Chapter 46

Gio went back to the cabin.

He was now checking the reward he had received from the system after assessing the danger level of the young man he had encountered at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

"I was busy."

Reward: Seal

"I was busy eating."

Even though he knew the system had no consciousness, he found himself making excuses anyway.

"So that's what the seal was..."

Gio looked at the stamp that appeared to be carved from marble.

Gio held and pressed the stamp to its faintly glowing back. It was beautiful how it shone clearly, like sunlight filtering through a thin blanket.

Yet despite being similar to marble, the lustre was different. Looking down at the small pillar that seemed to be faintly pulsing as if alive and breathing, Gio muttered:

"Where have I seen this before?"

"Coooor?"

"It's definitely not for eating, so don't look at it with greedy eyes, Honey. No matter how much you like gems, this seems too much. If you really want marble, go to the spring where there's a tree that grew with a similar stone quality."

"Coo coo coo..."

"Acting cute won't work either."

The system had evolved Seo Gio, who was once an utterly ordinary human, into a portrait that could quickly change personalities. There was no way a seal given by such a being would be ordinary, and he couldn't let Honey just gobble it up.

"Hmm..."

After examining it from various angles, Gio came to a conclusion.

"Is it a sealing wax stamp?"

A sentimental item used to seal letters, sealing wax. It looked like the stamp used to be pressed into melted wax, like candle wax, to create beautiful and stylish patterns. In other words, a kind of seal.

In Gio's era, it was an item chosen more for sentimentality than practicality, but setting that aside...

"I don't have any wax."@@novelbin@@

"Coo?"

"And I don't even have anyone to send a carefully crafted letter to."

"...Coor..."

"Tears are clouding my sight."

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"I don't have any friends."

"...Perhaps it meant I should try to make a pen pal."

Though he wasn't sure why he had been given such a seal, since he didn't know anything anyway, Gio interpreted it as he wished.

This must be the system's consideration, telling the friendless Gio to try making new connections.

"Well then, let's start by sending a letter to Mr. Yoo Sung-woon."

The easiest target, Yoo Sung-woon.

And so, the tired and weary modern man Yoo Sung-woon once again suffered an unexpected ordeal today.

***

"......"

Yoo Sung-woon, returning home after work, nearly had a heart attack.

"...What, this letter...?'

There was an unfamiliar letter placed on the living room table.

"......"

After looking around, he muttered:

"No signs of a break-in."

Thanks to guild leader Bi Sa-beol, who was concerned for his employees' safety, the security of Yoo Sung-woon's residence was so thorough that no one except S-rank hunters could enter. So he was shocked to find a strange letter openly placed in such a home.

After sighing briefly, Yoo Sung-woon calmly collected himself and sat down on the sofa by the table.

"Let's take a look."

Rustle.

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

"......"

Dried grass, huh.

"...Gio?"

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

Tm not certain, but it feels that way.'

The envelope had a texture similar to hanji paper, but it was much drier. And much softer. Yoo Sung-woon's gaze, which had been fixed on the jet-black outer envelope as dark as Gio's eyes, soon fell to the wax sealing the letter.

A texture like sparkling gems.

"Oh..."

It was definitely Gio's.

'...It looks like he melted gems while maintaining their crystal structure like candle wax and stamped with the seal. I'm not sure how such an eccentric thing is possible, but it's dreamlike and beautiful, like something out of a fairytale.'

This kind of strange presence was particularly evident with Gio. Should he say he carried a peculiar sensibility?

"A seal, huh..."

It was a pattern he had never seen before.

"...It somewhat resembles... a portrait."

Plants spread out from the rectangular border, and a pattern inside the border that looked like stylized stars. It was a seal that somehow reminded him of'Gio's Portrait' hanging in Bi Sa-beol's gallery.

"He certainly has a distinct taste."

From his actions to his demeanour, Gio gave off a strong impression of some fantasy medieval nobleman.

'Should I say he has a fairytale-like sensibility?

He remembered him saying that he lived in a cabin, and he thought that he must be a truly peaceful fellow.

"Well then, I should look at the contents."

Carefully peeling off the seal so as not to damage the stamp that seemed worth researching, he found a pure white letterpaper inside. Yoo Sung-woon slowly read the pitch-black writing.

"......"

Then he let out a deep sigh.

"...I can't understand a word of it..."

If you're going to send a letter, shouldn't you write it in an Earth language?

'... I thought he would write in Korean since he seemed to know a fair bit about Korean culture, but I guess that was too much to expect. Gio isn't really Korean after all.'

