Chapter 25 – If I Know

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Handsome Middle-aged Men Dating Simulation game.

When I looked at her with a face doubting if I had heard correctly, Daphne continued speaking, mumbling with a bright red face.

“I was playing a dating sim… set in an apocalyptic military background… featuring handsome middle-aged men… and when I woke up… I possessed it…”

“……”

Was there… a dating sim in the Safe Zone series?

Although it was a ten-year-old game, I didn’t think the genre of apocalypse changed…

Suddenly, the fact that her nickname was Meursault’s Wife crossed my mind.

So that was why her nickname was Meursault’s Wife?

Her nickname is Meursault’s Wife, so why did she become Hayden’s wife?

“If Meursault’s Wife meant something like that, why did you marry my father…”

“M-Meursault was not a target character! He was an extra character, so he was a character who couldn’t be targeted!”

Was he an extra character in the game Daphne played?

In ‘Apocalypse: Safe Zone,’ his role was not small.

A game with the same appearing NPCs but a different format…

‘…Could it be?’

Suddenly, a hypothesis crossed my mind.

‘Until now, we thought we had entered a game world, but…’

Same characters, same background.

Players possessing this world through different games.

‘Perhaps the games we played were imitations of this world.’

Thinking like that, a sudden chill ran down my spine.

If that was the case.

‘Someone clearly called us into this world with an explicit intention.’

Whether it was Safe Zone or a dating sim, there definitely existed someone who released games imitating this world onto the market.

Although I couldn’t know why they did such a thing for now.

No good intention was felt.

If it had been to prevent the end of this world, they wouldn’t have given a quest to marry an NPC in such a ridiculous package like a dating sim.

And they wouldn’t have thought of making unspecified players possess this world through a convenience store either.

To say they made us possess this world to seriously save it…

‘I can only feel the malice of crazy viewers who want to watch sensational scenes.’

I felt that the guy who made us possess this world was the true Dopamine Addict.

“…Come to think of it, did you say earlier that you told my mother it was something you had no choice but to do for the target route?”

“Yes. I simply received a quest stating ‘death if the ending is not seen within a year.’”

Death if the ending is not seen within a year…?

Was there an existence that handed down quests, rather than the system simply having functions like ours?

“And the only target characters in this zone were the former commander and Hayden. For me, who possessed the former commander’s daughter, there was no other option besides Hayden!”

Ah, so that was the situation.

As if she truly felt wronged, Daphne drank the tea which was still steaming, calmed her excitement, and spoke in an effort to sound calm.

“Talking as a player like this… is the first time in almost ten years.”

Daphne continued speaking, looking a bit relieved and a bit unstable.

“To be honest, when I heard that Luna Moon’s child came to find me, I couldn’t believe it.”

“You couldn’t believe it?”

Daphne glanced at me and spoke in a crawling voice.

“Because, you know…? Having a game character’s child… is something unimaginable for me. Naturally, I thought it was an imposter.”

‘Quite sharp.’

However, it was an understandable statement.

For example, although Daphne was beautiful, in my memory, her image as an NPC was still stronger.

While romance might be possible just like marrying game characters to each other, having a game character’s child was a separate matter.

‘If Daphne received a quest to see the ending within a year, it must have been the same for Luna Moon.’

However, seeing that she didn’t stop at the quest and even had a child with a game character, it seemed Luna Moon truly loved Hayden.

Although he was snatched away by Daphne.

‘Then could the reason Luna Moon died be because she failed the target route, rather than a plague?’

Indeed, it was strange that she died of a plague despite being a player.

Because we had bodies capable of healing just by consuming food.

Suddenly recalling what Daphne said earlier, I asked her.

“What was it that you asked my mother to help you with? You said she left coldly, but it’s not like my mother would have known how to leave this game.”

“Ah… what I asked for help with was not leaving the game.”

“Then?”

“Although I married Hayden because of the quest… I soon regretted it. So I asked her to help me divorce Hayden, saying I would rather live with Meursault even if I were to die. However, Luna Moon disappeared the next day, and I was left alone in this mansion. Hiding the secret of being a player. For a whole ten years until you appeared.”

‘…Hmm?’

Listening quietly, something caught on my mind.

That means… she had already asked Luna Moon to help her divorce Hayden?

Then why did Luna Moon go to that slum of all places after leaving Hayden?

If Daphne’s side had no intention to harm Luna Moon, couldn’t she have stayed here?

Of course, since the pro-Daphne faction executives were by Daphne’s side, she might have received threats from a third party.

‘Daphne might be lying.’

Since the character profile only showed Daphne’s player information and did not show whether her words were truth or lies.

At any rate… regardless of Daphne’s true intentions, I think I know the way to obtain her cooperation.

“I will help you.”

“Help… me?”

“Yes. If you help me just a little so that I can settle down here, I will make sure you can be free from Commander Hayden in the near future. I promise on my mother’s name.”

