Chapter 17

Cola District Meetup

The commander, who had been processing documents in his office, raised his head at the sound of children’s voices coming from beyond the window.

After checking the time, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

They must have started by now.

He rose from his seat, walked over to the window, and slightly lifted the blinds.

Below, he could see the tops of children’s heads as they gathered in small groups and enjoyed the barbecue.

It was not difficult to pick out the black-haired Asian boy among them, so the commander quickly found his son.

The large boy beside him must be the one called Taejeong… But who is that blond child?

The tall, red-haired boy beside his son was a face the commander recognized, but the blond child next to him was unfamiliar.

Judging by the properly fitted military uniform, he appeared to be a child soldier….

Was that boy also someone he knew from the slums?

According to Meursault, his son, Haydam, had roamed around with other children during his days in the slums, hunting to secure food for themselves.

The commander had already realized Haydam was no ordinary child when he remained unfazed even after watching someone get shot to death right before his eyes.

But when the boy who had gone out hunting returned while dragging a monster dozens of times larger than himself…

The commander had even felt an inexplicable sense of danger.

The impression Haydam had left was powerful enough that the leader of an entire district had felt threatened by a ten-year-old child.

Even Meursault, who normally cared about nothing except Daphne, had excitedly recounted Haydam’s heroic exploits before the commander.

He stabbed the back of his own hand to lure in a hippo-pig, then killed it with a single shot?

Anyone else who heard the story would probably scoff and dismiss it as an exaggeration.

But Commander Hayden instinctively knew that every word of it was true.

Haydam Goodman was Luna Moon’s child.

Even if he injured the back of his hand, it could immediately be healed. That was probably why he had been able to carry out a plan involving self-harm without any hesitation.

In the first place, asking me to arrange this sort of dinner gathering wasn’t something an ordinary person would think of.

On top of that, there was his boldness during the officers’ meeting and the way he personally hunted a monster to prove his shooting skills.

Everything had far exceeded the commander’s expectations.

So the child of a hero is ultimately a hero as well.

Commander Hayden recalled the day he had first met Haydam.

It had not been difficult to recognize at a glance that the child holding out the ring to him was Luna Moon’s son.

That was because Luna Moon had always looked at them…

As though she were looking at something that was not human.

She had possessed the eyes of an observer examining creatures of a different species from herself.

Could it be that Haydam is also like Luna Moon…?

No. That was taking the thought too far.

The commander chuckled and shook his head, clearing the baseless speculation from his mind.

There was no way Haydam could be the same as Luna Moon.

After all, Haydam was a child Luna Moon had given birth to in this world.

***

Unlike the immature Stay-at-Home Wifey, Taejeong greeted him politely.

“My name is Taejeongtaesebeyoncé. I look forward to working with you.”

“Taejeongtaesebeyoncé? Why is your username so damn long?”

“You may simply call me Taejeong, Hyung-nim.”

Huh?

Was he going to call Stay-at-Home Wifey Hyung-nim too?

“Stay-at-Home Wifey is twenty years old.”

When I casually revealed his age, Stay-at-Home Wifey jumped in alarm.

“Hey! Why are you bringing up our real ages here? We’re all ten years old now!”

“No, no. If you started the game before me, then you’re my senior and therefore my hyung-nim. Since you’re younger, I’ll call you Little Hyung-nim.”

“Well… call me whatever you want.”

Stay-at-Home Wifey seemed to lower his guard after seeing that Taejeong was respectful and did not look down on him for being younger.

But I had always assumed Taejeong called me Hyung-nim because he was younger than me.

He called anyone who started the game before him Hyung-nim?

Was this guy actually way older than I thought?

I did not want to reveal our ages and end up speaking formally to him, so I decided to leave it alone.

“But….”

Stay-at-Home Wifey, who had briefly calmed down thanks to Taejeong’s agreeable attitude, glared at me again.

“Forget Little Hyung-nim or whatever. Why didn’t you make that bastard enlist?”

“Because he already completed his military service. You haven’t. Have you already forgotten why I made you enlist?”

I could not believe I had to explain this again.

“I told you that you need to know how to handle firearms if you want to survive.”

“Oh, right.”

Oh, right?

“You… are doing all right in the army, aren’t you? You seem like you’d be a complete screwup.”

“Come on, Hyung-nim! That’s too harsh. There’s no way Little Hyung-nim could be a screwup. He’s still a player!”

“……”

Was it my imagination, or had Stay-at-Home Wifey just made an extremely troubled expression?

“Anyway, let’s each share how far we’ve progressed. After that, we’ll make a plan for how to proceed from here.”

“Yes! Then I’ll go first.”

Taejeong eagerly stepped forward and shared his progress.

“I’ve been employed as a servant at the mansion, and I’m currently learning how the household operates. I don’t have any duties assigned exclusively to me yet. They said observing and learning was important, so they’ve been taking me around to various places.

“One thing I’ve realized is that perhaps because everyone thinks I’m just a child, they comfortably discuss confidential matters in front of me. I believe the information I obtain that way will be a great help to our strategy.”

He had a point.

Our young age was both our advantage and our disadvantage.

We were physically inferior, but there was no better disguise for lowering another person’s guard.

“Have you heard anything useful so far?”

“Yes. I heard Lieutenant General Radu is having an affair.”

“…How exactly is that information useful?”

“We can use his affair as leverage and blackmail him later!”

Had this guy watched too many trashy soap operas?

More importantly, he actually thought an affair would be enough to blackmail someone?

“Taejeong, I’m the commander’s illegitimate child from an affair.”

“Ah.”

