NOTICE: Many of the novels have been removed because they might cause violations, which we were not aware of earlier.
Episode 19
“It was dangerous.”
Yoo Seong-un said as if sighing.
“I agreed with that, but seeing my employees gossiping about ‘ghost stories’ made my heart flutter. It almost led to internal strife.”
“Our guild members aren’t so narrow-minded that they would fight over a ghost story. Curator Yoo Seong-un, do you have low trust in your coworkers?”
“It was a gamble, a matter of trust and confidence. This wasn’t something that could be reassured based on trust between colleagues.”
Although things worked out well in the end, it still was a risky gamble.
“It’s like completely releasing the existence of a source whose identity has not even been properly identified… ”
We still don’t know what Geo’s true identity is. For some reason, it still is. No matter how much Yoo Seong-un searched through the books, he couldn’t find a single similar person.
If we entrust the investigation to the association, we might be able to get some answers, but it is unknown what the probability is, and in the first place, Bisabal would not have let it happen.
‘He is such a devoted person to his own things.’
However, what was certain was that ‘Portrait of Geo’ was clearly a being that had been strongly influenced by the source.
Gardeners and some humans who know of their existence call such monsters, items, skills, or phenomena ‘original beings’. It is difficult to define them specifically, so they are just vague terms.
It may be a bit of a stretch for a professional in this day and age, but ‘Portrait of Geo’ was one such case.
“It almost turned out to be a disaster.”
“Well, Curator Yoo Seong-un, what do you think Geo’s true identity is?”
“Are you beating around the bush…?”
“It’s a simple question.”
“… … .”
Yoo Seong-un shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know. It’s just like it has been so far.”
Geo’s path was different from that of the normal origin beings.
“First of all, there is a high probability that it is not a monster.”
“They are certainly hostile to civilization outside the dungeons.”
“Their hostility is more instinctive. It’s a reflex, like when a human sees a cockroach and gets scared or wants to kill it right away. It’s not something the monsters can control themselves… .”
“Even if it were possible, that level of patience and judgment would have already surpassed the level of a ‘monster.’”
“In that sense, I decided it wasn’t a monster.”
Geo’s favor may sometimes feel indifferent or merciless, as it is due to his love for the race itself, but that does not mean that it is not pure favor.
So it couldn’t be a monster.
“Isn’t it showing a completely different aspect from the monster?”
Yoo Seong-un nodded.
“Of course, there are monsters that are friendly to humans, but strictly speaking, that’s closer to love and hate than affection. If the deformity incident 11 years ago was truly pure kindness, they would have carefully observed the humans crying out in fear and taken care of it.”
“But did you say they were happy?”
“There are some who have no intention of understanding humans, and perhaps they just found their reactions amusing. As for this part, the incident was quickly resolved and ended unsolved… I can’t say anything for sure.”
“That’s not important right now, so let’s move on.”
“Well, and… .”
Yoo Seong-un continued speaking, rolling his deep blue eyes.
“It’s not even an item.”
“There must certainly be items that have egos.”
“The ego contained in an item is something that was created by humans. It has its limitations.”
He added.
“You can’t judge someone by how much they can think like a human… you have to look at their essence.”
“The essence?”
“Geo created life, even if only in a portrait.”
Yoo Seong-un thought for a moment and tilted his head.
“Perhaps a life created in this way could come out of the picture. I haven’t heard the answer from Geo, but considering that there are no restrictions on its own ability to come out, and that it can easily take objects out of the picture, it seems highly possible.”
“What if Geo draws a monster and it comes out?”
“That seems possible. Even if it doesn’t work, it’s confirmed that Geo can escape at will. If it’s not a monster but an item, or if Geo brings out a contract beast that has been subjugated by his soul, that alone will be impossible to handle.”
“And a mere item can’t do that?”
“All items are created by humans. No matter how much you think about it without prejudice, only highly intelligent monsters can create them. Creating life is impossible for humans or monsters, and the fact that the level of their souls is incomparable to that of humans has already been testified by numerous witnesses. It is not an item.”
“aha.”
He laughed and giggled as if he found the visage amusing. He was really immature for his age.
“Then what about a type of skill? In the case of skills, it was proven long ago that they can manipulate souls. There is a user of the resurrection skill who can bring back a dead person, although there is only one person.”
“That too is just messing with the original soul, and cannot create a completely new soul. Even if a skill capable of creating a soul exists somewhere in the world… In the first place, the skill is an intangible energy that intelligent life can handle.”
“So you’re saying that Geo, who has a form and an ego, can’t be a remnant of a skill? But what if he’s just some kind of awakened being who gained the skill to turn himself into a portrait?”
The visage changed as he waved his fingers.
“Geo himself describes himself as a 29-year-old young man who has previously been in human society. If so, he may simply be a type of Awakened being that has not been revealed until now.”
Yoo Seong-un shook his head.
“It’s impossible.”
“Why? Mr. Yoo Seong-un, the research team leader of the association, does he see something?”
“If you look at it, it would be the guild leader who would see it better than me… I just know something.”
“So what do you know?”
“Do you know why people with superpowers are called ‘Awakened Ones’ in the first place?”
