75
Chapter 75
"Phew......."
Parang opened the door with a click, stepped inside her house, and collapsed onto the sofa.
She had caught a few Monster Fish on the way, made a delivery to the Association, and took a quick nap underwater, so it was already night by the time she arrived home.
Gurgle-
Her stomach Clock chimed, coldly criticizing her past mistake of skipping dinner.
'I don't have anything to eat at home.......'
Because she had scraped up and eaten everything before leaving today.
If she went to a Restaurant, it would be the time when they were all closed.
If she ordered delivery, it was impossible since she lived in a remote village where one had to drive to town.
If she went to the Convenience Store,
'Ugh, that Part-timer from last time.......'
She was absolutely terrified of running into that Part-timer who drained so much of her energy.
Parang had almost leaped out of the water like a flying fish when she ran into that Part-timer on her way to an interview.
At least it was fine during the interview because she was underwater, but meeting them twice outside the water...
"Ugh......."
She hated the idea.
Gurgleee-
Do I just have to starve.......
Parang burrowed deeper into the sofa with a slightly gloomy expression.
'Ah, right.'
That box.
There was the Steel box that Seo Sunwoo had given her.
Parang's train of thought, wandering through her unconscious mind, finally arrived there,
'Did he say to open it alone in a safe place?'
Realizing she was currently alone in a safe place, she trotted over, took the Metal Box out of her Waterproof Bag, and brought it to the dining table.
Parang first held the box and carefully examined it.
There was no particular reason to do so, but it was almost like a custom to act this way when checking an important item inside a box like this.
'It looks pretty.'
It looks like some kind of Treasure Box.
No, it actually is a Treasure Box.
Parang didn't know this since it had been so long since she last entered a Dungeon that her memories were faint, but this box was modeled after the Treasure Box found in a Dungeon.
You can find them at the souvenir shops of the Hunter Association branches everywhere.
Very few people use them for actual storage, and they carry them around more like a talisman.
Well, anyway. After thoroughly inspecting the Box, Parang popped the lid open with a click.
Inside, there was a flat, gum-sized square Metal Plate and a single Note.
First, what was engraved on the Metal Plate was.......
'Q092-10T45.......'
"Coordinates?"
They were coordinates.
'If it's Q092, that's the East Sea.'
And coordinates for the East Sea, at that.
Why give her coordinates out of the blue like this?
This time, Parang picked up the Note and began to read.
[ Please come to these coordinates at the appropriate time. You will naturally know when that time is. Burn this Note after reading it. ]
It was Seo Sunwoo's handwriting, the same as she had seen during their previous written conversation.
'What is he talking about.......'
Saying she would naturally know was Parang's least favorite method of explanation. He could have just told her clearly.
It was right up there with those frustratingly vague narrative cliches about not knowing how massive an incident would become.
As someone who enjoyed reading a Novel quite a bit in her past life, this was infuriating for Parang.
She wanted to run over right now, grab Seo Sunwoo, and demand he just tell her when it was, but that was impossible.
Not unless Seo Sunwoo somehow entered the water.
And if he wrote and showed her such an annoying phrase, there was a high chance he wouldn't tell her even if she actually grabbed him by the collar and asked.
'Phew.......'
Still, if he went out of his way to pass it on like this, it must be incredibly important.
He even engraved it on a Metal Plate so it wouldn't be damaged.
And honestly, it was too obvious to throw a fit over when exactly that time would be.
It would be at the time of Natsuko's subjugation, right before it, or right after.
After all, that was the reason she met with Seo Sunwoo in the first place.
If not then, there wasn't really any other timing.
But that was as much as she could figure out.
Parang rummaged through her house to find a Lighter, then casually burned the Note.
'Well, maybe I should just go now.'
There was no reason she shouldn't just go right now anyway.
It seemed like it would be fine to quickly go and see what was there before coming back.
Besides, there was also the conversation she texted about with Yuna this morning.
That mysterious Submarine...... or something that looked like it.
She figured she might as well look for it while she was at it.
Striking while the iron was hot, Parang quickly got dressed and dove into the sea.
And then she swam, swam, swam.
In less than ten minutes, she arrived at the coordinates Seo Sunwoo had pinpointed.
'Is the depth...... around 150m?'
It was shallower than she expected.
And there,
"Huh?"
She didn't really find anything.
Just the moderately bumpy, flat Floor, and water.
That was it.
No matter where she looked around, nothing really stood out.
What is this? Did I come to the wrong coordinates? She even turned on her Skill to double-check, but this was definitely the right place.
Did he engrave it on the Metal Plate to prepare for something like this?
'Hmm.......'
Ah, I don't know.
There was nothing here no matter how much she looked, so what was she supposed to do?
It wasn't like anything could be hidden on a wide-open plain like this.
Parang found it strange and tried to search the area a bit more, but she gave up and left after realizing there was nowhere else to look.
If she had been just a little more observant, she would have noticed a very, very tiny blinking red light buried under the ground at those exact coordinates, but unfortunately, she wasn't.
Parang swam and swam again.
She went straight down, this time reaching a depth of 800m, the entrance to the Monster Fish Zone.
To find that Submarine Yuna had talked about.
She checked the time and saw it was half past twelve.
