Chapter 75: Mad Triangle (2)

Deep Sea Fish Hunting Specialty Broadcast

EP.75 Mad Triangle (2)

“Phew…”

Parang opened the door with a creak and entered the house, sprawling out on the sofa.

On the way home, she caught some deep-sea fish, delivered them to the association, took a nap underwater, and by the time she arrived home, it was already night.

Grumble-

Her stomach clock rings, coldly criticizing the past mistake of not having eaten dinner.

‘There’s nothing to eat at home…’

She had eaten everything before leaving today.

All the restaurants would be closed by now.

Ordering delivery is impossible in this rural area where you’d have to drive to town.

As for going to the convenience store,

‘Ugh, that part-timer from before…’

She’s terrified of running into that part-timer who drained her energy so much.

Parang had almost jumped out of the water like a flying fish when she encountered that part-timer while going for an interview.

At least during the interview, it was underwater so it was okay, but meeting twice outside of water…

“Urgh…”

She hates it.

Grumble grumble-

Should she just go hungry…?

Parang burrowed deeper into the sofa with a slightly gloomy expression.

‘Ah, right.’

That box.

The steel box that Seo Sunwoo had given her.

Parang’s thoughts, which had been drifting aimlessly in her subconscious, finally reached that point,

‘Didn’t he say to open it alone in a safe place?’

Realizing that she was alone in a safe place, she quickly ran to get the metal box from the waterproof bag and brought it to the dining table.

Parang carefully examines the box, holding it.

There’s no particular reason, but it’s almost customary to do this when checking important items in such boxes.

‘It’s pretty.’

It looks like some kind of treasure chest.

No, it actually is a treasure chest.

Parang, who doesn’t remember because it’s been too long since she entered a dungeon, doesn’t know this fact, but this box is modeled after the treasure chests found in dungeons.

You can find them in the gift shops of various Hunter Associations.

Almost no one uses them for actual storage, but they carry them around as a sort of good luck charm.

Well, anyway. After examining the box thoroughly, Parang clicked open the lid.

Inside were a flat, gum-sized rectangular metal plate and a note.

First, engraved on the metal plate was…

‘Q092-10T45…’

“Coordinates?”

They’re coordinates.

‘Q092, that’s the East Sea.’

And coordinates for the East Sea at that.

Why suddenly coordinates out of nowhere?

Parang then picked up the note and began to read.

**

It’s Seo Sunwoo’s handwriting from their previous written conversation.

‘What is he talking about…’

Saying she’ll know naturally is Parang’s least favorite way of explaining things. Why can’t he just tell her straightforwardly?

It’s on par with the ‘At that time, I didn’t know. This incident would turn out to be incredibly…’ style of narration.

For Parang, who enjoyed reading novels in her past life, this is an infuriating part.

She wants to run and grab Seo Sunwoo right now and ask him to just tell her when it is, but that’s impossible.

Unless Seo Sunwoo decides to go underwater.

And if he wrote such an irritating message, even if she really grabbed him by the collar and asked, there’s a high chance he wouldn’t tell her.

‘Sigh…’

Still, if he’s passing it on like this, it must be incredibly important.

He even engraved it on a metal plate to prevent damage.

And honestly, it’s obvious to anyone that there’s no point in throwing a fit asking, “When is that time?!”

It’s probably around the time of Natsuko’s subjugation, or just before or after.

After all, that’s why I met Seo Sunwoo in the first place.

There’s no other particular timing if not then.

But that’s all I can figure out.

Parang rummaged through the house to find a lighter, then carelessly burned the note.

‘Hmm, should I just go now?’

There’s no particular reason why I shouldn’t go now, is there?

It seemed okay to just go take a quick look at what’s there and come back.

Besides, there’s also the content of the text messages she exchanged with Yuna this morning.

That mysterious submarine… or something that looks like it.

She might as well look for that too, killing two birds with one stone.

Strike while the iron is hot, they say. Parang quickly put on her clothes and jumped into the sea.

Then swim, swim, swim.

In less than 10 minutes, she arrived at the coordinates Seo Sunwoo had given her.

‘The depth is… about 150m.’

Shallower than expected.

And there,

“Huh?”

She couldn’t find anything in particular.

Just a flat, moderately bumpy bottom and water.

That’s it.

No matter where she looked around, there was nothing particularly noticeable.

‘What’s going on? Did I come to the wrong coordinates?’

She even activated her skill to double-check the coordinates, but this was definitely the right place.

Did he engrave it on the metal plate in preparation for this kind of situation?

‘Hmm…’

Ah, I don’t know.

No matter how much I look around, there’s nothing here. What am I supposed to do?

It’s not like anything could be hidden in this wide-open flat area.

Parang thought it was strange and tried to search the area more, but realizing there was nowhere else to search, she just left.

If she had been a little more careful, she would have discovered a tiny red light glowing buried in the ground at exactly those coordinates, but unfortunately…

Parang swam again, swim, swim.

Going straight down, this time she reaches a depth of 800m, the entrance to the monster fish layer.

To find that submarine Yuna had mentioned.

Checking the time, it was half past twelve.

It’s a bit different from the time when Yuna encountered that unidentified thing, but well.

Parang started searching for it, roaming around the area.

And not long after,

‘Oh.’

Really not long after, she discovered something bobbing around in the sea.

She approaches and carefully examines it.

She taps it, peers into what looks like a camera, grabs it and shakes it.

Ratatatatat!!!

“Ouch, that stings!”

She even gets shot a few times.

After trying everything she could, the conclusion!

‘No matter how I look at it, this seems like a machine.’

For final confirmation, she decides to take out the Kraken and bring it close.

And so, in the deep of night, the Hunter Association’s basement faces an ultra-emergency situation of ‘Being discovered by Yu Parang.’

