The Artist Who Paints Dungeon

Ch. 53


Chapter 53

Meanwhile, the employees of the Collectors who received the same official notice as Cha Ara were very flustered.

“……?”

“What is this?”

“Did the Guild Master play a prank or something…?”

“He’s not one to joke around with official notices.”

It was true that Bisabeol played pranks with high frequency, but surprisingly, he was a person who was clear about public and private matters.

Bisabeol, who always maintained a gentlemanly attitude unless it was a problem related to his collecting obsession, would not play a prank on an official notice.

“Is it like a ghost story?”

“This is about the Black Cape, right?”

The employees fell into confusion.

“So is ‘Jio’ a person or a ghost….”

1. The name of the man in the black cape is Jio.

2. Jio is a dawn shift employee. Do not ask for his identity.

3. If Jio wants to exchange names, tell him your name. There will be no problem.

4. No matter what kind of conversation Jio starts, answer kindly and politely. If the conversation is successful, you will receive a gift from Jio.

5. Rule 4 is an exaggeration and does not need to be strictly followed.

6. Ignore rule 5. Let's always be polite employees to our clients and colleagues.

7. You can give a gift to Jio. In this case, you must receive a gift in return from Jio.

8. If you see an unfamiliar picture frame inside the building, ignore it. It is an experimental installation by the dawn shift and will be removed before daybreak. Do not touch or scratch the work.

9. Bad people cannot go in front of the portrait on the 5th basement floor. Be especially careful not to visit the front of the portrait at dawn.

The official notice said to treat him as a person, but the nuance contained the meaning of ‘this bastard is definitely not a person, but don’t show it and everyone be tactful and conduct yourselves well.’

“…….”

“…….”

The employees foresaw a tiring future.

They exchanged glances.

“How should we interpret this?”

“…First, let’s gather in our respective teams and figure out the situation.”

“Oh, Guild Master….”

As befitting the Collectors guild, which was full of cynical people, they didn’t linger on it any longer and coolly gathered amongst themselves to discuss it.

Because they knew that nothing would get done by just being in a state of confusion.

“First up is the discussion on whether this is a joke or serious. Anyone with an opinion, please speak without reservation.”

“First of all, I don’t think it’s a joke. Our Guild Master is someone who knows well how much he can sway the employees with a single official notice. He sometimes breaks down when it comes to works and art, but he’s usually a person who maintains a neat attitude.”

“I agree. However, I believe rules 4 and 5 are a joke. It’s in a format as if someone tampered with the rules organized by the Guild Master….”

At that, one employee said.

“Isn’t it possible that someone else really did tamper with the rules the Guild Master organized? The most likely candidate would be the ‘Jio’ mentioned in these rules, that is, the ‘Black Cape.’ The ghost that’s presumed to be a humanoid monster.”

“Ah… I included that when I said it was a joke. This official notice isn't being shared in real-time, and it could have been edited, but it was sent like this. It seems the Guild Master is enjoying this ghost story-like atmosphere.”

“That’s a valid point.”

It was a joke if Bisabeol had organized the rules in this format where two egos were checking each other, and it was also a joke if ‘Jio’ had tampered with the rules organized by Bisabeol and he distributed it without editing.

“But in that case, we can define these rules as being well worth familiarizing ourselves with.”

“Looking at it, he sent the notice to all employees except for non-regular workers with less than 6 months of service. The fact that he took measures to prevent the notice from leaking outside the guild shows that this incident is quite important.”

“Then we’ll conclude the first discussion with ‘it’s serious.’”

“I agree.”

“I concur.”

Secondly, the employees examined the content of the rules.

“It’s certain that this rule is targeted at the ‘Black Cape’ we knew. The name Jio was also known implicitly thanks to a few eyewitness accounts. However, the introduction of his identity in the first sentence seems to be for the purpose of informing us of his existence.”

“It says he’s a dawn shift employee and not to ask for his identity. This must be because the Black Cape dislikes questions about his identity. I’m not sure why….”

An employee asked.

“In the first place, is the Black Cape a human or a monster? Shouldn’t we clarify that before moving on?”

“But the notice itself was sent in a vaguely organized ghost story format like this. It seems the Guild Master was indirectly telling us that he has no intention of revealing the Black Cape’s exact identity.”

“We can still guess, though.”

