The Artist Who Paints Dungeon-Chapter 364

Wrapping his hand around the fuming Honey—who clearly seemed to be thinking “Dad, is that really the right reaction?”—Gio looked wronged.

“Objectively speaking, this is funny, isn’t it?”

Wasn’t this the situation where the dark past of a former disciple, once seen firsthand, had now come back to hit them with harsh reality? Honestly, he felt like he had the right to laugh a little, as a true teacher. This was a dark past aged a whole thirty years.

Unfortunately, not just Honey, but also student Dan Haera didn’t seem to agree.

“You don’t look like you’re agreeing.”

“...No, if that’s what you want, then whatever...”

“I should’ve recorded this and spread it all over the faculty office.”

“......”

“Why do you keep making me laugh?”

It was funny watching someone who now acted like a dignified robot as the President of the Association squirm like this. Come to think of it, even when this kid had been a cult leader or a third-year high schooler, he’d never seen her so undone.

“I thought our Haera had grown into a fine adult, but turns out you’re still a kid. I still remember so vividly that imposing image when I first met the President of the Association. Don’t you have any advice to give to this clueless junior hunter here, President?”

“......”

“I know, I know we should get serious now... ah... but this really is too good to keep to myself... Honestly, I’d love to have the kids write reflection papers about this, but I’ll hold it in. I wouldn’t dare assign such a trivial task to a Symbol of Eternity.”

Her face clearly showed she didn’t know how to react. Dan Haera seemed completely at a loss, a tangle of guilt and confusion. After hesitating for quite a while, she asked,

“...You’re really not angry?”

“Well, it’s obvious you weren’t listening to a word I said.”

“No, but... I...”

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about it a bit too.”

Gio asked seriously.

“Is this something that deserves punishment?”

“...Pardon?”

“I mean, I’m an adult, and you’re all adults too—so is it really appropriate for me to scold you ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ as your ‘teacher’ at this point? Back then, you were adults too. Strictly speaking, I’m not even your teacher anymore...”

“...I’m sorry.”

“......”

“...I-I was wrong...”

Haera dropped to her knees and clutched Gio’s leg. Her hands were trembling.

“I was wrong, Teacher...”

“......”

And just like that, the whole scene turned into a documentary.

...My big mouth...

He should’ve teased her more gently.

At the peak of that thrilling dopamine rush came a crashing weight, and Gio’s gaze blurred. He hated these heavy, serious vibes. He wanted to suggest, “Why don’t we just agree we both messed up and move on?”—the words rose to his throat, but he barely held them back.

Gio tried to peel off the student clinging to his leg like a cicada.

“......”

“......”

No, my dear student.

“Please don’t do this.”

I’m the one who messed up.

Gio coaxed and calmed her, managing to defend the fate of his pants. He wanted to live life like a comedy, but the people around him just wouldn’t let him. Feeling unjustly burdened, he grew more and more exhausted as he poured a fresh cup of tea.

Gio offered the tea once more.

“Drink this and get your head straight.”

Dan Haera drank in silence. She’d been following all his suggestions—or orders—without a word since earlier. A moment ago, it had been funny, but now it was just draining. Why couldn’t life just be a comedy sketch?

After a pause, Gio crossed his arms.

“...Well, then...”

“...Yes.”

“Shall we hear your real thoughts now?”

Giovanni smiled gently as he looked at Dan Haera, steeped in guilt.

“I’ve always been good at listening to people’s stories.”

Dan Haera stared blankly at him, then slightly parted her lips.

“...Is this... confession?”

“If you think of it that dramatically, that’s a problem, Sister.”

“So this is why ‘Hunter Sergio’ is so popular... I see now.”

“Well, I doubt that’s the only reason, but—goodness, even that gets reported to you?”

“You’re one of our primary observation subjects, for various reasons...”

Dan Haera wiped her face.

“......”

After a long silence, she finally spoke.

“...To be honest, I thought offering up emotions and memories wouldn’t be a big deal.”

“Wouldn’t be a big deal?”

“Yes. There were many cases of memories being erased and later restored. Thinking of that, I assumed there would be little to no side effects.”

“I see.”

“But I was wrong. I misunderstood.”

Once she started, her words flowed gently and steadily.

“Emotions and memories made for a rather convenient price. Honestly, offering them didn’t even feel like a loss. I only felt the emotions I wanted to, and I only kept the memories I wanted to keep.”

That was what backfired.

“Even when those things came back to me, it was the same. I made new ‘Promises’ using them, and even if the corresponding emotions and memories lingered for a short while... it wasn’t a big problem. Just a momentary discomfort or irritation.”

Dan Haera let out a hollow laugh.

“I didn’t realize. Without emotions, I had no immunity. Without memories, I had no experience. And all of that slowly ate away at me. But I treated it like some cliché, obvious truth—pretended not to know and just lived that way.”

“Humans are easily seduced by convenience.”

“I had no real possessions, but I had power, and I had authority, so I thought I could never lose anything. I just kept repeating what I’d learned. I interpreted the future through data my past self had left behind, and in the end, I became arrogant.”

