Chapter 168

Chapter 168

Meanwhile, there was someone else who, like Kang Seodam, was getting a headache because of ‘Mr. Seo Gio.’

“...”

“What's wrong, Ruda?”

“...Uh...”

It was Lee Ruda, Kang Seodam’s student and a trainee priest.

“Because of the gift I got last time.”

“Ah, the one hyung Gio gave you? That flower?”

“Yeah, that dried flower.”

“Didn’t he say it was a medicinal herb? You said you like taking medicine. Can’t you just eat it?”

“...That would be the simplest way, but no matter how I think about it, it’s not an ordinary medicinal herb...”

It was an herb that had drawn the gaze of none other than the Sun Goddess herself.

‘And that subtle greed of divinity I felt back then...’

It was rare enough for a divinity to covet a human thing, but the one who revealed that desire this time was the Sun Goddess, who loved the natural order of fate and pure innocence.

‘She’s not someone who, by nature, would covet anything.’

For such a divinity to poke insistently at the side of Lee Ruda, a mere trainee priest, was truly absurd.

“How did it come to this.”

“What’s the problem?”

“I think I received a gift that’s too precious.”

She hadn’t told Cha Isol about her confusion, afraid things might grow bigger than she imagined, but today she’d reached her limit. Ruda needed someone to consult.

“Cha Isol.”

“Yeah, what do you need help with?”

“That older brother you say you’re close with...”

“You mean hyung Gio?”

“Yeah. Is he always like that?”

“Uh... like what?”

“Does he always go around handing out gifts like this?”

“Yep!”

“...”

At the brisk, decisive confirmation, Ruda was left speechless for a moment.

“...Why?”

“He says when he sees people, they’re just so admirable that he wants to give them gifts.”

“Why on earth?”

“He says there’s no reason not to give them, so why shouldn’t he...”

“What on earth is the problem?”

“That’s the problem?”

“Because the gift isn’t just a gift.”

Honestly, even giving Cha Isol fruit jelly as a present had felt a bit excessive. According to Cha Isol, they’d become close by chance, yet an acquaintance he’d only met a few times had given an expensive gift to a child who didn’t know anything.

And the gift Ruda had received was even worse.

“The reason I said I like medicinal herbs wasn’t because I actually wanted to receive medicinal herbs...!”

Normally, when she said she liked medicinal herbs, adults would stare as if she were seeing something they couldn’t understand, then soon ignore it. In the first place, they never imagined someone would actually carry medicinal herbs around.

“Cha Isol, what do you feel from this dried flower?”

“The smell of sunshine?”

“And?”

“That fluffy dryness, like a blanket dried well in the sun?”

“Anyway, it’s the sun, right? It is the sun, right?”

“Isn’t the sun and sunshine a bit different? One is super hot and the other is warm.”

“It’s the difference between punching and stroking, but it’s the same hand either way.”

Unlike the commonly known image of the Sun Church, the sun’s light is extremely violent. The better you gather it and control it delicately, the better a priest of the sun you can become.

And making a medicinal herb packed full of that sunlight was incredibly arduous. Without talent, you couldn’t even attempt it, and with the slightest mistake, the fragile herb would burn up in the sun’s fire.

“...”

As expected, this was far too precious a gift for Ruda to handle.

“...Did he give me this gift to mess with me...”

“Why would you eat taffy?”

“...I was thinking maybe that Mr. Seo Gio gave me this gift to put me in an awkward spot.”

“Huh? I don’t think so. Why do you think that?”

“Mercy that doesn’t fit one’s station can drive a wretched beggar by the roadside to death.”

“But Ruda isn’t a beggar.”

“Of course I’m a Grade 1 citizen, and among humans I’m on the wealthy side, but even taking that into account, in this situation I’m still a beggar.”

“You always talk too hard.”

“I’m saying it’s a gift beyond me, so my safety is at risk. Lots of people covet treasures that are too precious.”

From how things were unfolding, this wasn’t only a human problem anymore.

“And if you don’t have the power to protect it from those who covet it, the gift becomes poison instead. To give an extreme example, someone could desire what I received, kill me, and take it.”

