```
Ver. 4.2.0 — Emergency Manifestation Stabilization and Reception Response Patch
▶ Unauthorized Manifestation Detection System Activated
— When a newly manifested entity approaches the Director's cabin,
an automatic alarm will trigger within a 200m radius
※ This patch does not apply retroactively.
※ If they have already arrived, the Director should handle it himself.
```
---
Jaewon set down the crystal orb and looked inside it.
"Fly over there."
Log had already spread his wings.
"Wait."
Jaewon gripped the crystal orb tightly.
He peered into the crystal orb resting in his palm. The area that woman was in was under a heavy snowstorm. The entire hill was white. With a Constellation's manifestation nearby, how would it look if he just flew in?
A colorful parrot would stand out if it flew in.
If it stood out, it would look suspicious.
If it looked suspicious, the chase would begin again.
'Is there anything else I can do...'
Jaewon rummaged through the patch notes. He opened the item tab. He scanned his current inventory.
Invisibility skin. Once he approached her, it would be useless. Camouflage skin.
There was one.
Jaewon pulled one from the list.
It was a penguin skin.
```
[Penguin Skin — Snowfield Area Camouflage Item]
Activates a natural protective coloration effect in areas with 50cm or more of accumulated snow.
Duration: Until unequipped.
```
Jaewon put the skin over Log's head.
Log froze.
Log, who had been a parrot.
Round eyes, webbed feet, a black back and white belly, stubby wings.
He had become a penguin.
"……."
Log said nothing.
A brief silence passed.
"Mr. Jaewon."
"What."
"Why does this bird have so much fat?"
"It's for camouflage."
"Can it fly?"
"It's a penguin, so of course it can't fly. Walk."
"……."
Log scratched the ground once with his claws.
"Mr. Jaewon."
"What."
"I have already sat on the hand of a top-tier Constellation of divine power for several hours."
"That's different from this."
"How is it different?"
"At least that wasn't by your own will. This time, you can walk there yourself in that body."
Log scratched the ground with his claws again.
"...This is more humiliating."
"Invisibility probably won't work on a manifested Constellation, so there's no helping it. Hurry up and fly."
"You yourself just said I cannot fly—"
"Then run."
Log scratched the branch with his claws two more times.
Then he spread his wings wide and waddled toward the place where the Constellation had manifested.
Jaewon watched his back and lifted the crystal orb. He opened the shared vision tab. Log's field of view came in.
Below the snow-covered hill, a world from a penguin's eye level unfolded.
'...So the waddling shows up on the screen too.'
Jaewon tilted the crystal orb and assessed the situation.
---
The woman was watching the battlefield.
Standing on the hill. From afar. Facing the direction where the dragons and the dwarven fortress were clashing. With her arms crossed.
Aside from her slightly narrowed eyes, she had no expression. Unlike Pure-White First Snow. Her eyes seemed to hold a heat smoldering within.
She seemed interested.
Watching the state of the battle. The dragons spreading smoke, the dwarves preparing artillery fire, the human army moving. As she observed it all, the corners of her mouth were raised slightly.
Jaewon looked at her profile from afar through the crystal orb.
'If it isn't related to her daughter, maybe she has a calm personality.'
She looked far too relaxed right now to be the person who had sent a complaint email to Arcana Online. She was sightseeing on a battlefield. She was interested.
The email had been sent with a purpose. Her daughter. Aside from that, she didn't seem particularly hostile toward this world.
While Jaewon organized that analysis in his mind.
Log was waddling up from below the hill.
A penguin. A penguin walking up through the snowfield.
'No one will think it's strange... probably.'
The woman turned her head.
Jaewon gripped the crystal orb tightly.
Their eyes met. The woman and Log.
A moment of silence.
Log stopped walking.
And then.
"We are from the Arcana Online operations team."
Log said.
"The person in charge has come to meet you in person."
The woman looked down at Log for a while.
Jaewon tilted the crystal orb and held his breath.
She opened her mouth.
"The operations team."
"Yes."
"As a penguin?"
"……It is our field-response attire for snowy regions."
'Nice.'
Jaewon acknowledged it inwardly.
The woman's eyes narrowed slightly, then returned to normal. It wasn't that she believed him, nor that she intended to argue. It was the look of someone deciding to let it pass.
"My daughter."
She began.
"Used my divine power card without permission."
"We have confirmed that."
Log bowed his head. It was the shape of a penguin lowering its head. From Jaewon's perspective, it looked a little bizarre.
"I see. And you're saying you didn't know until now?"
A slight edge entered the woman's voice.
"A large sum was being drained, and you didn't even think to find out where it was coming from?"
Jaewon tilted the crystal orb.
'How were we supposed to know that?'
He grumbled inwardly.
