NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6
Eons seemed to pass.
“Sa…sal…”
Yuna could see the sky.
“I’m… alive….”
The sun, half submerged on the horizon, was setting the sky ablaze.
Yuna thought that this scene was more beautiful than any sunset she had ever witnessed in her life.
She stepped onto the dock, and as soon as her feet touched the ground, she collapsed, her strength drained.
“Huff… huff….”
Around her, journalists rushed to the scene, blocked by the Hunter Association’s security personnel, with an ambulance parked to one side creating chaos.
And the culprit who allowed Yuna to witness that sunset stood in front of her. It was Parang.
“Are you feeling okay?”
At that comment, Yuna pulled herself together. She didn’t want to appear any more disgraceful.
‘Care.’
The lowest tier self-recovery skill. It couldn’t heal wounds properly, but it could at least restore some stamina consumed in extreme situations.
“Ah, yes…. Thanks to you, I’m okay.”
In reality, she was not okay. After facing death just moments ago, she couldn’t possibly be. At least her stamina was returning, and since Yuna already had a strong mental fortitude, she was hanging in there. Had it been someone else, they would have been deeply traumatized.
“I’m relieved to hear that. That was quite a bad experience, and I was worried about what might happen if something went wrong.”
“Ah….”
It was more than just unpleasant. It was horrific.
The nearly half-destroyed Nautilus was still floating and bobbing on the surface.
How she had managed to come up to the surface from that state?
Yuna felt her consciousness slipping away. The feelings she experienced in that moment were still vivid.
“Please don’t go below 500m from now on. Technically, the monster layer starts at 700m, but there are sometimes creatures that come up, so it’s dangerous.”
However, she couldn’t stay like this forever. Yuna wasn’t just strong; her mental resilience was exceptional. She quickly recovered her composure, shaking off the unnecessary emotions.
Then she bent at the waist at a 90-degree angle.
“Thank you very much. If it weren’t for you, Hunter, I don’t know what would have happened… I will definitely repay this favor. Here, this is my business card. I’m S-grade crafting Hunter Shin Yuna.”
An S-grade crafting Hunter would be someone that even the world government keeps an eye on, while countless A and S-grade Hunters owed her favors.
There were plenty of ways to repay her life-saving grace.
Parang stood there blankly, having taken the business card but with no reaction. Yuna, perplexed, straightened her bent waist.
Only then did she properly catch a glimpse of Parang. Until now, she had been so out of it that she hardly registered her face and was more focused on praying.
Parang was a beauty that could only be described as a cat person. Her slightly sharp eyes and impressive face combined with the black bodysuit that showed off her figure made her look like a charismatic spy from a movie.
“….”
The way she seemed lost in thought only heightened this atmosphere.
Interestingly, even though she had just come out of the water, her face and hair weren’t showing a hint of being wet. In stark contrast, her bodysuit was drenched.
Actually, there could be countless strange details worth noting. It wasn’t like Yuna could bombard her life-saver with awkward questions.
But still, she thought, isn’t it alright to ask for a name? Surely there would be another chance to be curious.
“Um, may I ask what your name is? I feel bad not knowing it after you saved me….”
Realizing her rudeness, Parang hastily introduced herself. After all, she shouldn’t act impolitely, even to a life-saver.
“I’m Hunter Yu Parang. I live around here, and I came after you when I heard you were going down to the monster layer.”
The way she mentioned that she had followed Yuna into a sea of monsters sounded as casual as running an errand.
Well, to Parang, it might have felt easier than running errands.
But Yuna was deeply touched.
She had come all that way with the intent to protect her from the very beginning.
“Thank you so much. I will never forget this favor, so please feel free to reach out anytime.”
She had a mountain of questions to ask. However, today her head was too dizzy to think straight, so she resolved to meet again in a few days to talk and figure out how to repay her kindness.
Just as Yuna was about to leave after bowing several times, Parang called her back as if she had remembered something.
“Oh, and if possible, could you leave a replay of the broadcast from today? I want to inform people about the dangers of the monsters.”
This could be a rather awkward favor for Yuna. It was her own trauma, and she hadn’t come off well in the footage either. Aware of this, Parang cautiously made her request.
Yuna pondered for a moment.
“Ah, right. The broadcast.”
