Chapter 32

Jio inhaled the food at the night market.

"..."

"Do you have a question?"

"No, you eat well."

"Yes, I do."

Jio was a big eater.

"Aren't you full?"

"I have always eaten a lot, so I am fine."

"It's almost impressive."

"If it tasted bad, I would have stopped at a reasonable amount, but everything was delicious."

"Well, food has to be good for people to come."

That was true enough, but if every restaurant and every food was delicious, no shop would ever go out of business.

'In any case, tourist spots have become quite substantial after thirty-one years. When I visited with my class, wasn't it basically just walking into history? It took quite a bit of effort to soothe the bored kids.'

Jio pushed back his veil a little and chewed on rice cake grilled over charcoal and coated in grain syrup.

This was Korean tanghulu.

'Gyeongbokgung Palace used to have that typical cultural heritage... old-fashioned feeling.'

It was a place with many memories, but what had created those memories was less Gyeongbokgung Palace itself and more his interactions with students wandering around in hanbok searching for their identities.

'I wonder what happened to that aspiring idol who said that since he cried for no reason, he must have been a king of Joseon in his past life. I wonder if they are all living well.'

If not for the students, who were faithful to nonsense in the way only high schoolers who could not live sanely were, Jio would not have enjoyed Gyeongbokgung Palace so much either.

Hanok were beautiful and antique, but there had been more than one or two students who protested especially when told they had to come here in summer.

'But the present Gyeongbokgung Palace has substance. There is definitely a lot to enjoy.'

People wearing hanbok each enjoyed their own role-playing, and sometimes exchanged the kinds of lanterns they had bought with others.

Everyone looked happy.

"..."

If there was one thing he was curious about.

'What is that?'

He could see something like a transparent shadow wearing hanbok and moving about.

'It was the same at the fan shop and in the alleys of the hanok village... things similar to that were wandering around.'

There might be exceptions, but everything Jio had seen was wearing a mask.

There was a cluster of shadows like a troupe of entertainers swaying as they walked along the line strung with lanterns, a cluster of children with ribbon-tied hair hopping around as they moved between people, a cluster of civil officials coming and going inside the restricted palace interior...

"... Mr. Yu Seongun."

"Yes?"

"What do you call those?"

"What do you... ah."

Yu Seongun spoke as if he naturally assumed Jio would know.

"Those are stories, Living Stories."

"This is your first time seeing them in a place like this, right?"

"..."

"They usually like places without people, so it's rare to see them at a noisy tourist spot like this."

"Still, they are one of the proper Root's children."

He had heard of this before.

"You told me something similar last time."

"About what?"

"Are you talking about Root's children?"

"Yes, could you explain in a little more detail?"

"... Ah, I see."

Yu Seongun scratched the back of his neck and continued.

"I think I mentioned it briefly while explaining Gardeners last time... but I glossed over it then."

"It's hard to summarize simply, but I will explain."

"..."

"There is a transcendent being we humans define as the Root, and you could call it the god of gods."

"It is a kind of system that manages balance across the entire universe and all dimensions and creates various rules."

"A system, then."

"And the Root usually creates other children."

"We call them Root's children."

"They are beings that can be classified as a single part of nature, like waves, wind, beasts, and humans."

"..."

"These Root's children can also be divided into several types..."

Yu Seongun pointed at the shape of a civil official moving inside the palace.

Its face could not be seen because it was hidden by a large official hat and veil, and its sleeves were strangely long, so no part of its body could be confirmed.

Their movements as they traveled in groups were so precise that they had an eye-catching charm like a group dance, but that was precisely why they did not seem like living creatures.

It was as if shadows had put on clothes and were imitating humans.

"Those things are called stories."

"What kind of beings are they?"

"Like most Root's children, they have no interest in humans and do no harm."

"A story is both a living tale and a being close to human form."

"Then is its mind not close to human?"

"It is not that they truly think like humans, but simply that they imitate traces."

"Root's children are skilled at decorating their outward appearance."

"It seems they did not learn it later; it is just a trait of their very essence."

Yu Seongun took a sip of persimmon juice and continued.

"Whatever their type, all stories wear masks, and beyond those masks, there are no faces."

"It is not that they have human bodies or can think at a level equivalent to that."

"They are merely copying the outer appearance."

"..."

"Just because someone is drawn in a picture, that picture does not become an actual human."

"Ah, of course, I do not know how it would be in your case... but usually, there is such a thing as the limits of a dimension."

"I understand."

There probably were not many portraits like him in the world.

When Jio agreed, Yu Seongun continued.

"They have their own stories, and when that story ends, they disappear."

"Gyeongbokgung Palace has many people, but strangely enough, it is a place where quite a few of those stories live."

Jio, who had been observing the people, asked.

"Can people not see those Root's children?"

"There are few people who can."

Yu Seongun nodded.

"Ordinary people cannot detect the frequencies dolphins or bats use, right?"

"It is similar."

"Root's children exist in the world, but there are very few people who can detect them."

"Even though those things are not particularly hiding."

"Ghosts?"

