chapter 134

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons - Episode 134

Safety ★★☆☆☆

Would you like to check the history?

[Yes/No]

Name: Ahn Juhyeon

Age: 36

Status: Panic

He wished to contribute to the world to prevent the repetition of the tragedy he experienced, but all of his sweat-and-blood efforts and affection were betrayed, and he himself became isolated.

He knew it was not an easy goal, but misfortune beyond measure came upon him.

He is alone.

Ahn Juhyeon is wary of you and doubts you, but he is never aggressive.

He is a polite and shrewd human.

Even if he harbors hostility, he will obey, and if he harbors goodwill, he will revere you.

As a civilian, he is more fragile than even an F-rank hunter.

He cannot disobey you.

You may drop him into Sankalut’s grasp and gain awareness as a wicked god, or you may care for the pitiful him and watch him head toward his goal once again.

You may choose, or you may choose not to.

Ahn Juhyeon may harbor impure thoughts, but he cannot cause harm.

He is a human who is safe for you.

* * *

It was thanks to confirming the above history that Gio suddenly spoke to Juhyeon.

“He seems like a good person.”

“Gurrr...”

“They say he’s safe for me.”

It was the best.

“The way the system puts it is pretty damn annoying, but I get it now that this person named Ahn Juhyeon is kind, at least.

And nothing is more important than that.”

In this world, there are fewer harmless humans than you’d think who can carry on a normal conversation with “Black Cloak.”

That was a tremendous problem for Gio, who had nothing he could do besides eat and sleep.

“Finally, I can make a pen-pal friend too.”

“Arrrrrr...”

“Dana, Dad needs to have friends too, don’t you think.

And I’m human too.”

Gio scooped up Dana, who looked like she was about to break down the door Juhyeon was sleeping behind, after scratching at it and scratching at it.

The bigger she got, the more actively Dana expressed her aversion toward humans.

Her body was gleaming.

“I heard from Mr. Yoo Seong-woon that a normal anti-cat is just busy avoiding people, but why does our kid have confidence bursting through the sky like this.

It’s a really interesting point.”

She definitely resembled her dad.

“Father.”

“Coo?”

“I think we should soothe Dana a little.”

“Coo-coo-coo...”

“Could you let us know if the guest wakes up?”

“Coo.”

“Thank you.”

Gio carried the tray of food he’d brought thinking, ‘Maybe he woke up,’ right back down again.

Dana, who had grown quite a bit, shrewdly moved from her dad’s arms up to his shoulder.

His shoulder was snug and heavy.

“A chilly jeweled fur bundle...”

Wasn’t she quite a cute cooling mat?

He even thought he might bring Dana instead of Honey when summer came to Earth.

“Honey, let’s go.”

“Gur.”

“You can eat this.”

“Gururururururur.”

“I should eat too.”

It was porridge cooked down until no grains of rice remained, with all kinds of vegetables and a bit of minced meat added.

He also set out as side dishes the bybamnile and mudskipper-fruit jangajji he’d made earlier, and a delicious aroma rose.

And Honey swallowed it all by herself.

“...”

“Guk.”

“Pig.”

“Koong-koong-koong-koong-koong-koong-koong...!!”

“Cute.”

He hadn’t expected her to eat all that by herself, but anyway, it earned points in that he didn’t have to throw away the food that was left because the guest didn’t eat.

Gio dragged Dana, who had been drooping over his shoulder, down and sat her on his thigh.

“Our Dana, how are you so full of confidence?”

“Eh?”

“Do you perhaps think the world revolves around you?”

“?”

“So that’s how it is—what confidence befitting a child of our house.”

Still, it would be troublesome if she went around biting the heads off everyone she met.

“Back then, Honey was like that too.”

“Mmmng?”

“Did you learn it from your older brother?”

“?.”

“Doesn’t seem like it, then it must be instinct.”

“Gyaaaaarrr.”

“Adorable.”

Gio gently stroked Dana’s belly as she rolled over and acted cute.

Unlike most cats that are sensitive about their bellies being touched, Dana was sprawled out like she just liked it.

