Salvation
Truth be told, I hadn't been particularly concerned about my origins being exposed. It wasn't the kind of thing that would ruin me if it came out.
But the Commander had gone so far as to shoot Lieutenant General Batom dead in a staff meeting just to keep attention off my background. He'd even issued a warning not to drag my mother, Luna Moon, into the conversation. Thanks to that, most of the cadets—anyone who wasn't the child of a high-ranking officer like Platon—knew almost nothing about where I came from.
Even the children of senior officers had been careful not to talk about it, so throughout my time at the academy, under the Commander's orders, everyone more or less assumed I'd grown up receiving heir training and that was why I was so exceptional. I'd played along, matching their expectations without much thought.
I never expected Platon to floor it like this.
Well, revealing at this exact moment that I'd never received a proper education would actually work in my favor, but…
This bastard really doesn't think about the aftermath, does he?
He wasn't the type to pull a stunt like this just because he trusted me. He'd done it because finishing the job I'd given him came first—genuinely. That was the only explanation that made sense.
Meanwhile, the Commander's expression had gone past cold. The temperature around him had dropped to something closer to the Second Apocalypse itself. If anyone had asked what he was thinking, he probably would have answered, I'm thinking about killing that kid—but he didn't seem about to act on it right this second, so I left it alone and kept listening to Platon's speech.
"It has been a mere three months since Lord Haydam, who had gone missing for certain reasons in the past, returned to us. That means he has only recently begun to eat proper meals, let alone receive heir training. And yet that same Lord Haydam challenged our cadets in the training simulations—and scored two overwhelming victories. Had we failed to find Lord Haydam until now, he never would have been able to take those simulations at all. This, even though he already possesses the ability to overwhelm graduates at the age of ten."
Only then did Platon finally look away from me and face the hall.
"Until now, we may have been letting countless 'Haydams' slip through our fingers. The population of our zone continues to grow by the day, and the food shortage that must support them shows no sign of ending. All of you here are young people with healthy bodies and healthy minds—but that youth will not last forever. One day we will all grow old and weary, and it will be other children who support you in turn. Therefore, I ask that every eleven-year-old child in this zone be granted admission to the military academy. I make this request of the graduates seated here today, of their fathers and mothers and sponsors—and of His Excellency the Commander, whom I hold in the highest respect. Thank you."
When the speech ended, silence settled over the graduation hall.
Even after Platon returned to the seat beside me with a look of quiet pride, that silence held. Next up was the Commander's congratulatory address, but the headmaster didn't dare step forward—he just stood there sweating buckets.
The smile was still gone from the Commander's face, but the murderous intent that had filled it a moment before had thinned. He looked like a man thinking something through carefully before deciding.
Then, unexpectedly, it was Lucas who broke the silence.
Clap. Clap. Clap…
Sitting in the front row, Lucas was applauding. In the hush, the sound of his clapping carried clearly, and every eye turned toward him. He rose slowly from his seat, stopped clapping, and spoke.
"I, too, make this request."
Beside him, Bones's face twisted in shock, and he could be seen whispering something that looked a lot like Are you insane? Lucas paid him no mind. He looked up at the Commander and continued.
"To be perfectly honest, until now I believed that Lord Haydam was naturally superior to me because he had been raised in better circumstances than I was. Even when I heard that he had refused admission to the academy, calling it a waste of time, I assumed a precious young master who'd received heir training was simply looking down on the rest of us."
I'd never hidden the fact that I'd refused admission, but for many of the other cadets it was clearly news—a murmur rippled through the hall. Lucas waited for it to die down before speaking again.
"But looking back on it now, another thought occurred to me. What was so great about this academy—open only to the children of high-ranking officers, or those sponsored by them—that I should have resented Lord Haydam for refusing to enter it? Wasn't that simply an inferiority complex on my part? And then another thought followed: if we had never found Lord Haydam, if he were not standing here today… we might have lost a great commander who would one day earn the respect of countless cadets."
At some point, Lucas had turned to look at me. His words went on.
"I dare to say this to His Excellency the Commander. To find a single Haydam, one must raise a hundred children. As one cadet—as a child this zone has raised—I ask this of you."
Then he turned to face the rows of cadets behind him.
"I ask the other cadets as well. Please support Cadet Platon's graduation speech with a vigorous round of applause."
Lucas finished speaking. A very brief silence followed.
"Ah, hell! I don't even know anymore!"
