Chapter 255 (1/2)
With my reading of volume 16 put on hold, I'm able to finish work on another part yet again. Also, if you still weren't aware, I've put up a discord server where people can discuss about Netoge and ask me some questions about the other volumes if you so wish.
The link to the discord server is right here:
It's still a sorry sight to be honest, but I'm still looking forward to talking with other English speakers about this great work.
All that said, I'm still on course to finis.h.i.+ng volume 3 before the end of the month so there should be no worries there. Also, the next volume is also quite shorter than the previous ones but the author really laid the ネトゲ用語 heavy on it in exchange. It was also the volume where I binged on reading the next few volumes because of a single segment that was really nostalgic, but I'll save that for when I'm finished with volume 3. There's still part 5 and the epilogue after this one, so look forward to that as well.
As always, please let me know if you find any errors in the translation (you can now contact me via Discord, as I check that more often than my email).
All that aside, please enjoy reading the climax of this volume.
Chapter 3 Part 4
Translation: Yamaking
A few days after, we, the Modern Electronics Communication Game Club, a.s.sembled at our clubroom.
”It's almost time. Is everyone ready?”
”No problems here.”
”I'm all okay over here—… Not that I actually have to do anything.”
”I'm also fine but, uhm…”
Ako still has no idea as to what we've scheming.
I tapped that shoulder of hers whilst showing an energetic smile on my face— hoping that she would feel rea.s.sured upon seeing that.
”Well, just watch. Today is the day of vengeance. We'll show that guy that we're not just going to let him toy around with us like that.”
”…okay…”
The hands on the clock show that the time now is 3 in the afternoon.
Now is the appointed time.
”We're starting.”
”Operation, start!”
”Operation start, roger—!”
”R, roger—?”
I logged in to the low-leveled beginner character that I created beforehand.
Taking after Rusian's naming scheme, I named the character Piroshki-kun.
TL note: Rusian – Russian. Piroshki is a Russian pastry.
I controlled Piroshki-kun's movement, making him go into one of the capital's back alley where not much people pa.s.sed by.
Waiting in the middle of that alleyway was a character, who was in beginner gear, that looked like someone we had met recently. That character then walked towards mine.
Its name was lon. d.a.m.n it, making it so painfully obviously like this is just s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g around with us!
TL note: The name lon here is LON in all lower case.
”Alright, Target confirmed. No doubt about it.”
”The operation is proceeding phase two. Plan N, start!”
”Phase two, roger. Plan N starting.”
”U, uhm… What were you all doing since earlier?”
Don't sweat it and just watch for now. This is the important part.
And then, the character with the beginner gear stopped in front of me.
A trade request window popped up in the middle of my screen.
I slowly moved my cursor and accepted the trade request.
”What's the status of Plan N?”
”We're still waiting for a response, 30 seconds left.”
”Nis.h.i.+mura, do you think you can wait it out?”
”I've no other choice but to do that right?!”
The trade started without any exchange of words.
The other side added a huge amount of gold to the trade window and accepted the trade.
Even though there were no exchange of words between us, I could feel an absurd amount of pressure from across the screen that was telling me to push the OK b.u.t.ton already.
”Master, is it still not done?”
”15 seconds.”
”Kuh, that's tough.”
”…Uhm, I'm feeling pretty lonely being the only one left out you know…”
I can't just let the trade end like this.
I was right here patiently waiting but— d.a.m.n it! That guy cancelled it from his side!
”Phase two has failed. We're moving on to phase three!”
”5 seconds left. If phase 3 succeeds, then we have a prospect for success.”
Alright, I'm counting on you.
After the trade earlier got cancelled, I sent out a trade request of my own before the other party could leave.
'I wanted to make the deal but I got caught up with something that took a bit to finish' is the appeal I'm going for here.
I made the trade request with the full intent that 'I'm going to properly do it this time'.
As expected, the trade window opened again for the second time around.
A huge amount of gold was again added to the trade window.
”Hey, is Plan N not done yet? I'm at my limit here!”
”Wait, just a little, a little bit longer—— alright, here they are!”
At the same time Master said that, my whole screen turned white.
After a moment of loading, my screen displayed us being in something that looked like the center of the arena.
GM01 Nyack: Good day.
Enshrined in that area was a game master, as if it were completely normal.
GM01 Nyack: Do you have an idea as to why I have teleported the both of you here?
lon: …Huh?
”Oh yeeeaaaaaaah!”
”Baited!”
”Fish On!”
”U, uhm, err, eeh?”
TL note: Fish On! Ozenji is a game fis.h.i.+ng theme park in Kawasaki.
