NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5
Yuna’s diving continued. Glancing over the submarine’s dashboard, she spoke.
“It’s already 400 meters deep, halfway there, folks!”
As an S-rank crafting hunter, her submarine boasted incredible performance.
Thunk-thunk—
A shark that looked to be at least 7 meters long opened its jaws, trying to bite the glass, but the reinforced windows didn’t budge.
– “Damn, that big shark can’t even break the glass, what a joke, haha! S-rank crafting is legendary!”
– “Those teeth are seriously gross.”
– “This is such a thrill!”
In the midst of this, a chime went off, signaling a donation message.
– “Thank you to ‘Arayang’ for the 1,000 won donation!”
[But aren’t monsters supposed to show up at 800m?]
“Monsters? What’s that?”
– “Don’t know about monsters?”
– “What are monsters, you loser?”
– “Aren’t they those huge fish that appear from 700m or 600m?”
“I’m not sure… Aren’t they just big fish? Like that 5m shark they found in Hawaii before?”
Or maybe this one right in front of her, Yuna muttered.
That was people’s perception of monsters.
Unless someone had seen one with their own eyes, they didn’t know what they looked like, their size, or how dangerous they were.
After all, there is no data. No photos or videos either, since there’s never been a chance to capture one, nor has there been any filming equipment until now.
The only monsters that people encounter are those processed for sale by the Hunter Association.
Even that is insufficient in quantity.
So, they just thought, “It must be just a really big fish.”
– “Thank you to ‘GiantFishXtreme’ for the 1,000 won donation!”
[They say monsters show up starting around 700m! The Bellua Mari used to make cannons last time with the captain is a monster.]
– “What’s Bellua?”
– “You don’t know Bellua? Are you a civilian?”
– “I don’t know either. Aren’t you the one who’s weird?”
– “Wait, they even made a cannon from it?!”
– “That exists.”
– “I’m really coming for you.”
– “Was Bellua a fish? I thought it was a lizard?”
– “I thought it was a lizard too.”
– “They’re talking about stuff only they know.”
As Bellua was mentioned, reactions in the chat started to diverge.
Bellua is like the mackerel of the monster world. It’s caught more often than other monsters and is more publicly recognized.
I mean, the name Bellua Mari literally means “sea monster”.
Of course, that name was given because it was the first one discovered.
Anyway, Bellua is practically a superstar among monsters, an idol. It’s one of the most visible monsters to people. Well, in material form.
Its scales and teeth are incredibly strong yet oddly flexible, making it a favorite among enthusiasts.
Naturally, if it’s Bellua, Yuna had a lot to say about it.
“Oh, that’s a monster? I know Bellua. Its skin is super tough, and it doesn’t even get damaged from regular impacts, so it’s great for making things like gun barrels…”
– “Oh, the switch is turned on again.”
– “Who started talking about monsters?”
– “I’m okay with it!”
– “I think this is Shin Yuna’s alternate account.”
So they chatted on and on. They saw something fascinating in the meantime.
“Wow, guys, look at that! What kind of fish is that? Looks like thousands of them! It’s safe with that many.”
They saw something funny too.
“Haha!! Is this camera even capturing how this fish looks?”
– “‘YepYep’ donated 1,000 won! Thank you!”
[Just an ordinary viewer, huh?]
– “You really said you’re coming for me.”
– “Cancel that statement, now!”
– “You do realize you could get sued for this, right?”
She saw something pretty too.
“Wow, this jellyfish is so beautiful! How is it glowing so brightly? Is it showing well on screen?”
– “Turn off the lights and let’s see. It’s pretty!”
“Oh, turning off the lights is a good idea. I’ll do it right now.”
Clank—
– “Why does even the sound of turning off the lights sound steampunk, you uncouth!”
“That’s just life… But wow, it’s really pretty when the lights are off. Whoever suggested that idea, come here; I’ll give you a compliment.”
