Ju-hyeon often pitied that vast mystery.

"..."

Jio's Portrait.

"... Haa..."

Ju-hyeon himself knew perfectly well that it was an absurd thought.

Ju-hyeon, who had been lying in a large, soft bed far beyond his station, ultimately failed to fall asleep and got up.

His mind was clear, but just in case sleep might come, he left the lights off and went to the kitchen to drink some water.

"..."

CLINK.

He set the glass down.

"... I have no right to be like this."

Even after drinking cool water, the tightness in his chest did not go away.

'How dare I pity a mystery.'

Divinity was the kind of being that could trap a beloved priest in eternity as the result of showing pure affection, or strip away all knowledge and turn someone into an idiot simply because they had prayed for wisdom.

If the one Ju-hyeon pitied had not been Jio, if he had not considered himself human and shown mercy, it would not have been strange for Ju-hyeon to receive divine punishment for his insolence.

'But if it hadn't been Mr. Jio in the first place, I never would have had this thought.'

The reason humans did not pity vast mysteries was partly to avoid offending them, or drawing their attention and suffering disaster, but it was also because they could not feel an emotion like pity toward them in the first place.

Who would pity a typhoon or tsunami that had devoured countless people?

Who would look at the Milky Way shining far away and feel sorry for it because it was lonely?

But to think of him only that way, this person called Jio was...

"..."

He was not even a person, and yet he felt so much like an existence the same as me.

"... Please, let's not do anything presumptuous."

Even though Ju-hyeon was from the disregarded Gita Orphanage, he had ignored that and taken action because he had been certain it would make more people happy.

But Jio?

Could he make him happy?

'He is already happy.'

He could tell from hearing his stories.

He could tell from seeing his face.

He could tell from his voice, from his gestures.

The countless "Jios" held within that portrait had lived satisfying lives and died accordingly.

He must not dare to pity that.

"..."

Even so.

"I must be insane."

How could he not feel sorry for him?

'He was only twenty-four.'

The more he tried not to think about it, the more stubbornly his anguish clung to him.

'He was only twenty-nine, and thirty-two.'

Human lifespans varied depending on the dimension.

Ju-hyeon, who had been an Association researcher, knew that.

There were places where the average lifespan was fifty, and places where it was five hundred.

But that was not what mattered.

From their twenties to early thirties.

He did not know if every "Jio" was like that, but so far, that was how it had been.

They had met death just as they were becoming accustomed to human life, just as they were about to blossom and bear fruit.

'How could that not be pitiful?'

How was that possible?

'People who died the most miserably in the embrace most familiar to them, of all places...'

Ju-hyeon consciously let out a breath.

"..."

Four in the morning.

"... Did Mr. Yu Seongun say he had meetings around this time?"

He tried, for no reason, to turn his thoughts elsewhere.

'Yes, let's think about Mr. Yu Seongun.'

'I should follow his example.'

A mystery was a mystery.

No matter how much it took on a human form, its essence was not the same.

Even if it imitated human life, that was merely amusement, nothing more than a passing moment's pleasure.

Yu Seongun was someone who understood that very well.

That was why, no matter what kind of past "Jio's Portrait" had or what problem arose, he respected and loved it.

As a single "work."

"..."

But if that feels disgusting to me, am I insane after all?

"... Really..."

Yu Seongun had said that the portrait was part of the vast system called the Root.

If one were to compare it to a person, it would be the eyes, and because the Root loved all living things equally, "Jio" continued to experience life.

Was that why Jio always ended up experiencing the highest sky and the lowest mire?

'Because then the Root can acquire information about humans more efficiently?'

A pitch-black sheet of drawing paper that could become anything.

"... It really isn't easy."

Becoming friends with a mystery was truly difficult.

"I can't even worry about him easily."

Ju-hyeon was grateful to Jio.

He was not ignorant of mysteries.

He knew divinity well.

Even so, Jio had asked to become friends as a person, and at the same time, had shown kindness as a friend.

Ju-hyeon was grateful for that.

At times, Jio acted childishly like a young man his age and laughed.

'If it's already this bad after only knowing him for a short time, how much more hopeless will it feel later?'

If seeing him act like a "person" just a few times was enough to make him feel this blocked up inside.

"..."

