The Artist Who Paints Dungeon - Chapter 82



Only Noblemtl

Episode 82

Identification Number

0S-761-SS

Response level

SS

Object Type

Humanoid_Mermaid (Female)

Object name

aria

warrant

The land of the deep sea

A humanoid entity first discovered by the 175th raid team of the Collector’s Guild Authority.

Unlike ‘Mermaid Isser’, who is identified as a blood relative, her hair is long enough to touch the floor, and is dark blue. She is wearing a white doctor’s or researcher’s gown over a blue dress, but it is assumed to be related to the story of ‘The Land of the Deep Sea’ as it is a man’s gown that does not fit her physique.

The entity reveals itself as a mermaid and reveals its name as ‘Aria’. It testifies that it did not feel like a lie. The entity’s name of ‘Mermaid Aria’ is confirmed.

As a special feature, it has been confirmed that the color of the eyes and hair changes depending on the physical and emotional state. This entity has made several statements identifying itself with the sea, so it is presumed that it can influence not only the ‘Deep Sea Country’, which it is the owner of, but also the sea of ​​any dimension.

First sighting situation

It is understood that they came out of the dungeon and kidnapped the reserve priest (Solar Cult) to see the reaction of humans. The exploration team formed with the authority of the Collector’s Guild witnessed it at the entrance of the ‘Deep Sea Temple’. They did not show any particular aggressive tendencies and when they requested to talk, they were reported to have a strong aversion to humans.

As far as I know, ‘Aria’ is the owner of the ‘Deep Sea Country’, and ‘Isser’ is a false owner who deceives humans. Both entities have repeatedly committed acts of physical and mental pain, such as transforming humans into monsters, due to their hatred for humans.

It is understood that they have set a goal that they find attractive on Earth’s level. It is expected that they will stop actively attacking humans until they achieve their goal. It seems that they should be especially careful not to cause any particular provocation, such as visiting dungeons and making a fuss.

Due to the nature of humanoid entities, the response level is set to SS.

No strategy has been found. The Guild Collector has requested that the basic response to this be ‘avoidance’. Accordingly, the Hunter Association will also be extending the exploration period indefinitely instead of the strategy, so many hunters are advised to exercise caution.

Total comments (1,043)

– Aren’t S-classes going to try to attack?

– Please specify the exact deadline for the exploration season.

– Request for reconfirmation of response level

– Need to check attack type

… … .

… .

… … .

* * *

In the end, the ‘Deep Sea Country’ was not conquered.

“Even with three A-class hunters participating, you still couldn’t complete the mission?”

“I heard you bought ‘The Kingdom of the Deep Sea’ from a collector. Is that true?”

“Please tell me if the information about the monsters confirmed through this exploration is certain!”

“What resources does the collector want in the ‘Deep Sea Kingdom’?”

Yoo Seong-un, one of the exploration team members, had to deal with reporters.

“Yes, the conquest failed. And it is true that I purchased the S-class dungeon ‘Deep Sea Country’ from the collector, and the information about the monsters I reported to the association is also confirmed.”

“Then the resources are….”

“For further inquiries, please contact the collection administration team directly.”

“No, wait a minute… .”

“Just a moment, please don’t block the road.”

The reporters tried to catch Yoo Seong-un, but he couldn’t hear them because he had to stay up all night for almost a week to finish up this dungeon exploration. The dark circles under his sunken eyes almost reached his chin.

Yoo Seong-un was a very busy person.

“I would like to ask you again to contact the administrative team.”

In fact, from the reporters’ point of view, the easiest thing to do would have been a meteor shower.

Kang Seo-dam, the senior priest of the most powerful religious order in Seoul, was not easily able to get time for questioning even though his identity was revealed. In the case of Cha Ara, the Hunter Association and the collectors were providing personal protection.

‘But if you try to approach Sergio, the other hunter, he’s nowhere to be seen.’

Of course, the ‘Sergio’ they were looking for was sleeping in the gallery of Bisabal.

‘So it’s natural for them to catch me commuting to and from work.’

I understand, but I was really tired. I had to report to the guild and the association, check the state of the ocean, hide Geo’s information… I was so busy that I had to postpone my main job as a curator for a week.

