Chapter 99

It was a world where even human lives were treated as resources.

Even if a rotten seed that muddied society’s waters had been dragged away by something that was neither a monster nor anything else they could identify, no one sincerely worried about the missing person.

They were simply curious.

“Do you think he’s dead by now?”

“What was the time of disappearance confirmed by the information processing team?”

“Around 4 p.m. on the twenty-second.”

“Today is the twenty-fourth. Roughly two days have passed... It seems fair to count him as dead.”

“In that case, how he was killed should also be a topic of interest.”

“He may not have killed him, but turned him into a toy instead.”

“He is assessed to possess considerable intelligence, so that is possible as well.”

Because they had not yet grasped the exact identity of “Black Cloak,” the Association employees had no choice but to make predictions and judgments by comparing him to humanoid monsters.

And when they thought of how humanoid monsters treated humans who violated their rules, naturally, grim guesses emerged.

“If he simply killed him cleanly, I think we may be able to reconsider the meaning of ‘punishment.’ It would mean there was no personal resentment, would it not?”

“It could have been intended not as ‘punishment,’ but as ‘cleanup.’ It’s only natural to want to remove a human who broke your rules from before your eyes, so I don’t think we can say there was no personal resentment.”

“We would need to know this outcome for certain before we could adjust Black Cloak’s response level... There was also advice from Hunter Yu Seongun, the former research team leader.”

Black Cloak, when he encountered polite and kind people and offered them goodwill, was not all that important.

What mattered to the Association, which had to account for all manner of dangerous variables, was how this thing, monster or otherwise, harmed humans.

“Is there no way to determine the missing person’s location?”

“According to eyewitness testimony, he was not carrying a separate tracking device.”

“Well, even if he had an item like that, there is no telling whether it would have worked.”

“Still, simply processing it as a disappearance and closing the agenda is not enough.”

“Is there no separate method to summon Black Cloak?”

“We have not been able to find information on that aspect yet.”

Amid the orderly commotion, the Association President opened his mouth.

“Let us ask the top three guilds for cooperation.”

“... Do you mean all three of the top guilds?”

“Yes, please contact the head of each guild.”

“Understood.”

Only the executives gathered here knew that Black Cloak’s other name was the Portrait of Jio.

The person who had purchased it at auction was none other than Collector Bi Sabeol.

The Guild Master of Collector.

So, asking the top three guilds for cooperation here was no different from requesting that they ask Black Cloak directly about the outcome related to Hunter Park Eun-gyeom’s disappearance.

Such a direct and blunt request might displease Bi Sabeol or the Portrait of Jio, but...

“As long as we show that we have no intention of touching the work, the Collector will provide sufficient help. We cannot know Black Cloak’s reaction, but Collector’s Curators will personally manage it and assess the situation, so if things truly become dangerous, they will restrain themselves on their own.”

Above all, judging by the direction Collector was moving in, there was a high chance that the Curator currently in charge of the Portrait of Jio was Yu Seongun the Gardener.

He was a person who was quite serious when dealing with Root entities, so either way, there was no harm in trying.

“We will conclude this agenda here.”

“Yes, Association President.”

“Then the next agenda is...”

The Association was always busy.

So there were times when it was necessary to receive help from friends.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the peaceful cabin inside the portrait.

“Today’s content is.”

Jio declared.

“We have decided on gambas.”

“Coooooo.”

Honey howled with joy.

“Coo, coo, cooooooo.”

“Calm down, son. Gambas will not fly over like you just because you rush it.”

The name “Black Cloak” had spread far and wide in the world, especially in Korea, but the details were none of Jio’s concern.

The owner of an ultimately positive mindset, who had accepted life as a portrait because he did not want to pay rent, was peacefully contemplating his meal again today.

“I did say gambas, but... hmm.”

As an excellent gourmet and a big eater, the greatest content in Seo Jio’s life was deciding what to eat.

Living in a dream cabin with plenty of time, stamina, and funds, Jio devoted his body and mind to meal preparations as much as he pleased.

“Gambas al ajillo is the proper name, technically.”

“Coo?”

“Gambas means shrimp, and ajillo means garlic.”

“Coo...?”

“Yes, translated literally, it is shrimp-and-garlic sauté.”

In truth, although he had said he would “make gambas,” what Jio was making today was completely different from the original.

“For starters, I’m not even planning to put shrimp in it.”

If there was any point of commonality at all, it was only that he would be using olive oil with its pleasantly bitter aroma and plump garlic.

