Chapter 21

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons — Episode 21

4:29 a.m.

Yoo Seongun called the portrait.

“Gio, are you awake?”

“I am awake.”

“Good.”

He called because he knew it usually opened its eyes around this time, of course.

‘There are days it skips, but the time when communication is possible is usually around 4 to 5 a.m...

I need to watch the situation more, but it’s better to think of this as a rule too.’

This “Gio’s portrait” is favorable toward humans, but no Origin existence shows mercy to a human who breaks its rules.

Even if it is a specimen gentlemanly enough to look almost human, he had to be careful.

“I wanted to talk a bit.”

“What business do you have with me?”

“I heard you’ve been walking around the company building lately.

The rumors are everywhere.”

“I am curious what kind of rumors they are.”

“You might not like it, but... they’re calling you ‘Black Cloak.’”

With his characteristic unruffled smile, Yoo Seongun continued.

“I think a rumor has formed that ‘Black Cloak gives gifts to good people.’”

These are guild members Bisabeol, with his sharp eye, personally gathered one by one.

Regardless of combat strength, they weren’t bad at using their heads.

In their own way, they had figured out “Black Cloak’s” rules.

“Sounds like you gave gifts to other people again too?”

“I did not give them to everyone.”

“I know—only to people who were especially polite or kind, right?”

Those who said they had received gifts from Gio had something in common.

‘Either too weak, or too strong.’

He could guess it to some extent.

Those who were too weak trembled in fear at the sight of him, so he would have given gifts as the price of apology for that, and those who were strong could communicate more or less normally even before Gio’s overwhelming presence, so Gio would have judged them ‘polite.’

A gift of apology, or gratitude.

In its own way, it was a result that suited the 1: 1 rule.

‘Rather, those who were neither this nor that did not receive gifts.’

Employees who are strong enough not to cry and snot all over, but not so firm that they can communicate normally before an enormous presence.

Those people did not receive gifts.

“Mm...”

To prevent any possible accident in advance, he felt an explanation was needed on this point.

‘Since he’s imitating a human, Gio isn’t a rough guy you can’t communicate with.’

Well, as if you could define an Origin existence as gentlemanly.

‘This should be fine.’

After making his own preparations, Yoo Seongun opened his mouth.

“Among our employees, if someone doesn’t answer you properly, or runs away, or avoids answering... that doesn’t mean they’re bad people.

They’re just friends who are a little timid.”

“...”

“To someone, a big man in a black cloak, unknown and suddenly appearing in a deserted corridor at dawn, would be scary no matter who it is.”

Yoo Seongun deliberately described Gio as if he were an ordinary person.

Since Gio thinks of himself as an ordinary human, it didn’t seem like anything good would come of deliberately revealing the rank of his soul or his essence.

“Of course, it might feel rude to you.

But I’m saying it wasn’t that they were deliberately trying to be rude to you—rather, from the standpoint of those timid people, it might have been a little overwhelming.”

Soon, a calm voice was heard.

“I understood what you meant.”

“Yeah?

Then thanks.”

Curator and gardener Yoo Seongun couldn’t help but worry.

‘It’s natural for a rabbit to shrink before a wolf, but if he judges that as rude and evil, things become quite troublesome.

If it goes wrong, people with no sin could start dying.’

To an Origin existence, human standards are meaningless.

In particular, “Gio’s portrait” is sensitive to good and evil and to manners, and the problem is that this guy’s standards could be clearly different from a human’s.

From a human standpoint, someone who has done nothing wrong, or is even a good person, could be a vicious villain from Gio’s standpoint, an Origin existence.

When he thought of Gio, who had said multiple times that he hates rude and evil people, it was chilling.

‘When I realized there were people who hadn’t received gifts at all, it really made my spine go cold.’

Doesn’t that mean Gio ‘categorized’ humans?

“You, right.

You said Guildmaster Bisabeol wasn’t a bad person?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“Every single employee of this company was personally chosen by that man.

Not just putting out a posting and selecting through mass interviews—these are guild members he scouted one by one with care.”

“That must have taken much time and effort. That is astonishing.”

“I wanted to say that even if our guild employees aren’t all kind-hearted, they’re capable and good people.”

In a world like this, where is the person who has never once committed a crime—but the people Bisabeol personally chose were, at the very least, not humans who could be called villains.

“Even if they don’t have outstanding personalities, they’re just ordinary people.”

“Yes.”

“...Would it be too rude to hope you won’t see those people as bad?”