Ako was trembling in panic as we shouted cheered for joy.
We'll explain it later so just celebrate with us for now!
GM01 Nyack: The management team has received word just now that the two of you are engaging in RMT activities.
lon: The heck are you saying? I didn't even do such a thing?
That scamming b.a.s.t.a.r.d said that, dumbfounded.
As if. Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm continuing on with this conversation.
Piroshki: Yes, we were trying to do RMT.
lon: Haaa!?
Lon was astonished.
That's right. This situation is indeed, me trying to perform Real Money Trade with this guy.
Through the use of that good-for-nothing message board, you could look for people engaging in RMT and strike a deal with a complete stranger online. That's what the live GM report function is for.
But of course, that was actually all a complete lie. A huge farce. I had no plan of paying up even one cent. This was all done to thoroughly fool that guy.
Well, I can only imagine his surprise. Since it was a failed attempt at the RMT, he probably thought he could still weasel his way out of this one, but I bet he didn't expect someone to go ahead and confess to the crime.
Piroshki: I got his contact through an RMT site. We were just in the middle of said RMT as well.
lon: What the heck is that? Isn't that kinda weird— d.a.m.n it! You used that board to set me up!
Piroshki: You're the one who set me up first.
It looks as if he finally realized it after I said that, since Lon seemed to click his tongue as he said,
lon: So you're the guy from that time? lol Heh, Aren't you quite the moron? lololol
Lon said that, looking all important as he laughed himself silly.
lon: What does an attempted RMT where no money changed hands prove anyway? lololol For all your efforts, you'll get me temp banned for 3 days. Congratulations lolol Good job, good job lololol
Sorry to interrupt you while you're in the middle of your victory speech, but that's just not how it's going to fly you know?
As I was about to type that, Nyack-san beat me to the punch as he said,
GM01 Nyack: No, someone has also filed a report of you account hacking using the character name 'Lon'. We have also carefully examined your past violations because of what has occured today. Since we already have sufficient proof, we are also considering filing charges based on the act of 'Prohibition of Unauthorized Access'.
Uwah, he's really mad. It looks like Nyack-san has also already had his fill of this guy.
Well of course right? That guy went and ruined that collab event, so there's no way he wouldn't be mad right?
lon: Haa!? I didn't even do anything!
Piroshki: But you did, didn't you? The evidence matches after all.
lon: Evidence?
Nyack-san calmly replied to Lon, who was in such a panic.
GM01 Nyack: In the beginning, we could not confirm that the reported illegal access violation and you were the same person.
GM01 Nyack: However, using the IP logs sent to us by the RMT board, we were able to determine that the person who posted there and the one using the character 'Lon' is the same person.
GM01 Nyack: And we were also able to confirm that the IP of you, the person who showed up for the deal, and the one who performed the illegal access violation is one and the same.
GM01 Nyack: Thus, we have concluded that the person who performed the illegal access violation and the one engaging in RMT is the same person.
”…Uhm, what does that mean?”
It seems Ako is at her wit's end.
Err, let's see, to explain it properly…
”An IP address is something like an a.s.signed number for each person connected to the internet. If you do something bad, it can be used to identify you and catch you.”
”Yup, I knew that.”
That's great. This makes explaining it easy then.
”So then, with regards to what the admins do, whenever someone breaks any of the rules, they use their IP to confirm the culprit. They then look up everything that is related to the IP of the culprit.”
”Yes, I've heard of that often.”
That's why if anyone did anything fishy using the PCs in our clubroom, we would all be in trouble.
”So based on that, we reported the one selling my items since he's probably the one who hacked me, but since their IPs are different, they said it was impossible.”
”…Why were they different?”
”When I looked into the IP addresses I've collected, I found out that he normally plays from home, but when he does go do some shady stuff, he goes off to a net cafe.”
All the information we needed was already in our hands.
”We can figure out the culprit using circ.u.mstantial evidence, but since their IPs are different, they can't be caught. The admins couldn't just ban him either. That's where my idea of gathering evidence to prove that they're the same person came about.”
To do that, I made use of a trading board that specializes in RMT.
”I figured, that guy would probably post at the RMT board from home, and then go to a net cafe to do the deal. Once he does that, I could get the interrelation between those two IPs— that, no matter how anyone would look at it, they would look like the same person to anyone.”
”And so that's how this all came to be?”
By this, she's referring to the questioning of the GM of the scammer.
When I looked at my screen, Lon was still in the middle of fruitlessly attempting to resist.
lon: Board you say? I haven't posted anything in any board to make my IP appear in there.
GM01 Nyack: We have already confirmed it with the written logs.
lon: I told you I didn't post anything!