A Veteran Player is Needed in the Apocalypse

Chapter 53: Intersection

“So… the company BangguseokYeoBo’s sister worked for is my mother’s company?”

And my mother’s company is the one that created the first series of the game *Safe Zone*, which I’ve now possessed?

All of this was hard to process, but the first thing I asked BangguseokYeoBo was this:

“You possessed the game made by your sister’s company. Isn’t that strange to you?”

I was completely shaken for a moment, thinking that my mother might be involved. But this guy? He didn’t seem phased at all despite knowing from the beginning that he’d possessed a game related to his sister. I couldn’t believe it, so I asked him, but BangguseokYeoBo replied with his usual dumb, clueless expression, completely devoid of malice.

“Our sister’s company made the *first* series, though? *Safe Zone Online* is about the 14th series, I think?”

The series number didn’t seem all that relevant…

“Did you ever think that maybe you possessed the game because it was made by your sister?”

“It wasn’t made by my sister.”

What?

“Didn’t you just say your sister worked at the Salvation Project?”

“Yeah, she worked at the company, but I don’t think she was involved in making the game. My sister’s a doctor.”

“A doctor?”

“Didn’t I tell you I was originally sick?”

“And what does that have to do with anything?”

“My sister became a doctor to fix me. But then she suddenly started working for a game company, and yeah, I thought that was weird.”

Well… this guy wasn’t going to be of any help.

If the only reaction he had to his doctor sister working at a game company was, “That’s odd,” then it was no surprise he didn’t think much about possessing a game made by that same company.

But that means… did my mother hire a doctor for the game company?

“Why would a game company need a doctor?”

“She said she did consulting work on medical stuff. I didn’t ask for more details.”

“…”

I didn’t know much about my mother’s company either, so it wasn’t surprising BangguseokYeoBo wouldn’t know much about his sister’s workplace.

‘Since Luna Moon had my mother’s face, I figured there might be some connection…’

I’d already speculated that the game *Safe Zone* could be a replica of this world.

Like someone had created a gateway connecting this world to the game.

‘Maybe that someone was my mother’s company.’

It might actually be a relief.

If Luna Moon had my mother’s face, it wasn’t because my mother and Luna Moon were the same person.

Thinking it was just because the game’s creator used my mother’s face for a character was a bit easier to swallow.

The only thing I knew for certain was that our possession wasn’t a coincidence.

At least, for me and BangguseokYeoBo, we had a deep connection to this game.

As for the others, I wasn’t sure.

After some thought, I spoke.

“My family worked for that company, too.”

I decided it was too dangerous to tell BangguseokYeoBo directly that it was my mother’s company, so I only hinted that one of my family members was connected to it.

“What? Really?”

BangguseokYeoBo looked shocked, and his expression finally turned serious.

“Then… is our possession related to that company?”

Yeah, that’s right, now we’re getting somewhere.

“It’s too much of a coincidence to say it’s unrelated. We’ll have to figure out exactly how it influenced our possession from here on out.”

“How are you going to find out?”

“TaejongTaeseBeyonce is with us. I’ll also ask the other players if they know anything about the Salvation Project.”

“Oh, right, you said you can use the chat system?”

I wondered how many people would know about the Salvation Project.

There might be players like me who knew about the Salvation Project but didn’t realize its connection to the game.

Since most of the players were game addicts, I imagined many wouldn’t even know where their family members worked.

Some might be as clueless as BangguseokYeoBo.

And maybe… some already had suspicions about why they had been possessed.

I’d only managed to identify and connect with a tiny fraction of the players with access to the system, after all.

“If there’s a common thread among the players… we might be able to figure out why we were possessed, and maybe even how to get back.”

I added the part about returning in an attempt to boost morale, but BangguseokYeoBo’s expression remained dark.

“A way… to return?”

“What? Is there a problem?”

“To be honest, I don’t really want to go back.”

“What?”

Come to think of it, when we’d speculated that dying might send us back, he’d hesitated.

Not because he was worried about something going wrong, but because he was deciding whether or not he *wanted* to go back.

I suppose it made sense, considering he said he had been sick.

And I couldn’t blame him. I wasn’t exactly eager to return to reality either, where I’d suffered from chronic dopamine deficiency.

Now that I think about it, even TaejongTaeseBeyonce was happy about being possessed and able to tackle the game.

As for Tbalrom… I think he *did* want to go back, though.

“But didn’t you say your sister became a doctor just to cure you? You seem close to your family. Wouldn’t it be better to go back than to die some pointless death here?”

“If I go back, I won’t live long.”

Damn.

I didn’t want to hear such heavy stuff right now.

“I’ll live longer if I survive the Second Apocalypse in this body.”

“R-really…?”