“Meteor Cloud Hunter!”

“no.”

“You are here!”

“I told you there isn’t any.”

Even though most reporters these days are awakened, they are no match for the A-class hunter, Yoo Seong-un. Yoo Seong-un leisurely left the place and ran away to the guild lobby.

The administrative team staff who had been waiting for him greeted Yoo Seong-woon.

“Thank you for your effort.”

“If you were watching, wouldn’t you have pushed me away?”

“These days, if you treat reporters like that, the guild will get criticized.”

“Well, the guild image is important….”

“It’s hard for us to respond unless they push back too hard.”

“I’m okay for now since I figured it out and came out.”

The employee nodded.

“We will take action if we determine that there is excessive attention being paid to this.”

“I guess I’ll have to stay inside the guild for a while. Is the break room empty?”

“There won’t be any new students for a while, so there should be some room in the dorms. I’ll find an empty room for you.”

“Anyway….”

Yoo Seong-un sighed.

“I don’t know why everyone is so interested in ‘The Kingdom of the Deep Sea’.”

“Could it be because this is the first dungeon in a long time where a humanoid monster has officially appeared in Korea?”

“Actually, humanoid monsters have appeared several times, even though they were kept quiet. That’s because they were all unofficial.”

“More than anything, it’s a dungeon I bought from a collector.”

“… … .”

Yoo Seong-un, who was sweeping his neck, asked.

“Did it catch your attention?”

“Since you’ve purchased an S-class dungeon that we don’t even have proper information about yet, you must be wondering what the collector knows.”

“I wonder if they’re monopolizing special resources here. It’s not like there haven’t been any cases like that. Will the ants gather soon?”

“The stock price will go up.”

“It’s not exactly what they’re expecting, you know.”

Rather than a special resource, I purchased it because I thought I couldn’t release a dungeon that was too deeply related to the ‘Black Cloak’ into the wild. It would also be good for the Black Cloak itself.

The employee shrugged.

“If only it could be used as a tourist attraction.”

“It is certainly a great merit that the sea is one in which you can breathe even inside.”

“So in the end… .”

The employee who had just glanced at the meteor cloud asked.

“What is the connection between ‘The Land of the Deep Sea’ and ‘The Black Cloak’?”

“… … .”

“Based on the information I have, the Deep Sea Country and the Black Cloak are not monsters that go together. The Black Cloak is too out of place in that blue dungeon.”

“… Sometimes, monsters pop out here and there.”

In completely different dungeons, there were times when exactly the same monster or creature would appear. The gardeners named it the ‘Child of Origin’, but from the hunters’ perspective, it was just a strange monster.

“That’s something I need to look into.”

“You must be busy.”

“You don’t plan on taking over for me, do you…?”

“I’m not a curator.”

“That is true, but.”

A tongue-licking meteor went to the elevator.

“Then please respond.”

“Don’t worry and go check the condition of the works.”

“That’s right, I haven’t checked for a while.”

As soon as he finished his urgent work, the place Yoo Seong-un went straight to was, of course, the gallery in Bisabal.

I put my employee key in the elevator heading to the gallery and pressed the button for the fifth basement floor, which was at the very bottom. Thanks to the fact that the building of the collection store was famous for spending a lot of money on state-of-the-art facilities, I was able to arrive at the very deep place quite quickly.

“hmm….”

The gallery in Bisabal, which I visited after a long time, had an overwhelming feeling, as expected.

‘This place is truly suffocating.’

Even for Yoo Seong-un, a top-class hunter, it wasn’t a very refreshing space. Should I say it was creepy or heavy?

A strange atmosphere was permeating this gallery, sending shivers down your spine as if you were experiencing muscle pain, while also ripping off your human instincts.

‘Especially the works on the 5th basement floor mostly have bad personalities… .’

Yoo Seong-un stood in front of a portrait while thinking about this and that.

“… … .”

His face was covered in pitch-black paint, so it was impossible to tell whether his eyes were open or closed.

‘…I even forget faces often.’

He had seen ‘Sergio Hunter’ a week ago, but even though his memory was not bad, he could not recall the face. All that came to mind was the black paint in front of him.

