The Artist Who Paints Dungeon-Chapter 324
If I were to make an excuse—
“...I’m not perfect.”
In several ways, really.
Which, of course.
Nothing in this world is perfect.
Gio was no different.
Contrary to what his students thought, he was full of holes.
He was thoughtless, his contemplation shallow, and he made a lot of mistakes.
His liking for kind people aside, he wasn’t especially kind himself.
And that wasn’t all.
“I try not to change, but it’s not always possible.”
They say humans are creatures of adaptation.
Adaptation meant change.
Gio was the same.
More than anything, he was currently being aided by multiple versions of “Gio.”
There were gaps and tangled threads all over.
Especially this time’s helper, “Zeorge,” was quite something.
“So what I’m trying to say is...”
“......”
“I’m just an ordinary person.”
To that, Cha Eun-Hye let out a faint laugh.
“Even after you became a portrait?”
“I didn’t know that could happen either, but turns out people can become portraits while living.”
“Everything you do is always tied to some grand objective.”
“Even if I didn’t intend it to be.”
He meant it.
In every situation that came at him, he lived the way he wanted.
Every time, he made choices he wouldn’t regret.
That was all.
The grand conspiracies Cha Eun-Hye imagined didn’t exist.
But it seemed she found Gio’s words hard to believe.
“...Let’s just say I accept that for now.”
“You don’t believe me at all.”
“Jeong Hae-Woon recalled part of his memory—how much did you influence that?”
“So I am getting scolded, huh?”
“I didn’t mean it like that.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Is that... something to do with our ‘Promise’?”
“One thing’s for sure—one of my friends pulled a prank.”
The prime suspect, of course, was “Zeorge.”
Gio hadn’t fully merged with him yet.
Current assimilation rate: ???%.
No matter how he looked at it, that was nonsense.
What a rotten little trickster.
“What is it exactly you want to hear from me?”
“First of all, I’m curious what made you decide to live with Jeong Hae-Woon.”
“You do know it was Hae-Woon who suggested it first, right?”
“Which means you had a reason to guide things to that point.”
“This is so unfair, Eun-Hye... I can’t live like this.”
He’d accepted it on a whim—what was he supposed to say?
He didn’t want to be scolded by his student, so he tried wracking his brain, but nothing plausible came up.
It was truly a miserable thing.
“I’m guessing this interrogation is because Hae-Woon remembered something?”
“You say you forgot, and now I don’t even know how to start talking.
But yes, we believe he recalled the past through a dream.
It caused a temporary system error that then recovered.”
“And I was the one who did that recovery?”
“To be honest, there’s no one besides you who could restore the system.
Even Haera wouldn’t be able to do that.”
“Ah, now that you mention it, I’ve had a thought.”
Gio pointed to himself.
“Could it be... that I am the system?”
“......”
Cha Eun-Hye covered her face with both hands.
“You’re not crying, are you, Eun-Hye?”
“I want to cry...”
“There, there. But don’t cry for real.”
“This kind of thing is what makes me cry.”
“Your voice sounds perfectly fine though—you’re not crying yet.”
“Can’t we have conversations like this in a more fitting atmosphere?”
“I don’t get why this of all things needs some kind of ambience.”
Gio nodded.
“Something about it did feel off.”
“What part of it?”
“That my system seemed completely different from others.
It acted like it had a will of its own, so I started to wonder.
Is there a person in here, or is it just AI?”
“That alone wouldn’t be enough, though.”
“There was also the fact that the world inside the portrait suited me too well.
The various plants and animals there were totally my type.
Sure, I painted the hut, but I never painted the rest...”
“So you assumed you must have painted the rest too?”
“Who else could’ve drawn that stuff?
There were other signs too.
This system was especially good at playing along with me.
It felt... unusually intimate.”
Anyway, to sum it up:
“I didn’t die in that fire.
I survived and spent time with you.
Then I got badly hurt, maybe died, in some tragic accident.
And you turned me into a system?”
“......”
“Why are you scared?”
Gio tilted his head at Cha Eun-Hye’s pale face.
“I’m not angry, but you’re acting like a student waiting to get scolded.”
“...I thought you’d be angry.”
“Even after seeing how I’m reacting now?”
“You got the gist of it right, but the details...
You still don’t remember those.
You haven’t recalled the actual events of that day.”
“Do you think something would change if I did remember?”
“Probably.”
Cha Eun-Hye let out a small sigh and smiled.
“I mean...
Seeing you show no resentment over being turned into the system does put me at ease.
You’ve always been like that.
Unbothered by most things.
