Regress and Eat

It didn't take me more than an hour to get out of Detroit Lab in Decker and Jefferson.

The moment Nate took a step outside the lab, his expression seemed to get stuck in his chest for a while.

“· · · · · · · Wow. ”

The trend is that pollutants in the atmosphere decrease after a major catastrophe, but it is not long enough for the American metropolitan area to suddenly turn into a clean zone. The footprints of the stars are still faint in the night veil above my head.

Nevertheless, Nate stared at it frantically. The stars in the sky, without fail.

Next, I turned my head slightly to look across the moon, at the distant skyline of Detroit City, and the aftermath of the light pollution it produces like the most beautiful view of the world.

“Let's go.”

I regretted killing the Lab crew too easily.

Whew!

The [Stardust Wing] unfolds and rises together.

The effects of this item that perfectly protect me from atmospheric friction applied to Nate as well.

Nate said as he watched the landscape beneath his feet that looked like a limp finger of light as he went through the darkness.

“· · · · · · · · Teacher. (Dr.)”

“Don't call me teacher. I am Seo Jin-wook.”

Whether it was because he was caught at the age of nine and locked up until the age of 19, the vocabulary and expressiveness he used was not yet of the same age, and his attitude was a little overwhelming.

Reminds me of Nate I've seen in my past life. It will take some time for it to change into a cheerful and resourceful appearance.

“What can I do from now on? ”

This will also be a sight of its own.

Before I left the lab, I promised Nate. Unlike these guys, I'm not going to do any experiments. Instead, I want to get help from him, but it's not that he's still ‘getting hit by something', it's that he has to do something on his own.

I answered, choosing a vocabulary that wasn't hard for him to understand.

“I'm preparing to stop something. If we don't prepare in advance, everything you see down there will be gone. ”

I was just passing Lake Erie and encountering Cleveland. The light of the approaching city was dazzling.

Cleveland is also one of the cities that was destroyed before the rest of the city after experiencing a dungeon-related storm like Chicago.

Even after the SSS-grade dungeon collapse, every place in the world is in a similar position.

“If we don't stop them, the view of the city from here will be like the lake we just passed. ”

Then Nate turns his head to look at the lake. The still sleep was like a shiver of darkness absorbing all the light. There were no signs of artificial light.

“You just have to be strong. ”

I don't know what Angelica said that saved him in his past life.

I told him what I could.

“You need to be strong enough that no one can lock you up, force you to do what you don't like, or harass you. Your friends will help you. ”

Nate didn't answer.

I kept flying silently so that he could think.

During a few hours' flight to Washington, D.C., red Mana spilled from Nate's heart, restless for a second, made various patterns around his body, and I was silently looking at them.

*

I stayed in a hotel in D.C. for a few days.

Nate was weakened by his long confinement, even though he was the body of the Awakened. Providing adequate nutrition and training will bring your body back to optimum condition in no time.

In the meantime, I've asked Senor for another deal through misevolution.

It was to create a new identity for Nate.

In my past life, I have been rescued by the government and recovered from the disappearance of Nathan Drake, but I didn't have to in this life.

The U.S. government raided the Detroit Lab shortly after I left rescued the prisoners, but of course there was no Nate.

‘Unless I hack into all of Decker & Jefferson's servers and erase the information, I can't completely wipe out the traces of Nathan Drake. ’

It is also practically impossible to find and remove all the backup files.

It's clear how many people survived who weren't there at the time lab.

So subject Nathan Drake's information, which was classified as a unique entity, will someday flow into the United States government, with no reason to restore his true identity.

If we keep this quiet, the government will assume Nathan is dead in the commotion.

‘He has to come with me. ’

Since it was good to change his name, he insisted on Nate. His last name was also a completely different name than Drake himself. I did not ask why I chose this word, but just nodded and passed it on to misevolution.

*

“After you eat. ”

Nate, who was focused on his mind, woke up with his eyes wide open like a lightning bolt.

He has instinctively activated and consumed Mana. He doesn't even know basic training skills. He was activating Mana the way I showed him.

“It's Bob!”

I run ferociously into the living room.

