally vast.
“But the difficulty of this place, wow… it’s really…”
“It’s linked to that Virtual Dungeon that ruptured at the Temple of the Sun? That’s insane.”
“Apparently, even the Association staff couldn’t properly explore it.”
“It’s a miracle they didn’t end up dead or missing, considering they were the first official entry team.”
Naturally, the difficulty was rated S-Rank.
“But they said no one died. Maybe it’s not that dangerous?”
“Hey, they’re just asking us to bring back information, right?”
The purpose of opening the ‘Deep Sea Kingdom’ this time was exploration, not clearance.
“Is there a list of key targets?”
“Yeah, there are two. They even have names.”
“Whoa… are these humanoid monsters?”
“Hasn’t it been years since we saw one of those? No wonder they rated it S-Rank.”
“So, what monsters are on there?”
“Let’s see…”
The key target list requested by the Hunter Association contained a total of two names.
“The mermaid Iser, and…”
“‘Black Cloak’?”
A freelance hunter tilted his head. “Seeing how there’s only an alias without a real name, is that their way of telling us to focus more on this one?”
When the Hunter Association determines that they cannot quickly clear a dungeon internally, they open its entrance after a certain period. This is called an ‘Exploration Season,’ and bounties are placed on any information gathered.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had a good workout.”
“No, but still, it’s S-Rank. That’s a bit much…”
“It’s just an Exploration Season. If we had to clear it, S-Rank hunters would have to step in. But we can handle just bringing back information.”
“True, the bounties offered by the Association pay pretty well.”
“And it doesn’t have to be info specifically about these monsters, right?”
“Since it’s a newly opened dungeon, probably.”
Even if it wasn’t the specific information the Association put a bounty on, new dungeons often offered monetary rewards based on the importance of the intel gathered. Getting caught by a dangerous monster could cost them their heads, but it was worth a shot.
“Besides, no one has bought this dungeon yet, right?”
“Honestly, who would buy an S-Rank… unless it’s one of the Top 3 Guilds.”
“And since there’s absolutely no clear information on it yet, the risk is too high.”
“We don’t even know what kind of resources are inside.”
“Anyway, dungeons that haven’t been bought are free to enter.”
If a dungeon contained useful resources or was deemed beneficial for their hunters’ development, wealthy guilds would sometimes purchase its ownership. For those dungeons, an entry fee had to be paid each time.
“Compared to those, a dungeon like this is…”
“Fuck, don’t let your guard down. Do you think S-Rank is some kind of joke?”
“You think I don’t know that? Don’t worry, asshole.”
Not all hunters were affiliated with guilds. Thus, dungeons with bounties offered by the Hunter Association served as a major source of income for freelancers.
“Wow, there’s already a waiting list…”
“Can’t we just go in directly?”
“The entrance is in the deep sea. How else are you going to get there?”
“Swimming there would be a bit much.”
“Whatever, it doesn’t cost money to wait.”
No matter how superhuman a hunter was, it was difficult to reach an entrance located in the abyss of the ‘deep sea’ with just their bare bodies. Since they had to travel in a submersible prepared by the Association, the line quickly grew long.
Not long after, a strange rumor began to circulate.
“Oh, are you planning to go to the ‘Deep Sea Kingdom’?”
“It’s still the Exploration Season. The bounty hasn’t gone down yet, so I’m going to make some money.”
“I heard it’s dangerous there… If you go, make sure you remember this.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“No, seriously. They say that’s the only way to make it back alive.”
The hunters whispered.
“If you don’t want to die, go in front of the portrait and beg for your life.”
“What…? A portrait?”
“They say the Black Cloak likes kind and polite humans.”
『The Black Cloak gives gifts to good people.』
“……”
“Got it? Make sure to remember.”
It was the moment the name of the ‘Black Cloak’ began to spread among the hunters.
“……”
“……”
“Ah, we’re fucked.”
The Association, which had intended to instill wariness toward the ‘Black Cloak’ by declaring him a monster, was now nursing a massive headache.
This was because the public image of the ‘Black Cloak’ had become surprisingly favorable.
“We’re going to get another batch of romantics.”
“Ah, I’m already tired…”
The Association staff were already exhausted just imagining the creative disasters that would be caused by hunters acting recklessly, relying solely on the belief that a monster was friendly to humans.