Chapter 19

The Worst of the Worst

After retiring from the organization, T-Bastard started playing a game called Apocalypse: Safe Zone at the recommendation of one of his juniors.

Even the username “T-Bastard” had been chosen by that junior, and he did not know exactly what it meant.

His junior had told him that the game was extremely difficult to clear and that he would never have time to get bored.

There’s nothing special about it.

T-Bastard began with Candy District, the lowest-level area, but soon grew bored with the long development period.

Starting as a ten-year-old child was frustrating enough, yet no matter which dialogue option he chose, everyone around him praised and worshipped him.

However, the moment the Second Apocalypse began, another district launched a surprise attack and he witnessed an ending in which his entire district was wiped out.

Only then did T-Bastard begin to find the game entertaining.

So if you choose a low-level district, you inevitably struggle to survive once the survival phase begins.

He liked the lesson that anyone who lived comfortably amid abundant resources without a care in the world would fail to survive when the real struggle began.

Gradually, T-Bastard began selecting higher-level districts.

By the time he had progressed through Candy, Cola, Tobacco, Beer, Chicken, and Cocaine Districts, he realized something.

I need walkthroughs. This game can’t be cleared without them.

Safe Zone did not normally support multiplayer.

However, the survival phase felt almost like multiplayer.

That was because each district’s AI learned the strategies used by previous players and began the survival phase based on that data.

That was where the problem began.

Since the AI opponents were selected according to the player’s skill level, he had encountered AI versions of many different players in the earlier districts.

But by the time he reached Cocaine District, the AI roster had begun to be dominated by one particular player.

[Candy District – AI Home Protector]

[Cola District – AI Dopamine Addict]

[Tobacco District – AI Home Protector]

[Beer District – AI Totally Possible]

[Chicken District – AI Taejeongtaesebeyoncé]

[Cocaine District – Me (T-Bastard)]

[Knife District – AI Administrator]

[Love District – AI Dopamine Addict]

[Unicorn District – AI Dopamine Addict]

“You again, Dopamine Addict…!”

T-Bastard was utterly demolished by AI Dopamine Addict.

At this point, he could no longer resist looking into the player, so he entered the Safe Zone community forums.

There, he learned that frequently appearing players such as Home Protector, Totally Possible, and Taejeongtaesebeyoncé were also users whose strategies were derived from Dopamine Addict’s walkthroughs.

Are Dopamine Addict’s walkthroughs really that amazing?

After reading a few community posts, he discovered that even overseas users reposted Dopamine Addict’s strategies without permission.

But Safe Zone was a game with an enormous degree of freedom.

Blindly copying another player’s walkthrough would take all the fun out of the game.

Thinking that, T-Bastard opened Dopamine Addict’s Cola District walkthrough.

He was horrified.

What the hell is this? There was a grave in the slums? No, why did he dig up a grave in the first place? What’s this now? Gain an NPC’s trust as much as possible, then poison them? Is this guy sane?

By the time he came to his senses, he was already searching through Dopamine Addict’s other walkthroughs.

That was when T-Bastard learned something else.

Many people said that Dopamine Addict’s strategies were strategies only Dopamine Addict himself could pull off.

The reason his walkthroughs received so many views was simply because they were unethical, immoral, and sensational.

I think I know what strategy I should use from now on.

T-Bastard simply needed to counter Dopamine Addict’s walkthroughs.

After all, every player who had successfully cleared even one of the Love or Unicorn routes had only done so by following Dopamine Addict’s strategies.

By exploiting Dopamine Addict’s methods in reverse, T-Bastard barely managed to clear Cocaine District.

Dopamine Addict has a Cocaine District walkthrough too, but I’d rather die than follow that bastard’s strategy.

Then, one day, Dopamine Addict uploaded a new walkthrough.

[Dopamine Addict] Hidden Safe Zone “Knife” Starting Route Walkthrough

“……!”

The instant T-Bastard saw the post, he sprang to his feet.

Knife… was a hidden district?

So it had not been an unselectable district?

But it’s a district filled entirely with homicidal maniacs. How could anyone survive there while starting as a ten-year-old?

Countless thoughts raced through his mind, but T-Bastard hurriedly posted a comment first.

T-Bastard: How did you unlock the hidden district?

Dopamine Addict: It’s easy. You just need to see all eight starting endings from the other districts.

“……”

He had thought this before, but Dopamine Addict truly was an insufferable bastard.

