2
Chapter 2
Parang's house is located by the pier. It isn't just near the pier, either; the house was built as close to the ocean as building regulations would allow, right up against the water.
So, if diving into the sea counts as clocking in, her commute takes less than a minute. Talk about a dream job.
Clocking out is the exact same.
A patch of rolling seawater began to bubble, and with a splash, Parang poked her head out.
Carrying a sack twice her size while hauling herself up the pier's ladder was a routine she had clearly mastered.
Standing tall on the dock, Parang locked eyes with someone sitting in the distance holding a fishing rod, immediately sprinting over and waving.
"Ah! Elder!!"
Parang was incredibly polite. So polite, in fact, that on the very first day she moved in, every elderly resident in the neighborhood said they wanted her as a daughter-in-law.
She would absolutely decline since she was a guy on the inside, though.
Now, she practically had the entire village's affection all to herself. After all, Parang was the only young person in town.
The next youngest person after Parang was the Youth Association President. He was 46 years old this year. With the village's only young girl—young enough to be a daughter or granddaughter—being so polite and pretty, the whole town couldn't help but become the Parang fan club.
"I keep telling you, I'm not old enough to be called an Elder...."
The middle-aged man sitting on the chair grumbled, casually resting his fishing rod beside him, and offered Parang a light greeting.
"I thought you went in this morning, but you're only coming out now? You didn't come out after waiting for hours, so I thought you'd drowned."
Parang had been diving for eight hours today. That was about an hour longer than average.
Since moving to the seaside, she had spent at least five hours a day underwater, so the fact that she couldn't possibly drown was a truth known to Parang, the Elder, and the Bellua she had just caught.
"Hehe... Time just slipped away...."
So Parang just took it as his daily greeting and smiled brightly. He might sound a bit gruff, but when it came to caring for her, he was second to none in the neighborhood.
"Looking at the size of that sack, it seems like a big haul. Hurry inside and get some rest."
"Just going to drop this off first. The association is closed for the weekend starting tomorrow, so I need to hand it over today."
After exchanging a few more brief pleasantries with the Elder, Parang headed straight home.
Well, she couldn't exactly go to the association wearing a Bodysuit. She had to take the subway to get there.
After taking a quick shower and changing her clothes, Parang brought a Waterproof Sack from the storage room and transferred the Bellua by-products into it.
Slung over her back, it was still twice her size.
Feeling as generous as her hefty sack, Parang left the house with a light step.
Ding-dong-♬♪
[This stop is the Hunter Association. Hunter Association station. The doors are on your right. This stop is...]
Parang's steps were still as light as a feather.
Because she was riding the subway, the sack she wore on her front bobbed up and down, as if dancing to its owner's rhythm.
Passing pedestrians fixed their gazes on Parang's sack first, her unique hair color second, and her dazzling beauty a third time.
Appearing like this every time due to the nature of her job made her a bit of a local celebrity. She was already circulating in internet communities as a meme under the name 'Pohang City Sack Girl'.
Anyway, with her still-light steps, she entered the Hunter Association Pohang Branch.
Since it was nearing the end of the workday, the employees glared slightly at Parang as she walked in confidently.
But what could they do? The staff knew exactly how much the goods in that sack were worth. If they refused it out of sheer annoyance, they had no idea what kind of earful they'd get from upper management.
In particular, the expressions on the faces of the Purchasing Department staff, who had to personally receive, store, and report the items, were quite a spectacle.
"Hmm~ Hm-hmm~"
Whether they liked it or not, Parang headed straight for the Purchasing Department counter, humming a tune.
As if she had been here more than once or twice, she immediately pulled out her Hunter license and placed it on the authentication device.
At first glance, it seemed like a rude gesture, but it was actually a highly effective way to save time. It's a bit late to say this, but Parang was also reading the room.
The staff member must have been on the same wavelength, as they didn't say much either.
[B-Rank Hunter, Yoo Parang. Verified.]
Ding-ring♪♬
Parang didn't particularly like this electronic chime. The reason being, it was too tacky.
Actually, she didn't just dislike it; she absolutely despised it. A few years ago, she had even submitted an inquiry to the Hunter Association headquarters about it.
It ended up falling through due to various internal issues, though.
Thud- thud- thud-
Parang took out the contents of her sack and placed them on the counter.
Two 1-meter-long teeth, three 50-centimeter teeth, a Magic Stone the size of a soccer ball, and one half-destroyed Carapace.
