Practicing Generosity

Yu Seong-un went to the guild leader for help.

"Help."

"Whoa, what is it?"

"I've come to practice sharing."

"So I'm the neighborhood punching bag now, am I?"

The moment the clock struck nine in the morning, Yu Seong-un sought out Bi Sa-beol with an enormous glass jar in his hands. Even Bi Sa-beol, ambushed by the sudden visit, found his gaze stolen at once by a vessel that large.

"You have rather unique tastes, Curator Yu Seong-un. That's a rare item."

"You already know what it is, so stop needling me and just help."

"Shall I?"

Bi Sa-beol recognized at a glance that the jar—sweet fragrance seeping out even though its mouth was sealed—held fruit preserve. He also knew at once that Ji-oh had been the one to give it.

"You've had it appraised, I assume?"

"The second I received it from Ji-oh."

"And the grade?"

"Still unidentifiable."

"My, my."

Clink.

Bi Sa-beol stared at the fruit preserve set on the table.

"……."

"See anything?"

"It's extremely good for the body."

"I suspect it's more than just 'extremely good,' but noted for now."

"Didn't you say you still hadn't finished the cookies from last time?"

"Eat too many and I can't sleep. Even a cog in the capitalist machine is still human; a slave needs rest."

"If you handed them out to the people working overtime or the night guards, your reputation would soar."

"And then the Portrait Association would snatch him away from us. No matter how tight-lipped people are, information leaks from somewhere."

"I know. I'm restraining myself."

Bi Sa-beol gave a small smile.

"More than anything, we must never treat Ji-oh like an item dispenser."

"On that point…"

Yu Seong-un chewed over Bi Sa-beol's words, then nodded with satisfaction.

"I'm glad you're being careful."

The true nature of Ji-oh's Portrait was still something no one could state with certainty.

They didn't need to be terrified beyond reason—but remaining as wary and conscious of it as possible was the surest way to prolong human lifespans.

"Even setting the effects aside, its appearance alone looks sacred enough that donating it to a temple would earn rave reviews."

"Yeah, well. I've heard it's especially outstanding against malnutrition. I'm not in that condition myself, so I can't speak to how it feels."

"If it's nutrition, the Temple of the Sun would love it most of all. At this level, even the destitute on the brink of becoming mummies could be saved."

"Welcome enough for the Solar Church, huh. So it's definitely an item with a warm aura. Is the effect really that strong?"

"It's a concentrate. Even a single spoonful would be a huge help to dungeon exploration teams."

Exploration teams were hunters dispatched not to clear a dungeon but to locate missing persons or map its structure. Since short-term extraction was impossible, the amount of food they consumed was enormous.

The problem was the environment itself: they simply couldn't carry very much. That was why most of them packed tasteless nutrient packs or potions.

"Judging by the look of this, it's delicious, it's a concentrate so a small amount is enough, and since you drink it as fruit tea it's as convenient as a potion."

"……."

"If word got out, the government would step in with regulations. Enjoying it privately is a heavy burden."

"So that's how it is."

"But on a pan-human level, it's truly a pity—we will simply have to enjoy it privately."

Bi Sa-beol laughed like a reckless youth.

"We can't sell it, after all."

"Ah, absolutely not."

This was a gift given in goodwill by a being of the Source. They had never received permission to sell it. If Ji-oh ever learned it was circulating at auction, the hatred and resentment Yu Seong-un would have to bear would not be something a person could endure.

That was the Rule.

"I think this every time, but the government is far too unguarded about the Source."

Thirty-one years since the Great Cataclysm. Not a short stretch of time, yet not a long one either.

Unlike dungeons, whose anomalies were easy to detect, the government's understanding of the Source—indifferent to humanity—was inevitably far lower.

"The current president is fairly attentive, and it's not as if no one knows about these things… but realistically, none of it is reflected in society."

Yu Seong-un let out a frustrated sigh.

"It would be nice if safety education covered the Source as well as dungeons. Seeing people who die without ever knowing the cause—or their bereaved families—at the hands of a Child of the Source is heartbreaking. There are limits to what Gardeners can handle alone."

"Nothing's been properly clarified yet, and right now the real threat is the dungeons on the surface, isn't it? Focusing more on dungeons that throw tantrums at the drop of a hat than on a Source that causes no trouble if you just leave it alone is inevitable. We're short-handed as it is."

"Even though we're only gnawing at the rind of the watermelon."

"The fact that so few people can sense the Source plays a part as well."

Unlike dungeons that any dog or cow could see and recognize—and the monsters that made those places their homes—the so-called Children of the Source were difficult for most people to perceive.

Many theories had been floated, but the most widely supported was that they existed in a domain the human body simply could not register. Only a handful of humans who had evolved or mutated as Earth's environment changed could see the Children of the Source.

