There had been a group of students who truly adored the teacher named Sergio.

‘Two boys, two girls.’

Their personalities were all different.

One was curt, one was delinquent, one was cheerful, and one was calm. They were polar opposites in many ways, but they got along remarkably well.

‘If you asked me which students left the deepest impression, they’d come to mind first without question.’

A man asked Gio, who sat on a break room chair:

“Would you like some coffee?”

“Of course.”

One of the boys Sergio remembered from back then was Seo Seo-hee.

“I actually enjoy instant coffee like this—it’s sweet.”

“That’s a relief. You didn’t seem like someone who’d like this kind of thing, so I was a bit nervous.”

Said like a joke, and Gio tilted his head and asked:

“Then what kind of drink do I seem like I would enjoy?”

“Hm, maybe something like hand-dripped coffee by a professional barista, or elegant herbal tea?”

“I like those as well.”

“So you’re not picky, then.”

“All food has its own virtues. You’re right, Seo Seo-hee.”

And Gio thought to himself:

‘Still a child’s palate, even now.’

Apparently, he still couldn’t appreciate the bitter truth of roasted beans.

In the past, this boy with the face of a model student had said, “There’s so much delicious food in the world—why drink bitter coffee?”

Whether offering instant coffee now was out of lingering personal taste or simply because they were in the Association’s break room—he wasn’t sure...

“......”

But regardless, it was nice to recall old memories.

‘So much of the world has changed, but some things always remain the same.’

It was... a surprisingly pleasant feeling.

“What made you want to talk with me?”

“Personally, I have a favorable view of Hunter Sergio.”

“I can guess what you mean by that.”

“Am I that easy to read?”

“Well, I suppose the things I’ve been doing lately align rather well with Justitia’s values. Though I didn’t expect them to catch your eye, Mr. Seo Seo-hee.”

“That’s a bit embarrassing when you say it so directly... but yes, you’re right.”

Seo Seo-hee, now fully grown, sat across from Sergio. In the past, it had been the opposite—Sergio sitting across from him as a teacher. Now their roles were reversed.

Looking around 28 or 29, Seo Seo-hee continued.

“By the way, you don’t seem particularly intimidated by me.”

“Would you like me to be? I can arrange that if you wish.”

“Of course not. It’s just... most Hunters don’t speak comfortably with me. What with that ‘Symbol of Eternity’ title and all.”

“That must be tiresome.”

“.......”

Seo Seo-hee blinked.

“...You might be the first person to say that to me.”

“Why? I heard even the Association President is your friend.”

“Oh—I meant aside from my old peers, no one really talks like that.”

“I had a feeling you wouldn’t be fond of such a grandiose title, so I mentioned it.”

“Honestly, yes. It’s not a title I’m very fond of.”

“Yet you still hold on to it. Which means it must be worth keeping.”

“Oh...”

Seo Seo-hee exaggerated a shrug.

“You’re more direct than I expected. I thought you’d be the observant, distant type.”

“I didn’t think a few blunt words would hurt your feelings, so I said what I thought.”

“Of course. I like honest people.”

“Less thinking involved, right?”

“You know me quite well.”

He rested his chin on his hand, then asked:

“This might be a bit bold, but... were we acquainted in the past?”

“Hm...”

Gio pondered his question, then smiled.

“That’s a very unique kind of boldness.”

“You’re a hard person to read, Hunter Sergio. So I figured I’d ask outright.”

“I’ve been told I’m unusual, but I imagine you’ve heard that about yourself too.”

“I have, but I don’t think I’m quite on your level.”

“A common sentiment.”

“So will you answer my question?”

“Don’t you already know the answer?”

“......”

Seo Seo-hee smiled faintly after a moment of silence.

“...I’m sorry.”

He looked tired.

Or rather, he’d been tired, and for a moment, he’d let his mask slip. With a sheepish smile, he said:

“I think... we were close.”

“We were.”

“You didn’t seem like someone well-known in Korea. Maybe we met abroad? Or perhaps when I visited the Collector’s Guild, if you were always stationed there...”

“......”

“...Really, I’m sorry. Given your age, it must’ve been back when the world was more chaotic. When the Association President was making ‘Promises’ left and right. I know you probably already figured this out, but... those Promises were... incredibly broad.”

He looked completely worn out.

“Is it all right to show this side of yourself to me, the Guild Master of Justitia?”

“...Are you teasing me? Well, I guess there’s no point pretending in front of someone tangled in a Promise. You don’t seem like the type to exploit that.”

