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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Swimsuit Festival (8)
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"M-Monster Wave?! H-Here, in Haeundae?"
Shin Se-hee asked back, her face flustered.
"Yeah, probably."
I replied in a calm voice.
"W-What do you mean, all of a sudden... No, never mind that! We don't have time to just stand around here! We're completely unprepared!"
Shin Se-hee sprang to her feet, her face pale with shock.
"Huh? What are you going to do?"
"If we knew a Monster Wave was coming, we should have immediately requested cooperation from the Hunter Management Bureau, issued a civilian evacuation order, and asked the Academy for support..."
Suddenly, Shin Se-hee spun her head around and opened her mouth.
"Jin Yu-ha, is it possible that cooperation is difficult right now?"
I nodded.
Just as expected of Shin Se-hee.
Without needing a detailed explanation, she immediately deduced the exact situation.
"Yeah, civilian evacuation can be done right away, but support requests will be tough. The Hunter Management Bureau and the Academy are busy dealing with the situation in Japan, so they don't have the capacity to help."
"Ah, I see..."
Shin Se-hee quickly regained her composure and fell deep in thought.
"Nureongi. Couldn't you have told us beforehand? Honestly, it's quite disorienting to hear that something like this is suddenly happening without any preparation."
Kang Do-hee blurted out.
'Hmm, it's Nureongi, not 'honey'? Well, now isn't the time to bicker about titles. I guess I'll let it slide for now.'
Thinking that, I offered the excuse I had prepared.
Since Monster Waves were detected this way in the actual game, there wasn't really an issue.
"Kang Do-hee, can't you feel it?"
"...What do you mean?"
"Close your eyes and concentrate. A powerful mana surge is spreading right now."
At my words, Kang Do-hee closed her eyes slowly. Then, her eyes shot open.
Currently, an immense amount of mana was swirling in the air.
And the other party members, seemingly noticing it just now, wore bewildered expressions.
"Since when has this been happening?!"
"Just now."
Then, Kang Do-hee mouthed, "Ah."
"...So you only realized it just now too. My apologies for pressing you."
Kang Do-hee scratched her cheek awkwardly.
"Yeah, it's fine."
'Well, I actually knew beforehand.'
Honestly, if I had wanted to, I could have prepared for this situation in advance.
Sharing the incident with the party members beforehand and requesting help from various places.
Although I might have been met with suspicious questions about how I knew about a Monster Wave with no prior signs, it was past the time to worry about such things. In any case, the Utopia party members would trust me and follow.
And my master, who blindly trusts my words,
or even Director Lina—if I had given them a suitable excuse and asked for help, I could have taken preemptive measures.
However, there was a reason I kept this event a secret from my party members and everyone else.
It was because I had experienced the butterfly effect firsthand, so I couldn't help but be cautious.
The demon appearance I had experienced recently.
It was due to the shocking incident where a demon, an enemy from the mid-to-late chapters, suddenly appeared in what was merely an early-to-mid chapter.
Fortunately, the demon that appeared then was none other than the not-so-formidable Yeon Woo-jin, and thanks to Im Ga-eul's Black Mana Stone support, we managed to get through it.
Still, I consider that good luck.
If it had been a different demon instead of Yeon Woo-jin, and if Im Ga-eul hadn't awakened her Black Mana Stone,
the thought of what might have happened still makes me sigh in relief.
Of course, the results gained from that butterfly effect weren't small, but that didn't mean I wanted to undertake such uncertain adventures every time.
'Especially since this incident is an event-type one that didn't cause much damage in the original game.'
A light incident that could be fully resolved without any damage if the user played well.
My true intention was that while it might be different for main story events that cause significant damage later on, I didn't want to deliberately trigger a butterfly effect for a mere event-type incident like this.
Shin Se-hee, who had been deep in thought, asked with a serious expression.
"Then where is the source of the Monster Wave? It would be good if we could go there beforehand and take action... Is it impossible to pinpoint?"
"No, I know where it is, but there's nothing we can do about it."
"What? What do you mean?"
"It's over there, inside the sea."
I said, pointing to the sea.
"I-Inside the sea?!"
"Yeah, the gate opened inside the sea. So we can't clear the dungeon itself or block its entrance."
