Chapter 256: Reverse City (8)
"Hey hey! What kind of hero is destroying a shop more than the villain is!"
"It is a necessary sacrifice for justice!"
"Get out of my shop—!"
-You scoundrels! lol
-But fr the hero broke more stuff lol
-Ah lol, a necessary sacrifice for justice, he says lol
-The Hero Association's wallet, bankrolling all the compensation, is bending again today
A peaceful day in 'Reverse City,' as usual.
Even while those who had opened the server headed off to film the Nuclear Tourism content, the city was running smoothly without any disruption.
Villains doing villainy as villains do, heroes stopping them as heroes do, and the neutral faction attaching themselves here and there and enjoying it—that is what it ant.
User 'ㅇㅇ' donated '1,000 won'!
[Fact: the villain proposed they go outside to fight, and the hero rejected it]
-Wait?? The hero was actually the bad one lol
-But why did he reject it? (genuinely don't know)
-He rejected it saying that if they fought outside he might be able to escape when things got bad
-Smashing up a shop to prevent an escape lol
"Go for it! I'm on whoever wins!"
"We're in the sa neutral faction—can't you help a little! My shop is getting destroyed!"
"Haha! No can do! That's a bit tough!"
"Gyaaak!"
Part of it was because Baek Woohyun and the panelists held roles sowhat removed from the ordinary users in the first place, and part of it was because Jeong Nayeon and Cha Seongcheol had separately assembled a managent team.
If sothing went wrong in 'Reverse City'—minor bugs and the like—the managent team stepped in to address it imdiately. Any ti, anywhere.
Jeong Nayeon and Cha Seongcheol had received the city map and server—the most expensive items by far—from Isaac for free, so they had used the remaining budget to hire a large number of managers.
That had directly beco one of the reasons 'Reverse City' was so well-received across the board. Imdiate response made imrsion that much easier, and so on.
⊙ How many staff does Reverse City even have??
I've personally seen over dozens
Did they dump all the money from Nuclear Tourism into this lol
-At least fifty, minimum
-Looks like they hired over twenty people per district
-Nice clean flow thanks to them lol
It had even gotten to the point where posts appeared asking whether Baek Woohyun had poured all the money earned from Nuclear Tourism content straight into 'Reverse City.'
With official support from Planet Earth headquarters, a server capable of handling thousands, and a managent team numbering in the dozens—possibly even hundreds—it was understandable.
The truth was that it had actually cost less than an ordinary collaborative broadcast content, but from the outside at least, it certainly looked that way.
[Notice] The [Steel Legion Invasion] event is scheduled to begin.
"Huh?"
"What?"
"What is this?"
What?
-Excuse ?
-Steel Legion?
-It's an event lol
Regardless, a sudden notice appeared in the 'Reverse City' that had been so peaceful.
The contents were nothing but a single line—the [Steel Legion Invasion] event was scheduled to begin—with no indication of what it was or what needed to be done.
It was a remarkably thin notice to have brought to a standstill even the hero, villain, and neutral faction broadcasters who had been in the middle of their scripted WWE.
"Does anyone know what this is?"
"Couldn't we ask the Nuclear Tourism people?"
"They're in the middle of their content right now."
-A sudden event
-Don't they not know what's going on either lol
-Fr; if they knew, there's no way they'd still be filming Nuclear Tourism
-Maybe it's sothing Planet Earth headquarters is running?
"Oh, an event from Planet Earth headquarters. That's actually a pretty plausible guess!"
"Right. Didn't they say headquarters sent the city too?"
"But don't you think they'd have given advance notice before starting?"
The broadcasters and viewers exchanged opinions vigorously about the [Steel Legion Invasion]—even those who had just been fighting each other monts ago—yet nothing ca of it.
A few guesses that seed probable were thrown out, that was all. Those who called over staff and asked were only t with shaking heads.
Those staff mbers were parts whose purpose was to keep the city running smoothly, so matters like this had not been communicated to them separately.
"Oh wait! Co to think of it, the invitation letter said sothing about special things possibly happening occasionally! ···Nyang!"
-Special things = event?
-Wait, they already said it then
-But there was nothing written about the Steel Legion Invasion specifically
-Seems like it's for content, let's get ready gg
When the situation had fallen into confusion, the one who thought of sothing was Rutty-Nyang—who had been busy smashing up a small business owner's shop while fighting—the hero side had smashed up more!
She said that she clearly rembered there being a ntion of exactly this in the 'Reverse City' invitation letter she had received.
At that, a few other broadcasters seed to recall having seen related content in the invitation as well, nodding along with "Right! So that's it!"
"···You read all of that?"
"Yes!"
The 'Reverse City' invitation letter—a dream co true for personal broadcasters.
The invitation sent by email was filled wall-to-wall with explanations of all kinds beyond just the invitation itself—like insurance policy fine print.
Naturally, quite a few broadcasters had only skimd it. There were even those who had skipped it entirely without reading—what more needed to be said.
That was precisely why the others could only be surprised at Rutty-Nyang, who had read the invitation carefully and still rembered the contents.
"Can't miss a special event!"
"Cancelled my plans and ca running like a hero!"
"···You're a villain though···."
"Where's the Steel Legion?! Everyone co out—!"
-Chaos, pure chaos
-What an absolute ss
-Breaking: Nuclear Tourism briefly put on hold
-Looks like those guys are coming over too lol
Already being the early days of the server—when the number of users was highest—the login count was large, and the mont the notice announced the event it shot up in an instant.
