[ Chapter XVI (16): "MR. MANN, CHOCOS, 500 PLAYERS" ]
[ "Sales are skyrocketing, but it isn't enough. We need to expand..." ]
Mark Mann, a newly hired somewhat underpaid and overworked worker of Chocos— a company focused on selling chocolate sandwich cookies that he loves, could be seen listening attentively.
All the while the other people in the room, some the same position as him, while the rest are higher. They all could be seen pretending to listen, or even blatantly not at all as the chief of advertising yap about this, or about that. In short, the meeting room is a whole lot of mess with Mark being the only one actively participating.
As the entry-level coordinator, he needs to of course listens very well to his boss, to do his work as effectively and efficiently as possible that is.
[ "Mark!" ]
[ "Me?" ]
[ "No, not you Mr. Thompson, I'm talking about the other Mark." ]
[ "Sir... a-are you being sarcastic, or...?" ]
[ "No, not at all. So shut up." ]
He listens at the conversation going about and logged it at his data base for future references, he isn't what one would call a man-made machine. He isn't a robot, as he isn't even from around here; he isn't even human to begin with.
[ "Mark!" ]
[ "Yes, sir!" ]
[ "Okay, I love that enthusiasm... Anyways, like I was talking about, you'll be in charge of plastering our advertisement throughout the internet. Can I trust you with that?" ]
Looking around the meeting room, at his co-workers that are either using their cellphones discretely, poorly at that, or even staring at paint dry— to be more precise, at the wall behind the marketing head.
Mr. Mann, or to be more precise J'onn J'onzz, more commonly known by superhero alias as Martin Manhunter enthusiastically nodded his head in response.
[ "I wouldn't fail you, bossman!" ]
...
He doesn't know what to do, so he might fail his "bossman" on the certain mission he is given. [ "Oh no..." ] That means he would likely to lose his newly acquired job, meaning he'll be likely to not be payed... lose his apartment, lose his identify...
Before ultimately getting found out as an alien by the citizens of Earth. Not as someone from another country, but is instead the alien-alien type; as someone from another planet that is.
And in having lived for about a month and three days exactly with humans, J'onn knows a dangerously extensive amount of cruelty that humans is capable of. Amongst each other that is, and to aliens, and to superheroes, and to anything weird, or unique... Just like what J'onn J'onzz is.
He doesn't want to get boot out of this green planet that he had grown fond off. He knows the cruelty of humans, but he also known and experienced their love for one another— and also...
Chocos, he loves that chocolate wheel cookie with milk feeling; after tasting it, he knows well enough that he wouldn't be able to let go of it no matter what he does.
Which is why he chose to work for them, to make them more affordable for him— employee discount that is.
As at the moment, J'onn doesn't have a single penny to his name, he is broke. If not for stealing money from bad humans, then he wouldn't have been able to get a job, pay rent and the down payment of it, and buy Chocos. So yes, he dearly need the work.
Glancing around the empty office after work hours, in noticing that no one is there, except for him in his cubicle and that camera on the corner which couldn't see his computer's screen— weird device that he doesn't fully comprehend yet.
He then became relieved as he then mutters the be-all and end-all answer to his every single one of his humanly questions. That being, [ "The internet!" ]
About to search up the step-by-step process of him buying advertisement placement on the internet, to some AI that is. He then became confused in seeing his computer screen glitched out.
[ "Whoah,... did I do something wrong?" ]
Surprised, he accidentally shifted back to his original green form. Before then noticing his change, as he then changed back. Thankful that the cctv camera didn't catch his act of shapeshifting.
[ "Oh, dear..." ]
[ "Oh, it's fixed." ]
Sighting in relief, J'onn noticed that his standardized company computer is alright, not bugged, not showing green rainings codes in a black background. Sushi recipes in japanese if he isn't wrong. No, instead his computer is fixed... almost actually.
As at the moment the computer of J'onn, no, the company actually. No matter who owns it, has been a huge help to him in gathering information about Earth, about humans, about culture and mannerism. And in seeing it showing something abnormal to him, he became curious instant.
[ "And what is... this exactly?" ]
His computer that was supposed to show an AI website, wherein he could ask questions and then received answers, was instead replaced by a weird website. He glanced at the corner in the http and could only see the word: UTOPIA in it.
Which surprised him, but what surprised him even more is the thing playing on his computer screen at the moment. An animated advertisement of some sorts, about a barren land.
[ "I need to finish my work, and close anything unrelated to work immedie-" ]
[ HONOR. WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT HONOR? YOU WHO HAS NEVER FACED TRUE FEAR ]
[ "I mean, I should... But, shouldn't...?" ]
[ LEARN WHAT HONOR IS BEFORE PRETENDING YOU ARE A WARRIOR ]
[ "I'm sold...!" ]
Under the guise of research, J'onn listened and focused 110% of his attention to the random game, not at all related to selling biscuits advertisement playing at his company computer.
To be more precise, the monologue ranting on and on about honor and whatnot, while showing the bloody aftermath of an medieval fight if he isn't wrong. Ruined castle, killed Knights, the everything.
