Chapter 5

I’m the Real Dopamine Addict

What the hell did I just hear?

Who did he say was the Dopamine Addict?

“…Who did you say you are?”

When I questioned him, Safe Zone 8—or rather, the self-proclaimed Dopamine Addict—let out a smug chuckle.

“It seems you know who I am. Well, I was fairly famous in the community. Didn’t you make it this far by following my guide too?”

What… What was with that obnoxious way of speaking?

Was he seriously trying to imitate me?

And he wasn’t finished.

“I understand that you were suddenly transmigrated here and happened to remember my guide. However, it is still my guide, so I would appreciate it if you left now. Besides, I’m the one who has the dog tag.”

‘There aren’t more bastards like this in the other zones, are there?’

Granted, I was also impersonating another player.

But impersonating me, putting on some bizarre persona, and acting as though my guide belonged to him crossed the line.

Originally, I had no intention of blaming other players for following my guide.

After all, when you already knew the correct answer, there was no reason not to use it.

It wasn’t the player’s fault for following my strategy.

That was why I had planned to smooth things over after this guy’s fake-illegitimate-son act, then enlist him just like Stay-at-home Wifey.

But…

The impostor kept going, speaking as though he were making me a generous offer.

“You seem to know quite a lot about the safe zones yourself, considering you had the nerve to remember and carry out my guide. How about it? Why don’t you work under me, like this friend here?”

So this bastard had planned to recruit any player who came looking for the commander after him.

Then had Taejeong-Taese-Beyoncé over there also come to attempt the illegitimate-son strategy, only to end up joining forces with the impostor?

I stared silently at him before answering.

“Call the commander.”

“Hmm… You don’t seem foolish enough to cling to something impossible. Do you have something else in mind?”

“Like you said, I don’t have the dog tag. The commander will soon learn that I came here and met you. What are you going to say if he asks why you simply sent me away?”

“Hmm…”

“Call the commander. Then I’ll testify for you.”

“Testify for me?”

“The more people there are who can testify that your name is ‘Hayden Goodman,’ the better, isn’t it?”

At my words, he slowly blinked twice.

“May I take that to mean you’ve accepted my offer?”

“I’m not working under you.”

The bastard gave a small laugh, placed his right hand over his chest, and spoke smoothly.

“Very well. I’ll summon ‘Father.’”

…This bastard had only been transmigrated for a single day, yet he was already far too immersed in the role.

“Mr. Taejeong, I’ll go call Father. Please keep our guest company for a moment.”

“Yes, Brother!”

While I stood there with a disgusted expression, the impostor left the room after entrusting me to Taejeong-Taese-Beyoncé.

I looked him up and down, then asked,

“Did you also come here to try the illegitimate-son strategy and get caught by that guy?”

“N-No. I woke up in the same place as Brother Dopamine Addict from the beginning.”

He woke up in the same place as that impostor?

‘Stay-at-home Wifey was beside me when I woke up too…’

Maybe players started in pairs.

Then that meant Safe Zone 8 had begun impersonating me the moment he arrived in this world.

Hmm…

If I were trapped in a world full of players who had been transmigrated because of the address I posted, impersonating myself would be the last thing I would ever do.

He didn’t seem particularly smart.

“Why didn’t you enlist? Why did you follow him instead?”

“Because I didn’t want to join the military again…”

Oh, so he had already completed his military service.

Since he spoke politely to me and had also been fooled by the impostor, I had assumed he was a young kid like Stay-at-home Wifey. Fortunately, that wasn’t the case.

He had a decent build, so with some training, he could serve properly as a tank. He also looked docile.

Now I understood why Safe Zone 8 was keeping him around.

“Don’t you resent the Dopamine Addict?”

“What?! W-Why would I resent Brother Dopamine Addict? I’m his fan!”

“I heard you were transmigrated because of the address the Dopamine Addict posted.”

“Oh, that. I know.”

Taejeong-Taese-Beyoncé smiled contentedly.

“It’s thanks to Brother Dopamine Addict that I was transmigrated here.”

