Haeundae's Secret (3)
‘This is a quest notification.’ It was a special quest, not a regular one. It seemed there was something hidden and special.
‘Is this unrelated to the scenario quest?’ As I fiddled with things, I started to get a bit confused about how many hidden quests there were.
‘And why is the reward a question mark?’ It wasn't a fixed reward, but a question mark. Is this related to the egg from the Christmas event? Since there was no information, I wondered if it was related.
‘Still, I'm glad the quest is nicely labeled as a quest.’ Honestly, I felt that way.
Actually, it's not easy to tell if this child is lying or not. After entering the sea, breathing is entirely dependent on the Merfolk's ability, so I thought what if they suddenly betray us.
Anyway, I took the child and moved to where Min-cheol and Elena were.
“Eh? You're not Merfolk?”
“Yeah. The child said something happened to their chieftain.” I then detailed to Min-cheol and Elena what the child had told me.
Upon hearing my words, Elena nodded in agreement.
“As expected, the Merfolk chieftain wouldn't suddenly do something like this.” As Elena said, it seemed something had happened to the Merfolk chieftain.
However, the exact reason wasn't clear, which was a bit worrying.
“Then, shall we go into the sea?”
“Yeah. We need to find our shelter people too, and we can't just leave them like this.” “Under the sea...”
Min-cheol seemed a bit scared.
Of course, since it's not land but underwater, who wouldn't be scared?
“If you're scared, you don't have to go.”
“No, I'm not scared at all! Not scared at all.” “Really?”
“Of course. And among the people who were kidnapped, there's my friend. I have to go.” It didn't seem like that at all, but the timid Min-cheol came this far for a reason.
It seemed Min-cheol's friend was among those kidnapped underwater.
He has more loyalty than expected.
“Yeah. Let's go together. Elena, you should come too.” “Of course.”
Leaving Elena alone here didn't make sense, and since she knew something about the Merfolk, she might find the cause of the chieftain's change.
“Then, can you guide us a bit?”
“Yes. I understand.”
Following the Merfolk child, we slowly moved towards the sea.
When the child arrived at the sea, he started muttering while looking at us.
- You have received the Merfolk's Blessing.
- You can breathe underwater.
- You can move freely underwater.
- Your vision is clear underwater.
[Remaining time - 24:00:00]
The Merfolk's Blessing that activates for a day.
Because of this, even ordinary people might not have major issues entering the sea.
‘If a day passes underwater, what happens?’ If I don't receive this blessing again, I might drown, so I need to keep this time in mind.
“Then, let's go.”
The Merfolk child first dipped his feet in the water and slowly walked inside.
Following that, I moved slowly to the water's edge first.
‘Will I really be able to breathe?’
A bit of doubt.
Honestly, wouldn't you be suspicious?
You can breathe underwater.
A little water rising over my body.
And after walking a bit more inside, the seawater completely engulfed my body.
“Really, I can breathe?”
It wasn't just breathing.
Although I wasn't a good swimmer, my body moved naturally underwater as if I were a marine biologist.
Even with the somewhat heavy armor I received as a Christmas event reward, I could move freely without sinking.
“Wow!”
Min-cheol, who came in behind, was bewildered at first, doubting if he was really breathing underwater, but after a while, he moved naturally underwater.
Following that, Elena entered the water very naturally.
‘Wow.’
And I couldn't help but stare at the sight in amazement.
The Merfolk's hair swaying underwater.
Her appearance shining brightly even in this dark place.
The way she moved naturally underwater was like seeing the Little Mermaid.
And it wasn't just me; Min-cheol was staring at Elena with a blank expression.
In this situation, any man would react like that, I'm sure.
Even if he had a wife next to him, he probably wouldn't.
Anyway, after quickly calming my mind, I approached the Merfolk child.
“Then, can you guide us a bit?”
“Yes.”
After following the Merfolk child for a bit of time.
