Chapter 11

Chapter 11
I had plenty of questions I wanted to hurl at Home Protector, but a public messaging channel crowded with fellow participants was far from the ideal setting.

Far more crucially, that was not our primary concern at the moment.

The fresh faces flooding into the discussion were Shin, Dentist, Ssapasuble, IWontCryThatsCardio, and Druggy—alongside Home Protector, making six newcomers in total.

Combine them with myself and Tibalom, who had already been active in the space, and the tally reached eight.

There were nine distinct Safe Zones paired with nine meteorite artifacts. If a single representative from each individual zone had successfully activated the system interface, this digital forum ought to have accommodated nine participants.

Of course, the lingering possibility remained that the final individual simply hadn’t managed to trigger their system yet.

However, with six people surging into the channel simultaneously, that likelihood shrank to nearly nothing.

Sectors weren’t allocated randomly; they correlated directly with whatever commodity a participant had picked up at the convenience store.

Perhaps there was a sector that nobody had selected at all.

HOME PROTECTOR
Oh! Dopamine Addict! So you got isekai’d too, huh?

Home Protector, as brazen as ever, was the first to address me directly.

That nonchalant demeanor made it seem as though he, much like Taejeongtaese, held no genuine grievances about being dragged into the virtual realm.

In truth, he was likely the exact sort of jobless recluse his online handle implied.

SSAPASUBLE
I kinda figured both of you guys had gotten isekai’d already…

Ssapasuble, a regular commenter on my strategy guides, accepted the dimensional shift with equal serenity.

SHIN
Dopamine Addict? Like, the real Dopamine Addict?

SHIN
I’寧, like, a total fan of yours!

Brilliant. Another admirer lacking critical thinking skills.

Dropped into one of the simpler sectors, perhaps?

DRUGGY
What is this? A chat room? Why does this even exist? I wasn’t the only one who got isekai’d?

That brand of panic was likely the standard emotional response.

The newcomers unloaded their thoughts all at once, sending the message log scrolling upward in a frantic blur.

Only after the commotion finally began to subside did they direct their attention toward me, and the participant carrying the fitness-themed handle cautiously broke the silence.

IWONTCRYTHATSCARDIO
Um…

IWONTCRYTHATSCARDIO
I heard Dopamine Addict was the first one to post that convenience store address. Did you get isekai’d too?

Compared to Tibalom, who had opened his remarks by threatening to end my life, the inquiry was almost painfully polite. Thus, I replied candidly.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
Yes, I got isekai’d too. I only sent the convenience store address to Home Protector. I never imagined it would spread and get all of us pulled in like this.

SHIN
Where are you right now?

I hesitated for a brief second over whether to disclose my sector to someone named Shin, ultimately concluding that transparency was the safer path.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
I’m in the Cola Area.

There was no complex tactical maneuvering behind revealing my location.

Prior to the Second Apocalypse, cross-sector communication was impossible; that stood as the immutable law governing our domains.

Furthermore, once the Second Apocalypse commenced, I intended to migrate to the Unicorn Area regardless. Divulging my current territory posed no genuine hazard to me.

Besides, Tibalom was already aware I resided in Cola. Resorting to deception here would merely forfeit the goodwill of the remaining participants for zero gain.

On top of that, if this forum devolved into a game of concealing information, complications were bound to ensue.

I wished to confront the Second Apocalypse equipped with at least a general understanding of the other sectors.

I would barter what I knew in exchange for their insights. The mere existence of a public chat room functioned as an implicit system directive instructing us to pool our intelligence.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
To get a handle on the situation, I’d like to know everyone’s zones as well.

SHIN
I’m in the Love Area—

Since he had posed a question to me first, Shin surrendered his location without resistance.

That being said… I had presumed the fan-favorite enthusiast had stumbled into a beginner-friendly zone. Love?

HOME PROTECTOR
I’m Tobacco.

Just as Shut-inHoney and I had anticipated, Home Protector had materialized in the Tobacco Area.

SSAPASUBLE
Beer Area for me. Under the ocean.

IWONTCRYTHATSCARDIO
Chicken Area here.

DRUGGY
Uh… I’m… Cocaine……

SHIN
Pfft!! You bought cocaine at that convenience store?

DRUGGY
I thought it was just powder!!

SHIN
For someone who “didn’t know,” that handle carries a rather medicinal scent—

DRUGGY
I’m just a concept guy……!!

He brushed it off with a casual declaration of being a conceptual entity.

Throughout this exchange, the user designated as Dentist had yet to utter a single syllable. Reading the atmosphere, perhaps? A cautious individual, then.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
Dentist, are you planning not to share your zone?

Only after I called him out did Dentist finally respond.

DENTIST
There’s still someone else who hasn’t revealed their zone. It could be the same as mine. Caution is the correct move.

An individual who had withheld their location?

Ah—he was referring to Tibalom.

Alongside the message window, active participants were enumerated in order of entry. Just as I had maintained vigilance toward Dentist’s silence, Dentist had undoubtedly found Tibalom’s quiet demeanor suspicious.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
If you mean Tibalom, that guy’s in the Knife Area.

