Chapter 118

The next day, the woman’s assigned senior asked.

“Did you have a good look around the gallery yesterday?”

“Pardon…?”

“Your name was written in the log.”

“Ah, yes.”

The woman nodded her head.

“I think I got hazed pretty hard, but I had a good look.”

“Hmm? Hazed?”

The designated curator tilted her head.

“What, did you take the elevator at 4:44?”

“…Yes, I’m sorry. I should have memorized it properly….”

“Ah, I’m not scolding you, so don’t worry.”

Saying so, the designated curator gave a small laugh and continued.

“I’m the curator assigned to the 1st floor. I asked the people who were working overtime yesterday, and they said they didn’t let anyone out. And you didn’t press the distress call button either.”

“Ah….”

“I didn’t hear anything about you being found breathing in the elevator this morning, so I guess someone from another floor must have let you out. Which floor’s curator was it? We should thank them.”

“Um, they were on the 5th floor. Thanks to them, I even got to see the gallery that’s said to be the most dangerous.”

“…5th floor?”

“…Yes? Yes.”

“……”

The designated curator’s expression, which seemed to have a natural, subtle smile, remained the same, but her reaction was somehow strange.

Seeing the woman watching her expression and waiting for a reply, the designated curator said.

“But did you know?”

“Wh-what is it?”

“There were no curators working overtime on the 5th floor yesterday.”

“……”

Goosebumps ran down her spine.

“…Pardon?”

“Hey, just kidding, kidding!”

A refreshing laugh. The designated curator burst out laughing.

“You have to be able to take a joke like this to survive in this gallery.”

“…It’s a j-joke… right?”

“No, to be honest, their name wasn’t in the entry log.”

“Then it’s not a joke…!”

“But in our guild, there’s someone who wanders around without writing their name in the log.”

“…Ah….”

“Didn’t you hear from Mr. Yu Seong-un yesterday? He said he gave you a heads-up.”

At that, the woman nodded her head.

“I-I did. Mr. Seo Jio.”

“Right, Mr. Seo Jio.”

The designated curator grinned.

“Wow, you’re lucky. I heard Mr. Seo Jio hasn’t been seen much lately.”

“Ah… does he not come in often? Is he not a curator?”

“He’s not a curator, you can think of him as our guild’s special force.”

“I heard that from Mr. Yu Seong-un too, but… does that mean he doesn’t have a set job?”

“The most important job for members of The Collectors Guild is to be the Guild Master’s collection piece.”

“…Why bring that up all of a sudden?”

“It means that he’s fulfilling his role as a collection piece, Mr. Seo Jio is.”

“…Is that okay? Isn’t that a bit of a free ride…?”

“Actually.”

The curator deliberately lowered her voice and whispered.

“There’s a rumor that he’s a hidden S-Class hunter.”

“…S, S-Class? There are only a few in the country…?”

“He just hates all the fuss, so he’s lying and saying he’s A-Class.”

“Isn’t that illegal??”

“Hey, who cares about that stuff. This is The Collectors.”

“Uh… uh uh, no… um….”

“It just means our Guild Master is willing to do this much for his guild members. Doesn’t it fill you with company loyalty?”

The curator shrugged her shoulders.

She pointed to the rabbit-shaped plush doll she was in charge of and said.

“Come, come, please pat our Caregiver’s head. It’s very fluffy and cute.”

“…Like this?”

“That’s right, you’re doing great. If you do this, it gives you a piece at a very low probability.”

“You said that’s like a gift the artworks give, right?”

“Sometimes it’s a curse, but… Caregiver is a gentle artwork, so that won’t happen, yes. It’s a gift.”

“What kind of gift does this doll give?”

“Ahem, calling Caregiver a doll. Please watch your words.”

“Ah, yes. What kind of gift does the Caregiver give?”

“It gives flowers that smell nice, or a sewing kit that can fix any clothes.”

“Oh….”

“Cute, right?”

“It’s cute.”

After a light training session, the curator returned to the previous topic.