“Well, you’re only doing miscellaneous chores for now, so the range of information you can access is probably limited. Once you start becoming more involved in the mansion’s operations, you’ll likely learn something more useful. Work hard.”

“Yes! Next time, I’ll definitely bring back useful information.”

I looked at Taejeong with satisfaction before shifting my gaze toward Stay-at-Home Wifey.

“What about you, loser?”

“I… well… nothing special….”

“Have you handled a gun yet?”

“I’m still undergoing basic physical training….”

He can’t even meet my eyes and looks completely discouraged whenever the military comes up. It must be pretty rough.

It was not as though I had never served in the military myself, so I understood that Stay-at-Home Wifey was probably having a difficult time.

However, if I took his side, he was exactly the sort of guy who would immediately go to his superior and say, “My friend is the commander’s son, so don’t mess with me, lol.”

Maybe things would be different once he had settled in, but for now, I needed to remain as detached and distant as possible.

He had to believe I would not automatically take his side. Only then would he stay cautious and manage his military life properly.

“Have you heard anything about the subjugation campaign?”

“Oh! I heard I’ll probably be drafted for the next one.”

The subjugation campaign took place during the period when the most snow melted that year.

There was a low mountain not far from the district where a red flagpole had been planted. Once they observed the snow melting from its summit, the subjugation campaign would begin.

When I went hunting with Meursault, the mountain had still been covered in snow, so there was probably some time left until the next campaign.

Stay-at-Home Wifey should be able to participate in the subjugation event without any problems….

I did not intend to send Taejeong.

If Stay-at-Home Wifey and I both died during our first subjugation campaign, we would need another player to handle what came afterward.

I had never died during the first subjugation while playing the Safe Zone scenario, but this was reality now.

I intended to prepare for what would happen even after my death.

“Now I’ll tell you what I’ve discovered. But before that….”

As I spoke, I held out Luna Moon’s ring, which I had threaded through a leather cord and worn around my neck.

“You two, touch this ring.”

The two of them touched Luna Moon’s ring.

Judging from their expressions, however, nothing seemed to have happened.

Apparently, merely coming into contact with the meteorite was not enough to open the status window.

I hid the ring beneath my clothes again and spoke.

“First of all, I opened my status window.”

“You opened a status window? There was a status window?”

Taejeong merely nodded because he had already heard about it from me, but Stay-at-Home Wifey was startled. He had believed that we had been possessed without receiving any special privileges.

“There was a condition for opening it.”

“A condition? What was it? Can we open ours too?”

Stay-at-Home Wifey asked with hope in his eyes at the possibility of obtaining a special ability, but I shook my head.

“At first, I thought it opened when someone came into contact with a specific item… but it seems only the first player who touches it can unlock the status window. That’s why neither of you could open one.”

“What the hell? Then we have to clear the game without a status window?”

“The status window only has functions like Character Inspection, Inventory, and Chat. There’s also District Development, but there’s no point using that in the Cola District. Chat is the only truly important function.”

“Chat? What would you even use that crap for?”

“Once two or more people unlock their status windows, they’re automatically entered into a public chatroom.”

Both Stay-at-Home Wifey and Taejeong looked surprised at my words.

They had probably suspected that players existed in other districts as well, but this was the first time they had received direct confirmation.

“There are currently eight people in the public chatroom. In other words, aside from me, seven other players have unlocked their status windows.”

“Damn it. Just how many people were possessed and brought here?”

My thoughts exactly.

“Hey, but….”

Stay-at-Home Wifey suddenly lowered his voice, making me wonder what he was about to ask.

“Among the players who opened their status windows… was Dopamine Addict there too?”

Why is this bastard so obsessed with me?

Taejeong, who knew that I was Dopamine Addict, stared at Stay-at-Home Wifey with a puzzled expression.

Then realization dawned on him, and he hurriedly controlled his expression.

He must have remembered that I had told him to pretend not to know my identity in front of Stay-at-Home Wifey.

Fortunately, Stay-at-Home Wifey was looking at me, so he failed to notice Taejeong’s suspicious behavior.

I should probably tell him soon. Keeping a secret shared by only two people isn’t good for allies.

However, I planned to reveal my identity to Stay-at-Home Wifey only after making him owe me a favor.

If he ended up having his life saved by the Dopamine Addict he hated so much, he would be too embarrassed to turn against me afterward.

When I did not answer, Stay-at-Home Wifey furrowed his brow and pressed me.

“What? Why aren’t you answering? Was he not there?”

“He was. Dopamine Addict opened his status window too.”

Technically, I was not lying.

Stay-at-Home Wifey’s questions did not end there.

“Which district did that bastard end up in?”

“There’s no way he’d tell me that.”

That one was definitely a lie.

“Figures… There’s no way that rude bastard would willingly reveal his district.”

I was the first person to reveal my district, actually.

“Were there no other players in the same district as us?”

Only after Taejeong asked that did the topic finally move away from Dopamine Addict and toward the other players.

“No. It seems there’s only one item capable of unlocking the status window in each district. And judging from what I observed a little while ago, the three of us seem to be the only players in this district.”

The only children who had reacted to the word samgyeopsal were Stay-at-Home Wifey and Taejeong.

During the meal, the three of us had worn uncomfortable expressions, while the other children had looked…

Happy.

I had arranged the meal for a specific purpose, but seeing the children eat so well had still made me feel a little proud.

In any case, there were only three players in our district.

If only four players chose Cola, including the one who already died in Safe District 8, then there probably aren’t that many players in the other districts either.

“And this is only my theory, but….”

I looked back and forth between Stay-at-Home Wifey and Taejeong.

“Luna Moon might have been a player.”