Chapter 177
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 177
Controlling his own body was simple enough.
'I still have my memories from when I was Arjio, after all.'
However, the abandoned house was extremely decrepit, looking as though it might collapse at the slightest touch. He decided it would be best to ascend without putting any strain on the structure at all.
And that was how Gio had reached the third floor—by traveling through the portrait.
“…”
“…”
Sa Na-rae, who had been staring intently at Gio, asked with his trademark smile.
“A landscape painting?”
“Yes, it’s right here.”
“It’s a painting of a cabin.”
“Doesn’t it look nice?”
“It does look nice, yes.”
“I see.”
Giovanni, a master of social graces, skillfully arranged his expression.
“I didn’t expect you to come up so quickly.”
“You don’t look very surprised for someone who wasn’t expecting me.”
“That’s because I sensed you coming up.”
It wasn’t a lie.
'Though I only sensed him the exact moment I stepped out of the frame.'
Knowing Hunter Sa Na-rae’s contrarian nature, Gio had figured the man might climb up on his own if left to his devices. However, Sa Na-rae had ascended much faster than anticipated, causing Gio to miss the window to make the frame disappear.
'I needed a moment to compose my face.'
That was why Gio hadn’t turned to face Sa Na-rae immediately, keeping his eyes fixed on the portrait that had become a landscape instead. At any rate, he was glad he hadn’t been caught—glad Sa Na-rae didn’t realize he was the portrait.
Though getting caught would have brought its own brand of entertainment…
“Shall we look around the third floor together?”
“Hmm, that was the plan.”
“It would have been nice if you had come up with me from the start.”
“Well, Hunter Seo Gio was being so quiet that I couldn’t help but worry.”
“I have a reasonably decent stealth skill.”
“That does seem to be what everyone thinks.”
“Do you not think so, Hunter Sa Na-rae?”
“No, I think so too.”
With his signature smile, Sa Na-rae gestured toward the three or so rooms on the third floor.
“You haven’t searched them yet?”
“I only just arrived on the third floor myself.”
“Then we can go together. Wow, how reassuring.”
Perhaps he hadn’t been lying about the mansion’s dust making his nose itch, because Sa Na-rae was surprisingly cooperative. He moved like someone who wanted to get the search over with as quickly as possible. As expected, the third floor yielded mostly gold and jewels.
Hunter Sa Na-rae seemed slightly disappointed.
“It would have been nice if there were some items.”
“Are you not satisfied with gold and jewels?”
“Usable equipment is always better than minerals that only look pretty, don’t you think?”
“You’re quite greedy.”
“I’d say I’m more of a liar.”
“Ah, Pinocchio?”
“I don’t particularly care for that nickname, but…”
Clack.
The rusted metal jewelry box snapped shut.
“Nothing but jewels here, either.”
“Don’t hunters like these kinds of trinkets? Jewels that are merely pleasing to the eye.”
“I don’t think you’ll find many hunters who’d be thrilled with such mundane loot after coming all the way to an A-Rank Dungeon.”
“Why is that?”
“…”
Sa Na-rae looked at Gio before continuing.
“They aren’t worth that much. Sure, they might be a decent windfall for ordinary citizens, but we’re fairly high-ranking hunters. After coming all this way, most people would want to strike it rich.”
“I heard glass is quite expensive, though.”
“Well, that’s because glass can be melted down to craft equipment and items. It’s highly labor-intensive to process, and achieving high transparency costs a fortune. That’s why glass is uniquely expensive compared to other gems.”
“Do these jewels not melt?”
The jewels I paint melt, though.
'Is that just because they’re made of paint?'
Gio pressed further.
“I am certain that gold and silver melt. Is there something wrong with my common sense?”
“…Of course, you can make gear out of gold and silver, but their capacity to hold magical properties is much lower than glass. Their inherent nature is too rigid, so they can’t be molded into as diverse a range of equipment.”
“Thank you for the kind and detailed explanation.”
“Besides, a hunter’s expenses can’t be covered by mere jewels and gold trinkets. It costs an astronomical amount of money to acquire life-saving gear. There are countless hunters who end up selling their land deeds and house titles just to afford their equipment.”
