chapter 107

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons - Episode 107

Yoo Seong-woon concluded decisively.

“Gio had no malicious intent.”

“What kind of narrow-minded statement from a guardian shielding his own kid is that, Curator Yoo Seong-woon?”

“Please don’t talk like that, it gives me goosebumps.”

Yoo Seong-woon shuddered at Visabel’s insensitive nonsense.

“If you had Gio in front of you, you wouldn’t be saying such absurd things.”

Acting friendly in front of that distant, vast rank was no easy thing.

Even Yoo Seong-woon, a gardener accustomed to the source, could treat him this calmly; there were still plenty of employees who, even after meeting Gio face-to-face, couldn’t properly say a single word.

At Yoo Seong-woon’s appearance, Visabel asked in a subtle tone,

“Would I really not be like that in front of him?”

“...Damn it, just don’t ever plan on seeing Gio for the rest of your life.

Do you understand?”

“Ah, that’s so unfair. ‘Gio’s Portrait’ was something I bought.

I bought it—I emptied my wallet and bought it.”

“Then it seems you should fix your personality.”

That was the best way to ensure humanity’s peace.

“Gio doesn’t like you, Guildmaster.”

“What did I do...?”

“You have too much energy, that’s what. Too much.”

“Is that a crime?”

“Seeing as you haven’t been dragged away yet, it doesn’t seem to be a crime.”

Though he wished that mouth would get dragged away a bit, it felt wrong to dump such a dreadful responsibility onto Gio.

Steeling himself, Yoo Seong-woon returned to the main point.

“Truly, Gio had no bad intentions.

If that guy had dragged Hunter Park Eun-gyeom away with hostility or malice in his heart, then when I tried to take him out, he would have felt even the slightest displeasure.

Because it would mean I ignored his emotions.”

But ‘Gio’s Portrait’ expressed no regret at all.

“Rather, he showed a tolerant attitude as if telling me to do as I wished.”

“Isn’t there a possibility he dressed it up that way?”

“What would make him go that far to dress it up?

Not in some other place, but inside Gio’s belly...”

He didn’t know how far the limits of Gio’s ability extended, but at the very least, he knew that a dungeon’s owner could wield miraculous authority inside his own dungeon.

“And yet, the fact he treated me that gently means we have to see it as truly having no ill feelings.”

“Our Hunter Seo Gio is kindhearted, too.”

“It’s that warm smile, like he’s dealing with a grandson... but please don’t do that in front of Gio.”

Even as he said it, Yoo Seong-woon was half resigned.

“I can’t say it’s certain since it’s something only I confirmed, but from what I saw, the reason ‘Gio’s Portrait’ attacks humans is, as expected, because they were evil and rude.”

And.

“The ultimate purpose was to maintain the quality of the human species.”

“To maintain the quality of the human species, then...”

“I don’t know if this is an accurate analogy, but you know how it is.

You cull sick chickens before they spread germs... and you isolate overly violent animals in a zoo...”

“Oh, to my ears that sounds like a very accurate analogy.

A really perfect analogy, easy to understand.

Does Gio see us as that kind of livestock or beast?”

“...”

Yoo Seong-woon smiled awkwardly.

“...I don’t know.”

When he toured Seoul together, Gio was extremely human, kind, and respectful of others.

But if you asked whether that 모습 and the 모습 he had as ‘Black Cloak’ were completely different, that wasn’t quite it either, so it was confusing.

“If the way he treats humans changed according to a personality shift, it would be far easier for us to understand, but from what I saw, that division wasn’t clear.”

Yoo Seong-woon showed a troubled expression.

“If there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that he’s favorable toward the human species.”

“That part we already knew, but it’s become a bit clearer.”

“Yes, it became clearer.”

Through this incident, Yoo Seong-woon learned one habit of Gio’s.

“Gio treats evil and rude humans as almost a different species from other humans.”

He couldn’t tell whether ‘Gio’s Portrait’ saw all humans as livestock, but at the very least he could tell that evil and rude ones were treated like livestock.

That was how insensitive and ruthless the attitude was.

“Right in front of me, he spoke with the transparent men in black suits and showed that he had absolutely no interest in the human called Park Eun-gyeom.

Whether he truly didn’t know, or knew and put on that performance, I don’t know...”

Yoo Seong-woon recalled the Black Cloak he had seen in the ‘City of Emptiness.’

“He looked like he truly placed no value on him at all.”

“So that’s why you described it as having no malice.

Literally, there’s neither killing intent nor hostility.”

“Whether the human he dragged in stayed trapped and died, escaped, or struggled—Gio didn’t seem to care at all.”

“Literally isolation or disposal.

And an attitude close to indifference.

Gio’s interest is focused only on good or ordinary humans.”

“That said, he also doesn’t have the devotion to desperately erase every single evil person.

It just seemed like whenever someone who didn’t meet Gio’s standard of ‘human’ appeared in his sight, he dealt with them.”

“That’s frightening.”

Visabel smiled thinly.

“And that’s exactly it.”

“...What the guildmaster says is right.”

Yoo Seong-woon nodded.

“It isn’t behavior that greatly harms humanity.”

If he were trying to remove every evil person on Earth, or openly exerting influence and showing unconditional favoritism toward good people, the story would be a bit different.

But the actions of ‘Gio’s Portrait’ like this didn’t cause great confusion for humanity.

“It feels like he recognized it as just a pastime event, too.”

“For it to be a pastime, he doesn’t seem to feel any particular joy, but it also doesn’t look like he has any sense of responsibility or duty.”

