The Artist Who Paints Dungeon - Chapter 104



Only Noblemtl

Episode 104

It’s late to say this, but.

Strictly speaking, ‘The City of Emptiness’ could be seen as closer to an entry dungeon.

“In that there is a clear entrance and exit.”

It is different from a virtual dungeon where you don’t even know where the entrance or exit is, and a villa dungeon where the physical reality is completely exposed without being obscured.

Geo’s frame, which only had a passageway, could also be considered an entry dungeon.

“There are also mobile ones in the dungeons you enter, so the frame itself is similar.”

Apart from the three types above, dungeons can also be divided into mobile and fixed types. If we summarize them by saying that they do not stay in one place but continue to move, they can be roughly defined as ‘mobile entry dungeons’.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen that form as a frame….”

Originally, the entrance to the dungeon did not have a fixed shape.

‘It could be a book, a pit, or a curtain.’

However, most entrances to dungeons are shaped like doors. It’s to the point where anyone can tell, “Oh, that’s the entrance over there.”

If it looked like it would be easy to get into, it was definitely an entry dungeon.

“… … .”

Even so, we don’t usually think of a picture frame as an entrance.

“… If no one had been dragged there in the first place, I wouldn’t have even thought of it as a dungeon.”

I knew that Geo could enter and leave through the portrait in the gallery. However, the portrait gave off a strong impression of Geo’s ‘house’, so I thought of it as a building that I couldn’t enter without his permission.

‘It was the same when Hunter Chaara was invited to Geo’s cabin.’

Compared to the dungeon that shows the cruel and harsh capital of modern society, ‘Portrait of Geo’, which has a calm and heavy atmosphere, was different in many ways.

That may be why I didn’t realize that the two were similar concepts. It’s all just an excuse, though.

‘I thought Geo was more like an object all this time.’

Although it was said that there was a possibility of it being a monster, it did not take into account the ‘dungeon’ that naturally follows such a monster. Even according to the source, Geo is clearly a ‘portrait’.

“Then should we treat that portrait as a dungeon…?”

Geo had already created a dungeon by drawing pictures. It is not known whether he drew ‘Portrait of Geo’ himself, but after ‘Breathing Sea’, wasn’t ‘Empty City’ also witnessed by people?

“… Well, now it’s harder to say that it’s not a dungeon.”

Yoo Seong-un thought of the black portrait sleeping in the gallery of Bisabal.

It was my will to pour black ink over my face, and with it I was erased from the minds of the world. Only a very few people who had seen the face before knew what the ‘Portrait of Geo’ looked like.

‘I even forget that often.’

It’s like erasing history without any sense of discomfort.

“… … .”

Isn’t that an incredible influence?

“I hope you don’t turn against us.”

It was the ‘Portrait of Geo’ that posed a threat to humanity by its very existence. If he had the will to turn against humanity, it would be difficult to find a greater disaster.

Why is Yoo Seong-un suddenly talking about this?

“… Phew… .”

This was because there was an ’empty city’ in front of it.

“You really appeared out of nowhere.”

The place where Yoo Seong-un found this gray picture frame was none other than the subway station.

It was a place that Geo had been to before while exploring Seoul, and thanks to that, Yoo Seong-un was able to come up with a hypothesis.

“This frame appears mainly in the places that Geo, the dungeon master, visited.”

Or somewhere that guy might be interested in.

If you listen to people’s accounts, it doesn’t only appear in places Geo knows. Sometimes it appears in slums, sometimes it appears on the road, and sometimes it pops out of abandoned buildings.

‘People who aren’t hunters probably didn’t know that this was Geo’s painting, so no rumors spread.’

Surprisingly, these frames appeared more frequently in everyday spaces frequented by civilians than in dungeons. Of these, the ones with the highest frequency were spaces that Geo had personally visited.

Yoo Seong-un, who suddenly became very tired, sat down at the subway station.

“Oh my… .”

My whole body ached.

“Fortunately, there are no people.”

The current time is 4:16 AM.

