— If Nobody Spends Cash, the World Ends. —
That was a famous saying by Mark Twain.
The reason was simple. If God created the world, then it was an online game.
An online game world eats up server maintenance costs.
Thus, the conclusion follows that God, or the Constellations, must keep opening their wallets if the world is not to be shut down.
From the perspective of the created beings, there was no way a Constellation stingily closing their wallet could be anything but a bad thing.
And there was only one person who could stop that.
Han Jaewon.
Originally, he had lived on Earth.
His hobby was gaming, and his specialty was writing long posts on game communities that nobody read.
And if he got even two recommendations, including his own, he wrote more.
That day was no different.
Two in the morning. The patch for the game he had logged into was so awful that he couldn’t sleep. Jaewon kicked off his blanket, got up, and sat down in front of his keyboard.
‘Do the people getting paid really not know about problems you can figure out from your own room?’
The post he wrote was vast.
An analysis of why users were leaving, the problems with content design, the holes in the profit structure, examples of long-term systems that could be adopted instead of short-term fixes meant to grab immediate gains and run…
The conclusion was a single sentence.
‘At this point, I could do it too. Everyone except the designers and programmers can get lost.’
After slamming in his own recommendation, he went to sleep feeling proud.
When he opened his eyes, he was in a cabin with a skeleton beside him.
It was the place where the former director had run things like hell and died.
This is the story of how he skimmed fees from a Constellation story.
======================================
■ ARCANA ONLINE ■
Official Update Patch Notes
Ver. 4.1.7 — "The Age of Gunpowder"
======================================
Hello, this is the Arcana Online operations team.
This patch celebrates the birth of the new weapon "Flame Artillery(火炎砲)," independently developed by the artisan guild of the dwarven autonomous territory "Bouldur Workshop" and now beginning distribution across the continent.
We sincerely pay our respects to the endless craftsmanship of the dwarven artisan guild, including Bouldur Workshop’s chief artisan, "Ttukttagi Bolt Nut IV."
Special Thanks — We thank the Constellation "Flame of the Red Furnace" for supporting the Flame Artillery development project to the very end. The interest and sponsorship of the Constellations are what move Arcana.
▶ New Weapon Category Added
Flame Artillery(砲)-type weapons have been officially registered as an item group.
The new derivative class, Artilleryman(砲擊手), has been added.
The related skill tree will be announced separately at a later date.
▶ Balance Adjustments — Ranged Classes
With the official registration of the Flame Artillery type, issues of combat power imbalance among existing ranged classes have been raised.
Accordingly, the upper limits of some class groups will be adjusted as follows.
#Enchanted bows / special-ability bow-type weapons
— Regardless of projectile detonation method, the attack power upper limit of all weapons judged to be "bow-type" weapons that operate through magical or special power will be increased.
— Please refer to the table below for detailed values.
Weapon Grade / Previous Attack Power Cap / New Cap
Rare / 1,800 / 2,200
Epic / 3,400 / 4,100
Legendary / 6,000 / 7,500
Mythic / Unmeasurable / Unmeasurable
※ The criteria for judging "bow-type" includes similarity in firing structure. Detailed judgment logic follows the system’s internal standards.
▶ Operations Status Notice
Arcana’s current world activity index is at the "Normal" stage.
The continued interest of the Constellations makes the world of Arcana even richer.
Should the activity index enter the "Danger" stage, the operations team may take additional measures.
The operations team will continue to strive for the healthy ecosystem of Arcana Online.
We thank all adventurers who always love Arcana, and all Constellations who sponsor the world—
Please enjoy your life in Arcana Online.
— From the ARCANA ONLINE Patch Director —
Patch Application Time: Immediately after server maintenance
Inquiries: Please use the official operations team bulletin board.
******
— Clang.
A steel hammer tossed into one corner of the workshop struck the anvil and bounced away.
