Chapter 18: Triplets

‘Is, is it really necessary to put so much effort into a face?’

‘This?’

‘Is this right?’

‘Is it really?’

‘Did Noah… invest 365 days a year just to create this face?’

Of course, the NPCs in <Arcana Chronicles> had a very high standard of appearance, as if to show that this place wasn’t reality.

Thanks to that, it was surprisingly common for players to shower a particular NPC with gifts because they liked them, deliberately strike up conversations, hang around them, and even form fan clubs.

They were NPCs equipped with artificial intelligence more human-like than humans themselves.

When spoken to, they would readily provide an answer, and people would often feel a sense of closeness to them for reacting normally rather than with unconditional kindness.

Their handsome appearance also played a part.

There were also occasional cases where, although many restrictions followed, a player could even marry an NPC if they built up an overwhelming amount of favorability.

Paul had seen many handsome and beautiful NPCs that people had praised in unison, but this was just too much.

Paul was flustered.

A face that went far beyond imagination was just that destructive.

Paul held his cheeks with both hands and sneakily rolled his eyes to look at Khan.

His heart was pounding foolishly.

‘What on earth is this face!’

‘Could it be that they put a mask on him because they were afraid players would be seduced by the boss monster’s face and fail to conquer the dungeon?’

It was an undeniably rational and valid suspicion.

Who would dare to attack rashly after seeing this face?

He looked like a god from mythology.

He was like a scene from a masterpiece, like a living, breathing synthesis of art.

‘Yes, maybe he’s not a monster, but a god?’

The faces of the various male gods of <Arcana Chronicles> flashed through his mind like a panorama.

If compared to them, everyone would admit that he would be at the very top.

He could guarantee it.

He could even vouch for it!

“Wow… his face is absolutely, absolutely insane! Oh my god!”

Paul suddenly thought that it would be a very, very dangerous thing for this face to be revealed to the world.

So he had to cherish it for himself.

Having hastily concluded his train of thought, he rummaged through his bag and took out a new mask.

It was a plain, even somewhat bland, mask.

Before putting it on Khan’s face, Paul first swept back his disheveled hair with his hand.

‘Even his hair is so…!’

‘I should ask him later if I can try braiding it.’

For some reason, it felt like he would allow it.

What if he decorated it with purple flowers that resembled his eyes?

It would look great.

What wouldn’t look good on this face?

With such pleasant thoughts, Paul moved his hands.

Khan received his touch meekly, like a well-behaved child.

Once it was roughly tidied up, he quickly put the mask on him.

Paul thought.

He had a great body and would look good in anything, but he had to dress him in lots of pretty clothes from now on.

And what about the mask?

Even wearing such a plain one suited him well.

‘Hah, I should have him try on everything I have in my housing.’

Finally, Paul carefully pulled the hood of the robe over him and then took out another similar mask for himself.

It resembled the one Khan wore but was somewhat cruder.

“Shall we go now? This way, no one will ever know!”

Having finished all preparations to go down to the village, Paul couldn’t hide his even more excited demeanor.

His steps were light as he took Khan’s hand and led the way.

If he had his way, he would have wanted to walk beside Khan, but if he did, his already racing heart might pound even harder, and the system might force a logout.

***

“Turn off the screen, Noah!”

Meanwhile, Nicholas was screaming.

“Oh, my god. This is a dream!”

He buried his face in his hands as if to hide his own face.

He wanted to deny reality, but he couldn’t pretend he hadn’t seen what he had already seen.

Nicholas stomped his feet while still sitting.

He was so embarrassed, mortified, and ashamed that he felt like he wanted to hide in a mouse hole.

The moment Paul took off Khan’s mask, Nicholas doubted his own eyes.

And at Paul’s subsequent reaction, he wanted to bite his tongue and faint.

He had no choice but to hastily turn off the screen.

‘This, this is really…’

Nicholas sank, his face buried in his hands.

The skin touching his palms was hot.

He couldn’t possibly lift his head with a clear mind.

“This d*mn…!”

A vulgar curse escaped his lips.

It was a rare sight.

Nicholas fumed, then said, almost whimpering.

