The Artist Who Paints Dungeon - Chapter 78



Only Noblemtl

Episode 78

There was a reason why Yoo Seong-un was always by Geo’s side.

‘If you come to your senses, you will realize that you have been saying and doing strange things.’

It would have been okay if it had been a poorly imitated human-like monster. Because no matter how it behaved, you could tell it was a monster. However, ‘Portrait of Geo’ was strangely good at imitating humans.

‘That makes people even more confused.’

Even though they clearly don’t seem human in their heads, they are convinced that they are human in their hearts, and that sense of disparity makes them feel eerie. It is different from the fear felt from monsters or the children of the Origin.

‘This is truly a ghost story.’

It was Yoo Seong-un’s role to enable Geo to get along well with humans.

“What the heck.”

Iron Buck.

A meteorite stepped onto the soft floor.

“This is like jelly.”

“That’s definitely true.”

Kang Seo-dam, who entered the dungeon following him, also nodded.

“It looks like a low viscosity slime, but it holds its weight well for that kind of thing.”

“If you try to scoop it up with your hand, it’s just sea water.”

Yoo Seong-un shook off the water he had in his hands and saw Geo and Cha Ara entering together.

“Oh, you came in?”

“Yes, yes yes… yes.”

“Don’t be so nervous. There are only three A-class hunters here. How can you not protect one Hunter Chaara?”

“Three people… .”

“That’s three.”

“Ah… That, that’s right.”

Cha Ara, who had eaten some of the naughty food, quickly received Yoo Seong-un’s words. As she was doing so, she glanced at Geo, who was looking around the dungeon, and it seemed like she had remembered the rule that ‘you cannot point out that he is not human in front of Geo.’

‘That’s right, Hunter Cha Ara also received the official document.’

The official document also contains several recommendations along the lines of, “Do not doubt Geo’s identity.” It seems that Cha Ara also decided that there was no need to go against Geo’s wishes.

‘By the way… .’

If my prediction is correct, this dungeon will be like a home to ‘Giovanni’.

“… Geo, are you okay?”

“it’s okay.”

“This is my first time entering a dungeon officially, so I’m a bit worried.”

“I was a little nervous, but not as nervous as I thought I would be.”

Geo, a platinum-haired man with his black hood pulled back, smiled his characteristically kind smile.

“The scent of the sea is quite pleasant.”

“Come to think of it, did you like the sea?”

Yoo Seong-un looked down after saying that.

“… … .”

A country was seen, completely submerged in the sea.

“… Going down here would be a lot of work, but Geo, can you swim?”

“To be honest, I can’t!”

“What’s so confident about this?”

As the name suggests, the hunters who visit here are basically those who can swim. In the first place, it is rare to find a hunter who cannot swim.

“I hadn’t thought of that….”

Yoo Seong-un looked back at the other two with an embarrassed expression.

“What about Hunter Cha Ara or Priest Kang Seo Dam?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s possible… but it’s an F-class…”

“It is possible without any problems.”

“Oh my.”

Yoo Seong-un looked at Geo again.

“Then it seems like Nana Kang Seodam should help Geo. Is that okay?”

“no?”

“oh…?”

“There are plenty of ways to get there without swimming.”

“Why are there so many of them??”

“I learned some good skills from my elders.”

“… … .”

No, wait a minute.

“…Your family elders?”

“yes.”

“That, that old man. That….”

“I will make you feel comfortable.”

“What the heck??”

Without answering Yoo Seong-un’s question, Geo placed his hand on the floor.

That moment.

“… … .”

-Kururururuk!!

“… … .”

“Okay.”

With a loud noise, a path appeared inside the sea.

“You can just walk now.”

“… … .”

“Let’s walk.”

The hunters, including Yoo Seong-un, looked at the tunnel that had formed in the sea with blank expressions.

“uh….”

In the open space like a long straw, a staircase was kindly built. The path led to quite a deep place, and with the hunter’s good eyesight, he could see that it reached the ‘Temple of the Deep Sea’.

Yoo Seong-un, who prides himself on being the person who receives Geo’s greatest affection, asked.

“How did you do this?”

“Sea water is also water, so wouldn’t it evaporate if heated?”

“So you evaporated it?”

“Yes, it’s convenient, right?”

“Because you don’t want to swim?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s that I can’t do it. It’s not a matter of my taste.”

“So I changed the dungeon… .”

He changed the shape of the sea because he couldn’t swim. Yoo Seong-un looked back at Kang Seo-dam, the child of the sun.

“… … .”

“I can’t.”

“I guess so.”