A huge underwater city came into view at a place not far from Haeundae beach.
‘What is this?’
There was no way this existed in the sea originally.
The underwater city looked quite large.
Where did this city come from?
Did the Planet Manager make it? Or was it summoned from somewhere? Or did it just appear?
I couldn't know how it was created, but it was clear there were kidnapped people here and the changed Merfolk chieftain.
‘For now, I should look around.’ Since the Merfolk seemed hostile to humans, following the child, I entered the underwater city in the direction without Merfolk.
“This is our home.”
It didn't look much different from a normal house at first glance.
Even as an underwater city, honestly, besides being underwater, it didn't seem particularly special.
“Who is it?”
At that moment, a Merfolk appeared from the child's house.
It seemed like the child's parent.
“Daddy! I brought someone who will help!” “What? These people are humans.”
“But... all the other people are following the chieftain... .” “Ha.”
The child's father stroked the child's head and praised him for being good, then guided us to the seat.
This man's name was Perion.
He sat with us and started talking about the main point cleanly.
“I'm sorry. It seems my child did something unnecessary. Please stay here for a while and then go back.” It seemed the child's father was hesitant to entrust their tribe's business to humans.
But we couldn't retreat like this.
The people kidnapped here.
And thinking about future actions, we had to resolve this now that we're here.
“We can help if we can, so please tell us.” “No. Go back. Humans can't be trusted.” “What? Humans can't be trusted?”
It was firm.
Is it just because they're human that they can't be trusted?
I couldn't understand at all.
Then why was this quest given?
But then.
“We will help. I promise on the Elf's honor. Please tell us.” Elena, who was standing behind, came forward and spoke.
And his expression when confirming Elena was an Elf was clearly different from when he looked at us.
“An Elf... it seems trustworthy.” Humans no, Elves yes. This felt like species discrimination, which wasn't pleasant.
But actually, there was a reason.
It was known that Elves and Merfolk had originally friendly relations, and swearing on Elf honor carried more weight than risking life.
“Then, will you tell us?”
“Yes. I understand. Despite my shame, please help us a little.” Perion slowly started explaining why this situation arose.
“Actually, we don't know how this situation is going either. We don't know the cause of our city suddenly moving here.” “The city moved?”
“Yes. About a month ago, our city suddenly moved here.” About a month ago.
It was probably the time when this incident started.
‘Did the Planet Manager create a city here?’ It was likely.
The guy who creates monsters, what can't he do?
“Since then, our chieftain has been trying to adapt to the changed environment. Actually, the sea's water quality is bad, so it's hard for us to live here.” The sea's water quality is bad.
Ugh.
This is a bit sorry.
After all, human indiscriminate environmental destruction was probably the main cause of the sea pollution.
“So, the chieftain found a way for us to go up to land.” “What? Can you normally not go up to land?” “We can, but there are restrictions. Outside the water, we can only be active for about a day.” It seemed like the Merfolk had similar restrictions, like we can only be active for about a day underwater.
“What is that method?”
“We trade with some being.” “Trade?”
“Yes. If we bring what that being wants, they say they can make it so we can be active on land.” “Then, what about the trade?”
A hint came.
It was related to the Merfolk suddenly kidnapping humans.
“The being wants living humans.” “Was there no opposition?”
“We absolutely obey the chieftain's policy.” Actually, I could guess why the chieftain chose that to some extent.
If we want to survive here, we might make such a choice.
“But I just can't understand. Our chieftain is not the type to do that. Sacrificing other races is against our beliefs.” “You mean something is strange?”
“Yes. Since the chieftain met that being, it seems a bit strange.” Listening to Perion's words, I started to wonder about that being.
What kind of being could make the Merfolk able to live on land.
What kind of being has that much ability.
“Do you know who that being is?” “It's Ursula.”
“Ursula?”
The being named Ursula.
It seemed the key to this incident was with this Ursula.