chapter 84

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons - Episode 84

Before the incident happened.

The Cha family home in some rural town, which had finally regained peace after consecutively experiencing things others would struggle to go through even once—terror incidents, kidnapping incidents.

“Flower pig.”

Cha Eun-hyeok looked at his younger sister, Cha Ara, who had gone into the kitchen.

“Why is there meat?”

“Ah, this.”

“Why is there so much.”

Various ingredients that were rarely seen in ordinary times were laid out, as if she intended to cook.

Thin cuts of meat with a texture that would absolutely never be caught through hunting, and pears, round and well-ripened even in the middle of winter...

“Damn, there’s even kiwi.”

“I’m going to make bulgogi with this.”

“Where did you get the money.”

“I got compensation money from the Collector.”

“...”

At Cha Ara’s words, Cha Eun-hyeok looked at his sister with subtle eyes.

“...Did they have anything to compensate us for...?

Wasn’t it rather a situation where we should have paid them money?”

“Umm...”

“Seems like there’s nothing more than us being saved when we were dying stuck among monsters, no matter how I think about it.”

“Uh...”

“Is this like, after you pull someone out of the water, they demand a bundle from you.

You’ve really gotten soaked in society, extorting money from a big corporation.”

“Ah, I didn’t extort it. They just gave it.”

At her brother’s reasonable doubt, Cha Ara continued, haltingly.

“No, well, I didn’t really understand either, but... anyway, they said the Black Cloak and the mermaid princess have deep ties, and also that the Black Cloak is under the Collector’s responsibility, so... that... it felt like... it isn’t completely unrelated...”

“...?”

Cha Eun-hyeok’s face crumpled.

“What are you talking about?”

“Anyway, they said we suffered, so eat something good and rest.

They said they’re sorry.”

“Is it a scam?

Did you get scammed?

I knew you would someday.”

“No, it’s not.

As if he’s so great—why is he giving me shit.”

“Probably better than you.”

“Don’t talk bullshit, you sucker bastard.”

“You think I’d lose my sense of caution just because I get cursed at?

No, my little sister with zero safety awareness.”

Cha Eun-hyeok grabbed Cha Ara’s shoulders with both hands and spoke seriously.

“People in this world think of nothing but fleecing suckers like us.”

“But they gave money.

Money has no sin, and if they gave it, you should spend it.”

“No, you should give it back. They’ll use this as leverage to do something to you.

Why did they give this, anyway.”

“Compensation...?

Isn’t it...?”

At his sister’s innocent words, Cha Eun-hyeok smiled kindly.

“Flower pig, flower pig.

You became a hunter and got hit on the back of the head like that, and you still fall for the word ‘compensation’?”

“Uh...?”

“I don’t know which person at the Collector decided to give us compensation money, but all their employees are probably first- or second-class citizens. Why would they think that way.”

“Uh, uh...”

“No one in any city shows mercy to third-class citizens without a reason.

Let’s organize the situation step by step.

Who exactly gave you that.”

“Yu, Yoo Seong-woon Hunter-nim...”

“Hunter Yoo Seong-woon.”

Cha Eun-hyeok nodded.

“Then this isn’t compensation money—it’s closer to condolence money.”

“Are we going to die?

Did I spend too much?

Shouldn’t I have bought the kiwi after all?”

“That’s not the problem.”

He felt like he knew why Yoo Seong-woon gave the money.

“We’re among the very few humans who know the identity of the ‘Black Cloak’ that’s heating up the internet lately.

And how many people in this world do you think want to use and study the ‘Black Cloak’?

Then how valuable do you think the real, genuine information related to the ‘Black Cloak’ would be?”

“Uh... uh...”

“That value wouldn’t become equal even if they harvested the organs of third-class citizens like us.

The reason Mr. Yoo Seong-woon gave this money is closer to mourning the fact that we learned the true nature of that terrifying ‘Black Cloak.’”

“So we’re going to die?”

“If you keep your mouth shut well, you might not die, or you might just die...”

Cha Ara’s face crumpled.

“Then what do we do?”

“What do we do—take the money they gave, enjoy it, and keep your mouth tightly shut.”

“Will it work just because we keep our mouths shut?”

“If we have bad luck, information could leak from Priest Kang Seo-dam or the Collector’s side.”

“Then we die?”

“Life will become very tiring.”

In the absolute worst case, they could be dragged somewhere and forced to spill information about the ‘Black Cloak.’

They might die in that process, but Cha Eun-hyeok accepted the current situation rather calmly.

“Anyway, it doesn’t seem like Hunter Yoo Seong-woon gave the money with bad intentions.”

“Really...?

I’m getting anxious.”

“From what I saw, it feels like he gave the money with the meaning of sincerely telling us to keep our spirits up after realizing our future won’t be smooth now that we know the ‘Black Cloak,’ so it’s fine for you to keep cooking like this.”

