Chapter 82

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In the end, the 'country of the deep sea' remained uncleared.

"Are you saying you couldn't clear it even with three A-class Hunters participating?"

"I heard Collector bought the 'country of the deep sea'. Is that true?"

"Please tell us if the information on the monsters confirmed in this expedition is accurate!"

"What resources does Collector want from the 'country of the deep sea'?"

Yu Seongun, who was one of the expedition members, had to deal with the reporters.

"Yes, we failed to clear it. And it is true that Collector purchased the S-rank dungeon, the 'country of the deep sea', and the information on the monsters we reported to the Association is also accurate."

"Then as for the resources..."

"For detailed inquiries, I ask that you contact Collector's administrative team directly."

"No, wait a minute..."

"Wait a minute or not, don't block the way."

The reporters tried to grab Yu Seongun, but their words didn't reach his ears, as he had had to stay up all night for nearly a week dealing with the aftermath of this dungeon expedition. The dark circles under his hollow eyes looked like they would reach his chin.

Yu Seongun was a very busy man.

"I will say it once again, please contact the administrative team."

In truth, from the reporters' perspective, Yu Seongun was probably the easiest target.

Kang Seo-dam, a high priest of the Sun Cult—which had the most influence in Seoul—had his identity revealed, but it was not easy to get time for a Q&A with him. In Cha A-ra's case, the Hunter Association and Collector were protecting her identity.

'Even if they tried to approach the other Hunter, Seo Jio, he wouldn't be seen anywhere.'

That was obvious, considering the 'Seo Jio' they were looking for was sleeping in Bi Sabeol's gallery.

'So naturally, they would catch me, the one who at least commutes to the company.'

He understood it, but he was truly exhausted. Submitting reports to the guild and the Association, checking the state of the sea, hiding Jio's information... He had been so busy that he even put off his main job as a Curator for a week.

"Hunter Yu Seongun!"

"I'm not here."

"But you're right here!"

"I told you I'm not here."

Even though it was an era where most reporters these days were Awakened, they were no match for Yu Seongun, an A-class Hunter. Yu Seongun leisurely slipped away and escaped to the guild lobby.

An administrative team employee waiting for him greeted Yu Seongun.

"Thank you for your hard work."

"If you were watching, you should have fended them off."

"If we treat reporters like that these days, the guild will get cursed at."

"I suppose the guild's image is important..."

"Unless they push too aggressively, it's hard for us to respond."

"I managed to shake them off well enough on my own, so it's fine for now."

The employee nodded.

"If we determine that excessive attention is being drawn, we will take action."

"In the meantime, I'll have to hunker down inside the guild. Is the break room empty?"

"We haven't had any new recruits for a while, so there should be some room in the dormitories. I'll look into an empty room for you."

"Anyway..."

Yu Seongun let out a sigh.

"I don't know why everyone is so interested in the 'country of the deep sea'."

"Isn't it because it's a dungeon with humanoid monsters officially appearing in Korea for the first time in a long while?"

"Actually, although kept quiet, humanoid monsters have appeared quite a few times. It's just that they were all unofficial."

"Above all, it's also a dungeon that Collector purchased."

"..."

Rubbing his neck, Yu Seongun asked.

"Has it drawn a lot of attention?"

"Since we bought an S-rank dungeon that doesn't even have any proper information figured out yet, they must be curious about what exactly Collector knows."

"And they'll be suspicious of whether we're going to monopolize some special resource. It's not like there hasn't been a precedent for that. I suppose the small-time speculators will gather soon?"

"Our stock prices will go up."

"Though it probably isn't the kind they're expecting."

Rather than for special resources, it was purchased out of the judgment that a dungeon excessively intertwined with Black Cloak could not be left out in the wild. And it would be a good thing for Black Cloak himself as well.

The employee shrugged.

"If it just got cleared, we could use it as a tourist spot."

"Certainly, the fact that it's a sea you can breathe inside of is a huge merit in itself."

"So in the end..."

Looking over Yu Seongun, the employee soon asked.

"What kind of connection was there between the 'country of the deep sea' and Black Cloak?"

"..."

"Judging by the information we have, the country of the deep sea and Black Cloak aren't monsters that match well. Black Cloak is too out of place for that blue dungeon."

"... There are sometimes monsters that just pop up here and there."

There were times when the exact same monsters or creatures appeared in completely different dungeons. The Gardeners named them a 'child of the Root', but from the Hunters' perspective, they were just peculiar monsters.

"That part is an issue I have to look into."

"You must be busy."

"You wouldn't be willing to take over for me, would you...?"

"I'm not a Curator, you see."

"That's true."