Perhaps the word ‘kill’ sounded quite shocking; Cha Isol asked, startled.

“Should I call hyung Gio?”

“No, a hunter like that would be busy, so there’s no need...”

Quick-witted, Ruda knew there was no malice in the gift that Mr. Seo Gio had given.

‘But he didn’t look like someone who wouldn’t realize it could become a gift I can’t handle.’

And now, Ruda decided to draw a conclusion.

“...Is he telling me to win favor.”

“I don’t know what you mean, but I think you’re thinking too complicatedly, Ruda.”

“Certainly, if you present an offering the Goddess desires, you’ll receive great protection.”

“I’m not sure what it is, but I don’t think hyung Gio thought that far...”

He didn’t know exactly what his partner was thinking, but Cha Isol, sensing the depth of it, trailed off. He knew the Black Cloak went around scattering gifts without a thought.

Watching his partner look like she was weaving some kind of scheme, Cha Isol thought,

‘Smart people seem to live such tiring lives. I’m glad I’m not smart.’

Of course, Gio also knew his gift could become poison to a small priest like Ruda. But he also gave it with an easy heart, because he knew the Black Cloak’s gifts would never harm anyone.

Basram flowers were a precious medicine with no side effects, so there was no problem no matter who used it, and both Gio himself, who gave the medicine, and the Sun Goddess approved the gift. A gift bestowed under the blessing of several divinities had its safety guaranteed through providence and fate.

More than anything, Gio didn’t know how to think deeply, but he understood well the depth and breadth other people could think to. Gio would be happy no matter how Ruda used his gift.

“...I should offer it to the Goddess.”

So this, too, was what Gio had wanted.

“I’m going to see Priest Kang Seodam—what about you?”

“I’m coming with you.”

“If you’re just bored being alone, go play with the other kids.”

“I just want to be with you, Ruda. You’re my partner.”

“...”

Ruda soon nodded slowly.

“Looks like I’ll have to keep you tucked at my side for the rest of my life.”

“Huh? Wasn’t that the plan already?”

“It’s nothing. I was just expressing my will.”

And when Kang Seodam returned after just finishing a meeting, he reportedly choked hard on the fragrant, piping-hot bomb his downy little student had carefully cradled.

* * *

A meeting room in the Collector.

“Ah, Floor Chief.”

“Ms. Yu Jina?”

There, the newly formed dispatch team began gathering one by one.

Garasani, the Fifth Floor Chief of the Collector’s gallery, looked over the hunter who had just entered the meeting room. The woman he’d called Yu Jina wore the trainee team’s suit and cape. It was a face he knew well as a floor chief.

“It’s been a while.”

“It has.”

The trainee team member grinned and sat across from Garasani.

“There’s hardly anything for trainees to do on the fifth floor.”

“It’s not a place they assign rookies.”

“Since only veterans come and go, there’s never any news.”

“If news from the fifth floor reached the trainee team, wouldn’t that be a huge problem in itself?”

“Isn’t it all thanks to you looking after things, Floor Chief?”

As she rubbed her palms together, Garasani raised an eyebrow.

“Your pathetic flattery skills are as sharp as ever.”

“Make it clear whether you like it or hate it.”

“I like it, so do it one more time.”

“Oh my, as our Floor Chief brightens the fifth floor’s light, peace comes to the gallery, wealth pours in...”

Around then, another person entered the meeting room.

“Woah... what’s this now.”

“That’s a bit much to say when you see a person.”

“Yes, so what are you doing?”

“Can’t you tell? She’s flattering him.”

“Even if you flatter the Fifth Floor Chief, nothing’s going to come out of it...?”

At the field staff man’s words, the woman in the same division smiled awkwardly.

“It’s been a while, Floor Chief.”

“Is this the first time I’ve seen you since you left the third floor for field work?”

“Yes. Thanks to you watching my back, I adjusted well.”

“Good. Anywhere is fine as long as you work well. You’re doing well.”

Curator Garasani turned back toward Yu Jina, the trainee team member.

