At a prestigious auction house.
“Uh...?”
“Why, what’s wrong?”
“J-just now ... I think this painting moved.”
“How clumsy.”
One of the managers snorted.
“There’s no way an ordinary portrait would be up for auction here. It must have been an item from some dungeon.”
“Ah...”
“They say it was found in the art warehouse of an abandoned school, but since its origin is unclear, the price will drop significantly. It’s going to be auctioned early in the first part, so prepare in advance.”
“Yes, sir.”
Despite the boss’s reassuring words, the employee’s expression was not good. He looked at the portrait in front of him with a sense of unease.
“....”
Just now.
It seemed like their eyes met.
“...I hope it’s not a cursed item...”
While the item must have already passed the safety inspection, the world is vast and there are all kinds of items.
The mystery of its origin and function which even appraisal skills couldn’t clarify must have been the reason why it made it to this auction, but that was exactly why the employee felt a sense of foreboding.
“Isn’t this how horror movies usually start? Something ominous and the people around who are unaware of the danger... It’s perfect.”
He just hoped that he wouldn’t be the first victim to die here.
“Ouh, how scary.”
That painting, ‘Gio’s Portrait’ silently watched this scene.
He then closed his eyes.
***
31 years ago.
The Earth was ruined.
When this all-too-common introductory phrase became reality, from then on, all science fiction movies disappeared from Earth.
Suddenly being dragged into another dimension and torn apart by irrational rules or monsters crawling out from the cracks of pitch-black dimensions felt much more real than any movie.
“Crazy...!”
“Excuse me, are they filming for a movie?”
“Do you think it’s a movie, damn it?!”
And as if that was expected, people with supernatural abilities appeared.
“Uh ... Isn’t this a game window?”
“Wow, I got that too.”
“What did it say? Mine says I’ve awakened as a priest?”
“I don’t have that ... just a list of skills. But if you’re a priest, do you have a religion?”
“Yes, I’m a Christian. Is it determined this way?”
“I don’t know either...?”
They changed the landscape of Earth.
“Ah, deal...! What are you doing without adding deal!!”1
“How can I deal when hyung is blocking the front...!”
“Are you kidding me?! Shouldn’t the tank block the front instead of the back?!”
“Wow, this strategy is screwed...”
“Hiyaaaa ...!”
They hunted monsters as if they were playing a game.
This phenomenon, defined as ‘awakening,’ manifested randomly in individuals, and no matter how much research was conducted, there was no precise rule or standard for it. The only commonality among those who had awakened was that they had a system window like that in a game.
Of course, hunting monsters wasn’t as light a task as playing a game.
“... Hey, at least take care of things he left. Even if there’s no body, we should still hold a funeral.”
“Our team’s dealer is gone .... I’m beat. How old did you say he was?”
“Eighteen years old. He said he wanted to go back to high school.”
“To drag a kid who wanted to study at school out here, the country must be crazy.”
“What can we do? They even make ten-year-olds work if they’re awakened ....”
“Well, an eighteen-year-old dealer is pretty decent.”
“This is fucked up.”
The so-called ‘Awakeners,’ or ‘Hunters’ who hunted monsters were few in number, so it was hard for them to escape from ‘death by overwork’. In the face of global changes during a transitional period, individual lives were treated as mere numbers.
However, South Korea was a country that quickly suppressed the chaos worldwide, centred around three heroes. They rapidly laid the foundation through a series of tumultuous changes.
“Honey, can you hear me? Ye-rin has awakened...”
As a result, citizens of well-organized cities began to feel more relaxed.
“The teachers told me that she had awakened at the kindergarten today.”
[ Huh? Ye-rin? Oh my ... Does she have a profession? What about skill? What rank is it? ]
“I don’t know, Ye-rin says she doesn’t have a profession and her skill is D-rank. Seems like we’ll have to check at the centre for the exact details.”
[ Then let’s not make Ye-rin a hunter. Ask her what she wants to do, and if she doesn’t want to, don’t make her a hunter. ]
“I was thinking the same. Okay, thanks, I’ll hang up now.”
