Sometimes, products get churned out, before they have been fully tested.
Sometimes, the feature is still 1 month behind schedule, but since the target deadline is close, the team pulls a 1-week coffee-and-Redbull-fueled bender, struggling and scraping everything they can to put it out on time, before the entire team hits the ICU room due to extreme overworking.
Sometimes, because of it, no one knows that the team behind it accidentally leaves behind certain features, meant for testing purposes only, in the rushed-out finished product. Features that weren't meant to be released to the public, for safety reasons.
And sometimes...the entire development team got unfortunately lucky.
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17:00 PM, Parallel Inc.
The work within the development team of Isekai Online is never done, when it comes to monitoring the world housing 1 billion players, and countless NPC, plotlines, settings, etc...
It's especially never done, when a certain pair of somebody (+ small dragon), come and practically wreck 5 years of futures content in the span of an afternoon.
Thankfully, Laplace, the ever-helpful hyper AI, has already restructured all the destroyed plotlines and setting to seamlessly accommodate, and even taking the advantage of, the destruction and massive change the past event has accidentally brought out.
Still, it's the job of the main team to figure out and rework all the planned events they made, as well as adding new ones, from both the suggestion of Laplace and the desperate need of adding new contents they never ever planned for.
As such, the team has been very busy for the past month, with night-upon-sleepless-night of endless planning, drafting, coding, testing, etc...And, without the state-of-the-art medical technology that the team has exclusive usage of, they too would have fallen into the same fate as that unlucky team...
Today, though their work to regain back 5 years of future content isn't done yet, they at least finished planning out events for the 12 months ahead, and could take it easy this time.
"Phew...and that's that for the Dragon Arc event. Looks like we're going to be able to go home today!"
"""Woohoo!!!"""
"Yeah! Finally, I can go home, and get along with my wife."
"You mean your waifu's body pillow? As if all of us virgins here have an actual wife at home."
"Ssh, don't say that to the Head Chief. He is in a tough spot with his wife and children, after being stuck in this place for a month..."
"Oi, I heard you, you bastard! And let me tell you my relationship with them is still fine!"
Among the cheering and laughing and backslapping, the head chief immediately snapped them back to focus, before asking all of them while drinking his special coffee-Redbull blend.
"Right, so what's the situation with the two-times troubles? Any leads about them?" (Head Chief)
"Sir, as expected, since they fall under the protection of the Privacy Clause, we of course can't ask Laplace straight up as to who that would be...Instead, we have been using Laplace's Deep Gaze protocol, to search for them indirectly."
Carana Wellsworn, the recently-promoted employee, quickly responds back to him, along with a huge sheet of papers slamming onto the table.
Laplace, as its name suggests, has the capability to extrapolate both the past and the future, like the demon who watches over everything.
By aggregating and analyzing the massive amount of data Laplace obtained from all available sources, such as satellite images, public CCTV, weather towers, internet, etc...and compiling all the information Laplace could possibly get from the world, it build out a present model of the world itself, constantly updated to match as close to the real thing as possible with near 100% accuracy, with less than a picometer margin of error.
From the model, it can perform various complex calculations and freely run the model forward or backward, in order to determine and figure out both the past and all the possible futures the world could turn into, up to 100 years ahead.
Nicknamed the Deep Gaze protocol, this model of the world have been helping not just humanity, but the world itself in many ways, from predicting natural disaster, to preventing war, to help to discover many unknown corners of the globe, and to modeling out the potential consequence of any action made on the planet, helping to plan out the course of humanity.
Of course, the fact that the AI's primary usage is still to monitor and maintain Isekai Online, has continued to baffle both humanity at large and the very developer who made the AI itself in the first place...
"By comparing last month's future forecast from both before and after their arrival, as well as cross-referencing it with the actual record for any discrepancies, we have been able to narrow down the possible candidates for our interlopers...And to be perfectly honest, they really don't hide themselves much." (Carana)
Spreading the paper over, she then took out her glasses and pinched her eyes together.
"Hm? What do you mean?" (Head Chief)
In response to his question, she then took out three papers and showed them to him.
