Deep Sea Fish Hunting Specialty Broadcast

Chapter 128 : And Then There Were None (6)

EP.128 And Then There Were None (6)

"Whew..."

Yu Parang sat down on the floor, holding her forehead, and let out a deep sigh.

Her head throbbed.

She wasn’t sure what kind of trick had been played, but currently, at the top of the World Government, there existed a degraded version of the Kraken.

Or, from another perspective, it might not even be a degraded version. The Kraken, made from Yoo Sungjun, was functioning perfectly well outside of water.

Moreover, it seemed to possess a certain level of self-awareness.

To begin with, it’s uncertain if it can even be called a Kraken. Since the Kraken was created by overlapping countless timelines of Yu Parang, perhaps the monster made by overlapping countless timelines of Yoo Sungjun is also a type of Kraken—or so Yu Parang concluded on her own.

If you consider the distinct characteristics that contrast with the Kraken, it might just be a completely different entity created in a similar way.

Even though Silo Corporation provided a wealth of information and she directly saw Yoo Sungjun’s memories, there were still too many uncertainties.

As always, there was only one thing Yu Parang could be sure of.

The upcoming battle would be long, chaotic, unsettling, and difficult, just like always.

But fortunately, Yu Parang’s resolve had reached a state similar to unyielding steel.

Chop-chop—

She washed her face with her hands and looked ahead with determined eyes, as she always did.

Whatever stood in her way, she would crush it.

Whether it was the World Government or Yoo Sungjun, she would defeat them all, move forward, and finally get rid of that grotesque eyeball.

Yu Parang glanced at Alice, who was lying sprawled next to her.

Alice seemed to be trying to piece together the information she knew with what she had just seen, as she lay there with a serious expression, lost in thought.

It was a habit of Alice’s. She claimed her mind worked better when she pondered while lying down.

In fact, Alice often lay like that for a long time and then came up with some brilliant idea.

Though sometimes she fell asleep in the process, so the success rate wasn’t guaranteed.

’I hope she doesn’t fall asleep like that...’

There was no way to wake her up midway.

Yu Parang, with a slightly awkward expression, decided to leave Alice alone for now.

#

Of course, Alice wasn’t asleep.

Her head, resting on the stone floor, was already spinning rapidly, as if the hardness didn’t bother her.

In her mind, countless futures, presents, and pasts were intertwining and unraveling repeatedly.

In fact, she had already roughly found the answer to why the World Government ended up in such a state—why Yoo Sungjun became a Kraken-like entity.

’Such a being can’t just appear on land.’

No matter how that eyeball monster killed the Kraken and wielded incomprehensible power, it couldn’t have done it alone.

If that were possible, it wouldn’t have dragged things out this far. It would have just destroyed the Earth as soon as the timeline began.

So, there’s only one possibility left.

’There’s someone who knew everything from the start and guided its creation.’

Something was orchestrated on land, not under the sea.

The person behind it was too obvious. There was only one.

It was so evident that as soon as Yu Parang mentioned, "The World Government’s actions are strange," Alice immediately thought of his name.

"Han Siwoo."

The person aware of the world’s regression and the identity of the eyeball monster and the Kraken.

The person who could approach Yoo Sungjun at any time.

After all, the World Government witnessed the eyeball monster through the camera attached to Han Siwoo’s body.

Probably, even in Yu Parang and Silo Corporation’s investigation, he would be the most implicated individual in this situation.

Almost 100%, one could say.

’The reason they can’t make a definitive conclusion is obviously due to a lack of decisive evidence.’

While they could deduce Han Siwoo’s deep involvement, they wouldn’t have found evidence that he intentionally orchestrated the World Government’s current situation.

< It’s entirely possible that Yoo Sungjun, driven mad by seeing the eyeball monster, summoned a pseudo-Kraken. >

There are countless other suspicious individuals besides Han Siwoo.

So how can Alice be so sure Han Siwoo is the culprit?

Well, that’s obvious, isn’t it? She has the most crucial piece of information that Yu Parang doesn’t.

Alice easily succeeded in almost perfectly deducing the origin, development, and current situation of the World Government.

#

Let’s turn back time a bit, to a past neither too distant nor too close.

This story takes place in March 2022, about two and a half years ago from the current point.

Let’s take a look at the general situation back then.

