The declaration that she had charged it with her mother's card had been made, and Log was still sitting atop the Snow-White First Snow’s hand.
‘Director, please, hold it together!’
He wanted to scream at him desperately, but because he had been acting as a parrot who couldn’t speak properly until now, he clamped his beak shut.
He wanted to believe in Jaewon’s restraint.
Even though she had done something so irresponsible that it pushed Jaewon’s life and operational efforts to the brink…
“You fucking bitch, how old are you to steal your mom’s card and use it?”
In the end, Jaewon swore.
It was short, clear, and the kind of curse that left the listener absolutely no room to misinterpret its meaning. Three syllables. Nothing of a nature that could surface in everyday conversation.
Log closed his eyes at that moment.
Inside, he had already given up.
It wasn’t that there were no options. Even if a refund request came in, they just needed to drag out the refund until the large-scale war content triggered. Once the war broke out, divine power would flood in, and once it accumulated, they could make up for what had been spent.
It was entirely feasible to plan for.
However, for that to work, the time spent stalling must not offend the sensibilities held by that Constellation’s mother.
That was the premise.
He knew the chances of that premise holding were slim, which was how he knew Jaewon hadn’t been able to endure just now.
‘This is a bigger problem than the refund.’
Thinking that, Log slowly opened his eyes.
There were moments when Jaewon’s restraint faltered. Log knew this too. The more meticulous the plan, and the more it collapsed due to external factors like a wind blowing into a house of cards, the more violently he reacted to the variables that shook it.
This time, that moment had burst right in front of the Constellation’s manifestation.
It was already too late to stop it.
Log looked at the Snow-White First Snow.
To see how she would react.
---
Silence.
The Snow-White First Snow did not move.
Her fingers had frozen. Poised atop Log’s feathers. Neither stroking nor withdrawing.
Jaewon was frozen too. He seemed to belatedly recognize the weight of what he had said. It was the look of a man who realized only after spitting the words out.
And then Jaewon steeled his gaze with resolve.
‘At least I got to curse that bastard out before I die.’
Log and Jaewon simultaneously looked at the Snow-White First Snow.
The Snow-White First Snow…
did not say a word.
She did not get angry. Her expression did not change. The temperature did not drop, nor did the snow flurries intensify. She simply—stopped. As though she were still processing the words she had just heard. Or perhaps as though it simply wasn’t something worth reacting to.
‘…?’
Log recalculated the rage probability in his head.
He had thought delayed anger might come from her failure to understand the situation, but she did not seem to feel anger at all.
Jaewon seemed to be performing the same calculation. Bewilderment flowed across his face.
A Constellation had been cursed at, yet there was no reaction.
Both were bewildered by this fact.
---
The Snow-White First Snow opened her mouth.
“Using Mother’s card without permission.”
Slowly. Calmly.
“Is indeed a foolish act, regardless of age.”
Jaewon blinked.
“It is not that I am unaware of that.”
She continued. It wasn’t a protest. It wasn’t an excuse. It was simply as though she were stating facts.
“If I get caught, I get caught. Then I shall simply accept whatever happens at that time.”
The inside of the hut was quiet.
As Log listened to those words, he thought for a moment.
The fact that a Constellation said that meant—she was already somewhat resolved. She knew she might get caught, she knew what would happen if she did, and she had used it anyway.
She had said she was anxious.
And yet she came.
Because there was something she liked.
Log sat quietly atop the Snow-White First Snow’s hand.
Jaewon said nothing.
The Snow-White First Snow did not move her frozen fingers again.
Instead,
that hand slowly tilted.
Log felt the slope of her palm and tried to keep his balance. But the tilt continued.
It was an intentional tilt.
Log eventually stepped forward.
One step. Two steps. Walking along the Snow-White First Snow’s hand.
He moved onto Jaewon’s table.
“….”
Jaewon stared blankly.
The Snow-White First Snow withdrew her hand.
Log sat on the table.
Jaewon looked at Log, then looked at the Snow-White First Snow.
The Snow-White First Snow lowered her hand and lightly bowed her head. Not like a farewell, nor like a reconciliation—just as though to say, this was as far as they went.
Jaewon blankly raised his hand and accepted Log.
Rog’s weight settled onto his palm.
The inside of the hut was quiet for a moment.
Log preened his feathers once while on Jaewon’s hand.
He gently pressed Jaewon’s palm with his claw.
It was a claw that said, ‘Pull yourself together.’
Jaewon lowered his eyes at the sensation, then slowly looked at the Snow-White First Snow once more.
The Snow-White First Snow was looking at Jaewon.
She seemed about to say something, and her mouth opened slightly.
Jaewon waited for those words. Was it a death sentence?
“For a mere ordinary NPC,”
she said.
“to curse at a Constellation.”
A brief silence.
“How impressive.”
It was an evaluation. A voice difficult to judge as praise or not. It had no temperature. It was simply as though she were recording a fact.
And she turned her head.
As she walked out the door, snow began to fall.
The Snow-White First Snow walked. Across the hut’s front yard. Toward the forest. Just as quietly as when she had come. She did not look back. Snow flurries briefly trailed behind her before scattering.
Like that,
she disappeared.
Jaewon stood before the open door and gazed in the direction she had disappeared.
Log was on his hand.
How much time had passed?
Jaewon closed the door.
The inside of the hut was quiet again.
---
Jaewon pulled a chair and sat down.
He tried to place Log on the perch but set him down on the table instead. Log tapped the table surface once with his claw. It was a sound meaning he had something to say.
Jaewon spoke first.
“What do you think happened?”
Log was silent for a moment.
“Which part are you referring to?”
“Of course, the last thing she said. That I’m the Director. She still doesn’t seem to know.”
Jaewon slowly tapped the table with his fingertip.
