“Go ahead and speak.”
Suddenly getting up, small waves formed in the bathtub.
[We have confirmed that Mr. NoName’s account is currently not officially registered with Wearsoft. May I ask which capsule model you are using?]
– What do you mean it’s not an official account?
– Is it a guest account?
– Moim moim
– How did I enter Nightmare as a guest?
My mind raced. Do they really have no information about me?
“It’s a Samsung Stella A8.”
– Is that a model from 5 years ago? LOL!
– Is it lagging with that?
– So Wagal is running after all.
– The ping must be terrible; how fast was the reaction time in the game?
– Even my grandpa wouldn’t use that.
└ Grandpas don’t use capsules anyway ;;
└ But my grandma does!
[Ah yes… confirmed. Hmmm, for now… I have just received a recovery request for Mr. NoName’s account through Wearsoft Korea, and our headquarters had recognized that a bug occurred during the story progression before this.]
– What do you mean you keep confirming things?
– Why beat around the bush?
– Get to the point!
[‘Today and Tomorrow’ has donated 1,000 won!]
– Lady, if you can’t save our Adella, will you take responsibility?
[…] Is someone next to you?
“No. I’m in the bathroom. I’m alone.”
[According to the report I received, Mr. NoName is experiencing a phenomenon where NPC Adella does not normally drop out in Part 1, and as a result, Boss Mephistopheles did not appear in Part 4. Is that correct?]
“Please, continue.”
[What we propose is as follows: on the condition that this account is not used in the ranked channel, we will reflect 100% of the experience and growth stats divided with Adella to your player character.]
“What about Adella?”
[We will delete her so that Mephistopheles can normally appear in the Part 4 stage.]
What kind of nonsensical talk is this…
– ?????????
– Are you out of your mind, lady?
– Ranked matches aren’t even the priority right now!
– Are you worried the combat power will be inflated before 100%?
– You’ve completely missed the point, huh?
– NoName is angry.
– Save Adella!!!
Hoo…
I took another deep breath and organized my thoughts.
“I’ll listen to other alternatives.”
[Another option is for us to clear the situation instead of formatting the entire world. Although the combat power will be assessed low because you haven’t defeated the boss, with this account, you can enjoy ranked matches like other users.]
“Is that all?”
[Recovering from a guest account’s server is not supported due to policy, but we’ve made an exception after discussions with the management regarding this unusual case.]
It was a tone that aimed to pressure me while pretending to be generous, but in reality, it felt like they only wanted to delete the cause of the bug and leave me hanging.
It wasn’t even at the level of fixing a barn after losing a cow; they were suggesting covering the barn with a cloth entirely.
“What I want is a bit different.”
[What about this was unsatisfactory? We will provide the maximum support our company can…]
“I don’t care about ranked matches or anything, just let me proceed with the boss fight in Part 4 along with Adella.”
[Unfortunately, we have no plan in place for that. I’m sorry.]
“Then it’s fine if I can’t do the boss fight. Just leave Adella and clear it out.”
[The story’s clear condition always requires defeating Mephisto, so that part will also be difficult. Moreover, Adella was not anticipated to remain after the clear, so we have no idea what other errors might occur on the server.]
– Can’t do this or that. What can be done then?
– It’s really frustrating.
– Can I just curse? I have to admit this, managers!
– What’s so hard about saving Adella!!!
The “combat power aggregation” event in the core systems that forms the foundation of the open world only appears after defeating the final boss.
In simpler terms, it means that the ticking time bomb in Adella’s body has to explode for the ending to occur.
“Is this all Wearsoft can do? I thought user-centered storytelling and high freedom were the advantages of World of Arseria.”
[Due to technical limitations, I ask for your understanding. The occurrence of this bug was originally caused by ‘unauthorized access with malicious intent’ using a guest account, so we encourage you to comply with our considerations.]
“I had no malicious intent from the start, so why am I suddenly being blamed? And even if the bug’s cause lies with me, isn’t it your fault for allowing the story to progress like this?”
[Due to the peculiar nature of your account during Part 1’s boss fight, previous data was not deleted properly, leading to a bug where two open worlds overlapped.]
“So? Now you’re going to get rid of Adella? Should I assume that in order to maintain the server, it’s okay for a user’s memories with an NPC to be trampled on?”
I bit my nails.
In the first place, the hostage and the information were both on that side.
It wouldn’t matter how much I threw a tantrum here; the initiative wouldn’t shift to my side.
I wanted to storm over to headquarters and drop a meteor on them, but the reality was that I couldn’t…
It was infuriating.
[As disappointing as it may be, we don’t view users from that perspective.]
