Chapter 69

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons — Episode 69

Bisabeol greeted Yoo Sungwoon with a bright smile.

“...”

“Hey, hey, hey—don’t go back out again, just come in as you are.

You can’t do that right in front of someone.”

“Ah, I really don’t want to go in...”

“I trust you know I’m the one paying your salary.

Isn’t that right?”

“I know, that’s why I came as far as the door, isn’t it?”

“If you know, then what are you doing not hurrying inside, Curator Yoo Sungwoon.

The guildmaster is waiting.”

In the end, Yoo Sungwoon went into the office. Sitting down on the staff sofa, he muttered,

“I’m going to save up money and quit, no matter what.”

“Do you think that will really be possible?”

“If I have a valid reason, shouldn’t you approve my resignation letter?”

“Remember that if I get offended, I might ‘accidentally’ forget to process your resignation.”

“Deep-rooted corruption...”

“When was there ever a time the Republic of Korea didn’t have deep-rooted corruption—how can you make such a naïve remark.”

“Ah, I really hate this.”

Yoo Sungwoon roughly rubbed his tired face with both hands, and only after letting out a deep sigh like he was about to vomit up his very soul did he slowly raise his head.

The hollows around his eyes were as dark as a panda’s.

“So what are you curious about.

I just submitted an overall written report yesterday—what on earth are you still curious about that you called in this poor employee?”

Bisabeol got straight to the point.

“Looking at the report, it seems, regrettably, that Gio didn’t end up causing any casualties.”

“Regrettably?”

“I accidentally let my true feelings slip.

I was curious how that portrait works.”

“What kind of reaction are you hoping for?

Should I applaud or something?”

“So let’s set that aside for a moment, and—something came to mind that I’m curious about regarding Gio’s portrait.”

“I figured you would. Go ahead.”

“From what you wrote, the part about it being altered in response to dungeons and monsters was extremely interesting, but then who exactly is Giovanni?”

“Th...”

He certainly couldn’t include that part in a written report.

“As you know, matters related to ‘Gio’s Portrait’ are classified even within our guild, so to prevent any possible leakage, I left it out of the report.

Would that have felt rude?”

“Rude or not, who is Giovanni?”

“Right. You’re that kind of person.”

“Giovanni is...”

“I’ll tell you, so wait a moment— I need to organize my thoughts too.”

Scratching the back of his neck, Yoo Sungwoon continued.

“...I judge him to be one of the ‘Gios’ from another dimension.

This time, in the virtual dungeon I got dragged into—so... while wandering around ‘the Temple of the Deep Sea’—I gathered some materials and became certain.”

When he went around checking whether there were survivors who’d fallen elsewhere, Yoo Sungwoon hadn’t only been looking for people.

If you find a new dungeon, doing a basic investigation is simply part of a hunter’s fundamentals.

“As a result, I was able to find traces of someone called ‘Giovanni.’

He was probably in his early thirties, a priest of the sun god and a doctor, with platinum-blond hair and blue eyes... which matches one of the appearances of Gio I reported before.”

“Then indeed, Gio must have a great connection to the Origin.

That would be qualitatively different from ordinary Origin existences or monsters.”

“That is what I’m currently judging.

After reincarnating as another ‘Gio’ in another dimension and living out a human life, he returns to the portrait to have a period of reorganization... and once all reorganization is complete, he repeats reincarnation again—at least, that’s what it seems like for now.”

It could also be something happening simultaneously, without being bound by temporal order.

It would be a process that occurs between dimensions, after all.

And so, ‘Gio’s Portrait’ was neither human, nor monster, nor item, nor even a child of the Origin—the most veiled of them all.

And even so, you couldn’t simply describe it with the word “god,” either.

“‘Gio’s Portrait’ can become anything.”

Like a painter who can express everything with paint and carving.

“And something like that, indeed... how should I put it...”

