The Artist Who Paints Dungeon

Ch. 117


Chapter 117

The woman was not one for a good night's sleep.

Even when all the newbies who had received their first day of training at The Collectors were asleep, the woman could not fall asleep.

For the past few years, she had spent many sleepless nights worrying that she might fall behind.

The insomnia that resulted from this had tormented her relentlessly. It was inevitable.

“…At a time like this, I should be studying even one more thing….”

She had no ambition to speak of, but there was a desperation born from her unfavorable situation.

She didn't want to become someone great or be in the spotlight, but she was one of those who longed for what is called ‘ordinary happiness.’

“I’ve memorized all the handouts The Collectors gave me.”

The woman was a Carnation Child, having grown up working under a hunter in an illegal guild.

For her, who had always been looking for a moment to step into the light, the hand offered by the collector Bisabeol this time was a golden opportunity.

“I’m not the only newbie, and above all, I’m the lowest C-Class among my peers… I don’t even know if I’ll be hired. I can’t just let go of this chance to receive the protection of one of the top three guilds in the Republic of Korea.”

The place the woman was currently in was The Collectors' dormitory.

“…The company itself is open 24 hours, right….”

The woman gathered her clothes and headed to The Collectors’ building.

It was a little past 4 in the morning.

The guard at the entrance rounded his eyes at the sight of the woman visiting at a time when there were few employees working.

He, who was in charge of the entrance, knew the faces of all the employees.

That was no different for the newbies.

“You’re one of the new ones, right?”

“Ah, yes, yes. That’s right.”

“I heard you were assigned to the Gallery, do you have work already?”

“Well… I don’t know if this is allowed, but I wanted to try and get adjusted….”

“So you’re saying you don’t have any specific work.”

“…Is it not allowed?”

“You are responsible for everything that happens from now on, so it’s not that it’s not allowed.”

When the guard pointed to the entrance gate, the woman hurriedly scanned her employee ID.

After safely getting inside, the woman bowed her head to the guard.

“Um, thank you.”

“Why thank me for an employee coming to work.”

As if he was quite the friendly type, the guard with an amiable impression naturally struck up a conversation.

“If you’re going to the Gallery, it would be best not to approach the 1st basement floor. There are still about two people working in the 1st-floor gallery, so if there’s anything you don’t know, you can ask them.”

“Is that okay? I’m not disturbing them, am I….”

“They’re the ones who are obligated to be there during a sleepy time anyway. They’d probably be happy to have someone to talk to. They’re kind of on night watch duty.”

“…Thank you for letting me know.”

“You’re working so hard, I hope to see you as a full-time employee soon. I know you must be in a hurry, but take your time with the elevator.”

“……”

The woman, who had bowed her head, went deeper into the building.

‘The lights are on so brightly even though it’s dawn.’

Perhaps for the employees working the night shift, there wasn't a single place where the lights were off.

Despite that, she suddenly felt a chill in the silence where not a single person could be seen, but the woman steadfastly headed for the gallery's elevator.

The sound of her own shoes walking down the hallway sounded particularly loud.

The elevator that Curator Yu Seong-un had shown her during the day could only be reached by a rather complicated route.

“……”

The woman, having even verified her identity with her employee ID, pressed the golden button. Perhaps because no one had left for the day, the elevator doors took a long time to open.

“…Ah, the entry log.”

The paper log hanging on the elevator wall caught her eye.

“I think he said to make it a habit.”

Did that apply to her as well, who wasn't a full-time employee?

“Hmm….”

The woman hesitated for a moment before writing her name in the log.

As a non-combat type hunter, the woman had no ability to bring back special items from dungeons, and because she was born into poverty and grew up in an illegal guild without any education, her administrative skills were also lacking.

‘But he said the most important thing in the Collector’s Gallery is the affection for the artworks.

He said they wouldn’t assign an artwork beyond my capabilities, so if it’s just about putting my heart and soul into it, I can do well in this gallery too.’

With the desire to remain in her current position if possible, the woman wrote down the letters, one by one.

“Destination… Basement, 1st floor….”

Having briefly described her purpose, the woman placed the golden fountain pen back in its original position.

“…If they don’t tie things like this down, won’t someone steal it?”

But then again, this was one of the top three guilds in the Republic of Korea. It seemed unlikely that anyone would be that audacious.

An elevator where ivory and gold harmonized beautifully.