Please, Geo.

‘What hunter in the world remodels a dungeon just so he doesn’t have to swim?’

In the first place, the fact that a dungeon can be remodeled is already beyond the Hunter’s realm. That Hunter had no reason to come to the dungeon. The dungeon’s existence and the Hunter’s purpose of visiting it disappear.

‘The head of the Bisabal guild, the richest man in South Korea, makes his part-time workers collect waste paper and earns 5,000 won for his own pocket money.’

If this is going to happen, then why does the identity of ‘Sergio’ exist? Is there really no intention of imitating humans? Is this a warning to stop making such absurd remarks? Yoo Seong-un is in a deep quagmire.

‘The good news is that Priest Kang Seo-dam and Hunter Cha A-ra are doing their best to avoid eye contact and pretend not to notice…’

He looked at Geo again after confirming their willingness to cooperate and keep quiet about everything that happened today.

“Geo, I’ll speak frankly since everyone here is trustworthy.”

“Please speak comfortably.”

“This is a bit far-fetched for a human domain.”

“But I’m just an ordinary human being… .”

“Oh, I know, I know. Everyone knows that very well, so you don’t have to worry about that. Just… .”

Yoo Seong-un took a deep breath.

“I would like you not to show off your abilities too much in front of people other than us, because other people might be afraid of you or misunderstand you. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I understand, thank you for your consideration.”

“okay….”

Cha Ara looked at Yoo Seong-un desperately trying to persuade her calmly, as if she felt sorry for him. And Yoo Seong-un also thought that his own situation was a bit miserable.

‘You’re teaching social skills to a being whose identity you don’t even know, using a mere human body.’

Outside of the collection, ‘Sergio’ had lowered his status to a human level, and that was about it. No, in fact, it was so burdensome that I felt like my whole body was going to explode.

‘It’s fortunate that Geo thinks of himself as a human… .’

I guess you could say that the plan to separate ‘Sergio’ and ‘Black Cloak’ was a success. It wasn’t a bad situation.

‘It’s definitely less stressful than being in the office building, so yeah, to this extent.’

In the case of differences, it was possible to compare them to S-class hunters. At that point, it was close to a human disaster. The problem is that Geo is not even human, and this is where Yoo Seong-un had to put in effort.

“Usually, hunters can’t just change other people’s dungeons like this.”

“I see, that must be inconvenient.”

“…yes….”

“You don’t have to worry because I’m here.”

And Geo didn’t think anything of it. It wasn’t like he was doing anything unethical by changing the dungeon a little.

No one died, no one was injured, no one was hurt. Geo’s ultimate positive mind did not yield to the limitations of human beings.

Limits are meant to be overcome. Giovanni overcame his limitation of not being able to swim with the power of the sun. He was proud of his remarkable growth.

“Let’s go now.”

If this makes my concept more solid, then that’s a welcome thing.

‘Taran.’

Anyway, what was good was good.

* * *

Giovanni is dead.

“… … .”

If you were to ask whether I was in my right mind after that, I would say no.

The farewell that Isser was preparing for was a little warmer. In Geo’s hands that had grown old, wrinkles would appear around his eyes, his back that had been straight like a statue would bend, and his once strong body would become infinitely thinner.

Geo would die while watching countless people express their gratitude for his life. Slowly, his breath would become shallow, his eyelids, which had always been affectionately bent, would close, and his heart, which had been beating slowly, would calm down… .

“…Where was the teacher’s body?”

“It must be in your stomach.”

“… … .”

“And, it’s in the sea.”

Nothing was accomplished.

“…How old were you, teacher?”

“I lived a little over 30 years after I was born.”

“How long has it been like that?”

“If a human is well managed in a good environment, he or she can live to be over 100 years old.”

“What if I can’t manage it in a normal environment?”

“If it weren’t for the constant abuse, I think he would normally be around 80 years old.”

“Teacher, you didn’t even get to enjoy half of my life.”

He was too young.

“It’s only been 30 years.”

“Yeah, it was only 30 years.”

“I thought it was longer than that.”

I felt empty.

“100 years, or 200 years. It’s too crazy to say that all that happened in 30 years at most… There was so much going on…”

Giovanni spent his entire life saving people.

“Why didn’t anyone defend the teacher? He really saved so many lives. He saved dying breaths and cursed lives. Those who were saved by the teacher… didn’t they say they were grateful at that time? They even shed tears of joy at his touch.”

My sister agreed.

“Yes, Geo was a very kind person. He saved many humans and mermaids.”

“But when he died, no one was left by his side.”

