Chapter 87: Interlude

Deep Sea Fish Hunting Specialty Broadcast

EP.87 Interlude

Swoooooosh-!!

Han Siwoo, emerging from the cave, swam upwards at an incredible speed, ascending higher and higher.

His speed was twice that of when he was fighting beneath Hawaii. It was almost on par with Parang.

To ascend from the very bottom of the Mariana Hive to the top, it’s about 30km.

Since the uppermost part of the Mariana Hive is 5km below the surface, Han Siwoo is essentially residing in a cave 35km deep under the sea.

For reference, Monster fishes also live in that area. As mentioned repeatedly, the environment is quite different from the original Earth.

Han Siwoo, having left the Mariana Hive in an instant, rushed in one direction like a gust of wind.

The Capulus behind him was, surprisingly, maintaining a similar speed.

‘How on earth does that thing move in water……’

He thought to himself.

‘Well, I guess it’s not that surprising.’

Although the relationship is as distant as a third cousin twice removed, it’s still somewhat connected to that Kraken, isn’t it?

‘No, come to think of it, it might be a bit closer than that…..’

He absent-mindedly tried to establish the relationship between the Capulus and the Kraken.

“Hey, watch out, in front!!”

A woman’s urgent voice came from the Capulus behind.

Whoooosh!!

Snapping back to reality, Han Siwoo found himself swimming towards a large stone pillar. He twisted his body in an almost acrobatic manner, barely avoiding the pillar.

“Ah, thanks, Melville.”

“If you keep zoning out like that, nothing’s going to get done. What were you thinking about this time?”

“Oh, nothing. Just pondering about the relationship between this handle and the Kraken.”

“Seriously, you think about the weirdest things……”

“So, what kind of relationship do you think they have? Have you ever thought about it?”

“Well, let’s see….. Since it came from me, maybe something like ‘hair that fell off a mouse living in a place the Kraken visited’?”

“Hooh……”

Han Siwoo let out a small exclamation. Considering the context, it’s a perfectly fitting analogy.

Except for one part, that is.

“Do mice these days also scavenge Kraken flesh?”

“How many times do I have to tell you? I had no choice back then, it was about survival. Unless you’ve been caught by a 1km-long sea monster and dragged down to the deep sea, keep your mouth shut.”

“Well, I’ve almost been absorbed by the Kraken’s daughter with my status window destroyed.”

“Always trying to have the last word……”

After chattering and bantering for a while, Han Siwoo finally arrived somewhere.

What stood before him was an enormous cliff.

It was so massive that its ends couldn’t be seen, whether up, down, left, or right. It was just vertically flat.

Han Siwoo stopped still in front of the massive wall and looked up for a moment.

In the middle of that enormous cliff, he could see a small groove carved out.

As he approached it, he saw it was a groove just big enough to fit a fist. The only peculiar thing was that its shape was a perfect hemisphere.

“Is this the place?”

“Yes. That’s right. If my intuition is correct, it should be in there.”

‘Intuition, huh.’

If her intuition said so, then it was simply a fact.

That’s what Han Siwoo had come to understand.

“Alright. If it’s your intuition, I guess it must be in there.”

He carefully caressed the hemispherical groove.

“So, we’ve arrived, but what do we do now?”

“Ah, just a moment.”

One of the three floating Capulus approached Han Siwoo.

“Break this.”

“……This?”

“Stop talking and just do it quickly.”

“Isn’t this a bit too reckless, even for you?”

“Huh, do you also respect and cherish the hair that falls from your body?”

“Hmm……”

Having no particular rebuttal, Han Siwoo just followed her instructions.

A moment later, with a loud cracking sound, one of the Capulus shattered, and from within emerged a breathtakingly beautiful, round, blue jewel.

The fragments of the crumbled Capulus slowly sank into the deep sea.

“Insert it into that carved hole.”

“Hmm……”

“What now?”

“It’s just, this method is more classic than I expected. Inserting a jewel into a hole in the wall.”

“I didn’t make this. If you want to complain, go talk to that eyeball.”

“I tried to complain, but it wouldn’t talk to me.”

“Oh for….. That mouth of his……”

Han Siwoo chuckled as he inserted the blue jewel into the groove.

Then,n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Woooooong-

Centered around that groove, an incredibly massive pattern began to glow blue, revealing itself.

Next,

Dududuk, Urururung, Kugugugung-

The wall with the circular pattern opened like a camera aperture, revealing the space behind.

What was revealed was an enormously vast cave. As if the entire inside of the cliff was completely hollow.

It was a space large enough to easily fit not just a Monster fish, but even two Hives.

“Hmm, it’s too dark to see clearly.”

“Huh? Dark? You were able to see just fine in the pit earlier.”

“That’s because I’m a regressor, and I also had my combat senses active then.”

“Hah, someone might think you’ve regressed dozens of times or something.”

“Ugh…”

For the first time, Han Siwoo’s mouth clamped shut, and with a slightly annoyed expression, he entered the cave.

[ Skill, ‘Waterproof Sanity’ is active. ]

A message that popped up even when it was too dark to distinguish anything.