Down, down. Yuna’s submarine quickly reached underwater 700m, entering the ‘Monster Zone’.
“Looking at the dashboard, it’s 700m deep, but there’s nothing here? Just dark.”
– “They say everything dies after 700m, but look how fine they all are, haha!”
– “Of course it’s empty at the start; it gets really dangerous deeper down!”
– “But what’s different about monsters? That big shark just chomped and left, right?”
By the time they reached 700m, the saying “getting monsters means dying!” had become a meme in the broadcast. A small group of people had created a huge fuss about it.
And now that they were at 700m with nothing to show for it, it was only natural to be teased.
It was also true that the submarine’s performance had been incredible. For those who thought “monsters are just some big fish,” there was truly nothing to fear.
And surprisingly, Yuna hadn’t encountered a single monster while descending to the 800m mark.
“Ta-da, we hit 800m! Let’s take a picture of the dashboard as a souvenir before going back up.”
– “Monster fans, please sign! Bellua is… a lizard…”
– “Why the fuss then?”
– “This submarine is really sturdy, huh? Yuna went down to 800m with something like this!”
– “This stream has been great today, haha!”
“If you’ve already had a good stream, then what should I do? I need to film the ascent process too.”
– “Wow, haha!”
– “Broadcast time is a copy-paste, haha!”
– “Are they really gonna make something out of this, then disappear for weeks?”
– “Uh-oh…”
“Come on, it’s not like I’m going to disappear! Since I made the submarine, I should put it to good use. But deep sea is more boring than I thought. Should I only dive a little bit more?”
– “That sounds like a good idea.”
– “Seriously, the deep sea is just dark and empty, isn’t it?”
– “??? There are monsters, you know!!”
– “LOL!”
Snap— Yuna took a photo of the dashboard that read [800m] with her phone, then turned the submarine towards the surface, beginning her ascent.
And then, at the 750m mark.
– “Thank you to ‘ElangVital’ for the 1,000 won donation!”
[What’s that shiny thing over there on the right?]
“Hmm? The shiny thing? Wait a sec… Oh? That’s real? What is that?”
As the message suggested, something glimmered faintly in the corner of her right vision.
It was hard to see in the dark, but it looked like a vertical beam of light. Like gazing at a skyscraper in the sky on a cloudy night.
“Whoa… It must look super pretty up close. I’ll swim over and check it out.”
Even as the monster fans in the chat started to stir, she paid them no mind. At first, she was a bit scared, but now, it was starting to annoy her.
Brrrr—
As she piloted the submarine closer, the outline of the light beam became clearer.
“Wow…”
And the sight revealed was so mesmerizing that Yuna forgot to label her thoughts and stared in awe.
In the pitch-black deep sea, a dazzling column of light illuminated the surroundings.
It felt like a festival happening in an underwater skyscraper.
Yuna wanted to see that stunning light up close.
So as she swam closer, she realized it was a fish.
It looked to be about 70m long, glowing from head to tail, swimming upright towards the surface.
“Wow… this is the most amazing thing I’ve seen today! How can such a fish exist?”
– “Wow, that’s seriously beautiful!”
– “Is this the monster?”
– “It’s amazing, but definitely not worth all this fuss!”
Yuna agreed with the majority opinion flooding the chat. If this is what monsters were like, it was only natural it was the monster they were talking about. But she didn’t think there was any reason to panic.
“It’s seriously beautiful. If I use this for the thumbnail of my video, I’d get crazy views!”
Yuna maneuvered the submarine to capture various angles of the monster, feeling like she made the right decision descending. Looking at her view count, it had already surpassed 50,000.
‘Me… 50,000…!’
With a population of 1 billion in South Korea, that meant 1 in 2,000 people in the country were watching her stream.
No matter how popular internet broadcasts were, that was an impressive number.
But something felt lacking. She felt this monster could be captured perfectly, yet the photos she was snapping a bit off from that perfect angle felt almost cruel.
