Chapter 48

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons — Episode 48

How did things end up like this?

“Let’s go, Honey.”

“Ggururururur.”

“It’s a picnic.”

It wasn’t anything special.

Gio and Honey had simply come out for a picnic, with the novel backdrop called a dungeon.

“Can I pull out that jewel?”

“Ggur.”

“You’re admitting you’re a pig, then.”

Among the documents Yoo Sungwoon had handed him was the dungeon called ‘Jewel Ley Lines.’

Half because he couldn’t withstand Honey’s pestering, fixated on the word “jewel,” and half because Gio himself was enjoying this fantasy-like picnic, he used the materials Yoo Sungwoon gave him as reference, made a passageway, and barged right in.

“...?”

And then he noticed something odd.

“The assimilation rate isn’t rising at all.”

“Gguruk?”

“Well, I don’t really know why.”

It was the ‘Giovanni’ assimilation rate that rose even when he was just staying still inside the portrait.

But now it suddenly wasn’t budging, so he couldn’t help but pay attention.

“Does assimilation temporarily stop when you come to another dungeon?

It doesn’t feel like it’s completely stopped, but still.”

“Ggururuk.”

“Frame?”

“Kkuk.”

“Like you said, it could be a problem with the passage.”

Honey asked whether the connection had been cut because they’d come out through a passage Gio made arbitrarily, not through ‘Gio’s Portrait.’

For some reason, Gio felt Honey was right.

“One thing: it doesn’t matter.”

People have to live in the present to have fun.

“Even if I’m a haunted portrait, that’s no different.”

“Gguruk?”

“Portraits are people too.”

When Gio insisted, Honey didn’t say anything more.

He wasn’t sure whether it was filial piety or being distracted by jewels, but anyway, that was that.

Leaving the question as a question, Gio slowly looked around the dungeon that Korean hunters sometimes visited.

“Nice.”

Somewhere alien and eerily chilling, yet dreamy thanks to the effect of the luminous stones—‘Jewel Ley Lines’ was an excellent tourist site.

“Cool.”

“Gguruk.”

“I like it.”

He could see why they called it ‘Jewel Ley Lines.’

“It’s all made of jewels.”

Like a cave formed by flowing lava, this place looked like a cave formed by flowing jewels.

Big jewels.

Small jewels.

Transparent jewels.

Opaque jewels.

Pointed hexagonal-column jewels.

Round, spore-shaped jewels.

Jewels gathered and sparkling overhead like chandeliers...

“Son, don’t eat too many.”

“Kung.”

“You’ll get an upset stomach.”

All kinds of jewels were messily gathered, forming multiple branching paths.

‘Sometimes the protruding ends are glowing, too.’

Gio recalled the explanation from the materials Yoo Sungwoon had given him.

“They said it was a very dark cave.”

“Kkuk.”

“Isn’t it... brighter than I expected?”

They said tiny monsters that eat light were swarming thickly in the air of this cave.

Monsters that live by sucking a person’s vitality wander inside without any presence, and monsters so small you can’t catch them absorb all kinds of light.

In this place so quiet it feels like even sound has been stolen, the only thing you can rely on is the jewel pillars that glow on their own.

“Or so it said, but...”

To Gio’s eyes, he could see all around just fine.

“It’s a little dark, but with the luminous stones, it’s not like my view is blocked that badly.”

“Gguruk.”

“Yeah, and you’re here too.”

He wondered if this, too, was a benefit he could obtain because he was a ‘portrait.’

‘Though I don’t know what kind of benefit it is, exactly.’

If all Earth’s hunters can’t see what only he can see, then no matter how you look at it, the strange one is Gio.

The only cause Gio could think of for the harmless Gio—who didn’t even have a taekwondo white belt—getting such a strange ability was being a portrait.

“...”

I feel like I’m getting farther and farther from being human as the days go by.

“...It’s funny, so fine.”

“Kkuk?”

“It’s a very interesting life.”

“Ggur?”

“It’s because I’m handsome.”

It really is because he’s “well” made.

Well, if you live as a person, you can become a portrait, and you can also drift away from the standards of an ordinary human.

