Chapter 36

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons — Episode 36

It wasn’t that he hated having fun, but the energy permitted to Gio was rather limited.

“...”

“...”

“...Honey, if Dad’s sprawled out, you should at least nag me.”

“...Kkungkkungkkungkkung...”

“If both of us are sprawled out, there’s no answer.”

Busy, busy modern society, met again, sucked Gio’s stamina dry.

‘Even if a vampire sucked my blood, I probably wouldn’t get this tired.’

He thought it hadn’t originally been such a peaceful, gentle country either.

But Korea, after thirty-one years had passed, had become Hell Korea.

Fragile Gio ended up shrinking.

Sprawled on the bed like a rag aged twenty-nine years, Gio kneaded Honey, who had melted down and spread out like a liquid monster.

“As far as I know... I should still be synchronizing with Giovanni.”

“Gguruk?”

“It feels much less when I’m inside than when I’m outside.”

“Ggureureu?”

“The synchronization speed has slowed too.”

Assimilation Rate 14.8%

“When I dipped my feet in Cheonggyecheon, I filled almost 6%, didn’t I.”

“Gguk.”

“And when we took the waterway to the restaurant, it was almost 4%...”

The common point was that they were actions related to water.

“Is it because there’s a lot of connection with water.”

It was Giovanni’s story.

Anyway, compared to staying still inside the painting, the speed of synchronization was much faster when he was in reality.

“It must be the characteristic of the world inside the portrait.”

“Ggureureureu...”

During synchronization, he felt his old 생활 pattern 그대로.

At the right time, he got hungry, and after working hard, he had to sleep, and the body that had been strangely light became heavy...

But this was something he felt after returning from the Seoul tour: inside the portrait, those sensations had become a bit duller.

“Even if I’m synchronizing, maybe it’s because inside the portrait I’m treated not as a human but as a painting.

If I’m here, even the emotions I feel are treated as ‘a painting.’”

When Gio was the subject, even if the target was something formless, it still seemed to be judged as a ‘painting.’

Just like how, in the past, even if he felt gratitude toward Yoo Sungwoon and gifted fruit syrup on his own whim, it didn’t become a problem for the one-to-one system.

“...”

If synchronization ends, do I return to being a ‘portrait’ again?

“What would a human be like who has no choice but to be a portrait unless they assimilate with someone else.”

“...”

“Truly stylish.”

“Ggeur...”

“There wouldn’t be a portrait like me anywhere in the world.

I’ll be confident.”

Today as well, Gio’s self-esteem shot up without knowing the sky’s limits.

“As expected, I’m amazing.”

Gio’s humanity did not yield to the mere identity of a possessed portrait.

For such a trivial problem to cause confusion in his sense of self, Gio’s self-assertion was far too strong.

“Let’s eat.”

“Ggeuruk.”

In the end, the topic of their talk shifted to something to eat.

There was no pig like them.

“Uht-cha.”

Only after exactly 29 hours and 36 minutes had passed did Gio finally lift his body from the bed.

Honey, with no intention of doing so, was still sprawled out.

He was a precious young master of a noble house who knew very well that Gio would carry him himself.

“You know how annoyingly cute you are when you act like that.”

“Kkung.”

“You think being cute is everything?

That’s right, the world is all about that.”

“Ggeureureureureureu.”

“You’ve already fulfilled your usefulness with cuteness.”

As Gio saw it, there seemed to be no emotion that brought peace to humanity more than cuteness.

“Today’s meal will be led by me.”

It always was.

“It’s been a while—shall we go to the garden patch and check how much everything’s grown?”

“Kkungkkungkkung...”

“You can’t even be bothered to fly there—your realm of laziness has reached the sky.

I’ll put you in the basket, so stay still.”

“Kkuuuuuungggureureu!”

“Where do you think you’re sending me alone, huh.

Tsk.

No, you can’t—come with me.

Dad’s lonely.”

Gio swept the drooping liquid monster into the basket.

Even while grumbling kkungkkungkkung, Honey slid in with a slurp, and Gio, with a satisfied face, lifted the basket and left the cabin.

And he witnessed great nature.

“What is this?”

Where did my modest garden patch go—did the Amazon move in?

“Where on earth did my small, precious garden patch go.”

“Ggu, gguru...”

“My garden patch wasn’t like this.”

