The Artist Who Paints Dungeon-Chapter 71
Going back a bit, after Geo left the ‘Temple of the Deep Sea’ and returned to the cabin.
“Unlike what I remember 30 years ago, I knew that the current Earth was quite a dangerous place....”
“Gurur....”
“I never thought that a terrorist attack, not a terrorist attack, would occur during that large religious event. This is the first terrorist incident I’ve ever experienced in my life.”
Geo was calming himself down.
“What a scary world. At the young age of 29, I almost lost my family.”
He wouldn’t be able to die easily since he had experienced a miracle beyond the miracle of merging with the Source in a mere human body, but since he really didn’t know anything about it, he let it slide.
It was surprising that the Galaxy student he met at the initiation ceremony and the Isser in Giovanni’s memories were the same person, but he was even said to have led this terrorist incident.
“.......”
Giovanni became very upset.
“He wasn’t like that originally, so why did he become like that?”
“.......”
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“...If we really have to find the cause, it must be my fault, right?”
“Kuru.”
“Oh, Sun.”
Yes, honestly, dying like that was a bit too much. Giovanni also knew his guilt.
“Iser especially thought of me as a father. He was such a kind and honest friend, so the incident back then must have been even more shocking. It’s scary when good kids decide to go astray....”
He groaned.
“I should at least give him some food.”
And these Gioras never thought deeply. They were two guys whose basic creed was ‘what can I do?’ combined.
He was a good person, but he knew how to make objective judgments that were cold and cold. He didn’t blame himself or regret things that weren’t his fault. This terrorist incident was no different.
It seemed like the disciple was shocked by his master’s death and went astray, but that didn’t mean it was the dead master Giovanni’s fault. There was no reason to be nervous when there was someone else who had caused the accident.
“This teacher knows everything. It’s because he was hungry and sensitive.”
“Kk...?”
“People have to be full to be able to look after others.”
Geo was quite far from feeling guilty and summarized the state of his disciple, the mermaid Isser.
“Most incidents and accidents that occur as crimes committed by humans are caused by the mental health of the people who caused the accidents. Most people wouldn’t commit such acts if they were living a stable life.”
If Isser, who originally couldn’t even handle fish, let alone people, had maintained a happy and healthy mind, would this have happened?
Geo, who had returned to black hair, asked.
“Honey, you should remember this well. There are few people who are healthy and have a full stomach who get irritated. It means that people become gentle even if you just fill their stomachs.”
“Kkungkung?”
“People who get irritated even after that are really weird, so just ignore them. If you repay the favor with enmity after giving them food, then either the person who gave you the food killed their parents or the person who ate the food is weird.”
“Kkung.”
“Then, now is the most important time to figure out how I should deal with it. How should this incompetent teacher react to the student who ate me? It’s really annoying that he grew up to be a terrorist, so I could just live my whole life without seeing him....”
Of course, Geo couldn’t do that.
“I’ve fed those kids so much, I can’t just ignore him after seeing him once.”
He doesn’t care if it’s not something he’s responsible for. This recent initiation ceremony terrorist incident was certainly not his fault, but Giovanni was definitely responsible for his former disciple, Isser, growing up like that.
“It was the best we could do at the time, but if he hadn’t been eaten alive, Isser wouldn’t have become so twisted.”
“Kururuk.”
Honey nodded. His face said, ‘That seems to be right,’ so Giovanni had nothing more to say.
“...Anyway, so....”
As a human, an adult, and a teacher, he tried to figure out how to meet the mermaid siblings again.
“I remember the ‘Breathing Sea’ and Isser’s dungeon having a similar atmosphere.”
However, even so, it seemed difficult to find the ‘Deep Sea Temple’ through the ‘Breathing Sea.’ Who would do something so reckless knowing where and what could be in that vast world? The two might really be connected.
Geo nodded.
“Fortunately, I have the ability to visit other people’s dungeons at will.”
“Gururuk?”
“Okay, let’s try drawing a picture.”
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“This is a pretty useful ability.”
If Yoo Seong-un had heard of it, he would have said, ‘It’s probably not that useful,’ and made a small tackle, but Geo was a reclusive loner.
“You can also make sweet potatoes.... It’s really delicious if you put butter and salt on sweet potatoes and sprinkle honey on them.”
“Gururururuk!!”
“It’s similar to honey-sweet potato stir-fry, but it’s a little more moist and soft. Oh, if you add a little whipped cream on top, it’s really fantastic....”
