Chapter 43

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons — Episode 43

When morning came, back on the bed.

“...”

“Gguruk?”

“Hmm.”

Gio fell into a shallow worry.

It wasn’t the first time he’d learned that his personality could change.

“There’s Giovanni’s case, too.”

But only now, belatedly, did he realize it—Gio seemed to stray from his usual personality from time to time.

Mainly when he was in the ‘portrait’ state and interacting with people outside.

“Come to think of it, praising the staff or suddenly giving gifts isn’t a normal reaction either.”

“Gguruk?”

“There were people older than me, and for a healthy young man of the land of etiquette to act like that—honestly, if I consider it based on my current state, it’s not exactly normal.”

The problem was that Gio himself hadn’t felt any sense of wrongness about those changes.

“At the time, I just thought it was natural.”

It really did seem that the identity of being a ‘portrait’ was changing him.

“O spirits of heaven and earth.”

“Kungkung...”

“When I stayed inside the portrait, it was the same as usual, so I didn’t feel anything was strange.”

“Gguruk?”

“No, it’s fine.”

Whether his personality changed or whatever changed, Gio wasn’t going to be shaken by something as small as this.

“But I should be careful not to behave rudely to other people.”

At this rate, he felt like before long he’d even naturally accept patting the head of a total stranger with no acquaintance.

“What am I, to be able to do something that disgraceful.”

Patting someone’s head was an act only possible in fiction, or for a parent to do to a child.

Even if you were lovers, Gio felt the need to keep his conduct modest, since bold touches like that should be avoided.

“Of course, I’ve never had a lover.”

“...”

“Where are you looking at your father as if he were the sky.”

I might not have a lover.

“Anyway, it isn’t such an unfamiliar situation that my personality changes.

Even when I went out in Seoul, there were times when my awareness as Giovanni grew, and... I think I should see it as a pretty similar context to what I’m worrying about now.”

Even so, it didn’t feel like his ‘personality’ itself was changing in the literal sense.

“If it were that much, I would have noticed long ago.”

If he had to put it into words, it was closer to the feeling of recalling forgotten memories.

“It’s not something you could call Seo Gio, but it is me—something like that...”

“...Gguruk?”

“It’s not a split personality.

Don’t misunderstand.”

Like how in a past life he lived as Priest Giovanni, whose compassionate smile was exquisite, but in this life he lived as Seo Gio, who sometimes got told, “Do you not know how to smile?”

It was similar to belatedly recalling a past life and having habits you’d forgotten pop out now and then.

“I didn’t expect the identity of being a portrait would cause problems too.”

Gio muttered.

“I think it’s a similar problem to resolution, after all.

If I try to act like a person with a portrait’s body, doesn’t some error happen.

My way of speaking becomes stiffer, my actions and thoughts become strange...”

He thought he should be careful.

“From now on, let’s try to put more effort into self-objectification.”

“Kung.”

“It’s annoying?

Honey, you should build up some social skills.”

At Honey’s grumbling 모습, Gio set the round waterfowl on his hand and rolled it this way and that.

Rolling around like a sticky water pouch, Honey didn’t seem to be in a bad mood.

“Are you having fun.”

“Ggururururu.”

“I see.”

Gio, briefly startled by the change in personality, could settle his mind at that carefree 모습.

“Anyway, it’s fun, so fine.”

If this ever-changing life isn’t fun, wouldn’t that be even stranger?

“Then shall we eat first.”

“Gguruk?”

Honey showed doubt, but Gio didn’t care and got up.

“Even if not right now, it’s good to make soup or side dishes in advance.

And since we have bones from the deer we broke down, if we整理 them and make bone broth once, we can store it in the ice storehouse and take it out whenever we need it.”

Bone broth could be a solid meal all on its own.

Gio nodded.

“When I had indigestion, Grandma told me to drink bone soup with a little green onion and salt.”

He didn’t know about other people, but for Gio when he had indigestion, that kind of bone soup felt much better than porridge.

Since it was a fatty soup even though there were no solids, it still felt like he was eating something, without filling the stomach.

“If you add a pinch of salt and some chopped green onion to milky broth and eat it with freshly cooked rice, that’s gomtang.

Rich bone broth has an incredible savoriness.

That’s why even if you eat something that simple, it’s filling.”