“Though it may be a hasty judgment, doesn’t the word ‘Origin’ suit it best after all?”

“...That could be, yes.”

If it didn’t have a close connection to the ‘Origin,’ called the greatest secret of the world, Gio could not maintain such a vast standing as he does now.

“And even so, I suppose you could say it’s fortunate he hasn’t abandoned even the faint remnants of his humanity.

Should I call it incredible willpower, or should I see even that as one of the Origin system’s workings—I don’t know...”

Yoo Sungwoon rubbed his chin and asked,

“Is there anything else you’re curious about?”

“Oh, is it over already?”

“I’m not some parent reciting a bedtime story.

If you’re bored, find someone else to talk to—no matter how it looks, I’m busy cleaning up the aftermath of this virtual dungeon.”

“Sorry about that.”

Bisabeol let out his characteristic thin laugh.

“You’re frantic because you have to fabricate Gio’s identity, right?

It’s not just anything—you’re creating an A-rank hunter out of thin air.”

“No matter how many unofficial hunters the collectors’ guild has, there’s still more than enough to explain.

We’ll have to persuade the Association too, somehow.”

“I’ll take care of persuading the Association, so you only need to mind the basics.

They won’t be completely ignorant about ‘Gio’s Portrait,’ either.”

“Thank you for lightening the burden.

Thanks to you, tonight I’ll finally be able to fall asleep in my own bed again.”

At the epicenter of this incident, the dungeon named ‘the Temple of the Deep Sea,’ Gio openly showed his prowess.

Only one person, Priest Kang Seodam, noticed that sanctity, but that didn’t mean holy power could be hidden.

“At that point, you can’t exactly say he doesn’t exist...”

“With that many witnesses, what can you do.

If we’d just killed everyone from the start, things would have been much easier to process.”

“Are you telling me to become a red hunter? To fall to a Grade 5 citizen?

All of a sudden, like this?”

“No, I meant it while thinking about Gio.

If that had happened, wouldn’t I have been able to appreciate Gio’s method of attack?”

“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.

For some reason, Gio seems to think you’re a reasonably good person, Guildmaster—so please manage your image.”

“That’s something I can say I do best.

One of the weapons that helped me build one of the top three guilds with this weak, feeble body.”

“But there really are a lot of witnesses.

Because the atmosphere was so warm, the survivors’ testimonies are spreading even more actively, too...”

Perhaps because the survivors received great comfort in the dungeon, the collectors’ guild kept receiving thank-you messages addressed to ‘Hunter Seo Gio.’

In a situation like this, they couldn’t exactly say that there was no such person as ‘Seo Gio.’

“And because of that, the staff are a little shaken too.

The official notice you spread clearly listed an employee named ‘Gio,’ so they’re wondering if it’s the same person...”

“Of course it’s the same person.

I don’t remember recruiting staff who are that clueless.”

“Everyone’s guessing.

No one wants to acknowledge it because the work will get complicated, but at the very least, they’ve figured out that the ‘Gio’ in the official notice and the ‘Seo Gio’ in this commotion are the same being.”

“So everyone knows, and yet not a single person talks to me about it?”

“They don’t want extra work.”

Yoo Sungwoon let out a long sigh.

“Like me.”

“But I pay you.”

“Fucking capitalist society.”

In a world where you can even officially buy a lifespan with money, there was no way labor rights would exist.

Massaging the back of his neck stiff from fatigue, Yoo Sungwoon said,

“Still, since you introduced him as an employee in the official notice, there are people who just go, ‘Oh, I guess he really was an employee,’ and let it pass.

Most people think you’re planning to hire something that isn’t even human—like a monster—but...”

“Since we’re on the subject, should we try it next time?”

“Isn’t this exact attitude why distrust among the employees keeps deepening?

It’s not for nothing people say you’re ‘a lunatic who loses his mind whenever it’s about a work.’

Please, for the guildmaster’s sake, keep some dignity.”

