Chapter 7
Chapter 7 Slime is too strong (3)
The Korean branch of Arcadia Co., Ltd.
As it was in the early days of opening, the entire company was busy.
“Yeah, the initial supply of connectors is out! I asked the head office for additional supplies, but when will this be delivered...”
“Chief! The balance update plan for this quarter has been completed.”
“This surrogate! Who did you decide to dispatch technical support staff to the virtual reality experience center?”
“hey! Is it time to be aesthetically aesthetic right now? First, finish the report!”
It is a situation where there is no bird to open eyes while handling the pouring work here and there in the department. However, the busiest department among them was the customer center team, which was in charge of direct communication with customers.
“Yes customer. We are currently doing our best to find out about the matters you have inquired about. If you wait a little longer...”
[Wait? When I was killed by a strange guy while catching slime yesterday, I thought so. After the access restriction was lifted, I went hunting again, but this time, why is the slime going crazy
! Mi-yeon, who was in charge of the phone, closed her eyes tightly to the sudden high-pitched voice, and answered in a drained voice.
“As for the slime becoming stronger than before, we are also investigating the cause. I'm really sorry that the character died because of that problem. I'll inform you later through a notice, so just a little more...”
[Ah! What kind of games are there! I'm not going to do it, so please give me a refund or make it right!]
“Customer? sir?”
Mi-yeon hung up the phone before she could say anything. However, she couldn't come to her senses at the phone call that came again without a moment to panic. And it wasn't just her problem.
“what! What the hell is this?”
Kang Hyuk-soo, general manager of the Customer Center. He asked as he looked around the office full of sweaty employees on his phone.
“Complaints from high customers are increasing rapidly.”
“Is it about that strange killer again?”
“no! Regarding the balance in the game... The monsters suddenly became incredibly strong...”
“What? What are you talking about?”
Manager Kang Hyuk-soo tilted his head slightly at the explanation of his subordinate. It was not easy to understand the contents of the related inquiries because he was a veteran who had already rolled and rolled for more than ten years in a game-related company.
“An hour ago, we started receiving complaints about being killed by slime. At first, I thought it was just a simple complaint, but hundreds of similar inquiries have already been received.”
“Has there been any cooperation from the management team regarding the balance adjustment?”
“We were not aware of anything, so we inquired with the relevant department, but they didn’t seem to know at all!”
“What bullshit is that! A balance change that the management team doesn’t know about!”
Manager Kang Hyuk-soo, who had been muttering something absurd, took a sip of coffee without thinking about it, opened his eyes wide as if he realized something, and asked again.
“Wait, the monster that became abnormally strong is a slime?”
“yes? Ah yes. Slime is right.”
Looking at manager Kang Hyuk-soo, who suddenly asked with a serious face, the employee answered with a puzzled expression. Then, Manager Kang Hyuk-soo stood up from his seat and said,
“This matter is urgently forwarded to the relevant departments. The action step is a serious priority.”
“yes? Are you serious?”
A subordinate who asks back as if he doesn't understand. It was hard for him to understand Director Kang Hyuk-soo's instructions, as it was just right to hear regretful comments about him making a fuss over trivial matters and making him tired after passing it on to another department as a serious error even though it was not a fatal error.
“You still don’t know?”
“.....”
Manager Kang Hyuk-soo asked softly, looking at him who couldn't open his mouth to his own question.
“Do you know how many connectors we install every day?”
“I understand that they are installing about 10,000 new units a day.”
As the department is also in charge of installing connectors, the staff speaks confidently as if they are familiar with it. At his answer, Manager Kang Hyuk-soo nodded.
“Yes, that means that more than 10,000 new users are being created every day. Then, what kind of existence is slime in the game?”
“That's... ah!”
While trying to answer his question, the employee exclaimed what he realized and put on a serious expression.
“Yes, slime is a new user’s first game and a basic training target for combat. But... what if that slime becomes so strong that beginners can never catch it?”
There is no big problem with errors that just make normal monsters stronger. After all, I just had to catch a monster of a similar level, not that monster. However, the problem was serious for beginners who knew little about the game they had just started playing.
“That means...”
“After being killed by a slime, access is restricted and the number of angry complaint calls increases by 10,000 a day alone.”
“.....”
Complaints and complaints are increasing by ‘ten thousand' a day. He shuddered involuntarily, imagining the number of protest calls that would increase to the point of paralyzing his business with just a little delay.
“If you understand, immediately report the situation to the development and operation teams. Please check and fix the problem right away.”
“ah! yes I will do it right now!”
Kang Hyuk-soo, who watched the employee hurriedly return to his seat, suddenly felt a strong sense of unknown anxiety in his heart.
“Should I ask for more staff...”
As he ate for a while, his intuition, which had increased without his knowledge, was telling him. A disturbing prophecy that we will be doing a lot of close communication with our customers for a very long time.
* * *
A slime strengthened by consuming all of Jaeyoung's probabilities.
As the level went up, the characteristics themselves changed as well, so a massacre took place in the slime habitat.
“This crazy! Why are these guys doing this! It doesn't do any damage!”
“evil! it hurts! Why does it hurt! Gafi in both rooms!”
The killing squad gathered here and there to catch Jaeyoung. They fought back against the slimes who suddenly changed and rushed at them, but it didn't take long for them to turn gray due to the powerful damage that even those who had changed jobs as warriors felt burdened.
“Kwuuuuu!”
