Chapter 9

Chapter 9
T-balnom
PUBLIC CHAT
Dopamine Addict has entered the public chat room.
PUBLIC CHAT
T-balnom has entered the public chat room.
The one who opened the system… is T-balnom?
I had impersonated T-balnom in the past, but the reality was we barely knew each other. From my very first strategy guide post to the final one, our interactions had never extended beyond stiff, formal questions and answers.
Even so, the reason T-balnom was the first individual who came to mind when I needed to trick RoomShutin was simple: the guy only ever published straightforward queries. Nobody had any clue what his actual personality was like.
He had read every single one of my guides, so it would not have been surprising if he had triggered the system right after me.
According to Taejeong Taese, T-balnom had landed in the Knife Zone.
If that claim was accurate—and if he had managed to secure the meteorite item and unlock the system—then T-balnom was currently executing the zone-wide massacre path. The meteorite item located within the Knife Zone was a dagger forged from meteorite iron, serving as an absolute requirement for that specific strategy. Even the body of a ten-year-old could deliver a one-shot kill utilizing it.
Hold on. If he only just acquired it now, that implied he endured two full days inside the Knife Zone relying entirely on his own strength?
I had written the guides, certainly, but even I had not cleared the Knife Zone on my initial attempt. I had fallen to those psychopaths more times than I could recount before figuring out the strategy. That environment was not somewhere a ten-year-old physique could last for forty-eight hours devoid of a weapon.
T-balnom initiated the messaging first.
T-BALNOM
Dopamine Addict?
Ah. Inside the chat network, concealing your identity was impossible. And because T-balnom had unlocked the system, he possessed the ability to use Character Inspection—the moment he examined me, he would instantly realize I was Dopamine Addict.
How on earth am I supposed to respond to this?
Activating and deactivating the system functioned through thought, so perhaps messaging operated similarly as well? That assumption proved correct.
The instant I formulated the words I wished to transmit, text automatically materialized across the system interface.
DOPAMINE ADDICT
Yeah.
I had barely managed to dispatch the clumsy reply before T-balnom’s response fired right back.
T-BALNOM
I see. So you got possessed too.
T-BALNOM
Dopamine Addict……
I was on the verge of inquiring whether he was executing the massacre path and if he had secured the meteorite weapon when his subsequent message crashed directly into the chat interface.
Huh.
T-BALNOM
I’m going to kill you.
T-BALNOM
I’m going to survive this place,
T-BALNOM
and the second I get outside the zone,
T-BALNOM
I’m coming to kill you.
T-BALNOM
Wait for me.
Indeed. He was holding me responsible after all. This individual… two days following possession and the Knife Zone had already battered him quite severely. I had not been the person who tossed him into a body, meaning the resentment felt somewhat unjust—yet I could not claim I failed to grasp his perspective.
The inhabitants of the Knife Zone were absolute murder enthusiasts. They roamed in groups and derived pleasure from slaughtering anything weaker than themselves. The moment T-balnom woke up, he would have been subjected to constant death threats. He was likely still concealing himself somewhere at that very moment, dispatching these messages. The kid had to be nearly out of his mind.
Staying alive long enough to unlock the system without possessing any special advantages whatsoever was already impressive. It meant T-balnom was an exceptional player in his own right—and precisely the kind of person I required. Someone capable of weathering the Knife Zone and delivering another meteorite artifact to me.
I attempted to calm him down initially.
DOPAMINE ADDICT
First off, I wasn’t the one who possessed you.
DOPAMINE ADDICT
We’re in the same boat.
DOPAMINE ADDICT
You’re running the resident massacre route right now, yeah?
DOPAMINE ADDICT
If there’s anything I can help with, I’ll help.
DOPAMINE ADDICT
I’d come help you in person if I could, but like you know, nobody can leave their zone until the Second Apocalypse hits.
DOPAMINE ADDICT
If you’ve got questions, ask.
A lengthy duration elapsed with zero response from T-balnom. Was he intentionally ignoring me? Or had he drifted off to sleep?
DOPAMINE ADDICT
Hey, you asleep?
DOPAMINE ADDICT
Don’t you want to know why only you and I could open the system?
DOPAMINE ADDICT
Aren’t you curious
DOPAMINE ADDICT
Hey
DOPAMINE ADDICT
Hey
DOPAMINE ADDICT
Hey, you dead?
Even low-effort provocation produced zero reaction from T-balnom.
Hmm…….
Being unable to communicate with the sole other person who had unlocked the system posed a genuine difficulty. It appeared I would need to dangle some valuable intelligence if I desired a reply.
DOPAMINE ADDICT
One thing I’ll tell you
DOPAMINE ADDICT
You already know this, but you don’t feel hunger, right?
DOPAMINE ADDICT
Players don’t need to eat
DOPAMINE ADDICT
Instead, eating food can heal your wounds
That finally elicited a response.
T-BALNOM
My odds of surviving just went up.
T-BALNOM
When I
DOPAMINE ADDICT
Now you’re finally in the mood to talk
T-BALNOM
When I survive,
T-BALNOM
I’m coming to kill you.
T-BALNOM
I will kill you for sure.
DOPAMINE ADDICT
Every single conversation ends in murder threats, huh?
