chapter 86

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons - Episode 86

Though it wasn’t intentional, the Cha family, whom he’d somehow met again, looked surprisingly peaceful even after being kidnapped by mermaids.

“If you get scared over something like that, you can’t do hunter work...”

Since Cha Ara was F-rank, she was the type who found people scarier than monsters.

Compared to the total scumbags she’d met up to now, the mermaids were extremely polite.

“I had fun too.

Next time you see the Milky Way, can’t you call me?

I want to be friends with the tall Milky Way.

We said we’d be friends, but he gave away my partner and then took him back.”

Cha Isol’s thick nerves were already a famous story, and.

“...Yeah, well, raising guys like this...”

Cha Eun-hyeok, who saw monsters others couldn’t, was also unusually unbothered.

If his siblings had suffered mental or physical damage from this incident, Cha Eun-hyeok wouldn’t have been this calm.

But since neither of them seemed to have any major problems, there was no need to step in and waste energy worrying.

Yoo Seong-woon accepted the Cha family’s reaction as fairly normal.

“That kind of indifference is an important virtue for modern people, too.”

“...”

“The Cha clan will survive for a long time.

They’ve got strong vitality.”

It wasn’t vitality—it felt more like sheer survivability.

Today as well, Gio shrank deep inside at the terrifying state of his homeland.

“So these days, a modern person’s virtue is not getting scared even if they’re kidnapped.”

No matter how little direct harm there had been, it was still undeniably a kidnapping.

“How on earth do hunters see things and live that they don’t get scared even when a cherished younger sibling is kidnapped, and what is modern life like that the victimized kid talks about wanting friends, and the guardians of those two just brush it off with ‘it’s fine anyway’?”

If it had been 31 years ago, it would have been chaos unlike any other.

At the very least, someone would have easily grabbed Gio by the collar, and it would have been splashed all over the news.

But Gio’s collar was not only intact but stiff, and according to Yoo Seong-woon, it didn’t even make the news.

“What a truly frightening world.”

He found himself wanting to feed them five or six meals, for living so steadfastly in such a world, but in any case, the Cha family were all safe.

To be blunt, he wanted the bulgogi terribly, but he thought barging into a cozy family meal without warning would be rude, so, for conscience’s sake, he returned to the portrait.

Gio praised himself for being so commendable.

“...”

Ta-da.

“Did something get skipped?”

“Mmmnh.”

“Dana is cute, so it’s fine.”

With cute Dana, he gained plausibility for the omission.

“Shhhuup.”

“Meh.”

Gio sucked in Dana’s belly.

At first, Dana had expressed a pure doubt of, “Is he crazy?” but before long, she’d grown used to Gio’s antics and seemed to accept it as, “Dad is crazy.”

Not long after being freed from Gio, Dana headed straight for the teddy bear.

“You two are still close.”

“Coo-oo...”

“You said it feels like a granddaughter.”

“Coo.”

“Yes, Father, indeed.”

One grandfather, one father, and two sons and daughters—it had become, in its own way, a lineup with a family register.

“Hm...”

If he added two mermaid friends on top of this, it would even perfectly fill the role of next-door neighbors.

“...”

Even though he’d told them how to come, the mermaids still had no intention of visiting Gio’s cabin.

“We’re the house next door, kids.”

When was it that they’d made such a fuss, saying they were glad to see their teacher’s face?

No, why, when it’s this close, are they not coming?

“As a rule, if you’re the neighbors, shouldn’t you bring at least some rice cakes and hurry over on moving day?”

The storage room where one of Gio’s works, “The Breathing Sea,” was kept, was quiet again today.

As Gio stared at the wooden stairs no one came down, he turned to the teddy bear.

“Do Aria and Iser still need time to think?”

“Coo-coo-coo.”

“It feels like quite a bit of time has passed, but they still don’t seem to intend to come visit our house. Since ‘The Breathing Sea’ and ‘The Kingdom of the Deep Sea’ are connected, it should definitely be convenient for them to visit...”

The system had told him that some tutorial or whatever had ended.

It said “The Breathing Sea” Gio drew and the mermaids’ dungeon, “The Kingdom of the Deep Sea,” had been linked, and when he checked, Gio’s painting was boldly hanging in the temple.

Even so, he still hadn’t seen the mermaids.

“Seeing that, I suspect they still aren’t coming because they’re afraid of being scolded.”

Gio’s perception of the mermaid siblings was on the level of children who don’t want to come home because they don’t want to be scolded.

“You’ve gotten more clingy while I wasn’t looking.”

“Coo-ruk?”

