Chapter 86

A Talk Between Players (2)

This happened before I gathered the others together.

After deciding not to open the game developer’s message, I immediately sent T-Bastard a chat message.

T-Bastard, who had occasionally sent me messages that made him seem completely insane, appeared to have calmed down after I sent him toiletries. Other than requesting supplies whenever he ran low, he hadn’t contacted me separately.

[Dopamine Addict: Hey.]

[Dopamine Addict: You alive?]

His reply came almost as soon as I sent the message.

[T-Bastard: Why.]

I had taken such good care of him all this time, yet he was still as rude as ever.

Still, judging by how faithfully he replied now, he seemed to understand that he owed me something.

[Dopamine Addict: I have something to ask.]

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

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

I asked him outright because I knew he had no intention of interacting with any player besides me.

However, his answer was somewhat disappointing.

[T-Bastard: What is that?]

‘So he doesn’t know.’

Was he unrelated to it?

Still, Shin Eunjo hadn’t seemed to know anything about the Salvation Project either, so I didn’t give up there and continued asking.

[Dopamine Addict: What about Middle-Aged Man Dating Simulator?]

[T-Bastard: ……]

This time, he didn’t answer immediately.

[T-Bastard: You contact me after all this time just to spout nonsense?]

I supposed I would have found it absurd too if someone contacted me after weeks of silence and suddenly started talking about middle-aged men.

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

T-Bastard was Knife.

He had been transmigrated into the hidden district I had conquered last.

Considering that a strange player had been transmigrated into the Unicorn District, which had once been my main base, I had wondered whether T-Bastard had ended up in the hidden district because, like Shin Eunjo, he knew something.

‘But judging by how mentally unstable he was when he first opened the system, maybe he’s different from Shin Eunjo.’

Shin Eunjo had chosen the Love District while already considering the possibility that she might be transmigrated.

That was probably why she hadn’t panicked too badly and had been able to establish a cult.

But if T-Bastard had known he would be transmigrated like Shin Eunjo, he never would have chosen Knife.

If he had been transmigrated without knowing anything, then he was simply an exceptionally unlucky player.

[Dopamine Addict: Forget it if you don’t know.]

[T-Bastard: Are you trying to brush this aside by saying that?]

[T-Bastard: The Salvation Project and middle-aged men… Whatever.]

[T-Bastard: Shouldn’t you at least explain what they are and why you asked whether I knew about them?]

I had expected him to dismiss me as an idiot and lose interest, but he was more curious than I thought.

‘It probably won’t hurt to tell him.’

The fact that the Salvation Project was the game company that had originally created the Safe Zone series wasn’t a secret known only to me.

And even if I told him that a game called Middle-Aged Man Dating Simulator might be connected to our transmigration, it wouldn’t sound particularly believable.

[Dopamine Addict: Apparently, the company that first created the Safe Zone series wasn’t Square Soft, but a game company called the Salvation Project. I was asking whether you knew anything about it.]

[T-Bastard: I have never even heard of Square Soft.]

What?

Its logo appeared in enormous letters, and he couldn’t even remember that?

[T-Bastard: I do not play games often in the first place.]

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

[T-Bastard: Dating sim?]

[Dopamine Addict: Safe Zone borrowed its setting from a dating sim called Middle-Aged Man Dating Simulator.]

[T-Bastard: I have no idea what you are talking about.]

For some reason, I felt a sense of kinship with T-Bastard over the fact that he didn’t know what a dating sim was either.

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

[Dopamine Addict: You don’t know anything about Cthulhu Games either, do you?]

[T-Bastard: What is that now?]

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

[T-Bastard: Never heard of it.]

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

[Dopamine Addict: I’m looking into whether it might be connected to our group transmigration.]

[T-Bastard: To our transmigration?]

[Dopamine Addict: Tell me if you learn anything.]

[T-Bastard: You tell me. You clearly have no intention of telling me everything even now.]

It seemed he had realized that I had only told him the bare minimum.

I casually changed the subject.

[Dopamine Addict: By the way, if you don’t play games much, how did you end up playing Safe Zone? It didn’t even have a Korean translation.]

[T-Bastard: A junior recommended it.]

[Dopamine Addict: A junior? LOL, were you a college student? LOL.]

[T-Bastard: Do I look like a college student? A junior from my organization… No, workplace.]

The message clearly showed that he had first typed “organization.”

It didn’t seem like he was role-playing either…

This bastard was seriously strange.

[T-Bastard: Come to think of it, that junior chose this name for me too.]

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

[Dopamine Addict: ……]

It was shocking enough that a person living in the twenty-first century didn’t know the T-Bastard meme and still ended up transmigrated while playing Safe Zone.

But the junior who had suddenly recommended Safe Zone and told him to use T-Bastard as his nickname was something else too.

[Dopamine Addict: You know MBTI, right?]

[T-Bastard: I know that.]

At least he wasn’t completely illiterate.

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

[T-Bastard: And Bastard?]

I had no choice but to reveal the cruel truth to him.

[Dopamine Addict: Pronounce T like the letter C.]

The chat fell silent.

Only after some time did T-Bastard reply.

[T-Bastard: This…]

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

[Dopamine Addict: If names could be changed, I would’ve comfortably assumed that the Unicorn District player had only stolen mine.]

Even though I told him it couldn’t be changed, T-Bastard went quiet for a while, perhaps because he had gone off to try anyway.