For Gio, those things weren’t a problem at all.

“Life is a series of content, and content exists to be enjoyed.”

“Ggurur...”

“There’s no reason for me not to enjoy my life.

Even if it’s the life of a portrait, it’s the same.”

He didn’t waver at such a trivial realization.

The thoughtless Gio toured ‘Jewel Ley Lines’ in comfort.

And he admired it.

“Earth’s tourism industry has developed this much in thirty-one years.”

There were beast-shaped monsters that sometimes appeared faintly, ghostlike, and for some reason they showed Gio a light bit of goodwill and passed by.

That looked no different from the animals of the painted forest.

Those guys sometimes kiss my ankle and go, too.

“What cute little darlings.”

After finishing his judgment based on love, friendship, and peace, Gio nodded.

‘Did they recognize that I’m harmless.’

Anyway, now that he knew even the monsters weren’t threatening, there was even less to be reluctant about.

Gio walked around ‘Jewel Ley Lines’ with a full heart.

As a result, Gio was able to enjoy an incredible sightseeing trip at 120% with his son, but...

“...”

There was something he didn’t like.

There were no people.

“...I should have understood it from the moment they said it was a sparsely populated dungeon.”

Perhaps because lonely Gio growing old alone was pitiful, even the portrait had set up a letter communication system telling him to make a new friend, and yet there wasn’t a single human in sight who seemed suitable to become a pen-pal.

‘I am a firefly.’

I have no friends.

He couldn’t exactly greet someone the moment he met them and immediately make them a friend, so to make a new connection, Gio would have to try several times.

Making pen-pal friends was this hard.

‘Starting off without even seeing a single strand of human hair...’

In this age, where if you are full of love, friendship, and peace, you can be full even without eating, the small eater Seo Gio fell into deep sadness.

“In my 29 years of living, I’ve never been a friendless loner until now.”

“Ggur?”

“Family doesn’t count.

It’s a bit much to call the child I gave birth to with my paint a friend, isn’t it.”

“Kungkungkung...”

“Even if you’re dissatisfied, it can’t be helped.

No matter how open-minded this dad is, what can’t be done can’t be done.”

When Gio lowered his head, drained for no reason, he saw a cat that had quietly settled near his feet.

“...”

Oh, a cat.

“...When did you get here?”

“Meowng.”

“Cute.”

Maybe it was a long-haired breed; its fur was fluffy and long, yet compared to the pale monsters of ‘Jewel Ley Lines’ he’d seen so far, it had a definite weight and solidity.

“Has the time for being chosen come.”

After checking whether there might be a mother cat nearby, Gio soon drooped again.

Mustering courage to come out into society and the new connection he gained was a palm-sized kitten—was that really okay?

“...It’s not like it can’t be.”

Wouldn’t anything being a bit bustling be good?

Life can’t be lived alone.

Having accepted it, Gio asked the cat,

“Is it usually this empty of people here, little one?”

“Gyarreung.”

“You’re only cute and have no answer.”

The kitten only flopped over on its back and gave no answer.

At the natural command to immediately rub its belly, the prepared butler Gio crouched and gently stroked the tiny belly.

‘Hard and cold.’

He heard a purring sound.

If the master is satisfied, then I am happy as well.

Gio nodded.

“Cute.”

“Kkuk?”

“It’s small and harmless, so it’s cute. Of course.”

“...”

“...I don’t know why, but it feels like you’re denying this father’s words, yet whatever the truth is, it would be better not to tell me.

There’s a saying that people are happiest when they are ignorant, and that is truly me.

I don’t want to know a cruel truth, so please leave me to enjoy myself.”

Honey acknowledged Gio’s heartfelt plea.

“But it really is cute.”

A monster in a form as small as a kitten wasn’t as cleanly transparent as Honey.

Because the monster’s whole body being made of jewel meant it was filled with dense crystals and cracks inside, making it look almost opaque.

But when he touched it, he could feel the fur that softly wrapped its surface.

Unlike Honey, its jewel body was cold and hard, but the cat’s behavior—lying on the ground and enjoying his touch—was very precise.

