Schrödinger's Human

Meanwhile, the staff of the Collector Guild who received the same official memo as Cha Ah-ra were thoroughly bewildered.

"……?"

"What is this?"

"Is the Guild Master playing some kind of joke…?"

"He's not the type to joke around with official documents."

It was true that Bi Sa-beol liked to mess with people more often than not, but he was surprisingly strict about separating business from pleasure. Unless the matter touched on his collecting mania, he always maintained a gentlemanly demeanor. There was no way he would turn an official memo into a prank.

"Is this some kind of ghost story?"

"This is about the Black Cloak, right?"

The employees sank into confusion.

"So is 'Jio' a person or a ghost…?"

The memo instructed them to treat him as a person, yet the nuance was unmistakable: This bastard is absolutely not human, but don't act like you know it—everyone just play along and stay sharp.

"……."

"……."

The staff foresaw a deeply exhausting future. They eyed one another warily.

"How are we supposed to interpret this?"

"…First, let's gather by teams and get a handle on the situation."

"Aigoo, Guild Master…."

True to the Collector Guild, which was staffed almost exclusively by cynical people, they stopped fretting and coolly convened among themselves. They knew nothing would get done if they simply wallowed in confusion.

"First order of business: is this a joke or is it serious? Please speak freely if you have an opinion."

"I don't think it's a joke. Our Guild Master knows exactly how much a single memo can sway the entire staff. When it comes to artworks and art he sometimes loses his mind, but in ordinary matters he keeps a perfectly polished demeanor."

"I agree. Though Rules 4 and 5 do feel like jokes. The format almost looks as if someone else snuck in and meddled with the rules the Guild Master prepared…."

One employee spoke up.

"Isn't it possible that someone really did tinker with the rules the Guild Master wrote? The most likely candidate would be this 'Jio' mentioned in the rules—the Black Cloak himself. That ghost everyone suspects is a humanoid monster."

"Ah… that's part of what I meant by 'joke.' This memo isn't shared in real time; he could easily have revised it, yet he sent it out like this. I get the feeling the Guild Master is enjoying this ghost-story atmosphere."

"That makes sense."

Even if Bi Sa-beol had deliberately structured the rules so that two selves seemed to be checking each other, it still counted as a joke; and even if "Jio" had altered the rules Bi Sa-beol prepared, the fact that the Guild Master left them uncorrected and distributed them meant it was still a joke.

"In either case, we can conclude that these rules are worth thoroughly familiarizing ourselves with."

"Looking at the distribution list, it went to every employee except non-regular staff with less than six months of service. The fact that he took measures to keep the memo from leaking outside the guild tells us this incident is fairly important."

"Then we'll conclude the first discussion with: 'It's serious.'"

"Agreed."

"Seconded."

Next the employees examined the content of the rules.

"These rules are definitely aimed at the 'Black Cloak' we already know. The name Jio had already been circulating quietly thanks to a few eyewitness accounts. Introducing his identity right in the first sentence seems meant to formally acquaint us with his existence."

"It says he's night-shift staff and tells us not to ask about his identity. That's clearly because the Black Cloak dislikes having his identity questioned. I don't know why, though…."

One employee asked,

"Is the Black Cloak human or a monster in the first place? Shouldn't we settle that before moving on?"

"But the Guild Master deliberately sent even this official memo written in the ambiguous style of a ghost story. It seems he's indirectly telling us he has no intention of clarifying the Black Cloak's exact nature."

"We can still speculate."

"No—think again."

The employee shook his head.

"The more we know, the higher the chance we'll get stuck with headache-inducing extra work."

"Wise of you. In that case, let's treat the Black Cloak as Schrödinger's human for now. Until we actually open the box, everyone should regard him as a night-shift employee the Guild Master quietly brought in."

"Right. The memo itself carries the nuance that we should treat 'Jio' as human. If the Guild Master says to do it that way, obeying is the virtue of a good subordinate."