"...Which means."
The party members' faces turned grim, as if they had a premonition of a bad future.
"Yeah, we just have to keep fighting until all the monsters inside the gate are dead. There's no other way."
"...Figures. I thought I was finally going to relax and have fun, but whenever I'm with you, something like this always happens."
Lee Yu-ri let out a hollow laugh and pulled out her shield from her spatial tattoo.
"Hmm, a battle of killing monsters until they're all gone. Sounds more entertaining than splashing around in the sea."
Kang Do-hee, on the contrary, curved her lips into a smile, expressing anticipation.
Just then, Im Ga-eul gasped, as if something had just occurred to her.
"H-Hoobae! What do we do? Our weapons, which we always carry, are in our spatial storage, but all our clothes are in the changing rooms! W-We have to go right now, don't we? If that's the case, we'll have to fight in our swimsuits!? What if we end up with some weird nickname like 'Perverted Mastermind' or something...!"
Im Ga-eul said with a tearful face.
'That's actually a good thing.'
Beautiful girls fighting monsters in swimsuits instead of their usual clothes. Isn't that the true charm of the Swimsuit Festival?!
"...I barely managed to grab my bow."
With Sophia's whimper as the last sound, I clapped my hands to get everyone's attention.
"Alright, we need to move immediately. I'll keep the briefing on the strategy simple."
At that, the grumbling party members nodded with expressions of resolve.
***
Meanwhile, at the Haeundae Beach Festival site, preparations were in full swing.
Shouts echoed back and forth as staff members busily moved about, preparing the venue.
"You there! Lights!! You've got the direction wrong! Shine it on the center! No! You've angled it too much!!!"
"S-Sorry!!!!"
"Did you double-check today's lineup schedule!?"
"Y-Yes, yes! Uh, one person might be a little late..."
"Damn it! Why are you telling me that now?! Who is it?"
"It's Woo Jae-hyuk!"
"Woo Jae-hyuk? That 'Ice Boy' or whatever he calls himself?"
"Y-Yes, sir!"
"Ugh, that arrogant punk. He's a Hunter singer with a celebrity complex, all puffed up with himself."
"S-So, what should we do...?"
"What do you mean, 'what should we do'?! Keep calling him and rush him! If he still can't make it, we'll have to ask the act before him to stall for a bit. Ugh, damn it."
Among them, Seo Ah-yoon, the woman in charge of the festival, took off her glasses and wearily pressed her eyelids.
And she spoke in an irritable voice to the subordinate standing beside her.
"Alright, never mind that for now, is the VIP seating set up?"
"...Yes. We've set it up with the utmost care, just as you instructed."
"Good."
"Um, but do you really think that person will come to a place like this?"
The subordinate asked her, implying, 'Do we really need to go this far?'
No matter how he thought about it, it seemed unlikely that person would come all the way here.
It made no sense that they had squeezed their already insufficient budget to go to such lengths.
Seo Ah-yoon let out a scoff.
"Do you think *the* Majesty would come? She's already incredibly busy; she wouldn't come to a place like this."
"...Then why?"
"Well, primarily, there's the noise marketing effect of having sent an invitation to the Majesty. And just in case our festival goes wrong, wouldn't the Majesty pay a little more attention to a place that sent her an invitation?"
"...Ah."
At her words, the subordinate looked at her with renewed admiration.
Indeed, she was truly a figure worthy of being a giant in both the broadcasting and stage industries at just 30 years old.
It was clear she had considered multiple factors with a single move.
"And it's also a contingency in case the Majesty transfers her ticket to someone else."
"Ah! If the Majesty transfers her ticket, then the person who comes definitely won't be ordinary...!"
"Well, exactly."
'Though, truthfully, it's more out of personal gratitude.'
She briefly recalled the past, let out a small laugh, then quickly hardened her expression.
"Enough idle chatter. Now, double-check everything: the hologram projector, powered speakers, water cannon drones, and all the safety Hunters!"
"...Y-Yes, yes! Understood!"
Just as the subordinate scurried off to conduct the checks.
"Excuse me, could I perhaps have a word with you?"
"...Who, C-Cheonhwa!?"