“I’m very sorry, but I don’t have any.

Aren’t I such an amusing person?”

“You’d think you’d have some at that age—why don’t you?

Seriously, why don’t you?”

Yoo Sungwoon rubbed his face again and continued.

“Anyway, Gio is going to be officially posted on the collectors’ homepage soon.

Since he’s already known by his blond-hair, blue-eye appearance, if Gio wants to act without pulling his cloak over himself, he’ll have to move around in ‘Giovanni’s’ appearance... but I think Gio will understand that much.”

Gio didn’t seem to have any resistance to his personality changing.

Even that makes you nod, feeling how Origin-like he is, but since it doesn’t seem to be a big burden for him either, he would allow it.

“In short, now Gio... will be openly active in human society.”

“Can’t I go to an amusement park with him?”

“...‘Gio’s Portrait’ hates noisy, bustling places, so I’d appreciate it if you restrained yourself.

He’s still unbelievably gentlemanly toward humans, but that doesn’t mean he stopped disliking rude and evil ones.”

“Of course I know.

That’s why I was thinking of renting the whole place.”

“Please do that with your lover, for god’s sake...”

“My lover—who would go to an amusement park with an old man like me?”

“Then why did you think Gio would, just now? That doesn’t add up.”

He knew it was pointless nonsense meant to appreciate the reaction of one of his collections, Yoo Sungwoon, but it was still hard to listen to.

He was exhausted already, and his energy drained out.

“Anyway, if you have nothing else to ask, I’m leaving now.

I have to deliver the hunter ID we made this time to Gio, and besides that, there’s a lot I need to teach him, like textbooks and whatnot...”

“Ah, wait a moment.”

“What is it.”

“There’s something wrong with the sea.”

“...”

Yoo Sungwoon pressed his forehead.

“When you say the sea, surely... are you talking about that anomaly I investigated before?

Now?

Right when I’m standing up after you’ve been rattling off nonsense that doesn’t even matter?”

Bisabeol nodded breezily.

“I forgot for a moment, what can I say.”

“Don’t lie. It makes my blood boil.”

But Bisabeol would never stop this kind of prank, if only to enjoy Yoo Sungwoon’s reaction.

An unchanging truth: giving up makes things easier.

Having wisely resigned himself, Yoo Sungwoon sat back down on the sofa.

“So what is it?”

“There likely hasn’t been any official announcement yet, but if there’s one nice thing about the power of one of Korea’s top three guilds, it’s fast access to information.”

“Ah, yes.”

“The Association just confirmed some fresh, hot information and asked me about it.”

“So what is it.”

“They observed that a new dungeon has formed in the sea.”

“...A new dungeon in the sea...”

Yoo Sungwoon turned pale.

“...At a time like this?”

“At a time like this.”

Bisabeol smiled thinly.

“Does anything come to mind?”

“Don’t tell me... it’s a place connected to ‘the Temple of the Deep Sea’?”

“It seems to be the same dungeon.”

Bisabeol affirmed it.

“A few brave hunters from the Association went in to check the inside, and they say the deeper they went, the environment began to resemble the form of a temple.”

“Then it matches what I saw inside ‘the Temple of the Deep Sea.’

So there was another connected dungeon elsewhere.”

A sigh came out on its own.

“If it’s become enough of an anomaly to affect the sea, then don’t tell me, is it a villa dungeon?

Did that... temple appear outright?”

“No, it’s a normal entry dungeon.”

“Filthy huge, then.”

One of the characteristics of entry dungeons is that they have no limit to their range.

Among the entry dungeons confirmed so far, the one with the largest interior was the size of an entire nation.

Russia-sized, at that.

Because of that, entry dungeons are known as the most stable, but beyond that, the most annoying and troublesome to raid.

All the more so when, like now, it’s expected to be incredibly vast.

“The ‘Temple of the Deep Sea’ I saw seemed like a blend of temple and laboratory.

