A Veteran Player is Needed in the Apocalypse

Chapter 77. Divorce (3)

“……”

“……”

The parlor was silent.

No one spoke first.

I stared blankly at the god sitting across from me.

‘I expected this… but seeing it in person still surprises me.’

A white dress reminiscent of a funeral shroud.

It made sense given that the Love Zone was a place where Eastern and Western cultures blended in peculiar ways.

The only thing I couldn’t understand was the meteorite earring dangling from her ear.

‘She entered my zone… and didn’t even put it in her inventory?’

The only thing I had demanded when I sent OwlEyes back to the Love Zone was simple:

If they wanted to stop the Second Apocalypse, they had to bring me a meteorite item.

…Though, I think I might have said it in a slightly softer tone.

In any case, I had pretty much demanded the meteorite item outright through the god’s messenger.

‘I thought she’d make a bold choice, but…’

She could have ignored my words, yet here she was, standing before me, boldly wearing the meteorite item.

“…So, why isn’t anyone saying anything?”

Unable to endure the silence, Meursault was the first to speak.

After glancing between me and the commander, Meursault, unable to suppress his curiosity, asked cautiously.

“I heard… that the lady personally sought out Lord Haydam. Is that correct?”

The god only responded to Meursault’s question with an enigmatic smile and a nod.

As if taking the nod to mean that he could ask anything, Meursault leaned in closer to the god and asked abruptly.

“By any chance, what’s your relationship with Lord Haydam…?”

“Meursault.”

I called his name, implying he should stop, and Meursault gave me a hurt look.

“I mean, considering the mysterious guest has come from the Love Zone, it’s fair to ask what kind of relationship they have, right?”

Mysterious guest from the Love Zone, my foot.

Even if there wasn’t much interaction between Safe Zones, he should still know the names of other zones.

He was acting like some middle-aged guy who couldn’t help but try to set up young people together.

“Father.”

I glanced at the commander, signaling that maybe we should get Meursault out of here. The commander nodded and said,

“I, too, came from another zone and met Luna Moon, so it’s not unusual.”

These guys, they don’t understand a thing.

Now that I think about it, Meursault has been in love with Daphne his entire life, despite never even sharing a cup of tea with her. And the commander, despite being married, was a hopeless romantic who kept saying he’d take responsibility for the woman Luna Moon entrusted to him.

It’s probably because they came from dating sim backgrounds—they’re not much help in serious conversations like this.

“We’ll talk for a bit, so why don’t you both step outside…?”

“That’s not difficult.”

“Ah… Apologies. We didn’t realize we were being tactless.”

I was sure of it—they were messing with me on purpose.

“Hurry up and get out, Meursault.”

“Just in case, I’ll leave the door open.”

“Is he out of his mind…?”

After flipping Meursault off and finally kicking him out, I heard a small chuckle.

It was the god laughing.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing…”

When I asked in Korean, the god answered in Korean as well.

“I think I misunderstood you.”

“What misunderstanding?”

“I thought you were a hopeless psychopath.”

What?

I mean, I figured she thought that about me, but…

For her to say it to my face now… did she change her mind?

“I didn’t expect you to call Commander Hayden ‘father’ so affectionately. And it seems you haven’t poisoned Meursault, either.”

It wasn’t just a jab about me pretending to play family with NPCs.

It sounded more like a relieved muttering, as if she had found some kind of hope.

“You didn’t act like this in the original playthrough. Why did you spare both of them?”

“Because I need them.”

“So, if someone’s necessary, you don’t harm them. Is that your rule?”

I hadn’t really thought of it as a rule, but since the god asked with such a serious expression, I gave a small nod.

“Well… yeah.”

“If that’s the case, I guess I don’t need to be afraid of you right now.”

I didn’t know what she was getting at, but it seemed like after seeing me interact with the Cola Zone NPCs, she realized I wasn’t exactly what she thought I’d be.

At least she had concluded that I wasn’t a complete psychopath.

“Why would you be afraid of me? I don’t harm players. I even sent your messenger back alive, didn’t I?”

“That was because ‘you needed to.’”

With her own insight, she left a short comment and smiled faintly.

“To be honest, when my messenger told me you’d already taken control of the military, it was… terrifying.”

“Taken control of the military? Did OwlEyes say that?”

“Yeah. He said you were commanding the troops instead of the commander, so I thought you’d already killed both the commander and Meursault. Looks like my messenger misunderstood something.”

That OwlEyes must have exaggerated quite a bit when he returned to the Love Zone.

At least the intimidation worked.

As I quietly looked at the god, I spoke.

“You’re pretty much what I expected.”

At my words, the god widened her eyes in surprise.

“I’m what you expected? How did you expect me to be?”

“I thought you’d be bold. Though, I didn’t expect you to come in person. But…”

Leaning my chin on the armrest, I asked,

“Didn’t your messenger convey any other message?”

“Other message?”

“They must have delivered something more important.”

“Ah… You mean that. I’m still not sure how to take it, but…”

The god lowered her gaze for a moment and muttered softly,

“Special privilege for the conqueror of all zones…”

Smoothly pronouncing the eight or so syllables, like rolling marbles in her mouth, the god then looked at me and asked.

“DopamineAddict. Is it true that you can stop the Second Apocalypse?”

“It’s true, of course.”

Without changing my expression, I easily lied, but then another voice, not the god’s, pierced my mind.

[You really have no conscience…]

‘…!’

I froze for a moment at the sudden voice but soon realized it was Luna’s.

‘So, you can send telepathy now?’

I wondered if she could hear my thoughts, so I tested it by mumbling inwardly, and thankfully, Luna responded.

