Chapter 138

Black Cloak.

A humanoid monster first sighted last winter in the S-class dungeon, the “country of the deep sea,” and listed on the Hunter Association’s website.

He was famous as a monster who tormented bad humans and gave gifts to good humans.

His distinguishing traits were that he was extremely tall, wore a black cloak, dressed in a suit, and went barefoot.

"..."

In her dorm room, where she was alone, rookie Curator Park Juhee clenched her teeth.

"... Now that I think about it, they’re all the same..."

She remembered when Curator Yu Seongun had first explained a person named “Seo Jio” to her.

'He said he was often mistaken for Black Cloak because he had similar traits.'

It was not as if Park Juhee had never thought Seo Jio and Black Cloak had similarities.

Only, Seo Jio had been far too kind, far too human, and smiled with an exceptionally gentle expression for her to think that way.

But thinking back on it now, it made her dizzy.

'He was excessively ideal.'

She should have suspected him.

'As if someone who smiles like he’s been preserved in the most perfect form could be ordinary.'

Seo Jio smiled, conversed, and showed consideration like an ordinary person, but there were no fluctuations in his behavior or expressions.

She had clearly known Seo Jio, who gave off an air like something that did not actually exist.

"... Is this... Is this really okay?"

She was confused.

Because the other party had felt so human, she had never imagined he might be a monster, and she wondered whether she had been bewitched or deceived somehow.

There was a high probability that the “Seo Jio” Black Cloak showed was some kind of mask.

'It’s not like I feel betrayed or anything by someone I haven’t known for long.'

He was someone she had met only twice so far.

Even if an acquaintance she had known for over a year had deceived her, she would probably let it pass, so there was no room for her to feel betrayed by someone she had now met exactly twice.

'I’m not angry either. It’s not that I’m disappointed or anything. Seo Jio and I didn’t have that much trust between us. But it’s true that I’m confused...'

What was she supposed to do about this?

"... I’m not in a position to take action, am I?"

Collector’s gallery was a place where all sorts of dangerous works were gathered.

That meant there must be many response protocols for anomalies, and safety devices and information control were probably in place as well.

"Besides, all the other employees seemed to know."

Only the rookies had been unaware that “Seo Jio” was Black Cloak.

"But it’s not like they’re exactly hiding it thoroughly either..."

Park Juhee herself had been unusually slow on the uptake, but if there were this many points in common, some of her fellow rookies must have already noticed.

For some reason, Collector was simply tolerating Black Cloak’s presence.

"..."

After agonizing over it for quite a long time, she soon knocked on another dorm room door.

"... What is it?"

"Um, I’m sorry. There’s something I’d like to talk to you about."

"With me, another rookie?"

"Mr. Binari, you’ve... met Seo Jio, haven’t you?"

"..."

Binari, one of Park Juhee’s fellow rookies, nodded.

"Come in."

"... Excuse me."

Deep in the early dawn, the conversation was growing long.

Among this round of Collector rookies, Curator Binari was the only one in charge of third-floor works.

"I knew."

"I knew it... So you did. Was I the only one who didn’t know?"

"No."

He was one of the people who had long since realized that “Seo Jio” was Black Cloak.

"In my case, I had a hunch from the moment Curator Yu Seongun first warned us about a person named Seo Jio. Aside from me, Ms. Jung Eunbyeol, who was introduced to us as a B-class Hunter, was suspicious too."

"Ah..."

"Curator Yu Seongun also seemed to have roughly noticed that we had realized something was strange. Even so, he never gave us a separate hint. It seemed that inside Collector, the fact that the person called ‘Seo Jio’ is Black Cloak is public knowledge."

Binari added,

"To begin with, there is no such thing as a dawn shift at Collector."

"... It’s true there was no such introduction on the website, but I thought they’d hidden it because he was important personnel."

"When I asked around among the seniors, Seo Jio was the only person assigned to the dawn shift."

"But it could have been a measure meant as a sort of pretext."

"That’s right. You could think of it as special treatment to accommodate someone too exceptional."

He shrugged.

"Just like the other fellow rookies are probably thinking right now."

"... That’s true. I still think they’re hiding it too carelessly, though..."

"I suspect they judged that, for rookies at least, it could be hidden well enough, just as Ms. Park Juhee only realized it today."

"What happens to people like us who’ve found out Seo Jio’s true identity?"

"At the very least, I don’t think we’ll suffer any disadvantages. They may be watching how we adapt."

"Why in the first place... Why something like this..."

Park Juhee, who had been stammering, let out a short breath and opened her mouth again.

"There are so many things I don’t understand. Why didn’t they tell the rookies the truth about Black Cloak? He’s not anything else, he’s a humanoid monster."

"It’s true that the basic training we received contained nothing about ‘Seo Jio.’ Perhaps it’s because we’re interns who may end up leaving the company if things go wrong."