“You seem very used to strangers pretending to know you. You look more exhausted than surprised. So this happens a lot, doesn’t it?”

“Less often lately, but yes. Though even that... I can’t be sure. Some people caught in a Promise have their entire existence erased.”

“You’re saying... you forget even what you forgot?”

“Exactly. Once again, I’m truly sorry.”

Seo Seo-hee asked cautiously.

“...Is the reason you only recently became known in Korea... related to the Promise? If that’s the case, my friends and I will do everything we can to make it right. That includes any misunderstandings we’ve caused the Collector’s Guild.”

“It’s not that.”

He seemed to blame himself more than he used to.

“I really was hidden away. By choice.”

“...Then I suppose I was lucky to stumble upon such a good connection. To think I once had a close bond with someone the Collector’s Guild treasures so dearly.”

“It was a good bond. At least... that’s how I remember it.”

“I’m ashamed that we erased something like that.”

“You can speak more comfortably.”

“...More comfortably? More than I already am...?”

For the first time, he looked genuinely surprised.

“...Were we that close?”

“We were on a first-name basis.”

“No way.”

“It’s true.”

To be precise, Sergio had spoken to them informally.

“Would you believe me if I said I knew about your family matters?”

“...You knew that? Wait—hold on. You said ‘you all.’ How many people are we talking about...?”

“Unless my memory’s been tampered with too, there were four of you, including Seo Seo-hee. You were always together.”

“......”

Seo Seo-hee looked stunned.

“...We forgot a bond that precious?”

“I was surprised too.”

He’d thought they’d shared too many irreplaceable memories to simply forget. That he’d been forgotten entirely by these students...

“But I’m sure those memories were used for something more valuable.”

Which is why it was heartbreaking.

“You’ve suffered a lot.”

“...Uh...”

“I only recently learned that you were placed in this situation because I don’t like going out and avoid meeting strangers. It must’ve been hard.”

“......”

“I thought... you all must’ve suffered a lot, out there in the unknown.”

After a long pause, Seo Seo-hee gave an awkward smile.

“...I wonder how much we gave up. How much of our memories were traded to the Promise...”

He sounded a bit breathless.

“...I want to talk more. About what kind of bond we had. About who you are, Hunter Sergio. About why you’ve only shown yourself now. I have so many questions.”

“There’s no need to rush.”

There really wasn’t.

“You’ve all lived just fine without me so far, haven’t you?”

“Hearing you say that just makes me more curious. You speak as if you were important to us.”

“No, perhaps I simply remember all of you as dear and intimate. A one-sided memory. Lost memories are not easily recovered, and I don’t think that’s a bad thing.”

“That makes me feel better. Still, aren’t you... even a little hurt that we forgot you?”

“I’m a little hurt. I’m human, and we were close.”

But he understood.

“Even so, I wasn’t someone you needed.”

“Are you drawing a line? That’s making me feel hurt now.”

“Then please take it as a small complaint. I don’t know if you realized, but I never agreed to having your memories of me erased...”

“......”

Seo Seo-hee’s face stiffened faintly.

“...Did you... die?”

“You didn’t remember something just now. So why ask?”

“We wouldn’t have offered up memories of a living friend without their consent. If you’d died and become a memory, maybe... but otherwise, it would’ve been too cruel. We promised not to do that.”

“Oh dear. I misspoke, didn’t I.”

“......”

Seo Seo-hee rubbed his face, then gave his usual smile.

“...Would you mind if we moved somewhere more private? I didn’t realize you were... such an important guest. I wanted to verify how deep our ties to the Promise were, but this isn’t the place for it.”

“I’m sorry, but my companion is waiting. Guild Master Bisa Beul is... particularly concerned for my well-being, and I’d rather not worry him. More than that, wouldn’t it be better if we both had time to gather our thoughts before talking again?”

Gio blinked at Seo Seo-hee.

“Oh, and...”

A sudden thought.

“Are you sure only your memories were offered?”

“...What?”

“I think I might have some thinking to do as well.”

Gio stood.

“I’ll see you again.”

“In that case... may I arrange a time when you’re free?”

“Not until this dungeon matter is settled.”

“Then I have one more reason to help clear the dungeon quickly.”

“I appreciate that.”

Giovanni personally didn’t like this dungeon. If someone like Seo Seo-hee was willing to help, it was a blessing.

“Take care.”

