The Artist Who Paints Dungeon-Chapter 131

Some orphanages supported by the government and associations are considered public institutions, and the man was from one of them.

"Joo Hyun-ah."

"Yes, Director."

According to the orphanage's rules, his name was simply Joo Hyun, with no surname.

"If you have some time, could you run an errand for the association?"

"I will. What should I deliver this time?"

"It's the list of the new kids coming in. Please have it reviewed."

He was born four years before the Great Disaster.

In other words, he was around four years old when the Great Disaster happened. The child, who had even lost his name, was intelligent and diligent, receiving much love from the adults and surviving under their care. The reason he could stay at the orphanage was because of this.

"Understood. I’ll be back soon."

"You’re such a good kid, Joo Hyun."

"That's what I should do."

Orphanages affiliated with the association generally selected children who were smart, healthy, and hardworking. The kids raised here would either become hunters after awakening and go independent or have the opportunity to be employed by the association.

Joo Hyun was one of those children, but unlike the other orphans who lived as life took them, he had ambitions.

"You’ve said you want to go to the association's research center, right?"

"Yes, even if I awaken, I prefer the research center."

He wanted to create a better world. He wanted to prevent as many tragedies as possible.

"You could help the hunters, after all."

Having experienced the Great Disaster firsthand, he had seen the world’s misery. He had witnessed how low humanity could fall.

In that situation, Joo Hyun was relatively fortunate. He hoped to share the good fortune he had with others so that the same tragedy wouldn’t repeat itself.

"You’re admirable, Joo Hyun."

"Thank you."

"The research center is always short on staff, so you should be able to get a job there."

"I hope so."

If he could share what he had, there was no reason not to.

"I want to help."

That was Joo Hyun's thought.

Though it might be embarrassing to say, it was his own belief. If he could help, he would, and if he could join others, he would.

With that sense ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) of duty, the man did not forget to support the orphanage that raised him even after he joined the association.

"You must be busy making a living, but thank you always."

"It’s thanks to you, Director."

"That's my job, though..."

"I know it must have been tough taking care of us."

Joo Hyun was biracial, and his skin was dark. The orphanage he stayed at, 'Other Orphanage,' was a place where many children of foreign descent gathered.

"Nowadays, most people don’t care about skin color or anything, but there were tough times back then."

"It was right after the Great Disaster, so people were very sensitive."

"I know, they were saying it was hard enough to take care of Korean children, so why bother with foreigners? I remember."

"Joo Hyun, that..."

"I know I’m Korean. I was born here. It was just a sensitive time, as you said."

However, because all records, including nationality, were wiped out, people were highly suspicious and condescending if someone looked even slightly different from a typical Asian.

The Great Disaster was a time like that.

"I understand, but the atmosphere from back then still lingers... our orphanage still doesn’t get much support."

"It's my fault. By the way, do you feel like the association people are looking down on you?" freёnovelkiss.com

"I can’t deny it. But it’s fine. You know me. I'm smart and capable, so if I handle myself well, I’ll settle in quickly."

Those who joined the association through the orphanage were often treated differently, and Joo Hyun’s orphanage, in particular, was looked down upon. Promotions were slow.

Naturally, he couldn’t participate in proper projects. A researcher who hadn’t been promoted was essentially no different from a gofer.

Despite this, Joo Hyun won the hearts of his colleagues with his diligence and hidden cleverness, showcasing his talent to gain the attention of the higher-ups.

"Why are you working so hard?"

"It’s something I can do, so there’s no reason not to."

"You’re diligent. I hope you’ll stay with us for a long time."

Some people liked him, while others worried or mocked him.

"People who work that hard usually burn out quickly."

"Thank you for the advice."

He accepted the truth and swallowed it.

Joo Hyun was not an entirely virtuous person. But his goal was to make the world a better place, and he cleverly found ways to contribute to that.

"I set such a big goal..."

To not get too exhausted, he took it step by step.

"One thing at a time."

He didn’t rush. He didn’t desire honor. But he had confidence.

He was particularly intelligent among the research team and learned quickly. Although not an awakened one, he was healthier than average due to constant care.

Joo Hyun also participated in numerous volunteer activities.

"From the association?"

"Are they looking for test subjects or something?"

"Who do you think you are to help?"

People in the outskirts, or those who needed help, were usually highly suspicious. Despite this, Joo Hyun continued to interact with them, gradually gaining their trust. After some time, they softened.

"Thanks for the treatment last time."

"I heard the kid over there is sick..."

"Any more food? You know, it's winter."

Some of them were genuinely grateful, while others treated Joo Hyun as if he were a hen that laid eggs. Though some were rude, Joo Hyun didn't get swayed and kept up his diligent service.

"...You’re busy."

But even that felt good.

He participated in the association’s research, studied in his spare time, and volunteered. Rude people existed everywhere, and there were bound to be frustrating moments. But it was still good.