‘Could this also be one of the effects of covering the face in the portrait?’

With that thought in mind, Yoo Seong-un called out to the portrait.

“Geo, are you here now?”

“there is.”

“oh….”

It was a quick answer.

“It’s not dawn yet, so it’s rare.”

The current time is 3:00 PM.

It was a rare time for ‘Portrait of Geo’, who always insisted on being up around 4AM, to be awake. Yoo Seong-un, who had been worried that he might ignore the rule, was able to feel a little relieved.

‘If there was no immediate answer, I was just going to go back and come back at dawn.’

Of course, I was a little curious.

‘Wasn’t it the rule that we had to talk at 4 in the morning? It’s strange, considering that I saw it often back then…’

Anyway, since it came to this, I thought it would be a good idea to have a little conversation.

“Were you awake the whole time?”

“I heard Mr. Yoo Seong-un coming, so I was waiting.”

“Can you hear that too?”

“I can detect the sound of someone approaching the frame.”

“It’s amazing that you even detected that.”

“It’s been a while.”

The portraitist asked in his characteristically gruff voice.

“Have you been well?”

It had already been a week since I visited the ‘Deep Sea Country’ to rescue the little priest Chaisol. ‘Portrait of Geo’, which was more of a painting than a real person, seemed to remind me of that.

“I was worried because I hadn’t seen you for a while.”

“Don’t worry too much, usually if you don’t see me, it just means I’m overworked somewhere.”

“I think it means to worry.”

“I was just joking.”

Although he had entrusted the care to another curator, he could not let his guard down. Yoo Seong-woon, who was examining the precious portrait, soon asked if there were any damaged parts.

“What about you, Geo?”

“Please tell me the exact intent of your question.”

“It’s hard to say for sure, but for now… the mermaid siblings.”

“He’s still out of the sea, but he seems to be doing well.”

I heard that the mermaid siblings are still hiding in the ‘Deep Sea Country’ and haven’t shown their faces. Geo said that it’s probably because ‘they got scolded and it’s awkward to come see their faces.’

“… … .”

Yoo Seong-un was speechless for a moment.

“That’s what you call being confused.”

“Maybe it seemed a little extreme.”

“I can’t say it wasn’t like that.”

“It was a natural thing for Giovanni to do.”

“Yeah, it’s natural for a teacher to scold a student, but… that’s… that kind of…”

Do normal teachers really scold their students like that, Geoya?

‘I wondered if the strange aspect of Geo’s personality was caused by his death and becoming a portrait, but is it just that Geo’s originally had a slightly strange side even when they were human? Even if they live as humans, their roots are still the same?’

That terrifying indifference often startled even the meteors.

‘Apart from the mental aspect, it must have been Geo who was ultimately hit hard by that situation. He doesn’t seem to care about that at all. That level of indifference must mean he has no intention of imitating humans.’

I still remember it vividly. The scorching heat that could evaporate all the seawater, the spear of the sacred sun, and the black cloak that was left in shambles, yet still smiling like ‘Giovanni’…

The beautiful and bizarre sight caught Yoo Seong-un’s attention. He guessed that the mermaid named Aria must have felt the same way.

‘… Anyway, it’s not at the level of a scolding.’

Or maybe, from Geo’s perspective, that was just appropriate discipline. I was already worried about what would happen if this guy really harbored feelings of anger or disgust.

Geo asked what Yoo Seong-un thought of the silence.

“Shall I call you?”

“Huh? Ah… no, I don’t have anything else to talk about with you.”

“I don’t think there is any need to be afraid because they are trying to restrain themselves now, at least out of consideration for my feelings.”

“Oh, okay… .”

Yoo Seong-un thought to himself.

‘I can’t say it’s that safe, since they’re literally just hiding their bodies to keep an eye out.’

It was Yoo Seong-un who overheard Giovanni and Aria’s conversation in the dungeon. He realized that Giovanni was the only meaning left for the mermaids.

If they were to notice, to try to restrain themselves, or even pretend to reflect, it was only through Giovanni.

