Chapter 104
Chapter 104
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Overwrite
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Team Leader Han Yeo-reum, GM 'Summer', didn't leave the dungeon until we had taken down the last named monster of this bus run.
Stealing glances at her, I finished the run and said goodbye to the remaining customers. The two of them quickly vanished through the exit portal out of the dungeon.
Lingering.
And then, I looked at Summer, who was still hanging around near me with a bright smile, and shook my head.
"...Aren't you busy, GM? Don't you have to go?"
"Mhm. It's fine for a little while. It's fun just watching you, Rain. Besides, there might be another bad customer, right?"
It's not like I'm some houseplant.
Just then, a slightly chilling hypothesis came to mind.
I took a small step back, shifting into a guarded stance.
"You're not, by any chance, monitoring me, are you?"
"Oh, come on~ Unless a user has abnormal activity detected on their record, GMs don't directly monitor them."
Abnormal activity? Does that include my synchronization rate?
Suddenly, she let out a deep sigh.
"Haaah, because of 'a certain someone', the company staff pulled two all-nighters. The development team is dying, malicious inquiries to customer service are flooding in, and the in-game GMs are busy with a strange increase in calls. We also need to constantly monitor the trends after the emergency patch, and we have to keep doing QA on the balancing that was rushed through. Thanks to all that, even I was called in to do this kind of work."
I smirked.
A certain someone. That word must be referring to me.
I heard the entire community was in flames after my solo play video was broadcast. The gist of it was the sense of relative deprivation from seeing an individual user's overwhelming ability, something ordinary users couldn't replicate.
Of course, every game has exceptional players. But the gap was just too wide.
They probably needed to provide a system-based foundation for others to at least imitate it.
Not that I did anything wrong.
I just showed the kind of plays I was capable of.
If I had used the ultimate skills I got from the Tower of Training and the Ice Crystal Tower, things would have really blown up. Is there a way for other users to get skills like these?
I snorted.
"Hmph, you said I could do whatever I wanted, didn't you?"
"Hehe, of course. You can enjoy yourself however you please, Rain."
She just kept smiling brightly.
Suddenly, questions began to surface, one by one.
GM Summer.
She must know a great deal about this world.
Perhaps even the background of how this world came to take the form of a game.
In truth, this was something I was supposed to discover by exploring the world myself.
But I was still curious.
How should I ask to get an answer?
"Well then, take care! If something like this happens again, feel free to call me anytime!"
Whoosh.
Flipping her magnificent robes and blonde hair, Summer began to be enveloped in a halo of light.
I hurriedly called out to stop her.
"W-Wait!"
"Yeees~?"
She stopped moving and looked at me with a puzzled expression.
A strange sense of resentment welled up, and my voice dropped a little.
"Don't you think it's cheap to know something and not tell me?"
The state of this world is so similar to the one I loved.
I left with nothing but painful memories, but I tried my best, didn't I?
I should at least have the right to hear about it.
Suppressing my inner turmoil, I gazed at Summer with calm, settled eyes.
Summer looked troubled.
"W-Well. Even as a GM, I can't just tell a user about the deepest parts of the game, you know? There are company regulations, non-disclosure agreements, and things like that."
"Company regulations? Non-disclosure agreements?"
"Well, strictly speaking, it's not exactly like that. But just because someone is an absolute being doesn't mean they're free from the rules. It's... difficult to exert direct influence on the game. The higher you go, the more rules you're bound by. Anyway, there are a lot of complicated circumstances. But... hmm, what should I do."
After struggling for a long moment, Summer clapped her hands and began to speak.
"So, there's a kingdom. But a civil war broke out, and the country was ruined. The king, who tried to save his nation to the very end, eventually died, his strength exhausted. Well, he also had an illness, like cancer, and he'd poured so much of his heart into it that he was rotting from the inside. So, what happens to a country that has lost its king?"
I tilted my head.
Why is she suddenly talking about a kingdom?
Is this part of the lore for the Astria Continent?
"...Is there no heir to succeed the king?"
"Hmm... that's a complicated story, too. All the legitimate heirs died during the civil war. You can assume there's no one left in the kingdom to carry on the royal bloodline. The royal bloodline contains immense power, and no one can become king unless they have the aptitude to inherit this power. The kingdom relied heavily on the king's great abilities, so without a king, it's nothing."
Wasn't the throne usurped? Did they wipe each other out?