“Ggururururur...?”

“That’s not spicy.”

Honey, who had felt strong aversion to the spicy sausage last time, seemed to be wondering whether gomtang was spicy.

But unless you add chili powder or spicy seasoning and mix it in, there was no way gomtang would feel spicy.

“If it’s too bland, you can add meat, or you can add thin wheat noodles instead of rice.

Even eating both together isn’t as bad as you might think.

I think one of gomtang’s charms is also adding seasoning or black pepper as you like.”

Beyond that, there were many uses for bone broth.

“Even if you boil spicy ramen with broth instead of water, it tastes fantastic.”

“Gguruk!

Gguruk!

Gguruk!”

“But the broth itself would make the soup a bit milder... right, let’s skip this.”

Honey, who hated spicy things, protested to the death, and as a dad, Gio respected Honey’s opinion.

If there’s a human somewhere who eats anything well, then somewhere there’s also a weak waterfowl that can’t eat even a little spicy food.

“Then it’d be fine to add more vegetables and boil a different soup.

For example, there’s dumpling soup.”

Gio muttered.

“Then rice cake soup is good too.

Army stew, where you put in all sorts of vegetables and ham and boil it all at once, isn’t bad either... but bone broth makes doenjang soup or seaweed soup much deeper-tasting too.”

“Kung?”

“Except for army stew, the rest won’t be spicy.

Unless you add Cheongyang chili... come to think of it, do you know that if you cook rice with broth instead of water, it tastes much better?”

“Ggururu.”

“Right, let’s go make broth.”

Honey had become a waterfowl that liked white rice the most in the world after eating rice balls last time.

It was obvious he was imagining how delicious it would be to make rice balls with broth-cooked rice and grill them.

As Gio went down to the ice storehouse where he’d kept the bones, he suddenly grew uneasy.

“Come to think of it, when people say bone broth, don’t they usually mean beef bones.”

“...Gguk?”

“Well, when I trimmed and organized them last time, there was a lot of marrow, you know.

Maybe because it was freshly caught, the red boundary on the cut bone surface was distinct too, so the condition shouldn’t be bad.

And since the deer was so big, the bones are thick and sturdy, so it’ll be fun to simmer bones...”

“...”

“Still, since when have we only eaten Earth food to be like this.”

The bones used for bone broth are usually from an animal’s legs.

If it were a cow it would have been trotters, but he didn’t think it would be that different for a deer, so Gio had organized them for now.

He brought the bones from the ice storehouse to the kitchen.

“I did wash them once then, but it still feels iffy.”

After washing the cut bones until the marrow showed clearly, he took out a big pot and dropped them all in.

When he lit a fire in the kindling with bellflowers, the water soon came to a boil.

“When we first butchered it, we drained out all the blood, so there shouldn’t be that many impurities rising.

We drained it for almost a full day, so it should be pretty clean, but there’s still foreign matter left inside.

You have to remove that to get good broth.”

“...”

“As you’re expecting, this is a disgustingly long job.”

“Kungkungkung...”

“I didn’t even expect we’d be able to eat the broth today anyway.”

After blanching in boiling water, rinsing it, and getting clean bones, from there it was a fight of time and devotion.

There was a reason ‘real’ bone broth was expensive.

“You can keep boiling it in the pot like this, but you can’t boil it over too strong a flame.

Even if it takes time, you have to simmer it over low heat for the broth’s savoriness to extract better.”

“...”

“The longer you boil it, the more oil and assorted impurities will keep rising.

Since the marrow has already leaked out, they say the first broth is too greasy and rich to be comfortable to eat.

So you can’t even eat the first broth...”

“Kung.”

“You’re going to eat it?”

“Gguruk.”

“You’re a pig.”

Honey protested fiercely, but reality wouldn’t change because of that.

This affection that won’t even give up that first broth that makes your mouth greasy enough to sound smack-smack.

This obsession.

“You’re already an excellent pig.”

“Ggururururururuk!!!”

“Accept reality.”

If anything, he hoped it would get a bit chubbier.

“So I can lean on you...”

More precisely, so he could lie down with you as a pillow.

“...”

“...”

At the face full of firm resolve, Gio nodded.

“Puberty?”

He could feel the strong conviction to keep this cute, adorable appearance no matter what.

