Since the moderator team gets 2 weeks of vacation, naturally the dev team will get 2 weeks of vacation too.
Leaving the managing work to the ever-reliable Laplace back home, they work their hardest to rest easy and lounge around everywhere in the world, from the eternal tropical paradise of Hawaii, to the beautiful scenery of New Zealand, from the bustling urban of New York City to the pastoral of Barcelona…
(You would think that traveling around constantly would have drained them out even more, but thanks to their private portal technology, they won't have to worry any minute about having to desperately catch the plane after lollygagging in front of the tax-free gift shop for too long)
Eventually, all vacation has to end though, and responsible adult has to go back to their cramped working place to work back their salary. Still, that doesn't mean adults won't feel the sudden whiplash, as they drop back to hell from heaven above.
In their super-high-tech, super friendly-office vibe workroom, in which everything is placed neatly in place, right down to the feng shui and ergonomic and other irrelevant minute detail, here we see all the responsible adults dropping dead onto their table like zombies.
All of these responsible and talented dev team members are feeling super dejected right now, with some of them straight up lying down on the cold hard floor, refusing to stand up. Even the Head Chief, most responsible and hardened of them all, can't help but snugly stick to his special-order recliner, try as he may to look dignified.
“...Glassheads, I know that you guys all want to laze around forever, and live a happy retirement life in a tropical paradise, but get back to work! We can't afford to doze around like a bunch of dopey here."
“””Ehhhh~~.”””
“Don’t fucking “Ehh~” me and get to it!”
Even his retort is weaker than usual, as his back refused to separate itself from the comfy and supporting cushion, so he can do nothing else, other than just weakly gesturing his arm around. Seeing the Head Chief not acting any better than them, they double down on lazing around, all these hard-working adults turn into lazy bums.
“Eh...Boss said that, but don’t we basically have nothing to do anyway? After all, isn't it right that Laplace has not reported us anything that we need to pay attention to, mini-Tessa-chan~?"
Playing around with a model of Tessa on his desk, one of the glasshead replies back with a casual tone, not caring about anything in life.
“Plus, we have already done all the stuff we need to do this month, and all we have to do is to just literally push the update button on the new (impromptu) mechanic. We can literally just spend the rest of this month sleeping, sir.”
Said the lying glasshead, cozying in with his blanket and body pillow which he hug tightly. He swiftly dozed off to dreamland after that.
“Yeah, so stop worrying about it, Head Chief, and just go back to your family for another week or something. Meanwhile, I'm just going to keep looking for more relevant Marigold-chan content~"
Said Carana, the only kid in this room, acting more "responsible" and active than the rest, as she is now eagerly watching the top 10 Isekai Online events of the week on Ise-Tube in full 360 degrees view, on her 3D laptop she gets as part of her employment packages.
Seeing what is possibly the problem with young prodigy kids in these modern days, he suddenly remembers something, acting on the same instinct as checking the clock with a grouchy Monday mood.
“Urgh, that reminds me...Laplace, have those three done anything problematic today?”
[For the 68th time you have asked this question, no they have not.]
“Come on Boss, stop bothering Laplace-chan, will you? You even ask that while your family is around, making them huff and puff and blow you away to the pool you know.”
“I know, but still...they’re way too much of a variable in this game, so I have to make sure I can fully relax today as well.”
“And how does obsessively checking them over for breakfast, lunch, and dinner part of a relaxing routine again? You know that if there is something truly problematic, Laplace would have reported it to you already, so just sit tight at your desk Boss."
“...Maybe you're right. If Laplace doesn't say anything, then they probably just enjoying this game like 3 normal people (despite that one of them is a full-fledge non-CGI Dragon…).”
“AHAHAHAHA, as if that will be the case, Head Chief!”
“Carana, won’t you at least let me dream?”
Hearing her laugh, some of the curious glassheads rise up from their stupor, and drag their limb over to her seat, watching the “Top 10 Isekai Online Highlight” with her.
Soon enough, her table quickly becomes crowded with the walking deadbeat, and they become more bustling with Ooo and Aaa, engrossing themselves with the spectacle.
“Well, so what did they do this time?" Can't help but be curious, Head Chief slightly rose up from his seat, leaning forward.
“More like, what else they didn’t do? This week top 10 only show nothing but their action, Head Chief. From rediscovering primordial magic, to their anime-like training sessions, to the mess they made inside the Adventure Guild…”
"So standard-practice Isekai protag shenanigans then... thank goodness we aren't allowed to have anything to do with work when we’re on vacations, so I have been saved from a bunch of headaches.”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“...Despite the fact that you're constantly trying to dig work back to you, which lead to that pool incident, Head Chief.”
“It isn’t work, but survival, Carana. You will understand it someday when you get to my position…”
“Hopefully I won’t...Oh, there is a clip of them beating up the Dummy God as well, Head Chief.”
“Oh, they do that as well? Well, make sense if they end up doing that mission-"
“Holy goddamn, Marigold really beat up the Dummy God!”
“!?”
Hearing her exclamation, cold sweat started to creep up his back, and his stomach ulcer is acting up again.
A nauseous feeling of a month-straight overtime crunch took over his entire body, as he desperately climb out of his comfortable recliner, and arched his poor back over to the holographic.
