If there is one place that is most important in the collection building, it is the Bisabal Gallery.

Since it is filled with dangerous and sensitive items, accidents and incidents are frequent. On top of that, there are people who are after such rare works. That is why security guards patrol the inside of the building no matter how late it is to prevent casualties.

That day was just another ordinary day of patrolling the building at dawn.

“Huh?”

Pure white walls.

Pure white lighting.

A pitch-black man standing alone in a long, clean hallway.

“… … .”

He was covered from head to toe in a black cloak.

His face was not visible.

“… … .”

You could only tell that he was wearing a black suit through the open front door.

“Who are you?”

“… … .”

“Excuse me, but please identify yourself.”

The dawn patrol team consisted of eight people in the building, and each was in charge of the first to tenth floors. There was no other guard assigned to the same floor.

So that black cloak meant either an employee who had stopped by the guild for a moment to run errands in the early morning, or an outsider whose identity was unknown.

But it felt strange.

“… Please identify yourself.”

It was really strange.

But I couldn’t explain exactly what was strange.

“… … .”

“… … .”

A strange goosebumps ran up my spine.

‘… What is this?’

The guild building was always brightly lit for the guards on patrol or employees working overtime. The hallways were cleaned frequently, so they were clean, and the pure white marble walls were elegant and beautiful, just like the guild master, Bisabal, liked.

So there was nothing to be afraid of. Under the bright lights like daytime, there were no shadows anywhere, but that pitch-black entity that stood out… .

“… Who are you?”

It felt as if it shouldn’t exist.

“If you are an outsider, please show your pass.”

“… … .”

“Why are you here at this hour? I was not informed that another customer was coming from the first floor. Trespassing into the guild without permission is considered a serious felony… .”

“… … .”

“… It may be applied to your disadvantage in court… It may cause inconvenience in appointing a lawyer, and you may be suppressed by force without any separate process, so please answer the questions with this in mind.”

Isn’t it strange? The strangeness that was very small at first gradually grew.

The longer he observed, the more things he saw, the more uncomfortable he felt. Soon the guard realized.

‘Why?’

Why did I think that shouldn’t exist?

‘No, why in the first place.’

Why was I thinking that was ‘that’ when I saw a human-shaped being?

The thought that something was strange never left his brain, and confusion clung to his whole body, confusing his mind.

A quiet, alien feeling ran up my spine, tickling my heart. It was a very slow, natural pace, like breathing in sleep.

“… … .”

“… … .”

Under the hood of the pitch-black cloak. Under the pitch-black cloth, as if nothing should fit, a voice flowed out.

“Hello.”

“… … .”

“I am Sergio.”

A clear voice that seemed to be engraved in my brain, and a straight pronunciation that was impossible to understand. I thought it was a good voice without even being able to resist.

It asked politely.

“What is your name?”

“… … .”

“I wonder what your name is.”

I couldn’t answer that good voice.

“Would you like to talk to me?”

I could tell.

“… I.”

This is not a human.

“… I, I… .”

It wasn’t a monster, an item, or a hallucination.

‘… What should I do?’

His breathing was heavy, as if he had never had a way to breathe.

It was a collection guild where countless incidents and accidents occurred, and he was a guard with a lot of experience, but he had never encountered such a being before. It was a huge, non-human thing wearing human skin and imitating a human.

It would have been better if the imitation had been poor. Like the ball-jointed dolls with bizarre movements I’ve seen so far, or the monsters that muttered nonsense with an extremely low level of understanding.

“… … .”

“Sir.”

“… … .”

“What is your name?”

But that.

was perfect.

“My name is Sergio.”

It seemed like a perfect ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) human.

And yet, contradictorily,

He knew that he could never become human.

‘What nonsense is this… .’

The other person seemed to be a complete human, but he was certain that he wasn’t human. Without any basis, he was defining the other person as neither human, monster, item, nor hallucination.

Then what on earth did he mean?

“Can’t you hear me?”

“… Why are you asking my name?”

“The basic courtesy when talking is to use your full name.”

“… … .”

“I’m just being polite.”

Politeness?

I couldn’t figure out what was imitating human courtesy.

“… Park… .”

“… … .”

“I’m Park Na-gil.”

He blurted out the name as if he was possessed, but he didn’t feel like his soul was being taken away. However, the black cloak seemed satisfied.

That was the creepiest thing of all, but he didn’t even have the energy to show it. His breathing was ragged.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Sergio.”

“… … .”

The author must have realized how many times he had just called himself ‘Sergio’.

‘As if to emphasize that he was a human like you… .’

Then, Black Cloak pulled out an unexpected object.