Huddled together, staring at the screen, Natsuko’s subordinates, who were keenly feeling the lesson ‘This is why we must always have a self-destruct button,’

“Uh, uh-oh, what is that girl doing now?”

“Uh, uh-oh!!!”

“̵̼̇̒̆̊͝͝어̶͔̻̹͐͒͌̉̀̐͊͠!̸̡̨̢̜̪̟̤̫́̎̾̂̽͒!̶̡̥̮͖̱̔͐ ̸̱͇̗̳̆͛어̸̙̦̏́̋̀͝아̷̨̠̚!̴̧̨͍̳̖̐̈́͗͂̐̂͗͠!̴̛͍̞̰͎̟̤͇̦̑̽̓́͊̕!̶͉̀̈̎̚ ̵̞̮̣͚̪̱̂͛̈̊̍̽어̵̨̢̧̱͍̮̪̠͂̇́아̸̨̥̗̰̪̦̭̱̽͐̽̈́̇아̶̡͊̎͊͌̂̚아̴͈̞̤̪̖̃̈́̔̿̄͂̄͜͝!̵̣̞͎̪͚̝̓͌̐͂̇̈͆͜!̴̲͉͒̏̀̕͝ͅ!̴͕͚͎̪̮̓̉̐̎̂͒̓̆͜͜”̶̬̗͍͍̈̈́̍͐͆

“아̷̡͊̓̾͘͠아̵̢̝̳͖͈̪͐아̶͈͇̤̑아̸̨͇͓̰̦̩͌͒̓͐̐͊악̴̝̺̉́͒͑̈́͝!̶̛̲̺͓̠͑͋!̷͈̀̽̽̄͘ͅ!!”

“J̸̭̟̐̌̒̿ủ̷̪͓̤̱̻̍̋s̶̬̠̈́̋͗̿͒̀̐ţ̶̬̥͍̼̗̊̈́̈́̽͘͠ę̶̧̨̗̼͍̈́́̒ ̵͇̰͈͉̝̋̃n̴̢͙̟͚͚̓́̔̂̂ǒ̸̧̲̱͕s̶̱͔̪͇̲̼̍̀̀̌̉͌͜ ̸̮̪̟̔̃̀͠a̴͙̹͍̭͉̰̙̻̽̍̔͝ ̴̭̤̝̰̓̂̂̂̑͘͝͝m̶̨̲̻̫̖̣͙͖͐̔̈́̽a̸͕͌̈̒͝l̶̮̏̔̆̏͐͊̕͘o̴̯̙̩̹̬̎̏̀̆̇̕ ̶̛̥͓̭͆̍͠l̷̨̳̲̯̣̣̩̤̾̃̽̓̚͠i̴͚̅̇̍͆̀b̷̨̥͉̰̰̝̟̎̀ě̵̡͖̹̭̞̫͛̉́͂̐̍͜r̸͚̣̄͒͌̈́͘ą̴̛̛͖̆̄͝!̴̢̡̛̺͉̫̒͊̀͜!̶͉̜̗͖̍ͅ ̷̪̬̜̑J̷̨̛̦͊̈́͋̀̓u̴͕̟͛̆̉̂͐̐̚s̴͕̬͉̞̃̒̉͝͠t̶͎̀̕͝e̸̢̻̜̖̜͌͒͊̇͑͐ ̴̢̧̙͔͈̩͚̓̓̀̊̆̈́ņ̷̞̥̹̫̓͗ơ̵̘̝̹͒̋̇̒̉͑͘͜s̸̢̨̯̱̫̉̂̅̽̒̈́̈̇ ̷̛͎̰̤̤̺̓̅̇͌̏́a̵̮̮͈̣̮̗͂̉̾͐̒͐̋ ̵̨̙̤̖̝̣̄̚m̷̢̠̦͉͂̎̏̅͗͘͠ã̸̻̻̩̜̣̱̽̈́l̶̹̤͈̤̲̞̱̿̾̓͝ớ̴̺̼̻̳͙̈́̅̍̈͒̕ ̷̣̗̲̖̹͗͂l̴̡͇͖̺͓̳͖͚̈́ḯ̷̙̩͔͆̽͊̏͛̽b̷̧͖͇̦̫̞̀͆́̈́́e̷̛̬̾̈́̉̈́̔̒̄ŗ̷̗͎̯̯̟̹̊͘ã̴̻̪̈́̇̕!̶̨͖̭͈̘̫͙̻̍̐͠!̵̦͑̃͑͛̅͗͜”

Unable to spread the lesson learned that day to the world, they were discovered the next day in a rather horrific state and were incinerated in utmost secrecy.

“Hmm, it’s definitely a machine.”

Seeing that it doesn’t react to the Kraken, it must be a machine.

‘If it’s a machine, well, I guess if I take it to the silo, they’ll figure out how to use it.’

As luck would have it, it was just the right size, about as big as a large pillow, making it look easy to carry.

Just as Parang was about to leave, gently hugging the submarine,

Grumble-rumble-

‘Ah, I’m hungry.’

She finally feels a level of hunger that can no longer be ignored.

Already on an empty stomach and having swum in the monster fish layer, her stomach feels like it’s touching her back.

‘But there’s nothing to eat, really…’

“Ah.”

Well, it’s not like there’s absolutely nothing.

Parang’s eyes turned towards the eerily quiet monster fish layer.

‘It’s been quite a while since I ate that.’

It’s not that Parang is barbaric or anything, it’s just that the tasty things are really tasty.

The reason she hasn’t eaten it recently is nothing special, just that it’s big and troublesome to move and prepare.

But is the hassle really an issue now? She’s hungry.

She disappeared in a flash, and about an hour later, returned with an extremely satisfied expression.