Chapter 74

Even so, Jio did not wipe the paint off again.

"Even if there had been no paint, everyone was already afraid."

"I suppose that is... true."

"More than anything, I do not want to reveal my face."

Having one's personal information exposed was frightening.

Seo Jio, timid and without any ability to resist, did not want his face getting out.

'The fact that I'm already a haunted portrait is problem enough.'

Seo Jio prided himself on having lived an honest life, but now that he had become a haunted portrait, he had to take every possible precaution.

Being sold with his face covered and being sold with his face and name revealed were completely different things.

"Wow, we're on the same page."

For that reason, Yu Seongun also felt relieved.

'He could have gotten annoyed and asked why he had to care about human circumstances too, but seeing things like this, Jio really is gentle. Even if it's consideration that comes from forcing himself into the framework of a human, it's still exceptional.'

It was truly a miraculous mystery, one might say.

As a Gardener, Yu Seongun felt an unbearable gratitude and affection.

A Root entity this rewarding to care for.

Every Gardener in the world would envy him.

'Well, in any case...'

Now that they had his own consent, the range of measures the guild could take had also widened.

"The auction house you were at before will have records of your face, but as for that part, the Guild Master and I will take care of it."

"Yes, thank you."

"That said, we won't be able to do anything about the memories of the guests who were there... but it should be better than doing nothing."

"I will leave it to you."

"Think nothing of it."

They left the gallery like that.

Yu Seongun, who had begun work to erase information about the Portrait of Jio that had gone up at the auction house, blinked when he ran into an unexpected situation.

"...?"

After checking his monitor, Yu Seongun went up to the Guild Master's office.

"Guild Master."

"Ah, I was just about to call you."

"... Were you checking it too, Guild Master?"

"Were you in the middle of deleting records about the Portrait of Jio as well, Mr. Yu Seongun?"

"That's my job, after all."

"I didn't realize you were taking action too, Guild Master, but in any case, since you were checking it, this should be easy to explain."

Yu Seongun handed over the thin file he had hurriedly organized and spoke.

"Jio's face has been erased."

The records left at the auction house had changed.

They had become records of a portrait with black paint covering it so that the face could not be seen.

"I couldn't tell whether only the online information had been altered, so I went there myself to check, but it wasn't just those records that changed."

"From records documented on paper to the memories of the customers who participated that day, everything is unclear."

"..."

Bi Sabeol wore a rare expressionless look.

He rolled his vivid golden eyes, which resembled those of a reptile.

"What did Jio do?"

"... I asked if he could cover his face on the portrait as well, and after thinking for a moment, he covered the entire surface with black paint."

"He also said the portrait would remain in this state unless he wiped it off himself."

"This may be one of the portrait's characteristics too."

"When you say a characteristic of the portrait...?"

"To begin with, a portrait is a picture of a person, isn't it?"

Among the documents Yu Seongun had brought was also a printed image of the Portrait of Jio.

As expected, it was covered in a thin layer of paint like ink, and the face could not be seen.

"Then, not the original portrait painted with paint itself, but a photograph taken of that portrait—should that not be called a portrait?"

"What about the paper it was printed on?"

"... Since it wasn't drawn directly, one could say it isn't."

"Or one could say it is."

"In the end, it is a 'picture' that depicts a 'person.'"

A picture, in other words, refers to "something that expresses the form or image of an object on a flat surface using lines or colors."

"So what I mean is, whether it is an image printed like this, a photograph taken of the portrait, or anything else, couldn't it ultimately be called a picture?"

"If you think of it in a very broad sense, that isn't wrong, but..."

"At the very least, Jio seems to think so."

Bi Sabeol narrowed his eyes and smiled coyly.

"To think he can have such a direct effect on the entire world merely by thinking it."

"What an incredible portrait."

"..."

"... Ah, of course..."

Bi Sabeol, his smile wiped away, murmured in a low voice.

"This is why I like art."

The Catastrophe came, the world changed, absurd abilities appeared, and the scope of "art" expanded as well.

If there was one field in the world that was the most fascinating and diverse, Bi Sabeol dared to assert that it was art.

"It certainly is a shame that the face is covered."

"I should go see his face sometime, even just once, but still, it truly is a shame."

