Chapter 143

It took me a moment to grasp the words that I’d just heard.

After staring blankly at Je Hyun-oh for a few seconds, I grabbed his wrist.

I pulled hard, and he followed obediently. I dragged him into the room immediately and closed the door.

Je Hyun-oh stood in front of the door, exactly where I had pulled him.

Unlike the weight of the words he had just uttered, he wore a composed expression.

Meanwhile, I was so shocked that my heart was pounding wildly.

I took out my phone and showed it to Je Hyun-oh.

When I held out my phone to ask if it was okay for Samra to hear, Je Hyun-oh simply said:

“It doesn’t matter.”

I parted my lips slightly and asked in a trembling voice:

“What do you mean? That you aren’t infected?”

Je Hyun-oh just stared at me with eyes that seemed to say, “I meant what I said.”

I found myself resenting his personality—specifically, his reluctance to explain things.

However, resenting him wouldn’t suddenly make him transform into a kind, explanatory crow.

I tried to assess the given information as calmly as possible.

“Your current human form… you used an item, right?”

Je Hyun-oh nodded lightly.

It meant his true nature was a body transformed into metal.

If so, why did everyone judge him to be infected when he wasn’t infected with the BT-Z virus?

Ham Jiwol, the Research and Analysis Division, and even Samra.

Upon reflection, it was a situation where errors were entirely possible.

Je Hyun-oh had not reported anything about <Zero> to the TRA, and subsequently, all the other Adaptees who entered <Zero> had died.

Since the sole survivor provided no information, the TRA could not obtain any data regarding <Zero>.

Furthermore, infected individuals were originally required to stay in the Research Division for a certain period and cooperate with biological experiments for virus research.

Vaccines and treatments were typically developed based on the data gathered from these experiments.

However, Je Hyun-oh refused to let anyone lay a finger on him, and even went so far as to attack researchers who bothered him.

Samra had no choice but to make a judgment based on the data from other trials, and defined Je Hyun-oh as an infected entity.

Since he himself said nothing about it, the erroneous judgment became solidified.

If Samra had just heard Je Hyun-oh’s remarks, he would likely feel as though his CPU were about to burn out.

After all, numerous studies had been conducted under the assumption that Je Hyun-oh was an infected subject.

The fact that the laws of the Trial seemed to bypass him was attributed to the severity of his infection.

However, upon reflection, there was no case in the entire world where an infected entity as severely mutated as Je Hyun-oh had entered another trial.

Such advanced mutation typically resulted in extreme aggression and a complete loss of reason.

Just like the zombies of DeZonDeal.

Until now, Je Hyun-oh was regarded as a special exception possessing reason, but it would have been more natural if he had never been infected.

That wasn’t the only strange thing. When infected with a virus, the characteristics of the corresponding trial manifest in the infected individual.

However, the background and setting of <Zero> as I knew them didn’t really fit with Je Hyun-oh’s black metal.

After sorting through all my thoughts, I reached a clear conclusion.

‘Je Hyun-oh was never infected.’

If so, I was inevitably bound to arrive at a new question.

What had transformed his body?

Since it wasn’t an infection, it couldn’t be an item from <Zero> either.

Knowing he wouldn’t answer, I opened my mouth.

“Then, what caused your body to change, Lieutenant Colonel Je?”

As expected, there was no answer from Je Hyun-oh.

I gritted my teeth.

Rather then wondering what had changed his body, another thought kept rising more strongly.

I saw him tearing off his metal wings and self-harming.

Even while suffering like that, Je Hyun-oh…

“I like <Zero>, Goyo.”

He said he liked <Zero>.

Up until this point, I had inwardly suspected that his incomprehensible affection was due to the influence of the infection.

But to say he likes <Zero> when he isn’t infected?

Why?

When it had so thoroughly ruined both his body and his mind.

Could it be that the god Je Hyun-oh is looking for is in <Zero>?

If his reason for wanting to enter <Zero> with me was to meet that god…

No!

I absolutely cannot allow it.

My subordinate must look only at me.

Even if it is out of hatred.

