Chapter 109

“Who are you?”

Pardon?

“... What should we do?”

“...”

About what?

Jio thought.

'What did I do wrong?'

He could not understand how on earth the conversation had come to this.

'Weren't we talking about the state of the world until just now?'

Just as he was feeling burdened by the fact that he had become famous without his own permission, what kind of bolt from the blue was this?

Suddenly faced with a philosophical question about “who am I,” Jio fell into untimely self-reflection. Even Jio, who lived without thinking much, could tell that the question just now had been fairly serious.

'But that makes it even harder to understand.'

It was as if his parents had sat across from their child and lamented, “Son, how should we treat you?” And Yu Seongun was not Jio’s parent. Jio was an adult man who had once had a job and then lost it.

'Why? Why me? Why career counseling all of a sudden?'

He could not tell what part of this had made Yu Seongun so serious.

“...”

“...”

As the silence lengthened, Jio’s confusion and anxiety grew as well.

'He asked me so solemnly and seriously, so it is only human decency that I answer solemnly and seriously as well, yet I know nothing, so there is nothing I can say to him. To think I would learn this way that I, Seo Jio, the very byword for the harmful effects of rote education in my school days, have poor crisis response skills.'

How could he give an answer unless he understood the situation?

'Who... who am I...?'

Good question?

'If I had to be specific, a portrait possessed by a ghost...?'

That was probably the phrase that could express Jio’s identity most accurately right now.

However, Jio felt a little awkward calling himself a “ghost” when he had never even died, and after a brief moment of thought, he answered.

“I am a portrait.”

“... A portrait.”

“I know what you are worried about, Yu Seongun.”

“...”

“But I cannot understand it.”

He meant it.

'Where else would you find a haunted portrait as harmless as me?'

Recently, Jio had done a little image management because of his sense of crisis that “if I look easy, I’ll be dragged off to a research lab.”

Jio did not think it had ever produced results great enough to make Yu Seongun feel seriously threatened.

'But looking at Yu Seongun’s reaction now, he is clearly afraid of me.'

To be precise, it seemed less that he was afraid of Jio himself and more that he was worried about some accident Jio might someday cause.

For Jio, who only knew how to shut himself up at home, paint, and eat, this was bewildering. He asserted his own utter layabout nature.

“I am merely an ordinary person who likes painting, cooks with my own hands and enjoys meals with my family, and repeatedly sleeps in a bed filled with spring breeze.”

Do you perhaps know Poké○mon?

'I’m Snor○ax, Snorla○.'

He meant he was a lazy, healthy, harmless beast that repeated eating, sleeping, and shitting.

“That fact does not change even if I am a portrait.”

“... Is that so?”

“I believe you know that well, Yu Seongun.”

How could hyung, of all people, misunderstand this?

'No matter how the world knows me, you know I’m just a talking portrait, hyung. Believe in my triviality.'

Yu Seongun had been with him since the early days, but perhaps the stir people were making in the world had made him briefly misjudge Jio’s danger level. It meant his image management had succeeded, but this situation was not welcome.

For reference, his danger level converged toward a whopping zero. It was a figure lower than a fire ant’s. Comparing a fire ant, which sprayed formic acid that could even blind a person, and Jio, who could not even chomp down hard for the sake of dental health, Jio was unquestionably the loser.

“I understand why you came to have such concerns.”

Jio thought this was a problem that had arisen from a lack of communication.

“We have not had enough time to understand each other.”

If Yu Seongun had exchanged messages with Jio day in and day out, and had known how much like a jobless bum he lived inside the house, he would never have harbored such an absurd worry in the first place, like a tiger worrying about a rabbit’s capacity for violence.

“Just as countless humans ponder and explore their own identities, I am the same. I, too, do not know exactly what I am.”

“...”

“So why not confirm it yourself?”

Jio said this with the pure intention of truly wanting to clear up the misunderstanding.

'Yu Seongun ran around on his own two feet and found the void somewhere in Seoul when he did not even know where it was. He even worked on Christmas to save a person named Park Eun-gyeom, whom I did not even know existed. This means he is a truly pitiful and capable office worker.'

And people like that had to be fed until they were plump and full. Those who were full originally did not think or say useless things. This was all a harmful effect brought on by a society steeped in exhaustion.

Therefore.

“I will invite you, Yu Seongun.”

There was no reason for Jio not to feed Yu Seongun until he was full.

Yu Seongun was drawn inside the “Portrait of Jio.”

“...”

The very first thing he felt was.

'Ah.'

Warmth.

It was a gently blowing spring breeze.

“...”

Yu Seongun lifted his head and looked at the sky.

“... It’s blue.”

It was a clear sky difficult to see these days.

Above that sky, large clouds sprawled as if asleep floated along, and over them was air so transparent it seemed dew might pour down at any moment.

A sky that held quiet and peace was here.

“It is a sight difficult to see on Earth.”

“Seoul’s air was certainly acrid.”

“... Even if it’s not Seoul, well...”

Yu Seongun unconsciously left his blank gaze on the sky.

“Where could you see a sky this blue?”

They said that a very, very long time ago, Earth had a sky this transparent. To Yu Seongun, who had been born right before the great cataclysm, that was quite unfamiliar information. It might be one thing for a dungeon, but it was strange to think Earth had ever been like that.

'Technically, this is a dungeon too.'

Yu Seongun tilted his head.

'... Why does it not feel unfamiliar?'

It was not normal to feel nostalgia for a sky he had never seen in the past.

“... It really is a pretty sky...”

“Do you like it?”

“Do stars come out when evening comes?”

