Chapter 80

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons — Episode 80

Gio saw the mermaid princess who had grown into a strong and beautiful figure.

“...”

Her hair of bizarre hues like the deep sea, her eyes resembling pearls like a legend, even the dress resembling waves all symbolize the sea... and yet the roomy white doctor’s coat draped over it all stands out strikingly.

Back then, we used to play jokes like that from time to time.

It was nothing special.

Just a trivial prank.

“...”

“...Yeah, I’m human too.”

So Giovanni could be certain.

“Let’s talk.”

In the end, in this 자리, humans could only win.

An ending for the mermaid princess

He was certain of that.

* * *

Aria did not resent Giovanni.

He was the only human Aria thought of as human.

Among those countless humans, he was the truest human, and at the same time so good and kind it felt like he belonged in a fairy tale.

What is rare deserves to be loved.

“I respect you, Giovanni.”

But too much time had passed.

“Just covering it with the shallow word ‘respect’—too much has happened for that, hasn’t it?”

“From my perspective, I’ve only come to my senses and found that young mermaids have been causing trouble, is all.”

“They aren’t young anymore, regrettably.”

Aria loved Giovanni, but she hated humans.

She loathed them, and despised them.

“There was so much I learned from you.

Human emotions, human living, human judgment...”

“Human biological structure was something I taught you as well.”

“That helped a great deal.

Even after you died, no less.”

“Do you resent me?”

“It’s closer to love and stubbornness.

That’s a little different from resentment.”

“Mermaids are that kind of creature.”

“A foolish species that lives its whole life on a single memory, wouldn’t you say?”

To such mermaids, the existence called Giovanni was far too cruel.

“After your death, I met countless humans.

Some were sacrificial, some were selfish, some drove even their children into the abyss, and some gave their lives for strangers whose faces they did not even know.”

“That diversity is what shows humanity’s potential.”

“I agree as well.

That is why I could not abandon this life.

Believing that someday it would end, I have analyzed, researched, and studied countless humans.”

“It must have been a very long time.”

“For quite a long time, I wished for this day to come.

Continuing meaningless venting, sinking the suns of so many dimensions...”

“I understand.”

“And now, it feels as though an ending has come to me at last.”

It was the ending of the name Giovanni.

“In the fairy tale of the mermaid princess on Earth, in the end the mermaid becomes foam and disappears.

Is the ending you draw, Giovanni, the same as that?”

“How to imagine it is every child’s freedom.

Even if the mermaid in the fairy tale becomes foam and is forgotten by all, in some child’s head she will be living a happy daily life with the prince.”

“I’m sorry, but there are no children here anymore.

All that remain here are a princess with her hands stained in bright red blood to see humanity’s limits, and a faithful subordinate who follows her.”

“Then what kind of ending does the mermaid princess desire?”

“Human pain.

Human despair.

The extermination of humanity, I suppose.

I never thought I would meet you on all of Earth just to sink even more suns... but for now.”

“Have you eaten humans, Princess?”

“Already, the seas of every dimension have eaten countless humans.

Even at this moment, the sea will be taking the greedy lives of humans, and it will be eating even innocent humans as well.”

Giovanni’s noble face appeared.

The face of a saint who had been called humanity’s savior and the only god’s son.

“Just as you said, is the sea not a cruel existence to humans?”

“And yet, it is beautiful.

Just as I, who cannot even swim, built a house by the sea and lived there for half my life.”

“Do you still regard the sea and mermaids as the same existence?”

“Do you want to hear the word ‘beautiful’?”

“I can’t deny it.

I wanted to show you how I’ve grown, my teacher.”

But this is not the 모습 you wanted.

“How does it feel, seeing the mermaid you raised with your own hands grow into this?”

“...”

Mourning filled his blue eyes.

“...It is sad.”

“Right.”

“I am glad to see you again, and it is regrettable.”

“And why is that?”

“Because you are a mermaid.”

Whose mourning was that for?

“And I am human.”

“...Giovanni, you always spoke of the differences and limits between humans and mermaids.”

With a smile that looked as though he would sing only fairy tales his whole life, Giovanni always spoke of the bleakness of reality.

“This is where the main point begins.”

Aria looked at the white-haired hunter seated with a tense face, then looked back at Giovanni, who still wore a calm smile.