He thought, at most, there would be a few sprouts, but instead of cute sprouts, even the cherry tomatoes alone had grown to about three meters.

“No, can you call a three-meter cherry tomato a ‘cherry’ tomato.”

No.

“Is it even a tomato in the first place.”

The tomatoes I know weren’t as big as a small watermelon, were they?

Gio, who had tried farming all kinds of things at least once, fell into confusion at a result he’d never experienced in his life.

It wasn’t as though he’d left the patch unattended for that long, and when he planted them, they were definitely ordinary seeds and seedlings, so how on earth had it become not a garden patch but a monster patch.

“The state of the lettuce...”

“...”

“It’s the manifestation of Cthulhu.”

“Ggeuruk?”

“That exists.”

There’s an octopus monster god who can drive even a perfectly sane person, sane enough to buy and eat bungeoppang with five thousand won, out of their mind.

“It looks exactly like that.”

And Gio realized that was the spot where he had planted lettuce.

“I planted an octopus instead of lettuce.”

“Gguruk.”

“Don’t affirm it, Honey.

Dad gets hurt easily.”

Lettuce leaves more robust than fall napa cabbage were rising without knowing the sky’s limits.

Its appearance was so imposing that even though Gio hadn’t confessed anything, he felt like he’d been dumped.

“This is a reality I never imagined.”

And corn.

“...”

“...”

“I’m scared.”

Gio shrank back.

“Is it a tree?”

The stalks were too thick, and the kernels were even thicker.

It was very scary.

The potatoes and sweet potatoes hiding under the ground made that fear even worse.

Even though they hadn’t revealed their full form, the vines crawling up above ground looked like watching a horror movie.

“This strong vitality... it’s alive.”

“Gguruk.”

“Don’t ruin the mood by saying it was alive to begin with, Honey.

Dad knows that much too.”

“Gguk?”

“I meant it feels like it’ll soon crawl around on its own.

Originally, it shouldn’t do that.”

If this isn’t a horror movie, what is?

“The peas are...”

“...”

“...Even a zombie crawling up from hell wouldn’t have obsession that strong.”

Half-parasitizing, half-clinging to the plants grown nearby, the pea vines were long and thin, doubling the grotesqueness.

It looked like they’d start eating bugs soon.

Like a spider.

“So what on earth is this?”

What did I do?

“As expected, I’m amazing.”

No, not that.

“At this point, it’s funny.”

“...Gguk?”

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted to say.”

When a situation this unexpected hit, it was just fun.

“No way the taste changed.”

Then it was fine.

“It became a garden patch with such a robust presence that it seems like it could even talk to me soon, but...”

“...”

“Still, let’s call this place a garden patch.

Even as I say it, it’s embarrassing, but since we know the modest beginnings, we have to preserve that identity.”

“Ggeur...?”

“Honey, think carefully.

Those guys look like they’ll start moving soon—before that, we have to look good so we don’t get eaten.”

Half a joke, half sincere.

‘In a world that even evolves humans into portraits, wouldn’t plants with a self be average at best?’

Grandma used to say:

Because a mere human can’t know when disaster will strike, you must always live humbly and wisely.

Today as well, Gio became a good grandson and faithfully followed the wisdom of his elders.

“...”

But when an accident happens, wanting to shove the cause onto someone else is human instinct.

“...Could it be that Mr. Yoo Sungwoon gave me monster seeds from the start?”

“Kkung.”

“Yeah, even I thought the seeds themselves were ordinary.

It seems it’s a problem with this world after all.”

So he was very curious whether they would taste good.

“Let’s try tasting...”

“...”

“...”

“...?”

Gio, having stepped into the monster patch, doubted his eyes.

‘Did I get presbyopia?’

Or is it a hallucination.

“If this is reality, wouldn’t our safety be in danger, Honey.”

“...Ggureureuk...”

“Why is there a perished deer here?”

Gio was very frightened.

“O spirits of heaven and earth.”

Please watch over this pitiful portrait.

“So why is it really here.”

“Gguruk, gguruk, gguruk.”

“You can do it too?

No, don’t compete.

So who on earth brought this and put it here.

Where did this deer even come from.

Dad is so confused right now, Honey, please don’t come out of the basket and do self-PR...”

The monster patch was so overgrown that he hadn’t seen it well, but when he went further in, a deer that was clearly dead was lying there in a very fresh state.

