Chapter 55


Tuuung-

The green chroma key screen flipped over, revealing the background scenery that had been hidden from the broadcast.

And the chat paused for a moment.

Because they had to admire the scenery before them. There was no time to move their fingers.

  

Parang stood at the entrance of a cave.

In fact, it looked more like a cylindrical chamber than a cave.

Since the part where Parang stood was located at the top of the chamber, viewers could see the landscape inside at a glance.

“What do you think?”

The chamber was filled entirely with a dark, deep blue light.

This was because something filled the vast space, emitting that light.

Swaying, countless corals.

Various corals were swirling around the gigantic coral that rose majestically in the center of the chamber and almost reached the ceiling, completely filling the dark blue chamber.

When you think of corals, you might imagine something that is rigidly fixed in place like a rock, but there are many species that, like anemones, sway and dangle their tentacles in the water.

The corals spread widely across the floor were precisely those types.

The color was entirely blue, and as they swayed in the current, they resembled grass gently rustling in a windy field.

And amidst those, various gigantic corals also swayed gracefully.

Some stood upright like trees, swaying gently, while others spread flatter, upright as if they were reeds standing tall with their tentacles raised.

With so many packed in, it looked like a lush forest of long grass.

Not just the floor. The wall was adorned with bizarrely shaped corals rising upright, adding to the surreal beauty of the landscape.

One thing was certain: no one could show this scenery other than Parang.

As if diving, she lightly leapt from her spot forward.

And then, she stopped. Letting the water’s flow carry her, it felt like watching a slow-motion screen as she sank.

As she got closer to the floor, her wide field of vision narrowed, and finally, when she could count the tentacles of the corals one by one.

Tot-

Yuparang elegantly spun in the air and gracefully landed on the chamber floor.

It was impressive how she found a place to land among the densely packed corals; without hesitation, she succeeded in her landing.

From where she touched down, a long stone path extended, like a narrow trail through a meadow.

On both sides, tentacles about a meter long swayed, emitting a dense blue light.

A scenery resembling a small path amidst tall, thick grass.

Though it wasn’t visible from above, small fish darted in and out among the corals.

The thin, winding path of the floor led toward the gigantic coral she had seen earlier.

The sight was so dreamlike, beautiful, yet bizarre that the viewers found it difficult to assess the chamber.

“We’re calling it a coral chamber. It’s located somewhere in the East Sea.”

– Wow… Is this Hive too?

– It seems too small to be a Hive. Isn’t it an object?

“Unfortunately, neither a Hive nor an object. It’s just a simple geographical feature,” Parang casually remarked while observing the stone path of the coral chamber.

As if it were a real promenade, short coral pillars emitting a bright blue light were placed at regular intervals along the path.

The viewers realized why this space looked so dreamy.

This is no ordinary space filled with corals.

Instead, it’s closer to a carefully tended garden. Now that she saw it, the winding path even had a consistent width, just perfect for a stroll.

Unable to contain their curiosity—really, anyone who saw this scene couldn’t manage their curiosity—the viewers bombarded Parang with questions.

– What’s this place?

– No matter how you look at it, these didn’t grow on their own.

Then they achieved an accomplishment that might happen once every few years.

“That’s right.”

It was to accurately predict something during Parang’s broadcast.

“This coral chamber wasn’t formed naturally. It was originally an empty, vast space.”

Parang extended her hand and gently stirred the swaying corals around her.

“But it’s also not some mysterious object or Hive that suddenly appeared.”

As she gently swept her hand across the flowing, slender tentacles, she revealed little colorful fish gathering and swimming together inside.

When she cupped her hands together in a basket shape, the tiny fish gathered inside, swimming around in circles.

“‘Coral Chamber’ was made by me. When I first discovered this space, I wanted to make it a place that suited my taste. So whenever I had time, I collected corals from around the world and grew them here. The same goes for the fish.”

Since corals are fundamentally composed of very small animals called “polyps”, you can grow them to a large size even if you only take a small part, rather than uprooting a giant coral. That was the reason she could collect corals from around the world’s oceans.

However, general corals require very demanding conditions and are highly sensitive to small changes in their environment, so creating such a massive aquarium is practically impossible.

But Parang thought.

Just as mutated monsters inhabit various areas of the sea without being picky about their habitats, couldn’t mutated corals do the same?

“So I experimented. I took one coral from the surface and placed it on a mysterious object in the mutant layer.”

When she checked back a few days later, a large, beautiful, and adaptable mutated coral had grown there, thriving anywhere.

From there, she started collecting the corals she liked from around the world, mutated them, and brought part of them back to grow in this chamber to create a garden.

Thus, Parang succeeded in turning this enormous chamber completely into her own space.

She drops by once a month for maintenance as well.

When the viewers heard this, they looked at Parang as if she were insane.

– Crazy person

– Seems crazy, right?

– Definitely crazy

Actually, it was a crazy act. Who comes up with ideas like this?