He returned roughly five minutes later.

[T-Bastard: Ha… Jo Manwol, that bastard…]

Judging by the context, Jo Manwol was probably the junior who had recommended the game and chosen his nickname.

Still, I asked T-Bastard to confirm.

[Dopamine Addict: Jo Manwol… Is that the junior?]

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

[T-Bastard: Yes.]

[T-Bastard: I wonder whether that bastard Jo Manwol was transmigrated here too.]

T-Bastard was wrong.

A person named Jo Manwol probably hadn’t been transmigrated here now.

She had already been transmigrated into this game more than ten years ago and had long since been buried in a grave.

‘Jo Manwol.’

That was my mother’s name.

Not even for a moment did I consider the possibility that it was someone else with the same name.

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

‘Maybe…’

The person who had sent me that message…

And the person who had caused all of us to be transmigrated…

Might have been my mother.

‘I really do need to log out and confirm it.’

Even if I had to unlock every other player’s system to do it.

***

That was why I had unlocked Stay-at-home Wifey’s and Taejeong’s systems today without hesitation.

But that didn’t mean I intended to help every other player for free.

The logout condition was specifically to “unlock every player’s system.”

It probably wouldn’t include players who were already dead in the count of “every player.”

In that case, my plan was simple.

I would unlock the systems of those who cooperated with me and bind them to myself.

As for those who refused to cooperate, I would eliminate them from this world entirely.

Once the players bound to me achieved their additional unlocks, they would be able to gather points too, allowing us to unlock the other players’ systems more quickly.

That was why I had proposed that Shin Eunjo bind herself to me.

In response, Shin Eunjo pulled a pistol from inside her clothes and aimed it at me.

It was a familiar-looking pistol.

It was probably the meteorite item she had extorted from Home Protector.

Perhaps it was because he had taken a bullet for me before.

“Are you insane?!”

The instant Shin Eunjo aimed the pistol at me, Stay-at-home Wifey stepped in front of me.

‘That’s actually rather admirable.’

His action was commendable, but Shin Eunjo probably hadn’t drawn the pistol because she intended to shoot me in the first place.

“Good job. Now move aside.”

“What did you say? Hey—!”

I casually shoved Stay-at-home Wifey to the side.

Shin Eunjo, who had been silently staring at me with the pistol raised, eventually turned the grip toward me and held it out.

“I only want to receive this much information. Is that not possible?”

Instead of binding herself to me and hearing everything, she intended to hand over Home Protector’s meteorite item and receive only as much information as it was worth.

“I thought you didn’t want to become my enemy.”

“I don’t. But I also have people depending on me in my own district. I can’t choose you right this instant.”

So when she said she would eventually return to her district, she hadn’t merely been saying it.

‘She chose those people and brought them with her herself. Maybe she feels some responsibility for them.’

It was unfortunate that I couldn’t immediately bind Shin Eunjo to myself and experiment with her additional system unlock.

Still, I had succeeded in obtaining the meteorite item, so perhaps I should be satisfied with this much.

I accepted the pistol Shin Eunjo held out.

I tried to put it into my inventory as soon as I received it, but nothing happened.

‘It won’t go into the inventory.’

That was probably because Home Protector was still registered as its true owner.

Shin Eunjo had likely handed over Home Protector’s pistol so readily precisely because it didn’t belong to her.

If she returned to her district and killed Home Protector, ownership would probably transfer to her.

‘But she seems to have kept him alive until now because of the restriction Ssap-possible placed on her, so the chances of her killing Home Protector and stealing ownership after returning are low.’

Well, I didn’t actually need ownership.

I was planning to claim ownership of the meteorite items after dealing with the Unicorn District player anyway.

Fortunately, Luna had said that merely keeping a meteorite item nearby would allow him to borrow the power of his true body even without ownership.

For now, I decided to accept Shin Eunjo’s proposal and give her only as much information as the pistol was worth.

I tucked the pistol inside my clothes and asked her,

“By the way, has Home Protector been behaving?”

“He seems to believe you’ll come and rescue him.”

She didn’t react despite my mention of Home Protector.

Apparently, Shin Eunjo had already assumed that I knew she had Home Protector in her grasp.

That was probably why she had so openly drawn his pistol in front of me.

Still, he thought I would come rescue him?

What an optimistic bastard.

Well, now that the meteorite pistol was in my hands, I would have to meet Home Protector anyway.

Once the entrance exam ended, I should visit the Love District and pick him up.

“Now it’s time to pay the price.”

I pulled Stay-at-home Wifey, whom I had shoved aside moments ago, back in front of me.

“This guy will explain the Unicorn District player to you.”

“What? Aren’t you the one who was supposed to explain it?”

“What? Why do I have to explain anything?!”

Ignoring Stay-at-home Wifey’s protest, I smiled brightly at Shin Eunjo.

“You didn’t seriously expect a full explanation after handing over a meteorite item that doesn’t even belong to you, did you?”

Judging by her expression, she had hoped I wouldn’t know about the ownership issue.

“In exchange, I’ll permit you to take the entrance exam.”

“If permission to take the entrance exam is included…”

“You can also ask Stay-at-home Wifey whatever you want from now on.”

“I’ll… decline that.”

They hadn’t even known each other for thirty minutes, yet she had already realized that Stay-at-home Wifey would be completely useless.

Now that the situation between the players had been more or less sorted out…

It was time to hold the military academy’s first entrance examination.