The elderly dwarf whose beard reached his ankles, Bouldur Workshop’s chief artisan Ttukttagi Bolt Nut IV, snorted with his arms crossed.
"You saw it. You saw it, right? This patch."
"Saw it."
Spanner Copperhead, the young dwarf hammering away at an iron plate across from him, answered halfheartedly.
"The long-ears get a bow buff, a new class, this and that— and our Flame Artillery gets one measly category registration. Registration! There isn’t even a skill tree! They say it’ll be announced later! Later!"
"Later. Tater."
"Hey, this isn’t the time for wordplay. Want me to make your head look like a flathead bolt?"
Bolt Nut IV’s beard trembled. Three or four dwarves inside the workshop slowly averted their gazes. Once that beard started trembling, it meant overtime tonight.
"Thirty years. Thirty years of hammering iron, and they buff the long-ears’ bows? When we’re the ones who invented gunpowder? We did?"
"Sir."
Spanner set down his hammer and slowly opened his mouth. In the workshop, he was one of the few whose head worked properly.
"It does feel unfair."
"It is unfair!"
"But if you look closely— this patch might not be all bad."
Bolt Nut IV’s eyebrows twitched.
Spanner pointed his finger at the patch notice that had made its way deep into the cave.
"It says the attack power cap is being raised for all ‘bow-type judged weapons’ that operate with magical or special power. And it says the judgment criteria include similarity in firing structure."
"…So?"
"You know the ballista. The one you stopped making last year because you said it was better to just use a cannon outright."
"Yeah."
"What if we put a magic enchantment on that?"
A moment of silence.
Bolt Nut IV’s eyes slowly widened.
"You’re saying that… would get counted as a ‘magic bow-type’?"
"It says similarity in firing structure. Since it fires by pulling a string. If we add a magic enchantment on top of that, I think it could receive all the buffs from this patch."
The workshop fell silent.
One by one, the dwarves stopped moving their hands and looked at one another.
And then—
A smile slowly bloomed across Bolt Nut IV’s wrinkled face.
"Spanner."
"Yes."
"Dinner tonight is on me."
---
Somewhere in the forest.
A single cabin was embedded halfway up a trackless mountain.
It had no windows, no signboard, and no proper-looking door. Only a thin trail of smoke rose from the chimney.
A place whose location no one knew, and which no one visited.
Creak.
A bird descended through a hole in the pitch-black roof of the cabin.
The interior was dark. The light of the fireplace barely licked across the room. Maps and parchments were piled messily on the table, and in the chair opposite them—
A figure was seated.
The bird tilted its head.
"The dwarven workshop has begun developing magic ballistae."
A long silence.
The figure slowly laced his fingers together.
Then, in a low and meaningful voice—
"……Just as planned."
The firelight swayed.
Yes, it was just as planned.
He had known from the beginning. He had confirmed that the dwarves would obediently attempt magic enchantments on ballistae. He had checked that ballistae would be included when the magic bow cap was raised.
Of course, he had no intention of simply leaving it alone. The increase in power according to a bow’s size was calculated multiplicatively with magic enchantments. No matter how large the ballista became, he had placed a cap on the size coefficient, so it was all dancing in the palm of his hand.
Pretending to grant freedom.
But in the end, all within the developer’s hand.
This was precisely—
The corner of the figure’s mouth slowly rose.
The skill to run a game world perfectly—
— Boom.
— Boomboomboomboomboomboomboom—!!!
The chair shook, and the maps flew. The pile of parchments barely sitting atop the table collapsed in a heap. The candlestick on the fireplace danced.
"Uwaaah, what is it!?"
The figure shot to his feet.
Looking closely, he was a man who appeared to be in his mid-twenties. The gloomy atmosphere from moments ago was nowhere to be found; now he was flustered, stepping on the scattered parchments and grabbing the table.
Thudthudthudthud—
The vibrations continued. It was the sound of something tremendous pounding the earth.
The man looked back at the bird sitting across the table from him.
