Hands were reaching out for me. They wanted me, needed me, and since I didn’t refuse, I began to be pulled into the cold sea water.
It was a strange sensation.
I felt no abyssal fear; the sea wrapped around me like a comforting mother.
Even though I should be feeling cold, instead, I felt an oddly pleasant warmth. Ironically, it was bizarre to feel warmth deep underwater, but I couldn’t describe it any other way.
The pitch-black depths devoured the darkness and revealed nothing, yet it felt strangely familiar, like encountering an old friend somewhere.
Of course, when I saw dozens of hands grabbing me, it might look like a water spirit or a monster trying to devour a human, but somehow, this multitude of cold hands and seawater felt childlike.
The hands pulling me into the sea were growing in number. From them, an obsession that seemed unwilling to let me go was palpable.
“Ah, my clothes are torn…”
The hands emerging from the water didn’t seem to be harming my body, but the strength they possessed was enough to easily tear through ordinary human flesh, so it was no wonder that my much weaker clothing couldn’t withstand it.
It was a shame my clothes were torn, but what could I do?
It was my fault for not ignoring the plea of the Seongnyeo for help.
Besides, wearing clothes underwater would only hinder my movement, so it wouldn’t matter much anyway.
But, I can’t swim! Will I be okay?
Even though the mermaid guiding me and the underwater hands were pulling me, I felt uneasy because I didn’t know where we were headed.
“U…ah…”
It was then that the mermaid suddenly stopped.
The seawater still felt cold against my body. Although I could feel the occasional current, I couldn’t be swept away thanks to the hands guiding me.
How far have we come?
It seemed quite deep…
When I opened my eyes and looked around, it was blurry.
Well, it was nighttime, and without goggles, it was inevitable for my vision to be blurry underwater.
No matter how much of a Mangja Seongnyeo I am, my base is fundamentally human, so I couldn’t expect to have clear vision underwater like mermaids.
Still, it felt like I had fallen into the universe rather than being at the bottom of the sea.
In the darkness, faint blue lights sparkled like stars, and in that moment, I realized that the nearby sea had transformed into a dungeon.
The southern sea that I knew rarely had depths exceeding 200 meters, and no matter how deep the mermaids took me, it seemed endless. It was clear that erosion had profoundly progressed in this place.
That must be the mermaid’s dungeon.
But when exactly did the sea and the dungeon become one? I couldn’t tell.
With neither boundaries nor gates feeling detectable, and not a trace of the terrain’s inconsistency, it was clear that at least a decade had passed.
“Ah, u…”
‘Hmm?’
While I was looking around, the mermaid began gesturing towards me.
For reference, the many hands of the sea that had been pulling me had disappeared the moment I arrived in the deep.
Now, only one mermaid was leading me.
“U…Uuu!”
‘What are you saying?’
The mermaid stared at me, opening and closing her mouth like a goldfish.
I tilted my head, confused about what she was trying to say, but since we couldn’t communicate, I had no idea what she wanted.
Earlier, the longing and wishes had arrived like a powerful desire, so I must have heard it, thanks to its intensity.
In the end, the mermaid gave up on verbally conveying something and swam closer to me.
To be precise, she came toward my lips.
The moment I spotted her slightly parted lips, I involuntarily froze.
Wait, no… this isn’t happening?
Pooong!
‘……Wait.’
Puggudarruruk!
I was so flustered that I couldn’t react at first.
The mermaid had kissed me.
Fortunately, what pushed into my mouth wasn’t a soft, smooth tongue but an air bubble.
The mermaid was purely delivering the oxygen bubbles she held within herself to me through her lips, fearing I might suffocate.
She must have realized that I couldn’t breathe underwater after bringing me to such depths.
“U!”
“……”
With a relieved expression, the mermaid pulled away, smiling brightly.
While she showed an obsessive and intense desire to pull me into the sea, her smile was as lively as a warm spring flower.
It was a very contrasting feeling from this dark and cold ocean.
Then, as she checked to see if I was alright, she swam around me. I blinked my eyes, signaling ‘I’m alive,’ and only then did the mermaid take my hand again and pull me deeper into the sea.
‘To be honest, I don’t actually need to breathe to survive…’
But since I couldn’t speak underwater, I couldn’t tell the mermaid.
Even after that, the mermaid stopped occasionally to periodically give me air bubbles.
In fact, if a human were just pulled this deep into the ocean, the problem wouldn’t be breathing, but the likelihood of dying due to pressure would be much higher. However, this gentle mermaid probably didn’t even understand the concept of pressure.
Anyway, I wouldn’t mind being buried deep within the abyss, as my body was already dead and couldn’t die again…
“Uuu…!”
‘Okay, okay. I’ll open my mouth.’
Hah, guup… buuu…
After that, the mermaid continued her gifts of air bubbles.