The scene of Marigold violently sweeping the Dummy God up like a ragdoll in the middle of a hurricane flashes before his eyes, each punch directly aiming for his poor ulcer with an audible paks.
“...Absolute Fist!”
Then, with a clean blow through their body, her fist makes a giant hole in the Dummy God’s chest.
...And with that, all of his chances to get a rest have been blown into the sky above.
“Fuck.”
An audible, honest swearing is heard across the room, as all the glassheads witness his face, scrunching like having to taste acid. A bad feeling emanates across all of them, their backs sweat with each thought of overwork terrors.
Ignoring their rustling anxiety, he immediately throws at Laplace a straight inquiration.
“Laplace! Didn't I tell you to report to me if they ever do anything problematic, aren’t I!?? Why didn’t I get any notification about this!!?”
[That is because it's not a problem, according to my judgment.]
“!! WHY THE FUCK NOT!!? DON’T YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN IF THEY MANAGED TO TOUCH THAT CONTENT!!?”
[I am fully aware. However, it’s still not a problem.]
“WHY ISN’T IT THEN!?”
Instead of replying further, Laplace hacked into Carana’s personal computer, and show them a certain page from a dictionary, of which they highlighted the word.
[Problem
noun
1.
a matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful and needing to be dealt with and overcome.
]
[By textbook definition, a problem implied that it’s a situation that can be dealt with and overcome.]
[Considering that factoid, I have determined that this situation can’t be classified as such, for it can’t be dealt with and overcome through your combined effort, at least in any way that would make it easier for you all.]
[From such, I have determined to withhold such information, in consideration of your increasing level of stress.]
“WHY YOU…!!”
[Please calm down, your heart rate has risen to 180 bpm.]
Seeing Head Chief's sudden rage and desperation, their anxiety has risen tenfold. They even felt an imaginary ulcer silently forming in their stomach, and even Carana is feeling a bit squealzy with nervousness.
“Uh, Boss...what the heck is the content you’re speaking of?”
“...Just pretend you haven’t heard of it. It’s much better for your peace of mind that way.”
"Sir, you know that only makes us feel even worse, right!??"
Amidst the panicking crowd, he can only scrunch up his face angrily, barely containing his abject annoyance. Arriving at his desk and sitting back down, he exhales deeply, slouching toward everyone with his hand holding forward.
“Hah...to tell to you all straight, it’s basically endgame content.”
“!!?”
“Moreover, they managed to touch one of the pieces required to unlock the super endgame, in the unthinkable event that the players managed to 100% this game, and are ready to face the ultimate trial. Jesus Fucking Christ, how the heck do they manage to do it while still being level 1…”
“!!?Sir, what's that super endgame content then, and how is it connected to them beating the Dummy God? Aren't they just a super obscured god that only a handful of people know about?"
“That’s by design, dummies.”
“!”
“As for who they really are and what the content is, I will let all of you genius dummies figure it out yourself. This is something that should only be known by a few core members anyway…"
Hearing that, the group only gets more restless over time. Some of them are even dreading what would happen to their free time and their full bed of hair from now on, after the endless slave work crunching them out. Slumping back into his seat, however, the Head Chief talk to them with a reassuring voice.
“Don’t you worry and get your glasses all jumbled up like that. Look like they only figured out one piece for now, so we still have a lot of time. Even if they collected all the pieces, they would still need many more years to actually reach it...”
[Actually, they would be able to reach it in 1-2 years.]
“...Well, good news everybody. You have a whole 1-2 years of not needing to worry about this.”
“How the heck is that good news, Sir???”
“Tsk...”
Also restraining himself from retorting the same thing, Head Chief forcefully continued the conversation nonchalantly.
“Anyway, just get back to work like usual. Until that day come, it’s just going to be the same-old regular overtime session for everyone, as always (Except Carana, since obviously).”
“...Um, boss. Can we at least hear the name of that content?"
“Didn't I tell you that it's top secret?... Well, if you must know, internally we called it "Project Overhell Time", happy?"
“No, sir…”
Despite his "reassuring" words, the team gets even more dejected, feeling gloomy all over, as they solemnly head back to their seat like they're just done with their obituary.
Well, when one knows of their own (office) death date, one can't help but faceplant straight into the desk, wanting to knock themselves into a coma. With the mood dropping rock bottom, not even Carana is in the mood to enjoy searching for more of her favorite Marigold content (though that doesn't stop her from impulsively saving all of them on her laptop for later watch).
Not feeling that happy either, Head Chief slumped deeply into the back of his recliner, and sighed deeply.
“(Tsk, make sense that they wouldn’t feel any sort of motivation from this news, so I will let it slide this time.)”
“(...Can't help it though, they really need to know about this, for them to be able to mentally prepare themselves. That’s what all they can do.)”
“(After all, that project’s true name is…)”
Immediately, Head Chief is reminiscing about the past.
About their small team, about Laplace’s creation, about the mess they made…
All of it, for their grand foolish dream.
"Tsk, why the heck do we decide to have that project in the first place…"
Mumbling to himself grumpily, the Head Chief end up also open his personal computer, and began playing Solitaire to pass the time.