“No, think again.”

An employee shook his head.

“The more we know, the more likely we are to be saddled with troublesome work.”

“How wise. In that case, it would be best to treat the Black Cape as Schrödinger’s human for now. Until we open the box ourselves, everyone should regard the Black Cape as a dawn shift employee secretly brought in by the Guild Master.”

“Right, doesn’t the notice also have the nuance of treating ‘Jio’ as a human? If the Guild Master told us to do so, following his orders is the virtue of a good subordinate.”

Virtue or not, the employees, who had no intention of taking on extra work, all nodded their heads.

It was indeed a precariously run guild.

But ghost story, human, or ghost, not a single employee wanted to know the details of an incident that Bisabeol was so delighted and concerned about.

“The more you know, the more work they’ll give you.”

“But they do give you extra pay.”

“I’d rather not get it and not work. I have to go home and walk my Choco.”

“True….”

They were serious about their work-life balance.

“Anyway, the part about not asking for his identity, doesn’t that mean that the employee named Jio dislikes questions prying into his identity?”

“The more I look at this, the more it seems like a monster, not a human….”

“Ahem, be quiet unless you want extra work. Still, it says there are no disadvantages to exchanging names, so at least it’s not a being that plays around with contracts.”

“Team leader, you’re treating him like a monster right now too.”

“I told you to be quiet.”

Unless it was a very special situation, Bisabeol was unlikely to do anything that would damage his employees, who were one of his collectibles.

So, it seemed to be true that there were no disadvantages to exchanging names.

“But the fact that the term ‘exchanging names’ appeared in the notice, doesn’t that mean the Black Cape attempts to exchange names that frequently?”

“Everyone exchanges names.”

“Still, for it to appear in an official notice, it means the Black Cape conducts the exchange of names in a rather unnatural way. This really looks like a monster imitating a person, no matter how I see it….”

“Silence.”

“Sorry, it was just so absurd.”

The analysis continued.

“It says to be kind and polite no matter what conversation he starts….”

“And after that, it’s written, ‘Let’s always be polite employees to our clients and colleagues.’”

“The fact that it’s emphasized twice suggests that the Black Cape dislikes rude people.”

“And bad people, too.”

An employee pointed to rule 9.

“‘Bad people cannot go in front of the portrait on the 5th basement floor. Be especially careful not to visit the front of the portrait at dawn.’”

“…….”

“This part completely blocks access, which shows that the Black Cape’s penalty for ‘evil’ is greater than for ‘rudeness.’It would be best to prevent Hunters with criminal records from entering as much as possible.”

“No, seriously.”

The young employee who had been grumbling from before dry-washed his face.

“Fuck, I’m trying to treat him like a human, but the way this Guild Master talks is just….”

“Calm down, he’s the Guild Master for a reason, and that’s just how he is. You may have signed the contract without knowing, but we all know now.”

“You are correct.”

“But it’s become certain that the Black Cape has a deep connection to the portrait in the 5th basement gallery. I heard that recently in the 5th floor gallery, there’s a portrait of a man that the Guild Master bought at an auction. Well, yes.”

“…….”

“Let’s stop here.”

No matter how much they tried to figure out his identity, the truth was of no use to the employees who extremely loathed extra work.

They analyzed the notice so as not to make a mistake, but they gritted their teeth and ignored ‘Jio’s’ identity.

“Let’s go back to rule 4. Not only is politeness emphasized, but it’s also written afterward, ‘If the conversation is successful, you will receive a gift from Jio.’”

“In that case, if we have an unsatisfactory conversation with Jio and don’t receive a gift, is there a separate punishment? Like being sick for the whole day…?”

“Considering that the Guild Master is just leaving the Black Cape alone, it doesn’t seem like a problem big enough to interfere with life or daily activities. However, the Black Cape seems to loathe rude opponents, so an ‘unsatisfactory conversation’ could also be judged as a form of rudeness.”

“In that case, not at the time of not receiving the gift, but if such ‘rudeness’ piles up, it could incur the Black Cape’s enmity. That part could certainly become dangerous, so we must be careful not to let a situation where we fail to receive a gift more than 3 times occur.”

“I don’t know if the Black Cape’s patience will last for 3 times… but I understand.”

The employees who saw rule 5 exchanged glances.

“This is probably….”

“Written by the Black Cape, right?”