With established guilds and centres, the system was organized—the dimension was named ‘Dungeon’, and there are now distinctions between ‘Awakener’ who simply have awakened abilities and ‘Hunter’ who have the profession of hunting monsters.
“Yeah, just because the child has awakened doesn’t mean she has to become a hunter.”
“Mom, am I going to catch monsters ...? I’m scared ... I don’t want to do that.”
“No, it’s okay. Our Ye-rin doesn’t have to catch monsters.”
From a certain point, Awakeners also began to have different jobs.
Awakeners, who possess powers qualitatively different from ordinary people, were strictly managed by the country, but within a mere 31 years, after various incidents occurred and with the government changing dozens of times, the treatment towards Awakeners improved.
For Awakeners below the C-rank, the range of job choices expanded significantly.
“Wow, that person must be a hunter.”
“Definitely, seeing the guild emblem, they must be a hunter.”
“Amazing ... Who is that? I’ve never seen them before, a newcomer? Have you seen them on TV?”
“The black wings are really cool. So that’s what a real hunter looks like.”
“I heard that flying-type skills are rare....”
“That person has made it in life.”
And with that, envious gazes towards hunters grew even more.
“I want to become a hunter if I awaken.”
“Eh, I’m not really into dangerous stuff.”
“But it’s still cool. You can earn a lot of money and be popular.”
In the end, they were treated like celebrities.
And the peaceful forest scenery that harmonized with him.
“I wonder who was drawn.”
It was a portrait that made one curious about the painter who drew it and the model who became the subject of the piece.
“If this is just human skill, it’s amazing. Even if it’s not, it’s the same. It’s as if it really contains a living human being ....”
At that moment.
The man in front of him.
The pale portrait opened its eyes and looked at Bi Sa-beol.
Bi Sa-beol held his breath.
As if every organ and muscle were captured by something huge, he couldn’t say anything.
... What is this?
‘What is this?’
It was black.
It was all black.
Even though the white and black are separated, it was an abyss where the boundary was completely indistinguishable.
Its centre was so deep that it was unfathomable. It was a shadow. And it was the night sky. And....
Does it resemble the universe?
‘Dark.’
Deep.
Colourful.
It resembled life where warmth and coldness coexist.
The veins and ties of fate that spread throughout it.
When Bi Sa-beol unknowingly touched the black eyes of the man in the painting ...
The portrait soon.
“... Oh.”
Closed its eyes.
“My goodness.”
At that moment, Bi Sa-beol intuitively felt that he had hit an unexpected jackpot.
“It’s not an ordinary painting, is it?”
He felt very pleased.
***
Meanwhile, the man in the painting, Gio.
Was scared.
“Um ...”
He quietly stepped back with a rarely disgusted face and looked at the frame hanging on the tree. It was the frame he called the ‘front door’.
Upon confirming that the only entrance was blocked, Gio muttered in frustration.
“I’m just an ordinary painting.”
He was a little desperate, enough to make excuses despite how no one would hear him.
‘...Is this what they call a threat to life? I thought such things would not happen in this peaceful cabin, but as expected, the world does not always go as one thinks. It’s a truly harsh world.’
Before he started making medicine in earnest, Gio, who wanted to check the outside world, noticed that his frame was being moved somewhere. Upon checking occasionally, it seems like he had been put up for auction.
And the last place he arrived was none other than a huge warehouse ...
'... Rather, it should be called a gallery or museum.'
The all-white building and well-maintained interior showed that only carefully selected works were on display. It seemed to be a gallery that received a lot of love from its owner.
And the more love he poured into it, the more troubled Gio became, having lost his one and only front door.
“Now every time I go outside, I’ll be committing trespassing. Why did this happen to me, a model student who listens well, goes to bed early and wakes up early? Is it because I didn’t brush my teeth before bed yesterday?”6
Gio had already surprised an employee by trying to take a brief look outside. Although he never died, he didn’t want to be burned at the stake as a haunted portrait.