Since she was long-haired, it also felt like some heavy carpet had been laid down.

“Your older brother also used to go around biting people as he pleased at first.

It only happened once so far, but when I found out, Dad’s heart sank.”

“Ryu?”

“Even if only for this dad, I’d like you to not bite other people as you please or hurt them.

If I talk about the losses from your perspective as a monster, every time you cause injury like that, I have to go far away to clean up, or pay money.”

“...!”

“Dad can draw jewels and draw gold too, but it seems bartering still hasn’t become very widespread in Korea.

In other words, I’m a beggar, and I could get branded a debtor and be pilloried, so I’d like it if Dana would think of Dad just a little.”

“Ehh?”

“Cute, so cute.”

Dana, having learned about Dad’s poor wallet situation, apologized.

While rebuilding trust with his reliable daughter, who promised she wouldn’t cause trouble, Gio sat Honey on his hand as she kept poking at the empty tray.

“Honey, come here.”

“Guruk.”

“The tray’s going to wear down.”

He didn’t know who she took after to grow into such an excellent pig.

Of course, he knew very well that she took after Gio himself.

“The guest must be pretty tired—seeing as he’s been sleeping for nearly five days.”

Gio really liked this guest.

He was an adult man older than Gio, thirty-six years old, and even if he met Black Cloak, he didn’t get scared or charge at him.

What’s more, he was a polite and harmless human acknowledged by the system.

“And he’s skin-and-bones.”

He had to be fattened up right away.

It had been quite a while since there was someone for whom fattening up felt this worthwhile.

Ahn Juhyeon was all but qualified to truly become Gio’s friend.

“I even prepared lamb skewers so we could tear into them together...”

“Gururururuk.”

“Yeah, if he really won’t wake up, then tonight we can eat together.”

“Ehh?”

“If he wakes up, then we all eat together.”

If we eat, we become Anne of Green Gables and her friend Diana.

In this harsh world, Gio finished preparing to hunt up a new friend.

* * *

Juhyeon woke up at early dawn.

“...”

He rose from the soft bed with a blank mind.

The dawn of a world where full spring had settled was cool in temperature, and a soft wind carrying the scent of flowers and forest blew kindly.

Juhyeon turned his head toward where it touched his cheek.

Beyond the terrace, thrown wide open, he saw a world glittering with dew.

“...Wow...”

Beautiful.

And peaceful.

“...Right now, this...”

His mind was hazy, and he frowned.

When he felt around with his upper body raised, his hand caught a blanket so plush it felt as if it was filled with nothing but feathers.

The texture of well-dried cloth, fuzzy and rustling, revived the feeling of his childhood, when he used to stroke moss.

Juhyeon lost his words for a moment at that texture, then soon looked again at the world beyond the terrace.

It was an instinctive gaze.

“...Was this inside Black Cloak’s frame?”

It was a world that resembled a fairy tale more than he’d imagined.

‘The sun is just coming up.’

The dim dawn clouds were a navy that made him think of late-spring cold, but the warmth and starlight lingering beside the rising sun had gentle colors like forsythia or cherry blossoms.

If you took a bite out of that, it would be sweet like honey offered by a flower.

“...”

Trudge.

Without realizing it, Juhyeon went out onto the terrace.

“...Stars.”

There were stars in the sky, and the moon, and along with them, the sun.

The stars, not fading even in the bright, soft light, shone with a clarity like they might fall down at any moment.

They were still glittering.

“The Milky Way...”

At that dreamy sight, the tips of his fingers suddenly tickled, and his tightly closed lungs throbbed.

Though it was a sight he had never seen, Juhyeon felt heavy air along with an inexplicable longing.

“...”

Where the dawn shadow still remained, he could see a forest with no end in sight and a glittering lake.

Juhyeon’s eyes were stolen by that lake for a moment.

From it, sparkling in a rapturous golden light, he could feel a deep abundance.

It was cold, and warm.

“...It’s a strange feeling.”

Muttering for no reason, Juhyeon stepped back.

“...Here, um, yeah.

Right...”

He tried to pull himself together.

“Is it some kind of dungeon.”

It didn’t go well.