It seems the side that started the civil war didn't end up as the final victor.
There were many points I could have challenged, but I decided to swallow my questions.
The kingdom was just a metaphor; it seemed like she had something else she wanted to say.
"...If it loses its king and has no one to rule, it would become a chaotic nation."
"Exactly~? It would be on the path to ruin. The timeline also gets all... ah, that's another story. Anyway, it's a very serious matter for the other kingdoms as well. The rioters and bandits that emerged there could cause harm to other nations."
Other kingdoms, suddenly?
"So, at this point, a powerful empire has to step in. First, they freeze the kingdom. Then, using mercenaries, they run simulations to figure out how to quell the civil war and how to govern the place, trying various methods. They're making history."
"And then?"
She raised both hands, then covered her left hand with her right.
"They overwrite history. It's a process of normalizing a fading kingdom that has lost its way and can no longer even be called a kingdom."
The empire is incredibly powerful.
It's less like a relationship between nations and more like a completely superior entity, huh?
In the end, I couldn't help but challenge her.
"...If the empire is that powerful, can't they just go in, defeat all the rioters, and annex it into the empire?"
Summer stomped her feet. How cute.
"Even if it's an empire, it's entangled in the complex affairs between nations! Eek...! Forget it! I knew it would be hard to explain anyway! But this is the limit of what I can say."
In the end, Summer gave up trying to explain and threw in the towel.
"I'm really going now. Haaah, even saying this much was pushing the boundaries...."
Fwoosh!
GM Summer disappeared, enveloped in a halo of light.
I stood still for a while, staring at the spot where she had vanished.
"Overwriting history, huh...."
*
"An offline meeting?"
"Yes. We usually get together for a bit after our dungeon farming, right? I brought it up in the chat room, and someone asked if we had any plans for a proper offline meeting with all the guild members."
"Hmm...."
Hearing Cherni, Chris stroked her chin, lost in thought.
The members of the 'Red and White' guild had built a certain level of camaraderie after raiding the Green Dragon together.
While they didn't have much to do together in the four-person elite dungeons where they had their own parties, they were people who could run bus parties with Rain when Chris wasn't around.
"Logically, there's no problem. It's a good thing to have an opportunity for guild members to bond. But...."
Beimerung, reading Chris's mind as she trailed off, chimed in.
"It's because of Rain, isn't it?"
Chris nodded.
Beimerung giggled and nudged Chris in the side.
"You can just ask her, can't you?"
"Some of the Red and White guild members probably want to meet Rain. They're curious about the person behind such gameplay. And whether she actually looks like her character."
"What's with that last part.... Rain is mine, you know?"
Chris glared at Death of Death, who was smirking with his arms crossed.
Soon, she raised both hands in surrender.
"Alright, I'll ask. But you all know the situation, right? If Rain says no, this conversation never happened."
"Of course."
"Mm."
Chris's party finished their farming and disbanded.
Cherni went to meet a friend. Death of Death became a permanent fixture at the arena.
Beimerung went with Chris to the front of the Frozen Palace and looked around.
"I wonder what our little white fluff is up to~ Chris, are you heading to bed?"
"I think Rain wanted to run some bus parties together after we finished farming."
"Oh, really? I'm okay with staying up a bit later, too."
Chris nodded and was about to send Rain a message, but then she paused.
Crunch, crunch.
Making their way through the snowfield to the back of the Frozen Palace, they saw a pure-white girl staring blankly at the lake.
"Rai...."
Chris swallowed her words.
Her heart sank.
A beautiful girl, as if her own ideal type had been brought to life.
The obsidian color of her eyes.
Right now, those eyes had grown profound, as if gazing at some distant place.
A look she had rarely shown since coming to live with her.
It was difficult to approach Rain when she was in that kind of mood.
But Chris couldn't just leave her be.
She wanted to see her smiling at her, not looking like that.
Chris tiptoed closer and stood quietly nearby.
Rain's body shifted slightly, and she turned her head.
Soon, her own reflection entered those obsidian eyes that had been gazing far away.
A small smile.
"Chris, are you done farming? Aren't you tired?"
"I'm fine. I was planning to play a little late today. Want to run some bus parties together?"
"Yes. I want to earn some gold."
Chris took Rain's hand and walked toward the front of the Frozen Palace.
Maybe I'll bring up the offline meeting a little later.