Chapter 47 – Confirmation

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“A portrait of Luna Moon! It is a truly wonderful gift.”

“I did not know Lord General Anton was such a thoughtful person.”

What are you talking about.

“Was it something that even the Commander did not know?”

“Yes. For General Anton to be caring about Haydam this much…”

“It has also been nearly ten years since I last saw Luna Moon’s face!”

What on earth is everyone talking about.

Why is this Luna Moon.

‘This is my mother’s face.’

The sound of other people chattering inside the meeting hall felt muffled.

Without realizing it, I approached the portrait and fumbled over the portrait where my mother’s face was drawn.

Because it could be just a lookalike.

Because there must be parts that are definitely different from my real mother.

How the others interpreted that action of mine, pitying voices came from behind.

“Oh dear… it seems this is not a place for us to be.”

“It might be better if we leave for a moment…”

“Commander, would it be alright to suspend the meeting?”

“…Let’s do that. I will announce the meeting schedule again through Major General Meursault later.”

As if afraid they might interfere with me examining the portrait, they carefully slipped out of the meeting hall.

Even Anton, who must have brought this painting to screw me over.

However, no matter how persistently I examined it, it was indeed my mother’s face.

Down to the single mole under the eye, this woman who had the exact same face as my mother.

Was Luna Moon?

An NPC inside this game called Safe Zone?

That woman, whose son I was pretending to be?

I realized that I hadn’t been breathing since a moment ago.

A dizziness arose in my head, and my held breath burst out all at once.

“Gasp…!”

‘In a place like this.’

I didn’t know I would face my biological mother’s face in a place like this.

No.

If possible, I never wanted to face that person’s face again.

Yet to face that person again in a place I had never even thought of.

-Dam, listen carefully.

Very long ago, that person’s voice that I heard for the last time brushed through my head.

-Since you are a smart child, you will be happy even without Mom. You will be able to become happy.

When I asked why I had to be happy even without Mom, she answered like this.

-Because if you become unhappy, I will be sad.

So when I asked if a cold-blooded person like her knew sadness, the reply that returned was truly typical of her.

-Parents and children are programmed that way.

Right… she did say such ridiculous words.

I think we also promised something while talking about that back then…

Although I thought there was no reason to keep a promise made with such an irresponsible parent.

What is important right now is not the promise with my mother that I can’t even remember.

The woman with my mother’s face in front of my eyes.

‘Why does Luna Moon have that woman’s face?’

What was the probability that the game company randomly used my mother’s face as a reference while picking an Asian woman’s face?

But since it was a face that never actually appeared in the game, the probability that Luna Moon in this world and my mother ‘coincidentally’ had the same face would be higher.

Of course.

The thought that my real mother and Luna Moon might be the same person did cross my mind for a split second.

The thought that the woman who possessed the dating sim and lived as Luna Moon might be my mother.

But that cannot be.

It must not be.

If that were the case, my mother died ten years ago inside this game and became white bones.

‘And it means I dug up that grave and am pretending to be her son without even knowing she was my real mother!’

This must be that someone who possessed me maliciously overlaid that woman’s face because they wanted to see me suffer.

‘Yes, that must be it.’

There is no way such an absurd thing could be possible.

This kind of thing is not my mother.

‘Aside from that, Anton won’t doubt me anymore.’

Thanks to the fact that Luna Moon had my mother’s face.

Even though I knew Anton was preparing Luna Moon’s portrait, what kind of expression I should make when facing Luna Moon’s portrait was a puzzling problem for me too.

Although my acting skills were growing day by day, if I had enough talent in acting to naturally fabricate a child’s expression facing his mother, I would have become an actor instead of a game addict.

The portrait of my real mother faced in such a situation.

There was no need to act.

Because of this, they must have gained an even stronger conviction that I was indeed Luna Moon’s son.

Thinking coolly, it was a good thing for me.

Although, in the future, I must call the woman in this portrait mother while harboring an unknown uneasiness.

‘…Even so, I should check at least once.’

It was also true that the face in the portrait still bothered me.

I never thought a day would come when I would ask him for help, but…

CornerHoney.

Since that guy played the dating sim, he might know Luna Moon’s face in the game.

Although it would look strange to ask Daphne if this face was the real Luna Moon.

Confirming it with CornerHoney wouldn’t be difficult.

* * *

Meanwhile.

After the executive meeting was suspended like that, the pro-Daphne executives gathered again around Anton.

Although the pro-Hayden executives took Luna Moon’s portrait as a sign of reconciliation and returned while even showing smiles to the pro-Daphne executives.

The atmosphere of the pro-Daphne executives was heavily subdued.

“That reaction… it’s unmistakable, right?”

At the words someone carefully brought up, the other executives also nodded in agreement.

“It seems that Lord Haydam being a fake was just wild speculation after all.”

“No, then why did the slum residents say they don’t know Haydam?”

“Was it a lie?”

“Maybe Luna Moon raised him in hiding. As long as she hid his name and hair color, wouldn’t he be no different from other kids?”

“Then what is the story about the grave being old?”

“Did the elderly mistake something?”

“I trust Lord Haydam’s gaze looking at the portrait more than the testimonies of those elderly.”

At those words, the other executives also shut their mouths as if they had nothing more to say.

Because the moment they saw Haydam’s expression looking at the portrait, they had even felt a slight guilt for trying to test a young child with his mother’s portrait.

That was how dramatic Haydam’s change in expression was.

“That means…”

It meant that Haydam was without a doubt Luna Moon’s child, and the commander’s child.

