Chapter 69

"Is this not a miracle?"

Bi Sabeol greeted Yu Seongun with a bright smile.

"..."

"Hey, hey, hey, don't leave again. Come in as you are. You shouldn't do that right to someone's face."

"Ah, now I really don't want to go in..."

"I trust you know I am the one who pays your salary. Am I wrong?"

"Because I know that, I made it as far as the door, didn't I?"

"If you know, then what are you doing instead of hurrying in, Curator Yu Seongun? The Guild Master is waiting."

In the end, Yu Seongun entered the office, sat down on the employee sofa, and muttered.

"I'm definitely saving up and quitting."

"Did you truly think that would be possible?"

"If I have a valid reason, shouldn't you approve my resignation letter?"

"Remember that if my feelings are hurt, I may accidentally forget to process your resignation letter."

"You're a deep-rooted evil..."

"When has the Republic of Korea ever not had deep-rooted evils? How can you say something so innocent?"

"Ah, I really hate this."

Yu Seongun roughly dragged both hands over his tired face, then let out a deep sigh as if he were vomiting up his very soul before slowly raising his head. The circles under his eyes were as hollow as a panda's.

"So what are you curious about? I submitted an overall written report just yesterday, so what on earth are you still so curious about that you summoned this poor employee?"

Bi Sabeol cut straight to the point.

"Looking at the report, it seems Jio unfortunately did not cause any casualties."

"Unfortunately?"

"My true feelings slipped out by mistake. I was curious about how that portrait operates."

"What reaction are you hoping for from me? Should I clap?"

"So let us skip that part for now. I have developed a question about the Portrait of Jio."

"I knew it. Go ahead."

"The part about him changing in response to the dungeon and monsters was extremely interesting, but then who exactly is Giovanni?"

"That..."

To be sure, this was the part he had not been able to include in the written report.

"As you know, matters concerning the 'Portrait of Jio' are confidential even within our guild, so I did not include them in the report to prevent any possible leaks. Did that perhaps feel rude?"

"Rude or whatever, who is Giovanni?"

"Right, this is the kind of person you were."

"Giovanni is..."

"I will tell you, so please wait a moment. I need to organize my thoughts as well."

Yu Seongun scratched the back of his neck, then continued.

"... I believe he is one of the 'Jios' from another dimension. I became certain after obtaining several pieces of information while moving through the Virtual Dungeon I was dragged into this time, that is... the 'Temple of the Deep Sea.'"

When Yu Seongun had gone around checking whether there were survivors who had fallen elsewhere, he had not simply searched for people. If a Hunter found a new dungeon, a basic investigation was only natural competence.

"As a result, I was able to find traces of a person named 'Giovanni.' He was probably around his early thirties, a priest who served the Sun God and a doctor, with platinum-blond hair and blue eyes... which matched one of Jio's appearances that I reported to you before."

"Then Jio is indeed greatly connected to the Root. He must be qualitatively different from ordinary Root entities or monsters."

"That is what I am currently judging. After reincarnating as another 'Jio' in another dimension, ending his life as a human, then returning to the portrait to undergo a period of readjustment... once all maintenance is complete, he may repeat the cycle of reincarnation, at least as of now."

It was also possible that it was happening simultaneously, unbound by that sort of chronological order. After all, it would be a process occurring between dimensions.

That was why the "Portrait of Jio" was not human, not a monster, not an item, and not even one of the Root's children, who were said to be the most veiled of all.

That did not mean he could be described simply with the word god, either.

"The 'Portrait of Jio' can become anything."

Like a painter who could express everything with paint and sculpture.

"And something like that is, as expected... how should I put it..."

"I think it is a hasty judgment, but would the word Root not suit him best after all?"

"... It might."

If he were not closely connected to the "Root," called the greatest secret of the world, Jio could not have maintained such an immense level of existence as he did now.

"Even so, perhaps I should say it is fortunate that he has not abandoned what little humanity faintly remains. I do not know whether to call it extraordinary willpower, or whether this too should be viewed as one of the Root's systems..."

Yu Seongun rubbed his chin and asked.

"Do you have any other questions?"

"Oh, is that already the end?"

"I am not a parent reciting fairy tales for you. If you are bored, please find another conversation partner. I may look like this, but I am busy handling the aftermath of this Virtual Dungeon."

"I am sorry about that."

Bi Sabeol let out his distinctive thin laugh.

"You must be swamped creating Jio's identity, yes? It is nothing less than creating an A-class Hunter out of thin air."

"Even if he belongs to the Collector guild, which has an unusually high number of unofficial Hunters, there is still more than enough that has to be explained. We will also have to persuade the Association somehow."

"I will handle persuading the Association, so please focus only on the basics. They should not be ignorant of the 'Portrait of Jio' either."

"Thank you for lessening my burden. Thanks to you, I may be able to fall asleep in my own bed for the first time in a while tonight."