"Interns... So they didn’t tell us for the sake of some kind of confidentiality, right? They can’t tell important circumstances to interns who could be sent out at any time."

Park Juhee thought it over.

"But if we cause an accident because we didn’t receive safety training, isn’t that an even bigger problem? The seniors in the gallery keep emphasizing it too. If someone has to die, it should end with the Curator."

She had heard that when dangerous works caused accidents, the scale often grew beyond control.

"Whether it’s a work here or a monster, the important thing should be the rules. If we, knowing nothing, fail to understand Seo Jio’s... conditions and incur his wrath, wouldn’t that be worse?"

"Ms. Jung Eunbyeol, whom I just mentioned, and I briefly thought something similar. And we reached a conclusion. It seems that if you recognize Seo Jio as an ordinary employee and treat him that way, there is actually no problem."

Binari let out a sigh.

"Collector must have thought it all through too. So Black Cloak causes no problems when treated as an ordinary employee, and even if an anomaly occurs, he is not a being who causes major accidents."

"... Is it the kind of problem where only we die and that’s the end of it?"

"That was what we were guessing. So I thought of it as a kind of test. Whether we have the qualifications to become a Collector’s collectible, whether we have the qualifications to become employees of Collector, whether we have the qualifications to become Black Cloak’s coworkers..."

"I think the fact that we’re here at all means we qualify as collectibles."

"Collector is fine either way. If we think of him as an ordinary dawn shift worker until the very end, that also won’t violate the conditions. And if we notice Black Cloak’s existence, they can check how well we adapt."

He smiled awkwardly.

"So we were thinking that the sooner we realized Seo Jio’s identity... the faster our promotion to full-time employee might become. It’s only a guess, though."

"... Ah, that makes sense. If all the other employees already know Black Cloak’s identity, then, how should I put it. A prerequisite for becoming a full-time employee would be... hmm, knowing Black Cloak’s identity."

They also knew just how devoted Bi Sabeol was to his own collection.

Once someone was promoted to full-time employee, they could no longer leave Bi Sabeol’s collection, and they were not expelled from Collector.

"But if, during the internship process, we show that we know Black Cloak’s identity and still adapt well..."

Wouldn’t that mean he could take them in without worry from various angles?

"It means not only us, but Black Cloak as well, doesn’t dislike this batch of rookies. Right?"

"Correct. So this lax security probably seems like a device to confirm the intentions of two people: the Guild Master and Seo Jio."

"Still, it would be nice if we could know accurate information... Like the monster’s tolerance conditions."

"Our position isn’t what matters. And it’s not something that can happen just because we try. We can only become full-time employees if Seo Jio tolerates us, can’t we?"

"..."

Park Juhee’s expression twisted subtly.

"... So... why is that?"

"... It does feel very much like Collector regards Black Cloak as one of its basic components."

"If he’s a basic component, that must be because he can never be excluded..."

"..."

"... Ah."

She lifted her head.

"Don’t tell me?"

"Who knows."

"In the gallery?"

"... Who knows."

"He was a work?"

"... Phew..."

Binari let out a sigh and opened his mouth.

"To begin with, the fact that Black Cloak is a portrait is something even ordinary citizens know. A certain group of enthusiasts has even appeared, coveting the portrait series drawn by the portrait."

"Did the Guild Master bring him in because he considered him a work? When Curator Yu Seongun explained ‘Seo Jio,’ I feel like he said he was one of the collectibles too."

"Collector’s gallery has quite a few monsters that take the form of works. Raising monsters is clearly illegal, but once they enter the gallery, they are treated as objects..."

"So Black Cloak was treated that way too, as one of the Guild Master’s collectibles? Really? Does that make any sense?"

"I think that is the case. Perhaps Seo Jio was lingering around because he didn’t want to leave Collector, and the Guild Master brought him in. Hmm, there are many possibilities."

But they were not matters a rookie could know.

"In any case, what matters is that Collector is no different from Guild Master Bi Sabeol’s gallery. No matter what harm occurs, no matter what changes he has to accept, I’ve heard the Collector is quite greedy... so there’s no way he would want to throw away an unusual collectible like Black Cloak, who periodically creates works."

Binari made an odd expression.

"Even if he did throw him away, there’s also the question of where on earth he would throw him."

"Ah, true..."

"What’s certain is that Collector has already adapted to Seo Jio’s existence."

"... Should I think of him as some kind of executive, or a potted plant..."

"A potted plant?"

"Like a potted plant placed in the hallway..."

"Wouldn’t it be better to think of him as a work hanging in the hallway?"

"That is more accurate, since he is a work."

Park Juhee barely managed to organize her thoughts.

"So a work that should currently be in the gallery is walking around the company."

"There may be many works other than Seo Jio that we simply don’t know about."

"I think it’ll be easier on my mind if I think of this not as the gallery, but as the manual inside the company building."

Because activity differed by floor in Collector’s gallery, separate internal manuals had been prepared.

