Chapter 26 of 50

Chapter 26

After spending enough time looking around the <Gate of Heaven> and the people admiring it, I headed straight to the Association.

I was there to receive Grandfather's posthumous work, just as we'd agreed in the contract.

All the way there, part of me worried that the Association might suddenly claim they hadn't secured the painting yet and try to drag things out.

Thankfully, the manager began leading me underground almost as soon as we finished greeting each other.

I clenched my slightly trembling hand into a fist and hid it.

Since I was standing in a place I didn't trust, I wanted to look confident until the very end.

"Painter Do Jae-hwan's posthumous work is in here."

The manager glanced toward a sturdy-looking iron door.

[AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY]

The warning was displayed prominently across it.

Once he seemed certain I'd fully registered the door and the space beyond it, he entered something on the keypad and unlocked it.

Clunk.

The room beyond was filled entirely with items.

Armor radiating a strange light.

A bracelet that looked as though it had been woven from tree branches.

An enormous longbow.

Shoes that looked like they'd stepped straight out of mythology....

Among them, the manager brought out a canvas wrapped in white cloth.

It wasn't inside a proper frame.

The canvas was still attached to its wooden stretcher.

It looked as though someone had simply carried it straight out of a painter's studio.

"Would you like to check it?"

"...Yes. I would."

I carefully accepted the canvas and pulled back the white cloth.

An oil painting of a riverside landscape appeared.

This place....

Grandfather had been a Western-style painter.

His clothes had always carried a faint smell of oil.

There would often be paint beneath his fingernails or around his wrists.

Sometimes he'd sit me down and draw for me when I talked about wanting to become a sculptor.

Because of that, I knew his painting style fairly well....

"..."

A riverside landscape painted in a style I hadn't seen in years was right in front of me.

I didn't even need to look at the signature at the bottom to know who'd painted it.

More importantly...

The riverside inside the painting pulled a memory out from somewhere deep inside me.

"Grandpa, what are you looking at?"

It was before I'd even entered middle school.

No matter how bad things were between Grandfather and Father, this was still an era where people had become precious because of Gates.

So there had been one or two occasions when three generations of our family went out together.

One of them was a family outing to the Han River.

I couldn't remember exactly what had caused it anymore.

But I thought Grandfather and Father had briefly repaired their relationship after a long cold war between them.

To celebrate, the family decided to go out together.

The five of us reached the Han River and walked for quite a while looking for a place to spread out a picnic mat.

Eventually, we found an area full of trees with benches between them.

Only then did we lay down the mat and awkwardly sit together.

Even that outing, which was supposed to help us get along, ended with raised voices....

But that wasn't why I still remembered the riverside scenery in the painting.

It was because of something much smaller.

Not the sight of Grandfather and Father arguing fiercely.

But Grandfather's expression as he quietly watched Father walk toward a nearby convenience store with my older brother.

Even as a child, I hated Father for opposing my dream of sculpture.

But at the same time, I hoped Grandfather and Father would make up.

And secretly, I hoped that if they did, Father might start supporting my dream too.

So while Grandfather was looking at Father, I deliberately asked him,

"What are you looking at?"

It was only a little bit of selfishness.

I wanted Father to notice that Grandfather had been looking at him.

Because Grandfather's expression had seemed strangely tender.

But Grandfather answered by giving a faint smile and quietly shaking his head.

Instead, he turned away and looked toward the opposite side of the river.

I followed his gaze.

And the view I'd seen at that exact moment was now right there inside the painting.

No one but Grandfather could've painted this.

At the same time, knowing he'd left this particular riverside as his final work made my chest ache.

Because it felt as though, shortly before he died, the memory he'd been thinking about was that family outing.

...Even if Father found out, he'd probably get angry and say Grandfather went and turned it into a painting anyway.

But I understood Grandfather.

Artists couldn't help it.

If you couldn't release what was inside you, your hands and feet started trembling and your chest began itching.

Eventually, you searched for the method that expressed what was inside you best.

For Grandfather, that had been painting, the thing he'd devoted his entire life to.

There was nothing strange about that.

If words were the best way for some people to express themselves...

If sculpture was my language...

Then painting had been Grandfather's language.

I looked at the painting for a long time.

Tall trees stretched upward, casting long shadows.

The shade beneath them was thick, yet the painting didn't feel dark.

Sunlight broke through the leaves and left white marks on the ground like scattered flower petals.

And beyond the trees was the Han River in the middle of a spring afternoon, glittering with reflected light.

So vast.

So bright.

It looked like a piece of a lake made from melted silver.

So that's how the Han River looked to Grandfather that day.

It was hard to believe this was the same place where, only yesterday, everyone had sent their tears flowing forward.

"Have you finished checking it?"

The manager, who had been standing silently beside me the entire time, suddenly spoke.

Apparently bored from waiting, he had started glancing at the watch on his wrist.

That snapped me back to reality too.

What does my face look like right now?

Thankfully, my eyes didn't seem red.

I wasn't smiling too much either.

If anything, I'd probably only looked serious while lost in old memories.

Good.

I intended to hide this weakness until the very end.

