Chapter 40: Bug (2)
by AfuhfuihgsIs it a hack or not?
Despite the unease, if Frost was saying this, there must be a reason.
“Yeah. Let’s take a look.”
The server was running smoothly, and a first Hidden Piece had been discovered—a celebratory moment.
But if it turned out that Hidden Piece was obtained via hacking, it would be like dumping cold water on a roaring success.
It was best to confirm it with his own eyes.
“Play the footage from when ‘Silverhair’ starts collecting the White Spiritwood.”
As Frost moved his fingers, a video from Silverhair’s point of view started playing on the monitor.
Silverhair looked around briefly, then quickly discovered the White Spiritwood.
The moment she struck it with her hand axe and collected the item—
“It starts here.”
With Frost’s low voice, the atmosphere on screen turned chilling.
Tap tap—
The sound of claws.
Nine gaunt, rabid-dog-like monsters appeared.
Their glowing red eyes radiated murderous intent—completely ill-fitting for a beginner’s zone.
“Aren’t those monsters… the patrol-pattern gimmick? They’re meant to be avoided, right?”
“Yes. You’re supposed to hide in the bushes and sneak through their gaps.”
In the footage, Silverhair also ducked into a bush, apparently aware of the mechanic.
The monsters walked their set paths mechanically.
They had lethal attack power. To a defenseless beginner, even grazing them would be instant death—not just a critical hit.
‘But she said she took them down?’
These weren’t meant to be defeated. They were meant to be avoided. Getting aggro meant instant death. Or so it should’ve been.
But Silverhair had told Raidel that she defeated them.
With a pickaxe.
‘Must be bluffing.’
Zeronix shook his head.
Anyone could lie convincingly.
She probably just sneaked past and then exaggerated for stream content.
This video would expose the lie.
Crack—!
“Huh?”
Instead of fleeing, Silverhair pinpointed the opening of the nearest monster and slammed her pickaxe into it.
The creature vanished silently.
Then she pulled out a hand axe from her coat and hurled it at a second monster that lunged at her.
The axe, flying with no spin, landed squarely between its eyes.
Down it went.
It all happened in a blink.
“…What the hell?”
Zeronix’s jaw dropped slightly.
The monsters were weak in HP, yes, but incredibly fast.
They’d dash in and eliminate their prey before it could react.
But Silverhair had landed an axe straight between one’s eyes.
And it didn’t end there.
She picked off the rest one by one—timing each strike to hit during brief visual gaps in their patrol.
No aggro was triggered.
Only using pickaxes and hand axes.
She took down all nine.
And dodged every attack with freakish movement.
“That’s insane… for real.”
Zeronix mumbled, dazed.
“Even if their HP is low, how is she not getting hit once? They’re ridiculously fast.”
“I thought I saw it wrong at first. Rewatched it multiple times… but it’s all here.”
Frost added quietly.
“She wiped all nine with just a pickaxe and hand axe.”
After finishing them off, Silverhair calmly caught her breath and looked around.
She tilted her head with a curious expression.
“Now that I think about it, did we set EXP values for these guys?”
“Nope. They weren’t designed to be killable, so they weren’t given any. It should be zero.”
“Thought so. They weren’t meant to be fought.”
Yet Silverhair beat them.
And made a face like, ‘Huh? Why no EXP?’
“Haa… she’s a monster, seriously.”
Zeronix was floored.
“It doesn’t even make sense.”
Frost nodded in agreement.
“So… no hacking, right?”
Zeronix asked, just to be sure.
Frost responded without hesitation.
“Yes. 100%. No trace of any external interference in the logs.”
Even while Silverhair pulled off her godlike strikes, the cheat detection program, which would glow red if hacks were present, remained green.
Solid proof it wasn’t a hack.
“Phew! That’s a relief. A real relief.”
Zeronix finally leaned back into his chair.
The biggest worry—cheating—was officially cleared.
She wasn’t hacking. She was just more talented than any cheat.
Once this video went public, the hack rumors would die down.
Just as he thought things had settled—
Frost cautiously raised another issue.
“But bro, there’s been another complaint from the streamers.”
“Ugh? What now?”