"But when I think of this as one of Jio's performance artworks, one corner of my heart swells."

"You are saying something a little perverted with such a serious face..."

"I am serious, so of course I would have a serious face."

"My goodness, performance art carried out directly by a portrait is something one could hardly expect from other artifacts."

"It is difficult to even see this as a fragment of the work."

"To begin with, there are not that many objects with egos."

"I have a good feeling about the new year."

Soon winter would pass, and spring would come.

"I feel as though something is coming..."

It seemed that very interesting things were about to happen.

* * *

"..."

"What are the results?"

"Well..."

Hair that rippled like waves slid down with a soft rustle.

"The testing isn't going well."

The mermaid, Aria, adjusted the oversized doctor's coat she wore and spoke.

"I've been running all sorts of experiments using the hair left behind by the human named Seo Jio as a sample, but the results aren't consistent."

"Because it keeps changing and moving, not only is the testing itself difficult... it won't stabilize either."

At that, Iser said,

"He is certainly not human, then."

"Yes, he is not human."

"..."

"But that doesn't mean he isn't human either."

At times, it showed clear human cells.

Literally, it could become anything.

"Interesting."

Contrary to her words expressing interest, Aria's face was as inorganic as a mineral.

Even though she wore the same smile as always.

"And of all things, traces of Giovanni remain in it too."

"... Then is he truly our teacher?"

"At the very least, there must be a very strong connection."

It was not as if they had only performed physical tests, such as those on cells.

They had passed through many dimensions and firmly established themselves as the masters of this place.

Aria's abilities as a doctor and researcher had broken past their limits long ago.

'And yet this is the first time the results have been this unclear.'

Aria spoke to her younger brother.

"Iser, my brother."

"I need your help."

"Tell me."

"Bring that person back here."

"I need to have a conversation with our teacher."

"..."

Seeing her silent younger brother, Iser, Aria smiled faintly.

"Of course, I know how difficult a request this is."

It had only been a few days since Black Cloak, presumed to be Giovanni, had visited their dimension and taken the humans away.

He was so quiet that it was difficult to catch his presence, and he vanished in an instant like a ghost, so holding him would be difficult.

"We avoided him from our side for a while too."

"We couldn't speak to Giovanni without certainty."

There were too many uncertainties to face him immediately with no preparation.

But now, they had certainty.

That was their one and only human teacher in life.

It was Giovanni.

It was just that, for some reason, he had changed very much, become immense, and grown too powerful to steal away carelessly.

They could not seize him rashly.

"What's more, the other party seems to have lost many of his memories of this place, hasn't he?"

"You said he did not remember this temple."

"He seemed to remember some of it, but probably..."

"Then appealing to affection will be difficult too."

"Well, he always did have a cold side."

Aria murmured.

"And now, he probably isn't human either."

"..."

"That point is certainly... how should I put it, it feels a little strange..."

Aria and Iser had been the ones who learned about humans because they did not understand human emotions and ways of thinking.

Now, thinking that Giovanni, their dear teacher, had lost all of that, she felt something strange.

It was close to a sense of deprivation.

The dearest memory in a mermaid's life had revived from death and was flowing in a form unknown to them...

"..."

"Still, I ask this of you."

The two siblings did not lose their smiles.

For hundreds, thousands, or perhaps even more years, there had not been a single time they had failed to smile.

"Bring that person here, no matter how."

"..."

"And keep him here."

"... Yes."

"I believe you will do well."

"You need not worry."

The Hunter wearing the black cloak, "Seo Jio," had shown himself to be especially fond and considerate of children.

"There are any number of ways."

Iser thought of a child who had spoken to him in a friendly way.

Was his name Cha Yi-sol?

* * *

A new Entry Dungeon, "country of the deep sea," was officially opened.

"Country of the deep sea?"

"It has country in the name?"

"If the Association used a name with country in it even as the official designation..."

"Fuck, it must be ridiculously huge."

Among dungeons, Entry Dungeons were already called the most labor-intensive, and if the Hunter Association used a clear word like "country," that meant its map was quite large even among Entry Dungeons.

"But the difficulty on this thing, wow... really..."

"It's connected to that Virtual Dungeon that supposedly erupted at the Temple of the Sun last time?"

