Chapter 151

Even if Jio had made a new pen pal and Ju-hyeon had taken Black Cloak as a friend, the daily life of this peaceful cabin did not change.

Black Cloak still cooked for him.

"Please, let me do some work too."

"Guests do not work."

"You said we were friends."

"A friend who is a guest."

It did make him feel a little uncomfortable, but it was true that everything was peaceful.

"Then could you perhaps watch Dana? The child looks bored."

"If I go close, won't she burn me? Really? I heard an anti-cat's fire is that hot."

"She does not seem to dislike you as much as before, Mr. Ju-hyeon, so why not take courage?"

"Even this morning, she bared her teeth at me as she walked past..."

"Compared to before, when she tried to turn you to ash, she has certainly grown gentler."

Delicious meals came out three times a day, the room was comfortable and private, and the view beyond the veranda was as beautiful as a scene from a fairy tale.

He was enjoying far too many benefits without having done anything.

But that did not mean the situation had changed at all.

"..."

Ju-hyeon fell into thought over his new friend's identity.

He had followed Jio up to the attic because he found himself interested in the process of making paint and brushes and the like.

Invited there, Ju-hyeon began in a composed tone.

"This is a very delicate matter, but I have been thinking."

"I am listening."

"I think this is the sort of thing I can ask if we are friends."

"Please ask."

He called Jio.

"Mr. Jio."

"Yes."

"... Mr. Seo Jio?"

"Yes."

"Arjio?"

"Yes."

"What should I call you?"

"Ah."

Jio acknowledged his mistake.

"My introduction was insufficient."

That was right.

Ju-hyeon knew almost nothing about Jio.

'He never explained it separately, either.'

That strangely indifferent attitude, too, was typical of a vast mystery dealing with a human.

"I can't go and do something that offends you, can I?"

"I do not think there is much that would offend me..."

"I don't think I would ever do that sort of thing either, but still."

"It is certainly discourteous not to even introduce myself properly."

Glass tools were set down with a clink.

Inside them were liquids of strange colors, and vivid paints scattered without any pattern.

Dana and Honey were sunk deep inside a box beside the workbench.

In the attic where all sorts of mysterious things were gathered, Jio took the unexpected time to introduce himself.

"I am Seo Jio."

"Ah, yes, I heard that. The members of Collector seemed to know you that way too."

"And I am Batlan Giovanni."

"... Batlan Giovanni?"

"I am also scheduled to become Arjio soon."

"..."

Ju-hyeon thought this damned habit mysteries had of "cutting out all supplementary explanation and saying only the main point in an ominous way" needed to be made illegal.

'... The most representative kind of exchange with mysteries, oracles, are like that too. Beings of immense rank are always far too vague when they give information.'

It was nothing but awkward for the humans listening.

Ju-hyeon smiled awkwardly.

Ju-hyeon knew very well that there were reasons for all of it.

In the case of oracles, apparently the language of gods was highly likely to harm believers, so they reduced the scale of it as much as possible, and as a result, the sentences became very difficult to interpret.

'It isn't my field, so I don't really know.'

In any case, because of that, Ju-hyeon was able to quickly hide his bewilderment at Jio's clipped sentences.

After stroking his chin for a moment in thought, he soon found the pattern without much difficulty.

"All the names have 'Jio' in them. Is that why it is Jio's Portrait?"

"I believe so."

"So the way you change from time to time must be a change according to the name."

He asked in his characteristic gentle tone.

"What sort of form is Seo Jio?"

"The form with black hair."

"Hmm... And Arjio was when you had red hair."

"Thank you for remembering."

"Batlan Giovanni must be the form with blond hair."

"You have understood well."

Was it admirable that a mere human had understood the words of a vast mystery?

Whatever part of him had touched this portrait's interest and sentiment, gold soon spread over him like paint.

Giovanni gave his characteristic radiant smile.

"This is the first time since Mr. Yu Seongun that I have given a proper introduction like this."

"..."

It seemed that he mainly changed into "Giovanni" when he wanted to effectively express joy to a human or put them at ease.

Seen that way, "Seo Jio" and "Arjio" must each have their own uses too.

Having organized his thoughts, Ju-hyeon soon gave an embarrassed smile.

"... Ah, the first time? I can roughly understand what kind of situation it is, though."

"Most people grow tense just from seeing me, so I have not had the chance to have such miscellaneous conversations. I worried about when I would make a friend, but I am truly fortunate to have met you, Mr. Ju-hyeon."

"The honor is mine."

Even as Ju-hyeon wore his characteristic agreeable smile, inwardly he thought.

'Of course anyone who isn't as out of his mind as I am would be scared.'

Even at a glance, he was at least a humanoid monster, and no matter how deeply one thought about it, he looked like an evil god.