But the method of making it would be fairly similar, so Jio decided not to bother changing what he called it.

“Honey, you remember the club trumpets we saw last time, don’t you? If you go to the storage, there are club trumpets Dad cleaned up for you.”

“Coo.”

“Go down with Dana and scoop up as much as you want to eat, including Dad’s and Grandpa’s portions. If there’s anything else you want in the storage, bring that out too.”

“Coooooo.”

Honey nodded vigorously, then fluttered off and settled on top of Dana’s head.

Dana, who had been lying like a cat spilled across the subtly warm floor as the spring breeze blew softly in, flailed both front paws.

“Coo.”

“... Mrowwwww...”

STREEETCH.

Dana rose from her spot, stretched long in an arch, and moved her paws in a trot.

Watching the two little brats disappear with the small basket he had made to fit Dana’s body held in her mouth, Jio nodded.

“They get along well.”

“Coo?”

The Sun God asked whether it was all right for Dana to go into the freezing ice storage, but Jio shook his head.

“Dana is not family I drew myself, so this forest might affect her, but her body is already extremely cold, and strictly speaking, she is not an ordinary living creature, so there was no problem when she went into the ice storage. I cannot say about other dangerous places, but she will not get sick simply because it is cold.”

After calming the anxiety of the household elder, Jio thought inwardly.

‘He pays particular attention to Dana.’

Jio understood how he felt.

Honey came on his own to receive his daily share of attention and affection, but if Dana was left alone, there were many times when no one even knew where the child was.

‘She doesn’t even cry unless it’s mealtime...’

When she was not particularly thinking about food, she even disappeared entirely, so it seemed she drew a great deal of the Sun God’s concern.

She was a child who had survived perfectly well even in that barren Jewel Vein, so it seemed unlikely that anything serious would happen, but in any case, if Grandpa said so, Jio could respect it enough.

“Then I will first...”

Seafood became tough if heated for too long.

The club trumpets Honey and Dana would bring were to be added near the very end, so Jio only had to work on the rest.

“Since Honey and Father do not particularly enjoy spicy things, I will add the spices moderately.”

“Coo, coo.”

“Yes, I will adjust it well so that you can enjoy only the aroma, so you need not worry too much.”

“Coo...”

“It is true that spicy food was not that common in Giovanni’s world. It is understandable that it would feel unfamiliar.”

Jio generously poured olive oil into a shallow, wide square pan.

“But many spicy foods had developed in Edlen village.”

“Coo?”

“I thought it was unusual as well. Usually, coastal villages that have frequent access to fresh seafood do not use many spicy seasonings...”

Fundamentally, spices were used to enrich aroma, but they were also used to cover up unpleasant smells in ingredients.

Using strong, stimulating red pepper powder to hide the gamey smell of meat or the fishy smell of seafood was common even on Earth.

“Well, it was a hot and humid climate. The annual temperature variation was also large. Since it was an environment perfectly suited for ingredients to spoil, they may have increased the preservation period with spiciness... or aimed for a sterilizing effect.”

Most of all, Edlen village’s specialties were shellfish such as club trumpets, but among its neighboring villages was an area where spices were the specialty.

Since it was easy to obtain that kind of spice, it may have been an environment where spicy food could develop in many ways.

“Among the representative foods of Edlen village, there was spicy fried fish. It was a dish often sold at taverns, and if you requested it, they would add dry bread so you could dip it into the red oil.”

“Coooo...?”

“It was spicy, but thanks to the distinctive aroma of tomatoes and the savory oil of the fish, it went especially well with bread. The fish used for it had especially rich, plump livers, and the oil that flowed out from them was truly enchanting.”

“Coo...”

“Now that I think about it, if I could have added pasta noodles, that would have been quite nice in its own way as well.”

Reviving that memory a little, he planned to serve this gambas with bread and noodles too.

“For bread, I have ciabatta and baguettes I made last time, and I think both would be better lightly toasted once in the oven. Which do you prefer between olive ciabatta and cheese ciabatta? There is also a baguette baked with dried tomatoes.”

“Coo, coo, coo, coo...”

“Yes, how wise. Following Father’s words, I will put out a little of everything. I do not know about Dana, but Honey takes after me and is quite the big eater, so he will be able to enjoy it without leaving food behind. It is a relief that I baked bread in advance.”

Yu Seongun, who knew Jio had a great interest in cooking, would occasionally gift him ingredients.

