Chapter 100: Turning Point

EP.100 Turning Point

Whoosh… whoosh…

To the faint sound of autumn ocean waves, Parang slowly opened her eyes.

Wake-up time was seven in the morning. Lately, Parang had been waking up particularly early.

She rose indifferently from the water tank, dried herself off, and tapped the alarm clock that hadn’t rung for four days straight to turn it off.

Four days.

Four days had passed since Natsuko’s death.

It was the death of one of the leaders of the three organizations that divided the world. Parang had naturally expected the world to turn upside down.

Her prediction was only half right.

The world did turn upside down, but it wasn’t because of Natsuko’s death.

On the night of Natsuko’s death, Parang immediately called the higher-ups at Silo.

She was half-panicked.

While everything had gone according to plan from Seo Sunwoo’s perspective, for Parang and Silo, things had gone awry due to unexpected circumstances.

“What happens now? This situation wasn’t part of the plan.”

But unlike the urgent Parang, Silo’s superior was more composed than expected.

“It’s fine. The assassination didn’t fail, and we didn’t draw any unwanted attention. This much deviation was within our expected margin of error.”

This was true – while not exactly as planned, Natsuko’s elimination could still be classified as an ‘assassination.’

Though several people died during the operation, they were all Silo’s special operatives – Parang later learned that even the reporter was Silo personnel – and the Ulsan Station interior had been closed for ’emergency inspection’ by the time Parang and Natsuko started their meeting.

In other words, their fight wasn’t exposed to outsiders. The battle itself took place underwater, and except for Parang, everyone else had warped away.

Moreover, Parang’s handling of the situation had been quite clean.

She escaped through the staff back door of the warp station that she had memorized beforehand, ran through dark alleyways to the ocean, and managed to avoid being seen by civilians.

Considering she had distinctive blue hair and was bleeding from her ears and various parts of her body, this was a remarkable achievement.

In conclusion, that day’s incident wasn’t witnessed by anyone except those involved.

Though things had taken some twists and turns, they had ultimately succeeded in their original goal of ‘eliminating Natsuko without witnesses.’

After hearing this explanation, Parang too was able to maintain some composure.

Of course, that was separate from the act of killing she had committed, and she had to take the next day off completely to rest.

While she had been able to kill Natsuko without much mental anguish due to the excitement numbing her thoughts up until confronting her at sea – this was somewhat intended by Seo Sunwoo – there was no way to handle the emotions that followed.

Right up until the mission, Parang had been trembling with aversion and tension about committing murder. Those feelings couldn’t be brushed off as easily as dust.

Silo, aware of Parang’s state, didn’t put any particular pressure on her.

“Hunter Yu Parang doesn’t seem to have any urgent matters to worry about right now. You can take a few days to rest and regroup.”

“Really? But…”

“It’s fine, please rest well. If something goes wrong because you pushed yourself too hard, that would be a real disaster.”

Furthermore, it wasn’t as if there was no justification for Parang to rest. Media play and aftermath cleanup naturally weren’t matters for Parang to be involved in.

If there were other urgent matters to consider, there was the rising Monster layer event that Alice had tipped them off about, but even this was already under joint investigation by Oceanos and Silo since the day after Parang confirmed her memories.

Silo seemed to take Parang’s words much more seriously than she had expected, quickly moving into discussions about response measures in case of an incident.

“In the long term, we’re also discussing plans to fortify all coastlines adjacent to major cities.”

While Parang joining would certainly be helpful, the situation wasn’t urgent enough to warrant straining herself to lend a hand.

Thanks to these various reasons, Parang was able to get some proper rest for the first time in a while.

And Silo’s subsequent response was, even in Parang’s view, truly impeccable.

Natsuko and Seo Sunwoo were officially declared ‘missing.’

This was because finding their bodies was impossible.

Given Natsuko’s position, this was bound to draw public attention, and the whole world quickly became abuzz with this incident.

Three days after the death, two days after the missing persons announcement, the world’s attention was focused on Natsuko’s whereabouts, and the Hunters’ Association dropped their prepared bombshell.

It was an exposé by Seo Sunwoo’s personal secretary.

They revealed evidence of all the inhumane acts designed or perpetrated by Association President Natsuko, along with Seo Sunwoo’s suicide note.

The note found in his personal drawer could be summarized as: “I can no longer stand by and watch Natsuko’s insane behavior, so I will take action and perish alongside her.”

Of course, the note contained no mention of Parang, let alone Silo, no matter how carefully one looked.

Naturally, this revelation focused all attention on Seo Sunwoo and Natsuko, and despite Parang having been with Natsuko right until her disappearance, her name wasn’t mentioned once.

According to the note’s contents, all of Seo Sunwoo’s positions, titles, and authorities were transferred to his secretary, Kang Ji-woo. While this might seem illogical, the process was suspiciously quick and smooth.

