Chapter 302
Chapter: 302
-----------------------------------------------------------------
>Translator: penny
>Chapter: 302
>Chapter Title: Code Zero (7)
>-----------------------------------------------------------------
“Aaaah…”
The dwarf engineer, clutching his head and pacing anxiously, finally plopped down onto the floor with a groan.
“I should’ve stopped when I realized the data was weirdly heavy compared to its functions. Or at least analyzed it properly back then…”
It was all because I was blinded by that damn milestone!
Seongjin stared blankly at Dexter, who had fallen into full-blown panic.
“But what does it matter to us if the Ice Heart is a job advancement item?”
“Are you seriously asking that right now?! We’ve rendered useless every single one of those items that are in short supply worldwide!”
So what? It’s just a game anyway.
What actually bothered Seongjin was something else entirely.
‘Besides Nana and the Silent Villains, there’s someone else in Pangea Chronicle who can pull items into reality!’
The implications were obvious.
There might be another guest ID user in Pangea Chronicle that they didn’t know about. Or maybe someone directly involved in the game’s development had used some trick.
-Have you ever given serious thought to why theme dungeons have participant limits, or why the number of guest ID users has never exceeded three?
Assuming Justitia’s words were true, the odds leaned toward the latter. The problem was that whoever it was, they had a deep connection to the demon who had attacked Sigismund Territory.
As Seongjin pondered deeply, Dexter suddenly jumped to his feet and shouted.
“Don’t you get it? Forget the crisis to game operations—even consider the immediate losses we’ve suffered! We’ve destroyed items so valuable they can’t even be priced, all because of some reckless prank!”
Given Pangea Chronicle’s worldwide popularity right now, who knew how high the price of an Ice Heart could climb in cash? It might even reach astronomical figures.
There were more serious gamers in this world than one might think.
“Hmm.”
Seongjin crossed his arms and thought for a moment.
The refrigerator for the salmon business, Sisle’s teddy bear. And the Ice Heart that might sell for an insane amount.
“What’s the problem? They ended up exactly where they could fetch their true worth, didn’t they? If I’d needed them, I would’ve bought and made them myself.”
“Argh!”
Frustrated, Dexter stomped his feet before finally steeling himself and starting to type on his keyboard.
“This won’t do! I need to contact that engineer I used to know! His number must be around here somewhere…”
“Oh.”
Of course—in an age with the internet, it’d be weirder if phones didn’t work.
-Dexter! Where the hell have you been hiding the last few years, only calling now?! No, do you even know what time it is?!
After a loud, heated conversation with someone, Dexter hung up with a thoroughly dejected look.
“We’re screwed. Unless someone completes a job advancement, no more Ice Hearts will appear.”
“Why not? Can’t the game company just crank up the drop rate manually?”
Dexter shook his head at Seongjin’s innocent question.
“It’s not that simple. Pangea Chronicle is a fully independent dimension that runs on its own. Things like currency supply or monster item drop rates—involving tons of variables—are entirely left to the system by the developers.”
The first and second job advancements were the same. The system meticulously reviewed player population and advancement rates before gradually increasing the number of advancement items within appropriate limits.
Preventing oversupply was the key to extending the game’s lifespan, after all.
“The initial item release also serves as an indicator of ‘early consumption rate.’ The Ice Heart might be caught up in that right now.”
Early consumption rate played a decisive role in how the system gauged demand for an item. So if no advancement cases appeared, it might conclude there was zero demand for Ice Hearts.
“In other words, unless someone uses an advancement item going forward, new ones won’t drop easily.”
“Hmm…”
Fortunately, Seongjin thought of the one Ice Heart he’d secretly stashed away.
‘Does that mean the one I have might be the only one in existence right now?’
In this situation, even successfully advancing would draw everyone’s attention. He’d probably need to be cautious about handing it over to Owen.
“By the way, what on earth is Mother doing? Did she really not know about this critical item leaking out? At this rate, we won’t escape criticism for botching game operations…”
Seongjin tossed a casual remark at the muttering, worried Dexter.
“If you’re that concerned, just call her.”
“…Huh?”
“Call your mom right now. Can you?”
“What? Well, yeah, but…”
Startled, he soon shook his head glumly.
“Do I really need to? It’s Mom, of all people. She’ll handle it fine on her own without me.”
Who knows.
There are people in this world who find great comfort just in the words “I won’t leave you alone,” regardless of their abilities.
But Dexter looked so distraught with his head bowed that Seongjin didn’t press further.
“Oh, right—I got a clue from a colleague about using other game sources. It’s also the decisive reason the company can’t touch item drop rates directly.”
A little later, a recovered Dexter spoke up.
“It’s confidential, so he didn’t go into detail, but apparently, upper management suddenly rushed the release during development.”
As a result, the game director and engineers hastily built the game using every available source code they could grab.
But cramming in sources willy-nilly turned the finished Pangea Chronicle into a massive spaghetti code pot.
“The code’s tangled beyond belief. They’re past the point where developers can intervene, and the system’s somehow fixing its own errors.”
Scratching his bushy beard, Dexter paused before continuing.
“At least from my perspective, having been somewhat involved in the engine development, there’s only one technical way to resolve this.”
“What’s that?”
“Granting the system control AI backdoor access to ‘Code Zero’ privileges.”
Code Zero? What’s that?
To the still-clueless Seongjin, Dexter added with a serious expression.
“The most enigmatic code in the Homunculus Engine. It’s the authority known as the ‘domain of the gods.’”
* * *
Numbering Zero.
A bizarre code known among engineers as ‘Code Zero.’
Probably only Oraculum, the original conceiver of the Homunculus Engine, truly understood its exact nature.
In any case, Dexter recalled that Ionia’s engineers had handled this code with extreme caution.
