27
Chapter 27
"Ugh... ah...."
Yoo Parang woke up feeling refreshed in her own home.
After meeting with Cylo, she came straight home through the Warp Gate.
And then, a sweet sleep. Waking up again left her in this state.
Looking at the Clock, it was two in the afternoon.
She did go to bed a little late yesterday. Her Head was a mess with so much to think about.
The reason why the World Government became incompetent, the Hawaii issue, Slayers, the T-shaped Monster Fish....
Unable to resolve these agonizing thoughts in the end, Parang couldn't fight off her sleepiness and just fell asleep.
It was only natural that those thoughts returned the moment she woke up.
"Mmm...."
Did she sleep too long? Her Head was throbbing, making it hard to focus on her thoughts.
Regardless of time and place, taking a shower was always the best way to concentrate on one's thoughts alone.
Parang stepped into the shower booth and turned on the water.
Swoosh—
Taking the pouring water directly to her face, Parang pondered.
Cylo Corporation was a gathering of the finest minds in the World.
If there was a conclusion to be drawn from the current information, they would have found it already.
In that case, she needed to use the knowledge only Parang knew and the way of thinking only Parang could do.
As an Undersea Hunter, and as a reincarnator.
First, she would try using her knowledge as an Undersea Hunter.
The World Government was showing signs of trying to push people into the sea. At the same time, they became 'incompetent'. According to Cylo, it felt like their actions had become rough.
There was a keyword that came to mind regarding that.
'Irrational.'
Among the keywords she could connect, it was the closest answer.
And whatever the case, considering their purpose was connected to the sea.
'Maybe.'
A certain being came to Parang's mind.
But she quickly erased it from her Head.
'That makes no sense.'
Someone possessed by it wouldn't be able to properly maintain a government system while leading people to the sea, nor would it want people to come to the sea in the first place.
The possibility of the World Government making contact with it was already close to zero to begin with.
The conclusion was pushed to later again. No matter how much she thought about it, she didn't know.
Next, Slayers.
They apparently stayed underwater for five hours before attempting an 'emergency escape'.
Let's imagine a rational person being suddenly teleported underwater.
He would naturally try to go 'above water'.
And that applied to Slayers as well. If Slayers had taken a rational action there, they should have tried to go above the water.
If they had, they would have definitely come up and revealed themselves on the surface.
Because they had more than enough ability to do so.
However, they stayed underwater for five hours.
That meant they were in a situation where they couldn't come up to the surface.
In Parang's mind, that 'situation' could only be a battle.
Then what did they fight against?
What were they defeated by?
First of all, they had a Divine Body. They wouldn't have been crushed to death by water pressure or had trouble breathing.
And adding a bit of her knowledge as a reincarnator. If she considered the combat ability of Slayers based on the ending.
'I don't know about this... either.'
Throughout the entire Original Work, there were exactly ten battles fought underwater.
All of them were battles fought using Olivia's 'Departure'.
And, as mentioned, 'Departure' was an area-of-effect debuff skill. It was an Artifact aimed not at 'putting oneself into the water', but 'putting others into the water'.
It just so happened to fall into Parang's hands and was being used for a completely different purpose than intended, but that was its original nature.
Therefore, the underwater battles in the story were either Olivia's solo stage or had Han Siwoo Hunter slightly involved.
Even those battles were merely sweeping away minor mobs on the way to the main villain, mobs that spat out lines like 'Gurgle....' or 'Damn it... my movements...!'
In other words, Parang didn't know at all how strong Slayers were underwater.
To find that out, she would have had to put Slayers in the water first, but she hadn't done that.
Still, she could make a rough guess. If she thought about the final battle they fought before Ascension.
'Hmm'
At the very least, even if thousands of Monster Fish like Lassus or Gorgon swarmed them, they wouldn't even be able to touch Slayers.
Ah, of course, that also applied to Parang.
Parang recalled the various strong Monster Fish she knew.
'Ghost Ship, Chironex, Mobula, Brachium....'
They were all Monsters that made something like a Gorgon look like 'nothing'.
But it didn't seem like any of them could hold Slayers down for five hours, let alone force them to use an Emergency Escape Device.
'That thing' wasn't even in the Pacific Ocean, let alone Hawaii, so she skipped it.
Then there was one last remaining candidate.
'Kraken.'
She had never seen the Kraken's main body before, or rather, strictly speaking, she didn't even know if its main body existed.
Still, if it did exist, and assuming Slayers had encountered it....
No, that didn't make sense.
There was no way they could have held out for five hours.
The conclusion led to a regression back to 'I don't know' once again.
Nothing was getting resolved clearly.
Parang let out a deep sigh.
Looking at the waterproof Clock on the wall, it was already three o'clock.
"Three o'clock?!"
Parang was startled.
It had been an hour since she entered the Shower Room; she had just been standing there letting the water hit her.
Swoosh-
She hurriedly finished washing her body and stepped out.
Then, her stomach gave a gurgle.
She opened the fridge but it was completely empty. Parang decided to go to the Convenience Store.
She felt a bit strange. Like she was finally going to a place she should have visited a long time ago.
It felt like she was too late, but even now, she absolutely had to head there.
It felt like she was following an irresistible law that made up the World.
