Chapter 11 – The Veteran and the Newbie

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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There were many things I wanted to ask and dispute with this bastard HomeProtector, but it was not something to discuss in a public chat room where other players were present.

Above all, that was not what was important right now.

The ones who newly entered the chat room were ‘Shin’, ‘Dentist’, ‘SsapPossible’, ‘IDontCryThatIsCardio’, and ‘Druggie’.

And including ‘HomeProtector’, there were six people in total.

Even adding myself and T-Bastard, who were already in the chat room, that made eight.

Since there were a total of nine safe zones and nine meteor items, if one person per zone had opened the system, the number of people in this chat room should have been nine.

Of course, it could be that the remaining one person had not been able to open the system yet.

But with six people entering simultaneously just now, that possibility seemed very low.

Since the zones were not randomly assigned but differed depending on what items the players chose at the convenience store, perhaps there was a zone that no player had chosen.

[HomeProtector: Oh! Dopamine Addict! You were indeed possessed too?]

HomeProtector affably initiated the conversation first.

Seeing his friendly tone, it seemed this fellow, like Taejeongtaese, had no complaints about being possessed into the game.

Well… in reality, fitting his nickname HomeProtector, he must have been unemployed.

[SsapPossible: I did think you both would be possessed, but…]

SsapPossible, who frequently commented on my strategy guides, also had an aloof attitude toward being possessed.

[Shin: Dopamine Addict? Is it really Dopamine Addict?]

[Shin: I’m a huge fan of yours!]

There was another person whose head was a flower garden.

Was it someone who dropped into a not-so-difficult zone?

[Druggie: What is this? A chat room? Why does this even exist? I wasn’t the only one possessed here?]

Being so confused like that might actually be the normal reaction.

Because the newly entered players poured out their words all at once, the chat window busily scrolled upward.

Only after they calmed down after a long time did they somehow seem to look for my reaction, and among them, a player with a gym-rat-like nickname carefully asked me.

[IDontCryThatIsCardio: Excuse me…]

[IDontCryThatIsCardio: I know that you, Dopamine Addict, were the first to post that convenience store address, but were you also possessed?]

Compared to T-Bastard who had threatened to kill me out of the blue, it was a very polite question, so I answered readily.

[Dopamine Addict: I was also possessed. I only sent the convenience store address to HomeProtector, and I never dreamed that it would spread and cause us to be possessed in a group like this.]

[Shin: Which zone are you in right now?]

After a very brief deliberation on whether it was okay to tell ‘Shin’ about my zone, I revealed it honestly.

[Dopamine Addict: I am in the Cola zone.]

There was no particular reason why I revealed my zone honestly.

Until the Second Doomsday arrived, we could not contact other zones.

Because that was the unspoken rule between zones.

In any case, once the Second Doomsday started, I would go to the Unicorn zone.

Revealing my current zone could not pose a big threat to me.

Most of all, since T-Bastard already knew that my zone was the Cola zone, there was no need to try a pointless bluff here and lose the trust of other players.

In addition, it would be troublesome if this chat room flowed into an atmosphere where everyone was eager to hide information from each other.

Because I wanted to welcome the Second Doomsday while grasping the situation of other zones to some extent.

While giving out some information I knew, I would extract information from other players.

Since the public chat room existed, it must mean that players were supposed to exchange information.

[Dopamine Addict: To understand the situation, I would also like to know your zones.]

[Shin: I’m in the Love zone~]

Perhaps because she had asked about my zone first, ‘Shin’ also revealed her zone readily.

By the way… I thought she was someone who dropped into a low-difficulty zone because her head was a flower garden, but it was ‘Love’?

[HomeProtector: I’m Cigarette.]

HomeProtector seemed to have dropped into the Cigarette zone as expected by me and CornerHoney.

[SsapPossible: I’m in the Beer zone. It’s underwater.]

[IDontCryThatIsCardio: I’m Chicken.]

[Druggie: Uh… I’m… Cocaine…]

[Shin: Puhaha!! You bought cocaine at that convenience store?]

[Druggie: I thought it was just powder!]

[Shin: For saying that, your nickname smells like drugs~]

[Druggie: I’m just a roleplayer…!!]

He spoke about being a roleplayer as if it were nothing.

The user with the nickname ‘Dentist’ was silent even during this.

Are they analyzing the situation? A cautious personality.

[Dopamine Addict: Dentist, are you not going to reveal which zone you are in?]

Dentist only sent a chat after I pointed him out.

[Dentist: Beside me, there is someone else who hasn’t revealed their zone. Since we might be in the same zone, it’s correct to be careful.]

Someone who didn’t reveal their zone?

Ah, is he talking about T-Bastard?

Beside the chat window, the members currently in the chat room were listed in chronological order.

Just as I was wary of Dentist not saying a single word, Dentist seemed to have found it suspicious that T-Bastard was quiet.

