Chapter 86 – Player Dialogue (2)

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Translated by Seoulbound

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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This happened before I gathered these guys.

After deciding not to open the game developer’s message.

I sent a chat to T-Bastard right away.

T-Bastard, who had been sending messages that seemed occasionally out of his mind, did not send separate messages to me other than requesting dropped supplies, perhaps because he had found stability after I sent him toiletries.

[Dopamine Addict: Hey]

[Dopamine Addict: Are you alive?]

The reply came back as soon as I sent the message.

[T-Bastard: What]

This guy is still as insolent as ever, even though I’ve been taking care of him so meticulously.

Still, seeing that he replies regularly now, it seems he knows to be grateful.

[Dopamine Addict: I have something to ask]

[T-Bastard: You have something to ask me?]

[Dopamine Addict: Do you happen to know anything about Salvation Project?]

Knowing that he had no intention of interacting with other players besides me anyway, I asked outright.

The answer that came back from T-Bastard was somewhat disappointing.

[T-Bastard: What is that]

‘He doesn’t know.’

Is this guy unrelated?

However, since Shin Eun-jo also didn’t seem to know about Salvation Project, I did not give up there and asked consecutively.

[Dopamine Addict: What about Middle-aged Man Dating Simulation?]

[T-Bastard: …]

This time, the reply did not come back right away.

[T-Bastard: Why are you talking nonsense after contacting me after a long time?]

Even for me, if someone had no contact for several weeks and suddenly started talking about middle-aged men, I would find it absurd.

‘Still, I thought this guy would know something…’

T-Bastard was in Knife, of all places.

He was the guy possessed in the hidden zone that I conquered last.

Judging by the fact that a strange player was possessed in the Unicorn Zone, which was my home base, I had thought that perhaps T-Bastard also fell into the hidden zone because he knew something like Shin Eun-jo…

‘But judging from how he was out of his mind when he first opened the system, is he different from Shin Eun-jo?’

Shin Eun-jo was a player who chose the Love Zone with possession in mind from the very start.

That was why she could establish a cult without being greatly flustered.

However, if T-Bastard also knew he would be possessed like Shin Eun-jo, he absolutely wouldn’t have chosen Knife.

If he was possessed without knowing anything, he could be called a truly unlucky player.

[Dopamine Addict: If you don’t know, never mind]

[T-Bastard: Are you just trying to pass it over by saying ‘never mind’?]

[T-Bastard: Salvation Project and Middle-aged Man… anyway.]

[T-Bastard: Shouldn’t you at least explain what on earth that is for you to ask me if I knew?]

I thought he would just treat me like an empty fellow and lose interest, but he was more curious than I expected.

‘It wouldn’t matter if I tell him.’

The fact that Salvation Project was the game company that first created Safe Zone was not a secret known only to me.

Because even if I said a game with a title like Middle-aged Man Dating Simulation was related to possession, it wouldn’t sound serious.

[Dopamine Addict: I heard that the one who first created the Safe Zone series wasn’t Square Soft, but a game company called Salvation Project. I asked to see if you knew anything about it.]

[T-Bastard: I’m hearing Square Soft for the first time too.]

What? They splash the logo so big, and he can’t even remember that?

[T-Bastard: In the first place, I don’t really play games.]

[Dopamine Addict: Then you wouldn’t know what a dating sim is either.]

[T-Bastard: Dating sim?]

[Dopamine Addict: The game that Safe Zone copied its setting from is a dating sim called ‘Middle-aged Man Dating Simulation.’]

[T-Bastard: I don’t understand what you mean.]

I felt a strange sense of kinship in the fact that T-Bastard also didn’t know what a dating sim was.

While I was at it, I asked one more thing.

[Dopamine Addict: I suppose you don’t know anything about Cthulhu Games either?]

[T-Bastard: What is that again?]

[Dopamine Addict: The company that made the dating sim.]

[T-Bastard: Never heard of it.]

[T-Bastard: But why did you ask if I knew about it?]

[Dopamine Addict: I’m looking into it to see if it might be related to our group possession.]

[T-Bastard: With our possession?]

[Dopamine Addict: If you learn anything, let me know too.]

[T-Bastard: You should tell me. You don’t seem to have any intention of telling me everything even now.]

It seemed he noticed that I only told him exactly as much as necessary.

I slily turned the conversation.

[Dopamine Addict: But how did you start Safe Zone when you don’t even play games much? A game that doesn’t even have a Korean patch.]

[T-Bastard: A junior recommended it.]

[Dopamine Addict: Junior? Haha, were you a college student? Haha]

[T-Bastard: Would I be a college student? A syndicate… no, a workplace junior.]

The chat sending ‘syndicate’ remained vividly.

He didn’t seem to be playing a roleplay concept…

This bastard is quite strange too.

[T-Bastard: Come to think of it, this name was also given by that junior.]

[T-Bastard: Do you happen to know what T-Bastard means?]

[Dopamine Addict: …]

Although it was surprising that a 21st-century person who didn’t even know the T-Bastard meme was possessed while playing Safe Zone, the junior who suddenly recommended Safe Zone and told him to make his nickname T-Bastard was quite something.

[Dopamine Addict: Don’t you know MBTI?]

[T-Bastard: I know that.]

Fortunately, he wasn’t completely illiterate.

[Dopamine Addict: The T is that T from MBTI.]

[T-Bastard: What about Bastard?]

Having no choice, I told T-Bastard the cruel truth.

[Dopamine Addict: Try pronouncing T as C.]

The chat seemed to cut off, and only after a while did a reply come back from T-Bastard.

[T-Bastard: This]

[T-Bastard: How do I change this name?]

