Ch.337[Chapter 337] Event: Steam Speed

To conclude, Slaton Vex disappeared, digitized in a pathetically underwhelming manner compared to his repulsive appearance.

And as soon as Slaton Vex vanished, the 42nd round clear notification appeared.

“I can’t go any further now.”

Captain Elang, determining that further progress would be difficult, stopped his journey at the 42nd round.

The bewildering difficulty of the 42nd round had a significant influence on this decision.

After saying that, Captain Elang immediately pressed the save and exit button to receive the 42nd round reward.

[Congratulations. You have cleared Hard Mode 42nd round!]

[The Hard Mode 42nd round reward is a random 4-star recruitment card.]

[For rewards for round 42 and below, please refer to the “See More” section.]

“…?”

The ‘Hard Mode’ 42nd round reward, that is.

“Huh, what?”

Captain Elang, seemingly bewildered by the sudden message, repeated only “uh-uh” as if he had forgotten human language.

It was definitely Normal Mode, wasn’t it? No, was there even a Hard Mode to begin with?

Captain Elang’s mind became increasingly confused.

He had no idea what this situation was about or how it had developed.

However, there was one fortunate thing for Captain Elang.

That was the fact that Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, who were very familiar with such matters, were right beside him.

“Oh? It was a bug? I thought something was off.”

“If you contact the Executive branch about this, they’ll compensate you.”

“A bug? Compensation?”

Captain Elang regained his human language at Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica’s words.

“That’s right. It seems that due to some bug, it switched to Hard Mode midway…”

“I thought it was more fun than usual.”

Sir Dominic inferred the approximate situation based on his own experience.

Sir Dominica snickered, saying it seemed somewhat difficult.

“Anyway, if you tell the Executive branch that a bug occurred, they’ll check the logs and compensate you.”

“R-really?”

Captain Elang’s ears perked up at Sir Dominic’s words.

Although Captain Elang had suffered quite a bit due to the bug, he seemed quite interested in the mention of compensation.

In fact, Captain Elang had been wrestling with two conflicting thoughts in his mind after what had just happened.

Whether to abandon this wretched life in Gachaland and look elsewhere.

Or to accept being a beta tester and continue living in Gachaland.

This wasn’t much different from his current situation.

No, this thought would continue to be a difficult problem that would torment Captain Elang in the future.

However…

“Um… where is the Executive branch?”

It seems that time is not now.

…

Gachaland Judiciary.

Today was the day of the trial for those responsible for turning Area 3 into a disaster zone.

“Gachaland Executive branch 9th grade civil servant Alex Murray forgot his duties and neglected factory management. Therefore, this judge sentences him to a 50-year salary reduction and exclusion from promotion for the next 30 years. Additionally, 5 years of community service is ordered.”

“Vicious Park Choonbae, a member of the One Star Alliance and a 1-star dealer, acted with the intention of deliberately harming others, but given the clear causal relationship, 5 years of community service is ordered.”

“System Industries coder Binary is found not guilty, as although he neglected the management of the distribution panel, no connection can be found between his actions and this incident.”

The trial passed in an instant.

This was partly due to the excellent abilities of Prosecutor Daruma who was in charge of this case, but also because their actions were so clearly evident.

The civil servant who had managed and supervised the factory at the time had his activities clearly recorded on the internal CCTV.

While slacking off was something other civil servants occasionally did and could be overlooked, the fact that he used the power outlet for personal gain and thereby put the factory in danger was judged to be a serious offense, resulting in the heavy punishment of salary reduction for half a century and promotion exclusion for 30 years.

However, some might wonder why this civil servant wasn’t fired, which was related to the next defendant, Vicious Park Choonbae.

Vicious Park Choonbae was judged to have committed a serious offense by forcibly changing the mode and putting a commander in danger, but he managed to reduce his sentence by appealing that the commander had abandoned him first.

However, since he had indeed caused an accident, he might have had to rot in an underground dungeon for at least a few years.

In this situation, the Executive branch proposed that Park Choonbae do a certain job for 5 years.

In exchange for doing this job for 5 years, they would almost turn a blind eye to this incident… a kind of plea bargain.

Vicious Park Choonbae thought for a moment, then nodded.