“Hmm….”
Visabal shrugged.
“It’s not something I’m really interested in.”
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“If you just say you don’t know, it might damage your pride.”
“I guess it’s a lot. I’m the head of one of the top three guilds in South Korea. Can you imagine how expensive this pride is?”
“You must be foolish.”
Yoo Seong-woon continued speaking, letting out a bitter laugh.
“It’s easy if you look back at the meaning of the word awakening.”
“1. Wake up and come to your senses. 2. Realize and know. 3. Wake up and observe carefully and be on guard.”
“… You said it wasn’t a field you were interested in, but it’s like a Korean dictionary… .”
“If you don’t even know the meaning of the words, I wonder if there’s any point in becoming a guild leader with just one emotion skill.”
“Oh, yes. You must be stupid.”
“So which one is it?”
“Um… anything is fine.”
Yoo Seong-un continued speaking nonchalantly.
“The important thing is its essence.”
“That’s interesting.”
“In any sense, awakening is the reconfiguration of something that already exists.”
He rested his chin on his hand.
“Whether it’s opening your eyes and coming to your senses, straightening out your regrettably twisted mind, or maturing internally and reflecting on your younger days… it’s a change that takes place within that one person who has always existed.”
“Aha, so?”
“The Awakened One’s skills are not the result of receiving abilities that were previously absent, but rather the awakening of abilities that were originally buried within one’s nature. Dungeons were created, energy and resources that were not originally present on Earth were created, and the environment changed along with them. Humans evolved to adapt to that.”
“I think there was something similar in the center’s textbook. So, is it okay to understand it as meaning that it is just a matter of realizing that the stone you originally had was a diamond when the time came?”
“It’s probably about the same.”
Yoo Seong-un scratched the back of his neck.
“In that sense, Geo cannot be considered an Awakened One.”
“Hmm… .”
“Even if he is an Awakened One, his original soul level has awakened, not been granted a new one.”
“I see.”
These two do not know it, but there was an error in Yoo Seong-un’s words. Sergio was a very, very, very coincidental case of his soul being elevated through a union with the Source during the process of Earth’s new birth.
This was a miraculous transformation of probability that would be difficult to observe on a small scale like Earth.
“I have a headache.”
“It’s a headache.”
Of course, the two of them could not have figured this out, only 30 years after the catastrophe.
To them, who were ordinary humans, the ‘Portrait of Geo’ was not a human being from the beginning.
“… … .”
Bisabal, who had been blinking his bright yellow eyes and thinking, opened his mouth.
“Then what if we call Geo the ‘Child of Origin’?”
“I think that’s a little… strange.”
“Please explain in what sense this is strange.”
“Most of the children of the Origin are not of the opposite s*x. No, we don’t even have to go as far as children; this applies to almost all beings born from the Origin…”
Yoo Seong-un said with a trembling face.
“If I were to describe the existence of the source in one word, I would say it is a ‘living story.’ So I cannot think. Even if it seems like I am thinking, it is an illusion and I am not actually thinking.”
“Are you sure?”
“… That’s not… true. Even though I’m a gardener, I’m not really an expert in this field yet.”
Yoo Seong-un, who had been hesitating, continued speaking.
“I said that because all the children of the original source that I have seen so far could be seen as nature itself.”
There are often cases where humans create a dungeon with their own strong ideas and rules, and then become the boss monster there.
But they too could not be called ‘children of the origin’.
“Monsters are one of two things. Either they were created in a dungeon, or they became monsters because the dungeon was created.”
“Hmm… .”
“It’s different from the ‘Children of the Origin’ who arise directly from the Origin or who coincidentally belong to the vein of the Origin and are then created here and there in the dimensions.”
“Your story is always fascinating to hear.”
The beast laughed, its eyes slitting like a snake’s.
“From my perspective as a hunter, the greatest secret in the world would be the dungeons.”
“That’s a good thing. There are still many people who can’t adapt to the mere existence of dungeons, but if we were to tell them that the dungeons were formed from a universal concept called Origin… everyone would have their heads cracked.”
“We are always grateful to our gardeners. Would you like some coffee?”
“Okay. I’ll take the caffeine.”
Yoo Seong-un was openly disgusted. He was already busy and often worked overtime, but recently he had been consuming as much caffeine as he could in order to talk to Geo, who only opened his eyes at dawn, and he was on the verge of vomiting.
“Anyway, well, that’s right. If we really have to explain it, it would be much easier to say that Geo is the child of the Origin. There’s no other way to explain it… The Origin isn’t a narrow concept that can be understood by the existence of Earth in just 30 years.”
“Well, since we don’t even know the dungeon yet, we probably don’t have the capacity to explore knowledge further down.”
“It seems like the chairman is still interested, but I’m not sure. It’s still hard to say anything about Geo’s true identity.”
The source is an ecosystem and nature. Just as the nitrogen in the atmosphere does not understand humans, the children of the source have a very poor understanding of humans. They just survive in their own way and cultivate their own ‘story’.
But Geo wasn’t like that.
“I don’t know how that’s possible… well, I don’t know. But since you said you were once human, if we investigate that, wouldn’t we be able to find out something…?”
