Chapter 88: Not All Who Wander Are Lost (1)

Deep Sea Fish Hunting Specialty Broadcast

EP.88 Not All Who Wander Are Lost (1)

Whoosh-!!

“Wh-Whoa!!!”

A shout erupted from the depths of Parang’s core.

So this is what it feels like to enter the memories contained in the ‘Evidence’.

The sensation of something being pulled from the heart, snaking up the spine, winding its way to the head, and exiting through the forehead.

‘Wait, Han Siwoo made this thing and gave it to his girlfriend?!’

Parang’s consciousness seemed to be passing through a sparkling tunnel.

‘The feeling is worse than diving…’

Diving felt like an instant plunge into water, immediately connecting to memories.

Whoosh-

Parang’s consciousness traversed the passage for quite a long time.

‘This is taking longer than I expected.’

Thinking she might as well organize some information, Parang recalled memories related to the ‘Evidence’.

‘Evidence’. An artifact in the form of a necklace with an embedded green emerald.

In the original story, it was an item that Hunter Han Siwoo handed over to Alexandra, one of the Slayers, to prevent himself from going berserk after defeating an enemy at the cost of his memories.

Its function, true to its name, is to store someone’s memories and allow them to be retrieved and viewed by another person.

‘I found it on Alexandra’s corpse.’

Right after the ascension, after defeating the ‘Pit’, Alexandra had separated from the group during the battle against the second ordeal of hundreds of millions of monster fish, and for some reason, was teleported to the train hive in the East Sea instead of the ground base.

At first, Alexandra was extremely confused, but after seemingly conversing with an invisible entity, she calmly stored her memories in the ‘Evidence’ before accepting her death with composure.

However, the ‘Evidence’, a divine-level artifact created by Hunter Han Siwoo himself, suffered severe damage, cracking and splitting just from storing those memories. After Parang retrieved it, it had to be immediately sent for repairs by the Silo.

During that process, evidence was found suggesting that someone had deliberately sealed the memories contained in the Evidence, but in the end, they somehow managed to succeed in the repairs, completing the restoration and making it usable again.

And then Vertea, after first checking the memories contained in the Evidence, quickly approached Parang, handed it to her, and forcibly pushed her in, saying, ‘You should see this.’

‘I mean, what could it possibly be…’

Well, Vertea wasn’t one to do pointless things. Parang just waited calmly.

And a moment later.

As the end of the long tunnel came into view, Parang emerged.

Splash!!

‘This feeling, it’s like…’

Like riding a water slide.

Parang tilted her head slightly and first examined her own condition.

‘Oh…’

It definitely felt different from diving. While diving felt like watching a video play out before your eyes, this was like holograms unfolding all around.

When Parang looked down at her body, it was hazy and flickering, exactly like the appearance of a ghost.

‘So this is what it’s like.’

Parang marveled as she put her hand in and out of her stomach.

‘As for the surroundings… Ah.’

Looking around, Parang quickly realized where she was.

Thick rocks piled up haphazardly, and a dark, blue, somewhat gloomy atmosphere.

Decisively, in the distance, stark white arms standing upright.

‘Brachium…’

Parang had suffered a lot because of that damned thing too.

‘And if this is the East Sea hive now…’

As Parang looked around, she easily found Alexandra nearby.

‘Right after the transfer, huh.’

She was still trembling with fear and bewilderment, with no sign of conversing with anyone.

The peculiar part was that her limbs were restrained by tentacles emitting a pale purple light.

This was certainly not present when viewed through ‘Dive’.

‘So that’s why she couldn’t move her arms.’

Parang recalled Alexandra’s immobile form despite nothing visibly restraining her.

But there was one strange thing.

‘Why wasn’t it shown on the status window?’

Alexandra’s status window clearly showed no abnormal states. Usually in cases like this, a status effect like ‘Bound’ or ‘Restrained’ would be applied.

“St-Status window!!”

Even on the status window Alexandra urgently called up, there was no particular change.

‘The fact that she called up the status window means that soon…’

That unknown entity would appear.

The being that entered Alexandra’s consciousness and engaged in an incomprehensible conversation with her.

Parang examined Alexandra closely to make use of what little time remained.

‘Let’s see, her eyes are fine…’

She conducted a rough examination using the knowledge she had, but found no notable abnormalities.

‘So she’s in her right mind right now.’

