Chapter 97

It felt as if my brain had frozen at Dominic’s remark.

No, clothes, why…?

I blinked, feeling a little dumbfounded.

“Roasted Chestnut?”

I heard a puzzled voice. Then Dominic spoke again as if he had realized something belatedly.

“There are many people here, so that must be why. Let us go somewhere quiet.”

From the perspective of an alien slime, it seemed that the people from Field Team 3, excluding Kwak Hanmuk, were not beings with personalities.

Only after seeing my reaction did he seem to realize that he had to pay attention to those things.

However, even if we went somewhere quiet, there was still no way to take off Kwak Hanmuk’s clothes.

While wondering how to properly explain this to the Pudding Slime, I also wondered if I should just go to a bathhouse with Kwak Hanmuk or something.

‘No, but why does he want me to take off his clothes?’

It was not easy for a human to follow an alien’s way of thinking.

I followed behind Kwak Hanmuk, who had gone ahead, while thinking about how I could take off his clothes without making it seem perverted and making it feel natural.

The cafe located on the first floor of the building had quite a lot of people.

Amid the crowd of people wearing TRA uniforms, two employees were quickly making drinks and attending to customers.

Kwak Hanmuk and I stood at the end of the long line.

Standing behind the bustling crowd, I felt like I had become some kind of office worker.

‘Since coffee is basically an essential item for office workers.’

While feeling the mood of an office worker, the person standing in line ahead of Kwak Hanmuk and me turned around.

“……”

The man suddenly took out his phone, pretended to answer a call, and walked away somewhere.

I thought maybe he had remembered something urgent, but that was only the beginning.

The people in front of us glanced back repeatedly, then pretended not to notice us and disappeared one by one.

The cafe became empty in an instant.

“…?”

What was this?

Unlike me, who was flustered and looked around, Kwak Hanmuk calmly walked forward.

I was still bewildered, but I followed him for now.

Kwak Hanmuk went straight to the cake display case and looked down at the glass with an extremely serious expression.

His face was so solemn that, without realizing it, I moved beside him and looked at the display case as well.

‘There’s nothing unusual?’

There were delicious-looking cakes on display, along with plenty of snacks like muffins and cookies.

“Sigh……”

Kwak Hanmuk let out a long sigh.

With deep furrows forming between his brows, he asked me.

“How many should I buy?”

It seemed he was worried about what to choose. I offered a safe opinion.

“Uh…. Wouldn’t two be enough?”

As soon as I said that, another employee waiting nearby began taking desserts out of the display case as if they had been waiting for those words.

Two of every type of dessert.

Kwak Hanmuk acted as if he had no choice.

“Ah, what do I do about this? Once they take them out, I have to buy them.”

I knew Kwak Hanmuk was someone who ate a lot.

It was because even in Sla2Plate, he always ate three plates by himself.

But that amount was only what he ate while maintaining appearances. Kwak Hanmuk, who had revealed his true self, was even more powerful.

While I stared blankly at the desserts piling up like a mountain, Kwak Hanmuk, who had been checking the drink menu, said something I could hardly believe.

“Should I get an iced Americano…?”

I encouraged Kwak Hanmuk.

“You should get something sweet.”

“Ha…. If Chestnut says so…. A strawberry cream frappuccino, the largest size.”

So Captain Kwak really likes sweet things, I thought, and was about to order mine as well.

But Kwak Hanmuk continued his unfinished order without stopping.

“Change it to soy milk, add extra strawberries, add java chips twice, blend one portion and put the other portion on top, lots of whipped cream, and add chocolate drizzle too.”

Despite the lengthy custom order, the employee pressed the register buttons as if they were used to it.

“What about you, Chestnut?”

“Ah, I’ll just have an iced Americano…. A small one….”

I felt a little embarrassed being called Chestnut in front of the employee, but since I was the one receiving a treat, I quietly just ordered my drink.

After finishing payment and waiting for the packaging and drinks to be prepared, the two of us sat across from each other at a small table for a while.

Resting his chin on one hand, Kwak Hanmuk frowned deeply.

“The main office building got completely destroyed, so the Special Mission Team office got blown away too. I even brought my game console there.”

He grumbled that he had planned to have a match with hyung Goyo but it was ruined, and that he was going to charge CEO Cha ten times the price of the game console.

I had no idea that the owner of the game machine in the break room was Kwak Hanmuk.