I tried keeping my mouth tightly shut, indicating there was no need for more bubbles, but the mermaid shook my body with a determined expression, signaling me to open my mouth.
…I should probably keep this a secret from Menelapie, right?
Otherwise, I might actually end up eating some mermaid ultra spicy sauce.
Ah, speaking of which, I left without telling Menelapie anything…
‘Well, it should be fine.’
I would definitely get scolded later for being dragged into the sea without saying anything, but Menelapie would probably forgive me anyway!
After all, how could I turn a blind eye after hearing a desperate plea for help?
So, I kept receiving air bubbles through the mermaid’s mouth as we ventured deeper into the sea.
At some point, it felt like I was surpassing a depth of 1,000 meters when I experienced a peculiar sensation in my brain.
My sense of balance trembled, and it felt like the direction of gravity had reversed, a sensation I was unfamiliar with despite my experience with pain and other sensory deprivations.
It was an unsettling feeling, as if my head was turned upside down. However, it gradually returned to normal, erasing any discomfort, and I realized I had left the Earth.
‘Have I passed through a gate?’
The taste and smell of the water were completely different, indicating that I was in a realm far removed from Earth’s southern sea.
Since this sea itself was a dungeon, entry was difficult except for a few special individuals, making it a rather troublesome dungeon.
And from the moment I stepped into the otherworldly sea, the darkness that had engulfed it vanished.
The sea had originally possessed a faint light, but in this otherworldly ocean, darkness itself didn’t even exist.
The sparkling lights, like stars, filled the sea, and strange fish from an unfamiliar ocean swam around me.
Upon closer inspection, the numerous corals covering the seafloor were the source of those sparkling lights.
It appeared those corals were illuminating this ocean dungeon’s ecosystem.
I even spotted a 3-meter-long fish that resembled mackerel.
Oh, that looks delicious.
Freshly caught mackerel sashimi would be so tasty…
As I entertained such thoughts, other figures gradually came into focus in my increasingly clear vision.
“Uuu?”
“Oooh…”
“Aaah~”
“Hahaha~”
They were mermaids.
Not just the one who brought me, but a multitude of mermaids swam out from among the rocks and corals, encircling me, this outsider.
Communication quickly proved ineffective.
When they pulled me in earlier, the powerful voices calling for help were gone, leaving no strong emotions that I could feel now.
Well, considering mermaids probably didn’t have the intelligence to communicate with humans…
“Aaaah!”
“………Grrrk…”
A green-haired mermaid approached me without hesitation and kissed me again.
What is this? Did they know the meaning behind this act?
Probably not.
Seeing as another air bubble entered my mouth, she must have realized that I couldn’t breathe underwater and was trying to give me some bubbles.
Ah, no… stop it. I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t need to breathe to live.
After all, I would have probably died due to pressure or the high mana concentration in the water right after being dragged here.
“Hi hi hi…”
“Wow….”
“Uuu…”
“Oooh…”
They looked at me as if I were a monkey in a zoo, their eyes filled with curiosity.
“Uuu…!”
Sigh, stop it.
At first, I was startled and accepted the air bubbles without thinking, but if this continued, it would become awkward for me.
Was I not already committed to someone?
If they keep doing this, I’m going to get in trouble!
But, I couldn’t speak underwater. And I had no idea if they would understand if I used my mana to project sound.
‘Guess I need to become a mermaid.’
“Uuu?!”
I pushed away a mermaid trying to give me another air bubble.
“Uuuu!”
When I pushed her away, the mermaid panicked, thinking I would die, and flailed around, desperately trying to give me air bubbles.
Bwoooom!
[Miracle – Divine Body Rebirth]
Thud thud thud!
“What!?”
“Ahhh…!”
“Uuu?”
“Oh…!”
My spine twisted and shattered, then rapidly regenerated, while tentacles erupted from my waist.
The sudden emergence of these tentacles startled the mermaids and caused them to retreat slightly, but upon noticing they resembled octopi or squid, their curiosity seemed to win over any fear, allowing them to poke the tentacles with their fingers.
Regardless, it seemed that the divine corpse that had been residing within me was aware of its location in the ocean, twitching as if adjusting to the environment before waiting for my command.
It seemed slightly irritated by the mermaids continually poking it and sent me a message asking if it should eat them all.
‘Make me a mermaid.’
Clack!
As if it understood, the tentacle bumped against my spine powerfully.
Crack!
Snap!
Once again, the tentacle began to shatter my spine.
Breaking bones.
Tearing skin.
Reassembling shattered bones.
The sensation was somewhere between pain and pleasure; it didn’t feel all that bad.
“Haaaa….”
It seemed like I could produce a voice.
Hearing my voice underwater was quite fascinating.
“Ah, I can speak quite well.”