[It’s because there are other meteorites nearby.]

‘Other meteorites? Those earrings?’

[Yeah. The more meteorites gather, the more I can use my true power.]

Her… true power?

The small, squishy, fluffy little thing I’ve seen until now didn’t seem like her true form.

‘So that wasn’t your true form?’

[Of course not! Like I told you, I was born long before you. I wasn’t always like this baby form.]

Hmm.

It did seem a bit too young to be something that was born over a decade ago.

So it wasn’t her true form?

Though, her mental age matches this size perfectly…

[Stop thinking rude things! I can hear everything now!]

While Luna was grumbling through telepathy, the god was silently staring at me, as if deep in thought.

After a long silence, the god finally spoke.

“You can stop the Second Apocalypse? Don’t lie.”

[This girl isn’t easily fooled.]

Well, if she had believed it right away, I would have been disappointed in its own way.

The god lifted her gaze and looked at me steadily, then started speaking calmly.

“If you collect nine meteorite items, you’ll gain the power to stop the Second Apocalypse… I can’t imagine the special privilege for the conqueror of all zones would be that vague. You must have received something more specific as a reward.”

“So, you think I lied about the content of the reward?”

[Even though you actually did…]
I heard Luna’s voice muttering as if she were the voice of my conscience, but I continued speaking.

“What do you think the conqueror’s privilege is, then?”

“At most, it’s probably something like a title or the ability to use certain items freely.”

[Sharp.]
I agreed that the god was sharper than I had expected.

I knew she wouldn’t believe what I said, but I hadn’t expected her to go so far as to make such an accurate guess.

‘At this point… it might be safe to hand over one meteorite item.’

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t plan on keeping all the meteorite items for myself.

I have no intention of becoming a target by being greedy.

The time for all the meteorite items to be in my hands would be after I dealt with that player from the Unicorn Zone.

So, my statement about not harming anyone unless necessary was true.

This girl was the first system-unlocked player I had encountered, aside from that player from the Unicorn Zone.

If I could skillfully persuade her to peacefully hand over ‘one of the meteorite items she had,’ that would be ideal.

[Wait! How did you know she had more than just the earring? Don’t tell me you can sense it too?]

Judging by Luna’s reaction, it seemed she could sense the presence of other meteorites.

Well, she did mention earlier that she could send something like telepathy when the meteorites were nearby.

Thanks to that, I knew that the god had more items besides the earring.

‘You used the plural when you said “meteorites.” Even if there are two earrings, I doubt you would have used the plural just for that.’

[Oh! You’re right…]
Luna kindly reconfirmed it for me, so it seemed the god currently possessed two meteorite items.

A pair of earrings from the Love Zone and…

‘Perhaps the pistol taken from HomeProtector.’

It would be best to try and receive the earrings if I were to take anything from her.

Having made my decision, I opened my mouth.

“God, you’re right in some ways. But there’s something you don’t know.”

“Something I don’t know?”

“In this world, there really is a ‘God’.”

[What?]

“What?”

Luna, why are you surprised too?

“What kind of nonsense is this now…”

The god smirked, clearly amused.

“Are you trying to reverse-strategize me when I’m in the middle of my Cult Strategy? You don’t seriously think I’m going to fall for that, do you?”

[What the heck.]
Luna also burst out in complaints.

[I thought you were going to say something profound when you mentioned a god, but it’s just another scam?]

‘It’s not a scam, it’s called strategy.’

“God.”

I added in a soft voice.

“Have you ever thought about why we were possessed in this world?”

Although she seemed skeptical of my question, the god answered me without hesitation.

“We possessed bodies when we visited the convenience store from the address you posted. Didn’t you possess someone at the store too?”

“That’s how we got possessed, not why.”

“You’re saying there’s a reason behind our possession?”

“Yes. To be precise, there was a ‘purpose’ behind it.”

“A purpose…?”

Even though she didn’t believe me, the god tilted her head slightly, intrigued by where I was going with this.

I smiled faintly and continued.

“The purpose of us being possessed in this world—was to stop its apocalypse.”

At that, the god let out a short laugh.

“To stop the apocalypse by possessing us? I could say something like that too.”

Whether she mocked me or not, I continued.

“You’re not just some ordinary player—you’ve already realized this world isn’t just a game, haven’t you?”

“…Of course, I know this isn’t just a simple game.”

When I said that as if I acknowledged her understanding, the god agreed without much resistance.

But that didn’t mean she accepted the existence of a god.

“But that doesn’t prove there’s a god.”

“Why do you think we weren’t simply possessed, but made to spend years strategizing in ‘Safe Zones’ identical to this world?”

When I posed the question, the god’s eyes wavered slightly, as if it was something she hadn’t deeply considered before.

“That was practice for saving this world from its apocalypse. The god of this world needed veteran players to save it.”

“Veteran players… were needed?”

“Exactly. And as a conqueror of all zones, I was given the power to stop the apocalypse.”

[Even though I know you’re just making things up, it still sounds convincing. That’s a talent too, I guess.]
After a moment of silence, the god responded with a still-smiling face.

“It sounded plausible, but I can’t believe that a god ‘possessed us’ because they needed us. Since you don’t know how my possession happened, I can’t accept the existence of your ‘god,’ so that’s unfortunate.”

Although she claimed she didn’t believe me, her smile had stiffened compared to before.

That meant it was time to drive the nail in.

I opened my mouth.

“You deliberately chose the Love Zone, didn’t you? Knowing you’d be possessed.”

“……!!”

At my words, the god looked at me with shocked eyes.