The Artist Who Paints Dungeon - Chapter 72



Only Noblemtl

Episode 72

Of course, public statements were a popular and convenient way to socialize.

“But, you know that… what should I say… feeling like something that’s not human at all is imitating a human?”

“Monsters often try to imitate humans in order to lure them. In the case of the Jangsanbeom, a monster that has yet to be subdued, it imitates human voices. Among the monsters overseas, there are some that wear human skins or learn human language.”

The hunter shook his head at the researcher’s words.

“It didn’t feel that awkward. Like I said earlier, I was sure that it was human even though it was obvious that it wasn’t human at all.”

“Yes, you said so.”

“It’s somewhat similar to that.”

The hunter explained with an embarrassed look on his face as if to say, ‘How can I make you understand this?’

“Obviously, ‘Black Cloak’ wasn’t human. But there was no frills in acting like a human. In the case of the monster you just gave as an example, that short story may seem perfect, but… it doesn’t seem like a perfect human, right?”

“… … .”

“On the other hand, there was no such sense of incongruity with ‘Black Cloak’. There was a strong sense of discomfort, but he was definitely a perfect human being. That was….”

“A perfect human being.”

The researcher stared straight at the hunter.

“Humans cannot be perfect.”

“That’s the problem.”

The hunter nodded.

“It was too perfect.”

The behavior of the ‘black cloak’ I saw that day was definitely not out of place for a human, but it did feel quite uncomfortable.

“It’s as if they weren’t human when they were born, but became human afterwards…”

“That’s not a specific description.”

“They call it a hunter’s intuition. Should I say it’s strong? Even though there’s no clear evidence, I think I just had this intuition that made me think, ‘Wow, this is really weird. I can’t just ignore this.’”

The hunter laughed in vain.

“Actually, anyone who looks at it would think that he is not a human being, even if he is called ‘tactile’.”

Regardless of age or gender, if you throw it in front of anyone, they will think, ‘Hey, that’s not a human being,’ so it shouldn’t be defined by a vague sense called intuition.

It was very polite. The voice that permeated my ears as if teaching someone seemed to be whispering through my brain rather than my mouth, and the voice was so quiet that it was embarrassing to even call it a ‘sound’. He was like a peaceful tomb.

“I just meant that, um, the feeling I had was so contradictory and ambiguous. It’s too hard to explain in detail. I think you’ll know what I’m talking about when you see the ‘Black Cloak’ yourself.”

“Hmm… .”

The researcher asked, seeming puzzled.

“Surprisingly, you are friendly towards ‘Black Cloak’?”

“… Yes? Me? Did I do that?”

“I don’t think you realized it, but what you just said didn’t sound like ‘You should try it too’, but more like ‘I want to introduce it to you too’. Did I misunderstand?”

“… … .”

The hunter, who had been hesitating for a long time, finally opened his mouth.

“… I think it would be better to be friendly.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not criticizing you, it’s just a genuine question. I’m just curious how you could have such kindness toward someone who is obviously a target of fear.”

“Ah… It’s so difficult… .”

The hunter sighed and continued.

“… I wonder if saying this is a sufficient answer, but I think it was because the other person was very kind to us.”

“A monster, to a human?”

“Didn’t you write it down in the report?”

“I understand how you acted, but that alone doesn’t quite make sense. Can you explain?”

“… … .”

The hunter, who had been pondering, nodded.

“I think it would be better to talk about it from the first time we met.”

She recalled what had happened in the ‘Deep Sea Country’.

That big black cloak.

* * *

“Team leader.”

It was when I was running away from the humanoid monster ‘Iser’ and the monsters he was with.

“There are no other monsters around.”

“Are you sure? What about the trap?”

“There’s no such thing. We all checked together, so we’re sure.”

“It’s a little strange….”

Team leader Jung Da-woon Hunter knew that the situation was strange.

“It’s not like the dungeon master doesn’t know where we are, so it doesn’t make sense that there are no monsters in this area. This isn’t a safe zone.”

“Even if you look closely, it’s not true….”

Safe zones are literally ‘safe areas’ that exist in some dungeons. Sometimes, when there are multiple owners of a dungeon, monsters avoid these areas to avoid conflict with other entities.

‘There are some safe zones that are placed there as exceptions where there is no issue with territorial disputes, but it can’t be said to be that kind of atmosphere.’

Moreover, there was objective evidence.

