Chapter 79

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons — Episode 79

For the record, as for Cha Isol who got kidnapped.

“Eunha, your eyes are awesome.”

He had no thoughts at all.

It wasn’t for nothing he matched so well with Gio.

“They’re all sparkly.”

“Ha...”

“They’re like a dragon!”

“In the end, that would be a reptile.”

“No, it’s way cooler than that!”

“Dragons are a kind of reptile.”

“Huh, really...??”

Cha Isol asked with a serious face.

“Then Eunha, if you get cold, do you hibernate in winter too...?”

“I don’t.

If you get technical, I’m a fish.”

“There aren’t any fish.”

“What are you talking about...?”

“You’re not a fish though?”

“Ah...”

It seemed to mean that it was hard to find ‘mermaid’ traits in Iser’s appearance.

“...Then did my eyes look human to you?”

“A mermaid is that, right?

Th-that, legs... legs... fish legs...”

“...”

“You don’t have fish legs.”

“...I do...”

Human children really are curious about everything.

“I can explain that part.”

“Ah, big sis.”

“Is it hard taking care of the kid?”

“I can’t say it isn’t.”

The current Iser was not the 모습 of ‘Eunha’ that Cha Isol remembered.

Iser, clearly in an adult form, would be different from what Cha Isol knew, and yet Cha Isol was overwhelmed by the excessively familiar way he acted.

He was treating him mildly, but he was in a kidnapped situation—yet he was brave.

As Iser stepped back slightly, his older sister, Aria, approached.

“Hello, gentleman.”

“You’re pretty!”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

With a courteous smile, Aria greeted them with an elegance fit to step into high society immediately.

“In Earth’s fairy tales, mermaids may have had fish legs in the form of fins, but not all mermaids are like that.

On the planet where we lived, each mermaid’s traits as a mermaid were all different from individual to individual.”

“...That’s hard to understand!”

“It means there are mermaids with mermaid tails, and mermaids without them.

In Eunha’s case, he was born without a tail.”

Saying that, Aria called her younger brother as if asking him to show an example.

“Iser.”

“...”

With a little fatigue laid over his usual smile, Iser lifted the hair by his ear.

“Now, can you see Eunha’s ear?”

“Uh... it’s different.”

“Unlike a human ear, there is a separate mermaid ear fin unique to mermaids.”

She continued, like a teacher.

“Besides that, if you spread the fingers, there is webbing, and there are scales in various parts of the body.

And though he’s hiding it right now, there is also a separate tail so he can swim more skillfully.”

“Then what about you, noona?”

“I have the mermaid tail the gentleman is already familiar with.

However, with a fish fin, it is inconvenient to move on land like this, so right now I’ve split my tail into two and created legs capable of upright walking.”

“Woah...”

“It is an ability any mermaid on my planet can show.

Contrary to humans’ thoughts, mermaids evolved so that they can live on land as well.”

“That’s amazing...!”

Cha Isol was simply excited.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t tense in an unfamiliar environment, but Eunha also didn’t seem to have any intention of harming him.

He didn’t not know this was a kidnapping, but he had a firm belief that his hyung and noona would come find him anyway.

Rather than being scared, Cha Isol was excited like he’d come to an amusement park.

“But...”

That 모습 of Cha Isol’s clearly felt special to Aria as well.

“It seems the gentleman is not afraid of mermaids?”

“...?

Is that not okay?”

“Earth’s humans, I understand, tremble in fear when they meet mermaids directly.”

After the incident Earth calls ‘the Great Catastrophe,’ ‘mermaids’ had been sighted dozens, hundreds of times on Earth.

Naturally, since they too were monsters, they had attacked humans, so most Earthlings feared mermaids.

“On top of that, the gentleman has been kidnapped by us.”

“Uh... I know.”

“And yet, could you tell me the reason you can smile like this?”

“We’re not hitting me...?”

“Oh.”

Aria tilted her head.

“We could hit you.”

“...Are you going to hit me?

Then I’ll run away.”

“My, how pitiful.

It will be a bit hard to run away now.”

“So you won’t hit me, right?”

“Nothing is more foolish than abusing a precious hostage.

But even if we do not give the gentleman pain and suffering, how can you trust that?”

“If you say you won’t, then you won’t, right...?”

“...”

Aria, momentarily at a loss for words, looked back at her younger brother.

“A formidable opponent.”

“A formidable opponent.”

“Truly a human Gio would like.”

