Chapter 10

The portrait had closed its eyes because of Yu Seongun's impatience, but Bi Sabeol, the painting's owner, did not get angry with him.

"It was a portrait that would not even answer when I spoke to it anyway."

"..."

"It did not even look at me."

"The seventeen employees who supposedly conversed with it until now all ran away because they could not withstand the pressure of the portrait."

"In that sense, I should say your attempt had great meaning and results, Mr. Yu Seongun."

"But..."

"It certainly cannot be called a good choice to have made Jio run away, but I scouted you because I fell for that inquisitive spirit of yours, Mr. Yu Seongun."

"There is no need to apologize for that part."

"I will be careful from now on."

"That will do."

Fortunately, Bi Sabeol was a person who treated his own people with particular care.

A Curator's duty was to preserve and manage works.

This sort of inquisitiveness, the kind a researcher might have, was not appropriate.

Even so, it was something to be grateful for, to have met a superior who defended Yu Seongun like this.

"Haa..."

But Yu Seongun was still troubled.

'Just because there was no major problem doesn't mean my mistake disappears.'

It had been quite a while since Bi Sabeol had hired him and he had lived as a Curator.

He had thought he had grown quite dulled while admiring and managing Bi Sabeol's collection all that time, but nature was nature after all, and his eyes had lit up at the mystery of a dungeon he had seen for the first time in ages.

Yu Seongun went into his private studio and bit into a candy.

Adults steeped in exhaustion needed sugar.

"..."

Yes, that was right.

'The Portrait of Jio is no ordinary monster.'

That was what stimulated Yu Seongun's curiosity.

"... It may simply be a mutation, but..."

A small murmur.

"..."

Yu Seongun sat in his chair for a long while, staring into empty air.

Soon, he opened his mouth.

"... Should I contact the Gardeners?"

Gardeners were a profession secretly operated by the associations of each country.

In truth, it was not quite at the level of being "secretly operated."

They were tasks anyone could do, so long as the aptitude suited them well.

It would be more accurate to say that, because there were so few people with that aptitude, it had simply not become openly widespread by semi-force.

'But I came out while pretending to have retired as a researcher in my own way, so contacting them again is awkward.'

Gardeners, a kind of secret researcher and adventurer, were people who had come close to the truth of dungeons.

As such, they knew various pieces of information unknown to the world, but with Yu Seongun's knowledge as a former Gardener, he could not explain the "Portrait of Jio."

Even for him, it was a kind of being he had seen for the first time in his life.

"... Well, something will work out."

CREAK...

Yu Seongun let out a sigh and slumped limply in his chair.

"There is no need to rush, so let's take it slow."

No matter what humans did, the "source" would not run away.

'It is far too enormous for that.'

There was no reason to hastily dig up its secrets, and he did not feel like doing so either.

To begin with, it had only been a few days ago that he had acted hastily like that and made "Jio" run away.

"Reflect, reflect..."

Fortunately, "Jio's" avoidance did not last very long.

A few days later, Yu Seongun was able to see the portrait with its eyes open.

* * *

"... Uh..."

"Hello."

"... Hello?"

Yu Seongun smiled awkwardly.

"Good evening."

"Yes, it is."

The forest inside the Portrait of Jio was an evening sparkling with stars.

"It happens to be evening for us as well."

"Was it not dawn?"

"I came a little early today."

"It is not even midnight yet."

"It does seem certainly earlier than usual. Is there a reason?"

"I came to check on other works I am in charge of."

Yu Seongun shrugged.

"And then I saw that you were awake, Jio."

"I am always awake."

"That is astonishing news."

Yu Seongun, who had been bantering, asked in his characteristic calm voice.

"What were you doing just now?"

His gaze was directed toward the brush held in the portrait's hand.

It was an extremely strange sight, a painting holding a tool with which it could draw a painting.

'If the Guild Master saw this, his eyes would roll back.'

Jio answered obediently.

"I was making a bird."

"Ah, you were drawing a bird."

"Yes."

"May I have a look as well?"

"If it is not rude, I mean."

"If you wish it, Mr. Yu Seongun, I will show you."

The expressionless man set down the brush in his hand, and soon tapped somewhere Yu Seongun could not see.

When his delicate fingers called someone out in a disciplined motion, a strange change appeared.

There was the sound of water sloshing, and soon a bird appeared.

"..."

Yu Seongun was surprised.

Of course, unlike the gemstone from before, it was definitely flat, like a being beyond the painting, but... at the very least, he could feel as much vitality from it as from Jio.

"... That bird..."

"It is my new family."

"Ah, I see."

He wanted to answer as calmly as possible, but he did not know if he had managed it well.

To be honest, Yu Seongun was a little excited.

"It is a splendid bird."

The bird was very small.

If compared to a species in Korea, was its form about that of a long-tailed tit?

