Chapter 18

Chapter 18
Luna Moon might have been a player?

Shut-in Honey repeated the query as though it made no rational sense.

Luna Moon that’s your mom, right? The grave NPC.

Correct.

How on earth could an NPC turn out to be a player?

I am not entirely sure either. Yet everyone, including the Commander, claims I resemble Luna Moon. This implies Luna Moon originated from East Asia, just like us. Furthermore, she apparently held the designation ‘Hero of the Subjugation Campaign.’

Hero of the Subjugation Campaign?

A realization seemed to dawn. Shut-in Honey’s expression shifted into something peculiar.

That is… a player title.

Precisely. Within the game, no NPC was ever granted the title of Hero of the Subjugation Campaign—only players could achieve that.

Fine, but that detail alone doesn’t—

More importantly, she supposedly possessed the exact same capability as us.

The same capability?

Healing.

What?!

The instant healing entered the conversation, the expressions of both individuals turned severe. Taejeong spoke first.

If Luna Moon genuinely held a healing power, that is… bizarre. Who informed you that she could heal?

The Commander. I remain uncertain if she shared the same eat-to-heal mechanic as us, but she definitely wielded a healing attribute.

The Commander lacks any motive to fabricate such a claim to you, so the information is likely accurate.

No, wait a minute! Didn’t all of us run the bastard-son route?

This fellow… didn’t he initially label me a Dopamine Addict strategy cultist or something similar?

I have cleared the Cola Area playing as the bastard son through Luna Moon’s lineage more times than I can keep track of!

Meaning this occurred far more than once or twice.

Luna Moon having a healing skill? I have never encountered that! If she possessed an ability of that nature, it would have undoubtedly appeared within the official game script!

That serves as the exact reason I raised the proposition that Luna Moon was a player.

Shut-in Honey’s logic held firm. Had Luna Moon possessed an attribute like that, it would have surfaced in the strategy guides, making it common knowledge among players. However, that assumption only remained valid if this current reality mirrored the game Apocalypse: Safe Zone precisely.

Certain narratives seem to exist in this world that remain outside our awareness. Our accumulated knowledge likely does not cover everything.

Shut-in Honey paused in thought before inquiring,

Does that imply every single strategy we know is rendered useless? If this place deviates from the game…

Negative. Players have perished while executing failed strategies, proving that the tactics still function. Discrepancies between this world and the game exist, but none significant enough to invalidate the strats.

Perhaps Luna Moon simply possessed an ability in this particular version that was absent in the game?

Would that not prove even more eccentric? Everything else aligns with the game, so why would solely the data surrounding Luna Moon differ? If she truly functioned as a player, this form of possession might not be happening for the first time.

…My head aches. Can we not simply halt this apocalypse and call it a day?

I wish that were possible.

Yet as long as the underlying secret of the apocalypse remained bound to Luna’s Ring, leaving Luna Moon as an unresolved blank space was out of the question.

Even so, no immediate action could alter the situation at this exact second…

Simply keep it in mind for now. My primary focus at present involves entering the upcoming Subjugation Campaign event.

Ah, the initial subjugation. We certainly must attend. Surviving it rewards you with an exclusive title.

Splendid. I happen to have a proposal tied to that very matter.

A proposal?

This venue is unsuitable for discussion. Following the meal, Taejeong, escort Assa to my quarters. I will notify the household staff in advance.

Understood.

Understood!

Lingering as a trio for an extended duration risked attracting unwanted attention, so we prepared to disperse until Shut-in Honey caught hold of my sleeve and muttered,

Listen. Next time around, avoid hosting a pork-belly party.

refrain from a pork-belly party?

Could his concern stem from the potential presence of other players besides Luna Moon?

Just as our generation did not contain the sole instances of possession, other players might already be inhabiting existing NPC roles. Should those NPC-players similarly share Korean roots, hosting a pork-belly gathering alone would provide enough clues for them to deduce our true identities as players.

The matter demanded strict caution. I was on the verge of feeling a mild sense of respect toward Shut-in Honey for anticipating that far ahead when he proceeded with,

I cannot even taste the food properly, so the entire affair merely irritates me. Just dish out some basic slop and be done with it.

This individual possesses a genuinely wretched personality.

Once the pork-belly event concluded, I returned to my room to wait. Before long, Taejeong arrived accompanied by Shut-in Honey.

However…

…Why do you wear such a self-satisfied expression?

Shut-in Honey appeared peculiarly triumphant, prompting my inquiry. He replied with a wide grin.

I arrived here in the company of my senior earlier. Soldiers are prohibited from wandering off alone, so while we indulged in meat, he was forced to wait outside.

And?

You instructed me to return following the meal, correct? Therefore, I informed him that I would likely be detained for a significantly longer duration, whereupon he completely lost his temper.

Do not tell me you—

I told him the Commander’s son had summoned me, instructing him to cease his complaining. He shut his mouth instantly. Pwahaha!

How does he manage to execute the exact behavioral pattern I predicted without a single deviation?

My deepest sympathies go out to every soldier assigned to serve alongside this man moving forward.

For what purpose have we gathered here?

Responding to Shut-in Honey’s question, I retrieved a cookie tin from beneath my pillow.

Cookies?

You surely did not summon us here simply for dessert time.

We are going to practice eating.

Practice eating?

Practice… eating?

The rationale was straightforward. We did not consume food for standard nourishment—we ate for the purpose of healing. Enhancing our speed in absorbing food during an emergency would correspondingly elevate our safety margins, would it not?

