Chapter 22

Yu Seongun asked the Guild Master for help.

"Help."

"Oh, what is it now?"

"I have come to practice sharing."

"I'm everyone's punching bag, aren't I?"

The moment nine in the morning arrived, Yu Seongun went to see Bi Sabeol, and in his hands was a large glass jar.

It was such a large jar that even Bi Sabeol, who had been visited out of nowhere, had his gaze stolen by it at a glance.

"You have peculiar tastes, Curator Yu Seongun. That is a rare item."

"Oh, don't poke at me when you already know everything. Just help me."

"Shall I?"

Even though the mouth of the jar was sealed, Bi Sabeol instantly realized that it contained fruit syrup from the sweet scent leaking out.

And he also realized that Jio must have given it to him.

"You did appraise it, yes?"

"I did as soon as I received it from Jio."

"The grade?"

"Still unknown."

"Oh dear."

CLACK.

Bi Sabeol stared at the fruit syrup placed on the table.

"..."

"Do you see anything?"

"It is very good for the body."

"I don't think it's merely at the level of very good, but I'll accept that for now."

"Did you not say you still have not finished eating the cookies from last time?"

"If I eat too much, I actually can't sleep. No matter how much of a cog in capitalist society I am, even slaves are human. We need sleep."

"If you handed them out to employees working overtime or the guards at dawn, your reputation would be excellent."

"If I do that, the Association will take our portrait. No matter how tight-lipped they are, you never know where information might leak from."

"I know. That is why I am restraining myself."

Bi Sabeol laughed softly.

"More importantly, we must not treat Jio as an item dispenser."

"That part..."

Yu Seongun, who had been chewing over Bi Sabeol's words, soon nodded in satisfaction.

"I'm glad you seem to be taking care with it."

It was the "Portrait of Jio," whose identity they still could not clearly confirm.

Not fearing him more than necessary, while remaining as wary and conscious of him as possible, would be the way to extend the lives of humans.

"Even setting aside its effects, its appearance alone looks almost sacred. If donated to a temple, it would receive great praise."

"Yes, well, I heard it's especially outstanding for malnutrition. Since I'm not in that state, I don't know how much I would feel it."

"When it comes to nutrition, the Temple of the Sun would especially like it. At this level, it could probably save the poor who are one step away from mummification."

"If even the Sun Cult would welcome it, then I certainly understand that it is an item with warm energy. Are its effects that good?"

"Since it is a concentrate, would not taking just a spoonful each be of great help to dungeon exploration teams?"

Exploration teams were Hunters dispatched not to clear dungeons, but to locate people who had gone missing inside them or to understand the structure of the dungeon.

Since it was impossible to get out in a short time, they consumed a great deal of food as well.

The problem was that, given the dungeon environment, they could not bring too much with them.

Because of that, it was common to mostly pack tasteless nutritional food or potions.

"From the look of it, this seems to taste good too, and since it is a concentrate, a small amount will suffice. Since it is drunk in the form of fruit tea, it is as easy to consume as a potion."

"..."

"If it became known to the world, it would be too burdensome to enjoy privately, to the point that the government would step in with regulations."

"I thought so."

"But from a pan-human perspective, truly regrettably, we will have to enjoy it privately."

Bi Sabeol smiled like an immature young man.

"We cannot sell it, can we?"

"Ah, absolutely not."

It was a gift given out of goodwill by a Root entity.

He had not received permission to sell it, and if Jio learned that it was being circulated at auction, the hatred and resentment Yu Seongun would have to endure then would not be at a bearable level.

That was precisely the "rule."

"I think this every time, but the government is far too careless about the Root."

It had been thirty-one years since the great disaster.

It was not a short time, but it was not that long a time either.

Unlike dungeons, where abnormalities could be easily detected, perhaps it was inevitable that the government's understanding of the Root, which was indifferent to humans, was remarkably poor.

"The current president is paying quite a bit of attention to it, and it is not as though there is no one who knows about this kind of Root... but still, realistically, nothing is being reflected in society."

Yu Seongun let out a frustrated sigh.

"It would be nice if safety prevention education were conducted not only about dungeons, but also regarding the Root. When I see people who died without knowing the cause because of a child of the Root, or their bereaved families, I feel very sorry for them. There is a limit to what Gardeners can handle."

"It is not something that has been properly revealed yet, and for now, the greatest threats are the dungeons on its surface, are they not? Compared to the Root, which does not cause much trouble if left alone, it cannot be helped that they pay more attention to dungeons that throw a fit at every turn. There is a shortage of manpower too."

"Even though that is like only gnawing on the watermelon rind."

"The fact that there are few people who can sense the Root likely plays a part as well."

