The Artist Who Paints Dungeon-Chapter 205
“What kind of dreams is everyone having?”
“Happy ones.”
“Happy...?”
“So they won’t try to wake up.”
Eunha sat on the marble stairs bathed in golden waves, his face tired. Cha I-Sol followed and sat beside him. Just a few steps above them sat Gio.
They looked down into the Pope’s chamber, submerged in seawater, where the sanctified humans lay dormant.
“As the years go by, wounds only accumulate.”
The world wasn’t as beautiful as dreams.
“I know how humans behave. When they’re in a disadvantageous situation, they struggle to fix it no matter what. My sister and teacher called that ‘growth.’ It’s a vague term to a mermaid...”
“Mermaids don’t grow?”
“It varies by dimension, but on my planet, mermaids aren’t born inside a creature’s womb — they’re born from the sea. At a certain moment, the ocean gathers and gives form to a mermaid.”
“Uuhhh...”
Cha I-Sol poked Eunha’s exposed arm.
“...But you have one?!”
“Of course I do.”
But mermaids are cyclical beings.
“We’re born from the sea, take on human-like forms, gradually harmonize with the ocean, inherit its powers, and eventually melt back into it. That’s the mermaid’s cycle.”
It was the law of the sea.
“To be exact, I didn’t harmonize with the sea as deeply as my sister did.”
“Why? Your sister seems super smart — didn’t she help you?”
“I lacked the talent...”
Iser wasn’t a pure mermaid, nor was he purely human. Though mermaids differed in form, Iser had been born far from the sea’s essence. Even his tail was like a separate beast’s limb.
“I wasn’t a child fit to contain that vast ocean.”
So all the seas they passed through — Aria devoured them. And Iser devoured the suns trapped in those seas, their divinity shattered.
“That’s one of the reasons I can still mimic a priest of the sun.”
“How do you eat a sun? Isn’t it hot?”
“It is.”
Eunha laughed dryly.
“That’s why my body is still so weak.”
Aria had tried to make him strong, but it hadn’t been enough. In the end, he had merely grown into a vessel, a key to holding the countless divine powers of the sun.
“So if I ever fought directly, I’d definitely lose. That’s why I usually stayed behind in this dungeon, using the traps or weapons my sister made, or borrowing her powers.”
“What about the sun?”
“As you can see, I didn’t hold the sun’s divinity directly — this golden staff did. To use the corrupted powers of the sun, it had to bloom in a form strong enough to handle it, like this massive tree...”
“Sounds frustrating.”
“More like tedious.”
Cough, cough.
Eunha let out a shallow cough.
“...It’s wearing me out.”
Iser was a pitiful mermaid.
“If my sister hadn’t taken me in, I probably would’ve died from weakness.”
“Your sister must be really strong. Mine is too. She protects me.”
“My sister used to be like that...”
“She doesn’t anymore?”
“She has a sin.”
“What kind of sin? What’d she do?”
“She ate our teacher.”
“......”
Cha I-Sol asked with trembling eyes,
“...Are you gonna eat me too...? Is that why you’ve ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ kept me around all this time...?”
“Would I do that now?”
“R-right? I was just scared for a moment.”
“Of course, I wasn’t in my right mind when it happened.”
Mermaids aren’t built to digest humans. They don’t even have the kind of jaws or throat to eat flesh. So what would it take for someone like Iser to devour a living person?
He had been mad.
“After that day, our relationship got strange.” freewebnøvel_com
They still cared for and loved each other. Those feelings remained unchanged. But ever since their teacher’s death, hatred had seeped in between them. It was inevitable.
“Our teacher used to help us make up. But after that, it got harder.”
“You forgot how to make up?”
“We just never brought it up again.”
“Why not?”
“Hmm...”
Iser lifted his hand and gently touched Cha I-Sol’s small belly.
“Let’s say you ate something bad, and a thorn got lodged inside you. Not just in your stomach — deeper than your throat, deeper than your gut. Right inside here.”
“My... belly?”
“Even deeper.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Of course you don’t.”
“Can’t we take it out?”
“You’d need major surgery.”
He withdrew his hand.
“The thorn is a tangled mess — not something you can just pull out. And it’s not like it’ll dissolve if you wait. You’d need to open yourself up, suffer a lot, and still come out with wounds.”
“......”
“And it’d probably cost a lot.”
“I don’t have money...”
“I know. That’s why I made the comparison.”
But still—
“You could also just leave it there.”
“The thorn? But it’s in my stomach!”
“Sometimes, when you move too much, you might feel it. But most of the time, it won’t hurt. Occasionally, it stings a bit, but not enough to ruin your day. You’ll be healthy otherwise.”
“Uh...”
“Even then — would you go through with the surgery? Endure the pain, spend the time, waste the money?”
“...I-I’d have to think about it.”
“We did too.”
They needed time to decide what to do with the thorn that was their teacher.
“There was no need to rush.”
They had all the time in the world.
“Let’s take another example. Say it’s not a thorn — it’s a resonance stone you cherish.”
“...The one Ruda gave me?”
“Exactly. If you leave it there, the stone remains intact. But if you try to take it out, it’ll break. You’ll never see or hold it again.”
“That would suck.”
“You get it.”
The same went for the mermaids.
“I was scared I’d lose our teacher that way.”
“Your teacher?”
“He was my thorn. And my gem.”
“...Still, you have to make up.”
Cha I-Sol said,
“You’re family. That’s all you’ve got left.”
“You’re right. But I’m a coward.”
He had always strayed from the right path. In the past, he’d stuck to the righteous road so rigidly that he scraped his hands and knees — so eventually, he stopped trying.
