Turtle… Turtle. Parang left the Hunter Association building and walked aimlessly.
His head was still throbbing.
He never thought he’d end up discussing killing the association’s president in hushed whispers, especially while juggling other conversations.
Of course, calling an average B-rank hunter to the Branch Head Office for a private meeting was sus as hell.
Looking back, it felt like they intentionally left the listening device installed.
They might have crafted a perfect alibi. Once the underwater hunter exams open, Parang and Seo Sunwoo’s encounter would have a flawless justification and plausibility.
Parang fiddled with the USB in his hand. What could possibly be inside to necessitate a murder?
By the way, was it Natsuko?
The current association president, Igarashi Natsuko. To Parang, she felt just like Mark Wilmore.
Meaning, he had no clue who she was at all.
Her prominence in the original novel was summed up in just two sentences.
She appeared as the secretary of the previous president, praised with the line, “This friend does well.”
Then she unexpectedly climbed to the president’s seat due to the predecessor’s ‘declining health’ just a month before Slayers ascended.
“They said, ‘As a result, his secretary, Igarashi Natsuko, rose to the presidency.’”
That’s all the novel revealed. After that, she didn’t appear again, not even in a single word till the end.
Moreover, she had shown no conspicuous behavior whatsoever until now.
Parang, of course, was a nobody without any connection to the world.
And now they had the audacity to say, “Let’s kill her, for her knowledge of the sea could be dangerous.”
Had it not been for Silo being a higher-up in his organization, Parang would’ve walked out immediately, thinking, “Oh, they’ve lost it.”
Or he might have seriously considered smashing his head down hard.
Since it was Silo, who had continuously gained his trust, he decided to listen up.
Honestly, it was still absurd.
…But still, it didn’t seem like they were completely out of their minds.
Ah, whatever. I’ll find out when I check the USB. For now, I decided to bury it in the back of my mind.
#
Meanwhile, while everyone else was wondering about Igarashi Natsuko, what was she up to?
“I’m Yu Parang. Nice to meet you.”
She was eavesdropping on the conversation from inside a limousine.
Striving not to miss a single piece of dialogue.
Wondering if they were mixing any codes or having secret chats.
Coincidentally, Seo Sunwoo had left an electric teapot near the eavesdropping device.
Brrr- brrr-
The sound of boiling water continued, making it unclear if her pen was scratching away or not.
That’s why Seo Sunwoo loved tea.
“Delicious tea.”
“Thank you.”
Ultimately, she failed to notice anything suspicious until the conversation ended.
Recently, underwater hunters had been in the spotlight, and a new ranking system was being introduced for them.
Underwater hunters were uncharted territory for the association, so they sought help from the top of that field.
It made sense – a perfectly convincing alibi, with zero shady aspects.
That’s also why Natsuko was keeping an eye on Seo Sunwoo.
“Phew…”
She sighed and leaned back.
Now that the recording’s done, she’d have to listen to it again later.
Yu Parang and… underwater hunters.
She felt a definite need to keep tabs on them.
That was why she sent a tail to follow Parang right after their meeting.
They were capable enough that they wouldn’t even sense it in their dreams.
Bits of useful information must be piling up by now.
Thinking of this, Natsuko contacted them.
…
“I missed them.”
“What… what did you say?”
“T-they suddenly jumped into the Han River.”
Natsuko hung up and picked up the wine bottle with a calm expression.
The moon looked particularly bright tonight.
#
On the other hand, the espionage master Yu Parang effortlessly dodged the Hunter Association president’s tail.
Right now, she wasn’t thinking much.
Just that it was hot, and being in the water seemed way better.
So she jumped off the Han River bridge.
Ah, refreshing.
The water looked like it could use a little purification though.
As Parang soaked in the river, she momentarily turned off her overloaded brain.
Water, refreshing, clean, feels good.
While in the river, images of freshwater monster fish popped into her mind. Not the huge monster fish, just regular ones.