And even if I played games with him, it probably wouldn’t be that fun….

Since I had almost never lost, unless we were playing as teammates, everyone generally didn’t like playing games with me.

I briefly fell into thoughts about games, then my gaze moved to Kwak Hanmuk’s wrist.

Even though he was outside the trial, he was still wearing the Byeokjomok prayer beads.

“What is it, Chestnut-ah?”

Kwak Hanmuk noticed my gaze and spoke to me, so I took the opportunity to ask.

“Captain Kwak. Do you always wear the prayer beads even if you don’t use them?”

“Yeah.”

“May I ask why?”

Kwak Hanmuk was not the type of person who would deliberately do something against TRA regulations.

There must have been a clear reason why the higher-ups tolerated him wearing the item.

I was curious about information I had never been able to see in the game. I wanted to know more about the Kwak Hanmuk of reality.

At my question, Kwak Hanmuk’s expression became serious.

Then he lowered his voice considerably and said.

“I went to a Buddhist kindergarten, you know.”

“……”

I had forgotten that Kwak Hanmuk was not someone who was easy to deal with in this area.

Unable to get anything worthwhile out of my question, I quietly waited for the drinks while leaving Kwak Hanmuk chuckling.

When we divided up the packaged desserts, there really was a mountain of them.

“Do you always eat like this?”

“No?”

I wondered if today really was a special occasion, but Kwak Hanmuk immediately corrected me.

“I only bought a little today. I’m on a diet, you know.”

“Ah. A little….”

Considering Kwak Hanmuk’s height, I wondered if this amount of fuel was actually necessary, but the heaviness being transmitted through both my hands was still surprising.

As Kwak Hanmuk headed toward the rooftop, he casually tossed out a comment.

“Sometimes I buy a whole cake with Lieutenant Colonel Je too. One cake per person.”

Of course, to me, that was a very big deal.

“…Lieutenant Colonel Je!?”

Since he never ate anything in the trials, I thought it had become impossible for him to consume food because of the infection.

But that wasn’t the case.

I stared wide-eyed in shock, and Kwak Hanmuk laughed out loud.

“Want to have snacks with Lieutenant Colonel Je next time too?”

“Yes….”

I was also incredibly curious about what his face looked like after taking off the gas mask.

I hoped that Kwak Hanmuk would let me join their snack time with Je Hyun-oh.

The rooftop was empty, just as Kwak Hanmuk had said.

The people from the main office had evacuated to the Gyeonggi Regional Office and were sharing buildings.

It felt a little strange that only Kwak Hanmuk and I, outsiders who had rolled in, were occupying the rooftop.

Kwak Hanmuk, carrying the mountain of desserts, stared at somewhere for a moment.

Then he changed direction and headed toward the area with outdoor tables and chairs.

I checked the place Kwak Hanmuk had been looking at.

‘There’s only an ashtray?’

I was briefly puzzled, but soon became distracted by the desserts in both hands and forgot about it.

I successfully carried the desserts to the table without incident.

After that, Kwak Hanmuk and I ate countless cakes, cookies, and other things while chatting about trivial matters.

I was curious about things I couldn’t know from the game, so I asked him various questions.

Kwak Hanmuk only answered the things he wanted to answer, giving information selectively.

Even so, I learned quite a lot, though most of it was small and miscellaneous information.

That he liked sweet snacks, that when he went down to Busan because of Clean3 he was disappointed because he couldn’t buy Daejeo salty tomatoes, that he grew up in a strict environment when he was young, and that his birthday was November 19th.

When Kwak Hanmuk swallowed the last cookie and stole a sip of my iced Americano.

As I took back the cup with the sticky moisture on it, he called my name.

“Goyo.”

“Yes, Captain Kwak.”

Even after calling me, Kwak Hanmuk remained silent for quite a long time.

He could not easily part his lips.

It was about the time the sun was beginning to set. In the slanting sunlight, Kwak Hanmuk asked me.

“You have something to say, right?”

I nodded. But I also couldn’t bring myself to speak easily.

In the end, Kwak Hanmuk asked first.

“You… what are you?”

It was a question I didn’t know the answer to either.

Because I myself didn’t properly know what I was.

Until only a short while ago, I had known myself clearly.

I was a failure and a runaway.

But overnight, far too many things changed.