She had completely forgotten that it was still live. It wasn’t odd for someone in her situation to forget about the broadcast; the problem lay not with Yuna.
And after reflecting on what she had done, what kind of scenes unfolded, and what was recorded on the screen, she decided,
“Okay, I’ll do it.”
She accepted the proposal without hesitation. To be honest, she was curious to see that scene from a different perspective, how it looked through the eyes of a third party, and the audience’s reactions while she was surfacing.
Yuna truly had remarkable mental resilience. Her near-maniacal curiosity was just a bonus.
With that, the two parted ways and returned to their respective places.
#
Yuna returned home and immediately uploaded the full replay of the live broadcast to T-Tube.
Having taken a two-week break from broadcasting, she also sent the video to the editor who had been doing highlights.
Since the broadcast was done live, it was being backed up in real-time on her home computer, and she had independent broadcasting equipment set up inside the submarine, so even as the vessel was being crushed, the broadcast was transmitted flawlessly to the end.
Additionally, her studio’s broadcasting team managed to keep the broadcast running until the very end while asking for help, having mobilized every connection they had to contact the underwater Hunters before Parang showed up.
Having confirmed all that, she watched the replay herself. Right after encountering that glowing monster. She had no interest in what happened before that.
First, she focused on the moment she first encountered the glowing column and went up to the point just before Parang appeared.
What she saw on camera looked extremely bizarre. She had no idea when she got enthralled, slowly, and naturally losing herself to the glowing column.
Yet, the glowing column still looked beautiful through the screen.
Next was the part she was truly curious about. As far as she remembered, she had fainted, woke up, prayed with closed eyes, then fainted again… In any case, losing herself, she wanted to see the process until she came out of the water.
And after calmly watching the complete replay of the broadcast, she remarked,
“Huh, huhuhu, what is this….”
She couldn’t help but smile in disbelief.
“I’ll be going up, so please stay calm and don’t touch anything.”
Immediately after, Parang, who had left her behind after Yuna passed out, said,
“…I think many of you might be surprised by my sudden appearance. I’m B-grade underwater Hunter Yu Parang.”
With a monologue explaining the current situation like a police officer arriving at the scene, the scene of Parang maneuvering the submarine unfolded.
“The monster you just encountered is a creature known as Galecus. It lures its prey with light and drags them into the deep sea. It was a very dangerous situation.”
“I was watching the broadcast from the start. I had been scouring the nearby waters with the intent to intervene once the monster appeared. The unusual rock you saw at around 250m helped in tracking its movements.”
“I imagine you find it strange that my voice can be heard now. That’s part of my skill.”
“The grade doesn’t matter much for underwater Hunters. Because…”
Parang answered questions that would have intrigued anyone with coherence.
“I advise you to stay safe and not dive below 300m.”
And with a precise and clean closing statement. The last thing Yuna saw before the broadcast ended was herself drooping in the chair as she made a clicking sound with her tongue. It was likely the control tower had ended the broadcast.
After confirming all of that, Yuna fell back onto her bed.
It wasn’t late, but she was exhausted. So much had happened.
Before she fell asleep, she turned on her phone while laying on her bed.
She only intended to check the community or the news one last time before going to sleep.
And, just as she expected, the internet was ablaze in real-time.
[ What the hell, was that what the monster was? ] [4]
[ Collection of Galecus GIFs ] [9]
[ If they were really dangerous, I’d be a huge fan ㅋㅋㅋ ] [23]
[ Were we swimming above those things all along? ] [10]
Talks about the monsters.
[ Shin Yuna, I was freaking out and didn’t know what was going to happen to her ] [3]
[ If it weren’t for THAT underwater Hunter in the end ] [8]
[ Watching the broadcast felt like experiencing cosmic horror live ] [17]
Talks about the terrifying situation.