He tried reading it again, wondering if he might be able to decipher it, but it was still a language he had never seen before. What's more, it didn't even seem to have the regularity of a proper language, leaving Yoo Sung-woon perplexed.

"It would be troublesome if this were some kind of curse letter."

Though it didn't seem likely that Gio would suddenly send something harmful, a being of origin couldn't be judged by such assumptions. It would be quite problematic if this was an item that would curse him if not properly interpreted.

"......"

Yoo Sung-woon relaxed a bit, as he didn't sense any ominous energy from it.

"...Well, I was planning to go see him tomorrow anyway, so I can ask about this too."

As long as it wasn't an immediately exploding bomb, it wasn't a big deal.

Yoo Sung-woon carefully resealed the envelope so as not to crumple the letter. Despite the blue gem seal didn't seem to have any adhesive properties and being cold and smooth, its weight kept it pressed against the opening without floating away.

"I just can't figure him out."

Should this be considered an 'artwork's piece' as well?

"He certainly has a knack for scaring the life out of me..."

Who knows when he'll be able to truly understand Gio's identity.

That point seems a little, distant.

***

"Gio."

The next morning, Yoo Sung-woon sought out Gio.

"About this, is this letter from you?”

"Yes, it is."

"I thought it might be."

"......"

The portrait's face remained expressionless, but it asked with a hint of puzzlement:

"Didn't you check the name I wrote on the letter?'

"Ah, about that..."

Yoo Sung-woon pulled out the letter with an awkward expression.

"I'm sorry to say this after you took the trouble to send me a letter, but how could I read a letter written in a language I don't know? If it's not Earth's language, I have no way of checking it."

"......I see."

Gio paused briefly before continuing.

"But as I recall, I sent you a letter written in Korean."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes. I think there must have been an unexpected issue in the process of delivering the letter. Like how you all feel the resolution of this portrait is off."

"Oh... Well, that's... certainly..."

That could be the case.

'The language in the letter didn't seem to have any regularity at all.'

Gio's letter seemed like something typed on a broken typewriter—while the outward form appeared orderly, the detailed language and rules within were utter chaos.

This part could certainly align with what Gio was saying.

'If he's talking about resolution, he probably means what we discussed before about Gio's status...'

Like the overwhelming pressure and fear particularly felt from Gio outside the portrait.

'Considering that, it does seem like the frame containing this portrait acts as a kind of filter... I wonder if it's a filter meant to contain the Gio's existence that humans can't handle.'

If the language got mixed up and distorted in that filtering process, then the current contents made sense. Since the frame even filters Gio's status, wouldn't it be natural for language to be distorted even more?

"That's a bit unfortunate from the letter sender's perspective."

"I'm sorry for startling you."

"It's fine, but what did you write in the letter anyway?"

"Nothing special, just a light expression of gratitude and greetings."

"...But didn't you have your own rules?”

Struck by a sudden doubt, Yoo Sung-woon asked a light question.

"To take something out of the painting, someone has to pay a price, right? But I don't remember paying anything."

"I had that thought as well, but it seems the seal allowed me to avoid being bound by the rules."

"The seal?"

"It's a seal I obtained by chance. It appears that if I mark something with it, I don't need to receive payment."

"Hmm, is that so?"

It seemed the 1:1 rule wasn't something Gio wanted after all.

'To the extent of finding a way to evade the rules in such a manner.'

In that case, Gio's rules were likely a kind of defence line to prevent his enormous status from overflowing and breaking reality. As he thought earlier, it's probably the result of the 'frame' acting as a filter.

'But if he came up with ways to avoid that suppression, like with seals and such...'

From the perspective of fragile earthlings, that's a bit chilling.

'Even if Gio doesn't enjoy tormenting others, a being of that status can unintentionally crush people. If the rules imposed on him exist to protect earthlings, then this tendency to casually ignore the rules is something to be wary of.'

At any rate, he felt somewhat relieved. He had lost some sleep over receiving such an eerily strange letter, but it seemed it wasn't a terrifying bomb that would harm Yoo Sung-woon after all.

"I was really surprised. I got home from work and there was suddenly an unfamiliar letter..."

"I'm sorry. I didn't expect the letter would be transported like that either."

"I guess you don't send letters often?'

"No, but..."

Gio trailed off, which was rare for him.

"I thought I'd try to make a new friend."

"......"

Yoo Sung-woon took a slow, deep breath before asking in his usual tone:

"...A new friend?"

"It's embarrassing to say, but isn't the only person I talk with Mr. Yoo Sung-woon? Before making a new connection, I thought I'd try sending a letter to you first."

"That was... a very good thing to do."

