chapter 106

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons - Episode 106

To think this is a deal where, in such an abnormal dungeon, I’m being guaranteed my life.

‘This is an absurdly profitable trade.’

Yoo Seong-woon was a typical hunter of this era who valued his health and life dearly.

To be swept along by a capitalistic society and then die during a mission was a truly hard-to-accept ending.

‘It’s to the point I wonder if it’s okay to wrap up the deal like this, but...’

He gauged the portrait’s mood.

“...”

“Is there a problem?”

“...No, there isn’t.”

It was something a gardener had to chew on constantly, but human standards were meaningless to an existence of the source.

An existence of the source is the kind that gets angry if you borrowed 3 and agreed to pay back 4, but then you pay back 5.

Even if humans couldn’t understand it, Yoo Seong-woon knew well that matching their tastes was the shortcut to longevity.

“Then let’s end the deal here.”

In a deal with an existence of the source, the beginning and end had to be clear.

Having wrapped things up decisively, Yoo Seong-woon asked,

“I’m not sure if it would be rude to ask this, but how did you know I was here and come?”

“‘City of Emptiness’ told me that Mr. Yoo Seong-woon visited this place.”

“So that’s how it was.”

It would be even stranger if Gio, the master of a dungeon of this scale, didn’t know the state inside it.

‘But the more that’s true, the more disadvantageous my position becomes, trying to take Hunter Park Eun-gyeom out.’

It only made it even clearer that Gio had dragged a human into this place with intent.

For Yoo Seong-woon, who had to do the work entrusted to him, it was an awkward situation.

‘Is he going to get angry.’

He came to take out a human whom the portrait had openly shown hostility toward and dragged in.

For an existence of the source that never changes a choice it has made, that would be quite unpleasant.

“...”

“Why did Mr. Yoo Seong-woon come here?”

“...I came to do my job.”

All the more reason to lay it out now.

‘Deceiving Gio might fall under the category of an evil act.’

Besides, hadn’t Gio ‘promised’ to let Yoo Seong-woon live?

“As I understand it, today is Christmas.”

“Huh?

No, Korea is already the 26th now, so it isn’t Christmas.

A lot of people are still off until today because most companies guarantee a holiday period.”

“Then everyone is resting, and Mr. Yoo Seong-woon is working.”

“When have hunters ever rested just because it’s a holiday.

It’s common.”

“People with the job of hunter cannot rest even on public holidays?”

“It’s not exactly that, um... you could say it’s just like that.”

No matter how angry, an existence of the source did not break the words it had spoken.

Since the 분위기 didn’t seem so bad either, trusting that point, Yoo Seong-woon carefully opened his mouth.

“...The reason I came was to take one person out of here.”

“Is taking a person out of this place your job?”

“That’s right, Hunter Park Eun-gyeom... I’m not sure if you even know the name.”

“Park Eun-gyeom.”

The portrait repeated the three-character name.

“...”

“...”

And then silence fell.

For Yoo Seong-woon, who had something that pricked at him, it was a hair-raising silence.

‘...As expected, is he in a bad mood.’

A child of the source that merely imitates speech without the ability to think, and ‘Gio’s Portrait’ were entirely different existences.

Gio clearly had emotions, and because of that, sometimes he even looked like a monster or a human.

‘So I’ve basically declared I’ll do something that goes against his will.’

And he’d said he would let Yoo Seong-woon live, so he couldn’t even kill him.

‘Of course, there are quite a lot of ways to punish someone without killing them, but that’s the part I’d have to bear.

Anyway, there’s no way Gio’s mood could be purely good.’

Yoo Seong-woon prepared himself so he could endure even if Gio attacked.

It was something he had already resolved to do the moment he unexpectedly met this place’s master in this gray city.

“...”

The portrait, which had maintained silence, gestured to the black suit.

“...?”

It was hard to understand, but Yoo Seong-woon silently watched the situation.

At the master’s gesture, the black suits that had been increasing one by one came closer to him.

Then, like an attendant facing the master it served, it bowed slightly with great politeness and took on a posture as if listening intently.

‘What is this?’

