But then one tear thence fell to earth,
And struck its surface silently.
Then all were witness to the birth
Of the Mother Maple tree.
--Maple History Book, volume one
Chapter 1 – Whose Work This Is I Think I Know (BAGUETTE)
Two months later
This was a problem.
In fact, that is probably a good candidate for understatement of the century. If we as a collective administration didn't figure out a solution, Maple Global was DOA.
It had been hardly a month since I began my training as a MapleStory GM, and already I was witness to the crisis of the century. I couldn't have asked for a better test of my skills, but it was stressful enough to make one toy with the finer points of jumping off a building.
It's funny how something as simple as a new dungeon could bring the game to its knees. The catch, however, was that Graemalkin Tower was not planned. It wasn't designed by Wizet programmers, it wasn't endorsed or supported by Nexon, it wasn't advertised, it wasn't expected, and it just plain wasn't supposed to be there. The fact that an entire dungeon could just slip itself on past everyone was more than enough to make waves within the company.
The going theory was that it had piggybacked itself onto the last patch, and had remained dormant until the hacker that put it there called it up again. But how could your everyday hacker do something like that? The simple answer was that this was in no way your everyday hacker. This hacker was dedicated, this hacker was skilled, and moreover, this hacker was dangerous.
The first executive decision made when the dungeon appeared was an emergency patch. The dungeon was located within the datafile Data.wz and deleted, then the client was patched with the Graemalkin-Tower-free datafile. The fact that it sprang right back up as if nothing had happened was what inspired the theory that this anonymous hacker had broken into Wizet's automated patching system. Clearly not your average godmoder.
So where did I, 25-year-old Michelle DeVaugne, Wizet employee and fledgling GM, figure into all of this?
My phone rang. "Hello?" I answered.
"Hey Mich."
"Oh, hi, Kit."
"How goes your rounds today? Spot anyone interesting in that dungeon?"
"No, not yet. You?"
"Not a one."
I chuckled. "I doubt the hacker that made this place would risk hanging around inside it. This whole thing is a waste of time; we should be trying to get RID of the thing rather than patrolling it."
"Yeah," Kit said with a sympathetic tone, "But they're doing all they can. In fact, it seems we have a primary suspect."
This was new. "Oh? Tell me more."
"Yeah. Seems it's a character by the name of 'Grae'. There's pretty much no doubt he's a hacker, even though nobody's caught him at anything. Plus, he's the guildmaster of a guild called 'Graemalkin'. You just try and tell me that's a coincidence."
Interesting. "What's his level and job?"
"Nobody knows. The game crashes when you try to look at his character info."
THAT was unusual. "What about the rankings on the website?"
"Nowhere to be found. As far as the site's concerned, he doesn't exist."
I nodded. "Yeah, sounds like this guy is definitely someone to watch. Has anyone tried banning him yet?"
"Can't be done. Same thing happens with his account information as with his character name. There's no record of him or his account anywhere on the server."
"That's weird."
"Yeah," he said. "Oh, I'd probably better get back to work."
"Yeah, me too. I don't want to be caught idling in this dungeon, it could cost me my job."
"Yeah. I'll let you know if anything new develops."
"You do that."
I went back to the keyboard and took control of my MapleStory avatar. She was a level 50 character I named "Baguette". It's kind of a company in-joke that GMs tend towards food-related character names, and since a lot of my family is from France, I couldn't resist giving my Admin character a name like that.
Her appearance was done in the typically eclectic style of GM avatars. She had short, blue hair with pigtails, a school uniform top and bottom, Japanese-style loose socks, and baby angel wings on her back. Her weapon was a giant spatula, which amused me to no end. I mean, seriously, how can you dislike anyone that walks around whacking things with a giant spatula? It just brings a smile to the face.
I was currently on the fourth floor of Graemalkin Tower. It was an expertly constructed dungeon, which made me wonder at the fact that it was created unprofessionally. If I hadn't been aware already that this was a vagrant area, I'd swear it was official material. The dungeon incorporated monsters from everywhere in the game, and they graded perfectly in difficulty from floor to floor. The floor I was on at the moment was primarily occupied by Zombie Mushrooms and Evil Eyes, and the tileset matched that of the Ant Tunnel.
As I began patrolling the expansive map again, I started to think about what Kit had told me.