"Even among those with the aptitude, I believe not every Child of the Source is visible."

"Yes. It's a kind of talent. Just as people's hearing differs, there are Children every apt individual can see, and others they cannot."

"I never get tired of hearing about that side of things."

"There's even a hypothesis that the fewer apt people who can see a Child, the closer that being is to the Source. There must be Children out there that even I can't see."

"Danger right under our noses and no one able to see it—that's certainly chilling."

"If you can't see or sense them, you can't touch them in the first place. And if you don't touch them, they don't get angry…"

Yu Seong-un exhaled.

"I was fretting and throwing a tantrum, but honestly, even if citizens remain ignorant of the Source for now, there won't be much of a problem. They're indifferent to humans."

"Last time you said there were exceptions, didn't you?"

"Yes, of course there are exceptions… but they're not as aggressive as monsters, so the damage would be less."

That scarcity was another reason the Children of the Source had remained largely unknown.

"Well, anyway."

"Yes."

"We do have to eat this."

"We do."

"It's a thick concentrate and there's a lot of it, so it feels wrong for just the two of us to finish it."

"…Are you thinking of calling in more sacrificial lambs?"

"We'll have to summon the HR team."

The HR team, like the secretarial staff, was staffed with the most tight-lipped members of the guild. From general care of the guild members all the way to carrying out Bi Sa-beol's most discreet orders, that was their job.

"At the very least it won't spread to other teams."

"True enough, but…"

"Everyone's been run ragged with overtime lately anyway."

"You're really going to spill the beans about my cookies too."

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

"Appreciated. Whether that excuse will fly with those sharp people is another matter."

"Oh, come on. They're all sharp enough to keep quiet on their own. These are employees who hate extra work more than death."

"Well, we did gather only people like that…"

Yu Seong-un let out a breath of relief.

…Ji-oh won't mind if we share it with colleagues.

Of course, the Rules of the Source were not the sort of thing one could muddle through so casually. There were cases where something became poison the moment anyone other than the specially designated recipient consumed it.

But from the start, Ji-oh…

He had clearly said he wanted to share it with "everyone."

That's what he said.

It had been a gift aimed at every employee of this guild.

"……."

"So there's no problem after all?"

"Yes. I've gone over it again, and it really is a gift intended for the entire staff, myself included."

"Well, he must have given such a huge jar with that in mind. Far too much for Curator Yu Seong-un to eat alone."

"Honestly I think he just handed it over without thinking that far…"

The kid had always been extravagant with his hands.

"It's funny enough that a being of the Source would even know what quantity counts as appropriate by human standards."

"But Curator Yu Seong-un, didn't you say he retains the memories from when he was human?"

"He has them, but I expect they're incomplete."

The employees who had encountered the so-called "Black Cloak" testified that Ji-oh had introduced himself as "Seo Ji-oh."

A young man who died at twenty-nine, or was set that way—Ji-oh. That was probably the memory held by Ji-oh's Portrait.

"But the point worth considering is this: why, then, was the portrait defined as 'Ji-oh'?"

That name had not been given by humans.

"It's a name defined by the Source."

Every skill used by the awakened—by hunters—received help from the Source. This was the same principle.

A kind of god, or a cross-dimensional system, had named a single portrait sitting in the basement of a single building in a single country on a single planet.

"So the portrait's name is not 'Seo Ji-oh' but 'Ji-oh.' That doesn't match his own claim, does it?"

"Perhaps… it means the Source's judgment and Ji-oh's memories don't align?"

"Exactly. The name we're talking about isn't something we give ourselves, or something one human bestows on another. It's a name for our essence."

In other words, it was the true name bestowed by the parent called the Source.

"In short, the name displayed by the system is the essence of the subject as evaluated by the Source. A mere human cannot casually ignore it."

"And that name is stuck right onto Ji-oh?"

"It's even written so that anyone can interpret it. Whether it's a shoddy low-level appraisal skill or a high-grade one like yours, Guild Leader, everyone can read the name, but…"

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

"Correct."

Yu Seong-un snipped the air with his fingers as if cutting something free.

"The Source has blocked it with a 'this must not be read.' It only told us one thing: the name 'Ji-oh.'"

"Sounds like a story about a god."

"They say people who receive a god's gaze go mad."

Yu Seong-un did not deny it.

"The Source is generally benevolent toward humans. No—benevolent toward everything it holds. That very benevolence can make it seem indifferent."

"……."

"If it had been benevolent only toward humans, dungeons—one of its children—should never have been born. Yet it helps all its children fight on equal footing."

That distant arrogance was certainly something that could be called "god." Even if the gods of the modern generation had drifted far from omnipotence.

