Player Talk (1)

Well, I understood how Meursault felt.

You couldn't exactly hand over a daughter who hadn't even been born yet to a budding dictator ten years her senior.

It made no difference to me either way. I had no intention of making the same foolish choice my mother had, binding myself in marriage in this world.

What came first was sorting out the players staying in my zone and getting a handle on the situation.

Leaving the Commander and Meursault behind, I returned to my room and asked Tae-jung to call CornerHoney and Shin Eun-jo over.

CornerHoney swaggered in wearing a military uniform, the cocky gait completely at odds with his boyish face.

"Yo. Congrats on the divorce."

Anyone listening would think I was the one who'd gotten divorced.

"Meursault says he'll do anything for you now."

"Doesn't seem that way to me."

"What do you mean?"

"More importantly—hey, you two haven't met, right? This is Shin, from the Love Area. You can call her Shin Eun-jo."

Unlike Tae-jung, Shin Eun-jo and CornerHoney were meeting for the first time, so a proper introduction seemed only natural. For some reason, though, both of them looked like they had no interest in exchanging a single word and pointedly averted their eyes from each other.

"Anyway, Shin Eun-jo… aren't you going back?"

"I have a favor to ask before I leave."

"A favor?"

She'd helped me out with Daphne before, so if it was something simple I figured I could oblige. I nodded.

"Let's hear it."

"Let me take the entrance exam."

"You want to take the entrance exam?"

Even after Daphne's divorce had been settled she'd shown no sign of leaving. So she'd been hanging around just to sit for the exam?

I had no idea why she wanted to attend school in our zone of all places…

"That's a pretty strange request for someone who's about to go home. The military academy is a six-year program."

"I know. I'll stay six years, then leave."

"Don't be ridiculous. Go to school in your own zone."

"Just think of me as an exchange student."

As if that would work.

"You're not planning to dig in and live here permanently, are you…?"

"Wouldn't be the worst idea. My goal is surviving, not becoming some zone's dictator."

Coming from someone whose actual goal was becoming a zone's dictator, that was hard to process.

Still, the way she's talking… she probably doesn't mean to settle here for real.

I was suspicious of whatever she was plotting, but I decided to allow her to take the entrance exam all the same.

Just as Shin Eun-jo was staying in this zone to keep an eye on me, I needed a chance to take the measure of her abilities as well.

That said, leaving someone who ran around with a title like Pseudo-cult Leader loose in my zone was far too dangerous.

I should put a few safeguards in place.

"On one condition. While you're here, you stick with Luna."

I'd already forced Luna to keep Shin Eun-jo company while I'd been bending over backwards to get Daphne divorced, so Luna was thoroughly fed up. But there was no better candidate for the job. Assigning anyone else as a minder would only invite gossip.

"I'm counting on you, hyung."

Ah. So that was why he'd refused to show himself until I was practically choking to death?

There was a bit of resistance, but Luna soon resigned himself and accepted his fate.

"You really are a terrifying person. Using a messenger of the gods as a CCTV camera…"

Shin Eun-jo seemed to be interpreting this her own way.

"And… leaving a system-unlocked player from another zone free to roam will make the two of you uneasy as well. So I intend to set up one more safeguard."

"A safeguard? You gonna give us one of those personal safety alarms?"

"Something like that."

I looked at CornerHoney, who seemed thoroughly unimpressed, and at Tae-jung, who wore a face full of curiosity.

"I'm going to unlock both of your systems."

"…What?"

"Pardon?"

While the two of them sat there dumbfounded, Shin Eun-jo seemed to grasp the meaning instantly and thrust her face right into mine.

"You can unlock systems?"

"You can't?"

"Of course I can't!"

She didn't seem to be lying… so Shin Eun-jo still hadn't unlocked any additional systems?

She even knows about the Cthulhu Games representative. Why hasn't she gotten an additional unlock?

I still didn't know exactly what the "secret of the end" was, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠but my own unlock had come after hearing about Cthulhu Games, so it had to be connected to that representative somehow.

Judging by how she hadn't denied the group possession of the Love Area, Shin Eun-jo had expected to be possessed from the start—ever since meeting the Cthulhu Games representative.

