NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4
Two weeks have passed.
“Hah….”
Parang squints at his phone screen.
The diving craze showed no signs of dying down. In fact, it was beginning to catch fire.
Every day, more artifacts were being discovered, and even more people were diving into the sea.
“Wow, guys, can you see this? This is really an artifact, right? Crazy, wow…”
In the LIVE video on his phone screen, a body-enhancing streaming Hunter was making a fuss about finding a real artifact.
Streaming Hunters are people who broadcast their Hunter activities live. It might not be their main source of income, but it at least brings in pocket money. Depending on the channel size, there are cases where the income from commissions exceeds that from broadcasts.
Of course. How many people can resist watching someone fight a dragon live?
Before long, the live broadcasts of Hunters surpassed professional sports to become the undisputed number one content in the world.
And what’s hottest in these times? You guessed it: diving streams. Silo quickly modified existing products and launched underwater broadcasting equipment to the market.
That’s not all; they also rapidly released various electronic devices equipped with waterproof and pressure-resistant options.
The mass production of electronic devices with such options? If it weren’t for Silo, this business would have gone bankrupt long ago.
Amazingly, Parang also held shares in that business. He had visited the Silo laboratory for some experiments and a little blood extraction with an agent who had come to discuss things closely, and two days later, they launched a speaker and microphone that worked underwater.
Thanks to that, Parang got himself an underwater phone. Now he could lie down in the water and watch TTube.
This model works even at a depth of 4km underwater. It’s not an off-the-shelf product; it’s custom-made. He had plenty of those as giveaways from just one field trip to the lab.
Parang lies underwater, scrolling through TTube.
Most of the vlogs are titled something like [Scuba Day 1], and the few remaining ones are all diving broadcasts.
Parang has been enjoying these diving streams lately.
Not out of worry like, ‘What if this streamer meets a Monster Fish and people panic?!’
Last week, he had such worries, but now he just enjoyed the diving videos. Since Parang only operates in the East Sea, there’s also a sense of vicarious satisfaction watching shallow waters in other areas.
He could swim there directly, but honestly, it sounds tedious. The nearest shallow sea is the Yellow Sea. That’d be some major swimming with a detour around the Korean Peninsula.
Parang has no intention of going by land.
In any case, seeing people continue their wholesome diving life without encountering Monster Fish gave him peace of mind.
After all, there isn’t a single person worldwide who dives deep enough for a Monster Fish to appear (except for those who’ve always dove as casually as breathing).
It’s tough to dive deep, and there’s no need to go that far when artifacts and gold bars can easily be found at depths of 50-100m.
‘Why on earth are gold bars coming out…?’
Of all the people Parang had seen so far, the deepest anyone had gone was only 300m.
So, there’s no worry about people dying due to Monster Fish. Well, there are 2m-long sharks at the surface, but…
That’s their business. Parang’s policy is just to prevent harm from Monster Fish. So, he thinks, ‘Since no one has the ability to reach the Monster Fish layer, I don’t need to worry about the people playing at the surface.’
But still, you might wonder, why is that?
I mean, getting bitten by a 2m shark is a personal issue, but why isn’t it the same for Monster Fish?
That’s because there are a few beings that should never be revealed to the world.
Not the lousy ones like Bellua, but the ‘real’ ones. Beasts that could crush human will just by existing, bringing chaos to society as otherworldly disasters.
Such horrors lie deep beneath.
Only six people in the world know this.
The underwater Hunters who survived witnessing ‘those things.’ They decided among themselves to never disclose this fact to anyone.
It was too grand a reality for humanity to know.
Plus, it’s not like humanity can do anything if they knew.
Parang is one of those six.
This information isn’t known by the Hunter Association, the world government, or Silo… well, it feels like Silo knows, but in any case, no one else but these six has a clue.
And so far, only these six have access to that information. It’s fortunate.
However, despite that peace of mind, something unsettling overshadowed it. As Parang was fiddling with his phone lying underwater, a title from a recently started live stream caught his eye.
[LIVE – World’s First 800m Dive Live]
Parang startled and dropped his phone.
It hit his face, but the water cushioned the blow, so it didn’t hurt.
Picking up his phone again, Parang turned on the broadcast.
The screen revealed a familiar location.
‘No…’
That’s near our neighborhood!
Parang dropped his phone once more.
He tilted his head to dodge but decided it would be better to just take it on the face and caught it with his face.
Then, in an instant, a splash occurred, and Parang disappeared.
#
S-class crafting Hunter, Shin Yuna.
She was feeling good right now.
The reason was simple.
[Currently, 25,320 viewers are live.]
‘25,000…!’
Three times the usual number of viewers were watching her broadcast.
She had thought of this content the moment she saw the Slayers Ascension news. She started working on it the following morning and finished it yesterday.
What? A submarine.
Today she was going down to a depth of 800m in the submarine she built herself.