“There are too many traces of monsters passing through here to call it a safe zone.”

“In a place where there were originally a lot of monsters, the monsters suddenly disappeared?”

It wasn’t a good sign.

“Then, wouldn’t that only be the case if a stronger monster invades…?”

If you think about it that way, the reaction of ‘Iser’, who we confronted just now, was also somewhat strange.

“There was something strange in the dungeon, so he looked confused.”

“Yes, if you think about how the air throughout the dungeon shook, then there must have been a problem. This dungeon seems to be closely connected to its owner.”

“If it’s not even a monster, but a humanoid monster, that’s enough to shake things up, then it would have to be a much stronger monster to be considered a demon. But if that’s the case… ”

“… We won’t be safe either.”

“Oh, this is totally screwed.”

I was running away without thinking, so I didn’t even realize that this place was dangerous.

“You came into the tiger’s den on your own two feet.”

The place where a monster so strong that it shook the humanoid monster ‘Iser’ seemed to be the space where they were.

“No matter how bad it is, it’ll be nearby.”

“…I was so out of it….”

“Yeah, if I hadn’t come here anyway, I would have died.”

They had to come here even though they didn’t think there was anything strange on their way here. With their bodies in such bad condition, they wouldn’t have been able to defeat the other monsters around them and successfully conquer them.

“… Phew… .”

Jeong Da-un forced herself to smile.

“Well, it could be a monster that can communicate.”

“That’s true too.”

The hunters snickered among themselves, even though they knew that the chances of that happening were slim. They had already realized long ago that they could die here, and that was why they had prepared themselves mentally in advance.

“Do you know? If you beg me with all your heart, I might save you.”

The hunters took a break while joking like that.

“Hey, hey, get some rest. If you leave here, it’ll be war again.”

“Yeah… Well, if you don’t rest now, then when will you rest again?”

“Ahhh, Daria… Does anyone have a potion?”

Thanks to that, I was able to have time to reorganize, but as time passed, my anxiety grew.

“…Why don’t monsters come here?”

“… How strong must a monster be to refuse even the food that has been served to you…?”

The most frequent attacks by monsters were when hunters were semi-forced to regroup. Hunters who were almost at their limit and had weakened weapons were a good snack for monsters.

“But you still don’t come this far?”

Even the humanoid monsters that were confronting us were flustered and fled their positions. It was to the point where I couldn’t understand what was happening in this dungeon.

“I can’t just sit still like this.”

“But if you move rashly, you could upset the minds of two monsters at the same time.”

“But just staying here is a problem in its own right.”

“You’re right, but….”

“… … .”

“…ah.”

The gaze of the gentle hunter who was comforting his teammates was focused somewhere.

“Team Leader? Why…?”

“… … .”

“… … .”

Something very black entered the hunters’ sight.

“A, a person?”

“Are you a survivor?”

“No, that’s….”

It was a man wearing a black cloak over his head.

“hello.”

“… … .”

“I am a portrait.”

“…uh….”

“What is your name?”

“Uh, uh… .”

“I wonder what your name is.”

That was my first encounter with the Black Cloak.

“Would you like to talk to me?”

* * *

“… … .”

The researcher shrugged.

“Just from what you said, I don’t feel any favor at all?”

“That’s true. It’s scary to have something that isn’t human ask for a human’s name in the first place. It was the same for me and my team members.”

“… … .”

“But maybe I was a little relieved that it seemed like a conversation was possible.”

In contrast to ‘Iser’, whose will to tear humans apart and kill them was as vivid as a color, ‘Black Cloak’, who approached silently and asked for conversation, did not seem to have even the slightest animosity.

“If you were to ask if I wasn’t afraid of its very existence, I would say that’s absolutely not the case, but….”

Still, I felt relieved.

“… I guess I should say it feels like I’m receiving the favor of something very… high-class.”

“… If you say something of a very high rank, are you referring to a god? In that case, it would be difficult to say that it is a monster. Although rare, there are gods that visit dungeons in a form that humans can recognize, so please answer with that in mind.”

“No, I also know what God is. He is a being close to fate or nature with a will. But from my perspective as a believer of the sun, I would say that he was definitely not God. I felt the divinity, but it wasn’t.”

Rather, it may have been a being higher than that.

“I felt the energy of the sun on him. It was really warm. But it was also cold, like a corpse. I definitely felt the energy of death. But it wasn’t rough, and it was all just a shell… No, no, like that… More like that, just… .”