“Can I appraise even a monster like this?”

Anti-cat

A jewel-bodied cat-type monster that acts individually from the moment it hatches from an egg.

It extremely detests Earth’s living creatures, so the Earthlings who first discovered its existence gave it the name “Anti-cat.”

Elixir method: The jewel hairball that Anti-cat very rarely vomits can be stretched out and woven into cloth to make a transparent cloak.

Even rarer, Anti-cat’s tears can be used as an excellent mental stabilizer just by themselves.

“Oh.”

Gio realized.

“Well, the monster at Cheonggyecheon was appraised too, so a dungeon’s monster shouldn’t be all that different.

What a diligent Speedwagon.”

And then he realized a second thing.

“...It detests Earth’s living creatures?”

Then what about me?

“Does it not count me as an Earth living creature?”

“Grrreung.”

“Don’t just purr—answer about my identity, little one.

Even if I’m currently in a position where I’m forcibly living inside a portrait because my status and real estate were all sorted out, even so, I am a sturdy male of the Republic of Korea, raised on clear energy in a mountain village of Gangwon-do.”

“Gyarreureu...”

“Did I get catnip on my hand?”

It made him feel proud to the point he was flustered, with how much it liked him.

“It recognized the prepared butler.”

Even if it was a monster, perhaps because it had a cat’s habits, it seemed Gio’s touch—Gio, a veteran at petting cats—was working very well.

It was the moment he felt rewarded for having stopped by cat cafés now and then, even while living in busy modern society.

“...”

“...”

Anyway, there were no people.

“Hm.”

Only the cat was cute.

“Sad.”

“Grrk?”

“I came to make a new friend, and I’m going back having only gained a master.”

Gio was already fully thinking of kidnapping this Anti-cat. It said “acts individually from the moment it hatches from an egg,” so it didn’t seem like it had a separate family living together.

‘You can’t touch Earth’s cats carelessly, but...’

Since this one was a monster, he also felt a little less burdened.

“There’s an ice storehouse with a similar environment, and if it comes to it, I can even draw a home in a similar place, so I feel like it might be okay.

What do you think, little one?”

“Gyarreureu.”

“I’ll take that as agreement.”

But not seeing a single person was a bit of a blow.

Timid Gio had to spend tremendous mental energy just to come outside to make a new friend.

“I don’t like there being too many people, but I still wanted at least one.”

“Grrk.”

“...”

“Grrr.”

“Hm?”

The Anti-cat, which clearly seemed to have understood Gio’s words, quietly got up from where it had been flopped over and left somewhere.

“Oh.”

Gio instinctively sensed new content, and stayed still where he was and waited.

‘Friendship brought by an animal—this is a beautiful situation like a fairy tale...’

As he waited, expecting a childlike encounter full of innocence, soon the Anti-cat lured a human over.

An immature, pitiful human who was so frightened she couldn’t understand anything and was simply dragged along like a moth, drawn to the Anti-cat’s faint light.

“...”

An offering?

‘A sacrifice?’

No way.

‘It must have brought them so I can make a friend. What a pity.

They look younger than my students were... so for a friend, it’s too much...’

To the other party, who still hadn’t noticed him, Gio spoke in the kindest voice he could manage.

“Hello.”

“H-hwaaaaaaaah...!!”

That hurts a bit.

“W-whatwhatwhat, what wha...”

“...”

“...W-who are you...”

That really hurts.

“W-who, who are you...”

“...”

Without even noticing the other party’s valid question, Gio drooped.

His spirit fell right through.

From inside the hood, it sounded like Honey was angry, as if saying, ‘Why are you killing our dad’s spirit,’ but he ignored it.

He had even foreseen this situation.

It wasn’t something he hadn’t guessed would happen at all.

‘Even so... I thought I’d gotten used to people being afraid of me, but I guess it’s not like I don’t get hurt.’

And the guards working at the ‘collector’s’ didn’t fear him to this extent.

Maybe because rumors about the ‘black cloak’ had spread recently, most of them didn’t fear him excessively and would talk with Gio.

In other words, this was the first time he’d met someone who feared him this much.