[Dopamine Addict: If you are talking about T-Bastard, his zone is Knife.]

[Shin: Knife?!]

When I said T-Bastard’s zone was Knife, even Shin, who had been speaking casually until now, seemed startled.

[HomeProtector: Isn’t that a hidden zone?]

[HomeProtector: Ah, well, since the starting zone is determined by the item bought at the convenience store, it makes sense to drop into Knife.]

[IDontCryThatIsCardio: Knife… I offer my condolences…]

I didn’t think T-Bastard was not looking at this message right now, but no chat came from him.

[Dentist: Why doesn’t T-Bastard say it himself?]

As expected, Dentist did not like that part.

It couldn’t be helped that T-Bastard looked suspicious.

[Dopamine Addict: T-Bastard probably doesn’t have the peace of mind to check the chat right now. Above all, he doesn’t have good feelings toward me. It is a state where it is hard to ask for cooperation.]

[Dentist: If not everyone is cooperating, it will be hard for me to reveal my zone.]

Hmm.

Should I say this is being highly cautious, or foolish?

In any case, the remaining zones were only Candy and Unicorn, so what was he trying to do by hiding this?

[Dopamine Addict: I understand, but I don’t think anyone would want to share information with someone who hasn’t even revealed their zone.]

[Dentist: How can you be sure that the information you all are sharing is reliable?]

Certainly, I also did not believe everything the other players said.

But what I wanted was not for Dentist to believe us, but only for Dentist to spill his own information.

Instead of instilling trust in him, I blurred the point slightly and replied.

[Dopamine Addict: I opened the system on the first day of possession. That means I have the most information among us. You should be able to tell just from the fact that I opened the system before you guys and chatted with T-Bastard first, right?]

[Dentist: Just because you opened the system first…]

As if she found it frustrating that Dentist and I were having a sluggish conversation, Shin cut in.

[Shin: Hey, by any chance, does Dentist not know who Dopamine Addict is?]

[Dentist: Do I need to know?]

[Shin: Dentist, you don’t visit the community, do you?]

[Shin: Dopamine Addict is the all-zone conqueror!]

[Shin: To miss the chance to exchange information with the all-zone conqueror is such a foolish choice.]

Because it felt like gilding my face too much, I didn’t talk about being an all-zone conqueror.

But I was also surprised that Dentist refused to share information with me.

I thought he might be a detractor of mine like CornerHoney, but an unexpected response came from Dentist.

[Dentist: All-zone conqueror? Is that… a big deal?]

[HomeProtector: Eh.]

[IDontCryThatIsCardio: ?]

Something was strange.

Though I say so myself, if someone was an Apocalypse: Safe Zone player, there was no way they wouldn’t know me.

…Ah.

Don’t tell me, this Dentist…

[Shin: Excuse me, Dentist… How long has it been since you started Apocalypse: Safe Zone?]

[Dentist: Apocalypse: Safe Zone? What is that?]

[Shin: Huh?]

I suddenly realized something and asked Dentist.

[Dopamine Addict: By any chance, Dentist, do you not know that this place is inside the game called Apocalypse: Safe Zone?]

[Dentist: This place is inside a game?]

[Dentist: Then did all that talk about possession from earlier mean being possessed into a game??]

Ah.

I remembered.

Because the convenience store address was not registered on the internet map, I had sent HomeProtector the address of the adjacent building.

I remembered there was a dental clinic in that adjacent building.

Then did that dentist go to the convenience store and get possessed by chance?

[Shin: Heavens… then… he got possessed without knowing anything?]

[HomeProtector: You’ve never played this game at all?]

[SsapPossible: That means…]

At this moment, a single thought must have crossed the minds of the experienced players who were possessed.

[Dopamine Addict: A newbie.]

[HomeProtector: A newbie.]

[SsapPossible: A newbie.]

[Dentist: …What is a newbie?]

[Druggie: Excuse me, is this the time to be happy about a newbie? We were possessed into a game?]

But with this, I seemed to know the zone where Dentist was.

The zones that hadn’t come out yet were Candy and Unicorn.

But there was no way a newbie could have survived in the Unicorn zone.

Though Dentist might be smart, a newbie couldn’t have gotten their hands on the meteor item of the Unicorn zone in just two days.

[Dopamine Addict: Dentist’s zone is Candy.]

[Dentist: Are you testing me right now?]

[Dopamine Addict: There are several reasons why your zone is Candy, but above all, I don’t think a normal person with a sane mind like you would have bought a unicorn doll at the convenience store. Then the only one left is Candy.]

[Dentist: …]

As if hit right on target, Dentist was silent for a moment.

[Dopamine Addict: Anyway, if it’s Candy, it’s a relief. It won’t be difficult to survive there. If you survive until you are 20, don’t look back, leave that zone, and come to the Cola zone. I will protect you.]

