Chapter 1: Lewd Artist
"AHHH! I’m so fucking tired of selling my soul to drawing lewd art! I’m tired of this world!"
Nuri threw his stylus at the wall and slammed his fist against the art desk.
"Rosaria! Please just bring me back to my world... I can’t live this pathetic life anymore... All day long I just draw commission after commission, and they’re all weird and freaky as fuck! Like ZZZ-cup? Amazonia bushes? Ah hell nah."
Seriously, this was why he regretted falling into the dark side and started doing R18 commissions. At first, it was just a side hustle to further improve his artistic sense. He considered himself a true avant-gardist, someone who continued to push the boundaries of art.
Dabbling into this shameful endeavor... was just a way of expressing his brushstroke. He started out drawing just sketches of pretty girls. Then, out of nowhere, a rich kid in his class dropped a bombshell: "40,000 LCs. Draw me a portrait of my crush."
"Sold!"
Then somebody asked for a little more cleavage of their favorite character.
"Money!"
Then just one fully nude piece, they whispered: "100,000 LCs."
"God dang it, Bobby! You leave me no choice!"
From that moment on, greed blinded him. The lavishness of life was too strong of a pull for a poor teenager. When his traction slowed, Nuri started strong-arming schoolmates into R18 commissions, and before he knew it, he was the academy’s premier purveyor of every depravity a teenager with disposable income could imagine.
He was their god!
The lewder it got, the more people paid, and the worse his reputation became, until "Lewd Artist" became his identity. Now, Nuri was only commissioned for the freakiest of adolescent imagination.
The blond man stared into empty space. To anyone watching, he probably looked unhinged, but his eyes were fixed on the translucent status window only he could see.
[No? Why should I? You did this to yourself. What’s done is done.]
"I told you it was an accident!"
[It’s already been 18 years, Nuri. It’s spoiled milk.]
Nuri stomped once.
"But you’re literally a god, for goodness sake. You sent me to this world!"
The system typed out her replies like clockwork.
[And I’ve already told you before, my powers were exhausted after sending you here. Even if they were to return, we’ve made a pact.]
Hearing those words, he dropped back into his swivel chair and dragged a hand down his face.
"Shit."
Nuri wasn’t originally from this world. He had reincarnated into a place where spellcraft lived side by side with streetlights and screens, after dying in a regretful and shameful manner that he would never disclose! Ever!
He was once the third prince of an empire so domineering, every kingdom within the continent bowed wherever his foot touched. Known for his bad temper, wild nature, and sketchy activities in the underworld, Nuri didn’t have much support for the throne, but he wasn’t one to care about political schemes and such.
He just wanted a good life and good wives! Drinking, partying, and every indulgence he’d had as a prince — all gone!
Even more disheartening, however, Nuri was starting to change. He had found his calling in painting, creating masterpieces that became the envy of the continent. Nobles came all around the world and begged for his patronage, whispering that they would sell their ancestral homes for a single canvas!
And just when he started to hone in his artistic sense and climb the ladder as one of the greatest painters of his time, he died! Just imagine, the delinquent prince transformed himself into a revolutionary painter... the records of his mythical deeds would have been spread throughout every generation.
But he died!
"Damn it! Just thinking about it makes me depressed."
The system flickered back into view, lines of text clattering across an invisible screen.
[Why would you care about mortal wives? You have me. A literal goddess.]
"Are you my wife?"
Rosaria lagged a bit, then typed again.
[Does that matter?]
"You’ve literally never once showed your face again ever since the day I died!"
[Once is enough for you to relish my beauty for another 18 years to come.]
Just imagining Rosaria acting all smug behind this translucent window made Nuri’s fist tighten with the urge to drive a rapid one-two straight through it.
[Anyway, are you prepared?]
"Of course I am. It’s my only chance to get rid of my status as the ’Lewd Artist’ of the academy."
[Why do you sound like the nickname was forced on you? You bullied students into commissioning your art.]
"Ahem!"
Just then, the door to Nuri’s dorm slammed open, revealing an innocent-looking brown-haired man.
"Nuri! It’s about to start!"
It was his roommate, Cookie.
