Chapter 104
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 104
In hindsight, the ‘Void City’ was closer to an Entry Dungeon than anything else.
“In the sense that it has a clear entrance and exit, that is.”
It was different from a Virtual Dungeon, a dimension whose location—let alone its entrance—was a complete mystery. It was also different from a Villa Dungeon, which existed entirely in physical reality, completely exposed.
The frame, existing solely as a passageway, could indeed be classified as an Entry Dungeon.
“Some Entry Dungeons are mobile, so the basic framework is similar.”
Aside from those three types, dungeons could also be divided into mobile and fixed categories. Considering the frame didn’t stay in one place but constantly moved, it could be roughly defined as a ‘Mobile-type Entry Dungeon.’
“Though I’ve never seen one in the shape of a picture frame before…”
The entrance to an Entry Dungeon had no fixed form.
It could be a book, a pit, or even a veil.
However, most took the form of a door. They were usually obvious enough for anyone to look at and think, Ah, that’s the entrance.
If it looked like something you could easily walk into, it was almost certainly an Entry Dungeon.
“……”
Still, no one would ever think of a picture frame as an entrance.
“…If no one had been dragged into it in the first place, we would never have dreamed it was a dungeon.”
He knew that Gio could normally enter and exit through the portraits in the gallery. However, those portraits gave off such a strong impression of being Gio’s ‘home’ that Seong-un had merely perceived them as a private residence one couldn’t enter without permission.
It was the same when Hunter Cha Ah-ra was invited to Gio’s cabin.
Compared to typical dungeons, which were a brutal reflection of modern society’s harsh capitalism, ‘Gio’s Portrait’ exuded a peaceful yet heavy atmosphere and was different in many ways.
Perhaps that was why he hadn’t realized the two were similar concepts. Of course, that was just an excuse.
All this time, I thought Gio was closer to an object.
He had considered the possibility of Gio being a monster, but he hadn’t considered the ‘dungeon’ that would naturally accompany such a being. After all, even according to the Origin’s explanation, Gio was clearly a ‘portrait.’
“Then, should we treat that portrait as a dungeon in itself…?”
Gio was already creating dungeons by painting. Whether he had painted ‘Gio’s Portrait’ himself was unknown, but after the ‘Breathing Sea,’ the ‘Void City’ had now also been witnessed by people.
“…Well, at this point, it’s harder to argue that it isn’t a dungeon.”
Yoo Seong-un recalled the black portrait sleeping in Bisabeol’s gallery.
It had poured pitch-black ink over its own face of its own will, and with that, it was erased from the world’s memory. The only people who knew what ‘Gio’s Portrait’ had looked like were the very few who had seen his face before.
And even they occasionally forget.
It had essentially erased a piece of history without causing any sense of discrepancy.
“……”
It was a terrifyingly formidable level of influence.
“I just hope he doesn’t become hostile toward us.”
By its very existence, ‘Gio’s Portrait’ was a threat to humanity. If it ever developed a conscious will and turned hostile, it would be a disaster of unimaginable proportions.
Why was Yoo Seong-un suddenly dwelling on all this?
“…Whew…”
It was because the ‘Void City’ was right in front of him.
“It really does show up out of nowhere.”
The place where Yoo Seong-un had discovered the gray frame was none other than an elevated train station. It was a place he had visited with Gio before while showing him around Seoul, which led Seong-un to form a hypothesis.
“Does this frame primarily appear in places that Gio, the dungeon’s master, has visited?”
Or perhaps in places that might catch his interest.
Looking at all the eyewitness accounts, it didn’t appear only in places Gio knew. It would suddenly pop up in the slums, appear on a road, or manifest inside an abandoned building.
Non-Hunters probably didn’t know it was Gio’s painting, which is why rumors didn’t spread.
Surprisingly, the frame often appeared in everyday spaces frequented by civilians rather than in typical dungeon areas. The places with the highest frequency, however, were indeed those Gio had personally visited.
Suddenly feeling a wave of exhaustion, Yoo Seong-un sat down at the station.