Unlike dungeons, which any random person could see and recognize, and the monsters that made those places their homes, most people had difficulty sensing the so-called "Root's children."

Many theories had come out so far, but the one receiving the most support was the theory that it was because they existed in an "area that cannot be perceived with human physical abilities."

That was why, they said, only a small number of humans who had evolved or been altered as Earth's environment changed could see the "Root's children."

"I believe they said that even those with aptitude cannot see every child of the Root."

"Yes. This is a kind of talent too. Just as people's hearing differs, there are children that all those with aptitude can see, and children that some cannot."

"Stories about that side of things are fascinating no matter how many times I hear them."

"There is also a hypothesis that the fewer aptitude-holders there are who can see a child, the closer that being is to the Root. Somewhere out there, there must be children even I cannot see."

"The thought that danger could be close by and yet there is no one who can see it is certainly chilling."

"If you cannot see or sense them, you cannot even touch them in the first place, and as long as you do not touch them, they do not get angry..."

Yu Seongun sighed.

"I complained out of impatience, but honestly, even now, it probably would not be a major problem if citizens knew nothing about the Root. They are indifferent to humans."

"Did you not say last time that there are exceptions?"

"Yes, of course there are exceptions... but they are not as active as monsters, so the damage should be less."

That rarity was also one of the reasons Root's children had not become known until now.

"Well, in any case."

"Yes."

"We do need to eat this."

"That is true."

"It is a thick concentrate, and there is a lot of it, so it would be a bit much for just us to eat."

"... Are you thinking of calling in another set of sacrificial victims?"

"We should call the HR team."

The HR team, like the secretary team, was a place where the most tight-lipped people among the guild members had been selected.

That was because they had to perform everything from general care for the guild members to secret orders from Bi Sabeol, the Guild Master.

"At the very least, it will not spread to other teams."

"That may be true, but..."

"They have been out of their minds with overtime lately too."

"Why don't you just expose my cookies while you're at it?"

"I will lie and say this one is an item I purchased separately."

"I'm grateful for that. Though I don't know whether that excuse will actually work on those clever people."

"Oh, they all have good sense, so they will keep quiet on their own. They are employees who hate additional work more than death."

"Well, that is the kind of people you gathered..."

Yu Seongun let out a relieved sigh.

'Jio probably won't mind at least that I shared it with my coworkers.'

Of course, the rules of the Root were not something that could be glossed over in this manner.

There were often cases where it became poison if consumed by someone other than the specially designated recipient.

'But in the first place, Jio...'

Clearly said he wanted to share it with "everyone."

'He said that.'

That meant it was intended for every employee in this guild.

"..."

"Will there be no issue after all?"

"Yes. I reviewed it, and it is indeed a gift intended for all employees, including me."

"Well, he must have given such a large jar with that in mind. It is too much for Yu Seongun to eat alone."

"Actually, I think he simply gave it without thinking about that part..."

He was the sort with a very generous hand.

"It would be funny for a Root entity to know what amount is appropriate by human standards."

"But did Curator Yu Seongun not say he has memories from when he was human?"

"He has them, but I suspect they are not complete."

The employees who had met the so-called "Black Cloak" testified that Jio introduced himself as "Seo Jio."

Jio, a young man who died at twenty-nine or was set up that way.

That was probably the memory the "Portrait of Jio" possessed.

"However, the point to consider here is why, then, was the portrait defined as 'Jio'?"

That was not a name humans had given him.

"It is the name defined by the Root."

The skills used by the Awakened, in other words Hunters, all receive help from the Root.

This time was in the same context.

The Root, which could be called a kind of god or a pan-dimensional system, had named a single portrait in the basement of a single building in a single country on one mere planet that way.

"So the portrait's name is not 'Seo Jio,' but 'Jio.' If so, that differs from his own claim, does it not?"

"Perhaps... it means what the Root judged and Jio's memories do not match?"

"Correct. The name I am referring to here is not one we gave ourselves, nor one that another human gave to another human. It is a name for our essence."

In other words, it could be called the "True Name" given by the parent known as the Root.

"Put another way, the name displayed by the system is the essence of the target as evaluated by the Root, so it is not something a mere human can easily ignore."

"And such a name is attached directly to Jio?"

"It is also displayed so that anyone can interpret it. Whether it is a shoddy low-level appraisal skill or a high-level appraisal skill like yours, Guild Master, it is a name all of them can recognize, but..."

"The problem is that nothing beyond that can be discovered."

"Correct."

Yu Seongun waved his hand as if cutting something away with scissors.

"It is as though the Root has blocked it off, saying, 'This must not be read.' It only told us exactly one thing, the name 'Jio.'"

"It sounds like a story about a god."

"They say people who receive the gaze of a god go mad."

