The Artist Who Paints Dungeon-Chapter 206
Everyone called Giovanni special.
“......”
And perhaps, that was an undeniable truth.
Giovanni had been born bathed in sunlight, even in a dark room with no windows. On cold winter days, he slept in a bed where no sun could reach, yet still grew under its warmth. Even ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ as an infant, with no clarity of mind, he performed countless small and great miracles — as if it were only natural.
A son touched by the sun. A healing force imbued with sunlight. Words and glances that brought warmth even in winter. People saw these things and made Giovanni a god, a saint, a hero.
“...Gi-Gio.”
“Shouldn’t someone go say something?”
“If we leave him like that...”
So Giovanni had always been special.
“Gio.”
“......”
“Hunter Sergio.”
“......”
“...Do you need to recover?”
“No.”
Only those children made him human. Just as he had loved his past life, he loved that quiet daily life with the same weight in his heart.
“I’m fine.”
They might have seen him as a revered teacher, a cherished savior — but Giovanni, too, had drawn endless joy and peace from his students. He had received just as much grace in return.
“I know the way.”
“Hunter Sergio...?”
“I can hear the heartbeat.”
Giovanni was capable of great love — but also of resentment. He hated those who hurt him. He hated the villagers who had separated him from his students. He hated the world that had forced such things to happen.
Only love strong enough to surpass that hatred had ever lifted Giovanni back up. That alone.
“This way.”
He went down.
The temple was filled with seawater, but it wasn’t cold. With familiar bare feet, he descended the steps, heading deeper.
Though he had never visited this place in life, Giovanni had lingered here in death.
“Is... is it really okay to go in?”
“Hunter Seo doesn’t seem in his right mind...”
“But maybe he really found a clue.”
“Well, still... he’s not looking well.”
He led the others, and eventually, they reached the lowest floor.
“......”
“...What is that?”
“That’s...”
It was a giant flowerpot.
“What is that thing?”
“Looks like it’s used to hold something...”
“That’s more like a basin, isn’t it?”
“Nice decorations.”
“No, look at what’s inside.”
It was molten gold.
“Doesn’t it feel kind of like that golden tree from before?”
“I don’t think you can compare it to that. This has a kind of, uh... purity to it...”
“At least it’s not the grotesque kind of thing that tree was, overflowing with crammed-in suns.”
“...But it’s warm all the same.”
“It looks divine.”
It was the liquefied remains of Giovanni.
“......”
“...W-wait.”
“There’s something in there...”
Before anyone else could approach, he stepped toward the flowerpot. But even from a distance, some with sharp eyes began to see something faint within the enormous crystal-carved basin.
“There’s... someone in there?”
A few perceptive ones turned to Gio.
“...It’s hard to tell clearly, but...”
“...Doesn’t that person look like Hunter Sergio?”
“What the hell is going on...?”
It didn’t matter.
In the end, Giovanni had shaken free of the small pieces trying to hold him down, saying his time was up. Those fragments must’ve been thorns even for the mermaids, breathing like the living sea.
Giovanni felt flowers blooming beneath a sea that had finally cleared of storm clouds.
He gazed at the transparent form — a Giovanni made of water — and murmured,
“...So you tried more than once.”
Aria had said she’d tried many times to revive Giovanni, but they had all failed. Was this one of those remnants? Or a new attempt made after they reunited on Earth?
The mermaids of his sea were blindly devoted in many ways.
“So heavy.”
Fwuump—
Giovanni stuck the golden branch into the shell of himself, a body of water that couldn’t even breathe.
“So heavy...”
The mermaids had sculpted their heart in the image of their teacher.
It would be yet another shackle that followed Giovanni for the rest of his life.
***
“......”
On the sea’s surface.
“......”
Flowers.
White petals. Pale yellow buds. Bashful pinks. Lively, sprouting greens. Their delicate, translucent petals bloomed.
Fragile lives blossomed in countless numbers.
“......”