A bunch of slimes showing off their bright eyes and making cute cries. However, the corpses of the dead players that formed the fields around it were truly grotesque. And even under these circumstances, beginners who did not know how to do it still continued to set foot in the slime habitat.
“hey! It's Mingyu! There is a slime over there.”
“ah! Don't call me by my real name! Call me Kaiser, Kaiser!”
Two newbies heading to the slime habitat while squabbling whether they are friends. Seeing them from afar, Jaeyoung soon witnessed them collapse in a gray light in a single shot.
“Kwaaaaaaang!”
A slime that roars cutely as if it has won and jumps around. Jaeyoung, who felt a sense of alienation from the warlike appearance as if he were a beast, smiled pleasantly at the message that appeared in front of him.
[Enhanced slime killed the beginner.]
[Probability increases by 1.]
[Enhanced slime kills the beginner by 1.]
[Probability increases by 1.]
-Probability: 3924
“It's only been 2 hours, but already this It's great, isn't it?”
only 2 hours. In two hours, more beginners died at the hands of the slimes than Jaeyoung killed in two nights. A situation where you have acquired a value that is 4 times higher than the probability you have already consumed. There was still a lot of time left until the mission was completed.
[Killing beginners]
Killing newbie users who have not changed jobs.
-Number of novices killed: 4949
-Time remaining: 3 days 22 hours 46 minutes 17 seconds.
“I wish I could strengthen it a little more...”
After acquiring additional probability, I tried to strengthen the slime more, but unfortunately, additional strengthening was not possible. As if he wanted to teach the truth of life that everything has a timing, he couldn't find the window itself that manipulated the slime's abilities.
“Well... this is enough, so it shouldn't matter.”
A situation like honey where the probability rises on its own just by sitting still and breathing without being chased by people as a killer. Jaeyoung decided to enjoy watching the obituary of a beginner who had gone to the wild road somewhere that came to mind without rest. It's as if he doesn't care about everything that's going on outside.
* * *
Arcadia's official community site.
Arpandia.
This place, where users who play Arcadia can upload and share their play videos and even raise advertising revenue through those videos, has been growing more actively and rapidly than any other community since its opening. And a video with a provocative title was uploaded to Arpendia.
-The slime is too strong.-
A user who seems to have just started the game. After looking around the beginner's village, I went straight to catch the slime to break the beginner's quest, or tutorial. Arriving at the slime habitat right in front of the village, he swung his wooden sword at the green slime with pure and sparkling eyes as if he didn't know anything.
[Kwuuuu!]
Slime looked at him for a moment as if asking what he was doing. And the slime chugged at him and threw a body headbutt. And at that moment, the screen went black.
[The player has died. 24-hour access restrictions are granted. Be mindful of play.]
The video ended with the message that he had died.
- Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. is it dead? to slime?
-What? is it a concept? Why die in one hit?
- Now abnormally strong slime. i die too
-Eh? What do you mean? did you get stronger?
From people who don't know what's going on, to people who whine after death. The bulletin board quickly burned down as many people started talking about slime.
- This shit is real. At level 1, if you get hit by a real slime, you lose.
-Is this a game?
- Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
-It's an express ticket to the underworld.
-I'm level 3, but I get hit 2 times and die;;.
- Oh, that's annoying. It's a game for money, but is it true that you're joking around like this?
As numerous cases of damage were mentioned and poured out one after another to be called simple chirashi, people's attention went beyond attracting attention and even articles began to appear.
- Does it creak from the start of the virtual reality game? Outpouring of consumer complaints.
-Unannounced submarine patch game company's lack of communication.
- What is the bare face of consumers who complain of excessive death penalty?
- Adjustment of questionable monster stats. A blitz analysis of the reason!
From fairly large-scale game news sites to third-rate chirashi and overspending places. While the press that smelled it rushed to bite it, the Korean branch of Arcadia Co., Ltd. was busy holding an emergency meeting.
“Let’s start by reporting the situation.”
Executive Director Myung-Han Kwon entered the conference room. Seeing him hurriedly coming in and sitting down, everyone could feel once again that the current situation is not the time to relax.
“Around 13:20 today, we confirmed that the slime's abilities were abnormally enhanced. As a result, the number of deaths by slime users who were unaware of the related facts has increased rapidly, and complaints and complaints related to this have increased exponentially.”
“Is this something fixed by the operations team?”
“Once we checked, it was absolutely not our side. We don't have the authority to do that, and nobody adjusts to these insane numbers.”
The head of the balance team protested with an unfair face as if he was absolutely not at the question of Executive Director Myung-Han Kwon.
“At headquarters?”
“I strongly inquired and asked to confirm related information, but there is no answer yet.”
“I'll check that part myself, so I'll skip it. First of all, how exactly have the numbers been adjusted?”
At the words of Kwon Myeong-han, the balance team leader said with a drawn expression.
“first.... Base attack damage increased tenfold from 10 to 100.”
“.....”
The meeting room was enveloped in silence at the words that it had risen ten times. Even Executive Director Kwon Myeong-han began to look at the report in a hurry as if it was absurd. and asked again.
“Wait a minute, what is the basic health of newly created characters?”
He did not have an easy answer to that question.
Everyone's attention was focused on the balance team leader's mouth. He gave an answer to the question with a very difficult expression.
“...Exactly 100.”
“.....”
One shot one kill.
They were slimes who sent green beginners who had just set foot in Arcadia directly to the express train to the underworld.