Chapter 41: Bug (3)

    A brief silence.

    “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

    Zeronix finally spoke.

    Because of a bug, something that shouldn’t have been visible was seen.

    Once they realized that, it felt like seeing a ghost.

    “…Maybe it was just a coincidence?”

    Frost cautiously opened his mouth.

    “When I play the video really slowly, like at 0.01x speed… you can kind of faintly see a white string-like thing.”

    “Maybe the other streamers just missed it, and Silverhair happened to rewatch her footage and caught it…”

    “Don’t talk nonsense.”

    Zeronix snapped sharply.

    Frost’s hypothesis sounded plausible at first glance.

    No—to be fair, that was probably the only plausible method of spotting the hint.

    “Silverhair went straight to the sea on a raft the moment she logged in.”

    “Then she found the White Spiritwood, smashed a bunch of monsters with a pickaxe, completed the quest, and logged out.”

    “How would she have had time to rewatch her footage? She never even closed the game until she found the hidden piece.”

    Just to be sure, they double-checked, but the anti-cheat system still showed clean.

    The deep green light was blinking.

    It proved without a doubt there was no interference from external programs.

    So there was only one conclusion left.

    She saw it with her own eyes.

    The hint that could only barely be seen at 100x slow motion.

    “……”

    Zeronix and Frost stared at each other.

    There was disbelief in both their eyes.

    “Huu…”

    Zeronix let out a long sigh.

    “Let’s just say it was luck. Yeah. Luck.”

    He muttered it like he was trying to hypnotize himself.

    Frost, without arguing further, simply nodded.

    In the face of an unexplainable phenomenon, it was the best they could do.

    “You know how there are the Seven Wonders of the World? Let’s just say this is the eighth.”

    “…Yes, hyung.”

    Zeronix forced a smile and patted Frost on the shoulder.

    He didn’t understand what was happening.

    But at least she wasn’t a hacker.

    That was what mattered.

    From an admin’s perspective, that single fact was more than enough.

    There was no reason to dig any deeper.

    “Anyway, post the announcement. Say that we’ve confirmed she’s clean. Once we upload the monster fight footage, the accusations will die down.”

    Showing Silverhair’s pickaxe massacre would be enough to convince most people.

    “Hyung, but what do we do about the tree branch thing? This one seems hopeless.”

    In the end, they never resolved the White Spiritwood hint.

    Saying “You can see it if you slow it down to 100x” would just get them cursed out.

    “Hmm. Let’s just say it used a new filtering technique we developed. It was hard to see, but technically visible.”

    “Filtering technique? Do we even have something like that?”

    “Of course not…”

    He was just talking nonsense.

    But it wouldn’t sound too absurd.

    Because there was someone who had actually seen it.

    Silverhair had seen the branch, and successfully acquired the White Spiritwood.

    Even if people asked, “How could you possibly see something moving that fast?”—

    They could simply say, “But someone did.”

    “Ahem. We’ll just say the difficulty was a little too high. Then toss out some rewards to smooth things over. Okay?”

    “O-okay.”

    A mistake was one thing.

    But there was a big difference between something being impossible to detect, and something just being a little too hard.

    The latter was far easier to spin.

    ‘Silverhair… thank you. I’ve never even seen your face, but…’

    Zeronix silently gave thanks.

    None of this would even be possible if she hadn’t seen the branch.

    ‘But seriously, did she really just see it? Does that even make sense?’

    Leaving behind an unsolved mystery,

    the two admins exhaled deeply.


    “Fuaaahm.”

    Stretching, I straightened up my stiff body.

    It had already been a while since I took off the VR gear and returned to the real world,

    but I still felt sore all over.

    All because of the Pixel Wars streamer server.

    Before I realized it, a whole month had passed since the server opened.

    And it’d been three weeks since I joined.

    Time really flies, I thought.

    On my first day,

    I saw the branch the bird was carrying and found the hidden piece.

    I thought, ‘No way, surely other people noticed that obvious hint.’

    But no one did.

    They said the bird flew by too fast.

    ‘Was it really that fast?’

    It was quick, sure, but not to the point that it was invisible.

    Anyway, even though people called me a cheater for a bit,

    the dev team backed me up and the controversy ended quietly.

    Everyone who accused me of being a hacker disappeared.

    “Hehe.”

    Honestly, I kind of liked it a little.

    The feeling of being noticed and recognized by so many people…

    It was more thrilling than I expected.

    And I got an unexpected bonus.