Judging by how robust and dependable the deer looked, it wasn’t one that had been in Gio’s cabin forest.

After all, the animals here were dainty to match his tastes.

“...”

Tree-Antler Deer

A herbivore that camouflages by blooming flowers or fallen leaves on its antlers to match the season.

It usually avoids fights with other animals, but if its camouflage is discovered, it falls into an extreme state of excitement and goes on a rampage.

Its metallic antlers and teeth, and its hooves, can easily shatter an animal’s bones.

As part of its camouflage, it gives off the scent of nuts, or flowers or fruit.

Elixir method: Processed meat made by stripping the flesh and drying it in sunlight provides strong satiety and removes light abrasions.

Habitat: The ruined Avilas Rainforest_Kingdom of Animals

Gio shuddered.

“So I finally caused an accident.”

A human life where you can’t know even an inch ahead—he’d expected that if he lived this thoughtlessly, someday his final day would come, but the end arrived faster than he thought.

“The day of ruin will come soon.”

“Kkung?”

“An invasive species came in.”

Gio, who had no means to protect himself except his painting ability that could draw potatoes, clearly wouldn’t be able to endure.

“Gguruk, ggureureureureu.”

“Honey?”

“Ggukggukgguk.

Gguru, gguk.”

“...”

Seeing Honey as if he had something to tell him, Gio carefully examined the situation and realized.

“...This...”

“Gguk!”

“There’s a hole in its forehead.”

And he confirmed that there was blood on a nearby sweet potato vine.

“...”

“Gguruk?”

“Are you going to tell me that the sweet potato vine came alive, pierced the forehead of an invasive species that jumped out from beyond the dimensional gate I made, and killed it instantly?”

“Gguk.”

“I see.”

Gio pondered.

‘Which one should I be afraid of?’

A violent invasive species that flowed in from an unknown dimension

Sweet potatoes that move alive and pierce even a hard skull in an instant

“O spirits of heaven and earth, have mercy.”

Both were scary.

Today was already the third time Gio had shrunk back.

“Honey, can a fragile being like me survive in this wilderness?”

“...”

“Don’t look so serious—Dad is serious.

I feel like I’m too weak a person to survive in this great nature.”

“Kkung.”

“Who’s as frail and pitiful as Dad, without any substance, like you say.”

After long communication, Gio received an assurance that all the living things in the monster patch would be favorable toward him.

Just like all the animals and plants of the forest are, the crops he raised were similar, he said.

There was no clear basis for it, but...

“Then that’s fine.”

Gio’s ultimate positive mindset freed him from that trivial fear.

Above all, wasn’t he just about to prepare a meal.

“Meat showed up.”

“Gguruk.”

“Meat...”

Come to think of it, the elixir method said ‘processed meat,’ didn’t it.

“...Nice.”

And so today’s content was decided.

For the record, Gio has learned how to butcher.

* * *

Click, click...

“...”

“...That’s strange.”

A quiet alley in a poor district.

A woman with deep blue hair that lazily rippled like the deep sea muttered.

“For it to end here.”

She had been very worried because the aura of her beloved human helper had been cut off—what ridiculous thing was this.

“There are no traces of battle.”

She had carefully selected and placed a suitable one beneath the sun.

It should have been one with decent infiltration skill and combat ability, but if there were not even traces of escape, let alone traces of battle, she could only find it incomprehensible.

But she didn’t deny what had already happened.

“Was he taken out.”

She didn’t know by whom.

“That needs more investigation.”

Humming, she recited as if singing.

“The temple seems troubled too, and it wasn’t reported to the media, and even though it happened in a poor district, no one knows the circumstances—how absurd the situation is...”

She understood the temple’s position.

“They’ve always liked hiding things tightly—where would their caution go.

How shady.”

It was near the time the event would proceed, so it was bound to be troublesome.

“I was going to ruin the sun’s festival, you know.”

“...”

“The one who was going to ruin it disappeared, after all.”

The woman said to the child.

“Iser, my only galaxy at my side.”

“Yes.”

“You’ll have to do the work.”

“I will not disappoint you.”

“Don’t be like that.”

The woman bared sharklike teeth and laughed.

“It’s something we’re all doing to have fun.”

A dress like the sea fluttered.

“...”

Soon, only one child with blue hair remained there.

The child wore a benevolent smile.

Fantasy, modern,