Chapter 143
It took a moment for the words that reached me to sink in.
I stared blankly at Je Hyeon-oh for a few seconds before grabbing his wrist.
When I pulled with all my might, he came along obediently.
I dragged him straight into the room and slammed the door shut.
Je Hyeon-oh stood by the door, exactly where I had pulled him.
Unlike the weight of the words he had just uttered, his face remained composed.
Meanwhile, my heart was racing wildly from the shock.
I pulled out my phone and showed it to him.
When I showed him the screen to ask if it was okay for Samra to hear, Je Hyeon-oh replied simply.
"I don’t care."
My lips parted slightly, and I asked in a trembling voice.
"What do you mean by that? That it’s not an infection?"
Je Hyeon-oh merely looked at me with eyes that said exactly what he meant.
I almost resented his personality, which made speaking feel like a chore.
But my resentment wasn’t going to suddenly transform him into a helpful, explanatory crow.
I tried to process the given information as calmly as possible.
"Your current human form... you used an item, right?"
Je Hyeon-oh gave a slight nod.
That meant his true essence was a body transformed into metal.
If so, why had everyone judged him to be an infected- why had Ham Ji-wol, the Research and Analysis Division, and even Samra concluded that?
’Thinking about it, it was a situation where errors were inevitable...’
Je Hyeon-oh had never reported anything about <Zero> to the Era Administration, and every other compatible person who entered < Zero> afterward had died.
Since the sole survivor provided no information, the Era Administration couldn’t obtain any data on <Zero>.
Furthermore, infected individuals were originally required to stay in the research department for a certain period to cooperate with biological experiments for virus research.
Typically, vaccines and cures were developed based on this.
However, Je Hyeon-oh refused to let anyone lay a single finger on his body and even attacked researchers who became bothersome.
Samra had no choice but to judge based on the big data of other trials, and thus defined Je Hyeon-oh as an infected.
Since he himself said nothing about it, the wrong judgment simply solidified.
If Samra had heard Je Hyeon-oh’s statement just now, its CPU would probably feel like it was burning up.
Because it had researched various things based on the premise that Je Hyeon-oh was infected.
The fact that the laws of the trials didn’t apply to Je Hyeon-oh was attributed to the severity of his infection.
But come to think of it, there wasn’t a single case in the entire world of an infected so severely transformed as Je Hyeon-oh entering another trial.
Once transformation progressed to that extent, they became highly aggressive and lost all reason.
Like the zombies of Deadzone.
Until now, Je Hyeon-oh had been regarded as a special exception who retained his reason, but it was far more natural if he had never been infected in the first place.
That wasn’t the only strange thing. When one is infected by the virus, characteristics of that specific trial manifest in the infected.
However, the background and setting of <Zero> that I knew didn’t particularly align with Je Hyeon-oh’s black metal.
After processing all these thoughts, I reached a clear conclusion.
’Je Hyeon-oh is not infected.’
Then, inevitably, I arrived at a new question.
What transformed his body?
Since it wasn’t an infection, it couldn’t be an item from <Zero> either.
Knowing he probably wouldn’t answer, I spoke anyway.
"Then what caused your body to change, Lieutenant Colonel?"
As expected, there was no answer from Je Hyeon-oh.
I grit my teeth.
More than what had changed his body, other thoughts kept surfacing more strongly.
I had seen him self-harm, tearing at his metal wings.
Despite suffering so much, Je Hyeon-oh...
"I like <Zero>, Goyo."
He had said he liked <Zero>.
Until now, I had inwardly guessed that his incomprehensible affection was an effect of the infection.
But if he wasn’t infected, why did he like <Zero>?
Why?
When it had wrecked both his body and mind so miserably.
Could it be that the god Je Hyeon-oh is searching for is in <Zero>?
If his reason for wanting me to enter <Zero> with him was to meet that god...
No!
I can never allow that.
My subordinate must look only at me.
Even if it is out of hatred.
The thoughts racing through my mind were agonizing.
I tried to shake off the mindset of a social misfit, but it was useless.
The best I could do was not voice these thoughts.
I lowered my head deeply and closed my eyes.
It was to hide the changed color of my pupils.
But Je Hveon-oh didn’t leave me alone.
"Goyo."
A voice I wasn’t yet used to called me.
