The Artist Who Paints Dungeon

The young man wearing the scholar’s uniform and Gio’s gazes met.

'Was I staring too much?'

Although Yoo Sung-woon seemed to find Gio's sudden action strange, he didn't say anything.

The scholar looked Gio up and down as if sizing him up, nodded slightly, and then walked away. He had the expression as if he thought he had picked a fight with him.

“Coo.”

“Oh, you scared me.”

Yoo Sung-woon was startled by the sudden appearance of Honey.

“…Huh? Waterfowl? Wait, Gio, this… the one you showed me last time….”

“It's Honey.”

“I haven't tried with other birds, so I'm not sure.”

“Hmm, I see, uh… got it.”

Yoo Sung-woon had a somewhat resigned expression.

“It's about time the Earth falls apart.”

“It seems to be holding up well, I don't know why you're suddenly saying something so random.”

“It was definitely a sandcastle that would crumble with a light push….”

Yoo Sung-woon, who had been smiling with a resigned face, soon returned to his usual expression and asked.

“So, what about that person? Is it bothering you?”

“He seemed dangerous.”

“…Really?”

“He didn't seem to like me.”

A scary person.

“I didn't want to start a fight.”

He had forgotten for a moment that when you make eye contact for more than 3 seconds, it boils down to either 'Is that guy into me?' or 'Does that guy want to fight me?'

‘I should have politely and kindly spoken within 3 seconds, but their impressive background made me miss the timing to act friendly. It's clear that the intuition of Seo Gio, once called the Pokémon Trainer of the 21st century, has dulled.’

This was the so-called battle if eye contact is made. Whether in a good or bad way.

'That guy just now seems to have taken it in the bad way.'

In this tough era where businesspeople in suits fight off monsters, what was he thinking, provoking a fight with a five-star danger guy?

'No, isn't it a problem if the danger level of a random passerby is this high?'

Gio, feeling frustrated by this mad hellish Korea, spoke sincerely.

“I’m scared.”

“Even if you say you’re scared, it’s hard to take that seriously… Are you being sarcastic?”

“I think it's best if we return to the hotel.”

“If that's what you want.”

Gio gently tucked Honey, who was trying to peek out from his scarf, back in and left Gyeongbokgung Palace. Honey seemed pleased with the shiny fish lanterns, as he had already tucked one into his belly.

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And then, when he woke up at 3:32 AM after passing out in the hotel bed.

Gio confirmed that Honey was gone.

“Please.”

Can't you leave me in peace now?

He might just start crying.

***

In a dark, desolate alley in the slums.

“… So what on earth was that guy earlier?”

The man, now rid of his scholar's robe, roughly ran his hand through his hair.

'I had a strange feeling.'

It was a man dressed in a pitch-black hanbok. He was so heavily bundled up that his face was obscured.

He seemed about 190 cm tall, but guessing the person's identity from just their gender and height was difficult.

“Something feels off.”

Normally, he would've just dismissed it as some weirdo picking a fight and moved on.

But.

“That hand gesture back then, something about it….”

A hand movement that mimicked framing something, like a picture frame.

Though it only lasted for a moment, it felt as if every single detail of his identity was being exposed.

The man scratched his head furiously.

“…No, damn it, something's definitely wrong. That guy must have been an Awakener, right?”

The person sitting next to him was Hunter Yoo Sung-woon. With Bi Sa-beol's curator standing beside him and personally guiding him, the guy was probably some recently awakened rich young master or something.

'He had this annoyingly proper manner about him.'

But it was troublesome.

'If things I'm planning get exposed….'

It wouldn't just end with him being demoted to a fifth-class citizen.

There were far more Awakeners than one would expect who possessed abilities that allowed them to read someone's thoughts or memories or even glimpse their past. It wasn't that rare a skill, people just didn't talk about it because they were afraid of getting stabbed.

