Three Rewards

"So then… the real Dopamine Addict isn't the dead hyung — it's the living one?"

I'd assumed TaeJeongTaeSe wouldn't buy it right away. He had no system ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of his own, so claiming I was Dopamine Addict should have taken some convincing. But apparently, the idea that the Dopamine Addict he believed in had flopped a route and retired was harder to swallow than accepting that the kid the commander had just acknowledged as his son was the real deal. He folded easily enough.

"Ah. That… actually explains a lot."

"What seemed off?"

"The way he talked, mostly…"

Thank god. So he didn't think my real speech patterns were that insufferable.

"But how did you know that guy was Anjeon8yeok?"

"I've got a system. I checked him with Character Inspection."

"A system?! I shouted 'status window' and nothing happened — hyung, you actually have one?"

"Seems like it only opens once you meet certain conditions."

I thought back to the system message that had appeared right before mine unlocked.

Putting that message together with everything that had been happening at the time, the condition for unlocking a system had to be tied to the "secret of the apocalypse."

I'd never once seen a script while playing the Safe Zones that mentioned some hidden apocalypse secret. But I did know that Luna's Ring — the item that had opened my system — was forged from a meteor, the very thing that had brought the end of the world to this place.

Which meant the "secret of the apocalypse" was connected to the meteor items.

Beyond the ring, I knew of about eight other items made from meteors. Exactly one for each Safe Zone. Every single one of them was essential for clearing its respective zone.

If only the people who obtained those items could open a system, then the total number of players who could unlock one would be nine — period.

I'd told TaeJeongTaeSe I had a system to show him I was the player ahead of him, to make him easier to handle. But I had no intention of mentioning that only nine people would ever get one. It was still just a theory, for one thing.

"Whoa…! A system… You really are different, hyung…!!"

He was staring at me with bright, sparkling eyes for now. But human greed had no bottom. An event item of which only nine existed in the entire world? Any Safe Zone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠player would kill to get their hands on one.

I'd already told him I was Dopamine Addict — but I still needed to put a lid on that information.

"You've experienced it yourself. Players who haven't opened their systems yet can't read other people's info. So I don't plan on advertising that I'm 'Dopamine Addict' unless I have to."

"Why not?"

"Not every player out there is as friendly toward me as you are. If they've already opened their system, there's nothing I can do about it — but if they haven't, I'd rather keep my identity under wraps. From now on, you call me 'Heydam Goodman,' not Dopamine Addict. Got it?"

"Ah — yes, sir. Understood. But if it's someone on your side, I can tell them, right?"

That was exactly why I was locking his mouth down in the first place.

"Hmm… Actually, there's already one other player helping me with my route besides you."

"Oh? Who?"

"A guy called ShutInHubby."

"Ah — that foul-mouthed… I mean, that gentleman with the colorful vocabulary!"

So he'd been a named user in the community too. Famous for all the wrong reasons, by the sound of it.

"For certain reasons, I told him I was 'T-balnom.' So don't let him know I'm Dopamine Addict yet. I'll tell him myself when the time comes."

"Ah… right. You did block him after posting that last guide…"

TaeJeongTaeSe nodded in understanding, then seemed to remember something.

"By the way, T-balnom is probably here too."

"What?"

"Not in the Cola Area — some other zone. I saw him."

"You saw him?"

"Well, after you posted that final guide, the heavy users started vanishing one by one. And then this weird rumor started going around."

"What kind of weird rumor?"

"That the heavy users were disappearing because of the convenience store address you'd been spreading. Once that got out, everyone was scrambling to get the address and go check the place out themselves."

Seriously? Just play the damn game. Why did they all have to stampede into a convenience store and get mass-possessed?

"I was one of them. There was already someone else in the store, so we introduced ourselves. He said he was T-balnom."

Ah. So that was what he meant by "saw him." Then T-balnom's possession was confirmed. And if he wasn't in the Cola Area, TaeJeongTaeSe must have seen what he'd bought too.

"What did he buy?"

"Uh… I think he bought a knife…"

A knife? So T-balnom had landed in Knife?

…In that nest of psychopaths?

"Why the hell would you go to a convenience store and buy a knife?"

"He said it looked cool because it was the symbol of a hidden zone. A Knife guide had already been posted, so he figured he'd try clearing it next. He probably wasn't planning on getting possessed and clearing it from the inside, though…"

He'd dug his own grave.

"So his starting zone is Knife… Is he even still alive?"

"In that sense, keeping your identity as Dopamine Addict a secret is probably the right call. I landed in Cola, but if I'd started somewhere like Knife, even I probably would have resented you…"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I only ever gave the location to one person — Home Protector. Exactly how many people had gone to that store?

Still, it was a convenience store in Korea. Hopefully no overseas users got possessed.

I hated overseas users. I'd seen those bastards take my guides, machine-translate them without permission, and post them as their own.

"But if T-balnom bought the knife first, you could've avoided getting possessed, right?"