Bones, sitting right beside him, spat out a curse and surged to his feet. He roughly yanked loose the necktie that had never suited him in the first place, faced forward, and started clapping hard and loud. The moment Lucas's faint smile appeared, other graduates began rising from their seats and bringing their hands together, and a massive wave of applause rolled through the graduation hall with majestic force.
I never thought they'd go this far…
I'd only expected Platon and the Commander to put on a convincing little performance. I hadn't imagined for a second that Lucas would step up to help, or that everyone would throw their support behind Platon like this.
Because none of that had ever happened in the game.
I'd thought of them as nothing more than NPCs, so I'd never bothered wondering what they thought when they looked at me. My origins, my refusal to enter the academy—all of it had only ever been for the sake of clearing the game. There was no noble reason of the kind Lucas had just described. And yet all these cadets were looking at me—someone who only intended to leave this zone the moment the Second Apocalypse arrived—and expecting me to become their commander one day and lead them.
Then the Commander's voice reached me, quiet and low.
"You really do… always exceed my expectations."
The cold expression was gone. He smiled at me, rose from his seat, and walked to the microphone. The moment he took hold of it, the applause stopped.
In the taut silence that followed, the Commander spoke in a flat, even voice.
"To find a single Haydam, one must raise a hundred children, was it…"
The cadets who had stood up to support Platon went rigid the second he opened his mouth. The sound of dry swallows could be heard here and there. Seeing that, the Commander softened his manner a little and added,
"How could I, Haydam's father, refuse such a request? I will gladly become a father to a hundred children."
After addressing the cadets, he turned his gaze on the officers seated behind the graduates—most of them still looking thoroughly rattled—and made his declaration.
"Starting this coming spring, once the subjugation campaign is over, admission to the military academy will proceed by examination rather than recommendation. Eligibility will be granted to every eleven-year-old child in this zone. If anyone objects, speak now."
No officer was stupid enough to object under these circumstances, and with Anton absent, none of them had the guts to step forward either. The rear of the hall stayed silent. Because of that, the Commander's next words rang out with unusual force.
"That is all. Congratulations on your graduation."
…And that was how it ended.
The moment Anton heard about the graduation speech, he went pale and bolted out of the underground bunker, which left me alone with Shut-in Yeobo. Meursault was handling cleanup upstairs, so once I'd given Yeobo a rough account of what had happened with Anton, we could take our time heading up.
"Whoa—hey!"
Shut-in Yeobo came over with an awed look on his face.
"How do you always show up with timing this perfect? That's insane!"
I gave him a sidelong look.
"You're a player who got kidnapped by an NPC? What did you think was going to happen to you, following him all the way down here?"
"You didn't believe me earlier when I said I was being threatened, remember? And nothing actually happened, for real."
Look at this guy.
"Be more careful. If I hadn't already put a word in with Platon about making him my adjutant, you might have been tortured today."
That wasn't empty scolding. If I hadn't left Anton an exit route in advance, Shut-in Yeobo would not have walked out of here in one piece. This place was the official torture specialty restaurant of the Safe Zone, after all.
But the warning clearly didn't land. He reacted far more strongly to a different part of what I'd said than to the part about being tortured.
"Wait—so you're actually going to make Platon your adjutant?"
"Yeah."
"Then what about me?!"
Wow. This kid was genuinely offended.
"I have no idea why you'd think I'd make someone like you my adjutant… but even if I wanted to, you couldn't become my adjutant before Platon does."
"Ah—so once I'm an adult, you'll hand the adjutant position over to me?"
Hm… well. He could think whatever he liked about that one.
"Anyway, speaking of which—you. Go to school."
"Last time you told me to join the military, and now you're telling me to go to school."
"Platon requested that academy admission be made open to everyone in his graduation speech. The Commander accepted it."
"What changes if admission becomes open?"
"You and Taejeong will be able to enter the military academy this coming spring. Academy admission age is eleven, and the bodies we're possessing just happen to be ten right now."
I said it quickly, then immediately added a follow-up before he could start complaining about having to go to school twice.
"You're not going to tell me you don't want to go just because I've saved your life twice and now I'm asking you to go to school twice, right?"
"Huh? No, it's fine. I'll go to school."
"…Are you serious?"
This kid… whether it was when I told him to join the military or now, he had surprisingly little ego of his own.
"So. How much did you tell Anton?"
"How much did I tell him?"
"He called you down here to ask things like whether I really grew up in the slums, whether I was someone he could trust—stuff like that, right?"
"Whoa, how did you know that? You really are smart, huh."