‘He knows he’s cute.’

Even if he was a son born of paint, if your child has the right convictions, it’s only proper to support them.

Gio decided to step back.

Chubby animals are cute, but fattening them by force is animal abuse.

“Anyway, the bones won’t be done right away.

Impurities only rise after some time—if we stick right beside it, there’s nothing we can do.”

“Gguruk?”

“Right, so we should prepare another dish.

Let’s give this bone-broth friend who gives without sparing a bit some time alone.”

Gio looked at the pot that, because he’d just changed the water, wasn’t even boiling yet.

“I don’t know well, but I’ve heard that if you simmer bones too many times, it’s actually bad for you... but I don’t know how we should treat Tree-Antler Deer legs.”

Tree-Antler Deer leg bones

Bones corresponding to the leg parts among Tree-Antler Deer bones, trimmed and prepared.

Greasy because the marrow is full, but bones simmered for over three days fully melt into the soup and become a tonic.

Characterized by a strong meaty scent, strong enough to taste like nuts or saltiness.

Elixir method: After cleaning and preparing, simmer over low heat for three days and the marrow and bones all melt into a tonic.

This medicine can be used immediately, and when used on a human, all abnormalities of the bones are restored.

The degree of recovery depends on the amount consumed and the individual constitution.

“...”

Gio nodded.

“There was no need to worry.”

Why was he having realistic worries in a fantasy world like this.

“Since the marrow and bones will melt on their own, we only need to skim the impurities now and then and simply wait.

Let’s stop worrying about those strong, self-reliant fellows, and now let’s worry about our lunch.”

“Ggururuk.”

“Then something decent...”

After thinking briefly, Gio made up his mind.

“So that day has finally come.”

“Gguruk?”

“The time for fishing has come.”

Shouldn’t he refresh an insides tired of meat with fish.

“That’s courtesy to my tongue and stomach.”

And Seo Gio, at the age of five, learned the word Engel’s coefficient (the ratio of food expenses in household consumption expenditure) and was a true big eater. He still remembered Grandma’s warm voice as she chuckled, saying, ‘We’ve got a pig potato in our house.’

And so Gio thought about eating fish.

There were many methods.

“Even though the stream isn’t very wide, it’s fairly deep, so as I passed by, I’ve confirmed there are big and small fish in it.

Especially since the waterfowl nest is connected to streams and springs so various living things can move around... in practice, even just going to the nest would let us get decent fish.”

“...”

At Gio’s words, Honey, who had been tilting his head this way and that, soon came up by his ear and poked Gio’s cheek with tap tap.

With a beak so small and harmless he didn’t even know why it existed, it didn’t hurt.

“What is it, Honey?”

“Ggurururuk.”

“...Ah.”

Come to think of it, Gio had another source of fish.

“‘Breathing Sea’ was there.”

One of the dimensional gates Gio had made before, ‘Breathing Sea,’ was literally a world submerged in the sea.

And when he’d seen it last time, it had clearly been overflowing with all kinds of life, too.

Gio accepted Honey’s advice.

“You really are smart.”

“Gguruk.”

Honey grew dignified.

He was very cute.

“Even if you act this cute, the only thing you can conquer is your dad.”

“Kungkungkung.”

“Even if you act cute out there, do you think you’ll be able to use someone as well as you use me?

Where in the world is there a butler as competent as me.

Stick close to Dad, okay.”

They were a close family again today.

Gio immediately went to the second floor, and among it, the storage where he kept completed works. Because the frame that could move to ‘Breathing Sea’ was hanging there.

Standing before the frame filled with blue light, Gio seeped in as if slowly melting.

“...”

And then, soon.

He was in the water.

“It’s been a while, Father.”

Giovanni entered ‘Breathing Sea.’

“Was it not that long?”

“ ”

“I went to look around the outside world for a bit.”

The one Gio was conversing with was none other than the sun god of a ruined world.

That lonely old man Giovanni had once asked him to look after.

He asked what reason he’d come today.

“Ah.”

And Gio was confident anywhere, anytime.

“I came to do a bit of fishing.”

Hand over the fish.

“If it goes well, I’ll share.”

“ ”

“I thought you’d like that.”

The sun god was pleased.

As expected, it was definitely only pigs gathered here.

Fantasy, modern,