Chapter 33

Chapter 33
After gaining authorization to depart the perimeter, Meursault, Taejeong, Shut-in Honey, and I prepared our gear and assembled near the departure point. As soon as Shut-in Honey caught sight of me, he raised his voice to a shout. Summoning me more frequently would be wonderful because army life is utterly miserable. Good grief, what an absolute liability. He chose to humiliate me right in front of Meursault, of all people. However, contrary to what I anticipated, Meursault was observing Shut-in Honey with a surprisingly tender gaze. Wondering why he was looking at that fellow with more gentleness than he ever showed me, I watched as Meursault explained that it had been quite a while since he witnessed a youth acting in a manner appropriate for his actual age. That idiot was already twenty years old. When Taejeong calmly inquired with mature poise whether it was truly safe for only our group of four to venture past the boundary, Meursault gave a reassuring nod. Today’s excursion served the precise purpose of confirming whether monster core locations could genuinely be identified visually and testing if the newly designed combat rations suited young fighters. He promised we would not wander far from the zone and forbade any hazardous actions, urging us to feel completely at ease. Was that remark directed at me? Even so, this represented monumental progress. When I first proposed going on a hunt, Meursault had behaved as though I were committing suicide and started drafting my eulogy. Compared to that initial reaction, he had grown remarkably daring.

Meursault lined the three of us up to deliver a quick briefing. That morning, the watchtower reported that a large-class monster, specifically a Fur Crocodile, was roaming the vicinity while injured. With the subjugation season fast approaching, the creature had likely been forced out after losing a fight for territory near the center against other beasts. It had been leaving a thick trail of blood behind, meaning it should have collapsed somewhere nearby by now. Ordinarily, handling this task would fall to the watchtower guards, but if the core-detection technique Lord Haydam detailed proved accurate, we could extract the core without causing heavy damage to the carcass. Our objective was simply to finish the task and return before nightfall. Ensuring we returned before the moon rose stood as a vital rule within the Safe Zone mechanics. It explained why monsters required core destruction upon defeat. A Safe Zone beast could be destroyed by breaking its core, but the reverse held true as well; as long as the core remained intact, the creature refused to stay dead. Any injury inflicted on a monster with an unharmed core would heal under moonlight. This reality made the gift of visually spotting each individual beast’s uniquely positioned core a matter of literal life and death. I remarked that while I specialized in creatures that charge headfirst, a downed target worked just fine too. Meursault offered a look of mild surprise, asking if I meant it was simpler to verify a core’s location on a moving target rather than a stationary one. I answered that most living things instinctively tried shielding their weak points as long as they retained the strength to move. He admitted he had never considered that perspective before. Pointing out that finding the beast would not prove difficult, I told Meursault to handle convincing the officers. He questioned whether I truly intended to leave the officers behind for this operation. Exactly. I had no desire to bring the officers along this time. This excluded both the pro-Daphne faction whose sole combat background involved lounging in the rear and returning safely, and the pro-Hayden faction whose members possessed plenty of history but had grown too elderly to contribute actual muscle. We would travel as a compact elite unit. Besides, the initial subjugation run in the game always deteriorated into an officer rescue scenario the moment high-ranking figures tagged along. While this was no longer a video game, I saw no reason to leave an opening for that kind of dangerous side quest to activate. Soldiers unable to pull their weight in a brawl served no purpose other than acting as obstacles. Meursault sighed that he suppose he would have to do the convincing, noting that speaking so bluntly would instantly invite their animosity, though those individuals would likely rejoice at hearing they could skip the campaign. Come to think of it, I had not laid eyes on the officers since our conference with Daphne.

I wondered how Anton, the father of Platon, had handled the aftermath. The day following our training simulation, Anton, leader of the pro-Daphne faction, visited the military academy to share a meal with his son Platon. Anton asked how it felt to be beaten by a ten-year-old. Platon set his fork down and replied that he learned certain heights existed in this world that ordinary people simply could not reach. Anton clicked his tongue, asking if Platon meant he lost simply because Lord Haydam was that exceptional, to which Platon confirmed that was indeed the case. Anton called it a grandiose excuse for a defeat against a child, noting he had specifically warned him against letting his guard down. Platon insisted he kept his guard up and that Lord Haydam simply outclassed him. Faced with this unyielding response, Anton slowly shook his head. He had intentionally raised the boy away from political bias to prevent him from turning into a partisan tool. Even so, watching Platon lose to a ten-year-old without showing a trace of bitterness fell short of what Anton had hoped to see. From the moment he learned about the mock battle with Haydam, Anton suspected his son might fall short. Compared to the cunning commander’s offspring, his own boy was far too rigid and upright. Still, he permitted Platon to participate under the assumption that losing would teach the lad his first real lesson in inferiority. He never imagined Platon would end up completely won over by Haydam instead. Lady Daphne had instructed them to maintain friendly relations with Haydam for the time being, but even so, Platon mentioned that Haydam even knew the name of the neighbor’s dog. When Anton asked what that meant, Platon explained that Haydam knew the dog in the front yard next door was called Winter. Anton asked if it was born in winter so they named it Winter. Anton burst into laughter, asking why his father laughed and telling him he had been thoroughly fooled. Platon asked what he meant, and Anton revealed that the neighbor’s dog was actually named Edwin, adding that he had known the family since youth and knew the animal well. Platon wondered if Lord Haydam had lied, noting it felt as though he had known the name for ages. Anton pointed out that since Platon would never bother memorizing a neighbor’s dog’s name, Haydam simply invented one on the spot. Platon praised Lord Haydam’s outstanding improvisation, causing Anton to call him a hopeless fool and leave the table first. On his drive home, Anton spotted the neighbor shoveling snow outside his house. Just to be certain, Anton stopped his vehicle and spoke through the window to greet him. The neighbor expressed surprise, noting it had been ages and asking how Lord Anton was doing. Anton replied he was fine as usual and asked about his dog’s name. The neighbor answered that it was Edwin. Anton felt relieved and smiled faintly. The neighbor tilted his head in confusion and asked if anything was wrong, to which Anton said it was nothing and mentioned someone had mistakenly thought his dog was named Winter. The neighbor’s face lit up with shock as he asked how Anton knew. Anton asked what he meant by that, and the neighbor explained that Edwin gave birth a few days prior, and since subjugation season fell in spring, they planned to name a spring puppy April and a winter puppy Winter, and since she delivered recently and the puppy was still kept indoors, he was stunned Anton already knew the name. A puppy born only a few days prior named Winter? Haydam had stated during the officers’ meeting that he knew the name of the neighbor’s yard dog, and that meeting took place several weeks earlier. How could Haydam possibly know the name of a puppy that had not yet been born? No, thinking about it realistically, Winter was hardly a unique name, meaning he must have simply gotten lucky. Yet Anton felt an unshakeable sense of wrongness, unable to pin down why the lingering unease gnawed at him, which only amplified his vague dread.