I answered with my eyes tightly shut.
"Yes."
"Why are you acting like that?"
"Because I feel like I’m going to say something strange."
I felt the presence of the person who had been standing by the door approach.
Then, a light tap on my chest.
Because it was a human hand and not a metal one, the fingertips were rounded and not cold.
Feeling a sense of unfamiliarity, I had no choice but to open my eyes.
Looking down at me, Je Hyeon-oh looked strangely satisfied for some reason.
Looking into those eyes, which were dark purple without golden pupils, the words I couldn’t hold back burst out.
"Please tell me why your body changed. If you just drop hints like this and say nothing, I feel like I’ll spend the whole day thinking about only this..."
"That’s good."
"Lieutenant Colonel!"
He said the one thing I least wanted to hear right now.
"I’lI tell you once we enter <Zero>."
"No."
I glared at him, struggling not to be swept away by the surging emotions.
"Tell me now."
Instead of answering, Je Hyeon-oh simply curved the edges of his eyes above his mask.
The moment I saw that smile, I finally let it slip.
"I’m the master."
And I regretted it immediately.
’I’m crazy.’
I had lost to the social misfit in me.
I immediately bowed my head and apologized to Je Hyeon-oh.
"I’m sorry."
A low laugh fell over the back of my head.
He was laughing. As if he genuinely found it amusing and enjoyable.
’Why is he laughing?’
Even if he wasn’t infected in <Zero>, it seemed certain that his mind was broken.
I looked at him as he continued to laugh silently, then shifted my gaze away.
I figured Je Hyeon-oh was partly to blame for my insane outburst.
I didn’t want to rush into <Zero> while facing the possibility of losing my subordinate.
I wanted to enter after knowing everything about Je Hyeon-oh from A to Z-exactly what transformed his body and what this god he was searching for actually was.
Honestly, looking at the cases of Dominic or ■■■, I didn’t think the god Je Hyeon-oh was looking for would be kind to a subordinate.
Of course, that god might have more star fragments than I do.
’I can just earn them in the future.’
I didn’t know how to earn star fragments yet... and I didn’t know how to open a cosmic bank account...
Still, considering future value, I was confident I could become greater than the god Je Hyeon-oh was searching for.
As I thought about the subordinate items I had left in my Galactic Trade Station shopping cart, Je Hyeon-oh called me.
"Goyo."
"Yes...?"
"Let’s go."
In the end, I found out nothing other than the fact that Je Hyeon-oh was not an infected.
I followed behind him with a slightly gloomy mood.
What should I do to get him to tell me more?
There were too many things I was curious about.
’I want to know why he wears the Crow Set, too!’
I wondered why he bothered wearing the Crow Set when he had an item that allowed him to take a human form.
I suspected there were effects other than appearance changes or stat corrections, but since the only item description I had read was for the Crow Gloves, I couldn’t guess.
Thinking of about a hundred questions I wanted to dig out, I headed to the underground parking lot with Je Hyeon-oh.
However, on the way to the parking lot, no one recognized him.
Passersby only glanced at him as if seeing a stranger.
Everyone only knew Je Hyeon-oh with the metal hand.
It seemed extremely rare for Je Hyeon-oh to use the human-form item.
The car for the outing was a black sedan.
It looked ordinary on the outside, but since it was operated by the Era Administration for military use, it had deep tinting and seamless bulletproof armor surrounding the entire chassis.
While pondering how to pry more information out of Je Hyeon-oh, I entered my home address into the navigation system.
And then, I spent a period of time so intense that it made me forget all my thoughts...
Screech-
The sedan left skid marks as it parallel parked perfectly, as if fitting into a block.
Finally getting out of the car, I gripped the passenger door with trembling hands.
At this moment, there was someone I missed desperately.
’Captain Kwak!’
I missed Kwak Han-mook, who drove stably, performing drifts even among zombies.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call Kwak Han-mook a Formula One driver.
And Je Hyeon-oh was a Formula One driver in a bad way...
I never wanted to ride in a car driven by him ever again.
As I stood there feeling as if the ground were dancing, Je Hyeon-oh, who had stepped out of the driver’s seat, looked at me with questioning eyes.
I belatedly remembered that he was a Crow who flew like a fighter jet.