How would Arcana Online know where a Constellation kept their divine power card? There was no way there was a system that monitored the personal asset management of Constellations. If a payment came in, they received it; the structure wasn't designed to verify whose card it was or where it came from.
However.
Naturally, he couldn't say that in front of a Constellation.
Log was silent for a moment before saying,
"We apologize. This was an oversight on the part of our operations team."
He lowered his head further.
Jaewon watched Log's penguin vision tilt downward inside the crystal orb.
'I'm sorry too.'
If he had been wearing glasses, he would have adjusted them with his middle finger. Thinking the same thing, he bowed his head inwardly as well.
"Since you have come in person."
Log continued.
"We will proceed with the refund as quickly as possible."
The woman glanced toward the battlefield for a moment, then looked down at Log again.
"Quickly."
"Yes."
"Are you only doing it now because I came here personally?"
She spoke coldly.
"That is not the case."
Log replied.
"We checked the email and immediately prepared the procedure. Now that we understand this is an important matter to you, we will process it quickly."
The woman nodded.
Briefly. It meant she would not press further.
---
Jaewon took his eyes off the crystal orb.
He pulled up the patch notes.
Payment history. Refund processing page. The total amount of divine power for Pure-White First Snow's manifestation.
Jaewon looked at the number. This time, a fee would be deducted for processing the refund.
There was a signature field. If he signed here, the refund would be confirmed. It would take two seconds to sign.
Jaewon picked up the pen.
He stopped right in front of the signature field.
He looked at the number again.
'…….'
He had made it back in an hour and a half earlier. His balance was already sufficient. There would be some left even after the refund.
He knew that in his head.
But the pen would not go down.
There were already expenses. The emergency snowfall patch. The resurrection cost reduction. Divine power had been spent there. He couldn't return the full amount. The rest had to be covered from the balance.
And that rest.
It would eat into what was coming in from the war content right now. He had gone to the trouble of making major content, only to have no room for the next update.
Jaewon stared at the number.
His hand did not move.
'...For now.'
Jaewon pushed the crystal orb to the side.
He closed the patch notes for a moment.
Instead, he opened another crystal orb tab. The Constellation account lookup tab. A window for entering a name appeared.
Pure-White First Snow's mother.
If that manifestation was her mother, she had an account. Even if she didn't know Arcana Online, there was a possibility she was listed in the Constellation registry.
Jaewon entered the conditions into the search bar.
Ice and snow type. Account related to Pure-White First Snow. Family relationship.
The results appeared.
```
Account Name: Queen of the Blizzard
Attribute: Ice and Snow — Blizzard Type
Grade: ⬡⬡⬡⬡⬡⬡ (Top-Tier)
Status: Multiple unregistered worlds. No history of interest registration.
Relationship: Pure-White First Snow (Guardian registered)
```
Jaewon stared at the account for a while.
Blizzard type.
If Pure-White First Snow was the first snow falling quietly—this one was a driving snowstorm. The kind of snow that blocked one's vision, carried the wind with it, and froze whatever it touched.
The grade was the same. Top-tier.
But there was no history of world registration. Not only in Arcana Online, but in any world. There wasn't even a single interest registration.
It meant she didn't play the game.
'Then why did she come?'
Because of her daughter. That alone had made her manifest. A Constellation of this caliber. An existence that had never once descended into a world.
Jaewon tapped the table with his finger.
Whether she had preferences. Whether there was anything she liked.
He dug further into the account history.
There was no game record. No participation in other worlds either. No community activity.
However.
Jaewon's eyes stopped.
Pure-White First Snow was in the list of related accounts.
And below that.
```
▶ Pure-White First Snow — Protected Account
Recent Activity History: Arcana Online Manifestation (Today)
Sponsorship Details: Wyvern feed— [No data]
```
Jaewon raised his head.
The Queen of the Blizzard was following her daughter's account.
It meant she had been watching her activity history.
'It was only a matter of time before she got caught...'
Jaewon stared at that information for a while.
She had been keeping an eye on where her daughter was and what she was doing. Even though she herself did not play the game. Then she discovered the large payment and came down personally.
'She really is her guardian.'
Whether she was strict or simply worried.
Jaewon closed the tab and pulled up the patch notes again.
The refund signature field was waiting.
He picked up the pen.
He stopped in front of the signature field again.
The number still felt too wasteful.
Just then, with Log's vision still connected to the crystal orb, a small text window appeared.
Log was sending a note.
```
[Log → Director]
Have you checked this lady's attire?
```
'...Attire?'
Jaewon tilted the crystal orb and examined Log's field of view again.
The Queen of the Blizzard.
It was her attire. When he first saw it, there had been something about it that made him think of a pillar. It was a white outfit, but its lines were straight, and the silhouette was almost a single vertical line from top to bottom.
Jaewon looked at it again.
'...Ah.'
That was it.
It was chess.