“Didn’t you say one more trainee was coming?”

“The first floor requested a trainee, so. They say they’ll just check their own area quickly and come.”

“Fulfilling your responsibilities is always a fine sight. And that kind of behavior won’t displease today’s guest of honor, either.”

“I was going to call them up right away if anything happened, trainee or not, but that’s unexpected. Mr. Gio is pretty generous for a work.”

Yu Jina, who had been looking around, smiled as if she found it interesting.

“I thought Curator Yoo Seong-woon would be coming too, but he wasn’t on the list.”

“He’s very busy, so it can’t be helped.”

“No matter how busy he is, it’s the business of his own assigned work...”

“Of course, if he adjusted his schedule a lot, he wouldn’t have had no room. But it isn’t easy.”

And it wasn’t only because of that.

“The guildmaster wants to see how ‘Mr. Seo Gio’ reacts among unfamiliar humans. He’s probably trying to check whether it’s worth continuing to maintain the name ‘Mr. Seo Gio,’ or what dangers there might be.”

At that, another field staff member asked.

“But isn’t it dangerous? Starting with an A-rank dungeon for his very first raid—the difficulty is by no means low. Wouldn’t it have been better to take an adjustment period somewhere safer, little by little?”

“Before we could take measures like that, ‘Mr. Seo Gio’ already came in with the schedule he wanted, so all we can do is follow. And even if such a rushed schedule hadn’t been set, the guildmaster wouldn’t have done such a boring process.”

Everyone knew Visabel’s temperament, didn’t they.

“He isn’t the kind of person with the patience to aim for a stable opportunity when there’s an obviously good chance right in front of him. If he were the sort to let such a fun event drift by dully, he wouldn’t have been a guildmaster in the first place.”

“That’s hard to argue with...”

“Asking someone who made the Collector to avoid that kind of patience to restrain himself now is nonsense. Besides, he must have judged this raid worthwhile in many ways.”

Through this opportunity, Visabel would decide what position to assign ‘Mr. Seo Gio’ to. It was a bold undertaking with a heavy risk burden—people might die—but if they had decided to send ‘Hunter Seo Gio’ out into the world, it was a process they would have to pass through at least once.

And there was another reason, too.

“More than anything, I’m not sure whether ‘Mr. Seo Gio’ would endure such a stable and boring process.”

The Collector certainly could have aimed for a safer opportunity. They could have attached familiar faces in a lower-rank dungeon and let this mystery adapt to humans little by little.

But according to what they’d already heard when this dispatch was arranged, ‘Gio’s Portrait’ held a desire that craved bloodshed. With wicked divinity said to dwell within him, he might find such a comfortable fence disgusting.

“We shouldn’t do anything that would harm the work.”

“I agree with that.”

The trainee team members and field staff all nodded. More than anything, they were people who knew well what kind of catastrophe could occur if a ‘work’ grew displeased.

It wasn’t for nothing that all kinds of ghost stories had sprung up around the Collector. A field staff member who had once been a curator added,

“Still, Curator Yoo Seong-woon must be disappointed.”

“His assigned work is going to be active out in the world, out of his hands...”

“And it’s its first activity, too. It must be on his mind.”

To a curator of the Collector, an assigned work was an extremely sensitive subject. Managing a bizarre mystery that twisted fate and dug into minds truly consumed an enormous amount of attention.

A curator had to love their work, study it, and recognize its danger. When you managed with love a mystery that, once out of your hands, could kill dozens in an instant, it was only natural to grow attached.

“Especially when it’s a fifth-floor work.”

If a curator didn’t love and cling to their work, you never knew what kind of disaster might occur.

“You must be very upset...”

“That’s why I’m included in this dispatch team.”

“Is it because someone like you can be trusted, Floor Chief?”

“I suppose they chose the lesser evil over the worst.”

And around then—

Knock, knock, knock.

“...”

“...”

“Excuse me.”

A knocking sound came from outside the meeting room.

“May I come in?”

A low, gloomy voice was asking for permission.

(To be continued in the next episode)