After returning to the normal human body, my face changed after a few days, I gained weight and was a little taller. It was a demonstration of the Awakening's processing power.

I saw the plate and smelled a knng, knng.

“What is this? ”

“A hamburger. You said you wanted one. ”

“It's different from what I remember. ”

The homemade burger he ordered for room service looks a little different than the fast food he had when he was nine.

“Are you eating this wooden skewer in the middle? ”

“Eat it. ”

“It's too big. I can't eat it in one bite. ”

I thought about it for a moment, looking at a burger with two fists high.

Rrrrgh!

The blue Mana flows from the core and bites red. Red waves briefly falter, triggering skills.

Then the color disappeared right off Nate's face.

I knew what was going on.

‘reverse zombie transformation · · ·. Only the face. ’

And...

Dook, dook!

The one who turned into a zombie on his neck opened his mouth wide, dislocating his jawbone as it was.

The skin on the cheeks loses elasticity and stretches. The oral cavity between the ceiling and the tongue was enlarged.

“Meow!”

When the cat who was grooming on the couch saw him, he was furious and ran away to the bathroom.

With his mouth wide enough to chew a man's head off, Nate shoves a hamburger in his mouth.

Quadruck!

Repeat for the dislocated jawbone to be joined and then dropped again.

It reminded me of five black snakes wrapped around their wrists eating food.

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! ”

Anyway, the taste seems satisfying.

“Use this next time. ”

I gave him the knife, and he took it in his hand, and he said, "Ahh! 'I make a face.

I looked at him mischievously.

The skill has just been used, so it doesn't smell like corruption yet, but even a fake zombie is almost the same as a zombie while the skill is active.

Turning your face into a zombie to eat a hamburger.

‘Yes, there are still gaps like this. ’

Nate has no objections to ordinary people.

Even a fake zombie that transforms into a healthy body looks frightened when viewed by ordinary people. It creates an instinctive disgust for the body.

But Nate didn't have that feeling for years when he had to stay in the same room with the real body.

‘Rather, you may feel intimate. ’

While trapped, all of his zombie subjects were Nate's favorites.

Due to the nickname Necromancer, people in their past lives thought he was a cold-blooded, tearless slave to the unsettled dead.

Of course, the truth is different.

Nate is not a real dead man, he's just holding on to their trail in a ditch.

And I cherished them as if they were left by someone close to me.

- Here's the news · · ·.

While Nate was eating, I turned on the TV.

A few days later, Decker and Jefferson were still making headlines. Though the investigation was not complete, the quick to notice reporters ended the situation and bit the company. Major executives were arrested urgently and the stock was turned into a piece of paper in the morning.

Nate was a little surprised at first that it was a story of where he was, but now he is eating and watching the news boldly.

"Yes, you need to know how you are judged in an objective and social context. ’

At that time, the news screen changed.

- Breaking news just came in.

Why are you pushing Detroit news? ’

And as soon as I checked the following screen, my face became stiff.

Nate, who is slowly recovering his memory after forgetting to read and write, reads as he shakes his caption.

“S · · · Korea? ”

I turned my head.

He smiles brightly and asks me.

“Sir, that's where we need to go, right? ”

I nod close.

“· · Yes. ”

News was breaking about the status of a Korean dungeon.

- Again, the grade of this dungeon, which the Korean government calls "The Siheung 8 Dungeon," is Class S. Class S. Today at dawn, the stabilization state of the dungeon during the three-month raid, with six guilds united as the main pillar of the Korean Heavenly Dragon Guild. It suddenly jumped a few steps from a traditional grade to a very unstable one. What's even more alarming is that the system message only has two months left until evolution.

Eight dungeons in Siheung.

This is a giant dungeon that the Heavenly Dragon Guild has been pouring out most of its power lately.

Due to the large internal structure and the large number of people who can enter, the expedition is being partially rotated to conduct long-term attacks. However, if we look at progress, it was also a dungeon with a prediction that it might take more than a year.

‘Actually, the prediction is correct. ’

It took almost a year for the first eight dungeons to be targeted after being discovered in my previous life.

