Chapter 35

Chapter 35
I had already made up my mind that I would only reveal to Shut-in Yeobo that I was a Dopamine Addict after I had placed him under a life-or-death obligation to me. With a fresh bullet wound taken directly on his behalf, the moment could not have been more favorable for my confession as a Dopamine Addict. It would also create unnecessary complications if he continued to believe that the Unicorn Area player was the true Dopamine Addict. Shut-in Yeobo looked momentarily startled before he managed to voice his confusion.

“You’re… what?”

“You heard me.”

“How are you a Dopamine Addict?”

His tone elevated as his words spilled out rapidly.

“How on earth are you a Dopamine Addict? You claimed you were Tibalrom! If you are the Dopamine Addict, then what the heck was that individual earlier? No—why are you only sharing this with me now?”

He was not even pausing to catch his breath. Figuring I should help him settle down slightly, I opened my mouth to respond.

“It is not as though I deliberately concealed it… Alright, fine, I deliberately concealed it.”

“What?!”

“If you had known I was a Dopamine Addict, would you have chosen to collaborate with me up to this point?”

Recalling how fiercely he had cursed out Dopamine Addicts when we initially crossed paths, Shut-in Yeobo lapsed into silence for a brief second. However, the sheer injustice of the situation seemed to dawn on him once more, causing his hand to drift upward.

“You little rascal, even so—!”

He was furious, yet he could hardly beat up the person who had intercepted a projectile for him, meaning the medical care continued without interruption.

“This is simply absurd… No wonder every single action you take seems entirely unhinged…….”

“Do not heal everything. Just enough so that when Meursault returns and inspects me, he will think, ‘Oh, it was merely a minor injury after all,’ and let it go.”

“Goodness, you talk far too much. You kept your mouth shut perfectly fine while you were leading me along.”

He was clearly going to harbor this resentment for quite some time. Shut-in Yeobo concentrated on the healing process for a moment before darting his gaze toward Taejeong with the expression of someone struck by a sudden realization.

“Yet judging by how that person reacted earlier, he already recognized that you were a Dopamine Addict, didn’t he?”

“Yes, exactly. Taejeong is aware.”

“What? Why inform that jerk and not me……”

“There were extenuating circumstances.”

“What circumstances?”

“A player who used to run around with Taejeong was impersonating me.”

“Impersonating? There was a player like that?”

“The one just now was likely impersonating me as well. Most likely.”

Shut-in Yeobo’s expression twisted into absolute disbelief.

“What on earth is going on with all these impostors! What do they even gain by pretending to be a sociopath like you?”

I had pondered that exact question myself, but hearing it voiced aloud somehow left me in a sour mood.

“Regardless. The initial imposter botched his strategy and died, but the individual from moments ago is somewhat more dangerous.”

“You do not need to tell me. He mirrored your charisma down to the finest detail. Unsettling as can be.”

“…It was not merely him copying me. That person is a Unicorn Area player who has unlocked the custom option the exact same way I have.”

“Unicorn? Ah, so that explains the hoverboard……”

“And for reasons unknown, he deliberately pretended to be me and broadcasted messages to other players.”

“He messaged other players? What sort of messages?”

“That inter-zone exchange was viable… Ah.”

The instant the words left my lips, a realization struck me.

“Judging by the fact that he made it all the way here, it truly appears the barrier has vanished.”

“The barrier is gone? Meaning we can journey to other zones even prior to the Second Apocalypse?”

“Likely… ngh.”

My shoulder flared with pain, cutting my thought short, while Shut-in Yeobo seized my arm, insisting he needed to tend to it further. As he worked, I kept talking.

“And… you witnessed it just now. That physical body.”

“Right! How is he the sole person who appears fully grown? If he is a Unicorn Area player, perhaps they accelerated growth using science or something?”

Forced growth through Unicorn science. It was not a hypothesis I had entertained, but neither was it entirely impossible. Even so…

“From what I observed… it did not feel like simple accelerated growth. There is definitely more to the matter.”