"With record speed, Laplace instantly found out at least 3 major discrepancies, which escalate into at least a million other discrepancies of varying degrees, with the main cause being only 2 people in particular. In fact, apparently, they stopped a major apocalypse before we even knew about it." (Carana)
"PHFFFF! WHAT!? WHY THE HECK DON'T WE KNOW ABOUT IT!?" (Head Chief)
"Laplace does try to warn us for months, but...we just got so busy preparing for the game, sir." (Carana)
Spitting out the special blend to the side, both the Head Chief and the entire team itself, all find themselves in a cold sweat.
"Ah...now that you mentioned it, Laplace does remind us something about "Imminent Apocalypse Alert", but we all thought it was for an event."
"We end up scrambling everything we can, as we all thought we somehow missed developing an event for half a year..."
"It ended up slotting in nicely with what we were planning to do for the anniversary, so we all thought it was another stroke of genius made by Laplace...For it to end up to be an actual one..."
Silently, through the blank monitor towering over them, even without any actual proof...
They can all simultaneously feel the judging gaze of Laplace over all of them, piercing through their conscience.
"Ahem...Anyway, Laplace has already announced their findings to all the related organizations and personnel under absolute secrecy, and have made ample preparations for the apocalypse, after Laplace failed to warn us about it..." (Carana)
"Guh..."
The silent gaze attack continued to assault them mercilessly, as Carana continued presenting her report, still drenching in guilty sweat.
"But thanks to our interloper solving it so cleanly, the apocalypse ends up not happening at all, and all the effort Laplace made ends up wasted, not to mention the reduced credibility rating..." (Carana)
"Hey, you don't need to keep roasting us, you know?" (Head Chief)
"Oh no sir, I wouldn't. It's all in the paper, sir."
Taking a look at it, and reading over the line 'Recommendation: A full month of sensitivity and communication training', all of them reflexively bow down repeatedly toward the monitor in deep apology.
After a long while, they continued their report, as the Head Chief read over the 3 papers presented to them.
" 'The chairwoman of Cassandra Foundation, saved from certain death by mysterious heroes'; 'Headquarter of the terrorist organization Just World annihilated, preventing World War 3'; 'Report of a potential full-scale invasion from another world stopped by the possible interloper candidate'...Wait, what's with the last one?" (Head Chief)
"Ah sir, the first two are news titles, while the last one is Laplace's personal report about the hypothetical situation that would occur if the above two events didn't happen. According to Laplace, what ends up happening is just a relatively minor spatial disturbance..." (Carana)
"Disregarding the third one, we really should keep up with the news more often in the future...So, who is the "possible" interloper candidate, then?" (Head Chief)
"I will show them on the screen, sir. Of course, they're running on fake names, with a fake background, so keep that in mind." (Carana)
She then showed on the big screen the profile of the two candidates, with images of them on top.
"First is Yukari Hanami, 21 years old, brown hair, brown eyes, "apparently" a Japanese native. Losing her mother at the age of 6 due to an "unspecified" illness, she lives with her estranged father, who is a famous CEO of X company, before cutting tied with him at the age of 18, leaving her house with her belonging and a million dollars in saving. She now is a "Special Guest" of Godiva Cassandra, the chairwoman of the Cassandra foundation, and has been assisting them ever since in many "unspecified" private endeavors." (Carana)
"Huh...so as expected, that chairwoman is covering for them, being her savior and all that. Makes sense that she would make that kind of ridiculous storyline for her..." (Head Chief)
"The ridiculousness doesn't stop there, sir." (Carana)
"Hm?"
She then showed a video of a kendo exhibition match, in which she fought against 100 fully-armored swordmasters in bare clothing. As they watched her swiftly handle and defeat all of them simultaneously, with their eyes raised and their jaws slacken, she continued her report.
"Before her meeting with Godiva, she "apparently" has been making a living in winning kendo matches, both official and underground. She's known for challenging entire dojos in a Kumite, and swiftly defeating 100 kendo masters within 15 seconds, without wearing any armor, and without any scratch. There are also a few more videos about her receiving a private match on Cassandra Foundation's Youtube channel." (Carana)
"Ho? Is it legit?" (Head Chief)
"Laplace confirms that the video contains no falsehood or exaggeration, aside from a few minor SFX and video editing techniques. The match is confirmed to be 100% legit, and there is even a match against a famous Isekai Online ranker, who is also a swordmaster in real life." (Carana)
"Hm? So what’s the result?" (Head Chief)
"The match ended in less than 5 seconds. Most of that is waiting for the ranker to fall to the ground, before getting carried away in a stretcher, unconscious." (Carana)
Hearing that, the Head Chief also found himself rubbing his eyes together, before taking a big sigh.