It was true that the urban legend about "Black Cloak" had settled into a rather familiar form, but there would be very few people who could openly act friendly toward him.

"..."

Having become one of those "very few people," Ju-hyeon felt bitter inside.

He prided himself on having lived a reasonably sane, normal life, but now he had become friends with an evil god.

'I need to be careful not to get any foolish ideas. Even if what the other party wants from me is friendship and I respond to that, I still have to be careful about what needs caution.'

Mistaking an evil god's favor for his own power, relying on him too much, getting drunk on authority that was not even his own and growing greedy beyond measure without knowing gratitude...

The contractors of evil gods who had ruined worlds throughout history had all botched things because they did not know their place.

He did not want to disappear as a cog in society, but he also did not want to be recorded in history like that.

"... Then may I hear your story, Mr. Jio?"

Since he had told him his names, it seemed he was willing to explain.

"Of course, if it makes you uncomfortable, you don't have to tell me."

"No, they are not stories so special as that."

Black-haired Jio crossed his arms and seemed to think about something.

Soon, he opened his mouth.

"Arjio had an innate ability to transform into a beast. Because of that ability, he was driven out of his family, lived like a beast in the forest, and then was branded the root of all evil and became an evil god."

Ju-hyeon spoke reflexively.

"That is already special."

"Is it?"

"No, rather than special, it is a little more negative..."

"He lived happily and well before he passed on."

"That is black comedy itself."

Ju-hyeon nodded and continued.

"What kind of person was Giovanni of the Batlan family?"

"As a priest of the Sun and a doctor, he cared for mermaid students, then was beaten to death by a mob."

"What... how am I supposed to react to that kind of story?"

"You may laugh. He lived happily and well then too."

"If I laugh, I feel like I'll become something less than human."

Laugh?

It was a story that left him scrambling just to hide his shock.

"I feel like I've heard a similar story somewhere...?"

"If so, you must have read the report on the country of the deep sea."

"I am truly shocked that it wasn't my imagination."

Since they were humanoid monsters that had officially appeared through the Association on rare occasion, Ju-hyeon had also read the report on the country of the deep sea carefully.

That report had also included the overall story related to the dungeon.

"..."

No matter how he thought about it, it did not seem like he had lived happily and well before dying.

"... To be honest, I did expect it a little."

"I am curious what and how you expected."

"Since I found out Black Cloak belonged to Collector."

"Is there a problem with that?"

"The report on the country of the deep sea that Collector sent us was submitted by Mr. Yu Seongun, wasn't it?"

"I believe that is likely the case."

"And Mr. Yu Seongun is, um..."

Ju-hyeon chose his words.

"Quite famous in the Association's research lab community."

"Why would that be?"

"Because he is a former research team leader who transferred to none other than Collector."

"Is there something special about transferring to Collector?"

"The motto is special. Collector has a strong atmosphere of cherishing works, doesn't it?"

"I have certainly heard that such a rule exists."

"And the Association's researchers feel quite a bit of resistance toward Collector's motto."

In a way, it was natural.

"Because we see a lot of things at the research lab that no one should have to see."

They knew the cruelty of the dangerous items Collector called "works."

"There is even a saying at the Association's research labs: 'Anyone who has not lost something to them is not a real researcher.' That is how wary people are of dangerous objects, and everyone has their own stories."

"I am safe."

"Of course I wasn't talking about you, Mr. Jio. It would be far too much of a waste to compare you with such mindless dangerous items. You have also shown me much kindness."

Ju-hyeon gave his characteristic smile.

"But most dangerous items are not like that. Collector's gallery and the Association's research labs are institutions that stand opposite each other in many ways, so for an employee who has experienced one side to transfer to the other... is extremely rare."

In effect, Yu Seongun had been the first person to transfer between opposite poles.

"It isn't something one could do without an extraordinary affection for dangerous items. And that was the report on an S-class dungeon submitted by such a person. Many researchers were curious about what had caught former research team leader Yu Seongun's interest."

"So that happened."

"Among the people who participated then, the name Hunter Seo Jio remained. I also knew that he was the person who had greatly contributed to the survival of civilians on the day of the Sun Cult initiation ceremony terror attack. But then you, whom I had known as Black Cloak, had the name Seo Jio..."

Ju-hyeon smiled awkwardly.

"I thought you, who are both Black Cloak and Seo Jio, must have some deep connection to the country of the deep sea. The story that Black Cloak's portrait often appears in that dungeon is famous."

Though that, too, was a guess he had organized while staying in Black Cloak's cabin.

"Most of all, the country of the deep sea contains records about Batlan Giovanni. They can be confirmed only very rarely, but when you introduced yourself, you gave that name..."

"So you guessed the connection related to that."

"I would not have known if you had not told me the name Batlan Giovanni. There is no exact record of Giovanni's appearance in that dungeon, and even if there had been, blond hair and blue eyes are common."