But its tail feathers were much longer than that, and its wings were joined with its transparent body, making them hard to see.

Perhaps they were simply fused together.

It was made of very clean water.

It resembled holy water that Yu Seongun, as a former Gardener, had occasionally seen only in dungeons, or perhaps spring water from a remote place where not a single living thing lived.

"Did you just create it, Jio?"

He understood why he had said "make" rather than "draw."

That was definitely a living creature moving of its own accord.

"You were holding a brush, after all."

"I found it fun, so I have been making several."

"Several?"

"Right now, roughly... a little under one hundred."

"That is amazing."

That meant he had drawn all one hundred of them one by one.

"It cannot have been easy."

"Time is what I have in excess, so it does not matter."

"Ah..."

"And it is fun."

"..."

Was he unexpectedly the sort of personality that sought out interest?

'That is something to keep in mind.'

Because Jio was excessively polite and had such a stiff expression, it was hard to get a feel for him, but as a human, it was worth being wary of a being that might be a monster or might be something else living a life centered on interest.

Yu Seongun stored that information in his head and asked again.

"It seems to be made of water. Can that bird cry?"

"It has no vocal cords, but..."

FLUTTER!

SPLASH, SPLASH!

"...like this."

"Aha."

When the bird shook itself like a wet dog, a sloshing sound rang out.

It sounded like a small water bottle being shaken, and also like a thin, viscous jelly being mixed this way and that.

Yu Seongun laughed softly.

"So that is how it cries."

The portrait added.

"It can cry in other ways as well."

"But did you not say it has no vocal cords?"

"It is similar to the method just now."

Jio took out a small gemstone from inside his suit.

"How about it."

FLAP! FLUTTER!

"It is yours."

PECK.

The small bird snatched the green gemstone from Jio's hand.

It seemed to measure the gemstone by biting it this way and that with its dainty mouth, then soon swallowed it down.

"Ah."

With the same expressionless face as ever, Jio handed over a few more gemstones.

"It should be able to cry now."

"How..."

At that moment, a clinking sound could be heard.

"..."

Yu Seongun soon understood how the bird cried.

'... It moves or knocks together the things inside its body...'

It was a sight like something out of a fairy tale.

The gemstones trapped within the bird's transparent body drifted here and there, and also made sounds as they knocked against one another.

Even though they looked like dense gemstones, the gems floating inside that small body glittered along with the light-scattered water.

As if teaching a newborn beast, Jio said,

"Yes."

CLATTER!

"You are doing well."

CLICK, CLICK!

"..."

Then Yu Seongun saw him blink twice.

Even though that expressionless face had not changed, perhaps it was his imagination, but he looked tired.

"They are chatterboxes."

"They seem rather quiet."

"If they had vocal cords, I cannot even imagine how noisy they would have been."

"That is... true, but."

The bird, showing the quick movements unique to a small-bodied beast, moved this way and that on Jio's hand and busily wriggled, flicking its tail.

Then it spread its wings and flapped them, too.

'Its wings are bigger than I thought.'

The wings, large enough to envelop its entire body, were absorbed back into its torso and lost their shape.

'In that sense, it is just like a slime.'

The way it struggled to put something into its own body seemed a little similar, too.

Though that creature seemed to be doing it not for hunting, but for the purpose of decorating itself...

How would it react if it met an enemy?

"... Your paintings are truly wonderful."

Was this a portrait and also a painter?

When Yu Seongun spoke those words while thinking that, Jio looked at him.

Those eyes, so black they almost seemed bright, held Yu Seongun for a moment, and soon he opened his mouth.

"Thank you."

"I did not say anything rude, did I?"

"It was a perfectly fitting compliment for a person who draws."

"Then I am glad."

But a living painting?

'Anyone would call something like that wonderful.'

As Yu Seongun stared blankly at the bird, the portrait asked,

"Do you have another question?"

"Ah, a question..."

Was this also one of the rules of the "Portrait of Jio"?

'It seems to give me an opportunity like this every time.'

Yu Seongun weighed the other party's patience and goodwill as he answered.

"I always have questions."

"So I have one this time as well."

"Because you, Jio, showed me such a wonderful painting."

"I see."

"This bird is truly beautiful."

"Do these creatures perhaps have their own sense of beauty?"

"Or do they act according to your tastes, Jio?"

"..."

The portrait blinked twice and answered.

"I do not know much about these friends."

"I see."

"But they like to decorate themselves by putting something into their bodies."

Perhaps because they had conversed quite a lot until now, Jio continued speaking without hesitation.

"I have made roughly one hundred birds so far, but each of them preferred different things."

"This friend prefers gemstones, one bird wanted flowers, and another looked for twigs or pebbles."

"At times, it was a small fish or the fruit of a tree."

FLUTTER!

When the portrait waved his hand, the bird perched upon it flew away.