"Once I gain more experience, maybe I can become a team leader. If I become the head of a research team, I’ll have the time and resources to conduct my own research. Then I can study dungeons or monsters."

It was during this busy time.

"...Huh?"

"Ahhhhhhh!!"

"What, what’s happening?"

Someone ran out and grabbed Joo Hyun’s ankle.

"Please, please help me! I was wrong! I’ll never do it again!!"

"Wait a minute..."

"Fuck, let me go! I don’t want to die! Not like this!!!"

"Ugh...!!"

The research staff murmured, and before long, the security team arrived. No, had they been chasing the man from the start? They immediately subdued him.

Still holding Joo Hyun’s aching ankle, the researcher who followed apologized.

"Oh no, is your ankle okay? It’s not broken, is it?"

"Huh? Ah, no... I think I’ll need some treatment."

"It’s our fault. The association will treat you, but aside from that, we’ll compensate you."

"What about that person earlier?"

"Huh?"

The researcher looked at Joo Hyun’s face and tilted his head.

"Ah, you haven’t participated in a real project yet, right?"

"Does that have anything to do with it?"

"He’s a responder, a responder. He ran away because he didn’t want to do his job."

"A responder..."

Joo Hyun had an idea.

"You mean the people who help with the experiments?"

"To put it another way, just test subjects."

"..."

"Seems like he couldn’t adjust well."

The researcher chuckled.

"Probably, but it’s nothing serious."

"...I heard that responders get proper treatment and compensation."

"That’s divided by rank. You don’t know yet, but that person is more like a test rat."

"I clearly heard him begging for his life."

"He must have been scared because he’s about to enter the red room after the hourglass. I should’ve managed it better, but I was surprised by how strong he was."

"...The hourglass? The red room?"

"Since you’ll be working with us soon, let me tell you in advance."

Up until now, the efforts seemed to be rewarded with some benefits, but Joo Hyun felt his heart pounding and cold sweat running, with no time to feel grateful. He would soon witness what the researcher mentioned—the ‘hourglass’ and the ‘red room.’

"Those are monsters that consume people’s time. It looks like a fancy hourglass, but if it doesn’t consume someone’s time once a week, the decorations become plain. When that happens, anomalies occur... you’ll learn about it later."

"..."

"You know the room attached on the opposite side, right? You’ve probably passed by it a few times when running errands. That’s because it’s strategically placed. The monster living inside is a deep red jewel, and it has to drink the blood of the elderly and infants to be satisfied."

It was hard to understand.

"...What do you mean by eating time, then?"

"In today’s world, it’s hard to find infants or old people to take. So, we just make one old and put them in there."

"...Then both the hourglass monster and the red room monster will be satisfied, right?"

"You understand well. I think you’ll adjust just fine, Joo Hyun. I’m grateful."

"Ha ha..."

In short, they were offering sacrifices for the monsters.

"Is this really okay? Is there no problem with this?"

"The responder just deployed is a level 5 citizen."

The researcher added knowingly.

"Don’t worry too much."

He was a murderer who had killed dozens of people. The researcher patted Joo Hyun’s shoulder a couple of times and left.

Joo Hyun wandered through the endless rooms filled with monsters, talking to researchers and occasionally seeing which rooms they entered.

Even in the crowd, he felt like he was alone.

"..."

Joo Hyun quickly came to his senses and focused on what he had to do.

He fulfilled his duties, volunteered, and even made difficult requests to speak with the association president. But nothing improved. Everything was the same. The same routine.

His family at the orphanage, his friends on the street, asked him:

"You look really tired lately."

Joo Hyun was comforted by them.

"The things happening at the research center... aren’t as noble as I thought."

"If the association was the only noble thing, that would be amazing."

"Yeah, you’re right."

He cleared his mind.

"Thanks for listening to me."

With family and friends, he could rise again.

‘I endured the Great Disaster. I can endure this, and I need to find a better path.’

So, he kept trying to do more. With his newfound authority, Joo Hyun even used himself as a test subject to show results.

But all he saw was the same tragic cycle that he hated so much.

"..."

"You’ve overdone it. I’ll give you a month of rest and recovery leave."

"...But..."

"I know what you want, but in your current state, you won’t even be able to complete your tasks properly."

"...Understood."

After the conversation from the previous day, it seemed that the association president had personally recommended it after noticing Joo Hyun’s exhaustion.

Joo Hyun was about to stubbornly resist but quickly realized his mind and body were in disarray, so he accepted it. He didn’t want to stubbornly insist without a plan.

"I’ll rest for a bit."

But that was not how it was meant to be.

"..."

When he came back after recovering a little, his hometown was burning.

Some of his friends on the street were missing, and things were chaotic. Joo Hyun, still processing his confusion, ran around trying to assess the situation.

"Huh?"

