Chapter 37 – Toying Begins

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Lord Haydam! Why did you set such a condition?!”

Since I planned to stay at the military academy for the time being, I was assigned a private room and was about to tidy it up.

Sure enough.

The cadets who had lost to me came rushing in as soon as the morning assembly ended.

Behind the cadets with desperate faces, Plato bowed to me politely, but he was soon blocked by the others.

“Lord Haydam, to think that it is a defeat if even one person dies!”

“If you set such a condition after killing all of us by yourself, what are we supposed to do……!”

“We never said we would do it in the first place!”

“If we lose this time too, we really have to drop out.”

“You probably don’t know how much we are being pointed at because we lost to you.”

“…….”

I looked at them pathetically.

“I wondered why Lucas was acting so aggressively, but there was a reason after all.”

“Pardon?”

“It seems you felt nothing even after hearing the conversation Cadet Lucas and I had earlier.”

Setting down the box of luggage I was holding, I let out a sigh and spoke.

“If you are being criticized by other cadets, all the more reason you must accept this training.”

“What do you mean by that……”

“Don’t you think a cadet who thinks of defeat before even fighting deserves to be criticized?”

“Th-that is……”

Although these guys had come to find me in a hurry, they seemed to realize how shameful they were being as they blushed and their voices quickly died down.

‘Although they seem like idiots… they were NPCs with high stats in the game.’

The reason I went out of my way to conduct the training simulation against these members was because they were NPCs who active after graduating from the academy.

They had just become a bit pathetic due to the shock of losing to a ten-year-old me right now…….

These guys had to graduate safely and become my workers.

Since finding officers as good as them was no easy task either.

Now, I intended to soothe them by offering a carrot.

Wearing a gentle expression, I spoke.

“Do you all know why I specifically chose you guys to conduct the training simulation?”

The cadets looked at me with faces showing they did not understand the intent of the question.

The answer came from Plato, who was standing at the very back.

“Because they were the most outstanding cadets.”

Nodding at Plato’s timely assist, I continued speaking.

“I still think you all are the finest cadets of this academy. And I hope the other cadets know that as well.”

“Are you saying you are teaming up with us for the training simulation for that purpose?”

One cadet carefully opened his mouth and spoke.

“But… we lost so miserably to you, Lord Haydam… for you to think we can win under such an unreasonable condition is……”

“The enemies know it is an unreasonable condition as well. Didn’t you all also think it was unreasonable for me to face you alone?”

Perhaps recalling how they had looked down on me to their hearts’ content when they first clashed with Haydam in the training simulation, the cadets’ faces flushed once more.

“What do you all think is the reason I was able to defeat you?”

“Uh……”

While everyone hesitated to answer, someone replied haltingly.

“Because we were fooled by Lord Haydam’s acting……”

Since it was not the answer I wanted, I questioned once more.

“Why were you fooled by me?”

“Naturally, we thought that acting was real.”

“And the reason you thought it was real was because you looked down on me.”

“We are truly sorry for looking down on you… Nyah!”

Following the repeated cycle of questions, the cadets looked at me with faces of realization.

“The reason you were easily fooled by me was because you thought you could defeat me alone no matter what I did. The enemies will also unconsciously think: ‘It’s our victory if we kill just one person anyway.’ We just need to exploit that.”

“Exploit it?”

“First of all, we will throw fair play to the dogs.”

“How can you say such a thing so proudly……”

“Fortunately, I heard that you all were too embarrassed about losing to me that you didn’t tell them how you lost?”

“No, it wasn’t because of embarrassment, but because Director Meursault told us to keep quiet—”

“Well done.”

“Pardon?”

“Let’s pay them back in the exact same way you suffered from me.”

“…Why would we pay them back for what we suffered from you, Lord Haydam?”

They completely failed to understand my words about having to be underhanded.

But it was fine.

Because underhandedness was inherently something every human carried at least one of in their heart.

“You all just need to think about winning. By any means necessary.”

* * *

Since the cadets offered to help tidy up my room while they were there, the work of moving the luggage ended quickly.

The problem was… while all the other cadets had returned, only Plato still remained.

“Aren’t you going back, Plato?”

“…….”

What is it. Does he have something to say?

Considering he waited until all the other cadets went back, it must be an important talk.

After waiting for quite a while longer, Plato opened his mouth.

“Actually, I heard from Father.”

“What?”

“That you went outside the zone and got injured……”

‘So he knows I was hurt.’

Surely the commander must have issued a gag order on that matter.

It seemed the informants Anton had planted were more numerous than the commander thought.

Then again, since they admitted me with such a fuss, anyone could have inferred that someone among those who went outside was injured.

Since I hadn’t shown my face for a few days after that, identifying me would have been easy too.

Even if Anton knew of my injury, it did not matter.

Since it was an injury that could be treated at any time anyway.

Although I had deliberately not fully healed the injury because Meursault would find it strange if it healed too quickly… even if the wound became an issue, I could just heal it immediately with the ability.

What I was curious about was something else.

“Do you also know how I sustained the injury?”

I asked out of curiosity if he also knew of ‘that guy’s’ existence, but Plato shook his head immediately.

“No, as for that… it seemed he guessed after seeing you hospitalized.”

As expected, he had guessed based on the hospitalization records.

It seemed they did not know I was attacked by a resident of another zone.

‘What on earth was that guy…….’

