Chapter 46

Back in the cabin, I, Jio...

"……."

...was now checking the reward I received from the System after finally grasping the danger level of the young man I had encountered at Gyeongbokgung.

"I was busy."

Reward: Seal

"Busy eating."

I knew the System didn't have a consciousness, but I made an excuse anyway.

"So when I wondered what this seal was…."

I looked at the stamp, which seemed to be carved from marble.

"……."

I held the stamp up to the faintly glowing lamp.

It was beautiful, shining as clearly as sunlight filtering through a thin blanket.

It was similar to marble, but the mineral quality was different.

Looking down at the small column from which a faint pulse seemed to emanate as if it were alive and breathing, I muttered.

"Where have I seen this before?"

"Kururuk?"

"It's definitely not for eating, so don't look at it with those covetous eyes, Honey. No matter how much you like gems, I think this is too much. If you really covet marble, go to the spring where there's a tree that grows with a similar stone quality."

"Kkungkungkung…."

"Acting cute won't work."

This was the System that had evolved the extremely ordinary human Seo Jio into a portrait with a rapidly changing personality.

There was no way a seal given by such a being could be ordinary and I couldn't let Honey gulp it down.

"Hmm…."

After examining it from all angles, I came to a conclusion.

"Was it a sealing wax seal?"

Sealing wax, a sentimental item used to seal letters.

It looked like the seal used to press into the melted candle-like wax to emboss a beautiful and cool pattern.

A type of stamp, in other words.

In the era I lived in, it was an item that chose sentimentality over practicality, but that aside….

"I don't have any wax."

"Kkuk?"

"I also don't have anyone to send a carefully decorated letter to."

"…Kuru…."

"Tears are blurring my vision."

I'm a lonely firefly.

"I have no friends."

"……."

"…Was it perhaps telling me to try and make a pen pal?"

I had no idea why it gave me such a seal, but since I didn't know anything anyway, I interpreted it however I wanted.

This had to be the System's consideration, telling the friendless Jio to try and make a new connection.

"Then for now, let's try sending a letter to Mr. Yu Seong-un."

The easiest target, Yu Seong-un.

And so, the tired and weary modern man, Yu Seong-un, was unwittingly attacked again today.

***

"……."

Returning home after work, Yu Seong-un's heart almost stopped.

"…What's with this, a letter…."

On the living room table lay a letter he had never seen before.

"……."

Looking around, he muttered.

"There's no sign of a break-in."

Thanks to the help of Guild Master Bisabeol, who was attentive to the safety of his staff, the security of the residence Yu Seong-un was staying in was so thorough that no one less than an S-Class Hunter could enter.

So he was surprised to see a strange letter placed so openly in such a home.

Sighing for a moment, Yu Seong-un calmly collected his emotions and sat down on the sofa by the table.

"Let's see what we have here."

Rustle.

The letter made a sound close to that of dried grass.

"……."

Dried grass, huh.

"…Jio?"

For some reason, he felt like he knew who sent the letter.

'I'm not sure, but I have a feeling.'

The envelope's texture was similar to Hanji, but it was much drier.

Much softer, too. Yu Seong-un's gaze, which had been on the jet-black outer envelope that was as black as Jio's eyes, soon fell to the wax sealing the letter.

A texture like a sparkling gem.

"Oh…."

It was definitely Jio's.

'…It looks like he melted a gem like wax while maintaining its crystal structure and then stamped a seal on it. I don't know how such a feat is possible, but it's dreamlike and beautiful, like something out of a fairy tale.'

This strange presence was something that was particularly palpable from Jio.

A peculiar sentimentality, one might say.

"A seal, huh…."

It was a pattern he had never seen before.

"…A portrait… does it resemble one a little."

A plant spreading out from the center of a rectangular border, and a pattern inside the border that seemed to be a geometric representation of a star.

For some reason, it was a seal that reminded him of 'Jio's Portrait' hanging in Bisabeol's gallery.

"He has such firm tastes."

From his actions and everything else, Jio had a strong feeling of a fantasy medieval nobleman.

'Should I say he has a fairy-tale-like sensibility.'

He had said he lived in a cabin, too, which made him seem like a very peaceful fellow.

"Well then, I should see what's inside."

Carefully prying open the seal, which felt worthy of research, so as not to damage it, he saw the pure white stationery inside.

Yu Seong-un took out the paper and slowly read the jet-black letters.

"……."

And then he let out a deep sigh.

"…I can't read this…."

If he was going to send a letter, shouldn't he have written it in the language of Earth?

'…I thought he knew a fair bit about Korean culture, so I expected him to write the letter in Korean too, but I guess that was too much to hope for. It's not like Jio is actually Korean.'

He tried reading it again, wondering if he could decipher it, but it was a language he had never seen before.