It was slightly different from the time Yuna encountered that unidentified object, but whatever.
Parang roamed the area and began to search for it.
And not long after,
'Oh.'
Truly not long after, she found a little guy scurrying around the sea.
She approached and carefully examined it.
She tried tapping it, putting her eye up to the part that looked like a Camera, and even grabbing and shaking it.
Rat-a-tat-tat!!!
"Ouch, that stings!"
She even got shot a few times.
After trying everything she could, she came to a conclusion!
'Looking at it, it really seems like a machine.'
As a final check, she decided to take out the Kraken and press it against it.
Thus, in the dead of night, the Basement of the Hunter Association faced the ultimate emergency of being discovered by Yoo Parang.
Huddled together, staring at the Screen, Natsuko's subordinates deeply realized the lesson that they really needed to have a Self-destruct Button,
"U-uh, what is that bitch doing right now?"
"U-uuugh!!!"
"U̴g̷h̸!̸!̵ ̵A̸a̴r̴g̶h̷!̶!̵!̶ ̷A̶a̴a̷a̷a̴r̷g̸h̸!̶!̵!̶"
"A̸a̵a̴a̵a̴a̵r̸g̷h̴!̴!̵!̵"
"J̸̭̟̐̌̒̿ủ̷̪͓̤̱̻̍̋s̶̬̠̈́̋͗̿͒̀̐ţ̶̬̥͍̼̗̊̈́̈́̽͘͠ę̶̧̨̗̼͍̈́́̒ ̵͇̰͈͉̝̋̃n̴̢͙̟͚͚̓́̔̂̂ǒ̸̧̲̱͕s̶̱͔̪͇̲̼̍̀̀̌̉͌͜ ̸̮̪̟̔̃̀͠a̴͙̹͍̭͉̰̙̻̽̍̔͝ ̴̭̤̝̰̓̂̂̂̑͘͝͝m̶̨̲̻̫̖̣͙͖͐̔̈́̽a̸͕͌̈̒͝l̶̮̏̔̆̏͐͊̕͘o̴̯̙̩̹̬̎̏̀̆̇̕ ̶̛̥͓̭͆̍͠l̷̨̳̲̯̣̣̩̤̾̃̽̓̚͠i̴͚̅̇̍͆̀b̷̨̥͉̰̰̝̟̎̀ě̵̡͖̹̭̞̫͛̉́͂̐̍͜r̸͚̣̄͒͌̈́͘ą̴̛̛͖̆̄͝!̴̢̡̛̺͉̫̒͊̀͜!̶͉̜̗͖̍ͅ ̷̪̬̜̑J̷̨̛̦͊̈́͋̀̓u̴͕̟͛̆̉̂͐̐̚s̴͕̬͉̞̃̒̉͝͠t̶͎̀̕͝e̸̢̻̜̖̜͌͒͊̇͑͐ ̴̢̧̙͔͈̩͚̓̓̀̊̆̈́ņ̷̞̥̹̫̓͗ơ̵̘̝̹͒̋̇̒̉͑͘͜s̸̢̨̯̱̫̉̂̅̽̒̈́̈̇ ̷̛͎̰̤̤̺̓̅̇͌̏́a̵̮̮͈̣̮̗͂̉̾͐̒͐̋ ̵̨̙̤̖̝̣̄̚m̷̢̠̦͉͂̎̏̅͗͘͠ã̸̻̻̩̜̣̱̽̈́l̶̹̤͈̤̲̞̱̿̾̓͝ớ̴̺̼̻̳͙̈́̅̍̈͒̕ ̷̣̗̲̖̹͗͂l̴̡͇͖̺͓̳͖͚̈́ḯ̷̙̩͔͆̽͊̏͛̽b̷̧͖͇̦̫̞̀͆́̈́́e̷̛̬̾̈́̉̈́̔̒̄ŗ̷̗͎̯̯̟̹̊͘ã̴̻̪̈́̇̕!̶̨͖̭͈̘̫͙̻̍̐͠!̵̦͑̃͑͛̅͗͜"
Unable to share the lesson they learned that day with the world, they were discovered the next day in a rather gruesome state and secretly incinerated.
"Well, it's definitely a machine."
Seeing that it didn't react to the Kraken, it definitely seemed to be a machine.
'Since it's a machine, Cylo will figure out how to use it if I bring it to them.'
Conveniently, its size was just about that of a slightly large pillow, making it easy to carry.
Just as Parang carefully hugged the Submarine and was about to head out.
Gurgle-
'Ah, I'm hungry.'
She felt a level of hunger she could no longer endure.
She was already on an empty stomach, but since she came into the Monster Fish Zone and even swam, her stomach was practically touching her back.
But there really wasn't anything to eat.......
"Ah."
It wasn't like there was absolutely nothing.
Parang's eyes turned toward the calm, quiet Monster Fish Zone.
'It has been a while since I ate one.'
It wasn't that Parang was barbaric or anything; delicious things were just genuinely delicious.
The reason she hadn't eaten them lately wasn't anything special, it was just that they were so big they were hard to move and prepare.
But was the hassle really the problem right now? She was hungry.
She disappeared like a dart, only to return about an hour later with a look of absolute satisfaction.