07709600

While thinking that, T-Bastard saw the comment posted below and smiled.

Stay-at-Home Wifey: Easy for you, asshole.

That was satisfying.

However, Dopamine Addict replied in the same obnoxious tone as always.

Dopamine Addict: I uploaded walkthroughs for all eight other starting districts, didn’t I?

Stay-at-Home Wifey: Those were supposed to be followed?? Are you fucking insane?;;

Dopamine Addict: I’m blocking you.

T-Bastard completely agreed with Stay-at-Home Wifey, but he remained silent because being blocked and losing access to the Knife walkthrough would be troublesome.

I need to unlock the hidden district before everyone else.

At present, Dopamine Addict was the only player who had cleared Knife District.

What if T-Bastard became the second?

Then AI T-Bastard will be matched against Dopamine Addict in Knife District.

Driven solely by the desire to appear on Dopamine Addict’s AI roster, T-Bastard skipped meals and stayed awake through the night as he worked on clearing Love and Unicorn Districts.

When tackling Love and Unicorn, he abandoned all pride and followed Dopamine Addict’s walkthroughs.

Intellectually, he knew that was the fastest route.

After several failed attempts, T-Bastard finally unlocked the hidden district.

When he entered the community to announce that he was the second person to unlock Knife District, he was greeted by unexpected news.

“The hardcore users… have gone missing?”

After Dopamine Addict posted the address of a Safe Zone collaboration convenience store on the community forum, several hardcore players—including Dopamine Addict himself—had vanished as though they had dissolved into thin air.

It sounded absurd.

However, when people checked the community and game login histories, there were no signs of activity from those hardcore users.

Eventually, T-Bastard decided that he also needed to visit the convenience store.

Not every hardcore user disappeared. But every hardcore user who posted that they were going to the convenience store vanished.

Their final destination had been the convenience store.

In other words, there had to be something there.

Dopamine Addict was strangely obsessed with spreading his walkthroughs. Maybe he was increasing his reputation to lure people in.

In reality, Dopamine Addict had simply been an attention seeker.

However, because of the life T-Bastard had lived, he naturally assumed that some kind of conspiracy was involved.

After finding the address and arriving at the convenience store, he discovered that someone else was already there.

“…You look familiar. Weren’t you on the national team?”

“Hahaha, that was ages ago. You’re here because of Safe Zone too, right? My in-game username is Taejeongtaesebeyoncé. What’s yours?”

He’s one of Dopamine Addict’s followers.

It was already suspicious enough that a retired national athlete had come to some game collaboration convenience store.

But he was also a follower of Dopamine Addict?

T-Bastard’s wariness shot to its peak.

Pretending to browse the merchandise, he took a step away from Taejeongtaesebeyoncé before answering.

“I’m T-Bastard.”

“I think I’ve seen you on the community forums before. Whoa, they have bottled cola here.”

While Taejeongtaesebeyoncé was distracted by the merchandise, T-Bastard picked up a knife from among the displayed goods.

“Huh? Are you buying a knife?”

He had chosen it in preparation for any unforeseen trouble, but when he heard the voice behind him, T-Bastard answered as casually as he could.

“It’s the symbol of the hidden district, so it looks cool. The Knife walkthrough was uploaded too, so I’m planning to start clearing it.”

“Oh, you read Dopamine Addict Hyung-nim’s walkthroughs!”

Realizing that Taejeongtaesebeyoncé was about to launch into a lengthy speech about Dopamine Addict, T-Bastard quickly headed toward the counter to escape.

However, he unexpectedly ended up arguing with the clerk.

“Are you serious? You’re really choosing the knife? Why don’t you reconsider? Think about it very carefully.”

What’s wrong with this clerk?

Like Taejeongtaesebeyoncé, the clerk looked strangely familiar.

For some reason, he desperately tried to stop T-Bastard from buying the knife.

The clerk’s attitude only made the situation seem even more suspicious, and T-Bastard became determined to purchase it.

“Just ring it up.”

“…You’re the first customer to choose the knife, so it’s free. Congratulations.”

Free? Come to think of it, this knife didn’t even have a price tag or packaging….

The entire situation left him deeply uneasy, but he had succeeded in obtaining the knife.

For now, he planned to leave like an ordinary customer and observe the convenience store from outside.

Then he heard the clerk mutter quietly with lifeless, dead-fish eyes.

“Idiot….”

What a rude bastard.

Clicking his tongue inwardly, T-Bastard stepped out of the convenience store.