“She called me an NPC. An ordinary NPC.”
Log seemed to be thinking, scratching the table with his claw.
“…It must be.”
A moment later, Log spoke.
“It’s because of this hut, is it not.”
“Hut.”
“Yes. Look around.”
Jaewon looked around the inside of the hut.
An old table. A creaking chair. A hole in the ceiling where wind blew in. A wall with no window. A perch. Nut crumbs. A bundle of parchment pushed into a corner. Patch notes.
That was all.
“The position of Patch Director,”
Log continued dryly.
“is difficult to imagine existing in a place like this.”
“…Did that really help?”
“From a Constellation’s point of view, the very notion that the person living in this hut is the administrator of this world would be unthinkable. It must have appeared to be the dwelling of some truly reckless, slovenly person.”
Jaewon closed his mouth.
It wasn’t wrong.
The Director of a game world. An existence that received the Constellations’ divine power and operated the world. If that were where such a being lived, there should have been at least a decent tower, or a temple, or somewhere that exuded a secretive air. An atmosphere that seemed like it was absolutely not meant to be found.
But in reality,
he had been crouching in the forest, biting his nails, holding patch notes.
Jaewon slowly rested his elbows on the table.
“…So she believed it because of that.”
“That is the presumed conclusion.”
“When she called me a thief, did she just let that slide too?”
“Perhaps. A thief living in this space might not feel out of place at all.”
Jaewon was silent for a moment.
He was convinced.
He was convinced, but.
“…It leaves a bad aftertaste.”
“Which side feels unsettling?”
“Both.”
Jaewon placed his hand on his forehead.
It was a relief that he hadn’t been found out. That much was true. He couldn’t yet gauge what would happen if his identity as the Director were exposed. Even if it didn’t lead to a server shutdown, there was a possibility of complications.
But the fact that the reason was because the hut was too shabby.
Jaewon removed his hand from his forehead.
The hut was quiet.
Log preened his feathers once on the table. And lightly tapped the table with his claw.
“Mr. Jaewon.”
“What.”
“Still.”
Log said.
“You did well today. Though you were lucky.”
Jaewon looked at Log.
Log was looking straight ahead. Without expression. Dryly. As always.
Jaewon gazed at Log for a while.
“…Wasn’t it bad luck?”
“That is a separate issue.”
“So you’re saying I did well, separately?”
“Yes.”
Jaewon tried to say something for a moment but just closed his mouth.
He picked up the crystal orb.
He opened the community tab. War-related reactions were coming in. After the patch reducing resurrection costs, the lords’ movements had been changing bit by bit. Inquiries for dwarf cannon deliveries had increased. Precious metal prices had begun to move once again.
Jaewon quietly scanned the screen, thinking.
Adventurer community. Eyewitness account tab.
And.
```
[Exclusive] Dragon Appearance Confirmed — Dwarf Autonomous Territory Direction
— Border Patrol Combined Forces Official Board
👍 4,821 💬 1,049 Comments
This afternoon, multiple dragons confirmed moving in the direction of the Dwarf Autonomous Territory.
High flight altitude. Not in combat stance.
However, their movement path is confirmed to overlap with the Dwarf Autonomous Territory cannon stronghold.
Overlaps with the scheduled movement time of the precious metal cannon shipment.
Monitoring situation.
ㄴ Sword-wielding Warrior: Did dragons really come down??
ㄴ Adventurer Union Leader: They smelled the precious metals lmaoooo. Just as expected.
ㄴ Flames of the Red Furnace: The old tinkerer must be loading cannons around now.
ㄴ Monarch of the Abyss: ......My dragon is over there.
ㄴ Curtain of Pitch Black: Finally moving. Now it’ll be worth watching.
ㄴ Frost of Dawn: Isn’t precious metal cannon vs dragon content really going to blow up? Should I sponsor now?
ㄴ Wandering Starlight: I just sent a sponsorship so the others can eat hearty and go.
```
Jaewon put down the crystal orb.
The dragons had come down.
The precious metal cannons were completed, and just as delivery to human buyers was about to begin from the dwarf stronghold. The dragons caught that scent and flew. Unable to stand still while treasure moved. Those fellows who had cooped themselves up on the mountainside for hundreds of years.
Jaewon slowly smiled.
“This is it.”
Even if the refund was requested at some unknown time—once this board triggered, they could cover it.
“Log.”
“Yes.”
“Now it really begins.”
Log spread his wings once and folded them. Instead of a reply, it was acknowledgment.
It was the moment Jaewon picked up the crystal orb again to scroll the screen.
Ding—
It was a notification sound.
Not the community tab, but the management mail tab.
A window that had barely seen any real use since Jaewon had taken this position. Player complaints came in occasionally, but most were auto-processed.
Jaewon opened the tab.
Sender: [Private]
Subject: Refund Request and Legal Action Warning
```
Hello.
I am the guardian of the user who made an unauthorized charge of a large amount of divine power in Arcana Online.
The party is a minor, and we have confirmed that the payment was made without the guardian’s consent.
If a full refund is not processed within 24 hours,
we will file a complaint with the Constellation Committee.
This is a stern warning.
A swift reply is requested.
```
Jaewon stared at the screen.
One line. Two lines. He slowly read it again.
“….”
Log looked at Jaewon.
Jaewon looked at Log.
The inside of the hut was quiet.
Jaewon slowly placed the crystal orb on the table.
They were giving him 24 hours.
Jaewon looked up at the ceiling.
There was a hole where wind blew in.
“Log.”
“…Yes.”
“Can the war trigger within 24 hours?”
Log was silent for a moment.
“It is tight.”
“Tight and impossible are different.”
“…That is correct.”
Jaewon pulled the patch notes on the table.
There was still work to do.