I started to wonder if there might be another common factor among the players who had been possessed.

Maybe they were people who found life in this world more bearable than in the real one.

—

* * *

The first thing to greet Plato upon his return home, six years after graduating from the Academy, was Anton’s furious shouting.

“What in the world did you do during the graduation speech?”

Anton’s disheveled appearance suggested he’d rushed over in a hurry.

Plato didn’t comment on his father’s state and replied calmly.

“If you were that curious, you could’ve come to the graduation ceremony.”

Anton, now flushed with anger, shouted in frustration.

“You fool! I already heard about it from Lord Haydam!”

“Did you meet Lord Haydam?”

Plato, who had been slightly surprised, let out a faint smile and nodded.

“If you had such an important appointment, it’s no wonder you couldn’t make it to the graduation. I understand.”

“This, this brat…”

Anton was at a loss for words, his face clearly showing how dumbfounded he was. But realizing that getting angry would only hurt himself, he took a deep breath and collapsed onto the living room sofa.

“…I heard you received a standing ovation during your graduation speech?”

“Did Lord Haydam tell you that?”

“Yes. He said he regrets not being able to see it in person.”

Plato looked quite pleased to hear that Haydam had praised him to his father, Anton.

“So it’s true that you got a standing ovation. I thought you didn’t get along with your peers?”

“Well, when it comes to our loyalty to the Zone, we all share the same feelings.”

At that, Anton’s brows furrowed slightly.

“You gave a speech… about loyalty to the Zone?”

“Yes.”

Anton had assumed that Plato’s speech would be some shallow nonsense about pledging loyalty to Lord Haydam, so hearing this was unexpected—and ominous.

It meant that Plato had made a highly political speech at a graduation ceremony where the Commander had come to give the congratulatory address.

But his son didn’t seem to be in trouble.

And more importantly, Anton figured Haydam must have put him up to it, so there was no chance his son would have upset the Commander.

“What kind of speech got you a standing ovation?”

“I said that from now on, all 11-year-old children, not just the children of a few officers or sponsored kids, should be admitted into the Academy.”

“What?!”

It wasn’t just the Commander who attended these graduation ceremonies. The elite officers who held power over the Zone were also present.

And in front of these elites, Plato had criticized the privileges they and their children enjoyed?

And the one who stood at the top of this elite class was his own son?

‘That… that Haydam bastard!’

Anton realized right away that this was all part of Haydam’s strategy.

Banning officers from joining the suppression operations had been an attempt to sideline them.

But to think he would go so far as to use the children of the very people he wanted to sideline and rebel against them so openly.

The fact that Plato had received a standing ovation from the cadets meant that the other graduates had agreed with him.

The officers had witnessed their own children and sponsored cadets standing up in support of Plato’s proposal, making it nearly impossible for them to claim it was a political attack by Haydam.

“And what about His Excellency? What did he say?”

“His Excellency, of course, supported our proposal. He said that after the suppression operations, admissions to the Academy will be based on exams, not recommendations. All 11-year-old children in the Zone will be eligible to apply.”

“What?! That decision was made so easily?”

“He asked if there were any objections, but no one raised any.”

“Unbelievable…”

Anton finally understood what Haydam had meant when he said he’d regret not attending the graduation.

If Anton had been there, this wouldn’t have passed so smoothly.

Anton had sponsored quite a few children.

For officers, ensuring their own children became officers was important, but sponsoring other children to become officers was equally critical.

If a sponsored child became an officer, they would naturally join the sponsor’s faction. That child could then sponsor another orphan, creating a cycle that strengthened the faction’s power over time.

This was the system that maintained factions in the Zone.

And Haydam had shattered it with a single graduation speech—using Anton’s own son to do it.

‘To think he would bleed my son dry for nothing more than a lieutenant position…!’

At this rate, both Anton and Plato would become targets of the other officers.

Of course, if Haydam backed them, there would be nothing to worry about. But could Haydam be trusted to truly protect them?

Anton couldn’t shake the words of Darling Outsider, the boy who had warned him.

—

**- Are you really sure about making Plato your lieutenant? Did you double-check? Haydam’s the type to trick someone with a lieutenant position and leave them hanging.**

—

‘I knew it… I can’t trust him. I need to set up some safeguards.’

The one silver lining was that the Academy’s admission process had changed from recommendation to exam.

It wasn’t as though they were banning child sponsorship entirely or rejecting the children of officers from enrolling, so there were still opportunities.

After all, just because there was an exam didn’t mean there couldn’t be corruption.

‘It wouldn’t be difficult to sway a few professors to my side.’

But it seemed the universe was laughing at Anton’s plans.

A few days later, the Commander announced who would oversee the first Academy entrance exam.

“The examiner for the first entrance exam will be… Haydam.”