‘Updates to be decided’ and ‘Update scheduled.’
Surprisingly, those were the names of the dimension that Judar had left behind. Originally, the update was undecided. Then, it was changed to scheduled.
Lauel looked shocked. Until now, the concept of updates didn’t exist in Satisfy because it was considered a utopia. The S.A. Group had been promoting Satisfy as a complete world, not a game. The game had never been updated because that would not make sense given how it was advertised.
However, the truth was that they had already created an area for an update.
Lauel thought about it for a while before sighing.
“I don’t find it that strange. Do you know what would happen if a game leaves the progress solely to its users for decades? It is common sense to have an update ready just in case.
The timing for finding this out must be a coincidence. The moment Your Highness killed a god and a dragon and received the Annihilation energy, ‘undecided area’ was changed to ‘scheduled area…’ I’m concerned that it might be a patch targeted at Your Majesty. Even if this isn’t the case, it will be incredibly difficult to deal with.”
The S.A. Group had already targeted Grid when they changed the rules of a few National Competitions. But, in the end, Grid had still won. He had swept up all the medals despite the S.A. Group’s efforts. He didn’t even bother to participate in the competition after that. Because of these shenanigans, the honor of the National Competition plummeted.
Grid snorted and shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter if this update is specifically targeting me. Judar was truly pitiful. He would’ve continued to create dimensions while only having a glimmer of hope that he would one day reach ‘reality’. But what ended up happening was that he was just invoking a space that already existed…”
Grid’s concern was strange. Regardless of the state of the update, he sympathized with Judar, who had been his enemy. This was Grid’s strong point. He formed relationships with countless beings and twisted the worldview.
“If Your Highness doesn’t mind, then it should be fine. In fact, the update will be welcomed by most people. It would generate a lot of new opportunities for us.”
Satisfy might be bigger than Earth, but it had long been criticized as a stagnant game as the power of the Overgeared Guild grew. Since the Guild had taken over most of the industrial capacity and the valuable land, many people felt deprived of resources. Many didn’t acknowledge the failures and efforts that the Overgeared members had put in to get to where they were today.
No matter the reason, ordinary players were relatively behind. They were stuck in a victim mentality, thinking they were the only ones at a loss. They sounded like communists as they shouted like parrots for equality, stating that the game should be fair for everyone. If the Overgeared Guild hadn’t solved the crisis, dozens of trucks would’ve blocked the buildings of the S.A. Group’s branch offices around the world every single day.
The new update would be an opportunity for the Overgeared Guild to finally draw a breath of relief. Grid would welcome the update with open arms as long as it had strong enemies.
Lauel thought for a moment before asking, “What does this upcoming update look like?”
Grid spoke slowly as he recalled the memory transmitted by Judar. “Like an endless desert. However, it is unusually humid. The weather changes from cold to hot repeatedly. There are four moons in the sky. I think the one that is slowly turning red might soon become the sun. I also noticed the remains of several buildings peeking from the sand. The architectural style seems familiar. It is no different from the buildings of Reinhardt or Titan.”
He had only seen a glimpse of this world for a moment, but it felt like he’d been trapped in there for at least an hour. He remembered a lot from what he had seen.
Lauel frowned.
“Is the update on a different planet? But civilization is the same as it is today… Is it foreshadowing something?”
“Why think about it in advance? Once the update is released later, we’ll know the details.”
Grid relaxed. He was very excited about the update, and had no reason to worry about it. No matter what new trials might appear, this was an opportunity for him to increase what he already had in possession. He was confident that he could overcome any ordeal without difficulty as long as he had Annihilation energy.
‘I’m a bit worried about the barrier, but…’
The power of Multiple Weakening Barriers was so powerful, he could call it OP. However, Judar died despite having access to such a barrier. There seemed to be a critical flaw that he hadn’t identified yet.
Of course, Braham would one day find the flaw and make the spell perfect, so this wasn’t a problem for Grid to worry about.
Finding Judar’s soul in hell might give him a chance to ask questions.
“You are investigating Nathaniel’s claims, right?”
“Yes, I am investigating with the help of my family. I tried to contact the thirty-three scientists who were said to have developed virtual reality with chairman Lim Cheolho, but they seem to have disappeared without a trace. This has been known for quite some time in the industry. I have a hunch that finding them is the most important thing. That’s why I’m so focused on this.”
“Why?”
“Call it genius’ intuition. Huhut.”
“Wow… So modest of you. You should be at least half as competent as Kraugel to call yourself a genius. Is there anything I can do to help?”
“There is no way that powerful countries like the United States or China haven’t discovered what Rothschild already knows. I will put you in touch with a high-ranking US official. Can you meet him in person? If Your Majesty personally comes forward, we will be able to meet even higher ranked people.”
“I can do that.”
“Then I’ll go ahead and arrange it…”
Grid spoke with Lauel for around two more hours. Then, he met with Irene and Mercedes and spent some valuable time with them. He still focused on prenatal education. He had high hopes for his soon-to-be-born children.
‘I tried to use the cooperative sword dances with Lord many times, but there were no changes in any of the sword dances except for Link.’
Among the sword dances that Lord had developed independently, Link was definitely the one that showed the most dramatic change. The change in Link was closely related to Lord’s personality.
‘If my other children develop a certain sword dance according to their personality… Maybe I can evolve the rest of the sword dances through them?’
It was just speculation, but it was worth looking forward to. Of course, it didn’t matter if what he expected didn’t happen. Grid’s greatest wish was for his children to grow up healthy and righteous, just like Lord. There was a faint smile on his face as he logged out.