“Arrogance, too, is a sin humans easily fall into.”

“But I didn’t realize it was arrogance. I just... I thought that was what I had. That it was who I was. That I, as a person, had power and authority—and so I had to act accordingly, had to behave a certain way.”

Because she approached everything rationally, lacking emotion, she didn’t recognize it as arrogance. Because she had no memory, she didn’t know what sins she had committed—and so, she became a presumptuous person.

“What I have now... all of it was given to me by you, Teacher.”

And yet, she’d forgotten that fundamental truth just to make her life easier.

“...I didn’t know there were ranks to emotion and memory. I guess it’s because I tried to understand the world only through numbers and data. So as the emotions began to pile up... as the memories returned, I think I became very, very confused.”

Feelings so unpleasant they made her want to tear them out surged up. Still, she endured. She had to let that “price” accumulate—so that someday, the President of the Association could build a new system just the way she wanted.

But as time passed, and she recalled Sergio, she just... couldn’t bring herself to erase it. That time, that existence—it was too precious. The very idea of forgetting it again was unbearable.

How insane had they been when they made the Promise of Eternity?

“...I don’t know anymore. It’s too complicated...”

“How about just saying whatever comes to mind right now?” 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

“...I missed you.”

“That’s good. I missed you too.”

“I wanted to say... I-I’m sorry... to you, Teacher.”

“That’s good too.”

“If I could go back to before the Great Catastrophe, I wouldn’t... have done that. I...”

“Right. You regret it.”

“......”

“There’s more, isn’t there?”

After hesitating, Dan Haera continued.

“...Maybe... I could’ve done better.”

“That’s possible.”

“If we had really succeeded in making you into a god, how wonderful would that have been? If we had just hidden you somewhere safer... You could have become Earth’s new god.”

“And I still would’ve loved you all.”

“Wouldn’t that have been a utopia? A world where kind people are praised, evil is punished, resources are abundant... where everyone is loved under a merciful god.”

“With the way the Catastrophe hardened people’s hearts, they must have desired such a life all the more.”

“I still want it. I still wonder if maybe we could try again. Then maybe we could govern Earth peacefully. It would be the most beautiful world imaginable... don’t you think it’s possible?”

With eyes no longer human, Dan Haera looked at her teacher.

“That would be perfect. You’re such a wonderful teacher, so even as a complete god, you’d still be able to teach foolish humans well. The works you paint are so beautiful. If everyone were held inside those beautiful pictures, they would grow wise. All of creation could be happy.”

It was an obsession with utopia.

“Earth is still unstable. All the more so without a system. So we gave up on offering equal kindness to everyone and decided to end as many karmic debts as we could in this era. That’s why we built the Association’s research lab. Jeong Hae-Woon mistreated the gardeners. Seo Seo-Hee allowed everything but the bare minimum of safety to be neglected.”

“......”

“I won’t make excuses. We’re definitely villains. Especially me. But even so, is it really impossible to hope for a utopia? Strangely, I still calculate that it’s possible. I want a safer Earth. A more perfect world...”

“......”

“...So...”

Clutching her hands together, Dan Haera spoke in a blank, ghostly voice.

“...why don’t you just kill me...?”

She was crying.

“I-I know... I know this isn’t how it’s supposed to be. You taught us that, Teacher. I know the value of kindness. I know the consequences of evil. And yet I turned out like this. Life no longer feels precious. Sacrifice doesn’t feel tragic...”

Her voice shook terribly.

“How can someone who treats even themselves as a tool treat others as people? I don’t see them that way to begin with. The things that break apart without a trace from a mere gesture or word... I don’t see them as human. I’m a bad person. I am.”

Her appearance still resembled a vibrant youth, but inside, that wasn’t the case.

While she had been called a Symbol of Eternity, something monstrous had grown within her—an obsession with utopia. Even now, standing before Sergio Teacher, she still wanted to turn him into a system, into Earth’s teacher, into a new god.

It had taken just a little over thirty years for her to become something no longer human.

“I’m not saying this because I think I deserve to die for being a villain. It’s all because of you, Teacher. I just... don’t want to be hated by you anymore.”

“......”

“So, Teacher, isn’t it right for me to die here and now? Shouldn’t my life be in your hands? Because I... I’m no longer the student you remember...”

“And what of it?”

Gio, who had been listening, asked.

“Aren’t you still Haera?”

“...I must be different.”

“Right, you are. No doubt about that.”

“But still...”

“Don’t run away.”

The teacher looked at his student with black eyes.

“This version of you is still you, isn’t it?”

“......”

Dan Haera couldn’t tell what those eyes held.

Was it anger? A lack of emotion? Disgust? Or affection, compassion, love?

She couldn’t interpret it. It could be none of those, or all of them.

But it had the power to pull her gaze and steps toward it.

“At this point, I guess I should tell my side of the story too.”

“...If you’d be willing, I’ll listen.”

“No need to be so stiff.”

Sergio shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s kind of overwhelming.”

It was nothing special.

***

Time rolls back to just before Sergio became a bona fide god.