If the hunters’ report you mentioned says it stopped at the temple form, then the place we saw was likely much farther in... deep underground.”

If that was the case, then wasn’t that brat Eunha basically throwing people in to die?

‘It’s basic common sense that survival rates drop the deeper you go into a dungeon.’

Anyway, you never get used to monsters’ hatred and malice, no matter how many times you face it.

“Ah, and that child I reported, Eunha...”

“We couldn’t find him after you all returned alive.

He likely remained in the dungeon or changed his form.

At the initiation ceremony, there’s a high chance he changed form to resemble a human child in order to take the appearance of a preliminary priest.”

“So it really was like that.”

Having judged it would now be hard to keep pretending to be human, ‘Eunha’ hid his face.

Bisabeol asked,

“And about that—did Gio show any particular confusion?

It seems like he put some heart into caring for him.”

“...”

“Given that Eunha is the cause of this incident, it’s hard to believe Gio wouldn’t be shocked.”

“That part... he seemed okay.”

“Hm.”

Bisabeol tilted his head, intrigued.

“So he already knew, then?”

“...We can’t say for sure, since we don’t know how far he’s sorted his personalities, but since he didn’t show any particular shock or surprise afterward...”

“Gio originally knew what kind of existence Eunha was?”

“That’s the only way to interpret it, isn’t it?”

No, he didn’t.

In the dungeon, Gio simply wasn’t thinking at all, and after leaving, when Gio learned Eunha’s true nature, his confusion just didn’t show because his facial muscles were so stiff.

Even the certainty that the Iser in ‘Giovanni’s’ memories and Eunha are the same person only came after we got out of the dungeon.

“In a dungeon owned by a humanoid monster, it would be good to learn a bit more about ‘Giovanni,’ who could be called the key to peace—can you do that?”

“I’ll try.”

“Ah, and...”

“What now.”

“...”

Bisabeol looked at Yoo Sungwoon as if he were truly sorry.

“According to a hunter affiliated with the Association, they spotted ‘Gio’s Portrait’ inside that sea dungeon we just spoke about.”

“...Pardon?”

“To be precise, they said it wasn’t ‘Seo Gio,’ but the ‘Black Cloak’ appearance.

The Association’s hunters said they succeeded in escaping with help from a tall man wearing a black cloak...”

“Ah, please...”

Yoo Sungwoon grabbed at his own hair.

“Please—startling things I can clean up, at least...”

“Dear me, how pitiful.”

“Uaaagh...”

He could already see his future full of overtime.

* * *

Of course, it wasn’t that Gio went and caused this because he wanted to play around.

“I went to the dungeon to see my mermaid students’ faces just once, and I didn’t expect other people to be there.”

“Ggurururuk.”

“Even if Dad is versatile enough to roast sweet potatoes with paint, he still can’t predict every future, you know.”

Gio recalled the sturdy hunters he’d blatantly run into at the place he’d visited thinking, ‘Surely there’s no one there by now.’

They looked quite frightened.

“Just like when the collectors’ guild employees met me at dawn.”

“Kung.”

“They looked like very smart elites, and yet those healthy employees were terrified...”

“Kungkung.”

“...Terrified...”

“Kungkungkung.”

“...”

To be clear, Gio was capable of grasping reality.

And he also knew that the collectors’ guild had a ghost story called ‘the Black Cloak.’

Part of it was Guildmaster Bisabeol’s pranks, but a big part of it was that the employees had been utterly terrified and taken it seriously.

“...Ah.”

A Black Cloak standing alone in the corridor of a company where everyone has gone home, and a Black Cloak that suddenly appears in a dungeon where no one should be and tells you how to survive.

At the incredible sync rate, Gio felt déjà vu.

Only then did reality return to him, and Gio went, oh no.

“...Did I cause an incident?”

“Kkuru.”

“O spirits of heaven and earth.”

That’s what happened.

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons

Fantasy, modern,