Chapter 8 – Luna Moon’s Secret

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Before the commander returned.

The servants guided us to the bedrooms after confirming we had finished the snacks.

Whether I should call it a relief, the commander assigned a bedroom to Taejeongtaesebeyonce as well, as if he had no intention of sending him out of the commander’s residence.

The worn-out adult military uniform worn when being possessed was discarded, and in its place, rough but clean pajamas were put on.

After confirming that the servants had all left the room, I opened the system to examine it in more detail.

‘First, from the inventory…’

The items in the inventory were Luna Moon’s ring and Luna Moon’s dog tag.

Seeing that Luna Moon’s dog tag was in my inventory despite the commander having snatched it from SafetyZone8, it seemed to prioritize the player’s ownership.

I tested it with the ring I currently had.

It seemed that if it was an item I owned, I could store and keep it inside the inventory window, and even if I wasn’t carrying it, I could retrieve it through the inventory window when needed.

Probably, I would be able to take out the dog tag from the inventory if I wanted to, but I just left it because I didn’t want to arouse the commander’s suspicion.

The next thing I examined was the chat window, which was still in an unopened state.

Presumably, a partner to talk with would be needed to chat.

‘Will the chat window open if another player who opened the system appears besides me?’

If the chat system opened and allowed me to converse with other players.

I would also be able to confirm whether the system truly opened only upon obtaining a meteorite item.

Although I examined the system inside out, for now, there didn’t seem to be any useful functions other than Character Inspection, Inventory, and Titles.

Among the opened systems, there was also a ‘Zone Development’ system, but.

‘Since the zone will become meaningless anyway once the Second Apocalypse strikes.’

It was precisely because of the Second Apocalypse that the Beer zone bastards living in a giant submarine deep in the sea or the Unicorn zone bastards who built a floating island had to come down to the ground.

The Second Apocalypse, like the First Apocalypse, begins with meteorites falling from the sky.

However, flying monsters and aquatic monsters are born from those meteorites.

Thus, the zone bastards who had fled to the sea and the sky respectively because there had only been land monsters until now would also crawl up onto the land.

From then on, it was war.

Since the Beer and Unicorn guys also needed a place to live, they would begin to raid the safe zones, and likewise, other zones that were not prepared at all for aerial or underwater warfare would fall into chaos.

Therefore, there were two paths a player in each zone could choose.

One was to develop only their own stats without caring about zone development at all.

The other was to modify the zone without abandoning it so that it could be used as a shelter.

Zones with better land or resource status usually built shelters, but if a zone with low base stats like Cola built a shelter, it was easy to become a target for other zones.

It meant that even if I made a shelter here, there was a high possibility it would be stolen by other zones.

This was also why my main starting zone was Unicorn.

The probability of Unicorn losing its shelter to other bastards was significantly lower.

Because other players couldn’t fly.

How did I fly? I tamed a flying monster.

How did I tame it? There’s always a way.

But other players said this was difficult.

Anyway, if the guy who dropped into the Unicorn zone is also following my guide, that place is a goldmine.

Because they would develop the zone for shelterification and prepare in advance for raids by flying monsters.

Well, there are no monster raids before the Second Apocalypse, so why is that zone’s starting difficulty high, you ask…

The Unicorn zone had almost no threat from monsters for the next ten years, so they could focus on zone development, making food self-sufficient, and with a high level of science, the medical standard was high, and the weapon standard was also high despite barely engaging in combat.

The problem was that the residents there were a bit crazy.

Should I call it a mad scientist zone…

Doesn’t it instantly give you the feeling when you see they floated the zone into the sky to avoid the apocalypse?

Since there was an abundance of NPCs smarter than the player, if one was judged to have even slightly low intelligence, they were immediately sent to be test subjects for the public good.

You could think of the zone difficulty as being proportional to the nasty personalities of the zone residents.

‘By the way, I have to decide on the second reward before the commander returns…’

For now, the only thing I could demand from the commander was about letting Taejeongtaesebeyonce stay at the commander’s residence continuously.

Or else recalling CornerHoney, whom I had enlisted…

Using a reward just to keep two players by my side was a bit of a waste.

CornerHoney was a guy who just enlisted yesterday, so he probably hadn’t learned anything yet.

However, to discuss the zone clearing in the future, it seemed necessary to meet with the two of them regularly.

‘If I pinpoint only the two of them and call them in, it will draw unnecessary attention, so…’

Just then, the sound of a knock on the bedroom door was heard.

“It’s me.”

The commander’s voice.

It was a voice filled with even more fatigue than what I had heard in the afternoon.

“May I enter?”

“Yes, come in.”

The commander only opened the door and entered after my permission was given, holding something like a first-aid kit in one hand.

‘Ah, don’t tell me…’

“Give me your hand.”

I had suspected it.

The commander seemed to have come to treat the cuts on my fingers.

He probably noticed that my fingertips were injured when I handed him the ring.

Although it was touching that he kept that in mind and visited with a first-aid kit.

‘The thing is, my cuts have already healed.’

How would the commander take this?

Would he think he had misseen because it was a brief moment?

In any case, I couldn’t keep hiding my fingers in front of the commander, so I quietly stretched out both hands to him.

“……!”

The commander, checking my fingers which didn’t have a single scar, startled, and then.

Spoke in a trembling voice.

“This healing ability… Indeed, you are Luna Moon’s child.”

‘Huh…?’

What did that mean?

Confirming that I was Luna Moon’s child upon seeing my healed fingers…

Did Luna Moon also have this kind of healing ability?

‘There shouldn’t be any NPC with such an ability…’

I wanted to ask specifically what kind of healing ability Luna Moon had.