Then he soon realized that the cause was linked to him.

"Because of me?"

"Some people who had complaints about you must have caused trouble."

"Complaints? What do you mean..."

"They were around here?"

Even people from his hometown, who he thought were close, some of his friends from the street, and some researchers at the lab who he thought were competent, hated Joo Hyun.

He wasn’t entirely oblivious to these feelings. Jealousy, disgust, or differences in ideology led to conflicts. He had been careful about it, but in the end, trouble had started.

"Actually, I didn’t think very highly of you either."

"..."

"You act like you're perfect, don’t you?"

That stung.

"...Ha ha."

It sounded terrible.

Why hadn’t he heard of this earlier? It seemed that the research team leader who had been in charge of Joo Hyun had tried to suppress his energy, thinking he had strange ideas. "You can’t work with someone who has such weird thoughts," they said.

Had he stood out that much? Well, maybe not.

‘I thought I was careful.’

He had tried to understand his colleagues’ thoughts as best he could. He’d agreed with them at times. He had also made suggestions. Probably, those small things built up, leading to this absurd “reporting ceremony.”

But his family, his friends, weren’t level 5 citizens. They were “innocent citizens.” Even in a world where human rights were hard to come by, this was absurd.

‘Why didn’t anyone try to stop it? Why is it just me who’s suffering?’

Someone said:

"Just accept it. If things keep going this way, you might end up becoming a responder too."

"Can that really happen?"

"When there’s a shortage of staff, researchers get deployed as responders."

"I’ve heard about the research center’s shortage every time."

"Besides, you’ve already played the role of a test subject."

"Does that become an issue?"

"I’m not sure, but it can be used as a justification."

"...Understood."

Someone else was angry.

"Fuck, I knew this would happen. That’s why you shouldn’t trust those association bastards!"

"No, I..."

"You killed my friends! You took them as test subjects, didn’t you?"

"...That’s not it..."

"Fucking hypocrite. Pretend to be nice and then stab us in the back, huh? You disgust me..."

"..."

He was tired.

"..."

It would’ve been fine if he was just tired, but he was angry. It didn’t make sense, but it was hard to think rationally with this tired rage.

He was angry enough to burn all this frustration.

‘...I guess this can happen.’

Humans are fickle and self-centered, so this kind of thing could happen. One of the traits of humanity was ingratitude. People forget what they’ve received quickly and become sensitive to any perceived loss.

He knew all this when he started. He had been hurt countless times by these parts of humanity. But he wanted to make a better world, not see the same tragedies again. That was his belief, and he lived with a smile.

‘It could happen.’

But then, suddenly, he thought—he was human too.

"...So..."

When he came to his senses, he realized he was holding the mark of the evil god.

He had created the mark of one of the evil gods, Sancalut.

"...This could happen."

He hadn’t used it yet.

Sancalut was an evil god of blood and honor. It was said that if you sacrificed the blood of a newborn or an elderly person, your wish would be granted, and the souls of the dead would be sent to paradise.

But the reason he hadn’t invoked the evil god yet wasn’t because he was kind or intended to endure it again. He just hadn’t thought about whom to kill or what wish to make.

‘...I’m not even wishing for anything, and yet I’m thinking about getting angry. I don’t understand. Was I always this foolish?’

He felt empty.

"...If someone has to die, it might as well be me."

He felt like a puppet, tied to a thin thread, no longer in control.

He had been granted the authority to approach the monster that devoured time, the "hourglass," but considering everything that had happened, he wasn’t sure if he still had that right.

"At least, I can summon the evil god."

That was enough.

"As for my wish... hmm."

What should he wish for?

‘Should I ask to bring back my deceased family?’

Joo Hyun walked silently into the orphanage that had been reduced to ruins by the fire.

The bodies had all been recovered, but the abandoned buildings in the remote areas hadn’t even been demolished. Joo Hyun silently walked into the room of the children that hadn’t burned completely. There were traces of the children left in the least damaged room.

"...This..."

There was even an unidentifiable picture that had miraculously not burned.

"Did they draw the Black Cloak?"

It had been quite famous.

‘Children talking or drawing about the Black Cloak are not rare.’

Staring at the picture with lifeless eyes, Joo Hyun eventually dropped it, hearing it hit the floor with a dull sound.

He collapsed on a bed, still smelling like smoke. As he looked at the evil god's mark he had created, he thought.

"..."

"..."

"Interesting."

A wicked admiration.

He realized someone was at the entrance of the room.

"It's a jewel that smells of blood and wealth, isn't it?"

"...What..."

"If you give it to me, I can give you a more beautiful and valuable gem."

"Where are you...?"

"Hey, sir. Want me to guess what you're thinking?"

A man in a black suit was leaning against a gilded frame.

"Aren’t you hungry?"

"...Huh?"

It was an utterly unexpected remark.