Although I had thought about the guy even while hospitalized with injuries,

‘I have absolutely no idea.’

An appearance completely identical to my Unicorn starting customization.

Yet unlike other players, that guy who had the appearance of an adult.

To call it an impersonation, the six letters ‘Dopamine Addict’ were clearly written in his Character Viewing.

Moving beyond that, he even possessed a title I was seeing for the first time, ‘Dopamine Addict.’

Furthermore, his zone, Unicorn, was originally my main base.

Wasn’t he rather even more real than the real thing?

‘Can that… even be called an impersonation?’

In the case of Safety8, who had tried to impersonate me previously.

He had first ‘introduced’ himself as Dopamine Addict.

But this guy ‘proved’ that he was Dopamine Addict.

‘But if he isn’t an impersonator, what on earth is he?’

Just as Daphne and Lunamoon were players and NPCs,

had I, the conqueror of all zones, also been fixed as an NPC of this world?

Or a remnant of the player AI?

There was nothing certain for now.

The only fortunate thing was that if the system was not false, that guy was friendly toward me.

‘Meaning that at least he doesn’t think of me as a Dopamine Addict impersonator either…….’

I didn’t know.

Truthfully, I wanted to send a message to T-Bastard and hear the conversation he shared with that guy from beginning to end, but.

The fact that I had contact with that guy could not be revealed to T-Bastard yet.

It was only a few days ago that it was revealed that there were two Dopamine Addicts in the public chat room.

If I said I met the guy at this timing, who would readily believe it?

Rather, they would highly likely think it was my own self-staged drama.

Since everyone seemed to think I was an attention seeker…….

‘By the way, this fellow Plato.’

It seemed Anton had told him because he was his son after all, but he came straight to tell me.

Even though he must have clearly told him that the commander had issued a gag order.

Was the proposal to make him my adjutant that attractive?

“Lord Haydam?”

As I remained silent for a moment, Plato called me cautiously with a worried face.

“Are you alright? I know it hasn’t been long since you were discharged, so about the training simulation… how about postponing it slightly……”

“…….”

Even the commander hasn’t worried about me like that since learning that I possess a healing ability.

Since things turned out this way, should I leave a better impression on Plato?

“You are worrying about me. Thank you.”

I hesitated slightly here.

“Although I kept it a secret from others… I will speak honestly only to Plato. My injuries are not fully healed yet.”

“They aren’t fully healed yet?!”

Although I had deliberately kept it from healing.

Furrowing my brow slightly, I wore a smile on my lips as if it couldn’t be helped.

“Actually… I heard stories about you all while I was hospitalized.”

“Stories about us?”

“That because you lost to me… you are being mocked by other cadets. That is why I spoke to Father and returned.”

“Are you saying you returned because of us?”

“If it can restore your honor, my injury is nothing.”

Plato wore a somewhat shocked expression.

“Why, to that extent……”

“I trust you will keep this a secret from others. Since they wouldn’t want to feel indebted to me.”

“Lord Haydam……”

Right.

Now it is time for the words I want to come out of your mouth, Plato.

“I too will do my best in this training. I will do anything for Lord Haydam.”

At those words, I replied as if I had been waiting.

“Ah. I didn’t say this. Plato is excluded from this training.”

“Pardon? I am excluded?”

“Since it’s eight-on-eight, isn’t it unavoidable to match the numbers?”

“B-but I……”

Perhaps unable to say with his own mouth that he was superior to the other seven cadets, Plato’s voice trailed off.

“However, I want to ask Plato to do another task.”

“Ah! So there was another mission. Please speak. What should I do?”

Smiling brightly, I spoke.

“Are you good at badmouthing?”

* * *

The day of the training simulation.

B Team’s Lucas clicked his tongue upon spotting A Team, Haydam’s team, waiting not far away.

“Those seven, I thought they would run away, but they showed up at the training ground just fine.”

At Lucas’s words, another B Team cadet shook his head and spoke.

“What’s the use of showing up? I saw earlier they wouldn’t even look toward Lord Haydam.”

“What? The training is about to start soon, are those fellows still sulking over losing to Lord Haydam?”

“They were nothing but complaints, saying it wasn’t what they wanted?”

A slightly young-looking cadet who was listening to the conversation asked carefully.

“But why is Senior Plato missing from that team? Isn’t Senior Plato at least the best?”

“You haven’t heard?”

“Heard what?”

“They say Plato gave up on that team. He said there’s no hope.”

The cadet who asked the question wore a shocked expression at those words.

Because Plato was famous for being a cadet who took care to prevent any dropouts during any training.

“To the extent that Senior Plato gave up……?”

“I’ve never seen Plato swear like that before either.”

“Seriously pathetic.”

“What on earth is Lord Haydam trying to do by setting such a condition……”

As the murmuring B Team cadets drifted into an atmosphere of pitying Haydam, Lucas stamped his foot to draw attention and spoke.

“Listen up. I’d like to suggest going easy out of consideration for Lord Haydam… but as you all know, those guys lost because they looked down on Lord Haydam. Therefore, we will not let our guard down and will do our best. Understood?”

“Yes, Senior Lucas!”

The first thing the scouting unit of B Team, who had resolved their wills, discovered was a sight so shocking that it rendered their resolution to not let their guard down meaningless.

That was none other than Haydam, tied up tightly with ropes.