Chapter 109
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 109
"Who are you?"
"Excuse me?"
"...What should we do?"
"..."
About what? Gio wondered.
What did I do wrong?
He couldn’t comprehend how the conversation had taken such a sharp turn.
Weren’t we just talking about world affairs?
He was already burdened by the fame he’d gained without his consent, so this question came as a complete bolt from the blue.
Suddenly hit with the philosophical question, "Who am I?", Gio fell into an untimely bout of self-reflection. Even for someone who lived as thoughtlessly as he did, Gio could tell the question was deadly serious.
But that just makes it harder to understand.
It felt as if his parents were sitting him down and sighing, "Son, what are we going to do with you?"
And Yoo Seong-un was not his parent. Gio was a grown man—formerly employed, currently not.
Why? Why me? Why the sudden life-counseling session?
He had no idea what he had said to make Yoo Seong-un so grim.
"..."
"..."
As the silence stretched on, Gio’s confusion and anxiety mounted.
...Since he asked so seriously, common decency dictates I give a serious answer. But I don’t know anything, so I have nothing to say. To think that I, Seo Gio, a poster child for the failures of rote education, would be forced to confront my abysmal crisis-management skills like this.
You had to understand the situation to give a proper answer, didn’t you?
Who... Who am I...?
He’d like to know, too.
If I had to define myself... a haunted portrait?
That was probably the most accurate term to describe his current identity.
However, Gio felt a bit awkward calling himself a "ghost" when he wasn’t even dead. After a moment’s deliberation, he answered.
"I am a portrait."
"...A portrait."
"I know what you are worried about, Mr. Yoo Seong-un."
"..."
"But I don’t understand why."
He was being sincere.
Where else would you find a haunted portrait as harmless as me?
To be fair, Gio had been carefully managing his image lately, driven by a nagging fear: If I seem too easygoing, they’ll drag me off to a research institute.
But he didn’t think he had accomplished anything grand enough to make Yoo Seong-un feel threatened.
Yet, judging by his reaction, Mr. Yoo Seong-un is clearly afraid of me.
To be precise, he didn’t seem afraid of Gio himself, but rather worried about some future disaster Gio might cause.
For Gio, who knew only how to stay home, paint, and eat, this was baffling. He decided to emphasize his status as a total slacker.
"I am just an ordinary person who likes to paint, enjoys cooking and eating with my family, and loves sleeping in a bed filled with the scent of the spring breeze."
Do you happen to know Poké\on?*
'I’m Snor\ax. Snor\ax.'
He was just a lazy, healthy, harmless creature that did nothing but eat, sleep, and poop.
"That is a fact that doesn’t change, even if I am a portrait."
"...Is that so?"
"I believe you know that well, Mr. Yoo Seong-un."
How could hyung, of all people, misunderstand him like this?
No matter how the world sees me, you know I’m just a talking portrait, hyung. Please believe in my insignificance.
Yoo Seong-un had been there from the beginning. Perhaps the world’s buzz had temporarily confused him about Gio’s actual danger level. It meant his image management had succeeded, but this wasn’t the outcome he wanted.
For the record, his danger level was practically zero—a value lower than that of a fire ant. A fire ant could spray formic acid capable of blinding someone. Gio, on the other hand, was so concerned about his dental health that he couldn’t even bite down hard, let alone spit acid. In a direct comparison, Gio would lose, hands down.
"I understand why you’ve come to worry like this."
Gio decided the problem was a lack of communication.
"We haven’t had enough time to truly understand each other."
If Yoo Seong-un had exchanged KakaoTalk messages with Gio day in and day out, he would know what a complete homebody he was. He would never have harbored such a ridiculous worry, which was akin to a tiger fearing a rabbit’s capacity for violence.
"Just as countless humans ponder and explore their own identities, I am the same. I, too, do not know exactly what I am."
"..."
"So, why don’t you come and see for yourself?"
Gio said this with the pure intention of clearing up the misunderstanding.
Mr. Yoo Seong-un ran barefoot to find the Void, which was somewhere in Seoul I didn’t even know about. He even worked on Christmas to save a man named Park Eun-gyeom, whom I’d never even met. This means he’s a truly pitiful and competent worker.
And a person like that needed to be fed well until they were plump and happy. Well-fed people didn’t entertain foolish thoughts or speak nonsense. This was all just a side effect of a society plagued by fatigue.
Therefore.
"I will invite you, Mr. Yoo Seong-un."
There was no reason for Gio not to feed Yoo Seong-un to his heart’s content.
* * *
Yoo Seong-un was drawn inside 'Gio’s Portrait'.
* * *
"..."
The very first thing he felt was…
Ah.
Warmth.
A gentle spring breeze.
"..."
Yoo Seong-un raised his head and looked at the sky.
"...It’s so blue."
It was a clear sky, a rare sight these days.
Large, lazy clouds drifted by as if asleep, and the air above was so transparent it felt as though morning dew might condense and fall at any moment.
A sky filled with silence and tranquility was right here.
"This is a sight that’s hard to see on Earth."
"Indeed. The air in Seoul was quite acrid."
"...Well, not just Seoul..."
Yoo Seong-un found himself blankly staring at the sky.
"Where else could you see a sky this blue?"
They said that a very, very long time ago, Earth had a sky this transparent. That was unfamiliar information to Yoo Seong-un, who had been born just before the Great Catastrophe. It was fascinating to think Earth had once been like this, though it was perhaps to be expected of a dungeon.
Technically, this place is a dungeon, too.
Yoo Seong-un tilted his head.
...Why does it feel so familiar?
It wasn’t normal to feel nostalgia for a sky he had never seen in his life.
