Chapter 6

Three Rewards

“So the living Brother is the Dopamine Addict, not the dead Brother…?”

Since Taejeong-Taese didn’t have the system, I thought he wouldn’t immediately believe that I was the Dopamine Addict.

But apparently, the idea that I—the one whom the commander had just acknowledged as his son—was the real Dopamine Addict sounded more convincing than believing the “Dopamine Addict” he had trusted had failed the strategy so absurdly and been eliminated.

“I-I knew something felt strange.”

“What felt strange?”

“The way he talked…”

Thank goodness.

So he didn’t think I really spoke in that obnoxious way.

“But how did you know that man was Safe Zone 8?”

“Oh, I have the system. I saw it through Character Inspection.”

“The system?! I shouted ‘Status Window,’ but nothing appeared. You have a system, Brother?”

“It seems you need to fulfill a specific condition to unlock it.”

The system message that had appeared just before my system opened—

[You have taken one step closer to the secret of the apocalypse…]

Considering that message and what had been happening at the time, the condition for a player to unlock the system was probably related to the “secret of the apocalypse.”

I had never seen any script suggesting that the apocalypse had some hidden secret while playing Safe Zone.

However, I did know that Lunamoon’s Ring—the item I obtained when my system opened—had been made from the “meteorite” that brought the apocalypse to this world.

In other words, the “secret of the apocalypse” was connected to “meteorite items.”

Besides the ring, I knew of roughly eight other items made from the meteorite.

That’s right.

There were exactly as many meteorite items as there were safe zones.

Each one was necessary to clear its respective zone.

If only those who obtained one of these items could unlock the system, then there would be only nine players in total capable of doing so.

I had told Taejeong-Taese that I possessed the system in order to show him that I was a player far ahead of him and make him easier to handle.

However, I had no intention of telling him that only nine people might be able to unlock it.

For now, it was still nothing more than a theory.

“Ooh…! A system… As expected, the real Brother is built differently…!”

He was looking at me with sparkling eyes now, but human greed had no limits.

An event item with only nine copies in the entire world?

Any Safe Zone player would want one.

Now that I had revealed that I was the Dopamine Addict, I needed to make sure he kept his mouth shut.

“As you experienced yourself, players who haven’t unlocked the system can’t see other people’s information. That’s why I don’t intend to go around announcing that I’m the ‘Dopamine Addict.’”

“Why not?”

“Not every player is friendly toward me like you are. If someone has already unlocked the system, there’s nothing I can do. But if they haven’t, I see no reason to reveal my identity. So from now on, you shouldn’t call me Dopamine Addict. Call me ‘Haydam Goodman.’”

“Ah, yes. I understand. But it’s all right to tell people who are on your side, isn’t it?”

That was exactly why I was trying to silence you.

“Hmm… Actually, there’s already one other player helping with my strategy.”

“Oh, who is it?”

“A guy called Stay-at-home Wifey.”

“Ah, that foulmou— I mean, that rather sharp-tongued person!”

So that guy had also been somewhat famous in the community.

Though apparently not in a good way.

“For certain reasons, I told him that I’m ‘T-Bastard.’ So don’t tell him yet that I’m the Dopamine Addict. I plan to tell him myself later.”

“Ah… Right. You blocked him after posting your final guide, didn’t you…?”

Taejeong-Taese nodded as if he understood, then spoke as though something had just occurred to him.

“But T-Bastard should be here too.”

“What?”

“Not in the Cola Zone, but probably in another zone. I saw him.”

“What do you mean, you saw him?”

“Well, after you posted your final guide, all the hardcore players started disappearing. Then a strange rumor began circulating.”

“What kind of rumor?”

“That the hardcore players had disappeared because of the convenience store address you had been handing out. Once that rumor spread, everyone started asking for the address and saying they would visit the store.”

Why couldn’t these bastards just play the game?

Why did they all have to swarm the convenience store and get transmigrated together?

“I was one of them. There was one other person in the store at the time, so we introduced ourselves. He said he was T-Bastard.”

Ah…

So that was what he meant by “saw him.”

Then T-Bastard’s transmigration was confirmed.

And judging by the fact that Taejeong-Taese said he probably wasn’t in Cola, had he seen what T-Bastard bought too?

“What did he buy?”

“Uh… I think he bought a knife…”

A knife?

Then T-Bastard had been dropped into Knife?

…That den of psychopaths?

“Why would he go to a convenience store and buy a knife?”

“He said it looked cool because it was the symbol of a hidden zone, and that since he already knew the Knife strategy, he would try clearing it next. He probably didn’t expect to get transmigrated and clear it for real…”

He had ruined his own life.

“Then his starting zone is Knife… Do you think he’s still alive?”

“In that case, I suppose hiding the fact that you’re the Dopamine Addict really is the right choice. I landed in the Cola Zone, but if I had started somewhere like Knife, even I might have resented you…”

But I had only given the location to Home Protector.

Just how many people had gone to that convenience store?

‘Still, that convenience store was in Korea, so overseas players probably weren’t transmigrated too… right?’

I hated overseas players.

I had seen those bastards steal my guides, translate them without permission, and upload them as if they were their own.

“Wait. If T-Bastard bought the knife first, you could’ve avoided being transmigrated.”

“What? How?”