“So that’s what happened, Mr. Seo Jio opened the door for our junior. This is surprising.”

“He’s a fellow employee, is it really that surprising…?”

“There are employees and then there are employees. Mr. Seo Jio doesn’t really like crowds, so he mostly wanders around at dawn when there are no people.”

“For someone like that, he was very kind.”

“……”

The curator asked back.

“Was he kind?”

“Yes? Ah, yes, yes. He was extremely kind.”

“Hmm… Mr. Jio, he’s a very radiant, handsome man, isn’t he?”

“Ah….”

The woman nodded her head.

“Now that I think about it, you’re right, he was an incredibly handsome man.”

She felt a bit strange.

“I must have been so surprised and scared at dawn that I didn’t even think he was handsome.”

“Everyone who runs into Mr. Seo Jio says that. That they only remember he was handsome later.”

The curator’s eyes sparkled.

“So how handsome was he? I haven’t even seen his face, but they say he’s a handsome man like a statue with blond hair and blue eyes. Bright and charming, like he would smell of sunshine.”

“For someone who hasn’t seen his face, you’re describing him in great detail… Um, I think that’s right. His nose bridge was also very high, maybe he has some Western blood. His eyes were big too.”

“Ooh….”

The curator, who had let out a sound of admiration, soon muttered in a low voice.

“So that’s his state these days.”

“……?”

“Hmm, not bad.”

“…No matter how handsome he is, to judge a person like that….”

“Oh my, oh my, am I not that rude a person?”

The curator giggled.

“They say Mr. Jio gets gloomy sometimes.”

“…I can’t imagine that at all.”

“He has a very heavy atmosphere, so there are many who say he’s scary.”

“Ah… definitely….”

He was a person who fit well with the all-white gallery, yet gave off a somewhat bizarre feeling.

“…Maybe because he’s so handsome, he didn’t seem like a person of this world. I felt a sense of distance.”

“So the reactions are like that even though Mr. Jio comes off as very friendly?”

“I know he treated me kindly. When I was leaving, he even gave me a chocolate, telling me not to stray to another path because I was tired.”

“Right, right. That’s Mr. Jio. He carries snacks in his pocket like a squirrel.”

“A squirrel….”

“You’re thinking it doesn’t suit him.”

The curator, who had placed a pink bag in the fluffy plush doll’s hand, continued to ask.

“What was he like?”

“……”

“The person named Seo Jio, I mean.”

A calm voice, a slightly lower tone than before.

At that, the woman recalled the man she had seen at dawn.

“…It’s strange to say, but the first thought I had was that he was perfect.”

The moment he came into view, it felt like the world was full.

Just as it’s hard to belittle the sunlight shining on a spring day, just as you can’t find fault with the cool waves of summer.

It was a feeling like when you listen blankly to a mother’s lullaby or a superstition passed down in a village for generations.

A being that you could find fault with if you wanted to, that you could criticize if you wanted to, but that you just didn't feel like doing so.

A being that could be called complete even if its skin was torn, even if it bled, even if it had any flaws. A being that simply makes you think you are observing the flow of history.

That was the kind of presence he had, making one feel both abundance and tightness just by itself.

“It’s a little strange to have that thought the moment I met him, right?”

“…If it’s the first time you’ve seen someone of such a high class, like S-Class, I think it’s possible.”

“That’s a relief, if it’s not just me being strange.”

She smiled awkwardly and continued.

“His way of speaking was also a little peculiar. Should I say it was old-fashioned, or that it flowed with grace… To be honest, he spoke so politely it was hard to handle, so it was a bit difficult.”

Seo Jio’s way of speaking had a somewhat choppy quality to it.

“Should I say he was like a poorly used translator? It’s not that I thought it was strange, but since I was so scared at the time, it was a little frightening.”

“Well… he could really be a hunter from the West. It’s certain that his Western blood seems strong, right? We also don’t know exactly where the Guild Master scouted him from.”

“Then it could be that he’s not yet used to Korean. But it’s not that it was really strange, rather it suited him well… that was a little….”