‘Without Giovanni by their side, the mermaid siblings are nothing more than intelligent monsters who can only mimic interactions.’

Monsters have been considered enemies of humanity because they do not hold any significance for humans. They are not given as much attention as a bug that you step on as you pass by.

‘If you look at the dungeon’s story, it’s a context that you can roughly understand.’

I could understand the cause of his hatred towards humans by observing the atmosphere flowing in the S-class dungeon, ‘Deep Sea Country’. Since the only human he loved was taken away in such a miserable way by a human like him, I could understand.

‘That’s why I don’t want to talk any more.’

I understand that you were very angry that Giovanni, the only meaning of being a mermaid, was taken away from you, but was it really necessary to take that out on humans in another dimension?

It was even more absurd because they seemed to have realized that their actions were childish. After all, they were monsters. Their way of thinking was completely different from that of humans.

‘Right and wrong aren’t important values ​​to monsters. They only do things that are meaningful to them. In that sense, Geo can’t be considered a monster anymore… .’

Basically, the monsters couldn’t talk. Yoo Seong-un asked with an awkward smile.

“… Even if you’re a mermaid, are you okay? You were hurt badly that day.”

“I am a priest of the sun and a doctor. I can recover from that level of injury quickly.”

The portrait asked.

“Mr. Yoo Seong-un, were you worried about me?”

“Does that make you uncomfortable?”

“There’s no need to be offended. I’m sorry for startling you.”

“Well, I was a little surprised….”

It was not that I was worried about Geo’s portrait itself, but rather that I was surprised by Geo’s choice and visual stimulation. It is true that I felt that way, but it is true that I judged rationally that there was ‘no need to do that.’

‘Even if Giovanni had died on the spot, this portrait would not have been destroyed.’

The boundary between death and the existence of the origin was particularly vague. It didn’t seem to be much different from ‘Portrait of Geo’. He seemed to be a being particularly close to the origin.

“You are a skilled priest, and you have a father at home. I vaguely thought it would be okay.”

“It was rude of me to come back early that day without even saying goodbye to you to recover. I apologize again.”

“No, that was something that everyone else understood. If we had left you injured like that, we would have been the ones getting cursed at by the mermaids.”

Perhaps more than being persecuted, they were met with hatred and contempt.

“The injury was serious, but what are the aftereffects?”

“doesn’t exist.”

“You weren’t sick that day?”

“It didn’t hurt as much as I thought.”

“That’s surprising news.”

The tattered appearance of Giovanni that I had seen back then came to mind.

‘Is it because I have a high pain threshold? Or maybe I’m literally insensitive to pain. But… .’

Thinking about how the usually neatly dressed ‘Portrait of Geo’ had been ruined like that, I felt a little uneasy.

“…hmm.”

Yoo Seong-un added shortly.

“I think he did it because he could handle it, but I can’t help but be worried from his perspective.”

Didn’t Geo hold his own life hostage to have a ‘conversation’ with Aria?

‘It wasn’t just a scare.’

The intangible spear that was burning hotly was embedded in Geo’s body. Perhaps because he controlled it with his sun god-like skills, Yoo Seong-un didn’t feel the intense heat, but wasn’t it enough to evaporate seawater in an instant?

Even though I knew that he was not a human but a portrait, I couldn’t remain indifferent to the smell of blood and flesh burning black.

“That’s pretty upsetting.”

Yoo Seong-un recognized Geo as a pretty good friend and a great piece of work, and he was still too human to calmly accept that such a being was being ruined.

“I was worried. It might be funny to say this to you, who recovered so long ago, but I was definitely heartbroken at the time.”

“It’s been a week.”

“That’s why I’ve been running so hard. I’ve been so busy that I’ve neglected my work as a curator, and I haven’t had a way to ask about your well-being…”

“I should have sent a letter saying I was at peace.”

“No, um, anyway. I couldn’t come right away, but I was worried about many things. I’m sorry I couldn’t take care of you right after work, but I’m glad.”

“Thank you for your concern.”

The portrait, covered in black paint, continued to speak.

“But I am a portrait. The blood I shed is ultimately just paper and paint, so there is no problem with recovery.”

“… … .”

… Is that so?