Anyway. Parang headed to the Convenience Store in front of her house.
#
Jingle.
With a clear sound, the door to the Convenience Store opened.
Sitting at the counter staring at her Cellphone, the Part-timer with a brown bob cut casually tried to greet her... but stopped.
If someone ―especially the boss― had seen this, she would have been scolded, but she couldn't care less about that right now.
"Yoo, Yoo, Yoo...!!"
Because the idol she had dreamed of had just opened the Convenience Store door and walked in.
"Aren't you Yoo Parang Hunter?!!!"
"Eh, yes? Ah, yes."
The emotion of 'awkwardness' was clearly displayed on Parang's face.
Was she a fan?
"I'm a fan!!"
She was a fan.
Parang was already weak to people clinging to her out of affection. Moreover, she was currently out of the water. The ruthless Monster Fish killer Yoo Parang was sound asleep in her heart.
Right now, she was just Yoo Parang.
And the ordinary Yoo Parang was weak against the so-called energizer types.
Therefore, this encounter with the woman named Lee Shia who appeared before her was the worst for Parang. In terms of compatibility, it was like a relationship between a snake and a frog.
"Yoo Parang Hunter, I really wanted to meet you!! Actually, I'm a huge fan of yours, so I often capture your broadcast Screen and print it out, then carry it around in my notebook, occasionally taking notes and drawing pictures. If you look here, this is Galecus, this is Tubuca, this is Lassus. Oh right! The Lassus ASMR was so good. I recorded it and it's really nice to play when I go to sleep. If you happen to do it again later, could you make bubbling sounds with your mouth—oh my. Look at me losing my mind. I'm sorry. I'm not usually this distracted, but I got so excited meeting Yoo Parang Hunter in person. If you bring the items you need from over there—ah wait wait wait wait, hold on, before that, could I get your autograph on this notebook just once? Please use this pen here. Please write 'Yoo Parang Hunter was here, To Lee Shia' on it. Wow, thank you so much. Now I'll have to use this notebook for display. It's okay. I have two of the exact same notebooks at home. One for appreciation, one for display, and one for promotion, but from now on I'll use this promotional one for display instead. I'm a real fan. I always enjoy watching your broadcasts!!!"
Lee Shia's eyes were shining brighter than ever.
Briefly shifting the perspective to inside Parang's Head.
"Save... me...."
Among the countless Yoo Parangs who had collapsed drooling, the last surviving Mini Yoo Parang wrote down notes on a character with trembling hands.
Lee Shia, Convenience Store Part-timer. Monster Fish weirdo.
With that, even the last Mini Yoo Parang collapsed.
With her eyes rolled back and tongue sticking out, she looked like some busty martial arts master undergoing intense training.
The perspective shifted back to the big Yoo Parang.
She was repeating the same answers with a fixed expression on her face.
"Ah, yes. I see. Really? That's amazing. Ah, yes. I see. Really? That's amazing."
Surprisingly, the conversation was somehow working out.
And thirty minutes passed. Parang was only able to buy two triangle Gimbap and a cup noodle to leave after giving eight autographs, five handshakes, three hugs, and taking thirteen commemorative Photos.
How she confidently went to an interview with [SubGarnet] only to have the worst reunion with Lee Shia was a story for a little later.
#
Back at Parang's house.
She polished off the triangle Gimbap and cup noodle completely.
After filling her stomach, her Head started working a bit better. Her thoughts seemed to clear up a little, too.
Upon careful consideration, she concluded that tackling this problem alone wasn't the best idea.
After all, two heads are better than one.
Parang properly relayed the conversation she had with Cylo yesterday to Oceanus and Shin Yuna Hunter.
She delivered the conversation to Oceanus exactly as it was, and gave Shin Yuna Hunter a more vague version.
There was no need to meet up; she just sent text messages through Cylo Talk.
In the past, she used a basic encryption system and held discussions on substantial matters underwater for fear of information leaking to Cylo, but there was no need for that now.
To begin with, there was also an aspect of intentionally sharing a bit of information with the Cylo side.
She hid some information from Shin Yuna Hunter.
Parang left out the talk about Hawaii or the deaths of Slayers, only appropriately mentioning the collaboration with Cylo. This was for Shin Yuna Hunter's sake. It was too massive of an incident. She also had a slight desire to avoid dragging her into this mess if possible.
After doing so, Parang fell into a different dilemma this time.
It was because the calendar caught her eye.
Today was July 31st. Her meeting with the Hunter Association (specifically, the Cylo executive who infiltrated it) was on August 4th.
The talk of collaboration with Shin Yuna Hunter was mostly finished, and as for the orphanage... it would be best not to go if she could help it.
Cylo was keeping an eye on them, but she had to assume the absolute worst-case scenario.
It seemed she would just have to send the meat via delivery.
That left two schedules she could manage before August 4th.
First, subjugating the Statue in the East Sea. She planned to pick a day and gather Oceanus for this.
Second, exploring the East Sea Hive. This involved finding the Artifact and Corpse of Slayers member Alexandra Carmen.
She planned to do this while streaming. Of course, she would hide her goal and results, only showing the process of exploring the Hive.
Which of the two should she do first?
After pondering for a long time with her chin resting on her hand, Parang came to a conclusion.