‘...And did I end up startling a student who looks like a high schooler...’

The heart of Seo Gio, a former high school teacher, hurt in an instant.

If it had been one of his students, he would have soothed them gently with a sweet snack, but in this situation, it felt like that would only scare them more.

As if it understood Gio’s feelings.

The Anti-cat rubbed its body against Gio’s leg as if its mission was complete.

It was very cute.

Gio looked down at the Anti-cat.

“...Anti-cat...”

“...”

“Ah, um, maybe... a-are you, a t-tamer?

Um...”

“...”

“W-which guild’s hunter are you...”

Seeing the other party ask such a cautious question, Gio realized belatedly.

“...?”

Ah, that student.

‘Is that the student I met in the alley last time?’

The kind-hearted student who, on a winter day, readily donated her scarf to a homeless person.

‘Even thinking about it again, she’s admirable.’

He had to give her a good deed award immediately.

Or a store.

Or at least a snack...

‘The admirable student who showed me that even Hell Korea has admirable sprouts.’

As a teacher, Seo Gio was weak to young students, and personally, he liked good people very much.

There was no existence that made Gio’s heart warmer than a kind, polite student.

‘What should I do.’

Remembering that the other party was that good student, Gio became even more at a loss for words.

‘That day too, she seemed to be very afraid of me... if she realizes it’s the same person, won’t she faint?’

And on top of that, Gio didn’t have any particular status right now.

In other words, it meant he couldn’t answer the questions the other person was asking.

No matter how insane he was, could he really say something like, ‘Actually, I was an art teacher working at a high school 31 years ago, but during a fire accident I became a haunted portrait...’?

“...”

“...”

But even if he was at a loss for words, ignoring the student’s question and doing nothing wasn’t the way an adult should act.

Since it was only once and by chance, but still, it was a face he knew, and he was glad to see it; Gio put pressure on his brain that had grown sluggish and forced out words.

“Hello.”

“...Ah, yes.”

“...”

“Th-th, ah, hello...”

Ah, is this not it.

‘It’s certain that during the 31 years I was asleep, all the social skills inside me have dried up.’

Watching the student look so awkward, he felt sorry without realizing it.

It was the first time he’d met someone who was this afraid of him, so he didn’t even know how to respond, and since the other party was a young student, he became even more cautious—those things all played a part in Gio’s attitude.

Gio hesitated for a moment, then spoke again.

“My name is Seo Gio.”

Grandma had said that the most effective way to ease the other party was to exchange names.

Gio firmly believed his grandparents’ words as if they were the sky.

“...”

“What is your name?”

No matter how you looked at it, this was strange, but Gio, appearing in the dungeon as a ‘portrait,’ had no awareness that he was speaking strangely in an objective sense.

Even if he had been aware, in a situation where he was stammering this much, he wouldn’t have been able to respond convincingly.

“...I, I’m...”

“You’re tense.”

“...”

“Are you afraid of me?”

“...”

“I promise I won’t harm you in any way.”

Gio was only speaking in good faith, words that came sincerely from his heart.

The student looked so tense that he only wanted to say, ‘I’m harmless, so you don’t need to be that afraid,’ but...

“Don’t be afraid.”

Life wasn’t that easy.

“...”

“I want to know your name.”

He was already swallowed by the self of the ‘portrait’ from the overly polite speech, too.

‘Is your tension not easing?’

To keep the dangerous ‘Gio’s Portrait’ from slipping away from its human personality, Yoo Sungwoon and Bisabeol had never described to him how fearful and distant he felt to people.

So Gio thought of himself as something like ‘a gloomy man you meet in a late-night alley.’

‘If I clear up the misunderstanding, it’ll be a little better.’

If only Gio’s self-objectification were that good.

“Cha, Cha Ara... I’m Cha Ara.”

“Pleased to meet you, Ms. Cha Ara.”

Gio asked, filled with kindness.

“Will you talk with me?”

Behold my open heart.

I will show you what a harmless existence I am.

Well, that was his resolve.

“...”

“...”

“Please save me.”

Even sincerity doesn’t always get through, after all.

Fantasy, modern,