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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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“Well, like I said before, this is a concept of amplification. It’s possible to double or triple something that already exists, but you can’t increase something that isn’t there at all. Likewise, you can’t create an emotion that doesn’t exist.
It does go as far as causing excitement, such as increasing the heart rate and releasing adrenaline, but that’s it. And right now, Johan’s… pheromones? They’re not at a level that can change behavior. However.”
“However?”
“That’s how it is for now, we’ll have to see what happens later.”
I suddenly remembered the zombies I had faced so far. It wasn’t always the case, but for some reason, the thought ‘I think this will piss that guy off?’ would come to mind, and it would actually work well.
It was also thanks to the play experience I had accumulated before coming here. And if, on top of that, the help of my virus was added. And if it could also exert some effect on ‘humans’ who hadn’t ‘zombified’ yet…
I remembered the commander who had tried to catch and kill me. Her large and firm-looking chest, and the purple eyes shining above it. And her terrifying, monstrous strength.
If I ‘amplified’ the emotions of the woman named Virginia, she might just fly a helicopter over again and blow my head off.
But as Cassandra said, it wasn’t all bad. Right now, even just Letitia was showing me quite a bit of goodwill, wasn’t she?
“Cassandra. What if.”
“Yes, Johan.”
“If our bodies get farther apart, will the effect of the pheromones also drop a lot?”
“That’s a different domain. Like I said before, your pheromones aren’t that strong. However, in cases of very low tolerance, it might become something similar to an addiction.
For example… a certain substance emitted by catnip acts like a sex hormone on cats. So when they’re too young, they don’t react much, but after 6 months, they react quite intensely. But even then, not all adult cats react. It’s that kind of difference.
Maybe there’s someone who reacts very sensitively and acutely to the substance you emit? To such a being, you would probably be an unforgettable person and a being like a drug. In that case, you have to be careful.”
“Why?”
“Because addiction can’t be controlled.”
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After cleaning up, we returned to our respective rooms.
The top floor of the research facility was the living space. Beds, desks, chairs, and storage lockers. We even had gun racks.
The end of the day was equipment maintenance. It was troublesome and bothersome, but in the end, these were the things that would protect my life in a dangerous moment.
As I mindlessly wiped my gun and tightened the equipment, drowsiness suddenly washed over me. But today, sleep did not come easily.
I was supposed to talk to Camilla, but somehow, things got out of hand.
Is she asleep now?
It seemed likely. She had drunk a lot of alcohol today, too. Well, it wasn’t like today was the only day; we could talk tomorrow.
I headed to the bathroom to wash my hands, which were dirty with grease.
“Pfft.”
Every time I looked at the hallway floor, a laugh escaped. Glow-in-the-dark stickers sparkled, showing the way to go. It was a measure to prevent light from leaking out of the building.
It was a bit childish, but at least there were no incidents of getting lost or knocking on the wrong door.
“Oh, Johan. You’re not asleep?”
Camilla came out of the bathroom.
“Ah, I just wanted to wash my hands. My hands got a little oily from cleaning my gun. You?”
“Me too, I was repairing my gun and washing my hands.”
A slight silence. Camilla bowed her head and tried to pass by me.
“Hey. Camilla. What we were going to talk about earlier today is… a bit tiring, isn’t it?”
Camilla was silent. A silence even longer than before followed. I was about to say, ‘how about we talk tomorrow,’ when.
“Johan. Did you cut your nails?”
Suddenly?
“Why nails all of a sudden?”
“If you haven’t, cut them. Let’s talk in my room in 20 minutes. Wash your hands well and come.”
This was also unexpected. We used to talk in the lobby at the end of the 4th floor.
It was a place that had a decent living room atmosphere with a sofa and table, and even a vending machine and TV, though they didn’t work.
But her room? The building was quite soundproof, but did she mean she didn’t want Cassandra to see?
I washed my hands cleanly, cut my fingernails and toenails, and washed them once more.
I went down to the 3rd floor, picked up a bottle of wine, two glasses, and a bag of salted peanuts, and knocked lightly on Camilla’s door.
“Oh, you’re here? Come in. Help me with this.”
Camilla was pitching a tent.
“Why the tent?”
“We have to turn on the lights. This tent has a light-blocking film, so it should be fine to turn on a light.”
Of course, we had put up barricades and curtains inside all the windows of this building. The shielding was perfect. It seemed Camilla wasn’t going to tolerate even that one-in-a-million chance.
“Did you shower in the meantime?”
She had a towel wrapped around her head, and there was a faint scent of body wash.
“Pull that side a little more. You didn’t bring the Minsk wine, did you? We have to sell that to that woman.”
“It’s from Elza. Should I have brought the Minsk one?”
“Just drink it.”
Camilla’s room was a bit bigger than mine, so it was fine to pitch a small tent. Click, I turned on the light. A T-shirt and pink dolphin shorts. A comfortable outfit.