Daphne blinked her eyes rapidly as if she had heard unexpected words.

“…Did you listen to all my words? Or did you not understand? Luna Moon dying like that is mostly my fault. Because she must have received the same quest as me—”

“I know.”

“You know, but why are you…”

“My mother forgave you, and you are my mother’s last remaining friend.”

“……”

Daphne looked at me with an indescribable expression.

“…You are just a ten-year-old child, but I feel as if I am talking with Luna Moon.”

That’s because the one inside this is a player like Luna Moon.

‘More naive than I thought.’

The reason Daphne believed me so easily might be because what they played was not an apocalypse game, but a dating simulation game.

If I could treat Daphne as my mother’s friend and obtain a reliable backing, I could help her divorce her dictator husband as much as she wanted.

Moreover, Daphne and Hayden getting a divorce was also a good thing for me, and was even something not difficult to execute.

Because I was still in the middle of processing the three rewards strategy.

And there was still one more reward left that I could request from the commander.

Since Commander Hayden didn’t particularly love Daphne either, helping Daphne divorce him was not a difficult thing.

The real problem lay elsewhere.

‘Commander Hayden might also know that Luna Moon was a player.’

Judging by his reaction when he learned that I possessed healing ability.

The thought suddenly occurred that there might be something Luna Moon had tipped off Commander Hayden about.

Because the commander had already given me an implication in the past.

-Heydam. Why I married another woman while loving Luna Moon. Why I couldn’t protect you and Luna Moon despite holding the high position of commander. It must be full of things that young you cannot understand. Once you grow up and reach an age where you can understand my words, I will tell you everything I know.

Those grand words back then might have been because he knew Luna Moon was a player.

‘If the commander knows about the existence of players, I must never let it be discovered that I am a player…’

Hiding the fact that I was a player from Daphne was indeed the right choice.

I must continue to play the role of the child that the player Luna Moon gave birth to inside the game.

Until I put this zone in the palm of my hand.

* * *

“Hmm?”

While leaving the mansion after finishing the conversation with Daphne.

Behind the servants who were glaring at me as if to kill me, the executives were visible.

They were the pro-Daphne faction executives filled with anger, and the pro-Hayden faction executives who were flustered and reading the countenances of the pro-Daphne faction.

‘The effect is killer.’

Seeing those gentlemen who were hard to see gather in crowds just because I scaled the wall of the lady’s residence, it was hard to hold back the smile that was breaking out.

“Heydam-nim! What on earth is this—”

The pro-Hayden faction executive cautiously called me, but Anton, the leader of the pro-Daphne faction, cut him off and shouted.

“What on earth is this behavior! Scaling the wall of Daphne-nim’s residence and even driving out the servants!”

I wasn’t the one who drove out the servants, though?

Glancing at the servants, they avoided my gaze and were busy returning inside the mansion.

It was obvious those bastards had complained maliciously to the executives.

“It seems there is a misunderstanding…”

“As expected! It is a misunderstanding, right? There is no way Heydam-nim scaled the wall to enter!”

“No, it is true that I scaled the wall to enter, but the one who told the servants to wait outside was Daphne-nim.”

“……”

Uh?

Did the pro-Hayden faction executive just turn his gaze away with a face saying he could no longer shield me?

“If Daphne-nim dismissed the servants first, the two of you must have had something urgent to discuss.”

The one who spoke up was Joseph, the leader of the pro-Hayden faction.

“Did you have a good talk?”

“Ah, yes.”

“If it was a conversation that required scaling the wall of Daphne-nim’s residence to enter, it must have been a very urgent conversation?”

When the pro-Daphne faction executive couldn’t hold back and spoke sarcastically, Anton, standing beside him, spoke with a face still full of anger.

“Indeed, we must also know what urgent business you had to commit such a rudeness. Only then will we not misunderstand Heydam-nim on our own and feel disappointed, will we not?”

Well, if they wanted to know that badly.

I smiled brightly and answered them without hiding anything.

“I promised on my mother’s name that I would definitely get His Excellency and Daphne-nim divorced, and now I am on my way out.”

“W-What…”

“What did you say?!”

“What a crazy…”

Anton’s complexion turned pale, and he immediately stormed off and ran inside the mansion.

He is probably going to check on Daphne, worried that she might have heard abusive language from me.

‘Since Daphne decided to cooperate with me, I no longer need the pro-Daphne faction executives.’

While looking at the backs of the pro-Daphne faction executives disappearing inside the mansion in a hurry after Anton, this time Joseph grabbed my shoulder.

“What did you intend to do by causing such an incident! If His Excellency finds out…!”

While Joseph was pressing me, a low baritone voice was heard from behind.

“What if I find out?”

“……!”

Looking up, Commander Hayden, standing straight over Joseph’s shoulder, was staring down at me with his remaining eye.