He didn’t know how Gio distinguished human good and evil.

‘But just as humans have emotion skills... Gio must also have a standard for judgment.

Otherwise, there’s no way he could have concluded that Guildmaster Bisabeol was not a bad person without even having a conversation with him.’

Contrary to Yoo Seongun’s thoughts, unless he is not inside the portrait, Gio still has no means to grasp the other party’s “safety level” beyond the frame.

The reason there were people who received gifts this time and people who did not was because each time Gio felt, ‘Ah, thanks,’ or ‘Ah, I’m sorry,’ he gave a gift as a concept of reward.

There was no particular value judgment in it.

But Yoo Seongun, who didn’t know those circumstances, couldn’t help suspecting Gio’s emotion skill.

‘I just hope the skill’s standards aren’t too harsh.’

Bisabeol said this ghost-story commotion was a kind of vaccination.

A chance, so that the “Gio’s portrait,” an absolute, unmanageable natural disaster, could adapt to this world and respect its members, and so that humans of this world could understand and consider him.

So Yoo Seongun had no choice but to try various methods.

“What do you think?”

“...”

Fortunately, and perhaps inevitably, Gio answered with his usual blunt face.

“I did not think those people were bad.”

“Did you?”

“The only reason I did not give them gifts is because I judged they would not need them, and because some people ran away before I could do anything.

I did not think they were evil.”

“...”

“I simply thought there was no need to give gifts.”

That was truly fortunate.

‘At least he didn’t judge them to be rude and evil people.

So that’s why there were no injured even though the eyewitness accounts increased.’

As he was about to feel relieved, Gio continued.

“I do have a small resentment toward those who ignored me, ran away, or fled without answering my question.”

“Ah.”

“But I understand.

As you said, an unknown man in a black cloak suddenly appearing in a deserted corridor can certainly be an object of fear.

It would be a lie to say it was not unpleasant, but I have no intention of becoming angry.”

As he said that, Gio added an explanation.

“However, since I am also a person, I cannot help but feel negative emotions.”

“Y-yeah, sure.”

“I tried to speak politely, but if this keeps happening, my heart hurts.

I hope the employees here will not ignore or avoid ‘Black Cloak’ in this way.”

“I’ll speak to the guildmaster about that.”

Yoo Seongun forced himself to swallow his awkwardness.

‘...So he did get upset, after all.’

It seemed to be only at the level of ‘not a bad person,’ not ‘they weren’t rude.’

Even for an ordinary person, if the people around them reject them, they would be angry—especially since Gio was an Origin existence who thought of himself as human.

Even if he was mistaken into thinking he was human, there was no way he wouldn’t be angry at humans who violated his clear rules.

‘Even so... we won’t be able to completely suppress the fear of the ghost story.

His soul rank is so high that it’s only natural for humans before him to shrink.

If so, do we at least need to regulate employee behavior by creating new rules inside the company building.’

After a brief hesitation, Yoo Seongun nodded.

“...We have a close relationship centered around the guildmaster.

Because the guildmaster personally brought each person in, employees’ attachment to him is quite strong.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll talk to the guildmaster and try to improve things as much as possible, so that the discomfort you felt won’t continue.

If the guildmaster insists strongly, I think the other employees will accept it too.”

“If you do that, I would be grateful.”

As he said that, Gio was holding a glass jar he had never seen before.

“...”

No, no.

Wait a second.

‘A crock?’

It wasn’t a bottle, it was a crock.

So big you’d have to hug it with an arm rather than hold it in one hand.

“...What is that?”

“I will say it is a thank-you gift for listening to my complaints and request.”

“I still haven’t even finished the cookies you gave me last time.”

“Why is that?”

“Ah...”

“I am not angry.

It is not much, yet it is still left, so I was curious and asked.

Will you answer me.”

If it were an ordinary human, he might wonder, ‘Is he being sarcastic and angry?’ but Gio was clearly an Origin existence.

It seemed like a pure question, so Yoo Seongun answered with an apologetic face.

“I’m sorry—when I eat it when I’m tired, the effect is too good, so I’ve been saving it and eating it little by little.

It’s not that your gift was uncomfortable or didn’t suit my taste and that’s why I left it.”

“There is no reason to be sorry to me.

I gave the gift, and it is now Yoo Seongun’s.

You do not need to make excuses to me.

However, it is a happy story that it gave you strength when you were tired.”

“When you say it like that, it makes me feel even more honored...”

Yoo Seongun looked at the glass crock inside the portrait.