“Enough for you to see the Milky Way.”

“The Milky Way. That’s incredible.”

To think that in this cabin, he could freely admire the Milky Way, which they said could no longer be seen on Earth even if one went to the desert.

Yu Seongun, who had been looking up at the sky as if bewitched by something, slowly lowered his head.

“...”

A forest of soft colors filled his eyes.

“So this is the forest you told me about.”

“If you go a little deeper in, you can meet my friends.”

“You mean the forest animals, right?”

Just then, a deer with a long neck showed its face between the bushes.

“Oh.”

It was a fairytale-like, beautiful deer with eyes that sparkled like jewels.

When he listened carefully, he could hear birds chirping. When he turned his gaze, he saw several birds sitting on branches and looking down at him.

Following the tail feathers that fluttered away, he saw a narrow, shallow waterway flowing gently along the ground.

When he breathed in, there seemed to be a sweet, nutty scent, like flowers or nuts.

“...”

The stream where sunlight shattered across the surface rippled like jewels, and the fish swimming through it occasionally flicked their tails and added sound.

The pebbles spread beneath the water, transparent as glass, gleamed smoothly like radiant marble.

“... This is really...”

Peaceful.

“No wonder you don’t want to come out.”

It was a peace like the grave of a wise old man.

“I’ve always seen it through the portrait, but I didn’t know it would be this wonderful.”

“Are you enjoying the view?”

“I really am. I’m curious what might be deeper in the forest, and I’m curious what it would feel like to take a nap here.”

There was a tranquility here that made people lazy.

“It might be dangerous.”

There was not much in the way of pressure, but apart from that, the sense of comfort was so dense that the feeling of it was like a swamp.

If someone weak-willed were brought here, they would forget their own self and wish to become one of the forest’s ornaments.

'That does not mean Jio has any malice.'

This forest, too, had no malice, and not even goodwill.

'It simply exists like this.'

That was what nature was.

This place was nature that held a longing too great for humans to bear. It was like a feast of gods that humans could not bear.

If one enjoyed this peace without resolve, one would lose everything.

“...”

... It was a wonder F-class Hunter Cha A-ra had endured this place.

'Her love for her family on Earth must have been that great, so she did not lose her mind.'

Every time he exhaled, his eyes stung with tender longing and his fingertips tingled with happiness.

It was a peace that those without attachments, those lacking courage, and those with a weak sense of self would find difficult to endure.

“... What should I find out here?”

“I did not invite you because I wanted you to find out something about this place, Yu Seongun.”

“Then why did you invite me?”

“I simply wanted us to enjoy it together, without any great meaning. The more we get to know each other, the less frightening we will be.”

As he said that, Jio had somehow taken off his cloak. The young man with an eerily expressionless face continued.

“There was no reason not to share what I have with a friend.”

“... A friend...”

The portrait called Yu Seongun a friend.

“... Do I look like a friend to you?”

“... Was I mistaken?”

“No. If you are all right with it, I also wanted a friend like you.”

He had wanted to communicate with the Root.

“Because I am a Gardener.”

The Root, one he could converse with, existed here.

“When I see such a wonderful Garden, I become enchanted.”

“... It would be difficult if you liked it that much.”

“I only meant that I really like places like this.”

“Then I am glad.”

“You live here, right?”

Yu Seongun looked at the portrait.

“Did you make this place?”

“I drew it.”

“How did that happen?”

“It just happened.”

“That is unusual.”

“I think so too.”

“...”

Soon, Yu Seongun asked.

“Do you know? This place is connected to you.”

“Because I am the owner of this place.”

“I know you are the owner here.”

But Yu Seongun was not talking about that.

'This Garden itself is the Portrait of Jio.'

This frighteningly peaceful world and the “Portrait of Jio” were not separate beings.

But that was only natural. Jio was a portrait, and this world existed inside that portrait. Everything in the portrait centered on the self called Jio could only be Jio himself.

“Can only things you drew exist here?”

“No. Things that are not like that sometimes grow naturally without my knowing.”

“I see. I thought so. And can those be taken outside the frame?”

“Yes, they can be taken outside the frame. Is there something you need?”

“No, I’m just... looking into this and that.”

CLINK.

“...”

Transparent waterbirds sat on the branches. Among them was Honey, whom Jio called his son.

“... There are many fascinating things here.”

Yu Seongun could not read their gazes.

They seemed to be warning him not to harm this peace, and they also seemed to be welcoming Yu Seongun, whom their parent Jio had invited, or perhaps they were simply cameras watching without any emotion.

They had neither malice nor goodwill. Or perhaps they had both.

“...”

Where was this longing, so embarrassing it felt as if he might burst into tears, coming from?

“... That must be your cabin over there.”

“That is correct. Student Cha A-ra came straight inside, so I could not show her the forest.”

“May I take a look?”

“My apologies. I failed to say that you may look around as you wish.”

“All right. Thank you.”

With Jio’s ready permission, Yu Seongun ran his hand over the wall of the cabin.

'... It’s warm.'

And he felt a faint vibration.

It was the sound of a dead tree’s heart beating.

“... This place.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“It’s breathing.”

This was a living thing.

“Or maybe it is not.”

And also an inanimate object.

“Am I saying something a little strange?”

“It sounds that way to me.”

“Still, thank you for inviting me. It’s only because I like it so much.”

“I think you have been very tired lately.”

“If I were to die, I would want it to be somewhere like this.”

A Gardener was meant to be buried in a Garden.

“This is truly a wonderful Garden.”

This place was the Root.

That became a clear answer to his question.