96
Chapter 96
Rustle, rustle.
Silence filled the empty living room, occasionally broken only by the sound of turning paper.
'Mmmm.......'
Parang flipped through the file folder she had received from Cylo, deeply reflecting on the role she was supposed to play.
There wasn't exactly anything new in the file folder. She had already discussed this with Seo Sunwoo several times, and she had read similar proposals repeatedly.
With a massive corporation like Cylo undertaking such an important task, there was no way Parang, the executor, would only be checking the plan on the day of the operation.
Even a disorganized militia wouldn't devise a strategy like that.
The more she read the contents she had already memorized by heart, the more Parang's mind was filled with other thoughts.
To distract herself from those arising thoughts, she read the document even harder, allowing her to memorize every single detail of the operation without missing a word, which could be considered a silver lining.
Although Parang herself didn't think of it that way at all.
Regardless, with a complicated mind, Parang finished reading the entire document.
Only a few minor details had been modified from the final version Parang knew.
'Nothing much changed.'
If there had been major revisions, she would have been even more surprised.
Checking the clock again, the time was already twelve o'clock.
She still had seven whole hours left.
Knowing herself well, Parang figured that simply sitting still and wasting seven hours was a very bad idea.
She was bound to overthink countless things in the meantime, and that definitely wouldn't lead to a good outcome.
So she tried messing with various things just to distract herself.
She mindlessly scrolled through short-form videos and turned on the TV.
She picked up a brush to paint and even tried lying in the water to calm her mind.
But neither yielded any notable results, and she continued to feel restless.
The only comfort was that she had managed to kill two hours with her frantic efforts, but the worry was that she had about four hours left and couldn't think of anything else to do.
Faced with this predicament, Parang eventually resorted to the last measure of organizing household items.
From the bedroom to the kitchen, the living room, the closet, the art studio, and the bathroom.......
Doing a deep clean and organizing definitely made the time fly, leaving no room for other thoughts to intrude.
'Oh.'
Then, something caught Parang's eye as she wandered around the house cleaning.
'This is.......'
A strange, crown-shaped mechanical device meant to be worn on the head.
'So it was here.'
Parang's first day of streaming, which now felt like the distant past.
It was that ridiculous camera Shin Yuna had made for her.
Everything had started that day when she saved her.
Turning on the stream for the first time, nearly getting assassinated by the World Government who watched it, making contact with Cylo.......
What would have happened to this world if she hadn't gone to save Shin Yuna that day?
'Hmm.......'
Surely, things wouldn't have ended up looking too good.
Since Parang was already a hot topic across all media, her actions in saving Shin Yuna from the brink of death were also widely known.
While most praised Parang or expressed relief, there were also opinions like this from some corners.
Since Parang was broadcasting to warn about the dangers of the Deep Sea, wouldn't it have been more effective if she had just let Shin Yuna die then?
They argued it would have provided a visual shock and served as a good lesson for those who didn't understand the terrors of the Deep Sea.
Well, they might be partially right, but Parang would have saved Shin Yuna even if she went back to that moment countless times.
If asked for a reason, she had none.
Simply because a person was dying right in front of her eyes.
And because she had the power to save that person.
That was it.
To Parang, her actions meant exactly just that.
She didn't overthink it; she acted purely on the thought of saving someone whose life was in danger.
In the first place, Parang wasn't the type of person who could even conceive the idea of using a human life to achieve something.
Concepts like sacrificing the few for the greater good were completely foreign to her nature.
It was ironic that she was now in a position where she had to eliminate someone herself.
'Oops.'
Stop thinking, stop thinking.
Parang vigorously shook her head to clear her thoughts and refocused on cleaning, and by the time she finished, the clock was already pointing to half past five.
Since she really had nothing left to do, Parang decided to head out a little early and stepped towards the door...... but then paused.
'Ah, right.'
She quickly jogged back to the bedroom, grabbing a small metal plate she had left on top of the dresser.
'What on earth are these coordinates?'