“If the portrait is ruined, I don’t know what will happen to this painting world ....”
Indeed, the Earth had undoubtedly become stronger in 31 years. It was too rough and harsh of a world for the timid and weak Seo Gio, a newly born potato from the Gangwon Province, to survive.7
'It's dangerous outside the blanket.'
Gio once again acknowledged his identity as a portrait and resolved to stay here.
Yet the very next day after he thought to be more careful than now to survive in this harsh world, staking the honour of a haunted portrait—
“Hello.”
From beyond the wooden frame, the red-haired man he saw yesterday was loitering around.
‘Oh.’
Not really, truly, sincerely with any discriminatory or derogatory intent, but objectively seeing without any personal feelings, Gio thought. Those bright reptile-like yellow eyes were creepy.
For some reason he couldn’t understand, they even sparkled. Why really? But he didn’t want to understand. It was too harsh of a dilemma for Gio, who had stepped out into the yard expecting a refreshing morning.
“Nice to meet you, sir. I’m not sure if it’s a good morning, afternoon, or evening, but for us humans, it’s a good morning. Did you sleep well, sir?”
“I think I was very rude yesterday. Would you like to talk to me? What is your name? Since I appraised it as ‘Gio’s Portrait,’ it seems your name is Gio....”
“Sir? Are you listening? Seeing you open and close your eyes, as someone eagerly seeking conversation, it’s quite tempting. You seem to have a great skill in captivating people.”
Damn the heavenly gods and earthly spirits.
‘It’s been thirty-one years since someone talked to me, so something good is bound to happen tomorrow. But even considering that, an utterly unacceptable misfortune has struck.’
Modern society, this scary child. Gio hoped that the person beyond the frame would maintain a proper distance and pour an appropriate amount of interest.
‘... It’s burdensome....’
Outcast potato Seo Gio just shrank in front of the man who did not hide his enormous energy.8
Of course, it was a grateful thing that there was someone who would talk to this loner. It might not feel like thirty-one years, but it had been that long since he had the opportunity to communicate.
‘The fact that the other party seems quite friendly tells me that this is a reasonably good situation.’
But still...
“Sir? Are you there? Sir? If it’s because I came empty-handed, I can prepare something you want according to your taste.”
“Hmm, do I need to offer a sacrifice...? What kind of sacrifice is usually received in such cases? The most common case is either a human with many sins, or perhaps a completely innocent human. But the latter is too difficult to find...”
“It’s been a while since I’ve contacted the prison. In today’s world, finding a human with many sins is a piece of cake. I wonder how many would be enough?”
Oh.
‘It’s tough.’
Even for Gio, the idol of a mountain village, it was an opponent he couldn’t prepare to communicate with.
1: deal here means to deal damage.
2: sasaeng fan is a crazy obsessed fan with extreme behaviour and invasion of privacy. if you look at google, the first search result is Jungkook’s BTS sasaeng fan iirc you can think of that—
3: this dialogue uses 하해, while the word could mean reconciliation, I thought it was referencing the one with 河海 hanja so like ‘thanks for your understanding like the vast sea’? sth along this line ig? correct me if I’m wrong though.
4: 돌잡이 refers to a Korean tradition called ‘Doljabi’ where a child is encouraged to grab an item during their first birthday celebration, and the item they choose is said to symbolize their future career or path in life. so basically random gacha skill upon awakening.
5: 고래 싸움에 등 터지는 건 is a Korean idiom that translates to ‘like a shrimp’s back getting torn in a whale fight,’ which means getting hurt as an innocent bystander in a conflict between other stronger entities.
6: actually this one was 새나라 (new world/utopia) reference, but I don’t get this, from looking it up, it seems to mean someone who listens to their parents and teachers so well they can be people of the new world? I don’t understand ....
7: 햇감자, a potato that is freshly harvested or newly born that year ... smh his way of talking about himself ....
8: 아싸 (literally ‘outsider’), basically an outcast.