Chapter 170

Chapter 170

“...Do you know what I thought first when I heard that story?”

Yoo Seong-woon said, raising both thumbs.

“Wow, that’s amazing—how did you do it?”

“You’re too kind.”

“I’m not flattering you—I really did think that.”

The hallway meeting, scheduled for exactly noon, was convened again just before Yoo Seong-woon worked himself to death. Today as well, they held a meeting-that-wasn’t-really-a-meeting with Gio’s special tea and all kinds of snacks.

Juhyun, who had been looking at Yoo Seong-woon’s haggard appearance with pity, cleared her throat and spoke.

“Ahem, Mr. Gio is more sociable than I expected.”

“If he’s so sociable, why is he usually desperate to scare people?”

In response to Yoo Seong-woon’s pure, snow-white question, the Black Cloak inside the portrait answered.

“I didn’t scare you. You tore off fear and ate it on your own.”

“Your vocabulary’s gotten rich while I wasn’t looking. What country’s language is ‘tore off fear and ate it,’ anyway?”

“It means I am innocent.”

“No matter how I think about it, I still don’t really get it.”

Rubbing his stiff neck, Yoo Seong-woon asked.

“How did you create such a warm, friendly atmosphere?”

By common sense, it was impossible.

Gio had an innate rank. No matter how well he kept it in check, humans instinctively sensed the gap in rank and felt pressured. Especially in Gio’s case, he was a being who had piled up a chilling kind of rank.

“People must have been really scared of you.”

“Since they were very afraid of me, I put in a great deal of effort.”

“It’s so fascinating to me that it’s something you can accomplish with effort.”

“I think it’s fortunate that I possess that much social skill.”

“No, with you, it’s not so much a problem of social skill as... uh...”

Strictly speaking, if you judged ‘Gio’s Portrait’ as a human, you couldn’t say he had bad social skills. It was just that he could be so indifferent it felt vicious; in truth, Gio was extremely favorable and kind to humans.

‘Though there is the issue that humans get a little scared in the process of interacting while I keep manners overly strictly.’

Anyway, it felt a bit wrong to say that out loud.

“...You do look kind of scary.”

“I agree.”

Gio nodded obediently.

“Since long ago, there have always been quite a few people who say I am scary.”

At that, Juhyun tilted her head.

“Always? Then did people fear you even when you were Giovanni, Mr. Gio?”

“Yes, even then, there were many people who feared me.”

“Giovanni doesn’t seem particularly scary, though...”

“More precisely, I should say they got scared ahead of time and felt uncomfortable.”

Giovanni was certainly a priest with a gentle, good impression, but perhaps because of the unique authority of a Sun Church priest and his bearing as a noble, many people couldn’t treat him as an equal human being.

“When I was Giovanni, it was also because I was blond.”

“Why blond?”

“Because it was a world where the superstition spread that children born with the color of the sun were God’s children.”

“God’s children, huh...”

“In my case, I was even an actual priest of the sun, so I think the burden was greater.”

In particular, he had been a famous priest with a name to his credit. That people of an era when the Sun Church ruled the world couldn’t treat him—someone even called a saint—as an equal might have been inevitable.

“Even though I don’t recall doing anything particularly frightening, it was like that.”

“But I heard from Mr. Iser that you had the nickname ‘the smiling tyrant of the seaside village.’”

“...”

The portrait turned platinum blond.

“...Iser said that? When?”

“Last time, when we were eating lamb skewers, we ended up chatting about random things, and it came up.”

“I am truly wronged. Why in the world do I have to become a tyrant?”

“They said that if someone wouldn’t accept your mercy willingly, you shoved it in by force...”

“Since the end result was good, I believe it was fine.”

“Aha, I see. So that’s why you inspired fear even when you were Giovanni.”

“I am wronged.”

At Gio’s heartfelt appeal, Yoo Seong-woon let out his characteristic unbothered laugh.

“That sounds closer to awe than fear.”

“Ah, that must be it. If I had a neighbor like Giovanni, I don’t think I could treat him casually either.”

Juhyun also nodded, agreeing with Yoo Seong-woon’s words.

“Because you have an impression that makes it hard to approach you familiarly.”

The portrait felt wronged once more.

“I would like it if you would be friendly with me.”

“We can be, but with people you’ve just met, it can’t be helped.”

At least when he was Giovanni, with his gentle, sunny temperament, it stopped at awe; but when it came to Seo Gio, as if his facial muscles had withered, or Argio, the battle fanatic, there was nothing to do but feel fear.

