Player Highlight Video (3)
Right after I spotted Taejongtaesebeyonce’s face in T-balnom’s highlight video, I called Tae-jung over and asked him straight out.
“Are you really Kim Tae-jung, the national team player?”
It might have been a little hasty and not the most delicate way to put it, but I had originally been a fan of Kim Tae-jung.
No special reason—he was simply the best soccer player in Korea.
I think I once mentioned that I’d been deep into the Premier League before I got sucked into the game. The real sequence was that I used to watch the K-League, then followed Kim Tae-jung when he transferred overseas and started watching the Bundesliga. After the doping scandal broke, I switched over to the Premier League.
And now that very Kim Tae-jung was possessing a body right here in the Safe Zone with me.
How was I supposed to not call him over and confirm it immediately?
The fact that Tae-jung was the national team “druggy”… no, soccer player didn’t seem like some huge secret either. If he really was a soccer player, he shouldn’t have any connection to my mother, so I was also curious how he’d ended up possessing someone in this game.
I just never expected to hear that goddamn overseas player’s in-game nick come out of Tae-jung’s mouth.
I’ve said it before—I hate overseas users. Those bastards didn’t just steal my guides; they posted them as if they were original strategies and pretended to be the authors.
Among them, mikisoccer.
That guy translated every single guide I uploaded into English within a day and slapped his own signature on it before posting it on American communities. Back then I wondered how an American could be so good at Korean, but if the real body was Miki Parker—a Zainichi Korean—the speed of the English-Korean translation suddenly made sense.
Of course I sent mikisoccer a polite message. It was my guide, so either credit the source properly or take it down.
His reply was succinctly fucking awful.
Don’t get me wrong—I sent the message in English. He knew I was Korean and was deliberately needling me about my English skills with that “English please” crap.
So I made a decision. I couldn’t stop the theft, but I would only post guides that mikifucker could never copy.
At the time my guides weren’t that difficult, but once I started designing strategies even the thief couldn’t execute, they became far more complicated and vicious.
The latest news I had was that Mickeysucker got laughed out of the American player community after uploading a Love Area guide he himself had never cleared.
Still, it wasn’t satisfying enough. I swore I’d get revenge someday—and that bastard turned out to be Tae-jung’s friend.
“So my friend’s in-game nick is mikisoccer… wait, hyung!”
Tae-jung had been about to answer casually when his face twisted into pure incomprehension and he grabbed me.
“I—I’m that druggy Kim Tae-jung, you know? Is this really the time to ask about my friend’s in-game nick?”
Honestly, the mikisoccer story interested me more than Tae-jung’s insistence that he’d never actually doped.
No—more importantly, if this guy really was Kim Tae-jung, he was about ten years older than me. Was it okay to keep letting him call me hyung…?
“Do you… not know who I am…?”
“No. I was your fan.”
“You were my fan?!”
Tae-jung looked at me with an even more devastated expression.
“Then… you must be very disappointed in me. I know you probably won’t believe anything I say, but I really…”
“Nah. If you say you didn’t do it, then you didn’t.”
“What?!”
Tae-jung’s mouth opened and closed in even greater shock.
I let out a small sigh and explained.
“We’re already stuck possessing bodies in a game. Why would you bother hiding that you doped? So I don’t think you’re lying.”
“Th-that’s the reason…?”
“To be honest, even when the doping story broke it felt completely out of left field. What disappointed me more was that Kim Tae-jung just retired instead of properly clearing his name.”
“That’s… I’m sorry. I felt terrible about betraying the fans’ trust too…”
After muttering that, Tae-jung quickly grew quiet and gloomy.
Hmm.
It wasn’t that he’d betrayed my trust and disappointed me—I’d just moved on because I couldn’t get any more dopamine out of him. But whatever.
“So that Mickeysucker or whatever guy is your friend, right?”
“Yes…”
“And his real body is the actual pro player Miki Parker who plays in the Bundesliga?”
“That’s correct.”
mikisoccer… I thought it was just a parody nick of Miki Parker. Turns out it was the man himself.
Why would a successful soccer player go out of his way to carefully translate and steal the guides of some pitiful Korean player grinding a game that didn’t even have an English patch?
“Which zone is that bastard in right now?”
“Excuse me?”
Tae-jung tilted his head in confusion at my question.
“Uh… Miki plays in the Bundesliga.”
“I know.”
“I don’t think someone in Germany would come all the way to that convenience store and get possessed…”
Not true at all.