“I...”

It was a smile she had tried to make her whole life, and yet could not.

A smile my younger brother imitated, yet remained only imitation.

One she tried to have once more, but could not even attempt to make...

And so, in the end, a smile she gave up.

“...For thousands of years, I have endlessly studied humans and tried to learn their limits.

But I confess my lacking capability: I could not define it as a clear goal.

I was only wandering, not knowing what I should do.”

Giovanni said,

“And it is the teacher’s role to show the path one must go, isn’t it.”

“Giovanni, I am standing at a fork in the road.

You must help me.”

What will you choose.

“This foolish, stubborn mermaid can spend the remaining life that will not die simply hating, despising, and loathing humans, or else... yes, like the fairy tale on this Earth, she can become foam and vanish.”

The death of humans, or the death of the mermaid.

“Now, Teacher.”

“...”

“What should I do?”

Aria respected the human called Giovanni.

She loves his name.

She feels mystery in the fact that he is human, and worships his endless wisdom and welling kindness.

If there is a human who can pull sunlight up into the sea, that is Giovanni.

“Teacher, you wanted land and sea to become one, didn’t you.”

Aria placed the sea in the sky and let it devour the sun.

“Even if our choice is the same, the result would surely have been different.

Is that not so?”

Giovanni would have made a warm fairy tale that smelled of sunlight, not this cold and fishy reality.

But that Giovanni was betrayed by humans and eaten by a mermaid.

Aria looked at that good face holding warmth.

“...”

“Now give me an end.”

You became the sun for that, didn’t you.

* * *

Watching the situation unfold, Yoo Sungwoon held his breath as much as he could.

‘...It’s turning a little strange.’

At first, when Cha Isol was kidnapped and as a result this group came to ‘The Country of the Deep Sea,’ he thought there would be a major battle.

Isn’t it natural that when hunters enter a dungeon, battle breaks out?

But this mermaid named Aria really seemed to want to talk.

This 자리 was made solely for a war of words.

‘And... she’s forcing Gio into a binary choice between humans and mermaids.’

He could feel her sincerity.

‘If Gio chooses humans, what is she going to do...?

Is she going to torment humans instead because it’s galling?

Or is she really going to die?’

Depending on what ‘path’ Gio showed, Aria would spend her life tormenting humans, or else die right here.

‘Monsters are like that, but...’

Aria, too, seemed to have an immeasurably strong hatred for humans.

‘It sounds like she’s saying she’ll liquidate the same life she lived before, researching and studying humans.

Well, if thousands of years have passed, it is time for a conclusion, but even so, is it possible to hand that choice over to Gio?

It decides the fate of humans and mermaids, of all things.’

What kind of selfish temper is this.

“...”

Yoo Sungwoon turned to Gio.

“...”

“...”

He was still smiling as he looked at the mermaid named Aria.

‘...I’m curious too, what choice he’ll make.’

First, it is true that the existence called ‘Gio’s Portrait’ is extremely favorable to humans.

But as he had worried the first time they came to ‘The Temple of the Deep Sea,’ Giovanni, who had deep ties with these mermaids, could choose them.

‘And right now, he’s in a state where you can’t even call him human.

Even if he chooses the mermaids, who are monsters now, rather than humans... since monsters can be defined as being on the same side... I don’t know what choice Gio will make.’

Besides, that side was more rational.

Objectively, there was far less loss.

‘If he chooses humans, the friendly mermaid Aria dies immediately, but even if he chooses the mermaids, it’s not as though all humans across every dimension can be killed at once.

If Gio chooses the mermaids right now, spending time by their side while still somewhat defending humans is, objectively, more profitable.’

Aria had acted as if she would even eat Gio if she grew displeased, saying, ‘In the end, you too are human,’ but... given Gio’s standing, he would not be so easily taken.

If you looked at it that way, then the small number of humans in this dungeon would die, but the many humans and the beloved mermaids would live, would they not.

Because he knew Giovanni was not purely good and had a shameless side, he worried even more.

“...”

Even so, since it was not a place where he could step in, Yoo Sungwoon kept his mouth shut.

‘...In the end, it’s Gio’s choice.’

It was when he waited, giving it time.

“Whew...”

Gio laughed.

“To be honest, I thought it was a little fun.”

