LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 32 - The Second Impersonator
Chapter 32. The Second Impersonator
[Tbalrom: Dopamine Addict, are you seriously telling me that wasn’t you?]
[Tbalrom: If it’s an impersonator, how do they know about our 1:1 conversations?]
[Tbalrom: We were already friends, so I thought I was talking to you the whole time.]
[Tbalrom: Who the hell are you?]
‘Tbalrom is saying that he’s already friends with this other Dopamine Addict…?’
I cautiously sent a message back to Tbalrom.
[Dopamine Addict: Did you accidentally accept two friend requests at once because you’re a fool?]
[Tbalrom: If you keep treating me like a fool, I’m going to kill you when we get out of here.]
There’s something so satisfying about teasing this guy.
[Dopamine Addict: Just kidding. There’s no way someone could know our 1:1 chat contents just from a friend request.]
What bothered me most was this part of Tbalrom’s message.
How did that guy know about the private conversation between Tbalrom and me? Did they hack the system? Or maybe Tbalrom just slipped up and revealed something?
[Tbalrom: I knew you’d treat me like an idiot, so I made sure to keep it short.]
[Dopamine Addict: Who said otherwise?]
[Tbalrom: But seriously, was that guy really not you?]
[Dopamine Addict: Of course not.]
[Tbalrom: Then who is it?]
[Dopamine Addict: How should I know?]
I was just as curious. Who else was impersonating me? And why?
‘It’s not like my reputation is great.’
What could they possibly gain from pretending to be me?
[Dopamine Addict: You said you talked to them, right? Wasn’t there anything strange?]
[Tbalrom: You’re always strange, so I didn’t notice anything different.]
[Dopamine Addict: ^^;]
Tbalrom is much weirder than me, always threatening to kill me.
[Tbalrom: There’s one thing I’m sure of.]
[Dopamine Addict: What’s that?]
[Tbalrom: That guy is in the Unicorn Zone.]
‘So, it *is* the Unicorn Zone player.’
I had already suspected as much. But while I was just speculating, Tbalrom said it with certainty, so he must have seen some concrete evidence.
[Dopamine Addict: What’s your evidence?]
[Tbalrom: I traded items with them and received an orange.]
[Dopamine Addict: An orange…?]
‘So it really is the Unicorn Zone player…’
As I mentioned before, the Unicorn Zone is a place where a bunch of mad scientists decided to survive by floating their entire zone in the air. Their level of technology far surpasses the other eight zones, and they’ve already established a self-sufficient system within their zone, even producing luxury items like oranges.
Since the world became covered in snow, it’s been nearly impossible to find plants or animals that thrive in warm climates. But the Unicorn Zone likely still preserves Earth’s ecosystem. So, giving out an “orange” was undeniable proof. Proof that the guy is in the Unicorn Zone.
[Dopamine Addict: I told you I’m in the Cola Zone, yet you took the orange from that guy without any suspicion?]
[Tbalrom: That Dopamine Addict was nicer than you.]
[Dopamine Addict: You should’ve been suspicious from that alone.]
[Tbalrom: …It was definitely an orange when I checked it. There was no doubt.]
[Tbalrom: I thought you had already conquered the Unicorn Zone, but I guess not.]
So, it seems certain that the guy is from the Unicorn Zone. In that case…
[Tbalrom: Are you going to check it out?]
[Dopamine Addict: Nope.]
[Tbalrom: Then what?]
[Dopamine Addict: I’ll just leave him be.]
[Tbalrom: Leave him… be?]
Tbalrom didn’t seem to understand my intentions, so I added an explanation.
[Dopamine Addict: I’m going to let him keep conquering the zone while pretending to be me. I’ll deal with him when I eventually go to take over the Unicorn Zone myself.]
[Tbalrom: …What makes you so confident? If that guy is impersonating you, that means he knows your strategy too.]
[Tbalrom: Even if the name Dopamine Addict is fake, if he’s acting according to your strategy, he’s practically a second Dopamine Addict. And wasn’t the Unicorn Zone your original base? Do you really think you can beat him?]
What’s this? It sounds funny when he puts it that way.
[Dopamine Addict: Weren’t you the player who always countered my strategies? Why are you talking like there’s no way to win?]
[Tbalrom: You know my playstyle…?]
[Dopamine Addict: Of course. You’re the one who shows up most often in my AI. You specifically target me.]
[Tbalrom: I show up a lot, huh. I see. Haha.]
…What’s going on? I thought I was helping him keep his sanity intact, but it seems like he’s still a bit off.
‘But this gives me a better idea of why they’re impersonating me.’
Whether it was Safe8 or the Unicorn Zone player, it’s a form of ‘showboating.’
Just like Safe8 used my name to try to recruit naive players like Taejong, the Unicorn Zone player probably thought no one would want to make an enemy out of a player who started in the Unicorn Zone, pretending to be the legendary ‘Dopamine Addict.’
At the same time, it’s also a challenge directed at me.
‘If I were to go up against the Unicorn Zone player now… my chances of winning would be about 60%.’
Thanks to my full-zone conquest perks, there’s no way I’d lose. But there’s a technological gap between the Unicorn Zone and the Cola Zone that I can’t bridge with my personal abilities alone.
To close that gap, we’d need the Second Apocalypse to bring in a wave of flying monsters.