"Uh... you could see them as similar, but I suppose the fact that they do not understand humans at all makes them a bit different."

"No matter how much those things dress themselves up to look like humans, they are empty inside."

"They are different from the root."

As if something had occurred to him, he said,

"Ah, right."

"They say that in the past, there was no one who could see Root's children like that."

"Earth came under the strong influence of the Root, and things called dungeons appeared... Awakened were born... and apparently, because the ecosystem itself changed like that, people became able to see them."

It was a tale as mystical as a fairy tale.

"As you can see, I am also one of the few talented people who can perceive that kind of Root."

"I suppose I am as well."

"Hm, I suppose so."

He seemed to be hiding it in his own way, but Yu Seongun had a slightly awkward expression.

It was probably because he thought of him as something that was not human.

'In any case, if it is Mr. Yu Seongun, he will understand that whether I am human or not, I am a harmless being who cannot even kill a single ant, so it does not matter.'

Worried about being dragged out of the portrait, Jio did not bother correcting him and once again took in the scenery of Gyeongbokgung Palace.

'Earth and humanity have become strong.'

He was definitely obsolete.

Jio, who knew only how to eat, sleep, and draw, lost confidence that he could survive in this harsh world.

"How many people can see Root entities?"

"Are you asking about the proportion among all humans?"

"Well, there are not many."

"I see."

If you are special, you are bound to get poked.

Jio once again resolved to devote his entire life to the portrait.

"..."

Jio, who had been sitting blankly on a bench, soon noticed a small commotion.

"I hear fighting."

"That is rare at a tourist spot like this."

Yu Seongun, who had been leaning back in his chair, tilted his upper body forward.

"The guards will drag them away soon, but..."

Sure enough, guards in thick hanbok caught a person who was shouting.

It was a middle-aged man, and he was making a scene trying to lunge at a rather handsome man dressed as a scholar.

Perhaps his collar had been grabbed, because the scholar straightening his top had a troubled expression.

"..."

He was clearly a young man with a kind impression, but...

Jio had a feeling.

"Jio?"

"..."

A frame.

Jio raised both hands, made them into the shape of a camera, and brought them to his eyes.

Five stars.

'He is very dangerous, isn't he?'

It seemed the guards had caught the wrong person to drag away.

'Do I really have to do that?'

"..."

Jio's eyes met those of the young man in the scholar's outfit.

'Was I staring too much?'

Yu Seongun seemed to find Jio's sudden action strange, but even so, he did not add anything.

The scholar swept his eyes over Jio from top to bottom as if assessing him, then soon bowed his head and passed by.

Though he had an expression as if he thought Jio had picked a fight with him.

GURGLE.

"Oh, you scared me."

Yu Seongun flinched in surprise at Honey's sudden appearance.

"... Huh? A water bird? Wait, Jio, this is the one you showed me last time..."

"It's Honey."

"You could bring this one out?"

"I have not tried it with the other birds, so I do not know."

"Hm, right, uh... I see."

Yu Seongun looked somewhat liberated from worldly concerns.

"It is about time Earth ended."

"It seems to be holding up well, so I do not know why you are suddenly saying something so random."

"It was definitely a sandcastle that would crumble if tapped..."

Yu Seongun smiled with a resigned face, then soon returned to his usual expression and asked,

"So, why that person?"

"Does he bother you?"

"He looked dangerous."

"... Did he?"

"I think he did not like me."

A scary person.

"I did not mean to pick a fight."

He had briefly forgotten that if you made eye contact for more than three seconds, the only two choices were "Does that bastard like me?" or "Is that bastard trying to fight me?"

'Before three seconds passed, I should have politely and kindly spoken to him, but his record was too spectacular, so I missed the timing to act friendly.'

'The instincts of Seo Jio, once called the Pokémon Trainer of the twenty-first century, must be completely dead.'

In other words, when eyes met, it was battle.

Whether in a good way or a bad way.

'That man just now seems to have interpreted it in the bad way.'

In this rugged age where businessmen in suits beat monsters to death, what was he supposed to do if he picked a fight with a gentleman who had a five-star danger rating?

'No, isn't it wrong for an ordinary passerby to have such a high danger rating in the first place?'

Jio resented this insane hell-Korea and spoke with all his sincerity.

"I am scared."

"Even if you say you are scared, it is hard for me to take it sincerely... are you being sarcastic?"

"I think we should return to the hotel."

"If that is what you want."

Jio gentlemanly tucked Honey, who was trying to poke out from between his scarf, back inside and left Gyeongbokgung Palace.

At some point, Honey had put the glittering fish lantern inside its belly, apparently because it liked it.

And at 3:32 a.m., after he had passed out on the hotel bed and woken up.

"..."

Jio confirmed that Honey had disappeared.

"Please."

Could you please just leave me in peace already?

I might cry.

* * *

"..."

A dark, deserted alley in the slums.

"... So what the hell was that bastard earlier?"

The man, now out of his scholar's clothes, roughly swept his hair back.

'It felt strange.'

It had been some man wearing black hanbok.