I answered evenly.

"Yes. I'm done checking it. I can take it with me today, correct?"

"Of course. That's what the contract says. The Association keeps its word."

The manager's complexion immediately brightened.

He even threw in a little flourish while subtly presenting the Association in a favorable light.

I gave a vague nod and lifted the painting, which was nearly as large as my upper body.

The first thing I'd do when I got home was have a frame made for it.

Maybe because I'd seen such a good reaction when the <Gate of Heaven> was unveiled, I'd completely stopped worrying about public opinion.

Especially regarding my skill.

I wasn't concerned in the slightest.

My sculpting ability, combined with the vitality and realism created by my Aura stat, produced something distinctly different from ordinary works.

But strange things happened all the time in this world.

What happened after the unveiling of the <Gate of Heaven> was exactly that.

It started with an article from some online newspaper I'd never even heard of.

The tone was aggressively critical.

[...Entrusting such an important work to an unqualified sculptor simply because he possesses an S-Class production skill....]

The attached photo showed the <Gate of Heaven> inside the Han River memorial space.

You'd have to be blind to write an article like this.

And they weren't criticizing my lack of experience.

They were criticizing my skill?

Confused, I zoomed in on the picture.

It had clearly been edited.

Whatever they'd done, the quality of the sculpture looked subtly worse.

The article listed an SNS post as the source, making it appear as though the photo had been taken by an ordinary visitor.

Naturally, the image on that SNS page had been edited too.

Why would they tell a lie that anyone could expose just by going to the site?

Actually, they wouldn't even have to go there.

Looking at other visitor photos on social media would be enough.

I watched people who were probably from Yeonwoo Guild attack both the article and the SNS account.

A hollow laugh escaped me.

And I got my answer sooner than expected.

Articles copying the quickly deleted online-news piece began multiplying everywhere.

Then posts criticizing the <Gate of Heaven> started appearing across social media and ordinary online communities.

And very naturally, my supposedly poor skill became connected to my past and family.

Soon, posts attacking my character flooded in.

[Do Hwa-in was obsessed with art even back in school and had a bad relationship with his family (+classmate proof)]

A post from some classmate I didn't even remember.

A fake testimony from someone claiming to have been my childhood neighbor.

A physiognomist saying my face had always looked suspicious.

Someone pretending to be a former fan.

Potential haters pretending to be neutral while supporting all the so-called witness accounts.

Every possible type of person crawled out.

What if my family ends up contacting me because of this?

The thought alone made my stomach feel heavy.

My relationship with my family had rapidly deteriorated after Grandfather died.

We were no longer in contact.

I hadn't visited home once since graduating university.

If they start yelling that I'm hurting the family again because of that damn art....

In the middle of all that chaos, another headline suddenly took over the main news portals.

And as if they'd been waiting...

<"What Is Yeonwoo Guild Doing?" Reports Criticizing Yeonwoo Guild's Inaction Continue....>

Articles poured out, amplifying public fear while repeatedly calling for Yeonwoo Guild.

Articles without the words Yeonwoo Guild focused heavily on how much damage would occur if the massive Gate broke.

Articles that did mention Yeonwoo Guild cleverly used different speakers each time to make it look like everyone was independently calling for the guild.

It was obviously coordinated.

"Hah... What the hell is all this?"

My head started hurting from how quickly everything was changing.

And the situation itself was real.

Three major guilds were already in the middle of clearing other massive Gates.

Glory Guild, which covered areas across the country outside the metropolitan region, couldn't participate either because it had already been deployed too frequently.

Given that situation, it was impossible to imagine how frightened the public must have been.

Especially because the thirty-fifth anniversary of the Gate Crisis had only recently been commemorated.

This makes it hard for Yeonwoo Guild to step forward and defend me from negative public opinion too.

Whether Yeonwoo Guild even had the manpower was one problem.

But if they moved too openly while the entire country was screaming about a national crisis, it could easily backfire.

Ring-ring!

"Yes, Vice Guild Master Kim Sang-hyeon."

"Have you seen the articles?"

"I have. This is coordinated, isn't it?"

"Yes. It looks like the Association has started working."

"The Association? Why would they go this far...."

"This is only my guess, but I think they're trying to make sure Yeonwoo Guild can't focus on you."

"What?"

"If Yeonwoo Guild is in chaos both internally and externally, we'll naturally have less attention to spare for you. They probably intend to use that opening for something."

"..."

Only then did the timing start to feel suspicious.

The negative public opinion around me had erupted at almost exactly the same time the Association announced the massive Sudden-Type Fixed Gate.

The two incidents had several things in common.

First, public opinion moved unnaturally quickly.

Second, both Yeonwoo Guild and I had fallen out of favor with the Association.

And finally, the pattern itself felt familiar.

Just like when they'd commissioned the memorial sculpture, they were moving public opinion to pressure their target.

"Another article just went up."

I turned my attention back to the screen.

A breaking-news headline had appeared.

The Association had gathered reporters and demanded sacrifice from the guilds, acting as though it had no choice because of public concern.

Apparently, the Association President appealed to the guilds to show themselves as heroes of the people because no suitable force was available for the massive Gate.

