Chapter 38

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons — Episode 38

Around the time Gio, having successfully finished the jerky content, fell asleep.

Outside the frame, the world was in the middle of working hours.

“So you called me for that.”

“Come on, let’s talk a little—why do you have such a scary face?”

“If you think I’m only in charge of ‘Gio’s Portrait,’ that’s a big misunderstanding...”

“I’m giving you incentives.”

“Damn capitalist society.”

Yoo Sungwoon had been summoned by the guildmaster.

“Didn’t I tell you I’d organize the report and submit it soon?”

“How am I supposed to wait until then?”

“Why can’t you wait for this?”

“You know me.”

“I don’t know you that well.”

“You have to look someone in the face and talk.”

“That’s excessive insult toward this highly advanced modern society.”

“These days the world is too cold.

Our employees are even worse.”

“I don’t know what warmth you’re expecting from this dogshit world, and I don’t know why you’re demanding it from me.”

“Everyone’s too heartless.”

“It’s your preference, and you’re saying nonsense that doesn’t even work.”

Bisabeol beamed and mixed fruit syrup for Yoo Sungwoon, whose face looked utterly exhausted.

“Shall we drink and cheer up?”

“Is this poison?”

“Hey now, it’s a gift our precious portrait-nim gave you—how can you call it poison?”

“Then give me poison instead.

So I can drink it and flop down...”

No matter how gentle ‘Gio’s Portrait’ might be, it was an existence of the Origin—easily put, a monster.

As if dealing with a precious humanoid monster weren’t hard enough, the work Yoo Sungwoon had been assigned wasn’t only that.

“These days the sea has been terribly noisy, so I got called out again.”

Yoo Sungwoon was also handling external commissions.

“When I looked into it, the movements of the children of the Origin were strange.

I’ll be submitting a report about that part soon as well.

Probably tomorrow or the day after...”

“You can report that later.

It wasn’t even my commission.”

“As you say.”

“Then, could you tell me about Gio now?”

“I knew this would happen.”

For the record, Bisabeol still hadn’t been able to speak with Gio.

“You act in such a burdensome way, so isn’t that why Gio avoids talking to you?”

“No, what did I even do?”

“There are plenty of employees who say they saw the black cloak, but the guildmaster hasn’t even had a single conversation with him—at this point, that’s dereliction of duty.”

“I told you, I tried to talk!”

“I meant you should change your approach a bit.”

It was an issue tied to Gio’s nature.

“Doesn’t Gio dislike rude people?”

“He doesn’t hate them.”

“That is true, but...”

There are two things ‘Gio’s Portrait’ dislikes.

Rude people, and evil people.

‘...But even if he avoids rude people, he doesn’t see them all that negatively.’

Isn’t it like how some people like dogs and cats but dislike reptiles?

Gio avoided rude people in roughly that way.

He didn’t disparage their existence itself, but he didn’t enjoy associating with them.

“That indifferent side is quite like a child of the Origin.”

“I suppose so.

Even if he insists he’s human, not every part of him can be the same as a human.

He could also be trying hard to look away from the fact that he isn’t human...”

Though in truth, Gio wasn’t thinking about anything at all.

“Well, it doesn’t seem like criminals even have that kind of indifference.”

Toward a rude counterpart, Gio would think, ‘That can happen,’ but when faced with malice, Gio showed clear disgust.

He’d never actually met a criminal, but judging by his usual speech and behavior, it was already something you could tell.

“Either way, you need to be careful all the same.

Guildmaster, you should be careful too.”

“I’ll restrain myself.”

“You’ll just say that and do nothing again.

Anyway, so...”

Why Bisabeol had called Yoo Sungwoon was obvious.

“You’re curious about what Gio looked like during the Seoul tour?”

“Of course I’m curious. An existence of the Origin whose identity we don’t even know walked around the human world.

And he even came back calmly without causing a major incident, right?”

“That’s right.”

Of course, there was one uncomfortable fact.

“One priest of the sun did go missing, didn’t he.”

“Eh, that much.

When I looked into it, he didn’t exactly look clean in the back, either.”

“That’s why it seems they’re keeping it quiet internally as well.”

“There’s an initiation ceremony event coming up soon, so they won’t want to make it public even more.”

“...It seems likely Gio had a hand in the disappearance.”

If you’re a hunter to the level of being a curator, ordinary powers of observation and memory aren’t enough.

Yoo Sungwoon remembered a man in scholar’s garb he’d encountered at Gyeongbokgung, and the priest who went missing this time was that very man.

“That day, Gio formed his hands into a camera shape and looked at the man.”

“A camera—if we consider that Gio is a portrait, wouldn’t it be closer to a frame than a camera?”

“That could be.

