The Heavenly Demon's Cataclysm Left a Bug Behind
The Heavenly Demon Great Cataclysm, at maximum output.
The instant the skill fired, his Intuition screamed at him.
This is not a skill to be used carelessly.
“Well, that's a problem.”
And no wonder — the supposedly indestructible castle had come crumbling down, and a massive hole had been punched clean through the back of it. King Dropper was nowhere to be seen. Not even a trace.
Cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
It's fine, Master. It doesn't delete the data completely, the way Delete does. It merely corrupts it so the data becomes unusable for a while.
“So it's a bug?”
When maximum power is unleashed, the damage apparently exceeds the maximum configured values and triggers a bug.
Since it took ten full seconds to charge, it was hardly practical in real combat anyway. Even a ten-second cooldown felt stifling at times — a ten-second charge? Utterly useless. The sheer power more than made up for those flaws, but still.
Bisque's message came through. 5555 seemed to be tied up with something, so Bisque had taken over communications.
“Look, I need some kind of evidence before you go accus—”
Such shameless deflection, Master. Truly beneath you.
In the end, he had no choice but to confess, plain and simple.
Apparently the aftermath of the Heavenly Demon Great Cataclysm had bled into other gamers' single-player sessions as well, and in a darkly comical turn of events, Super Gemini had been locked down entirely until the corrupted data could be restored.
The Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Truly a terrifying power.
Even if the chance for a full-power strike ever presented itself, he would hold back unless it was absolutely necessary.
He made that vow firm in his heart.
Lately he'd done nothing but dive into game labyrinths. It had been a while since he'd savored a stretch of real-world time.
Come to think of it, he'd never properly explored District 13 at all.
“If you figure that one minute of reality equals ten minutes in a game labyrinth, it feels like an awful waste, doesn't it?”
Now that countless people across the world could dive freely into game labyrinths through Conversion, it was only a matter of time before people emerged who lived primarily inside the labyrinths.
Maybe entire 'cities' built around game labyrinths would spring up one day. Perhaps eventually reality would become the side dish, and the labyrinths the main course.
It felt as though Yggdrasil was quietly encroaching on the real world.
There's no need to worry, Master. What reality and the game labyrinths let you experience are two different things. Humans are meant to plant their feet on the earth and live. A natural balance will settle itself in time.
“Hmm. Oh — hot dogs. When was the last time I treated myself to something like that?”
A hot dog is a luxury?
“Until recently I was an Unknown, just struggling to survive one day at a time.”
Ah, speaking of your Unknown days — Master, your SEED keeps ringing with blocked-call alerts. How long do you intend to ignore them?
“Forever.”
He'd blocked every last one of the people who'd once called themselves his friends. The moment he hit Silver, they'd come crawling out of the woodwork — contacting him out of nowhere as if checking in on an old friend, and it made his stomach turn.
Plenty of them were people he didn't even know. Opportunists hoping to latch onto anything Silver-shaped.
Trash, every one of them.
Ah, Master. The District 13 Administration Office has contacted you.
“The Administration Office? What do they want this time?”
It seems there's been an issue with the handling of the Yggdrasil item, King Dropper's Magic Sword. They ask that you contact them as soon as you read their message.
“Ah. Right.”
King Dropper's Magic Sword. He'd been mulling over what to do with it and had simply dumped it on the Administration Office. Please don't tell me it's turned into a headache.
He placed the call to the District 13 Administration Office.
“Yes, this is the District 13 Administration Office. Arti-Gracia from the Administration Department speaking. I've been waiting for your call.”
She picked up before the connecting tone had even finished ringing. A woman with a clear, crisp voice — and judging by her family name, a Gold rank.
“It's been over a fortnight since I sent you that message, and only now do you finally get around to calling.”
“I've been dedicating myself to the game labyrinths. Busy.”
“Well, you are the CEO of Jucheongwang, leading this era into the future. Still, I'd appreciate it if you spared some attention for the real world as well.”