Yu Seongun did not deny it.

"The Root is generally favorable toward humans. No, it is favorable toward everything it embraces. That is why it can seem indifferent instead."

"..."

"If it had been favorable only toward humans, dungeons, which are one of its children, should never have been born. It is merely helping all its children fight equally."

Such distant arrogance certainly deserved to be called "god."

Though gods of the current generation had grown quite far from omnipotence and omniscience.

"It is a portrait with an ego, one that the Root itself defined as dangerous and not to be dug into."

"..."

"... It may truly be a god. Or it may be something beyond that. Something a mere human cannot define."

Something that was mistakenly believing itself to be human.

"..."

"... In a world like this, I wonder how surprising something with the characteristics of a god could be, but in any case..."

Yu Seongun let out a deep sigh.

"It is merely one of the guesses. He does not seem to be a monster, an item, or one of the Root's children, so I cannot help but think up all sorts of bizarre hypotheses."

"I thought it was a fairly realistic hypothesis in its own way. Priests already serve gods, and there are gods in this world who enjoy amusement. There is a possibility he is a god who enjoys interaction with humans."

"If that is true, Earth is in danger, so let us stop there. The moment Jio realizes he is not human, something beyond a disaster... a miracle like a disaster will occur."

"Hmm, will it?"

"It would be best for even us to think of Jio as an ordinary human. Since the Root is a 'living story,' the level of danger changes depending on how people think of the target."

"That is truly astonishing."

Bi Sabeol was very intrigued.

"Do Root's children of that type mainly appear in Japan? Perhaps because it is a country with so many shrines, there are also that many varied Root's children that influence reality. If we come to believe in a god called Jio, what sort of change would occur?"

"That is exactly why I am telling you not to think such thoughts. Do not pour the terrifying oil called a story of a god onto an already dangerous guy."

"Living Stories really are frightening. The moment you simply learn more details about them or additional settings are incorporated, they become even more frightening beings... I hear accidents are especially frequent in cultures that like mythology?"

"Do not think strange thoughts. What kind of disaster are you trying to cause...?"

Yu Seongun, who had muttered with a fed-up face, returned to his usual impassive expression.

"In any case, I believe the memories Jio possesses are incomplete. Setting aside this and that about his essence related to the Root... the fact that, despite thinking himself human, he feels no agitation at all about his own state and abilities proves it."

No.

Jio simply had no thoughts at all.

But the absurd indifference needed to sum up his own change as, "I was human, but after dying and coming back to life thirty-one years later, I evolved into a portrait, ta-da," actually supported Yu Seongun's argument.

Ordinary people were not that insensitive toward their own bodies.

"If he were a proper human, he would have felt fear about his own state. In the first place, he changed from a human into a portrait. From that alone, he could not have avoided feeling it was bizarre or repulsive. Furthermore, the fact that he was not intoxicated by the omnipotence of being able to create everything except humans inside it... makes no sense for a human either."

And that nonsensical story had actually occurred.

Jio's miraculous insensitivity shone in this absurd direction.

"It is a situation impossible for human sensibilities."

"He certainly is not ordinary."

"As for the Root, even I do not know much about it. What I mean is that I cannot be certain whether he was human and then came to belong to the Root, or whether some Root entity took on a human form."

"Hmm..."

"But Jio, apart from obediently answering questions, does not speak much about himself."

Again, Jio had no thoughts at all.

He was not someone who agonized over things that had already passed, and in a similar context, he had not even thought that Yu Seongun might be curious about his past.

"Although he says he is human, Jio accepts things humans cannot do very naturally."

This, too, was a misunderstanding.

He simply lived with so little thought that he had not yet finished grasping the situation.

The current Jio, enjoying his hurricane of a life, did not bother with any headache-inducing worries.

Life was busy enough simply being enjoyed.

Of course, even if he had grasped the situation, Jio was the kind of person who would be shocked for about five seconds out of courtesy and then immediately wonder about the lunch menu.

He was the iron-walled man of this era, giving no room to pour cold water on his clear and fluffy brain.

"Ordinarily, one cannot be that calm."

"That is true."

"Is it not strange to be unbothered when you possess the power to immediately commit mass slaughter and cause natural disasters?"

They were repeating the same story over and over, but he simply had not thought that far.

To Jio, the trials and hardships of life were nothing more than the menus for three meals a day.

In the first place, Jio judged even his own ability, which surpassed humanity, as merely "the power to make food with drawings."

He had never even thought that this was a power that could threaten humanity.

Jio was the great man who could say, "Why would I do that when I can use this to eat roasted sweet potatoes?"

"I do not believe humans are beings with that much capacity."

He did have that much.