In hindsight, mermaids born of the sea had longed for such a sight.
“...It’s beautiful.”
It felt like her sea had turned to land.
“In the days when I knew nothing, I used to dream of a sea like this.”
“With your power, couldn’t you have made something like this easily?”
“It’s not the same. I...”
Things like this meant nothing without humans to share it with.
“...Hah...”
Childish, wasn’t it?
I can’t believe I still thought like this.
Once, she had dreamed of a world where sea and sky, deep-sea mermaids and land-dwelling humans, coexisted.
Not out of some touching sense of nobility like her brother — just because it looked cooler, more powerful that way.
...My piece broke.
Giovanni had cast off that piece of dream and returned to Earth. Aria, who had planted a part of herself into that dream, was shaken. And now that her heart had been ripped out, she had no reason to keep living.
She went limp, floating atop the surface. She felt like one of those jellyfish she’d seen in Earth’s ocean.
“Hey... isn’t it beautiful?”
Aria looked up at the sky.
The storm clouds were clearing.
“The sun is rising, the sea has become a flower garden, the sky is clear...”
“Are you really dying right now?”
“Of course. The dungeon’s core is gone. What more can I do?”
“So what do you gain from all this?”
“Maybe... hope?”
Too good for a sinner like her, but she had stolen it anyway.
While the human she loved was no longer human, would live for an unbearably long time, she clung to the tender hope that he’d never forget them.
After all, the scar we left is that deep.
And with this, the mermaids’ story came to an end. They would follow their teacher to hell.
“......”
After the chill of dawn, sunlight stretched across the clear sky.
“...This really is the end...”
It had been too long.
Too long, teacher.
***
“Chaii-I-Soooool—!!”
“Ruuuda-aaaahhh—!!!”
The children embraced each other, bawling, while the adults smiled warmly at the scene.
So cute.
I used to be like that with my partner too.
Such a good bond...
Even though they’d both held their own and acted mature in this crisis, they were still young. Talented as they were, even the Sun Church’s pride was still just a child. It was a touching sight.
Whether it was sorrow turning to rage or relief crashing down, Ruda shook Cha I-Sol by the collar before collapsing. Cha I-Sol panicked and caught her — a scene worthy of a classic tragedy painting.
“What happened?! Didn’t you eat?! I told you never to skip breakfast...!!”
“You... you were kidnapped... how was I supposed to eat alone...”
“Even if I died, the living still have to live!!”
“No one... is going to... kill you... stop talking nonsense...”
A hunter from the Eunwol faction chuckled awkwardly.
“Using the power of the sun like that... it must’ve taken a toll.”
“Well, Ruda’s contracted god isn’t even a sun deity, technically.”
“She borrowed that power forcibly. No wonder she’s exhausted.”
Creating a flower field in the sea was no small feat.
It required not just plant-type hunters to grow the flora, but fire-type hunters to melt the frozen ocean, water-type hunters to handle the saltwater and ice, and even a priest of the sun to stabilize the growth.
And since the mermaids had already dominated the sky, even Ruda, a mere apprentice priest, couldn’t afford to sit idle. Among the remaining priests, she had pushed herself to mimic the sun’s power — probably to her limit.
“Though, frankly, that wasn’t apprentice level at all.”
“She’s preparing for early ordination, isn’t she? Clearly a prodigy.”
Until they officially contract with a divine power, apprentice priests borrow the sun’s energy under supervision. The initiation ceremony is both a plea for mercy and a formal pact. They stay at the temple and learn how to channel divine power.
Considering how many full priests still operate the same way without ever forming a proper contract, it was clear how much Ruda had accomplished in her role as just an apprentice.
“......”
“......”
“...Haha!”
“You’re laughing now?”
Cha I-Sol and Ruda weren’t the only ones reunited in tears.
“...I—I’m Gio... my heart really fell out...”
“Why are you crying now? With how loud you are, it might as well be blood tears.”
“You’re the one making me cry. I’m not someone who cries easily. You’re something else, you know that?”
