Chapter 44

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons — Episode 44

The so-called ‘Breathing Sea’ was, literally, a world submerged in water.

There was no one else besides Gio.

The water filled even to such a great height that it looked as if even the sun were trapped in it, and traces of humans—houses built of stacked bricks, fences, and the like—were still submerged as well.

Among them, Gio was sitting on the edge line of a cliff.

“It’s completely underwater, so I have no idea how I’m supposed to fish.”

“Gguuuuurung.”

“Honey, let’s stop drinking seawater.

Your body gets too big and the fish run away.”

All sorts of underwater creatures could be seen everywhere.

A creature that looked like a very large hermit crab clattered along awkwardly, moving with its companions across a red roof, and a gentle-looking snake that seemed to be a water snake kept popping out of the sand with a pop and then hiding again.

Beyond that, there were huge whale pods floating twooong-dooong in that high water-sky, and colorful seahorses in pairs, moving as if dancing while singing.

Fish hiding in seaweed that had grown between bricks...

“Do I just have no talent for fishing.”

“ ”

“Well, in a situation like this, a fishing rod is useless for anything.”

“ ”

“A landing net?

That isn’t a bad idea either.”

He was watching a dreamlike scene, but he hadn’t caught a single fish.

“And it’s not like I’m an amazing swimmer, either.”

Thanks to Giovanni’s world having a very close relationship with the sea, 90% of humanity was good at swimming. Giovanni belonged to the 5% among them who were especially bad at swimming.

“Even when I first met Aria, our bond continued thanks to her tossing me into the sea.

Personally, I can’t say Aria is a good child, but still, she was a diligent student.”

“ ”

“Since Father does not resent Aria, my heart feels at ease as well.”

Gio, wearing his characteristic kind smile, soon made an awkward expression.

“But... still, how am I supposed to catch fish.”

Giovanni wasn’t good at swimming, and Seo Gio was good at swimming but had never caught fish like this.

No matter which one’s strengths he tried to use, it didn’t seem like he’d be able to snatch a fish that felt nimble just from looking at it.

“...”

“ ”

“Pardon?”

At the sun god pointing at none other than Honey, Gio looked back at the bright yellow waterfowl.

Honey, bathed in the sun god’s spotlight like an actor on a stage, was sparkling.

There was no revelation from the gods more clear than that.

“Honey?”

“...”

“Honey, can you catch them?”

“...Kung...”

“Why are you avoiding your dad’s gaze?”

At the face that clearly said, ‘I can, but I don’t really want to,’ Gio tilted his head.

If it just didn’t want to work, he wouldn’t force it, but it also didn’t seem like a reaction of hating labor itself, so it was hard to interpret.

“Why would you dislike it?”

“Kungkungkung...”

“...??”

At the sight of the father and son failing to communicate smoothly, the sun god subtly told the truth.

“ ”

“...”

“ ”

“...Ah.”

Only then did Gio belatedly remember again that his waterfowl wasn’t ordinary.

No, of course, living water in the shape of a bird is never ordinary, but anyway.

Honey had far more intense potential than Gio had expected.

“Our kid can evolve?”

“...”

“O Sun.”

Honey was extremely capable.

“To catch fish, you have to evolve, but you’re sulking like this because you don’t want that form...?

Really?

Oh my goodness, that’s really cool and ridiculous.

So you really do have a conviction to maintain a cute appearance.”

His son clearly had prince syndrome.

“I think I said about thirty minutes ago that no matter how cute and adorable you act like that, the only thing you can conquer is your dad.

What are you even trying to do, being this recklessly cute?”

“ ”

“I apologize, I was rather shameless.

But Father, is your grandchild not very cute as well?”

The sun god merely laughed.

He said it was very nice to see how close the family was.

He didn’t hear a clear explanation, but Gio decided to be satisfied at this point.

Right now, what mattered more than anything was that, in this hopeless situation, they all needed to join forces, overcome the difficulty, obtain fish, and set a meal.

“...Mm...”

Not wanting to force labor, Gio merely told them the reality they faced.

“Honey.”

“Kung.”

“Dad can’t swim.”

“...Kung?”

“So I can’t catch fish either.”

“...”

“If you truly don’t want to, there’s nothing I can do, but if you don’t catch fish for us, we all have to starve.

Even so, if you refuse, then for lunch today we’ll have no choice but to grill the sausages we ate last time and had left over.”

At those words, Honey’s pupils shook.

He didn’t know where the pupils were in those eyes made of water, but in any case, it was clear that Honey was shocked by their reality and trembling.

Gio nodded solemnly, like a judge handing down a verdict.

“Right, we’re in a situation where we have to eat the same menu repeatedly.”

It was a miserable reality that would be hard for gourmands and big eaters like them to accept.

“Still, if you don’t want to, this dad will do his best to make sausage stir-fry, sausage fried rice, and sausage soup, and prepare lunch today.”

“...”

“...”

“...”

At the strange standoff, the sun god was horrified.

Even he thought sausage stir-fry, sausage fried rice, and sausage soup was a bit too much.

The sun god, who had lately been tamed by the meals Gio prepared, watched the situation with an anxious heart.

“...Kku...”

The winner was Gio.

“Ggururuk.”

But there was a condition.

“You want me to close my eyes?”

“Kkuk.”

“Dad can love our son no matter what you look like, though?

Why?”

“Kkuk.”

“Puberty really has come.”

Well, no matter if the other person is your parent, everyone has secrets they want to hide.

Although Gio had never even married, let alone had children or dated, he still knew at least that it was important to protect a child’s own space.

With his eyes closed, Gio nodded.

“You really don’t want to show your evolved form that much?

