Chapter 48 : Rule – What is Broken (6)

Meanwhile, in a deep and dark underwater cave.

On Zeronix’s palm, an item emitting a brilliant light proudly displayed its presence.

[Shining Deep Sea Pearl]

A dazzling sight, shining brilliantly even in the pitch-black abyss.

There was no doubt it was a rare treasure.

“Hahaha! This is it!”

A hearty laugh erupted alongside the bubbling water.

A clan member, who had been sticking close to him, seized the moment and flattered him.

“Of course, it’s Zeronix. To think you’d break through that disgusting school of fish monsters!”

“Disgusting fish monsters, huh…”

Zeronix slightly furrowed his brows.

They had emitted a sticky, white liquid just before dying.

As a result, it stuck all over his body.

“Ugh, so soaked.”

“Two guys covered in white liquid…”

Chat comments mocking Zeronix flooded the stream.

“Well, it can’t be helped.”

It wasn’t particularly pleasant, but what could he do?

In the end, what mattered was that he had secured the first target material at a fairly fast pace.

“Hmm.”

He glanced at his broadcast chat window.

“Everyone’s slower than me.”

Some loyal viewers were kindly briefing on the movements of the competitors in real-time.

Of course, Zeronix wasn’t doing anything petty like opening another streamer’s broadcast and stream-sniping them.

After all… he was only referencing the “information” that viewers voluntarily provided.

“Hmph, isn’t this something everyone does?”

It was a skillful self-rationalization.

Zeronix checked the slow progress of his competitors out of the corner of his eye.

A smile lightly crept onto his lips.

“This event is mine.”

Despite everything, it was clear as day that his clan would take first place.

He had heard that some of the clans with fewer members had formed alliances.

“How dare a hastily thrown-together, ragtag party…,”

In comparison to the elite clan that had overcome countless obstacles and hardships together for up to three long weeks!

In fact, many of the members had only joined less than a week ago, but that minor detail—how Zeronix usually only gave orders from the rear—wasn’t important.

“The first hidden piece? Compared to this event, it’s nothing. Nothing at all…”

Earlier, he did receive a small ‘white liquid shower’ from the deep-sea creatures, but what of it?

Zeronix, a man who had dedicated his 33-year life to gaming.

Though he never spoke of it to anyone, ever since the night he lost the first hidden piece to the server, he had been plagued by nightmares.

A mysterious silver-haired girl appeared in his dreams, smiling and pointing at him with a finger.

“Hehe, huhu~”

“Ugh!”

Every time that happened, Zeronix would wake up in a cold sweat.

It was an unbearable humiliation.

“To end that nightmare, I have no choice but to win this event.”

Zeronix once again ignited his fighting spirit.

He turned his steps toward the next target material, located in the “Active Volcano Zone.”

His clan members, paired into teams of two, would probably gather materials at a similar pace.

Now that he had secured the deep-sea pearl, with this momentum, it was enough…!

Ding—!

With a loud system notification, a message appeared across the entire server.

[“‘SilverhairSilver’ and ‘Rydel’ have entered the ‘Altar of Stars’ for the first time!”]

…..

[“‘SilverhairSilver’ and ‘Rydel’ have completely defeated the ‘Demon of the Stars – Azranox’!”]

[“‘SilverhairSilver’ and ‘Rydel’ are the first to complete the Pixel Wars Streamer Server special quest! Congratulations!”]

……

[“The ‘Altar of Stars’ has been fully sealed! Entry is no longer possible!”]

[“Collector ‘Eldrin’ leaves the server with a hollow expression, having obtained no collectibles.”]

“…Huh?”

The portal scroll in Zeronix’s hand fell weakly.

***

Meanwhile, in the Pixel Wars Operations Room.

“Ah.”

After a heavy silence, Zeronix let out a deflated groan.

On his face, there was a mixture of disappointment, disbelief, and even a tiny bit of awe.

Even though he was clearly losing,he ended the game by capturing the opponent’s king in one swift move.

“…….”

The expression of a beginner player who thought they had won, only to lose in an instant.

It looked just like his own reflection on the monitor.

Sigh.

Zeronix let out a deep sigh.

“Deceptive Mask” to trick the golem and pass through the door.

Well, he could force himself to understand that, for sure.

It could be considered one of the ways to use the hidden piece, after all.

He couldn’t have predicted it, but still, he could try to understand it.

But to not stop there, and then give orders to the disabled golem, forcing it to fire the final boss-killing laser.

That, he couldn’t have imagined.

In the first place, he never even considered the possibility that the control of that golem could fall into the hands of an ordinary player.

Only SilverhairSilver managed to break the mold and find the answer in an instant.

“Hyung. But… is this okay?”

Frost, who was standing next to him, spoke up.

“Controlling the golem to defeat the boss seems… in some ways, it might be considered a bug-like play, don’t you think?”

“Shouldn’t we cancel the event win?”

Zeronix shook his head firmly.

This couldn’t be dismissed as simply exploiting a bug or taking advantage of a system flaw.

Within the given environment and rules, they had found a creative solution that no one else had thought of.

Moreover, he wasn’t the only one who thought this way.

