Chapter 90 : Chapter 90
Chapter 90
Now it was certain.
There was no [Reinhardt] in the marketing team.
The same was true for the development office led by Han Yura.
Even she, who had designed the world, judged it as an 'impossible' feat.
If Han Yura couldn't do it, then no other developer could either.
'Then.'
Choi Ho-jun began to have a strange thought.
Perhaps the culprit was not an employee of Skylines.
Not an employee of this company, but someone who had somehow secretly extracted the client and was playing it.
'To purely enjoy a game with data you went to the trouble of hacking and extracting, and then to openly post about it on a community. Is that possible?'
It was madness.
But that was by Choi Ho-jun's standards.
The world was full of all sorts of people.
They each had different personalities, different tastes, and different goals.
Wasn't this a time when the world population had already surpassed 8 billion?
Among 8 billion humans, it wouldn't be strange for there to be at least one such eccentric.
'What a truly crazy thought.'
Choi Ho-jun realized that his own mind was starting to go strange.
He was letting his imagination run wild.
To explain an inexplicable situation, he was setting up an inexplicable hypothesis.
'The culprit is an outsider. Not a company employee. Assuming that, it would be a hacker. A very skilled hacker at that. Maybe even someone so filthy rich they could hire such a hacker.'
And he would be Korean.
In fact, he might not be Korean, but Choi Ho-jun thought so.
After all, he was posting on a Korean community.
Looking at the posts he wrote, it was hard to think he was a foreigner.
'In the first place, if he weren't Korean, there would be no reason to post there. Soul Calibur is a reasonably successful game even on a global scale.'
A Korean hacker.
Or a suspiciously rich Korean.
'Someone who is confident they will never be caught, or has enough wealth to clean up even if they leave a trail, or has a high social standing.'
Instantly, the faces of various people flashed through his mind.
A chaebol family.
A businessman who made a huge success in some kind of business.
A hacker group that operates without revealing their faces.
Or a high-ranking politician, or perhaps someone working for the National Intelligence Service…….
“Damn it.”
The endlessly expanding train of thought came to a halt.
As he thought, he found a problem.
“People like that are doing this kind of thing?”
Choi Ho-jun had finally come face to face with a conundrum.
To pull something like this off, one had to be a person of considerable social standing.
And such a person would have no reason to do something so bizarre.
'Is it an employee after all? Inside Skylines? An executive? No, that's the same. Would an executive be crazy enough to do this? Actually, if you think about it, wouldn't it be the same for a regular employee?'
Question after question tangled together.
In the end, what was important was the reason.
The reason.
The reason for doing such a dangerous, and also meaningless, thing.
Pssss.
It felt like steam was rising from his head.
It wasn't a problem that could be solved just by thinking.
'A normal guy like me, no matter how much I think about it, there's no way I can figure it out.
What reason does a crazy person need to do a crazy thing?'
Perhaps that was it.
Just because it's fun.
Because they want to mess with people.
It meant that if he caught them, they might give such an absurd reason.
Team Leader Choi Ho-jun realized that a crossroads was now right in front of him.
To the left was a cliff.
Report the truth and pay the price.
Instead, the culprit would surely be caught. Even if they couldn't be caught, this absurd situation would definitely end.
To the right was a winding and rugged path.
He couldn't know what lay at the end of it, but at least for now, he could avoid falling off the cliff.
“To the right.”
The answer had been decided from the beginning.
And for Choi Ho-jun to proceed on the right path, he needed a partner.
A partner to contemplate and solve the given problem together.
“Manager Han Yura. Do you have a moment?”
Choi Ho-jun sought out Han Yura again.
She was typing on her keyboard with her hair tied up and wearing glasses.
She looked extremely busy, but fortunately, an answer came back.
“If it's about [Reinhardt], I can make time.”
Her gaze was still fixed on the monitor.
Complex programming language flickered faintly over her large-lensed glasses.
“It is about that.”
“Then I have time. Go ahead.”
“This is information that must not leak elsewhere.”
“I can't make that promise. What if you've committed a crime, Team Leader Choi Ho-jun?”
“That's of course…… I understand. I'll just make it a request. If you don't feel like it, you're free to disclose it.”
“On that condition, fine.”
It was a secret he had hidden for a long time.
In the marketing team, it was something they only whispered and speculated about, but not a single word had leaked outside the team until now.
“[Reinhardt] is not a member of the marketing team.”
“Really?”
Her head snapped up.
Behind her glasses. Her expression, which had been clearly haggard, was now wide open as if it had never been so.
“Then who is it? An outsourced worker? Or someone you know personally?”
“I don't know.”
“Excuuuse me?”
“I don't know. I don't know who this Reinhardt person is, how they are playing an unreleased expansion pack, or what on earth they're thinking doing this. I don't know anything. I know nothing.”
“For real?”
“I'm about to die for real. I couldn't take it anymore, so I'm only disclosing this to you, Manager. If this gets out, I'm fired. If I get fired like this, it'll be hard to get a job elsewhere.”
Choi Ho-jun laid it all out.
It was a secret that anyone else would only confess when pushed to the absolute limit.
