Chapter 106

"I liked the honey pot I saw last time."

"Honey pot? You mean the one with the round, honey-filled flowers... right?"

"Yes, that's right. I heard they are difficult to sprout, so they only sell seedlings."

"Is there anything else you want?"

"Because I use salt often, I would like a rock salt tree if possible."

"A rock salt tree. That's a plant that was in the last catalogue. Anything else you need?"

"That is enough. Thank you for helping me."

"If anything, I'm the one who's grateful."

After all, what he was getting in exchange was a guarantee of his life in a dungeon as abnormal as this one.

'It's a ridiculously profitable deal.'

Yu Seongun was a typical Hunter of this era who valued his own health and life highly.

Getting jerked around by capitalist society and then dying in the middle of a mission was an ending he found truly hard to accept.

'It almost feels wrong to close the deal like this, but...'

He gauged the portrait's mood.

"..."

"Is there a problem?"

"... No, there isn't."

It was something a Gardener always had to keep turning over in his mind, but human standards were meaningless to a Root entity.

If you borrowed three things and agreed to repay four, only to repay five instead, a Root entity was the kind of existence that would get angry.

Even if humans could not understand it, Yu Seongun knew very well that catering to their tastes was the shortcut to a long life.

"Then let's end the transaction here."

Transactions with a Root entity needed a clear beginning and end.

After making sure to tie it off properly, Yu Seongun asked.

"I don't know if it's rude to ask this, but how did you know I was here?"

"The City of Emptiness told me that you had visited this place, Mr. Yu Seongun."

"So that was it after all."

It would have been stranger if Jio, the master of a dungeon of this scale, did not know the state of its interior.

'But the more that is true, the worse my position becomes when I came here to take Hunter Park Eun-gyeom out.'

Did that not make it even more certain that Jio had brought a human here with intent?

For Yu Seongun, who had to do the job he had been given, it was a difficult situation.

'Will he get angry?'

This portrait had dragged a human away after displaying outright hostility toward him, and Yu Seongun had come to take that human out.

For a Root entity, which never changed the choices it had made, this would be quite unpleasant.

"..."

"Why did you come here, Mr. Yu Seongun?"

"... I came to work."

If anything, that was why it was better to lay it out now.

'Because deceiving Jio might fall under the category of an evil act too.'

On top of that, had Jio not "promised" to let Yu Seongun live?

"As far as I know, today is Christmas."

"Huh? No, in Korea it's already the twenty-sixth now, so it's not Christmas. Though most companies guarantee holidays around this period, so there are many people who are off until today."

"Then everyone else is resting, but you are working, Mr. Yu Seongun."

"Have Hunters ever rested just because it was a holiday? It's common."

"Are people with the profession of Hunter unable to rest even on public holidays?"

"Not exactly, mm... but I guess you could say that."

No matter how angry they were, Root entities did not break the words they had spoken.

The atmosphere happened to be not too bad either, so trusting in that point, Yu Seongun cautiously opened his mouth.

"... The reason I came was to take someone out of here."

"Is taking someone out of this place your work?"

"That's right. A Hunter named Park Eun-gyeom... though I don't know if you even know his name."

"Park Eun-gyeom."

The portrait repeated the three syllables of the name.

"..."

"..."

Then silence flowed.

For Yu Seongun, who had something to feel guilty about, it was a chilling stillness.

'... I knew it. Is he offended?'

A child of the Root, which only imitated conversation without the ability to think, and the "Portrait of Jio" were entirely different existences.

Jio clearly had emotions, and because of that, sometimes he looked almost like a monster or even a human.

'And I have essentially declared that I will do something against the will of a guy like that.'

On top of that, because he had said he would "let Yu Seongun live," he could not kill him.

'Of course, there are plenty of ways to punish someone without killing them, but that is my part to endure. In any case, Jio can't be feeling purely good about this.'

Yu Seongun finished mentally preparing himself so he could withstand it even if Jio attacked.

That was something he had already braced himself for from the moment he had unwillingly encountered the master of this place in this gray city.

"..."

The portrait, who had been maintaining his silence, beckoned to the black suit.

"...?"

