Tens of thousands of posts appeared on the ‘First Matching’ board every day, asking simple questions

-Title: Um, are there hacks for matching?

Players with too much time would click on it without a second thought. The contents of the post itself were simple.

- I just had a match, but I’m really confused. It told me I lost as soon as the match started.

It sounded impossible, but people grinned as they took the bait.

- Oh, you don’t know? That’s because they kicked you at the speed of light.

- You accidentally pressed ‘forfeit’.

-Lolol they’re gonna cry, let’s stop teasing them. OP was just too weak.

└I forgot to add my stats, so I edited them in.

The revised post showed the author’s records. The Player had participated in 50 matches so far, which were considered rookie numbers. However, considering that they had a win rate of 82%, they were quite the talented newbie with a lot of potential.

- What the, you’re not half bad. Look at that win rate.

└I still have much to learn, but I’m currently at the Butterfly Valley Guild.

└Huh? Isn’t that a really good underdog Guild?

Typically, in sports, the term ‘underdog’ was used negatively. However, when it referred to Guilds, the meaning was quite different.

‘They can’t beat out the Big 6, but they’re like ferocious dogs, always snapping behind them and waiting for an opportunity to take their place.’ 

The author of the post was a part of Butterfly Valley, which was one such Guild. Most Players could only ever dream of getting into one of them.

After this was revealed, things started to get weird. Players that were in an underdog Guild were much more influential than typical Players. In other words, the post now had legitimacy.

- So, a level 102 Player in an underdog Guild was defeated as soon as the match started?

└I couldn’t even react, to be exact. Actually, if I’m being honest, I couldn’t even see what had attacked me.

- That’s too much. Is it really a hack?

- If that’s true, this would be the first bug since the matching system was added seven years ago.

- Well, even if the System is in charge, loopholes are inevitable. Seven years is a long time to go without any bugs.

- Now matching is ruined tooo;;; I was wondering why my win rate had reached 25% recently…

- That’s on you…

As the number of replies on the post shot up, it quickly became the top post.

People who used the community forums before knew that top posts would get a lot more engagement than regular posts.

- Huh? What happened?

- Wow, I just read over the original post and this is insane. Shouldn’t the Administrator do something about this?

- Do we know the nickname and the stats of the hacker?

└They didn’t have a nickname yet. Their record’s 13 wins, 0 losses.

It was natural for others to speak up once someone broke the silence. The self-proclaimed sacrificial lambs of the entity started to appear one by one. They would have 14 wins now, instead of 13.

- Huh? That happened to me too! A Player with 7 wins and 0 losses did this to me. ㅇ_ㅇ;;

└Did that Player also use a spear?

└Huh? Wasn’t it the guy who used a halberd?

- Wow, so I wasn’t the only one this happened to. A few hours ago, I was defeated in the same way by a Player with 10 wins and 0 losses.

└Did that Player also use a spear?

└They didn’t right? It was the guy who used a halberd, right? I’m right, aren’t I?

└I’m sorry to but in, but isn’t this the bastard who used a dagger?

└Huh? No? It was the one who used a bow, though…

└???

The Players were dumbfounded as they looked through the comments. Based on what was happening, they could only reach one conclusion.

- I-it must be a hack! And there are multiple people using it!

- Matching is ruined! Everyone get out while you can if you don’t want to lose your points!

- What if we leave System inquiries? Even though we’ve only been receiving automated replies for the past few years.

└That’s a good idea. Let’s all try this.

Players started to leave angry inquiries one by one. A candle became a small ember, then a flame, and then it started to burn like a bonfire.

Of course, not all Players who used the matching system left complaints. However, even as a portion of the population, they were causing great frustration for one particular person.

***

Seo Jun-Ho was sitting in his guest room at Del Ice instead of the matching system’s waiting room. Across from him, the Frost Queen was eating cake and tea with Spirit Crystal shavings.

“You truly are powerful,” she said.

“Hehehe, of course, I am. I’m the strongest.”

In the beginning, Seo Jun-Ho had only started to do matches to gain PP, but he found that it was an unexpectedly refreshing stress-relieving activity to do.

“I don’t know how long it has been since I’ve fought someone without hiding my skills,” he said.

“It is not something I have seen before. When you fight with fiends, you are always hitting them while getting hit.”

“Matches are different from hunting.” Seo Jun-Ho could check his skills while dueling other Players and fill the gaps he discovered. It wasn’t as efficient as a real fight, but Seo Jun-Ho was getting stronger with every match. Though, of course, the best part was the stress relief.

“What’s more, I can’t practice Overclocking like this in real battle.” He couldn’t make a single mistake when he was fighting fiends, so he had to pay careful attention to his Overclocking output. It was a very sensitive factor.

But in matches?

“It doesn’t really matter if I mess up a bit. Still, I don’t think I’ll ever lose.”

Thanks to that, he managed to greatly increase the amount of time he could maintain Overclocking. He felt like he could now use Overclocking at 20% output in battle. Once he fought in a few more matches, he would surely be able to adjust to it.

“Hehehe. Frost, the next time we make a video, you won’t have to worry about the copyright fees.”

“What great news!” She rejoiced like a director who had just received a large budget from her boss. “Well, you have 130,000 PP…You have gained so much in a short amount of time.”

“I have about 210,000 PP in total. But it’s still not enough. I want to hit at least 500,000,” Seo Jun-Ho said.

“Hm. You are already so wealthy, but I am wondering about just how much PP does the person with the highest PP have?”

“I don’t know…Probably around ten million at least? It might even be a hundred million?”

“Haa.” She let out a low sigh at the unimaginable number. At the same time, someone knocked on the door.