“I have an access card.”

“… This is… a customer access card.”

“I have permission to tour the place from the guild master of Bisabae.”

“… Is that so?”

At least the guild master knows about its existence.

‘And he is condoning the behavior.’

Why on earth?

The guard raised his head and looked at Black Cloak again.

“… … .”

“Is that a sufficient answer?”

“… Of course.”

It was a very businesslike voice.

The voice had a regular rhythm and seemed to have a moderate pitch, but if you listened closely, it seemed to go back and forth between high and low tones.

‘Even if you have an access card, you still need to find out basic personal information… .’

He was clearly hearing a male voice, but as time passed, it became difficult to guess its age and gender.

He could not recognize it even though it was right in front of him. All he could see was a pitch-black cloak and a figure that was neither thick nor thin.

“… … .”

Was there really something human-shaped inside the shadow of that black cloak?

“Mr. Park Na-gil.”

“… Yes.”

“Can I walk around here?”

“… … .”

The guild leader gave permission.

So even though he was just a guard, he had to say yes, but his mouth didn’t open easily. It was because of the ominous feeling of accepting a promise to cause disaster to the devil.

The guard nodded his head with difficulty in front of the gloomy, heavy, or cold figure.

“… Of course…”

“Thank you.”

“If the guild leader gives permission, you can come and see it as much as you want.”

“I see.”

“… How long do you plan on staying?”

The black cloak answered after two seconds.

“Until the sun rises.”

It was a creepy answer.

“… … .”

“… I see.”

He felt like vomiting.

He couldn’t understand why he was getting goosebumps, where on earth he felt the strangeness, and where this indescribable silence came from even though they were having a conversation.

The feeling of his cognitive abilities being ruined and his judgment being buried in fog shook him as if he was experiencing motion sickness. It felt like he was facing something he couldn’t handle.

‘No, I can’t handle it.’

It felt burdensome, as if he was interacting with something he ‘shouldn’t’ recognize.

“… … .”

“Mr. Park Na-gil.”

Every time he called my name, my spine trembled.

How should I explain the feeling of my body temperature dropping by one degree, the feeling of my blood vessels being held in someone’s hands?

“Yes, yes.”

“Thank you for your kind response.”

“… It was something I had to do.”

“You have a strong sense of responsibility.”

“… … .”

“I think it deserves praise.”

It was strange.

When Black Cloak praised me, I felt happy despite the nauseating fear.

‘Am I crazy? Or is it that it made me crazy?’

I was touched and proud of myself even though it was a situation that should not have been like that. I couldn’t even understand why I felt this way.

If you are reading this translation anywhere other than Novelight.net or SilkRoadTL, it has been stolen.

Black Cloak held out his hand to me as I looked at him.

“It’s a gift.”

“… … .”

“Take it.”

Black Cloak handed me a small envelope wrapped neatly in paper.

It smelled so sweet that it was ecstatic.

“Yours.”

The strangely businesslike voice felt strangely friendly.

“I’m sorry for being rude.”

“Oh, no.”

“Then I’ll see you next time.”

Are you leaving?

The moment I raised my head with that intuition, my eyes.

“… … .”

“… … .”

Our eyes met.

Those eyes.

Eyes.

Pupils.

The irises, the pupils, those round spheres. Inside them. That. That round thing. That. That. Black and white.

Something black, something white. Was it black? Was it white? Was it dark or bright? Shadow or light? Death or life? Fate or destiny.

It was too deep inside. It was too deep. It was too deep. It was so deep, it was scary, but it was too deep inside. It was deep. I feel like I’m falling. I’m falling. Can I get out? It’s impossible. It won’t work. It’s not my eyes. It’s not my pupils. It’s not my irises, it’s not my pupils.

No, no, it can’t be. It shouldn’t be. It was clear that it wasn’t. No. No. No, no.

It wasn’t.

“Mr. Park Na-gil.”

The moment I heard the extremely businesslike voice.

“Good work.”

“… … .”

… I was dragged out.

“… … .”

He stood there for a long time.

Even though the pitch-black cloak moved, I couldn’t hear a single swishing sound, and I couldn’t even hear my bare feet, not wearing shoes, touching the smooth floor.

All I could hear was the sound of something moving around, which was strange. That black thing couldn’t be called a thing, but… .

Soon the sound died down.

“… … .”

It was just silence.

“… Where… .”

The guard moved his feet.

He followed the corridor where the black cloak had moved and headed towards the place where the sound had stopped. He was able to reach the ‘place where the sound had stopped’ soon after.

A portrait hung in the corridor that he had never seen before.

“Ah.”