It echoed faintly and felt like a telepathy delivered directly to my brain rather than through my ears.
Still, I was satisfied with the fact that I could speak.
Crack!
Squelch!
My legs were reassembling.
My previously mangled legs formed back together, and wide, expansive fins began to emerge, affixed to my legs for swimming, while the tentacles shifted from my waist to my head to avoid hindering my swimming.
Since I had become a mermaid, the tentacles had taken on a jellyfish-like appearance, giving me quite a believable look.
A mermaid named Shia with a jellyfish hat.
I wish I had a mirror…
Beeep!
Suddenly interrupted by an electronic sound that shouldn’t have been heard here, I turned to see a small orb following me from a distance.
It was the Hunter Assistant AI Drone.
Now that I think about it, I had brought it with me when promising to take the mermaid to the sea, right?
‘So it activated waterproof mode and followed me as I went into the sea.’
If I had a drone here…
I could stream as well as look in the mirror!
○○○○
Shia, the gallery master genre hunter, was surrounded by malicious net runners, always searching for new material, but lately, the gallery master had been dropping endless fodder, leading to non-stop discussions that lined up eagerly.
Shia’s looks and extraordinary Seongnyeok pouch were already well-known, but it was only natural that an outpouring of interest would follow when such a Shia was now wearing a swimsuit.
[Honestly, if anyone creamed themselves over the gallery master’s swimsuit, come on in! lol] (2177)
Comments: 1225
『
As soon as I saw the broadcast, I quit everything to grab a screenshot.
Are you sure this is the gallery master’s Seongnyeok pouch? It’s freaking majestic. No way.
…But that expression is oddly infuriating.』
[LOL No way, why does that expression look like that?]
[ㄴ(Jang-Bung-kun!)]
[ㄴ(Wait, that’s not true)]
[ㄴ(LOL)]
[Really LMAO]
[No way it’s hard to focus on the swimsuit with that expression.]
[I’ve been watching that Seongnyeok pouch since I first tried that bladed centipede, and how can it never get dull? Each time is genuinely refreshing…]
[ㄴ(No way, you know what’s what)]
[ㄴ(For real LOL)]
[ㄴ(This is the point where it should get boring but it never does LOL)]
However, those who truly praised Shia soon shifted their focus elsewhere.
It was no wonder since there were not just Shia in a swimsuit during that broadcast.
[Um, no. During that broadcast, the interest shifted entirely to the gallery master warrior and Yane LOL.]
[ㄴ(? What nonsense?)]
[ㄴ(But the gallery master was also ridiculously amazing?)]
[ㄴ(Our warrior is the best.)]
[ㄴ(For real?)]
[ㄴ(If you look at the back pages of the discussion, there’s a shot of the warrior in a swimsuit, and it’s genuinely top-notch.)]
[ㄴ(What the heck, so this is the same person?)
[ㄴ(No way, the gallery master is also definitely really cute)]
[ㄴ(Yane looks super cute too LOL)]
[ㄴ(No way, why is such a sexy body so cute?)
[ㄴ(Honestly, the gallery master’s chatter about some meat fairy sounds much cuter than her.)]
[ㄴ(I like the gallery master more…)]
[ㄴ(Didn’t the gallery master get jealous of Yane and ruin the broadcast?)
[ㄴ(LOL)]
[(Personal opinion) I’ve looked through all the swimsuit pictures, and honestly, the gallery master is the prettiest?] (2114)
Comments: 6556
『(Roughly, a frog shoots a gun GIF)
Next.
』
[LOL]
[LOL]
[LMAO]
[The wretched squad will go into a frenzy LOL]
[LOL]
[No, the gallery master ain’t ugly but honestly, that swimsuit felt somewhat burdensome LOL.]
[ㄴ(For real, the gallery master has a big chest, so if she wore a simpler high-leg swimsuit, it would be killer.)]
[ㄴ(Oh, wow.)]
[ㄴ(High-leg is totally justified.)]
[Let me explain why the gallery master outshines the warrior and Yane] (243)
Comments: 871
『That’s not true, gayman LOL
(Frog laugh GIF)
You guys wished for a gallery narrative.
You praised the gallery master’s swimsuit!
(Frog laugh GIF)
No matter what happens!
(Frog punch GIF)
Absolutely! Through thick and thin!
Never! Can the warrior and Yane’s swimsuit!
Cross the line! No way, gayman LOL
(Frog’s upside-down punch GIF)
What the heck.
』
[Insane LOL]
[Wretched Squad going into rage]
[LOL]
[For real, terrible person LOL]
[Whoa, the GIF makes it super contrasting.]
[ㄴ(Actually, even though the gallery master looks pretty, the warrior is just too overwhelming. Yane is so cute that she’s a totally different case.)]
[ㄴ(LOL The wretched squad’s been caught now.)]
[ㄴ(No way?)]