Honey briefly wondered, “Was that really clinginess?” but soon stopped thinking as she realized mealtime was approaching.

Honey poked Gio’s crown with painless taps, appealing that she was hungry.

“Koong-koong-koong...”

“Are you hungry?”

“Cook.”

“Then we should eat.”

Seo Gio, who had inherited the hands and heart blessed by his grandmother’s Gangwon mountain-village spirit, couldn’t bear to see his little one go hungry.

“Hmm.”

After a brief 고민, Gio turned to the teddy bear.

“Father, do you like clams?”

“Coo...?”

“Right, you’ve probably never tried them.”

“Coo.”

What bold priest would offer clams of all things as a sacrifice?

Back then, clams weren’t such a precious ingredient.

“There were clams sold as famous local specialties, but even so, it’s not like they were valuable and rare enough to put on an altar, really...”

To begin with, the sun god before meeting Gio didn’t even have such a thing as appetite.

Even if he ruled a world where the sun and sea were close, it meant the chance of him ever tasting clams was nil.

“To think I didn’t even let you taste those delicious clams—this is truly blasphemy and heresy.”

“...Coo-oo...”

“This son cannot tolerate such unfilial impiety.

I should have presented the sea’s delicacies long ago, and I regret it deeply.

If you wait just a little, I will treat you to grilled clams and tomato stew, the pride of the Edlen region.”

“Coo.”

“You tell me to calm down? I wasn’t excited to begin with.”

Gio gathered his things and headed for “The Breathing Sea.”

“I still vividly remember where Edlen Village was.

And even if I don’t go to that specific region, surely the clams I’m looking for will be scattered here and there.

If you wait just a little, I’ll go dig up some clams and be right back.”

Honey trailed along at Gio’s side.

As a creature he had made, Honey always wished to be by her parent’s side, and also wished to remain in a form that suited his tastes.

“Coo-rurururuk.”

“Will you help me?”

“Coo-r.”

And Gio liked things that were good and polite.

Honey could help her creator as much as she wanted.

As long as it didn’t ruin this cute and lovely appearance, anything was fine.

Thus, the clam-finding expedition was formed.

* * *

An excellent pig could eat anything deliciously, but at the same time, it also had to know how to enjoy fine food.

“In that sense, you could say I am a true pig.”

“Coo-ruk.”

“Yes, you are too.

A pig without stubbornness isn’t a real pig.”

In the end, Gio managed to find Edlen Village, where he had lived when he was alive, in this ruined world.

It was thanks to Honey, who had grown her body large, carrying Gio and flying him there.

“Is this the heart of hunters who raid dungeons?”

It was a bit different, but since it was fun, anything was fine.

He was very proud.

“It’s been a while here, too.”

“Cook?”

“Ah, no.

Can I not say it’s been a while?”

“Coo-r...”

“Well, since both of us are me, I guess it doesn’t matter.”

Gio’s hair had, before he knew it, turned platinum blond.

“What an atmospheric little countryside.”

There was no sign of people.

The shore stretched shallow and long, and if you went only a little away, green grass grew.

The small houses visible within followed Edlen Village’s old traditions, showing white bricks and orange roofs.

“...”

In the corroded windows of houses now submerged, where no one lived anymore, seaweed had grown and swayed.

“...It’s amazing that the shape of the village is still left even though it’s become such a deep abyssal sea.

If this happened on Earth, the houses and everything would have all broken and fallen apart.”

“Coo-rururur?”

“It feels strange that a place that was reality to me has turned into a fairy tale.

Now, instead of people living here, fish and jellyfish are staying.”

It was a chilling and beautiful sight.

“The light is faint, too.”

Strictly speaking, the teddy bear in Gio’s cabin was like the sun god’s soul.

The light that could be called that empty body, or its remains, had grown even weaker, dimly illuminating the sea.

“The darkness has thickened compared to before, hasn’t it?”

“Coo-ruruk.”

“Now it really feels like night has come.”

“Coo-r.”

“And there are stars, too.”

When he lifted his head to look, in the abyssal sea, something glittering in dots floated there.

“It’s like the Milky Way.”

It was a school of jellyfish that produced their own light.

With small, round bodies, they formed a long line like a river and moved very slowly.

Thanks to that mass of light that looked like it might spill out—something you’d only find in the middle of a desert with no light at all—he could see ahead even in this dark abyss.

The enthralling emptiness was truly beautiful.

“I couldn’t see it when Father was here and the sea was bright, but there were jellyfish like that.

Once it gets darker, you get to see things like this...”

“Coo-ruk.”

“Hm.”

Giovanni thought.

“It seems like it would sell well if we turned it into tourism.”