You made life look fun.”
“I’m glad you seem to know the real me so well.
But if you knew that, why did you think I must be plotting something big?
I don’t get it.”
“Well, I still think those are kind of two separate things...”
Cha Eun-Hye gave an awkward smile and looked up at Gio.
“To be honest, even if you’re not angry...
It’s still a problem.”
“You mean if you all remember?”
“Of course.
Even when we made the system that day, we were confused too.”
“Hmm...
Well, I promise I won’t get mad.”
“...That’s at least a relief.”
Even as she said that, Cha Eun-Hye didn’t relax.
Anger and disappointment were different.
Their teacher might still end up disappointed in them.
But she’d already expected that.
That alone wasn’t going to stop her now.
She took a deep breath.
She hadn’t thought she’d be saying these things like this.
“...Let’s go back to the main topic.”
“Oh dear, was I that obvious in changing the subject?”
“I don’t fall for that anymore.
I’ve acted like a kid until now, sure.
But if you think I haven’t changed at all since then, that’s a problem.”
“Well, you are Madam President after all.”
“Ugh, when you say it like that, it creeps me out.”
“But I honestly don’t have many things I can say...”
Just because the truth felt so lacking didn’t mean he could make up lies.
Gio thought deeply.
At this rate, their conversation would last even after all of eternity’s promises had ended.
“You asked what my goal is?”
A goal, huh.
“...Improving welfare for gardeners and hunters?”
“...And?”
“Running a food cart to live romantically?”
“And?”
“Hmm, let’s see.”
Gio’s eyes naturally glowed in vivid colors.
“Eliminating gaming addiction?”
“......”
“Eun-Hye?”
“...Hold on a sec, Teacher.”
Cha Eun-Hye fumbled to put on her sunglasses.
“All right, I’m ready. Go ahead.”
“Am I so handsome it hurts your eyes?”
“I just learned that when someone is too good-looking, it can literally hurt your eyes.
No wonder there were so many stories about the food cart guy whose face no one could remember.”
“That reaction’s too harsh.
You’re breaking my heart.”
“I told you, my eyes hurt.”
He didn’t look all that different from “Sergio.”
So this dizzying voice and brain-melting appearance—those must’ve belonged to this pink portrait.
Thankfully, Cha Eun-Hye had some anti-charm artifacts on her.
Zeorge asked,
“Is that really necessary?”
“If I don’t block it, I won’t be able to focus on what you’re saying.
Like I said, I’m ready now, so go on, Teacher.”
“You’re like a squirrel sometimes, so cute.”
“Oh my god.
I don’t know why you took that form, but please hurry back to the Sergio I know.
You smiling like that with that face—it’s so unfamiliar, it hurts.”
“If you insist, I’ll obey, Madam President... Hmm.”
Gio scratched his chin and tilted his head.
“Even like this, nothing really comes back to me.”
“Oh—was that look meant to help you recall Hae-Woon’s dream?”
“Until I fully merge with him, I can’t really call Zeorge a true ‘Portrait of Gio.’
So if there were any scheming or plotting involved, just blame this pink hair.
Don’t hate me too much... Sound fair?”
“They’re all still my teacher, so what difference does it make...”
“As expected, our Eun-Hye sees right through the core of things.
This teacher is proud of how much you’ve grown.
When did you become so admirable?”
“Stop it.”
“Strangely, everyone gets more cold-hearted when I take this form.”
Gio shrugged.
“Sorry, but like I said earlier, I still can’t recall anything clearly in this form.”
“That thing about... game addicts or whatever—what was that?”
“Oh, that? Well...”
Zeorge ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) hesitated briefly before continuing.
“It just worries me.
People seem too dependent on the system.”
To Zeorge, that felt like something truly boring and sad.
“No matter how helpful a tool is, depending on it entirely...
That’s stupid and pathetic.
I didn’t want my hometown people to end up like that.”
“......”
Cha Eun-Hye brushed her own arm.
“...Why do I suddenly think of that guy, Bisa Beul?”
“Haha, because he’s my dad?
I guess blood really does tell.”
“Don’t lie to me, Teacher.
Your dad in heaven would be so sad.”
“I thought maybe he’d let that one slide?”
“Please, no jokes.
Is that your goal then?”
Cha Eun-Hye asked again, hesitating.
“To delete the system?”
“Of course kids use training wheels.
No one’s good at things from the start.
I get that.”
“And?”
“It’s just my personal wish to see the adults riding bikes without them.”
Then, with a dreamy flush, he added,
“If I could ask for more, I’d want to see them ride unicycles too.”