T-balnom clearly lacked the mental stability required for ordinary conversation. He had proclaimed he was going to take my life, yet when I reflected on his predicament I felt nothing but pity for him. Once you selected the massacre path, all that remained was butchery. Absent the objective of staying alive solely so he could murder me, he probably would not have been able to endure the ordeal at all.
Nothing for it, I suppose……
DOPAMINE ADDICT
I’m in the Cola Area.
DOPAMINE ADDICT
Make sure you live long enough to come kill me.
I waited for a while after dispatching those words, but T-balnom had apparently gone dark once more. No reply materialized. I eventually drifted off to sleep.
The following morning required an early rise.
So sleepy……
I felt exhausted, but naturally I still experienced no hunger. A physical form that required no nourishment yet still struggled to pull itself out of bed in the morning—did that indicate it still needed sleep? What sort of biological principle was this vessel even constructed upon?
Regardless, the reason I had to arise at the break of dawn was none other than the Commander’s adjutant: Major General Mursault Pendleton. Having received a tip from the Commander that the boy had been located, he had tracked me down at an ungodly hour.
With the assistance of the servants, I washed and changed clothes, then made my way toward the rear courtyard of the Commander’s residence.
A shooting range was situated back there, and Major General Mursault had summoned me to it.
One might wonder who on earth possessed the audacity to summon the Commander’s biological son, but Mursault had served as Hayden Goodman’s closest aide for the preceding decade. At present, his standing surpassed mine as the offspring. If word reached the Commander that I had rejected Mursault’s summons while relying on my newly acquired status, nothing favorable would transpire.
Upon reaching the shooting range, I observed Mursault’s back, his ash-gray hair bound neatly.
Good morning.
I offered the initial greeting. Mursault pivoted around, scrutinized me from head to toe for a brief moment, then addressed me in a rigid tone.
I met His Excellency’s son here just yesterday as well.
Ah. So he had come to meet Anjeon8yeok yesterday morning as well.
Observe this individual.
Not a shred of goodwill existed within Mursault’s demeanor. The Commander trusted me, so it likely was not the case that this man simply refused to place his faith in me……
Asserting dominance, then?
Well, if a long-serving lord abruptly produced a descendant out of nowhere, a certain degree of caution was entirely expected. Still—directed toward a ten-year-old child? Within the simulation, I had been scrutinized by both the adjutant and the Commander’s spouse, but experiencing the situation firsthand presented a far harsher reality. I stared at Mursault for an instant, then casually surveyed the surrounding area.
Mursault clearly had no desire for our dialogue to be overheard either. The shooting range contained solely the two of us.
Excellent.
Whatever statements I uttered here would not reach the ears of the Commander.
I tilted my head upward and gazed at him sideways.
So? What about it.
Mursault’s composure fractured slightly.
What did you just say?
I asked what you expect me to do about the fact that you’re bewildered, mister.
Mursault clearly had not anticipated this reaction. Highly flustered and profoundly displeased, he extracted a handkerchief and wiped his forehead.
You are quite different from what His Excellency described. His Excellency said he was worried the young master might be far too soft-hearted.
Rather than providing a reply, I simply maintained a lopsided posture that unmistakably communicated, You dragged me out at the break of dawn solely to voice that remark? Exactly the sort of stance senior officers despised most.
Mursault stared at me, rendered speechless. The Commander had likely informed him I was a ten-year-old minor with simple thoughts who merely wished to provide meals to other children of my age group. He had calculated that if he adopted an aggressive stance, I would experience fear toward him.
Above all else, the genuine reason this man felt unfriendly toward me was……
The exact same as the simulation.
The justification behind his attempt to break my spirit stemmed from the fact that I was born out of wedlock. In the presence of the Commander, he never raised an issue regarding my lineage, but deep down he refused to accept me as the lawful heir and harbored aspirations of rebellion.
Along the original illegitimate child path, one was required to carefully stroke this man’s ego. By doing so, when you eventually administered poison to him, nobody would suspect your involvement. For that identical rationale, I had cultivated positive relations with the Commander’s wife.
Two poisonings occurring within the Commander’s estate would prove difficult to explain away, but once either one of them was removed first, my position would grow unassailably secure.
This time around, however, I had no intention of pursuing that course. In a universe where highly educated NPCs were scarce, both Mursault and the Commander’s wife constituted invaluable human assets.
Mursault Pendleton appeared intensely fastidious, but fortunately he proved quite simple to manage. The man possessed a fatal attribute—or rather, a vulnerability. An absolute strategy existed regarding him. One did not even need to treat him with proper etiquette. All that was required was concurring with one specific notion. A straightforward individual.
I smiled up at Mursault, who was observing me as though I were an insect.
But mister, you’ve been waiting for a bastard like me, haven’t you?
I beg your pardon?
I heard about you from His Excellency too, you know.
I had not heard about it—I had witnessed it while playing the game—but the instant I asserted that the Commander had spoken concerning him, Mursault began to panic intensely. There existed a specific cause for why he was this shaken.
Within this reality, Mursault Pendleton was accountable for a rather high-intensity sequence. Because this man happened to be…….
Mursault. Do you still intend to marry Daphne Goodman?
I casually tossed the words into the open air, as though they carried no weight whatsoever.
To the disloyal man who harbored affection for Daphne Goodman—the wife of his superior.