“Ugh... no, but still...”

“It’s probably compensation that also includes the fact that Cha Isol got kidnapped, while we’re at it.

It’s true both you and the youngest suffered, so just use what you got.”

Cha Ara scrunched her face.

“Are you telling me to be reassured or not.”

“I’ll do the worrying, so you just keep cooking without thinking.”

As long as Cha Eun-hyeok, who wasn’t lacking in life wisdom, was alive, his two younger siblings could be a bit stupid and it would be fine.

This money didn’t have malice either, so there was no need to be greatly anxious right now.

Given Hunter Yoo Seong-woon’s personality as learned through conversation, and considering the moves of the big corporation Collector, they likely also had an escort team separately assigned.

Because they’d been kidnapped once, it might be for protection, but it might be more accurate to call it surveillance manpower for information control.

Anyway, it didn’t matter.

“You like cooking.”

“Well... that is true, but...”

“If money came in for the first time in a while, it’s fine to spend this much.”

Of course, they could save this money to fix the house or pay the youngest’s dorm fees.

They could help Cha Eun-hyeok’s fish-shaped pastry business, or buy equipment so Cha Ara wouldn’t die.

But if you only spent money on what was strictly necessary, could you call that a life people live?

“We were making the money we needed on our own anyway.

On top of that, by sheer luck, we got some extra cash, so it’s hard to say even that should be spent on only essential parts.”

“Mm...”

“If you don’t relieve stress like this, when will you ever.”

To live, people needed joys both big and small like this.

Cha Eun-hyeok knew that if you simply lived to eat and survive, you would eventually only consume your body’s health and your mind, and die away.

“So how much compensation money came in?”

“Ah, right.”

“Ah, right?

Flower pig, are you living without your head screwed on?”

“I-I was out of it too, coming back from Seoul...”

Cha Ara held up her fingers.

“One thousand.”

“...One thousand?

One thousand without any negotiation is pretty strong?”

“I went grocery shopping in Seoul for the first time in a while, so.”

“Dinner will be plentiful today.”

“Hehe, right.”

“Please show your skills.”

Cha Eun-hyeok looked to one side of the room where a little cold air seeped in.

“I’ll go stay with the youngest.”

“You’re not doing it together?”

“I don’t really like cooking, and what if the youngest gets kidnapped again.”

“...S-surely it won’t happen again?”

“From what I see, our youngest’s life is anything but ordinary.”

This was an intuition Cha Eun-hyeok could feel because he saw strange monsters unlike other people.

“He seems like he’ll live a far less smooth life than us.

I’m anxious.

My heart is unsettled.”

“No, fuck, what kind of curse is that.

He’ll be a second-class citizen soon—if he ends up living a less smooth life than us third-class locals, isn’t that a problem?”

“No matter how I think about it, at least it won’t be an ordinary life.

That bastard Cha Isol keeps getting tangled up in weird things... and his personality is like that.”

It seemed his lack of fear himself also played a part.

Uselessly bright, and sociable, too.

“A sucker without fear—what is that, he’s twisting his own fate.”

“Ah, are we screwed?

Did we raise the kid wrong?”

“What can we do, he’s already grown that big.

Still, if he enters the Sun Church, he’ll learn this and that while getting some protection, right.

He’ll restrain himself since there’s the dignity of doctrine.”

“Good grief...”

Cha Ara waved her hand.

“Hearing you say that makes me even less reassured.

I was going to feed him something delicious before he goes into the dorm, but you go sit by the youngest and tell him this and that.”

“What would I even do.”

“Tell him not to live like a sucker...”

“Would it work? We’re already screwed.”

Saying that, Cha Eun-hyeok went straight to the youngest, Cha Isol’s side.

A big part of it was that he was anxious about leaving the youngest alone because of the last kidnapping.

“Youngest.”

“Hyung, what’s noona doing?”

“She said she’s making bulgogi.”

“Wow, bulgogi!

Isn’t that expensive?”

“It is expensive.

The ingredients were insane.

Pray your noona doesn’t ruin dinner.”

“Should I pray to the sun god first?”

“No, you’re not even that close yet, so what...”

“Is that so?”

As if excited, the youngest held a pencil and looked happy, and Cha Eun-hyeok sat beside him.

He had no idea what he was drawing.

Cha Eun-hyeok loved his brother, but he couldn’t bring himself to love that drawing skill as well.

“When you go into the dorm, you’ll eat even tastier things than this.”

“Should I bring some out??

Want to eat together??”

“They say you can’t come out much until you officially become a priest.”

“I’ll sneak out.”

“...After you finish all your training, buy me a meal or something. I’ll wait.”

Since it felt like Cha Isol might really sneak out of the dorm and walk all the way back to this distant rural town, Cha Eun-hyeok postponed the promise to the future.

As Cha Eun-hyeok’s gaze, while patting his brother’s head, went a bit lower—

“You were drawing?”

