81
Chapter 81
"Alright! We'll end today's stream here. Right now, South Korea is...... Ah, it's eleven at night. I hope you all have a good night. This has been Yoo Parang."
- great stream
- cya
- great stream
Delivering her now-familiar sign-off, Parang ended the broadcast.
Even she could feel that she was getting better at streaming lately.
No matter what it was, the feeling of moving forward was quite nice.
A faint smile spread across her face as she looked at the dark screen.
Pat, pat.
Diego, who was standing behind her, patted Parang on the shoulder.
Parang quietly turned around and gave him a big thumbs-up.
"I'll do the searching on my own. You must be really tired, so head back."
Parang patted Diego on the shoulder as well. Normally, she would have asked for help recovering the Slayers' corpse, but right now, Diego's body must be under an unimaginable amount of strain.
It was the penalty for using a Skill while in a state of Gigantification.
It was right to send him home to rest immediately. He would probably suffer from full-body aches for the next four days.
'I should send him some healthy food later.'
Once Diego left, Parang stretched deeply in the water and looked around, beginning her exploration.
'The Bermuda Hive is on the smaller side. I should be able to find it quickly.'
And so, a little time passed,
Then more, and more.
After quite a significant amount of time had gone by.
"Uuuugh......."
Parang crossed her arms and let out a cute groan of frustration.
'I can't find it no matter how hard I look.......'
It had already been four hours since she started the search.
The Bermuda Hive was small to begin with, and the Gate took up nearly half of its volume. This much time was more than enough to search the entire Hive.
Despite that, she hadn't seen a single trace of the corpse, let alone the corpse itself.
'At this point, should I assume it's just not here.......'
Given her pretty good track record with corpse searches so far, Parang had expected to find it without much trouble this time too, but it seemed God didn't smile upon her every time.
'Ah, right.'
God is dead.
Not by Nietzsche, but by Hunter Han Siwoo.
And Hunter Han Siwoo, who had newly become a god, was dragged into the sea and died as well.
If that eyeball in the sea was considered a god.......
'Ugh.'
I'd rather it didn't smile at me, Parang thought.
Well, anyway. Come to think of it, there wasn't really a god left to smile upon Parang.
'At this point, it really feels like it isn't here.'
This was Parang's conclusion after checking even inside the muzzles of the standard-issue Weapons piled up next to the Gate.
If she had searched this thoroughly and it wasn't here, it meant it didn't exist.
The moment Parang gave up and was about to head home.
'Huh?'
A very familiar yet strange shape caught Parang's eye.
A bizarre appearance that made it hard to tell if it was a fish or not, the epitome of the uncanny valley looking somewhat half-finished.
The rather peculiar T-handle Monster Fish.
It was Capulus.
'Why is that here.......'
No, actually, it was natural for a Monster Fish to be under the sea.
Parang slowly approached Capulus.
Normally she was always in a hurry, or tired, or found it annoying; regardless, she had never been in the mood to observe it properly.
Today, however, was a bit different.
It felt as if some strange reluctance in her heart had vanished.
So Parang enthusiastically thought, Aha! Today is the day your true identity gets completely exposed. I'll dig up everything from your relatives and friends to your mentor-student and financial relationships! and approached Capulus.
Then.......
Roll-
Capulus rolled its Eyeball once to look at Parang, and then,
Swish-
Turned right around and leisurely moved away at a very ambiguous speed, neither slow nor fast.
'Eh??'
Seeing that, a giant question mark slammed down above Parang's head.
Just what kind of movement was that? It wasn't fleeing, nor was it attacking.
Was it trying to pretend it didn't see her and move on...... she wondered, but no, she saw it clearly. They made eye contact.
After pondering for a moment, Parang made her decision,
'Should I follow it.'
For now, it didn't seem like she had anything to lose by following it.
If things went well, she might find its habitat—no, since it wasn't a living creature, that expression wouldn't be appropriate. Rather, even if it sounded a bit strange, it would be more accurate to call it a manufacturing site, or perhaps its place of origin.—and if not, she could simply follow and observe it.
Since it was revealed that Capulus was not a living creature, the most plausible hypothesis Bertea proposed was the theory of a higher lifeform's byproduct.
So, if Parang kept following Capulus around, she might actually encounter that higher lifeform.
Even in the extremely unlikely event that she was currently being lured into a trap, Parang had the confidence to smash everything to pieces single-handedly and slip away leisurely.
Thus, the awkward swimming companionship between Parang and Capulus began.
About 5 minutes later.
'W-what......is this......?'
Parang was able to find the Corpse of the ninth Slayers, Charlotte Eyra.
Her Corpse was placed in a narrow space between a small depression in the ground and a Barricade.
The gap was so small that Capulus wouldn't even be able to fit inside, so it was no wonder Parang hadn't spotted it.
Parang stared at the Corpse with a deeply shocked expression, then back at Capulus.
