Chapter 127

For a moment, my mind went completely blank.

I ran straight toward Zone X.

As I ran like a madman, CEO Cha caught up with me and snatched me up.

“I… right now…!”

“Zone X.”

Before I could even say a word, he tossed it out and ran off at high speed.

Just like last time, I was transported tucked under CEO Cha’s arm.

CEO Cha, the prison warden, possessed the ability to control every zone of the prison.

There was no need for the cumbersome act of stopping to swipe an access card when passing through.

Since all doors opened automatically in front of him, CEO Cha moved without a single hesitation.

His speed was such that the surrounding scenery changed in the blink of an eye.

Thanks to this, we arrived at Zone X in an instant.

CEO Cha dropped me off in front of Cell No. 6.

Two prison guards, huffing and puffing while holding riot batons, turned to look at me. One of them was dripping neon green liquid from his tattered arm.

“Fuck… Hey, Medic! You’re here fast. Do something about that bastard.”

The guard explained the situation, spitting out profanities.

He said that No. 6 had bitten his arm, so he immediately fired his creature-killing gun, and the moment he was hit by the bullet, he went into Code Blue.

I practically rolled into Cell No. 6.

Since guards didn’t know better, there were times when they would just blindly issue a Code Blue.

Hoping that this was one of those cases again, I checked on Orca’s condition.

I couldn’t feel a pulse. Nor breathing.

“Bring an AED!”

Since creatures often go into shock, Zone X was equipped with an AED.

When I yelled at them, the guards hesitated for a moment before bringing a red box.

They were only listening to me because my affection level was high.

I opened the box and turned on the machine. Then, I attached the pads to Orca’s chest.

My hands were trembling uncontrollably, but fortunately, I was able to attach the pads without fumbling.

The AED for creatures was set to a much higher output for electrical stimulation than for humans.

Since it took several seconds to charge, I had to wait while compressing his heart.

Those mere few seconds felt like an eternity.

“Charging complete. Press the button to deliver the shock.”

As soon as I heard the harsh voice, I pressed the button immediately.

The moment I pressed the button, Orca’s body jerked up.

A powerful current pierced through his entire body, through every nerve and muscle joint.

His tough chest muscles convulsed violently as if spasming, and then his body slumped to the floor.

A faint smell of burning wafted from around the pads, accompanied by fine steam.

The AED didn’t wait and immediately poured out the next command.

“Start chest compressions.”

I clasped my hands together over Orca’s chest again. Just as I was about to press down on his thick ribcage with my full weight…

“…!”

Orca took a deep breath and snapped his eyes open.

“Orca-ssi!!”

I urgently shouted his name.

Orca’s eyes instantly regained focus.

And I saw it.

The disappointment that flashed in his eyes for a split second.

Orca could not feel happy about having returned from the threshold of death.

For him, death was always something he desired.

Orca called out to me in a hoarse voice.

“Roasted Chestnut.”

He spoke to me with a faint smile.

“If it weren’t for you, I would have been in big trouble.”

I did not answer his words, which were devoid of sincerity. Instead, I glared at Orca.

“Do you still think this is a game?”

I had never thought of it as a game.

Rather, since it wasn’t a game, since it was reality, I wanted to do my best.

Even if it was a little difficult and tough…

No, I wanted to end it with a happy ending, regardless of the means.

‘Should I just modify him?’

What if I completely changed both his mind and body so he would never think of dying again?

If I poured psychotropic drugs from the infirmary into it, even a creature would have its mind shattered.

Since it’s an orca shapeshifter, there wouldn’t be many side effects even if I transplanted a deep-sea creature into its body.

If I wanted, I could even find one of a similar lineage to the orca and attach it.

If I just crushed everything that was diseased and turned it into something sturdy and new.

…The text seemed to have gotten bigger. There was also some spacing.

Recovering thanks to the system window, I swallowed a sigh.

I had had strange thoughts because of the brainwashing, but there was a tiny bit of sincerity mixed in.

It wasn’t that I wanted to modify him at all; it was out of a desire to save Orca somehow.

However, I didn’t know the method yet.

To create a happy ending for Orca, I had to allow him to swim freely in the vast ocean.

But it was a leg that even Neo couldn’t heal.

I had already tried every possible method in the game…

‘Wait a minute.’

There was still a method I hadn’t tried yet.

It was the Octopus Tentacle.

He was the god of this place. He must have contained energy far more powerful than Neo’s.

I didn’t know if just a tiny fraction of it might be enough to restore Orca’s leg.

‘After all, it is a fellow sea creature.’

I couldn’t guarantee the effect, but it seemed worth a try.

"Roasted Chestnut."

Lost in my newfound thoughts, I looked at Orca.

He grinned, baring his sharp teeth.

"Please don’t get angry."

I didn’t answer and looked around.

The guards who had triggered the Code Blue stood far away as if it were none of their business, while CEO Cha stood in front of the barred gate, watching me.