Ignoring that, Gio asked the black suit,

“Do you know the location of the human named Park Eun-gyeom?”

“Yes, I know.”

Yoo Seong-woon was a little surprised.

It wasn’t simply because an invisible something with neither hands nor mouth had imitated a human voice.

It wasn’t because the one that had only been using awkward hand signals up until just now suddenly spoke.

What Yoo Seong-woon focused on was the black suit’s voice itself.

‘...That voice...’

It was a voice that made him think of a man in his thirties.

‘But it’s not a voice that suits that monster.’

A human voice that has lived long years with a single self usually bears a tone that represents that self.

The voice the black suit spoke, unlike its polite and noble gestures, had something flippant and irritable in it.

Gio, whose identity was a painter, would never have chosen even the voice of his work, the black suit, carelessly.

And yet, since it was this mismatched a voice, then this was...

‘...No way?’

Hunter Park Eun-gyeom’s voice?

Regardless of Yoo Seong-woon’s suspicion, the two’s conversation continued.

“Why did he come here?”

“Yes, he bullied and abandoned a weak human.”

“Then he is an evil human.”

“Yes, he is an evil human.”

It was a bizarre conversation.

“Is there any problem with taking that human out?”

“No, there is no problem at all.”

“Then I will do as I wish.”

“Yes, it is also our wish.”

“Understood.”

As if the conversation was over, the portrait looked at Yoo Seong-woon.

“Since Mr. Yoo Seong-woon wants it, I will take him out.”

“...Really?”

He tried not to show it, but he was extremely surprised.

‘He responds this casually?’

That only made it more chilling.

‘I confirmed that Gio is an existence capable of feeling emotions, but...?’

If he had emotions, he couldn’t help but be angry at someone who went against his rules.

Humans are like that among themselves, so what about an existence of the source?

‘And yet he agrees this cleanly and decisively?’

With a doubt he couldn’t erase, the gardener’s bad habit flared up.

“...”

It was interesting.

“...Aren’t you displeased?”

In the end, Yoo Seong-woon couldn’t hold back the question.

“I don’t know exactly what the situation is, but your subordinates dragged him in directly, didn’t they.

And on top of that, Park Eun-gyeom is already a human who belongs here.”

“That could be so.”

“Yet I’m wondering if it’s right for me to just take him.

If you don’t want it, I won’t take him out either.

Even I don’t want to treat a guy who doesn’t value comrades and tosses them away as the same kind of hunter.”

This was sincere.

Park Eun-gyeom was not a human worth saving at the risk of Yoo Seong-woon’s life, nor even worth retrieving as a corpse.

‘Besides, the Association’s request wasn’t to save Hunter Park.’

What they wanted was information about the process, cause, and result of the ‘Black Cloak’ attacking a human.

In other words, there was no reason Yoo Seong-woon absolutely had to save Hunter Park Eun-gyeom.

Gio asked him,

“But didn’t you say it was work you have to do?”

“I did say that, but...”

“Then I, too, can do as Mr. Yoo Seong-woon wishes.”

“Is it really that there’s no problem...?

Does it not offend you?”

“Since he was a target I did not allocate attention to from the start, it does not matter.”

Gio truly knew nothing.

Emptiness had never told him about such a person.

He might have felt briefly sorry that a person was wandering around in the house he made, but at the words “a human abuser and abandoner,” he went into a state of “not my problem.”

‘And Mr. Yoo Seong-woon is even saying he’s not a human worth saving.’

Then all the more it wasn’t Gio’s concern.

But just as he had handed out gifts to many passersby, if the other person wanted it and he had the leeway, there was no reason not to grant the wish.

‘More than anything, he says it’s Mr. Yoo Seong-woon’s job, so even if it’s difficult, I should help.’

If a working adult goes on a business trip and can’t accomplish the objective, how much will the company grill him again afterward?

As someone who had once been a perfectly ordinary member of society, Gio wanted to grant what Yoo Seong-woon wanted no matter what.

“So Mr. Yoo Seong-woon doesn’t have to worry about anything.”

“That’s a really grateful thing to say.”

And a chilling thing to say.