“Oh, my aching bones…”
Every inch of his body was sore.
“Fortunately, there’s no one around.”
The current time was 4:16 AM. It was an hour when exhausted modern citizens were all sound asleep, so it was only natural that the elevated train station, which required a fare to enter, was empty.
Still, since it just turned the 26th, shouldn’t there be some lingering Christmas spirit? Besides, the elevated train runs 24 hours a day. I thought there might be at least one drunkard heading home late after partying all night…
As the thought crossed his mind, Yoo Seong-un soon nodded in understanding.
“…Right. It hasn’t been that long since people died in droves at the ‘Deep Sea Temple’ after gathering like that.”
That incident had occurred at the Temple of the Sun, of all places. Even there, a Virtual Dungeon had appeared and swallowed the entire crowd watching the initiation ceremony. Thinking back to that time, it was understandable why so many people were still anxious about large gatherings.
“Thanks to that, people were noticeably more hesitant to gather this Christmas.”
Whenever a crowd started to form, everyone seemed to recall the tragedy of the initiation ceremony and would quietly disperse.
“Anyway…”
For Yoo Seong-un, who didn’t want to cause a scene, this was a good thing.
…To think I’m calling this a good thing while citizens tremble in fear. I’ve really changed. I just hope I don’t become so narrow-minded that I can no longer take charge of the Garden…
The ‘Void City’ filled his vision.
“……”
It was a bit eerie.
…It almost feels like a disillusionment with the city.
Having lived as a curator for several years, he could sense the imagery and emotion embedded in the artwork. The city, packed with a sickening number of gray buildings, seemed to depict a silence within a crowd—somewhat noisy and chaotic, yet as if no one was speaking.
Even though that crowd isn’t even visible.
Looking at the gray frame that somehow made one’s mind go blank, Yoo Seong-un muttered softly.
“…So it definitely doesn’t take people just for looking at the frame.”
After putting in the legwork, he had found a total of four eyewitnesses. All of them were ordinary citizens in Seoul, not even Awakened, and none had been harmed by the ‘Void City.’
They all just thought it was a painting hanging in an odd place.
Among the four witnesses was an alcoholic whose character was questionable. According to his neighbors, he lived alone and occasionally caused petty, annoying scenes in front of the convenience store.
Does that not count as being an evil person?
Or did one have to commit an evil deed directly in front of the frame for it to attack?
“…With so few points of comparison, I can’t be sure.”
Yoo Seong-un had a history of killing.
Not that such a history is rare these days.
Of course, he hadn’t just killed anyone. It had happened when he was stopping 5th-Grade Citizens who were a clear harm to society, or criminals of a similar caliber. After all, fighting with the intent to kill was more advantageous than merely aiming to subdue.
But even so, that doesn’t make it a good deed.
While there was hardly a Hunter in this grim era who hadn’t killed a person, a wrong was still a wrong. Judged morally, Yoo Seong-un had sinned.
Yet, the ‘Void City’ remained quiet.
“……”
There were many possibilities.
“…I don’t feel Gio, the master of the dungeon, in this frame.”
If so, the frame might simply be moving according to Gio’s commands.
Which is why it lacks Gio’s level of appraisal ability.
Gio could judge a person’s moral character with a single glance. But this frame, which merely received and executed simple commands, lacked that kind of ability. Perhaps it only judged good and evil based on events unfolding directly in front of it. It was a degraded version of ‘Gio’s Portrait.’
“…Or else…”
It might have judged that someone like Yoo Seong-un, or the alcoholic he’d heard about, was ‘not an evil person.’
Strictly speaking, Seong-un had done what he had to do, and the alcoholic was just a highly annoying nuisance. By Gio’s standards, they might not be evil enough to warrant an attack.
It would be much easier to tell if that drunkard had ever committed a crime beyond a certain threshold.
If he had committed acts beyond simple public nuisance, it was highly likely that the ‘Void City’ only collected evil people who were caught committing misdeeds in real-time.
“……”
But one thing was certain.
“…Gio’s definition of good and evil is decided by his own personal taste.”