Though Yoo Sung-woon tended to be indulgent towards beings of origin, that didn't mean he was unaware of how dangerous Gio could be.

Because it was Yoo Sung-woon, it passed without incident, but an ordinary person would have been so startled by the letter emanating the strange aura that they might even fall over. Especially a civilian who wasn't a hunter.

"Other people would be startled, so it would be good if you could be a bit more mindful of that."

"I'll be more careful from now on."

I'd appreciate that."

Scratching the back of his neck, Yoo Sung-woon continued to ask:

"But how will you find these 'new connections'?'

How did Gio, who was always inside the portrait, intend to make 'new friends?

A normal person would go out and about or use the internet to make friends, but none of that applied to Gio.

"Is the letter perhaps carelessly delivered to any random recipient?”

"No, the recipient must be specific for me to send something."

"That must have been the case with me."

"I'll have to think more about how to make new friends."

"Hmm..."

Perhaps this was a good opportunity.

Recalling his conversation with guild leader Bi Sa-beol, Yoo Sung-woon asked Gio:

"Gio, can you move to other dungeons as well?"

"Are you saying not just outside the portrait, but a dungeon?"

"Yes."

"......"

Gio blinked twice, as if pondering, then answered:

"In the case of worlds I've drawn..."

"Eum?"

Worlds he had drawn?

"You just said worlds you've drawn..."

"Yes, in the case of worlds I've drawn, moving is not difficult."

"What?"

"But the dungeons Mr. Yoo Sung-woon referring to doesn't seem to be a space I've drawn. Are you referring to dungeons that already have entrances on Earth which earthlings can visit?"

"...Uh..."

Although his mind was a bit confused, Yoo Sung-woon maintained as calm an appearance as possible as he answered.

"That's right. I'm talking about dungeons that already have entrances on Earth, ones that even hunters like me can visit."

Thinking he should raise Gio's risk level further, Yoo Sung-woon continued:

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

"I haven't tried that part yet."

Gio replied, then quickly added.

"But it does sound fun."

Gio showed interest.

'Fortunately, I had that in mind in advance.'

This 'Gio's Portrait' unexpectedly pursues an interest-centered lifestyle.

He had anticipated that if asked such a question, Gio might suddenly try it out of great curiosity.

'It's a bit difficult to grasp his behaviour patterns, perhaps due to having intelligence equivalent to or greater than humans, but since he's shown this much interest... It would be best to make suggestions within a manageable range if possible.'

As Bi Sa-beol had said, some humans like Yoo Sung-woon cannot control Gio's actions. That was true even excluding personal interests.

After all, there was no way to objectively stop Gio, who considers himself human, from trying to enter society, especially since he could go anywhere and create anything just by drawing paintings.

'Then it would be better to at least give him some direction. Even if we can't stop him from moving, we can at least recommend places to go.'

Yoo Sung-woon took out a piece of paper from his briefcase.

"How about places like these?"

"What is this?"

"I've compiled a list of dungeons that shouldn't cause much commotion if you visit them."

He chose places that would likely result in the least casualties.

"They have low rewards and low recognition, so hunters don't visit them often, and they're not terrifying dungeons that would put you in danger..."

"......"

"I thought you might like to try these if you want to experience environments outside of portraits. If you move around actively like this, you might meet other hunters when visiting dungeons. Then your chances of making new friends would increase too."

Gio nodded, seemingly not displeased by Yoo Sung-woon's suggestion.

"Thank you."

"I'm glad if it was helpful."

"Yes, I have something to give you as thanks."

"A gift?"

"The jerky I made earlier has dried well."

"... I see..."

He hadn't expected Gio to even make jerky.

'It probably won't be an ordinary jerky.'

If he keeps living like this, it feels like he might not live his natural lifespan in a different sense.

Tm not going to end up becoming so healthy that I live forever and even become immortal, am I...?

Yoo Sung-woon suddenly shuddered.

***

After successfully sending Yoo Sung-woon off with the jerky, Gio pondered over the dungeon list he had been given.

"Honey, let's try picking one."

"Cooorr."

"We'll go to whichever dungeon the gem you spat lands on.”

"Coooorrrrrr."

"I knew you'd like it too."

The dungeon list Yoo Sung-woon had given him included photos of the interiors. It seemed these dungeons had already been investigated by people called hunters.

Soon, Honey spat out a gem with a plop.

"......"

"This one, then."

Gem's Water Vein

"......"

Gem?

"What do you mean, gem?"

"Cooorrrr."

"...Alright."

"Cooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr."

"Alright, that's enough..."

"Coooorrrrrrrrrr..."