The Artist Who Paints Dungeon-Chapter 63
I tried hard.
Iser was strong-willed and selfless enough to hate the existence of humans overnight. He tried to approach humans several times.
That wasn’t an excuse to say that I did my best. Yes, I don’t want to be proud of that... .
“.......”
It was really okay.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Huh, hwaaak...! This, it’s a mermaid...!!”
It was sad to be despised and hated even after saving a life, but I could endure it.
“I can heal you.”
“Don’t lie, how can you believe a mermaid’s words?”
“But....”
“If you touch me, I’ll kill you.”
“.......”
It was okay that my heart, which had tried its best to be considerate, was trampled upon so easily.
“Mermaid? Isn’t that a monster?”
“.......”
“They say he eats people. Wow, that’s horrible.”
It was bearable that he was being criticized for his very existence, not for the sins I committed.
“.......”
“.......”
“Isser.”
My sister called me.
“Giovanni has been brought to trial.”
“...He’s a famous priest of the sun, so it’s okay, right? We’re allies.”
“He’ll be sentenced to death for being a traitor. You heard that, a traitor to humanity.”
“But, sir...you’ve saved many people.”
“That’s a huge stretch. When have humans ever cared about such things?”
“I don’t understand. Didn’t anyone defend him?”
“He’s being criticized for hiding a mermaid. It’s no different from what we saw that day.”
“Why no one....”
“Humans are such interesting creatures. You don’t know how capricious they are.”
“...Why....”
“Whenever you praised Geo’s character and abilities and called him the son of God, now that his light has been divided into the sea, you are making a fuss, calling him a disgrace to humanity.”
He was the only person who affirmed the sea. He was a noble being who waited with me for the day when the sky and the sea would become one, saying that mermaids and humans are no different.
I know how much great mercy my teacher bestowed, how much love and affection he poured out. He was a person who truly cared for his patients and respected his friends.
“...That’s ridiculous....”
All of that was denied.
‘And to the same humans.’
That was too hard even for a patient mermaid. She couldn’t bear it, it wasn’t okay, she couldn’t bear it.
We even mourned and sorted out his natural death for several years, so how can you kill him yourself? How can you act so horribly?
“.......”
Isn't that person's suffering sad?
"I'm going to try an experiment."
"......."
"Do you still like humans? Do you think they are capricious but lovable creatures?"
"...No...."
"Then do you trust them? Do you believe that they will return favors, that you can trust them with your back?"
"...I don't think so."
"If that's all sorted out, let's go back to the sea with me."
The sister whispered sweetly.
"As you know, we can't influence people with a single look or a single touch like Giovanni. The cold hands of a mermaid would only make a creature of the sun shiver."
That was right.
"And that's why suffering can be reduced."
"Suffering...."
That was right.
"My brother, Isser."
"...Yes, Sister."
"Will you come with me?"
So Isser decided to endure it just one more time.
“No.”
It wasn’t for the humans.
“I’ll find another way.”
It was for Giovanni, who loved everything in the world to the end.
“Humans and mermaids have already started a war, so it’s too late to take the easy way out. It’ll be a war that’s more vulgar and cruel than you can imagine.”
“I know.”
“If that’s your choice, I must respect it. Do your best until you have no regrets, Isser.”
“...Thank you.”
It’s a sad fact, but Giovanni was not the type of person who dreamed of revenge for being betrayed by humans.
‘So to harass humans and gain notoriety for my benefactor would be to betray him twice.’
I didn’t want to vent my anger on that noble person in a vulgar way like humans.
“.......”
Isser endured dozens and hundreds of times after that.
He saved an innocent child during the war. The mermaids did not understand their eccentric compatriots, but simply ignored them, and the humans instead attacked Isser with ridiculous accusations.
“One.”
He pulled a pregnant woman who had fallen into the sea to land. However, the pregnant woman struggled to avoid the mermaid’s cold hands and drowned, and the humans screamed that the mermaids were now eating pregnant women.
“Two.”
He pretended not to see the soldier who was struggling without being worth attacking. He did not want to see blood, but the soldier came to him a month later and attacked and cursed him. In the end, Isser had to see blood.
“Three...”