But his opponent was Han Yura.
Because she was famous for being an eccentric, he was able to reveal it and ask for help.
“I see. You'd definitely be fired.”
“That's what I'm saying. Please save me, Manager. I'm really going crazy.”
“The police?”
“It's too late. I should have just come clean at the beginning. I thought it was something one of my team members did on their own, and the results were good, right? So I got greedy and… it came to this.”
Once he started talking, his inner thoughts flowed out without even a moment's hesitation.
After all, if Han Yura had bad intentions, it was over for him here.
In that case, it was better to try and evoke some sympathy at least… as he was thinking that.
“This should be fun.”
“Excuse me?”
“This should be fun. Shall we look into it?”
For a moment, Choi Ho-jun felt like he had seen the light.
Han Yura, who he had only thought of as an eccentric, became his only hope at this moment.
“Manager. Thank you so much. Really.”
“I didn't know anything. If things go south.”
“That's of course……”
“And in my opinion.”
There wasn't even time to offer thanks.
Han Yura's eyes gleamed as she grinned.
“The culprit is in here. Inside the Skylines building.”
***
The gateway city of Serigel.
Until recently, it was a bustling city where incidents never ceased due to its nature, but in just a few months, the atmosphere had completely reversed.
First, the crime rate had plummeted.
Not only petty thieves and other minor offenders, but there hadn't been a single person who committed a serious crime in recent times.
Also, Serigel became a wealthy city.
It was thanks to the generous investments that poured in from all sides.
Not only the church world, including the three major orders, but also some nobles took an interest, and any caravan of a certain size established a branch in Serigel without fail.
‘This is why mascots are important. There's a reason they push so hard to create a local specialty.’
The very person who had brought about all these changes.
Knight Reinhardt nodded with satisfaction at the distinctly changed atmosphere of the city.
‘So far, it seems to be flowing as expected. At this point, I can probably consider it to have entered a stable phase.’
He had firmly established his position.
Reinhardt had become the mascot of the eastern part of the Empire. Even the great Paganoa Knights had come to the point of begging him to do so.
“……The guardian of Serigel has returned! No, the guardian of the Far East!”
“I am a knight of Taton.”
“Of course! You are also a knight of Taton. Welcome back. Was there anything special? You have no idea how eagerly I waited for your return.”
And as soon as I returned to the knight order.
Reinhardt came face to face with the fuss-making commander.
“There was a minor problem, and there were also achievements. I will report the details soon. Was there nothing of note in Serigel?”
“Nothing at all. Who could possibly covet Serigel? With you standing guard right there.
Looking at it again, it's really well made. Indeed, is it not a masterpiece created with all the devotion of Serigel's finest craftsmen!”
Ethan excitedly pointed at Reinhardt’s statue.
‘It is certainly well made.’
The scale of the statue was massive.
Moreover, it was so delicate that even the expression was properly alive.
“Let's go inside first.”
“I shall gladly escort you. Everyone, back to your posts! Sir Reinhardt is tired!”
Ethan took the lead and chased away the members who had gathered around.
It looked like he was shooing away flies, but no one seemed dissatisfied.
Rather, the atmosphere was one of satisfaction just from having seen Reinhardt.
“Ah, and Personnel Officer Miya Luxpenber sent a letter. Of course! I did not dare to check the contents. Because it is a letter sent directly to you from Paganoa.”
“Thank you.”
“It's a matter of course for a commander. So……”
Click.
Ethan, who had closed the door to the commander's office and entered, looked at Reinhardt with an expectant gaze.
“How was your journey to the north? Dame Evangeline must have returned to Paganoa, right?”
“Yes, first of all, I dealt with one warlock.”
“……The evil influence has spread throughout the Empire. At this rate, there will be no safe place.”
“It seemed there were more of them in hiding than I thought. And, as originally planned, I obtained a sword for my use, and I have formed a positive relationship with an excellent blacksmith.”
“An excellent blacksmith? Oh, I see. The sword you are using now is that very item. Could you show it to me?”
“Yes.”
Reinhardt willingly untied his sword and showed it to him.
‘Ethan might be able to notice.’
Ethan Taton was an outstanding merchant.
Recently, he had been acting as if he was trying to fulfill the role of a knight commander, albeit clumsily, but even so, one's fundamental nature does not change easily.
“This, no, a thing like this……”
As expected.
Ethan was examining the sword with his eyes wide open.
He had clearly recognized its true value.
“In the north, something like this, yes. A thing like this would have to be worthy of Sir Reinhardt. It's only natural.”
“The blacksmith's skill was outstanding.”
“I had expected it when you made the precious journey to the north. M-may I take a closer look?”
“Yes. That's fine.”
Reinhardt willingly gave him time.
There was no urgent matter, and he was in a good mood right now.
‘It seems Ethan has some kind of ability too.’
It would probably be his ability as a merchant.
Something like an eye for gauging the value of objects, or discovering the hidden effects of equipment.
For a moment like that.
While letting Ethan admire the Sword of Light.
‘Let’s see.’
Reinhardt tore open the envelope stamped with the seal of Paganoa and checked its contents.