Based on my testing, maintaining intense focus on the process of consumption alters both the speed and the volume of absorption.

Merely holding provisions against your mouth resulted in wasted energy dispersing harmlessly rather than being fully absorbed. Conversely, concentrating intently on ingestion caused wounds to close fractions of a second faster.

I flipped open the tin, extracted several cookies, and distributed one to each person along with a fork.

Why provide forks? We can easily use our hands.

Shut-in Honey inquired, whereas Taejeong—who had already experienced the intended application of my forks—resignedly drove the prongs straight into the back of his own hand.

Gyaaah!

Shut-in Honey shrieked, leaping nearly a full meter straight upward.

What the hell?! Why are you suddenly inflicting self-harm?! Have you lost your mind?!

You ought to stab yourself as well, little brother.

What? For what possible reason?!

You require an active wound to determine whether the healing mechanism functions correctly, do you not?

Shut-in Honey stared back and forth between me and Taejeong, completely dumbfounded.

This is not your initial time doing this… The two of you are genuinely unhinged. Completely out of your minds…

You will grow accustomed to it.

He adamantly refused, insisting the notion was absurd, until I volunteered to perform the stabbing on his behalf. Only then did he grit his teeth and puncture the back of his own hand.

For a time, the sole sound filling the room was the crunching of cookies by the three of us.

Oh. It is actually true. Directing your focus toward eating alters the efficacy of the healing process.

Ugh… Why on earth did they assign us a perk structured like this…

Indeed? It would have proved far more agreeable had they simply rendered us immune to pain.

That qualifies as a profoundly sociopathic statement to make.

I cared little whether Shut-in Honey regarded me as a sociopath—though Taejeong nodding along in agreement stung slightly.

Additionally… our ultimate objective centers on healing rather than standard meals. Being forced to press food directly against our mouths on every occasion feels excessively inefficient.

What precisely is your plan then?

Should we manage to train ourselves until merely grasping food within our hands suffices to trigger healing, our survival prospects will increase dramatically. Naturally, whether absorption via alternative methods bypassing the actual mouth remains feasible is still undetermined.

Hmm… That is certainly worth testing.

Agreed?

Why are you staring at me in that manner… Ah, damn it. I am forced to stab myself once more, aren’t I.

I am puncturing my own hand this time as well, so try not to harbor excessive resentment.

Does this stem from your background as a Dopamine Addict cultist? Your approach to running strategies mirrors that sociopathic bastard entirely.

Both Taejeong and I chose to ignore the comment. Each of us inflicted a fresh wound into our hands utilizing a fork, then gripped cookies tightly within our fists while awaiting the closure of the injuries.

…… Huh?

Unlike Taejeong and myself—who remained incapable of absorbing even a crumb unless the provisions made direct contact with our mouths—Shut-in Honey’s hand wound was steadily healing, regardless of the pace, merely from holding the cookie. The edge of the confection clutched in his fist visibly diminished as though something were nibbling away at it.

Why… does that phenomenon function?

You were the one who suggested testing the concept, and now you question why it works?

Shut-in Honey scowled, then muttered under his breath, as though recounting an insignificant detail,

I was perpetually… frail. I spent more days connected to an intravenous drip than consuming actual meals. I merely recalled that exact sensation, and the effect occurred.

Ah.

So he was already accustomed to receiving nutrients through means other than his oral intake.

…This fellow struggled with physical frailty in the real world, it seems.

Could that explain why he retreated into a shut-in gaming addiction?

The realization generated a brief pang of sympathy within me…

I have reached a decision.

Whenever you preface a statement like that, it induces extreme anxiety. Decided regarding what?

I gazed toward Shut-in Honey and flashed a grin.

Effective immediately, you hold the role of healer.

Both he and Taejeong fixed their gazes upon me as though I had lost my cognitive faculties.

What sort of utter nonsense is that? Merely because I can heal my personal injuries with food held in my hand does not imply I possess the capacity to heal other individuals. How on earth does that qualify me as a healer?

Negative. You possess the capability to heal others as well.

Very well, explain the mechanism.

When everyone sustains injuries, you remain the sole individual capable of rapid self-healing without requiring the full consumption procedure.

And that somehow designates me as the healer?

Tsk, failing to grasp such basic arithmetic.

The first person returning to their feet shoves food directly into the mouths of the remaining fellows. What alternative label would you apply to that action?

…You are unequivocally deranged. Every single concept originating from your mind constitutes pure insanity.

I braced myself for another protracted persuasion effort, but to my astonishment, Shut-in Honey merely nodded.

Fine… I will accept the role.

…Seriously?

It is not as though I possess the capability to snipe mid-sized monsters the manner you do, nor am I physically built like him. If a task exists that falls within my capabilities, I ought to fulfill it.

Oh.

contrary to my initial expectations, he might genuinely be maturing to a degree.

Experiencing a trace of pride, I offered one final piece of advice.

Your internal control is commendable. You might even acquire the ability to transfer these blue luminescent particles to another person.

I certainly hope so. Even I harbor no desire to morph into the lunatic who forcefully crams provisions into a dying person’s mouth without prior warning.

Haha.

He will hardly master the technique prior to the initial Subjugation Campaign, rendering him a lunatic for the time being regardless—though I elected to keep that observation to myself.

Once our discussion concluded, I dismissed the pair and returned to my bed. The exact moment I reclined, an astonishing system notification materialized directly before my field of vision.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION
A friend request has arrived from T-balnom.
Do you accept?