Chapter 35

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons — Episode 35

Yoo Sungwoon, who had come to a completely enclosed Chinese restaurant, explained to Gio.

“Profession, aptitude skill, and level.”

“...”

“The hunter rank I’ve been talking about all along is assigned by comprehensively evaluating those three things.”

“Is rank evaluated by people, like the civil service exam?”

“No, it’s evaluated by a ‘system’ presumed to be aided by the Origin.

So sometimes an awakened person who looks incompetent to humans manifests as A-rank.”

Yoo Sungwoon gave a small laugh.

“When things were still disorganized and there was little common knowledge about hunters, there were people who manipulated their ranks.

But since rank itself isn’t something humans can assign, the people who manipulated it were quickly found out...”

“They must have been criticized.”

“It didn’t end at criticism.

Hunters back then were like powerful figures you couldn’t rashly oppose.

In an era when force mattered far more than law than it does now, superpowered people who even beat monsters were treated well in many ways.”

By lying about their rank, they tried to be the only one treated well when everyone was suffering together.

“There was no way that would end well.”

Yoo Sungwoon returned to the main point.

“Rank is usually indicated with letters.”

“Is there a reason?”

“Maybe it was troublesome to unify it by country, is what I suspect.

Then you might think numbers would be far more globally unified, but separately from that, it was confirmed that the first awakened person came from the U.S., so...”

“So it was matched to the American point of view.”

“It’s not like the entire system is in English.

Anyway, the lowest rank is F, and from there it goes up through D, C, B, A, and the highest is indicated as S.”

As he said that, Yoo Sungwoon rolled his eyes for a moment.

“...Mm, though the current scholars’ opinion is that this probably isn’t all there is.

In the case of F-rank, it’s already just being a bit tougher than ordinary people, so they say what meaning would it have to go any lower, but since it’s only been 31 years since the Great Catastrophe.”

“So it feels early to be conclusive.”

“That’s right. There are even rumors that the Association President of South Korea is hiding a higher rank.”

Even Yoo Sungwoon, who had been the head of the Association’s research team, did not know the exact truth.

“Surprisingly, S-rank hunters aren’t that few either.

So that’s probably part of why the rumor that higher ranks are being hidden exists.

Because anyone can see that that S-rank is far superior to that S-rank, yet they’re being recorded as the same rank.”

These ranks also affect social perception.

“First, there’s a law that says S-rank hunters must become officially certified.”

“Officially certified... does that mean revealing your personal information?”

“Not personal information to that extent—mostly showing their face or appearing on TV programs, so you could see them as a kind of celebrity.

If you’re S-rank, then if you set your mind to it, you can devastate about a whole country, so it’s a way of placing restrictions in various ways.”

“That sounds inconvenient.”

“There are plenty of people who enjoy that popularity in their own way.”

As Gio said, there are many hunters who find it inconvenient, too.

“That’s enough about rank, and now should I explain the professions you asked about earlier?”

“The priest and tamer that student mentioned earlier are divided as professions, then.”

“Right.”

Yoo Sungwoon nodded.

“Having a profession manifest isn’t mandatory.”

“Then are there people who get a profession, and people who don’t?”

“That’s right.

Not everyone can have one, but since it has a fair amount of influence on rank, if possible, a culture formed where hunters with professions are favored.”

“Interesting.”

“Awakened people with professions gain influence over the rules of the world.

To a mere human, it feels extremely attractive.”

Even aside from rank issues, a ‘profession’ carries a major image of its own.

“There are ten professions in total.”

“Fewer than I expected.”

“I think this is a lot... if there were more than this, it would have been hard even to distinguish them.”

Doctor, priest, knight, teacher, spy, architect, artist, magician, chef, tamer.

“Doesn’t it look like a lot now that you’ve heard them?”

“If you count the professions that exist in the world, not particularly...”

“That’s true, but this is very different from those professions.”

“That is true.”

“The priest and tamer you heard earlier aren’t very common professions.”

Priests affect reality using a god’s power, and tamers affect intelligent beings.

Both are considered difficult professions because, to be fully active, they must necessarily have the help of a contracted counterpart.

“Which makes the praise you receive when you succeed that much greater.”

That tendency is especially strong for priests.

“Tamers can raise their own capabilities and tame opponents as much as they want, but priests can’t.

They have to endure and wait until a god turns its gaze to the priest and grants grace.

In other words, the initiative isn’t in their own hands.”

“But didn’t you say that a priest who doesn’t serve a god can’t be fully active?”

“That’s the kind of profession with unreasonable parts.

But since it’s the act of wielding an alien god’s power on Earth in the first place, I see this frustrating aspect as fortunate for humanity.