But if I did, he would suspect me instantly.

Because it would be strange if I, her child, did not know of Luna Moon’s ability that even the commander knew.

Whether I was confused or not, the commander seemed fully convinced that I was his child, as his cold face softened gently.

He even looked somewhat overwhelmed with emotion.

“Haydam. Why I married another woman despite loving Luna Moon. Why I couldn’t protect you and Luna Moon even while holding the high position of commander. Since you are still young, it must be full of things you cannot understand. Once you grow up and reach an age where you can understand my words, I will tell you everything I know. So when that time comes, you also tell me the things you know. Please, will you do that?”

Everything he knew?

Honestly, I didn’t have much interest in the love story between the commander and Luna Moon, but.

I thought it would be good to know how the moonstone ring containing the ‘secret of the apocalypse’ ended up becoming the token between the two.

And also what on earth kind of healing ability Luna Moon possessed.

‘Could Luna Moon also be…’

No, the thought that she might have also been a player would be an excessive speculation.

For now, since the commander in front of me was waiting for my reply, I nodded my head slowly.

At that, the commander smiled faintly and tapped my shoulder lightly.

“You must be tired. Go to sleep.”

“Excuse me…”

“Hmm?”

“I have one request.”

Simultaneously with those words, the message for the Three Rewards count popped up before my eyes.

“What kind of request is it?”

The commander looked at me with eyes that said he would grant anything.

The second reward I would demand from the commander.

That was none other than.

“I wish you would arrange a monthly dining gathering with children my age.”

“…A dining gathering with children?”

I thought of this after hearing the story from the commander that Luna Moon also had a healing ability.

If there is any being in this zone other than us who can do ‘healing,’ that is, ‘absorbing food,’ they must be regarded as a player.

In other words, having a ‘dining’ gathering meant we could distinguish between NPCs and players.

Since they wouldn’t be used to player-style eating yet, it would surely show awkwardly.

The remaining players in this zone might be only me, CornerHoney, and Taejeongtaesebeyonce, but there was no harm in making sure.

Not only would having a dining gathering with kids my age instill a good impression on the zone residents, but.

Meeting and talking with Taejeongtaesebeyonce or CornerHoney who came to the gathering would become natural.

And the ones who would play an active role in the Second Apocalypse in ten years were the kids my age now.

Gaining their trust in advance wasn’t a bad idea either.

The commander had a slightly puzzled face at my request.

“Why do you request such a thing?”

“I was lucky to wear such nice clothes and eat nice meals, but there are still starving children outside. I want to share even a little bit with them.”

“Hmm…”

I could see the commander hesitating, unable to give an immediate answer.

It had to be so.

Because he probably expected a request at a child’s level at best, but gathering kids of similar age to hold a monthly dining gathering became a completely political issue.

But it wasn’t a demand the commander couldn’t grant either.

In times like this, stimulating guilt worked well.

Pretending to read the commander’s facial expression, I fidgeted my fingers.

“By any chance, if arranging the dining gathering costs a lot of money… I will eat only one meal a day.”

“What?”

The commander’s voice grew louder than ever before.

I continued speaking.

“Because I starved a lot outside, eating only one meal is fine for me. I don’t need expensive snacks like earlier either. Is it not allowed…?”

“…No. That much is not difficult. It will be hard starting from this month, but I will try to arrange the gathering right at the beginning of next month.”

Although the commander who answered like that looked to have a worse complexion than moments ago.

As if that answer was not a lie, one reward count passed over.

[Three Rewards 2/3]

‘Now only one left.’

To maintain a good relationship with the commander, I should give him a carrot too.

With a joyful expression, I grabbed the commander’s hem and shouted.

“Thank you, Dad!”

At my thank-you greeting, the commander startled and looked at me.

“Dad… you say?”

“Ah, should I have called you His Excellency?”

“Ahem… No, call me whatever you like.”

This guy likes it but is just playing hard to get.

I haven’t played your son just once or twice, dude.

The commander, saying I really must sleep now, laid me on the bed and covered me with a blanket.

“Good night.”

“Good night, Dad.”

The commander left the bedroom with somehow creaking movements.

Although all his actions in treating a child looked awkward, his heart caring for Luna Moon’s child was felt.

‘Come to think of it, I promised Luna Moon. That I would think of Commander Hayden as my real dad…’

Although thinking of him as a real dad might be difficult, preventing the commander from dying due to the Second Apocalypse would be possible.

Since in any case, he had to survive the Second Apocalypse and oversee my shelter.

‘By the way…’

Just why did that convenience store possess such a large number of players?

Lying down, SafetyZone8’s final moments suddenly flashed in my mind.

He hadn’t made a terribly huge failure either.

He merely failed to be recognized as the bastard child.

He was a player who could have stopped the apocalypse through various other clears in the future.

Even so, despite planning to eliminate them mercilessly if they failed the clear.

Why did they possess multiple players of all things?

‘If they were only going to give a perk to me, the all-zone clearer, why on earth the other players…’

It was then.

That a new system message popped up before my eyes.

[Since there are two or more players who opened the system, chat is activated.]

[Would you like to enter the public chat room?]

[1:1 private chatting is available only when in a mutual friend relationship.]

‘Oh…’

Apparently, another player had opened their system.

So it was correct that chat opened only when there were two or more people.

‘I have to check if the meteorite item is indeed the opening condition.’

Thinking so, when I pressed the ‘Enter’ button, two messages popped up in succession.

[Player ‘Dopamine Addict’ enters the public chat room.]

[Player ‘T-Bastard’ enters the public chat room.]

“…!!”

I jumped up from my seat.