Clicking his tongue, Yu Seongun moved toward the elevator.

"Then I'll leave the response to you."

"Don't worry, just go check on the condition of the artworks."

"I should, since I haven't been able to check on them for a while."

As soon as he roughly finished the urgent matters, the place Yu Seongun headed straight for was, naturally, Bi Sabeol's gallery.

He tapped his employee keycard on the elevator heading to the gallery and pressed the button for the 5th basement floor, which was at the very bottom. Thanks to the building belonging to Collector, a guild famous for pouring a lot of money into state-of-the-art facilities, he could arrive quite quickly even though it was so deep.

"Mm..."

Stopping by Bi Sabeol's gallery after a long time, the pressure was immense as expected.

'It really is a suffocating place.'

Even for Yu Seongun, an A-class Hunter, it was not a very refreshing space. Should he call it eerie, or should he call it heavy?

A bizarre air lingered in this gallery, making his whole body shiver as if he were feeling muscle pain, while heavily grating on human instincts.

'Especially since most of the artworks on the 5th basement floor have bad personalities...'

Having these sorts of thoughts, Yu Seongun stood in front of a certain portrait.

"..."

Because his face was covered in pitch-black paint, it was impossible to tell whether his eyes were open or closed.

'... I even forget his face frequently.'

He had seen 'Hunter Seo Jio' just a week ago, but despite his rather good memory, he couldn't recall his face. Only the black paint right in front of him came to mind.

'Is this also one of the effects of covering the portrait's face?'

With that thought, Yu Seongun called out to the portrait.

"Jio, are you here right now?"

"I am here."

"Oh..."

It was a quick reply.

"It's rare for you to be here when it's not dawn."

The current time was 3 PM.

It was a rarely awake hour for the Portrait of Jio, who always insisted on around 4 AM. Yu Seongun, who had been worried that he might be ignoring the rules, felt a little relieved.

'If there was no immediate reply, I was just going to go back and come again at dawn.'

Of course, it was a little questionable.

'Was having conversations at 4 AM not a rule? For that to be the case, he seemed to appear at that time a lot. Strange...'

Anyway, since it turned out like this, he thought it would be good to have a little chat.

"Have you been awake this whole time?"

"I heard you coming, Mr. Yu Seongun, so I was waiting."

"You can hear things like that too, huh?"

"I can detect the sound of someone approaching the frame."

"It's impressive that you can even detect that."

"It has been a long time since we last met."

The portrait asked in his characteristically blunt voice.

"Have you been well?"

It had already been a week since they visited the 'country of the deep sea' to rescue the little prospective priest, Cha Yi-sol. The Portrait of Jio, who was not a real person but could be considered a painting, seemed to recall that fact as well.

"I was worried because you hadn't shown yourself during that time."

"There's no need to worry that much. Usually, if you can't see me, it just means I'm overworking somewhere."

"That sounds like a reason to worry."

"I was just exaggerating a bit."

He had entrusted his management to another Curator, but that didn't mean he could relax. While examining the precious portrait to see if there were any damaged parts, Yu Seongun soon asked.

"What about you, Jio."

"Please state the exact intent of your question."

"It's hard to ask bluntly, but for starters, um... the mermaid siblings, for example."

"They are still not coming out of the sea, but they seem to be doing fine."

From what he heard, the mermaid siblings were still hiding in the 'country of the deep sea' and hadn't shown their faces. Jio said it was probably because 'they felt awkward coming to see him after being scolded so thoroughly'.

"..."

Yu Seongun lost his words for a moment.

"So you express that as having scolded them."

"Did it look a bit extreme?"

"I can't say it didn't."

"It was a natural action for Giovanni."

"Right, a teacher scolding their students is a natural thing in a way, but... for it... to be like that..."

Would ordinary teachers really scold their students like that, Jio?

'I wondered if his bizarre traits emerged because the personality of the human named Jio died and became a portrait, but maybe entities named Jio inherently have some strange aspects even as humans? Because even if he lives as a human, his roots are ultimately the Root?'

That horrifying level of apathy often startled Yu Seongun as well.

'Apart from the mental aspect, in the end, Jio was the one who took a massive blow in that situation. But he doesn't seem to feel anything about that part at all. With that level of apathy, he definitely has no intention of mimicking a human.'

He still remembered it vividly. The intense heat hot enough to evaporate all the seawater, the divine spear of the sun, and Black Cloak bearing the smile of 'Giovanni' even as he was left in a battered mess by it...

That beautiful and bizarre sight had captivated Yu Seongun's gaze. He guessed that the mermaid named Aria probably felt the same.

'... Anyway, that wasn't on the level of a scolding.'