“… … .”
“Even so, I cannot understand how a human could become a child of the Origin. Even if they were human, it is possible that they were not humans of Earth.”
Many novice gardeners confuse ‘monsters’ with ‘children of the origin’, but just because they are formed under the great influence of the origin does not mean they are the same.
“Monsters are born in dungeons, and children of the origin are born from the origin. They were born from different ships, so they can’t be the same.”
“Is it roughly an uncle-nephew relationship?”
“Hmm… I guess it’s somewhat similar.”
The order is that a ‘dungeon’ and a ‘child of the origin’ are formed from the mother body called the origin, and then a monster is formed from that ‘dungeon’. Usually, this flow is followed.
“If it’s a humanoid monster or something similar, they’ll create a dungeon themselves and create new rules or monsters there, but that’s not common… .”
The saying uncle and nephew is not so wrong.
“There is also a story that the dungeon is also one of the children of the origin.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“This part still needs more research. I can’t say for sure. Anyway… .”
Yoo Seong-un saw the visa.
“So, was it okay?”
“… … .”
“I decided to let this unidentified entity go free.”
The sage shrugged his shoulders.
“… Didn’t we already discuss the answer to that earlier?”
How on earth can we possibly leave that unidentified, uncontrollable entity unfree?
“It’s not a monster, it’s not an item, it’s not an Awakened One. But there are too many strange things about it to be a child of the Origin.”
“… … .”
“He creates life, has a high level of soul, and can do anything. He does everything by himself. If there are any restrictions or conditions for coming out of the portrait, I don’t know, but he can do that freely and easily.”
“… That’s right.”
“How are you going to stop it? Is it even possible? We can’t even handle the gods that we’ve become so familiar with, so how are you going to stop the ‘Portrait of Geo’ whose identity is unknown?”
Visabal smiled and waved his hand.
“Oh, maybe it would be possible if he took a human he cared about hostage.”
“Are you crazy?”
“I expected that kind of reaction. It’s not to our taste in terms of humanitarianism, and I don’t know how effective it would be in the first place. With Geo’s abilities, he could easily take the hostages away… That would only cause trouble.”
“… … .”
“Do you understand?”
He smiled cheerfully.
“We can’t stop it.”
“…I know.”
“What’s the difference between trying to stop a tsunami by using a small child as a meat shield and me? If you can’t stop it anyway, at least you shouldn’t get in trouble.”
He smiled thinly. It was a smile that seemed to be comforting a child who was struggling, and it felt like the old man’s gaze was looking down on him.
“And as much as possible, it would be good to save up favors.”
By the greatest stroke of luck, ‘Portrait of Geo’ is very gentlemanly, polite and fair.
If you receive something as a favor from someone, you should return the favor in the same amount, but in a greater amount. Perhaps that is Geo’s ‘rule’.
“This incident was a kind of vaccination, a warning to coexist with something I would never be able to handle. Fortunately, I know my staff very well, and they have lived up to my expectations of indifference.”
“… The numerous ghost stories that have occurred in the guild so far may have also played a part. Nothing much has happened so far, so I guess they thought there was no need to be terrified by a ghost story now.”
“That’s it.”
“… … .”
“This place is called ‘Collector’.”
A place managed by Bisabal himself, filled only with employees selected by Bisabal himself, and filled with works of art that Bisabal himself loves.
That was the 3rd largest guild in South Korea, ‘Collectors’.
“Mr. Yoo Seong-un, remember. ‘Portrait of Geo’ is not something we can control.”
It was stupid to even think about fighting.
“It was a natural disaster, and fortunately, they were able to communicate with us and were kind to us. That was truly an incredible stroke of luck, an unbelievable miracle.”
“… … .”
“Don’t think that the fate of the Earth is in your hands and foolishly throw away this miracle. We must be careful, generous, and always kind.”
“… Did you buy Geo knowing this would happen? Since he was up for auction, he was going to be exposed to the world anyway, and you bought him in advance to avoid any potential disasters along the way?”
“I see quite a lot.”
“… … .”
“I thought it wasn’t an ordinary piece of work.”
Visabal then smiled with a childish and mischievous face. It seemed like it would be out of place to dress up like a gentleman, but he actually seemed lively.
He said.
“Because it was the only work I couldn’t read.”
That was right.
“… … .”
“…I trust the guild leader.”
“It’s difficult to trust too much.”
“To be exact, I trust your judgment.”
I believe those eyes.
Since it was a successful gamble, Yoo Seong-un decided to swallow his words.
“But I guess I’m still anxious because I’m just human.”
“How can I be foolish when I have a speaking disaster in my heart?”
“It’s like that feeling right before a horror movie starts.”
Oh, yeah.
That’s it.
“… Is it because there’s something so huge in front of me… ”
What can I do with my heart that is cowering before a giant?
Humans are originally such small beings.
* * *
Meanwhile, in a truly unbelievable and mind-bogglingly miraculous miracle that should never have happened, on that day that was supposed to be the last day of the Earth but wasn’t, Geo unknowingly merged with the Source and evolved into a possessed portrait…
“This is the taste.”
I was farming.
It means that there are no thoughts.