“… … .”

“… ‘Black Cloak’ seemed to have no use for rank or authority. We sometimes call God fate and nature with will, but he didn’t even seem to have will. He thinks and moves… but can you call that will?”

“What does that mean?”

“He just seemed to exist.”

He had no intention of saving anyone, no intention of harming anyone, no intention of being honest, no intention of being greedy. But he was clearly thinking and able to communicate.

“… … .”

“… … .”

“… I don’t even know how to explain this.”

Birth and death. Living and nonliving things. The very act of trying to find ‘will’ in the way they think and act feels impure. A sense so great and vivid that it is impossible to explain from a human perspective.

“And those eyes… .”

Oh, that’s it.

“…that….”

“… What could it have been?”

“… … .”

She answered after a while.

“I felt like anything could happen.”

I can’t believe how vast and expansive things are contained in those small eyes.

It could not be expressed with the hackneyed word ‘space’. Between the endless black and blue space, the stars that were densely spaced, the relationships, nature, and destiny, moved as if they had their own will, and at other times, they became quiet like mere inanimate objects.

How could a human being express that? It couldn’t be done. That’s why it didn’t work.

“At least I can’t.”

An area that humans should not see.

“It seemed like it was itself.”

“… … .”

“So, I guess we can’t call it… God, right?”

It was closer to a structure than that.

“…Or the system? Or maybe… No, I don’t know.”

“…okay.”

The researcher nodded.

“But in the end, it was thanks to his kindness that you were able to survive.”

“Yes, he did. He didn’t seem to know that we were scared, but he was still quite gentlemanly. I understand that it would have been difficult for something that wasn’t human to perceive human emotions.”

“The ‘Black Cloak’ introduced itself as a portrait… .”

“I thought that was the most fitting introduction.”

A portrait that is human but not human, real or imagined, and that contains someone’s death or life. The introduction of ‘Black Cloak’ was very appropriate.

“Well, and… .”

“and?”

“I used that method too.”

They came back to life through paintings.

* * *

‘Black Cloak’ asked the hunters who had calmed down a little.

“Then you want to go out, don’t you?”

“That, that of course… .”

“Let me help you.”

He brought a picture frame from somewhere and showed it to the hunters.

“… … .”

“Do you know this place?”

It was a landscape painting that seemed to depict an alley deep in the city. It probably looked like a slum, but the hunter who knew the complex structure of the slum, which was intertwined like an ant hole, was not there.

“… … .”

“Do you know this place?”

“Oh, no. Sorry.”

I couldn’t help but answer when he asked me twice in the same tone, as if he didn’t like it when I didn’t answer on time. Jeong Da-woon gave them a look that said, “Do you know?”, but they shook their heads.

He was anxious. He had to solve this mysterious riddle to survive. No, even if that wasn’t the case, for some reason, Jeong Da-woon wanted to live up to the expectations of the being in front of him. He wanted to catch his eye.

“… … .”

And so, she couldn’t lie. Jeongdaun shook her head in awe and fear that made it impossible for her to even imagine such a thing.

“… I’m sorry, we… don’t know.”

“You don’t have to be sorry.”

It was a steady voice that conveyed no emotion, but did not feel cold either. ‘Black Cloak’ swept the top of the frame with his long, pale hands.

Then the landscape changed.

“Do you know this place?”

“ah.”

I definitely knew this picture.

“Yes, yes, I know. That… the Collector’s Guild Station… the subway, yes, the subway station.”

“you’re right.”

“ha….”

Jeong Da-un felt greatly relieved.

Although his hands were visible, his entire body was covered by a black cloak, and his opponent, who was only a shadow, did not feel like he had any real body.

“So, then… will you let us go?”

“You don’t have to be afraid.”

“… … .”

“Yes, I will help you.”

A black cloak that seemed to symbolize a funeral, like a grim reaper, stroked the painting.

“Can I draw you?”

‘Black Cloak’ melted the hunters into paint and painted them into landscapes.

“… … .”

“…uh….”

“… That’s ridiculous… .”

When they opened their eyes, they were at a subway station.

It was an unexpected comeback.

* * *

“… … .”

“… … .”

“Is this enough of an answer?”

“… Yes, for now.”

The researcher nodded.

“I will report to the association.”

It was the moment when the ‘Black Cloak’ was officially registered in the world.

The painter who draws dungeons