Before pressing the button, the woman unknowingly took in its elegance.

The brightly lit elevator, maintained cleanly without a speck of dust, had a somewhat classical feel to it.

‘…Come to think of it, it’s strange for an elevator in a large corporation like this to have metal buttons. The paper log too. Is this a design to enhance the classic image of the gallery?’

Just then, the woman suddenly felt a chill.

“……”

The atmosphere was much stranger than when she had seen it during the day.

“…Maybe because I’m riding it alone, it’s definitely scary….”

When there were many people, it was a bit cramped but not scary.

This was the gallery of The Collectors, which was said to exhibit the most bizarre and dangerous artworks in the world.

If she was selected as a full-time employee after the training period, she would have to ride it alone from then on, so she needed to get used to this creepiness in advance.

‘Right, once I’m assigned my artwork, I have to build a proper rapport. If I get scared starting from the elevator, what will I do later?’

Just as she made that resolution and was about to press the elevator button.

“……”

The woman tilted her head.

“…The buttons…?”

They were all for the 4th floor.

“…W-what’s wrong with this? This shouldn’t be happening, right?”

At that moment, the woman recalled the handout from The Collectors that she thought she had memorized completely back at the dormitory.

To be precise, it was the phrase written about what to be careful of when using the gallery.

“Ah.”

It said to refrain from using the elevator to the gallery at 4:44 AM if possible.

It said there was an artwork on the 4th floor of the gallery that played pranks using the number that was considered particularly unlucky in East Asia.

It liked the number 4 so much that even if it was moved to another floor, it would keep reappearing on the 4th floor.

“Um, what exactly was that artwork….”

She remembered what the guard had said earlier, ‘take your time with the elevator’.

She thought it was just a nice sentiment, telling her to be at ease, but to think there was a reason like this, she felt so pathetic for not realizing it sooner.

‘Then he should have tried to stop me…!’

For a moment, she felt such resentment, but she was nothing more than a 5th-class citizen.

In a world where even 1st-class citizens died for no reason, no one would be sorry if she died.

‘But if I cause an accident and something happens to the artworks, wouldn’t that be a bigger problem? No, I need to think of a way to deal with this instead of thinking like this.’

But perhaps because she was so anxious, she couldn't think straight.

“It was an artwork that embodied… elevator buttons… something like that….”

Flicker….

The light flickered.

“……”

Flicker, flicker.

The speed of the flickering gradually increased.

“…Uh….”

What is this?

‘What should I do?’

The woman, in a panic, couldn’t even lean against the wall and faltered.

It was true that she had memorized the entire handout the company had given her, but being in a pressing situation made it difficult to recall the correct information.

This artwork’s description seemed like that artwork’s story, this seemed like that, and that seemed like this….

“Ugh….”

Why do I always do something stupid at important times?

“Th-there’s definitely… a device in the elevator… to call for help….”

Screech—.

The elevator jolted with an ominous sound. It slid down, and the elevator doors repeatedly closed and opened.

Her insides and outsides were simultaneously noisy with a pounding sound.

It was a situation so tumultuous that she felt a surge of emotion, an unmanageable commotion.

“Please, just….”

Her frustration made it hard to breathe.

This elevator had a distress call button in preparation for any unforeseen event.

The curator who had been in charge of the training during the day, Yu Seong-un, had said that if she just pressed it, a rescue team on standby would come and help.

“……”

A creaking sound.

She reached out her hand to press the button, hoping for a rescue from the elevator that was sending out a bizarre vibration, as if it would fall at any moment.

But she stopped just before she touched it.

“……”

It wasn't the work of a monster.

“…I, I….”

It was because of the woman’s own selfishness.

“Am I going to get fired?”

There was a good chance.

She had crawled into a dangerous place at an unscheduled time, bothering the dawn guards. She had done what was clearly written not to do and caused an accident that didn't have to happen.

Had she caused some kind of problem with this expensive-looking elevator?

‘And I’m a C-Class hunter.’

A C-Class hunter, a dime a dozen in today's world.

Most of her peers were of a higher grade than her, and the peers of the same grade had a sturdy body that clearly seemed to be of the combat type.

‘I have the worst conditions.’

And yet, to cause an accident like this and bother people again….

“……”

She couldn't cause an even bigger accident.

It was right then, as the woman reached for the button.

“…Huh?”

Flicker….

The light from the eerily flickering lamp returned.