His face had not been visible because he had wrapped himself up so thoroughly.

He seemed to be about 190 centimeters tall, but it was difficult to guess who someone was from only their gender and height.

"This feels nasty."

Normally, he would have just thought some bizarre bastard was picking a fight with him and moved on.

But.

"Back then, that hand gesture was..."

A hand motion as if imitating something like a frame.

It had only been for a moment, but he had felt as though his personal information were being exposed down to the last detail.

"..."

The man scratched his head hard.

"... No, fuck, this is definitely strange."

"That bastard must have been an Awakened, right?"

The person sitting beside him had been Hunter Yu Seongun.

Since Bi Sabeol's Curator had been personally guiding him at his side, he was probably some young master from a rich family who had only recently Awakened.

'He had that unlucky etiquette ingrained in him.'

But that was troublesome.

'If the work I am planning gets exposed...'

It would not end with him simply being demoted to a Grade 5 citizen.

There were more Awakened than one might imagine who possessed skills that could freely check someone else's thoughts or memories, or glimpse that person's past.

They simply did not say it because they worried they would get stabbed somewhere; it was not actually such a rare skill.

So the black man he had seen at the Gyeongbokgung Palace night market might have peered into his thoughts with that kind of skill.

Considering that sudden hand gesture, it was a very reasonable conclusion.

"..."

Whew...

A sigh came out.

"The event will start soon, so what the hell is this?"

Considering the trouble it could cause later, he could not let this pass.

That was how extremely dangerous the work he was doing now was, and it was an act of betraying humanity.

He had never felt anything like guilt, but that did not mean he could avoid trouble if he was caught.

No matter how he thought about it, as expected.

"I need to kill him."

How much time and care had he spent to secure a position in the Temple of the Sun?

He could not leave a risk alone now simply because it left a bad taste in his mouth.

It was when he had made up his mind and was about to track the traces of the man he had seen at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

"..."

"..."

"... What the hell."

Some squishy bird was sitting on a pipe.

Inside it, the fish lantern that was a tourist product was swimming, so it was quite bright.

So bright that he did not know why he had only noticed it now in this dark alley.

"..."

It was strange.

'... For an urban monster, this is a form I have never seen before.'

On top of that, monsters shaped like birds, especially small ones like this, generally moved in flocks.

Beasts or monsters that went around alone all had the power to protect themselves.

Then what were the chances that this one pathetic-looking bird was an ordinary monster?

"... This, fuck, no way..."

Was it a surveillance monster that bastard from Gyeongbokgung Palace had attached to him?

'He was a trainer?'

He had not expected him to be a Hunter with a profession.

No wonder that sinister bastard Yu Seongun had treated him so politely.

Did that mean he was an Awakened worth that much after all?

The man gripped his staff tightly.

"... Well, maybe this is good."

Apparently, the bird's owner was a novice.

The scent of its owner could be clearly felt from the bird.

It seemed he had not expected that when he sent a spy, he would end up exposing himself in return.

The man forced a smile.

"If you noticed something strange, you should have told Yu Seongun right away."

He sensed no threat from this bird that was only staring blankly at him.

It really seemed to be a surveillance camera, and if so, that actually made it easy to track in reverse.

'Maybe he was not certain enough to tell Yu Seongun.'

Not reporting one's suspicions to a superior in advance.

It was a mistake novice Hunters often made.

'What an idiot.'

Whatever this bird's exact identity was, he had to deal with it now.

Thinking so, the man reached out and grabbed the bird, so small it would not even make a mouthful...

CRUNCH.

"..."

"..."

"Huh?"

His hand.

Was gone.

"..."

Inside the bird's transparent body, he could see his hand.

The limp fish lantern wrapped around the severed hand.

Then the two slowly melted away.

"... Ah."

GLUG.

"Fuck."

It was not that the man was incompetent.

GURGLE?

"This, this fucking..."

GURRR?

"... Impossible."

GURGLE.

As a priest of the Sun whose rank was by no means easy to deal with, he was in a position where he was allowed to be arrogant.

However, all of this was a situation where things that could never happen by common sense had overlapped less like miracles than disasters.

It was not a difficulty that a mere individual could do anything about.

The tiny bird's body began swelling grotesquely.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck."

GURGLE?

Feathers glittering with a light that could not be distinguished as moon or sun.

Hard talons like hooks, and long legs.

And a huge beak.

"No...!"

SLOSH.

There came the sound of water flowing.

"Hurk, mmph...!"

Then the sound of stirring.

"...! ...!!!"

"..."

"...!!"

"..."

"..."

Soon,

silence fell.

"..."

The man was nowhere to be seen.

GURGLE.

Only one very small bird flew away at its leisure.

* * *

"Honey."

Jio liked small, harmless things.

However, Root's children were beings skilled at putting on appearances.

"Where did you go?"

GURGLE.

"You're cute, so it's fine."

Then.

What, exactly, was their true nature?

"There is fish-shaped bread over there."

GLUG!!

"You really are my son."

GURRR?

"You love tasty things."

Even the Root's children themselves probably did not know.