I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 434

???Clink!

"Wow, it hasn’t even been an hour since you left, and you look like death itself. Did you get hit by a grenade while walking down the street or something?"

"Ugh. Even when you joke, why do you have to make it like that?"

7 PM.

The Han River, which cuts through Seoul and divides the capital into north and south, lay ahead. On the other side, the scorching July sun was setting, casting its fiery heat far beyond. Yet, the capital’s night was even hotter than the day, and from behind the thick glass of the penthouse windows, the movements of the countless crowds could be easily observed.

The Olympic Highway and Yeongdong Bridge were packed with cars, and the bus stops were bursting with people. The scene was a visual representation of arterial sclerosis, easy to explain better than anything else. Of course, there were also those heading home, but many had come to enjoy Seoul’s night, making their way to the Han River or Cheongdam-dong.

And now, the one who had just closed the door and entered was none other than the person who had gone out into the night.

"I thought you'd be back by around 3 AM, but you just went shopping and ended it there."

"There was a reason for that, damn it."

"A reason?"

Thud.

Then, a rustling sound.

As I said earlier, it hadn’t even been an hour since I left, yet she had managed to bring back so much food from nearby vendors. The plastic bags, puffed up as if they were about to explode, were clumsily dropped onto the table by Lorentina.

Of course, this had nothing to do with my streaming, as Lorentina wasn’t involved at all.

"Little one, let’s have a proper chat."

"...Did something happen outside?"

"Too many things to count!"

And at the same time, what Lorentina showed was… simple.

The operation log of the Icarus Gear.

The log clearly showed that I had turned on the external camouflage feature. It was a function that enveloped the entire body in a hologram, effectively recreating a completely new person. I also activated the jamming function to avoid detection by CCTV… It would have been strange not to notice why I had gone so far.

How many people had I been asked to sign for?

Sure enough, Lorentina let out a sigh and added:

"What on earth was ‘I’ doing in this world?"

"I can kind of guess from the reactions."

"Probably just doing anything, huh?"

Of course, that was true.

As the Lorentina from this world evaporated like alcohol spilled onto the floor, letting out a hollow laugh while slumping onto the sofa, Logan snickered at the sight. YourSpace floated next to him. It wasn’t difficult to search for what Lorentina from this world had been doing.

The first thing that came up in the search results was… Lorentina from the past, earning 4.2 million won from street lifting. Below that, there were videos of Dark Zone in-game play and several mad movies lined up in a row.

By this point, it should be added that even the Dagger Team knew very well that I was using the game as a medium to manipulate shadows and assist them.

"Living extravagantly, huh. There’s really no difference between you and her."

"Me!?"

"Who else would be doing that?"

Apparently, Lorentina had no retort, as she clasped her eyes with both hands and slouched backward.

The conversation began to blossom. The topic was about where their counterparts in this world had been and what they had been doing. There was plenty of reason to be curious about this, and since it wasn’t something I couldn’t talk about, I spoke up with what I knew.

"Marcus and Raypier are pretty high up in the PMC. I haven’t asked how much they make, but judging by the fact they drive around in supercars, they seem to be living pretty comfortably."

"Hmm."

"Here, they’re always driving UTVs, though."

Slowly, I started to recall more details.

Edwin Sirkins, Secretary to the Minister of Defense.

Logan, part of the strike team with Owens.

Lorentina, Golden Squadron of DEVGRU.

Owens, operational team leader of the unit strike team "Red Right Hand."

Kissinger went into the Secret Service, Chester is an SAC medical sergeant, and Morgan and Morrison are currently deployed in Pakistan.

"...And I’m just here, doing this."

"You’ve made the most progress. It looks like you’re keeping your main job alive, too."

"Well, I guess so, but…"

Could I really say I was keeping my main job alive? Not really sure… but well, good things are good things.

As the alcohol flowed, the atmosphere softened even more. Meanwhile, Jin and Rain, who couldn’t drink, sat crouched on the floor, gazing out at the night view through the large windows. It was quite a sight to see so many people.

Anyway, despite her earlier grumbling, Lorentina had brought back all sorts of food that could be bought within an hour in the area. I got a text saying I’d spent about 1.2 million won, but I didn’t care. It had been a while since I had been free from the concept of money.

Thus, the Dagger Team enjoyed their very first wine party with Korean snacks as their appetizers.

"So, are you still going to keep doing... that streaming thing?"

"Yeah. I have a main job, but well, it’s fun, even though it’s just one-sided communication. I’ve met a lot of good people while doing it."

"Ha."

Owens chuckled softly and added:

"Seems like it. It can’t be helped. You’ve accomplished everything you can and finished everything you needed to perfectly."

"Right."

I knew who had sent me back to my original world.

I had found a way to support myself and met many good people along the way.

I had been able to let the Dagger Team know that I was still alive.

I could lead the unfinished restoration of America to a perfect success.

And...

"Now that I’ve completely eradicated Artemis, there’s nothing left to worry about, right? We don’t have to go back into the field anymore, do we?"

"Well, I wouldn’t say it’s completely settled… But that’s not for us to worry about."

As long as the user didn’t die, once a sword had been drawn from its scabbard, it had to return to the scabbard.

Of course, the Dagger Team could be called living swords, but even they would eventually need to return to their scabbards. The squad leader was metaphorically speaking about that.

Carefully, I spoke again, adding...

"Everyone needs to pick up a hobby besides shooting guns."

"The youngest will have to help a lot with that. I plan to stick around more often, so keep that in mind."

"…Hehe, of course. If you want anything, feel free to ask anytime."

Lorentina’s words.