“You too, Hunter Sergio.”

Gio exited the break room and was met by Joo-Hyun, who had been waiting.

“Did your conversation go well?”

“Yes. It was quite meaningful.”

“You seem in good spirits.”

“It was a welcome reunion after a long time.”

Then, turning to the bright red snake coiled around Joo-Hyun’s neck, he asked:

“Have I sprung a leak?”

“......”

The snake tilted its head.

“I don’t know.”

“So it’s a matter for me to contemplate, after all.”

“A leak? That would be difficult—for a human, anyway.”

“But if fate is being unraveled... anything might come to light, no?”

“How curious.”

“I think so too.”

Gio looked at Joo-Hyun.

“Let’s head back to the Collector’s Guild.”

“Shall we?”

They needed to prepare a countermeasure for the dungeon.

***

“......”

Left alone, Seo Seo-hee eventually spoke.

“...Did you hear all that?”

[I did.]

Association President Dan Haera appeared beside him as a translucent hologram.

[There are a lot of possible explanations.]

“He didn’t seem like the kind of person who’d use that knowledge maliciously.”

[If Haeun heard this, she’d scold us for being too complacent.]

“But you felt it too, didn’t you? That’s why you’re reacting like this.”

[He’s a Collector’s Guild member...]

Dan Haera spoke slowly.

[But I thought... he might truly be someone who died.]

She still remembered the painting that had been snatched away by a collector at the auction.

Yes—an unforgettable moment. Her breath caught, her facial muscles trembled. She had been visibly shaken then.

[I saw him first at that auction.]

“...You mean that portrait? The Black Cloak?”

[Not sure. It might’ve been the Black Cloak itself, or just one of its fragments.]

“The Black Cloak’s scale is far too vast for a human to carry. Probably the latter.”

[If Sergio really died and was then turned into a portrait, it makes sense. It’s already known that he can operate souls through the Black Cloak’s paradise.]

“Which also explains why his emergence and the Black Cloak’s appearance coincided. The magnitude and credibility are different. I agree—they should be treated as separate entities.”

[He might be half-synchronized. If Sergio is a true servant of the Black Cloak, that is.]

“He didn’t feel inhuman. If anything, his mimicry is impeccable...”

[Or maybe he really is just human.]

Dan Haera continued.

[When I saw the portrait, I felt destiny. Faintly, but unmistakably. I instinctively knew he was someone I had erased. That’s why I wanted to buy the painting...]

“But it was taken by Guild Master Bisa Beul.”

[That’s when I started wondering if he really had died. It’s rare, but in today’s world, resurrection isn’t entirely impossible.]

“Are you certain the portrait was of Hunter Sergio?”

[Of course.]

She could recognize that much.

[It was someone I erased.]

It was instinct.

And yet somehow, she had forgotten the face in the portrait. No—the fact that she’d forgotten it.

She knew she’d been shaken by a portrait, but couldn’t recall the face. That meant it had been wiped.

[Hmph... come to think of it, I do think it looked like him.]

“If you’re saying that, then the memory of his face wasn’t erased by us. No one at the auction remembered it either.”

[Right. Everyone remembered the painting as covered in black paint. No one knew if he had black hair, blond hair, or red hair.]

“I heard the Collector’s Guild also did something to it.”

[Then I probably wasn’t the one who traded the memory of his face. Or maybe... maybe he realized what we’d erased, and chose to erase everything about himself.]

“He really is... an extraordinary person.”

Seo Seo-hee smiled.

“If he really died and came back, it makes sense why the collector is so protective of him. If the child he doted on became a portrait... and factoring in his tastes...”

[He’d go mad.]

“But now I’m curious. How did we ever meet Hunter Sergio? It must’ve been before he died—back when the four of us were together. That only happened during big catastrophes. Could it have been when Eunhye was still a civilian?”

[Maybe one of us met him first, and the connection spread. In that case, you or Haeun are more likely. I barely traveled, and neither did Eunhye.]

“He awakened as a beast tamer, but he had a priest-like air... so probably Haeun’s side, then?”

But Sergio didn’t seem to hold any lingering resentment toward the past.

“......”

[You’re disappointed, aren’t you?]

“...We chose to forget him. ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) How could I be?”

[Still... he didn’t seem pleased.]

“Maybe because... the conversation was fun.”

He seemed like a good person.

“If someone like that had been pretending not to know us all this time... I guess it’s natural to feel a little sad.”

Even if it was selfish.