[ Underwater Hunters <- They’re really insane ㅋㅋㅋ ] [23] [ Is that Yu Parang person going to do any broadcasts? ] [11] [ I thought a savior was coming down for real ] [32] [ Is it really okay for a human to be up against that? ] [8] [ Is that Hunter Yu Parang? Looks exactly the same ] [10] The entire community was still on fire due to today’s events. When she checked T-Tube for a moment, the view count for the replay she had just uploaded had already soared past 700,000 and was quickly heading toward a million. Even though it was a replay of the full broadcast, the amount of attention was immense. Yuna once again realized how much attention she had drawn. After seeing just that, she decided to go to sleep, opening a few community posts. [ What the hell, was that what the monster was? ] [ Author: LunSini ] (A GIF of an octopus slapping a bald man’s head. It seems to be an automatically attached image.) No, seriously, had I thought those monsters were just big fish? What kind of building-sized creature lures people to drag them underwater? So we were all swimming over something like that while treasure hunting?? - It looked terrifying ㅇㅇ;; - What do people who catch those things do? - The size really doesn’t make sense. - It sounds like the Hunter explained that they lure other monsters into their nests. I thought it was a scary story;; [ Collection of Galecus GIFs ] [ Author: HoonGokshin ] (When Galecus first came into view, a GIF showing it from a distance.) (Yuna approaching, the Galecus GIF getting closer and closer.) (A close-up of Galecus captured at the closest range.) It's really pretty... - In the middle of all this, did they think of making GIFs? - But it is indeed beautiful. - That’s true, but after all that, I’m a bit uncomfortable. - It’s enough that we survived, why do we have to be so dug into this anyway? - So now I see the size is a real monster. It’s like an entire apartment shining underwater. - Seriously, is it just the size? How many meters is that? - It’s 70m long. - How do you know that? - You can see Yu Parang, the underwater Hunter, explain it in the replay ㅇㅇ. [ Is that Hunter Yu Parang someone? ] [ Author: LifeCube ] (Photos of the "Jaru Girl" from Pohang. Pictures of Parang confidently carrying a bag bigger than her body toward the Hunter Association.) (Photos of Yu Parang captured on the broadcast, though the darkness makes it hard to see, she certainly resembles the girl in the upper pictures.) She looks exactly the same? Having blue hair and blue eyes isn't exactly common. - It's not just uncommon, it wouldn’t be surprising if there was only one in all of Korea. - Wow, but she looks super pretty, I didn’t notice during the broadcast. - What are those upper pictures? When were they taken? - You don’t know the Pohang Jaru Girl? - What’s that? - There’ve been photos going around for years of this person who roams around the Pohang Hunter Association with a bag bigger than her body. - Wait, so that thing she's carrying had a monster in it? - That seems plausible ㅋㅋㅋㅋ. - She looks so happy carrying that bag ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ. - How can she not be happy going to receive her payment ㅋㅋㅋ. - Now that I think about it, isn't that the girl from Gyeongju Harbor? - What’s that now? - (Hyperlink. Upon clicking, images are shown of Yu Parang exploring a dungeon in Gyeongju while submerged in a water tank.) - ?????????? - What???? "Eh?" At that moment, Yuna's image of Parang was slightly shattered. And then she looked at the clock, oh my, it was three in the morning. She had spent a full four hours reading through the community in that state. The community can be terrifying. [ You have (327) unread messages. ] She ignored them all. It was most likely interview requests or something similar. Yuna closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. Indeed, it had been a day filled with far too much. # And then, Yu Parang. "Hmm…." She too was watching the replay that Yuna had uploaded. However, the thing that captured her attention was not the screen but the chat. She was focusing on the chats that surged up while she was raising the submarine. Among them, she discovered an exceptionally eye-catching message. - This deep sea was incredibly dangerous;; ‘Perhaps….’ There might be a way to prevent people from entering the deep sea right here. Since Parang had also recently taken to enjoying internet broadcasts, she had a certain level of insight. From her perspective, the way the raising of the submarine was managed was quite impressive. In her view, explaining the situation even somewhat was better than letting chaos spiral out of control by just moving the submarine without a word. Ultimately, it had turned out to be a coherent explanation of the current situation. If she were to broadcast directly, showing people just how dangerous the deep sea could be… Completing that thought, Parang averted her gaze from the screen. Then she moved to the gallery and carefully browsed through the drawings she had created of monsters. Her eyes stopped at the drawing she had made of Galecus last time. "Then maybe…." Parang closed her eyes and quietly delved into her thoughts. And the next day. [ Hello, this is Hunter Yu Parang, who helped you yesterday. I was wondering if I could ask for your help in promoting the deep-sea exploration broadcast I will be conducting, given the current surge in interest concerning diving and the associated dangers… ] Yuna received a lengthy text message.