It didn't even have a language-like regularity, which put Yu Seong-un in a difficult position.

"It would be a pain if this is something like a cursed letter."

He didn't think Jio would suddenly send something bad, but beings of the Source were not the kind of fellows you could make such assumptions about.

If it was an item that would cast a curse if not interpreted correctly, it would be quite troublesome.

"……."

He didn't feel such an ominous aura, so Yu Seong-un relaxed a little.

"…I was planning to go see him tomorrow anyway, so maybe I'll ask about this too."

As long as it wasn't a bomb that would go off immediately, it didn't really matter.

Yu Seong-un carefully sealed the entrance again so the letter wouldn't get crumpled.

The blue gem seal, which had no discernible adhesive properties, was cold and smooth, but thanks to its weight, it didn't float up and instead pressed the entrance down.

"Can't figure him out, anyway."

Should he consider this a 'piece of the artwork' as well?

"He has a talent for making my heart drop…."

He didn't know when he would find out Jio's true identity.

That point felt a little distant.

***

"Jio."

The next day at dawn, Yu Seong-un sought me out.

"This, is this the letter you sent?"

"Yes, it is."

"So it was you after all."

"……."

The portrait still had an expressionless face, but it asked as if something was puzzling.

"I wrote my name on the letter, did you not check it?"

"Ah, that…."

Yu Seong-un took out the letter with a troubled face.

"I'm sorry to you for sending such a thoughtful letter, but how am I supposed to read a letter written in a language I don't know? If it's not a language of Earth, I can't read it."

"…I see."

I paused for a moment before continuing.

"But to my memory, I sent you a letter written in Korean."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes. I believe an unexpected problem occurred in the process of delivering the letter. Much like how you all feel that the resolution of this portrait is off."

"Oh… um, that… certainly…."

That was possible.

'The language in the letter didn't feel like it had any rules either.'

Jio's letter, as if typed on a broken typewriter, was orderly in its outward format, but its detailed language and rules were a chaotic mess.

On this point, Jio could certainly be right.

'Resolution, if he means that, it's probably about the discussion we had before regarding Jio's 'class'….'

Like the great sense of pressure and fear felt particularly from Jio outside the portrait.

'Looking at it that way, the frame containing this portrait does seem to act as a sort of filter… a filter to contain the existence of Jio, which humans cannot handle.'

If the language got mixed up and distorted in the process of passing through that filter, then the current content made sense.

If the frame could contain Jio's class, wouldn't a language be even more susceptible to transformation?

"That's a bit unfortunate from the perspective of the person sending the letter."

"I apologize for what must have been a startling experience."

"It's quite alright, but what did the letter say?"

"There was no special content, just a light expression of gratitude and well-wishes."

"…But didn't you have a rule of your own?"

A question suddenly came to mind, and Yu Seong-un continued with a light question.

"To take an object from inside the painting out, someone has to pay a price, right? But I don't remember paying a price."

"I thought about that as well, but it seems I was able to avoid being bound by the rule thanks to the seal."

"A seal?"

"It is a seal I acquired by chance. If I mark something with it and deliver it, it seems I do not need to receive a price."

"Hmm, is that so?"

As expected, the one-for-one rule was not something Jio had created by choice.

'To think he figured out a way to avoid the rule like that.'

In that case, Jio's rule was likely a sort of defense line to prevent his enormous class from overflowing and destroying reality.

As he had thought just before, it was probably the result of the 'frame' acting as a filter.

'But if he devised a way to avoid that suppression, with a seal or whatnot….'

From the perspective of a weak earthling, that was a bit terrifying.

'…Even if Jio's personality isn't one that enjoys tormenting others, a being of that class can unintentionally break people. If the rule imposed on this fellow exists to protect earthlings, I'll have to be wary of this tendency to casually ignore the rule.'

In any case, he was a little relieved.

He had lost sleep after receiving the strangely creepy letter, but as expected, it didn't seem to be a bomb so terrifying as to be harmful to Yu Seong-un.

"You really surprised me. I came home from work and suddenly there's a letter I don't recognize…."

"I am sorry. I did not expect the letter to be transported in such a way either."

"You don't usually send letters, I take it?"

"No, however…."

I rarely trailed off.

"I was thinking of making a new friend."

"……."

Taking a slow, deep breath, Yu Seong-un asked in his usual tone.

"…A new friend?"

"It is embarrassing to say, but you are the only one I converse with, Mr. Yu Seong-un. Before forming a new connection, I tried sending a letter to you first."

"That's… a very good thing to have done."

While it was true that Yu Seong-un tended to coddle him because he was a being of the Source, that didn't mean he was unaware of how dangerous Jio was.