In reality, Galecus, having sensed prey, was slowly diving to shift its position.
But as she got more absorbed in taking pictures, she started to forget about the broadcast.
And deeper, deeper.
Yuna was fixated solely on capturing the images.
Looking at the dashboard on the sub-cam, she soon realized she had already surpassed a depth of 1km, and as proof of that, she could hear the sound of metal bending outside the submarine.
The pressure was crushing the submarine.
In the chat, viewers were picking up on the anomalies, causing chaos.
– “Thank you to ‘sheha’ for the 10,000 won donation!”
[Look at the dashboard, look at the dashboard!]
Even hearing voice messages, Yuna continued to snap pictures, paying no heed.
– “Thanks to ‘GiantFishXtreme’ for the 1,000 won donation!”
[You madwoman, you’re down 1km; get back up now!]
– “Why aren’t you coming up? What’s going on?”
– “Isn’t she just ignoring everyone since she feels safe? Still alright?”
– “Does this sound like something coming from a safe submarine?”
– “What do we do? Should we call 119?”
– “Are you just dumb?”
Those who initially thought nothing of it were starting to panic now. In a situation where their lives could very well be in danger, no one could help her.
– “Thank you to ‘Yep Yep’ for the 1,000 won donation!”
[Voice Recording]
“Get back up! You’re in deep trouble now!!!”
With no success through messages, they tried screaming into voice-recording donations, but it was no use; Yuna was already entranced.
And indeed, the submarine had started to bend, enough that the sub-cam caught the view of the warped walls.
The chat was now in complete disarray. Some viewers were anxiously pacing back and forth while others sending audio messages, and some chose to leave the stream in despair.
The once 50,000 viewers had now dwindled to 30,000.
Then, just as the dashboard reached a depth of 1.2km, all lights inside the submarine went out, leaving only the red emergency lights glowing.
“Emergency situation. Depth is excessively deep.”
In the submarine filled with a mechanical voice announcing the danger,
“Wow, this is actually beautiful…”
Yuna continued to take pictures of the monster. The camera attached for filming had long been crushed, having ceased to operate.
Lost in thought, she didn’t even move to control the submarine, pressing the shutter of an unresponsive camera.
Truly, it seemed like it was all coming to an end.
At that moment—
Whack—
“Wow… this is really beautiful… huh?”
The submarine suddenly swung away from the monster.
It had no auto-pilot, nor did she turn it. In conclusion, something outside had turned the submarine around.
But what? How? Why?
Yet, none of that mattered to Yuna now.
“What, what’s happening? What’s going on… 1.2km?!”
Finally realizing the condition of the submarine she was in,
“Wha, wha… wheeze… wheeze!”
She was overtaken by an intense panic as the submarine was already bending in various places.
Control? Engine? Obviously non-functional. No matter how much she pulled the lever, all she could see was bubbles rising while the submarine remained unmoving.
“Please… help me!! Is nobody there?!!”
Completely lost, she babbled without thinking. Overwhelmed with fear, she fell into panic.
And just before she was about to faint, someone appeared before her, precisely in front of her submarine.
Indeed, not something, but someone.
A woman clad in a bodysuit, with blue long hair and blue eyes that were all that showed from within her suit.
B-rank hunter Yu Parang was facing her.
“W-who…?”
“I’ll save you.”
A rare scene of conversation between someone inside the submarine and someone outside in the water. However, Yuna had no time to pay attention to that.
She said she would save her.
Yuna frantically nodded her head.
Seeing Yuna’s reaction, Parang felt relieved that the worst outcome was averted.
‘Somehow, the glass didn’t break.’
Incredibly, amid all that chaos, the front windshield remained as undamaged as ever. It seemed that all those strength-enhancing options weren’t just exaggerations.
“I’m going to take you up, so don’t go nuts and touch anything; just stay still.”
Then Parang swam to the side of the submarine, grabbed the protruding part, and began swimming toward the surface.
The submarine moved smoothly upwards.