But between the earlier articles and the words he used to describe the major guilds, it was obvious he was ultimately targeting Yeonwoo Guild.

The comments beneath the article all called for Yeonwoo Guild too.

Normally, preparing for a massive Gate alone took around three months.

And the standard method was for at least one major guild to cooperate with several smaller and medium-sized guilds.

The time was already short.

And now they had no allies?

Wasn't that basically telling them to go in and die?

Yet the public didn't seem to consider the possibility that Yeonwoo Guild could lose.

And the Association had created this entire situation.

They hate Yeonwoo Guild enough to go this far?

As I stared in disbelief, Kim Sang-hyeon continued explaining.

"The Association is trying very hard to drag Yeonwoo Guild into this."

"You can't refuse, right?"

"No. No matter how much a guild looks like an independent armed organization, it ultimately exists on public support. With public opinion moving like this, refusal isn't realistic. That's why the Association leaked the articles first without contacting us privately."

"Then Yeonwoo Guild really has to clear that massive Gate alone?"

"I understand what you're worried about. There probably aren't literally zero guilds willing to cooperate."

"Not zero, but from the way you're saying that, they're going to be hard to find."

"Haha... Yes. Until we give the Association what it wants, they'll interfere in various ways. The Association has influence over many parts of the Gate-clearing process. Smaller and medium guilds are especially dependent on it. The government designed the system that way."

"..."

"If Yeonwoo Guild collapsed, it would be a national loss, so the Association can't pressure us all the way to destruction. But with public anxiety this high, we also can't look like we're simply refusing to act."

Kim Sang-hyeon told me what the Association would probably do.

First, create a situation where Yeonwoo Guild looked like it had been abandoned to handle everything alone.

Then, at the very last moment, attach another guild and act as though the Association had graciously saved the day.

Yeonwoo Guild and the Association would both know the truth.

But publicly, the Association's image would improve.

And the guilds that had spent years opposing the Association would look worse by comparison.

Even though Yeonwoo Guild would still be the one risking its members' lives inside the Gate.

While Kim Sang-hyeon was explaining, an article appeared saying Shin Ha-gyeon had entered the Association building for negotiations.

I'd heard plenty of stories, but the Association really does play dirty.

Since we were already talking, I asked something else that had been bothering me.

"But isn't it strange that a massive Sudden-Type Gate appeared at such perfect timing?"

"We thought the same thing. Hmm. This is only speculation, but...."

Kim Sang-hyeon hesitated for a long moment before speaking carefully.

"On average, a Sudden-Type Fixed Gate takes about six months before it breaks. There are variations depending on size, but roughly half a year is the standard estimate."

Six months?

Six months....

"Do you think the Association had already discovered it around the time I accepted their commission?"

"...Again, this is only speculation. But as you said, the timing is too convenient."

"But... hiding a massive Gate would be dangerous even for the Association, wouldn't it?"

"If the timing hadn't worked out, they probably would've simply announced it normally and proceeded with the clear."

In other words...

They might have discovered it earlier and simply decided to use it because the timing lined up.

The unveiling of the <Gate of Heaven> happened at just about the point where Yeonwoo Guild still had barely enough time to prepare and enter the massive Gate.

Do we really have no choice but to sit here and take this?

Something began boiling inside me again.

There has to be a way.

And at that exact moment, almost like magic, a System window appeared before my eyes.

[You have deeply moved 100,000 viewers!]

[A mysterious power settles within your body!]

[Aura +1]

[!NOTICE! Aura has reached a multiple of 10! An additional ability has been unlocked!]

[You can now contain a "Moderately Large Story" within an item!]

[Items containing a "Story" can now reveal "2" characteristics!]

My Aura stat had reached 10.

I first told Kim Sang-hyeon to wait a moment on the phone.

Then I carefully read through each notification.

It made sense that I'd reached one hundred thousand viewers now.

I'd been seeing reports every day about the Han River park overflowing with people since the unveiling of the <Gate of Heaven>.

Unlike Badger Street, it was a park rather than a roadside space, so its capacity was probably far larger than that of <Pilgrim>.

But I was more interested in the pattern behind my Aura increases.

The first was one person.

Then ten thousand.

Then fifty thousand.

And now one hundred thousand.

There might be another hidden condition, but based on the pattern, it looked like my Aura stat would increase by 1 each time the number of moved viewers increased by another fifty thousand.

I can contain a Moderately Large Story now?

Next, I focused on the newly unlocked Aura ability.

So far, I'd only created two items containing Stories.

And both of them had shown effects that exceeded what their listed rank suggested.

Enough that I'd started wondering whether the displayed item rank represented the size of the Story rather than the strength of the item itself.

The size of the Story I can contain has increased.

And now it can have two characteristics.

It was obvious that whatever I made next would be superior to the jangseung I'd given Taepyeong Guild.

Maybe the displayed rank would be higher too.

The jangseung's effect worked even on an A-Class Hunter.

In other words, a C+ item containing a Small Story had produced an effect comparable to an A-Class item.

Then what about an item containing a Moderately Large Story?