If you’re careless, it becomes a disaster.”

Of course, people who awakened as priests would feel quite restless inside.

“Still, if you manifest as a priest, your holy affinity becomes high.

Even if you can’t exercise a god’s influence in their stead, as a single believer, you can still use holy power.”

“Holy power.”

“That bungeoppang youth you saw earlier mistook you for a ‘tamer who is a believer,’ right?

The only profession that can openly stroll around at a distance from monsters like that is a tamer, but holy power isn’t something only priests can use—if you become a devout believer, you can use it.

So he made that mistake.”

“Then it isn’t only professions that are effective.”

“Right, there’s no need to evaluate a hunter by that alone.

In the first place, professions can manifest innately at awakening, but they can also be obtained through effort afterward, so they’re fairly flexible.”

The other professions also had their own individual rules.

“Just having this profession means that awakened person can influence the rules of the world.

Simply put, a priest gains good holy affinity, and a tamer gains affinity toward things other than humans.”

“Everything is affinity?”

“Well, unlike skills, awakening a profession doesn’t make a brand-new ability appear out of nowhere.

It’s just that you gain latent ability to a degree impossible for ordinary people, and usually, I think you’d have to express that as affinity.”

Yoo Sungwoon moved on to the next topic.

“But aptitude skills aren’t like that.”

“In what sense are they not like that?”

“This is an element you basically obtain at awakening, and it doesn’t increase even if you put in extra individual effort.

Of course, as you use and understand it, proficiency rises, but...”

That said, there are no awakened people with no aptitude skill, or with two or more aptitude skills.

“At least so far?

We don’t know what exceptions might appear in the future, but even if there are exceptions, this kind of regularity is fairly universal among awakened people.”

An aptitude skill was like the first-object-grabbing ritual.

The awakened person has no choice, but in that it lets you roughly guess how that awakened person’s life will go in the future, it was similar.

“Just from that skill, you can roughly tell that awakened person’s tendencies or stats.”

“Can you also know the future?”

“Wouldn’t it be roughly similar?

Once it manifests, you’ll have to live with that aptitude skill for your whole life, so of course it would influence the awakened person’s own life.”

Most people who awaken first study this aptitude skill.

A profession is something you’re born with if you’re lucky, but an aptitude skill becomes a fate-bound partner you can’t shake off.

“There are lots of people who cry their eyes out saying it doesn’t match their aptitude.”

If you awakened and your skill happened to be something like picking up trash, how absurd would that be.

“Right?”

“...Does a skill like that really exist?”

“It really does exist, and sometimes it’s even an aptitude skill.

I hear they’re working as a city beautification civil servant now, but I don’t know the details.”

“Even so, they made good use of their aptitude skill.”

“They’re a positive sort.”

For reference, skills are divided into the “aptitude skills” you’re born with upon awakening, and “general skills” you gain through effort afterward.

The contents themselves aren’t that different, but...

“Of course, people tend to value aptitude skills more highly.”

“If the content is the same, why do they value one side more?”

“Because aptitude skills are the reference point for evaluating that person’s soul and potential—there’s nothing you can do.”

For example, if you have hunter 1 and hunter 2, and the same skill A.

Even if it’s the same A skill, for 1 it was an inborn aptitude skill, and for 2 it was a general skill learned afterward.

“Then the starting point is different from the beginning.”

“I see.”

“Above all, aptitude skills have no level.

It means you can use the skill from the moment it manifests with the highest proficiency, and in truth, proficiency is what increases the more you use it.

Even with the same skill, there’s no choice but for there to be a huge difference depending on the user.”

And there’s a petty human side in this, too.

‘It’s kind of like a class system...’

Is it that being innately gifted tickles some corner of people’s hearts?

Awakened people who manifested highly useful or rare aptitude skills grew arrogant, and people tended to look up to them strongly.

‘I don’t really want to tell him this.’

Gio feels aristocratic and imposing, but he also has a pure side like a child who believes in Santa Claus from fairy tales.

He didn’t want to taint him.

For humanity’s peace as well, it would be better if Gio knew a little less of humans’ ugliness.

“You can learn general skills if you go to a center and apply.

So even an awakened person without a profession or with a poor aptitude skill can raise their rank through effort afterward.”

“That is flexible.”

“And as I’ve been adding little bits from earlier, what evaluates the proficiency of all of this into a visible indicator is ‘level.’”

Level evaluates profession, skills, and physical ability.

“The lowest level is 1, and the highest is 10.

I’m not sure why they didn’t mark this with letters... but since levels can be indicated down to the decimal point, maybe they needed that meticulousness.”

