Chapter 102

Chapter 102
For a brief moment, everyone stood completely frozen, gazing upward at the massive aircraft hovering overhead. A sleek hull drifted beneath something resembling an enormous balloon, its bow proudly bearing the carved shape of a unicorn. Any Safe Zone player would instantly recognize the design as an airship belonging to the Unicorn Area.

Shut-in Honey broke the silence first, her expression tightening into deep caution as she stared at the vessel. I had never bothered telling her or the rest of the group that the Unicorn Area player shared my exact real moniker, Dopamine Addict. I preferred to keep them on high alert regarding him. Ttopamine Addict was the sort of eccentric who orchestrated mass possessions entirely to harvest dopamine; even with his six years of silence, there was no telling what kind of madness he might unleash next.

Dispatching an airship straight into my territory clearly demonstrated his unstable state of mind. Yet, once the craft settled into position above us, it remained completely motionless and dead silent, practically daring us to board.

“Think he’s on it?” Shut-in Honey asked again.

“It originated from the Unicorn Area, that much is certain,” I replied. “Whether he is actually inside, I cannot say for sure.”

If he had shown up personally, a relentless attention-seeker like him would never remain this quiet. A metallic sound drew my attention as Taejeong loaded her weapon. Following the barrel of her gun toward the sky, I looked back at the hovering aircraft, which remained utterly unresponsive.

“The timing is suspicious…”

An airship from another zone dropping into my sector without warning made Taejeong’s cautious reaction entirely justified. However, because I had just been thinking about shaking down Ttopamine Addict for an airship moments earlier, the coincidence felt remarkably convenient rather than alarming.

Then, a small weight began scrambling up my back.

“Luna, that’s dangerous.”

Ignoring my warning, Luna planted her paws firmly on top of my head, stood straight up, and peered curiously at the vessel.

“Whoaaa! What is that?! It’s so cool!”

Even after witnessing countless impressive feats over the past six years, she was still this captivated by an airship. While the individual soldiers in our zone had grown much stronger, our overall scientific progress remained far behind. I had previously given the research director a hoverboard recovered from Ttopamine Addict, instructing him to reverse-engineer it, only to be told that the device utilized ambient-pressure, room-temperature superconductors—a material our zone lacked the technology to replicate. Tampering with it incorrectly risked breaking the board entirely, so I had taken it back empty-handed.

That airship, despite its nautical exterior, was undoubtedly an advanced mechanical system governed by an autonomous flight intelligence, and he had simply parked it right above my zone. Even now, the craft stayed as quiet as an empty shell.

“Captain!”

Several search team members rushed back into formation upon spotting the airship. I waved them off to let them know everything was under control, then turned my attention back to Shut-in Honey and Taejeong.

“Mrrrow!”

I caught Luna in both hands as she slid down from my head and announced, “All right, Assa—you’re coming up with me.”

“We’re going up there?”

“They went out of their way to park it right above us as an invitation, so we ought to accept. And Luna, you—”

Before I could tell her to stay behind, she dove straight into my ring. She had learned long ago that I never took the ring off, so whenever she sensed she might be left behind, she hid inside it beforehand. Handling separation anxiety in a companion-type creature was always tricky. I still wore the ring mostly out of habit for the dual effects of the Luna Moon’s Friend title, though her anxiety was partly my fault for failing to provide enough security early on.

“…Luna is coming too. Taejeong, keep watch down here. If we aren’t back within thirty minutes, shoot that thing out of the sky.”

“You’re going to be inside it, and you want me to shoot it down?”

“Yes.”

I pulled the hoverboard from my inventory and offered her a reassuring smile. “That won’t kill me.”

“Hyungnim… as expected, you’re crazy!”

“You lunatics, I could die from that! If you’re going to shoot it down, wait until I’m clear—hey!”

I grabbed Shut-in Honey by the collar as she wedged her head between Taejeong and me, stepping up onto the hoverboard. “Thirty minutes from now. Give the rest of the players a clear explanation.”

“Yes, sir!”

Because the airship hovered directly above the tents, the ascent was short. The deck was completely empty. On a normal vessel, crew members would be stationed topside, but this craft only resembled a ship on the outside; its navigation controls were housed below deck.

I tossed Shut-in Honey aboard first. Accustomed to my rough handling, she landed squarely on the deck. I stepped down beside her, extending a hand to stop her as she reached for her weapon.

“No matter how tense things get, do not fire a gun.”

“Why not?”

“Because I refuse to let anyone scratch my airship.”

“You’ve already decided it belongs to you.”

I needed a reliable form of transportation, and an airship had conveniently delivered itself. Even if Ttopamine Addict hadn’t sent it as a gift, I intended to keep it. Anything entering my territory automatically became mine. Furthermore, there was another practical reason to hold fire.

“Besides, bullets don’t work against people from the Unicorn Area.”

“Right, I forgot about that.”

Players from the Unicorn Area moved protected by magnetic-field shields that rendered standard ammunition useless. Bypassing those shields required a massive electrical discharge to drop their defenses. Acquiring the Eye Giant’s ability hadn’t been a coincidence at all. When I collapsed after absorbing that power, Ttopamine Addict was the one who found me and guided Shut-in Honey to orchestrate my rescue. The Eye Giant’s strength allowed the user to command weather systems—summoning blizzards, tearing open the sky, and calling down lightning. With enough mastery, one could neutralize every magnetic-field shield in the Unicorn Area simultaneously, serving as the ultimate counter.

Being saved by Ttopamine Addict right after gaining that ability was clearly intentional. A veteran player deep into multiple playthroughs would certainly understand special abilities. Why leave me with such a power? The simplest explanation was that he wanted a more thrilling game by cultivating a rival for himself, though the thought still bothered me. Regardless of his underlying motives, my fallback plan remained simple: if necessary, I would strike the airship with lightning to disable its magnetic shield. Since the shield only deflected projectiles and offered no defense against blades or close-quarters weapons, a direct melee assault would settle things before they could react.