It was a shame she couldn't salvage the Carapace, which was the second most valuable part after the Magic Stone, because she ended up blowing it up to kill the creature, but since the specimen itself was so huge and dropped plenty of teeth, she didn't seem too disappointed.
"...Five teeth, one Carapace, and one Magic Stone confirmed."
The employee, who was staring blankly at the items, threw a desperate glance at Parang.
"By any chance... what is the monster's name...?"
"...It's a Marina Bellua."
The employee's gaze became even more desperate.
"By any chance, what is its classification...?"
"It's a Monster Fish. Serpent Type."
And with that, the eyes of every employee at the Purchasing Department counter grew unprecedentedly cold.
It absolutely wasn't because the Bellua was a trivial monster.
On the contrary, in terms of hunting difficulty and the quality of its by-products, the Bellua held a status similar to the Wyvern, a top-tier monster.
A Wyvern was the kind of creature that would cause quite a bit of murmuring around the counter if submitted.
However, the reason the employees' eyes went cold in front of the B-Rank Hunter who had single-handedly caught such a monster was because the Bellua was a Monster Fish—the most obscure of all obscure categories.
As it was, Undersea Hunters like Parang were incredibly rare. Even among those hunters, the ones who dived down to a depth of 700 meters to catch a Monster Fish could be counted on one hand.
So this creature called a Bellua was something a Hunter Association employee might see once in their lifetime, an incredibly rare encounter.
And being hard to encounter meant there was a high probability the employee wouldn't know the relevant regulations.
For a prime example, among the rules regarding an Orc, there was one stating, 'Ears must be ground before storage.'
It was a very unusual rule, but that actually made it famous. It was a staple question on the association's entrance exam, and there wasn't a single employee in the country, or the world for that matter, who didn't know it.
Therefore, Orc by-products were items that caused absolutely no issues from the counter employee's perspective.
On the other hand, the Bellua?
If they just stored it carelessly and failed to follow the proper management procedures, they would have to kiss their job goodbye that very day.
Thus, they had to rummage through their desk drawers, the corner of the break room, or under the pot they just used to boil ramen, find the 'Rulebook', locate the by-product handling procedures for the Monster Fish Bellua, and read through them one by one.
And right now, it was the time slot just before clocking out.
It wouldn't have been strange even if the counter employee had thrown salt at Parang.
Parang knew this fact as well. After all, she got this reaction every time she came to the association.
So, she whispered to the employee.
"Umm, you don't need to look for the Rulebook. If Manager Choi is here, just ask him; he'll probably know."
At those words, the employee's expression immediately relaxed, and they hurriedly rushed to the back.
Shortly after, the person known as Manager Choi stood before Parang with a tired look on his face.
"You again...."
Parang smiled awkwardly at the loaded remark.
"Ah, ahaha...."
"So, what is it?"
"A Bellua. Forty meters by six meters."
"Forty? No wonder you came running to the association at this hour after catching something like that."
Having known Parang for several years, Manager Choi had inevitably become an expert on Monster Fish. A slightly large Bellua would be a piece of cake for him.
Thinking this, Parang relieved a bit of her inner guilt. Plus, it was comfortable dealing with someone she had known for a long time.
"I get the gist of it, so off you go. The deposit should be in by Monday."
At those words, Parang turned to leave without hesitation, but then,
"Wait a second."
"Yes?"
Manager Choi called out to stop her.
"Do you have no intention of taking the A-Rank exam?"
"Nope. None at all."
"Really? Not even a little?"
"Come on, you know why."
"Haa.... Yeah. I guess so. Get on home."
Clatter- clatter-
Wearing her empty Waterproof Sack on her back, Parang fell deep into thought as she rode the subway.
'A-Rank, huh....'
It wasn't as if Parang lacked the ambition to climb higher.
Since she had reincarnated into a Hunter story, she definitely had the desire to stick an S-Rank Hunter label on herself.
Unlike other Hunter stories where a higher rank just brought more work and didn't help one bit, in this world, having a high rank was genuinely beneficial.
While the number of requests would decrease, the payout for each individual job skyrocketed to astronomical heights, and the support from guilds or the association became massive. Social fame was an added bonus.
However, Parang, who could easily beat down a Bellua, was merely a B-Rank Hunter, let alone an S-Rank Hunter.
It was quite ironic considering a Hunter who could easily beat down a Wyvern would be immediately classified as S-Rank without question.