The human he had barely become close with was thinking of death or betrayal, and whatever Isser did was considered unclean, and his notoriety grew. The humans poisoned the sea. The child died. He treated the wound. His side was stabbed by a knife... .
“.......”
And then one day, when he counted.
“...one thousand six hundred and forty-three.”
It was already over a thousand.
“...Ah, uh....”
On the last day of counting, Isser ate his mentor.
“...Heuheu, heuheu....”
His whole body ached.
“Heuheu, ahhhh...! Aah...!!”
He was hungry.
His stomach was so hungry.
“Ah ... .’
Geo watched the procession of priests at the temple, fully enjoying the pounding of his heart.
The second part of the event was much more splendid than the first. If the first part emphasized the solemnity typical of religious people, the second part of the event really felt like an ‘event’.
Lights twinkled here and there, and the priests’ white clothes fluttered. There was so much to see that it was dizzying.
“How is it, is it worth seeing?”
“I really like it.”
“Thank goodness.”
Yoo Seong-woon smiled his characteristically light smile.
“I was wondering if you were okay because the event was long.”
“I’m definitely a little tired, but....”
Now that he was back at the cabin, he was going to stay home for a week.
Since he had been getting tired from the moment he left the house, Geo’s stamina had long since run out.
“Still, it’s an event worth seeing.”
“Is it the influence of the god you are supporting?”
It was a question asking if I liked the Sun Cult’s events because I worshipped the Sun God.
“That could be true.”
It wasn’t as comfortable as my house, but I felt comfortable at my friend’s house.
“.......”
“Geo?”
“...I thought about my old friends for a moment.”
Are these guys still alive after 31 years?
‘I wonder how the kids are doing.’
I used to think about it sometimes, but now that I’ve been out for this long, I’m reminded of the people I knew 31 years ago.
‘The elders in the mountain villages of Gangwon Province are already old, so I don’t have high expectations.’
Still, I thought I might be able to get a general idea of how the students I was teaching were doing.
“.......”
But what if I get caught and taken to the lab...?
‘Usually in movies, a moment of carelessness due to memories sends the person’s life into a precipice, so how can I guarantee that I won’t end up like that?’
Judging from Yoo Seong-woon’s occasional reactions, it was clear that his evolution from a human to a possessed portrait was a huge deal, even in this hellish Republic of Korea.
Jio decided to just shut up and go for it again.
‘If it’s meant to be, we’ll meet even if we don’t mean to.’
He was thinking about such dreams and hopes.
“Ah... I guess we’re wrapping things up.”
“It was pretty long.”
“This kind of initiation ceremony is also ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) an event that shows the power of the sect.”
Especially since the Taeyang Cult boasts a large sect in Seoul, it would have to show off this much extravagance.
‘There was also an unpleasant disappearance incident recently.’
Thinking like that, Yoo Seong-woon glanced in Geo’s direction.
‘... No matter how much I think about it, it seems like this incident is related to this guy... .’
Jio really didn’t seem to have any feelings.
‘Jio really doesn’t know anything, or he knows but doesn’t feel much. Either way, if it’s Jio’s unique personality, there are aspects that make sense, which makes it even more confusing.’
That was when I was watching the event that was ending.
“.......”
A momentary intuition.
‘... What is it?’
It’s cool.
‘It’s not a glacier.’
Because he’s a gardener, he knows the nature of energy.
He smelled the pressure of nature that distorts the human body, and the pungent scent that resembled blood coming from it.
‘Then this is... .’
A cold, damp, dark oppressive feeling.
‘The sea?’
Yoo Seong-un immediately realized that it was the energy of the sea.
Isn’t that a feeling that can never be felt naturally? Yoo Seong-un instinctively looked for the culprit.
“Ah....”
When his eyes met with the blue-haired ‘Galaxy’, Yoo Seong-un felt a sense of despair.
“This.”
Gulp―...!!!
“Did I let my guard down too much?”
A piercing blue energy surged forward.
That energy was not like the swirling fog. It had the ferocity of wanting to take life as quickly as possible, and the brutality of its sharp claws arousing human fear.
He immediately grasped the situation.
“This is a virtual dungeon.”
With Yoo Seong-un’s quick judgment, the entire temple was dyed blue.
“■■■■■―...!!!!!”
