chapter 149

Chapter 149

It was the meeting with the portrait that Visabel had so long awaited, but unfortunately, it could not continue for very long.

“It seems the important talk is over, so I will take my friend with me.”

“It’s a pity you’re leaving already.”

“I will be awaiting the next invitation.”

Before long, ‘Gio’s Portrait’ took Juhyeon and vanished into the painting.

“...”

At that part, Yoo Seong-woon was a little surprised.

‘Their relationship of trust is built up quite solidly.’

At a single gesture from Gio, Juhyeon obediently went into the portrait’s embrace. He always laughed smoothly, but he didn’t seem like the type to easily let down his guard—either way, it was quite a surprising thing.

‘That someone like Juhyeon both appeared as a human Gio cherishes this much, and that a person like Juhyeon accepted Gio.’

It seemed Visabel had felt that part as well.

“Mr. Seo Gio truly seems to have a power that softens humans.”

“He doesn’t seem very social, and yet I’ve often thought since long ago that he has a strangely good affinity with others...”

“It was his long-proven ability, shown since the ‘Deep Sea Temple’ incident.”

In general, if it doesn’t receive ‘Gio’s’ help, the portrait carries a stiff atmosphere that feels hard to bear.

It’s funny to attach such words to the source, but anyway, Gio didn’t seem especially social.

‘He isn’t comfortable being outside the frame for long, or meeting many humans. It can’t be helped, since it’s Gio lowering and adjusting his own rank, but from the humans’ standpoint... Gio still isn’t really a friendly image.’

Even when he was ‘Giovanni,’ who had the most gentle and soft impression, it was the same. No matter how kind he was, people still found him difficult, little by little. It was likely because he had such a strongly aristocratic impression.

Separate from how much consideration he showed, that high rank was not something that could be helped. But for an atmosphere that is that difficult...

“...”

Yoo Seong-woon rubbed his neck.

“So in the end, should we see this as Gio’s ability?”

“There is no reason not to.”

“I don’t know whether I should be happy or troubled.”

Strangely enough, Gio easily won trust and goodwill.

It was like that with Hunter Cha Ara, who had perceived and faced him as a monster, and like that with dungeon refugees who had grown sensitive with their lives in danger, and even with Juhyeon, who said their first meeting was in the form of a wicked god.

“It isn’t as though they only met a day or two. In particular, since time in the world inside the portrait changes depending on Gio’s mood, it must have flowed quickly. But even taking that into account, it’s surprising.”

Yoo Seong-woon recalled the information he had investigated.

“Mr. Juhyeon is not the type to easily trust someone.”

“He looked quite shrewd. To Mr. Juhyeon, time and trust likely have no correlation at all.”

“He didn’t seem like the type to believe someone just because he’s known them a long time.”

“And Mr. Seo Gio is a wicked god and the source’s existence.”

“Entrusting oneself to such an opponent requires at least minimal trust...”

“If he went so far as to enter the portrait voluntarily, then that says it all.”

“I don’t know whether it was a conscious action, or unconscious trust.”

“I think it is both.”

Visabel laughed softly.

“First of all, the timing must have been exquisite. Since it was a wicked god he met when he was so desperate he was about to attempt a deal with Sankalut, he probably thought, let it be whatever.”

“Was it that after laying everything down like that and receiving this-and-that care from Gio, it was hard to keep his guard up? He didn’t seem like the type to be moved and touched so easily—more like he would repay a favor, but not be emotionally stirred.”

“Well... I think some basic favorable feelings toward the Black Cloak probably influenced it.”

Rarely, he clicked his tongue.

“From what I can tell, he seems to dream of utopia, and it wouldn’t have been easy for him to reject a huge mystery that affirms the good and denies the evil.”

He clearly didn’t like Juhyeon.

“Given his personality, he’ll keep trying to doubt his essence, but for that friend, ‘Gio’s Portrait’ is an extremely ideal existence. Mr. Seo Gio has already proven his nature several times in the form of the Black Cloak, and he must have felt favor toward him.”

“Could Mr. Juhyeon’s preferences harm Gio?”

“That ‘harm’ is terribly subjective. To me, even the thought of arbitrarily judging and using my work feels like an insolent pest, but as you saw earlier, Gio will like it very much. The positions are different.”

At Visabel’s words, Yoo Seong-woon gave an awkward smile.

“So that’s why you disliked him so much.”

“He’s the type of human that doesn’t suit me at all.”

He made a thoroughly sickened expression.

“Heroes are ravenous. They can’t distinguish courage from bravado, they’re greedy, but they always make stupid choices. I can’t tell whether they’re truly stupid, or whether they act stupid on purpose.”

“Ah...”

“Whether they grasp their station or fail to, people like Mr. Juhyeon often do things that go beyond their station. If a person like Juhyeon comes to wholly believe Mr. Seo Gio’s essence, he’ll try to use him. I find that extremely displeasing.”

“Ah, yes.”

That damned love of works.

‘With that kind of obsession-like love, no wonder he’s called a collector.’

Visabel generally managed his collectibles with love and free-range letting-be. And so he tried, as much as possible, to grant what his collectibles wanted, but this time, it seemed he disliked the part where Gio wanted Juhyeon as a ‘friend.’

‘Anyway, it seems there was nothing for me to worry about.’

In the end, wasn’t he irritated because the collectible he cherishes ended up being placed under the care of a guy he already didn’t like? Only Juhyeon was pitiful, suffering because of the guildmaster’s narrow-mindedness.

“...Still, a hero—wouldn’t that be praise, in its own way?”

“Rather than praise, it would have been closer to an objective evaluation.”

Visabel gave a thin smile. It was the smile he only showed in front of his collectible. It was an intent to show consideration for Yoo Seong-woon, who was trying to loosen the mood.

