Daphne (4)
The moment I got back to the Commander's residence, I sent that message and summoned ShutInHoney to my room.
The entrance-exam passers had already come up to the central district to prepare for enrollment, so ShutInHoney was currently bunking with Taejeong in one of the rooms here. Thanks to the system I'd opened up, we'd been trading small talk over chat all this time—but Daphne was something that needed to be said face-to-face.
It didn't take long. As always, ShutInHoney kicked the door open without knocking and strode in. The second he saw me sitting on the bed, he asked straight out:
"You call me here because Daphne died?"
So he'd already heard the news. Hard not to, living in the Commander's residence. If he already knew she was dead, getting the conversation started would be that much easier.
I was still turning over how to break it to him that the dead Daphne was almost certainly his older sister when the kid fixed me with those innocent round eyes and chirped, bright as anything:
"DopamineAddict. Did you poison her?"
"As if."
Probably because the Cola Area strategy guide I'd posted on the community started with killing Meursault and Daphne, he assumed I had something to do with her sudden death. I shut that down at once.
"I've got no reason to kill her now. You remember she's a player, not an NPC, right?"
"Of course I do. But you'd still kill a player if they got in your way."
Shin Eun-jo thought the same thing… Why does everyone assume I'll turn on fellow players?
The only player I'd ever PK'd was Anjeon8yeok, and even that hadn't been intentional. For the record, the picture I want is overwhelming force that makes people kneel. This isn't a battle royale that only ends when one player is left standing. I still don't even know what the logout system really is—wiping out every other player and leaving only NPCs in the world would just be boring.
Anyway.
"I called you because I need to ask you something about Daphne."
"…Me?"
ShutInHoney looked genuinely startled that the questions would be aimed at him.
"I've never even run into Daphne since I possessed this body."
"That otome game Daphne possessed. You said your sister played it too, right?"
"Suddenly we're talking about my sister?"
He tilted his head at the jump from Daphne to his sister, but answered readily enough.
"Of course she did. She's the one who made me play it."
"Do you remember the username she used in that otome game?"
"My sister's username?"
He stared at me like I'd lost my mind.
"I remember it, but that's a hell of a random question."
All Meursault had told me was that Daphne's player had originally been a doctor with a frail younger brother. That she was actually ShutInHoney's sister was still only a guess. Before I told him that the woman who'd logged out after dying was probably his sister, I needed confirmation they were the same person.
Fortunately he said he remembered the name, so this would be quick.
"Just tell me the username. Then I'll explain why I'm asking something so random."
"Unbelievable…"
He scrunched his brow for a second, then smoothed it out again.
"My sister's favorite was Meursault. So it was probably Meursault'sWife… or Meursault'sWife. Something like that."
Same person.
Confirmation complete. He couldn't decide between "Wife" and the cruder version, but there was no way two separate players would both use a Meursault-wife handle and also match the exact same real-world conditions as ShutInHoney's sister.
"Okay… try not to freak out."
"What are you about to say?"
"Daphne didn't die. She logged out."
"Didn't die—logged out?"
A flicker of surprise crossed his face, then settled into something almost bored.
"Interesting, sure, but is that really something you need a 'don't freak out' warning for?"
"The problem is that Daphne's player status window had Meursault's Wife written on it."
"……?"
His head tilted a little to the side, like he couldn't parse what I'd just said. I waited until understanding hit. Eventually he straightened up and looked at me.
"What… does that mean?"
He wasn't actually confused about the words. By now he knew why I'd brought up Daphne and then immediately asked about his sister—so I could tell him the player possessing Daphne had been his sister. But no matter how carefully you prepare for it, learning that an NPC you knew was actually family is hard to swallow on the spot.
I'd felt the same way when I first learned Luna Moon might have been my mother.
"If you don't believe me, go ask Shin Eun-jo. Besides me, she's the only one who saw Daphne's status window."
"Am I understanding this right? You're seriously telling me Daphne's player was my sister?"
"Yes."
ShutInHoney stared at me with a blank expression.
"Why didn't you say anything until now?"
"Because I only found out today that she was your sister."
"No—if you'd just told me the username earlier, I would've known! Who Daphne was! Why only after she's already dead…"
The confusion on his face curdled into suspicion.
"You're… not lying, right?"
"Excuse me?"
"All you ever do is lie!"
"What exactly do I gain by lying that Daphne is your sister?"
"Not that! You already knew, didn't you? You knew she was my sister and just didn't tell me!"
To be fair, even if I had known earlier, I probably wouldn't have told him. Daphne had already spent more than ten years in this zone; if she and ShutInHoney started colluding, my position could get dangerous. He knew me well enough that the suspicion wasn't unreasonable.