‘...I didn’t think this indifferent attitude would feel scarier than anger.’

He was an existence that could show affection to young and weak things, and could admire flashy and cool things.

That ‘Gio’s Portrait’ responding to this situation with indifference rather than anger was, for Yoo Seong-woon as a human, a bit creepy.

‘If he’s going to allow it this easily, then why did he drag Hunter Park in to begin with?’

From the earlier conversation between the Black Cloak and the black suit, he could have thought, “So Gio didn’t even know Park Eun-gyeom came here!”

But because the atmosphere of the conversation was so bizarre, Yoo Seong-woon thought it was a kind of showy performance.

Just like quite a few children of the source, after all.

“...”

So Yoo Seong-woon had no choice but to draw a strange conclusion.

‘...Some kind of isolation, maybe...’

Gio is favorable toward humans.

That could be interpreted as ‘Gio’s Portrait’ liking the human species, but this portrait also disliked rude and evil humans.

So Yoo Seong-woon thought,

‘From Gio’s perspective, I don’t know if this is consideration toward humans or simply self-satisfaction... but this kind of behavior, attacking evil humans, might be filtering out impure stock like Park Eun-gyeom so the average species value of humans can be polite and good.’

Like how humans slaughter livestock that attacks its own kind.

‘Thinking that way, I can see Gio’s perspective.’

It gave him goosebumps, but once he understood, his heart felt at ease.

“...Mm...”

If you feel fear at each and every one of these things, you can’t do gardener work.

“Then when can I take Hunter Park Eun-gyeom?”

“To take him out of City of Emptiness, a price is required.”

“A price?”

Yoo Seong-woon hesitated.

“It doesn’t matter, but do I need a price to leave too...?”

“Mr. Yoo Seong-woon may leave as you are.”

“Then Hunter Park Eun-gyeom?”

“To take him out, a price is required.”

“...”

“That is what it says.”

Gio was truly speaking plainly, as it was.

‘Even I don’t really know, but anyway the system said so.’

And interpreting that was Yoo Seong-woon’s job.

“...Ah-ha...”

He remembered when Hunter Cha Ara visited ‘Gio’s Portrait’ before.

‘She said back then that she didn’t offer any price.’

And this time as well, Gio said Yoo Seong-woon didn’t need a price.

‘It seems someone who enters the frame by Gio’s invitation doesn’t need a price.

Assuming it’s guaranteed they’ll one day go back outside the frame, it would keep the 1:1 rule too—once to this world, once to that world.’

But in the case of being forcibly dragged into the frame—

‘It seems they’re treated as one painting.’

Gio received a price from Yoo Seong-woon whenever he drew something for him.

To bring it out into reality and give it to Yoo Seong-woon, Gio also had to receive something.

This situation didn’t look very different from that.

“Then what kind of price should I give this time?”

“Mr. Yoo Seong-woon does not need to give me a price.”

“Ah, that’s fine?”

“Yes. This time, I will receive the price from the human named Park Eun-gyeom.”

“Oh...”

Curiosity arose.

‘What kind of price will he take, exactly?’

Whether he knew or didn’t know Yoo Seong-woon’s heart, Gio asked him in a low voice.

“Is it time for you to get off work?”

“Huh?

No, for a hunter like me, there usually isn’t a set time to get off work...”

“Do you wish to get off work?”

“Of course I want to.

It’s just that I can’t go home because the work isn’t finished.”

“Then I will send you out.”

Before he knew it, Gio had a frame in his hand.

“...Huh?”

It was Yoo Seong-woon’s living room.

“Wait, this...”

“Have a good night.”

And when he came to his senses.

“...”

His breathing opened up.

Warm air, with the heating running well, touched his skin, and furniture with dust settled on it because he hadn’t heard it for a while.

A dark house with not a single light on, showing there had been no one.

“...”

Yoo Seong-woon was standing in his own living room.

“...Good grief...”

He was grateful, but it was really chilling.

‘How am I supposed to match the rhythm of this.’

What kind of eerie consideration is this.

Yoo Seong-woon held an awkward smile for a long while.

Fantasy, Modern,