'What in the world is going on right now......?'
Regardless, Capulus stared blankly at Parang, who was in front of the Corpse, and then,
Vwoooom-
It turned around and leisurely disappeared somewhere.
"No, why?"
Only then did Parang truly understand why protagonists in Web Novels muttered to themselves so often.
When a person faced a completely absurd situation, they ended up talking without realizing it.
Parang began to chew over what had just happened, completely ignoring the Corpse.
Over a hundred possibilities poured out of her head, but they all vanished again, leaving only hundreds of questions behind. None of them formed a meaningful deduction.
No, except for exactly one.
'It...... helped me?'
"Capulus? Helped me?"
......Why?
If she just looked at how things played out, that was absolutely the case, but no, why?
But before that, how?
As far as Parang knew, no Deep Sea creature possessed the intelligence to figure out that Parang was looking for the Slayers' Corpse, locate both her and the Corpse, and then guide her to it.
If a creature with that level of intelligence actually existed.......
'Ugh, my head hurts.'
Then the situation would become quite complicated.
The theory that a Human made it and is currently controlling it made no sense.
Cylo was the only one who knew that Parang was searching for the Slayers' Corpse, and she couldn't imagine Cylo creating something like this.
'Maybe the Government?'
Unlike the Association, where information was transparent thanks to Seo Sunwoo keeping a tight grip on it, Parang also knew nothing about the World Government.
Come to think of it, she realized she hadn't paid any attention to the World Government's movements lately.
Even though the ones who truly threatened Parang were actually the World Government.
Well, it wasn't a big deal, as there had been zero news from the World Government recently.
They used to send Assassination Squads and such in the past, but there was nothing like that these days.
Judging purely by their outward appearance, it seemed they knew nothing about the Deep Sea or the Monster Fish.
Sti......ll, for the World Government to create Capulus to help Parang find a Corpse.......
'That's way too delusional, no matter how you look at it.'
That was going a bit too far.
Conclusion: I have no idea!
'The mysteries just keep piling up.......'
Looking as if she was sick of it now, Parang stared at the Corpse in front of her.
'This is a bit surprising.'
Charlotte's Corpse was preserved in astonishingly good condition.
Not only were there no visible wounds, but even the clothes she wore were perfectly intact.
If she had seen this anywhere other than the Deep Sea bed, she would have undoubtedly mistaken her for simply being asleep.
'What if... what if she's alive again......?'
Recalling past memories, Parang carefully and stealthily approached her, but.......
Poke, poke. It was just a Corpse.
Parang pondered for a moment whether this was a stroke of luck or misfortune, but ultimately concluded it was a misfortune, since being alive was better than being dead anyway.
As she collected the Corpse and caught a glimpse of her face, she thought, Han Siwoo, this Human really was naturally blessed with luck when it came to women.
A beauty that radiated from her face, piercing even through Glasses, those wicked objects that supposedly ruined the aesthetics of all creation.
A slender figure and refreshingly long, straight arms. And at the end of them, beautiful, delicate hands curled into a fist.......
'Eh, a fist?'
Finding it strange, Parang gently unfurled the clenched fist to find a Ring inside.
It was a beautiful Ring with golden threads elegantly intertwined and flowing inside a transparent band.
This was a situation where even a passing Monster Fish could look and understand- ah, an Artifact has been found.
Parang once again rummaged through the library in her mind, wondering what on earth this was- and as she recalled her knowledge of the Original Work,
'Ah.'
She knew what it was, but she didn't really know what it was.
What that meant was, she knew the name of this Artifact, but she had no idea what its function was.
There was only a single moment throughout the entire Original Work when Hunter Han Siwoo crafted a Ring.
It was the day right before his Ascension.
It wasn't as if Parang knew every single Artifact that appeared in that lengthy Novel.
"Someday, when we overcome all these trials and reach the end, let's make rings then."
And as far as Parang knew, Hunter Han Siwoo kept this promise, only crafting the rings the day before his Ascension and giving them to all the female cast members.
The name he gave the Ring was Happy Ending.
It was a tragic thing, considering what happened after that.
'Come to think of it, I think the Slayers might have been wearing something like rings on their fingers too.'
She couldn't remember exactly. Golden threads flowing within a transparent Ring, really? Wasn't that an appearance impossible to notice during a fierce battle?
I should take a closer look this time- Parang resolved to herself.
The problem was that the function of this Ring was never described even once in the story.
Since Parang was a Case of reincarnating the moment she saw the ending, she hadn't even seen the reader community's speculations.
It was truly a lamentable matter.
After being immersed in sentimentality for a moment, Parang rubbed her eyes.
Regardless, wasn't she also a reader of the Novel?
Just thinking about the poignant ending made the tip of her nose sting.
'Right. If only to make sure everything wasn't in vain.'
I need to do what has to be done.
She secured Charlotte's Corpse and rose to the surface of the water.