“Thanks… to him?”

“My heart races just thinking that I can carry out the illegitimate-son strategy alongside my idol.”

“…”

This bastard was insane too.

A foulmouthed brat, an impostor, and now a socially maladjusted lunatic who couldn’t distinguish reality from a game.

Why were people like this the only ones subscribed to my guides?

…No.

Maybe everyone who played Safe Zone was a shut-in loser to begin with.

“So you’re traveling with the Dopamine Addict simply because you’re his fan?”

Taejeong-Taese-Beyoncé stared directly at me before replying in a solemn tone.

“Brother Dopamine Addict is the player who cleared every zone. Now that we’ve been transmigrated into this world, there’s no reason not to follow him.”

Hmm…

So he had actually made a fairly rational judgment.

“You should also do what Brother Dopamine Addict says if you want to survive the apocalypse. There isn’t a player better than him, and if someone gets in the way of his strategy, he’s the kind of person who will abandon even a fellow player without hesitation. You’ve read his guides, haven’t you? You know how cold-blooded and merciless he is.”

What the hell was he talking about?

Was that really the image people had of me?

Was that why the impostor was using such an obnoxious tone?

‘Damn it…’

“As long as the ‘Dopamine Addict’ successfully completes his strategy, you’ll be on my side?”

Taejeong-Taese looked confused by my question, but answered before he could properly think about it.

“What? Uh, yes, of course…?”

“Good. I’ll help you.”

“Oh! Thank you!”

Taejeong-Taese would take my side as soon as he learned that I was the real Dopamine Addict.

The problem was deciding what to do with Safe Zone 8.

It might not be so bad to let him continue pretending to be the Dopamine Addict and drawing attention in my place.

These guys had landed in Cola, so even though they had been transmigrated because of me, they could still survive reasonably well.

But what about the players who landed in other zones?

What would happen if someone who had been dropped into a place like Knife survived and made it out?

I didn’t want to get stabbed for no reason.

“You said someone who knows you has arrived?”

A rough voice resembling a growl came from outside the room.

Then a face I had seen countless times while playing the game appeared before me.

His black hair was swept neatly back without a single stray strand. A black eyepatch bearing the symbol of two crossed Cola bottles covered one eye, and a white coat covered in dangling insignias rested over his shoulders.

He was Hayden Goodman, the commander of the Cola Zone.

His sole remaining black eye glared sharply at me.

At the same time, a message appeared.

[The effect of the title ‘Lunamoon’s Friend’ has been applied to the target.]

I had expected that message.

But I hadn’t expected the one that followed.

[Because you possess ‘Lunamoon’s Ring,’ the effect has been doubled.]

‘Huh?’

What changed when the effect was doubled?

“…Your Excellency?”

Hearing the impostor address the commander, I tore my eyes away from the message and looked up.

The commander was staring at me as though he had seen a ghost.

However, none of the sharp hostility from a moment ago remained in his gaze.

It was almost like the expression of someone seeing a long-lost lover again.

“…You look like her.”

Ah.

So instead of merely increasing his affection toward me, it made me physically resemble Lunamoon in his eyes?

That worked perfectly in my favor.

Not letting the opportunity escape, I casually raised the hand wearing the ring toward the commander.

“Mother told me to show this to you, Your Excellency.”

The impostor visibly panicked at my words, but since he had no idea what I was showing the commander, he seemed unable to step in recklessly.

The commander lowered himself, then went down on one knee.

Only then did the impostor seem to realize that something had gone terribly wrong. His face turned deathly pale.

After staring at the loose ring around my finger for a long time, the commander turned toward the impostor and spoke in an icy voice.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“W-What do you mean…?”

“You claimed that you were my son, Haydam Goodman. Yet this ring is on someone else’s hand, not yours. All you brought me was a dog tag and claimed it was proof.”

“What? The dog tag was proof…? N-No, that ring is mine! I didn’t know that bastard had stolen it!”

Safe Zone 8 desperately pointed at me and shouted.