“Seo Jun-Ho. It’s me, Graham,” said the person on the other side of the door.

“Oh, come in.”

Graham stepped in and sulked. “You have truly ordered the worst weapons. But there’s a problem.”

“Huh? What problem?” Seo Jun-Ho asked.

“You know that bracelet? We can’t seem to put in the right magic no matter what we do. You’ll probably need a mage from the Magic Tower.”

“I know. I already asked an acquaintance to take care of it,” Seo Jun-Ho said. Even though he had become very close with the dwarves over the past few days, he couldn’t introduce Skaya as a friend because she would appear to be closer to Kim Woo-Joong rather than himself. If word of this spread, it would be a headache to deal with.

“So if you just make it, I can take care of the magic portion myself,” he finished.

“Hm… Alright, then.”

“How are the other weapons coming along?”

“Like I just said, you only asked for good-for-nothing weapons so it’ll take some more time. Wait four more days,” Graham said. It had already been two days since they began forging the weapons. If it would take four more days, that means that it would take about a week to finish even if the entire White Anvil Tribe was working on it.

“You’ve been working hard…”

“I don’t want to hear that from the bastard who gave me this work,” Graham grumbled. He left the house, scowling.

“Anyhow, just wait a few more days.”

“Yes, sir.”

After Graham left, the Frost Queen spoke, “Contractor. Where do you plan to use all those mysterious weapons?”

“They all have their use…”

Ring. 

“Oh, a message.” Well, there weren’t many people who would send him a message. Only Skaya, Gong Ju-Ha, and Kim Woo-Joong… “...It’s not any of them?”

Seo Jun-Ho blinked. He had never seen such a message before.

[Hey, we need to talk - Reiji]

“Reiji?” Why did the name sound familiar? Where had he heard it before?

He tilted his head as the Frost Queen elegantly took a bite of her cake before she commented, “It is the name of the 2nd floor Administrator.”

“Huh?”

She was right. The 2nd floor Administrator, Reiji—that was her name.

“Wait, the 2nd floor Administrator is asking me for a private meeting?”

Of course, this wasn’t the first time Seo Jun-Ho had done this sort of thing. He had met face-to-face with the 1st floor Administrator, Gray, after all.

‘But that time…’

Wasn’t the reason why that meeting happened because he had broken the rules by trying to enter the Cave of Trials twice? No matter how he wracked his brain, he couldn’t think of anything he had done wrong this time. “What? I’m a law-abiding citizen…”

[Ha, really? Law-abiding citizen? You’re funny.]

Seo Jun-Ho was suddenly teleported to a strange place, just like the time with Gray.

“So Administrators have such mysterious abilities,” the Frost Queen commented.

“...They’re amazing abilities,” Seo Jun-Ho corrected. Even at his level, Seo Jun-Ho didn’t manage to notice any sign that he was about to be transported. The path he had taken was completely blacked out.

“But…” He looked around. The place he was in was very different from when he met the 1st floor Administrator. Gray’s space had been completely empty and gray, void of any furniture. “Beds? Sofas?”

However, this place was filled with countless beds and sofas and was dotted with plush cushions.

“Hey.” The voice came from the person laying on the couch in front of him. She was a healthy-looking female with copper skin.

“Um… Reiji-nim?” Her eyes were captivating despite being slightly narrowed, but he couldn’t be fooled by appearances. He had to be very careful around her.

After all, didn’t her name mean ‘rage’?[1]

She gestured with her fingers. “C’mere.”

Seo Jun-Ho scrambled over to the couch, and she tilted her head.

“Hey, Player.”

“Yes?”

“Are you crazy?”

“...Huh?”

She glared at him for a second before pulling out one of the tens of thousands of papers that seemed to be stuffing the ground beneath her sofa.

- I’m gonna report you. It seems that you’ve hacked the matching system. Did you think an Administrator would slack on their work?

Reiji pulled out another paper.

- Do your work, Administrator. Why hasn’t the System fired her yet?

She pulled out another.

- Noona, I’m gonna send you a hundred more complaints if you don’t patch the bug. This bastard.

Swoosh! 

She threw up all the papers in the air. Seo Jun-Ho looked up at her as he watched them flutter down.

“What are those?” he asked.

“I wonder. Personally, I think they’re all complaints I’ve received because of you.” She let out a long sigh and sat up, scratching her head. “You can probably tell from my name, but I’m pretty laid-back.”

‘...And not angry?’ 

Wait, did her name mean ‘lazy’ and not ‘rage’?[2]

“When I get complaints, I usually put up an automated response no matter how many I get,” she explained.

“What a horrible Administrator,” the Frost Queen whispered.

“But I can’t do that this time. Why? The higher-ups woke me up and told me to make a detailed report. Dammit!”

That was why she was so angry. Because a mere Player had woken her up. Not only that, but she had also been having a sweet dream about retiring as a civil servant.

“So even though it’s annoying, I have to check it out and write a report. So sit tight.” As Reiji stared at him for a moment, a hologram window appeared in front of her. “Let’s see. Name is Seo Jun-Ho, country of origin is Korea, birthdate is… Huh? What is this?”

Her eyes grew wide and then softened. She looked up at Seo Jun-Ho, then back at the window. “Are you really 50 years old? Are you an age regressor? No, that shouldn’t be possible on Earth yet,” As she muttered to herself, she continued to read Seo Jun-Ho’s personal information. “Things of note, defeated the Floormaster of the 1st floor 26 years ago… Huh? Wait. So you’re Specter?” Her eyes grew wide.

What was with her reaction?

1. ’Reiji’ sounds like rage, but we went with a romanization because the Korean word can be read in different ways. ☜

2. They are spelled the same. L and R are pronounced very similarly in Korean. ☜