"Hah...because of course we're dealing with an OP isekai protagonist. So, what about the other, then?" (Head Chief)
"Yessir...The other is Maria Art, 13 years old, black hair, black eyes. A Eurasian mixed ancestry, she's a prodigy discovered by the Cassandra Foundation, after they found her orphaned from birth. Talented in every field, her favorite subject is, of course, Art, and she has been making and displaying numerous masterpieces, from classical art style to an award-winning Manga Oneshot, to a hit One-hit-wonder, which have been trending for a week now in various video site and social media, reaching 100 million viewers in total and climbing. Safe to say, she has been quite a sensational idol right now, and an absolute media darling with both her stellar voice, her adorable look, and her soft, sincere, and cheerful personality." (Carana)
After that, she then opened up the music video of that aforementioned one-hit-wonder, and it immediately caught all of them in a trance, and immediately danced to the music, like they were all otaku waving at their idol.
5 minutes later, after they finished jamming out, the Head Chef made a surprised remark.
"The music...I'm not really into music theory or anything, but does the music solidly transcends current trends by at least 10 years, pop music or otherwise?"
"And her look...are you sure that isn't edited, or does she really look like an anime loli come to life?"
"Oi, don't be disrespectful! Her voice doesn't speak deep into our heart, and caresses it like a goddess just for you to look at her that way!"
"Goddess!? Don't you see she's just an ordinary cheerful girl? Don't you dare drag her into this toxic idol industry, where her precious heart clearly doesn't belong!"
"What's that !? And hidden this angelic voice from blessing this world, you puritan bastard!?"
"Rather that, than let this beautiful soul get corrupted by all of us, you pervert bottomfeeder!"
As the bunch of labcoat otaku goes into an uproar arguing with each other, and the Head Chief is about to yell at all of them while facepalming, a sudden loud clap rang through the speaker surrounding the room, shutting them all up. As Carana held the mic up to her, she continued to speak loudly.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Okay okay, let's stop fighting over this silly thing, all agree that Maria-chan is the most precious thing that needs to be protected at all cost, subscribe to her channel, and get a move on." (Carana)
"That's right-wait, what?" (Head Chief)
Continuing on with her report (under the incredulous eyes of the Head Chief), she then shows the image of a big white lizard, closely hugged by her.
"Maria Art also has a pet white lizard named Blanc, and she likes to bring her everywhere she goes, sometimes also with her big sister Yukari, the one we mentioned before." (Carana)
"Wait, that white lizard looks familiar...And wait, "Big Sister?" (Head Chief)
"Yeah, she proudly proclaims her as her sword blood sister on various social media platforms. She doesn't use it much, but each time it's precious all the same~~." (Carana)
"So they even know how to use it as well...And what's with the "blood sister" thing? Isn't it a bit too serious for someone her age?" (Head Chief)
"You would think so." (Carana)
She then shows one of her posts, which contains a video that shows her also in the middle of the dojo, surrounded by 100 martial art masters, and beating all of them in a blink of an eye.
Coincidentally, the title of the post is "Making my Big Sis proud~~♥"
"Aside from being an artist, she's also trained in all forms of Martial Arts up to the level of Grandmaster, and just to make her Big Sister proud, she proceeds to achieve the same thing as her, and beat up 100 masters at the same time in 15 seconds as well." (Carana)
"Jesus Christ...how is that little body hit so hard? I haven't seen a body getting folded like an omelette en masse like this anywhere but Isekai Online...Hm? Wait a minute, Martial Art...Maria Art...Is it really that obvious?" (Head Chief)
"Yes, it's that obvious that her name is a pun. It's also a pun with Martia as well." (Carana)
"...Ah! That white lizard! It looks nearly the same as that little dragon, that's on that little boy's head constantly!" (Head Chief)
"Yes, and after I have Laplace do a comparison between them...aside from the size and the lack of wings, their shape and features are 99% alike." (Carana)
"...So, it is basically confirmed then? But wait, aren't Martia clearly a boy, and Maria here is a girl?" (Head Chief)
"Technically, Martia's gender is confirmed to be unknown...And like, how dare you?" (Carana)
Suddenly, her voice turned heavy, as she adjusted the mic to "Gogogo" mode, and filled the room with a menacing aura, making the Head Chief jump up with a goosebump.
