Chapter 16

Anyway, the Hero's Maerchen map was on a public server. That meant I couldn't manage or operate it alone—Maerchen's developers were constantly popping in and out.

"Tsupi. These NPCs keep following me around. What do I do?"

Maybe that's why the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠devs, who usually just hung around the map doing nothing, started trailing after any new player who showed up. Even if it was another dev logging in.

Following people around just to kill boredom and tedium... It was so sad it hurt my heart.

They haven't actually turned into NPCs, have they?

It was only natural for thoughts like that to cross my mind.

Anyway, I ignored the NPCs trailing me out of the room and wandered around the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠village. It was a perfectly ordinary rural village—nothing special or weird about it.

Except one thing. Compared to other games, the graphics were on another level.

"Right? They could turn this into a healing server as-is. Add fishing or farming tycoon stuff and it'd be fun."

It was still an unopened map. Even though Tsupi and I were the first to unveil it, "under development" was still accurate. You could progress through stages like the maple story and move to other maps. But what was the point of going to maps without even terrain yet? This village was the only one fully built, just for show.

Where'd Tsupi go, anyway? I glanced around, noticing the spirit was missing.

She was off in the distance, lecturing the NPCs. As I watched with mixed feelings, Tsupi noticed my gaze.

She zipped right over to my side.

"You can talk to NPCs? I thought there was no dialogue function."

"You're really committed."

Tsupi just brazenly walked ahead, looking kinda ridiculous, but I let it slide. Maerchen wasn't a company you tried to understand.

Anyway, I walked beside Tsupi, sightseeing the village. It took about 20 minutes to circle the ambiguously sized place—not too big, not too small. The whole thing was scaled to real-world proportions, so checking the outskirts and interior took that long.

"It's well-made. No idea who did it, though."

"Right. Especially the sunlight. They nailed the implementation."

"The wind making the grass and leaves sway was my favorite."

"We've covered the whole village. Blacksmith, shops—everything's there surprisingly."

"They say interiors aren't implemented yet, but from outside?"

"Poor NPCs."

Such a pitiless spirit. But she was right, so I couldn't argue. I just gazed sympathetically at the NPCs (devs).

Anyway, Tsupi and I toured the village, dipped into the forest, and even smacked some animal-shaped monsters.

"Oh. EXP up."

Monsters were easy. Starting village ones didn't even attack—like tutorial mobs.

A few kills later, level up.

"Level 2. What do you get from leveling?"

"Hmm... Feels good?"

"Not there yet, huh."

Leveling didn't change much. No stats implemented, and as viewers said, no gear or items. Just the map for now. But it'd evolve. Maerchen was a monster company.

This'll be KR-exclusive server, right?

Unless they contract with other regions, it'd be KR's monopoly. But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠doubtful. Even if not now, a collab with overseas Maerchen might need it someday. They'd probably distribute before then for adaptation.

With those thoughts, we returned to my room. 40-minute tour, but viewers, Tsupi, and I were all satisfied. Peak healing.

Back in the room for chit-chat, Tsupi suddenly turned to me.

I didn't know exactly what she wanted to say, but texted just in case it wasn't stream-safe.

Thankfully, not a big deal. I'd only contributed the initial layout—the rest was Maerchen devs.

Feels guilty calling myself a dev.

But Tsupi wanted to credit me.

"Not that big a deal. Just a sloppy map I made when bored. Wasn't this high quality."

Viewers needed time to process. Chat calmed after a few minutes.

"Distribute? Hmm. Can't say. Server's Maerchen's now."

"Yeah? Won't take long then."

I'd been thinking: Join development. Can't code, but ideas? Easy. 3 stages in half a year, plus story.

"Anyway, let's head back."

We logged out of VR, reappeared on stream, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and chatted another two hours.

"Seems so. Say bye and see you tomorrow?"

"I'll hurry. Good morning, good evening, and good night."

And our first collab with Tsupi ended.