He wasn’t the kind of person who deserved to die like that.

“The teacher should have closed his eyes in a slightly older body, lying in a warm bed, with so many people around him. Shouldn’t that be so? He was someone who lived so devotedly for others. A person like that deserves to be warmer, in the sunlight… .”

“The death you imagined seems to be something that only happens in fairy tales.”

“… It didn’t have to be a fairy tale… What I was talking about wasn’t necessarily a fairy tale, but it was a situation that could happen at any time. That’s… that’s all. I wasn’t hoping for a miracle. I wasn’t hoping for humans to live as long as mermaids, nor was I hoping to bring the dead back to life.”

How great is that?

“Humans die anyway. No matter how good an environment they grow up in or how well they are managed, their lifespan is so short that they die quickly. If they live such a short life without resting and shedding blood and sweat, shouldn’t they enjoy that level of benefit?”

“So you got that benefit?”

“… … .”

no.

“…no….”

I respected my teacher, a man named Giovanni.

Geo was a priest and a doctor. Isser learned his priestly nature from him, and Aria learned her abilities as a doctor from him.

As they had learned from Geo, they both treated humans very well.

“No. In the end, it was just… .”

But no human being knew how to be grateful.

“… In the end, they are a group of people who throw away even the affection of Geo, who is also a human, in an instant.”

“Humans are so fickle. They are different from mermaids in many ways.”

Mermaids live for over a thousand years. Perhaps because they were born to live that long, mermaids are indifferent to the stimuli they encounter, are not sensitive to emotions, and do not change easily.

And that’s why, when mermaids get a stimulus, an emotion, a change, they hold on to it for a very long time.

“…ah….”

Isser already knew that ‘it’ would be Giovanni.

“Please, why… why, if you do this… if you do this, it won’t work…”

“… … .”

“This isn’t right, Aria… .”

So I hoped he would have a very sweet and gentle death.

“Why on earth do I have to carry this memory with me for the rest of my life…?”

I knew that every moment of that short life of that person who resembled the sunlight, that person who was as soft as a warm blanket, was ultimately something I had to embrace.

So I was relieved. At least, I thought that someone as cool and wonderful as Giovanni was worthy of being embraced by a mermaid.

“Aria, I ate that man.”

The mermaid ate a human.

“Why? Because I was hungry. Those lowly humans locked me and him in a small tank…! Geo couldn’t die! Giovanni was rotting in pain and cold, and I was hungry! I ate him!!”

The children of the sun laughed at that.

“In the end, even if a mermaid imitates a human, they are still just mermaids, monsters that eat people…!!”

“… … .”

“… Are we monsters?”

The only sister answered.

“Everyone is a monster.”

“… … .”

“Only, except for the teacher… everyone was a monster.”

“…okay.”

Geo was human.

That was certain.

“… I miss you, teacher… .”

“so do i.”

For a very long time, Isser could not open his mouth. If he opened his mouth, it seemed as if the Giovanni he had swallowed would spill out.

It felt like his guts, which he had chewed and swallowed, were running away, his eyes were shedding tears, and his mouth was screaming or spewing resentment at the mermaid.

And now that Isser has opened his mouth, the one he is holding in his arms is Giovanni.

“Sister.”

“…To be honest, I think I hate you.”

“I think this is the first time I’ve seen you hate someone.”

“I’m not even sure if this feeling is real.”

“I will gladly accept it. Even that is a change brought about by you, teacher.”

“I will cover the sun with the sea.”

Her words were mad, but Isser knew they would soon come true.

“If the whole world is covered by the sea, Geo can also remain in the sea.”

“… … .”

“And mermaids too… are part of the sea, after all. Just like the pictures of mermaids that person always drew… .”

“… … .”

“… There is.”

Aria was wearing a pure white gown.

“… I don’t know what I want either, Isser… .”

It was Giovanni’s.

“… … .”

“… … .”

A long time has passed since then.

A very, very long time… .

* * *

“Did you have another nightmare?”

“… … .”

Round black eyes.

“… Priest Chaisol.”

“I’m not a priest yet.”

“I am not human.”

“Why not?”

“…well….”

Why not?

“What if I were human?”

We had a future.

“… I do have such delusions.”

“You’re still human now.”

“I am a mermaid, as I told you when I brought you here.”

“But you’re human?”

“… … .”

“What’s the difference between humans and mermaids? I don’t really get it.”

“that….”

There were many differences, but perhaps because it was the day I met my teacher, my mouth was particularly tight.

“… That’s what I mean.”

What on earth was the difference?

What a difference.

The painter who draws dungeons