So why could I do it, and she couldn't?

The only real difference in what we knew was the existence of my mother…

Well… she could already have unlocked it and just be hiding it from me.

The problem was that even I didn't know the exact conditions required for an additional unlock, so I had no way to probe her on it.

But she didn't seem to be hiding anything. Shin Eun-jo immediately clutched her forehead in shock and collapsed onto the bed.

"That authority too… did you receive it from a god? We were possessed at the exact same time. Why is the gap between us this wide…"

She seemed to be despairing over the fact that the gulf between us was larger than she'd imagined.

"Hold on. What does that even mean?"

While Shin Eun-jo wallowed, CornerHoney turned to me.

"You're saying you, Dopamine Addict, can open our systems for us?"

"Yeah. It's been possible for a little while now."

"Holy crap!!"

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

"That was possible, sir?"

"Open it already! I wanna yell 'Status Window' too!"

Status Window wasn't even an activation keyword.

There was no reason to hesitate any longer. I used the System Unlock Rights on CornerHoney and Tae-jung.

The points I'd received as a reward had only been fifty, so I'd ground down titles I already owned to make up the difference.

Things like Magic Marksman—titles that were ticking time bombs if you kept them—I ground those down without a second thought.

Since ranks two through nine all received the same reward anyway, I'd figured dropping as low as ninth place wouldn't matter and crushed them without mercy. Even as my three-digit title count fell into the two-digit range, my ranking didn't budge.

The titles I had left numbered ninety-nine.

Which meant everyone from third place down still hadn't broken into three digits.

Then just how many does that Unicorn Area player in first place have?

Well, there was nothing I could learn about that guy right now, so I set it aside…

"Status Window!"

Shin Eun-jo, still face-down on the bed, looked up at CornerHoney—who'd immediately started yelling for his status window—with something like pity.

"Right… the gap was with Dopamine Addict. Not with the rest of you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Try Character Info first."

"Character Info?"

The moment CornerHoney said it while looking at Shin, a system window floated up in front of his eyes.

…Huh?

Why… could I see CornerHoney's system window too?

And what was that about needing the Master's permission for friend requests?

"What, your nickname's just Shin? So Shin Eun-jo is your real name?"

"You're looking at my Character Info right now? I didn't mean for you to open mine."

The way she said that…

So Shin Eun-jo couldn't see CornerHoney's system window?

Then another system window appeared beside it.

It had appeared over Tae-jung's head, so Tae-jung must have opened my Character Info.

And there was a word in there I couldn't ignore.

…Relation: Master?

These guys weren't my servants. Why did it say Master?

Ah. Don't tell me…

Sensing something deeply off, I pulled up both CornerHoney's and Tae-jung's Character Info.

Damn…

Apparently, unlocking a system with the shop's System Unlock Right bound that system to the person who opened it.

Looking at the note on Shin Eun-jo's Character Info about friend requests being impossible, it seemed that any system interaction with anyone other than me—the registered Master—was locked out.

I wasn't trying to bind them to me…

Shop items never came with more than a single line of description, so I'd only discovered this after unlocking their systems.

Well. Nothing I can do about it now.

"Send me a chat."

"A chat?"

Even with that instruction, CornerHoney poked around at various menus before finally sending me a single line.

CornerHoney, receiving my reply, flared up and shouted.

"Who's in elementary school?! I'm twenty, okay?!"

I find it harder to believe he's twenty than that Shin Eun-jo never got an additional unlock.

In any case, this confirmed it.

Once a system was bound to me, you could send chats without establishing a separate friend relationship.

And based on that earlier note, it was clearly configured so that without the Master's permission, you couldn't chat with anyone else.

Not only could I see their system windows—I could check the details, too.

Naturally, the first thing I looked at was the title count of CornerHoney, who'd been ranked ninth.

What? Seven?

Having started the game less than a year ago, seven wasn't a bad number by any means. But if someone with seven titles was sitting in ninth place… maybe the other players were barely scraping into double digits.

Next I checked Tae-jung's title count: three.

