The Artist Who Paints Dungeon-Chapter 112
Well, what.
‘I was being playful like this.’
Anyway, Yoo Seong-woon’s words, ‘I felt threatened by my identity as a human,’ were sincere.
‘I thought this is what it means to be in a realm that humans cannot handle.’
Yoo Seong-woon had acquired a sense of ‘the realm beyond the limit’ many times while managing the garden. However, even for him, this meal was a little creepy.
‘Just one meal... .’
It would be hard to think that ‘I’m going to get eaten.’
‘... This situation where I can’t call this a joke is absurd.’
Jio treated Yoo Seong-woon to a meal with really pure intentions. It didn’t seem to mean much to him. He was a guy who enjoyed giving presents to begin with, so giving him a meal wasn’t a big deal.
However, if peace is too extreme, it can lead to death, and if pleasure is too excessive, it can turn into pain. From Geo’s perspective, it was probably an intention to treat the guest, but from a human’s perspective, it was a kindness that was difficult to handle.
“.......”
There was one fortunate thing.
“Haaaaaaaaaaaaah―....”
“I’m still human.”
Judging from the fact that Anticat hated it this much, Yoo Seong-un was still human.
‘This is the first time I’ve had such a comfortable and satisfying meal, yet it’s scary and unsettling.’
For some reason, it felt bitter.
‘This is why you shouldn’t be invited to the banquet of the gods.’
There was a saying that you shouldn’t covet even the smallest things belonging to the gods.
Geo was not a god, but rather a source with the characteristics of a god, but because of that, he felt even more burdened. I keep saying this, but Yoo Seong-un himself found it funny that he had to react this way to a meaningless meal.
‘Well, it’s not like I was invited to some grand palace...’
It was just a warm meal in a hut like this.
“.......”
Still, Geo’s cabin was beautiful. It was idyllic, like a scene from an old fairy tale.
There was an eerie longing here.
“Was the meal satisfying?”
“...I thought that people might die if they were too happy.”
“Mr. Yoo Seong-woon, you are giving me too much praise.”
“That....”
Yeah, if that’s what you think, then that’s fine. Yoo Seong-woon decided to just give up.
“...I really enjoyed it, huh.”
“Thank goodness.”
Geo said that and sat down across from Yoo Seong-woon.
“I couldn’t prepare dessert in advance, so I’m having it solidified in the icehouse.”
“Icehouse?”
“Yes, it’ll act as a refrigerator. Should I serve you tea first?”
“Ahhhh... No, just give me a glass of water.”
He asked for the most ordinary thing, not knowing what evil blessing might come.
“Here it is.”
[Source of the Spring]
Water from the source of the spring.
“.......”
The most unusual thing appeared.
“......?”
An emotional status window suddenly appeared without even using a skill. Before suspecting, ‘Is my skill broken?’, Yoo Seong-woon felt gratitude for the formless thing that had shown him this explanation window.
‘It’s as if someone had quietly helped me to live as a human.’
Yoo Seong-woon asked cautiously.
“...Is this water?”
“...Isn’t it?”
“It is water.”
Damn, no matter what I ate, it made me feel creepy.
‘All the water used in the food I ate came from the source.’
It was natural to instinctively feel a sense of crisis. Yoo Seong-woon quietly tightened his tightly shut lips.
‘How dare you still be human. ‘There are all these miracles.’
One of the basic requirements for gardeners was ‘not to consume anything from the garden.’ They were merely labor and managers who managed the garden, not owners.
The moment such gardeners consumed anything from the garden, they could never leave the garden again. They were also treated as part of the garden.
“I... I can go home, right? Am I okay?”
“I don’t know why you’re doing this, but I’m not a thug who detains guests....”
“Are you flustered? I guess so, then that must be it. I’m sorry for making you flustered, but I’m really scared.”
“What did I do wrong? I’m sorry for making you scared.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong, but... but...”
“Mr. Yoo Seong-woon?”
“.......”
What on earth did I come here thinking?
‘... Well, I didn’t know this was the source until I came in, so it was an inevitable situation for me who had to figure out the identity... .’
Even considering that, it was an overly bold choice. You could say it was the words of someone who approached ‘Geo’s Portrait’ as if it were another gardener’s garden.