The very coordinates handed to her by Seo Sunwoo at the fancy restaurant that day.
The coordinates he had handed over, saying she would naturally know she had to head here when the time came.
She had visited the location listed on the coordinates the very day she received them, but found nothing in particular, leaving her with only questions.
'Today must be that day.'
Parang tucked the metal plate with the coordinates deep inside her clothes and headed for Ulsan.
#
Meanwhile.
Rustle- rustle-
A room similarly trapped in quiet silence.
A woman sat in a chair with an elegant posture, flipping through a file folder.
It was the Hunter Association President, Natsuko.
Her red eyes mercilessly scanned down the thin sheets of paper.
'Perfect. Perfect. Perfect......!'
She, too, was reading the file folder prepared by Seo Sunwoo.
How ecstatic she had felt when she heard this plan from him that day, a few days ago.
Seo Sunwoo had completely failed to notice what Natsuko had done to the bitter end.
Completely unaware of the terrible things she had committed, he had handed over the information to save his friend when she was in danger of being murdered.
Unaware that she herself was the most dangerous monster, and his mortal enemy.
The proposal Seo Sunwoo had passed on was incredibly clean.
A plan to eliminate Cylo, who was aiming to attack Natsuko, and their lackey, Yoo Parang.
After that, a plan to use this fact to wage a public opinion war to completely ruin Cylo, and claim everything for herself.
Of course, it was a proposal exquisitely manipulated by Seo Sunwoo, designed so that it wouldn't interfere with the core assassination operation.
In the first place, the very plan to wage a public opinion war after dealing with Cylo's forces made no sense.
Natsuko didn't know it, but Cylo already possessed all the information about the mass massacre she had intended to commit.
There was no need to reveal it all; releasing just one piece to the public would obviously cause public opinion of Natsuko to plummet to an unrecoverable level.
Even just considering the hand Cylo held, it was completely absurd nonsense, but for Natsuko, who was only looking at the back of the cards, it was a thrilling and ecstatic operation just to imagine.
Standing at the apex of the world, reigning completely alone.
Smashing everything that blocked her path with overwhelming strength, standing aloof with everyone beneath her feet.
Unconsciously twisting her body, Natsuko was steeped in a sweet, dreamlike sensation.
Completely unaware that this sweetness was the scent of hell leading her straight into the abyss.
She headed to Ulsan.
#
Rustle- rustle-
Not far from there. Another quiet room.
A man sitting in an office chair flipped through a file folder.
Hunter Association Asia General Branch Manager Seo Sunwoo.
He read down the operation plan with eyes boiling with cold fury.
In just a few hours, he would kill Natsuko.
His best friend he had been with since childhood, the sworn enemy who had stolen his entire life, and at the same time, a monster who shouldn't exist in this world.
Igarashi Natsuko.
And at the same time, himself, who had everything in life taken from him and had to live his whole life solely as an avenger.
He was setting out to kill them both now.
He still remembered the conversation he had with Natsuko when they were young.
"You know, one day I'm going to get incredibly strong, and I'll make sure no one in the world has to suffer!"
The friend who spoke of noble dreams in a bright voice had somehow become a monster who casually planned massacres.
Seo Sunwoo still remembered the accident from that day.
Inside the burning building, he had seen clearly exactly what she did.
He still vividly remembered her face as she calmly comforted him after the fire was put out, right after she had eaten alive the woman he had sworn to dedicate his life to.
That day, shedding tears of blood in front of the mountain cabin that had turned to ashes, Seo Sunwoo swore an oath.
He swore that he would definitely tear Natsuko apart and kill her in the most miserable and painful way possible.
If he couldn't do it with his own hands, he would at least watch the spectacle clearly with his own two eyes.
'Thinking about the past now won't do any good.'
He set down the file folder and stepped out of the office.
There was nothing in particular he regretted in his life.
There was a time when he even regretted being born, but reaching this point, he didn't have many thoughts about it.
If he had to pick just one thing, well.
Perhaps just the fact that he was never called Father until the very end.
He headed to Ulsan.