After letting out a deep sigh, Ju-hyeon muttered as he returned to the bedroom.

"... Is this when I need help from an expert?"

It seemed he would have to ask Mr. Yu Seongun for advice.

"These are the materials regarding the A-rank Dungeon, 'Underground Four-Legged Rainforest.'"

Yu Seongun held out the documents to Bi Sabeol.

"The type is a Villa Dungeon, the location is beneath Hwanseon Cave in Samcheok, Gangwon Province, and aside from the Sun Cult and the Collector, a total of three guilds are participating."

"They have been identified as Eunwol, Haeryeong, and Daecheong."

"Perhaps because it is an event hosted by the Sun Cult, they are all respectable organizations."

"They are known for having good attitudes."

"Eunwol in particular has already collaborated with the Sun Cult several times, so their reliability seems even higher."

"They also make up twelve percent of the order's internal personnel."

Just because it was the headquarters of an order did not mean there were only priests there.

There were manservants and maids who assisted with their daily lives, kitchen staff in charge of meals, and managers of various facilities.

The guild "Eunwol" had steadily played the role of supplying that kind of personnel to the Sun Cult and the Moon Cult.

That was how many believers connected to religion they had, and fundamentally, they were a famous guild with many healers.

"Since Eunwol stepped forward, I looked into whether there might be some issue involving the Moon Cult, but that side has not shown any particular interest."

"It seems they have no intention of interfering with this subjugation."

"I know a little about the Moon Cult's recent circumstances."

Bi Sabeol continued with a grin.

"Their saintess has run into a problem."

"I do not think that is a problem I should know about."

"They say madness is coming over her..."

"Please don't tell me, I can't even forget it."

"I don't remember having a guild member with such a bad memory."

"Exactly."

Yu Seongun was fed up.

"Even if I have been studying a bit lately, I am not a religion specialist, and you know that."

"I wasn't particularly asking you to solve it."

"I know perfectly well you would not have told me in the first place if you expected nothing from me."

"Well, let us set that part aside for a moment."

"We're setting it aside?"

"The Moon Cult's saintess is not what matters right now, is she?"

Bi Sabeol asked.

"What is the mood like with the remaining two guilds?"

"As you already know, Haeryeong is excited at the news that there will be an entertaining battlefield..."

"They are famous moths to a flame."

Haeryeong was famous as a guild where every member was brimming with vitality.

"Brimming with vitality" was putting it nicely; to be blunt, it was a guild full of fighters.

They were also a gathering of tenacious warriors with high pain tolerance and poison immunity, and they did not die easily.

Yu Seongun continued.

"Daecheong is quiet."

"They seem satisfied to have landed steady work."

"Daecheong is a typically competent guild."

Daecheong was not a particularly eye-catching guild.

Although they were a fairly high-ranking guild, compared to the other guilds participating this time, they fell far short, but their strength lay precisely in their "stability."

"They do the basics wherever they go."

They did not have bizarrely talented people like the top three guilds, they did not have formidable mental fortitude like Eunwol, and they were not a guild insane for battle like Haeryeong, but they did the basics wherever they went.

That was Daecheong's strength.

Bi Sabeol smiled.

"It seems the cult put a lot of thought into this."

"It must mean they want the raid to be that stable."

"It is a dungeon they failed to raid despite bringing fairly decent personnel."

"There also seem to be internal concerns that they may be deploying too much manpower."

"They had that terrorist incident just last year, so of course they should go overboard."

The Sun Cult and the Moon Cult were two pillars representing the religious world, both mutually beneficial partners and rivals.

However, after the "country of the deep sea" incident last year caused the Sun Cult to stagger once and greatly weakened its prestige, the Sun Cult would want to avoid two failed raids as much as possible.

At that, Yu Seongun nodded.

"Yes, after looking into it... regardless of its rank, it is quite a troublesome dungeon."

Fake moons and suns rise and disappear at will, making it difficult to distinguish the time of day, and most of the dense vegetation attacks raiders or emits poison.

On top of that, their forms are sharp, so they say even brushing past them slices through flesh.

"The plants are one thing, but the four-legged beast-type monsters that appear there are said to be extremely aggressive."

"They are hostile to everything that walks on two legs and try to eliminate it."

"Do they spare humans if they walk on all fours?"