“What kind of...”
“Thirty years should’ve been enough time to become independent.
Don’t you think so, Miss Eun-Hye?
Isn’t the system a little too overprotective in this world?”
“No.
The system has to exist.”
“Of course, asking someone who’s always used training wheels to suddenly ride a bike alone is cruel.
I’m not that cold-hearted...”
“Then what are you?”
“Too cruel.
Everyone’s so mean to me lately.”
Pretending to be hurt, Zeorge gave a melancholic look, then smiled like a crescent moon.
“That’s just how I see it.”
“...You can’t take the system from the hunters.”
“And you shouldn’t, right?
But have you ever thought about why?”
“But...”
“No, you just pretended not to know.”
Zeorge tilted his head.
And then, his unfamiliar gaze and expression landed on her.
In that moment, Cha Eun-Hye instinctively felt something was wrong.
At some point, this person in front of her had stopped being her teacher.
As if reading her mind, those glittering gem eyes curled gently.
“Why do you think that is?”
He struck right at the heart.
“You cared more about your teacher than Earth’s fate.”
“What...”
“No matter what form he took or where he ended up—
What mattered most was that he remained by your side.”
“...No, I...”
“Ah, such greed...
You couldn’t let him go peacefully.
You turned him into something neither human nor monster.
You shaped his form into a phantom no one could recognize.
Is he even human now?
Does any part of him remain?
How much has he changed?”
“...I...”
“Can you imagine how lonely he must have been?
Well, I wouldn’t know—I’m not ‘Gio’ yet.
But it must have been sad.
Living as an invisible phantom no one could recognize...”
Cruelly brutal words.
“......”
“Cruel, isn’t it?”
That smiling gaze so easily manipulating something small and fragile.
Cha Eun-Hye was certain now.
This wasn’t her teacher.
She’d known that the “Portrait of Gio” had many forms,
But this—this was something else entirely.
Something completely different.
It was full of love, yes,
But it was pure malice.
“...You...”
It was something using her teacher’s body.
“...Give him back to me.”
“Wow... now I’m the villain?
I’m so sad.”
“How did something like you—this evil spirit bastard—!”
“Calling your teacher a spirit?
That really hurts.”
“No one can erase the system!!”
And they shouldn’t.
“He’s my teacher...!!”
“Your teacher is right here.”
“He said he’d always be here...!”
“And so, here I am beside you.”
“Why—why would you take even that away from us?
Am I not allowed to want even that much?”
“Ah...
My poor, scared little friends.”
“...Please don’t...”
This is all that was left now.
“...This is the last teacher I have.”
A translucent system window—one that couldn’t speak,
Whose face she couldn’t find,
Whose condition she couldn’t even check.
That was all.
Which is why the “Portrait of Gio” was an unexpected miracle.
But just like it appeared suddenly, it could vanish just as fast.
A thing mimicking her teacher.
Or maybe the real one.
But in the end, only the system would remain.
“......”
“Oh no, now you really are crying.”
“...Give me back my teacher.”
“If I keep this up, I really will get scolded by Sergio.
Giovanni and Argio will probably blame me too.
There’s a limit to how much I can mess with the dark-haired guy’s memory.”
“Let them blame you.”
“I still don’t think I said anything wrong...
Ugh, so unfair.”
He sat beside Cha Eun-Hye and gently hugged her.
Leaning in, he softly patted her with delicate hands.
Like a butterfly’s wingbeat—light, but cold without warmth.
Zeorge leaned his head on her shoulder and smiled.
Like a puppy seeking affection.
But smoother.
More calculating.
And provocative.
So this was “love.”
“Will you help me avoid getting scolded?”
“...No.”
“Then should I give you a prophecy?”
“Don’t.”
“Your teacher will never leave you.”
He whispered.
“He’s always here.”
“......”
“Because you broke him and bound him here, right?
So cruel...”
It was a horrifying line—because it brought comfort.
“You preserved him like a taxidermy.”
***
“......”
“...Are you crying?”
“Teacher.”
“Yeah?”
“Always stay in black.”
“I don’t really get to choose that.”
“You’re our teacher.”
“Of course I am.”
“...Because you’re always here?”
“Because I’ll always stay with you.”
“...Are you going to scold me?”
“I promised I wouldn’t, didn’t I?”
“You can scold me.”
“Out of nowhere?”
“As long as you don’t leave.”
“Wow, that really came out of nowhere.”
“Please don’t abandon us...”
“......”
Sergio asked,
“...Did I say something wrong?”
“...No.”
Probably not.