Yoo Seong-woon, who had heard the story of ‘Seo Gio’ through Juhyun, asked.

“But even when you were Seo Gio, people were afraid of you? You wouldn’t have been performing miracles like Giovanni, and you wouldn’t have been itching to see blood like Argio...”

“Yes, I was an ordinary teacher.”

“No, well, you weren’t exactly ordinary. No matter how I think about it, that’s too much. Why are you trying to slide past it so naturally, like a snake slipping over a wall, saying you lived an ordinary life?”

“I am wronged.”

Before long, the portrait had returned to black hair.

“I only looked scary.”

“With a face that handsome, it must’ve been hard to inspire fear—should I call this impressive...”

“I was always a kind and helpful teacher.”

“I’m telling you it wasn’t what you did or said, it was your face, Gio. Well, of course that was a problem too, but...”

That wasn’t something that could be fixed just by insisting it was unfair.

“Yeah, it’s weird, I’m telling you. Like you said, even when you were an ‘ordinary teacher,’ people got scared.”

Yoo Seong-woon recalled what the Fifth Floor Chief had told him about the meeting room before he went home.

“So how did a guy like that create such a harmonious atmosphere?”

“As I keep saying, I only worked hard.”

Gio had that much sociability and social skill.

“Because of my hard-to-feel-friendly impression, many people were awkward around me, but in the end they all remained good connections. If people are afraid of me, then in the end I simply need to untie that, you see.”

At Gio’s words, Yoo Seong-woon marveled.

“Then why don’t you do that usually?”

“It’s tiring.”

“Huh?”

“The return on investment is unclear.”

“So it’s a losing business.”

“You understood perfectly.”

If he had to work with someone, or see them for a long time, Gio would diligently put on a show for them, but most people were only passing by. There was no need to waste precious energy to win them over.

“It is true that my default impression is frightening.”

The more Gio treated someone casually, without effort, the harder it was for them to shake off their fear. But in other words, if Gio treated them with sincerity, they could very well stop being afraid.

“...”

“...”

At that, Yoo Seong-woon and Juhyun thought.

‘...Right. Making a being of that rank feel comfortable couldn’t possibly be possible with a small investment. It isn’t mercy you can bestow on just anyone.’

‘And isn’t the fact that he can’t stand on equal footing with an unspecified multitude of humans without making that kind of effort proof in itself that he isn’t human...?’

Yoo Seong-woon, as a gardener and curator, understood the work’s fatigue, and Juhyun, from a friend’s standpoint, was pointing out the contradictions in Gio’s usual claims. At the very least, neither of them was viewing him as human.

Gio noticed the shift in Yoo Seong-woon and Juhyun.

‘Is there no one who recognizes that I am an ordinary introverted human?’

That people got scared because his impression was frightening was the default, and to explain it away and relax their tension, Gio had to spend quite a lot of mental energy. That was the life of a scary-looking, introverted human.

But since this situation was absurd and funny, Gio decided to simply accept it. If they wanted to treat him like a precious portrait, he had no intention of refusing. Gio wanted to live as a portrait for the rest of his life.

“...Was I in the wrong?”

“No, you weren’t. If anything, it’ll be a big help.”

“Because they are people I will be working with, I was concerned.”

From what he’d heard from Juhyun, that raid was like a training camp. Or a workshop, or a long business trip. He didn’t want to end up awkward with people he would have to spend quite a long time with.

‘You rarely see a hell like that.’

So it was a hundred, a thousand times easier to leave a good first impression with all his strength and spend the remaining work period in a friendly atmosphere. Gio had truly, desperately tried to get close with these temporary colleagues.

“However, trainee team member Kim Nana, who came in later, seemed a little startled.”

“Ah, I heard about that too.”

Yoo Seong-woon nodded.

“They said she thought it was brainwashing.”

“She was very afraid of me.”

“But in the end, you talked a bit and it eased up.”

“It required great effort.”

“I can understand Kim Nana, too.”

With an awkward smile, Yoo Seong-woon continued.

“Seeing your coworkers giggling and chatting with the Black Cloak like an old friend while you were gone... honestly, the moment you run into that, you can’t help but get chills. It doesn’t make sense.”

“Still, in the end, she seemed to feel comfortable with me.”

“That’s true. It’s not that you misunderstood; from what I heard, it seems Kim Nana still isn’t afraid of you. That part is surprising too, though.”