The Hunters’ Association was obviously in crisis mode. All high-ranking officials mentioned in Seo Sunwoo’s records were arrested without exception, except for Vice President Alisa Kozlov. Though the Vice President was also on Seo Sunwoo’s list of accusations, she had already fled in the night. The vacancies were quickly filled with other figures by Acting Association President Kang Ji-woo.

It goes without saying that they were all Silo’s people.

If there was one unexpected development, it was that World Government President Yoo Sungjun, who had never appeared in public, showed his face before cameras.

From the information Parang had gathered, he had watched the ascension ceremony and final battle through the camera attached to Han Si-woo, and in the process, witnessed the problematic eye monster.

That’s why Parang was quite surprised when Yoo Sungjun appeared on camera. If her assumptions were correct, he should have been unable to utter a single coherent word.

But completely shattering her expectations, Yoo Sungjun calmly finished his speech before the cameras.

Wondering if some trick was involved, Parang tried using her recently acquired skill.

[ Mind’s Eye (S) ]

[ Able to see through the true form of targets whose appearance differs from their essence. ]

[ While active, becomes very vulnerable to mental damage. ]

Unfortunately, there were no particular results.

[ Can only be used on targets being directly observed. ]

[ Skills cannot be used outside of water. ]

Tch, damn.

The content of the speech itself was simple. He condemned the inhumane acts of the Association President and explained his recent absence.

“My recent inability to appear in public was due to a sudden illness. I have now been cured through the consumption of an Elixir.”

Elixir. The ultimate panacea and highest-grade ingredient commonly appearing in hunter stories.

People believed this story.

In fact, when Yoo Sungjun continued to be absent from public appearances, conspiracy theories about his serious illness began circulating, and as if to confirm this, an elite hunter team dispatched by the government entered a dungeon and retrieved an Elixir.

Before the news of the Association President’s disappearance broke, Yoo Sungjun’s illness was the hottest topic.

Of course, the reason for Yoo Sungjun’s absence had nothing to do with illness.

“Are you certain?”

“Yes, I’m certain. The illness is just an excuse. As Hunter Yu Parang suspected, he did indeed see that monster.”

This was the definitive answer from Silo.

“Then how can he be so normal? It doesn’t make sense.”

“All the information and evidence we’ve gathered points to this. The government must have pulled some kind of trick.”

Ever since Parang had extracted a high-ranking personnel from the World Government’s secret bunker, Silo hadn’t stopped monitoring the World Government’s movements.

Numerous spies were dispatched to the World Government, only to lose their lives or go completely insane.

“Let’s meet in a few days. We’ll share the information we’ve gathered with you.”

“Alright.”

This was roughly how Parang’s vacation proceeded.

And finally, on the fourth day.

Fortunately, Parang’s mental state had recovered significantly. Drawing the artwork she had been too busy to work on helped stabilize her mind and spirit.

She also heard some extremely good news in the meantime.

“After the Slayers’ ‘Ascension,’ the ‘diving fever’ that had swept across the world has noticeably subsided. Though the extent varies, the proportion of hunters diving into the sea has clearly decreased worldwide. In particular, on the Korean Peninsula, diving hunters have decreased by more than 95% compared to June.”

It was a reward for all their efforts.

Staring blankly at her phone, Parang shed a few tears at this news.

Receiving confirmation that the path she had walked was meaningful was moving and touching no matter how many times she experienced it. This news played a big part in rapidly alleviating the anxiety symptoms that had been troubling Parang.

With recovery complete, it was time to look ahead.

‘Tomorrow at noon, huh.’

Tomorrow at noon, she needed to head to the East Sea to meet Alice.

Parang felt a slight anticipation about what shocking stories she might hear there.

After all, she had experienced so many extraordinary things.

Well, that’s that.

Tomorrow’s matters were for tomorrow. Parang had something special to do today.

Her gaze turned to her phone, which had the messaging app open.

─Shin Yuna: Parang

─Shin Yuna: Are you really going to be okay?

─Yu Parang: Whatever. I’m just taking a break before coming back

─Shin Yuna: (photo)

─Shin Yuna: No… I mean, even considering everything, this seems a bit extreme…

─Yu Parang: Ugh… it is pretty bad

─Yu Parang: But we can’t just sit around doing nothing forever

─Shin Yuna: That’s true too. Okay.

─Shin Yuna: So I should head to the East Sea by five o’clock, right?

─Yu Parang: Yeah. By the way, how did you end up making something like that…

─Shin Yuna: Ah, well… Once I started making it, things just kind of snowballed

─Shin Yuna: (embarrassed smile emoticon)

─Yu Parang: See you later

Parang carelessly turned off her phone.

In the photo Shin Yuna had sent, there was a hellscape drawn by those who had been abandoned.

Those who had gone mad unable to bear the pain. Those waiting for Parang’s salvation.

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It was time to return as Streamer Yu Parang.