"W-What's up with you, Carana?" (Head Chief)
"Oh, sorry for my sudden transgression, Head Chief...Just that, how dare you to assume that they aren't the same person, just because their gender is different?" (Carana)
As she pushed her glasses up and made an audible "click" sound, she began showing the two's pictures together, along with a myriad of complicated graphs and slideshows flooding the screen.
"Look at that squishy cheek! that round eyes as if peering through all the truth and good in the world! that fluffy, cloud-like hair! that wonderfully fair and healthy complexion!" (Carana)
"From all that I can gather, from all that I can analyze! I concluded that Martia is the embodiment of all that is good in the world, and all that is just in the world!"
"No...look at how mathematically perfect they're! They must have been the universe's answer, for what is the cutest, and most adorable thing in the entirety of the known universe!"
"As such! It makes sense that their cuteness transcends gender! No, I dare say, that it's hubris in the first place, to dare place their absolute perfection, in our mere meager, blasphemous judgment!"
"Yet, she still allowed us to do so! To allow us to gaze at her, as both the cutest boy and the sweetest girl! She allowed us, to gaze with our measly eyes a glimpse of her totality and divinity!"
"So! Is Maria just an idol?"
"""NO!""" (Crowd)
Wrapped up in the fervor, the crowd below bellow out their word, shocking the Head Chief into donning an awestruck face. In response, with her eyes hidden under the glint of her glasses, she continued her speech, with her leg stepping on the table.
"No! Because to dare taint Her Majestic Completion with our filthy soul, with our twisted adoration, is Sins Atop Of Sins! Is The Greatest of Crime! Is The Most Blasphemy!" (Carana)
"So! Is Maria just an ordinary girl?"
"""NO!""" (Crowd)
"No! Because of her cuteness, her adorableness, her gentle charm, as if caressing all our souls into the True Purity! Is above and beyond the mere visage and vessel of Man!" (Carana)
"So! To I may ask! What is she truly!"
"She's Neither! She's Both! She's The Alpha and the Omega! The Eternal Flower that should forever be out of our Reach!"
"And So! What should we do?"
"We should be eternally respectful, eternally grateful of the Pure Miracle that washes upon our very flawed totality! We should also wash clean of our sin, our desire, and protect Her Purity from the Evil Within, And the Evil Without! To forever watch from afar, to dare not twist it into our flawed reality!"
"For Hail The Pure Miracle That Blessed Our Very Existence, With Eternal Enlightenment!"
"""For Hail The Pure Miracle!!!""" (Crowd)
With her absolute compulsion, the crowd's fervor reaches its climax, as they forever chant the name of the Highest Purity.
"WOULD YOU GUY STOPPED ACTING LIKE THAT ALREADYYYYY!!!!" (Head Chief)
And immediately after, the Head Chief bonks each and every single one of the idiots with his trusty clipboard of stainless steel.
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Having all of the idiots with glasses sit on their knees, and run them all the way down for a solid 5 minutes, the Head Chief continued with the report briefing.
"So, aside from that completely unnecessary tomfoolery back then, we can confirm that those two are most likely the ones we're looking for right?" (Head Chief)
"""Yes...""" (Crowd)
Hearing so, the Head Chief then takes a big sigh, before collapsing himself into his specially-ordered massage chair, and letting it massage all over his body.
"Hahhhh...So any idea about what we should do with them, aside from just leaving them alone?" (Head Chief)
"Eh? I mean, I'm all for the idea of leaving our absolute purity alone, outside of any taint and disturban-Ouch!" (Carana)
"What did I tell ya earlier, Carana?" (Head Chief)
Under the demonic vice-like grip of Head Chief's gaze, Carana quickly stated her question, while nursing her bump from being hit by the steel-plated clipboard.
