Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: Too Big to See (1)
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📍 NPia Corporation, President's Office "Nice!!"
NPia's president, vice president, department head, and even the lead PD for Granard Impact: Redive were all clenching their fists and letting out cheers.
"Look at this! After the buff, she's back in her original outfit!"
The president rewound the video playing on the screen.
It was a scene they'd already watched multiple times on repeat, but no one could resist viewing it again.
Gu-gu-gu-gu.
The harsh whir of helicopter blades.
Atop the bridge of a U.S. aircraft carrier, Elaine stood in the center of a line of marines arrayed to either side, her icy blade in hand.
Everyone knew it.
She was a cosplay maid.
Just an S-Rank Hunter doing Elaine cosplay.
And yet, the reason NPia's people were so thrilled was that she'd returned to her true form.
"Praise the Coser!"
"For the Master!"
"Ugh, I knew it... damn it! Remembering how our stock tanked when she showed up as that Chinese android cosplayer...! Sniff...!"
If anyone wondered why everyone was making such a fuss over one hunter in cosplay, they'd have to be someone who'd lost their memory and just woken up in a hospital bed after being out for the past month.
"You did great. Really, you guys worked your asses off."
"H-ha. Not at all."
The president clapped the lead PD on the shoulder with a grin.
The PD gave an awkward smile in return, but he couldn't hide the deep shadows under his eyes.
"How are the users reacting?"
"Split right down the middle."
"Split?"
"Yes. Some are thrilled that we buffed Elaine and she immediately went back to cosplaying her, while others are grumbling."
"Those cowards wouldn't dare say it to our faces, but they'll yap behind our backs."
The president scrolled through the YouTube comments himself, sneering.
"If it weren't for Coser, we wouldn't have the gacha resources, Elaine's buffs, or legacy character AS."
Legacy character AS.
In most mobile subculture games, once a character was released, their performance wasn't patched or revised.
Even if it was, buffs only came right after launch if they were too weak and no one was spending money—never for characters released ages ago.
And not just adding special gear like a collector's item exclusive.
Not simply boosting raw skill coefficients for higher damage multipliers.
Not even releasing a new variant character and calling it a "buff" with a wink.
No—this was shaking up the core mechanics of the existing system itself.
"Because of Coser, now we have to press QWER? Next thing you know, they'll add D and F too. What's stopping them?"
"President, this is a mobile game."
"Some mobile games already give four skills per character. Hell, six in some. Rift came out on mobile too—what's the big deal?"
"That's a bit different... sigh."
The happier the president got, the harder the vice president and lead PD had to force their smiles.
"Guys, sales are up. Bonuses are up. I'm not writing rubber checks here—just hold on a little longer."
"We're in crunch mode every single day..."
"No weekends, coming in every day..."
"You're pulling 2 million won a day—gonna keep whining?"
At the president's growl, the vice president and PD exchanged glances.
They were already getting far more than that in bonuses, but maybe having so much cash flood their accounts in such a short time was the problem.
"What if we skip that 2 million and take a day off...?"
"Exactly. The team's burned out."
"Ugh..."
The president scratched his head, but he couldn't force people who looked ready to drop dead into action.
No matter how much money they made, what good was it if they keeled over from overwork before spending it?
"Alright. Let's space out the skill additions, work on them gradually. Elaine was a special case—start patching the regulars and 1.0 characters step by step."
"That's still work... no, at least it's better than patching every 1.X version character at once. Yes."
"Redesigning the ones getting new skills could boost sales a bit—"
"Nah, no."
The president waved it off.
"Splash it everywhere."
"Pardon?"
"From 1.0 to 1.7 releases—hand out one R skill each time they equip it."
"President, what crazy company does that...?"
"And rework the mechanics for new releases to synergize with them."
"........."
The lead PD's face fell at the president's barrage of ideas, but in the end, he was just another employee.
"Sigh..."
"Sorry. I know you're killing yourselves, and all I can do is this. Financial therapy."
"......How much therapy?"
"How much...??"
Staring at footage of the S-Rank Tower floating over Dokdo, NPia's president held up one finger.
"Once Coser clears Dokdo, there won't be a better ad than Perfect, Flawless Elaine in all her glory. If that happens, every employee gets 100 million won."
"...Are you insane, President?"
"Yeah, I am."
The NPia president wiped his nose with a smirk.
"If Coser conquers Dokdo, it'll shout 'Dokdo is Korean land' to the world. That's worth it, right? We're not hurting for cash."
"........."
"Put out the notice. Dokdo... and Jeju too. We sincerely pray for all S-Rank Hunters conquering your towers."