He judged that it would be better to work for 5 years to atone for his crimes than to suffer in an underground dungeon.

The community service that the Executive branch ordered for Vicious Park Choonbae and the lazy civil servant was…

…

“Hahaha! You thought you were prepared!”

“W-who are you!”

A commander who came immediately to try out the Hard Mode that had opened in Area 3 shouted at Park Choonbae who was standing on a hill.

“Me? Ha! You don’t know the great Park Choonbae? How impertinent! Haha!”

Park Choonbae looked down at the bewildered commander and laughed viciously.

Then, kicking a lever with his foot, he began to shout into a walkie-talkie.

“We’ve got an idiot who chose Hard Mode! Overload the factory!”

[“…Ah, what a bother.”]

“Hey, if I tell your superior about your negligence, you know what will happen to you-“

[“Alright, alright. I got it. Factory overload complete!”]

After the civil servant’s voice was heard from the walkie-talkie, the commander realized that the gate had changed from blue to red.

“Haha! That expression, I can’t stand it!”

Park Choonbae looked down at the commander staring stupidly at the red gate and cackled.

“…Why on earth are you doing this?”

Next to the commander, Android Lily… of course, this commander’s Lily, glared at Park Choonbae and shouted.

Park Choonbae stroked his rough, bearded chin and said:

“Well. For fun? Puhahaha! So, I hope you have a good time too, you morons!”

With those words, Park Choonbae disappeared over the hill.

“…Looks like Hard Mode has its own special presentation?”

Once Park Choonbae disappeared, the commander began to analyze the situation as if he had never been flustered.

“I didn’t expect much since it’s a beta test… but it might be quite a good game?”

The commander began to value Gachaland highly just because there was a special presentation for Hard Mode.

For a commander who valued story, each of these breadcrumbs held high value.

“Come to think of it, Malei. You had some connection with Park Choonbae, do you know why he’s acting like that?”

The commander, curious about what this breadcrumb might be, asked Vile Malei, whom he had hired today, about Vicious Park Choonbae.

“Well.”

Vile Malei looked up at the hill where Vicious Park Choonbae had disappeared and began shuffling his cards.

“Let’s just say we’re friends for now.”

Vile Malei whispered something meaningful to the commander.

Of course, this was Malei’s shallow trick to increase his own value by borrowing Park Choonbae’s name.

Perhaps it was also an answer about the loyalty shown when Malei was carried around in a coffin in the name of saving him.

…

‘This is quite profitable.’

That was what one member of the Executive branch said.

As he said, using Park Choonbae and the civil servant to create the Area 3 Hard Mode presentation was quite well-received by the commanders.

Regardless of whether Park Choonbae and the civil servant’s presentation was well-received by the commanders, the commanders were secretly looking forward to something that was about to happen.

“Come to think of it, it’s today.”

Captain Elang said while drinking orange juice.

This time it was orange juice that he bought himself without borrowing money from Sir Dominic or Sir Dominica, orange juice that he could very proudly claim ownership of.

“What is?”

Sir Dominic asked Captain Elang while sipping his caramel macchiato.

Captain Elang had become a regular at this café, saying he wanted to build rapport with Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica.

The simple idea that he would frequently encounter them since Sir Dominic came here often seemed to be working.

“They’re starting the event this time.”

“An event, huh.”

Sir Dominic thought that what was bound to happen had come.

Speaking of Gachaland, wouldn’t there be numerous events and a crazy story that would be messed up by those events?

Sir Dominic, remembering how he had enjoyed some events during the alpha test in the past, asked Captain Elang:

“So, what’s this event about?”

“Just a moment. It should be in the announcements. Pre-registration for the event… pre-registration… Ah. Here it is.”

Captain Elang brought up a system window in mid-air.

There were special announcements disclosed only to commanders, different from the public announcements available to Gachaland citizens like Sir Dominic.

[Event Pre-registration!]

[Beta Test’s first event, Steam Speed, is starting soon!]

[A steam locomotive racing between the traditional powerhouses Red Arrow and Iron Shark, and you!]

[Express your deep desires on a chaotic railway that will drive you insane!]

[Pre-registration Reward: 1200 Gacha Stones]

And that was truly the beginning of a new event.