I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 466

"Finally, you've become a living legend, the youngest. Congratulations."

"I think I'm going to die, really."

7:00 PM.

Three hours had passed since the domestic tournament and event match of Glory and Honor had concluded. As the sun began to sink below the horizon, I cautiously slipped out onto a back road where no one was supposed to notice me. At the end of the road, someone I had seen many times before was waiting for me.

It was Lauren Tina.

There was no one around except for a few people taking a walk. Fortunately, there were no fans or people waiting outside. Honestly, it was because of this that I had come out so late today. The popularity stemming from the virtual reality simulation match earlier today wasn’t exactly… pleasant for me.

If you ask me whether I expected this to happen, I can’t deny it, but still, is it too greedy to wish for at least a small buffer zone? I just showed what I could show, but when the reaction comes back so overwhelmingly large, it’s a little overwhelming.

"You must have waited quite a while."

"Just as you said, I’ve waited quite a long time. But I believe that if you know, there should be an appropriate reward."

"…Alright, I’ll buy dinner."

"I’ll gratefully accept it."

Swoosh.

After carefully closing the glass door, I started walking with my former superior toward the bustling district. Our destination was near Yongsan Station. Just in case, I activated the stealth and soundproof features of the Icarus Gear to prevent any sound from leaking, adding a bit of distraction.

If people don’t look closely, they’d never notice who we really were. And even if someone does notice, we’d pass by them in a quick step.

Anyway, now it was time to discuss the aftermath.

"Today was one of the hardest days I’ve had so far."

"Was it because of fighting 300 people, or was it the battle with me?"

"Both, combined."

A small chuckle escaped.

At this point, to be blunt, the number of people doesn’t really matter unless they’re holding a gun. The fact that I fought against 300 people wasn’t my decision either… In fact, if I wanted to effectively tire myself out and be captured, I’d probably need about a thousand human weapon-level users. That’s when the odds would be in my favor.

In reality, wasting a thousand elite soldiers just to capture one would be seen as insane.

Anyway, to go back, the reason today was so difficult was because of the surprise guest — the shark who appeared at the end.

Of course, I wasn’t surprised by it. As I said earlier, defeating 300 people head-on was exhausting but not impossible. But if the final boss appeared at the end, the situation changes.

I’ve mentioned this before, but if this person had appeared without reverse compensation, I would have probably been slowly eaten away, and then stabbed with a .50 AE-level piercing strike to my head, neck, or heart, sending me to the waiting screen.

Thanks to the reverse compensation, though, I was able to match the damage accumulation ratio 1:1 and win.

"Also, who gave you that ridiculous chainsaw?"

"It was something I used during the April Fools update. I was intrigued, so I brought it along. When else would I get a chance to use it?"

"How do you think I feel, having to take that head-on?"

Of course, Lauren Tina didn’t seem to care at all.

Well, knowing her, would she? Anyway, the topic remained focused on the 1:300 battle from earlier, as there was plenty to discuss.

There was more to talk about the second battle than the first.

"I don’t know if there will be another, but if there is, I think it’ll be prohibited to pick up weapons."

"Then should I throw people next time…?"

"Well, you would be quite capable of that."

But still, without throwing something, there’s no way to control other users at a distance.

Especially fighting cavalry and melee combat is literally suicidal. The power of a horse’s rear kick, thrown at the same speed as my punch, was incredibly painful. Of all the effective hits I received, that one hurt the most. Of course, I felt no pain, but when considering HP loss, it was the worst.

From that perspective, throwing a spear was a decent choice. If I had thrown it a bit earlier, I could’ve sent half of the 20 cavalry units to the waiting screen, but the distance wasn’t far enough… Well, anyway, it was a very effective method.

In the meantime, we approached the enormous Yongsan Station area. Rather than settling in one place for dinner, we decided to wander around and snack on various things.

The first stop was a burger joint on the first floor of a shopping mall, which was almost connected to Yongsan Station.

We ordered burgers and sat down at a random spot.

Lauren Tina spoke up.

"That’s secondary. I probably couldn’t have done that. My combat style is focused entirely on one-on-one combat, so maybe in a simulated 1:1 match, but in a large-scale battle with mixed units, I’m not sure I could fight as effectively as you did."

"Each has its pros and cons."

"It’s a bit hard to say it that way. Especially considering that our existence, people like us, is for responding to emergency situations that were never anticipated before. It’s true I somewhat envy you."

"Uh..."

"It’s just my personal opinion, so don’t take it too seriously."

What kind of personal opinion is that?

But this is how she is. Essentially, there’s always a hint of sincerity hidden behind casual comments. And if she was truly concerned about it, she would’ve filled in any gaps through training, so I just let it be.

While I was finishing off the 4 burgers I had gotten, Lauren Tina quickly devoured two of them, then rummaged through her pockets. She showed me her phone screen.

I wondered what she was showing, and it turned out to be a message from Logan.

The full message read:

[Logan: I’ll kill you.]
"…Heh."

"Looks like the sparks flew pretty hard."

That brief message…

I don’t know why, but just from those few words, it felt like I could tell how many messages this person had been receiving while we were fighting.

It was lucky Lauren Tina didn’t get reassigned to Korea.

"You’ll need to be careful not to bump into a polar bear when you return to the U.S."

"I’m going to take leave and run off to Hawaii, so it doesn’t matter."

"What about after you return? What if you have more unit joint training?"

"…"

A short silence.

Then came the next words.

"As soon as I get caught by a polar bear, I’ll call your location, and I believe you’ll understand that it’s unavoidable."

"Ugh, really."

Half a year.

In half a year, Logan would probably choke me out with a guillotine.

It was summer.

Saturday.

The weekend following the whirlwind of Eugene, the typhoon that swept through the community.