Just when I was starting to get convinced, ‘Portrait of Geo’ asked in his characteristically dry voice.

“Wasn’t it fun?”

“Were you joking?”

Even the joke was so creepy that I wondered if anyone would call him the source of the being.

‘It’s in this part that I definitely feel like he’s not human.’

Yoo Seong-un tried hard to change the subject.

“Come to think of it… Wasn’t that the first time you saw Aria in a long time?”

“Yes, it’s my first time seeing it.”

“But in that situation, you managed to talk to Aria so calmly. It must not have been easy.”

Yoo Seong-un felt that Giovanni’s personality was close to human, but had a twisted side.

From Giovanni’s perspective, the situation at the time was not something that could be passed over so easily. Wasn’t it like the disciple he had taught in another dimension had turned into a vicious monster?

Even after his death, after he had been resurrected, not resurrected, this happened. And yet, Giovanni treated his students who had become monsters as if nothing happened. He was definitely not an ordinary person.

“That mermaid even said something like she was going to eat me.”

“It’s okay, it was a joke.”

“… It was a joke?”

“Aria often played such pranks when she was young.”

“uh….”

“He said that if he didn’t like it, he would eat it.”

The portrait continued to speak in a steady tone.

“That’s a joke. I think Aria knew that too, which is why she made that statement.”

“… Are you kidding me?”

“If things didn’t go his way, he would just pretend it was a joke like before and forget about it.”

“… … .”

“Likewise, Aria must have prepared to talk to me, but I won before she could do anything, so she couldn’t say anything.”

Yoo Seong-un hesitated for a moment and then asked.

“If it wasn’t a joke, what were you going to do?”

“It didn’t matter. They are mermaids.”

“Why are those guys mermaids?”

“Mermaids are a species that lives their entire lives with memories from a past life.”

In that calm and deep voice, Yoo Seong-un suddenly remembered Geo’s ‘eyes’ that he had seen once.

“I knew they wouldn’t give up on Giovanni because he was a mermaid.”

It could never have been human.

“When Arya forced me to choose between the two, did I have the option of dying?”

“…that….”

If Geo had chosen a human then, Aria would have committed suicide, and if he had chosen a mermaid, she would have continued to live a life of tormenting humans.

“… But didn’t Aria threaten to eat you, saying that you were human too?”

“I just said that it was a joke. She admitted that she couldn’t kill me.”

“oh.”

“I was sure of my victory there, because I knew that Aria still loved me.”

“…I understand.”

The mermaid princess, who always left room for playfulness, put strong pressure on the humans by even setting up a banquet hall in order to seize the initiative.

And Geo, who figured out all of that in an instant and predicted that they wouldn’t be able to give up on him because he was a mermaid, attempted suicide.

“… How cunning, both of you…”

“Whether it’s family or friends, fighting is how you become closer.”

Geo continued speaking in a gloomy, calm voice that showed no emotion at all.

“Especially since it had been quite a while since they had met again, I think that openly resolving the conflict helped a lot in breaking the ice.”

“Conflict resolution… .”

Yoo Seong-un asked cautiously, feeling a little strange.

“So you want those mermaids to be happy?”

“It’s okay if they’re happy, it’s okay if they’re not. I just want them to take responsibility for their actions and their record.”

“Then you don’t forgive me?”

“Yes, I have not forgiven those who were my students. The day will not come when I fully accept them until I take full responsibility.”

“Don’t be sad, their misdeeds weren’t your fault.”

“I know that very well. I don’t have to take responsibility for their past. But without me by their side, they will never change.”

“So you gave me a chance?”

“It is not appropriate to say that I gave them a chance. I just took responsibility for my part. The rest is up to them, and because of me, they will experience at least a minimal change.”

“You’re not being favoritism?”

“I think I have to take responsibility for the amount of affection I put into favoritism. If I hadn’t loved, I wouldn’t have tried to take responsibility even to the minimum.”

“Well, it’s neat.”

Anyway, they were scary guys.

‘… This kind of eerie and indifferent attitude is the reason why humans should be wary of the existence of the source.’

It was not easy to figure out.

The painter who draws dungeons