The Han River was well-managed, so they didn’t exist there, but in wild environments like the Amazon, 20-meter-long pirarucus swam around freely.
Parang had encountered one just once, back when there were only three Oceanos. Parang, Vertea, and Diego had grilled one together.
It was truly delicious.
Then suddenly, her mind clicked. There were still things to do.
Visiting the world government, for one.
Honestly, Parang had been contemplating this ever since she dove into Matilda Müller’s memories in Hong Kong just this morning before leaving her home.
Whether to go or not.
Actually, this has been on her mind ever since the Galecus hunt. In other words, after she aired her first show, someone from the government stopped by and casually handed her a paper with the address and time written on it.
At that time, she didn’t realize, but looking back now, it seemed like they sent a special task force to execute a kill operation, and upon failing, they returned the next morning to deliver an invitation.
Suddenly, it hit her how insane these guys were.
Just remembering that day sends chills down her spine.
To put it bluntly, she could’ve been sniped the moment she opened her door, or three S-rank hunters could’ve ambushed her.
The explanation of why that didn’t happen probably ties back to Silo’s influence.
In any case, they invited Parang.
And she accepted.
‘What were they thinking…?’
Parang pressed her forehead.
From her perspective, it felt unjust. She didn’t know. And refusing it wouldn’t have drastically changed the current situation either.
‘Should I just say screw it?’
No doubt this felt like an assassination, or whatever it might be, it wouldn’t end up pretty.
It was clearly heading towards at least confinement or kidnapping.
If it’s evident that going there would mean not coming back unscathed, wouldn’t not going be a hundred times better?
But still, there was also an undeniably tempting aspect to the situation.
Could it be okay to go? It could even turn into an opportunity, right?
From the world government’s viewpoint, they wanted to eliminate a B-rank Hunter who’s messing with their schemes, so when they invited her, they thought it would be a walk in the park.
Yet that ‘B-rank Hunter’ had experienced too much in such a brief moment, and they had no clue about it, which gave her leverage.
Parang had ‘departure’ as well, Silo backing her up, plus an inkling of the world government’s objectives.
Moreover, she knew what happened to the Slayers and was piecing together the truths of their deaths one puzzle piece at a time.
She wasn’t sure if she’d get a chance to use that against the government, but she had the Kraken to consider.
And aside from knowing Silo was watching her back, the government had no way of knowing any of these facts whatsoever.
There was no possible way Silo let the government in on information about the ‘departure’ or any secret tactics.
So unintentionally, Parang had a significant informational edge over the government.
If she could extract information from this visit, it was a worthy attempt in her eyes.
Snatching a government official would be a massive win.
With all that in mind, and with the departure lurking in the back of her mind,
The risks of panic would mainly arise if Parang resisted or attempted to escape, resulting in the death of a government official.
To the world government, with Parang’s public persona as a B-rank Hunter and an internet streamer, ‘killing a public official’ would be a deadly narrative they could spin in the media.
Her streaming career would plummet, and her normal life could become impossible.
However, since the government initiated the kidnapping, if she drilled down into that part well enough, it might turn out for the best. So, after querying Silo about it days ago…
“Ah, you don’t need to worry about that. Legally or media-wise, we’ve got you covered.”
For Parang, a former artist and now a fisherman, it was tough to fully grasp but apparently with some smart media play and a good legal team, they could spin it into a ‘justified self-defense while escaping from a kidnapping scenario.’
“Moreover, I doubt the government would want to get into a media confrontation with us.”
Parang took it as something akin to mutually assured destruction.
Problem solved.
Thus, decision made! She decided to accept the world government’s invitation.
It was a conclusion reached right before she stepped out of her home this morning.
Parang also picked up a few emergency tools that might help Silo.
EMP grenades, emergency warps, you name it.
A product that could transport her within 20 km towards a warping station. After checking on a satellite map, she found one station really close to the sea, just 17 km away.
If luck was on her side, she could snag the info without even departing.
The more she could hide her cards, the better.
With determination, she kicked through the Han River’s current towards her meeting spot.
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