SHIN
Knife?!

The instant I revealed Tibalom’s sector, even Shin—who had maintained a cheerful tone up to that point—seemed to jolt.

HOME PROTECTOR
Isn’t that a hidden zone?

HOME PROTECTOR
Ah wait, starting zones are set by what you buy at the store, so yeah, someone could drop into Knife.

IWONTCRYTHATSCARDIO
Knife… my condolences……

I doubted Tibalom was missing these notifications, yet not a peep emerged from him.

DENTIST
Why isn’t Tibalom speaking for himself?

Naturally, Dentist zeroed in on that anomaly. Tibalom projecting an air of suspicion was difficult to mask.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
Tibalom probably doesn’t have the mental bandwidth to check chat right now. More than that, he doesn’t like me. Getting his cooperation will be difficult.

DENTIST
If not everyone is cooperating, I don’t think I can reveal my zone.

Hmm.

Was that prudence, or sheer obstinacy?

The sole remaining territories unaccounted for were Candy and Unicorn. What outcome did he expect to achieve by keeping that hidden?

DOPAMINE ADDICT
I understand, but I doubt anyone wants to share information with someone who won’t even name their zone.

DENTIST
And how am I supposed to be sure any information you people share is reliable?

A fair point—I wasn’t swallowing every claim made by the other participants either. Yet what I sought wasn’t Dentist’s trust; I sought Dentist’s data.

Rather than striving to earn his faith, I artfully deflected the point.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
I opened the system on day one of transmigration. That means I have the most information here.

Just the fact that I opened it first and already talked with Tibalom should tell you that much.

DENTIST
Opening the system first alone doesn’t……

Evidently, the stalemate grew too tedious to watch, prompting Shin to cut in.

SHIN
Hey, wait—does Dentist not even know who Dopamine Addict is?

DENTIST
Am I supposed to?

SHIN
You don’t do the community, huh?

SHIN
Dopamine Addict is the all-zone guide writer!

SHIN
Passing up a chance to trade info with the all-zone guide writer is a pretty dumb call, don’t you think?

I hadn’t intended to inflate my own reputation with the title of an all-territory guide author, but even I found Dentist’s refusal to cooperate somewhat startling.

Perhaps he was a detractor of mine, akin to Shut-inHoney. Then Dentist delivered a response I hadn’t anticipated.

DENTIST
All-zone guide writer? Is that… supposed to be impressive?

HOME PROTECTOR
Huh.

IWONTCRYTHATSCARDIO
?

Something was amiss.

I loathed to admit it myself, but there was zero probability a Safe Zone participant remained ignorant of my identity.

…Ah.

No. This Dentist…

SHIN
Uh, Dentist…… how long have you been playing Safe Zone?

DENTIST
Safe Zone? What’s that?

SHIN
Huh?

Pieces fell into place. I questioned him directly.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
Dentist—do you not realize this is inside the game called Safe Zone?

DENTIST
This is inside a game?

DENTIST
So when everyone kept saying “isekai” and “possession,” they meant we got isekai’d into a game??

Ah.

Memory served.

The convenience store hadn’t been registered on digital maps, so I had forwarded Home Protector the coordinates of the adjacent building. And that structure happened to house a dental clinic.

Had the practitioner from that exact clinic wandered into the store and gotten transmigrated by sheer coincidence?

SHIN
Whoa… so… he got isekai’d knowing nothing?

HOME PROTECTOR
He’s never even played this game?

SSAPASUBLE
Which means……

In that fraction of a second, an identical realization struck every veteran participant who had been pulled into the digital world.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
A newbie.

HOME PROTECTOR
A newbie.

SSAPASUBLE
A newbie.

DENTIST
…What’s a newbie?

DRUGGY
Uh, is this really the time to be happy about a newbie? We all got isekai’d into a game?

Even so, this revelation pinpointed Dentist’s location.

The sectors that had yet to surface were Candy and Unicorn. There was no universe where an absolute beginner could have survived the Unicorn Area.

Astute though a dental professional might be, a total novice would never have secured the Unicorn meteorite artifact within a span of two days.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
Dentist, you’re in Candy, aren’t you.

DENTIST
Are you testing me right now?

DOPAMINE ADDICT
There are a few reasons your zone would be Candy, but mainly: a normal person with a normal brain would not have photographed a unicorn plush at that convenience store. So Candy is what’s left.

I must have struck a nerve, because Dentist fell silent for a prolonged moment.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
Anyway, if it’s Candy, that’s a relief. Surviving there won’t be hard. If you make it to twenty, don’t look back—leave that zone and come to Cola. I’ll protect you.

DENTIST
Why are you offering me kindness?

DOPAMINE ADDICT
Because you’re a newbie.

DENTIST
What does that even… I’ll think about it for now.

Dentist didn’t rush to accept, yet he appeared to have lowered his guard against conversing with us.