At the dungeon named the "Temple of the Deep Sea," the center of this incident, Jio had openly performed. The only person who had recognized his divinity was Priest Kang Seo-dam, but that did not mean his holy power could be hidden.

"At that point, we simply could not say he was a nonexistent person..."

"What can we do when there are that many witnesses? That is why if he had killed them all from the beginning, handling the matter would have been much easier."

"Are you telling me to become a Red Hunter? To fall to being a Grade 5 citizen? So suddenly?"

"No, I said that thinking of Jio. If he had, I would also have been able to appreciate Jio's method of attack."

"For now, I will pretend I did not hear that. For some reason, Jio seems to think you are a moderately kind human, Guild Master, so please manage your image."

"That is what I do best, you could say. It is one of the weapons that helped me establish one of the top three guilds with this weak little body."

"But there really are a lot of witnesses. Because the atmosphere was so harmonious, the survivors' eyewitness accounts are spreading far more actively as well..."

Perhaps because the returnees had received great comfort in the dungeon, messages of gratitude for "Hunter Seo Jio" kept coming in to the Collector guild.

In this situation, it was impossible to claim that a person named "Seo Jio" did not exist.

"Because of that, the employees are a bit unsettled too. The official notice you circulated clearly listed an employee named 'Jio,' so they are wondering whether he could possibly be the same person..."

"Of course he is the same person, is he not? I do not remember hiring employees so lacking in sense."

"Everyone has guessed as much. No one is trying to act like they know because it seems like things will get complicated, but at the very least, they know that the 'Jio' in the official notice and the 'Seo Jio' from this commotion are the same being."

"So everyone knows, and not a single person has spoken to me about it?"

"They don't want to be assigned extra work."

Yu Seongun let out a long sigh.

"Like me."

"I pay you."

"Goddamn capitalist society."

In a world where one could formally buy lifespan as long as one paid money, there was no way anything like labor rights existed. Yu Seongun massaged the back of his neck, stiff from exhaustion, and spoke.

"Still, thanks to the fact that you already introduced him as an employee in the official notice, some people are letting it pass with, 'Then I suppose he really was an employee.' Most of them do suspect that you are plotting to hire not a human but a monster, Guild Master..."

"Now that you mention it, shall I try that next time?"

"This is exactly why the distrust among the employees deepens. It is not for nothing that people call you 'a madman whose eyes go crazy whenever a work is involved.' Please maintain some dignity as Guild Master. Please."

"I am very sorry to say this, but I have none of that. You really are an amusing person, are you not?"

"At your age, you should have some, so why don't you? Why do you really not have any?"

Yu Seongun dragged a hand over his face once more, then continued.

"At any rate, Jio will soon be officially posted on the Collector website. Because he is already known in his blond-haired, blue-eyed appearance, if Jio is going to act without wearing his cloak, he will have to move around in 'Giovanni's' form, but that much... I think Jio will understand."

Jio did not seem to have any particular resistance to his personality changing. Even that made one nod along because it was so befitting a Root entity, but since it was also not a great burden for him, he would likely allow it.

"In other words, from now on, Jio... will openly act in human society."

"Can I not go to an amusement park with him?"

"... The 'Portrait of Jio' dislikes noisy and crowded places, so I would be grateful if you restrained yourself. It remains true that he is unbelievably gentlemanly toward humans, but that does not mean he has stopped disliking rude and wicked people."

"Of course I know. That is why I was thinking of renting out the whole place."

"Please do that for your lover instead..."

"Lover? Who would go to an amusement park with an old man like me?"

"Then why did you think Jio would go with you? That doesn't add up at all."

He knew it was absurd nonsense meant to observe the reaction of Yu Seongun, one of Bi Sabeol's collectibles, but even listening quietly was difficult. He was already tired, and it drained the life right out of him.

"Anyway, if you have nothing else to ask, I will take my leave. I have to deliver the Hunter ID we made this time to Jio, and besides that, there is a lot I have to tell him about textbooks and so on..."

"Ah, wait a moment."

"What is it?"

"Something strange has happened to the sea."

"..."

Yu Seongun pressed a hand to his forehead.

"By the sea, do you mean... you are bringing up the subject related to that anomaly I went to investigate before? Now? Right now, after dragging out that ridiculous nonsense, when I was just getting up?"

Bi Sabeol readily nodded.

"I forgot for a moment."

"Don't lie. It's making me burst inside."

But even if only to observe and enjoy Yu Seongun's reaction, Bi Sabeol would not stop these pranks. It was an immutable truth of all ages, but as expected, giving up made things easier.

Having wisely resigned himself, Yu Seongun sat back down on the sofa.

"So what happened?"

"There likely has not been an official announcement yet, but if there is one best thing about the power of one of the Republic of Korea's top three guilds, it would be rapid intelligence-gathering."

"Ah, yes."

"I obtained fresh information that the Association side has only just confirmed."

"So what is it?"

"They observed that a new dungeon has appeared in the sea."

"... In the sea, a new dungeon..."