"Grae, huh," I said to myself in All Chat mode. The text appeared in the chat box in the trademark blue text of the GMs. That was a habit of mine, saying things aloud in game. It never hurt anything, since nobody would even see the chat while I was in Hide mode, except other GMs.
Another chat appeared in the box, in the typical white of All Chat.
"Speak of the devil, and he shall appear."
I looked up at the minimap. A small red blip had appeared on it while I wasn't looking. That was the color that indicated another player. Any player that appears on the minimap is in range of All Chat mode, which explains why I got a chat from them.
I looked back at the chat box. The chat had come from a character named…
"Grae."
He shouldn't be able to hear me, I thought. Maybe it was just a coincidence that it sounded like he could. But why would he say a thing like that to the air…?
"I see my reputation precedes me. Yes, my dear GM, that is my name."
Well, any doubts were now neatly erased.
"Mind explaining to me how you can hear what I'm saying?"
He landed on the platform I was standing on. "I can see you too, incidentally," he said. "I thought that might pique your interest."
His avatar's skin was very pale, sort of a bluish white. He wore a black trench coat, and his black hair extended almost to the ground. His eyes were concealed by a pair of sunglasses, though his eyebrows tilted inward in an obvious scowl. His bandaged hands carried a Pan Lid shield and Maple Soul Singer, a very formidable weapon that was also difficult to obtain. Predictably, his guild was marked as "Graemalkin", with a red skull emblem.
"Yes, it does," I said. "Mind explaining how?"
A small smirk appeared on his face. "You GMs aren't visible to other players, but that doesn't mean the server doesn't receive information about your position. The information simply isn't broadcast, as it is with normal players. Seeing you is only a matter of coaxing the server into sending that information to me."
He made it sound so simple, but tricking the server into doing something like that would have to be monstrously complex. Who WAS this guy…?
"So, is it true? Are you the one that made this dungeon?"
The smirk reappeared. "As much as I'd like to take credit for this work of art—and it really IS a work of art—doing so might incriminate me. I'm afraid I'm not the one you're looking for."
"Naturally," I said, with an F3 face. It's a look of exasperation; it was stupidly clear that he was lying.
"However," he said, the smirk disappearing again, "I have a message to deliver, to you and your administration, from the real artist."
"I'm listening."
"Graemalkin Tower is just the beginning," he began. "I have much bigger and MUCH better things in store for you all. You can fight back; I would certainly enjoy a good challenge. But do not expect to halt the flow of progress as I bring it about. Changes are coming; and YOU will be the first element dealt with. You are obsolete, and you will be deleted. Good day."
I took a screenshot of his little speech. It was ominous to be certain, but it was vital that I get this information to the rest of the administration.
"Oh, and by the way," he said. "I have a little present for you."
"What's that?" I typed. I hit the enter key, but nothing happened. The text hadn't appeared in the text entry or anything. I realized then that the entire screen was frozen; I was lagging!
The screen faded to black and returned to the Login screen. I tried logging in again, but I was immediately disconnected. I exited the game instead.
There were more important things to do for the moment. I attached the screenshot I had taken to an email, wrote up a summary of the encounter, and sent it out to the rest of the administration. I breathed a tired sigh and massaged my temples. The phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Michelle?" It was Grant, another fellow GM.
"Hey, Grant," I said, not even bothering to mask the fatigue in my voice.
"I just wanted to see if you'd heard that we have a suspect for the--"
"Yes, I already heard. Check your email. I had a little run-in with the guy."
"Seriously?"
"Yes," I said, "and I think I agree that it's probably him. We can't pin it on him yet, though. Not enough evidence."
"I guess…" he said. "OK, here, I've got the email." He paused as he read the text on the screenshot. "Wow. This is pretty heavy stuff. I'll report it to the higher-ups; you take a little break."
"Thanks," I said. "At least I know I can trust you of all people."
We both hung up. What I needed now was a little nap. I lay down in my bed and closed my eyes. For the moment I was content to forget all about Grae and the tower, and about MapleStory. I just let sleep take me.
But the words floated through my head in my last moments of consciousness. "You are obsolete. You will be deleted."
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Author's note: Whoo! Well, reviews would be much appreciated. Thanks for reading, and I hope you liked it.
Also, be sure to take a look-see at the characters page, under "notebook" on my website. I'll probably be updating it with each chapter.