Virtue or not, the employees who had zero interest in taking on additional duties all nodded. It was a guild running on a remarkably precarious balance.

Yet whether it was a ghost story, a human, or a spirit, not a single employee wanted to know the detailed circumstances of an incident that Bi Sa-beol was enjoying and fretting over this much.

"The more we find out, the more work they'll dump on us."

"They do pay extra allowances, though."

"I'd rather not get paid and not do the work. I need to go home and walk my Choco."

"Fair enough…."

They were deadly serious about work-life balance.

"Anyway, 'do not inquire about his identity' must mean that this employee named Jio dislikes questions that dig into who he is, right?"

"The more we talk, the more he just sounds like a monster…."

"Hey. If you don't want extra work, keep quiet. Still, it says there's no penalty for exchanging names, so at least he's not the type who toys with contracts."

"Team leader, you're treating him like a monster right now too."

"I said keep quiet."

Unless the situation was truly extraordinary, Bi Sa-beol would never allow anything to damage his employees—after all, they were among his collectibles. So the claim that exchanging names carried no penalty seemed genuine.

"But the fact that the word 'exchange names' even appears in the memo means the Black Cloak attempts it that frequently, doesn't it?"

"Everyone exchanges names."

"Even so, for it to show up in an official memo means the Black Cloak goes about introducing himself in a pretty unnatural way. No matter how you look at it, this is a monster pretending to be human…."

"Quiet."

"Sorry. It's just too absurd."

The analysis continued.

"'No matter what conversation he starts, answer kindly and courteously…' it says."

"And later it also says, 'Let us always be courteous employees to our clients and colleagues.'"

"Emphasizing it twice suggests the Black Cloak hates rude people."

"And bad people too."

One employee pointed to Rule 9.

"'Bad people cannot approach the portrait on the fifth basement floor. Be especially careful not to visit the portrait at night.'"

"……."

"The fact that it completely blocks access shows that the Black Cloak's penalty for 'evil' is heavier than for mere 'rudeness.' We should probably keep hunters with criminal records from entering as much as possible."

"Oh, for real."

The young employee who had been grumbling the whole time scrubbed his face dryly with both hands.

"Fuck, I'm trying to treat him like a human, but the way the Guild Master phrases things is just…."

"Calm down. He may look like this, but he's still the Guild Master, and he's always been like that. You probably signed the contract without knowing, but everyone knows by now."

"Correct."

"Still, it's become clear that the Black Cloak is deeply connected to the portrait on the fifth floor of the underground gallery. I heard that recently the fifth-floor gallery acquired a portrait of a man the Guild Master bought at auction, and, well… yes."

"……."

"Let's stop here."

No matter how much they tried to grasp his identity, the truth was useless to employees who loathed extra work with every fiber of their being. Even while analyzing the memo to avoid mistakes, they gritted their teeth and ignored the true nature of "Jio."

"Back to Rule 4. It doesn't merely emphasize courtesy; it also says, 'If the conversation is successful, you will receive a gift from Jio.'"

"Then if you have a conversation that fails to satisfy Jio and don't receive a gift, is there a separate punishment? Like being sick all day…?"

"Given that the Guild Master is simply leaving the Black Cloak alone, it doesn't seem like anything life-threatening or severely disruptive to daily life will happen. But since the Black Cloak appears to detest rude people, an 'unsatisfactory conversation' could also be judged as a form of rudeness."

"In that case, rather than an immediate penalty for not receiving a gift, if such 'rudeness' accumulates, you might earn the Black Cloak's hostility. That part could definitely become dangerous, so we should be careful not to fail to receive a gift three or more times."

"I don't know if the Black Cloak's patience even lasts three times… but understood for now."

The employees who looked at Rule 5 exchanged glances.

"This one is clearly…."

"Written by the Black Cloak, right?"

"'It is exaggerated, so you need not obey the rule.' What does that mean?"

"He might be waiting for us to let our guard down because of Rule 4."

"Creepy."