"Um...as an employee of this company, why shouldn't we report our findings to the rest of Parallel Inc? We do get drowned in request after request of getting any info possible from the board, the advertisement department, the production department, etc..." (Carana)
"Because of who they're getting protection from right now. You said they're under the protection of Cassandra Foundation, right?" (Head Chief)
"Yes, sir...Cassandra Foundation, founded by the chairwoman Godiva Cassandra, is an investment and entrepreneur firm that, thanks to the chairwoman's unparallel vision, business acumen, and the ability to strike any kind of deal, no matter with who, has become one of the most trusted investment company in the world, whom can turn even the most unexpected project into unthinkable profit. Thanks to a continuous and unstoppable series of bold and innovative investment into any kind of field possible, Cassandra Foundation have joined the top 10 most influential company in the world, and, with all their investment project combined, a total of 5% of the world's economy..." (Carana)
"So, textbook understanding of them only, got it. You can stop now." (Head Chief)
"Hm? What do you mean, sir?" (Carana)
Seeing her head tilted in wonder, the Head Chief take another sigh.
"You're only an intern until recently, so makes sense that you don't know this, but...Parralel Inc and Cassandra Foundation go way back." (Head Chief)
"Hm? I do see that we do make multiple contracts with Cassandra Foundation over the years, but-" (Carana)
"Not just that. Cassandra Foundation...or rather, without Godiva Cassandra herself back then, Parralel Inc might as well don't exist." (Head Chief)
"!!!?" (Carana)
Seeing the shocked look of Carana, the Head Chief then began to tell his story, while the chair swiftly turn on its massage mode.
"S-S-So B-B-Back T-T-Then, a-a-around 1-1-10 y-y-years a-a-go..." (Head Chief)
"Sir, we can't hear you." (Carana)
"O-oh, ssssorry...Anyway, around 10 years ago, Parralel Inc...or rather Parallel World Foundation back then, is just a bunch of sweaty nerds staying in a rented warehouse, cobbling together our meager funds and equipment in pursuit of an insane, rumbustious dream..." (Head Chief)
"Parallel World Foundation? Isn't it the starting point of this company, filled with genius and passionate people, all of whom with their pure dream of reaching another world build many inventions which laid the very foundation of who we are today... " (Carana)
"Hah! If you really buy into that marketing, then I have no words to talk to you...Pure dream of reaching another world my butt. We were all just horny manchild, who all wish to go into another world just so that we can have OP power, and a harem with many anime waifu." (Head Chief)
"We're all genius, sure. We're all passionate to a fault, and we do make some insane stuff in our backyard...But in the end, we're only a hobby club at best, a glorified book club where we spend more of our time arguing which titties are better than actually making stuff. Not like we ever intend to sell any of our inventions, or even let them be known, so we were destined to lose all of our money, get kicked out of our warehouse, and faded into obscurity...Until she comes, that is." (Carana)
Bringing over his keyboard and typing out something, he then brings out a picture of the entire group in front of the warehouse that used to be the company back in the day, with a certain young girl in school uniform, with her blond hair adorned with a simple clip, making a double V pose while winking to the camera.
"Godiva Cassandra...She was just 16 back then, recently joining high school, and yet immediately after, she was mingling with us, and even getting deep into the nerd stuff...She, after looking at the current state we're in, immediately swear to help us for reason only now we understand, and right the day after, we're all looking at a deal with the Cassandra Foundation she apparently made on a wimp, along with 10 million dollars in installment..." (Head Chief)
"Well, long story short, we have a long history with each other since then. We help them with a lot of projects, and in return, they help us with a lot of projects, one of them being the hidden secrets of Isekai Online itself. "
Hearing such statements from Head Chief, all of the members make a shocked face
"The hidden secrets of Isekai Online!?...Which one? The fact that we're all just hopeless nerds, who completely get carried by Laplace-chan?"
"The fact that we're all just winging it from one update to another, and in actuality, we don't even know 10% of our own shit?"
"The fact that we have a secret internal waifu material ranking list of all the significant characters in Isekai Online itself?"
"NOT THOSE KINDS OF SECRETS, YOU BUFFOONS!!!" (Head Chief)
"Ouch!"
"Ouch!"
"Ouch!"
Performing a boomerang throw toward the head of all the relapsed idiots, he caught back his clipboard with an exacerbately angry look.