“Down to the decimal point?”

“Yeah, like 2.8, 4.9.

Like that...”

“Are you like that as well, Mr. Yoo Sungwoon?”

“Uh...”

After hesitating a moment, Yoo Sungwoon added.

“Rank is fine, but for reference, people usually don’t ask for the specific details of the system between each other.”

“Is that so?”

“There’s a strong perception that it’s polite.”

“...”

He was still blunt and cool-faced, but Yoo Sungwoon thought Gio looked a little shocked.

“...I apologize.”

As expected, he soon apologized.

As expected of Gio, he valued manners.

“I didn’t know anything about this and caused you offense.”

“It’s fine—you didn’t know.

It’s not like asking makes curses fall on each other, either.”

There is no actual damage, but it’s a kind of culture.

“Like how you don’t ask what color underwear someone is wearing today...”

“I am truly sorry.”

“I was the one who said it a bit too strongly, so don’t shake Honey down for jewels.

Put Honey down.

H-hey, he’s getting squished.

I don’t think trying to give jewels every time you do something wrong is very normal.”

Only then did Gio gently set down Honey, whom he’d been shaking.

Jewels already spilled out with a patter, and Honey was pecking them up and swallowing them one by one.

It was so natural that his mind went dizzy.

“If you act like that, Honey will sulk.”

“I play like this sometimes...”

“What on earth do you two play.”

If it wasn’t a lie, Honey looked quite satisfied.

‘Where is he finding satisfaction on that round face.’

The two of them were expressionless, yet their emotional expression was very clear.

They really were a father-and-son pair.

Is this what they call a child born from the heart?

Strictly speaking, a child made with a brush, but still.

‘...But certainly, compared to when he was inside the portrait...’

He looked far more...

Human.

“...Anyway, people usually don’t ask much about details related to a hunter’s system.

It’s like prying for exact numbers like height or weight.

Since it’s personal information, people don’t tend to reveal it openly.”

“I will be careful next time.”

“Oh, then I’m grateful.”

An existence of the Origin this cooperative—beyond being welcome, it was like a miracle.

As a gardener, his heart felt warm.

“Since you look curious, I’ll tell you: I don’t have a profession.

My aptitude skill is ‘Emotion,’ and I’ve learned several general skills too.

My general skill proficiency is maxed out.

My overall rank is A.”

“Is it alright for you to tell me?”

“If I’m saying it myself, what does it matter?”

“I see.”

“It’s not like I reveal it easily.

Professions show outwardly too clearly, so this cautious culture doesn’t really apply, but if someone tells you their rank, that’s a great favor.”

Roughly explained, it’s like this.

“I trust you.

You are my friend, my lover, my family...”

“...”

“Well, it’s that kind of meaning.”

“That is romantic.”

“So you like things like this.”

He really did have a pure side.

“Is that also the meaning with which you told me, Mr. Yoo Sungwoon?”

“Of course. I told you about my system as a sign of favor and trust.”

And the fact that the other party was not human also had a big influence in him being able to say it without burden.

It’s like there’s nothing uncomfortable about telling someone who’s ignorant of human culture.

Rather, it’s more uncomfortable when dealing with humans.

“If you have any more questions, I’ll get you a separate book.

There are textbooks used at the awakened education center.

There are even textbooks for beginners who just awakened, so if you need it, tell me.”

“Thanks to how well you explained, Mr. Yoo Sungwoon, I think I will be fine.”

“Then fine... mm.”

Yoo Sungwoon asked,

“Are you thinking of returning to the portrait soon?”

“Yes.”

Gio nodded as if it were natural.

“Outside has many people, and many fun toys, and many things to see and feel, but...”

“...”

“This does not seem to be the place for me.”

Yoo Sungwoon understood those words.

‘It’s impressive he maintained that state for so long.’

An ordinary awakened person wouldn’t have endured even one second.

Gio’s class and status could not dare be compared with humans’.

At the very least, inside the painting, he was an existence that enjoyed authority like a god, yet he suppressed his status, cut off his limbs, and wandered through humans’ noisy world with weights strapped to his torso.

That was a horrific thing.

“Still, it was enjoyable.”

“I’m grateful for that.

Do you plan to watch the initiation ceremony the bungeoppang youth mentioned?”

“Yes, I would like to watch.”

“Then I’ll tell you when the time comes, so rest inside the portrait until then.”

And so Gio returned to the portrait.

* * *

After returning to the cabin, Gio did nothing but sleep for a full day.

“Outside the blanket is dangerous.”

“Ggururung.”

Drained of energy, Gio needed time of his own.

Fantasy, modern,