At first, we just clinked our glasses. Perhaps because we had already drunk a certain amount in the evening, I felt the buzz of alcohol hit me after just a little.
“It reminds me of the safe house. It doesn’t seem that long ago, but it feels like a really long time ago.”
“I know.”
The strange thing was Camilla. She became more and more quiet and bowed her head even lower. To the point where I wondered if she was dozing off. I was starting to regret that I had picked the wrong day.
“…Can’t we not do that?”
Then she said something out of the blue.
“Huh? What are you talking about?”
A deep sigh. Camilla threw off her head towel. Her still-damp hair clung to her.
“The pheromones and whatnot.”
“What about it?”
“…You know. Every time you and Cassandra talk about things like that, I feel a bit… distant. I even wonder if I’m the strange one. How can you talk about it so calmly? You too. And that Cassandra woman too.
In the end, it’s a story about the virus in your body getting stronger. Isn’t it?”
Before rashly answering, I poured another glass.
Camilla was right. No, this was the ‘normal’ reaction. Usually, a person infected with the zombie virus would scream and shoot themselves in the head, or leave something behind to live like a human until they died.
Being like me and Cassandra, who would say, ‘Oh, it’s not a big deal? Then there must be a useful way to use it,’ was abnormal. Well, Cassandra was like that because she didn’t think about anything other than ‘eradicating the virus.’
“Johan. You’re a person. Not a tool, not an object, and certainly not a weapon. And it’s not someone else, it’s something happening in your own body.
How can you say that? How can you be so calm…”
“Are you saying this because you’re worried about me?”
Camilla bowed her head and her shoulders trembled.
“Johan. I can’t sleep. Every night, I dream of becoming a zombie. And I always bite you. I tell myself no, I don’t want to. I struggle like that, but before I know it, my mouth is biting you.”
“It’s okay. Camilla. It’s all a dream.”
“I thought so too. Until now. But… you saw earlier. That Rottweiler. The dog had memories of its home.
And what about that parrot we met, the one that mimicked human speech perfectly? And the wolf that ate the human the parrot had called out to?
Those things, they’re not slow. They can think too! You saw it too, they even know how to ambush like a perfectly normal human!”
I was about to say that it was just an instinctive action. But then, I myself couldn’t distinguish where instinct ended and intelligence began.
“…I feel like I’m going crazy, but you, how can you be so detached, as if it’s someone else’s problem…”
“That’s because to me, this place is…”
That was why. To me, this place was just another world. A world to enjoy for a while.
I was trapped here by chance, and I still hadn’t found a way out, but my real world was not here, but somewhere else.
I ‘knew’ that.
Not only did I know, but I had experienced it. Most of my life, my memories, were still ‘over there.’ This world was not my world. I had just come here to play for a while.
But what if. In the Republic of Korea, if something like this happened in the daily life I enjoyed. And if I were to fall into the same situation… I wouldn’t be able to be as calm as I was now.
Between Camilla and me, there was such an unavoidable gap. Not just with Camilla, but with everyone else, with the situation, the circumstances, and the world.
Suddenly, a phrase that people who had ‘attained enlightenment’ often used came to mind. ‘Don’t get hung up on small things. Try to think of it as just visiting this world for a while. Everything will just pass by, and it will all become an enjoyable thing.’
Could that have been what it meant?
But Camilla seemed to have understood my words a little differently.
“…You’re laughing? Why? Because you’re going back to Minsk anyway?”
Camilla still thought of me as a Minsk spy. How on earth should I explain this misunderstanding to clear it up?
“I’m not going. And I told you, I’m not a Minsk spy.”
“Lies.”
“I’ll say it again. I’m not leaving you. And until all of this gets better somehow, I have no intention of leaving. Anyway, until Cassandra develops a cure or something…”
“What does any of that mean if you become a zombie?”
Camilla clenched her fists. Her veins bulged. She seemed a little agitated.
“Camilla. That’s a bit extreme.”
“You’d better listen to me.”
Camilla pointed her finger at me. Has this ever happened before? Her gaze was very aggressive. I think she might have had too much to drink.
“I don’t care what that woman makes. A cure? It would be good if she made it. Maybe she will, or maybe she sadly won’t. Anyway, she seems to have the skills and knows a lot.
But, if she turns you into a zombie or does some weird thing while making that so-called cure, I’m going to kill that woman. I’m not kidding. At that time, I won’t care even if you try to stop me. Do you understand?”
It seemed she was really agitated. I guess earlier… the two of us rolling around was quite…
“No way. If something like that happens, I’ll be the first one to say no. And for now, we can trust her a little, can’t we?”
“Why, you didn’t do that for me?”
“…Huh?”
Camilla gulped down a glass of wine. Without waiting for me to pour, she grabbed the bottle, filled it to the point of almost overflowing, and then drank half of it again.
“…You. To me. You didn’t do that.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Why do you always take Cassandra’s side?”
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