[ㄴ(Caught now?)]
[ㄴ(LOL)]
[ㄴ(The warrior doesn’t even seem human LOL.)]
Of course, these malicious net runners did not genuinely think Shia’s swimsuit attire was lacking.
Assuming average attractiveness for an ordinary person at about 30, we could say Shia’s attractiveness in a swimsuit was 100.
However, Menelapie’s attractiveness surpassed 200.
At this point, calling her a ‘face-king warrior’ or ‘siren warrior’ would not be an exaggeration, so some net runners created nicknames like those.
Yane took on Shia’s lewd silhouette beautifully marrying innocence and cuteness; thus, it was ultimately Menelapie and Yane who unintentionally became the spotlight on the swimsuit-streaming character Shia had prepared earnestly.
Moreover, since Shia seemed extremely sulky and interrupted the broadcast in the middle, it was only natural that the rumors in the gallery shifted to ‘Pouting Gallery Master’, ‘Inferiority Complex Seongnyeo’, ‘Running Away Seongnyeo’, turning the gallery into a playground for the malicious.
[Breaking News: Isia’s broadcast begins.]
[Eh?]
[At this hour?]
[The title is ‘People who said the swimsuit was lacking, hurry up and come.’]
[The gallery master has lost her mind LOL]
[She must have pouted after hearing someone say the swimsuit was lacking, so it seems she wore a new one!]
[Yeah, the swimsuit you picked! No matter what! No matter what you do! Just hold on tightly! And don’t give in!]
[Ah LOL You’re getting the short end of the stick, gayman LOL]
[Challenge accepted.]
[LOL]
And the viewers entering the broadcast still didn’t know.
They had no idea what Shia would look like when she appeared in the broadcast.
-?
-Oh?
-Wait…?
-Debt…?
-Where’s that?
-Is it nighttime?
-Is that underwater?
-It seems like it’s underwater?
-Where’s the gallery master?
“Hello!”
Then, as Shia suddenly popped up from the upper left diagonal of the screen, the viewers couldn’t believe their eyes.
Why is she popping up from there?
What is that? A tail? A fin?
What’s with the jellyfish on her head?
Where did her clothes go?
Wait?
Where’s the adult filter?
In short, Shia looked like a mermaid.
If we were to rate her purely based on appearance, it seemed like she was inhaling beauty into humans with every breath she took.
Her semi-transparent water-silk drape-like fins gently concealed the alluring contours of her body. Unlike typical depictions of mermaids, Shia sported a colossal jellyfish on her head.
The tentacles from the jellyfish resembled the squid-like appendages that emerged when shia utilized her [Miracle: Divine Body Rebirth]. Thus, viewers could assume Shia had used the miracle to metamorphose into a mermaid.
What left the viewers in utter shock was that Shia wore no garments whatsoever.
In mermaid fairy tales, illustrations often depict mermaids covering their chests with seashells, yet Shia had nothing of the sort.
The deceased Seongnyeo, who had failed to attract attention in a swimsuit, would perform actions that surpassed their imagination.
This wasn’t just cosplay or bizarre swimsuits: she had genuinely transformed into a mermaid, flaunting her glistening fins, swimming freely underwater.
Shia looked like someone who had been a mermaid all along, effortlessly darting around and focusing the drone’s camera on herself.
The viewers and malicious net runners had no choice but to acknowledge it.
In this moment, Shia as a mermaid exceeded even Menelapie in terms of visual appeal.
-Wow, what the hell…
-Holy…
-This is insane, it’s insane…
-Wow.
-This is… the gallery master…?
[‘KawaiiHorned’ donated 15,000,000 won!]
[Gallery master! I believed! Gallery master! I believed! Gallery master! I believed! Gallery master! I believed! Gallery master! I believed! Gallery master! I believed! Gallery master! I believed!]
-What the heck, look at the donation amount;
-Is that malignant net runner a chaebul (wealthy person)?
-No, but wow, that’s insane, the broadcast master.
-She’s genuinely so pretty, so pretty.
“Wow, this is the highest donation I’ve ever received. Hmm… Should I do some kind of reaction for this? Oh!”
While pondering briefly, the mermaid Shia seemed to get a good idea and punched her fist.
Naturally, given it was underwater, the sound of her punch reverberated faintly, and shortly after, Shia spun around, raising her fins like legs and placing her hands into a V shape, bringing them near her eyes.
“Ta-da! The righteous fish mermaid Isia! How’s that?”
Even the tentacles from her jellyfish hat formed a V shape.
-?
-??
-?
-Mom.
-What is this?
-…
-Damn.
-It’s turning!
-LOL.
-Duh, this is strange…
-I was about to say ugh, but that visual is crazy enough to stop me.
And with that, mermaid Shia’s broadcasting debut had boisterously succeeded.