If Gio had defined ‘killing’ itself as an evil act, Yoo Seong-un would have already been abducted. The fact that he hadn’t meant that Gio distinguished between good and evil depending on the situation.
“I don’t know if this will turn out to be a good thing or a bad thing for humanity…”
At any rate, what Yoo Seong-un had to do now was clear.
“…I’m tired to death.”
He had to enter the ‘Void City’ and check on the condition of the Hunter named Park Eun-gyeom.
Yoo Seong-un approached the artwork hanging on the transparent wall.
“How do I get inside this?”
A typical Entry Dungeon didn’t require any special conditions to enter. From the dungeon’s perspective, prey was walking right in, so there was no reason to block it.
But if Gio is still favorable toward humans, he would surely have a reason to block entry.
At the very least, he wouldn’t want people falling into his dungeon indiscriminately and dying.
Staring at the painting that made his chest feel increasingly tight, Yoo Seong-un spotted something in that empty city.
“……”
Noticing something unusual, he looked closer at the painting.
“…That is…”
Between the long main street, the buildings lined up on both sides, and the alleys they created…
Something black and white caught Yoo Seong-un’s eye.
“…A person?”
It looked like a human figure, curled up.
It’s too small to be sure.
However, a black dot sticking out in a city so clean it looked like it didn’t have a single speck of dust was definitely strange. It was subtle enough not to feel out of place, but after staring consciously for a long time, he could tell it wasn’t part of the original drawing.
The black dot seemed to be faintly twitching.
“……”
Yoo Seong-un suddenly got goosebumps.
“…Is that Hunter Park Eun-gyeom?”
If one wasn’t actively looking for it, it wouldn’t even catch the eye. To anyone else, it was clearly just a ‘painting.’
* * *
“Kureuk?”
“Daddy’s busy.”
“Kureureu?”
“I’m babysitting your younger sibling, can’t you see?”
“Kkoong?”
Honey kept tilting his head, but Gio remained steadfast.
“I have to comfort our little Void right now.”
He was currently wrapping the ‘Void City’ in a swaddling blanket and gently rocking it back and forth. Iser, who had dropped by for a moment, had nodded with his signature benevolent smile before leaving, but Gio could instinctively feel that the ‘Void City’ was highly pleased with his care.
“If our Void had a mouth, I would have fed it. What on earth does it eat to survive?”
“Kureu…”
“People? What do you mean, people? Unfortunately, those aren’t for eating, sweetie.”
“Kkoong?”
“I don’t know why my kids only say such scary things.”
While conversing with his eldest son, Gio suddenly noticed that the painting of the ‘Void City’ had changed.
“What’s this?”
It was taking on none other than the shape of Yoo Seong-un.
“……”
“Kureureureu…”
“I don’t know why you’re licking your lips, but calm down. It’s definitely not what you think. So, what on earth is going on here? Father, if you are watching me, give me the answer…”
The Sun God gave him the answer.
“Kuu, kukuu.”
“Are you saying Mr. Yoo Seong-un is actually standing in front of our Void right now?”
Was this the new generation of intercoms?
Has the trend cycled so far back that we’re using portraits now?
Of course, that couldn’t be the case.
At any rate, since the ‘Void City’ was also one of Gio’s properties in a way, he was grateful for this intercom feature he’d never even installed.
“I almost missed welcoming a guest.”
He had no idea why that guest was standing in front of the ‘Void City,’ but it didn’t matter. Having once again successfully preserved his purity on Jesus’s holy birthday, Gio was simply overjoyed to see a familiar face.
It’s been a while, Seong-un hyung, hasn’t it?
“Void, open the door. It’s Daddy’s friend.”
“ ”
“I think my baby just answered. Or was that an auditory hallucination?”
“ ”
“My precious baby, you’re so good at babbling.”
Why overthink life? To Gio, life’s variables were nothing more than the arrival of new content. Unfazed by this sudden turn of events, he prepared to unleash his inner extrovert.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen my hyung-nim’s face.”
As long as it was fun, that was all that mattered.