First, on land. Han Siwoo was progressing through the latter part of the original story. He was reigning as the undisputed hero of the world and the pinnacle of humanity.

He was stabilizing the Earth and conceptualizing organizations like the World Government and Silo Corporation, preparing for battles against otherworldly beings like demons or gods.

Meanwhile, at sea, Yu Parang and her companions were frantically scouring the oceans to find the kidnapped Alice. In the process, countless monster fish were slaughtered, and the ecosystem of the East Sea Hive was on the brink of collapse.

As a side note, the reason the second chamber of the East Sea Hive is now teeming with parasitic monster fish is because of this.

Alice had made a daring escape from Atlantis in Hawaii, relocated to the bottom of the Mariana Hive, and spent three months there, using her power and knowledge to seek ways to combat great evil and apocalypse.

On the surface, it seemed like there was no connection between the land and sea at this point, but surprisingly, there was.

Just as Silo Corporation reached out to Yu Parang, someone from the land reached out to Alice as well.

That person was Han Siwoo.

Han Siwoo suddenly approached Alice a month after she settled in the Mariana Hive and proposed cooperation.

If described like this, it might seem like a typical ’meeting between a regressor and an ordinary person,’ but in reality, it wasn’t.

That is to say, there wasn’t a scene where Alice, surprised by Han Siwoo’s sudden appearance, asked, "How did you find me?" and Han Siwoo calmly replied, "I’ll tell you the truth of the world now."

Rather, it was closer to the opposite.

Han Siwoo appeared before Alice with a face that looked like it might explode at any moment, muttering lines like "This can’t be..." and "This is impossible...," while Alice simply glared at him with a calm and cold expression.

Well, regardless of how their first meeting went, they established a secret cooperative relationship on the spot.

Their purpose was singular: the salvation of the world.

No lengthy explanations were needed.

There will likely be more opportunities to elaborate on their first meeting later.

Anyway, the spring of 2022 was about two months after Han Siwoo and Alice formed their secret alliance.

That day, as usual, they were sitting across from each other in the very stone chamber where Yu Parang and Alice were now, diligently planning.

At that time, Alice’s ’ability to see the flow’ hadn’t fully blossomed, so they had to make plans based on a vague outcome they needed to reach.

Let’s take a peek at their conversation from back then.

"Then, the organization to support Yu Parang will be..."

Alice spoke while looking at the densely written words carved into a makeshift table made from a lifted stone floor.

The words on the table were divided into two sections, summarizing the advantages of having either Silo Corporation or the World Government support Yu Parang.

"It seems like Silo is a much better choice. The government might be helpful, but Silo can provide too much assistance in the Ascension process."

At her words, Han Siwoo, sitting across from her, nodded.

"I think so too. Let’s go with that. Then, on the other hand, the government should..."

"Yes. It should act as a trial for Yu Parang. A wall she must overcome with all her might."

"And while doing so, it should allow Yu Parang to grow and maintain the world in a normal state?"

"Exactly."

"Alright. Then leave that part to me. It’s something I have to do anyway."

"…Okay. I’m not entirely confident, but it’s not an area I can interfere with. Let’s move on to the next topic."

#

’I never imagined that when he said he had a plan, it would be something like this.’

He probably used a method like injecting his own blood into Yoo Sungjun or something similar. Blood can be considered to contain the core of an awakened being. The blood of a regressor might have acted as a catalyst when in contact with that eyeball.

There must have been countless other methods, but the reason he chose such a path was also understandable.

It was likely to give Yu Parang a practice run against something similar to what she would face.

Considering how things have unfolded according to the discussions from that day, one could say Han Siwoo has been diligently fulfilling his role.

Using such an extreme method, knowing this was the last chance, implies he had his reasons.

’A past successful experience.’

He must have set up and executed a similar plan in one of the previous iterations.

And he must have obtained a favorable result.

The problem is that the method involved turning the entire World Government into a den of monsters.

Truly, it’s a way of handling things befitting a regressor.

’Alright. I’ve roughly grasped the situation.’

In conclusion, the reason Alice is currently pondering isn’t because she hasn’t figured out the truth of the current situation.

It’s because the truth is something that absolutely cannot be revealed to Yu Parang.

’How do I package this...’

Alice squeezed her eyes shut.