There were two reasons for this, but fundamentally, they stemmed from the same issue.
Namely, that Undersea Hunters like Parang were far too rare.
To put into perspective just how rare they were: in all of South Korea, surrounded by the sea on three sides, there were exactly twenty of them.
That wasn't twenty S-Rank Hunters, either; it was twenty Hunters in total across all ranks from F to S. Furthermore, S-Rank didn't even exist, and there were only exactly two A-Ranks.
Considering South Korea had a Hunter population of two million, with around a hundred S-Rank Hunters, it was an absurdly low number.
Therefore, things like underwater combat abilities weren't even taken into consideration for the A-Rank promotion exam.
So for Parang, who was just slightly strong and could only make spears out of air on dry land, the A-Rank promotion exam itself was a massive hurdle.
Even if she were to somehow pass A-Rank and become an S-Rank, there was still a problem.
Requests made up the absolute majority of a typical Hunter's income. It literally meant taking on jobs posted by civilians to hunt monsters or act as bodyguards in exchange for money.
Among them, naturally, the vast majority are subjugation requests.
However, subjugation requests simply don't come in for an Undersea Hunter like Parang.
And understandably so. Who on earth would commission someone to hunt a monster living 700 meters underwater when there's an Orc settlement sitting right in front of their apartment complex?
Even without the Orc settlement, no one would make such a request anyway.
For starters, the civilian record for deep diving is 314 meters, and the recommended depth for scuba diving is only around 50 to 100 meters.
A depth of 700 meters is quite literally Submarine territory. But unfortunately for Parang, instead of posting subjugation requests every time they sailed, submarines opted to just cruise around at the 500-meter mark.
Therefore, Undersea Hunters not just in South Korea, but all over the world, earn their living by fishing or hunting Monster Fish like Parang does, rather than taking on requests.
Of course, it's not like Monster Fish don't fetch a high price. The value of the goods Parang just delivered would easily surpass an A-Rank Hunter's income for half a year. It's essentially an extreme seasonal business.
But Parang catches a Monster Fish at least once a week. Because she can. Her income is in the top 1% of South Korea.
It's just that her everyday expenses are enormous. The Diving Suit she wore today alone cost her five years' worth of savings.
Long story short, a Hunter rank is meaningless to an Undersea Hunter.
Still, she had no complaints about this kind of life.
In fact, Parang absolutely loved her current lifestyle. The fact that she could stay underwater for 24 hours a day if she wanted to was a dream come true.
She was truly devoted to the sea. Her boundless love for the ocean led to more than just a few eccentricities.
First, the moment she realized she had been reincarnated into the world of the novel she was reading, she immediately started preparing to become an Undersea Hunter.
'Wait, this is the world inside the novel? Are there Hunters who work underwater here?'
Second, she traded her S-Rank Skill Selection Ticket, which she received as a reincarnation perk, for the ultimate Undersea Type skill without a second thought.
'I choose the trait, [Daughter of the Kraken].'
For reference, true to its name, acquiring [Daughter of the Kraken] immediately changes one's body into a female.
[Warning: You do not meet the physical requirements to acquire this skill. If you proceed, forced physical adjustments and reality alterations may follow.]
And Parang felt absolutely no hesitation about this.
'Does gender really matter when I can stay underwater for 24 hours?'
Then, after becoming a woman, Parang got into the bathtub to confirm if she could really endure staying underwater for 24 hours,
and promptly sold off all her assets to move into her current home.
Parang still considers this series of events the best decision of her life.
[This stop is Wolpo. Wolpo Station. The doors are...]
Parang finished her train of thought and stepped off the subway. Wolpo wasn't her home. In fact, it was quite far in terms of distance. Nevertheless, she always got off at Wolpo to go home.
Wolpo Station was incredibly close to the sea.
Splash-
That's right. Parang would get off at Wolpo Station and swim the rest of the way home.
She couldn't wander around the city in clothes that had been soaking wet, so she traveled normally on the way there, but there was no such issue on the way back.
Parang was able to arrive home in less than ten minutes.
"Nwaaaaah-!!"
With a bizarre sound, Parang flopped down onto the couch.
She then turned on the news and cracked open a can of beer.
Even for Parang, who cared for nothing but the sea, she decided to watch the news just for today.
Because today, June 11th, 2024, was...
the day the world she had reincarnated into, [SSS-Rank Infinite Growth Hunter Smashes Everything], reached its ending.