"Um, President."
The department head raised his hand quietly.
"Coser's soloing hers, so Dokdo's gotta be first, right?"
"........."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Special move? Or was wide-area annihilation more accurate?
The existing skills were powerful enough, but this new one lived up to its "special" name with devastating effect.
💥 MONSTER SCREAM 💥 [Kiiiiieeeek!!]
The dying cries of the beasts pierced her ears like needles.
In the waters near the barren wasteland of Dokdo, massive earthworms writhed instead of whales, and for every one she felled, three more charged in response to the ghastly shrieks, lunging to devour Elaine.
Shwick!
Elaine's strikes cleaved the earthworms in a single blow.
I could have controlled her to slice them myself, but she insisted on handling them with her own power as much as possible.
⚙ ELAINE ⚙ Please find it. The path to the boss. Elaine wanted this.
The way to conquer Dokdo's S-Rank Dungeon.
'I have to find it.'
There was footage of other hunters attempting Dokdo before.
Not something I could access personally, but among the gifts from President Luigi after I announced my Dokdo S-Rank Tower raid was such a video.
A video full of Japanese.
An unofficial—nay, one that should never have been official—"Japan's Dokdo Raid Footage" in Luigi's possession.
I'd wondered how America had what even Dry couldn't obtain, but true to their love of analog, it was stored on an air-gapped old CD-ROM player, and their intel agency had copied it.
I could have gleaned info from Dry's separate docs like a Japanese hunter's diary, but the U.S.-acquired footage was brutally candid.
—"A whole week of just fighting worms—what now?!"
—"Ah, no way, no way. If we keep pushing this, we're all dead."
Japan's "raid party" gave up.
The team of 3 S-Ranks and 19 A-Ranks had sneaked onto Dokdo via submarine at night for a tower assault, but returned empty-handed.
Not entirely empty.
—"We can't find the damn path to the boss room!"
No matter how much they walked, scanned, or searched, all that emerged were earthworms from the ground.
Culling hundreds, thousands brought only fatigue and stress, so Japan's illegal raid party abandoned the conquest.
Korea too.
This attempt even predated the S-Rank tanker's death at Mungyeong, so Korea had records.
⚙ ELAINE ⚙ If it's Master, you will surely find it. The path to the boss room. Elaine encouraged me as she carved through the beasts.
No XP per kill, just endless mana drain, yet she dashed across the battlefield, showing me everything she could.
But all that appeared was vast, endless wasteland.
'Everyone who's come before tried everything.'
Korea's parties, Japan's illegals—they'd attempted all sorts.
The Japanese sneaks especially pulled out every trick to claim "we cleared it, so it's ours."
Kill 6,666 earthworms.
Dig underground.
Fly as high as possible.
⚙ JIN-HYUN ⚙ Elaine, see anything? ⚙ ELAINE ⚙ I see only earthworms for now. ⚙ JIN-HYUN ⚙ Then... For now.
⚙ JIN-HYUN ⚙ Jump on the earthworms and leap as high as you can. Then strike a pose swinging your sword downward. ⚙ ELAINE ⚙ Understood. As ordered. Following my instructions, Elaine leaped skyward without slicing any earthworms.
She gazed down at the ground, gripping her sword in a downward stance.
Shrk.
I took control of Elaine.
Manipulating her mid-air stiffened her body, and the earthworms below began to panic one by one.
The gap between game and reality.
Not intentional, but in this world turned game-like, I saw it.
A wide bar floating on the screen.
The boss's health bar.
"........."
A blind spot, perhaps.
Or something only I, who could view this battlefield as a game, could perceive.
'Game or reality, some things are invisible to the human eye.'
Unless viewed from the highest skies, or like a god gazing down.
⚙ JIN-HYUN ⚙ Elaine. I issued the order without hesitation.
⚙ JIN-HYUN ⚙ Keep fighting the earthworms while treating the ground like a 'wall.' I'll handle the boss damage. I released control, and Elaine plummeted toward the ground.
She righted herself swiftly, stomping an earthworm's head as it burst forth, running parallel to the earth.
The moment she positioned herself facing the ground like standing on a sheer wall in mid-air.
Click.
I unleashed Elaine's full combo.
The sword couldn't cut the ground, and sword ki merely flew toward the floor.
But one thing only I could see.
The boss's health bar ticked down.
"...As expected."
I'd suspected it, and it played out just as I thought.
Or rather, it had never been otherwise.
"We couldn't see the boss room because we were hunting for it right in front of our eyes."
The worm-infested wasteland.
That was the boss itself.