“If I’d been born stronger, maybe it’d be different.”
Stronger body, stronger powers, stronger heart.
“If I’d been even half as gifted as my sister...”
He might’ve pulled her from the brink of revenge.
He wouldn’t have eaten their teacher under the influence of drugs. Wouldn’t have been dragged to a demonic trial by the priests. Would’ve protected humans from fearing him.
And—
“Our teacher...”
Maybe he could have saved him that day.
“...Maybe I wouldn’t have held him back.”
If he hadn’t reached for the sun out of desire from the start...
“It makes me sick, thinking all of this happened because I wanted something.”
“What’s wrong with wanting to be close to someone good...?”
“I knew you’d say that.”
Such a kind person.
“In the end, I’m still using these little tricks to work through my hatred of humans.”
Iser looked down at the humans sleeping in their “good dreams.”
“Oh.”
“...Ah!”
At that moment, one man woke up.
“......”
It was Kang Seodam, priest of the Sun.
“...Why are you sitting there like that...?”
“Shall we talk for a moment?”
“If it were you, would you talk right now...?”
Grinding his teeth, glaring like a ghost — Kang Seodam’s look made Iser smile faintly. The smile resembled “Sergio.” Just as Kang Seodam’s brow furrowed, the mermaid gestured to the empty spot beside him.
“It’s closer to Hunter Sergio too.”
“......”
Kang Seodam reluctantly sat down, cursing the world once more.
“Did you have a good dream?”
“...Thanks to you, I saw my partner’s face again for the first time in ages.”
“I assume that’s sarcasm?”
“No. Just...”
He exhaled deeply.
“...I mean the ‘thanks to you’ part.”
He had nearly forgotten his old partner’s face.
“Why are we just sitting here chatting so peacefully?”
“I was waiting for you to wake up.”
“Why? For what?”
“Because I need your help.”
“You think I’m going to help you? When I’m this pissed off?”
“It’s not a bad offer.”
Iser pointed to himself.
“Kill me.”
“......”
“And wake up our teacher.”
Kang Seodam narrowed his eyes.
“Why?”
“Our teacher has already decided.”
“Decided what?”
“To stay on Earth.”
“Then why isn’t he waking up?”
“He’s just being considerate.”
Because humans will win in the end. The mermaids will leave forever.
Iser stood and leaned against his teacher’s lap once more.
“He’s simply spending a little more time with us.”
“...Are you seriously saying this... that Sergio has some kind of lingering attachment to his human life? You’re talking about this colossal mystery?”
“He’s just a person. One who can have ordinary regrets.”
“You’re calling this divine being human—”
“He is a person.”
He listened closely.
“......”
He heard the sound of tears.
“...He even knows how to cry.”
Or maybe it was the sound of dream-bubbles popping.
“I’ll say it again. It’s not a bad deal for you humans. With my sister and I gone, the ‘Black Cloak’ will be undeniable. You won’t need to spill unnecessary blood. And we... we’ll take responsibility in our own way.”
“This was your goal from the start?”
Kang Seodam stared at the mermaid.
“For your ‘teacher’?”
“That’s part of it.”
But it wasn’t just for his teacher.
“Whatever the method, we had to reach the end...”
“You talk about an end — that’s rich. You know how many people you’ve killed?”
At last, Kang Seodam’s rage boiled over.
“Don’t you think it’s disgusting? You keep tossing around the word ‘responsibility’ while indulging in more sins. How are you any different from the Sun’s priests you hated so much?”
“My regret isn’t for the sins — it’s for the selfishness. That’s why we’re monsters.”
“You say all the right words, but in the end you’re still just a monster. It’s pathetic — that all you can do with that intelligence is repeat the same crimes.”
“If it’s all deception anyway, isn’t it better to pick the kind that suits you? That’s the only way I can be arrogant enough to even say ‘responsibility.’”
It was the only way he could earn even a chance at being accepted by his teacher.
Maybe even a place called hell...
Iser blinked slowly as he leaned on his teacher’s thigh, then sat up.
“...The others will wake up soon. You’ll have to kill me while no one’s watching, or else we’ll waste time in a pointless fight. I’ve done my part, and I’ve discarded all unnecessary emotions.”
“......”
“But it won’t be easy to kill me. My sister made me into a sack of the thousand suns we consumed. But as I said — this body is weak and ugly compared to hers...”
“So if the power of the suns is forced in too hard, you’ll explode?”
“You understand well.”
He looked at Cha I-Sol.
“......”
“...Hey.”
Giovanni’s first disciple asked,
“Is it cold here?”
“Yeah, it is.”
For a mermaid, he was sensitive to the cold of the deep sea.
“So show me your sun.”
Eunha begged.
To return to the order of things — he needed the sun.
***
CRAAAAAACK—!!!
“―Gah!!”
With a deafening boom, heat exploded outward.
“Wh-what’s going on?!!”
“Where are we?!”
“Everyone, get a grip! We’re still in the dungeon!!”
A tremendous crackling sound, like lightning squeezing through a narrow gap. The hunters, jarred awake by the shock, could only see clearly once the blinding light faded.
“Cough, ack...!!”
“What the hell—where did all the monsters go?”
“Ah, my eyes...”
At last, silence returned.
“......”
“...Ah...”
The blinding golden tree had withered back into its slender branches.
“...Hunter Sergio?”
The apostle bound to the throne of gods had awakened.
“Hey, are you... okay...!”
“Be quiet.”
“What? Why—”
“Something’s off.”
One hunter held back his comrade.
“...He’s crying.”
In the ruined temple, wrecked by solar power, Gio was crying — still holding the golden branch.
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