At that, Yoo Seong-woon asked casually.

“You didn’t really use a brainwashing skill, right?”

“I am truly wronged.”

“Yeah, sorry, but honestly it’s a bit suspicious.”

“Have you ever seen a portrait cry?”

“I’m curious, but let’s put that appreciation off for later.”

Juhyun looked at Yoo Seong-woon as if she’d just seen a bona fide lunatic, but he ignored her cleanly. Visabel’s curators were all like this to begin with. A work crying? It was an extremely rare sight.

But fortunately or unfortunately, Yoo Seong-woon was in a state of extreme exhaustion, so he put off this chance for next time.

“If you created that atmosphere purely with talk, isn’t that really amazing?”

“I am pleased that you praise me.”

Gio got a little happy hearing ‘Hey, you’re good at office life’ from an older brother he was close with. Timid and easily frightened, Gio felt proud in his own way, like he’d done something decent.

“I think it is because I have had things like this happen often before, so I know how to handle them.”

“It wasn’t your ‘portrait-ishness’ causing it, was it?”

“I don’t know what ‘portrait-ishness’ even means.”

“You’ve got something like that, you know. That thing where things happen the way you want...”

“Do you mean like the stone cairns you stack while hiking?”

“...Is it similar?”

Gio had the ability to proceed with things as he wished even without taking any special measures. Yoo Seong-woon was thinking it might be possible because, as part of the Origin, he adjusted fate.

“Well, either way, it’s impressive all the same.”

“Thank you.”

“When you look at you, you kind of like getting praised...”

At that, Juhyun added with a smile.

“Probably because you’re still young.”

“...”

Under Yoo Seong-woon’s steady gaze, Juhyun averted her eyes.

“...Personality, yes, personality.”

“Why are you getting embarrassed?”

“Because I feel like I said something embarrassing...”

“I can’t tell if you’re bold or timid.”

“I’d appreciate it if you’d stop teasing me.”

With her face reddened, Juhyun said with a touch of grievance.

“But isn’t Mr. Gio definitely on the young side? At twenty-nine, at thirty-two, at twenty-four...”

“If you call it dying young, then yes.”

“Don’t focus on the death—look at how old you were while alive. You’re young.”

“Yeah, I died early. I know.”

“Are you saying such a sad thing right in front of Mr. Gio right now?”

“No, it’s just the truth...”

Somehow feeling like he was being scolded, Yoo Seong-woon looked at Gio.

“He probably doesn’t regret it much.”

“Ahh, if only I could have lived much, much longer with my merfolk students...”

“Are you going to do this? You’re trying to make me the bad guy right now, is that it?”

“Just kidding.”

Giovanni didn’t particularly have complaints about his lifespan either.

“They do say beauty is short-lived, don’t they?”

“That confidence looks great on you.”

“It is an undeniable fact that I am handsome.”

“You’re shameless about the strangest things.”

Yoo Seong-woon shrugged.

“Anyway, I’m glad you got along without any big issues.”

“Still, it did seem like they were uncomfortable with me.”

“Huh, really? Didn’t you say the mood was good?”

“Hmm.”

After thinking for a moment, Gio continued.

“There have been many similar cases before.”

“What kind of cases?”

“Cases where they take my wholehearted clowning as a kind of mercy and revere it...”

“Ah, so that was wholehearted clowning. I see.”

In truth, Yoo Seong-woon also tended to interpret it as closer to the mercy of a vast mystery than to clowning. But since it seemed like Gio wanted to pretend it wasn’t, he would let it slide—just personally, that was what he thought.

“...”

“Huh? Why?”

“Are you hungry?”

“...I’m a bit peckish, but what’s the problem?”

“You seemed to be thinking nonsense, so I wondered if it was because your stomach was empty.”

“Leaving aside what you mean by ‘nonsense thoughts,’ why are you linking it to my stomach...”

Yoo Seong-woon was amazed that even sulking could be standardized into feeding someone.

* * *

And so the time of the decisive battle approached, and the day of rest before the raid.

“It’s so nice to finally see the Collector’s young master I’d only heard about.”

“...”

“Our young master—you're not going to cry in the dungeon because the food tastes bad, are you?”

Gio was being unilaterally provoked by some punk with a perfectly fine build.

‘You’re challenging me with food?’

Amazingly, it was clear the world had no intention of understanding his frailty.

(To be continued in the next episode)