It had passed without incident because it was Yu Seong-un; a normal person would have been scared out of their wits upon seeing a letter imbued with a strange aura.

Especially a civilian, not a Hunter.

"Other people would be startled, so it would be great if you could be a little more mindful of that part."

"I will be more careful from now on."

"I'd appreciate that."

Yu Seong-un rubbed the back of his neck and continued to ask.

"So, how are you going to find that 'new connection'?"

How was Jio, who was always inside the portrait, going to make a 'new friend'?

A normal person would move around or make friends through the internet, but none of that applied to Jio.

"Does that letter happen to be delivered randomly to an arbitrary target?"

"No, the recipient must be precise for what I wish to send to be delivered."

"That must have been my case."

"I will have to think a little more about how to make a new friend."

"Hmm…."

Is this the perfect timing?

Yu Seong-un, recalling the conversation he had with Guild Master Bisabeol, asked me.

"Jio, can you by any chance move to other dungeons as well?"

"Not just outside a simple portrait, but a dungeon?"

"Yeah."

"……."

I, who seemed to be pondering for a moment, blinked twice and answered.

"In the case of a world I have painted…."

"Yeah?"

A world he painted?

"Did you just say a world you painted…."

"Yes, in the case of a world I have painted, I can move without much difficulty."

"Huh?"

"However, the dungeon you speak of, Mr. Yu Seong-un, does not seem to refer to a space I have painted. Are you referring to a dungeon whose entrance already exists on Earth, and which earthlings can also visit?"

"…Uh…."

His mind was a bit muddled, but Yu Seong-un maintained as calm a demeanor as possible and answered.

"That's right. I'm talking about a dungeon that a Hunter like me can visit, one whose entrance already exists on Earth."

Yu Seong-un continued, thinking he needed to raise Jio's danger level even higher.

"You created your portraits here and there and moved around inside the company through them, right? So I was wondering if we could find your portrait in other dungeons too. That would mean you could visit that dungeon as well."

"I have not yet attempted that."

After saying so, I quickly added.

"But it sounds like it would be fun."

I showed interest.

'Good thing I considered this in advance.'

This was 'Jio's Portrait,' who, surprisingly, pursued a life centered on interest.

He had anticipated that if asked such a question, Jio, feeling great interest, might suddenly try it out.

'His pattern of behavior is a little difficult to grasp, perhaps because he has intelligence equivalent to or greater than a human's, but since he's shown this much interest… it would be best to make a proposal that is within a manageable scope.'

As Bisabeol had said, some humans like Yu Seong-un couldn't control Jio's actions.

That was true even excluding personal feelings.

Objectively, there was no way to stop Jio, who considered himself human, from trying to go out into society.

He could go anywhere and create anything just by painting.

'In that case, it would be better to at least set a direction for him. Even if we can't stop him from moving, we can at least recommend a place to move to.'

Yu Seong-un took a piece of paper out of his briefcase.

"Then how about places like these?"

"What is this?"

"I've sorted out some dungeons that probably wouldn't become chaotic even if you visited."

If possible, he had chosen places with the least potential for casualties.

"The rewards are small and they have low recognition, so even Hunters don't visit often, and they're not fearsome enough to be dangerous to you…."

"……."

"I thought if you wanted to experience the environment outside the portrait, this might be an option. If you move around actively like this, you might even meet other Hunters when you visit a dungeon, right? Then the probability of making new friends goes up too."

Perhaps my proposal did not sound unpleasant. I nodded my head.

"Thank you."

"I hope it was helpful."

"Yes, I have something to give you as a token of my gratitude."

"A gift?"

"The jerky I made before has dried well."

"…Right…."

He never imagined Jio would go so far as to make jerky.

'It probably won't be ordinary jerky.'

Living like this, he felt like he would die before his time in a different sense.

'I'm not going to become so healthy that I live a long life, or even achieve immortality, am I….'

Yu Seong-un was suddenly creeped out.

***

After successfully sending Yu Seong-un off with the jerky, I looked at the dungeon list he gave me and pondered.

"Honey, let's pick one."

"Kururuk."

"We'll go to the dungeon where the gem you spit out stops."

"Kkukukurururuk."

"I knew you'd like it."

The dungeon list Yu Seong-un handed over also had photos of the interiors attached.

It seemed they were dungeons that people called Hunters had already investigated.

Soon, Honey spat out a gem with a thud.

"……."

"……."

"This is it."

Water Vein of Jewels

"……."

Jewels?

"Jewels, you say."

"Kururu."

"…Alright."

"Kururururururururururu."

"I get it, so stop…."

"Kurururururururu…."

"Stop."

It just can't help itself when it comes to shiny things.

'Does this kid know how to read Korean?'

I became highly suspicious that it might have spat it out on purpose.

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