That’s right—this priest had not been sentimental for a long time.

Even upon seeing his ruined hometown, all that came out of him were business ideas.

“Yoo Seong-woon said the Collector bought up all the entry rights to the ‘Kingdom of the Deep Sea,’ didn’t he?

If we can solve the monster problem, wouldn’t it work quite well as a tourist site?

Isn’t the very idea of an underwater sea where you can breathe novel?”

“Koong...”

“We could try adjusting the brightness, too.

If we make the day and night themes different like that, there’ll be even more to see, and since I inherited the certification as a sun god from Father, I think I could manage that level of control... isn’t it really not a bad business item?”

Gio’s hair had returned to black again.

“Let’s think about all that when we’re full.”

“Coo-rurururururuk.”

Honey agreed vehemently.

“Coo-ruk?

Coo-ruk?”

“You’re asking where the clams are?”

Gio looked around.

“Sure, everything’s submerged in the sea now, so I wonder if it’s still the same, but if the shore and the village shape are still maintained, that place should be fine too.”

“Cook?”

“There’s a separate place where you can dig clams.

It’s an underground cavern on the eastern side of the village, and for some reason I don’t know exactly... there’s mud.”

There were a lot of clams there.

“Clams can live in quite a variety of places.

There are clams hidden in sandy beaches, clams hidden in mudflats, and some even live not in the sea but in freshwater—those are clams.

Depending on where they live, the 종류 will differ quite a lot, but...”

Gio moved his feet toward the underground cavern he remembered.

“For the record, there are no clams on Edlen Village’s beach.

Maybe it’s because the width isn’t that broad.

So Edlen people would usually catch fish in the open sea area and dig clams in the cavern to sell.”

The cavern wasn’t that far.

“This is the entrance.”

When he gently brushed aside the seaweed hanging like a thicket, rough stone steps appeared, as if solid rock had been carved away.

It was a dark entrance, but thanks to Honey’s warm, glowing light, they didn’t need a separate lamp.

“Let’s go down.”

“Coo-ruk.”

“But...”

Gio looked at Honey.

“If you want to go down, it’s only right that you shrink your body size.”

“Cook?”

“You’ve gotten too big.”

From carrying Gio this far, and from being full of seawater, Honey had swelled up bigger than Gio.

“You’re cute like this too, but it’ll be hard to dig clams together.

As you can see, the entrance to the cavern isn’t that wide, so it would be better to adjust yourself, my son.”

“Coo-rur...”

Honey understood and shrank.

Because of the water pressure as seawater drained away, Gio—who couldn’t even swim—nearly got swept off.

Honey’s father was on the light side, even underwater.

The path down underground was neither very wide nor very narrow.

The way, wide enough for an adult man to pass through with a bit of room, stretched on for a long time.

“See those holes carved into the inside of the wall?

Originally, we put things like lamps in there to light the path.

Ah, there it is.

To think the remains of the lamps are still there.”

“Coo-ruk, coo-ruruk.”

“...Even moss-covered glass shards are props that suit your tastes?

Well, a lot of time has passed and the sharp edges have dulled, so round little pieces of glass like this shouldn’t be dangerous.”

While admiring Honey quietly picking up a piece of glass, Gio had, before he knew it, arrived at the underground cavern.

“...”

An endlessly high ceiling, and seawater filled all the way up to it.

“...No, it isn’t.”

He lightly stuck out his tongue.

“Mm, it isn’t salty.”

“Koong-koong?”

“It’s freshwater.”

Gio nodded.

“This was closer to a spring... where freshwater flowed out.”

People by the shore always had trouble getting water, but Edlen Village didn’t.

Because in this wide cavern, they could use the freshwater that bubbled up endlessly as much as they wanted.

“Maybe by some effect, seawater would be purified once and then fill the cavern as drinkable water.

It was clean water without even lime—this village’s pride.”

Gio stepped onto the cavern floor.

“This is the mudflat.”

The freshwater in this cavern, which once had tides, went back and forth like seawater and made this bright white mud.

The clams hidden between it tasted good and were high quality, becoming Edlen Village’s specialty.

“And sometimes, I would also bring mermaids here...”

“...”

“...and enjoy a lively clam hunt together.”

Gio, still black-haired, fixed his eyes on a child standing in the middle of the cavern.

“Aria.”

“It’s been a while.”

“I see.”

He was still in Seo Gio’s form, but then Giovanni’s smile faintly draped over his face before fading.

“It has been a while.”

A mermaid in the form of a child.

It was the 모습 from a very long time ago, the one Giovanni remembered.

The Painter Who Draws Dungeons

Fantasy, Modern,