The thoughts, surfacing like madness, were agonizing.

I tried to shake off the mindset of a social misfit, but it was of no use.

The best I could do was not to speak my thoughts at that moment.

I bowed my head low and closed my eyes.

It was to hide the changed color of my eyes.

However, Je Hyun-oh wouldn’t leave me alone.

“Goyo.”

A voice I hadn’t quite gotten used to yet called out to me.

I answered with my eyes tightly closed.

“Yes.”

“Why are you acting like this?”

“…Because I feel like I’m about to say something strange.”

Just then, I sensed the presence of the person who had been lingering at the door approaching.

Followed by a hand patting my chest.

Since it was a human hand rather than a metal one, the tips were rounded, and it wasn’t cold.

Feeling a sense of unfamiliarity, I had no choice but to open my eyes.

Je Hyun-oh, looking down at me, looked strangely satisfied for some reason.

As I gazed at his eyes, which consisted solely of dark purple without any golden pupils, words I couldn’t hold back burst out.

“Please tell me why your body has changed. If you just toss it out like this and don’t explain anything, I feel like I’ll be thinking about nothing but this all day long…”

“That’s good.”

“Lieutenant Colonel Je!”

He said the very thing I least wanted to hear right now.

“I’ll tell you once we enter <Zero>.”

“…No.”

I glared at him, struggling not to be swept away by the surge of emotion welling up inside me.

“Please tell me now.”

Instead of answering, Je Hyun-oh simply curved the corners of his eyes visible above his mask.

The moment I saw that smile, I finally blurted it out.

“I’m the master, you know.”

And I regretted it immediately.

‘I’ve lost.’

I had been defeated by a social misfit.

I immediately bowed my head and apologized to Je Hyun-oh first.

“I’m sorry.”

A low laugh drifted down from above.

He was laughing. As if he were genuinely amused and enjoying himself.

‘Why is he laughing?’

Even if he hadn’t been infected in <Zero>, it seemed certain that his mind was broken.

I watched him laughing silently, then averted my gaze.

I thought that Je Hyun-oh was partly to blame for the crazy remark I had made.

I didn’t want to just blindly enter <Zero> when I might lose my subordinate.

I wanted to know absolutely everything about Je Hyun-oh—from start to finish—and fully grasp what had transformed his body and the nature of the god he was seeking before I made my move.

Honestly, judging by the cases of Dominic and ■■■, I didn’t think the god Je Hyun-oh was looking for would treat their subordinate well.

Of course, they might have more Star Fragments than I do.

‘Well, I can earn them in the future, too.’

I don’t know how to earn Star Fragments yet… I don’t know how to open a space account either…

Still, considering future value, I was confident that I would become greater than the god Je Hyun-oh was looking for.

Just as I was thinking about the subordinate items I had put in my shopping cart at the Galactic Trading Post, Je Hyun-oh called out to me.

“Goyo.”

“Yes…”

“Let’s go.”

In the end, I couldn’t find out anything other than the fact that Je Hyun-oh wasn’t infected.

I followed him, feeling a bit down.

What should I do to get Je Hyun-oh to tell me more details?

I had so many questions.

‘I want to know why he wears the Crow Set, too.’

I wondered why he would go out of his way to wear the Crow Set when there were items that allowed him to take on a human form.

It seemed like it would have effects other than just appearance changes or stat boosts, but since the only item description I had read was for the Crow Gloves, I couldn’t guess at all.

Mulling over a hundred questions I wanted to ask right then and there, I headed toward the underground parking lot with Je Hyun-oh.

However, no one recognized Je Hyun-oh on the way to the underground parking lot.

Passersby merely glanced at him with the look one gives a stranger.

Everyone only knew Je Hyun-oh with the metal hands.

It seemed extremely rare for Je Hyun-oh to use a humanoid item.

The car he was going to use for his outing was a black sedan.

Although it looked ordinary on the outside, since it was operated by the TRA for military use, it featured heavy tinting and was wrapped in airtight bulletproof armor covering the entire body.