“I feel so proud to have given Yoo Seong-Woon such a rare emotional experience. What better friend could there be?”
“You are a good friend, sure, but is this really the time to say that...?”
“Of course, I also feel very sorry. I was wrong.”
“You’re gonna see me at home.”
“Now that you mention it, Joo-Hyun probably won’t go easy on me either...”
Gio briefly clicked his tongue, having foolishly hoped that maybe she’d let it slide since he hadn’t done nothing praiseworthy. He’d stayed put even when he could’ve broken free at any time.
But thanks to that, he’d properly said goodbye to his students — no regrets.
That’s just how I am.
As sorry as he felt, Gio was not the type to regret his own decisions.
“If Yoo Seong-Woon takes charge of cleanup, I’ll help out.”
“Nope. Just go back to the gallery and rest. Don’t come out. Don’t go anywhere. Don’t use your powers. Don’t interact with people...”
“What are you trying to make me into? A social outcast?”
“Just wondering... are you planning to isolate yourself from society again?”
“Do you want to seal me in a can or something?”
“You already were. A few more years in the can won’t change much. I just want you to live safely and peacefully inside the Collector’s space, away from everyone’s gaze.”
“People are already side-eyeing you for supposedly locking up Hunter Sergio until he was 29. You should stop talking before you make it worse.”
Maybe he was just trying to reinforce the cover story — or maybe he was just mentally exhausted and rambling. Either way, Gio decided to calm Yoo Seong-Woon down.
“You must’ve been really worried about me. But look — I’m back alive and well. I’m not even seriously hurt like last time. If anything, I feel stronger, thanks to siphoning power off those mermaids.”
“I figured you’d say that. Your positivity is unreal.”
“Oh, definitely.”
Even a kidnapping couldn’t dent Gio’s ultimate optimism.
This part might upset him...
Mustering what little social tact he had, Gio continued.
“I truly am sorry for making you worry. I have no excuse.”
“So next time, even if people are taken hostage, you’ll just ignore it and stay put?”
“I never promised that.”
“Firm, aren’t you. Do you want to see me crying blood?”
“Still, if someone’s in danger, shouldn’t I help them?”
“I do love that idealistic altruism of yours, but with you, it’s just too much.”
Yoo Seong-Woon said with sincere greed,
“I wish you’d tone it down... by like, ninety-four percent.”
“Why don’t you just say you want me sealed in the gallery?”
“I really do want that.”
“No.”
“Please.”
“No.”
Sanarae watched the two bicker with a face full of resignation.
They know how weird they sound, right?
The more they talked, the worse it made Bisa Beul and Yoo Seong-Woon look. Sanarae averted his gaze, pretending not to notice — only to lock eyes with Kang Seodam.
“......”
“...Haha. It ended well, didn’t it?”
“...Yes, thankfully.”
But something in Kang Seodam’s eyes showed suspicion.
...I’m sure he was awake.
Back when he fought Iser and resisted the golden tree’s illusion — Kang Seodam clearly remembered Sanarae jumping up the moment the noise hit. Way too fast to have just woken up.
Not like I can question him.
And even if he did, it’s not like that man would answer honestly. He’d just weasel his way out with some excuse.
Kang Seodam quietly let it go. He would shoulder the burden himself. After all, the Goddess of the Sun was with him — so it wasn’t a secret anymore.
“Gio, just one year, please? Just one year...!”
“You’re being a creep, Yoo Seong-Woon.”
“If you just stay in the Collector’s space for one year, I’ll treat you even better!”
“No.”
“Just once!”
“No.”
Finding comfort in this childish argument was almost funny to him.
“......”
Kang Seodam stared at the sea, littered with floating ice, then looked up at the sun in the sky.
The power swallowed by the Sea of Hatred is being released
Dungeon: Nation of the Deep Sea — cleared
Please confirm your reward
“...It’s over.”
It was time for everything to return to where it belonged.
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