"...It really is a beautiful sky."
"Do you like it?"
"Do stars come out when it gets dark?"
"Enough to see the Milky Way."
"The Milky Way... That’s amazing."
To think he could enjoy the Milky Way to his heart’s content in this cabin—a sight that could no longer be seen on Earth, not even in the deepest desert.
Yoo Seong-un, who had been looking up as if possessed, slowly lowered his head.
"..."
A forest of soft colors filled his vision.
"So this is the forest you mentioned."
"If you go a bit deeper, you can meet my friends."
"You mean the forest beasts?"
Just then, a deer with a long, graceful neck poked its head out from the bushes.
"Oh."
It was a beautiful, fairytale-like deer with eyes that sparkled like jewels.
Listening closely, he could hear the chirping of birds. He turned his gaze to see a few birds perched on a branch, looking down at him.
Following the flutter of their tail feathers as they flew off, his eyes caught a narrow, shallow stream flowing gently along the ground.
He inhaled, catching a sweet, nutty scent, like flowers or nuts.
"..."
The stream, dappled with sunlight, shimmered like scattered jewels. The fish swimming within occasionally splashed their tails, adding to the soundscape.
The pebbles beneath the glass-clear water gleamed like polished marble.
"...This is truly..."
Peaceful.
"No wonder you wouldn’t want to leave."
It was a peace as profound and final as the grave of a wise old man.
"I’ve always been watching through the portrait, but I never knew it would be this wonderful."
"Are you enjoying the view?"
"I really am. I’m curious about what’s deeper in the forest, and I wonder what it would feel like to take a nap here."
A tranquility that bred laziness resided in this place.
"It might actually be dangerous."
There was no sense of intimidation, but the comfort was so dense it was like a swamp, threatening to pull him under.
If a weak-willed person were brought here, they would forget their sense of self and wish to become a mere fixture of this forest.
Not that Gio has any ill intent.
This forest, too, possessed no malice, nor even goodwill.
It just exists.
That was nature.
This was nature harboring a longing too vast for any human to bear, like a feast of the gods that mortals could not handle.
To enjoy this peace without resolve would mean losing everything.
"..."
...It was a miracle that Cha Ah-ra, an F-Rank Hunter, had endured this place.
Her affection for her family on Earth must have been so great that she didn’t lose her mind.
With every breath, his eyes stung with a strange yearning, and his fingertips tingled with happiness.
It was a peace that would be hard to endure for anyone with no lingering attachments, a lack of courage, or a weak sense of self.
"...What am I supposed to find out here?"
"I didn’t invite you because I wanted you to find something out, Mr. Yoo Seong-un."
"Then why did you invite me?"
"I just wanted us to enjoy it together, without any grand purpose. The more we get to know each other, the less you’ll be afraid."
As he spoke, Gio had already taken off his cloak. The young man, his face eerily expressionless, continued, "There was no reason not to share what I have with a friend."
"...A friend..."
The portrait called Yoo Seong-un a friend.
"...Do I seem like a friend to you?"
"...Was I mistaken?"
"No. If it’s alright with you, I’ve wanted to have a friend like you, too."
He had wanted to communicate with the Origin.
"Because I am a Gardener."
An Origin he could converse with existed right here.
"When I see such a wonderful garden, I become enchanted."
"...It’s a bit troubling if you like it that much."
"I just meant that I really like places like this."
"I’m glad to hear that, then."
"You live here, don’t you?" Yoo Seong-un looked at the portrait. "Did you make this place?"
"I painted it."
"How?"
"Just... somehow."
"How peculiar."
"I think so too."
"..."
Soon, Yoo Seong-un asked, "Did you know? This place is connected to you."
"Because I am the master of this place."
"I know you’re the master here."
But that wasn’t what Yoo Seong-un meant.
This garden is Gio’s Portrait itself.
This terrifyingly peaceful world and 'Gio’s Portrait' were not separate entities. But that was only natural. Gio was the portrait, and this world existed inside that portrait. Everything about the portrait, centered on the ego called Gio, had to be the man himself.
"Can only the things you paint exist here?"
"No, other things sometimes grow on their own, without my knowledge."
"I see. I figured as much. And can you take them outside the frame?"
"Yes, I can. Is there something you need?"
"No, just... checking things."
Clink.
"..."
Transparent water birds perched on the branches. Among them was Honey, whom Gio called his son.
"...Because there are many fascinating things here."
Yoo Seong-un couldn’t read their gazes.
It felt as if they were warning him not to disturb this peace, or perhaps welcoming him as an invitee of their parent, Gio. Or maybe they were just like cameras, watching without any emotion at all.
They had neither malice nor goodwill. Or perhaps they had both.
"..."
Where was this yearning coming from, so intense it made him want to weep?
"...That must be your cabin over there."
"That’s right. Student Cha Ah-ra went straight inside, so I couldn’t show her the forest."
"May I take a look?"
"My apologies. I forgot to mention that you are free to look around as you wish."
"Thank you."
With Gio’s ready permission, Yoo Seong-un brushed his hand against the cabin wall.
...It’s warm.
And he felt a faint vibration.
It was the sound of a dead tree’s heart beating.
"...This place."
"Yes, go ahead."
"It’s breathing."
This was a living thing.
"Or maybe not."
It was also an inanimate object.
"Am I sounding a bit strange?"
"You do to me."
"Still, thank you for inviting me. It’s only because I like it so much."
"I think it’s because you’ve been very tired lately."
"If I were to die, a place like this would certainly be nice."
A gardener was bound to be buried in a garden.
"This is truly a wonderful garden."
This place is the Origin.
That was the definitive answer to his question.