Or was that an appropriate discipline from Jio's perspective? He was already worried about what would happen if a guy like this harbored serious feelings of anger or disgust.

Whatever he thought of Yu Seongun's silence, Jio asked.

"Shall I call them for you?"

"Huh? Ah... no, I don't really have anything to talk about with them."

"Since they are currently walking on eggshells around me, they are trying to restrain themselves, so I don't think there is any need to be afraid."

"Uh, right..."

Yu Seongun thought to himself.

'They are literally just laying low to stay on his good side, so I wouldn't call it completely safe.'

Yu Seongun had listened to the conversation between Giovanni and Aria in the dungeon. He had realized that the only meaning left for the mermaids was Giovanni.

If they were walking on eggshells, trying to restrain themselves, and even pretending to reflect on their actions, it was solely the result of Giovanni.

'Without Giovanni by their side, the mermaid siblings are nothing but intelligent monsters who can only mimic interactions.'

Monsters had been regarded as the enemies of humanity because they placed no meaning whatsoever on humans. They didn't pay any more attention to them than one would to a bug they crushed while walking past.

'Looking at the dungeon's story, it is a context I can roughly understand.'

Seeing the atmosphere flowing in the S-rank dungeon, the 'country of the deep sea', he could understand the cause of their hatred toward humans. Considering they had the only human they loved taken away from them in a horrific manner by other humans just like him, it made sense.

'Which is why I want to talk to them even less.'

He fully understood that they were furious about having their sole meaning, Giovanni, taken from them, but did they really need to take their anger out on humans from another dimension?

It seemed they themselves had some awareness that it was childish behavior, which made it all the more absurd. Ultimately, they were monsters. Their very way of thinking was completely different from that of humans.

'As expected, right and wrong aren't important values to monsters. They only carry out things that have meaning to them. In that sense, it makes it even harder to view Jio as a monster...'

Fundamentally, you couldn't converse with monsters. Yu Seongun smiled awkwardly and asked.

"... Never mind the mermaids, but are you okay? Your injuries were severe that day."

"Because I am a priest of the sun and a doctor. I can recover from injuries of that level quickly."

The portrait asked.

"Were you worried about me, Mr. Yu Seongun?"

"Would it offend you if I said I was?"

"It is a worry with no reason for me to be offended. I apologize for startling you."

"Well, I was a little startled, but..."

He was startled by Jio's choice and the visual stimulation; strictly speaking, he hadn't been worried about the 'Portrait of Jio' itself. It was true that he felt that way, but his rationality had determined that 'there was no need to be'.

'Even if Giovanni had died right there on the spot, this portrait wouldn't have been destroyed.'

Root entities had notably faint boundaries of death. It didn't seem like the 'Portrait of Jio' would be much different. After all, he seemed to be a being especially close to the Root.

"You're a highly skilled priest, and you have your father at home too. I vaguely figured you'd be fine."

"It was rude of me to return first without a proper goodbye for the sake of recovery that day. I apologize once again."

"No, that was something I and the others understood. If we had just left you injured like that, we would have been the ones getting cursed out by the mermaids instead."

They might have received hatred and contempt far worse than a mere scolding, in fact.

"The injuries were severe, are there any aftereffects?"

"No."

"Did it not hurt that day?"

"It didn't hurt as much as I expected."

"Now that's surprising news."

Giovanni's battered state that he had seen then naturally came to mind.

'Is his pain threshold high? Or he could just literally be insensitive to pain. But...'

Recalling how ruined the usually neat and tidy 'Portrait of Jio' had been, he felt a little uncomfortable inside.

"... Mm."

Yu Seongun soon added.

"I figured you did it because you could handle it, but from our perspective, we can't help but worry."

Hadn't Jio used his own life as a hostage to 'converse' with Aria?

'He didn't just give them a scare, either.'

A formless, scorchingly hot spear had impaled Jio's body. Whether he had controlled it with skills befitting a Sun God, Yu Seongun hadn't felt an overwhelmingly intense heat, but wasn't it hot enough to instantly evaporate the seawater?

Even knowing that he wasn't a human but a portrait, he couldn't remain unaffected after smelling his flesh and blood burning to a crisp.

"It's pretty upsetting, you know."

Yu Seongun considered Jio to be a pretty good friend as well as an excellent artwork, and he was still too human to calmly accept such a being getting ruined.

"I was worried. It might sound funny to say this to you when you recovered ages ago, but my heart definitely dropped back then."

"That was a week ago."

"Which is why I rushed here so eagerly. Part of it was because I've been busy and neglecting my job as a Curator, but also because I didn't have any way to check on how you were doing..."

