Deep Sea Fish Hunting Specialty Broadcast

Chapter 48: I’m Coming to Meet You (1)

Chapter 48: I’m Coming to Meet You (1)

Deep Sea Fish Hunting Specialty Broadcast – 48

EP.48 I’m Coming to Meet You (1)

Shuffle… shuffle.

Parang walked aimlessly after leaving the Hunter Association building.

Her head still throbbed.

She never imagined discussing the assassination of the Association President through written notes, especially while having a separate conversation.

Of course, it was suspicious for a Branch Manager to suddenly summon a B-rank Hunter for a private meeting.

In hindsight, it seemed like they deliberately left the bug in place.

They had created a perfect alibi. Once the underwater Hunter-specific test was established, Parang and Seo Sunwoo’s meeting would have a perfect justification and context.

Parang fiddled with the USB in her hand. What could be inside that would justify killing someone?

And then there was Natsuko.

The current Association President, Igarashi Natsuko. To Parang, she was like Mark Wilmore.

Meaning, she had no idea who she was.

There was no memory of her, and in the original novel, her role was limited to just two sentences.

First, she appeared as the secretary of the previous President, receiving the evaluation, “This person does their job very well.”

Second, she suddenly ascended to the position of President due to the ‘worsening illness’ of the previous President a month before the Slayers’ ascension.

“The secretary, Igarashi Natsuko, took over the position of President.”

That was the novel’s description. After that, she didn’t appear in a single sentence or word until the ending.

Moreover, she hadn’t shown any notable actions until now.

Parang, of course, had no connection to the world at large.

Yet Silo had brought her in and said, “This person is dangerous if she learns about the sea, so let’s kill her.”

If the person who said that wasn’t an executive of Silo Corporation, Parang would have left immediately, thinking, ‘Oh, they’re out of their mind.’

Otherwise, she might have seriously considered hitting him hard on the head.

It was only because Silo had consistently earned her trust that she decided to hear them out.

Honestly, she still found it absurd.

…But then again, it’s unlikely they were talking nonsense.

Whatever. She’d find out once she checked the USB. For now, she decided to bury it in the back of her mind.

#

So, what was Igarashi Natsuko, the person occupying Parang’s thoughts, currently doing?

“I’m Yu Parang. Nice to meet you.”

She was eavesdropping on the conversation in the Branch Manager’s office from inside a limousine.

Trying not to miss a single word of the ongoing conversation.

Checking for any hidden codes or written notes.

Coincidentally or not, Seo Sunwoo had placed an electric teapot near the bug.

Bubbling—bubbling—

The sound of boiling water made it impossible to hear the pen scratching on paper.

That’s why Seo Sunwoo liked tea.

“The tea is good.”

“Thank you.”

In the end, she couldn’t find anything suspicious in the conversation.

Recently, underwater Hunters had become a hot topic, and they were establishing a new ranking system for them.

Since underwater Hunters were an unknown territory for the Association, they sought help from the top in that field.

It was reasonable. A perfect alibi without a hint of doubt.

So suspiciously flawless that it was suspicious.

That’s why Natsuko kept an eye on Seo Sunwoo.

“Phew…”

She sighed and leaned back in her seat.

Having recorded everything, she decided to listen to it again later.

Yu Parang and… underwater Hunters.

She definitely felt the need to keep an eye on them.

That’s why she had them followed right after meeting Parang.

They were skilled enough that Yu Parang wouldn’t notice in her wildest dreams.

By now, they should have gathered some useful information.

With that in mind, Natsuko contacted them.

……

“We lost her.”

“…What did you say?”

“Well, she suddenly jumped into the Han River.”

Natsuko ended the call and calmly picked up a wine bottle, pouring herself a glass.

It tasted exceptionally sweet today.

#

Meanwhile, Yu Parang, the master of espionage who easily evaded even the Hunter Association’s surveillance team.

She wasn’t thinking much at the moment.

It was just hot, and she thought it would be much better to be in the water.

So she jumped off the Han River bridge.

Ah, refreshing.