So, the man dressed in pitch black at Gyeongbokgung Palace night market might have used such a skill to peer into his thoughts. Given the odd hand movement, that conclusion made sense.

Sigh …..

A sigh escaped him.

“The event will start soon, so what's with this mess?”

If he thought about the potential aftermath, he couldn't just let this slide. What he was doing now was far too dangerous, a betrayal of humanity.

Though he had never felt guilt, getting caught would be an undeniable disaster.

No matter how much he thought about it, after all.

“I have to kill him.”

How much time and effort had he put into securing his position in the Temple of the Sun? Now, he couldn't just leave a dangerous element behind because of a lingering sense of unease.

Just as he resolved to track down the man he saw at Gyeongbokgung Palace.

“…What the?”

A squishy-looking bird was perched on a pipe.

Inside, one of the tourist attraction's fish lanterns was swimming, making it quite bright. He couldn't understand why he hadn't noticed it earlier in this dark alley.

Something felt off.

'…This doesn't look like any city monster I've seen before.'

Besides, generally speaking, monsters in bird form, especially small ones like this, usually moved in flocks. Those who moved alone did so because they had the strength to protect themselves.

So how likely was it that this insignificant-looking bird was just an ordinary monster?

“…This, damn it, don't tell me….”

Was this a surveillance monster that the bastard from Gyeongbokgung Palace had set on him?

'A trainer?'

He hadn't expected the guy to be a hunter with a profession. No wonder that cunning Yoo Sung-woon had treated him so well. Clearly, that Awakener had enough value to warrant it.

The man gripped his staff tightly.

“…Well, I guess this is convenient.”

It seemed that the bird's owner was a rookie. The bird was practically oozing its owner's scent. It looked like the novice had sent a spy without realizing that he could be traced back.

The man forced a smile.

“If he'd noticed something strange, he should've told Yoo Sung-woon right away.”

There was no threat felt from this bird, which was just staring blankly at him. It seemed like nothing more than a surveillance camera, and if that was the case, it would be easy to track him down.

'He wasn't confident enough to report his suspicion to Yoo Sung-woon?'

Failing to report your suspicions to a superior in advance—that was a mistake rookie hunters often made.

'What an idiot.'

Whatever this bird was, he needed to deal with it now.

Thinking that way, the man reached out to grab the tiny bird that was barely a mouthful in size….

―Crunch.

“Huh?”

His hand.

Was gone.

Inside the bird's transparent body, his hand was visible. The squirming fish swam around his severed hand.

And soon, the two slowly melted away.

“…Ah.”

“Coo.”

“Fuck.”

The man wasn't incompetent.

“Cooor?”

“This… this damn….”

“Ccoooooorrr?”

“…This is ridiculous.”

“Cocooor.”

As a priest of the Sun, a rank that couldn’t be taken lightly, he had the right to be arrogant.

However, from a common-sense perspective, all of this was a situation where things that shouldn’t exist piled up and realized like a disaster rather than a miracle. It wasn't a difficulty that a single person could handle.

The once-tiny bird’s body began to swell in an abnormal way.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

“Cooorr?”

Feathers shimmered with a light that was hard to tell if it was the moon or the sun.

Strong claws and long legs resembling hooks.

And a massive beak.

“No…!”

Gulp—

There was the sound of water flowing.

“Ugh, gag…!”

Then the sound of swirling was heard.

“

Soon,

There was silence.

The man was nowhere to be seen.

“Coor.”

Only a tiny bird, fluttering leisurely, remained.

***

“Honey.”

Gio likes things that are small and harmless.

But the children of origin are skilled at shaping their appearances.

“Where have you been?”

“Coor.”

“You're cute, so it's fine.”

Then.

What exactly is their essence?

“There's some fish-shaped buns over there.”

“Coo!!”

“You're my son after all.”

“Cooool?”

“You've got a taste for the good stuff.”

—Even the children of origin themselves didn’t know that.