That makes it even more puzzling. How did someone who wasn’t under any influence activate the emergency warp device to transfer to the East Sea hive?

Parang pondered for a moment, stroking her chin.

But it didn’t last long.

“Ugh, aaargh!! Wh-What is this!!! Who’s there!!”

Alexandra’s eyes, which had been maintaining a consistently confused attitude and muttering something in a daze, began to emit a pale purple light.

And surprisingly, a form appeared before her.

Rustle rustle- Shaa-

With a strange sound that was like turning silk, or snow falling and piling up, or a brush painting on soft paper.

“Who… are… you…?”

A girl wrapped in a purple radiance appeared.

Her atmosphere was completely different from this gloomy deep sea.

Her long, pale purple hair that reached down to her waist swayed gently in the water, and the thin, white hands that peeked out from between her fluttering wide sleeves were as clear and clean as flawless white jade.

Her lace-trimmed skirt fluttered, and beneath it, slender bare legs stretched out, leisurely swaying back and forth in the water.

Her entire body shone beautifully with a pale purple light, almost like an angel descended from heaven.

Her face was hidden behind a mask, obscuring her eyes, nose, and mouth, but Parang could easily imagine that the face behind it must be breathtakingly beautiful.

‘She’s pretty…’

It wasn’t just empty words; even in this crucial, gloomy situation, the girl exuded such a mysterious and beautiful aura that it unconsciously evoked such thoughts.

Of course, Parang fully felt that atmosphere for exactly 10 seconds.

Because the voice that came from the girl’s mouth. That voice, soft and clean like jade beads rolling on a silver tray, and refreshing.

“Don’t be too surprised. It’s nice to meet you.”

That voice belonged to none other than someone Parang knew all too well.

It belonged to someone she had been searching for for a very long time.

It belonged to a precious, irreplaceable old friend she thought she would never see again.

“Al… ice…?”

Parang, without realizing it, whispered that person’s name into the void with hollow eyes.

#

‘What the hell is going on here…’

My head is spinning.

A friend I thought was dead has returned in this form, in this way.

Thousands upon thousands of questions flood my mind.

I feel confused, bewildered, scared, happy, and sad all at once.

I felt like I was going to lose my mind. My heart was beating so fast, I thought it might actually burst.

I’m out of breath. My throat is tight. My eyes are trembling.

Parang instantly moved towards Alice in the memory, trying to embrace her tightly.

I missed her, I wanted to see her. It seems no question or emotion was stronger than this longing.

But Parang’s body passed right through Alice, slipping out behind her.

Parang collapsed on the spot, staring blankly at his own hands, which were flickering hazily.

Alice stood still in front of Alexandra.

As if she wanted to give Parang some time.

‘Why, why…’

There was so much I wanted to ask, so much I wanted to say, but I couldn’t utter a word.

Why here, why at this moment of all times?

Why show yourself now when everyone had given up?

Where have you been all this time?

I missed you.

No words could escape his lips, all retreating back beyond Parang’s tightly constricted throat.

Parang forgot even what he was supposed to do, sitting on the ground and shedding tears.

He just cried endlessly.

Whether it was sadness, happiness, or neither, Parang couldn’t tell.

Then, something touched Parang’s back.

“…!!”

It’s strange. Even though he knew nothing should be able to touch him, Parang oddly didn’t think this sensation was an illusion.

A warm, longed-for, gentle touch.

Could it be that hand from that day, when he first met Titan, the hand he couldn’t grasp?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Could it be the very hand of the friend he had missed?

At some point, Parang’s crying had stopped.

That touch was so kind and warm, as if telling him not to cry.

“…”

Parang didn’t bother to turn around to check if that touch was real.

It just felt like he shouldn’t.

Instead, Parang quietly tried to compose himself, lifting his head and standing up.

Then, he faced Alice and stared intently at her mask.

Ding-

“…Ah…!”

At that moment, Parang strangely felt as if he had made eye contact with Alice.

Even though she was wearing a mask and her eyes shouldn’t be visible, oddly enough.

‘Right. Me being like this, it’s certainly not what you want.’

The light returned to her eyes.

This might be the last of Alice’s voice that Parang could hear.

He didn’t want to miss such a precious sound because he was crying.

Parang composed himself, holding back his tears.

Only then did Alice start to move again.

‘Just now…’

It seemed like she might have nodded.