“Would you care to explain when I became a triplet?!”

One twin was enough for him!

“Why has the boss monster’s face become my face…? I’m sure the initial design wasn’t that face, was it?”

That’s right, there was a reason why Nicholas was having such a fit.

The face of Khan that he remembered was not that face.

Of course, the version Nicholas knew was also a handsome man with black hair and purple eyes, but Khan’s appearance, which had just been revealed, was the spitting image of Nicholas Wood, with only the eye color and hair length being different.

Now that he looked at it, even his body shape was similar…

“Ah, this troublemaker has finally done it! And it’s a major disaster…!”

If people who knew Nicholas saw Khan, they would have recognized him at a glance.

That’s Nicholas Wood, the CEO of Eve Company!

“Aaaaargh!”

Nicholas screamed, clutching his head.

Of course, he was well aware that many people liked his face, but seeing someone’s reaction in real-time like this was a different matter, wasn’t it?

And the other person was someone with whom he had single-handedly reached max internal-familiarity…

From Nicholas’s perspective, it was so embarrassing that if there were a mouse hole, he would want to crawl into it and never come out, and at the same time, he even felt guilty.

It was natural for the development team to monitor for contingencies, but still!

Think about it.

What if the NPC you were going crazy for, thinking it was just data made of 0s and 1s, was actually a real person who exists in reality?

‘…I don’t even want to think about it.’

If the person in question were to find out…

“This is a dream… a nightmare!”

─ Oh, Nick. Is there really a need to hate this situation so much? Didi lent her appearance to an NPC too. You can just think of yourself as one of them.

“That’s because…!”

Nicholas shouted but then bit his lip hard.

His head hurt too much.

How was he supposed to handle this situation that had already occurred?

“Why don’t we just set a countdown while we’re at it? The longer the wait, the faster the end! Then everything will be solved, won’t it?”

Spitting out sarcastic words, Nicholas let out a tired sigh.

“…How on earth are you going to take responsibility for this mess?”

Muttering in a gloomy voice, Nicholas looked at Khan on the screen and tore at his hair again.

“This is driving me crazy. The problem isn’t that the boss monster came out of the dungeon! That face! What are you going to do about that face?!

If Didi finds out about this, she’ll surely strangle me this time… My face has already been sold everywhere… Just imagine if that flimsy mask comes off in front of other players! …Ugh, I don’t even want to imagine it.”

At the gloomy future that he could easily imagine, Nicholas let out a short curse and shuddered.

No matter how he thought about it, it seemed that no matter what happened, a bad future was waiting for him if things continued like this.

“I should change Khan’s face right now…”

─ Beep boop! You can’t do that! If you change his face now, it’ll cause a bug, so you can’t!

“What? What on earth… When did you switch the model?”

─ About 5 years ago…?

Doesn’t that mean he switched it as soon as the game was released?

Nicholas’s jaw dropped in disbelief.

As if knowing his feelings, Noah chattered on.

─ To change just one of Khan’s faces now, we’d have to do a major overhaul. First of all, he’s directly involved in the main story, right?

So much time has passed that a lot of people have gotten involved with him in one way or another. Among the NPCs, there are even some who remember the face behind the mask.

And these guys are all named, so they’re all top-tier AIs… As you know, messing with their memories is a very dangerous thing, right?

We don’t know what kind of bugs will occur, and each and every one of them has a huge influence, so even if you and I work ourselves to the bone without sleeping, it would take at least a year to fix it.

And that’s a conservative estimate. It could take longer as we go, and the problem is that we’d have to shut down the game to even start the patch.

Noah went on a long spiel about how the risk was too great, so it was absolutely impossible to change it.

“Why are you doing this to me…”

─ Because your mask was perfect.

“Shut up, Noah.”

─ My goodness, Nick. Are you really angry? You’re cursing, which you never do… I’m sorry. But it’s already happened. This is not something we can just delete the data and start over.

The solution… yes, is to permanently delete player Paul’s account. A so-called murder to destroy the evidence?

At those words, Nicholas wiped his face in frustration.

He had thought Noah would cause trouble someday, but this was truly a major disaster.