After years of dealing exclusively with monsters, I was growing restless. The timing could not have been better.

I drew my collapsible baton. Shut-in Honey holstered her firearm, pulled out a knife instead, gripped the hilt tightly with a nervous look, and asked, “What if this is a trap?”

“There is a very high probability that it is.”

“You came up here knowing it might be a trap?!”

“If a trap is laid and you refuse to step into it, isn’t that even stranger?”

“Unbelievable.” She shook her head sharply.

I frowned slightly and told her, “If you are feeling afraid, you can head back down.”

“Who said anything about being scared?” Shut-in Honey pulled her goggles down over her eyes. “I’ve tagged along with you long enough to develop my own addiction to this madness. I’m going in.”

Whether that counted as personal growth remained debatable. “Then let’s head below.”

A staircase near the rear of the deck led down into the interior where the navigation hub should be. Before descending, I flashed a light down the steps and spotted a single door at the bottom. Shut-in Honey started down without any caution; I almost stopped her, then decided against it. Previously, I would have scolded her for moving forward recklessly, but she was now a capable player who pulled her own weight. Surely she realized that door was connected to a biometric security system.

Naturally, Shut-in Honey instantly shattered that assumption.

SYSTEM
Confirming access privileges.
Identity unconfirmed.
Activating defense systems.

“What the—?!”

As she approached the threshold, the defense mechanism engaged, sliding concealed gun ports into view. Shut-in Honey let out a startled shriek and tumbled backward up the stairs.

That absolute idiot.

A few stray rounds wouldn’t kill her, but wasting energy right at the entrance was unnecessary. I darted forward, placed myself directly in front of the gun barrels, and spoke in a clear, measured voice:

“Reconfirm access privileges!”

SYSTEM
Reconfirming access privileges…
Scan complete.
Player Dopamine Addict — access granted.

Airships from the Unicorn Area relied on biometric verification. They scanned a passenger’s data and assigned ship permissions based on rank. Unless someone was officially registered as crew, even that minor door would remain locked. I had known this rule yet still declared I would seize the vessel for one simple reason: I was Dopamine Addict. If this belonged to Ttopamine Addict, sharing that exact name meant I was practically pre-registered to the system.

Once the door slid open smoothly, I cast a sympathetic glance at Shut-in Honey, who was still dusting herself off on the steps.

“You’ve been possessed for six years and you already forgot how these airships operate?”

Looking genuinely aggrieved, she shouted back, “I told you when we first met! The only people who ever cleared the Unicorn Area were you and the fanboy lunatics who trailed after you!”

Ah, right. She had mentioned that. Even the strategic guides I used to post on the community forum never bothered to mention minor details like biometric airship locks.

“If you don’t know how it works, just stay quietly behind me.”

“No.”

“No?”

“We have no idea what kind of security Unicorn Area players might have installed! You don’t know everything either, so it makes much more sense for me, the healer, to take the lead.”

“No sane party puts their healer on the front lines… but then again, you aren’t just an ordinary healer, so fine.”

I let her take the lead as requested, and we stepped through the threshold into a long, empty corridor devoid of any presence.

“Luna,” I whispered softly.

From within the ring, Luna’s voice echoed, “I don’t sense any other meteorites.”

The Unicorn Area’s meteorite was the island itself, so it naturally wouldn’t register here. I had only checked to ensure no other Master Players besides the Unicorn eccentric were involved, but no other major players were tied to this setup. For clarity, I had started referring to players who unlocked the system via meteorites as Master Players, while individuals like Shut-in Honey or Taejeong were Sub Players.

“If the interior layout matches the game, the bridge should be straight ahead.”

“I’ll go check.”

Shut-in Honey crossed the corridor cautiously, stopped just short of the bridge door, and glanced back at me, proving she at least anticipated another biometric lock waiting ahead. The fact that I found even this minimal display of caution endearing said a lot about my lowered standards.

“I’ll open it.”

Unlocking the door itself wasn’t difficult, but what waited on the other side was an entirely different question. After cautioning Shut-in Honey to stay alert, I stepped up to the panel.

SYSTEM
Confirming access privileges.
Scan complete.
Player Dopamine Addict — welcome.

The bridge door unlatched with almost insulting ease. I had braced myself for some hidden threat to leap out, making the utter emptiness of the room feel slightly anti-climactic. Rows of glowing machinery lined the interior, resembling the cockpit of a starship.

“Whoa!” Shut-in Honey gasped. “Holy shit! They rendered this even better than the game!”

Well, this was reality, so that was to be expected. While she stared around the bridge in open wonder, I focused on the massive screen dominating the front bulkhead. A single line of text drifted across the pitch-black display:

Auto-navigating…

So they had dispatched an unmanned ship. Did he know I was planning to transition to another zone around this time and sent the airship to meet me? Finding no immediate threat, I lowered my guard slightly. Shut-in Honey turned to me with a bright, eager expression.

“Can I sit over there?” She pointed directly at the captain’s chair, which certainly looked inviting.

“Go ahead.”

With my approval, she rushed over and sank comfortably into the seat. “This is fucking amazing.”

Nothing happened when she sat down, indicating no hidden traps were rigged to the chair. Completely oblivious to the fact that she was acting as my guinea pig, Shut-in Honey sprawled out in the command seat and began pressing buttons—until the screen displaying the auto-navigation message suddenly popped and went dark, replaced instantly by a new visual feed.

INCOMING TRANSMISSION

“Hello, Dopamine Addict.”

Ttopamine Addict smiled out at us from the screen.