I harbor no grand, altruistic motives for wishing to safeguard him.

A dental specialist represented an invaluable asset, pure and simple. Participants might exempt themselves from traditional nourishment, but the dental structures of surrounding non-player characters still decayed, did they not? True, his expertise spanned a narrow discipline—yet we still lacked a clear boundary for how far a participant’s regenerative capabilities extended. Having an accredited medical professional nearby was far from disadvantageous.

And he was a. New. Bie.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
More importantly… I have a hypothesis.

SHIN
What is it?

DOPAMINE ADDICT
I suspect that the players who can open the system are the ones who obtained a certain “item.” Have the rest of you gotten your hands on “that” item as well?

SHIN
Ah! You mean the meteorite item? I’ve got one. Earrings made from a meteorite!

HOME PROTECTOR
So that’s why the system opened… I’ve got one too. A meteorite pistol.

SSAPASUBLE
Uh… I made contact with the meteorite yesterday too. It’s the submarine’s power source.

IWONTCRYTHATSCARDIO
I’ve got one too! A dumbbell made of meteorite!

DENTIST
Someone called the zone leader had me touch a certain stone. That may have been the meteorite.

DRUGGY
Opening the system is related to the meteorite…? Uh… I’m not sure…. I don’t have anything I’d call an item.

The Cocaine Area’s meteorite artifact lacked a tangible shape, which explained why Druggy remained oblivious to his physical interaction with it.

Regardless, I had gleaned a fresh insight.

System activation wasn’t restricted solely to participants who claimed ownership of a meteorite asset.

Mere physical contact with a meteorite artifact proved sufficient to unlock it.

This implied I might successfully unlock the systems belonging to Taejeongtaese and Shut-inHoney simply by allowing them to brush against my ring.

Yet……

Unless each of those regions housed a single participant, it remained peculiar that both Beer and Candy contained only one individual capable of system access.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
Have any of you run into other players in your zones?

HOME PROTECTOR
Other players? Haven’t seen any.

If he spoke truthfully, the Tobacco Area contained only Home Protector. Unexpected. I would have wagered that a multitude of individuals purchased tobacco products.

IWONTCRYTHATSCARDIO
Chicken Area has a decent number! We decided to team up to survive!

DENTIST
I only learned other players even existed through this chat room.

SSAPASUBLE
Beer had a few……

Ssapasuble hesitated before appending:

SSAPASUBLE
They were going for the same strategy as me. So I didn’t have a choice.

Ah.

Either Ssapasuble eliminated them, or they perished due to the penalty for a failed strategy.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
There was a player in my zone aiming for the same strategy as me. When they failed the strategy, they died on the spot.

SHIN
Died?!

DOPAMINE ADDICT
Whether they truly died or just logged out, I can’t say.

SHIN
Huh… our zone has a fair number of players too. But they all decided to serve me.

…What?

Every alternative participant within his domain had opted to serve him?

Shin—what on earth had this individual been doing in the Love Area over the past forty-eight hours?

Setting that aside……

Both Chicken and Love housed additional participants, yet only a single individual per sector had accessed the system. Perhaps only the participant who established initial contact with the meteorite held unlocking privileges.

I ought to conclude the exchange of intelligence here. They still lacked the specific insights I genuinely desired.

Still, tossing them a single constructive fact would elevate the probability of them seeking me out first next time.

I shared a detail I had previously imparted to Tibalom.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
Everyone knows what happens when a player eats food, right?

IWONTCRYTHATSCARDIO
Oh, yeah! It works exactly like in the game!

DOPAMINE ADDICT
And that if you’re injured, absorbing food can heal you—did you know that too?

SHIN
Oh my! I didn’t know that. Thanks for the tip.

DENTIST
That is… useful information. Thank you. When I have something useful myself, I’ll share it as well.

Dentist projected the demeanor of an individual who valued reciprocity.

I wanted to inquire regarding their individual blueprints for clearing their respective territories, though doing so would amount to confessing that I was pursuing the illegitimate heir path myself. Consequently, I dropped the matter.

We maintained a cooperative front for the present moment, yet each of us harbored the exact same reality.

Once we reached level twenty, once the Second Apocalypse unfolded, we might ultimately be forced to slaughter one another.

The reality that not a soul voiced their distinct tactical approaches made that truth glaringly transparent.

Every single participant aside from Dentist—who remained oblivious to the overarching narrative—was a veteran of this Safe Zone environment. Comprehending one another’s circumstances equated to grasping precisely how perilous those conditions truly were.

The Second Apocalypse within the Safe Zone served merely as the opening movement of a survival trial.

Most maintained a friendly stance toward me. That hardly meant I could afford to drop my guard.

DOPAMINE ADDICT
I’m going to head back to clearing my zone. Message me if anything comes up. I’ll help however I can.

I was in the middle of closing the interface when a familiar youthful voice echoed from the vicinity of the estate.

“There you are, hyungnim!”

Ah. Taejeongtaese.

Fortunately, he still hadn’t been cast out.