A loud noise, as if the marble pillars were being scratched by giant claws, rang out, making his ears hurt.
The whole world was chaotic and chaotic, like glass shards exploding, scratching at the eardrums, and waves of pure white foam greedily devoured people.
“.......”
The meteor cloud, which always had an indifferent expression, distorted its face.
‘... I can’t predict the damage, but at least there’s something for sure.’
Today is another day of overtime.
“Whew....”
Crunch-!!
“I’m already tired.”
The meteor cloud that created the ice spear he planted it on the ground.
‘You shouldn’t be pushed far away.’
As an experienced hunter, Yoo Seong-un supported his body with the spear he planted on the ground after making his judgment.
Yoo Seong-un looked back at the portrait in the strong cold and waves.
“Geo, be careful...!”
And there.
“.......”
“.......”
There was a huge ‘eye.’
Yoo Seong-un felt a terrible silence as if time had stopped.
What is that?
Is it an eye?
“.......”
It resembled nature, but he couldn’t tell if it was the sun or the sea.
He saw a vision of fragments of light that were split into pieces and sparkling, sparkling chaotically as if they were being born, and reflecting deep waves of unknown depth. Yoo Seong-un couldn’t take his eyes off the portrait swept away by the waves for even a moment.
There, inside it, was the sea. It was a pure white sea distorted by light. The sea spoke.
『Where the sun does not reach... .』
The voice was like nature.
『I have come to the deep sea.』
Why did it sound like a divine judgment?
I did not recognize it even though I took it in with my eyes. I thought I could hear the sound of sunlight shining down. I heard the sound of warmth. The waves mixed with it and soon hid their teeth and shrank.
It was only after that that Yoo Seong-un came to his senses enough to notice anything.
“.......”
The sound was heard again, and time passed, breaking free from the silence.
The strong noise that had hurt his ears and the tinnitus like the stubbornness of the dead disappeared, and the waves that had been as ferocious as monsters in the abyss died again and became calm... .
“.......”
“.......”
“.......”
The scenery of the world changed.
“Ah....”
A bloody, eerie chill. Yoo Seong-un looked around.
He could see people.
“...W, where is this...?”
“Dungeon? What the hell, is this a dungeon?”
“Who, is there a hunter?!”
This place where people who had just come to their senses were making a fuss was definitely a dungeon.
“.......”
Yoo Seong-un took in the dark blue space like a shadow.
The vast pupil was so wide that the ceiling was invisible, and water scales that came from somewhere were eerily reflected. Yoo Seong-un’s gaze soon reached the blue water pillars erected here and there in the pupil.
He sighed involuntarily.
“...Oh my....”
There were a bunch of chimeras that looked like aquatic creatures stuck there.
“This is a problem.”
It felt ominous from the moment he entered, and the difficulty of the dungeon seemed quite high.
‘For a typical virtual dungeon, there are more people dragged in than usual.’
Yoo Seong-woon barely managed to hold onto his spirit of returning to his home and calmly assessed his situation.
The so-called ‘virtual dungeon’ forcibly drags people who meet certain conditions to another dimension to play a game. Judging by the number of participants and the bizarreness of the game, one could tell the dungeon owner’s capabilities.
‘And if you just count the number of ordinary people gathered in this dungeon, it’s close to 20... There could be people dragged in from other places too, so it’s excessive in many ways. You can see how much the owner of this dungeon has prepared.’
And Yoo Seong-woon, as an A-class hunter belonging to one of the top three guilds in South Korea, the Collector’s Guild, was responsible for protecting these people and completing the strategy.
“.......”
With these ragtag citizens.
‘As expected, he’s an A-class Hunter.’
Eunha and Isser were inwardly impressed by Yoo Seong-un’s cool-headed attitude as he tried to grasp and organize the situation in an instant.
According to Earth’s standards, B-class Hunters and above gradually began to deviate from the standards of ordinary humans in their way of thinking. It goes without saying that it was even worse for A-class Hunters, who were of a higher rank.
‘I heard he wasn’t a very famous public figure.’
It really wasn’t something to be ignored.
‘But....’
What could a mere Hunter do in this situation?
‘With all this luggage, at best, he’d die with the citizens or choose to run away to save his own life. Such foolish beings are humans.’