It was a painting of a man with a calm face, as if he were asleep, with a forest depicting a peaceful cabin in the background.

His stomach lurched.

“…….”

He ran away slowly.

It was exactly the same speed as usual.

He didn’t have the confidence to touch it. If he had to do his duty as a guard, he would have to report the unidentified work and deal with him, but he couldn’t even think of that. The guard just left as if he was possessed.

And the next day, the portrait was not there in the same place.

“Did you hear?”

The guild collection store was originally a place with many ghost stories.

It's all because of the guild master, Bisabal's collecting habit, and because he keeps picking up strange items, all sorts of incidents and accidents happen.

That's why the employees who have been working at the collection for over two years aren't really surprised by these ghost stories.

"Black cloak?"

"Yes, there's been a rumor going around lately."

"One of the guild master's works must have caused an accident."

"I thought so."

In this world, most ghost stories are explained by monsters or items.

In an era where people are more afraid of their fellow humans than ghost stories, rumors about the 'Black Cloak' were just a topic of conversation to pass the time.

"I heard he's so handsome, I'd like to see him."

"I heard you can't see his face well because of the cloak?"

"For a piece that the guild master brought, he's really shy."

"How could he not have caused an accident? No one got hurt, right?"

But as time passed, that light atmosphere gradually became heavy.

“…….”

“I heard that the witness this time also took a vacation.”

“…Is it that scary….”

“He originally wanted to quit, but the guild leader coaxed him and made him take a vacation.”

“If even the guild leader has to come out, isn’t the situation more serious than we thought?”

Usually, these kinds of ‘ghost stories’ were mostly resolved within a week.

After all, the cause of these ghost stories was usually a monster or item from a Bisabal work, or a mental skill that was activated because of it. It was strange if it couldn’t be resolved in a guild where hunters were running around.

But now, that ‘strange thing’ was happening.

“Why can’t we subdue this monster? What are the curators doing?”

“There’s talk that even they can’t handle this monster.”

“Then it would be better to throw it outside the guild….”

“…….”

“…I said something stupid.”

The Collector’s Guild operated a special gallery that could never be replaced.

Items so dangerous that the government directly regulated who could enter were gathered from all over the world. Where on earth would the Collector’s store throw away items that they couldn’t handle? Another disaster was sure to occur.

Up until now, all incidents and accidents had been considered ‘ghost stories’ before such a disaster occurred.

“But it’s not being suppressed to this extent….”

“There were also rumors that they weren’t suppressing it in the first place.”

“Why is that? Wouldn’t it be better to destroy or seal it?”

“Since we knew it wouldn’t succeed anyway, let’s just not make it uncomfortable….”

“Does it make it uncomfortable? That means it has enough intelligence… Does that mean it has an ego?”

“The rumor of a humanoid monster was the most credible, but wouldn’t you have some self-esteem?”

“Wow, this is crazy. You keep bringing in humanoid monsters.”

“How many years ago was the last humanoid monster sighted?”

Bisabal had never let a ‘ghost story’ go this far. He knew how much more efficient his employees were when they felt secure.

And yet this situation had come to this.

“No one got hurt?”

“Not really….”

And as this situation continued.

“…….”

“…….”

“…Then there’s no problem, right?”

The employees began to accept it on their own.

“No one was injured, no one died. Then why is it a ghost story?”

“A ghost story is essentially a strange story… If it’s really just a story, then it makes sense.”

“Was it just a story? Since there are witnesses, it seems to be real. It’s really amazing.”

“That’s right.”

This is the guild ‘Collector’. All the guild members are the collections collected by the collector, Bisabal.

The realistic and cynical members who fit his taste gradually calmed down on their own.

“Oh, I guess it was a joke.”

“I heard someone saw it?”

“Then it’s a hallucination skill.”

“I see.”

“Anyway, you said it wasn’t dangerous?”

“Maybe the guild leader brought in a member without us knowing.”

“Well, we don’t know all the members. Didn’t something similar happen before?”

“It was just a quiet member, but there were rumors that he was a ghost. That makes it a possible story.”

“It would be better to announce things like this in advance, right?”

“The guild leader has such a unique personality, right? Let’s all understand.”

“That’s right. When will you introduce this new recruit….”

Guild leader Bisabal is someone who cherishes his employees terribly. If it’s a ‘ghost story’ that someone like that would leave alone, then it must not be that dangerous.

Whether it exists or not, regardless of its identity, the employees trusted Bisabal.

“…….”

“…….”

Bisabal himself knew that.

“…Did you expect that?”

“What do you think?”

The collector regained his composure.

Even though nothing had been resolved.