"And that Source itself has defined this self-aware portrait as something one must not dig into—something dangerous."

"……."

"…It could truly be a god. Or something beyond one. Something a mere human cannot define."

Something that was laboring under the delusion that it was human.

"……."

"…In this day and age, how surprising is it really to say something has the traits of a god? Anyway…"

Yu Seong-un heaved a long sigh.

"It's just one of many guesses. Since it isn't a monster, isn't an item, and doesn't seem to be one of the Children of the Source either, bizarre hypotheses keep bubbling up."

"I thought it was a fairly realistic hypothesis. Priests already serve gods, and there are gods in this world who enjoy games. A god who enjoys interacting with humans is possible."

"If that were real, Earth would be in danger—let's drop it. The moment Ji-oh realizes he himself is not human, something beyond a cataclysm… a miracle like a cataclysm would occur."

"Hmm, would it?"

"It's better for us to keep thinking of Ji-oh as an ordinary human ourselves. The Source is a 'living story,' so the danger level of a subject changes depending on how people regard it."

"That's truly fascinating."

Bi Sa-beol looked extremely interested.

"Don't Children of the Source of that type appear mainly in Japan? Maybe because there are so many shrines there, the Children that influence reality are just as varied. What kind of change would happen if we came to believe in the god called Ji-oh?"

"That's exactly why I'm telling you not to think those thoughts. Don't pour the terrifying oil of a god-story onto an already dangerous guy."

"Living stories really are frightening. The moment you learn more about them or additional settings get incorporated, they become even more terrifying… cultures that love mythology have especially frequent accidents, don't they?"

"Please stop with the strange ideas. What kind of disaster is this man trying to cause…"

Muttering with a sickened face, Yu Seong-un returned to his usual unflappable expression.

"Anyway, I believe the memories Ji-oh holds are incomplete. Setting aside whatever his Source-related essence may be… the fact that he thinks he's human yet shows zero agitation about his own condition and abilities proves it."

No. Ji-oh simply hadn't been thinking about anything at all.

But that absurd indifference—enough to wrap up his transformation as "I was human, died, and thirty-one years later came back to life evolved into a portrait, ta-da"—supported Yu Seong-un's claim. Ordinary people did not treat their own bodies with that level of numbness.

"If he had been a proper human, he would have felt terror at his condition. Becoming a portrait from a human in the first place—he couldn't have avoided feeling something grotesque or repulsive about that alone. And the fact that he never became intoxicated by the omnipotence of being able to create everything except humans from inside it… that's a story that doesn't make sense for a human."

And that story that didn't make sense had actually happened. Ji-oh's miraculous insensitivity had shone in this completely ridiculous direction.

"It's a situation impossible under human sensibility."

"He certainly isn't ordinary."

"Well, I don't know much about the Source either. Whether he was human and then came to belong to the Source, or whether some existence of the Source took on a human form—it's unclear."

"Hmm…"

"But even though Ji-oh answers questions readily, he doesn't talk much about himself."

Again: Ji-oh had no thoughts whatsoever. He was not the sort of person who fretted over things already past, and in the same vein it never occurred to him that Yu Seong-un might be curious about his history.

"While claiming to be human, Ji-oh accepts things humans cannot do with complete naturalness."

This too was a misunderstanding. He was living so thoughtlessly that he simply hadn't finished grasping the situation yet. The present Ji-oh, who was enjoying a life like a hurricane, did not waste time on headache-inducing worries. Life was already too busy just being enjoyed.

Of course, even if he had grasped the situation, Ji-oh was the kind of man who would put on a polite five-second show of shock and immediately start pondering the lunch menu. He was this era's iron-walled man who never gave his clear, fluffy brain a chance to get cold water dumped on it.

"Most people couldn't stay that calm."

"That's true."

"Isn't it strange to be completely unbothered when you possess the power to commit mass slaughter and cause natural disasters on the spot?"

They kept circling the same point, but he simply hadn't thought that far. For Ji-oh, the trials and hardships of life were nothing more than the menus for three meals a day.

From the start, Ji-oh judged even his own transcendent abilities as nothing more than "the power to make food with drawings." He had never once considered that this might be a power that threatened humanity.

Ji-oh was the sort of great man who would say, "I can roast sweet potatoes with this—why would I do something like that?"

"I don't believe humans have vessels that large."

His was that large. Ji-oh's pure way of thinking—which never admitted anything impure—had the knack of absorbing only the "information" from "serious information."

Aside from the fact that he had evolved into a portrait and that he could make a living this way if he did that, Ji-oh was not particularly curious about anything else. In short, he was living by muddling through.

Of course, from the perspective of ordinary people it was an unimaginable inner circumstance, so they remained deadly serious.