[Dopamine Addict: If it could be changed, I would have easily thought that the Unicorn Zone player just plagiarized my name.]

Whether he went to try changing his name despite my saying it couldn’t be changed, T-Bastard was silent for a while.

It was about five minutes later when T-Bastard returned.

[T-Bastard: Ha… Jo Man-wol, this punk…]

“…”

In context.

Although I thought the name Jo Man-wol was that junior who recommended the game and built the nickname.

I asked T-Bastard for confirmation.

[Dopamine Addict: Is Jo Man-wol… that junior?]

[Dopamine Addict: The one who recommended this game.]

[T-Bastard: Yeah.]

[T-Bastard: I don’t know if that punk Jo Man-wol is also possessed here.]

T-Bastard’s thought was wrong.

A person named Jo Man-wol would not be possessed right now.

Because she had already possessed this game over ten years ago, and it had been a long time since she was buried in her grave.

‘Jo Man-wol.’

That was my mother’s name.

The thought that it might be a homonym did not occur to me at all.

The one who made T-Bastard play this game was my mother.

‘Perhaps…’

The one who sent me the message.

And the one who made us possess this place.

Might be my mother.

‘I really must log out and check.’

Even if I have to open the systems of all other players.

* * *

Having resolved so, I opened CornerHoney’s and Tae-jeong’s systems today without hesitation as well.

However, that did not mean I intended to help all other players without any cost.

The condition of logging out was strictly ‘opening the systems of all players.’

I did not think already dead players would be counted in the number of ‘all players.’

In that case, those who cooperate with me would have their systems opened and bound to me.

And my plan was to exclude all those who did not cooperate with me from this world.

If I additionally opened the systems of the players bound to me, those guys could also gather points and open other players’ systems more quickly.

That was why I proposed to Shin Eun-jo to bind herself to me, and Shin Eun-jo pulled a pistol from her chest and pointed it at me.

It was a familiar pistol.

Perhaps it was the meteor item extorted from HomeProtector.

But was it because of getting shot instead last time?

“Crazy!”

As soon as Shin Eun-jo aimed the pistol at me, CornerHoney stood in front of me.

‘This was somewhat admirable.’

Although CornerHoney’s action was praiseworthy, Shin Eun-jo probably hadn’t pulled out the pistol with the intention to shoot me in the first place.

“Good job. But step aside.”

“What? Hey-!”

As I gently pushed CornerHoney aside, Shin Eun-jo, who had been staring at me while aiming, turned the pistol’s grip toward me and offered it.

“I’d like to receive exactly this much information. Is that not okay?”

Instead of being bound to me and hearing all the stories, she seemed to want to hand over HomeProtector’s meteor item to me and hear only exactly that value’s worth of stories.

“Didn’t you want to avoid hostilizing me?”

“Right. But I also have family depending on me in my zone. It is difficult to choose you right now.”

It seemed the words that she would return to her zone someday were not just talk.

‘Since they are guys she chose and brought herself, does she have a sense of responsibility in her own way?’

Although it was regrettable that I couldn’t bind Shin Eun-jo to me right away to test the additional opening, I had succeeded in obtaining the meteor item, so should I be satisfied with this much?

I took the pistol Shin Eun-jo was offering.

I tried to put the pistol into my inventory as soon as I received it, but there was no change.

‘It cannot be put into the inventory.’

Probably because the actual owner was registered as HomeProtector.

The reason Shin Eun-jo handed over HomeProtector’s pistol to me so readily must also be because it wasn’t her property.

If Shin Eun-jo returned to her zone and killed HomeProtector, the ownership would go to Shin Eun-jo, but…

‘Seeing as she has kept him alive until now due to the restriction placed by SsapPossible, the probability of her killing HomeProtector to seize ownership even after returning is low.’

Well, ownership is actually not necessary.

Since I intended to take ownership of the meteor item after dealing with the Unicorn Zone player anyway.

Fortunately, since it was said that even without ownership, just having the meteor item nearby allowed Luna to borrow the power of his main body, I decided to give information worth only the pistol’s value as Shin Eun-jo proposed for now.

I tucked the pistol into my chest and asked Shin Eun-jo.

“But has HomeProtector been behaving quietly?”

“He seemed to believe you would come to rescue him, though.”

Seeing her unmoved despite mentioning HomeProtector, Shin Eun-jo also seemed to assume I would know at least that she had HomeProtector in her grasp.

That was why she confidently pulled out and showed the pistol.

By the way, to think he believes I will go to rescue him.

He is a truly positive fellow.

Well, as long as the meteor pistol has entered my hands, I must meet HomeProtector.

Once the entrance exam is over, I should go to the Love Zone and pick up HomeProtector.

“Then now it’s time to pay the price.”

I pulled CornerHoney, whom I had pushed away earlier, back in front of me and spoke.

“Regarding the Unicorn Zone player, this guy here will explain.”

“What? Weren’t you the one explaining?”

“What? Why do I have to explain!”

Lightly ignoring CornerHoney’s protest, I smiled gently at Shin Eun-jo.

“You didn’t expect to hear a proper story while handing over a meteor item that isn’t even yours, did you?”

“…”

Judging by her expression, she seemed to have hoped I would pass over it without knowing about ownership.

“Instead, I will permit you to take the entrance exam.”

“If that’s the condition for allowing the entrance exam…”

“You may ask CornerHoney about various things in the future.”

“I… decline that.”

Has she already figured out that CornerHoney is of no help at all, less than thirty minutes after meeting?

Since the organization among the players is roughly finished…

Now it is time to take the first entrance exam of the military academy.