The Black Cloak Vanishes

At some point, the Black Cloak vanished.

"Th-there was supposed to be one here...! You said the Black Cloak was here!"

"Fuck, look for a picture frame! Isn't there a frame somewhere?!"

"I heard it's hard to see normally...! S-so if we just look carefully, it should definitely...!"

"Aaaargh!!!"

Hunters who had entered the Abyssal Kingdom purely on faith in the "Black Cloak"—the one said to help humans—died helplessly one after another.

When resentment poured out toward the suddenly vanished Black Cloak and the Association that had provided information about him, an official statement was released.

"The Association never included any phrasing anywhere in the publicly available information that urged people to rely on the 'Black Cloak.'"

Instead, they emphasized:

"Even if it has shown unexpected behavior, it is ultimately a monster. The Association has clearly maintained a position of caution, and has never once stated that the 'Black Cloak' is a safe or helpful monster."

The rumors had been strangely distorted from the start, which played a large part.

"What monster in the world would help humans?"

"But there are cases where the 'Black Cloak' has helped humans escape dungeons multiple times."

"However, the 'Black Cloak' classified and limited which humans it would help. That means it can never simply be a monster that is beneficial to humanity."

The Association employee spoke with a perfectly composed face, devoid of emotion, as if the whole situation were utterly absurd.

"It seems many hunters have forgotten that the 'Black Cloak' is a monster."

It was a remark that mocked the hunters' ridiculous judgment.

With the Association responding so firmly, the hunters could no longer protest. Beyond the Association's considerable authority, nothing they said was wrong.

"No, but still..."

"Wasn't the Black Cloak supposed to help humans?"

There were still plenty of people left with grievances.

"Didn't you guys even read the official notice? Nothing the Association said was wrong."

"The Association kept saying to keep a close eye on the Black Cloak."

"Aren't the idiots who got swept up in baseless rumors and went into an S-class dungeon the stupid ones?"

Soon the situation calmed down.

"If it weren't for those rumors..."

"What are you talking about? The retards who tried to clear it without even reading the official notice are the ones at fault."

"Urgh..."

The conclusion that emerged was that the hunters who had tried to arbitrarily exploit a monster from the start were the fools.

"Don't they teach you to be wary of monsters when you get your hunter license?"

"Monsters aren't vending machine drinks... What the hell were they thinking, trusting a single monster and walking into a dungeon?"

"Hunters in the old days weren't like this. You can really feel how much the standards have dropped with the newer generation."

"What kind of hunter goes around not even knowing monsters are scary?"

"These idiots running around calling themselves hunters. This is the end of times."

If it had merely been a matter of hoping for incidental help based on a monster's characteristics, the criticism would not have been this fierce. But the problem arose because the hunters who charged into a dungeon ranked as high as S-class, relying solely on the mercy of the "Black Cloak," made up the majority.

Even hunters who had been seriously considering the Abyssal Kingdom for a long time showed negative reactions.

"It's absurd to rely only on a monster when clearing a dungeon."

"Aren't they treating the clear too lightly? Even if the exploration season has been long."

"It's true that interest concentrated because the Collector bought the entry rights, but this is still a bit..."

As the conversation seemed to be wrapping up—

"......"

Yu Seong-un was watching it all.

...Looks like it's more or less settling down.

It was not a bad flow.

The situation had been progressing a little strangely. I should consider it fortunate that it ended at this level.

Watching the hunters and the ordinary citizens chattering about the incident, Yu Seong-un pulled a piece of candy from his chest pocket. Running around everywhere to check how the "Black Cloak" fallout was wrapping up had left him critically low on sugar.

"Haa..."

"......"

"So, what is it?"

Sensing a presence from the bench behind him, Yu Seong-un asked.

"You seem to have business with me."

"You look tired."

"If I weren't tired after working overtime for over a week, I wouldn't be human."

"I agree."

The Association employee nodding was dressed in a black padded jacket, presenting himself as an ordinary citizen. Sitting on the bench behind where Yu Seong-un sat, he gazed at the park—which by government measures still wore the appearance of spring even in winter—and spoke.

"I have no intention of taking up too much of Hunter Yu Seong-un's valuable time, busy as you are. I have a few questions I'd like to ask—would you be able to answer them?"

"Mm... I'd appreciate it if you could wrap it up within fifteen minutes. I have a train to catch afterward to check on the state of the sea."

"Thank you for your cooperation."

The Association employee's questions followed naturally.

"It seemed as though the Collector was aware of this 'Black Cloak' incident."

"There are various things that catch our attention, but what's your basis for saying that?"

"Because the source of that interesting urban legend—'the Black Cloak gives gifts to good people'—seems to be the Collector."

"That's correct, yes."

Yu Seong-un continued answering casually.

"Quite a few of our employees have encountered the Black Cloak."

"Then it seems the information on the homepage needs to be revised. Could you identify the first witness for us?"

"I'll ask around if I have time. You're not going to drag them in by force, are you?"

"Of course not. We simply felt the need for the information on the Black Cloak to be corrected."

"Anyway, our people have run into the Black Cloak a few times, so we know its rules. It really hates rude and bad people."

Even as he said this, Yu Seong-un had no intention of revealing the exact circumstances regarding the "Black Cloak."

If he openly disclosed that it was Ji-oh's Portrait—which even the Association President had coveted—there was a high chance the Association would approach it for research purposes and make things officially troublesome.

Ji-oh wouldn't want that either.

Given that he lived in a peaceful cabin, he was not the type who liked fuss.