"Huh? How?"

"When you get possessed, the clerk smashes you over the head with a barcode scanner. If you'd seen him crack T-balnom's skull, you could've just turned around and walked out…"

TaeJeongTaeSe looked even more baffled.

"He hits you over the head with a barcode scanner? I got possessed on my way out of the store."

What?

The others didn't get clocked by the scanner?

Then what personal grudge did that clerk have against me that made him specifically bash my head in?

Don't tell me ShutInHubby got the polite, gentle possession treatment like these guys too?

I felt weirdly wronged.

"Um…"

TaeJeongTaeSe asked carefully.

"The dead hyung — no, Anjeon8yeok-nim… is he really dead?"

"Who knows. Isn't it easier on the heart to just think he logged out?"

"Mmm…"

His face said that was not easier on the heart at all, no matter how he spun it.

"Focus on the route for now. We have to stay alive first. And prepare for the apocalypse."

"You're right… I don't want to be a burden to you either, hyung. I'll work hard."

"Good. If the commander ever gets suspicious of you, you tell him you genuinely thought Anjeon8yeok was the real Heydam Goodman. You were fooled too. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

I'd barely finished locking TaeJeongTaeSe down when the commander walked into the room, making no effort to hide how shaken he looked. A child who'd been perfectly fine moments ago had suddenly died — of course he was rattled. But the boy had been impersonating his son and trying to deceive him, so any real pity in his eyes was thin.

The natural thing here is to ask what happened to the kid.

"What about that boy? What happened to him?"

"…He didn't look well. I sent him away."

Interesting. He was lying instead of saying the kid was dead.

Because he thought I'd feel guilty if I knew? Because he was afraid I'd think the boy had died from his own harsh questioning? Or simply because he didn't want me to be scared of him?

Whichever it was, the fact that he'd lied meant he was considering my feelings — which told me the commander had well and truly accepted me as "Heydam Goodman."

TaeJeongTaeSe might as well have been invisible. The commander spoke looking only at me.

"Things have gotten a little strange, but… you really are Heydam. Luna Moon's child, aren't you?"

I nodded.

Relief washed over the commander's face, and then he looked down at me with a warmth that hadn't been there before.

"You may not believe me, but I have spent all this time searching for you and Luna Moon… That little boy said Luna Moon passed away long ago. Is that true?"

"It is."

A flicker of disappointment crossed the commander's face.

"There's a grave for my mother behind the Slums. I'd like it if you visited her sometime."

"Why only come to me now?"

The commander asked as if he genuinely couldn't understand.

"Did she resent me? Did Luna Moon tell you not to seek me out even after she was gone…?"

Why only now? Because I got possessed yesterday, that's why. I'm not even your real son.

There was no need to answer that. All I had to do was press my lips shut and drop my gaze, as if some painful circumstance had kept me away.

"……"

"…Never mind. Finding me couldn't have been easy. You must have thought I'd abandoned you."

He was filling in the blanks for himself in the most flattering way possible. Silence really was golden.

"I failed to keep my promise, and because of that you lost your mother. I want to make up for those years."

"……!"

There it was. The line that dropped when you cleared the Bastard Route. The commander's promise of compensation. The next line would be his declaration that he was making me his heir.

"Stay here, and if there is anything you desire, speak freely. From this day forward, I will make you my successor and leave you everything I have."

The moment his words finished, system messages bloomed in front of my eyes.

Three Rewards. A sub-route linked to the Bastard Route.

The commander said he would give me anything I wanted and make me his heir — but that wasn't entirely sincere. As his son, he'd look after me even if I never became successor. But to actually become his heir, the commander of the Cola Area, I had to clear the Three Rewards route.

Depending on what I asked for as compensation, he would measure my character and capability, and decide whether I was fit to inherit or not.

The first reward I needed to ask for was already decided.

"What I want is… for you to visit my mother's grave ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠often."

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

The instant the commander agreed, one of the three rewards was spent.

Once the commander accepted a reward as a promise, he never broke it. But if you asked for something he couldn't grant, the route failed on the spot — so you had to choose carefully.

Asking him to visit Luna Moon's grave often served two purposes. It sold the act of an innocent child… and the more frequently he visited her grave, the more widely it would be known that he favored me. On top of that, sending the commander to Luna Moon's resting place meant he'd also be checking on conditions in the Slums and settling public sentiment. In other words, it was a reward for building succession legitimacy.

The remaining two rewards had to demonstrate my character and my ability, respectively.

In the game, freedom of choice had still been limited enough that the decision never took long. Now that this was reality, the options had ballooned, and I was actually hesitating a little.

If only there were a loop system — I would have tested every single combination. A shame.

"More importantly, you should eat. You haven't had a proper meal in some time, I imagine…"

The moment the commander said that, I felt something wrong.

…Huh?

It hit me all at once — ever since I'd been possessed into this world, I hadn't felt hungry. Not even a little. And that was deeply strange.