Zeronix already looked tired.
The cheat issue was gone, so what was the next problem?
“You know that Hidden Piece clue—about the bird carrying the branch?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
The bird that carried the White Spiritwood branch.
The primary clue to its location.
You were supposed to follow the direction it flew with a raft.
“Well, the streamers said… there’s no way to see that the bird was holding anything.”
Frost summarized the complaints.
“They say it looked like a white blur that flashed by. Nobody could tell it was holding something.”
Frost looked troubled.
“So they didn’t even think to review it. ‘How can it be a clue if we can’t even see it?’ they said. ‘This is nonsense.’”
Zeronix snorted in disbelief.
‘Tch… You couldn’t see it, and now you’re blaming us?’
He bristled internally, but couldn’t voice it.
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“So what, exactly, are we supposed to do about it? They couldn’t see it. That’s on them, right? We didn’t screw anything up.”
Of course, even Zeronix wasn’t entirely confident.
In truth, the ‘bird with the branch’ clue had been a last-minute addition.
It was tacked on in a rush just before the server launch.
‘We never did a final visibility test.’
Sure, it was just a simple bird flight script. What could go wrong?
And hey, Silverhair had seen it. Found the Hidden Piece thanks to it.
Proof it worked.
‘If Silverhair saw it, it’s fine. Everyone else probably missed it due to poor eyesight.’
That’s what he told himself.
But the unease lingered.
Ten streamers.
Tens of thousands of viewers.
Not one person saw the branch.
Everyone agreed it passed too fast to recognize.
Only Silverhair saw it.
‘Did I miss something?’
Zeronix frowned.
It wasn’t just a few complaints. It was a chorus.
What if… something really was wrong?
‘No way.’
An ominous feeling crept in.
Zeronix suddenly stood up, eyes wide.
“Hey!”
“Y-yeah?”
Startled by the outburst, Frost turned around.
“Pull up Silverhair’s video again! The start—where the bird appears!”
“Yes. One moment.”
Silverhair’s game log.
The beginning.
Where the bird with the White Spiritwood branch appears.
On screen, against a calm blue sea, Silverhair’s avatar had just spawned in.
Then—
Whoosh—!
Something white streaked across from right to left.
Even with your eyes wide open, it was impossible to see.
Without the bird sound effect, it would’ve looked like a glitch.
“……!”
Zeronix and Frost both gasped.
“What… what the hell? Why is it so fast?!”
Zeronix yelled.
“Bro… this is way faster than the values we set.”
Frost muttered, alternating between the screen and data.
It was always supposed to be fast—but fast enough that you could still recognize the branch.
This wasn’t that.
“Play a different streamer’s start footage! Hurry! Anyone!”
Frantically, Frost brought up another starting streamer’s video.
Same result.
Every video showed the same blindingly fast blur.
No one could see what the bird was carrying.
In fact, it was nearly impossible to tell it was a bird at all.
“…….”
A heavy silence.
Zeronix broke it.
“So… of course no one saw it…”
He slumped into his chair.
The streamers were justified.
Honestly, they were lucky no one filed a formal complaint.
“We messed up… we really messed up.”
He sighed deeply.
It was a mistake. A clear blunder by the dev team.
Before launch, they’d skipped final testing due to time constraints.
Who would’ve guessed it’d come back to bite this hard?
“What the hell do we do now…”
Zeronix stared blankly at the replaying footage.
It made sense why no one saw it.
Honestly, the idea that anyone saw it was bizarre.
‘How are we going to fix this mess…’
His head began to pound.
Do they officially apologize and call it a bug?
Or just keep quiet and hope it dies down?
As he started weighing options—
A flash of realization hit him.
‘…Wait.’
No one else saw it.
It was too fast for any normal human.
It was a mistake. A bug.
But—
A cold sweat trickled down his back.
“Hey. The Silverhair video… It was the same speed as the others, right?”
He looked at Frost.
“Her bird didn’t slow down or anything, right?”
“Yeah, the bug affected everyone equally. It was max speed across the board…”
Frost’s expression shifted from casual to shocked.
His voice cut off.
“…Then how the hell did Silverhair see it?”
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