There was no way a lonely young man stuck in a cabin with no internet would know such common sense. To him, his drawing ability was no different from the food truck that filled his stomach.
Geo went to find his father.
“Father.”
“Kkuu.”
At some point, a teddy bear version of the sun god began to live in the cabin.
“You were playing with Danawa.”
“Kkuu....”
“I’m glad you like it.”
Last time, the jewel cat, Anticat Dana, who I brought from ‘Jewel’s Vein’, was cold. So I wondered if she would fit in well with the teddy bear that was filled with the warmth of the sun, but she seemed very compatible.
“It’s just that I wanted to meet Isser again.”
“Kkuu.”
“Thank you for cheering me on. I’m thinking about drawing a picture to make a passage, but I think it’ll take a lot of time....”
“Kkuu.”
“Thank you for your consideration. I put the snacks in the storage, so eat as you please.”
Even during this trip to Seoul, I said, ‘Hehe, I’ll just watch the event and come back home right away,’ but I spent so much time at the temple.
In case something similar happened this time, Geo made all the preparations diligently so that the cabin could be peaceful without him.
“.......”
Sitting in the studio, Geo blinked his eyes twice. He muttered.
“...Now that I think about it, that temple, maybe....”
The ‘deep sea temple’ that Geo had seen seemed familiar for some reason.
“Is it where I died?”
“Kuruk.”
“I don’t remember that part in detail.”
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“.......”
Still, he remembered exactly what the dungeon looked like.
“Let’s draw it.”
Geo started drawing the ‘deep sea temple’.
The pure white pillars and high ceilings that held the sacredness, and the laboratory that was not dissimilar.
The countless monsters roaming around and the air rippling with water scales... .
“.......”
Geo was absorbed in the painting.
A warehouse where the completed work was covered with black cloth.
“.......”
The sun god, who was sitting in the middle of the warehouse holding Anticat Dana in his arms, raised his head and looked around at one side that was emitting a cold light.
“...Kuu.”
“?”
“Kuku....”
The ‘breathing sea’ that could be called the home of the sun god was resonating.
“Ku.”
May that story come to an end.
The sun, submerged in the sea, prayed earnestly.
“.......”
Geo, wearing a black cloak pulled down low, was in the ‘temple of the deep sea.’
“Oh.”
This is it.
“I felt this way when I went to the ‘Jewel’s Vein’, but it’s a really convenient means of transportation.”
“Kururuk.”
“Let’s take a look around.”
Because the place itself was so large, he didn’t think of going straight to Isser. Strictly speaking, it was trespassing, so Geo decided to look around a little more carefully.
He had just come here from painting in the studio, so his feet were still bare, but it wasn’t that cold. The shallow seawater on the floor made a pleasant splashing sound.
“.......”
Giovanni felt a sense of guilt for having become a ruffian who entered his student’s house without permission.
“Should I buy another cell phone?”
“Kung....”
“Yeah, the signal won’t work.”
It was inevitable due to the nature of portraits, but Geo had no choice but to adapt to trespassing, as was the case with the work he did at the collector’s guild’s gallery.
‘No one would expect a living person to jump out of a portrait and enter a house.’
Gio humbly accepted his fate of continuing to surprise countless people. It was a bit funny, so it was okay.
“It’s not much different from the last time I saw it.”
“Kururuk.”
Fortunately or unfortunately, finding the way wasn’t that difficult.
“Somehow... it feels familiar.”
It was thanks to Giovanni’s memory.
“Because it was where I worked.”
“Kkuk?”
“Oh, that’s right. It was where I worked. I remember.”
Giovanni nodded.
“I wasn’t completely stuck here, but I was trained here. Only after I was properly recognized as a priest can I go to another region and do my own activities, but until then, I had to train at a temple like this.”
“Kurur.”
“Don’t worry, my memory isn’t perfect, but I haven’t forgotten the path itself. I’ve spent time here with other people before, and things have come to mind...”
Gio looked around as he walked along the path.
“But it still feels unfamiliar.”
There was no research facility like this in the temple he remembered.
“.......”
Feeling the difference in time, Giovanni’s temper softened.
“Let’s go to the exit.”
“Knock knock.”
Geo found the stairs of the temple and climbed up.
Then, he met a person.
“.......”
“.......”
“......?”
Why are you coming out of there?
“.......”
Returning, the Association’s Hunter Jeong Da-un continued.
“...Does that sound a little strange?”
“To be honest, yes, I don’t quite understand.”