In particular, many hunters were sacrificed in the last expedition that achieved an attack.

And the reason I'm surprised now is · · ·.

‘The sudden change in the ranking of the eight dungeons in my previous life is only half a year from now! ’

The time zone is not correct.

Butterfly effect? ’

I can't calculate both the many changes I've made in my life and the butterfly effect derived from it.

But until this time, it was hard to convince me that it was because of me.

Could humans · · Awakened somehow affect the stability of the dungeon in the first place?

"No, there isn't! ’

Everything in the dungeon except the attack is returned only by the system.

Then why the sudden change?

- The South Korean government, according to an official report, has unusually forwarded requests for assistance to their respective governments. for a limited amount of time, because domestic hunters find it difficult to respond. Expectations are coming from the ground up that an expedition consisting of multinational hunters may be launched for the first time since the Great Transformation.

In fact, it does.

The unique structure of the eight dungeons required hunters with special skills, and the ROK government then invited overseas hunters with such abilities to attack after the dungeon status changed.

- Many cases of Class S dungeons have been found, but mostly they were either ‘stable’ or ‘very stable’. This is the first time a Class S dungeon has been converted to a 'very unstable’ state.

The aftermath of the Class S dungeon exploding was unpredictable at this point.

Afraid that it might not end up as one South Korean, governments have supported it to the extent possible.

I think of a list of hunters who were sent back then.

‘Of course, in the United States, there was a support team. ’

I know where the Hunter Agency is, which is commissioned by the U.S. government to form a team here.

It's in the hands of Edward Danton.

‘As expected, business involving Hunters and Dungeons in this country is hard to get out of his hands. ’

I immediately contacted misevolution.

The message was simple.

"I'd like to be part of the American team that's going to be sent to eight dungeons. not as Seo Jin-wook of the Celestial Dragon, but as a different identity. I would like to speak directly with the senator about the cost. I'm sure there's something I can tell you when you start a team. ’

If you throw rice cakes like this, you will have no choice but to call me.

I'm sitting next to Nate, who's already eating all his burgers and sucking his fingers, and I keep thinking:

'Before he died, Seo Jin-wook was a Class B Hunter.'

In one year, it was a great talent, but in other words, it was only a year premature. Nevertheless, he was dispatched with the other Hunters of the Celestial Dragon to the final attack in the Eight Dungeons of Sichung.

The media is suspicious about why, but there is no record of opposition from other guilds or foreign hunters in the country.

And Seo Jin-wook died in that last raid.

With Han Snow.

‘We are not going to repeat that death. ’

Just as the dungeon is the perfect stage to target me, it is also a good place to target someone in my position.

If someone who cursed me, for example, Han Seol, the prime suspect, tried to get rid of Seongwook in that dungeon.

I can return the same from there.

Besides, I have a record of how the attack went.

‘It's time to finish cleaning up under your feet. ’

*

A few days after the meeting with the generator, Nate and I were at the airport.

“What is this? ”

“Here's your passport. Keep it safe. ”

Nate looked into the passport I gave him in one hand with a ticket to Korea via Japan.

Strange.

Suddenly, a shadow shifted beneath his feet.

I stopped him before an arm with a slightly melted skin came up and grabbed his passport.

“Wait, wait! You don't have to leave it to your friends in the shadows. Just put it in your pocket. ”

“Yes.”

I guess that's what taking care of Nate meant.

Leave it to the zombies hiding in [Shadow Grave] so that no one but you can touch it.

‘No, it's the surest way, but this is an airport. ’

Nate once again opened the photo face before putting in his passport and looked as if it was strange.

“Now that's your full name. Last name did what you wanted. So don't forget, don't panic if anyone calls you that. ”

“· · · · · · Yes, sir. (Yes, Dr.) ”

“Get the Doctor out when you call me. ”

“Yes, sir.) ”

“Take it out behind you. I'm in the same league with you. ”

“· · · · · · · Yes. (OK.)”

He lived as Nathan Drake after he was rescued, but now he has changed. His name changed as a branch point in history was created.

The passport photo he was staring at with a faint smile indicated his own name, which he chose for himself.

Nate Hope.

End