It was natural that there would be no people at the subway station, where one had to pay an expensive ticket, as it was a time when modern people, exhausted from fatigue, were all asleep.

‘But it’s only the 26th, so there might still be some aftereffects of Christmas. And since the subway runs 24 hours a day, I thought there might be at least one drunk person who returns home late after playing for a while… .’

Yoo Seong-un, who was thinking like that, soon nodded.

“… It wasn’t long ago that people gathered like that and started dying at the ‘Temple of the Deep Sea’.”

It was an event that took place at the Temple of the Sun, of all places. Even in that place, a virtual dungeon appeared and swallowed up all the people watching the initiation ceremony.

Thinking back then, I can understand why many people are still anxious about gathering together.

“Thanks to that, there were fewer people gathered this Christmas.”

When the number of people increased, everyone moved to a different seat, perhaps recalling the tragedy of the initiation ceremony.

“Anyway….”

It was a good thing for Yoo Seong-un, who didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.

‘… I’m really touched by this, seeing the citizens living in fear. I hope I don’t become so narrow-minded that I can’t take care of the garden…’

In his vision, the ‘city of emptiness’ was captured.

“… … .”

It’s a little creepy.

‘… I feel like I’m starting to feel disillusioned with the city.’

Having lived for several years as a curator, I could feel the imagery contained in the work.

The city, with its gray buildings that were so dreary they seemed to portray a noisy and chaotic atmosphere, yet also a silence among the crowd where no one seemed to open their mouths.

‘But the crowd isn’t even visible.’

Yoo Seong-un muttered quietly while looking at the gray frame that made people feel dazed somewhere.

“… Surely they don’t arrest people just because they see the picture frame?”

As I went around selling things myself, I found a total of 4 witnesses. They were all ordinary citizens, not even the Awakened in Seoul, and none of them suffered any damage due to the ‘Empty City’.

‘Everyone just thought it was a painting hanging in an odd place.’

Among the four witnesses, there was an alcoholic who was hardly a good person. I heard from the neighbors that he lived alone and occasionally did some silly things in front of a convenience store.

‘Is that not enough to be considered a villain?’

Or do you have to commit an evil deed directly in front of the frame for it to attack you?

“… I can’t be sure because there aren’t many comparison groups.”

Yoo Seong-un had a history of murder.

‘It’s not that uncommon a career these days.’

Of course, he didn’t just catch and kill anyone, but it happened when he stopped a 5th class citizen or a criminal of a similar level who was clearly causing harm to society.

It is more advantageous to fight with the intention of killing rather than simply subduing.

‘But that doesn’t mean it was a good thing.’

In such a fierce and harsh era, where would a hunter be who has never killed a single person? But in the end, a mistake was a mistake. Morally speaking, Yoo Seong-un committed a crime.

Still, the ‘Empty City’ was quiet.

“… … .”

There were many cases.

“… This frame doesn’t feel like it has Geo, the dungeon’s master.”

In that case, this frame could simply be moving according to Geo’s commands.

‘So, he doesn’t have as many emotional abilities as Geo.’

Geo could tell good or evil from someone just by looking at them for a moment.

However, this frame, which simply receives and executes orders, does not have the ability to do so, and may only be able to distinguish between good and evil based on the situation unfolding in front of it. It is a deteriorated version of ‘Portrait of Geo’.

“… If not that… .”

He might have judged that Yoo Seong-un or the alcoholics he saw were ‘not bad people’.

Strictly speaking, Yoo Seong-un did what he had to do, and the alcoholic was just a nuisance that was annoying enough. Considering that, he may not be a villain worthy of attack by Geo’s standards.

‘It would be much easier to judge if the drunk had committed a crime beyond that level.’

If he had done anything more than a simple nuisance, then the ‘Empty City’ was likely only collecting villains who had been confirmed to have committed direct evil deeds.

“… … .”

But one thing was certain.

“… Geo’s good and evil are concluded based on his taste.”