"In the Korea of the past, that appearance was not common. How fascinating."

"... Your mention of the Korea of the past reminded me. As you told me before, 'Seo Jio' must be the name you used when you lived on Earth, yes? What kind of life did you live then?"

"Again, it was nothing much."

Jio answered with a blunt face.

"I merely became a portrait because of a fire at the school."

"Hmm, I see!"

Just as Ju-hyeon had steeled himself in advance, it was very much something.

"How did that happen?"

"Are you asking about the fire, or about the portrait?"

"I suppose, for now, both."

"To be honest, I do not know the reason for the fire either."

He blinked about twice.

"The alarm simply went off all of a sudden, and though I went to check the moment I heard the sound, the first floor was already on fire. Judging by how the fire spread in an instant, it was probably not a natural fire."

"... Someone deliberately...?"

"Unless oil had been poured, such a rapid spread would have been difficult. Of course, that is only my guess. At the time, I was busy getting the students out of the school."

"You did not leave with them?"

"I had to check if any students or teachers remained. It happened to be break time, so people were scattered everywhere, and there were sometimes students who had holed up in strange places..."

Black eyes calmly gazed at Ju-hyeon.

"Fortunately, I was the only person left in the school, and I could not get out in time. It was not a situation where I could hope to survive after the fire was put out, so I went into the storage room I loved."

"The storage room?"

"It was the art storage room. I did wonder if it might have been better to jump out the window, but I was on the fifth floor, the very top. Our school had high ceilings too. So I went to the best place to die."

"..."

"And then I became a portrait. Is that not fascinating?"

At that, Ju-hyeon smiled awkwardly.

"... It is fascinating."

Black Cloak did not seem to feel any negative emotions about the death of "Jio."

In truth, he had not said even once that Seo Jio had died that way, but because of the above cases of "Giovanni" and "Arjio," Ju-hyeon thought so.

That "Seo Jio" had died that way too.

"Your age at the time..."

"I was twenty-nine."

"Does each 'Jio' have a different age?"

"Giovanni died at thirty-two, and Arjio at twenty-four."

"... None of you lived long."

Ju-hyeon suddenly felt sorry.

"You were even younger than I am."

Was this portrait a collection of such young and early deaths?

'Maybe that is why I can talk to him without much difficulty, even when we are alone like this.'

Perhaps beneath all those many "Jios" there had been the vast mystery called "Jio's Portrait," but they too, in the end, had once been nothing more than ordinary humans.

Even so, every one of the deaths of "Jio" was bitter.

'Even if he was an evil god, Arjio too, at twenty-four...'

Most of all, even if he called himself evil, the personality known as Arjio did not seem like only a bad person.

He seemed like a person of character who could show sufficient mercy.

'People like that.'

How could they have met only tragedies like this?

"..."

Ju-hyeon gently curved his eyes in a smile.

"I don't know how such a thing could happen, but, hmm. No matter how I think about it, it is surprising."

"I think so as well."

"Come to think of it, I heard the two mermaids living in the country of the deep sea have not yet been subjugated."

"They are children with too much danger to be subjugated carelessly."

"So you are not opposed to the subjugation itself."

That was unusual.

"Do you not... care about that part?"

"What part do you mean?"

"... Just, they were once your beloved students."

If Ju-hyeon had been in his position, he would have had all sorts of thoughts.

"If it were me, I think I would be sad for quite a long time. I would blame myself and wonder if this happened because of me. Since they were once beloved students, I might want to forgive them, and yet, as a human, I might not be able to forgive them... Hmm, was that too impertinent of me?"

Now platinum-blond, he smiled.

"My friend, you are not impertinent to me in the slightest."

"Then that is a relief."

"But I am not someone who thinks as deeply as you do, Mr. Ju-hyeon."

"Do I... think deeply?"

"I have never blamed myself even once."

Giovanni blinked his blue eyes as if to ask why on earth he should.

"I did my utmost to cherish my students, and I performed good deeds befitting my mission. I acted in a way that did not shame me as a son of the Sun... and as a teacher, I walked the path for my students. That was not a path of abusing myself, but a way of respecting myself."

His voice was soft and gentle.

"My students may have resented me. But I did my best to protect my students, and I gave them no small amount of affection all the while."

"Is that why you do not regret it? Because you did your best?"

"I did my utmost to do what I wanted to do, and that was a universally valid good deed and a path I could hold my head up about before the Sun and myself. I do not want to make the nonsensical self-reproach that my students came to commit sins because I did not behave more cunningly."

"Because you did not behave more cunningly...?"

"If I had catered to the order and the village, I might have lived longer. But that would have been the path of betraying my students, the act of betraying my Father, and also the act of tormenting myself."

His lips drew a smooth arc.

"I simply did not want to do that."