    After that day, celebratory donations exploded on Raidel’s stream like fireworks.

    With a huge grin, Raidel shouted, “This is all thanks to our Silverhair!” and generously split the income.

    Not 50/50, but even more in my favor. So generous it seemed like she might be taking a loss.

    Thanks to that, my dust-collecting bank account…

    Well, maybe not stuffed, but it was pleasantly plump.

    Now, when ordering delivery food,

    I could pick what I wanted, not just what was cheapest.

    In fact, just earlier, I boldly ordered a full sushi set.

    Granted, I debated for 30 minutes and only hit order after getting a 10,000 won discount coupon,

    but still.

    I did order it, so it counts.

    “……”

    Looking out the window, I saw the sun slowly setting in the west.

    One month into the server.

    The playing field had mostly settled.

    Ten initial starter streamers had formed the center, spawning clans left and right.

    Some aimed for relaxed community vibes, enjoying streaming with their viewers.

    Others focused on bonding with fellow streamers through fun, casual broadcasts.

    But most weren’t like that.

    By the second and third week, more invitation tickets were handed out,

    and people started aggressively recruiting Pixel Wars veterans like mad.

    They hunted and leveled nonstop, racing to see who could clear the toughest raids first.

    It was a battlefield.

    Amid that intense competition, Raidel and I remained a quiet duo.

    Raidel cheerfully said, “Small elite parties are the best! Even hero teams only have four!”

    Viewers echoed, “Kya, that’s our Raidel!” “Silverhair’s got the skills of ten people!”

    …But to be honest, I had a different theory.

    ‘No friends… maybe?’

    Raidel mostly streamed solo, so her connections were limited.

    She wasn’t particularly close with the top-tier Pixel Wars players.

    Even if she wanted to invite people, she probably didn’t know who to call.

    A very reasonable suspicion.

    Still, I liked how things were.

    I’m introverted, so big groups drain my energy.

    Just thinking about a chaotic voice chat channel with multiple people made my head ache.

    Playing at our own pace, just the two of us, was way more comfortable.

    As I drifted in those thoughts, my stomach let out a loud growl.

    “Ugh. Is this dinner or breakfast?”

    It was evening, but since I’d just woken up, it felt more like breakfast.

    Preparing for streaming had shifted my lifestyle into full nocturnal mode.

    Clutching my hungry belly, I flopped around on the bed waiting for the food.

    Ding-dong—

    A delightful doorbell chime.

    “Yes, just a moment!”

    I dashed barefoot to the door and swung it open.

    The delivery guy was just taking off his helmet.

    “Your delivery is here…”

    The moment he saw me, he trailed off.

    Eyes wide, he just stood there dazed.

    What’s wrong?

    Did I have something on my face?

    I awkwardly fidgeted with the hem of my clothes.

    “Um… excuse me?”

    “Ah! Y-yes! E-enjoy your… s-sushi!”

    Suddenly stuttering, he thrust the sushi bag at me with trembling hands.

    His face had gone a little red, and his gaze was all over the place.

    As soon as he handed it over, he mumbled “T-then have a good day!” and shuffled off slowly,

    glancing back at me several times with an oddly wistful look.

    “…?”

    I just stood there holding the sushi bag, staring blankly at his retreating figure.

    ‘Is he okay?’

    His face was flushed… he wasn’t drunk driving, was he?

    It’s dangerous to work while sick.

    I hoped he’d be fine.

    Tilting my head slightly, I closed the door.

    Carefully, I opened the sushi tray on the table.

    A dazzling array of colors greeted me.

    Thick, glistening slices of salmon,

    vivid red shrimp that looked like they’d bounce,

    and fatty tuna glistening with oil.

    Ahhh, this is happiness.

    Long live capitalism!

    I grinned to myself and raised a tiny fist in triumph.

    Of course, I conveniently ignored the fact that without the discount coupon, I would’ve settled for beef stew.

    Sometimes a little splurge is good for the soul!

    I mixed some wasabi into soy sauce and dipped a slice of flounder sushi.

    Chewy texture, with a hint of sweetness.

    I could feel the stress melt away.

    “Hmmm~”

    I slowly savored each bite, enjoying my dinner.

    But the reason I splurged on sushi tonight wasn’t just because I craved it.

    There was another reason, too.

    “Wasn’t there supposed to be some event tonight?”

    That’s right. Tonight, Pixel Wars streamer server was holding a huge event to celebrate its one-month anniversary.

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