That was just him being dumb… never mind. Not worth the breath.
"Anyway, knowing your personality, I doubt you kept your mouth shut or lied. How far did you go?"
"I told him everything, straight. He thought I was acting."
That didn't make sense to me, so I asked again.
"What exactly did you say?"
"That I've only known you for three months, and that I have no memories from before I was ten. And that the name Darling Outsider was something you gave me."
Hm. Fair enough. Even I would have had a hard time believing that at face value.
"Is that everything?"
"Oh—and Anton said he has a secret daughter."
"A daughter? Don't tell me it's Daphne."
"You need to stop reading novels."
What did he mean, novels? The idea that Daphne was Anton's biological daughter was practically accepted fact among players!
"He said he'd tell me his secret if I told him mine, and then he showed me a photo of his daughter. Well—not a photo. A portrait."
A portrait… wait.
"Was it by any chance an East Asian woman with a mole under her eye?"
"Yeah! That's right. How did you know?"
So that's how it went.
Anton must have shown Shut-in Yeobo Luna Moon's portrait to test him.
"Aww… so you already knew about that too?"
"Anton doesn't have a daughter."
"He doesn't?"
"That portrait is Luna Moon."
"Luna Moon…? That one?"
Shut-in Yeobo looked completely lost.
"Why would he show you Luna Moon's picture and pretend it was his daughter?"
"Because you said you'd only known me for three months. He probably wanted to show you Luna Moon and watch your reaction. He did the same thing to me."
"He did it to you too?"
"He suddenly got the idea I might be a fake, so he had a portrait of Luna Moon painted and brought it to me as a 'gift'—to see whether I'd recognize her or not."
"What? But you don't know Luna Moon's face, right? She only shows up as bones. …Wait?"
Mid-sentence, Shut-in Yeobo's expression shifted as something clicked. He stared at me.
"But then—if you still haven't been exposed as a fake, that means you got past it, right? Whoa. How did you pretend to know that portrait?"
"I managed somehow."
Something that hard to brush off with "I managed somehow" was not something Shut-in Yeobo needed the full truth about. I figured a vague answer would be enough for him to nod and move on—and sure enough, he looked reasonably convinced by that single line.
"Ahh—so that's why he was going on earlier about how there shouldn't be two kids who can act as well as you. Makes sense now."
But there was still one part that didn't make sense to me.
"But why didn't you recognize Luna Moon's face? You've played the otome game. If you'd seen that portrait, you should have recognized her and gotten yourself suspected."
I'd naturally assumed Luna Moon's face would have appeared in the otome game Shut-in Yeobo had played. If he hadn't recognized her, I figured it was just bad memory—he'd forgotten the design. The answer he gave me was nothing like what I expected.
"You've seriously never played an otome game, have you? Otome game players don't have faces."
Otome game players don't have faces…?
"You mean no character models?"
"Yeah. Even when they show the appearance, it's just an illustration with long bangs covering the face. That's the industry rule. The player has to be able to immerse themselves."
Having said that, Shut-in Yeobo spoke as if something else had just occurred to him.
"Then that picture earlier must have been the Luna Moon player's face."
The words hit me like a finishing blow. My heart dropped.
Because that meant there was a real possibility that the player who had possessed Luna Moon's body was, in fact, my mother.
But I rejected it almost immediately.
No. This is just more of his speculation.
The idea that the NPC I was pretending to be the son of was my actual mother… it was not something I could easily believe. And I would not believe it. Not until clear, undeniable proof was shoved right in front of my face.
"Whoa, hey—but how does she look exactly like your character model? That's so weird."
"…To Westerners, all East Asian faces look more or less the same."
I answered as steadily as I could, keeping any agitation out of my voice. Shut-in Yeobo tilted his head.
"Hm? Westerners?"
"Square Soft. They probably just grabbed some random East Asian face when they made this game."
"No, they didn't."
"What do you mean, no?"
"I'm talking about the company that made this game. It wasn't Square Soft."
I lost my words for a moment, then slowly asked again.
"…What are you talking about? Then who made it?"
"Apocalypse: Safety Zone 1 was made by a Korean company. Square Soft only acquired it and took over production starting with the sequels."
"A Korean company?"
"Yeah. Salvation Project, it was called…"
"…What?"
Salvation Project.
I knew that company. It was the company my mother had founded.
Why was that name coming out of Shut-in Yeobo's mouth right now?
Cognitive dissonance left me unable to form any reply. And then his next words drove in like a blade.
"It was a small game company my older sister used to work at."