The sound of water could be heard.

"They do not move according to my aesthetic sense."

"They have firm tastes of their own."

"That may have been influenced a little by me... but it is not something I can force now."

"They are like real birds."

"This place is a painting."

"The pictures I draw, as the owner of the painting, become real."

"If they wish, they can live and breathe."

"They can."

"..."

"Was that a sufficient answer?"

After a brief silence, Yu Seongun soon opened his mouth.

"This bird does not look like a simple drawing."

"It seems alive."

"Could it perhaps come outside like you, Jio?"

"Well."

Jio did not give a clear answer.

He looked as though he himself did not know what would happen, or else as though he did not particularly want to tell him.

Yu Seongun did not pay it much mind and let it pass.

He only asked carefully,

"Does it..."

"..."

"have a soul?"

Now, thirty-one years after dungeons had appeared, people acknowledged the existence of "souls."

It was an unavoidable trend, because all sorts of skills that targeted souls had appeared.

Though there were no such skills that were not rare.

"Did you just create a bird that has a soul?"

"Well."

The same answer as before.

'I cannot tell what he intends.'

The portrait was still expressionless.

It was a face that could not be seen as that of a person who had just created a life.

That was why there was an even more alien and eerie side to it.

'Is it because he casually does things that do not look human at all, yet his eyes, nose, and mouth are all attached like a person's, that it feels even more grotesque?'

There was a sense of wrongness on an entirely different level from the monsters and monster-like things he usually saw.

The portrait answered calmly.

"I do not know either."

"If you, the owner, do not know, then who does?"

"Perhaps no one knows."

His voice was clear.

"I merely drew a picture."

"And I am a person who came into a painting."

"..."

"I can decorate this painting, and the painting decorated that way becomes real inside this portrait."

"Just as you drew an apple for me last time, Mr. Yu Seongun..."

"..."

"In the end, it is a painting."

It sounded like wordplay, but it was not wrong.

'A painting inside a painting is real, after all.'

After a moment, Yu Seongun asked again.

"You created a bird inside the painting."

"You drew gemstones and gave them to me."

"And you were able to deliver them to me."

"That is correct."

"Jio, you are certainly a painting, but at the same time you are human, and you can also affect reality."

He asked,

"Then can you draw a real life here?"

"..."

"I mean, not merely at the level of coming out of the painting and going back in like last time, but can you draw something like one fate, or a past, or memories?"

"Or perhaps..."

"..."

"an actual person."

Jio soon answered.

"It may be possible, and it may not."

"..."

"But I do not want to do that."

"... Why not?"

"Is the world inside the painting not lonely or boring?"

"I do not feel lonely here."

His tone was still blunt.

"I am comfortable here."

"This place, where the weather is always good, where the spring breeze blows, and where the scent of the forest is full, has nothing troublesome or difficult."

"..."

"If a time comes when I am bored, I only need to make new friends like now."

"That is enough."

Yu Seongun was a little surprised.

"You are satisfied with your peaceful painted world?"

The abnormal beings he had seen until now had always coveted things from reality.

Regardless of whether they had an ego, their actions were instinctive, like plant stems stretching toward sunlight.

"Do you not feel any desire to come out?"

"It is tiring."

"That... may be true, but..."

"I do not want to go out."

"This place is my home now."

"..."

He had definitely said "now" just then.

'... So there was a time when he did not live in this portrait.'

The portrait claimed he was human, and said there had been a time when he did not stay in the portrait, but there was no guarantee that the place where he had stayed was necessarily Earth.

'It could have been another dungeon or dimension.'

'No, considering Jio's usual remarks and stature, that possibility is actually higher.'

Apart from Yu Seongun's thoughts, the portrait continued speaking.

"I cannot create a living creature that threatens me."

"... A living creature that threatens you?"

"Humans are beings that always have the possibility of harming other beings."

"The only living creatures I can create are friends who are favorable toward me."

"That is the rule of this portrait."

"..."

"I did not know very well at first either, but after trying a few times, I understood."

"Because I am the owner of this portrait, I cannot create a being that can erase me."

"That is why I cannot draw humans either."

The portrait recited,

"A portrait without an owner cannot exist."

After saying that, Jio looked at Yu Seongun again.

"Creating humans feels unpleasant."

"Why?"

"It is too special a thing."

"Is it not good if it is special?"

"Because I am not that special, it is not good."

"..."

"My specialness is satisfied with being a talking portrait."

That was certainly deep enough that it could not be believed to be the thoughts of a portrait that simply possessed an ego.

'It is certain that he is no ordinary monster or item.'

That was why it had an eerie side.

"..."

"Was that a sufficient answer?"

"For today, yes."

If it was neither a monster,

nor an item.

If it was neither a ghost nor a human.

"I will see you next time."

What on earth was this?