Ch.415[Chapter 415] Easter Egg

Inside the development room at System Industries.

A coder was diligently writing code.

“Whew.”

The coder, who had been rapidly producing code, suddenly felt his eyes getting dry. He took off his glasses and pressed his fingers around his eyes.

It seemed like he hadn’t slept for a day or two—the area around his eyes was so dark it looked almost hollow.

“Hey, friend.”

Just then.

Another coder approached him.

This coder had blonde hair and blue eyes, looking like the stereotypical blonde, blue-eyed foreigner straight out of a textbook.

Ah, this must be the guy who came from Retrograde.

And indeed, the coder was actually a foreigner.

More precisely, it would be more accurate to say he was someone from outside Gachaland.

“I heard you made bug last time. So you, received punishment. Right?”

“Well, yeah.”

The tired coder nodded at the blonde, blue-eyed coder’s awkward speech.

“Oh.”

The blonde, blue-eyed coder showed an exaggerated look of surprise at the tired coder’s response, then immediately got to the point.

“Bug you made, I saw it well. Really intricate and amazing. And I also, like that code. So I found you.”

Though the blonde, blue-eyed coder mixed up his words terribly, the tired coder understood what he was trying to say.

“So, what about my code?”

“Want to learn. If bug code is that beautiful, regular code must be even more beautiful, right?”

“Ah.”

The tired coder finally realized what the blonde, blue-eyed coder was trying to say.

He had swallowed his pride and approached a fellow coder to improve his skills.

The tired coder didn’t mind having such a proactive and hardworking colleague.

The more colleagues like this, the more he might be able to rest, right?

With that thought, the tired coder shrugged and said to the blonde, blue-eyed coder.

“It’s not difficult.”

After saying that, the tired coder showed the blonde, blue-eyed coder the code he was currently writing.

“Look here. This is an Easter egg code I’m working on—”

The tired coder ported the incomplete code into the system to show it to the blonde, blue-eyed coder.

Of course, up to this point everything would have been fine, but a problem occurred.

The system interpreted this Easter egg code as complete and actually applied it in the field.

…If it had been the central system, this wouldn’t have happened, but even the central system can’t be responsible for such trivial matters.

And so, the incomplete Easter egg was released into the world.

…

Sir Dominic grabbed a nearby object tightly in preparation for the imminent explosion.

As Sir Dominic expected, the explosion engulfed the Glory of Ferrant, but as expected, the Glory of Ferrant was in no danger.

Thanks to the system message right in front of him.

[The enemy command headquarters has been destroyed!]

[The last interplanetary ballistic missile has been destroyed!]

[You have cleared Area 12 by achieving more than one objective. Congratulations.]

With those words, Sir Dominic and all other commanders were summoned back to the space station lobby.

Sir Dominic looked around at the suddenly changed scenery.

Fortunately, Captain Elang was not far away.

Captain Elang was expressing his joy with his whole body, hopping up and down with an excited face as if he couldn’t believe they had won. He was expressing his joy so vigorously that he kept stepping on other people’s feet every three seconds and had to keep apologizing.

Anyway, as soon as Sir Dominic located Captain Elang, he approached him.

“Good work.”

“Ah, Sir Dominic! We couldn’t have won like this without you! Thank you so much!”

“Don’t mention it. I was just hired. Today’s victory is yours for hiring me.”

Captain Elang hugged Sir Dominic tightly and expressed his gratitude.

Sir Dominic tried to calm Captain Elang down with humble words.

“Could you, um, let go of me now?”

“Ah, yes.”

Fortunately, Captain Elang regained his composure faster than expected.

He became so composed so quickly that it was Sir Dominic who was taken aback.

[Congratulations on clearing Area 12, commanders.]

At that moment, a system message appeared before all commanders.

[Area 13 has been unlocked with the clearing of Area 12.]

[Basic rewards for clearing Area 12 will be provided.]

[Calculating individual contributions…]

[Reward distribution based on contributions has been completed.]

[Please click on ‘Details’ below for more information.]

[Details]

Sir Dominic clicked on Details.