[ ...JOIN FOR HONOR NOW AND EXPERIENCE WHAT TRUE HONOR IS ]
After a minute, the extensive monologue and display of a winter cold land, littered with corpses of either Knights, Vikings, or Samurais finally stopped.
Which caused something inside J'onn to be saddened, as he is at the moment feeling the most dangerous human emotion there is, i.e. wanting more, greed. Which he hates, but also not at the same time...
[ "That's... it?!" ] Who could blame him after seeing that said wonderful advertisement, which caught his attention, his interest, his everything. He is sold and wants to watch that series as fast as he could.
[ "Okay, where can I watch this marvel?" ]
Even though he doesn't have a phone, he could at the very least use his company provided computer for that, pair with the headset given. He is set.
About to look for more details about the said mysterious series, he didn't seem to have to do that at all. As he got redirected to an store of some sorts to download an weird app called UTOPIA.
[ "What a weird app." ] About to deny it in fear of the company's computer getting bugged, hacked, or have malware in it. And possibly face a human lawsuit if that happened, J'onn can't handle that.
But he paused slightly as he noticed more images of Knights, Vikings, and Samurais plastered about. Though wanting to download the app and watch the tv series, he couldn't.
So with regret he closed the weird random computer tab and let the memories of warriors, monologues in a field of snow as nothing but bygones... Or so he thought.
[ "Huh, what's this...? I didn't download it." ]
[ UTOPIA ]
About to delete the said mysterious app, he couldn't. So he kept trying to delete it, but after some time he was finally about to give up... But accidentally clicked the said mysterious weird app, [ "Oh no..." ]
To his outmost surprise, the app didn't open up. Instead he felt something weird inside him, as a rare occurrence then envelope his body. Something that he rarely does, and that would be sleep.
[ "Something... is... wrong...!" ]
As he then felt drowsiness take over his body, which is a surprise because he doesn't need to physically sleep, eat, or drink, as a Martian that is. This unexpected drowsiness caused his form to rapidly shift, back to his green apperance.
[ "Must... hide!" ] So using every ounce of strength he has, he hid his form back to that of a normal man. Before then flapping down and hitting his keyboard with a thud; accidentally startling a rat trying to steal food from nearby, as it then ran away in fear, that is of course while carrying cheese.
...
[ PLAYER POPULATION: 416/500 ]
[ ACTIVE PLAYERS: 322 ]
[ "Why is it so slow...?" ]
Arthur could be seen staring down at his creation through the videofeed. And could see many different faces enter the Lobby, as they all then passed through the Spawner.
At the moment, the said Lobby doesn't look as cramped up as it used to be. Due to a certain number of factors that Arthur had work on for weeks.
First is due to him decorating the place, he made the floor have patterns, he added more furniture, and more greenery around. Plus the fact he added some fences for them to not fall off the void.
Second is because he made the Garden bigger, to much more comfortably fit the Plants living inside it... And oh, lastly because he created 3 more Gardens around the Lobby.
All of which the same size, all of which are vastly different with one another. The original Garden is set as Plains, the second Garden is the Beach, the third Garden is Night, and the last Garden being the most unique out of them all, it being the Desert...
How is that even still consid- anyways. Thanks to the steady influx of Credits that he is actively receiving through the Plants, Arthur was able to built those said things and renovations.
While also having the ability to buy Player Slots and Blank Character for them to occupy— all 400 of them, which cost Arthur a total amount of 80,000 Credits; no more, no less than that... The grandest and most expensive venture he had done.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that Arthur didn't cry in-between nights before making this situation, because he did... Like a proud stingy man at that. But he didn't have a choice, he had to do it.
To of course make his Lobby more crowded, and also to have more Players to take care of the Plants. As he dreams of filling each and every single space at the moment with Plants, as they are after all his money makers.
And the most important factor of them all, it is because for the first time since forever. The System tasked him to actively increase his Player Population through a System Mission. A rare occurence.
Especially with this latest Mission now having a penalty if not completed... Not death, the System didn't threaten him with death. No, it instead threatened him with something much-much-much more worse.
And that'll be the dreadful Credit deduction from his wallet and also lower income base from active source— both from Players and Plants. So gritting his teeth, he reluctantly completed it as to not get punished.
[ "Why are the Players... so damn slow...?" ]
The said Mission requires 500 Players, at the moment he bought the slot and characters for the people of Detective Comics Universe to occupy.
He has even created an advertisement from the original For Honor game, and pasted it into any and all devices that would be lucky enough to be Player suitable...
But he has been waiting for more than an hour already, and the slots aren't still full. He who has nothing to do can just burn more Credits to widen the scope of the advertisements... It's just that, he couldn't.
As he is at the moment... broke, poor man. He had spent what little money he has for the Players sake, to reconstruction, and even to increase the Plants Population. So now, he could only do nothing but wait.
[ "Stay patient..." ]
[ "..." ]
[ PLAYER POPULATION: 421/500 ]
[ "I can't...!" ] it feels like watching paint dry, Arthur couldn't force himself to do it. But also couldn't force himself to not do it.
[ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ] [ ——— ]
[ 06/27/2025 ]
[ 06/28/2025 ]