Just from everything Tae-jung had told me so far, it wasn’t hard to guess that Miki Parker had been possessed too.
“That guy was such a dedicated subscriber that he stole every single one of my guides. There’s no way he missed the convenience store link.”
“Even so, I don’t think someone in Germany would fly to Korea just for a convenience store.”
“It wasn’t just the convenience store.”
I pointed a finger at Tae-jung.
“You disappeared.”
“Ah…!”
“Kim Tae-jung retired years ago, yet he kept texting to check if you were alive all that time. That means he was genuinely worried about you. Then you stop answering chats and texts, and the communities start saying the veteran players who went to the convenience store have gone missing?”
Tae-jung’s eyes widened as realization hit him.
“D-did he go looking? To that convenience store?”
“High chance he did.”
Someone that obsessive about stealing my guides would definitely have been just as obsessive about confirming Tae-jung’s survival.
Tae-jung looked worried that Mickeysucker might have gotten possessed because of him, but that wasn’t my problem.
I just needed to catch the bastard who stole my guides and beat the shit out of him.
“What do you think he picked?”
“Huh?”
“What do you think Mickeys— Miki Parker picked at the convenience store?”
“Well… since Miki’s a pro athlete, he probably didn’t pick anything edible. He doesn’t just eat random stuff. And of course he wouldn’t have picked cocaine.”
Candy, cola, cigarettes, beer, chicken, and cocaine all ruled out?
That left Love, Unicorn, and Knife…
If Mickeysucker dropped into the Love Area, what’s the chance Shin Eun-jo wouldn’t know about him?
Anyone who steals every single one of my guides is a confirmed attention whore. If he landed in Love, he almost certainly pulled some stunt instead of following Shin Eun-jo.
If he landed in Knife, he was probably already dead…
While I was thinking, Tae-jung spoke carefully.
“Um… I think he probably picked the unicorn plush.”
“A full-grown adult man picks a plush toy there?”
“He’s American.”
I had no idea what Americans had to do with unicorns, but if Tae-jung thought he’d landed in Unicorn, fine.
“Then he’s in Ttopamine Addict’s hands.”
“Ttopamine Addict? …Are you calling the Unicorn Area player that?”
“Mickeysucker doesn’t have anything to worry about.”
“It’s Mickeysoccer, not Mickeysucker… Wait, nothing to worry about? Even though he’s with that impostor player?”
“Yep.”
If this had been before Ttopamine Addict proved he was really “me,” I might have wondered whether Mickeysucker was Ttopamine Addict.
But now it was certain that Ttopamine Addict was me, so there was no chance Mickeysucker was running around impersonating me in that zone.
Once I turned seventeen and left this zone, I’d go take a good look at that bastard’s face.
“If you say so, hyung… that’s a relief. I’d feel terrible if something happened to Miki because of me.”
“…….”
What I actually meant was that since Ttopamine Addict was also me, he would’ve already gotten revenge the moment he found Mickeysucker, so I didn’t need to worry about it.
Saying that out loud would probably shock Tae-jung, so I just smiled.
“But still. Are you really just going to let the whole ‘I was a druggy’ thing slide?”
“Yep.”
It was an old dopamine event from years ago; I just didn’t care anymore.
Tae-jung looked at me with pure, overwhelming gratitude.
My former favorite soccer player looking at me with a face like that… the feeling was…
Really good!
Feeling good was one thing.
Now it was time to properly wrap up the Daphne situation.
The Commander already knew Daphne was a player and assumed I was a regressor as well, so he didn’t seem particularly shocked.
Meursault worried me a little, but thanks to his denial he was full of faith—or maybe devotion—toward me. He was living as usual, convinced I would somehow fix everything.
Even in the game, whenever Daphne died Meursault would despair but still stubbornly keep working to hold the zone. How long he could last in that state I never found out, since I usually poisoned him not long after.
Anyway, even if Daphne died Meursault would somehow keep going. Anton was different.
In the game he was an NPC who died right after Daphne, so the person whose mental state was most dangerous right now wasn’t Meursault—it was Anton.
That was why I had come to visit Anton in the hospital.
The thick rope marks still around his neck showed he’d genuinely tried to kill himself the moment he heard of Daphne’s death. His face was a wreck from crying so hard. Even his usually neatly combed white hair was a mess.
Anton looked at me with eyes full of resentment.
“Are you satisfied now…?”
His hands trembled as they clutched the hospital bedding.
“You really knew how to play with this old man.”
Hmm.
