Chapter 33: Divine Retribution

"Tell me, Curator Ochiai, isn't it about time you just gave up?"

A man with a bloated belly, dressed in a loose, double-breasted suit, entered the main hall surrounded by an entourage. He walked with his hands behind his back, surveying the art gallery like a king.

"Same as always, not a single visitor... I don't know how you ever came up with that ridiculous trick about a medieval knight coming back to life."

The curator’s posture stiffened. "M-Mr. Manaka..."

"There are only ten days left. Hurry up and pack up this junk. It's dilapidated, but at least it's worth a little something."

The man pointed and gestured around the gallery as if no one else were present. A few nearby visitors hurried away, leaving the already sparse hall feeling even more desolate.

"Designer, get the blueprints out! Everything here needs to be completely remodeled!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Oh, and," Mr. Manaka’s piercing gaze swept the room, "where is that Kubota? Don't think he can just slide by; if that guy can't pay the compensation, it’s all coming out of your pockets!"

Gao Mo stood behind the group. For a fleeting moment, Manaka’s silhouette seemed to overlap with the demon depicted in the painting "Heaven's Judgment."

He was staring death in the face and didn't even realize it.

"A new employee?" Mr. Manaka noticed Gao Mo while looking around, his expression darkening further. "Hiring people at a time like this? Looks like your finances are still flexible... I'll have my accountant look into this thoroughly."

"Mr. Manaka, you’re joking. Kurosaki is just here to help out."

Curator Ochiai lowered his head, addressing Manaka while calling out to Gao Mo and Iijima.

"You two go back to work... Kurosaki, take the guests to see the other exhibits first."

...

The Sky Gallery.

Moustache-man and Conan accompanied a spirited Ran as they strolled through the exhibits, while Gao Mo followed, somewhat absent-minded.

Manaka’s life or death had nothing to do with him.

What concerned him was the old curator.

Should he stop the curator from becoming a murderer?

A few days ago, he had helped Taeko Mayugaki, and he had nearly gotten himself trapped in the process. Meddling in cases at will was far too dangerous for him right now...

The Hell Gallery.

Gao Mo led Ran and the others back to the room he had visited earlier. It was still as gloomy as before, but he no longer felt any sense of danger.

Using his Eagle Eye vision, he looked at the rows of bronze statues on either side and found them to be completely ordinary.

Ran, however, was somewhat frightened, clutching Conan, whose face had turned bright red, tightly in her arms.

"This room is so dark..."

"That’s why it’s called the Hell Gallery. The rumors about the resurrected knight are said to have originated here."

Moustache-man walked in front with his hands in his pockets, glancing at Conan with annoyance. The kid was blushing so hard in Ran’s arms he looked like he was about to steam.

"They say a security guard heard noises coming from here during his night rounds..."

"Stop it, Dad."

Ran was both curious and terrified, looking at the bronze statues and armored figures standing on both sides, feeling as if they might come to life at any moment.

"Mr. Kurosaki, there aren't actually people inside these suits of armor, are there?"

"They're just mannequins."

Gao Mo followed them to the giant painting, "Heaven's Judgment."

Along the way, he could see that many artworks had been moved. The replica knight's armor from before was gone, and the wall opposite "Heaven's Judgment" was completely bare, as if space had been cleared for a murder.

"What a huge painting!" Ran and the others stopped in wonder.

"It feels different from the other paintings in the gallery... The title is 'Heaven's Judgment.' Does it have a special meaning?"

Moustache-man leaned in to examine the label, squinting at the text in the dim light.

"A righteous knight subduing a demon... How does that fit with 'Heaven's Judgment'?"

"The true meaning of 'Heaven's Judgment' refers to the knight bathed in the demon's blood," Gao Mo recalled the curator’s words. "The knight, baptized by evil blood, becomes a demon himself..."

Gao Mo’s voice trailed off. He looked back at "Heaven's Judgment" and suddenly understood the curator’s intent.

In the original story, the curator had intended to kill Manaka and frame Kubota, even forcing the soon-to-be-fired Kubota to stay for that very purpose.

But now, with Kubota, the scapegoat, absent, only he and Iijima remained to be framed.

Curator Ochiai seemed to have changed his mind. He intended to kill Manaka directly and suffer his own "Heaven's Judgment"—being arrested as a murderer—just like the knight in the painting.

That was why he had sighed about "divine will" earlier.

"Hah!"

Gao Mo closed his eyes slightly.

Since his rebirth, event after event flashed rapidly through his mind.

A mortal could not fight against the Grim Reaper, but the Reaper he faced seemed more like a set of rules—and perhaps there was a way to navigate them.

Besides a new death, was there any other way to avoid the rules of death?

Gao Mo pondered the details of the two times he had intervened in a death.

The first time, other than feeling the Reaper when he took the elevator upstairs, he hadn't been affected afterward—which was why he had dared to help Taeko Mayugaki the second time.

And the second time...

He hadn't actually drawn the Reaper’s attention; otherwise, it would have been a relentless pursuit rather than just a single death omen.

His brush with danger in the Hell Gallery today was because he had entered a new event and crime scene, which had little connection to what came before...

"Mortals cannot change the rules, but they can exploit them."

Gao Mo looked at "Heaven's Judgment," narrowing his focus.

As far as he could tell, there seemed to be two implicit rules:

First, avoid direct intervention as much as possible—in the Yoko apartment case, it was Kogoro Mouri who actually broke the death plan.

Second, stay away from those fated to die and minimize contact, especially when the rules of death are in effect—in the shrine case, he had been too close to Anzai.

The rules seemed to be "contagious," and since he bore the Reaper’s mark, he was naturally prone to attracting the rules of death. That was why, even though there was a "new death" in the form of Anzai, he was still caught in the crossfire.

...

Gao Mo paused, taking a staff pen from his pocket. Behind the backs of Ran and the others, he tore a label off the wall and scribbled a few lines on the back.

A debt of gratitude for saving his life... it was best to repay it.

Even if it was risky, he really didn't want to see the old curator become a murderer.

Even someone like him, who knew nothing about art, could roughly understand the sorrow of the "knight" in the painting.

For him, while he couldn't save those whose deaths were fated, he could perhaps save these murderers who had taken a wrong turn.

Let this be an experiment.

Can a mortal... truly make use of the Grim Reaper?

"Tap!"

Just as Gao Mo put down the label and the pen, the curator’s footsteps entered the Hell Gallery.

"Guests, I am very sorry, but the Hell Gallery must be closed for the time being... Kurosaki, please take the guests to visit the other galleries."

"Understood."

Conan, held in Ran’s arms, turned his head to look. He desperately wanted to know what Gao Mo had written, but it wasn't until they were outside the gallery that Ran put him down.

A "No Entry" sign was placed at the entrance to the Hell Gallery corridor.

"Brother Kido, what were you doing just now?"

"Adult matters, kid. Don't ask."

Gao Mo caught a glimpse of the curator’s figure disappearing into the darkness.

The message he left was in a position that could be seen as soon as someone approached.

Now, the only thing left was to figure out how to keep Mr. Manaka from coming—preferably getting him to leave the gallery entirely.