Entities humans could never control, or mysteries beyond comprehension. Engineers assigned unique IDs along with zero code only to such things, and sparingly.
“The game system and GMs use Numbering in the 1s range. Numbering Zero surpasses those privileges—it’s the ultimate code. In other words, ‘Code Zero’ is also called the ‘God Code.’”
God Code.
The resonance of those words was far from ordinary.
“It’s clear. To run all that hopelessly tangled code smoothly, you need an authority that overrides everything. If not, Pangea Chronicle would’ve gone down as the buggiest game in history by now.”
No, bugs would be the least of it. It wouldn’t have even run properly from the start.
Leaving the grumbling Dexter behind, Seongjin slowly rubbed his chin in thought.
-Once conditions are defined, even I, the world’s administrator, cannot circumvent them.
That’s what Justitia had said.
Which meant the goddess herself was the system managing Pangea Chronicle.
-It is another Justitia born from immense chaos, who has become the laws of this world in itself.
That creepy, drowned-corpse-like thing had also been born from chaos and become a law of the world, just like her.
What made all this possible was.
‘God Code.’
Seongjin made up his mind instantly.
“For now, I should ask Dad about this.”
“…What?”
Dexter gaped at him.
“Why ask your dad about something like that?”
“What else? Of course.”
My dad knows everything in the world. He’s the agent of the gods, after all!
When Seongjin replied proudly, Dexter stared at him like an incurable fanatic zealot.
What? Why? Huh?
“…No, just… fascinating. Is a father really that reliable?”
“He teaches me everything well and supports me. Isn’t that how normal parents are?”
Dexter’s face soured.
“Who knows? I grew up in a single-mother home. And my mom was an amazing person, but she never gave easy answers to my questions.”
Dexter’s mother, Matilda, would always counter like this whenever he asked something.
Dexter, have you done your absolute best to investigate on your own before asking me? Have you considered the context of your question, checked your assumptions? Have you looked up enough in books and online?
“…That’s some strict upbringing.”
“Of course, I’m not saying Mom’s approach was outright bad. It surely influenced me becoming a recognized engineer. But sometimes, even now, I think…”
Dexter looked up, gazing at the workshop’s machines with distant eyes.
“Was I really so untrustworthy that she worried I’d always take the easy way out?”
“……”
“Couldn’t she have just answered once in a while, like giving a reward?”
Seongjin looked at the dwarf engineer’s downcast face.
An emotion he’d never experienced, so he couldn’t truly understand. No glib words of comfort would come.
Unconsciously, a clumsy suggestion slipped from Seongjin’s mouth.
“Dexter, why not come visit Delcross sometime? At least my dad would try to give you a simple answer to your questions, somehow.”
Dexter turned to him with a baffled look.
“What? What would I even ask a Delcross guy?”
“Who knows? Once you meet my dad, you might change your mind.”
Seongjin leaned in and carefully whispered the secret.
-Turns out, my dad is the Oracle of Cornseim. The one and only person you’ve dreamed of meeting, who can create milestones.
“……?”
The dwarf engineer didn’t grasp it at first.
But moments later, as realization dawned, shock slowly spread across Dexter’s face.
* * *
Bam!
The door suddenly burst open as Prince Mores rushed out, startling Haven, who had been dozing off, to his feet.
“…Your Highness?”
What’s going on in the dead of night like this?
But before he could ask properly—
“Oh, Sir Haven. On night duty today? Keep up the good work.”
Prince Mores barely acknowledged him before bolting down the corridor like a shot.
“Y-Your Highness?”
Haven stood dumbfounded until the prince’s presence fully vanished, then paled as he grasped the situation.
“Your Highness!? How can you leave your guard behind and sneak off alone at this hour!!”
No, wait—he could now freely use aura concealment. Maybe it was a relief he’d gone out openly through the door.
Panicking, Haven dashed to Sir Masain’s room. Since they lived together mostly for the prince’s protection, the knight even had his own room in the Pearl Palace.
“Sir Masain! Sir Masain!”
As Haven pounded frantically on the door, footsteps approached, and it opened.
As expected of a senior knight awaiting the Decaron Knight title, he’d sensed Haven coming from afar.
“What’s the matter, Sir Haven?”
“Sir Masain! His Highness—His Highness is gone! He suddenly threw open his door and ran off somewhere, too fast for me to even ask where!”
“……”
Sir Masain’s face hardened.
But knowing the prince’s skills well, he didn’t grill Haven excessively for his failure.
“Which way did he go?”
“It happened so fast I’m not sure, but… probably northeast…”
Relief flickered faintly in the knight’s eyes as he gauged the direction.
“Then he’s probably headed to the main palace. Don’t worry too much. If it were truly dangerous, he surely would’ve slipped out without you noticing.”
Huh? Is that how it works?
As Haven blinked in confusion, Sir Masain calmly began donning his armor.
“Good work. I’ll escort His Highness to the training grounds, so report to your superiors and switch shifts on time.”
Clink.
With the subtly golden Misra at his side, Sir Masain strode off, vanishing from Haven’s sight in an instant.
“Whoa…”
Stunned by the unexpected reaction, Haven stood there mutely working his jaw.
‘That guy’s changed a lot too. When we first arrived, he’d panic over anything involving the prince. How’d he get so composed?’
Still, a relief not to get severely reprimanded. Haven headed to the knights’ quarters, reassured.
But his peace didn’t last. The shift leader that night happened to be the notoriously strict Sir Maria.
“You blithering idiot! So you just dumped His Highness’s protection on Sir Masain and strolled back?! You planning to get your head straight, or what!?”
‘…Figures. No way it’d slide that easily.’
Suddenly subjected to a dressing-down in the barracks, Haven sighed deeply, as if the ground might swallow him.