Apparently he thought Daphne’s death was my doing.
“Your real goal was something else all along, wasn’t it? You used that silver tongue of yours to make me take my eyes off Lady Daphne, and while I was distracted you did this… How clever. How cruel. Lady Daphne truly trusted you… If I’d known it would come to this, I would have forced the divorce myself and sent her far away.”
I simply stood there and listened to every bitter word Anton poured out. They weren’t words I couldn’t bear to hear, and I needed to hear his honest feelings.
Anton coughed a few times. His face said he was so exhausted and weary he wanted to die right then and there, yet he still had something left to say.
“How far do you plan to take this revenge?”
When I tilted my head as if I didn’t understand, Anton added,
“How far… and to whom… does this revenge extend? Daphne, who took Your Excellency from Luna Moon? Your Excellency, who married Daphne even though you had a child? The pro-Hayden officers who knew about your relationship with Luna Moon and did nothing? The pro-Daphne officers who drove Luna Moon out for Daphne’s sake? Or… or…”
Anton’s voice shook with pure terror.
“Does the list of people you’re going to take revenge on… include my son as well… Platon…?”
“You’re asking if Platon is also a target of my revenge?”
“Haydam-nim, please…!”
I’d only asked lightly, but Anton went deathly pale and practically threw himself off the hospital bed to prostrate himself before me.
“Not Platon… anyone but that child. I deliberately raised him without affection because I always feared something like this would happen someday. He’s a pitiful child. Please, can’t it end with my life? Can’t you spare the children? Platon respects you so much… he likes you so much…!”
Ah.
So that’s why he tried to kill himself.
He thought I’d killed Daphne for revenge, so of course he believed I’d take revenge on him next. If he died first, the revenge wouldn’t reach Platon—or so he hoped.
I looked down at the prostrate Anton and thought for a moment.
What should I do…
Honestly, if Anton looked this devastated I had been planning to tell him that Daphne was actually possessed by a player and wasn’t the Daphne he had carefully raised.
Of course, even if she was possessed he could still say “Lady Daphne is still Lady Daphne,” and there wouldn’t be much I could reply.
And if I tried the same line I’d used to comfort Meursault—that I would somehow take care of Daphne—it wouldn’t work on Anton, who trusted me far less than Meursault did.
I should at least tell him I’m not the one who killed Daphne.
But the revenge… what about the revenge?
Could I just say I had no intention of taking revenge here?
The moment I promised not to take revenge on Platon, what guarantee was there that Anton wouldn’t calmly die in peace?
I needed Anton right now.
I’d already killed Yosef; I couldn’t afford to lose Anton as well. Meursault seemed fine for the time being, but he could explode at any moment, and if Anton died there would be problems with Platon too.
In that case…
“I think you’re misunderstanding something.”
At those words, the prostrate Anton lifted his head and looked up at me. His face was a mess of tears.
“I didn’t kill Lady Daphne. And I have no intention of killing Platon either.”
Anton stared at me with eyes full of distrust and confusion.
“Then… why did Lady Daphne…?”
“I don’t know either. That’s what we have to find out from now on.”
“…….”
Anton was silent for a long time, his face full of complicated thoughts, before he carefully opened his mouth again.
“You really… weren’t planning to take revenge…?”
“No.”
I denied it flatly.
“I am going to take revenge. I came back for revenge.”
Anton stood up in considerable shock.
“W-what do you mean? You just said you wouldn’t kill Platon…!”
“I won’t kill him.”
“So Platon isn’t a target of your revenge…?”
“No. Platon is included.”
“What on earth have you been saying this whole time…!”
Thinking I was toying with him again, Anton’s voice rose.
I raised one hand in a quieting gesture and spoke.
“The target of my revenge is this zone.”
Anton frowned as if he couldn’t believe his ears.
“…What did you say?”
“I’m going to take revenge on this zone—the place that killed my mother, made me grow up an orphan, and forced me to walk back here on my own two feet.”
“What does it even mean to take revenge on a zone?”
I gave him a one-sided smirk.
“I’m going to become Commander.”
“…What?”
Instead of surprise, Anton’s face showed only that he couldn’t grasp my true intention.
“Well, of course you would…?”
Judging by the reaction, he was thinking, “You’re the Commander’s only heir—who else would become Commander?”
I kindly added the rest.
“It means I have no intention of quietly waiting for Father to hand the position over.”
“W-what do you mean…?”
“Anton.”
I pointed a finger at the sky.
“I’m going to usurp the Commander’s seat.”