Anyway, after his eyes met the man’s, he said he wanted to leave Gyeongbokgung, and he didn’t seem to be in a very good mood.”

“Was he in a bad mood because he met a bad person who didn’t suit his tastes?”

“I think there’s a high probability of that.”

“So Gio appraises people that way.

Good information to know.”

By Bisabeol’s information network, that priest’s background was already shady.

Yoo Sungwoon trusted Bisabeol, and neither of them considered the possibility that the priest Gio ‘handled’ might not have been evil.

“Still, the fact that it was handled quietly lets us confirm Gio’s understanding of human society.

He probably didn’t want it to turn into a disturbance.”

No.

It was simply Honey acting alone while Gio was sprawled out asleep.

Honey, too, wasn’t so much trying not to cause a disturbance as sensing a threat to his father, dealing with it, and returning as-is.

But Gio didn’t give the impression of being that thoughtless.

Rather, there were many times he felt like a quiet existence precisely because he knew so much, and the two continued talking under the premise that Gio knew all of this.

“In that case, I’m curious what would happen if he met a criminal head-on.”

“Even if you’re curious, why would you be curious about that?

Don’t have weird curiosity.”

“So cold.”

“...”

Does he want to act like that at his age?

‘I should make sure I don’t grow old like that.’

Yoo Sungwoon ignored Bisabeol, who was pretending to be pitiable.

“The most surprising part of this tour and observation, as expected, was that Gio lowered his own ‘standing’ to the level of a human.”

“...Lowered his standing?”

Bisabeol made a surprised expression for the first time in a while.

“Gio did?

You mean he lowered his own standing down to a human level?”

“Yes. It’s surprising.”

“Before it’s surprising...”

Bisabeol chose his words for a moment.

Soon, he found an appropriate one.

“Disgusting.”

As expected, Gio was not human.

“To carve out his own flesh like it’s nothing.”

“When I first saw it, I was shocked too.

If Gio were human, he could never make such a decision.”

“And if it’s just to avoid causing a disturbance, I can’t empathize with it even more.”

Even though Bisabeol had never spoken with Gio, he had ‘seen’ him many times.

The standing of Gio that Bisabeol knew was a level that couldn’t be compared to a mere human’s.

“And yet, to drag himself down until he feels human...”

It was no different from torture—carving someone up alive.

“Did he seem to have any health issues?”

“I couldn’t confirm anything abnormal, and he had the same expressionless face as usual.”

“I see.”

Since Gio had originally been human, that sensation didn’t feel strange to him.

But to other people, it was a grotesque act beyond plucking out your eyes, cutting off your limbs, and pulling out your innards.

“Were there any other unusual points?”

“Uh...”

Yoo Sungwoon picked a lighter topic.

“He likes food.”

“No wonder he kept giving food gifts.”

“He seemed interested in both eating and cooking.”

That was also what made him worried.

“If you aren’t careful, he might end up getting taken for a sucker.”

“Oh dear.”

That was a bit of a problem.

“You said you talked to him about that part, right?”

“I don’t know if he understood.”

“Dealing with a friendly existence of the Origin is far more difficult, ironically.”

If he were an ordinary monster, you could handle it ordinarily, but since continued mutual exchange was necessary, there was more to pay attention to.

Like how protection is harder than attack.

“Still, it’s fortunate that he seems to have a strong will to cooperate.”

“Since he’s a kind one, I suppose...”

Except for the eeriness of his standing, Gio was certainly a good one.

“It’s just that his very existence is a threat.”

“That’s not something we can do anything about.”

“I know.”

But separately from Gio’s diligence, it seemed ongoing vigilance was necessary.

“...Ah.”

“What else is there?”

“It’s about Gio’s personality.”

“Personality—this is already interesting.”

“Gio with his standing lowered really looked human.”

This needed a bit of explanation.

“It was to the point he looked like an entirely different existence from the usual Gio.”

“If it’s to that extent, then it isn’t simply a matter of his standing being high or low.”

“It was confirmed that it also affects his personality somewhat.”

“Is it a side effect of lowering his standing?”

“Isn’t there a high probability of that?

For us, this side is more harmless, so it’s good, but...”

The Gio inside the painting, or the Gio who sometimes wandered around buildings at dawn, had something eerie about him.

He was like a grim reaper.

‘No—more than that, he’s closer to death itself, without will or emotion.’

Wrapped in a pitch-black cloak, footsteps almost unheard, always walking with his hands clasped behind his back, neat as an aristocrat, watching the world with curious eyes.

And yet, his gloomy face with no expression was cold in some way.

That low temperature didn’t say Gio’s personality was cool-headed.

It felt like it was saying his very existence could not hold warmth.

“Gio without his standing lowered is extremely polite, orderly, and heavy.

