Chapter 52 – Salvation

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Actually.

Since it didn’t matter if my background was revealed, I hadn’t been paying attention to it.

But the commander had gone so far as to shoot Lieutenant General Batom to death in the executive meeting to ensure my background wouldn’t receive attention.

He had also warned them in the executive meeting not to dare drag my mother, Luna Moon, into the conversation.

Perhaps due to that influence, most of the cadets did not know much about my background, unless they were children of high-ranking executives like Plato.

Because even the children of high-ranking executives didn’t talk carelessly about my background, everyone seemed to think I was so outstanding because I grew up receiving successor education during my time at the military academy by the commander’s order, so I had just gone along with it.

I didn’t know Plato would fly off the handle like this.

Well, it would help to reveal at this timing that I hadn’t received regular education, but…

‘This guy Plato really doesn’t think about the consequences.’

He wasn’t the type to do such a sudden action just believing in me, so he probably did this because completing the task I ordered was genuinely his priority.

Meanwhile, the commander’s expression had cooled past the point of chilliness, the temperature dropping to the level of the Second Apocalypse descending.

If I asked what he was thinking now, he looked as if he would answer ‘I’m thinking of killing that bastard,’ but since he didn’t seem likely to do anything to Plato right now, I left him alone and listened to Plato’s continuing speech.

“It was only three months ago that Lord Haydam, who went missing for some reason in the past, returned. This means that far from successor education, it has not been long since he even began to eat proper meals. Yet, Lord Haydam challenged our cadets in the training simulation and achieved two great victories. If we had not found Lord Haydam until now, it would have been impossible for Lord Haydam to challenge the training simulation. Even though he is already someone with the ability to overwhelm the graduates at the age of ten.”

Only then did Plato take his eyes off me and look at the audience.

“Until now, we might have missed countless ‘Haydams’. The population of our zone is increasing day by day, and the food shortage to support it continues. You are currently young men with healthy bodies and healthy minds, but that youth is not eternal. We will all grow old and tired someday, and it will be other children who support you. Therefore, I ask the graduates, their fathers, mothers, and sponsors present here, and our respected Lord Commander, to allow the admission of every eleven-year-old child in this zone to the military academy. Thank you.”

When the speech ended, silence hung over the graduation hall.

The silence continued even though Plato returned to his seat next to me with a proud face looking at me.

Next was the commander’s congratulatory address, but the principal was just breaking out in a sweat, unable to step forward hastily.

Although the smile was still gone from the commander’s face, the murder intent that filled his face until just a moment ago had faded.

He just had a face thinking deeply before deciding on something.

At that moment, the one who unexpectedly broke the silence was Lucas.

*Clap, clap, clap…*

Lucas, who was sitting in the front row, was sending applause.

Everyone’s eyes turned toward Lucas at the sound of clapping echoing in the silence.

Lucas slowly stood up from his seat, stopped clapping, and spoke.

“I also ask of you.”

Then, Bones sitting next to him was seen whispering with a greatly flustered expression, asking if he was crazy.

Lucas, paying no attention to such a Bones, looked up at the commander and said.

“To be honest, until now, I thought it was natural for Lord Haydam to be a better person than me because he grew up in a better environment. Even when I heard the story that Lord Haydam rejected admission, saying the military academy was a waste of time, I thought the precious young master who received successor education was looking down on us.”

The fact that I had rejected admission was also something I had never hidden, but the other cadets buzzed for a moment as if it was the first time they had heard it.

Lucas waited for the hall to quiet down, then opened his mouth to speak again.

“But looking back now, this thought occurred to me. What is so great about this military academy, which can only be entered by the children of high-ranking executives or with their sponsorship, that I harbored resentment against Lord Haydam who rejected its admission… I thought that this was indeed a sense of inferiority. After that, another thought came to me. If we had not found Lord Haydam, and if he were not standing in this place, we might have lost a great commander respected by countless cadets.”

At some point, Lucas was looking at me.

Lucas’s words continued.

“I dare say to the Lord Commander. To find one Haydam, we must raise a hundred children. I ask this as a cadet, and as a child raised by this zone.”

Next, he turned behind him and spoke toward the countless cadets.

“I also ask the other cadets. Please support Cadet Plato’s graduation speech with hearty applause.”

After Lucas’s words ended, and a very short silence flowed.

“Oh, damn it! I don’t know anymore.”