He’d been like this lately.

Even while thinking rationally that he had to do this and that to make up for things, he didn’t have the will to actually do it.

It was as if his brain had hardened, refusing to work.

But on the terrace, a cool breeze blew and cooled the heat on his forehead.

“...”

At that softness, like it was telling him not to be impatient, he found himself ridiculous for having had those thoughts, and he slowly let out a sigh.

“...Haaa...”

Plop.

He sat down on the bed.

“...Calm down.”

It was fine.

It wasn’t fine, but it could become fine.

As always, this time too, he could endure it.

‘Maybe because I slept and woke up, it feels like my reason is coming back a little.’

That dreadful lethargy that had tormented Juhyeon lately had eased a great deal.

Yes, he had been lethargic.

An impulse he’d never felt in his life had violently shaken him, and the mind that had always coolly produced results for his benefit and goals had hardened stiff.

‘But right now... it isn’t like that.’

It felt like he could breathe properly.

“...”

“Guruk?”

“...Huh?”

“Guk, gurung.”

“A bird?”

When he came to his senses, there was a golden bird perched on the terrace railing.

“No, water?”

Juhyeon soon realized it was living water in the shape of a bird.

It resembled the long-tailed tit, said to have already gone extinct, but with a tail far longer and more spread out, and jewels set into its body as if it were a treasure chest.

“Why is it here...”

Not knowing how to react, he froze, and the bird fluttered over and perched on Juhyeon’s thigh.

It had almost no weight, and though it was water, it was warm like a living creature.

“Gur.”

“...Hello?”

“Gukkurrurur.”

As if responding to his greeting, the waterbird let out a long cry, then flapped its wings again and flew up.

It soon bit the sleeve of Juhyeon’s white pajamas with its beak and tugged hard.

“...You want me to go out?”

“Guruk.”

“...Weird—so its vocal organ isn’t attached to its mouth...”

Maybe he still wasn’t fully awake; he was even more curious that the cry didn’t distort even though the bird made entirely of water had his sleeve in its mouth.

In a strange unreality, Juhyeon followed where the bird led him.

There, there was a man dressed all in black.

“Honey.”

At his call, the honey-colored bird perched on the man’s hand.

It was a soft landing.

The man praised it briefly for doing well, then lifted the bird onto his shoulder, and at his feet there was a huge cat glittering with a chilly light.

Juhyeon realized it resembled an anti-cat quite a lot.

Not knowing what to do, he hesitated, and soon the man spoke to him.

“Good morning.”

“Ah, yes.

Good morning.”

“I was worried because you did not wake for a long time.”

“Didn’t wake...?”

“You slept for eight days.”

“...”

After chewing on those words, Juhyeon’s dark skin turned pale blue.

“...Eight days?”

“In reality, a total of three days have passed.”

“Ah, ahh.

Ah... I see.

I understand.”

Juhyeon let out a relieved breath.

After being startled once, it felt like his mind snapped awake.

With clearer reason than before, Juhyeon looked at the pitch-black man before him and thought inwardly,

‘...Is this Black Cloak’s true form.’

There had been no witness who’d seen the inside of Black Cloak, to the point a hypothesis circulated that the cloak or suit itself was the main body.

And the main body of Black Cloak that Juhyeon confirmed was a man far more beautiful than he’d imagined.

‘Feels like I saw him before I fell asleep too, but his impression is completely different from then... what exactly is different?’

As he pondered the differences in Black Cloak’s changes, the other party, with composed eyes, politely asked,

“Will you have a meal?”

“...”

“Aren’t you hungry?”

Ah, that expression.

‘...With just one expression, he changes completely.’

The Black Cloak asking, ‘Aren’t you hungry?’ just now looked extremely warm and gentle, even though his color hadn’t changed.

His eyes and lips curved naturally and softly, and Juhyeon’s gaze was stolen without realizing it.

Only a beat later could Juhyeon answer.

“...Yes, I’m hungry.”

Look at this damned peace.

‘There’s no way a peace like this could exist, and yet.’

From that unreal tranquility, he realized he was inside a painting.

Fantasy, Modern,