“So, what is that?”

At that, Gio removed the hand that had been holding the crock and showed it to him.

“It is fruit syrup.”

“...That?”

“Anyone can see it is fruit syrup.”

“Ah, right...”

Anyone can’t see it as fruit syrup.

‘...That’s fruit syrup?’

Even if fruit and sugar are expensive ingredients and hard to try often, Yoo Seongun was a capable hunter.

There was no way someone like him, who earned a good deal of money, had never tried even a fruit syrup that even second-grade citizens buy.

‘But it’s... very different from the fruit syrup I know.’

It held the color of twilight.

Should he call it vermilion, close to orange.

The transparent, clean liquid shone with gloss like the surface of a jewel, and inside, in that color that reminded him of the evening sunset, a shade so deep it was almost dazzling was sleeping.

‘Something fruit-like is sunk down in it, but...’

The color was so enchanting he didn’t feel like he could eat it.

“This is ice that is good to add and eat together.”

“...It looks just like pearls.”

“The name is Ice Pearl.

It seems Yoo Seongun has insight to guess a name at once.”

“Oh, right.

Insight...”

“It is ice that does not melt unless it is at a level of being hot, so if you wish to consume it, please be sure to melt it in hot tea and drink it.”

“...”

I can feel it.

‘I don’t think I can handle this.’

After receiving tea leaves from Gio for the first time and asking him to ‘hold back a little,’ the cookies he received as the price of seeds.

Those, too, were not ordinary.

With the tremendous fatigue recovery effect, he still couldn’t eat them all at once and had left them, leading to the current situation.

‘But this time there’s a lot, too.’

He said he enjoyed cooking—looks like he has quite a big hand.

This Origin existence likely didn’t know how small a human stomach was.

“Accept it.”

“...Isn’t it too much?”

“Eat a lot.

It would be good for Yoo Seongun to gain more weight than now.”

“I’m sturdy enough as I am.”

Even though he had never directly seen his physique, judging by the outline of the cloak, Yoo Seongun had more muscle mass than Gio.

And yet he was being told to gain more weight?

Yoo Seongun couldn’t understand it.

‘...No, wait, does he mean fat when he says weight?’

Was Gio a cannibal monster?

“I don’t taste good.”

“That is an amusing joke.”

“I was serious.”

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have the heart of a snack-house witch trying to fatten someone up before eating them.

‘It isn’t for humans to judge what aesthetic taste an Origin existence has.’

Gio seemed to like plumper humans aesthetically.

Even though he himself had such a perfectly balanced body, he liked fat people—something about that was a little peculiar.

What kind of story does this Origin existence even have.

‘...Come to think of it, when he says he gives gifts, it’s always food, and when he’s bored, what he does is cooking or eating.

In many ways, he really seems to like food.

Liking people with some body fat too, and having strangely big hands too, and liking giving gifts too...’

This guy, is he a grandmother.

“...”

“What are you thinking about?”

“Ah, sorry.

I had a stray thought for a moment.”

“I see.”

Fortunately, Gio did not pry any further.

“It is a gift I give in return for your favor, so I do not need repayment.

Above all, it seems the newly combined fruit syrup has ripened deliciously, so I wanted to share it with you.”

“Hm... I see.”

Even as he nodded calmly, Yoo Seongun thought inwardly.

‘...Does he know that he is bound by rules?’

What Gio just said sounded as if it had the premise, ‘For me to give you a gift, I must receive something.’

Perhaps the one-to-one rule wasn’t something Gio made himself.

‘Or he made it and forgot it.’

If he has a presence that great but only the memories of a mere twenty-nine-year-old youth exist, it was a plausible hypothesis.

“...For now, you’re giving it, so I’ll accept it...”

Looking at the fruit syrup, Yoo Seongun used his emotion skill.

[Honey of the Water Veins]

[Grade: - ]

Fruit syrup made with mangdung berries and drought tangerines that grow wild in the water veins of fate.

It has a vermilion hue, and its characteristics are its sweet-and-sour, deep savory flavor.

Gio, the owner of the forest, personally processed it so that even the human body can accept it.

If you dilute it in water and drink it, it restores the human body’s physical abilities to their limit.

Especially outstanding for malnutrition.

If you additionally add Ice Pearls that grow wild in the glacier beneath Gio’s cabin, it exerts excellent effects in restoring physical and mental functions.

“...”

“Is the scent not good?”

“You’re really good at cooking.”

Feels like you could be a little less good.

Fantasy, modern,