“So what's the issue? Something's wrong with the Yggdrasil item I handed over?”
“I've been assigned as your official point of contact with Jucheongwang, so I wanted to introduce myself — and, as you guessed, there's been a small problem with the handling of King Dropper's Magic Sword. It's sat unattended for a fortnight now.”
There was an edge in her voice. Well, fair enough — a fortnight of being left on read would irritate anyone.
“In any case — when you have some time, would you come down to the District 13 Administration Office?”
He happened to have the time, so he made his way to the Administration Office at a leisurely pace, taking in the sights of District 13 along the way.
When he arrived, he found a building radiating an antique, old-world charm — fitted deliberately to the district's atmosphere — standing right in the heart of the city. He pushed through the doors, and a woman with long black hair greeted him with a warm smile.
“Welcome to the District 13 Administration Office. What brings you in toda—”
She stopped mid-sentence, her face stiffening slightly.
“Could you be… Ryu Hwi, sir?”
When he answered with a silent nod, she asked his pardon and immediately put a call through somewhere. A short while later, a clattering crash came echoing up the stairs leading to the basement.
A woman with sunny blonde hair, tied up hastily, dressed in white, came clattering up the steps, breathing hard.
“Ryu Hwi is here?!”
The receptionist pointed at him with a wordless tilt of her head. Spotting him, the blonde woman hurriedly straightened herself up.
“Welcome. I'm Arti-Gracia — I'm the one who contacted you.”
Her whole atmosphere and bearing transformed in an instant.
“Ryu Hwi, CEO of Jucheongwang.”
Given the official nature of the meeting, Ryu Hwi matched her formality.
“I apologize for the two-week delay. So — what exactly is this problem you mentioned?”
“Would you follow me, please?”
He followed behind Arti. At the reception desk, the black-haired woman murmured under her breath, “Get me an autograph later, okay?”
Arti froze mid-step and glanced back; the receptionist turned her head away, whistling innocently. Arti glared at her for a moment longer, then continued down the stairs.
“I'm sorry our first introduction has to happen like this. Ideally I would have come to see you myself.”
“The Administration Office coming to our little company in person?”
“Well, Jucheongwang's executives are widely expected to climb at least to Gold, so there's no harm in making introductions early. Besides, with Ishur-Nimur working at your company, I did intend to visit at some point.”
Ishur Nimur?
Ryu Hwi racked his brain for a moment over who that could be.
Noir, Master.
“Ah.”
He'd only ever called her Noir, so the actual name hadn't stuck. Was she really someone a government official needed to come pay respects to in person? Arti-Gracia herself was Gold rank, wasn't she?
“Here we are.”
Arti led him to a door located in the basement. A plaque hung on it reading Special Sealing Chamber.
“Am I even permitted to enter this place?”
“Normally, no — but since you're the one who reported this Yggdrasil item, Mr. Ryu Hwi, this counts as a special case.”
Arti pressed her finger to the door's recognition panel. With a soft chime of confirmation, the door slid open.
“Right, then. After you.”
He followed her into the Special Sealing Chamber.
Sealed rather thoroughly, I must say. The entire chamber is fitted with devices that nullify Yggdrasil's ether.
Then why are you perfectly fine in here? He wanted to ask.
Arti moved deeper into the chamber. Sealed inside heavy, elaborate equipment that looked impressively stringent even to a layman like Ryu Hwi sat King Dropper's Magic Sword.
“Was this thing dangerous enough to warrant this level of security?”
If it were really that special, YggON would have said something upfront.
“No. The ability itself isn't anything extraordinary. By classification, it sits around ⟨B⟩. Ah — are you familiar with the grading system for Yggdrasil items?”
With his entanglement with Yggdrasil items growing by the day, he'd dug through the net and gathered up what information he could. As he recalled…
⟨D⟩ — Items that may be privately owned.
⟨C⟩ — Items that may be privately owned upon registration with the state.
⟨B⟩ — Items that must be managed by a district's Administration Office.
