The Artist Who Paints Dungeon-Chapter 102

“Whew....”

And Yoo Seong-un was a member of society who knew very well that he was a cog in the wheel of this society.

“Yes, that’s fine.”

He nodded.

“I’m looking forward to this month’s paycheck.”

“Oh my goodness, Hunter Yoo Seong-woon is so cool! He’s so trustworthy!”

“Please don’t make me suffer any longer and get to the point.”

“Should I?”

Bisabal, with his signature sagging smile, continued.

“Gio got into an accident.”

“.......”

Horok... .

Yoo Seong-woon asked after drinking the sweet fruit tea.

“Is it cute or horrible?”

“It’s really cute.”

“If it’s horrible by the guild leader’s standards, then I can’t help but know.”

“Then before you even wonder why I asked, Mr. Yoo Seong-woon? What do you think of me? A pioneer who predicts the end?”

“It’s amazing how you can enjoy life so much.”

“Enjoying it is the only thing that matters. You can respect me.”

“Ah, yes....”

Yoo Seong-woon rubbed his sore neck and asked again.

“What exactly happened?”

“They said a first-class citizen was dragged away by Geo’s frame.”

“If he was a first-class citizen, there would be a few classists who would rise up....”

“What can we do? It wasn’t something that a human did, it was something that a monster did, so we should pay a little more attention.”

“That’s true.”

It’s true that first-class citizens receive considerable preferential treatment in the human world.

However, because of that, few people sympathized when first-class citizens were attacked by monsters. Most first-class citizens gained power and honor in return for fighting monsters and protecting other citizens.

“Well, Geo isn’t a monster.”

“Anyway, wouldn’t it be better if it was known that way?”

“The guild leader is right.”

There was no need to tell those who couldn’t even see about the existence of the source.

‘It’ll only add to the confusion.’

If the source was officially known, it would have been at least 100 years later. It had only been 31 years since the Great Disaster, so there were many things that were particularly lacking in the citizens’ awareness.

Anyway, this isn’t the important part.

“Who was the person Geo took away?”

Bisabal answered Yoo Seong-woon’s question, wiping his chin.

“He’s a B-class hunter named Park Eun-gyeom.”

“...I’ve never heard of him before...”

“Please memorize the names of the hunters, he’s a hunter who’s ranked high.”

“Overall ranking?”

“Domestic.”

“How would I know that?”

Although he was an A-class hunter, Yoo Seong-woon’s job was as a curator of a collection store and manager of a secret garden.

Basically, if it was a widely known object that needed special attention, all of his attention was directed toward the source.

“Where would you use the rankings of domestic hunters if you knew them?”

In short, if it’s not the basic qualifications of a basic or A-class hunter, there’s no need to know them.

“It can be used to pretend to know them, right?”

“I remember the important A-class roughly.”

“Please pay attention to the ranks just below that. Even if you’re an unofficial hunter, you’ll get cursed at if you do that.”

“I’m doing well in society. I don’t show off in front of people that I don’t know them.”

“I guess that’s fortunate....”

Maybe it’s because hunters are treated like celebrities. People always wanted hunters in the media to be humble and perfect unless they had some kind of character.

The image of knowing and respecting all the hunters’ names was part of that ‘perfection.’

Of course, Yoo Seong-un was a collection of Bisabul, and because he was a gardener who had a lot of time for personal work, he didn’t appear in the media often on his own. If he was doing well on his own, there was no need for Bisabal to worry about him.

“Well, he wasn’t a hunter with that much recognition.”

“Are you talking about that hunter named Park Eun-gyeom?”

“I think he had a strong desire to rise up, but I’m not sure. People these days don’t like arrogant and self-righteous hunters.”

Image management was important for hunters these days. In order to not need that kind of image, you had to be S-class, but even in this day and age where hunters are easily produced, it was hard to find a hunter of that rank.

And of course, the hunter who was kidnapped by Geo this time wasn’t that good of an ability.

“He’s a typical B-class. He was born with pretty good aptitude skills and a decent rank, but he didn’t have any particular external charm or social skills.”

“...You memorized it all, so he wasn’t a hunter you paid special attention to.”

“If you’re a hunter in South Korea, you all remember. Even if I look like a rascal, I’m still the leader of the third-largest guild in the country. If you want to win with your head instead of your body, this is basic.”

“Hmm.”

Yoo Seong-woon nodded.

“What exactly happened?”

“The official document just came down from the Hunter Association today....”

Bisabal explained what had happened so far. How the Hunter Association reacted to Geo’s accident and how passively they asked for help. And what exactly was the accident Geo had caused.

“...So, they say that hunter Park Eun-gyeom hasn’t been found yet.”

“If he was dragged into Geo’s frame, that makes sense. I don’t even know what’s going on inside.”

Yoo Seong-woon groaned, holding his chin.

“If that’s the only good thing, it’s that it wasn’t something that would make such a fuss.”

First of all, it was because Geo had caused the accident without much noise.

“More than anything, the Hunter Association’s attitude was impressive.”

“I thought so too.”

Bisabal agreed.

“I have no intention of causing a fuss, nor do I intend to offend our portrait, but this decision was made to show how seriously we are taking the ‘Black Cloak’ incident.”

He vaguely ‘requested’ an ‘investigation’ without directly mentioning it. If the association president knew that Geo was Bisabal’s collection, he could have been more forceful, but he didn’t.

So was he just being passive? That wasn’t the case.