No matter what people expected from Eugene, she officially announced to the hundreds of thousands of viewers that her advertising contract with Icarus International - Glory and Honor had successfully concluded.

The two-month-long golden period of Glory and Honor. Considering that top-tier streamers usually only run an ad for a game for about a week or two at most, Eugene had been promoting Glory and Honor for four times that duration.

But it didn’t end there. After dropping the predictable game ad content, Eugene directly dove into ranked matches, wielding two unmodified daggers, breaking every rank in her path.

Needless to say, it was a massive success.

However, Eugene didn’t stop there. She began to take on a schedule many times larger than before.

She visited SSM, training Glory and Honor professional gamers under the guise of "training," created a new assassin class that had the community in constant debate, and began preparing for event matches.

Through two event matches, held using the Glory and Honor pro-gamers as sacrifices for the tournaments, Eugene became a legend. This was undeniably proven by the fact that she never lost, even when facing the miraculous exchange ratio of 1:300 in consecutive battles.

Of course, it didn’t end there. Eugene showed the world what happens when a player with EM-level skill, who has mastered countless combat techniques, unleashes their full power. This demonstration was broadcast to 30 million viewers worldwide.

However, like all things, even the Glory and Honor ads, which seemed like they would last forever, eventually came to an end.

Eugene wasn’t the type to throw away her hard-earned Dark Zone career to jump to another game. Meanwhile, the GoH domestic tournament had just ended, and the KSM overlapped with the holiday weekend.

Glory and Honor had gained millions of new players due to Eugene, but Dark Zone absorbed those very users, who knew Eugene well, and the viewers scattered across virtual reality were all sucked into KSM.

And so, the situation was back to square one.

"KSM is heating up even more on this Saturday! Today is Saturday, and 100 users are headed for the Asian qualifiers, washing away their exhaustion in fierce battles, and an event match awaits to make the heated atmosphere even hotter!"

As each match ended, the user rankings displayed on the scoreboard shifted.

In the midst of this, there was no sign of Dice or Eugene. However, Harmonie’s name appeared. She consistently bounced between 3rd and 4th place, sometimes even reaching 1st place before dropping again. Below her were Ink, Michael, and Gambit, all fighting to stay on top.

Of course, below them, there was a large group of players from 10 teams, all of whom shared one thing in common: they had all been touched by Eugene’s influence.

But despite the many eyes on the rankings, it was already clear who would be advancing to the Asian qualifiers without much issue, and Harmonie was one of them.

Naturally, Harmonie, who had shown near-artistic trap usage in countless matches, sat in the waiting room, her expression oddly fluttering.

The reason was simple.

"...I remember seeing Eugene running around like that last year, but now I’m going to be part of this. Doesn’t it feel like I’m pretty good at Dark Zone now?"

Eugene running around like this, smashing and destroying everything with a lightsaber and a mallet.
What kind of delusion is this?
This idiot has been Eugene’s fan for over half a year now. Whatever Eugene does, she looks perfect to me...
Did she really just say she’s getting good at it?
The girl who can blow up Michael, Ink, and Bandit 50% of the time, being modest?
Harmonie had never imagined herself in this position, the one she once saw as the unattainable peak, one that could only be reached by stepping over countless talented individuals who honed their skills through endless training. Unlike other pro gamers, who had long objectively assessed their skills through scrims, Harmonie had just finished her closed-door training under Eugene and was now facing the air of the very top. The experience was incredibly refreshing.

And the proof that she had earned her spot in KSM?

The event match.

"I remember this was kind of like a battle royale, right? But with weapons like mallets and jelly grenades?"

"Yep. Think of it as a much cuter version. But now there’s going to be something like Donut, so we need to be careful."

"Oh, Michael. Long time no see."

"Yeah, it really has been."

Wow, I never thought I’d see these two on the same team!
??? : Harmonie, you’ve gotten strong. You’re at least equal to me, or even better.
It seems like that’s true, haha!
I bet they'll both be in the U.S. together this year.
The viewers, as always, were in an uproar.

Michael soon disappeared after a brief greeting, stating that the event match was about to start. Harmonie glanced at the timer, which read 30 seconds, before taking a deep breath and exhaling.

Playful was waiting for her.

As the 30 seconds passed, Harmonie couldn’t help but widen her eyes, inhaling the sweet smell filling the entire map.

Soft floor, toy guns scattered around, cotton ball grenades too cute to be called grenades, and mallets that looked more like melee weapons. There were houses made of candy, SD characters running around with joy, and more.

As Harmonie’s smile widened with excitement, a number appeared at the very top of the UI.

At that ambiguous number, many people started to question it.

"...Wait, didn’t I hear that this event match was recruiting 100 KSM participants and 500 regular users? So why is the number 601...?"

Just as she had said.

Since the match hadn’t started yet, users were already beginning to discuss this strange situation in groups. Harmonie rolled her eyes around, unsure what was going on.

And at that moment, the worst-case scenario flashed through her mind.

"Wait a second. Could it be-"

CRASH!

But she couldn’t finish her sentence.

No matter how much she searched around, her efforts to find that one person who had been missing all this time were in vain. Something thick had fallen from the sky, landing like a superhero.

A crater the size of a meter had formed around it.

Too thick to be human. A bulging, white padded figure with a snake tail sticking out awkwardly. Despite the fluffy visual, the icy blue eyes of the user seemed to send a chill through Harmonie’s soul, reminding her of someone.

Naturally, everyone there realized who the unexpected addition to the session was.

With a cold voice that didn’t match the SD visual, Eugene spoke.

"I’m not here to just watch. I’m too busy for that."

Clink!

In that moment, from Eugene's left hand, an energy sword appeared, and from her right hand, a rocket launcher.

The keyword for today's event match — Playful — was slaughter.