The researcher nodded.
“However, I understand what Hunter Jeong Da-un wanted to say. You clearly knew with your reasoning that the other person was not human, but you instinctively felt that the other person was human, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then, isn’t there a possibility that it was brainwashing of that kind?”
Among monsters, especially humanoid monsters, there were many with mental skills.
“Even if they’re not humanoid monsters, there are many monsters that try to impersonate humans. If they covered themselves with a cloak to hide their true identity and used mental skills to make themselves look like humans, it would make more sense.”
“...That probably wasn’t the case.”
The Hunter shook his head as he recalled his memories.
“It was a dungeon that appeared in the sea right after the ‘Deep Sea Temple’, which was judged to be a very dangerous dungeon. At the time, he didn’t know that the two dungeons were connected, but he guessed that there would be at least some connection when he tried to enter.”
“That means that he thoroughly prepared before entering.”
“Yes, among the things we prepared, there was an item to deal with brainwashing. As you’ve probably already heard, that item is an A-class item that nullifies mental skills for up to 10 people. Of course, you could say that the ‘Black Cloak’ used a skill higher than A-class, but....”
The Hunter hesitated for a moment before continuing.
“I’m sure, the item didn’t react to ‘Black Cloak’ in the first place.”
“Not even a little bit?”
“It’s not that it simply failed to defend, it’s that it didn’t apply at all. ‘Black Cloak’ never used a mental skill against us even once.”
“And yet, you’re saying that the Jeongdaun Hunter felt the opponent as a human. And that was against an opponent who was so alienated that he felt a sense of alienation.”
“It was almost a feeling close to certainty. To the point where I thought it was impossible for me to deny it myself.”
That was really ridiculous.
“For some reason, I felt relieved, as if I was lying in a cozy bed, and at the same time, I was surprised and goosebumped at my own appearance. I felt a little bit of reliance... Sorry, I can’t describe it in detail.”
“I understand.”
The researcher, who had offered simple consolation, continued his question.
“Then let’s go back to the topic we had earlier. Instead of focusing on the identity of the ‘Black Cloak’, describe its behavior. How did you first encounter it?”
“...First, it was after we entered the third stage, the ‘Deep Sea Temple’. Since it was a virtual dungeon where people were eaten once, I could definitely see traces of other people. Of course, in the end, there was no one who could be called human....”
The Hunter spoke as if he was still dizzy.
“While wandering around the temple, we encountered a humanoid monster.”
“The report says ‘Mermaid Yser’, but do you think it’s the same entity as the ‘Galaxy’ that the Sun Cult’s priest Kang Seo Dam reported?”
“I guess that’s inevitable. Oh, of course, the entity we encountered was not a child, but an adult. It was the first time we encountered a humanoid monster, so we were all nervous.”
“Well, it’s the first humanoid monster that’s been officially sighted in a long time.”
The hunter nodded as if he was grateful for understanding and continued.
“He introduced himself as a mermaid, and his name was Isser. He had pearl-colored eyes and bright blue hair, just like Priest Kang Seodam described. Based on the photo of the ‘Galaxy’ he reported, it seemed to be the same individual.”
The tired-looking hunter folded his arms and leaned back in his chair.
“As you probably know about the story of the dungeon....”
“The report described it as ‘a monster born from the tragedy of losing a dear human being.’”
“As with all monsters, it had a great hatred for humans. However, its human-like skills were so excellent that at first we thought it was a priest who had not been able to escape.”
The priest’s characteristically affectionate smile as he approached him clearly made him look more human.
“But we didn’t continue the impersonation. We were confused for a moment, but we quickly realized that the opponent was a monster, and it seemed that Mermaid Isser didn’t intend to act for too long either... The battle began.”
“And you said that you escaped safely. Right?”
“For some reason, the opponent reacted strangely. Our team at the time thought that there must have been some kind of problem in the dungeon. They made the other monsters in the dungeon fight us and then went somewhere.”
“But the reason....”
“Yes.”
The hunter nodded as if he thought you were right.
“The reason Isser escaped was probably because of the ‘Black Cloak’... We knew about it the moment we saw its existence.”
“I’ll ask again, but how did you meet him?”
“...He asked us for our identities.”
He still remembered it vividly.
“He asked us what our names were.”
The eeriness at that time was beyond description, Hunter added.
As expected, Geo was saying something that would make him feel wronged, saying, "I can't even give my full name."
The Painter Who Draws Dungeons