In the shadows of the pupils, far from the commotion, Isser looked at the humans who were causing a commotion in fear.
“S-save me! I don’t want to die here...!!”
“Where is this place? Where is this place? Hey, where is this place....”
“Gyaaaaaaah...!! There’s a monster! There’s a monster!!”
My ears were tired.
‘... You don’t know how to do anything but scream. You’re really an idiot.’
The gurgling noise brought back a familiar unpleasantness that I felt dozens of times a day. It was a faded hatred toward humans.
“.......”
In this situation, Isser’s role was only to open the door.
‘... Even if my predecessor hadn’t suddenly disappeared, I wouldn’t have had to step in.’
It took quite a bit of skill to open the deep sea door in the Sun Temple, let alone anywhere else.
‘Because of that, I had already recruited and trained one of the humans.’
For some reason, things got messed up when he was killed by a mysterious strong man.
The execution date was just around the corner. At that moment, Isser was the only one who could open the door... .
‘There’s nothing I like.’
Even after mixing in with humans for a moment, neither my body nor my mind were in good shape.
‘This is a race that I shouldn’t interact with for long. I feel like that incompetence is being transferred to me.’
I wanted to finish this as soon as possible and fall into the silent sea.
“Hunter, you’re a hunter! How are you going to take responsibility for this!!”
“What... What does this have to do with me, stop talking nonsense like responsibility!!”
“The priests? What the hell, where did all the priests go!!”
“Yes, the prospective priests too... They’re priests, right? Huh? They’re priests?”
“Someone help me, what’s going on!!”
How could I care about something that was so shallow and crazy?
“.......”
This place was located in the latter half of the path that the humans of Earth called ‘dungeons.’
‘... It’s too far to go back to the entrance, and the situation is not good for finding the exit, so everyone will probably die here. It will happen even if I don’t do anything.’
As I was thinking about finishing the job like that, a man wearing a black cloak suddenly came to mind.
It was the sun god named Geo.
“...Hoo....”
In a situation where all the humans were scattered to random locations, I felt stupid for unconsciously chasing the man’s location.
Why would I do something so stupid when I was going to kill them all anyway?
‘Okay, let’s get rid of them quickly.’
If there were any individuals left intact, they would be honored as my sister’s test subjects.
It might not be a bad idea to ask for ownership of one of them.
“...Okay.”
I took a step forward from the shadows.
That’s when I was about to do my job as a ‘monster’, holding the staff in my hand.
“.......”
Ah.
‘... A sign?’
Isser looked back.
“.......”
This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.
Before he knew it, Black Cloak was standing right behind him.
“......!”
That’s ridiculous.
‘I confirmed that this guy isn’t here?’
No matter how divine the opponent was, this situation was unexpected for a mermaid who could even kill a god.
‘Was I too careless?’
Isser stepped back. Perhaps because he was in the body of a child, he felt strangely intimidated by Black Cloak.
Since this large body was moving, it was right for someone among the humans to react, but no one turned their gaze toward Black Cloak or Isser.
‘Why?’
Isser bared his sharp teeth at that indescribable sense of discomfort. It was a fang that had also eaten the body of his mentor.
“What the heck are you...!”
“Isser.”
“.......”
... What?
“.......”
“Ah, Isser....”
Her name was called.
“.......”
It was a soft call, like a corpse.
Isser stopped.
‘... My name was called.’
Like a fish in ice water, he froze and couldn’t move.
A man as tall as a thick wall bent down and stroked the child’s cheek, and in an instant, the small body was swallowed by a shadow.
A pitch-black cloak came down like a curtain, completely covering Isser like a waterfall.
‘How....’
That’s why the young mermaid could see the face of the one looking down at her.
“Wasn’t it cold?”
“.......”
“Were you in a lot of pain?”
“.......”
“You must have been lonely and scared....”
A person who resembled sunlight spilling over the sea.
“.......”
That warm platinum hair, and eyes like brilliant waves.
Those distant blue eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“.......”
“I’m sorry.”
Crying.
“...Ah....”
Giovanni.
My mentor, who had met the most miserable death in the world, was now a corpse and crying in front of me.
Gio lost consciousness.