In the darkness, the bird that had seemed pitch-black revealed its true form to its master. It had looked black, but—
Red, yellow, blue, and green—
It was a brilliantly colored parrot.
"...What the hell is that noise!?"
The parrot tilted its head.
"I do not know."
"What do you mean, you don’t know? Go find out now! Something exploded! Is it from the dwarves?!"
As if worried something might come flying, the bird cautiously flew up above the roof, confirmed the situation, and came back down.
"It is from the dwarves."
"The ballista?!"
"It does not seem to be the ballista."
The man braced himself against the windowless wall and groaned.
"Then what does it seem like?"
"It is difficult to determine from the current distance. It will require approximately one hour to go to the dwarven region. A round trip will take two hours."
"…Yeah, please go."
The bird nodded, scattered one colorful feather, and hurriedly flew away.
Thus, the man was left alone in the shabby cabin.
"Hmm..."
On one corner of the wall hung a fine-looking frame.
"Hmm."
No matter how he looked at it, it was a fine phrase for a game company’s motto.
Still, he thought, rubbing his chin.
"I really didn’t want a situation where the users were actually gods."
Wouldn’t it have been enough to simply do one’s duty as a product producer bearing reasonable legal responsibility? He had not wanted to become a clown whose head could be lopped off so easily.
What made that thought even firmer was the phrase written in small letters in the corner of the fine-looking frame.
"Aemi"
He’d heard that places like the Ap* Store or Pl*y Store took up to 30% just for distribution.
But in a game run by godlike Constellations, did it make sense that almost the only operation staff member took only that much?
— Flap flap.
"Oh, you’re back?"
A short while later, the parrot that returned to the cabin tilted its head again.
The man hoped it would be a problem that could be resolved at the parrot’s level, but unfortunately, that hope...
"Bouldur Workshop has fired a new weapon, the ‘Flame Cannon.’ It appears the cannonball was judged to be an ‘arrow.’ At present, its damage value is as unmeasurable as that of a mythic weapon."
That hope was not fulfilled. The beak closed, and the man’s eyes stopped moving.
"……The cannonball."
"Yes."
"Was judged as an arrow?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"The reason is unknown."
Boom.
Boomboomboomboom—
The roar continued once again.
The man stood there for a while, taking the vibrations with his entire body.
It should have gone according to plan. He had worked so hard planning the ballista damage too...
But the cannonball was an arrow?
"……Wait, don’t tell me."
The man picked up the patch notice.
He read it over again carefully. One word at a time...
His finger stopped on one sentence.
— The criteria for judging "bow-type" includes similarity in firing structure. —
"I think it’s because of this, but what the hell is the problem? It makes no sense for a cannon to become a bow."
"This is only a conjecture, but...."
The bird carefully opened its beak.
"The detonation device was not a simple fuse like a rope, as we had previously confirmed."
"?"
The man listened to the parrot’s words without so much as twitching.
"What are you talking about? How do you explode gunpowder without a fuse..."
At that moment, a fact about guns he had picked up somewhere flashed through his mind.
The operating steps of a gun.
When the trigger is pulled, the hammer, which had been held in place by the force of a spring, is released. Then the hammer that springs out strikes the primer, a small lump of explosive at the back of the ammunition, with great force. The impacted primer explodes and creates a spark, and that spark ignites the main powder inside the casing, generating high-pressure gas, and that gas pushes out the bullet...
Detonation device.
Bow-type trigger.
The trigger that fired the cannon—
Had a crossbow structure.
The parrot tilted its head.
"That is correct."
"What the hell did those bastards make?!"
Thud.
This vibration was not the sound of a cannon.
It was the sound of the despairing man slamming his forehead into the table.
— Thud. Thud. Thud.
The vibrations of the Flame Cannon continued to ring from the dwarven region all the way to the cabin on the distant mountain.
The man did not move, his forehead pressed against the table.
The parrot slowly tilted its head.
"Director."
"……I think we’re screwed."