Yoo Seong-un admitted that it was an overly hasty approach.
‘I needed to prepare as much as I did when entering an immeasurable dungeon.’
Yoo Seong-un was so scared and anxious, but it didn’t matter if he could return to Earth as a human. He decided to believe Geo’s words that he could return home at any time.
“.......”
He desperately needed the cigarettes he had quit, but he decided to hold out for now because Geo seemed to be giving him ‘something’ in the form of a cigarette.
Yoo Seong-un managed to regain his senses.
“...Sorry, I guess I was very flustered because this is my first time experiencing something like this.”
“If you have trouble adapting to unfamiliar environments, that’s totally possible.”
“Thank you for saying that....”
Yoo Seong-woon looked at the water in the glass with strange eyes.
[Spring Water]
Water from the spring of the source.
“.......”
That is something in the form of water.
The description is strangely short, so I don’t know the details, but at least I know that it is not water for humans to drink.
Yoo Seong-woon was lost in thought.
‘... Come to think of it, all the gifts Geo gave me so far had the same sentence.’
It was the phrase, ‘Geo, the master of the forest, is fair and can accept human bodies.’
All the gifts Geo gave me so far, that is, food, had the same explanation.
‘But there is no such explanation here.’
Yoo Seong-woon quietly put down the glass.
“... I’m sorry for changing my mind....”
After a while, Yoo Seong-woon asked.
“Can I have some tea?”
“I don’t have much tea left, but is the flower tea I gave you before okay?”
“It’s the light blue tea, right? That’s good.”
Yoo Seong-woon realized.
‘You shouldn’t eat anything that isn’t made fair by Geo himself.’
A chill ran down his spine.
‘It’s only natural when you think about the garden we manage, which is also part of the source. I don’t know exactly what process it goes through to become safe, but you shouldn’t carelessly consume the raw food from this garden.’
Yoo Seong-woon calmed his mind as he thought of the gardeners of the past who had been turned into part of the garden and lived on without being able to die.
Even this place was the source itself. It might not end with just losing his human identity. Yoo Seong-woon, who had collected his thoughts, emphasized again.
“Anything you make yourself is fine.”
He was sincere.
“I’m sorry if I just take it, but can you help me?”
“It’s my pleasure to serve guests. Please sit down.”
“T-that’s right....”
Geo soon brought ‘Forest Butterfly Flower Tea’.
“It’s Baibamnil Tea.”
“... Baibamnil? Is that the name of this flower?”
“Yes, it’s delicious if you boil it in water and eat it.”
“What an amazing way to take it.”
“It’s a snack with a nice texture like a vegetable.”
“Is it a vegetable?”
After drinking the tea like that, Yoo Seong-un’s blood vessels, which were already fine, regenerated, his cells were reconstructed, and he was in a situation where he had to maintain immunity against minor diseases for 6 months.
“.......”
This is true that if you sleep and eat for 3 days, you’ll become immortal.
‘I feel like my lifespan has increased.’
About 50 years.
‘Forest Butterfly Flower Tea doesn’t have that much effect, so of course it’s my imagination, but I still feel uneasy. Is it because Geo made it himself? The effect shouldn’t vary depending on the person drinking it... ‘That won’t work.’
Yoo Seong-woon wanted to live as a human and die as a human. That was the biggest desire any gardener could dream of.
“...Who else has received such hospitality besides me? Cha A-ra Hunter?”
“Except for you two, I’ve never received guests from Earth.”
“Oh, then maybe it’s the mermaid siblings? I heard they come to the house often.”
“They stop by for a meal once every two or three days.”
“That happened.”
Indeed, it meant that those monsters were of a certain level.
‘They can accept this kind of meal so easily.’
Doesn’t that mean that they have at least the status of a demon?
“.......”
“.......”
“...Uh, wait a minute.”
Yoo Seong-woon stopped Geo as he tried to pour more tea.
“I think you drank too much.”
“I think the glass was small. Did you feel that way?”
“I want to digest. How about we take a break?”
“Weren’t you resting?”
“Yeah, how about we take a walk to digest?”
It seemed that eating something to Geo meant the same thing as taking a break.