“Yeah.”

“What were you drawing?”

Something pitch-black, blotchy on the back of scrap paper, caught his eye.

“The Black Cloak!”

“...”

Cha Eun-hyeok fell silent.

“...What?”

“Yeah?

The Black Cloak!”

“Do you... know... what that is?”

“Isn’t it a kind ghost that gives gifts to good people?”

“Well, you know, um, uh.”

“I was embarrassed to pray to the sun god, so I tried drawing the Black Cloak first!”

“What does that have to do with anything.

More than that, the Black Cloak is a monster...”

“Isn’t it the same thing?”

“No.”

Cha Eun-hyeok broke.

“Who told you about the Black Cloak?”

“Inseo.”

“Inseo... the village chief’s daughter?”

“All the kids in our town know, the Black Cloak.”

“Why on earth...?”

“It’s cool.”

“...”

Cha Eun-hyeok, who knew the true nature of that Black Cloak, took a deep breath for a moment.

“...Hyung doesn’t know well, but is the Black Cloak really famous these days?”

“Huh?

Yeah, I guess.”

“What exactly is the Black Cloak?

Do you know?”

“Actually, I don’t really know...”

Scratch, scratch—drawing a pitch-black lump with a dull pencil, Cha Isol continued.

“Maybe it’s like Santa?”

“...That grandpa who gives gifts to children who didn’t cry?”

“They said he likes good people, and if you talk with him, he really likes it.

They said if you behave politely, the Black Cloak even gives you gifts.”

“Oh...”

It was when Cha Eun-hyeok was agonizing over how to respond.

“...”

“...Huh?”

Both Cha brothers’ gazes landed on the ‘Black Cloak’ in the paper.

“...Did it just move?”

The black lump drawn with a child’s clumsy skill wriggled.

“...”

Cold sweat broke out on Cha Eun-hyeok.

A secretive portrait whose identity even the gigantic guild called the Collector still hadn’t figured out.

And sometimes such unrealistic, dreamlike existences—even gods called destinies with will—also had their own summoning rituals.

‘...Don’t tell me...’

And of all things, didn’t Cha Isol, awakened as a priest, say he drew the Black Cloak instead of the sun god.

Not knowing his brother’s insides turning icy and burning, Cha Isol beamed brightly.

“Wow, I think the Black Cloak came!”

“Wait, wait, Isol.

Please, just wait... this isn’t it.”

“Be friends with me!”

“Please!”

Cha Eun-hyeok grabbed his brother and begged, but it was already too late.

“Wow!”

From inside the drawing.

That clumsy picture moved and took shape.

“The Black Cloak...!”

“...”

“...Black... Clo...??”

He wore a pitch-black cloak.

A deep shadow with absolutely no face visible under a hood pulled low was so dark it felt alien.

The black shirt and suit visible inside the cloak held no hint of light, but you could at least make out the long, well-balanced body.

“...It’s Gio hyung?”

It was ‘Seo Gio’ Cha Isol knew.

“Gio hyung?”

“Yes, I am Seo Gio.”

“Uh, it really is Gio hyung.”

A blunt tone like something put through a translator, and a strangely heavy air.

It was no different from the sun’s believer, Seo Gio Hunter, who had eaten together with Cha Isol.

“Why are you here?”

“Didn’t you say you wanted to be friends?”

“I didn’t say that to you, hyung.”

“I am sad.

Do you not wish to be friends with me?”

“Hyung is hyung, though...?”

Watching the situation, Cha Eun-hyeok pressed his forehead.

“...”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Cha Eun-hyeok.”

“...Yes, very nice to meet you.

Nice to meet you, but...”

Hesitating, Cha Eun-hyeok asked.

“Is this how you’re normally called out?”

“Student Cha Isol called me.”

“...”

Cha Eun-hyeok suddenly thought of the compensation money Cha Ara said she received.

‘...Was it for times like this.’

Having learned the Black Cloak’s summoning method truly without any intention, Cha Eun-hyeok naturally took out his phone.

This information was too dangerous to keep only among themselves.

His fingers, as if it were the most natural thing, were already searching for Hunter Yoo Seong-woon’s direct number.

‘Please save us.’

It seemed Yoo Seong-woon gave the money for this, too.

“Excuse me, but I will step outside for a moment.”

“You may act as you wish.”

“...In the meantime... my younger sister, Cha Ara, will treat you.

It won’t take long.”

“I am sorry to have visited so suddenly.

Please be comfortable.”

“Yes, thank you.”

That was how Cha Eun-hyeok ended up requesting rescue from Yoo Seong-woon.

Not long after, Yoo Seong-woon arrived at the Cha family home.

“Where is Gio?”

“He is talking with the youngest.”

“No one died, right?”

“Why... would you ask that...?”

“Ah, just in case.”

“...Th-then, yes...”

It was a damn exhausting day.

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons

Fantasy, Modern,