“Oh dear.”
Gio let out a soft sigh of sympathy before asking, “Thank you for the detailed explanation. I hope you aren’t annoyed by how much of a sheltered ‘young master’ I seem to be.”
“Well, are you actually a ‘young master’?”
“In a sense, you might have hit the nail on the head, but I don’t think I was ever raised all that delicately.”
“I see. That’s unexpected.”
“Do you dislike me?”
Gio smiled.
“That’s not it either, is it?”
“I know this sounds strange, but…” Sa Na-rae spoke in a casual, everyday tone, his face completely devoid of emotion. “You seem much older than you look, Hunter Seo Gio.”
“How old do I look?”
“The website says you’re twenty-nine. Is that wrong?”
“That is correct.”
“But you feel much older than that.”
“I didn’t expect to hear such heartbreaking words just because I’m a bit out of touch with modern trends.”
“…I suppose that could be it.”
After systematically sweeping the rest of the abandoned house, they moved into the innermost room.
“This must have been a bedroom.”
They saw a bed frame broken beyond recognition and a massive portrait of a woman. The painting was so severely decayed—rotting away just as splendidly as the rest of the house—that one could barely tell the subject was a woman.
Gio, himself a haunted portrait, felt a strange sense of kinship.
'Oh, a portrait.'
Hello, fellow portrait.
'They say all sorts of bizarre things happen in dungeons, but I’ve never run into another haunted portrait like myself. This one just seems like an ordinary, decayed painting. How tragic.'
Gio, who loved painting and was a painting himself, felt a wave of human sympathy.
'Poor thing.'
If I tried, I might actually be able to restore it.
“…”
“Hunter Seo Gio?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“Is there something on that portrait?”
“Nothing at all.”
“Then why do you keep staring at it?”
“Am I not allowed to?”
“Look at me when we talk.”
“Alright.”
Only then did Gio turn his gaze to Sa Na-rae.
“Is something the matter?”
“…”
Sa Na-rae merely offered a quiet, steady smile.
“…”
Just then, the crimson rays of the setting sun spilled into the room. The sudden, heavy atmosphere and the eerie tension made Gio freeze.
Facing a lunatic who could be smiling one second and on a shooting spree the next, Gio was gripped by fear. To make matters worse, the sun dipped below the horizon in an instant, plunging the abandoned house into darkness and doubling his terror.
'…What did I do wrong this time?'
He instinctively realized he had made a misstep. Staring at someone so intently meant one of two things: an attempt at socializing or a declaration of war. Right now, it was glaringly obvious this was the latter.
Then, Gio had an epiphany.
'Ah, this feeling.'
It was the exact same atmosphere he felt whenever Yoo Seong-un and Ju-hyeon scolded him.
“…Did I do something strange?”
“Who knows?”
“Did I frighten you?”
“I’m not quite sure.”
“I apologize for whatever it was.”
Flustered, Gio asked, “Would you like something sweet?”
“…”
“I guess you don’t like sweets.”
He had offered it hoping that a sudden dose of sugar might catch the man off guard and break the tense atmosphere, but the response was less than stellar.
Gio silently consoled the sweet chocolate cookie he always kept in his pocket.
'You’re a good cookie.'
It had simply met the wrong owner, but it was a perfectly delicious cookie in its own right.
“…”
“…”
Then, he began to feel a bit indignant.
“Don’t people usually appreciate portraits?”
“No, they do.”
“Then I don’t understand why you are scolding me with your eyes.”
“‘Scolding’… You really do have a unique way of speaking.”
“Is there something wrong with it?”
“You use such mundane, everyday words even in a situation like this.”
Sa Na-rae’s smile widened as he spoke.
“It’s terrifying.”
“Terrifying?”
Are you sure you’re not just teasing me again?
“If so, please tell me why.”
“Will you fix it if I do?”
“Only then can I avoid making the same mistake in the future.”
“I don’t really feel like it. I think you can afford to make a few more mistakes, Hunter Seo Gio.”