“It’s exaggerated, so don’t follow the rule. What could this mean?”

“He might be waiting for us to let our guard down according to the words of rule 4.”

“That’s creepy.”

There were many such monsters.

The kind that intentionally lets you break the monster’s rule, and then, when a human breaks the rule, uses that as a justification to attack or torment them.

“Then it means he at least knows Hangul, right?”

“According to the eyewitness accounts of the dawn security guards, he introduced himself as ‘Seo Jio.’ It seems he followed the Korean style, so I wonder if he has also familiarized himself with Korean culture.”

“You said we should treat him as Schrödinger’s human, Team Leader.”

“Ah, um… yes, even among humans, there are people who are ignorant of different cultures.”

The team leader waved his hand as if to brush it off.

“Rule 7 isn’t hard to understand either. If you want to give something to the Black Cape, be sure to receive a gift in return. This part seems to be the Black Cape’s rule.”

“So this is just a monster….”

“Shh. There are people who value rules everywhere in the world. I don’t know how much we’ll be interacting directly with the Black Cape in the future, but if you happen to give something to the Black Cape, make sure to get a gift in return.”

“He must be a person who really likes to repay kindness with kindness.”

“Right, how kind of him.”

They were still gritting their teeth and ignoring the truth.

“Isn’t rule 9 hard to achieve in the first place? The number of people who can enter the last floor, the 5th basement gallery, is limited. Is this rule for the curators?”

“There’s a high probability of that.”

Once they had roughly sorted things out, the employees dispersed on their own.

“I should buy the curators a meal soon….”

They pitied the curators, the managers of the gallery.

At that moment, numerous curators were holding back tears.

“As long as it’s not me.”

“It’s not our responsibility to handle ‘Jio’s Portrait’ anyway.”

“On days when Mr. Yu Seong-un is busy and can’t come, we have to do it.”

“Ah….”

It was the same for the dawn security guards.

“…They say he’s that scary.”

“…We’ll just have to be careful….”

Anyway, as long as they followed the rules, it wouldn’t affect their lives, right?

Saying that was enough, the employees accepted it calmly.

***

“…To think the situation would turn out like this again….”

Yu Seong-un nodded his head.

“You’ve hired your employees very well.”

“Everyone is so indifferent. It’s just like our Collectors members, who hate extra work more than death.”

“In any case, they will adapt well.”

Bisabeol had said there was no way to confine ‘Jio’s Portrait,’ and he himself did not want his work to be abused like that.

With the addition of Gardener Yu Seong-un’s opinion, they devised a way for the ‘Black Cape’ to appropriately blend into human society.

This could be called a kind of vaccination.

It wasn’t a decision that would be a loss on a pan-human level, Bisabeol laughed.

His appearance, suggesting what could be done even if a few people died, was brazen as expected of an S-Class.

“And about Hunter Cha Ara, whom we saw last time.”

“Oh, is there a problem with that friend?”

“Well….”

Yu Seong-un scratched his neck.

“It seems that her family and Jio will be meeting soon.”

“Good heavens.”

Bisabeol’s face lit up brightly.

“Is Jio going out again?”

“I included in the last report that he said he would go see the Solar Cult’s initiation ceremony.”

“Since he is a portrait that does not particularly like noisy things, I thought he might change his mind.”

“I was also concerned about that part and asked him again, but he said he still intends to go out.”

“The first outing seemed to have gone very smoothly, but I do not know if the second one can be the same.”

“Strictly speaking, isn’t it the third outing? Jio has already met Hunter Cha Ara in the ‘Water Vein of Jewels.’”

“To be precise, it could be called the portrait’s official human imitation. It is a delightful thing.”

“…Delightful….”

“Has the sea been noisy of late? You said there were also changes in Jio’s personality… hmm.”

“…….”

Yu Seong-un felt a sense of foreboding.

“…It’s a bit strange that you’re saying this, but by any chance, have you seen something? Like the future?”

“My skill is Appraisal. I would ask you to refrain from strange falsehoods, Curator Yu Seong-un.”

Bisabeol smiled.

“But it seems like it will be fun.”

“…….”

Yu Seong-un gritted his teeth.

For Bisabeol, who was renowned for his sharp eyes, to say ‘it seems like it will be fun,’ was literally the sound of his lifespan shortening.

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