“The clerk hits you with the barcode scanner when you’re transmigrated. If you saw T-Bastard get smacked in the head, you could have just turned around and left.”

Taejeong-Taese looked even more confused.

“They hit you in the head with a barcode scanner? I was transmigrated while walking out of the convenience store.”

What?

The others hadn’t been hit with a barcode scanner?

Then what grudge did that clerk have against me that made him smash me over the head?

Could Stay-at-home Wifey also have been transmigrated peacefully like these guys?

This somehow felt unfair.

“But…”

Taejeong-Taese cautiously asked me,

“Do you think the dead Brother—no, Safe Zone 8—really died?”

“Who knows? It’s probably easier on your conscience to think he simply logged out.”

“Hmm…”

His face said that no interpretation made him feel any better.

“For now, focus only on the strategy. We need to survive too. And we have to prepare for the apocalypse.”

“That’s true… I don’t want to become a burden to you either, so I’ll do my best.”

“Good. If the commander suspects you, say that you genuinely believed Safe Zone 8 was Haydam Goodman. Tell him you were deceived too. Understood?”

“Yes, understood.”

Not long after I had firmly instructed Taejeong-Taese, the commander returned to the room, unable to hide his shaken expression.

It was only natural that he would be unsettled after a perfectly healthy child suddenly died.

However, perhaps because the boy had impersonated his son and tried to deceive him, there was little compassion in his eyes.

‘It would be natural to ask what happened to the boy here.’

“What about that child? What happened to him?”

“…He seemed unwell, so I sent him away.”

That was unexpected.

He was lying instead of telling me the boy had died.

Did he think I might feel guilty if I learned of his death?

Or was he afraid I would think the child had died because he had interrogated him?

Or maybe he was simply worried that I would be frightened.

Either way, the fact that he had lied meant he was being considerate of me. It seemed certain that the commander had accepted me as “Haydam Goodman.”

As if Taejeong-Taese did not even exist, the commander looked only at me as he spoke.

“The situation has become rather strange, but… you truly are Haydam, Lunamoon’s child, aren’t you?”

I nodded.

The commander seemed deeply relieved. Then he looked down at me with warmth in his eyes.

“You may not believe me, but I have been searching for you and Lunamoon all this time… However, that boy from earlier said that Lunamoon passed away long ago. Is that true?”

“That part is true.”

A flicker of disappointment crossed the commander’s face.

“Mother’s grave is behind the slums. I would like you to visit her sometime.”

“Why did you only come to find me now?”

The commander asked as though he genuinely could not understand.

“Did she resent me? Did Lunamoon tell you not to seek me out even after her death…?”

Why had I only come to find him now?

Because I had only been transmigrated yesterday.

And I wasn’t even his real son.

There was no need to answer something like that.

I simply kept my mouth shut and lowered my gaze, as though some complicated circumstances had prevented me from coming sooner.

“……”

“…Never mind. It could not have been easy for you to come find me. You must have believed I had abandoned you.”

He was interpreting my silence however he pleased.

Silence truly was golden.

“I failed to keep my promise and caused you to lose your mother. I want to make up for all those years.”

“…!”

Oh.

That was the line that appeared after successfully completing the illegitimate-son strategy.

The commander’s promise of compensation.

His next words would be a declaration that he intended to make me his successor.

“Stay here, and tell me freely if there is anything you desire. From this day forward, I will make you my successor and leave everything I possess to you.”

The moment the commander finished speaking, system messages appeared before my eyes.

[You have successfully completed the strategy.]

[By completing the strategy, the ‘Three Rewards’ strategy has become available.]

[Please choose your rewards carefully.]

[Three Rewards: 0/3]

The Three Rewards.

This was a strategy linked to the illegitimate-son route.

The commander had said that he would grant me anything I wanted and make me his successor, but in truth, he did not fully mean it.

Since I was supposedly his son, he would still look after me even if I did not become his successor.

However, to truly become his heir—the next commander of the Cola Zone—I had to complete the “Three Rewards” strategy.

Depending on what I asked for as compensation, the commander would assess my character and abilities, then decide whether I was worthy of becoming his successor.

The first reward I needed to request had already been decided.

“What I want is… for you to visit Mother’s grave often.”

“Now that I know where she rests, of course I will.”

[Three Rewards: 1/3]

The moment the commander agreed, one of the three rewards was consumed.

The commander would never break a promise made through the reward system.

However, if I requested something he could not grant, the strategy would fail immediately, so I had to choose carefully.

I had asked him to visit Lunamoon’s grave frequently partly to maintain the image of an innocent child.

But the more often the commander visited her grave, the more widely it would become known that he favored me.

Furthermore, sending him to Lunamoon’s grave regularly would also cause him to inspect the slums and manage public sentiment there.

In other words, this was a reward meant to establish the legitimacy of my succession.

The remaining two rewards needed to demonstrate my character and my abilities respectively.

In the game, despite the high degree of freedom, there had still been limits on what you could request, so the choice had never taken long.

Now that this was reality, however, there were far more options, which made the decision somewhat difficult.

It was a shame there was no loop system.

If there had been, I could have tested every possible option one by one.

“More importantly, you should eat. You likely have not had a proper meal in quite some time…”

When the commander said that, I felt something was off.

‘Huh…?’

Only then did I realize that ever since being transmigrated into this world, I had barely felt hungry at all.