Taking a first-aid kit out of my inventory, I answered quietly.

"I’m not angry."

"But your eyes look angry."

Putting on surgical gloves, I pushed the tweezers, which I had sterilized by scrubbing them vigorously with an alcohol swab, into the wound.

Orca cried out in pain, but I pretended not to hear.

Creatures are resistant to pain and recover quickly. If I just removed the bullet, this wound would heal on its own.

I felt a hard, alien sensation at the tip of the tweezers as they dug between the flesh and bone.

I tightened my grip on the tweezers and pulled.

With an unpleasant friction sound, the bullet, soaked in drops of blood, emerged.

Clang. A blood-stained bullet fell onto the tray on the floor, making a cold sound.

I immediately poured hydrogen peroxide over it, and white foam covered the wound with a burning sound.

True to the creature’s regenerative abilities, the bleeding had already begun to stop.

As I covered the wound with gauze soaked in antibiotic ointment and wrapped a bandage over it, I asked:

"Why did you attack the guards?"

Orca looked up at me, a smirk playing on the corners of his mouth.

"Roasted Chestnut. Being confined in such a small space for so long sometimes makes you lose your mind."

"……."

"Until now, I lacked the energy, so it didn’t show even when I wasn’t in my right mind, but today, I ended up like this without even realizing it."

Orca laughed heartily as if telling a funny joke, then groaned and bent over due to the pain of the gunshot wound.

I leaned a little closer to Orca, pretending to check the bandage.

"The creature execution ceremony is in two days."

Orca’s eyes widened.

I continued speaking in a low, rapid voice.

“The Chief of Security is going to stage a coup that day. I lied to the Chief of Security, telling him I could control the creatures, so please pretend to attack the Warden.”

Currently, No. 1 was in the basement, sucking up a massive amount of Neo.

It could store liquid in the blisters hidden within the stem mass, and its maximum storage capacity far exceeded the size of a swimming pool.

When all the guards had gathered in one place…

The goal was to pour an enormous amount of Neo in one fell swoop to turn them into dregs.

However, since the Chief of Security does not turn into dregs, he had to be killed separately.

I asked, offering to bring the heart of a dregs so Orca could recover before the execution.

“Can you handle the Chief of Security? My colleagues will help as well.”

There was no creature capable of handling the Chief of Security other than Orca.

As soon as Orca heard my question, he answered readily.

“Of course, Roasted Chestnut.”

Looking into his sparkling eyes, another strange thought crossed my mind.

If we can’t fix his leg… what if we created a world filled only with the things Orca likes?

I shook my head inwardly.

Perhaps due to the brainwashing, I seemed to be having thoughts I wouldn’t normally have.

“And I might say something strange during tomorrow’s rounds, but please ignore it.”

“…?”

I didn’t go so far as to mention that I had been brainwashed. I thought he might worry for no reason.

Orca seemed to have more questions to ask me, but I stood up from my seat.

After gathering up and discarding the blood-stained gloves and gauze, CEO Cha, who had been watching me all this time, walked away without a word.

I quietly followed behind him.

It was only after we had left Zone X that CEO Cha turned to look at me.

His attitude seemed to say, “Try and explain this.”

CEO Cha and I are the only two survivors among the users who have played the creator’s game.

He was the only one who had experienced the trials of reality through a game.

That is probably why he said those things to me…

I slowly opened my mouth.

"I never thought of it as a game."

"Then why are you acting like that?"

CEO Cha looked down at me and asked again.

"Why are you acting like you can just turn it off and on again to start over?"

Was I just imagining things?

It felt like he cared about me.

The reason I couldn’t easily believe it was likely because the version of him in the game was so vivid.

In the game, CEO Cha killed me five times in a row as soon as the game started.

His reason was that he didn’t want to tackle the game with a jerk like me.

His personality was so bad that he only reluctantly took me along after confirming that I was regressing.

Even though I had resolved not to judge things solely by the game, having spent so much time with CEO Cha, it wasn’t easy to change my mind.

I slowly opened my mouth.

“Because I think I would regret it.”

I could feel CEO Cha’s gaze even through the mask.

I expected him to sneer and tell me to stop talking nonsense, but for some reason, he remained silent.

In truth, if I had a better excuse, I would have wanted to blurt out something else.

But at that moment, that was the only thing that came to mind.

I was sick and tired of failure and running away.

If there was anything I could do, I wanted to try it. If I was going to regret it anyway, it was better to just go for it and regret it.

Getting hurt a little in the process didn’t matter.

I was already…

A faint pain was felt in my left wrist.

A tingling sensation lingered at my fingertips, so I slowly clenched and unclenched my fist.

A sharp voice was heard.

"Because you didn’t want to regret it—even trembling in fear that just one NPC might die."

I had shown too much intimacy with Orca in front of CEO Cha.

He probably wouldn’t understand my actions.

But that didn’t matter. I answered indifferently.