I simply have yet to figure out what that something is…..

From the initial moment I laid eyes on him, something felt deeply amiss. He might only have been an imitator of me, the Dopamine Addict… but he was far too flawless for a mere copy. His speech patterns were even more grating than my own, true, but how on earth had he replicated my stride? Furthermore, that remark concerning checking whether I was developing well continued to bother me.

At my assertion that there had to be more underneath the surface, Shut-in Yeobo’s face contorted with apprehension, though true to his optimistic disposition, he soon found a silver lining.

“We were planning to head to Unicorn once the Second Apocalypse hit anyway. This is ideal. Now we have a genuine reason we have to go there.”

“Well… fair enough…….”

At that precise moment, Taejeong, who had been maintaining watch, stepped closer and murmured,

“Meursault is heading back.”

I raised my head. Not far away, Meursault was charging toward us accompanied by a troop of soldiers.

“We will discuss this later. And if anyone inquires about today, you say nothing.”

“Understood.”

“Yes, sir!”

The soldiers who arrived alongside Meursault hurriedly placed me onto a stretcher for medical transport, cutting our dialogue short as we put on a convincing display of me suffering from a severe gunshot injury.

By the time Meursault returned, Shut-in Yeobo had already mended the majority of the damage. To the surrounding troops, it would have appeared as though the projectile had merely grazed me. Even so, Meursault insisted on confining me to a hospital bed despite the superficial nature of the wound. It was then that the Commander came to visit me.

“How is your physical condition?”

“As you can observe, I am completely fine.”

The Commander was already aware that I possessed healing capabilities identical to Luna Moon, meaning he displayed no great panic regarding my injury. Even after receiving word that I had been harmed, he refrained from coming immediately; instead, he appeared late at night after concluding all his personal duties. This led the nurses to whisper that he was an Iron-Blooded Führer who would not even blink if his biological offspring were injured.

At the same time, I grasped his reluctance to turn me into a vulnerability. Had he rushed over instantly, the factions already opposed to him would have swiftly attempted to use me as a hostage. Granted, even if I became a captive, I would simply walk out under my own power, so I would have welcomed the preferential treatment, but nonetheless.

The Commander scrutinized me for a moment prior to inquiring,

“Who on earth was that man?”

That was his opening question? He must have already learned from Meursault how I managed to get shot. This was the exact same individual who had forbidden a hunt on the grounds of excessive danger, yet the moment I stepped outside the zone boundary, I returned on a stretcher with a bullet embedded in me. He might well deny permission next time around. Still…….

How much of the encounter did Meursault actually retain and report? Did he even catch the name “Dopamine Addict”? That individual had been rambling in Korean, meaning even Meursault could not have transcribed every single word of the conversation for the Commander. However, Shut-in Yeobo had addressed him as “Dopamine Addict” multiple times, implying Meursault would at least recognize that designation.

I swiftly mental-checked the exchange I had shared with the Unicorn player. Nothing of critical importance had been stated……. The Unicorn player had skirted direct answers, muttered incomprehensible phrases, and vanished. Come to think of it, Shut-in Yeobo had carelessly tossed around the term “player” out loud. In that case……..

“I am uncertain as well.”

“You do not know?”

The opening half of the sentence went unspoken, but his intent was clearly to ask, “You, a regressor, do not know?” The Commander intended to treat my regression as a complete secret, which ultimately suited my own movements much better as well.

“Meursault mentioned that if you recognized him, you would, and if you did not, you would not. Is that correct?”

…So Meursault remained more loyal to the Commander than to myself. Well, this explanation was simple enough to construct.

“Precisely that. There was a period when I knew him… but currently, we are strangers.”

One of the Commander’s eyebrows arched upward.

“Meaning…….

He appeared to grasp immediately that I implied the individual was someone I had known in the future prior to my regression, whereas upon returning to the past, we were unacquainted. A total bluff, naturally.