Bones, who was sitting beside him, spat out a curse and jumped to his feet.

Bones roughly loosened his tie, which didn’t even suit him, and began to clap loudly while looking straight ahead.

As soon as Lucas smiled faintly, other graduates also stood up and began to strike their palms together, and the sound of massive applause spread grandly inside the graduation hall.

‘I didn’t think they would go this far…’

I only thought Plato and the commander just needed to perform a plausible play.

I didn’t expect at all that Lucas would step forward to help, or that everyone would send support to Plato.

Before I knew it, the commander withdrew his chilly expression and smiled toward me, then stood up and walked to the microphone.

When the commander grabbed the microphone, the clapping stopped.

Amid the tense silence, the commander spoke in a flat voice.

“To raise a hundred children for one Haydam…”

When the commander opened his mouth, even the cadets who had stood up to support Plato froze, and the sound of dry swallowing could be heard here and there.

Seeing this, the commander added in a quite softened manner.

“As Haydam’s father, how could I refuse that request? I will gladly become the father of a hundred.”

After finishing his words to the cadets, the commander looked at the executives sitting behind the graduates with clearly flustered expressions and declared.

“Starting this coming spring, after the subjugation battle is over, admission to the military academy will be conducted through an examination rather than a recommendation system, and eligibility to apply will be given to every eleven-year-old child in this zone. If there are any objections, speak now.”

There was no executive foolish enough to voice an objection in this situation, and no executive bold enough to step forward and act when even Anton was absent, so the back remained quiet.

Because of that, the commander’s following words sounded exceptionally loud.

“That is all. I congratulate you on your graduation.”

* * *

…That was how it wrapped up.

Thanks to Anton rushing out of the underground bunker in a panic as soon as he heard the graduation speech story, CornerHoney and I were left all alone.

Since Meursault was clearing things up upstairs, I could just go up slowly after hearing a rough account of what happened with Anton.

“Wow, hey!”

CornerHoney approached me with an admiring face.

“How do you appear at such a perfect time? This is awesome!”

I glared at CornerHoney.

“Does it make sense for a player to get kidnapped by an NPC? What did you think would happen that you followed him all the way here?”

“You didn’t believe me earlier when I said I was threatened? And really, nothing happened.”

Look at this guy.

“Be careful. If I hadn’t mentioned the adjutant position to Plato, you might have been tortured today.”

This was not pointless nagging.

If I hadn’t truly made an escape route for Anton in advance, CornerHoney would not have returned in one piece.

Because this was the safe zone’s official go-to spot for torture.

However, perhaps it was nagging that didn’t hit home for CornerHoney, as he showed a more intense reaction to other words than the mention of being tortured.

“Speaking of which, are you really going to make Plato your adjutant?”

“Yeah.”

“Then what about me?!”

Wow, this guy seems genuinely aggrieved?

“I don’t know why you thought I would make someone like you my adjutant… but even if I wanted to, you can’t become my adjutant sooner than Plato.”

“Ah, then you’re handing over the adjutant position when I become an adult?”

Mmh… well, let’s leave him to think whatever he wants.

“So anyway, go to school.”

“Last time you told me to join the army, and now you’re telling me to go to school.”

“Plato requested mandatory military academy admission in his graduation speech. The commander accepted it.”

“What changes if admission is made mandatory?”

“You and Tae-jeong will be able to go to the military academy this coming spring. The age of admission to the military academy is eleven, and the bodies we possessed happen to be exactly ten.”

Having said that, I quickly added, fearing that CornerHoney might throw a fit about not wanting to go to school twice.

“You wouldn’t say no just because I’m telling you to go to school twice after saving your life twice, right?”

“Huh? No, it’s fine. I’ll go to school.”

“…Are you serious?”

This guy… just like when I told him to join the army, he has less of an ego than I thought.

“So, how far did you talk to Anton?”

“What do you mean how far?”

“He must have called you to ask if I really grew up in the slums, if I’m a trustworthy guy, that sort of thing.”

“Wow, how did you know that? You must be really smart.”

That’s just because you are stupid… forget it. It’s a waste of breath.

“Anyway, knowing your personality, you wouldn’t have kept your mouth shut or lied. How far did you speak?”

“I told him the whole truth, but he thought it was acting.”

Not understanding those words, I asked back.

“What did you say?”