“Right, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
[We also can’t access information regarding NoName due to information protection laws, so it’s hard for us to empathize on every point… However, at the very least, I’d like to counter your claim of having no malicious intent.]
“What?”
[Didn’t you know about the age restriction terms for Nightmare content and violate them? Mr. NoName, you are not above 15 years old, right?]
*
Na-me had never intended to hide her age at the beginning.
Yet, being so strongly aware of being an adult, she had only a tiny wish that even with a child’s voice, she would be treated like an adult.
However, the main reason she had been hiding her age until now was to avoid her World of Arseria account from being suspended.
She had skipped the age verification process that was essential for proceeding with Nightmare.
If the company found out about this, it would be obvious that all her cards would become useless.
Her body was as still as if the hot water in the bathtub froze over.
Under her trembling eyelids, her pitch-black pupils turned sideways.
It was the place where the chat window was.
For a moment, the screen seemed to freeze for two seconds as if lagging.
Then, like a massive dam breaking, words began to pour out in an orderly manner through the narrow space.
– ?????????
– Not over 15?
– What? Didn’t hear what they said?
– ???
– If not 15, then how old are you?
– Not a high school girl, but a middle school student?
– LOL!!!!
– No way, is this real?
– (оﾟдﾟо)(оﾟдﾟо)(оﾟдﾟо)(оﾟдﾟо)(оﾟдﾟо)
– Was Hyebam really preparing for the Academy when she was in middle school?
└ There was foreshadowing!
– Even if she’s in middle school, this doesn’t make sense!
– What has she shown so far?
– Honestly, it wouldn’t make sense even if she were in her third year! LOL!
– Isn’t this just a misunderstanding from the company?
[‘Kong Nang Kong’ donated 1,000 won!]
– So… Teacher, are you really an actual middle school student…?
However, not everyone accepted the raw information as it was. Given Na-me’s actions until now, it was too far off.
– Not a middle school teacher, but a teacher who is a middle school student?
– Don’t make a fuss, it was just a misunderstanding, right?
└ It looks so absurd that it seems to trigger more reactions. LOL!
– Now that I think of it, it’s even more annoying, that department head.
– Did they decide to completely change the subject?
– If this is true, it’s the company’s incompetence for not catching it; if it’s not, it’s the company’s incompetence for misjudging. LOL!
└ It’s a real catch-22.
– LOL, middle school student (casting a magic spell)
– LOL, middle schooler (calculating with reverse Laplace)
└ What does that even mean? Why is the education level of the viewers so high?
– You can tell she’s not a middle schooler just by her way of speaking. Those Twish kids seem very genuine though.
– Hey, no personal attacks!
Keeping my mouth shut seemed like the best option.
What should I do in this situation?
Na-me’s mind split into dozens of choices like tree roots within a second, but none were correct answers.
In the midst of this, Michelle Badiou called out to her in a flustered voice.
[Mr. NoName, I think I just heard your real voice; are you with your family?]
The director had been asking since earlier whether Na-me was with someone else.
And she wasn’t one to miss such cues, so she quickly clasped her trembling hand with the other and said.
“It’s true that I’m alone, but I’m broadcasting right now.”
[Huh?]
“My platform is Twish; I have 3,000 viewers currently.”
[Wait, why did you choose to broadcast a call…?]
This was it.
Na-me was filled with conviction.
Forgetting that she was in the bath, she quickly stood up and took the call again.
Suddenly hit by a wave of dizziness, her head spun, but she couldn’t hold back her excitement that she had found an opportunity.
The sound of water streaming from her body echoed through the broadcast and the call without any filters.
“So should I take it to mean that Wearsoft has neither the willingness nor the capability to resolve the matter regarding this bug?”
[That wasn’t…]
“It sounds like what the head of the business division said. Ultimately, it seems that not even a boss monster can be created or adjusted freely unless it’s in the manual, right?”
Na-me had heard through the news that Wearsoft’s stock had plummeted.
After all, what had warranted the high evaluation of this company?
They were expected to lead the current virtual reality gaming market and the future virtual reality industry systems.
But what if it turned out that this was merely subcontracted to a small team of ASI experts, and they were found just to be managers?
“Of course, the company can’t run that simply, and naturally, it must have some technical capabilities.”
But people’s perceptions can be terrifying.
People don’t contemplate the middle ground.
If someone believes that Wagal made World of Arseria all by themselves, it is also quite possible to reverse that assumption.
Na-me believed that someone of the director’s stature would understand what she was getting at.
It seemed her prediction was correct, as the most satisfactory response so far came from the director.
[…We will explore additional solutions, so I would appreciate it if you could trust and wait a bit, Mr. NoName.]
“I can wait until tomorrow. After that, I’ll spread everything you said today to the reporters.”