"And I'm not even sure if we should call it a 'gift.' They say the Black Cloak gives gifts to good people, but it's closer to a kind of goodwill than any material something..."

"So it would be fair to say it has a rule of showing favor to polite and good humans?"

"Yes, well. Sorry for not reporting it in advance. But I don't have the authority to order my employees to immediately report every monster they happen to run into, do I?"

To that, the employee asked,

"Is it a monster?"

"......"

"I'm asking you as a Gardener, Mr. Yu Seong-un."

"...In that case, I'd have to answer no."

"I see. Have you given any thought to returning to the Association's research institute?"

"It seems to be the Association President's order, but please tell him I have no such intention."

"Understood."

The employee steered the topic back.

"So I can take it that you didn't intentionally spread the rumors about the Black Cloak?"

"It was half intentional, but..."

Yu Seong-un mixed in a moderate amount of truth.

"Separately from that, we had absolutely no intention of causing chaos like this incident."

"Then for what purpose did you amplify the rumors?"

"The Black Cloak hates rude and bad people, so we wanted people not to do something stupid in front of it and cause unnecessary trouble."

"The Collector wanted to emphasize the 'good people' part, but the hunters got dazzled by the 'gifts' part."

"Even the Collector didn't know hunters would be that stupid."

"I understand."

"......"

Even so, he did not expect the Collector's Guild to be able to completely hide Ji-oh's Portrait.

...The fact that the Association only confirmed it this way without summoning us directly means they've already figured out a fair amount on their end, but have no intention of digging deeper.

The Association President was a renowned hunter evaluated as likely concealing a rank of S-class or higher. Since someone like that had personally coveted Ji-oh's Portrait upon seeing it, he might already have guessed that this "Black Cloak" was closely related to it.

There was the major common point of it being a portrait to begin with.

The fact that the Black Cloak was witnessed in the form of a portrait had already been revealed. At this point, one could only assume they already knew everything they needed to and were just asking formally.

So the purpose of this conversation of turning a blind eye was only two things.

Whether the Collector intends to exploit the Black Cloak, using this rumor and the chaotic situation as a starting point. Or if not, whether they have any intention of handing over Ji-oh's Portrait to the Association for research...

Well, he had denied both.

"......"

Yu Seong-un opened his mouth.

"Is there anything else you want to ask?"

"Gardener Yu Seong-un, have you grasped the true identity of the Black Cloak?"

"...No."

It would have been nice if he had.

"I don't know."

"...I see."

"So please exercise special caution on the Association's end as well."

"Are you saying we need to raise the response level?"

"It might be better that way."

It was an existence of the Source that even Yu Seong-un had not figured out. Even if the Black Cloak had no malice, the probability was high that it would become a disaster for humans in some form or another, so from the position of fragile humans, being thoroughly wary would be advantageous for survival.

"If we figure anything out on our end, I'll pass along a report."

"...We'll be counting on you."

The employee moved away as naturally as if he had never spoken with him.

"......"

Sensing the presence recede, Yu Seong-un closed his eyes.

It's been quite a while since I've drawn the Association's attention like this.

Still, his response had not been awkward, it seemed—the park looked much the same as before. No one was focusing on him while pretending not to, either.

Looks like I didn't act awkwardly.

As he kept his eyes closed, he could hear the chatter of people gathered in the park with its mild air.

"So what was the Black Cloak in the end...?"

They were confused too.

"They said from the beginning it was a monster that didn't fit the Abyssal Kingdom."

"I heard there are cases where monsters from other dungeons sometimes cross over—could it have been one of those?"

"Maybe the Black Cloak has its own separate dungeon."

"But it's a humanoid monster, right? Are there cases where boss monsters cross dungeons?"

"I heard you can sometimes see it even outside dungeons..."

"No way. That would mean it's a monster that wanders around freely without a set zone."

"That's going too far. Definitely sounds like a baseless rumor."

At the voices that reached him like the flutter of a small bird's wings, Yu Seong-un soon opened his eyes.

Nothing but talk of the Black Cloak.

"...So it ends up like this after all."

It was the expected chaos.

Still, this is a solid defense for what it is.

Ji-oh was a being that could go anywhere. Because he was a painting, he could become anything, and because he was a painter, he could create anything.

There was no way to stop that Ji-oh's Portrait, so what the Collector's Guild had chosen for the sake of national stability was ultimately the control of information.

If this allows people to slowly grow accustomed to the Black Cloak's existence...

It would clearly cause less chaos than revealing Ji-oh's Portrait to the forefront.

The urban legend that was not quite an urban legend the Collector's Guild had spread, and even giving Ji-oh a hunter license as a human, were all in that same context. It was about classifying and regulating the Source's "story."

"......"

Even so, Ji-oh's true nature remained a question mark to this day.

Just what kind of being is he that things like this are possible?

Even gods could not pull off this kind of bold act one after another.

"Not a god, not a human, and even less a monster..."

And yet a being that could become all of them.

"How am I supposed to define this?"

It was far too contradictory.

Even Yu Seong-un, who had set foot in Gardens from a very young age, could not properly explain that existence. Because it was completely different in scale itself from the beings of the Source he had seen and studied until now.

"......"

Letting out a sigh, Yu Seong-un rose from his seat.

"Time to get to work."

The feeling of losing his sight and groping his way with his hands.

Even after seeing and hearing so much, the uncanny dread toward an existence that still remained unknown quietly climbed the nape of his neck.

(To be continued)