“That I’ve only known you for three months and have no memories before the age of ten. And that the name Darling Outsider was also given to me by you.”

Mmh. Understandable.

Even I would have found it hard to believe readily.

“Is that all?”

“Ah, he said Anton has a hidden daughter.”

“A daughter? Don’t tell me it’s Daphne?”

“You need to stop reading novels too.”

What do you mean by novels, the theory that Daphne is Anton’s biological daughter is almost established fact among players!

“He showed me his daughter’s photo, saying he would tell me his secret if I told him mine. Although it was a portrait, not a photo.”

A portrait… could it be.

“By any chance, an Asian woman with a mole under her eye?”

“Yeah! That’s right. How did you know?”

‘I see what happened.’

It seemed Anton had shown Luna Moon’s portrait to test CornerHoney.

“Aw… you already knew about it?”

“Anton doesn’t have a daughter.”

“He doesn’t?”

“That portrait is of Luna Moon.”

“Luna Moon… you say? That?”

CornerHoney had a face of not understanding.

“Why did he show me Luna Moon’s photo pretending it was his daughter’s?”

“Since you said you’ve only known me for three months, he probably wanted to show you Luna Moon and see your reaction. He did the same to me.”

“He did the same to you?”

“Suddenly, he seemed to suspect that I was a fake, so he drew a portrait of Luna Moon and brought it to me as a gift. To see if I recognized her or not.”

“What? No, but it’s true that we don’t know Luna Moon’s face, right? Since she appears as a skeleton. …Huh?”

Having spoken up to that point, CornerHoney looked at me with a face that realized something.

“But then, does the fact that you haven’t been caught as a fake until now mean you got over it well? Wow, how did you pretend to know that portrait?”

“Somehow, well.”

Although it was a matter difficult to settle with the words “somehow, well,” I said it cursorily, thinking that for CornerHoney, he would just accept it and move on with that much. As expected, CornerHoney’s face showed he was reasonably convinced by that single phrase.

“Ah—so that’s why he said earlier to me that there shouldn’t be two brats who act as well as you, or whatever? I get it now.”

However, there was still one part that I couldn’t understand.

“But why didn’t you recognize Luna Moon’s face? You played the dating sim. If you saw the portrait, you should have pretended to know and been suspected.”

I naturally thought that Luna Moon’s face would have appeared in the dating sim CornerHoney played. If CornerHoney hadn’t recognized that face, I thought it might be because his memory was bad and he forgot her appearance, but the answer that returned from CornerHoney was unexpected.

“You really have never played a dating sim, have you? Originally, dating sim players don’t have a face.”

A dating sim player doesn’t have a face…?

“Meaning there is no customization?”

“Yeah. Even if the appearance is shown, only illustrations with long bangs covering the face are shown. That’s the national rule. Because the player has to immerse themselves.”

Having spoken up to that point, CornerHoney spoke as if he realized something.

“Then that photo earlier must have been the face of Luna Moon’s player.”

Hearing those words, my heart sank as if I had received a finishing blow.

Since the possibility arose that the player who possessed Luna Moon’s body might indeed be my biological mother.

But soon, I denied it.

‘No, this is also just his speculation.’

To think that the NPC whose son I am pretending to be is my real mother.

It was something I absolutely couldn’t believe easily, and I wouldn’t believe it.

Unless clear evidence of being my mother was thrust before my eyes.

“Wow, hey, but how does it look exactly like your custom character? Totally amazing.”

“…To Westerners, all Asian faces look the same.”

I replied like that without being shaken as much as possible.

CornerHoney tilted his head and spoke.

“Huh? Westerners?”

“I mean Square Soft. They probably just used any random Asian face when making this game.”

“That’s not it.”

“What is not it?”

“I mean the company that made this game. It’s not Square Soft.”

I lost my words for a moment, then slowly asked back.

“…What do you mean by that? Then where was it made?”

“Apocalypse: Safe Zone 1 was made by a Korean company. From the next series onward, Square Soft acquired it and produced it.”

“A Korean company?”

“Yeah. It’s called the Salvation Project…”

“…What?”

Salvation Project.

It was a company I also knew.

The company my mother set up.

Why was the name of that company coming out of CornerHoney’s mouth now?

While I couldn’t give any answer due to cognitive dissonance.

CornerHoney’s following words pierced like a dagger.

“It’s the small game company where my older sister used to work.”