In the first place, having seen that gaze, the commander must have also become even more convinced about his child.

“What is the probability that that was acting?”

When one executive asked so, still unable to abandon hope, Anton, wearing a crooked smile on his lips, said in a cynical tone.

“If that is acting, he is not an opponent we can defeat with our abilities anyway.”

“Mmm…”

The executives shut their mouths with frustrated faces.

Saying they didn’t have the ability to defeat a mere ten-year-old child was a somewhat pride-damaging comment.

But Anton’s words made sense.

Even if Haydam had known in advance that he would be gifted a portrait of Luna Moon at today’s executive meeting and prepared for it.

If he was a child who could instantly act out that face right then and there.

No matter what traps the pro-Daphne executives dug, wouldn’t it be useless?

Right at the moment when everyone in this room was having such thoughts.

“No, but what is the talk about retirement?”

Although everyone was purposely avoiding mentioning it, Lieutenant General Max, Anton’s military academy classmate who was relatively close to him, asked.

“Are you really retiring?”

When Anton nodded briefly in confirmation, the executives buzzed.

“No, so suddenly…”

“I have also grown very old now.”

Anton looked around at the other executives and said.

“Just as I grew old, you guys have also been in those positions for too long. Doesn’t someone have to step down for you guys to rise?”

Since they hadn’t inwardly failed to think of their own promotions after Anton’s retirement declaration, the executives were startled, but they tried hard not to show it.

Since Anton was not someone who wouldn’t know that, his words continued with a faint sigh.

“And… it is not sudden. Ever since Lord Haydam appeared, the thought occurred to me that my experience can no longer defeat a youth’s childishness.”

This was not just words, but sincere.

Checking Major General Meursault, who was rising frighteningly, was also something he had recently felt was overwhelming.

But now, the commander’s viper-like son Haydam was added to that situation.

From the moment Major General Meursault shot and killed Lieutenant General Bartom in the executive meeting room, Anton’s retirement was as good as decided.

Because it was obvious this military would be swayed by the hands of those two, Haydam and Meursault, not himself anyway.

“Rather than spending years of humiliation as a scarecrow general, I just judged it would be better to step back tactfully and watch from behind. It is a matter I decided a long time ago.”

“No, if that was the case, why did you not give us a hint first…”

“If I am to give a gift to Lord Haydam, it would be troublesome if you guys didn’t look surprised.”

If he hadn’t even declared his retirement at that spot, those foolish bastards would have obviously watched with faces saying ‘we already finished talking among ourselves’ until the moment he brought out the portrait.

At that, the executives, who realized their mistake late, looked at Anton with anxious faces.

“If General Anton is not here, what do we do now?”

“Since I stepped down from my position, that Josef fellow will also retire soon, so do not worry. Excluding Josef, that side is also filled with nothing but pathetic bastards.”

“Will General Josef quietly step down from the general position?”

“In a situation where I stepped down first, staying in the general rank would be perfect for being pushed as the next target of execution. Doesn’t Major General Meursault need to rise on that side too?”

“Ah…”

Anton briefly had the thought of whether it was alright to retire leaving only these guys, but soon reached the conclusion that it was none of his business.

Actually, although he didn’t tell the other executives, Anton had a corner he believed in.

‘Since my son Plato will become Lord Haydam’s adjutant anyway…’

Although it still seemed to be a promise only between Plato and Haydam.

This was also why Anton was obsessed with Haydam’s origin.

Because if Haydam was a fake, he had to make his son, who was trying to foolishly offer loyalty to him, snap out of it even now.

But upon seeing Haydam’s expression just now, Anton was disappointed on one hand and relieved on the other.

‘The future commander is that child.’

His son had ridden the line well.

If Haydam’s origin was that certain and his ability was also outstanding, his son who became his adjutant would also stand at the center of power along with him.

Since even Daphne was favorable to Haydam at this time, there was no need for Anton to step forward and make an enemy.

With such thoughts, Anton had decided on this retirement.

Although it was like admitting defeat upon seeing Haydam evade even the portrait trap.

There was nothing for Anton to lose.

Since he had already straddled a leg between both Plato, who would become Haydam’s adjutant, and Daphne, who might bear the heir.

It was then that someone spoke.

“How about this?”

The executive who spoke was one who newly attended the executive meeting in place of the deceased Lieutenant General Bartom.

Having been promoted from major general to lieutenant general not long ago, he was the most motivated among them.

Since he hadn’t personally witnessed the scene of Lieutenant General Bartom’s murder, he was also the executive who underestimated Haydam the most among them.

“All we met in the slums were people who didn’t know Lord Haydam, weren’t they?”

“Although the prior relationship is different, in the end, it was so.”

“In that case, how about we call and interrogate a fellow who seems to know Lord Haydam from his slum days?”

At those words, Anton’s expression changed strangely.

“Is there a fellow who knows Lord Haydam from his slum days?”

“Although it’s not certain to what extent he knows him, there was one among the boy soldiers who ran around shouting that he was well acquainted with Lord Haydam.”

“Who is that?”

To Anton’s question, the executive pushed forward a sheet of document he had prepared.

In the photo attached to the top of the document, a blonde handsome boy, possessing an outstanding beauty that was a waste to be a soldier, smiled awkwardly.

“It is a boy named Darling Outsider.”

Anton stared down at the photo.

Although he had decided to step back one step now.

He thought it wouldn’t be bad to check one last time.

Because if it was a fellow who really knew Haydam, they might hear an unexpected story.

“Bring him. Do not treat him carelessly, but with extreme care.”