“I do not like this kind of atmosphere. I want to improve.”
“And that’s why I’m saying you don’t need to improve.”
“I have no idea why you are saying that.”
Seriously, what mistake did I even make?
'Am I not even allowed to look at a portrait?'
He felt so deeply wronged that he wanted to draft a formal lawsuit line by line. Why was it that whenever he did something perfectly normal that everyone else did, people freaked out and made a scene?
“I believe you are teasing me. You are a cruel person.”
“I know you aren’t saying that because you’re actually angry.”
Sa Na-rae added, “You’re just saying it because you think it’s the most appropriate response for the situation, aren’t you?”
At that, Gio thought to himself:
'Well, yes. It’s basic human courtesy to run your thoughts through your brain before speaking.'
But he knew that wasn’t what Hunter Sa Na-rae meant. Gio finally realized what the issue was. It was the same age-old problem that had plagued him his entire life.
“I know I have a frightening impression. I’ve always been prone to misunderstandings.”
He had seen countless people freak out as if they had seen a ghost over the simplest things he did.
“So I’ve been trying my best to smile. Has it not been effective?”
“It probably works on most people.”
“Then what exactly are you trying to say, Hunter Sa Na-rae?”
“Let’s just say… the more I learn, the more terrifying it gets.”
Gio was utterly baffled.
“And what is it that you know, Hunter Sa Na-rae?”
What do you even know about me?
'We barely just met. How could you possibly know so much?'
Even Yoo Seong-un, the first friend Gio had made after becoming a haunted portrait, had never said something like that. Caught between Sa Na-rae’s unwelcome scrutiny and this bizarre, unprompted display of familiarity, Gio felt incredibly exasperated.
“I don’t think we are that close…”
“Are those things only close friends have the right to know?”
“In most relationships, yes.”
“Did I offend you?”
“What is it that you are so afraid of?”
Despite his calm facade, Sa Na-rae was clearly on edge. Gio had absolutely no idea why the situation had escalated to this point. At this rate, his only options were to get plastic surgery or live the rest of his life in an iron mask.
'But people would probably find even that terrifying.'
It was a truly difficult era for a man with a scary face to survive.
“It is rude to treat a perfectly normal person like a ghost just because you find them intimidating, Hunter Sa Na-rae.”
“Then why were you staring at that portrait for so long?”
“I was looking at it because I felt sorry for it.”
“…”
Sa Na-rae looked as if he wanted to say more, but instead, his eyes curved into crescents once again.
“What do you like, Hunter Seo Gio?”
It was an incredibly bizarre pivot, but Gio understood. Lunatics were prone to sudden leaps in conversation, after all. Giovanni, ever the benevolent priest to all, respected the vast diversity of human nature.
“I like delicious, filling food.”
“Are you some kind of starving ghost…?”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever been possessed.”
“Nothing else besides that?”
“I like kind people.”
“Ah, this is bad.”
Gio’s suspicions were confirmed.
“I’m not about to get eaten alive, am I?”
“I will tell you once again: human flesh does not taste good.”
“See, that doesn’t reassure me in the slightest…”
Sa Na-rae was genuinely frightened.
And he had been for quite some time.
*
By the time the two stepped out of the mansion, the sun had risen once more.
“Ah, you’re out. Did you find anything of note?”
“Mostly just trinkets.”
“No special properties, then. Understood.”
Garasani, who had been waiting for them, continued.
“We received a transmission while you two were upstairs.”
“From another team?”
“Yes. They require a healer, so they’ve requested that we regroup if possible.”
Their team had two healers: Jeong Young-won and Seo Gio. Garasani checked his tracking device as he spoke.
“Fortunately, they’re quite close by.”
“Are there injuries? Or is it poison?”
“I was told they encountered a massive horde of monsters.”
“Probably both, then.”
Gio smiled, guessing what Garasani was hinting at. Perhaps this was the real reason his attempt at making dried fruit snacks had failed.
“I believe I can be of assistance.”
After all, had they ever heard of a Blood Dumpling crafted by the power of three suns?