For example, knock three times before opening the thirty-ninth door on the second floor, or drink water before passing through corridor one on the fourth floor...

"Well, I’ve gotten a rough sense for how to keep a work in a good mood."

All those manuals were rules for avoiding angering the many works in the gallery.

If she thought of Seo Jio, who was hiding the fact that he was Black Cloak, as something similar, it was not that difficult.

"Thank you for helping me understand."

"We fellow rookies have to help each other survive."

"True, they do say your fellow rookies are important."

"Since there are many times when you need help..."

Still, she remained uneasy.

"..."

"..."

"... No matter how I think about it, isn’t this far too careless?"

"... I think that’s Collector’s motto..."

"Love the works?"

"Yes, that one."

"Oh dear..."

A humanoid monster, and not anything else, was effectively roaming around, but Collector was managing it with a mindset of “if an accident happens, then there’s nothing we can do.”

There was no safety training here, nor any coercive confidentiality measures.

"... We simply don’t know it, but surveillance and evaluation are probably being conducted at all times. The moment we leave the company, there will probably be measures regarding confidentiality too."

"That’s probably true. I’m sure they have countermeasures and everything, but I’m not sure whether those include means to protect interns like us."

"We may not be full-time employees yet, but we have set one foot inside Guild Master Bi Sabeol’s collection. They say his collectibles are treated so well, so let’s look forward to it."

Binari asked next,

"But you’re not as flustered as I expected."

"Uh... About finding out Seo Jio’s identity?"

"You haven’t never met him at all, and I heard you spoke with him twice or so."

"Part of it is that it just doesn’t feel real enough for me to react..."

Park Juhee, who had hesitated, continued speaking.

"... I don’t think he seemed particularly human from the first time I saw him."

And their conversation also reached the safety management department inside Collector.

The safety management department was the only department that worked twenty-four hours a day.

The employees who had finished eavesdropping murmured among themselves.

"They noticed faster than expected."

"That’s because Seo Jio has been walking around the company a lot lately."

"He used to come out only in the late dawn..."

"Yes, lately he often appears during work hours too, doesn’t he?"

"Did he have some kind of change of heart?"

SLURP.

An employee who drank coffee asked,

"Three of them have already noticed, so why don’t we just promote them to full-time employees already?"

"That’s not for us to decide."

"Has the Guild Master still not confirmed it?"

"We also have to check Black Cloak’s wishes."

"Well, still, it seems like he likes this batch."

"For now, the fact that they weren’t immediately dragged into the portrait is a pass in itself."

"I guess this batch of rookies is made up only of well-mannered, kind people."

"In the end, it’ll depend on Seo Jio’s standards, though."

"If they’re at least that much, they pass as human..."

An employee with his eyes fixed on the CCTV, sipping coffee the color of poison, opened his mouth.

"But Seo Jio’s activity really has increased sharply lately."

"He comes out often even when there are many people around."

"Did Curator Yu Seongun not say anything in particular?"

"No separate report or request has been submitted, and he only told us to watch carefully."

"I heard that too. Hmm, so no separate documents were filed..."

"But I do know the topic Seo Jio has been interested in lately."

"As if I don’t know that?"

The head of the safety management department let out a sigh.

"I hear he’s been going around asking about evil gods."

"Why evil gods all of a sudden?"

"More precisely, he was asking about the definition and qualifications of an evil god."

"Could he be talking about Seo Jio himself?"

"It’s not impossible."

"True, since he’s a work that still hasn’t even been examined..."

The employee who had been about to say something flinched.

"Uh-oh."

"Uh, Mr. Gyeong. That man is looking at the CCTV."

"Temporarily shutting down screen 53 on the 14th floor."

Just before Black Cloak, who had been strolling down the corridor, turned back toward the CCTV, the employees cut the video feed.

When a black screen soon fell over it, the other employees watching different screens also let out sighs of relief.

At that, the department head opened his mouth.

"You know the employee who had that intense eye-kiss with Seo Jio through the screen last time and collapsed."

"It wasn’t quite collapsing... more like fainting? Right?"

"Isn’t that the same thing? Anyway, yes, Ms. Ha Ryuseo. When is she coming back?"

"They say she’s still going around to counseling sessions."

"Hasn’t it been a while? Aw, shit, we’re short on people..."

"They said they still can’t send her back because if they aren’t careful, they’re about to make a cultist out of her."

"Oh no, it’s that bad? This is a big problem. We won’t be able to use our annual leave."

"We’ll have to take it in cash."

"I don’t want the money. I want to take vacation."

"Me too."

The employee turned the screen back on, and in the spot where Black Cloak had disappeared, only a single portrait remained.

Looking at the portrait that was the only thing in the empty corridor, the department head said,

"Wow, what a mood."

The screen distorted.

Inside the portrait, behind the black paint, Seo Jio was meeting their “eyes.”