As is usual in Hunter stories, S-class crafting Hunters occupy the uppermost echelon of the Hunter caste.
She could easily borrow a lab from Silo. Of course, it wasn’t for free.
Anyway, they even did a pressure endurance test at the lab. The hull actually crumpled at a depth of 1km.
Setting aside treasures and artifacts, exploring the unknown deep sea is thrilling.
Yuna properly targeted the hearts of those 25,000 viewers with that excitement.
And Yuna’s heart was beating 25,000 times faster than usual.
She tried to suppress her trembling voice and started the broadcast.
“Hello everyone~ It’s Shin Yuna on July 3rd.”
– Finally broadcasting, you idiot!
– Yuna Punch! Yuna Punch! Yuna Punch! Yuna Punch!
– Is it 800m dive after ghosting for two weeks? Seriously!
“No, you can’t say I ghosted! I clearly posted that I’d show you something amazing I created over the past two weeks.”
The chat filled with various emoticons.
– ‘ㅇㅇ’ donated 1000 won! Thank you~!
– [Are you really diving 800m? Not 80?]
“Yes, that’s right. I’m diving 800m today.”
– No way, how can you dive 800m, you nutcase?
– Are you bringing an underwater Hunter back?
– What the heck is that?
– It exists.
“I’ve heard of underwater Hunters… but I didn’t invite any today~. I don’t even know where they are.”
Underwater Hunters are those who operate underwater. Yuna knew they existed.
Since there were only about twenty in all of South Korea, interviews and documentaries had been made about such an ultra-rare profession.
They feel like the natural people of modern society. You know they exist, but you have no idea what they do, nor do you care.
– So when are you diving? I’m dying here, hurry up!
– Crazy Dive Concrete!!
“Just wait a bit. ‘Dying here’ means you get temporary ban.”
After confirming that the chat was buzzing, she turned the camera, which had been filming her face, towards the dock.
“Tada~! Introducing Nautilus~!”
– What the hell is that?
– Is that a submarine?
– Looks like a submarine, right?
– Could it be what I’m thinking?
“Yes, it’s exactly what you’re thinking. I made this over the past two weeks.”
– ‘ㅇㅇ’ donated 1000 won! Thank you~!
– [This insane girl… insane girl…]
As expected, the reaction was explosive. Seeing the atmosphere getting more lively, Yuna smiled in satisfaction.
– You made that alone?
– So you weren’t satisfied with just the airplane you made last time…
– What’s this airplane thing? LOL
– That exists.
– If it exists, tell me, damn it!
“Yes, it was insufficient with just the airplane, so I made this~ It can dive to at least 1km, and ugh, I need to cook it more, but I want to ride it the most, so I’ll just hop on.”
– You’re supposed to explain first, while riding! LOL
– Your engineer instincts haven’t gone away! LOL
– I believe it. You’re definitely Shin Yuna.
“Ah, I’ll explain while getting on. Wow, this is awesome…”
This is the real deal. Forget the broadcasting; she just wanted to ride in the submarine she made. She was so overwhelmed that she even felt tingles in her lower abdomen.
Quickly boarding the submarine and closing the hatch, she began to operate the broadcasting equipment.
Soon, the broadcasting screen switched to the submarine’s internal cam.
The submarine, designed for only one person, had interiors that would surely excite many men, especially those called engineers.
The interior walls made of rugged steel, a seemingly cozy leather chair, and the dozens of levers and control panels around her.
Along with the internal lighting that gave a hint of gaslight and the 井- shaped iron bars protecting the front window.
The camera screen was divided into two. The main cam was positioned at the top of the chair where Yuna sat, recording the sea in front, while the sub-cam was fixed to see the entire interior from the ceiling of the submarine.
The broadcast screen had the sub-cam’s image in a small size at the bottom right of the main cam’s frame.
– ‘Aroongsatae’ donated 5000 won! Thank you~!
– [This insane girl has even made a steampunk submarine…]
“Steampunk is life, everyone.”
– The main cam view is awful. LOL
– But it looks a bit small, can it really dive 800m?
– Are you for real? She’s an S-class crafter.
– Alright, I’ll admit it.
– Why is an S-class crafter even doing live streams?
– Her face isn’t even visible!!
“I already borrowed the Silo lab and confirmed it can dive to 1km. And my face can be seen on the sub-cam, so why can’t it be seen?”
– How am I supposed to see that tiny screen!!
“Hey, clean it up. Use polite language.”
– How am I supposed to see it with a screen that small?!
“Leave.”
The viewers, who were so excited to see her return after two weeks, were normally deserving of a ban, but since everyone was in a good mood, they were just given a temporary ban.
“Alright, everyone, get ready to dive~!”
There was a line she had always wanted to say someday.
– Yes, yes, Captain!!
– Yes, yes, Captain!!!!
– Yes, yes, Captain!
And with that, the submarine Yuna was on began to sink into the sea.