"That's insane."

"I heard even the Association employees couldn't explore it properly."

"Good thing they didn't die and go missing."

"They were the first official entry team, after all."

Naturally, the difficulty had been set very high at S-rank.

"But they say nobody died."

"Maybe it's not that dangerous?"

"Hey, we're only bringing back a single piece of information."

"Right?"

The purpose of opening the country of the deep sea this time was not clearing it, but exploration.

"Is there a priority list?"

"Yeah, two creatures."

"They even have names."

"Wow... are these humanoid monsters?"

"Hasn't it been years since the last one?"

"No wonder it's marked S-rank."

"So what monsters are there?"

"Let's see..."

The priority list requested by the Hunter Association had a total of two individuals.

"Mermaid Iser, and..."

"Black Cloak?"

The freelance Hunter tilted his head.

"If it only has an alias without a name, is that an appeal to pay more attention to this one?"

When the Hunter Association decides it cannot quickly wrap up a matter within the Association, it opens the entrance of the identified dungeon after a certain amount of time.

In that case, it is called an "exploration season," and bounties are placed on information about the dungeon.

"It's been a while since I got to stretch my legs."

"No, but even so, it's S-rank, so stepping up is a bit..."

"It's still just exploration season."

"If they told us to clear it, an S-class Hunter would have to go, but bringing back information is something we can do too."

"True, the bounties the Association posts are pretty profitable."

"It doesn't have to be information about these monsters specifically, right?"

"It's a newly opened dungeon, so probably not."

Even if it was not information the Association had put a bounty on, in the case of a newly opened dungeon, monetary rewards were sometimes given according to the importance of the information.

If one crossed paths with the wrong dangerous monster, losing one's head would happen in an instant, but it was worth trying.

"Besides, no one has bought this dungeon yet, right?"

"Honestly, who buys an S-rank... other than the three major guilds?"

"Besides, it's a dungeon without a single bit of clear information yet, so the risks are high in all sorts of ways."

"We don't know what resources might be inside either."

"Anyway, a dungeon that no one has bought doesn't cost money to enter."

Some dungeons contained useful resources, and if it was judged to be useful for the self-improvement of affiliated Hunters, guilds with plenty of money sometimes purchased ownership of a dungeon.

For those dungeons, one had to pay a fee each time they entered.

"Compared to that kind of thing, this dungeon is..."

"Fuck, don't get careless."

"You think S-rank is some neighbor's dog?"

"You think I don't know that?"

"Don't worry, asshole."

Not all Hunters were affiliated with guilds.

That was why dungeons like this, with bounties posted by the Hunter Association, also became a major source of income for freelance Hunters.

"Wow, there's already a waiting list..."

"Can't we go there raw?"

"They say the entrance is in the deep sea, so how are you going to get there?"

"Swimming would be a bit much."

"Forget it."

"It's not like waiting costs money."

No matter how much Hunters possessed power beyond ordinary humans, it was difficult to reach an entrance located deep enough to be called the "deep sea" with their bare bodies.

Since they had to travel aboard the submersible prepared by the Association, the line quickly grew long.

And not long after, a strange rumor began to spread.

"Oh, you trying to go to the country of the deep sea?"

"It's still exploration season."

"The bounty hasn't gone down either, so I'm going to earn some money."

"They say it's dangerous there... then make sure you remember this before you go."

"What are you talking about all of a sudden?"

"No, seriously."

"They say you have to do this to come back alive."

The Hunters whispered.

"If you don't want to die, go in front of the portrait and beg with everything you've got."

"What...? A portrait?"

"Black Cloak likes kind and polite humans."

"Black Cloak gives gifts to good people."

"..."

"Got it?"

"Make sure you remember."

It was the moment the name Black Cloak began to spread among Hunters.

"..."

"..."

"Ah, we're screwed."

The Association, which had tried to instill caution toward the being known as Black Cloak by publicly announcing him as a monster, was left with a pounding headache.

Because the image of Black Cloak that had spread through the world was rather favorable.

"Here come the romantics again."

"Ah, I'm already tired..."

The Association employees were already picturing the Hunters who would trust only in the fact that one monster was supposedly favorable toward humans, run wild, and cause all sorts of creative damage.