Yoo Seong-un, who was anxious that eating this would make him leave the human realm, couldn’t do that at all.
“Can you at least show me around the house?”
“A house tour.”
“Oh, I’m sorry if I was rude. I just....”
“No, that’s not true.”
Geo nodded.
“After we see this house, we’ll go out to the forest and spend some time.”
“...Can I go into that forest?”
“I don’t intend to treat this vast forest as my private property.”
“.......”
I didn’t ask for permission.
‘I was asking if I would die if I went into that forest.’
Anyway, Geo had already gotten up.
“It’ll take a little more time for the dessert to harden. Can I introduce this house to you?”
“...If you were to show me around yourself, I would be honored.”
As expected, Yoo Seong-un got up and asked.
“But is it okay to leave our cat friend ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) like this?”
A translucent cat monster with a lot of jewel fur. It had stopped yawning, but Dana was still wary of Yoo Seong-un.
“When our eyes met, it would open its mouth wide without making a sound.”
“You won’t get eaten.”
“I don’t know about that, Geo. Monsters are really scary these days.”
“Hee Dana is a newsman, so you don’t have to worry.”
“You didn’t say you wouldn’t eat it, did you?”
“Because it’s a monster.”
Geo continued with his characteristically calm expression.
“But he’s a good kid, and I’m with him, so he won’t do that.”
“I’ll really only trust you.”
Honey, who Geo drew himself, looked at Yoo Seong-un with neither hostility nor favor, resembling his parents, but the monster was different. Since Anti-Cat was also a monster, it wasn’t strange for Yoo Seong-un to be anxious.
More than anything.
“Anti-Cat isn’t that big to begin with.”
“I put on some weight because I fed him this and that.”
“Did he really gain weight?”
Just imagining how the monster that was so generously loved by the source would evolve made my spine tingle.
A teddy bear with the sun god came forward to see Yoo Seong-un, who was still anxious. Dana, who had been irritated by Yoo Seong-un for some reason, was soon embraced by the teddy bear and petted.
“Oh....”
Dana put down her noticeable irritation and calmed down.
“You two are getting along well.”
“That’s right.”
Yoo Seong-un was then guided to the cabin.
First, it was the ice storage. Yoo Seong-un was surprised because he didn’t know that the storage that Geo had mentioned as a refrigerator would be so deep, but soon he expressed interest at the sight of the ice storage that was not strange even if it was a growing cave.
“So this was the ice pearl you gave me last time.”
“That’s right. It’s not something that happens often in this ice storage.”
“It’s unusual that water is collected in this cold weather.”
Next was the studio. For some reason, I was bewildered by the sight of empty canvases lying around, but soon I remembered Geo’s characteristics and found peace.
His paintings became real, so there was no reason for the canvases to be full.
“Oh, is there a storage room connected to the studio?”
“Yes, it’s where I mainly store my completed landscape paintings.”
“What’s that black cloth covering the canvas?”
“If I don’t cover it, the entrance opens without me knowing, so I’m careful.”
“Um... um, yeah? Oh, right. I see.”
Next was the vegetable garden behind the cabin.
“Garden?”
“I would appreciate it if you could tell me that.”
“...This is the result of planting the seeds I gave you?”
“Yes.”
“.......”
Yoo Seong-un swallowed his breath as he looked at the crops that had grown to be so strong that they had egos. The shock and fear he was feeling now was because he was faced with such a vast nature.
‘These guys must have grown up drinking the spring water of the source.’
Ego-bearing humans also become part of the garden when they consume things from the garden, but these seeds were even growing from the source. They couldn’t have resisted this overwhelming evolution as something from the Earth.
What should I say about this? Yoo Seong-un muttered, feeling a strange sense of regret stemming from fear.
“I think it’s already been digested.”
“Then would you like to tour the forest after you eat dessert?”
“Oh, right... the forest. Yes, I guess so.”
Right after he returned to the cabin.
“.......”
“Wow, this is amazing.”
Yoo Seong-un encountered a mermaid wearing a dress.
“Why are there humans here?”
Murderous intent dripped from him.
“... ... .”
“... ... .”
Yoo Seong-woon nodded.
“I’ll go home.”
Save me.