"Instead of sparing them, they turn them into four-legged beasts like themselves."

"They say the form of the beast they transform into differs depending on what the target did in life and what beliefs they held, which I found interesting."

"It has quite a strong assertion, so it may be a dungeon close to the Root."

"That is why they say a Gardener is going with them this time."

"I learned this through my personal connections, but she is a Gardener affiliated with Eunwol."

Gardeners appear to belong to the government and the Association, but strictly speaking, they are not under their control.

They inherited their gardens from their respective teachers and lived their lives in their own ways, taking on their own responsibilities like a kind of family business.

The Gardener affiliated with Eunwol was one of them.

Just as Yu Seongun was a Curator affiliated with the Collector, she too was a guild member affiliated with the Eunwol guild.

Gardeners were rare, but they existed everywhere.

"If it is a dungeon close to the Root, they may be able to find valuable materials."

"I thought the Guild Master of Eunwol didn't know the identity of the Gardener affiliated with them."

"Identity is a bit... It isn't anything that grand, is it?"

"It is just like a side job."

For most guild members, having two or three jobs was legal.

There were cases like Yu Seongun, where he revealed on his own that he was a Gardener and those around him knew that fact, but most did not go out of their way to announce that they were Gardeners, like the Gardener affiliated with Eunwol.

In the first place, so few people knew about the Root, so why explain everything and invite bothersome trouble?

If not for Bi Sabeol's obsession, Yu Seongun would not have revealed it either.

"Well, I think it is a good opportunity."

Yu Seongun spoke as a Gardener.

"In many ways, it is a stable environment, is it not, for Jio's first raid?"

"I agree entirely with Curator Yu Seongun."

Bi Sabeol looked bored.

"We have paid quite a lot of attention to it."

"When we are sending the eyes of the Root among humans, this is actually not enough."

"But Mr. Seo Jio is not the type to go somewhere and cause trouble, is he?"

He clicked his tongue.

"With so many capable workers around, I wonder if there will even be an environment for our Hunter Seo Jio to run wild."

"I told you, we are not sending him out to relieve a beast's stress."

"How stifled must Mr. Arjio be feeling?"

"Especially when we have not even found him a proper battlefield..."

"I said that is not the situation."

But the purpose of this raid was clear.

Arjio would establish himself in the human world as "Hunter Seo Jio," and the Collector would observe that "Jio's Portrait" and analyze his condition.

How violent he was, how his goodwill would be expressed, how he would cooperate with humans, and in the end, what level of combat Arjio wanted.

Whether sparring would satisfy him, whether a prepared battle would be all right.

Or whether there truly was no answer except a pure bloody fight, and so on...

"Does Curator Yu Seongun not feel any desire to go with him to such an interesting event?"

"Of course I want to go, I do."

"It is Jio's first raid, no one else's..."

But circumstances were not that favorable.

As a capable Hunter and Gardener, Yu Seongun always had many people seeking his help, and because of that, this was already his fifth day without sleep.

"Even if I tried to participate in the raid in this pathetic state, the order would not accept me."

"If you recovered with Jio's gift, I think it would somehow work out, but I also think this opportunity is not bad."

Bi Sabeol smiled thinly.

"Is it not about time Mr. Seo Jio started gaining some independence from Curator Yu Seongun's arms?"

"A work must not become independent from its Curator."

"Do you want to bring down the already precarious Earth?"

"In any case, now that things have turned out this way, the Collector cannot send only Hunter Seo Jio."

"Why are you saying something so obvious as if you are being generous...?"

Yu Seongun was dumbfounded.

"Were you really thinking of sending the Root out alone?"

"I know it is dangerous too, so I am trying to attach them now."

"Escort personnel."

"Shouldn't we call them surveillance personnel rather than escorts?"

"It would be more accurate to call them attendants, but..."

"If you show too much favoritism, Jio will actually feel burdened."

"So I am thinking of putting in only one Curator."

"Ah."

Yu Seongun nodded.

"Are you thinking of sending the fifth-floor chief?"

"Among the floor chiefs, that one is the most gracefully mad."

"They are someone with exceptional love for works."

"I will look for the rest among the trainee team and field staff."

"That sounds just right."

"Does it not?"

Bi Sabeol grinned.

He was already looking forward to seeing what kind of appearance the portrait would show.