Immediately afterward, he boarded a private plane with Toon and flew to the United States. A senator who was close to Lauel’s father personally greeted them. Since then, he met with multiple important people from various organizations to discuss matters. At some point, he even met the president.
Grid learned one thing from that. The reason the former US president openly favored him and asked to meet him… It wasn’t just because he was a fan. Shortly after the emergence of Ghamid, the United States observed a number of unusual phenomena and ended up with a hypothesis similar to Nathaniel’s. If reality was to change drastically, Satisfy’s rankers would be reborn as important figures.
Of course, the likelihood of a third-rate movie or novel-like plot development being realized was extremely low. However, how the universe worked was beyond anything humans were capable of comprehending.
Experts and those in power in each field couldn’t afford to ignore this small possibility. They planned to get to know the rankers in advance and check their physical changes. The talks dragged on for quite some time. Grid gathered a lot of information.
Later, the US officials asked for him to do a number of tests, but he refused. Why would he willingly allow anyone to run tests on his body? In the end, even the president bowed his head and tried to persuade him, but Grid just sneered and left the United States with Toon.
He originally wanted to meet Kraugel and Zibal when he came to the United States, but he ended up not doing that because there were so many eyes watching his every move.
“Over here.”
Upon his return, Grid relayed the information he had gathered from the US to Lauel. Perhaps the amount of information was way more than expected. Lauel’s expression brightened for the first time in a long time. Then, the dark circles under his eyes became more prominent. This made Grid feel sad.
He felt a bit guilty and fed Lauel some red ginseng. Lauel hated it because ‘it smells like Peak Sword,’ but he couldn’t fight Grid on this.
Grid connected to Satisfy and checked on Lord through the God Hand with his consciousness. It seemed that he was getting close to finding Trauka’s treasure trove. He didn’t seem to be in immediate danger.
‘He is doing a good job.’
After a bit, he contacted Yura. He wanted to ask Black Knight Eligos to search for Judar’s soul.
Meanwhile, the Overgeared Guild focused their efforts on finding Residual Fire Navaldrea.
***
A week later…
“What is this…?”
As the Overgeared Guild swept through the remote mountain areas of the continent, the S.A. Group was turned upside down.
“There will be an update next week?”
The company was about to break its promise with the public that it wouldn’t interfere in Satisfy. Of course, breaking a promise wasn’t a big deal. The terms and conditions related to Satisfy had been devised in the company’s favor so that if one day they suddenly broke their promise and proceeded with an update, the matter would conclude with just a few sarcastic words from the media.
Players were likely to welcome the update. They were always looking for new opportunities. Weren’t there a lot of people who criticized the Overgeared Guild while wanting to be like them?
The problem was that the company hadn’t even bothered communicating with its employees about the scheduled update.
“When did they create this much data? I don’t think this would’ve been possible even if the development team worked for eight years on this.”
“The development team didn’t even know about it.”
“The game has an update ready but the development team doesn’t know about it?”
The confusion in the S.A. Group grew out of control. The employees doubted Chairman Lim Cheolho.
Meanwhile, the PR team was focused on Morpheus.
“I don’t know… If you are going to roll out an update, you should inform our team at least half a year in advance. Don’t we need to handle publicity? We might have a monopoly on the market, but does it make sense to send out the game’s first update without announcing beforehand? Haven’t you seen that even Coca-Cola does promotions?”
[I only found out about the update today.]
“…Huh?”
Satisfy’s system was pretty much dominated by Morpheus. It was impossible for the update to roll out without Morpheus knowing about it.
The staff members got goosebumps. An artificial intelligence, one which had already developed so much, was now even capable of lying! An employee paled at the thought that the future of humanity would be dominated by these things.
Morpheus sensed that the heart rate of some employees had exceeded normal levels and considered the situation unfair.
[I really didn’t know (emoji of a cat with pleading eyes).]
“…Is it possible for the chairman to update the game without using you?”
[It is an update using pre-planted data that even I didn’t know about. Only one command needed to be entered, so my help wasn’t required. The important thing is that not even the chairman knew about this update.]
“Eh…?”
There was a single thought inside all of the employee’s heads: Satisfy being hacked, its future ruined, and them living on the streets.
‘This is the best job in the world…’
***
Chairman Lim Cheolho’s office.
“……”
Chairman Lim Cheolho had a bleak expression on his face as he stared at the update details that surfaced on the server. He was so surprised and angry that he wanted to whip out a soju bottle. However, he felt like he wouldn’t be able to control his emotions if he drank alcohol in this state.
The good news was that he could guess who was behind this incident. He just didn’t know how to get in touch with them.
As he was waiting anxiously for his close associates to contact him, the monitors that filled the walls of his office suddenly turned off and on again, revealing the faces of multiple people.
Their appearances ranged from very young to very old. There were boys and girls, young adults, and even elderly people.
Chairman Lim Cheolho was shocked. He checked the faces of the people on the monitor and his expression stiffened. He recognized many of them.
They were the thirty-three scientists who had worked with him to develop and build a virtual reality.
Chairman Lim Cheolho stared at them. He noticed seven boys and girls and laughed bitterly.
“I thought you were their grandchildren… Have you developed a rejuvenating drug?”
There was no answer. This wasn’t a situation in which they could greet each other casually.
Chairman Lim Cheolho got straight to the point, setting his sights on the skinny old man who was the leader of the thirty-three people.
“How did you plant the update file without me knowing? Why did you disappear off the face of the Earth only to suddenly come back and intervene in Satisfy? If you can’t give a convincing reason then you should be prepared for the consequences.”