So the dentist who'd been tenth probably had somewhere between four and seven titles?

Not bad for newbies.

Then another of my Character Info windows floated up in front of me.

CornerHoney must have closed Shin Eun-jo's and opened mine.

"Oh. You really are Dopamine Addict."

"Of course I'm Dopamine Addict."

"I kept thinking the guy running around as your stand-in might be the real Dopamine Addict. Guess I don't have to wonder anymore."

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

He'd still been doubting that?

"But why does your Relation field say 'Master'?"

"It's nothing. Just because I unlocked your system. It'll say Master for Tae-jung too."

"Tae-jung, is that true?"

"Pardon? Ah—yes, it does say Master… I mean, yes, it does."

"So if I want to send you a friend request, Dopamine Addict has to approve it first? Like borrowing someone else's Wi-Fi."

Unlike CornerHoney—who had seen the note about needing the Master's permission and still somehow managed to think nothing of it—Tae-jung seemed to have figured out what my being "Master" actually meant. He shut his mouth soon after.

He probably knew that if CornerHoney found out I'd become the owner of his system, he'd lose his mind completely.

"Hold on."

Shin Eun-jo, who had been listening quietly, suddenly cut in.

"Something just went by that I absolutely cannot let slide…"

She looked at me with confused eyes.

"What do you mean, the guy who was acting as your stand-in? Don't tell me you met another Dopamine Addict?"

Hmm.

I'd thought Shin Eun-jo might catch on the moment CornerHoney started running his mouth without any filter, and sure enough.

I hesitated for a moment.

When it came to the Unicorn Area player, I honestly didn't want to give other players the full details.

I barely knew anything about him myself.

But Shin Eun-jo is…

She might be the only one among us who'd actually met the Cthulhu Games representative.

Judging by how she'd talked about email addresses, she'd even gotten contact information.

If we ever succeeded at Logout, Shin Eun-jo might be the only channel we had for reaching that representative.

And her insight seems sharper than the others'…

So ideally I wanted to share information and hear her thoughts.

The problem was that she was an aggressive player—the Pseudo-cult Leader of the Love Area who'd even seized Home Protector's meteor item…

…Alright. Let's try this.

I didn't know if Shin Eun-jo would accept the offer.

But based on everything she'd said and done so far, she didn't want to be my enemy.

If anything, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fact that she refused to leave this zone suggested she wanted to stay under my influence.

In that case, there was only one way to tell her everything while also making sure she couldn't betray us later.

"You want to hear about the other Dopamine Addict?"

"What? Of course I—"

She started to say of course she did, then her brow furrowed slightly.

"But you're not going to tell me. You wouldn't even explain why Daphne is a player."

I'd thought maybe she just wasn't curious, since she'd never asked why Daphne had been a player. Turns out she'd simply been waiting for me to offer the explanation myself.

"If you meet one condition of mine, I could tell you everything."

"Everything…?"

"Everything? Hey—!"

CornerHoney cut in from the side as if that was completely out of the question, but I raised a hand, gesturing for him to stay quiet.

"That's right. Everything—from why Daphne was a player, to the story of meeting the fake Dopamine Addict. At the very least, you'll know everything these two already know."

Shin Eun-jo studied me with a dubious expression for a long moment, then asked in a small voice,

"What… do I have to do?"

"Relinquish your claim to the meteor item."

Her eyes went round as she stared at me.

"You're saying I have to give up my system just to hear everything?"

"I'll unlock your system for you again myself."

"…What?"

A system I personally unlocked would be bound to me, and she'd only be able to chat with me.

In other words, I wouldn't have to worry about information leaking through the system.

And if I bound her system to myself and then helped her achieve an additional unlock, I'd be able to see her system window—and learn under what conditions that unlock occurred.

"Give up the meteor item and entrust your system to me. Do that, and I'll tell you everything. Once you're bound to me, I'll have no reason to treat you as an enemy either."

Shin Eun-jo watched me with an unreadable face, thinking something I couldn't parse.

"What's it going to be?"

The moment I asked, Shin Eun-jo—who had been staring at me steadily—reached into her coat, drew a pistol, and leveled it at me.