If Geo had decided that ‘murder’ itself was an evil act, Yoo Seong-un should have already been kidnapped by Geo and disappeared.

But the fact that he hadn’t done so until now meant that Geo was distinguishing between good and evil depending on the situation.

“I don’t know if this will be a good thing or a bad thing for humans….”

Anyway, it was clear what Yoo Seong-un had to do now.

“I’m so tired I could die.”

I need to go into that ‘Empty City’ and check on the condition of the hunter named Park Eun-gyeom.

Yoo Seong-un approached the artwork hanging on the transparent wall.

“How can I get in here?”

A typical entry dungeon didn’t require any special conditions to enter. From the dungeon’s perspective, the prey would just roll in on its own, so there was no reason to block it in the first place.

‘But if Geo is still friendly to humans, then there’s definitely a reason to block that part.’

At least I don’t want people to just randomly fall into my dungeon and die.

Yoo Seong-un looked at the painting that seemed to make him feel more and more depressed the more he looked at it, and confirmed something in that empty city.

“… … .”

Yoo Seong-un, who noticed the abnormality, looked at the painting more closely.

“… That is… .”

The long street, the buildings lined up on both sides of it, and the alleys they create.

Something black and whitish caught Yoo Seong-un’s eye.

“…person?”

It also looked like a person crouching.

‘It’s so small that it’s hard to see.’

But the black dot sticking out in the clean city that seemed to have no dust was definitely strange.

It was natural enough that it didn’t feel particularly out of place, but after looking at it for a long time, I realized that it wasn’t a picture that fit the ‘Empty City’.

The black dot seemed to be faintly fluttering.

“… … .”

Yoo Seong-un felt goosebumps for a moment.

“…Is this Hunter Park Eun-gyeom?”

If you don’t look for it, you won’t even notice it.

Because anyone who saw it could tell it was a ‘painting.’

* * *

“Crunch?”

“Dad, I’m busy.”

“Gurr?”

“I’m looking after your little brother.”

“Kung?”

Honey kept tilting her head, but Geo remained steadfast.

“We must comfort our emptiness even now.”

He was now wrapping the ‘Empty City’ in a blanket and shaking it affectionately.

Isser, who had visited briefly, nodded with his characteristically affectionate smile and left, but Geo instinctively felt that the ‘Empty City’ was quite pleased with his care.

“If we had a mouth for our empty stomach, we could have given it food. What on earth do we eat to live?”

“Cur….”

“People? People? Unfortunately, that’s not something you can eat.”

“Khuuuung?”

“I don’t know why my kids always tell scary stories.”

While talking to his eldest son, Geo suddenly noticed that the picture of the ‘Empty City’ had changed.

“what.”

It was in the shape of none other than a meteor cloud.

“… … .”

“Gurrrr… .”

“I don’t know why you’re getting a bad taste in your mouth, but anyway, it’s not what you think, so calm down, and what on earth is going on? If you’re watching Father Day, tell me the answer… .”

The sun god gave the answer.

“Kkuu, kkuu.”

“Are you saying that Mr. Yoo Seong-un is actually in front of our void right now?”

Is this the new generation intercom?

‘Has the trend become so popular that it’s now back to portraits?’

Of course that couldn’t be the case.

Anyway, since the ‘Empty City’ could be considered one of Geo’s home bases, he was grateful that it had an intercom function that he had never put in a frame.

“I almost couldn’t even greet my guests.”

I don’t know why that guest was in front of the ‘Empty City’, but it didn’t matter. On the birthday of the sacred Jesus, Geo, who had maintained his purity today, was just happy to see this happy face.

It’s been a while, Seongwoon hyung, right?

“Emptiness, open the door. This is Daddy’s friend.”

“ ”

“I think my child just answered. Am I hallucinating?”

“ ”

“My precious baby even babbles well.”

Is there any need to think deeply about life? To Geo, the variables in life were nothing more than the emergence of new content.

He was ready to become an extrovert, despite this sudden situation.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen your face, hyung.”

Anyway, as long as it’s fun, that’s fine.