Even among people who didn’t speak with Gio and only witnessed the portrait, there were many evaluations like, ‘It feels like he painted someone’s final moments.’”

Gio felt like an existence that embodied a funeral.

And that vast distance.

“You can never call him human.”

“Even so, is it something that would go as far as a change in personality?”

“It was confirmed that it definitely has an effect.”

Gio with his standing lowered really seemed like an ordinary person.

“Someone a bit very blunt, and mindful of etiquette.”

But the usual Gio was different.

“He’s more arrogant.”

“Hm?”

“No, ‘arrogant’ is a bit strange... how should I put it...”

It was hard to express.

“...Like someone high and mighty...”

Gio looked down upon humans.

Like someone with a hobby of raising insects looking at diligent ants carrying loads, or as if finding them cute.

“In fact, Gio gave gifts to people again and again.

It had the meaning of reward too, but it clearly took the form of bestowal.

And while saying he’s an ordinary human of twenty-nine, he evaluated and praised employees far older than me.”

To that, Bisabeol asked,

“But Gio with his standing lowered was different?”

“Yes. Then he truly looked like an ordinary young man.”

The ‘Gio’ Yoo Sungwoon confirmed was a twenty-nine-year-old with good manners and few words.

“Though there were still parts like... being excessively curious, or trying to settle payment with jewels...”

“He isn’t truly human, so those peculiar parts can’t be helped.

But even so, the fact that he behaved sufficiently like an ordinary young man is very surprising.”

“He said he took separate measures, and it was probably that influence.”

There was also something worrying.

“At least normally, because of that high standing, no one even thinks of doing anything, but since he looks like an ordinary young man of twenty-nine, I worried whether he might get scammed by something weird.”

“...To that extent?

Still, he has that appraisal skill...”

“When he was changed into a human, his personality seemed much gentler, and it seemed his abilities were limited too.

Even that appraisal skill—he had to make that frame-shaped hand gesture to check it.”

And one more thing.

“The more he was outside, the weaker he became.”

It was merely that he’d been exposed to modern society for the first time in a long while and had his energy sucked dry, but for Yoo Sungwoon, who paid close attention to each and every change in Gio’s condition, he couldn’t help but assign more varied meanings.

“I’m worried someone else might poke at him.”

“That would definitely be a problem.”

“Right?”

“It’s not just Gio, but...”

Bisabeol stroked his chin.

“Even if you lower your standing, your essence doesn’t go anywhere.”

Say you compressed one of two large pieces of metal into something very small.

Then one side would certainly become big and the other small, but the weight would be the same.

Rather, since it became smaller, it would be easier to injure humans.

A similar example would be a bomb.

Even if you process a bomb into a small, cute shape, the moment you light it, it still explodes.

It might even be far more violent when it explodes, precisely because it was compressed.

“There’s no accurate analysis, so it’s only speculation, but... since Gio thinks of himself as human, if you poke at his essence, the backlash will be much greater.

There’s no need to cause such a disaster, right?”

“I think so too.”

“Unless the entire nation agreed to a group suicide?”

So it seemed that Gio, when he became ‘human,’ clearly needed protection.

“We should issue him a hunter ID.”

“That alone would certainly reduce picking fights.”

In this world, a hunter was a kind of powerful figure and celebrity.

Even if someone tried to pick a fight, just showing a hunter ID solved most conflicts.

Because the Association strictly prevented fights between hunters.

“And one more thing.”

Yoo Sungwoon continued.

“This is also a personality-related issue.”

“What problem could there be beyond this?”

“When Gio is human, you could define him as a twenty-nine-year-old young man named ‘Seo Gio.’

Right?”

But Yoo Sungwoon had clearly witnessed it.

“When Gio dipped his feet into Cheonggyecheon...”

“...”

“And when he rode the water taxi.”

A change occurred in Gio.

“He was looking at water with the eyes of someone else.”

That gaze was not that of the blunt, quiet twenty-nine-year-old Gio.

It looked more seasoned, his emotions were clearer, and there was a definite distance, but it wasn’t cold—soft, like an exemplary student loved by all.

In the faintly etched smile, there was even a light and cheerful part, like a cool sea breeze.

In many ways, it differed from the existing ‘Seo Gio’ or the ‘portrait.’

“There was also a change in form.

His hair dyed white, and his eyes took on a watery tint.”

“Oh, that’s quite similar to Curator Yoo Sungwoon too.”

“It felt a little... different from me.

It’s the same sort of line, but...”

That color was far warmer.

Like summer sunlight, or the surface of the sea.

“...”

He wasn’t sure.

“I’ll look into it further.”

“Let’s do that.”

There was far too little they knew about Gio.

Fantasy, modern,