A New Family
Even though the portrait had closed its eyes because of Yu Seong-un’s impatience, Bi Sa-beol, its owner, did not get angry with him.
“It was a portrait that never even answered me when I spoke to it, after all. It wouldn’t so much as look at me.”
“…….”
“The seventeen employees who claimed to have conversed with it until now all fled, unable to endure the pressure the portrait exerted. In that sense, Mr. Yu Seong-un’s attempt should be considered highly meaningful and fruitful.”
“But…”
“Driving Ji-oh away was certainly not a good choice, but it was that very inquisitive spirit of yours that made me scout you, Mr. Yu Seong-un. There’s no need to apologize for that part.”
“I’ll be more careful going forward.”
“That’s enough.”
Fortunately, Bi Sa-beol was a man who was particularly devoted to his own people.
A curator’s duty was to maintain and manage artworks. This sort of inquisitiveness more suited to a researcher was not appropriate. Still, meeting a superior who would defend someone like Yu Seong-un was something to be grateful for.
“Haa…”
But Yu Seong-un was still troubled.
Just because there’s no major problem doesn’t mean the mistake disappears.
He had been employed by Bi Sa-beol as a curator for quite some time. He had thought that, having spent so long appreciating and managing Bi Sa-beol’s collection, he had grown considerably desensitized, but as expected, nature was nature—faced with the mystery of a dungeon he hadn’t seen in a long while, his eyes had rolled back in fascination.
Yu Seong-un entered his private workshop and bit down on a candy. An adult worn out by fatigue needed sugar.
“…….”
Yeah, that’s right.
Ji-oh’s portrait is no ordinary monster.
That was what stimulated Yu Seong-un’s curiosity.
“…It could simply be a mutation, but…”
A quiet mutter.
“…….”
Yu Seong-un sat in his chair for a long while, staring into empty space.
Then he opened his mouth.
“…Should I try contacting the Gardeners?”
Gardeners were a profession operated in secret by the associations of each nation.
In truth, it wasn’t quite at the level of being “operated in secret.” Since it was work that anyone with the right aptitude could do.
It would be more accurate to say that because those with the aptitude were so rare, it simply hadn’t spread publicly even though it was semi-compulsory.
But as someone who basically retired from research under the pretense of leaving, contacting them again is a bit awkward.
Gardeners, who were a kind of secret researcher and adventurer, were people who had come close to the truth of dungeons.
They knew a great deal of information unknown to the world, but with the knowledge Yu Seong-un possessed as a former Gardener, he could not explain “Ji-oh’s portrait.” Even for him, it was a type of existence he was seeing for the first time in his life.
“…Well, it’ll work out somehow.”
Creak….
Yu Seong-un sighed and slumped back in his chair.
“No need to rush, so let’s take it slow.”
No matter what humans did, the Source would not run away.
It’s far too big a thing for that.
There was no reason to hastily dig into the secrets, and he didn’t feel like it either. It was precisely that kind of impatience that had driven “Ji-oh” away just a few days ago.
“Let’s reflect, reflect…”
Fortunately, “Ji-oh”’s avoidance did not last long.
A few days later, Yu Seong-un was able to see the portrait with its eyes open.
“…Uh…”
“Good evening.”
“…Hello?”
Yu Seong-un smiled awkwardly.
“A fine evening.”
“Yes, it is.”
The forest within Ji-oh’s portrait was an evening glittering with stars.
“It’s evening for us as well, coincidentally.”
“Wasn’t it dawn?”
“I came a little early today. It’s not even midnight yet.”
“It does seem considerably earlier than usual. Is there a reason?”
“I came to check on the other works under my charge.”
Yu Seong-un shrugged his shoulders.
“And then I saw that you were awake, Ji-oh.”
“I am always awake.”
“That’s an astonishing story.”
After joking around, Yu Seong-un asked in his characteristic deadpan voice.
“What were you doing just now?”
His gaze was directed at the brush held in the portrait’s hand. It was a very strange sight—a painting holding a tool with which to paint a painting.
If the guild master saw this, his eyes would roll back.
Ji-oh answered readily.
“I was making birds.”
“Ah, so you were drawing birds.”
“Yes.”
“Might I take a look as well? If it wouldn’t be an imposition.”
“If you wish, Mr. Yu Seong-un, I will show you.”
The man with the blunt face set down the brush in his hand, and then Yu Seong-un watched as he tapped somewhere invisible. When those delicate fingers called someone forth with precise rhythm, an anomaly appeared.
The sound of water lapping was heard, and soon a single bird appeared.
“…….”
Yu Seong-un was surprised.
Of course, unlike the previous gem, it was clearly flat like something from beyond the painting… but at the very least, it possessed a vitality on par with Ji-oh’s.
“…That bird…”
“It is my new family.”
“Ah, I see.”