“Everyone else, clear the room.”

At the Commander’s directive, the accompanying soldiers and the waiting nurses all filed out, leaving just the two of us inside the ward.

“Speak freely now. Was he an acquaintance from before you regressed?”

From this point forward, I needed to tread carefully with my words, maintaining consistency from start to finish. Most importantly, I had to ensure he never deduced that I was a player rather than a regressor.

“If my memory serves correctly, he originates from the Unicorn Area, though I have no clue why he traveled all the way here. It remains possible that he regressed as well.”

“He is a regressor too?”

“I am stating it is a possibility. Because…….”

Sensing the Commander wished to press further, I interrupted him first.

“That individual. He referred to himself as a ‘player.'”

“…I see. Meursault already informed me that the word ‘player’ slipped from his lips. I was on the verge of questioning you regarding that.”

Ah, so he had been briefed on the “player” aspect as well. Fortunately, that individual had appeared in the guise of an “adult,” much like Luna Moon, meaning no one would suspect that players were entities originating from outside this reality. Naturally, I would still need to seal Shut-in Yeobo’s lips even more securely.

…Had the Unicorn player attempted to eliminate Shut-in Yeobo under the assumption that the kid would obstruct my path? Hmm. I chose to press onward with the conversation.

“If he genuinely is a player, that likewise accounts for why he behaved as though he was familiar with me. Much like Mother, he would have observed this world through the game, meaning naturally he would recognize me.”

“A novel player, then?”

“It is entirely feasible that my regression triggered the emergence of a new player.”

The Commander seemed to find the logic plausible. He paused in thought for a moment before addressing me once more.

“Report to the Military Academy.”

The academy once again?

“I was under the impression that matter had already been settled.”

“Even granting that you are a regressor, a child’s physical vessel must still feel unfamiliar to you. That explains why you sustained an injury of this nature.”

Evidently, the Commander attributed my wound to a lack of adaptation to a child’s physique. Well… it proved difficult to articulate how someone capable of defeating eight graduating cadets in a tactical simulation had taken a bullet merely to shield Shut-in Yeobo. Not that I had failed to evade it; I had deliberately taken the impact to place Shut-in Yeobo under an obligation to me and to test his restorative abilities. Even so.

“It is a wound that heals instantly the moment I activate my ability.”

“That mindset is perilous.”

His tone carried a degree of uncompromising firmness I had never encountered before.

“A single instance of carelessness can cost you your life. Bear in mind that your mother, Luna Moon, possessed the identical capability as you and ultimately perished from the plague nonetheless.”

Bringing up Luna Moon’s demise implied he was genuinely terrified I would get myself killed. I maintained the belief that Luna Moon had succumbed because she failed her designated strategy route……. If this man ever discovered that Luna Moon might have perished as a direct consequence of marrying Daphne, he would surely plunge into utter despair, wouldn’t he?

Daphne likewise appeared to have withheld from the Commander the possibility that Luna Moon died due to a failed strategy. At present, I required Daphne’s cooperation, leaving zero incentive to voice anything that might poison the dynamic between the Commander and Daphne. Even so, the academy held zero appeal for me.

“Yet… you are aware we lack the luxury of time.”

“I am not instructing you to enroll for a full six years. Train alongside the cadets at the academy at the very least until your physical form feels natural once more.”

“Until my body feels natural—how long does that entail, precisely?”

“Until you possess the reflexes to dodge an incoming projectile.”

He had to be joking. Reading the incredulous expression plastered across my features, the Commander let out a brief chuckle before continuing.

“At the absolute least until the upcoming subjugation campaign… If you spend even a brief duration at the academy, securing an officer’s commission for you will become significantly simpler, will it not?”

Ah… right. I could hardly function effectively as an operations officer during a subjugation campaign holding zero official rank. Well, from my perspective, it would merely amount to a brief stint of recuperation. The cadets, however, were going to detest the arrangement far more than I ever would.