Yu Seongun went pale.

"... At this timing?"

"At this timing."

Bi Sabeol smiled coyly.

"Does anything come to mind?"

"Surely... it is connected to the 'Temple of the Deep Sea'?"

"It seems to be the same dungeon."

Bi Sabeol affirmed it.

"A few brave Hunters from the Association went in to check the interior, and they say that the deeper they went, the more the environment resembled the form of the temple."

"Then it must be the same as what I saw in the 'Temple of the Deep Sea.' Was there another connected dungeon separately?"

A sigh came out on its own.

"If an anomaly has occurred in the sea itself, could it be a Villa Dungeon? Did that... temple itself appear?"

"Not that. It is an ordinary Entry Dungeon."

"It must be damn huge."

One of the characteristics of an Entry Dungeon was that there was no limit to its range. Among the Entry Dungeons confirmed so far, the widest interior was the size of an entire country. And one as large as Russia, at that.

Because of that, Entry Dungeons were known as the most stable dungeons, but even more than that, as dungeons that were troublesome and annoying to conquer. Especially if they were expected to be extremely vast, as this one was.

"The 'Temple of the Deep Sea' I confirmed seemed to be a mixture of a temple and a research lab. Since the report from the Hunters you mentioned stopped at the form of the temple, the place we saw was probably much farther inside... deep underground."

If that was right, that bastard Eunha had thrown people in there to outright die.

'It is common knowledge that the deeper inside a dungeon you go, the lower the survival rate gets.'

No matter how many times he received a monster's hatred and malice, he never got used to it.

"Ah, the child named Eunha whom I reported to you about..."

"He could not be found after your return. He likely remained in the dungeon or changed his form. There is a high probability that during the initiation ceremony, he changed his form to resemble a human child in order to assume the appearance of a prospective priest."

"So that is how it was after all."

Perhaps judging that it would be difficult to pretend to be human at this point, "Eunha" had disappeared.

At that, Bi Sabeol asked.

"Did Jio not show any particular confusion regarding that part? It seemed he had cared for him in his own way."

"..."

"Since the cause of this incident turned out to be that child Eunha, it would not be strange for him to be shocked."

"He seemed... fine with that part."

"Hmm."

Bi Sabeol tilted his head, showing interest.

"He knew after all, it seems?"

"... We do not know how far he has organized his personalities, so I cannot say for sure, but seeing as he did not show any particular shock or surprise afterward..."

"Jio knew from the beginning what kind of being Eunha was?"

"Is there any other way to interpret it?"

No, he had not known.

Jio in the dungeon had simply had no thoughts at all, and once Jio came out and learned Eunha's identity, his confusion simply had not shown thanks to his stiff facial muscles.

Even the certainty that Iser from "Giovanni's" memories and Eunha were the same person was something he had gained only after escaping the dungeon.

"Since it is a dungeon whose master is a humanoid monster, it would be good to learn a little more about 'Giovanni,' who could be called the key to that peace. Would that be possible?"

"I will try."

"Ah, and..."

"What now?"

"..."

Bi Sabeol looked at Yu Seongun with an exaggerated air of sorrow.

"According to a Hunter from the Association, the 'Portrait of Jio' was sighted in the sea dungeon I just mentioned."

"... Pardon?"

"To be precise, they said it was not 'Seo Jio' but the appearance of 'Black Cloak.' The Hunters from the Association said they succeeded in escaping with the help of a tall man covered in a black cloak..."

"Ah, please..."

Yu Seongun clutched at his own hair.

"Please play within the range where I can clean up after you..."

"Oh dear, how pitiful."

"Aaaagh..."

He could already see the future of working overtime.

Of course, Jio had not caused this to happen because he wanted to play around.

"I never thought there would be other people in the dungeon I went to just to see my mermaid students' faces once."

"Grrrrgle."

"Even your versatile dad, who can roast sweet potatoes with paint, cannot predict every future."

Jio recalled the sturdy Hunters he had blatantly run into at the place he had visited while thinking, "Surely there is no one in that dungeon by now."

They had looked rather frightened.

"Just like when the employees of the Collector guild ran into me at dawn."

"Thump."

"They looked like extremely smart elites, and yet those healthy employees were so terrified..."

"Thump, thump."

"... Terrified..."

"Thump, thump, thump."

"..."

To say it in advance, Jio was capable of something called grasping reality.

And he also knew that a ghost story called "Black Cloak" had arisen in the Collector guild. Part of it was because of Guild Master Bi Sabeol's prank, but the greater reason was that the employees who seriously believed it had become thoroughly frightened.

"... Ah."

Black Cloak standing alone in the corridor of the company after everyone had gone home, and Black Cloak suddenly appearing in a dungeon where there should have been no people, then showing them the way to live.

At the astonishing Assimilation Rate, Jio felt déjà vu. Only then did Jio's sense of reality return, and he realized too late.

"... Did I cause trouble?"

"Grr."

"Heavens above."

That was what had happened.