“Ah, I guess that’s right.”

“Go down to the bottom and look around slowly. Once you’ve confirmed, come right back out.”

“Just confirm? Nothing else?”

“Nothing else. Just confirm.”

Hunter Han Siwoo nodded and quietly swam down.

After descending for who knows how long, he finally reached the bottom and slowly began to look around.

“No matter how you look at it, isn’t this too big? It’ll take ages to look around everything.”

“I’ll bet ten Capulus that you’ll be terrified within 10 minutes and rush out of the cave in a panic.”

“What nonsense…”

‘No, it makes sense.’

If you think about what they’re looking for right now, it’s not nonsense at all.

‘Why did I bring this up…’

That thing he would most likely see soon.

They say the greatest fear is fear of the unknown, but sometimes there are things that are just scary even when you know about them.

Not scarier because you know, just… terrifying.

And then, thud.

He felt something where he was about to carefully step.

[Run away.]

[Run away.]

[Run away.]

Seeing the status window screaming hysterically, he felt a bit anxious. It reminded him of that day.

“Did you bump into something?”

Alice called out to him.

Han Siwoo quietly touched whatever was in front of him.

[ R U N A W A Y ]

Now the letters are even bolder and redder.

He spoke in a hushed voice.

“I think so.”

“Good. Don’t try to look at it closely, and if possible, don’t touch it. Follow the tentacle where it gets thicker and go up.”

“…Okay.”

Han Siwoo quietly, with the most careful movements of his life, followed the tentacle up and up.

The tentacle, which had been thin, was getting thicker, reaching a diameter of almost 20 meters.

[ runrunrunrunrunrunrunrunrun ]

‘Damn it, shut up…’

As if the creepy feeling wasn’t enough, the status window’s freaking out doubled his fear.

Trembling without realizing it as he followed the tentacle, Han Siwoo finally reached a certain point.

The part where the tentacles connected into one. The center. To put it more simply, the core.

Once it had glowed blue, but now it had lost its light and was completely dark.

‘The Kraken’s… core.’

As soon as he mentally uttered that name, an overwhelming emotion swept over Han Siwoo.

Awe, fear, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror.

“Incomprehensible incomprehensible incomprehensible should not attempt to comprehend but comprehend not comprehend. Even comprehending myself comprehending is incomprehensible open your eyes open your eyes open your eyes open your eyes…”

“Damn it. I knew this would happen…!!”

As soon as Hunter Han Siwoo showed abnormal symptoms after seeing the Kraken’s core that had lost its light, the Capulus struck him hard from above, knocking him unconscious.

Then, carrying him out of the cave.

“No matter how you look at it, is it right to pass out without even being able to run away…?”

Alice grumbled at Han Siwoo while clutching her own heart that was pounding uncontrollably.

Kraken’s death, confirmation complete.

#

“Ugh, my head…”

“What, what is it? Are you okay?”

“Ah, yeah… It must be the effect of that memory from earlier. I think I’ll feel better after resting a bit. More importantly, how’s Xiao?”

“She’s asleep. She said she didn’t receive a big shock, so she’ll be fine after resting for a while.”

“That’s a relief, phew…”

Parang lay still in the tank, organizing the memories she had just seen.

The ring Han Siwoo had given as a gift, the sword stuck in the ground, the ascension ritual, and that damned Capulus…

Thinking about piecing all of that together makes her head throb.

‘And, that eye.’

She had felt it when she first saw it in Kang Yuri’s memory, but that eye definitely has a connection with the Kraken.

This time, she felt it more clearly, more strongly.

That eye, without a doubt, must have met the Kraken before. She’s not sure what they did when they met, though.

There’s no evidence. The lack of evidence itself is the evidence.

It’s just proof of an instinctive recognition that arose from within Parang.

‘Ugh, my head hurts.’

It’s fortunate that there’s one more piece of reference material.

‘I wonder if she’s finished looking at it by now.’

Vertea, who recovered first, had gone to examine the memories contained in the ‘evidence’ obtained from Alexandra.

What on earth did Alexandra hear that allowed her to accept death so peacefully in that desperate situation?

Who was the being that spoke to her?

With Vertea’s intelligence, she might clearly figure everything out as soon as she sees the memory and start briefing. That’s Parang’s one-sided hope, though.

‘It should be about time…’

Kwang!!

“Eek!! You scared me!!”

The one who burst through the door with a sound almost like a bomb exploding was Vertea.

With an incredibly excited face, she clutched the ‘evidence’ in her hand and strode towards Parang.

“Uh, that, if you handle it carelessly, won’t it break and…”

Parang’s words “…or something?” were cut off.

“This, I think you need to see it.”

With a stern voice, Vertea suddenly pressed the evidence against Parang’s forehead.

Elvira, who was watching Parang’s condition from the side, was startled and tried to stop Vertea, but unfortunately failed.

“Hey, hey, wait a second, wh-what’s this all of a sudden…!!”

Before she could protest, Parang’s consciousness was sucked into the ‘evidence’.