But this time I really hadn't known. I hadn't been hiding it. And if I'd learned Daphne's identity even after ShutInHoney stepped in front of Shin Eun-jo's gun, I wouldn't have kept quiet then either.
"I honestly didn't know."
"You only find out after she dies? That doesn't make any sense."
"Right before she died she left something like a last will with Meursault."
"A will?"
"That she'd actually been a doctor, and that she had a frail younger brother."
I added one more line.
"And that she would definitely come back."
The words come back made his eyes waver for a second.
"Come back? What does that mean? No—before that. How do you even know she logged out?"
"It's a long explanation, but it's not impossible. If you die here, the odds are high you logout… that you return to reality."
"Daphne being my sister is already insane, and now you want me to believe dying sent her back to the real world?"
Every emotion in the book flickered across his face before settling into pure distrust.
"…I can't believe you."
"Why not?"
"After everything I've seen from you? How am I supposed to trust you! From the first time we met you lied and said you were Tvalom!"
Right. I had done that.
So this is how the boy who cried wolf feels.
I couldn't really blame him for reacting this way. Finding out family had been right next to you only after they died would make anyone suspicious of the messenger. And the logout part was only a deduction—I hadn't witnessed it myself.
Still, there was one thing I couldn't just let slide.
"But… you've been keeping something from me too, haven't you?"
"What? Me?"
"When I fell into the crevasse."
That hit a nerve. He flinched and shut his mouth.
"Sending the rescue team into the cave wasn't your idea. Why did you hide the note you received?"
"……."
He was quiet for a moment, then asked,
"…How did you know I got a note?"
This little bastard. He hadn't forgotten to mention it—he'd actively hidden it.
"Why didn't you say anything? Even you should've thought a note flying in when you don't have a status window was suspicious. Why hide it? No—why lie and say you sent the rescue team because it was a cave you knew?"
"Because I knew it wasn't from you."
"What?"
"It wasn't from you, DopamineAddict. It was from the impostor player in the Unicorn Area. I figured that out myself, so I didn't tell you."
Not only had he known it wasn't me—he'd known exactly who sent it. Unexpected.
"You always call me 'Assa' and call Taejeong by his real name. But the note had the full usernames—'ShutInHoney,' 'TaejeongTaeSeBeyoncé.' So I figured it was that guy. He's the only one who checked our status windows and left."
"Hold on. So you knew the note came from the Unicorn Area player and you still sent a rescue team?"
"That bastard said even if he wanted to kill me, he had no intention of hurting you. So I just… felt like you might actually be in danger, and sent them. The reason I didn't tell you was……"
He mumbled and fidgeted, knowing full well he was in the wrong, then finished in a voice smaller than an ant.
"…because I thought I'd get yelled at."
"Are you seriously a third-grader?"
"If I said I sent a rescue team because I believed the impostor, you would've ripped me a new one!!"
He wasn't wrong, so I had nothing to say to that.
"So what happened to my sister? You say she went back to reality—is there any way to confirm she's actually safe?"
"You told me yourself. Your sister suddenly quit being a doctor and started working at Salvation Project."
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"She went back and joined that company. To build the Safety Zones."
For a moment ShutInHoney looked like he'd been hit with a hammer.
"That's……"
He forced the words out.
"That's just your guess… It could be different from what you think."
He said it, but the distrust on his face had already thinned compared to a moment ago.
What he needed was a little more certainty.
So I decided to tell him about my mother here and now. I had no idea how he'd take the fact that she'd created this game… but if I stayed silent and someone else revealed it later, he would never trust me again.
This was the moment to speak.
"Last time I told you my family also works at that company. Salvation Project."
"Yeah. What, is your family Luna Moon or something?"
Huh. Sharper than I expected.
"…Why that look?"
Apparently he'd thrown it out as a joke. He frowned, then his face went slack with realization.
"For real? Luna Moon is actually your family?"
"Yes. Same as your sister—she died in the game, returned to reality, and founded a company called Salvation Project."
"'Founded' Salvation Project?"
"That's why I think your sister made it back too. She was obsessed with building the game, like she was possessed."
"Wait—so your sister developed the Safety Zone series?"
"Not my sister. My mother."
"What? M-Mom?"
He rattled like a machine that had just been kicked.
Yeah, learning that the NPC I'd been playing son to was actually my real mother was bound to be a shock…
"Th-then your mother played… the otome game…? And picked the username Luna Moon…?"
That's what shocked him?
…Why am I the one feeling embarrassed here?