Scary.

“Maybe because he’s a person who’s inhumanly handsome.”

There was a sense of incongruity.

“Yes, well. That’s how it was.”

“Any other stories?”

“Just… that he’s extremely friendly?”

But even in that aspect, she felt a sense of distance. Something was strange.

“It’s friendliness, but rather than being nice out of personal feelings….”

“What, what, did you want to develop a personal relationship?”

“No, that’s not, that’s not what I meant. You know.”

“If friendliness isn’t a personal feeling, then what is it?”

“…Right?”

She realized it was strange even as she said it.

“Ah, I mean, of course, I didn’t mean that it was hypocritical or that the kindness he showed seemed like a lie. Really.”

“I didn’t take it that way.”

“So what I was trying to say is… the kindness that Mr. Seo Jio shows is like a detached person, um… not the normal give-and-take… this is….”

It sounds really bizarre, but.

“It felt like he was being kind simply because I was human.”

Kindness given without any conditions, simply because she was born human.

Which is why it felt like indifference instead….

“…No, I don’t mean I felt bad. I think it was actually good. I think I was flustered because it was the first time in my life I had met someone who showed kindness without expecting anything in return so casually….”

Should I say I felt grateful, as if I had received something immense without having done anything?

“Mr. Seo Jio is a 1st-class citizen, right? Ah, did I ask something too obvious?”

“I don’t know for sure either, but I would think so, wouldn’t you?”

“No wonder his actions felt graceful. It wasn’t a Korean feeling, but….”

There was an atmosphere that made one admire him naturally.

“He was very relaxed, yet his words and actions had weight. It was definitely not a friendly atmosphere, but I could clearly tell he was sociable. He also had a mysterious feeling, like a prince from a fairy tale.”

At the woman’s words, the designated curator gave a sly smile.

“Oh my, dear. You’re going to confess at this rate.”

“…You asked for my impressions, senior-nim….”

“Hey, I didn’t ask for that much.”

The curator smiled cheerfully.

“Anyway, I’m glad it seems like you’ll be able to get along well, junior.”

“Can I take this to mean that my chances of becoming a full-time employee are high….”

“The gallery is so short-staffed that as long as you don’t cause any major trouble, you’re guaranteed a full-time position.”

“Then that would be really great, but I’m worried because I’m lacking in many areas.”

“What’s there to worry about, for someone who talked just fine in front of Mr. Seo Jio.”

“Ah… is that how the standard is measured?”

“The man is just so creepy.”

The curator’s eyes curved deeply as she smiled.

“Get along well with the employees and….”

“……”

“With the artworks.”

It was a tone that held a strange resonance.

‘…Ah.’

The woman suddenly remembered that the curator she had seen yesterday, Yu Seong-un, had also smiled the same way.

Those eyes that curved strangely, holding an emotion that could be goodwill or malice.

“……”

Then she could realize that the curators here had an atmosphere similar to the gallery.

“…I’ll work hard.”

Should she call it mysterious, or grotesque?

She wasn't sure.

***

“Honey.”

“Kurr.”

“Daddy has gained confidence.”

One problem that arose from becoming a haunted portrait was the resolution.

When in the state of a portrait, going beyond the frame caused a resolution problem, and people complained of a strain in perceiving him.

And now, having completely synchronized with ‘Giovanni’, who had solved that problem until now.

He had wandered outside with the thought, ‘Can I walk around now without any resolution problems?’ but….

“I had a conversation with an employee without any friction.”

He was so moved that he even gave her the chocolate he had kept like pocket money.

After giving it, he thought, ‘Huh? Won’t they realize that the Black Cape and I are the same person if I do this?’ but he gave up.

Jio, who had grown up receiving plenty of the clear energy of the Gangwon-do mountains, did not think deeply.

“I hope I can make a new friend like this.”

“Kurrurr.”

“My very own pen pal friend….”

“…Kkuk.”

He looked quite happy, so Honey didn't bother to retort.

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