At that very moment, he was transported into Apocalypse: Safe Zone.

More specifically, into Knife District.

And he was trapped in the body of a ten-year-old child.

Fuck.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck.

He did not even know how he had managed to escape.

The moment he awoke in the body of a ten-year-old, he had been so shocked that he started cursing.

That drew the attention of a group of psychopathic murderers, who captured him.

They tortured him until he lost consciousness.

Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—the pleasure killers had no intention of quickly killing a child they had found.

Thanks to that, T-Bastard survived an entire day.

Just before his mind completely shattered, he barely managed to recall Dopamine Addict’s Knife District walkthrough.

First, he pretended that the torture had driven him insane, causing his captors to lower their guard.

Then he successfully escaped.

His next objective was to obtain the meteorite knife.

The man who possessed it was effectively the leader of the district—a madman who enjoyed eating children.

T-Bastard took advantage of the man’s habits and his own battered body, disguising himself as a corpse to infiltrate the place.

When the perverted cannibalistic murderer tried to begin his meal, T-Bastard plunged a fork into his throat and stole the meteorite knife.

He stabbed everyone present to death and fled like a madman.

After hiding in a cramped space too narrow for them to enter, T-Bastard finally broke down.

Terror and resentment over this incomprehensible possession, combined with physical and mental exhaustion, sent tears streaming down his face.

I should kill myself.

There was no way he could survive in a place like this, in a body like this.

Perhaps dying would return him to his original world.

Just as he was about to choose death as a means of escape, the system opened.

[‘Dopamine Addict’ has entered the public chatroom.]

Dopamine… Addict?

The moment T-Bastard saw the system message, something began growing inside him.

It was a desire for revenge—and a will to survive.

He would live through this and kill that bastard.

There was no way to know whether Dopamine Addict was truly responsible for everything that had happened.

But in T-Bastard’s deranged state, that did not matter.

What he needed now was a reason to survive.

“…But I suppose even that ends here.”

Even with a weapon capable of killing anyone with a single stab, no one could withstand being attacked by a crowd.

Mortally wounded, T-Bastard had barely managed to hide himself in his base.

However, he knew he would soon die from blood loss.

Dopamine Addict had said that eating food could heal injuries, but fuck!

Knife District was fundamentally a district of cannibals.

There was no way normal food would exist here.

Even if he wanted to hunt monsters, he would encounter truckloads of murderous lunatics before he could even leave the district.

Because of that, T-Bastard had only managed to heal the injuries from his first day by eating ingredients the perverted cannibal had prepared as side dishes.

His body was still in terrible condition.

What would Dopamine Addict have done in a situation like this?

Dopamine Addict’s walkthrough instructed players to survive through cannibalism.

T-Bastard had been capable of killing, but cannibalism was beyond him.

If that bastard Dopamine Addict had landed in Knife District, would he have casually eaten people and survived?

Come to think of it, that guy had persistently sent him friend requests.

T-Bastard had rejected every one of them because of his hatred for Dopamine Addict.

But now that he believed he was about to die, he strangely wanted to speak with him.

On impulse, T-Bastard sent Dopamine Addict a friend request.

He regretted it immediately.

After I rejected him so many times, there’s no way he’ll accept mine now….

Just as he thought he had done something pathetic right before his death—

[Dopamine Addict has accepted your friend request.]

[Dopamine Addict has entered the private chatroom.]

[Dopamine Addict: Finally feel like talking to me?]

As the messages appeared one after another, T-Bastard felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

Because of that, he continued the conversation with slightly more goodwill than before.

[T-Bastard: I don’t think I’ll be able to come kill you.]

[Dopamine Addict: What are you talking about?]

[Dopamine Addict: Did you fail your route?]

[T-Bastard: I couldn’t find food.]

[T-Bastard: I didn’t want to resort to cannibalism. Even if this is a game world.]

[Dopamine Addict: ……]

Seeing that no reply came from Dopamine Addict, T-Bastard assumed he was looking down on him.

He was probably thinking that survival came first and that eating a few NPCs did not count as real cannibalism.

Dopamine Addict… You may have been the greatest player, but you’re the worst human being imaginable.

Just as T-Bastard felt relieved that he could die while preserving his dignity as a human—

[Dopamine Addict has requested an item trade.]

[Trade item: Cookies ×15]

[Would you like to accept?]

A hand of salvation reached out from the worst human being imaginable.