They included unusual flour and vegetables that could only be purchased in the present world, so Jio was happily indebted to Yu Seongun.

‘I should honor him as my hyung.’

He had the composure of an adult, was competent, and had an easygoing personality, giving him good sociability as well.

In order to survive in this hellish Korea, Jio decided yet again today to faithfully cling to Yu Seongun.

“Ah, it would also be delicious to put cream cheese and smoked salmon on top of the baguette...”

Even if it was not necessarily salmon, putting thinly sliced sausage or ham on top would also be a killer combination.

Jio brought over the dried fish fillets from Breathing Sea that had been drying in the yard and sliced them thin and wide.

“Good, they dried well.”

“Coo, coo.”

“Then I will leave the bread preparations to Father.”

He sliced the garlic he had prepared before, not too thinly, and poured it as it was into the pan that had not yet heated up.

The teddy bear, who had been slicing a baguette studded here and there with sun-dried tomatoes, turned back to Jio at the sound of something pouring down in a heap.

“Coo?”

“Yes? There is no problem.”

“... Coo?”

“It is normal for this much garlic to go in.”

“...”

The teddy bear soon seemed to give up and began slicing the baguette.

Thanks to being a doll with fingers of a sort, it appeared to be managing the knife work, if barely.

Reassured, Jio continued cooking the gambas.

‘You have to put the garlic in from a low temperature for the garlic aroma to infuse the oil well.’

If there was one thing to be careful of, it was that if the garlic was left in the olive oil for too long, it would burn.

But the garlic grown in this cabin forest was particularly firm and had large cloves, so it seemed unlikely that the unfortunate accident of it suddenly burning would occur even if he left it in long enough to draw out the aroma.

“And then...”

Jio took out the dried Milky Way mary.

“Where did I put the pestle?”

“Coooo.”

“Ah, I see. Thank you for telling me.”

Thanks to the Sun God telling him, he was able to take out the pestle he had shoved into the cupboard.

The Milky Way mary, well dried in the sunlight, glittered black and transparent, but the grains were so hard that he could not crush them by hand.

GRRIND, GRIND.

“...”

A spicy, pungent aroma rose.

‘It really is similar to pepper.’

Should he call it pepper with a slight hint of chili aroma?

‘It does not get spicy even if I put a lot in, so should I add a little generously?’

The aroma of pepper was highly volatile, so if it was left too long after grinding, the scent did not come through well.

But Milky Way mary had no such issue, and its intense aroma lasted a long time, so there would be no problem adding it to the olive oil around now.

“The pepper is in...”

Next was the weeping fringe.

“I will add only a little of this.”

“...”

“If the spicy aroma is too weak, it will be too oily to eat much.”

“... Coo...”

“Trust this son of yours.”

When making a dish full of oil like this, dried spices were preferable if possible.

Because if moisture entered hot oil, an eco-friendly, high-performance bomb would be completed.

‘And for the sake of this day that would someday come, I dried the weeping fringe in advance.’

If weeping fringe was dried in the sun for over a month, it turned pink and produced an incredible sweetness.

But when he dried it not in sunlight, but inside the house, lightly and repeatedly over a gently heated pan as if toasting dried filefish, its spicy aroma instead grew stronger.

‘The fact that the color is still blue-green makes it feel markedly different from red pepper powder, but...’

Still, the aroma was roughly similar.

‘A lot of that sweet smell that made the aroma overly complicated is gone too.’

The weeping fringe dried crisp over fire was crumbly like thin sheets of blue-green Korean paper, and the edges were crinkled like lace.

When the weeping fringe, broken into pieces of an appropriate size, went in, the spicy aroma that had remained quiet even when the Milky Way mary was added suddenly burst forth.

“This is it.”

“Coo.”

“...”

Jio, who had unknowingly clenched his fist, lowered his arm.

“... It probably will not be very spicy.”

No, really.

Under the persistent suspicious stare, he volunteered as the royal food taster just in case, but as expected, it was not that spicy.

If even Seo Jio, who did not have some incredible resistance to spiciness, found it to be this level, then even if the teddy bear, who looked mild from appearance alone, tasted it, there did not seem to be any major problem.

“It is true.”

“...”

“If Father does not trust his son, who will trust me?”

“Coo.”

“What do you mean, abusing trust? This is exactly what trust exists for.”

Unfortunately, a spice wimp’s suspicion was not something that could be easily broken down.

The adults, who had not grown older for nothing, continued their strange standoff until Honey and Dana arrived.