"Why?"

"There are many reasons, but most representative of them would be that I made a promise."

"With whom did you make a promise?"

"With my students."

Eyes containing the sea curved with affection.

"I promised that the me of now would not change."

"..."

At that taxidermied smile, Ju-hyeon opened his mouth with difficulty.

"... Do you still love those students?"

"I love them."

"Then have you forgiven their actions?"

"I have not forgiven them."

"Then... will you punish them?"

"That is not my share."

The priest laughed lightly.

It was the laugh of a spotless young man.

"The only sin they committed against me was betraying my faith. They have already received punishment for that in the time that has passed, and the price for their other sins is not something I dare impose."

"I understand."

"You may think this. That a man named Giovanni is in the position to punish those sinful mermaids most easily. But that would become something far too absurd."

"Because it is not your share?"

"Also because they want the punishment I would impose."

Soon, Giovanni could be seen laughing softly.

"My mermaid students have spent a very long time venting their anger. After refusing to forget the memories of one time and becoming buried in them, scattering sins they could never take back, they still left me in one corner of their hearts."

"..."

"Though they thought it would not happen, they hoped that someday, like a miracle, I, their only meaning, would return and give them an end. It is an exceedingly irresponsible and indecisive state of mind. If I punished them, it would instead become a reward..."

He shrugged.

"Do you think that would be right?"

"... Hmm, I am not sure..."

It was a perspective that gave him something to think about.

"... Still, I hope the same tragedy will not be repeated because of those mermaids."

"I feel the same. And that is the return for the affection I hold, and proof of my favoritism."

"You truly do love them. And yet you have not forgiven them."

"Even if eternity passes, would I be able to forgive them?"

The human who contained the merciful Sun said,

"No matter what my students do, their sins will only grow and their responsibility will only increase; the time of those who have already suffered by their hands will not disappear. Even if they restore the world of the humans they killed to the time when it was most whole, the sins that existed cannot be absolved."

"... Then..."

"I am a simple person whose thoughts are not so deep, so I do not know whether such sins can also be absolved through long time, pain, and devotion. It may be impossible, and it may be possible. But I cannot know whether that hole is something that can be filled merely because thousands of years pass."

With the face of a priest who had shed the marks of a young man, Giovanni continued.

"But do not worry. As long as I exist, they will continue to ponder their sins. I am fulfilling my responsibility as a teacher even now..."

"And the tragedy I am worried about will not be repeated either."

"What is certain is that because I love my mermaid students, I did not forgive them. As long as I exist, they can never again become a calamity like before."

"... Hearing you say that puts me at ease."

He meant it.

"Humanoid monsters are, um, beings that make one worry..."

"You must feel anxious."

At that, Giovanni asked.

"Shall I introduce you?"

"Pardon?"

Introduce me to what?

"Ta-da."

With the two mermaids before him, Jio made a sound effect.

Ju-hyeon was dumbfounded.

"No, not ta-da."

"They are my students."

"I know that."

Seeing that Ju-hyeon seemed to know the relationship between the mermaids and Giovanni, Aria smiled broadly and looked back at her teacher.

Her smile was spotless and smooth.

"Now you are outright raising a human, aren't you?"

"Raising? He is my friend."

"Teacher, you truly are sociable in such strange directions."

"When you praise me like that, this teacher's face grows hot."

"Hot, as if. Eternal snow will settle on it soon."

At Aria's words, Jio soon wore the soft smile of a priest.

"Would this do?"

"As expected, I like that face."

Aria nodded, then looked back at her younger brother Iser and Jio's new friend Ju-hyeon, who were engaged in a strange war of nerves.

Iser seemed to be wondering how he should treat this human, while Ju-hyeon seemed busy accepting this situation.

"Little ones."

Aria laughed lightly and greeted him gracefully according to etiquette.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, gentleman loved by the Sun. I am Aria, a student who serves Priest Giovanni of the Batlan family as my teacher. May the blessings of the earth be with you."

"... It is a pleasure to meet you as well. I am Iser, the second student who serves Priest Giovanni of the Batlan family as my teacher. May the warmth of the Sun reach you."

Iser, who had glanced at his sister, also greeted him a beat late.

Although the fact that the two of them were humanoid monsters was something Ju-hyeon, as a researcher of the Association, knew quite well, now that things had come to this, he too had to show corresponding sincerity.

Ju-hyeon reflexively put on his social-life smile.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ju-hyeon, and though I am lacking, I have had the honor of becoming Mr. Seo Jio's friend. I have been hired as the manager who will assist Mr. Seo Jio when he works as a Hunter outside the portrait."

And the gazes of the two mermaids and one human turned toward Giovanni.

"..."

"..."

"..."

At the strange silence, Jio asked,

"Shall we eat?"

And so an unexpected meal was decided.