“True. From the start, you can’t feel enough enthusiasm for it to even call it play or punishment.”

“There’s no greater calamity that threatens humanity than the enthusiasm shown by an existence of the source.”

“In that sense, Gio’s habits can’t be called a great calamity for Earth.”

This was closer to an event that popped up now and then.

“At least if people are careful in front of the frame, no one will get dragged away.

So at this level...”

“It’s enough to coexist.”

Visabel spoke in a definitive tone.

“In a situation where humanity has no choice but coexistence, that’s truly fortunate news.

And since it’s coexistence that won’t be a huge burden even from humans’ perspective, the Association will also be able to feel a lot lighter.”

Without denying Visabel’s words, Yoo Seong-woon still didn’t completely let down his guard.

“It’s still too early to conclude that.

It hasn’t been that long since we started analyzing ‘Gio’s Portrait,’ either.”

“Curator Yoo Seong-woon is right.

There’s nothing more stupid than believing you’ve ‘fully grasped’ an existence of the source and relaxing.

Especially if it’s someone like Gio, whose identity you don’t even know yet.”

“...That’s the point that worries me the most.

If we at least knew the exact information, my heart would feel a little more at ease, but with unknown facts continuing to pop up like this...”

Even if he could trust that Gio’s habits on display wouldn’t greatly harm humanity, he couldn’t know anything beyond that.

Someday, ‘Gio’s Portrait’ could display another aggressive habit.

“...”

Yoo Seong-woon rubbed his neck.

“...This has gone on too long.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to approach carefully and cautiously?”

“That’s something you say when you at least know the identity.”

He was a curator in name, and a gardener in name, and yet.

“I still don’t know what Gio is.”

Even at this turning point of the year.

“The newly appeared frame, that gray city, was an abnormal dungeon.

It felt even more incongruous because its basic foundation was similar to a normal dungeon.

It strongly felt like it was imitating a dungeon, too.”

And.

“That is closer to a garden.”

“I believe you understand well what that means.”

“Yes, I do.

A garden is also the source’s vein.”

The ‘garden’ that gardeners literally grind their lives into, cultivating it beautifully and healthily, could be defined in a single phrase as “the source’s organ.”

Managing the source’s blood vessels, and heart, and lungs, and muscles, and bones—those kinds of things—was the gardener’s duty.

“I’ve never heard that an existence other than a human manages a garden, but...”

“By that standard, we also know far too little about the source.”

“That’s the problem.

Every gardener I know is human, but it’s only been 31 years since we even came to know that.”

“That it has aspects we don’t know, in a source with limits we can’t identify, is only natural.”

“That said, it’s also unreasonable for us to judge Gio as not a human, but a gardener.”

Even if there were monsters that managed gardens, and even if there were diligent gods like that.

Separately from that, directly creating a garden was impossible.

It was something you could expect from no one—an impossibility.

“...A gardener can’t do that.”

Right. A gardener “can’t” do that.

Then...

“...”

“I’ve had this thought before.”

Visabel spoke in place of Yoo Seong-woon, who had closed his mouth.

“What if the source is a person?”

Yoo Seong-woon did not scold it as empty nonsense.

* * *

“My kids.”

After Yoo Seong-woon left, Gio—alone—hugged the men in black suits in his arms and enjoyed his life as a portrait.

“I couldn’t pay attention to you, but I’m so happy you grew up this well.”

“Yes, thank you for being pleased with us, Father.”

“How did you grow into such fine gentlemen.

I really am blessed with children, aren’t I.”

The combination of a black cloak with no face visible and faceless men in black suits was spine-chilling to anyone, but there was no one here who would point that out.

Gio kept murmuring, “My admirable kids,” as he cradled his new children.

“How can you be this cute.”

They recognized their father—more precisely, since they were monsters inside the ‘City of Emptiness,’ it was closer to grandfather, but anyway—and the children who recognized their family and came into his arms were nothing but lovable.

There was no sour-sweet vitamin in this harsh world quite like it.

“I didn’t particularly intend it, but you really resemble me.”

“Yes, we wished to resemble you, Father.”

“So this is ‘When I grow up, I’ll be an adult like Dad.’

That’s a good resonance.”

“Yes, thank you for creating us in a 모습 that pleases you, Father.”

“I don’t know how you can be such diligent, clever children.”

Even Gio knew that these “men in black suits” were objectively quite a frightening appearance.

Maybe because they were clumsily imitating Gio, who already had a blunt disposition, their actions were natural like a human’s, and yet carried an awkward incongruity somewhere.

Park Eun-gyeom felt like he would die of fear just from looking at them, and even Yoo Seong-woon, an experienced gardener, felt an unbearable chill.

Gio didn’t not know that others would have such an impression.

‘But that’s none of my business.’

Personal impressions can’t be helped, but the kids did their best to resemble Dad and dressed up diligently—no one is allowed to say anything about that.

“This sensitive father is tearing up at his children’s admirable nature.”

“Please pet us, Father.”

“Father, we love you.”

“Father.”

“My admirable kids.”

In Gio’s eyes, a thick and sturdy bean-pod filter had already slipped on.

“I hope you won’t mind even if people say you’re scary.”

“Yes, if you love us, Father, nothing will be a problem.”

“Even if you aren’t human-friendly, to my eyes you’re only cute.”

“Thank you, Father.

Please hug us.”

“For me to be blessed with children at this age...”

These little bundles of love.

It was a truly heartwarming family, cherishing each other.

Fantasy, Modern,