I just didn’t know he drove cars like a fighter jet too.
I desperately needed the physical corrections provided in the trials.
I barely put strength into my shaking legs and walked.
The building I lived in was quiet because there weren’t many tenants.
It was relatively new and the rent wasn’t bad, but strangely, the number of tenants had dropped sharply after the landlord changed.
The neighborhood itself was quiet to begin with.
I pressed the passcode and opened the iron door.
I looked around the familiar space with an unfamiliar feeling.
In reality, I had only been away from home for a few months. Yet, it felt as if I had returned after several years.
It was probably because of the time spent in the trials.
The studio apartment, with a reasonably large space separating the living room and bedroom, was where I had lived in hiding for the past four years.
A large cabinet covered with a cloth to hide its contents took up one entire wall of the living room, and a small single-person table sat in the corner.
In the bedroom, there was a bed, a computer, a small wardrobe, and one chest of drawers. That was the extent of my furniture.
I think I can just take some clothes and dispose of the rest...
I stared blankly at the covered cabinet before turning around.
Perhaps because he was tall, Je Hyeon-oh seemed to fill the room up to the ceiling the moment he stepped inside.
With his hands hanging down, he habitually moved his fingers a couple of times as if playing a piano.
I asked with a bit of ulterior motive.
"Would you like a glass of water?"
At that, Je Hyeon-oh looked at me with an expression that surely would have displayed a ’^^’ emoticon if he were wearing goggles.
I quietly entered the bedroom.
Samra had said it was instructed not to touch anything other than simple cleaning, and indeed, everything was exactly as it was.
I picked up the phone that had fallen next to the computer chair.
I had disappeared for seven days starting from February 29th, the day of the Creator’s final broadcast.
Then, on March 7th, I entered The Factory and met Mo Hae-in.
The memories of those seven days were a complete blank.
I couldn’t find a single clue as to what I had done.
Thinking of the distant past, I plugged the dead phone into the charger and turned it on.
I didn’t think there would be a flood of missed contacts...?
Messages popped up in the preview. They were all from the same person.
I hesitated before checking the messages.
***
February 29, 20XX
SGY:
Player, this is Sa Gong-yeon from Day News.
I am contacting you again to see if an interview might be possible.
Since this is a planned interview themed around e-sports legends, I truly wish to conduct it with you.
I will adjust the time and method entirely to your convenience. Please, just give me one chance.
Also, I sincerely wish you a happy birthday. I hope you have a wonderful day.
***
It was Reporter Sa Gong-yeon from Day News.
I had never encountered the news agency Day News or the reporter Sa Gong-yeon during my time as a player.
Reporter Sa Gong-yeon started contacting me after I retired.
For the past four years, he sent interview requests every time I was about to forget him, and even when all other reporters had gone silent, he alone continued his one-sided contact.
I had left him alone without blocking him, curious about how long he would remember me and keep contacting me.
’But why did he send so many messages?’
From February 29th, the day I disappeared, until March 6th, messages came every single day.
As I read them one by one, my face hardened.
***
March 1, 20XX
SGY:
Player, this is Sa Gong-yeon from Day News. Where are you right now?
***
March 2, 20XX
SGY:
Player, where are you?
***
March 3, 20XX
SGY:
Player??
***
March 4, 20XX
SGY:
Playerwhereareyouplayerplayerplayerplayerplayerplayer
***
Strange messages continued until March 6th, and then on March 7th, the day I entered the factory.
A message arrived that marked the end of the bizarre contact.
***
March 7,20XX
SGY:
Player! This is Sa Gong-yeon from Day News.
I am so happy to think that I will be able to see you in various forms from now on.
As a fan, I will capture the most beautiful and brilliant version of you. Thank you.
***
It was a message that arrived at too coincidental a timing to be dismissed as mere nonsense.
Just as I was thinking that the content was too ominous to ignore...
A new message arrived.
***
SGY:
This is Sa Gong-yeon from Day News. You’ve finally read my messages!
I am greatly looking forward to finally being able to interview you.
The theme of the planned interview has been changed.
I’m sure you will find it interesting and amusing as well.
Ah, I suppose you’d prefer a different title than ’Player’ now?
***
After a short pause, the final message flew in.
I look forward to seeing you soon, Little Lamb!