“Uh, uh…?”

She hadn't pressed the button yet.

She didn't know why, but in the light air that felt like she had returned to reality from a ghost story, the woman unknowingly checked the elevator's buttons.

The five buttons, which had all been for the 4th floor, were also in order from the 1st to the 5th floor.

And when she checked the floor where the elevator had stopped.

“…5th floor?”

Ding—.

The elevator doors opened.

“…Ah? 5th floor? No, w-wait…!!”

The woman, startled by the thought that she had crawled into the worst of all lairs while out of her senses, stumbled backward with a thud.

Before she could even groan from the sharp pain, the elevator doors opened completely, and a long shadow was revealed between them.

“……”

“……”

A blond man wearing a black cape.

“Hello.”

It was ‘Seo Jio’, who had taken the form of Giovanni.

***

“…So it was a sort of… hazing ritual.”

“To be precise, it’s probably more like an annual event.”

The blond man nodded his head at the woman's dumbfounded question.

“It’s an artwork that only scares people without causing any actual harm, but it seems that new curators who haven’t properly familiarized themselves with the rules fall for it every now and then.”

“Ah….”

“Since it’s a pretty safe way to teach them that it can be really dangerous if they don’t get the manual down pat, it seems that no one actively advises against it.”

At those words, the woman thought of the guard at the entrance.

“True, he just told me to ‘take my time with the elevator’. I thought he meant I should be at ease, ugh… so that’s what it was.”

Anyway, it was a relief that it wasn't really dangerous.

“Since it was an artwork on the 4th floor, I thought I had caused an unmanageable accident.”

“It’s not a very dangerous artwork, so they tried to move it to the 1st floor several times, but it likes the number 4 so much that it keeps going back to that spot, so it ended up becoming a 4th-floor artwork.”

“…I was so out of it that I couldn’t think that far….”

In a gallery with only 5 basement floors in total, it was an artwork that was described as having been attempted to be moved to a place other than the 4th floor. It was more likely that they had tried to move it to a floor above it, rather than the 5th floor.

“I still can’t remember, what was the way to deal with it?”

“If someone from outside the elevator calls it from the outside, the strange phenomenon stops.”

“…So I just had to press the distress call button or hold out until morning? It really wasn't dangerous at all.”

“You don’t have to blame yourself. Even if it’s a prank, it’s a phenomenon that is clearly mentally draining, so if you had stayed like that until morning, you might have developed a trauma.”

“Thank you for comforting me….”

The woman let out a small breath.

“Actually… I thought you were one of the strange phenomena at first, Mr. Seo Jio.”

The first words he had uttered were an out-of-the-blue greeting.

Seeing someone rolling around unattractively, drenched in a cold sweat, and that casual ‘hello’.

She couldn't describe how bizarre it felt, even in her confused state, that insensitive consideration, as if greeting a neighbor in the morning.

It was also similar to monsters who didn't care what happened to humans.

‘…I can’t say such a rude thought to his face, though….’

The woman wiped away the cold sweat.

“And a self-introduction right after that… you even asked for my name, so I thought I had really been caught by a proper artwork. I thought I was being forced into some terrible and evil contract.”

“This is embarrassing. I thought you were very surprised, so I was trying to ease your tension with a greeting and an exchange of names, but it seems that scared you instead. It’s a bit late, but I apologize.”

Saying so, Seo Jio bowed his head very politely.

Even though his words and actions were self-deprecating, he looked as elegant as someone from a high place, making the woman's face flush. It was too much of a courtesy.

“Y-you don’t have to… say that. I’m the one who received help, after all.”

She was just a little surprised.

The atmosphere was so heavy and his way of speaking was strangely stiff, so it seemed to have made the woman's mind, who had just experienced the artwork’s prank, dizzy.

“You’re very polite, Mr. Seo Jio.”

“I always wanted to be a polite person.”

The man in the black cape smiled.

“Those words make me happy.”

“……”

“You are a polite and good person.”

“…Ah, um….”

“Thank you for affirming me.”

There was no lie in those words.

“……”

He is a good person.

His warm blond hair, as if it held the sunlight, flowed down softly.

The smile on his chiseled face, like porcelain, was gentle.

As if it held the sea on a spring day, his mysterious eyes were beautiful. Everything about him was made of goodwill.

‘…He’s such a gentle and kind person, but why….’

…Why is he so creepy?

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