It was a difficult action to understand, but Yu Seongun quietly watched the situation.

At their master's gesture, the black suits that had been increasing one by one came closer to him.

Then, as if they were attendants facing the master they served, they courteously bent slightly at the waist and took on an attitude as though they were listening.

'What is this?'

Unconcerned with that, Jio asked the black suit.

"Do you know the location of the human named Park Eun-gyeom?"

"Yes, I know."

Yu Seongun was a little surprised.

It was not simply because something transparent, which had had neither hands nor mouth, imitated a human voice.

Nor was it because the thing that had only been using awkward sign language until just now had abruptly spoken.

What Yu Seongun focused on was the voice the black suit produced itself.

'... That voice...'

It was a voice that made him think of a man in his thirties.

'But it's not a voice that suits that monster.'

The voice of a human who had spent long years with a single ego usually tended to carry a tone that represented that ego.

Unlike the black suit's courteous and elegant gestures, the voice it spat out had something somewhat frivolous and irritable about it.

There was no way Jio, who had the identity of a painter, would have carelessly decided even one voice for the black suit, his own work.

And yet the voice was so ill-fitting, which meant this was...

'... No way.'

Was it Hunter Park Eun-gyeom's voice?

Separate from Yu Seongun's suspicions, the conversation between the two continued.

"Why did he come here?"

"Yes, he tormented a weak human and abandoned him."

"Then he is an evil human."

"Yes, he is an evil human."

It was a bizarre conversation.

"Is there any problem with taking that human out?"

"No, there is no problem at all."

"Then I will do as I wish."

"Yes, it is also our wish."

"I understand."

As if the conversation had ended, the portrait looked at Yu Seongun.

"Since you want it, Mr. Yu Seongun, I will take him out for you."

"... Really?"

He worked hard not to show it, but he was extremely surprised.

'He's reacting this casually?'

That point was, if anything, eerie.

'I clearly confirmed that Jio is an existence capable of feeling emotions, though...?'

If he had emotions, there was no way he could avoid being angry at someone who violated his rules.

Even humans were like that with one another, so how much more so for a Root entity?

'And yet he's agreeing this readily?'

At the question he could not erase, the Gardener's bad habit flared up.

"..."

It was interesting.

"... Are you not displeased?"

In the end, Yu Seongun could not hold back the question.

"I don't know what exactly happened, but your subordinates brought him here themselves, didn't they? On top of that, Park Eun-gyeom is already a human who has become part of this place."

"That may be true."

"So I was wondering if it's really all right for me to just take him like this. If you don't want it, I won't take him out either. I don't want to treat a guy who throws away a colleague without even knowing how precious they are as a fellow Hunter."

That was sincere.

The man named Park Eun-gyeom was not a human worth Yu Seongun risking his life to this extent to save or recover the body of.

'Besides, the Association's request wasn't to save Hunter Park either.'

What they wanted was information on the process, cause, and result of "Black Cloak" attacking a human.

In other words, there was no reason Yu Seongun absolutely had to save Hunter Park Eun-gyeom.

At that, Jio asked.

"But did you not say it was something you had to do, Mr. Yu Seongun?"

"I did say that, but..."

"Then I can likewise do as you wish, Mr. Yu Seongun."

"Is it really not a problem...? You aren't offended?"

"It does not matter, because he was an object I did not devote attention to from the beginning."

Jio truly knew nothing.

The Void had never told him about such a person.

He had almost felt sorry for a moment that a person had been wandering around in the house he made, but when he heard that he was a human abuser and abandoner, he had shifted straight into a "not my problem" state.

'Even Mr. Yu Seongun said he was a human not worth saving.'

Then it was even less of Jio's problem.

But just like he had handed out gifts to many passersby all this time, if the other person wanted something and he had the capacity for it, there was simply no reason not to grant that wish.

'Most of all, he said this is Mr. Yu Seongun's work, so even if the situation is difficult, I should help him.'

If an office worker went on a business trip and failed to accomplish the objective, how badly would they get chewed out back at the company?

As someone who had once been a proper member of society, Jio wanted to make sure he granted what Yu Seongun wanted.