[Dopamine Addict: Anyway, if anything comes up, send me a message.]
[Tbalrom: Sure.]
[Dopamine Addict: And if that guy messages you again, let me know.]
[Tbalrom: Will do.]
…He seems oddly compliant now, but that’s probably just my imagination.
I ended the chat with Tbalrom and opened HomeProtector’s chat, which was still flooding with messages.
[Dopamine Addict: Stop sending me messages.]
[HomeProtector: You could’ve just checked earlier; this is your fault.]
[HomeProtector: So that’s really not you?]
[Dopamine Addict: Yeah, it’s not me. Just leave him be.]
[HomeProtector: Just leave him be?]
[HomeProtector: How can you be so relaxed? That guy is practically a second Dopamine Addict starting in your original base!]
HomeProtector was saying the same thing as Tbalrom.
[HomeProtector: You said you’d take me to the Unicorn Zone later, right?]
I never said I would. He was the one who insisted on being taken there.
[Dopamine Addict: I’ll win anyway.]
[HomeProtector: What makes you so confident…?]
[Dopamine Addict: Never mind that. You should check whether the barriers between zones are really gone.]
[HomeProtector: You want to see if that guy’s message was true?]
[Dopamine Addict: No.]
[Dopamine Addict: If the barriers are truly gone, lower-level zones will get raided by higher-level ones.]
[HomeProtector: Ah… right.]
[Dopamine Addict: Isn’t the Love Zone closest to the Cigarette Zone? That player, God, doesn’t seem trustworthy.]
[HomeProtector: Yeah… I found them uncomfortable too.]
[HomeProtector: Crap, this is bad…]
HomeProtector disappeared after that chat. He probably rushed off to check if the barriers were really gone.
‘I need to finish preparing for the subjugation battle too.’
I can confirm the presence of the barrier while subjugating the monsters. And if there really isn’t a barrier…
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to go and see the newbie’s face.
* * *
I returned to the operations room and sat Meursault down to explain my plan.
“The core of this operation is efficiency. We’ll focus on targeting the gems with minimal personnel, minimizing battle time, and reducing the loss of edible parts.”
“Is that even possible?”
After I explained how to locate the monster’s gem, Meursault looked skeptical.
“I’ve never heard of a pattern in the gem’s location before. Did you learn this back in the slums?”
I’ve used the ‘slums’ explanation enough. Maybe it’s time to change my story.
“No, my mother taught me.”
“Ah, Lady Luna Moon… She was a hero of the subjugation battles, so it’s likely she had her own methods.”
Well, Luna Moon was a player, so that’s not entirely wrong. Although her game was a dating sim.
‘…It’s a bit concerning that a dating sim player ended up as a hero of the subjugation battles.’
The title ‘Hero of the Subjugation Battles’ is a title given in the Safe Zone. It’s not the kind of title you’d expect for a dating sim player. Of course, given that subjugation battles happen annually, it wouldn’t be surprising if at least one soldier had earned that title. But the fact that Luna Moon, a
player, was given that title makes me wonder if there’s more to her.
“Even if Lady Luna Moon taught you, we’ll need to verify it. I can’t risk the soldiers’ lives without testing it first.”
“You’re right. I was planning to go out on a hunt before the subjugation battle anyway.”
The Commander had previously denied my request to go hunting, but now that I’d proven my abilities, he’d likely allow it.
“By the way, how’s the development of the combat rations going?”
I’d tasked the Head of the Zone Security Research Institute with developing portable combat rations. Since my conversation with Daphne, Meursault had been in regular contact with the head.
“I was just about to inform you.”
“Any progress?”
“Yes. They focused on making something even young soldiers could carry. It’s not finished yet, but I happen to have a prototype with me.”
Meursault pulled out the prototype.
“…Is that star candy?”
Sitting in the palm of Meursault’s hand was something that looked like star candy. It was bigger than the star candy I was familiar with, and it didn’t seem to be primarily made of sugar.
“How did you know?”
“How did I know what?”
“The name of this combat ration is ‘Star Candy.’”
“It’s not actual candy, is it?”
“The main ingredient is protein, but it also includes carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and other nutrients. Due to the nature of high-temperature dried foods, it’s still quite hard, so they chose this shape to make it easier to break with your teeth.”
“Hmm. Have you tried it?”
“At least it doesn’t taste like a boot.”
So, the taste is still bad, but not as bad as before, huh?
‘But this is better than I expected.’
When players bring food to their mouths, it turns into blue particles and gets absorbed into their bodies. Through various experiments, I discovered that the food needs to be bite-sized for this process to work. For example, even if we can heal ourselves by eating monster meat, just holding it near our mouths won’t make it turn into particles and be absorbed.
In that sense, this star candy, which is bite-sized, is very suitable for us players. It seems they made it small because it’s meant for young soldiers, but it’s perfect.
“You seem pleased.”
“Yeah. Can we get more of these? It would be good to test both the gem detection method and the star candy’s effectiveness.”
“I’ll inform the head of the research institute.”
Meursault handles things so well, it’s really convenient.
With the combat rations taken care of by Meursault and the Commander likely to approve my hunting request…
‘I’ll need to call him too.’
After all, for every competent NPC, there has to be an incompetent player to keep the balance of the world. That player would be BangguseokYeoBo.