Yes, his name was Cookie, because his parents loved cookies so much they gave him what was both the best and worst name known to humankind.
In any case, Cookie, looking all excited and scared at the same time, meant that the golden hour had come.
"Professors are calling?"
Cookie jumped up and down, unable to contain his mania.
"Yes, yes! The Labyrinth’s gonna open in an hour."
’It’s time.’
The reason he was reincarnated in the first place was a pact between him and Rosaria: to reach the deepest floor of the Labyrinth, or he would forever be stuck in purgatory with her.
’Talk about dragging someone down just because you suffer. Very kind of you, Rosaria.’
[I’ve given you my everything within this Blessing. If I’m going down, I’m taking you with me.]
Nuri sighed and beckoned to Cookie.
"Alright, let’s go."
He donned the academy’s blazer. Sewn onto the chest was a crest, and beneath it ran a name: "Explorer Academy."
As Nuri walked down the hall, students parted to make way for him. Every one of them wore a terrified expression that made it clear they didn’t want to be anywhere near him.
However, one of the students sprinted toward him at breakneck speed, nearly crashing before stopping short in time.
"Nuriii!"
The student latched onto his arm like a sloth with its branch.
"When’s my commision gonna be done? It’s been a week and I need it expeditiously!"
’Lord have mercy.’
Nuri did not want to deal with this woman.
"Hey, hey, get off me! We’re about to get our asses handed to us by the Labyrinth, and you’re here thinking about your BL commissions!?"
Cookie then chimed in:
"Get in line, Yunara. I commissioned a week earlier than you, but mine’s still on hold!"
Yunara hugged his arm even tighter.
"How am I going to live when my precious June and May aren’t drawn kissing each oth—"
Nuri hurriedly covered her deplorable mouth.
"You freaks shut up!"
[Ah, if it isn’t the consequences of your own actions.]
’Rosaria, you shut up too!’
They were like three mosquitoes, constantly pestering him as they buzzed around his ears.
Nuri shook Yunara off and grabbed Cookie by the sleeve.
"We’re going. If we’re late to the briefing, the professors will make us run laps around the Coliseum. I’d rather not tire myself out before the Labyrinth eats me up."
"I could run as many laps as long as I get my BL piece," Yunara said dreamily.
Nuri tiredly turned to Cookie.
"Please knock her out."
"I’m a pacifist."
"You’re a coward."
He yanked Cookie into the corridor, Yunara skipping after them like a pesky fly you couldn’t swat.
"Anyway," the pink-haired girl said, "I bought some basic gears for the Labyrinth, and you know how much it cost?"
"500,000 Labyrinth Coins?" Cookie estimated.
"No! It’s freaking two million! I had to put up my ancestral sword as collateral..."
Nuri’s expression soured.
"Two million!? Are you actually stupid? That’s more than what I earn in my eight months of drawing! And didn’t you pay me upfront 80,000 for that BL piece? Where is all this money coming from?"
"Right!?" Cookie exclaimed. "Why didn’t you save up for the tithe? Do you want your execution to arrive faster or something?"
Yunara waved it off.
"Aish, I can make that back quick — I think! It’s only 800,000 LCs each month for the first six months anyway. And us Explorer Academy students got a ten-percent discount! I won’t get executed!"
Cookie facepalmed.
"Just say you’re cooked!"
"I am not! We are in this together as a squad. My debt is our debt! My tithe is our tithe!"
"Who’s we!?" Nuri and Cookie yelled in unison.
Yunara laughed deliriously as the boys quietly separated from this crazy girl.
Nuri was seriously considering replacing Yunara for someone else, but all the Labyrinth squads were already established in groups of five. His remaining two squadmates had probably gathered at the Coliseum where the Labyrinth would open its maw.
’The Labyrinth...’
Through the corridor windows, the Coliseum stood mighty at the heart of the academy, and today, the Labyrinth would open beneath it.
Nuri couldn’t help but grin.
His journey to becoming a legendary artist would start there.
It was an indescribable feeling to truly start life again, but what good would describing it be?
As the famous saying goes: "If you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint."
Nuri had every reason to paint.