After the Creator’s final broadcast ended and the day I entered , my quiet daily life faced a great upheaval.

As the world that had been limited to a studio apartment for the past four years expanded, I also ended up losing sight of myself.

The current me was ambiguous to call a soldier belonging to TRA, or the young god of Earth.

However, this was only my own thought, and I had already prepared an excuse to tell Kwak Hanmuk.

“If I say this, you’ll probably want to put me in a psychiatric hospital.”

I continued carefully and cautiously.

“I think I’m connected to the system….”

“The system that appears when you enter the trials?”

“…Yes.”

“Wow.”

After letting out a short exclamation—or perhaps a sigh—Kwak Hanmuk picked up my already empty cup again.

Only after opening the lid and pouring the ice into his mouth, then chewing it with his teeth, did he speak again.

“The ability you used when fighting the Flame Dragon? You brought up the system window. The veil was your ability too, right?”

His eyes clearly told me to stop with the ridiculous excuse that it was an item.

Since I had no intention of lying any further, I answered honestly.

“Yes…. They’re abilities I gained after becoming connected to the system.”

“That slime?”

Kwak Hanmuk glanced toward my shoulder.

There was Dominic there, politely listening to the conversation and waiting for the moment when I would take off Kwak Hanmuk’s clothes.

There was no point in saying he couldn’t see him again at this point.

I answered calmly.

“It’s also related to the system’s abilities.”

“Goyo, lower your head toward me.”

When he gestured, I lowered my head in confusion.

Smack! One bead of the prayer beads flew over and struck me right on the head.

“Chestnut needs a little smack on the head.”

It hurt enough that tears pricked my eyes. I apologized, saying I was sorry.

After hitting me two more times in succession, Kwak Hanmuk said.

“A trainee whose head isn’t even dry yet, talking to a great Captain like that, huh?”

After pinching my cheek once as well, Kwak Hanmuk generously forgave my lies.

Having more or less accepted the Pudding Slime, Kwak Hanmuk asked other questions.

“The times your eyes turn gold too?”

“Yes….”

“Was that why during the fight with the Flame Dragon too?”

I couldn’t remember the moment when I defeated Infernum very well, but I answered that it was probably the same.

“Ha, this is driving me crazy.”

Kwak Hanmuk covered his eyes with his hand for a moment, then looked at me again and asked.

“After the Sla2Plate ending finished, the reason only you came out late.”

From DeZonDeal onward, whenever it approached the true ending, everything around me disappeared.

I always watched the ending with only myself and the NPCs remaining.

Je Hyun-oh and the Captains had already chosen their items and came outside along with the closure of the trial, but for some reason, I was nowhere to be seen.

It was the exact same pattern as during Clean3.

He said that I came out late at the moment when the area around Dosan Park was about to become a wasteland.

After hearing Kwak Hanmuk’s story, I figured it must have been because of Dominic.

However, since I didn’t remember either, I just vaguely answered.

“Uh, that…. I don’t know either.”

Kwak Hanmuk silently stared at me for a while.

As the silence stretched on, I waited anxiously. It felt like my mouth was drying up.

“You really don’t know?”

“Yes….”

After staring at me, frozen stiff, Kwak Hanmuk suddenly said.

“Chestnut, should I tell you a secret too?”

I didn’t know what it was, but I was curious, so I answered yes for now.

I thought he might say that he went to a Buddhist elementary school, but he moved his hand to his belt.

Click. He undid the belt in one motion, then began undoing the buttons of his uniform jacket.

“Even without giving an order, you have a servant who understands his master’s heart well, Roasted Chestnut.”

I watched Kwak Hanmuk with my eyes and mouth wide open at the same time.

He placed the clothes he took off on the chair beside him.

With only a tight black sleeveless shirt remaining, he looked down at me.

“How is it, Goyo.”

“Look at the picture engraved on his body.”

Dominic’s and Kwak Hanmuk’s voices overlapped.

A long time ago, I had seen scars that appeared on people who survived being struck by lightning on the internet.

It was a tattoo with the exact same appearance.

Starting from his left shoulder, extending beneath his collarbone, across his chest, and reaching his left upper arm….

A vivid blue tattoo in the form of a fractal pattern, as if lightning itself had struck.

“A god is sealed inside that person.”

“I also have quite a secret, you know?”

Kwak Hanmuk gave a small laugh and asked again.

“Does Goyo have something like this too?”