“Y-Yes! I even told that kid about Mother! Then he tried to deceive Your Excellency—”

“Silence!”

The commander roared fiercely and snatched the dog tag hanging from the impostor’s neck.

The chain snapped with a weak click, and the impostor frantically felt around the empty spot where it had been.

“I-I’m Haydam…”

“You would be wise to keep your mouth shut.”

The commander’s murderous pressure made the impostor immediately close his mouth, despite having been about to continue making excuses.

At least he wasn’t completely incapable of reading the room.

“I gave this ring to Lunamoon as a token before we were married. Had she truly lost it, you would have told me when you came to see me yesterday. More importantly, when this child took out the ring just now, your face clearly showed that you had no idea what it was.”

The commander glared at him.

“I do not know what you were thinking when you came to me carrying her dog tag, but if you attempt to deceive me again, I will not spare you merely because you are a child. Do you understand?”

“N-No way…”

Safe Zone 8 was so flustered that he began speaking in Korean.

“B-But the guide clearly said it was the dog tag…! No, did it not actually say dog tag? But the only belonging Lunamoon had in that grave was the dog tag…!”

After muttering like a madman, Safe Zone 8 suddenly looked at me as though he had realized something.

“You… Who are you?”

“Who do you think?”

The instant Safe Zone 8’s eyes widened, another system message appeared.

[Player ‘Safe Zone 8’ has failed the strategy.]

So a system message appeared even when a strategy failed.

Safe Zone 8 probably couldn’t see the message floating in the air because he hadn’t unlocked the system.

I was just about to tell him to stop screwing around and enlist instead when—

[Eliminating the player who failed the strategy.]

“What?”

The next moment, Safe Zone 8 collapsed forward as though someone had flipped off a switch.

“…Huh?”

The room fell deathly silent.

‘No way…’

As if confirming my ominous suspicion, another message appeared.

[Ownership of the items has been transferred to ‘Dopamine Addict.’]

[Inventory – Lunamoon’s Ring, Lunamoon’s Dog Tag]

There was only one situation in Safe Zone where a player’s belongings were transferred to someone else.

When you successfully PKed them.

“Brother!”

Startled, Taejeong-Taese rushed toward Safe Zone 8.

But from what I could see, Safe Zone 8 was already dead.

“Brother! Brotheeer!”

The commander also seemed briefly shaken by the unexpected turn of events, but he soon pushed Taejeong-Taese away from the body.

“Move. I will take him to the infirmary and…”

His words briefly stopped midway as he lifted Safe Zone 8 into his arms, as though he had realized that the boy was already dead.

Perhaps unable to declare him dead in front of us, the commander simply carried Safe Zone 8 out of the room and disappeared.

‘So you die if you fail a strategy.’

What happened after death?

Was that the end?

Or did they return to reality, just as Stay-at-home Wifey and I had discussed?

‘Had I known beforehand, I could have asked him to pass a message to anyone who stopped by the convenience store after returning to reality…’

It was easier on my conscience to believe that he had died and returned to reality than to think he had simply died for good.

So I chose to believe the former.

When I looked over at Taejeong-Taese, he was sitting on the floor with a hollow expression, staring in the direction the commander had left.

“Dopamine… Why did Brother Dopamine Addict suddenly…”

I silently watched him for a moment before speaking bluntly.

“First of all, that guy wasn’t the Dopamine Addict.”

Taejeong-Taese’s head snapped up toward me.

“What did you just say?”

“I said that guy wasn’t the ‘Dopamine Addict.’ You may or may not know him, but he was a player who used the nickname ‘Safe Zone 8.’”

“What are you talking about?! You clearly said earlier that you would help Brother Dopamine Addict…!”

“I did help him.”

“What does that even…? No, more importantly, if that man wasn’t the Dopamine Addict, then who on earth…”

The confused Taejeong-Taese suddenly looked as though something had clicked.

“D-Don’t tell me… You’re… No, Brother, are you…?”

“That’s right.”

I stared him directly in the eyes and declared,

“I’m the Dopamine Addict.”

…I really should have chosen a cooler nickname.