⟨A⟩ — Items that must be managed by a Special Administration Office in District 5 or below.
⟨S⟩ — Hazardous items. Permanently sealed in District 1.
…Something along those lines.
“That's right. For instance, the Trucardia virus chip that threw the Entertainment District into chaos recently falls under ⟨S⟩-class. Truly, how on earth did something like that ever spread out into the open.”
Ryu Hwi — one of the very parties responsible for that incident — quietly averted his gaze.
“This one is ⟨B⟩-class, but there's a slight complication, so we'll need to hand it over to the Special Administration Office in District 5. And as part of that process, there's something we'd like to ask of you as the discoverer, Mr. Ryu Hwi.”
“Why would a ⟨B⟩-class item go to District 5? As I understand it, that's where ⟨A⟩-class items are managed.”
“Correct. The problem is that this item is the first — and so far only — item of ⟨B⟩-class or higher ever dropped from Yggdrasil 2.0.”
Ah.
The picture came into focus. Since it was the first ⟨B⟩-or-higher item discovered in 2.0, the District 13 Administration Office had been left in an awkward middle ground about how to manage it — hence the decision to transfer it to District 5. And that transfer presumably meant paperwork, and tasks.
“I'm not going to suffer any losses from this, am I?”
“Inflict harm on someone who honestly reported a Yggdrasil item? Of course not, sir.”
“Then what do I need to do?”
“Just fill out a few documents. For these, we need physical paper rather than data.”
Paper records were rare in this day and age. Unless something was a matter of critical record, people avoided paper entirely.
He examined the documents Arti handed over carefully and signed wherever a signature was required. Since he rarely picked up a pen these days, his handwriting was nothing to boast about.
“Anything else you need from me?”
“One moment, please.”
Arti reviewed the completed paperwork.
“Yes, everything checks out. Each Yggdrasil item you discover and report counts as a merit, so someday you could rise all the way to Gold. Well — Jucheongwang will reach Gold without lifting a finger at this rate, I imagine.”
“Hard to say. We're a small operation, and we're already struggling to develop our next title…”
“You could post a job opening and people would flock to you by the thousands.”
He'd left company management entirely to Wolya. If they needed staff, she'd handle it in her own way.
“Do you have some time right now? As I mentioned, I've been assigned as Jucheongwang's point of contact, and I'd like to use this chance to properly introduce myself.”
Troublesome.
That was his honest feeling — but he was, after all, the CEO of Jucheongwang. Building connections with the Administration Office couldn't hurt.
How you've grown, Master — the perpetually solo-playing misanthrope, networking of his own volition. Sniff, sniff.
Would you kindly shut up.
“Then shall we move somewhere more comfortable… ah, wait — before that, I should tell you something I can only say here.”
“?”
Arti's eyes sharpened.
“The truth is, I work in a second department as well. That one is my real job — this Administration side is closer to a side errand.”
“Yggdrasil item management is the side errand?”
Managing Yggdrasil items should have guaranteed a respectable degree of competence and rank. Yet Arti called it a 'side errand'.
“Here — my business card. Please, take it.”
Arti produced a card from her coat. Even business cards are actual paper here — how very Administration-Office of them, he thought, and accepted it.
“…?!”
District 13 Administration Office
Department for the Administration of Soul. Entertainment. Network.
⟨Midgard⟩ — 2nd-Class Special Agent
“Judging by that reaction, it seems you do know what S.E.N is, after all?”
Arti-Gracia was smiling — but her eyes glittered with a sharp, predatory light, tracking his every move.
“Shall we have a little chat?”
“Tch.”
It seemed the pretense of courtesy was no longer necessary.
“If this is about S.E.N, then I've got a few things to say too.”
Who would have thought the nation's own Administration Office housed a dedicated counter-organization for dealing with S.E.N?
It was time to tear out every last scrap of information they had, while he had the chance.
“Fine. Let's have ourselves a nice, honest conversation.”