But hey. Parang has been showing her eccentric side for quite some time, so it was just as expected.

“Therefore, today’s broadcast is about garden management.”

As she began to walk along the path, small fish swam out from between the corals, starting to circle around her.

– Wait, can she even train fish?

– The vibe is crazy, truly crazy

“The fish… I don’t know either. They keep sticking to me. It’s interesting.”

Well, it looked pretty good nevertheless.

As Parang, who naturally exuded a mysterious vibe, walked amidst the surrounded fish in her beautiful coral garden, she looked like a real mermaid.

– It’s really beautiful

– Is this beautiful? It looks gloomy and scary to me

Of course, opinions on the scenery of the coral garden varied among the viewers.

Some found the swaying tentacles like grass beautiful and dreamy, while others felt it was creepy and gloomy.

“Yuna, could you please ban the person who just typed that it’s creepy for 30 minutes?”

However, just because someone found it creepy didn’t mean the viewers could do anything about it.

Seeing the unfortunate viewer whose taste was ‘normalized’ so quickly, the ‘Anti-Coral Garden Group’ had no choice but to remain silent.

As they chatted and leisurely enjoyed the scenery, they soon reached the gigantic coral in the center, and Parang stepped back a bit so the viewers could see better.

This coral was the first one she had brought here and the one she cared for the most.

She didn’t even know its exact species name. Vertea told her every time, but it was too long.

However, she named it Baobab because it looked very similar to a baobab tree growing above ground.

“It’s Baobab. Isn’t it pretty?”

– Wow, is this coral too?

– It’s really huge

– Beautiful…?

Parang knew that she was slightly, very slightly, deviating from conventional beauty standards when it came to Baobab.

“10… 9… 8…”

– It really is beautiful

– Out of all the corals here, it seems like one of the prettiest

– I like corals

But the kind-hearted viewers respected Parang’s preferences.

“Well done.”

As she started to ‘maintain’ around the Baobab,

Since mutated corals are quite robust and easy to grow, there wasn’t much professional maintenance necessary.

You just trim the ugly protruding parts and remove any dead portions adequately.

Thus, for the first time in Parang’s broadcasts. A peaceful broadcast without battles was being held.

At first, viewers were puzzled by the unprecedented broadcast without any monster appearances, but they soon found mental peace watching the leisurely garden management in the deep sea.

Thanks to Parang continuing to share stories, it was quite suitable as a radio experience too.

“So, looking closely, what I thought was a fish was actually bait. Suddenly, they all opened their eyes and stared at me from all directions…”

Of course, she didn’t forget the broadcast’s primary purpose of preventing diving, and she shared all kinds of terrifying and bizarre tales, making the viewers occasionally shiver.

But for now, visually, it wasn’t grotesque.

At this level, it was quite angelic.

And Parang was feeling the same as the viewers.

The peaceful atmosphere was indeed much better.

Though she didn’t know when that day would come, someday. If the act of diving no longer posed any danger. If, by some chance, that day arrives.

Then, she would love to gaze blankly at the beautiful sea with the viewers for a moment.

She gaze longingly at the swaying corals with teary eyes, unusual for her.

And then she looked at the chatroom.

– Open your eyes.

– Open your eyes.

– Open your eyes.

Her entire body broke out in goosebumps.

What’s this? Bracchium shouldn’t be here, right? Or rather, the skill notification window didn’t even pop up?!

Frantically looking around, there was nothing there.

Her trembling eyes raced back to the chat window,

– LOLLLLLLLLL

– LOLLLLLLLL

– LOLOLOLOLOL

– ‘ㅇㅇ’ donated 1000 won! –

[ LOL So much fun messing with the host ]

“What?!”

Scrolling up in the chat revealed a conspiracy unfolding.

– It looks like the host is blanking out, how about spamming “open your eyes”?

– Oh shit, this is too funny!

– Open your eyes.

– Can this even work?

– Open your eyes.

– Open your eyes.

“Phew…”

Parang let out a sigh of relief, mixed with some tension.

At least, nothing bad had happened.

‘Huh?’

But upon reflection, she realized she had been thoroughly pranked by the viewers.

How dare they play such tricks? It seemed necessary to put some order into this.

Checking the time, there was still plenty of time until the interview.

Today, she intended to wrap things up after just showing the garden.

– LOL

– LOLLL

– Clip this and make it immortal!

The viewers laughing and joking, unaware of the fate that was about to hit them, felt utterly irritating.

So, the decision!

“Everyone, did you have fun?”

Parang smiled without moving her eyes at all.

“I hope so.”

She instantly dashed out of the coral garden.

  

And about 5 minutes later.

– I’m sorry, I was wrong, I’m sorry, I was wrong

– Just spare me…

– Damn, I thought I’d at least be able to catch the broadcast until the end today

– Parang, we had fun, why are you doing this?

The disaster that she brought upon herself crashed down on the viewers.