Chapter 101: I Want to Be an Ex-Diver (1)

EP.101 I Want to Be an Ex-Diver (1)

Republic of Korea, Incheon Metropolitan City.

Yang Young-min, an A-rank hunter residing in Songdo-dong.

“Ughh… *sigh*…”

He barely managed to lift his upper body from the bed, staring ahead with hollow eyes.

Current time, 1 PM.

He had wasted more than half the day sleeping in.

This wasn’t how he used to be, but lately, every day was like this.

Spending most of the day lost in sleep, and even after waking up, feeling empty and listless.

He naturally picked up his phone, logged into the community app, and smoothly navigated to Yu Parang’s gallery.

It was a familiar motion he must have repeated thousands of times. A movement his body remembered, regardless of his conscious will.

Sometimes he would turn on his phone intending to do something else, only to find himself already browsing Yu Parang’s gallery when he came to his senses.

Young-min used to be a bright and energetic person.

Originally, his day would start at 8 AM, vigorously kicking off his blanket.

Walking confidently around the house preparing to go out, occasionally breaking into dance when he couldn’t contain his excitement – that kind of morning.

Young-min was that kind of person, with such vibrant mornings.

But today, waking up at 1 PM, instead of getting out of bed, he lay back down at an angle and fiddled with his phone.

As he scrolled through the gallery looking for new posts, his expression revealed an undisguisable – or rather, an intentionally undisguised – listlessness and depression.

After scrolling through about 10 pages, all the post titles below a certain post were tinted green.

This meant they were already read.

Though he couldn’t particularly remember what they were about, the fact that he had read them was what mattered. Young-min started clicking through and reading the unread posts with black titles one by one.

Meanwhile, his day was being carelessly, meaninglessly frittered away.

Though he was aware of this fact himself and knew he shouldn’t be doing this, strangely, Young-min found no will to escape from this situation.

As he stared at the loading screen that appeared from time to time, Young-min felt an unbearable sense of frustration and depression constricting him.

‘Should I really be doing this right now?’

He already knew the answer. But instead of writing down the answer he knew, Young-min hurriedly diverted his eyes to a few meaningless characters written on the internet.

The more he did this, Young-min felt like he was sinking into some deep place he couldn’t escape from.

It felt like sinking into dark, deep waters.

This was the state of some viewers that Parang didn’t know about.

#

East Sea, underwater.

─What, you were alive?

─Shangliaaaaan Shangliaaaaan Shangliaaaaan Shangliaaaaan

─You’re back, damn

─Lock

─I really thought you died, damn it Parang, what were you doing?

─Ex

─You won’t leave anymore, right? Right?

─Me

─I was so cold, I’m sorry, I was wrong

“Um, wait, everyone…?”

Parang turned on her stream and looked at the chat with bewilderment.

The chat was burning much more intensely and ferociously than she had anticipated.

Though she had expected strong reactions after seeing the community screenshots Yuna sent, this was far too extreme.

The chat was literally exploding upward. The messages were coming in so fast that even Parang’s dynamic vision could barely keep up.

‘What, what’s going on? This doesn’t seem normal.’

Parang raised a mental question mark. Though she’d been through a lot, she actually hadn’t been away from streaming for even a week. While it wasn’t exactly a diligent broadcasting schedule, it wasn’t enough of a break to warrant this kind of reaction.

In fact, Shin Yuna had previously abandoned her stream for about two weeks while claiming she was building a submarine, then casually returned, and even now she frequently takes unannounced breaks for two or three days.

Considering the reactions when she returned, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Parang’s viewers were showing an unusually intense response.

‘Is it because I didn’t give notice?’

Though this was only half-right reasoning, it was fortunate that she at least realized the importance of notifications this way.

“Um, everyone? I’m sorry I haven’t shown my face until now. I was really busy. Please don’t be angry.”

─We’re mad

─What, were you late getting an elixir?

─Like if she should apologize with a 24-hour stream

─Like

─Like

─Wake up

─Like

─Did you go make a mini Yu Parang?

Parang was in quite a predicament. It’s not like she could explain, ‘I was late because I was assassinating the former association chairman after seeing the Slayers’ memories.’

