Chapter 64
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 64
“Sister.”
“Yes, my foolish brother.”
“Indeed, your foolish brother has arrived. How is your research coming along?”
“Not bad.”
His sister, who had been writing elegantly with a quill carved from emerald, set it down and raised her head. Her hair, dark and shimmering like the cold depths of the sea, cascaded like waves. She wore a smile as fierce and wild as the ocean depths.
“As expected, of all the dimensions I know, the human race is the most diverse. The ways they use their minds vary so greatly from person to person, and they possess a wide spectrum of everything from appearance to emotion.”
“You truly do love humans, Sister.”
“I wonder where their limit lies. Just when I think they’ve reached the end, some madman who surpasses that limit pops up in another dimension… I simply cannot stop my research.”
“Then does that mean humanity has no limits?”
“In some dimensions, there are humans who have become gods. Even so, we can’t definitively say that godhood is their final destination. Isn’t it important to gather specimens of all kinds?”
“That is certainly true.”
Iser’s sister wanted to know everything about humanity. With her cold, mermaid-like hands, she had even tried to sculpt life under the sun. Of course, those creations more often than not deviated from the human form. To sculpt a perfect human was impossible, for she, too, harbored a deep hatred for them.
“But it is quite strange.”
“……”
“There is only one person whom I can never recreate…”
Iser knew.
His sister was a genius who made the impossible possible, yet there was one person—Giovanni—whom she could neither resurrect nor replicate. In Iser’s mind, it seemed as though she herself was refusing to do so.
“……”
A fabricated Giovanni would no longer be the mentor they revered.
“…The name of this dimension seems to be Earth. To be precise, that appears to be the name of the planet.”
Iser wore his usual calm smile. It was a benevolent smile, one that closely resembled that of the human named Giovanni—a name that occasionally evoked both longing and displeasure in the two siblings.
“Is there a role for me to play this time?”
“If things go well, probably not. I will create a separate seed of Earth to play the role of opening the door, so you don’t have to worry.”
“I wasn’t worried.” He chuckled softly. “If I were, it would have been for you, Sister.”
“As it would be for me, for you.”
Wearing an incongruous doctor’s gown over her dark blue dress, his sister’s eyes crinkled.
“Where do you think the end of humanity lies?”
“How could I know what even you do not, Sister?”
“Sometimes I find myself out of breath. It’s because I’ve been running for so long.”
“Even if you say so, you will never rest.”
“My curiosity is a curse, but still…” Her red lips parted slightly. “One day, I will be able to stop.”
She had wanted to see the limits of humanity since she was young. Now, it seemed she had found a new purpose within that goal.
“……”
“Isn’t that right?”
If I can find the limits of humanity…
…surely, within those limits, Giovanni—who was more noble than any human—will exist.
“…Yes.”
Without a word, they shared their longing for him.
“I think so too.”
They might pray to see their deceased mentor again, but if he were to appear, he wouldn’t truly be Giovanni. That was why the siblings never spoke his name. They knew that making him their ultimate goal was a terrible contradiction.
“……”
“……”
Yet, they still coveted it.
“……”
“Good morning.”
Just as they had when they imprisoned the sun in the deep sea.
* * *
“……”
“Hey, wait…”
“Do not come any closer.”
“I’m sorry, but Gio is with me.”
“I told you not to come closer.”
“There’s no reasoning with you.”
Yoo Seong-un let out an awkward smile, unsure how to react to the baffling situation.
It’s not like he’s a mother bird protecting her chick.
Though their sizes suggested the exact opposite, Eun-ha, who had the body of an elementary schooler, was tightly hugging the collapsed Gio.
No matter how hard he tries with that tiny body, there’s no way he can cover him completely.
He looked truly desperate.
“……”
Yoo Seong-un quickly assessed the situation.
Judging by his oversensitive reaction, this is probably related to one of Gio’s personalities.
He had already anticipated that Gio’s personalities would exist across countless dimensions as offshoots of the core ‘Gio’s Portrait’. With that in mind, this kid baring his teeth while absurdly shielding Gio had to be a humanoid monster from another dimension as well.
Seeing how his teeth are shifting, he’s definitely not human. If so, this monster knows one of Gio’s personalities…
He didn’t know whether to call this good luck or bad luck.
Is it good luck that he isn’t attacking, even though he seems to be the master of this dungeon?
Yoo Seong-un eyed Eun-ha, who was still hugging the collapsed Gio, with skepticism.
“It doesn’t look like you have any intention of explaining this. What’s your name?”
“I find that offensive. Do not speak to me, you insignificant human.”