“Requesting help from all three major guilds, not just anyone else?”

There were three guilds representing South Korea, and Bisabal’s ‘Collector’ was third.

“Then....”

“Including the association president, all the ‘Symbols of Eternity’ are gathered.”

“That’s it.”

Symbol of Eternity.

This is a collective term for the top and second guild leaders in South Korea, including Dan Hae-ra, the head of the Korean Hunter Association. It is a word that literally describes three people who are recorded as great people who symbolize eternity.

If Bisabal is responsible for Korea’s capital, the second guild leader is responsible for public sentiment, the first guild leader is responsible for safety, and the Hunter Association leader is responsible for overall administration and management. With these leaders at the center, South Korea has shown a high level of stability worldwide.

“Well, of course I am not the ‘symbol of eternity’?”

Some people sometimes make the mistake, but Bisabal is not making a promise of eternity like them, because his aging is slowing down thanks to his high level of skill. Even if he had, he would not have made it.

“Still, he plays a big role in this capitalist society. It seems that he contacted all three of the top guild leaders in South Korea, including me, so this alone shows how important the association leader thinks of ‘Portrait of Geo’.”

At Bisabal’s words, Yoo Seong-woon opened his mouth with a slightly trembling expression.

“...I’ve been curious about this for a long time.”

“Why are you asking me now?”

“I didn’t want to get involved, but I feel like I’ve already gotten involved, so I’m asking now.”

“You’re smart, as expected, I brought in Yoo Seong-woon myself, curator.”

“You brought them all in yourself, so what... Anyway.”

Yoo Seong-woon continued.

“Why did the president covet ‘Geo’s Portrait’ in the first place?”

As far as he knew, the main skill of the president of Dan Hae-ra Association, one of the few S-ranks in Korea, wasn’t ‘emotion.’

He probably couldn’t feel the essence of that unfamiliar portrait as much as Bisabal, so why did he put in so much effort to compete with Bisabal, who was in charge of Korean capital?

“I know that the chairman visits the auction house often. He buys a lot of things. But he’s rarely shown as much passion and /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ sincerity as this portrait, right?”

“Never.”

“That’s right.”

“But I don’t know much about that either.”

The only thing Bisabal could tell was that.

“.......”

His eyes were unusually full of emotion.

‘... I can’t be sure, though.’

Chairman Dan Hae-ra, who could be called the center of Korea at the moment, was someone who gave up a lot to maintain that balance.

‘How could someone like that show emotion, even faintly, over one auction item?’

To be honest, Bisabal himself doubted his own judgment.

“Well, I’m not sure.”

“Don’t you know?”

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“I can’t know everything.”

“You act like it’s not true.”

“That helps my image business.”

“Oh, my head hurts.”

“That can happen in life.”

Anyway, it wasn’t that important why the Association Chairman was after ‘Geo’s Portrait’. At least to Bisabul, it was.

“I don’t know for sure, but there might have been something that only the Association Chairman could see.”

“.......”

“The conversation has gone off on a tangent.”

Isn’t the most important thing now ‘Geo’s Portrait’?

“As you expected, the Hunter Association recognized the importance of the ‘Black Cloak’ and was even more cautious. We are approaching. We will probably maintain a coexistence attitude until we are sure that they are enemies.”

“... For now, Geo will be less angry if we approach them aggressively. I was worried that the image of the ‘Black Cloak’ has become too familiar recently, so I am glad that the association has recognized it.”

“Even the three major guild leaders in South Korea have all received the official document. Since it is the request of the association leader, the other two symbols will also make their stance on the ‘Black Cloak’ clear and make efforts to inform others.”

“Since there are symbols that are specialized in that area, I will not worry about that anymore. Now, the only thing left is how cooperative our collection will be.”

Yoo Seong-woon, who was once the research team leader of the association, wasn’t so indifferent to the affairs of the country.

He was good at understanding even if you twisted it 30 times, but Yoo Seong-woon couldn’t help but do something if he was given this much notice.

“.......”

And anyway.

“...Jio is my responsibility.”

If it weren’t for Yoo Seong-woon, there was no one else who could take charge of this matter.

“For now, I’ll take a closer look.”

“Why don’t you ask Geo right away?”

“...It’s true that Geo is friendly to humans as a being of origin, but this is a bit different.”

“Well, this is the first time he’s shown hostility rather than favor. It says in the official document that he didn’t show up, so he might be upset.”

“If Geo tries to save a human he judges to be a ‘villain,’ he might show even greater hostility. So rather than asking him directly, I’m going to look for a frame that says the victim was taken away.”

Yoo Seong-un, who had been rubbing his sore neck once more, asked.

“Do you have any clues about that frame? Like a photo or a painting... I’d like to know its features.”

“It was first discovered in a dungeon called ‘Jewel’s Vein’, and also....”

Bisabal showed him the association’s official document.

“It’s said to be a work depicting a gray city.”

“.......”

The official document stated that the frame was so empty that even just looking at it made one feel empty, and that a witness testified.

Yoo Seong-un stared at it intently and pursed his lips.

“...Even now, in the ‘Deep Sea Country’, a frame called ‘Breathing Sea’ is often seen. It must be true, since a Hunter with the Appraisal skill confirmed it.”

“That must have been created by Geo, right?”

“Yes, that’s right. By the way, a painter who draws dungeons as he pleases....”

He felt a little tired.

“It’s scary.”

And, I wondered.

It was a thought that was typical of Yoo Seong-un.