There were plenty of monsters like that. Monsters that deliberately set things up so humans would break their rules, then used the violation as justification to attack or torment them.

"So that means he at least knows Korean, right?"

"According to the night-security team's eyewitness accounts, he introduced himself as 'Seo Ji-oh.' It seems to follow Korean naming conventions, so he may be quite familiar with Korean culture as well."

"I thought we were treating him as Schrödinger's human, Team Leader."

"Ah, well… yes. Even among humans there are people ignorant of other cultures."

The team leader waved his hand dismissively, signaling them to move on.

"Rule 7 isn't hard to understand either. If you want to give the Black Cloak something, make sure you receive a return gift. That part is probably one of the Black Cloak's own rules."

"So this is just a monste—"

"Shh. People who take rules seriously exist everywhere. I don't know how much direct contact we'll have with the Black Cloak going forward, but if you ever give him something, be sure to bring back a return gift."

"He must really love repaying kindness with kindness."

"Yeah, how considerate of him."

They were still grit-teeth deep in denial of the truth.

"Isn't Rule 9 basically impossible to break in the first place? Access to the fifth basement gallery—the lowest floor—is already restricted. Is this rule mainly for the curators?"

"That seems likely."

Once they had roughly finished organizing their thoughts, the employees dispersed on their own.

"I should buy the curators a meal one of these days…."

They felt sorry for the curators who managed the gallery.

At that very moment, numerous curators were holding back tears.

"As long as it's not me."

"Besides, 'Jio's Portrait' isn't even our responsibility."

"On days Yu Seong-un is too busy to come, we have to cover it."

"Ah…."

The same went for the night-security staff.

"…They say he's that scary."

"…We'll just be careful…."

Anyway, as long as they followed the rules, nothing would threaten their lives.

That was good enough. The employees accepted it with flat resignation.

"…So the situation has turned out like this again…."

Yu Seong-un nodded.

"You really know how to hire good people."

"They're all so wonderfully indifferent. Exactly the kind of people who belong in our Collector Guild—they'd rather die than take on extra work."

"Well, at least they'll adapt quickly."

Bi Sa-beol had said there was no way to keep "Jio's Portrait" locked up, and he himself did not want his artwork to be mistreated so badly.

With the Gardener Yu Seong-un's opinion added, they devised a method for the "Black Cloak" to blend appropriately into human society.

It was a kind of inoculation. Bi Sa-beol laughed, claiming that even on a pan-human scale the decision wouldn't be a loss. The way he said "so what if a few people die?" was brazen enough to be worthy of an S-rank.

"And about that hunter Cha Ah-ra we saw last time."

"Oh? Is there a problem with that friend?"

"Well…."

Yu Seong-un scratched his neck.

"It looks like Jio will be meeting that family soon."

"Good heavens."

Bi Sa-beol's face lit up brightly.

"Is Jio going out again?"

"I already reported last time that he seems interested in watching the Sun Church induction ceremony."

"I thought a portrait that doesn't particularly enjoy noise might change its mind."

"I was concerned about that too and asked again, but he still wants to go out."

"The first outing went quite smoothly, but I wonder whether the second will be the same."

"Strictly speaking, isn't this the third outing? Jio already met Hunter Cha Ah-ra inside the Vein of Gems."

"To be precise, this will be the portrait's official attempt at imitating a human. How delightful."

"…Delightful…."

"The sea has been rather turbulent lately. And there was talk of changes in Jio's personality as well… hmm."

"……."

Yu Seong-un felt a chill of foreboding.

"…The way you're talking makes me uneasy. Did you see something? The future, perhaps?"

"My skill is emotion. Please refrain from strange baseless talk, Curator Yu Seong-un."

Bi Sa-beol smiled.

"But it does sound fun."

"……."

Yu Seong-un clenched his teeth.

When Bi Sa-beol, whose eye for these things was legendary, said "it sounds fun," it was the kind of statement that shortened one's lifespan.

(To be continued)