“It seems he cherishes him simply because he is a child.”

“That could be. He was someone who held young and weak things in his arms.”

Aria lifted her head.

“They’ll be coming soon.”

They could hear the sound of the sea being churned.

“...”

“For the reaction to be this good... no matter how much Gio cherishes a child, that’s quite fast.”

“...It likely means the other side was also preparing.”

“It isn’t only this side that was bracing themselves. No matter what result comes, it won’t feel unfair.”

“It means we were not the only ones paying attention.”

Iser suddenly thought it had been a long time since the word “heart” had come out of Aria’s mouth.

With a smile on his lips as he watched his older sister, Iser soon held out a hand to Cha Isol.

He was not a mermaid who feared holding out a hand to humans.

Having served Giovanni as his teacher, he could become an ideal priest as much as he wished.

“Shall we go, Priest Cha Isol?”

“I mean, we’re not priests yet...”

“I am.”

He only hates them, is all.

“Aren’t my hands cold?”

“They’re super cold—can I maybe stick a hot pack on you?”

“...No. My skin dries out.”

“Then don’t you get poor circulation in your hands and feet?”

“Mermaids, whose body temperature is lower than humans to begin with, don’t have that.”

It took a bit of time, but they were finally ready to welcome Gio.

And, they have no intention of fighting.

“...”

“Another nightmare?”

“I’m not.”

I hope so.

* * *

“Nice to meet you!”

Gio died; even if he came back to life, he was Gio.

“Are there any of our mermaid friends who have received the sea’s blessing in full?”

“My goodness, look who it is.”

Walking down the temple entrance steps, Aria smiled with dignity.

A splendid mermaid dress rippled over the steps like waves.

“Isn’t it you, Mr. Black Cloak, the new sun god who trespassed without even asking the homeowner for permission?”

“Black Cloak, you say—right now I am Seo Gio.

Please be careful so you don’t make a mistake later.”

“Sure, Gio.”

“In fact, it’s Giovanni.”

“...That could be.”

Smiling as she replied, Aria turned to the flustered humans.

“From the looks of it, it seems you all came rushing in to save the human child.”

“...Are you Eunha-gun’s family, miss mermaid?”

“That’s right. I’m Aria, Iser’s older sister and the true owner of this dungeon.”

“Oh...”

Yoo Sungwoon looked at Gio.

“I think when we go back, I should suggest raising the dungeon’s rank.”

“Why?

I understand it’s already quite high.”

“There are two dungeon owners.

That isn’t common.”

Keeping a smiling face while letting out a sigh, Yoo Sungwoon looked back at Aria.

“The true owner of the dungeon coming out in person without any tension like this likely means you have no intention of fighting us.

May we take it that way?”

“It’s nice that you’re easy to talk to.”

Aria curved her eyes slightly.

She was a monster who knew how to act coy.

“I’m sorry for taking my younger brother without permission, Hunter Cha Ara.”

“Uh...”

“I only used him as a device to call you all in, and I didn’t leave even a single scratch, so don’t worry and go check on my younger brother.”

“Uh, uhh... uh...”

“It seems the weak hunter is afraid to go alone.

Wouldn’t you other two also move together?

That would be courtesy to the lady, would it not?”

Yoo Sungwoon shrugged.

“I’m not a gentleman, you see.”

What he had to do was look after beings of the Origin and oversee the works in the gallery.

Yoo Sungwoon turned to Kang Seodam and Cha Ara.

“I’ll stay with Gio, so it would be better for Priest-nim and Hunter Cha Ara to secure Cha Isol-gun first.

Since I don’t see mermaid Iser, there’s a high probability he’s with him.”

“The probability of combat will be low.”

“Cha Isol-gun was bait to draw in Gio.

It’s not an emotionally hostile situation, so the statement that Cha Isol-gun is safe should be true.

Shall we move before we offend the mermaids’ temper?”

“That seems correct.”

Kang Seodam led the thoroughly intimidated Cha Ara and entered the temple.

Aria kindly guided them from behind.

“He’ll be with my younger brother in the last room down the corridor.”

“...Thank you for telling us.”

Once the two hunters were no longer in sight, Aria held Gio in her eyes.

“...”

Lips red as if painted with blood opened heavily.

“You look so alike.”

“You don’t think I’m the person himself?”

“What do you think, Mr. Seo Gio?”

“Actually, I might not be.”

“Saying that makes it feel even more like you’re the Gio I know.”