After some consideration, though she really didn’t want to, Parang decided to make a sort of advance payment.

“Alright. I’ll be honest with you. I had some business in the ocean.”

She raised both hands in surrender and spoke to her viewers in a resigned tone.

─What kind of business in the ocean

“There was a dangerous entity that I absolutely couldn’t ignore, so I eliminated it. After that, I was completely drained and needed to rest. Really. I’m truly sorry for taking a break without saying anything.”

Well… she hadn’t lied. Though that didn’t make Parang feel entirely comfortable.

And when Parang went this far, the viewers had nothing more to say.

After all, you can’t criticize someone for taking a break when they say they were busy contributing to world peace.

Even the viewers who still felt unsatisfied finally softened when Parang promised to always announce future broadcast dates.

“I’m so sorry…”

She bowed slightly with a somewhat gloomy expression.

─Your sins are forgiven

After going this far, the viewers all seemed to be in a forgiving mood.

─So what kind of stream is it today?

“Ah, today…”

That’s when it happened.

Wheeeeeeee-!!

Kwack!!

─Holy crap that scared me

─Blrghblergh

─What is it? Where did that come from?

Parang looked with a startled expression at the sailfish struggling in her grasp.

“That scared me…”

It was quite a sight to see the great Yu Parang showing a startled expression and clutching her chest.

“It’s a sailfish monster. It suddenly charged at me so I caught it in surprise. It’s a really rare species, what a coincidence.”

Indeed, the sailfish in Parang’s hand was no ordinary specimen.

Its protruding snout was covered in sharp protrusions like a chainsaw.

It was actually rotating like a chainsaw too.

The size was the same as a normal sailfish.

“Depending on the specimen, this pointed part can have different shapes. Some are chainsaw-shaped like this one, while others look like swords, drills, or needles. Their top speed reaches 450km per hour.”

– 450???

– Wow

– Wait, is it even possible to catch that with bare hands??

– “Yu Parang”

– Ah I get it

– Caught it, right?

– Damn that scared me

“I just got lucky and caught it.”

Half the chat believed her, half didn’t.

Parang just watched the chat with a meaningful smile.

Parang jabbed her finger into what appeared to be the sailfish’s heart.

Pogrrrrrr….

The instantly deceased sailfish sank deep below.

Parang regained her composure at a speed rivaling the sailfish and continued her broadcast.

“Whew, anyway, about today’s stream.”

Unlike Parang’s previous broadcasts, today wasn’t about exploring a hive.

After all, she had completed exploring 14 of the 15 hives located around the world, excluding the Mariana Hive.

And given Parang’s remaining schedule, she had no reason to explore hives except for the Mariana Hive.

Aside from farming materials for equipment crafting, that is.

‘Equipment crafting…’

This was another factor giving Parang a headache.

Well, anyway. Back to the main point.

“Today’s stream theme is ‘testing.'”

─Testing??

─Why suddenly an exam?

─Is this a stream to test the streamer in various ways?

─Oh

─Nice

Nonsensical comments flooded in as if Parang’s mysterious announcement was perfectly normal.

Parang gave the chat window one cold glare before continuing.

“You didn’t mishear. Today is really a testing stream. I’m going to ban whoever just wrote that weird fanfic about my physical examination in the chat.”

Ignoring the chat that was still spouting nonsense, Parang waved her arms in a banzai pose. She was signaling to Yuna through the broadcast screen.

─See, it is a physical exam

“Get out.”

With lightning-fast movements, Parang swiftly dealt with the viewer who dared utter such blasphemy.

After a while, something could be seen approaching at an incredible speed from far where Parang was looking.

─What’s that? Doesn’t look like a monster

As they say, even a dog at a Seodang learns poetry after three years – the viewers quickly sensed something was off.

What was approaching from the distance wasn’t a monster, but a submarine.

Yes, a submarine.

A steampunk-style submarine with a rough egg-shaped body that couldn’t even charitably be called streamlined, covered in strange attachments crammed together.

It was Shin Yuna.

“Yu Parang, come heeeere!!!!”

With this bizarre, inexplicable line, she was charging straight at Parang.