Although he wasn’t a commander, the system judged that as a ship owner, he qualified as equivalent to a commander, which is why the system window appeared for him as well.

When Sir Dominic clicked on Details, sure enough, he was ranked first in contributions.

Sir Dominic had scored first place by an overwhelming margin, about four times higher than second place.

Sir Dominic closed the window in front of him.

He considered it sufficient.

“I-I can’t accept this!”

Suddenly, someone burst out in anger.

Sir Dominic turned his gaze toward that person.

There stood a man with uneven teeth wearing braces, who was looking at the system message and raging.

“I participated in Area 12 too, so why am I only getting the basic reward?”

“…?”

“I cheered too! We won because I cheered! So we won thanks to me! So why am I only getting the basic reward?”

Sir Dominic questioned the behavior of the man who was suddenly causing a disturbance.

Fortunately, Captain Elang sighed and explained the situation, otherwise Sir Dominic wouldn’t have understood what was going on.

“He’s being difficult.”

“Difficult?”

“Yes. Seems like he’s one of those commanders who was in the rear sucking hon… I mean, one of those who didn’t even have a ship. And now he’s complaining about why his reward is so small.”

“Hmm.”

Sir Dominic turned his head to look at the man with braces again.

“Looking at the rankings, it seems to be in order of expensive ships, so does that mean people like us who don’t have money should just fall behind? Is it ‘the rich are innocent, the poor are guilty’? Khaak-ptui!”

The man continued to rage shamelessly, then spat on the ground.

Other commanders frowned at the sight.

The man with braces was such an eyesore that some commanders stepped forward to rebuke him, but someone else delivered a rebuke even faster.

[Yes. That’s correct. It’s in order of expensive ships.]

It was none other than a system message.

…

[Yes. That’s correct. It’s in order of expensive ships.]

The system message said to the man.

The other commanders looked at the system message in surprise.

For Sir Dominic, who often saw message windows that seemed to breathe on their own, it was a familiar sight, but for the commanders, the system message was just artificial intelligence—they never thought it would have this much autonomy.

[When we scored Area 12, we first checked whether you had a ship or not. If you didn’t have a ship, we immediately calculated the basic reward, and if you did have a ship, we started calculating additional rewards.]

[In space warfare, having a ship was the minimum courtesy, but we still didn’t place any restrictions on entering Area 12 to allow you all to have various experiences. We didn’t want to be accused of just trying to sell ships.]

[But we never expected someone to come without even that basic courtesy and cause such a disturbance.]

“Uh, what?”

[After a meeting of the systems, we have concluded that you are not qualified to clear Area 12.]

[By the authority of one of System Industries’ systems, you will be treated as if you did not clear Area 12. There will be no reward.]

[If you don’t like it, quit, commander.]

The system took away the Area 12 clearing reward from the commander who had just caused a scene.

This was a big shock to the commanders.

They couldn’t believe rewards could be taken away!

[Systems have personalities too. So please be careful with statements that disrespect our personhood.]

[We cannot imagine how shocked the other commanders must be by our system’s somewhat excessive emotional response today.]

[Therefore, our system will offer additional compensation to the commanders here as an apology for the mental shock.]

[Everyone! Were you as angry as 3000 Gacha Stones?!]

“Wow… wow!”

“As angry as 3000 Gacha Stones!”

The system knew the commanders’ tendencies well.

Thus, instead of just restraining those who weren’t helpful to the game, it calmed the commanders by offering compensation for its excessive measures.

“…The commanders aren’t much different from the citizens of Gachaland.”

Sir Dominic leaned against the wall, pressing his throbbing forehead.

At that moment, as Sir Dominic leaned against the wall, his elbow accidentally hit the letters “Area 12.”

The number “12” in “Area 12” spun around briefly from the impact, then rearranged into a new configuration.

Area 51.

It became the letters “Area 51.”

“Hmm?”

Sir Dominic suddenly noticed that the ground beneath his feet felt empty.

But he realized this too late, and Sir Dominic inevitably fell through the hole that had formed beneath his feet.

Sir Dominic slid down an endless passage, falling downward.

[Easter Egg, AREA 51 discovered.]

While looking at the system message that appeared before his eyes.