We advanced across the snowfield to hunt the Fur Crocodile, our boots sinking deeply with every movement. Taejeong took the point position, boasting the height required for the widest field of vision. Shut-in Honey and I trudged through the middle, while Meursault guarded our rear. Shut-in Honey pulled out a piece of candy and twisted it around while asking if I discovered anything regarding Luna Moon, completely forgetting or ignoring the rule about keeping his eyes forward. I told him to be quiet because Meursault was right behind us, but he argued he spoke Korean and wondered how Meursault could possibly understand. His English had improved, but his intelligence clearly remained limited. I warned him that Meursault was sharp enough to pick up on Korean purely through nuance. Shut-in Honey made a face showing he finally grasped the situation, then tried whispering his question with broken pronunciation instead. I told him he looked pathetic and urged him to stop. He cursed at me and lunged as if to grab my collar, but Meursault cleared his throat behind us, causing Shut-in Honey to quickly drop his hands. I smirked and asked if he had been practicing his healing abilities while in the army, and he confirmed that through physical contact, he could likely heal other people now as well. He had grown that much already? He possessed far greater talent than I initially assumed. Then again, given his particular brain and personality, he needed some kind of extraordinary gift merely to survive. He accused me of looking down on him again, and I claimed it was just my proud expression, which he dismissed as bullshit. Meursault finally intervened from the back, advising them that while close friendships were fine, they needed to maintain boundaries and never behave that way in an official setting or they would land in the stockade. Shut-in Honey looked somewhat dejected and nodded, realizing he should not insult the commander’s son in public.

Taejeong suddenly pointed out something ahead, and we all directed our gaze toward a massive form covered in thick white fur sprawled across the snow. Shut-in Honey casually packed a snowball and threw it at the creature, but it did not even twitch, prompting me to tell him to be careful as he simply shrugged. Drawing closer to the Fur Crocodile, we noticed heavy piles of snow resting on its body, indicating it had been exposed to the elements for a while. I circled the beast, looking for the injury reported by the watchtower guards. Although dense fur concealed it initially, I quickly located the blood-matted area on its right flank. It guarded using its right side, its unconscious posture was flat on its belly, and its vulnerable spot was the left abdomen. Without hesitation, I pressed my muzzle against the left side of its back and fired so the round pierced straight through to the belly. The wet tearing of flesh gave way to a sharp, crystalline cracking sound, and the creature expired without a single twitch of resistance. Meursault stared at me in utter disbelief, asking if that sound was a core shattering. It hardly seemed extraordinary once you understood the method, yet he looked thoroughly shocked. I nudged my chin toward Taejeong and Shut-in Honey, telling them to flip the carcass over and show him. Shut-in Honey grumbled about taking orders while Meursault continued alternating his gaze between the broken weapon and the empty socket, still doubting his own eyes. When I asked if he planned to stare at me stupidly forever, he stammered a denial and stated he would need to persuade the officers upon our return. He kept running his fingers over the empty cavity where the core once rested, half-convinced it was some trick. I told him the meat was poor, but the hide remained usable and instructed him to have someone collect it. He hastily agreed, noting they needed it as proof anyway, and fired a signal flare into the cloudless sky that bloomed as a pure white flash. While it might seem like it would attract monster aggression, that specific white light remained completely invisible to monster vision. Shut-in Honey complained that we finished too quickly to test the combat rations, and I told them to keep the candies and eat them while remembering to test their performance. Both realized performance testing meant self-inflicted injuries first, leading to complicated expressions on their faces. Mentally they might be adults, but physically they remained children, and I disliked ordering kids to harm themselves, but leaving them unaccustomed to healing meant they would perish before maturing.

Suddenly, a low mechanical roar echoed through the air. I was not the only one to catch the sound, as Shut-in Honey and Taejeong both snapped their heads toward the direction of the zone, wondering if reinforcements had already arrived from the flare. Yet the noise sounded far too close to originate from the perimeter, and the heavy thrum seemed to descend from directly overhead. The moment that realization struck, a freezing gust swept down and cast an ominous shadow over us. A voice from above asked what we were doing dragging Meursault around, causing all four of us to flinch, leap to our feet, and raise our muzzles skyward. We discovered a young man dressed in a white coat standing casually atop a hoverboard and gazing down at us. Wondering what on earth was happening, the sudden appearance out of the sky on a hoverboard while casually addressing Meursault by name defied immediate comprehension. Yet I recognized the man instantly, and I was not the only one here who knew that face. Shut-in Honey’s voice rang out in a dazed, empty whisper asking if that was Dopamine Addict.