"So you do not need to worry about anything, Mr. Yu Seongun."

"That's a very grateful thing to hear."

And it was an eerie thing to hear.

'... I didn't know this indifferent attitude would feel scarier than anger.'

He was an existence who showed affection to young and weak things, and knew how to admire things that were splendid and beautiful.

The fact that the "Portrait of Jio" responded to this situation not with anger, but with indifference, was a little chilling to Yu Seongun as a human.

'If he's going to allow it this easily, then why did he drag Hunter Park away in the first place?'

From the conversation between Black Cloak and the black suit just now, one might have thought, "Jio didn't even know Park Eun-gyeom came here!"

But because the atmosphere of the conversation had been so bizarre, Yu Seongun thought it was a kind of staged performance.

Just as quite a few Root's children did.

"..."

That was why Yu Seongun had no choice but to reach a grotesque conclusion.

'... Some kind of isolation, perhaps...'

Jio was friendly toward humans.

In other words, that could be interpreted as the "Portrait of Jio" liking the species known as humans, but this portrait also disliked rude and evil humans.

So Yu Seongun thought.

'I don't know whether, from Jio's perspective, this is consideration toward humans or simple self-satisfaction... but this act of attacking evil humans could be filtering out bad seeds like Park Eun-gyeom so that the human species average can remain polite and good.'

Just as humans slaughter livestock that attack people.

'Thinking of it that way, I can see Jio's perspective.'

It was a little creepy, but in any case, his mind was more at ease now that he understood.

"... Mm..."

If he felt fear over every little thing like this, he could not do the work of a Gardener.

"Then when can I take Hunter Park Eun-gyeom away?"

"If you wish to take him outside the City of Emptiness, a price is required."

"A price?"

Yu Seongun paused.

"I don't mind, but do I need a price when I leave too...?"

"It is fine for you to leave as you are, Mr. Yu Seongun."

"Then Hunter Park Eun-gyeom?"

"If you wish to take him out, a price is required."

"..."

"That is what it says."

Jio was truly saying exactly what was there in pure sincerity.

'I don't know well either, but in any case, the System said so.'

And interpreting that was Yu Seongun's job.

"... Aha..."

He remembered when Hunter Cha A-ra had visited the "Portrait of Jio" before.

'Hunter Cha said she didn't offer any price back then.'

And this time, Jio had also said that Yu Seongun did not need a price.

'It seems people who enter the frame after receiving Jio's invitation do not need a price. Assuming that it is already fixed that they will someday leave the frame again, the one-to-one rule is also maintained by going once to this world and once to the other world.'

However, in the case of being forcibly dragged into the frame.

'It looks like they are treated as a painting.'

When Jio received a price from Yu Seongun, it was always when he had drawn something for him as a painting.

To take that out into reality and give it to Yu Seongun, Jio likewise had to receive something.

The current situation did not look very different from that.

"Then what price should I give this time?"

"You do not need to give me a price, Mr. Yu Seongun."

"Ah, it's fine?"

"Yes. This time, I will receive the price from the human named Park Eun-gyeom."

"Oh..."

Curiosity rose in him.

'What on earth does he mean to receive as the price?'

Whether he knew Yu Seongun's feelings or not, Jio asked him in the same low voice.

"Is it time for you to get off work?"

"Huh? No, a Hunter like me tends not to have a set time to get off work..."

"Do you want to get off work?"

"Of course I do. I just can't go home because the work isn't done."

"Then I will send you out."

Before he knew it, there was a frame in Jio's hand.

"... Huh?"

It was the living room of Yu Seongun's home.

"Wait, this is..."

"Have a good night."

And when he came to his senses.

"..."

His breathing suddenly cleared.

The heating was working well, and mild air brushed against his skin, while the furniture had gathered dust because no one had stopped by in a while.

The dark house, without a single light on, showed that no one had been there.

"..."

Yu Seongun was standing in the living room of his own home.

"... Good grief..."

He was grateful, but it was truly eerie.

'How am I supposed to respond to this?'

Was there any consideration in the world as eerie as this?

Yu Seongun wore an awkward smile for quite some time.