Dad is really, very curious, but if closing my eyes like this can make you feel more comfortable, I can close them as much as you want...”

“Ggururuk.”

“Puberty kids really aren’t easy.”

He heard the sound of a large mass of water heaving once, followed by the sound of seawater being churned.

It wasn’t long after he listened to the sounds.

“Kungggururuk.”

“...?”

Already?

“Can I open my eyes, son?”

“Ggururuk.”

“Alright.”

And Gio saw it.

“Oh.”

Inside Honey’s body, swollen plump from gulping seawater, there were about thirty fish caught.

“That’s amazing.”

“Ggurukgguruk.”

“You’re like an excellent pig.”

“...”

“That was a compliment.”

The fact that Honey had grown this big was something he’d been watching the whole time since coming to ‘Breathing Sea,’ so this wouldn’t be Honey’s ‘evolved’ form.

‘He probably swallowed the fish in his evolved form, then returned to his original form.’

Anyway, it was funny and good.

“Pig...”

“Kung.”

“A pig with fish inside...”

“Kungkungkung.”

“Nice.”

Giovanni beamed with his characteristic cheerful smile.

“How reassuring.”

Gio had fairly large hands.

* * *

After returning to the cabin, Gio immediately began cleaning the fish.

“Exactly 33.”

A number that meant Gio’s hands were about to get wrecked today, but he decided not to mind.

Showing weakness in front of a mere 33 salmon-sized fish would be a great disgrace for a pig acknowledged by Grandma.

“Luckily, they’re all edible, so I can clean them with peace of mind.”

“Ggurururuk.”

“Honey, spit one out.”

“Kkuk.”

Ptooet.

Still large, Honey spat out a fish.

“...”

Staggering as he caught the fish, Gio felt his head go dizzy for a moment.

‘What kind of challenge have I gotten myself into.’

Anyway, it was time to clean seafood, where freshness is life.

Even if food doesn’t rot in this world inside a painting, it wasn’t certain it would prevent already-dead fish from getting fishier as time passed.

Gio poked the first fish in the forehead with an awl—kuk—and sent it off to the Dragon Palace.

“Mm.”

He prided himself that it was a nimble technique no less than an assassin from a wuxia novel.

“It paid off, having sliced some fish.”

“Gguruk?”

“The taste of slicing and eating a freshly caught fish right on the boat is special.”

Recalling a dear past, Gio moved his hands quickly.

He cut off the fins, scraped off the scales with a brisk shraak-shraak, then inserted the knife to a proper depth so the innards wouldn’t burst, and cut straight down to the vent.

“Seeing that there’s hardly any fishy smell even from the innards, it must be really fresh.

Now, once you’ve removed the innards, next is...”

“Ggurungngungngung.”

“Honey, if you only eat innards, someday you’ll get as fishy as innards.”

Where on earth did he learn those manners, snatching only innards while Dad was cooking.

‘...More than that, the way it separates and melts things is always amazing to see.’

They were waterfowl that enjoyed decorating themselves while holding things inside their bodies.

Honey, who liked jewels, wasn’t much different, but in the case of food rather than decoration, it melted quickly inside Honey.

More precisely than ‘melting,’ it seemed more correct to say that the nutrients that entered its body were also converted into water.

The swallowed food gradually became transparent and rippled, and soon became invisible.

“...”

Whose son is he, being born this entertaining.

‘How interesting.’

Even the way he eats is funny, so Honey really was Gio’s own son.

He seemed like a kid whose every breath was great content.

“Mmm...”

“Kung?”

“I was trying to see just how long it’ll take to clean all of them.”

If it were store-bought fish that were already processed, he’d buy with abandon without worry, but cleaning live fish yourself was quite labor-intensive.

“Keep going.”

After removing the innards and emptying the belly, he had to scrape out all the blood pooled inside—if you compare it to a person, inside the ribcage.

Gio faithfully washed the inside of the belly clean, then continued breaking down the fish.

“...”

“...”

And then he learned a surprising fact.

“...Was it really salmon?”

“Gguruk?”

“No, it isn’t salmon, that’s true.”

But the flesh inside was very peculiar.

“The texture is white-fish, but the color resembles salmon or trout, orange.”

Once he separated it like sashimi, the flesh inside, like salmon’s, could be softly mashed with just a little force.

But like white-fleshed fish such as flounder or sea bream, the grain was rounded and separated into springy, chewy layers.

“...”

Gulp.

“...”

The taste was similar to salmon, too.

Seeing that it had a refreshing watermelon-like flavor, it seemed closer to trout.

‘The texture is far more bouncy and chewy than that, though...’

It felt very strange.

No matter that it was a fantasy world, isn’t it a bit oddly funny for something you knew to overlap with something else like this at the same time?

“Uh...”

“Kung?”

“...As long as it’s tasty, fine.”

Because the flesh was soft, the cleaning went quickly too.

“I’ll slice a few as sashimi, and I should clean a few properly and deep-fry them whole.”

“Gguruk?”

“It’s tastier than I expected.

To begin with, there’s no way something deep-fried in oil tastes bad.

So Honey, don’t worry and wait comfortably for the fried fish.”

“Ggururur...”

“Normally, it’s even tastier if you add a spicy sauce too.”

“Kungkungkung...!!!”

“Do you really need to hate it that fiercely?

There are lots of fish left—don’t you have any intention of doing just one spicy fried fish for this dad, son?”

After finishing all the cooking, Gio was half fainted.

“...”

“Ggurung.”

“It was a record-breaking day.”

He reached the conclusion that 33 big fish was too much.

Repetitive, repeated labor was what tired Gio out.

Fantasy, modern,