"And why the heck are you seniors playing dumb with her!? Don't tell me you forgot about the internal secrets of Isekai Online!?" (Head Chief)
"""Ehehe...""" (Crowd)
"Wait, the internal secrets of Isekai Online?...Ah, you mean the 7 Hidden Wonders." (Carana)
"Yes, I mean that 7 Hidden Wonders, the thing we put inside the game to fulfilled our long-held dream of going into another world...Anyway, you guys are familiars with Metahumans, right?" (Head Chief)
"Oh, you mean the real-life X-men?"
"The Newtype?"
"The Cheater?"
"Yeah yeah, they're known by many names...So as you guy know, one of the secrets involved artificially creating superhumans, through both Isekai Online and the pod we made, in order to give people real-life cheats after going into another world." (Head Chief)
"Oh yeah, and around a year ago, Cassandra Foundation proudly announce that they will officially sponsor and support those superhumans, after we confirmed the very few first cases of superhuman being created through our Wonder...wait, don't tell me, Cassandra Foundation supported us, in expecting that we will actually accomplish our own project, and capitalize on it!? Just how much foresight does Godiva get..." (Carana)
"Foresight...Yeah, you can call it that. But no, it's not exactly just that...It's also so that she can seamlessly integrate that event into her own existing Superhuman Protection Program, and allowed them to slowly reveal themselves to the world..." (Head Chief)
"Wait, existing? But I thought there is only...Wait, you don't mean...!!?" (Carana)
Seeing the absolutely shocking face of Carana, the Head Chief then showed the picture of Godiva, with both her emerald and citrine-colored eyes open.
"Emerald is said to have the power of knowing the future, while citrine is said to give the user luck...The citrine on the right read the causes and potentials, while the emerald on the left read the results and effects, and both help her to read and know the infinite futures...That is what she said to me about the powers she got from birth." (Head Chief)
"A Clairvoyance...you mean she is an actual superhuman, even before our own project!? And that she actually know this company's future when she first met you, and help us to ensure that future!? Just so that she can hide the Superhuman, that actually existed all along and is now under her protection, in relatively plain sight, and using our influence itself to completely control the narrative!?" (Carana)
"Astute observation, Carana...Would be a bit disappointed if you haven't read that far ahead." (Head Chief)
Letting her stew in a bit longer, the Head Chef takes a long sip of his cup, before resuming the report.
"Okay, let's return with the report...Carana?" (Head Chief)
"So that explains why the number of superhumans appearing doesn't match the estimated rate, and why the power set revealed exceeds the predetermined value we got from our data, and-Ouch." (Carana)
"Okay, let's return with the report, Carana." (Head Chief)
Once again getting hit with the clipboard, Carana continued with her observation while rubbing her head.
"So, in summary, since Cassandra Foundation got ahold of a lot of our secrets, fighting against them would be unwise. Moreover, because of the secret I just found out, I can presume that she has a lot of assets hidden from our eyes, right?" (Carana)
"Um...5% is just how it looks from the outside. If she really pulls her string and connection, she can take control over half of the world in a matter of days." (Head Chief)
"I see...and since the backstory profile of the two of them is made by Cassandra Foundation, that's also indirectly a warning to not just us, but to every single faction that also can figure out their real identity just like us, as well as having complete control of all the narratives and alibis from the start, if they do have to be in conflict..." (Carana)
"You got it...And don't forget, according to the report, they singlehandedly stopped a world-ending apocalypse." (Head Chief)
As they hear the sentences, the entire group falls silent.
"From what you have given me, the apocalypse, if it hasn't been stopped by them, would have destroyed 70% of the world's population before it could be fought back in a decade-long conflict. Personally, picking a fight with someone who can fight a world-ending threat in a matter of hours like that, is the definition of dumbassness. Seriously, you guy should have realized that from the start, the moment you guy heard of their exploit..." (Head Chief)
Finished spatting out his words, he once again take a big gulp, while he watch the group silently thinking about this. As he found his cup empty, and go on to make another brew, Carana then pose a question.
"...So what do we do know?" (Carana)
"Keep silent, of course. It's definitely way beyond our paygrade, trying to poke this particular Maneating Hornet's nest...Thank goodness that they don't cause any problem yet, so we can just ignore that this never happens-." (Head Chief)
"There is a problem with 2 new players today, chief!"
Hearing the news from afar, the Head Chief almost throw his clipboard at them by mistake.