Heroes and villains as well as neutral faction mbers all poured in, effectively reaching the level of the entire first-invitation group assembled at once.
Word had even spread to the Nuclear Tourism content side about the event, and news ca that they had briefly put the stream on hold as well.
"······."
""······.""
And that was the truth.
Baek Woohyun, Jeong Nayeon, Cha Seongcheol, and Chloe—showing only the four characters [Ergency eting] on their screens so viewers could not see—were in the middle of a discussion.
Chloe, who had been comparatively less actively involved in 'Reverse City,' seed sowhat awkward in this eting—but regardless.
"You've all heard the news?"
Jeong Nayeon, who had at first been caught off guard and sent Baek Woohyun a ssage asking what on earth this was, had by now composed herself as though nothing had happened.
That was because Baek Woohyun had replied saying he had told her this could happen, and she belatedly recalled the relevant mory.
When he had received Isaac's proposal to use a large-scale collaborative broadcast as a cover for recovering the ownerless authority, Baek Woohyun had figured there was a possibility Deus would try sothing.
So he had passed on word that a special event could occur—disguising Deus's ddling in suitably roundabout terms. Jeong Nayeon had naturally been among those inford.
Afterward, Isaac had pulled in Planet Earth headquarters as well, making it look as though headquarters was trying out various events.
"When the city map was sent by Planet Earth headquarters, they ntioned that special events might occur—it seems like one has just gone off right on cue."
"I could've sworn they said it was random—the timing is quite sothing. Or then again, maybe that actually makes it more random?"
"Well—either way."
Jeong Nayeon's eyes sparkled.
"There's no need to panic over an unexpected situation. We just deal with it calmly—that's all."
For soone who had been startled and had sent Baek Woohyun a ssage in a fluster asking what in the world was happening, she had a remarkably polished way with words.
Cha Seongcheol and Chloe, unaware of her earlier flustered behavior, responded with an impressed "Ohh!"—but Baek Woohyun, who knew everything, watched her with narrowed eyes.
Feeling the sting of his gaze, she quietly turned her head away.
"Anyway—the event na we received is the Steel Legion Invasion. You can all tell what kind of feel it has just from the na, right?"
"That's right."
"Yes! It's obvious."
The na [Steel Legion Invasion] alone gave off every impression of an event requiring them to defend 'Reverse City' from an invading hostile force.
The question was what sort of entities this invading group—the 'Steel Legion'—actually was, and the answer ca from Chloe.
"Among the research facility's materials, there was research on developing a more mass-producible version of Etinel. The project na was the Steel Legion."
"Oh, so there was sothing like that!"
"First I've heard of it."
"There were so many projects the research facility was running, and just as many scrapped ones. Um—I think the biggest factor is that not many people actually read through the materials."
According to Chloe's assessnt, the 'Steel Legion' in the [Steel Legion Invasion] would essentially be mass-produced Etinel variants. Inferior in performance, but superior in numbers.
Of course, if all the entities were weak it would be no fun—so there was likely a high probability of so stronger entities and one serving as a final boss as well.
The research materials Chloe quickly pulled up on a hologram—surprisingly, all neatly organized—contained similar information.
"Hmm, sohow this reminds of an old hero team-up movie. I enjoyed watching it."
"Oh! I was thinking the sa thing!"
The na 'Steel Legion' did bring that to mind. The appearance of the Steel Legion shown in Chloe's materials had a subtle similarity to those as well.
Well, there was also the possibility that the resemblance was entirely coincidental. After all, the variety of enemies a human imagination can co up with is finite.
"It looks like the entire server population will probably need to stand against the Steel Legion."
Jeong Nayeon, scanning through the research materials, murmured in a low voice.
The 'Steel Legion' project was research centered primarily on mass-production—lowering the performance of Etinel in exchange for significantly increasing the quantity.
It even contained content stating that if the project succeeded, the cost of producing a single Etinel could instead produce over one hundred Steel Legion units!
That which had remained a paper plan in the main server—if realized in 'Reverse City'—ant the number of Steel Legion entities appearing as enemies would be enormous.
aning not only the Hero Association, but the neutral faction on top of that, and the Villain Alliance actively participating and helping to hold the line as well.
The problem, perhaps, was that the Villain Alliance had publicly set the destruction of 'Reverse City' as its goal.
"···Will it be alright?"
"Yeah. It won't be hard."
"Then I'll trust you and leave the Villain Alliance side to you!"
Jeong Nayeon smiled at Baek Woohyun's confident declaration.
She did not even ask what thod he would use. That was how much she trusted him.
Whether he smoothly talked them around or made them comply by force—whatever the thod, she trusted he would manage it. A firm trust born from the track record of what had co before.
"Oh, can I join in this ti as well? I'd like to see the Steel Legion in person."
"Of course! For now let's get the broadcasts back on, then we—"
Noticing the chat window starting to catch fire, Jeong Nayeon rattled off the plan she had co up with in the short ti available.
It was a plan that had only sketched out a rough frawork—leaving the rest entirely to each individual's capabilities—but for the mont it was the best they had.
Baek Woohyun, Cha Seongcheol, and Chloe, clearly aware of that as well, nodded calmly.
"—That's it! Shall we go right now!"
"Yes! Let's go!" "GO!" "Sure."
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