“Right. That’s the reaction I’d expect from a monster. Thanks to you, I’m starting to feel grounded in reality again.”
Since monsters were fundamentally creatures that hated humans, Gio, who had always behaved like a gentleman, was the strange one.
Even Eun-ha’s current behavior, actually responding to my words, is incredibly mild.
For a bewildering situation where they had been dragged into a virtual dungeon, didn’t a way out seem surprisingly visible? Yoo Seong-un felt a glimmer of hope.
“Anyway, the name Eun-ha must be an alias. What should I call you?”
“It is not an alias.”
“So it’s your real name?”
“I borrowed Earth’s naming convention and based it on the meaning of my name…”
“That’s exactly what an alias is.”
His contradictory behavior was highly intriguing; he bared his teeth, yet answered every question diligently.
It doesn’t seem like his hatred for humans is particularly low. In that case, is he answering because of Gio?
As the former research team leader of the Association, Yoo Seong-un scanned the boy just enough to avoid causing offense. Feeling this kind of curiosity while his life was in danger was a chronic habit of Yoo Seong-un, the Gardener.
I don’t know what kind of relationship Gio and this monster had…
But the kid had eyes. He must know that he and Gio had been acting together on Earth.
We showed enough intimacy that even a clueless bystander would have noticed.
He seemed to be exercising patience with that in mind.
In that case, it means this monster is mindful of Gio’s feelings.
In short, Gio held a higher rank in their relationship.
“…Ah, I’m so tired.”
He desperately wanted to clock out.
Some time has passed, and people are gradually calming down, but the anxious atmosphere remains. A few people I saw at the event are missing, too…
Scanning his surroundings, Yoo Seong-un asked, “Did you drag in everyone who was at the event?”
There was no way the boy would play dumb now.
He even made some pretty monster-like remarks, like calling me an ‘insignificant human.’
Whether he intended to reveal his identity right after causing the incident or not, Eun-ha was blatantly giving off the vibe that he was the master of this place.
The others seem too confused by their sudden abduction to even think about checking over here.
But he couldn’t deceive the eyes of Yoo Seong-un, an A-Rank Hunter. The master of this virtual dungeon, the culprit who had dragged everyone here, was undoubtedly the blue-haired brat in front of him.
“And the condition was everyone who was inside the Temple of the Sun?”
“……”
“…Whoa…”
I guess a monster is a monster after all. His bloodlust is immense.
It was a murderous intent so intense that it made him wonder how the boy had managed to pretend to be such a gentle child on Earth. His pearl-white eyes were so bloodshot they looked red, and just locking gazes was enough to drain Yoo Seong-un’s mental energy. He felt a sense of dread.
I really don’t want to provoke the master of such a terrifying dungeon…
Unfortunately, the only Hunters in this cavern were himself, an A-Rank, a C-Rank man, and a woman who was slightly below C-Rank. It wasn’t entirely impossible for him, an all-rounder, to cover for them, but…
No, I can’t. We’ll all die.
Escaping alone might be possible, but I can’t just leave Gio behind.
Of course, he wasn’t worried about Gio’s well-being. Yoo Seong-un was in no position to worry about the safety of this unconscious portrait. He simply didn’t want to hear Bisabeol’s screams over losing a piece of art; he didn’t want to lose Gio, a special specimen related to the Origin; and finally, he worried what kind of absurd catastrophe ‘Gio’s Portrait’ might unleash if left unattended.
I can’t just run away and leave an unmeasurable, bizarre entity of the Origin in this crazy dungeon. That would be like leaving a ticking time bomb.
If there was any saving grace, it was that the monster’s bloodlust had visibly subsided the moment his gaze fell on Gio’s face.
The oppressive pressure unique to dungeons seems to have eased up a bit, too…
He needed to find a way out, so he couldn’t afford to upset the master, who had finally calmed down. Knowing he couldn’t expect cooperation from the monster, Yoo Seong-un used Gio as a shield and spoke more indirectly.
“…You seem to know Gio, but did you know? Gio despises evil and rude beings.”
“……”
“I don’t know how you two know each other, but that’s how the current Gio is. If Gio had that personality in the past, then you probably… weren’t this evil or rude back then.”
“But right now, I am indeed evil and rude,” the monster continued, his expressionless face sending a chill down the spine. “I do not expect him to approve of the current me. I am not arrogant like you humans.”
“Ah, right. It seems Gio was like that back then, too. But since things have turned out this way, why don’t you try being a bit nicer to humans?”