“...What was?”

“They say families resemble each other—looks like we did too.”

Unlike the black-haired Gio with his bluntness and darkness, Giovanni, with his bright colors, even wore that light smile with mischief naturally.

The mermaid named Aria was painfully expressionless, but it looked as though her eyes had been stolen by that smile.

“...”

As if she had no choice but to recall a bygone time she missed...

Gio curved his lips as if embarrassed, as if troubled, and yet as if amused.

“I thought about it too.

Somehow, I found a way to come to ‘The Country of the Deep Sea’ without even riding a submersible, but no matter how much I wandered here and waited, I couldn’t find even a single strand of Iser’s hair, or yours.”

It seemed this portrait had been visiting ‘The Country of the Deep Sea’ all this time in order to meet the mermaids.

“Were you avoiding me?”

“I can’t say no. I was too afraid I’d be punished by heaven by the new sun god.”

“A sun god...”

“You couldn’t have been planning to hide it.

Not while carrying such hot sanctity.”

“I took it on without meaning to, but to be honest, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do either.”

“To kill me, isn’t it?

How interesting that there’s something even you don’t know.”

“Because I’m human too.”

“...”

“We always run into limits.”

Gio wore his uniquely proper smile.

“So, just as you kidnapped the Cha Isol siblings to call me in, I, too, devised a way to gather our beloved mermaid friends.

Because I wanted you not to run away, but to talk.”

“So what method did you devise?”

“Compared to what you prepared, it’s a much more modest measure.

You could call it rough, I suppose.

As a teacher, I’m terribly ashamed that I can’t show you something grand...”

—KWAJIIIIIIIIIIIK...!!!

“Now.”

With a vicious roar that did not match that dazzling light enough to hurt the eyes, spears of light were created.

He spread both hands.

“...”

“Look.”

In all, it became more than ten.

And the points of those spears holding the heat of the sun were aimed at Gio.

“This is how humans talk.”

“...”

Before he knew it, the seawater in the temple had dried, and only a horrific heat, like a desert, filled the place.

“...Humans’ talk, what does that mean?”

“Good people cannot be rewarded every time.”

“...I know that too.”

“Then you should have known better.”

Gio continued, as if teaching.

“Just because you show goodwill doesn’t guarantee it will return as goodwill, and infamous villains cannot always be punished to melt the victims’ aching hearts.

The world is not a fairy tale, and reality makes an ending as each moment overlaps.”

“...”

“Because humans always change.

They can grow and degenerate.

Expecting every ending of this fickle creature that cannot stay still for even a moment to always be the same is a stupid thing.

If you are as clever as you are, you surely know this well.”

The banquet hall was swallowed by heat so intense it made it hard to breathe.

“But that is why humans created countless rules.

They learn how to face one another, and how to talk.”

“...”

“And they decided that even a dreadful murderer whose number of kills cannot be measured can be made to answer for their crime.”

“...You’re going to make me answer for a crime?

To me, who isn’t even human, bringing up human rules...”

“Aria.”

The face resembling sunlight is warm.

“Humans are diverse.

They have no limits, and you are the same.

You said that what cannot stay still for even a moment and changes is human.”

“...”

“Weren’t you like that?

Did you not change even a little?

You only fell into the illusion that you were the same as thousands of years ago because you grew and degenerated...”

“...I.”

“We can talk.”

That voice was firm.

“If you receive the punishment you deserve.”

Like a teacher instructing a young student.

“...What kind of punishment is this supposed to be?

I can’t understand.”

“We humans use rather petty methods to get what we want.

Shall I be the one to ask this time?”

“I don’t know.

I don’t understand.”

“Just as I have no reason to stop your hatred toward humans, Aria.”

The teacher who had led his student asked,

“Is there any reason I must not take ‘Giovanni’ away from you?”

“...”

Gio chose humans.

And by his words, since humans and mermaids are beings with no difference at all, it means he chooses nothing and gives up nothing, and yet chooses.

At the petty declaration of a greedy adult, the mermaid’s face crumbled.

“To choose the humans that include me and you.”

“...Ah...”

“Or to choose the mermaid’s wrath, that is yours to decide.”

Then what was revealed was not the sea, but that of an unripe student.

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons

Fantasy, modern,