Aria curved her eyes.

“He always left room for possibility.”

“Did he?”

“Even his own death.”

“I have no face to show.”

“...”

Looking down at Gio and Yoo Sungwoon from the stairs, Aria turned her body.

“Come in, gentlemen.”

“...”

“Enjoy the mermaid’s invitation to your heart’s content.”

Yoo Sungwoon murmured softly.

“...If I weren’t with you, Gio, I’d have taken that as a battle-opening line.”

That was how bizarre and eerie something Aria’s voice had.

Even though she was smiling softly, the hatred and contempt toward humans were far too clear.

* * *

Aria guided Gio and Yoo Sungwoon to the banquet hall.

“Wow, a seafood party.”

Yoo Sungwoon was dumbfounded.

“Can mermaids do this?”

“Humans really are narrow-minded.

Just because you’re human, do you not eat a single land creature?”

“It’s scary, alright? Think about how a human feels getting treated to a deep-sea mermaid’s seafood banquet.

With no land meat at all on this table, it makes you imagine what message it implies.”

“It’s not like I set a human on the table—what’s the problem?”

“Really scary...”

Aria’s tone had become comfortable at some point.

‘Is it because it’s a space that can, in its own way, be called her home, or...’

Yoo Sungwoon glanced at Gio.

‘...Is it simply that the meal with this guy is comfortable.’

It could be both.

Gio, not caring what the two were chattering about, found his seat.

He looked quite accustomed to it, and Yoo Sungwoon looked around the banquet hall, which felt lavish and flashy for a temple.

“For a temple, there sure are a lot of things here.”

“This Sun Church did not make frugality a virtue.”

“Uh... yeah?”

Yoo Sungwoon looked at Gio again.

“So you know where this is too?”

“It was the place where I received my education, so how could I not.”

“Education, meaning...”

“I learned many things as a priest.

You can think of it as a training school for young priests.”

“Ah-ha.”

It seemed that, in any world, the way they raised priests was similar.

Confirming Aria staring steadily at him at Gio’s explanation, Yoo Sungwoon swallowed a sigh and sat beside Gio.

As if it were only natural, Aria sat not at the head seat, but across from Gio.

“...?

If you’re the owner of this seat, why aren’t you sitting at the head?”

“The owner of that seat wasn’t me, but the pope.”

Aria curved her eyes roundly.

“I ate him.”

Gio startled and looked at Aria.

“Did you not get an upset stomach?”

“No—wait a second, Gio, is that what matters right now?”

“Do you know how much saturated fat was packed into that human’s belly...”

“I’m asking if that’s what matters right now.”

A monster ate a person—can that really be all you have to say?

Aria seemed to think similarly.

“You don’t look particularly regretful.”

“Do you know what hardships I went through because of that human?

How could I speak kindly.”

“With that noble face, you’re quite cutting.”

With the lips that smirked, her blue hair also fluttered.

“I suppose you really are my teacher.”

“That could be, and it could also not be.”

“If you cannot define it yourself, shall I tell you?”

Aria smiled.

“Teacher.”

“...”

“The mermaids’ human teacher.

The priest Giovanni, incarnation of a saint.

Humanity’s savior, and traitor.”

“It seems it grew quite grand while I wasn’t looking.”

Gio smiled back.

Yoo Sungwoon suddenly realized that Giovanni’s smile, Aria’s smile, and Iser’s smile were quite similar.

They were clearly smiling faces, and yet instead of joy, you felt heaviness...

Even then, Gio continued.

“So what will you call me now, Aria?”

“Anything is fine.”

Snap—!

As the mermaid snapped her fingers, the temple filled with seawater.

“...”

Breathing wasn’t cut off.

“Welcome back to your sea.”

Hair that resembled the deep sea scattered like coral.

The mermaid’s dress moved languidly like fins, like lazy waves.

Pearl-colored eyes glittered coldly, and the tiara above her head emitted a subtle light.

The seafood in the banquet hall, now completely submerged in seawater, lifted their already-dead heads and worked their mouths, greeting their guest and intruder.

“...Yeah, that’s right...”

There was an incarnation of the sea there.

“...”

“Gio.”

Eyes that could never be human held the saint who had been the most human in the world.

“Talk with me.”

“Gladly.”

“If I don’t like it, I’ll eat all the humans.”

For thousands of years, the mermaid princess had been furious.

“You too.”

Only toward ‘humans.’

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons

Fantasy, modern,