Jio's clear-headed way of thinking, which never allowed anything wicked to enter, had a talent for admitting only the "information" part of "serious information."

Other than the fact that he had evolved into a portrait and the fact that if he did this, he could live and eat like that, Jio was not especially curious about much else.

He was, in the truest sense, muddling his way through life.

Of course, from the perspective of ordinary people, these inner circumstances were unimaginable, so they remained serious.

"There is also quite a lot of information he should know as a human, yet does not."

"..."

"If so, in many ways there must be a gap between his own thoughts and reality..."

"And yet Jio insists he is human?"

"It may be that he himself knows reality, but is desperately denying it."

He simply had not yet adapted to the current world, thirty-one years later.

Just as a ninety-year-old elder might fumble when using a kiosk.

But Yu Seongun drew his own conclusion.

"In that case, it would be suggestion at the level of self-hypnosis, so either way, it would not be good for us to be the first to dig into Jio's identity."

"It is intriguing after all."

Bi Sabeol looked at Yu Seongun as though envious.

In a subtle tone, like a child wanting to eat more ice cream from the freezer, he said,

"I would like to have a conversation with him too..."

"I see."

"Please arrange it."

"As expected, that is a bit impossible."

"Ah, why?"

"Jio dislikes it."

"He does not hate me, does he?"

"He gets stressed."

Yu Seongun firmly shook his head.

"You were the one who entrusted Jio to me, Guild Master. I have a duty to protect Jio's condition. As long as he believes himself human, Jio needs sufficient care."

"Are you saying I am a human unsuited to that care?"

"Then would you be suited to it?"

"As expected of Curator Yu Seongun. You never say anything empty."

"... Ha..."

So even he was not denying it in the end.

'It really is fortunate that he has at least a shred of conscience.'

Yu Seongun smiled bitterly.

"The fact that we need to learn more about Jio remains the same as before. We still do not know what that guy is, nor whether he has an exact way of thinking or any other rules."

"In any case, I am the one who brought him here, so be sure to treat him properly. What I want is for the 'Portrait of Jio' to be satisfied with the service of my gallery. That is all."

Bi Sabeol nodded.

"And please make it so he can continue to consider himself human."

"It is extremely burdensome, but I will try for the sake of humanity's peace."

That was why Yu Seongun had thought of something.

"... Soon, I am thinking of taking Jio around outside the company."

The portrait where Jio resided was a space far too alien to be described as a place where a human lived.

Perhaps because Jio did not want to deviate from his image of himself as human, he merely said he had "come to stay in a portrait," but... if he stayed inside it forever, someday he would realize his own essence.

"It is a great fortune for us that Jio is under the illusion that he is human. If possible, we must ensure that he can continue that illusion. To do that, we need to insert Jio among humans."

"If you want to hide a tree, go to the forest?"

"... Is that not a little different? In any case, if a human-like environment is created, that illusion will last longer. In that sense, I intend to show Jio around the city."

"What is the risk level?"

"..."

Yu Seongun avoided his eyes.

"... We will have to be careful."

"Is that enough?"

"What else can we do? Rather than wait for Jio to realize his essence and explode, it would be better to try something."

"It is a bold choice to a degree I can hardly believe it is Curator Yu Seongun's judgment. Of course, I approve."

"I am aware that I am making a dangerous gamble. I merely judged that it was necessary."

Yu Seongun had not properly seen it yet, so perhaps he did not know, but in the first place, was Jio not a portrait that could make people faint simply by meeting their eyes?

"Jio has a strong consideration for humans. He is gentlemanly and polite. None of the employees he has encountered so far have died, and... in reality, there are a few Hunters who give off as much pressure as Jio."

"It would be troublesome if he were suddenly revealed to the media as an S-class Hunter. These days, with all the talk of public figures and idols, hunter pride between countries has grown strong, so once a rumor starts, it will spread in an instant."

"That may be better, rather. It would be easier to disguise him as a Hunter. In any case, we would be able to fit Jio into human standards."

"..."

"The danger level of a child of the Root changes according to the size of the story it contains. If Jio's 'story' is reduced to a human level, his stability will increase."

Yu Seongun sighed.

"... That is, if Jio permits it."

"What do you think he will say?"

"Ah, I don't know. Don't ask me. My head is already about to burst."

"That is why I gave you an additional allowance."

"Goddamn capitalist society."

After thinking for a moment, Yu Seongun said,

"Could you tell the employees not to be too afraid of Jio?"

"Do you think that would work? Has your brain melted in caffeine? Has it been canned and lost function?"

"Why are you being so scathing about it? I was asking you to at least make rules."

He looked troubled.

"Because every person who encounters him stiffens severely, Jio felt displeased. He judged them to be rude."