"I should have sent a letter stating that I was at peace."

"No, um, anyway. I couldn't come right away, but you were on my mind in many ways. I felt sorry for not being able to care for you right after the job was done, but I'm glad."

"Thank you for worrying about me."

The portrait covered in black paint continued.

"However, I am a portrait. The blood I shed is ultimately just paper and paint, so there is no problem with recovering."

"..."

... Is that so?

Just when he was somehow starting to be convinced, the 'Portrait of Jio' asked in his characteristically dry voice.

"Was it not funny?"

"That was a joke?"

Proving he truly was a Root entity, even his jokes were nothing short of chilling.

'I definitely feel he isn't human in moments like this.'

Yu Seongun tried hard to change the subject.

"Come to think of it... wasn't that the first time you had seen Aria in a long while too?"

"Yes, it was the first time I had seen her."

"But you carried on a conversation with Aria quite calmly in that situation. It couldn't have been easy."

In Yu Seongun's eyes, even though 'Giovanni's' personality was close to a human's, it had a twisted side.

From Giovanni's standpoint, the situation at the time wasn't the sort of thing that could be brushed off so smoothly. After all, the disciple he had taught in another dimension had shown up as a vicious monster.

It even happened after he had died and experienced a resurrection that wasn't quite a resurrection. Yet Giovanni treated his students, who had turned into monsters, with absolute indifference. It was a personality that could never be called ordinary.

"Especially since that mermaid was saying things about how she would eat you up."

"It was a joke, so it is fine."

"... It was a joke?"

"Aria often played jokes like that when she was young."

"Uh..."

"She used to say she would eat them up if she didn't like them."

The portrait continued in a steady tone.

"It was definitely a joke. I believe Aria also knew that, which is why she deliberately made such a remark."

"... Because it was a joke?"

"If the situation did not go the way she wanted, she would have just claimed it was a joke like before and brushed it off as if it never happened."

"..."

"Similarly, Aria must have prepared to converse with me, but because I won before she could pull such a stunt, she just couldn't say it."

Hesitating for a moment, Yu Seongun asked.

"What were you going to do if it wasn't a joke."

"It wouldn't have mattered regardless. They are mermaids."

"What does them being mermaids have to do with it?"

"Mermaids are a race that lives their entire lives off the memories of a single moment."

At that calm and heavy voice, Yu Seongun suddenly recalled Jio's 'eyes' that he had seen once before.

"Because they are mermaids, I knew they would not be able to give up on Giovanni."

Those could never be described as belonging to a human.

"When Aria forced me to choose between the two, did I have an option to die?"

"... That's..."

If Jio had chosen humans then, Aria would have committed suicide, and if he had chosen mermaids, she would have continued living a life of tormenting humans.

"... But didn't Aria threaten to eat you up, saying you were a human too?"

"I just said that was a joke. In a way, she admitted that she could not kill me."

"Oh."

"That was where I became certain of my victory. Because I knew that Aria still loved me."

"... I understand."

Leaving room to pass it off as a joke at any time, but throwing a banquet to strongly pressure the humans in order to seize the initiative—that was the Little Mermaid.

And grasping all of that in an instant, while predicting that they wouldn't be able to give him up because they were mermaids, making a suicidal move—that was Jio.

"... You're both cunning..."

"Whether it's family or friends, bonds grow stronger through fighting."

In a gloomy, calm voice devoid of any emotion, Jio continued.

"Especially since it was our first reunion in quite a long time, I believe resolving the conflict openly was a great help in breaking the awkwardness."

"Resolving the conflict..."

Feeling slightly strange, Yu Seongun asked carefully.

"Do you want those mermaids to be happy then?"

"It is fine if they are happy, and it is fine if they are not. I only want them to take responsibility for their actions and past deeds."

"So you haven't forgiven them?"

"Yes, I have not forgiven them, who were my students. Until they take full responsibility, the day when I wholly accept them will not come."

"Don't be sad. Their evil deeds weren't your fault."

"I know that very well, too. I have no need to take responsibility for their past. But without me by their side, they will never change."

"Is that why you gave them a chance?"

"Saying I gave them a chance is not appropriate. I merely took my share of the responsibility. The rest is their share, and because of me, they will experience a minimum amount of change."

"You aren't showing favoritism?"

"I believe I took responsibility equivalent to the affection that went into my favoritism. Had I not loved them, I wouldn't have even tried to take the minimum amount of responsibility."

"Well, that's clear-cut."

Regardless, they were terrifying folks.

'... This chillingly apathetic attitude is exactly why humans should be wary of Root entities.'

He could not figure him out easily.