"Yes."

Because CEO Cha wasn’t someone I needed to make understand.

I like CEO Cha, but separate from that, I wasn’t confident that my actions would be understood.

It was a contradiction to think that he had to understand me just because I liked him.

"I will ensure there are no issues with the clear and the dispatch contract."

I didn’t know why he was acting this way right now, but CEO Cha was a man of efficiency.

In the end, as long as the contract was executed properly, it wouldn’t matter.

CEO Cha let out a sharp, short laugh.

“Han Goyo.”

He leaned his face toward me. Words fell out as if he were chewing and spitting them out.

“I don’t need a True Ending.”

And then he vanished from my sight. His cognitive suppression had been raised to 100%.

In a situation where I didn’t know if he was right in front of me or had gone far away, I let out a small sigh.

Does this mean he won’t support me anymore?

It was a miracle that I had even bothered to accommodate CEO Cha’s temper this much.

In fact, since the operation was to stage a coup to oust him, it was understandable that he wouldn’t like it.

With a heavy heart, I carried out my remaining medical duties and trudged back to my quarters.

I opened the door to the quarters while sending a message to Je Hyun-oh.

“…….”

I was about to send the next message, but I was so shocked that I froze, frozen stiff with the door open.

Je Hyun-oh, leaning against the wall, and Kwak Hanmuk, who had pulled a chair over and was sitting crookedly, looked at me at the same time.

The medical officer’s quarters, which wasn’t very big, felt full as the two tall men took their places.

Kwak Hanmuk opened his mouth expressionlessly.

“You’re late, Goyo.”

He called me by my name, not Chestnut.

Won Taebeom’s words suddenly came to mind.

“I will share the current status of a certain trainee with Captain Kwak as well.”

I agreed without much thought back then because I thought I hadn’t been brainwashed.

I had intended to use only messages and avoid both of them as much as possible until tomorrow.

I never imagined that Kwak Hanmuk would find Je Hyun-oh and come to the medical officer’s quarters with him.

I slowly swallowed dryly.

‘I’ll act like a normal person no matter what.’

I had to show them that being brainwashed was no big deal.

With a grim resolve, I approached my superiors.

“Lieutenant Colonel Je, Captain Kwak.”

While I hesitated slightly about whether to salute, Kwak Hanmuk stared at me intently and asked.

“Were you brainwashed?”

I stood upright and answered.

“Yes. It’ll wear off in two days. Also, the brainwashing is mild, so there are no major issues.”

“Really…?”

Kwak Hanmuk turned to look at Je Hyun-oh.

Je Hyun-oh moved his metal hand with a rhythmic, clicking sound as he fixed his gaze on me.

I quickly added a remark.

“I haven’t lost my mind.”

But the sound of the metal hand continued. Kwak Hanmuk said nonchalantly.

“Octopus looks delicious these days.”

“Octopus is good, isn’t it? It’s nutritious, too. Is it in season right now?”

Phew… It seemed to go well enough.

I was silently apologizing to Lord Octopus Tentacle.

I heard a tap and turned around to see Je Hyun-oh touching the statue of Lord Octopus Tentacle on the table with his metal hand.

I had found the dusty statue in the corner of the medical officer’s quarters before going out today, scrubbed off the sacrilegious grime, and placed it there.

I was watching him anxiously, worried that Je Hyun-oh might smash it.

“Goyo.”

At the name called so languidly, I answered with a nervous heart.

“Yes…?”

“Do you like things like this?”

I ran out of words.

As the time I remained unable to answer dragged on, Kwak Hanmuk stood up from his chair.

“Hey, Lieutenant Colonel Je. Why are you trying to discourage him? He looks fine.”

He sauntered toward the table, looked down at the statue, and spoke.

“It looks cool up close. Shall we get baptized by Lieutenant Won tomorrow?”

The moment I heard those words, I felt a strangely strong sense of revulsion.

My mouth opened automatically without me realizing it.

“Um, Captain Kwak! He is great and magnificent, but still, in my opinion…”

Ah.

I realized my slip of the tongue and stopped speaking.

The lights in Je Hyun-oh’s goggles lit up.

Kwak Hanmuk raised one eyebrow.

“Well, well… lying to your superior is practically a habit.”

Muttering in a low voice, he called out to me.

“Trainee Han Goyo.”

“Yes…”

I answered, completely intimidated.

His cold gray eyes looked down at me.

“Looks like you need a lesson in discipline today.”

T/N: Hi everyone, I hoped you enjoyed today’s chapter! I have added dark mode & text size adjustment as well, but it might be a bit ugly right now. Let me know if you have any problems.

Also, I know some of you have been issues with notifications from the comments, however, there is nothing I can do about it. The comments are hosted through GitHub’s side (which you had to make account through to comment), so if you want to change the notifications, you’ll have to go into your GitHub account’s settings and change them. Sorry for the inconvenience, guys!