Without saying a word, he pointed with his chin at Rydel’s broadcast screen and the community bulletin board that was currently ablaze in real-time.

“Look at the reactions right now.”

Rydel’s broadcast chat was already a frenzy.

《‘DawnWarrior’ donated 50,000 KRW!》

Those who slept well, crying tears of blood 😭 😭 😭 😭 😭.

「Lol 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂」

「Can these office workers understand this kind of fun?」

「LegendLegendLegend」

《‘DopamineAddict’ donated 30,000 KRW!》

My insides are burninggggg 😔😔😔😔😔.

《‘Delbung3’ donated 40,000 KRW!》

The production team must be crying tears of blood, they must’ve worked so hard preparing this.

「Using the items like that, amazing 🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩」

「My heart feels grand….」

 「Now this is a game 😁😁😁😁😁」

「☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️ You can hear Ksa’s cries all the way here!」

 「What the fuck .」

《‘SilverHairLover’ donated 10,000 KRW!》

Silverhair punch!

Silverhair punch!

Silverhair punch!

「Silverhair did something great」

「The hidden piece usage was insane 😅😅😅😅��」

Cheers and praise.

The viewers were sending boundless applause to SilverhairSilver’s play.

The community was the same.

【Did Zeronix raise the golem’s attack power like that? That’s ruthless, lol 😂😂😂😂😂】

【The server production team got completely robbed by Silverhair, right?☺️☺️☺️☺️☺️】

【Now this is what a hidden piece should be】

【Until now, there’s been no place to use the hidden piece, yeah】

Posts filled with admiration were exploding out every minute.

There were a few rare comments expressing disappointment about not seeing the boss patterns, but those were few and far between.

The viewers were basically people addicted to dopamine.

They thought the party members would be stuck for hours, but when an unexpected and refreshing development came up, the mood shifted in a positive direction.

Especially since this server wasn’t a long-lasting, typical RPG game.

It was a streamer server that only lasted for two months.

Rather than a meticulously balanced game, this kind of unique play was naturally more appreciated.

Frost was momentarily at a loss for words.

The public opinion was overwhelmingly favorable toward SilverhairSilver hair.

In this situation, imposing sanctions?

That would be like pouring oil on a fire.

“And another thing,”

Zeronix continued with a bitter expression.

“That ‘Deceptive Mask’…”

“The server’s one and only first hidden piece, yet the performance was so mediocre that there was a lot of talk about it being useless.”

“Honestly, we also… kind of left it alone for too long, didn’t we?”

Frost couldn’t deny it.

The ‘Deceptive Mask,’ despite being the only hidden piece, had very little practical use considering its symbolic value.

It was just too difficult to balance.

“But this time, it was used properly. And in a way that no one ever imagined, a truly creative method.”

“Now, everyone is saying, ‘Wow, they’re using the Deceptive Mask like that!’ ‘Finally, the hidden piece is living up to its name!’ and they’re all praising it.”

“If we suddenly show up and say, ‘Well, actually, that was a bug, and we’ll be penalizing it now…’”

“How do you think the atmosphere will be?”

At Zeronix’s words, Frost opened his mouth.

“…It’ll be super awkward, right?”

“Exactly. They’ll be saying, ‘You give us a hidden piece and then don’t even let us use it properly? Then why create it in the first place?’”

“If we speak up now, all we’ll get is complaints.”

Zeronix let out a short sigh.

If the ‘Deceptive Mask’ had boasted OP-level performance from the start, and SilverhairSilver had been using that power to easily clear quests every time, the situation would have been different.

There would certainly have been complaints like, ‘This is too broken,’ or ‘It’s ruining the balance.’

But the reality was the opposite.

The development team had failed to properly utilize the hidden piece’s value and had made its use extremely limited.

In that situation, one user had proved the hidden piece’s true potential in a way no one had imagined.

“We should just think of it as the karma we deserve. The sin of not giving the hidden piece proper treatment.”

Zeronix lamented.

But soon, a faint smile appeared on his face.

“Creative play that exceeded the developers’ expectations. In a way… this is the true charm of a sandbox game, don’t you think?”

“When a player finds a path we never thought of and shows it to us.”

Zeronix closed his eyes.

For the first time in a while, he felt like he was back to the days when he first started playing the game.

The days when they created Pixel Wars maps and played with the crew.

Back then, everything was clumsy, but still, it was fun.

As experience grew, mistakes decreased, and they were able to provide well-developed maps and broadcasts.

They were able to give viewers the stable entertainment they wanted.

But gradually, the passion started to fade.

Today was different.

It felt like the spark of passion, forgotten for a while, was reignited as a creator and streamer.

In reality, the event had failed.

No matter how good the atmosphere was, in the end, they didn’t manage to show what they were supposed to.

What was supposed to be hours of fun was instantly lost.

In the end, it was a loss.

But, he didn’t feel bad about it.

“By the way, there’s the event reward, right?”

Zeronix spoke up.

“Yeah. Should we lower the rewards a bit?”

“No, we should give what we promised. But, I’m thinking of adding one more thing to it.”

At Zeronix’s words, Frost’s expression subtly changed.

“Really? But that…”

“Don’t you think it’ll be fine? If they don’t want it, then we don’t have to give it to them.”