He had wanted to answer as calmly as possible, but he wasn’t sure if he had succeeded. Honestly speaking, Yu Seong-un was a little excited.
“It’s a splendid bird.”
The bird was very small. In terms of Korean species, perhaps about the size of a long-tailed tit?
But its tail feathers were much longer, and its wings, becoming one with its transparent body, were hard to see. Perhaps they were simply fused together.
It was made of extremely pure water. It resembled the holy water Yu Seong-un, a former Gardener, had occasionally seen in dungeons, or the spring water of remote regions where no life dwelled at all.
“Did you just create that, Ji-oh?”
He understood why he had said “make” rather than “draw.” That was clearly a living, moving creature.
“You were holding a brush, after all.”
“I’ve gotten hooked and been making several of them.”
“Several?”
“Right now, roughly… a little under a hundred.”
“That’s impressive.”
Meaning he had drawn each of those hundred one by one.
“It can’t be easy.”
“I have nothing but time, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Ah…”
“And it’s fun.”
“…….”
So he has a surprisingly curiosity-driven personality.
Something to keep in mind.
Given how excessively polite and stiff-faced Ji-oh was, it was hard to get a feel for him, but the fact that an existence of unknown nature—monster or otherwise—lived a life driven by interest was something a human should be wary of.
Having memorized the information in his head, Yu Seong-un 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 its body like a wet puppy, a lapping sound rang out. It was like the sound of a small water bottle being shaken, or like thin, viscous jelly being mixed this way and that.
Yu Seong-un laughed softly.
“So that’s how it cries.”
The portrait added.
“It can cry in other ways as well.”
“But didn’t you say it has no vocal cords?”
“It’s a similar method to before.”
Ji-oh took out a small gem from inside his formal wear.
“How about this.”
Flutter…! Flap!
“It’s yours.”
Chop.
The small-bodied bird snatched the green gem from Ji-oh’s hand. It seemed to gauge it by biting the gem this way and that with its dainty beak, then soon gulped it down.
“Ah.”
Still with his blunt expression, Ji-oh handed over a few more gems.
“Now it should be able to cry.”
“How…”
Just then, a clinking sound was heard.
“…….”
Yu Seong-un soon understood how the bird before him cried.
…By moving or colliding the objects put into its body…
It resembled a Fairytale.
The gems trapped within the bird’s transparent body floated about, and also struck each other to make sounds.
Though they looked like high-density gems, the gems floating freely inside that small body sparkled together with the light-scattering water.
Ji-oh spoke as if teaching a newborn beast.
“Yes.”
Clink!
“You’re doing well.”
Click, click!
“…….”
Then he was seen blinking twice. Though that blunt expression hadn’t changed, whether it was just his imagination or not, he looked tired.
“They’re chatterboxes.”
“They seem rather quiet to me.”
“I can’t even imagine how noisy they would have been if they had vocal cords.”
“That’s… true, but.”
Displaying the quick movements unique to small-bodied beasts, the bird moved this way and that on Ji-oh’s hand, flapping its tail and wriggling busily. Then it would spread its wings and flap them as well.
The wings are bigger than I thought.
The wings large enough to wrap around its entire body were absorbed back into the torso and lost their form.
That aspect is just like a slime.
The way it strove to put things into its body also looked a little similar. Though that one seemed to do so for decoration rather than hunting….
How would it react if it met an enemy?
“…Your paintings are truly magnificent.”
Was this a portrait and a painter at once? Thinking that, Yu Seong-un spoke, and Ji-oh looked at him.
Those eyes, so black they even seemed bright, held Yu Seong-un for a moment, then he opened his mouth.
“Thank you.”
“I hope I didn’t say anything improper?”
“It was the perfect compliment for someone who paints.”
“That’s a relief, then.”
But a living painting.
Anyone would call that magnificent.
As Yu Seong-un blankly watched the bird, the portrait asked.
“Do you have any other questions?”
“Ah, questions…”
Was this also one of the rules of “Ji-oh’s portrait”?
It seems like he always gives opportunities like this.
Yu Seong-un answered while gauging the other’s patience and goodwill.
“I always have questions. So I have them this time as well. Because you showed me such a magnificent painting, Ji-oh.”
“I see.”
“This bird is truly beautiful. Do these fellows each have their own sense of aesthetics? Or do they act according to your tastes, Ji-oh?”
“…….”
Blinking twice, the portrait answered.
“I do not know much about these friends.”
“I see.”
“But they like putting things into their bodies to decorate themselves.”
Perhaps because they had already shared quite a few conversations, Ji-oh continued without reservation.
“So far I have made roughly a hundred birds, but the objects each preferred were different. This friend prefers gems, some birds wanted flowers, some sought twigs or pebbles. There were times it was small fish or the fruit of trees.”
Flutter!
When the portrait waved his hand, the bird sitting on it flew. The sound of water was heard.