“I’m acting childish like this, but I don’t hate that person named Juhyeon. Still, you know those kinds of people—types you just naturally come to dislike because you don’t match too much, even if neither side did anything wrong.”

“Ah... that...”

“Aside from that, I have no other grudge or complaint. When people find a silverfish in their house, they think, ah, it’ll eat the pests in our house... and yet they still find it disgusting, don’t they. It’s roughly like that.”

“Did you just compare a person to a bug?”

“It’s only a metaphor. Mr. Juhyeon will become a quite good guide and helper for Gio, and I am grateful for that part. It’s just that he doesn’t match me much.”

Then Visabel asked,

“Then in that sense, don’t you need a roommate?”

“Did I mishear you?”

“Yoo Seong-woon, it’d be nice if you got a friend too.”

“I said I misheard you.”

With his face crumpling all at once, Yoo Seong-woon asked back.

“Who is this roommate?”

“Why, Mr. Juhyeon and...”

“Please, what sin has that man committed.”

“Additionally, Mr. Seo Gio?”

“...”

He’s finally gone mad.

Yoo Seong-woon rubbed his face.

* * *

“I’m sorry.”

Juhyeon started by apologizing.

“I think I needlessly made the atmosphere heavy...”

“You don’t need to apologize to me for that part.”

“He’s the person who introduced you to me to help me, and yet I acted rudely.”

“If you truly feel sorry, could you tell me why you did that?”

As he said that, Gio—pop—instantly transformed into a platinum-blond priest.

With a sacred smile like one soothing a lost lamb, he smiled.

“Now, brother. I am ready to listen.”

He really did look like it.

Even though the place the two were in was a wooden table full of the scent of phytoncide, the long-flowing platinum hair and the pure white priest’s robes quite evoked the temple’s prayer room. The 모습 of an ideal priest.

“...”

Juhyeon, smiling as always, also looked a little sick of it.

“So that’s how you prepare to listen...”

“Somehow, I thought it might be more comfortable for you to speak in this.”

“Th... that is true.”

It felt like he was making confession.

“Mm...”

After pondering briefly, Juhyeon soon opened his mouth.

“I thought he was someone who doesn’t fit me much.”

“Why did you think so?”

“It’s embarrassing to say, but even normally, I’m not the type who likes collectors very much.”

“Is there a reason it became so?”

“That person... has no interest at all in the wellbeing of others.”

The guildmaster of Korea’s three major guilds, the Collectors. He was an immensely influential tycoon, yet he decided and acted on everything only by following his own interest.

“I don’t think a life that follows only interest is entirely bad. But from his actions, I felt the guildmaster Visabel doesn’t worry about others even a little. That was... that.”

To Visabel, the world was his gallery and a playground where his works could run wild. He generally seemed to keep the line, but that individualistic personality made Juhyeon feel sick of him.

“Even though he’s a person with tremendous influence, he’s acted as if he doesn’t know responsibility. Of course, if you don’t see him directly and talk with him, you won’t know what his circumstances are—so you could call it a kind of prejudice.”

“So that part made you think you don’t fit.”

“It’s truly embarrassing. It’s not as though I’m some wonderfully good person myself, and yet I assumed things about others and even acted rudely. But that doesn’t mean I dislike the guildmaster Visabel at all.”

Juhyeon smiled awkwardly and added,

“I’m grateful to him. The collector is one of the sturdy pillars that keeps precarious Earth standing. Separate from my personal impressions, it’s certain he’s someone to respect.”

“Mr. Juhyeon already knows well your own actions and their results. Even so, I do not wish to see you blaming yourself, so next time, I hope you will show an attitude you won’t regret.”

“Thank you for the considerate advice. It also looked like the guildmaster Visabel doesn’t hate me as a person, either. It’s just that, the two of us... acted childish.”

As if reflecting, he rubbed his own mouth.

“That person won’t like that I’m by Gio 씨’s side.”

“...”

For a moment, Gio’s eyes glittered gold and his hair turned red.

“So this is the ‘you homewrecker cat’ remark I’ve only heard about...?”

“I don’t know what part you’re finding so exciting, but probably not.”

Juhyeon’s expression became subtle.

“No, more than that, you even know the phrase ‘homewrecker cat’?”

“That’s because I’m wise.”

“Well, if you want to know, there’s any number of ways to know, but...”

It felt a bit strange.

“...”

It wasn’t simply because the situation was funny.

‘...How should I put it...’

Would it be too irreverent a thought if he really felt human?

Because the way he made a fuss over a trivial prank like this felt just like an ordinary young man of that age. In truth, Argio’s face was youthful enough to be called a ‘young man.’

Of course, it’s hard to call an existence of such enormous rank, whose personality and color change so quickly depending on use and will, an ‘ordinary young man,’ but still, somehow...

“...”

“Mr. Juhyeon, what are you thinking?”

“...I don’t know.”

I don’t know what this thought is.

“...From what I know, the Black Cloak likes good people, I hear.”

“How many people dislike kind people?”

Before he knew it, he had returned to black hair again.

It was a color like a shadow that had lost all colors and grown weary, but the Black Cloak’s face had only quietly sunk down—it still carried warmth.

He added, as if it were nothing,

“I think it is an ordinary preference.”

“Giving gifts to kind and well-mannered people?”

“I have a personality that can’t leave alone those who moved me.”

“Those kinds of people move you.”

If those words were true, it was truly astonishing.

“That is really...”

Juhyeon realized anew.

“...I think it’s something tremendous.”

“What is tremendous?”

“That someone like you is merciful.”

This being is truly peaceful.

“It resembles this world inside the portrait.”

And because of that, he admired it.

(To be continued in the next episode)