Half of it was a joke, but half wasn’t. The reason was simple. Engaging in hobbies in that world had become exceedingly difficult. The infrastructure had scattered like pieces of rice flour, so how many hobbies could you easily take up?

Well, that was the situation.

By now, the sun had completely set, and the night view of Seoul stretched out beyond the glass windows.

Owens, watching the scene, silently lifted his wine glass, and those who had been drinking nearby, their smiles widening, slowly approached.

Without anyone in particular leading, each person made a toast.

"For the youngest."

"For the Dagger team."

"For America."

"...Can I also say 'for Archetype'?"

"Of course."

Clink.

The cheerful sound rang out.

And so, another moment was made, a moment I would cherish forever as a memory.

"Ugh...!"

"Hey, hey! Damn it, whenever you drink…!"

Of course, that day, heavily drunk, I found myself being tangled up by Lorentina and Logan, only to get flicked on the forehead.

The Dagger Team’s team-building event left me with nothing but a bruise.

"Now, where should we go?"

Where there’s a coming, there’s a going, and where there’s high tide, there’s low tide. Once something begins, it eventually reaches its end.

For Eugene, the beginning had been Mecha Eugene, and the end had led to the complete downfall of Artemis—but reality was reality, and it didn’t end with some fairytale “and they all lived happily ever after” narration.

Jin and Rain were absorbed into the Dagger Team, and the frequency of EU broadcasts quickly dropped.

Many viewers expressed confusion about this, but Eugene had his reasons. Since August of last year, she had been buried in the game, continuously tackling massive events that were hard for ordinary people to even experience.

Tournament ranks, preliminary ranks, the Asian qualifiers, and the final championship. But that wasn’t the end. Immediately following came a series of incursions. After Operation Bluefield and Chariot, there were Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle…

She had been running non-stop, truly breathlessly.

But as I said, it didn’t end there. She still had to face Artemis once more—without even the Icarus Gear.

To sum it all up:

"Has this person really burned out?"

"No way, with someone like her, a living iron woman, that kind of thing can’t happen... Can it?"

It didn’t seem likely, but if you were to ask if it was completely impossible, well, that wasn’t quite true either.

Though her threshold was incredibly high, Eugene was still someone who felt emotions. Naturally, after handling a schedule that would have worn down any regular person, it wasn’t strange for her to feel… a bit of fatigue.

Of course, that alone didn’t entirely explain why Eugene’s broadcasts had been a bit sparse lately, but at least the viewers believed it was somewhat true.

The fortunate thing was that she had accumulated so much broadcast content over time that the editors were still working non-stop. Even though her broadcasts, which used to air about six times a week, had now halved, YourSpace still uploaded at least one video per day.

In any case, as Eugene’s streaming audience gradually became anxious:

"...She’s not going to quit streaming, is she?"

"Hey, don’t say nonsense."

"Why not? It’s not like it’s her livelihood, and she seems to have a main job too."

The biggest problem was this:

For Eugene, it didn’t matter whether she turned on the stream or not. Most YourSpace channel managers were full-time, and their livelihoods depended on it, so they had to stream no matter what. Even if they didn’t broadcast for a while, they eventually had to do so later.

Eugene wasn’t like that.

Her streaming was essentially… a favor for the viewers.

And so, while countless people, both offline and online, enthusiastically debated her future broadcasts, Eugene was—

"...Ugh, why is everything so busy?"

She was just diligently handling the backlogged tasks.

A few lists popped up from the hologram generated by the Icarus Gear. Most of them were tasks only Eugene could take care of. There were at least ten items on the list. Eugene sighed, recalling how things had come to this point.

Looking at it from every angle, the cause was simple. She’d kept thinking, “I’ll just finish this one task, then I’ll do that, then restore America, then clean up Artemis…” and so, one task after another had piled up, eventually turning into a snowballing avalanche.

Even though she’d seen the list countless times, it didn’t get any smaller, but she went through the lineup again.

"Let’s see…"

• Thinktank tasks.
• Preparing a curriculum to hand over to Dice and Blooming.
• Managing the YourSpace channel and checking the payments for Eugene’s division.
• Reviewing and responding to requests from Icarus International.
• Regular communication with her parents and checking collaboration projects between Thinktank and Icarus.
• An informal meeting with Henry Michael Brayton about the corporate funding policy.
• Checking protocols for the other world and regular updates on enemy movements.
• Personal tactical studies.
• Exercise routines she’d neglected.
• Confirming bookings for Hawaii in September, including accommodation, shooting ranges, and firearm reservations...

"A day is not enough."

Of course, Eugene didn’t want to give up on running YourSpace. She was planning to try out some new content that she alone could do, and the Hawaii trip mentioned last was proof of that. But there were just too many things she had to do, and thus, she had long since concluded that she couldn’t balance all this with streaming.

However, when I say "long," it means she had been living like this for quite some time, and this, in turn, meant that the tasks Eugene listed were somewhat on track.

A few of the tasks displayed on the hologram slowly disappeared. Some were either things she could let go of or weren’t important enough to keep worrying about.

But just as something leaves, something new enters.

At the very bottom of the list, Eugene quietly checked a newly added task.

"Glory and Honor."

It was a game that had been around for quite a while.

Opening the email with the game’s title written in stylish, antique lettering, Eugene slowly began to check the details below.

While there was a bit of flowery language, the message was simple.

• The physical ability reduction system has been completed, specifically designed for Eugene. After you try it, feel free to adjust it, and we will make immediate corrections.
• The promotional cost is...

My first homework broadcast.

Of course, no one knew how long the homework would last.