“……”
Answering with silence, the monster raised his head to face Yoo Seong-un. He looked into the monster’s pearl-like eyes. The pupils were slit vertically like a predator’s, shimmering like diamonds catching the sunlight.
Ah, damn.
Call it a Hunter’s intuition. Yoo Seong-un instinctively knew what that look meant.
He’s deciding whether to kill us.
He was definitely thinking of killing everyone before Gio woke up—causing the disaster first and worrying about the cleanup later.
How peculiar.
Just like before, his pearl-colored eyes gleamed even more vividly. It was like the eyes of a beast flashing in the dark. Perhaps this monster had a habit of his eyes shimmering like water scales whenever he felt angry or murderous.
…If that’s the case, then I can’t just…
…sit back and let myself be killed.
No matter how many people die, as long as I can secure Gio and get out, that’s enough.
Foreseeing the potential death toll, Yoo Seong-un was just beginning to gather frost in his hands when—
“…Ugh…”
“! Gio.”
“! Teacher!”
Teacher?
“Ah, well…” Eun-ha stammered, flustered by his own slip of the tongue. His expression showed he had realized too late that he was in no position to call Gio “Teacher.”
What is with this clumsiness?
Seeing a face that looked blank yet earnest—a complete one-eighty from the vicious expression moments ago—Yoo Seong-un felt whatever shred of trust he had plunge to rock bottom.
“M-Mr. Gio,” Eun-ha said. “Are you alright? You just lost consciousness…”
Is this monster playing coy?
Humanoid monsters naturally put on acts around humans, but that’s usually a ploy to lower their prey’s guard before slaughtering them…
Watching the kid’s face, which now looked like that of a devout priest, Yoo Seong-un felt his remaining energy drain away. The sudden dissipation of bloodlust took the wind right out of his sails.
Groaning as he pushed himself up, Gio looked around, seemingly dizzy.
“……”
“……”
“……?”
Though his face was partially hidden by his hood, the glimpse of black hair confirmed that the current Gio was indeed ‘Seo Gio’. He seemed to be wondering where he was and why he had collapsed. Sensing this, Eun-ha put on his childlike face and asked, “Mr. Gio, this is a dungeon. Do you happen to remember what happened before you collapsed?”
“…Before I collapsed…” Surprisingly, Gio nodded. “I was speaking to Student Eun-ha.”
“Ah…” Eun-ha seemed slightly disappointed, yet also somewhat relieved.
Yoo Seong-un also grasped the situation.
His personalities must be in conflict.
While Gio remembered speaking to Eun-ha, he referred to him as “Student.” Since this was Seo Gio’s way of speaking, it meant that while the memory remained, his current personality was not the ‘Gio’ that Eun-ha knew.
“……”
Gio sat clutching his head for a long while. Since this was an extremely unusual state for an entity whose essence was a portrait, Yoo Seong-un asked with genuine concern, “…Does your head hurt?”
“…Yes,” Gio replied in an unusually faint voice. “Both my body and mind are in disarray.”
At those words, Yoo Seong-un recalled the moment they were dragged into the dungeon.
At that moment, Gio possessed the exalted presence he had shown in the portrait. Did the restrictions on his status unravel during the transition between dimensions? And now it’s restricted again?
Since he still hadn’t fully grasped Gio’s true identity, it was difficult to interpret his condition accurately. However, one thing was absolutely clear.
“……”
“……”
Yoo Seong-un and Eun-ha’s gazes locked.
…It seems either this brat or the dungeon’s environment is influencing Gio’s personality…
To be honest, this was not a welcome development.
I don’t know what kind of history Gio and Eun-ha share.
But there was no way he could welcome a shift in the personality of Gio—who was already a walking disaster—caused by this vicious, monster-infested dungeon.
If things go wrong, people might violate Gio’s sensitive rules and get attacked. Or, Gio might favor his old acquaintance and side with the monster, Eun-ha. Either way, it would be extremely disadvantageous for the humans.
Eun-ha had clearly reached a similar conclusion.
“……”
“Oh, look at you.”
Eun-ha used his small body to burrow into Gio’s embrace, clearly exploiting the fact that Gio was particularly weak to young creatures.
“Eun-ha, aren’t you going to let go? I thought you were a well-mannered fellow, but you’re really putting on an act.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’ve fought plenty of guys like you, but I’ve never had my blood pressure spike like this.”
“How terribly amateur of you.”
“This is driving me crazy.”
In any case, one thing was certain.
The longer we stay here, and the closer we are to this brat… the more Gio’s personality will change.
He had a goal now. He had to escape with the ticking time bomb known as Gio as quickly as possible.