[Dentist: Why are you offering me goodwill?]

[Dopamine Addict: Because you’re a newbie.]

[Dentist: What kind of… Let’s think about it for now.]

Dentist did not readily say he would do so, but he seemed to have withdrawn his reluctance to converse with us to some extent.

There was no grand reason why I wanted to protect him.

In any case, a dentist was an important resource.

Although players didn’t need to eat, wouldn’t the teeth of other NPCs rot?

Although he was a doctor in a limited specialty of dentistry, since we didn’t know how far the player’s healing ability would work, having a real doctor was not bad.

And because he’s a new.bie.

[Dopamine Addict: More than that… I have a hypothesis.]

[Shin: What is it~?]

[Dopamine Addict: I hypothesize that the player who can open the system is a player who has gotten hold of a certain ‘item’. By any chance, did you all also get hold of ‘that’ item?]

[Shin: Ah! The meteor item? I have it. Earrings made of meteor!]

[HomeProtector: I wondered why the system opened… I have it too. Meteor pistol.]

[SsapPossible: Uh… I also came into contact with a meteor yesterday. The power source of the submarine.]

[IDontCryThatIsCardio: I have one too! A dumbbell made of meteor!]

[Dentist: The person who is the leader of this zone made me touch a certain stone, and that might have been a meteor.]

[Druggie: Is opening the system… related to meteors? Uh… I’m not sure… I don’t have anything that could be called an item.]

Since the Cocaine zone meteor item did not have a physical shape, it was not unreasonable that Druggie did not know he had contacted a meteor.

Anyway, we learned a new fact from this.

It was not only the player who owned a meteor item that could open the system.

Just by ‘contacting’ the meteor item, the system would open.

Maybe by letting Taejeongtaese or CornerHoney touch my ring, I could open the systems of those two.

‘However…’

If there was not only one player in other zones, it was strange that only one person in the Beer zone or Candy zone had opened the system.

[Dopamine Addict: By any chance, have you not met other players in your zone?]

[HomeProtector: Other players? I haven’t seen any.]

Unless he was lying, it seemed HomeProtector was the only one in the Cigarette zone.

How surprising. I thought there would be many players who bought cigarettes.

[IDontCryThatIsCardio: There are quite a few here in the Chicken zone! We decided to join forces to survive!]

[Dentist: I also learned for the first time through this chat room that there are other players.]

[SsapPossible: There were a few in Beer…]

SsapPossible seemed to hesitate a bit, then added.

[SsapPossible: They were aiming for the same strategy as me. So it couldn’t be helped.]

Ah.

‘SsapPossible either killed them, or they died from the strategy failure penalty.’

[Dopamine Addict: In my zone, there was also a player who aimed for the same strategy as me. But when he failed the strategy, he died on the spot.]

[Shin: Died?!]

[Dopamine Addict: Although I don’t know if he completely died or just logged out.]

[Shin: Huh… There are quite a few players in our zone too. But everyone decided to serve me.]

…What does that mean? All the players in the same zone decided to serve her?

What on earth did this Shin do in the Love zone for two days?

‘Putting that aside…’

Despite there being other players in the Chicken zone or Love zone, the fact that only one person opened the system… might mean only the player who contacted the meteor first can open the system.

For now, I should stop exchanging information here.

They do not have the information I want yet.

Still, letting them know at least one thing would increase the possibility that they would share information with me first.

I shared the fact that I had also told T-Bastard.

[Dopamine Addict: Does everyone know about the phenomenon when a player consumes food?]

[IDontCryThatIsCardio: Ah, yes! It becomes exactly like the game.]

[Dopamine Addict: Do you also know that if you have a wounded place, you can heal it by absorbing food?]

[Shin: Oh my! I didn’t know that. Thanks for the info.]

[Dentist: That… is good information. Thank you. I will also share useful information next time if it comes up.]

Dentist seemed to have a clear give-and-take personality.

I wanted to ask how each was going to conquer their zone, but to ask that, I felt like I would have to reveal that I was doing the bastard child strategy, so I refrained.

Although they were cooperating now, they probably knew.

That once they became twenty, became adults, and the Second Doomsday occurred, a situation where we would have to kill each other might happen.

It could be seen just from the fact that they did not mention their strategy methods at all.

Except for Dentist, who did not know about the subsequent story, everyone else here was an experienced player of this safe zone.

It meant that as much as they understood each other’s situations, they knew each other’s circumstances well.

The Second Doomsday of the Safe Zone was the prelude to survival.

Although the majority showed goodwill toward me, I must not let my guard down.

[Dopamine Addict: I’m going to go conquer the rest. If anything happens, send a message. I will help.]

Just as I was wrapping up the chat like that, a familiar child’s voice came from the direction of the mansion.

“So you were here, brother!”

Ah, that fellow Taejeongtaese.

Fortunately, he hasn’t been kicked out yet.