Although the water needed some purification, it was still refreshing.

To soothe her overloaded brain, Parang turned off her thought circuits for a moment.

Water, cool, clean, feels good.

While submerged in the river, she thought of the freshwater monster fish. Not the monstrous ones, just regular monsters.

The Han River was well-managed, so there were none, but in wild environments like the Amazon River, 20-meter-long pirarucu swam freely.

Parang had encountered one once. It was back when there were only three Oceanos, Parang, Vertea, and Diego. They had grilled and eaten it together.

It was really delicious.

Then she snapped back to reality. She still had things to do.

She needed to visit the World Government.

Honestly, Parang had been pondering this issue up until the moment she left her house this morning.

To go or not to go.

This had been on her mind ever since she dived into Matilda Müller’s memories in Hong Kong.

After the hunt for Galecus, which was Parang’s first broadcast, a government official had come by and handed her a piece of paper with just an address and time on it.

She hadn’t realized it then, but looking back now, they had sent a special strike team to assassinate her, failed, and then showed up the next morning with an invitation.

Suddenly, she thought, ‘These people are crazy.’

Even now, just thinking about it gave her chills.

Honestly, she could have been shot the moment she opened the door that day, or three S-rank Hunters could have ambushed her.

The only reason they didn’t was probably due to Silo’s influence.

Anyway, they invited her.

And Parang accepted it.

‘What was I thinking…?’

Parang rubbed her forehead.

From her perspective, it was an unfair situation. She didn’t know. And even if she had refused, she doubted the current situation would be much different.

‘Should I just tell them to go to hell?’

No matter how she looked at it, it seemed like an assassination attempt or, at the very least, she wouldn’t be treated well if she went.

At the very least, it was obvious she’d face confinement or kidnapping.

If she was sure she wouldn’t be treated well, wouldn’t it be a hundred times better not to go?

But then again, it was also an incredibly tempting situation.

Maybe she should go? Could it actually be an opportunity?

From the World Government’s perspective, it was just a matter of calling in a B-rank Hunter who was disrupting their plans and getting rid of her.

However, the ‘B-rank Hunter disrupting their plans’ had experienced so much in such a short time, and the government was unaware of it, which was the catch.

Parang had ‘Departure,’ Silo backing her, and a vague understanding of the World Government’s objectives.

Moreover, she knew what had happened to the Slayers and was piecing together the truth of their deaths like a puzzle.

She wasn’t sure if she could use this against the government, but she had the Kraken.

And besides knowing that Silo had her back, the government likely knew none of these facts.

Silo would never have let information about trump cards like ‘Departure’ leak to the government.

Therefore, unintentionally, Parang currently had a certain information advantage over the government.

If she could extract information from the government during this visit, it would be a worthwhile attempt.

Kidnapping a government official would be a significant gain.

After all, she had ‘Departure.’

The main risk was if Parang ended up killing a government official while resisting or escaping.

Given her public identity as a B-rank Hunter and internet broadcaster, the World Government could use ‘killing a public servant’ to launch a media attack, which would be devastating.

Her broadcast would plummet, and her daily life could become impossible.

However, since the government would be the one attempting the kidnapping first, she thought she could exploit this angle. Upon consulting Silo a few days ago, the response was…

“Oh, you don’t need to worry about that. Legally and through the media, we can cover it.”

As a former painter and current fisher, Parang found it hard to understand, but it seemed they could twist her image to ‘self-defense during an escape from kidnapping’ with the right media play and legal team.

“Moreover, the government won’t want to engage in a media battle with us.”

Parang accepted it as a concept similar to mutual assured destruction.

Problem solved.

Thus, she decided to accept the World Government’s invitation.

This decision was made before she left her house this morning.

Parang had also received some emergency tools from Silo that might help.

An EMP grenade and an emergency warp device.

The device could transport her to a warp station within 20 km. Satellite maps showed a station 17 km away, very close to the sea.

With some luck, she might extract the information without even using ‘Departure.’

The more cards she could keep hidden, the better.

She vigorously swam through the Han River’s currents towards the meeting place.