"He also doesn't know quite a lot of information a human ought to know."

"……."

"In that case, there must be gaps in many ways between his own thoughts and reality…"

"And yet Ji-oh still insists he is human?"

"He may know the reality himself but be deliberately denying it."

He had simply not fully adapted to the world of the present, thirty-one years later. The way a ninety-year-old might fumble with a kiosk.

But Yu Seong-un reached his own conclusion.

"In that case it would be self-hypnosis on the level of brainwashing, so either way it wouldn't be good for us to dig into Ji-oh's true nature first."

"Truly fascinating."

Bi Sa-beol looked at Yu Seong-un with something like envy. He spoke in the sly tone of a child who wanted more ice cream from the freezer.

"I'd like to have a conversation with him myself…"

"I see."

"Please arrange a meeting."

"That's a bit much."

"Aw, why?"

"Ji-oh doesn't like it."

"He doesn't hate me, does he?"

"He gets stressed."

Yu Seong-un shook his head firmly.

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

"Are you saying I'm a human who doesn't fit that care?"

"Would you?"

"As expected of Curator Yu Seong-un. Never one to spit empty words."

"…Ha…"

In the end he wasn't even arguing back.

At least he has a shred of conscience. Small mercies.

Yu Seong-un smiled bitterly.

"The fact that we need to learn more about Ji-oh remains the same as before. We still don't know that guy's true nature, his exact way of thinking, or whether there are any other rules."

"Since I'm the one who brought him, please treat him with certainty. That Ji-oh's Portrait is satisfied with the service of my gallery—that's all I want."

Bi Sa-beol nodded.

"And keep him able to regard himself as human."

"It's an enormous burden, but I'll do my best for the peace of humanity."

And so Yu Seong-un had an idea.

"…I'm thinking of taking Ji-oh outside the company for a look around soon."

The portrait where Ji-oh stayed was far too alien a space for a human to live in.

Perhaps because he did not want to leave the image of himself as human, Ji-oh only said he "ended up staying in the portrait"… but if he remained inside it forever, he would someday realize his own essence.

"The fact that Ji-oh is currently under the delusion that he is human is a great stroke of luck for us. We need to make sure he can keep that delusion as long as possible. For that, we have to insert Ji-oh among humans."

"To hide a tree, go to the forest?"

"…That's a little different, isn't it? Anyway, if a human environment is prepared, the delusion will last longer. In that sense I intend to show Ji-oh around the city."

"And the danger level?"

"……."

Yu Seong-un averted his eyes.

"…We'll have to be careful."

"Is that enough?"

"What choice do we have? Better to try something than sit around waiting for Ji-oh to realize his essence and explode."

"That's a bold choice—bold enough that I can hardly believe it's Curator Yu Seong-un's judgment. Of course, I approve."

"I'm aware I'm making a dangerous gamble. I simply judged it necessary."

Yu Seong-un still hadn't seen it properly himself, but wasn't this a portrait that could make people faint from a mere meeting of eyes?

"Ji-oh has a strong sense of consideration toward humans. He's gentlemanly and polite. Among the employees who've met him so far, there haven't been any fatalities… and in reality there are a few hunters who give off as much pressure as Ji-oh."

"If an S-rank suddenly appears and gets revealed to the press, it'll be a headache. These days with public figures and idols, national hunter pride has gotten so strong that once a rumor starts it will spread in an instant."

"That might actually be better. Disguising him as a hunter would make camouflage easier. At least we'd be able to fit Ji-oh into the human mold."

"……."

"A Child of the Source's danger level changes with the size of the story it holds. If Ji-oh's 'story' shrinks to the human level, safety increases."

Yu Seong-un sighed.

"…Assuming Ji-oh permits it, of course."

"How does that sound?"

"Ah, I don't know—don't ask me. My head's about to split as it is."

"That's why I put in the extra allowance for you."

"Damn capitalist society."

After a moment of thought, Yu Seong-un spoke.

"Could you please tell the employees not to be too afraid of Ji-oh?"

"Would that work? Has your brain melted into caffeine? Turned into canned goods and stopped functioning?"

"No need to be that cutting. I was asking you to at least make some rules."

He looked troubled.

"Everyone who runs into him freezes so badly that Ji-oh felt displeasure. He judged them rude."

"……."

"There's a limit to telling Ji-oh not to take offense, so we humans also need to do our best to keep 'etiquette' toward him."

"…Hmm…"

Bi Sa-beol nodded.

"If it's only regulating behavior, we can manage somehow."

"Is it possible?"

"Nothing I can't do."

This was the Collector Guild. A nation of collectors—there was nothing he could not do.

This was precisely the power a modern-day guild leader could wield.

(To be continued)