I entered my home address into the navigation system, pondering how I could extract more info from Je Hyun-oh.

…only to end up having an experience so intense it made me forget everything else.

SCREECH! The sedan was parallel-parked, leaving skid marks as it slotted in as precisely as a puzzle piece.

Finally getting out of the car, I gripped the passenger door with trembling hands.

At this very moment, there was someone I desperately wanted to see.

‘Captain Kwak!’

I missed Kwak Hanmuk so much—who used to drive with such stability, and even drifted amidst the zombies.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call Kwak Hanmuk a Formula One driver.

And Je Hyun-oh was a Formula One driver in the worst possible sense.

I never wanted to ride in a car driven by him again.

As I stood there feeling as if the ground were dancing, Je Hyun-oh stepped out of the driver’s seat and looked at me with a puzzled expression.

I belatedly realized that he was a crow that flew like a fighter jet.

Still, I hadn’t expected him to drive a car like one, too.

I desperately needed the physical enhancements granted with the Trial.

I walked on, barely managing to put strength into my trembling legs.

The building where I used to live was quiet, as there were few tenants.

It was relatively new and the rent wasn’t bad, but strangely, the number of tenants dropped drastically after the landlord changed.

The neighborhood itself was quiet to begin with.

I entered the password and opened the iron gate.

I looked around the familiar space with a sense of unfamiliarity.

In reality, I had only been away from home for a mere few months. Yet, it felt like I had returned after years.

It was probably because of the time I had spent in the Trial.

The fairly spacious studio apartment, with its separate living room and bedroom, was where I had been hiding for the past four years.

A large cabinet, draped in a cloth that concealed its contents, took up an entire wall of the living area, while a small dining table for one sat in the corner.

In the bedroom, there was a bed, a computer, a small wardrobe, and a single chest of drawers. That was the extent of the furniture I owned.

I figured I could just pack some clothes and get rid of the rest…

I stared blankly at the cabinet covered with a cloth, then turned around.

Perhaps because of his height, when Je Hyun-oh entered the studio apartment, it felt as if he filled the entire space.

With his hands hanging down, he moved his fingers a couple of times as if playing the piano, out of habit.

I asked with a hint of ulterior motive.

“Would you like a glass of water?”

At that, Je Hyun-oh looked at me with an expression that, had he been wearing goggles, he would surely have sent a ^^ emoticon.

I quietly entered the bedroom.

Samra had instructed that nothing was touched except for simple cleaning, and everything was certainly exactly as it was.

I picked up the cell phone that had fallen next to the computer chair.

I disappeared for seven days starting from February 29th, the day of the Creator’s final broadcast.

And on March 7th, I entered HapFactory and met Mo Haein.

My memory of those seven days was a complete blank.

I couldn’t find even a clue as to what I had done.

Thinking of the distant past, I plugged my dead phone into the charger and turned it on.

I didn’t think a flood of pending messages would come pouring in…?

Messages swarmed into the preview. They were all from the same person.

I hesitated, then checked the messages.

It was Reporter Sa Gongyeon from Day News.

I had never met the media outlet Day News or the reporter Sa Gongyeon back when I was active as an player.

Reporter Sa Gongyeon started contacting me after I retired.

For the past four years, she sent interview requests every now and then when I was about to forget about her, and even when all the other reporters had gone quiet, she alone continued her steady, one-sided contact.

I wondered how long she would remember me and keep in touch, so I didn’t block her and just left her alone.

‘But why did she 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.

Strange messages continued uninterrupted until March 6, and on March 7, the day I entered HapFactory…

A message had arrived that marked the end of this bizarre chain of contact.

It was a message that arrived at a coincidental timing, too coincidental to simply dismiss as nonsense.

The content was also profound, and I felt I shouldn’t just let it slide.

A new message arrived.

After a brief pause, the final message arrived.

¹This is the same person that messaged Goyo in Chapter 1.

everyone…this was really hard to format…

i’m rereading the whole novel so i can check all the translations and formatting is correct for the epub/website. so you might notice some differences in earlier chapers or differences in how i’ve standardized terms.