“They do not move according to my aesthetic sense. Their own tastes are firm. That may have been slightly influenced by me, but… at this point, there is nothing I can force upon them.”
“That’s just like real birds.”
“This place is a painting. The painting drawn by me, the master of the painting, becomes real. If they wish, they can live and breathe. They can.”
“…….”
“Has this been a sufficient answer?”
After a brief silence, Yu Seong-un soon opened his mouth.
“This bird does not seem like a mere painting. It seems alive. Would it be able to come outside like you, Ji-oh?”
“Well.”
Ji-oh did not give a clear answer. It also seemed as if he himself did not know what would happen, or as if he simply did not particularly want to tell him. Yu Seong-un let it pass without much concern.
But he carefully asked.
“Does it…”
“…….”
“Have a soul?”
Thirty-one years after dungeons had appeared, people now acknowledged the existence of “souls.” Because various skills targeting souls had appeared, it was an inevitable trend.
Though none of those skills were common, of course.
“Did you create a bird with a soul just now?”
“Well.”
The same answer as before.
I can’t read his intentions.
The portrait remained as blunt as ever.
It was a face that could not be seen as belonging to someone who had just created a single life, and thus had an even more alien and eerie quality.
Is it because he casually does things that don’t seem human at all, yet has eyes, nose, and mouth all attached like a person that it feels even more grotesque?
There was a sense of incongruity of a completely different dimension from the monsters or similar things he had usually seen.
The portrait answered as ever.
“I do not know either.”
“If even you, the master, don’t know, who would?”
“No one may know.”
His voice was clear.
“I simply drew a painting. And I am a person who entered the painting.”
“…….”
“I can decorate this painting, and the painting thus decorated becomes reality within this portrait. Just as Mr. Yu Seong-un drew an apple for me last time and…”
“…….”
“In the end, it is a painting.”
It was like wordplay, but it wasn’t wrong either.
A painting within a painting is indeed real.
Yu Seong-un asked again after a moment.
“You created birds within the painting. You drew gems and gave them to me. And you were able to deliver them to me.”
“That’s right.”
“Ji-oh, you are clearly a painting, yet at the same time a human, and you can also influence reality.”
He asked.
“Then, can you paint a real life here?”
“…….”
“Not simply coming outside the painting and going back in like last time, but painting something like a destiny, a past, or memories. Or else…”
“…….”
“An actual person, or something.”
Ji-oh answered presently.
“It may be possible, or it may not.”
“…….”
“But I do not wish to do so.”
“…Why? Isn’t it lonely or boring inside the painting?”
“I do not feel loneliness here.”
His tone was still blunt.
“I am comfortable here. This place, where the weather is always fine, the spring breeze blows, and the scent of the forest is full, is not troublesome or tiring in any way.”
“…….”
“If a time comes when I am bored, I simply need to create new friends as I am doing now. That is enough.”
Yu Seong-un was a little surprised.
“So you are satisfied with your peaceful painted world?”
All the heteromorphic existences he had seen until now had always coveted things of reality. Regardless of whether they had an ego, their actions were instinctive, like plant stems stretching out toward sunlight.
“Don’t you feel the desire to come out?”
“It is tiring.”
“That… may be so, but…”
“I do not wish to leave. This place is my home now.”
“…….”
Just now, he had clearly said “now.”
…So there was a time when he did not live in this portrait.
The portrait claimed to be human and said there was a time when he had not stayed in the portrait, but there was no guarantee that the place he had stayed was necessarily Earth.
It could be another dungeon or dimension. No, considering Ji-oh’s usual remarks and caliber, the probability of that is actually a bit higher.
Separate from Yu Seong-un’s thoughts, the portrait continued.
“I cannot create a living being that threatens me.”
“…A living being that threatens you?”
“Humans are always beings who have the potential to harm other existences. The only living beings I can create are friends who are solely favorable to me. That is the rule of this portrait.”
“…….”
“I didn’t know well at first either, but after trying a few times, I understood. Because I am the master of this portrait, I cannot create an existence that can erase me. Therefore I cannot paint humans either.”
The portrait murmured.
“A portrait without a master cannot be established.”
Having said so, Ji-oh looked at Yu Seong-un again.
“Creating a human is distasteful.”
“Why is that?”
“That is far too special a matter.”
“Isn’t special a good thing?”
“Because I am not that special, it is not good.”
“…….”
“I am satisfied with my specialness being at the level of a talking portrait.”
That was certainly deep enough that one could not believe it was merely the thought of a portrait with only an ego.
It’s certain it’s not an ordinary monster or item.
And thus there was an eerie aspect.
“…….”
“Has this been a sufficient answer?”
“For today, yes.”
If it was neither monster,
nor item.
Neither ghost nor human.
“I shall see you next time.”
Just what was this?
(To be continued)