I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 472

"Hello, everyone! It's Harmony!"

"Hello, everyone. It's Dice. Thank you for coming to today's KSM after-party stream, and thank you to Moni for inviting me today!"

Harmony and Dice are here wwwwwwwwwwwwwww
What’s this???? Is it my birthday today??
This is so cool~~~~~~~~
Where’s Biyami, though!!!! Bring Biyami out!!!!!!!!
Haha, look at these idiots throwing a tantrum because there’s no Biyami ???????????????????????????????????
On the last Wednesday of September, the stream for Harmony began.

However, the faces of both of them were not what most viewers had recently become accustomed to. More specifically, one had light brown hair and looked like a cute person, and the other had a distinctly foreign appearance.

Dice and Harmony. But now, they had switched to streaming via a real-life camera.

The number of viewers shot up quickly to nearly 100,000. The two waved their hands lightly at the camera, and started collecting questions from viewers using the chat’s automatic sorting feature.

And soon enough, they realized that the direction they expected was confirmed.

"Now that so many people have joined, let’s start the main conversation… As expected, no one’s asking questions about the main KSM match. I figured as much."

"Well, I don’t have much to say about it since I didn’t even participate in KSM."

"...Ugh, I’m really jealous. Anyway, since we’re not talking about the match, let’s talk about something else. Dice, you should warm up your voice. If you make a mistake, our editor won’t edit it out."

"Ugh…"

Haha, ????????
?? : All those countless tasks thrown at me… I’ll never forgive this….
Deal with it, ????????
Fact) True
Honey tips based on experience w
That was a terrifying statement.

So Dice hurriedly drank water to clear his throat, and looked at the most pressing question that had been generated by the automatic sorting. Seeing that Harmony was likely going to handle the same question, she quickly began to recall her thoughts.

The first question: How did it feel to become an EM-level user, even though it was virtual reality?

The answer was already decided.

"Should I go first, or should Dice?"

"Mina can go first."

"Well... Honestly, I didn’t care much about becoming stronger or being able to run faster, but the thing that really fascinated me was the tail. I never imagined that a tail could be so cool. It was really hard to control it the way Eugene-sensei does, though."

EM-level main abilities are strength and speed, but this person’s focused on the tail, haha
They’re just a user, but they want the tail!
Summary) The tail is harder to control than expected
So, Biyami is just really good at handling it, huh ??????????
Eugene coin is skyrocketing again today….
Just as they said.

Considering how much effort Harmony and Dice had put in under Eugene’s guidance, it made sense that they could handle the tail this well after such insane training.

On the other hand, Dice gave the exact reaction viewers had been expecting – a strong admiration for the EM-level physical abilities. It felt like his joints had springs inside, giving him insane rebound strength. Even the slightest movement made him feel the power, and he wondered if he could even control it.

Naturally, Harmony shared the same opinion on this.

"Honestly… after we had that event match, I realized how carefully Eugene-sensei handled us. The way he controlled the tail, it’s just incredible."

"By the way, Dice, didn’t you once sleep all day wrapped in Eugene-sensei’s tail during the Asia qualifiers?"

"Eh, that’s…"

????????????
Haha, ??????????
?? : You were used as a pillow, huh…
Please, let me be Dice for just one day, please!!!
Harmony’s tears w
Harmony’s expression darkened.

Of course, it wasn’t exactly impossible that it had happened. After all, this was a story she had directly shared during a post-Final Championship party in Korea. So, Dice could only avoid Mina’s gaze.

At the same time, a half-hearted attempt at consolation came from Dice.

"Ah, it’s fine. Maybe Mina will get to do that someday too?"

"...Did you just try to comfort me?"

"Eh, was that not comforting? I’m still bad at Korean."

"Yerin, you’re a Korean-Korean!"

Haha, ????????????????
What are they doing? ??????????????
Foreign (Korean-Korean)
Only pretending to be foreign when it’s inconvenient, haha
Naturally, he failed miserably.

After a while of playful bickering, the two finally collapsed onto the sofa, and the conversation returned to the original topic. Harmony spoke up first.

"…But, even after becoming EM-level, Eugene-sensei is still Eugene-sensei. If Dice hadn’t come, I probably would’ve gotten caught by Absorption Law."

"Wait, what happened back then?"

"Exactly!"

Harmony didn’t know.

Dice didn’t know either.

Only Eugene knew the full details of what happened at that time. What was clear, though, was that Harmony had been buried under rubble from a broken building within 30 seconds of encountering Biyami. She barely escaped, only to become an ice sculpture, almost having her tail stolen.

At that moment, Dice, who had seen the situation, grabbed whatever he could and threw it at Eugene to stop him — otherwise, Dice too might’ve faced a terrible fate.

So Harmony spoke again.

"Everyone, this is the fact. Eugene-sensei is really a genius in battle. Even if I was lazy… how could anyone beat an EM-level user head-on? Back in the Final Championship, Dice had to struggle for hours to beat Logan-sensei, wait. Can we even say he beat him?"

"If I could go back to that time, I would’ve just let Logan-sensei kill me."

"Wow."

Now that I think about it, how did Biyami beat Harmony? ???
Dice’s shocking confession ????
?? : Did you kill Logan? More like you plucked his nose hair
Fact) After killing Logan, Dice was beaten by him 7 times
Logan’s got a subtle vengeance streak ??????
A truly heartfelt confession.

Mina nodded, understanding, and felt relieved that neither Logan nor Eugene would be competing in this year’s Final Championship. The topic then returned to Eugene’s combat skills, and Harmony shook her head, lying back on the sofa.

"Honestly, I think even if Eugene-sensei goes to the Final Championship this year with reverse correction, I think he’d make it to first place easily."

"DICE, have you ever fought Eugene-sensei one-on-one with reverse correction?"

"Me? Ugh, if that ever happened, it’d be the end of the world."

It was an obvious answer.

After talking for a while about KSM and Eugene’s praise, or maybe it was more like a testimony, about three hours passed. Then suddenly, they threw out a new topic, as if they had just remembered something.

"By the way, Eugene-sensei hasn’t been in contact much lately…"

"Is he up to something suspicious again?"

"Well, he might be listening to us right now. I didn’t say anything, sensei."

"Why are you making me the bad guy!"

As they bickered, they finally agreed on one thing — Eugene had many secrets even they didn’t know.

However, it was too late to be concerned about that now. They decided not to dig into it and instead focus on their upcoming Hawaii trip.

There was zero chance they’d get any answers anyway, so Harmony and Dice decided to forget about it.

"Well, anyway. We’ll hear all about what Eugene has been doing when we meet at Incheon Airport. Of course, I’m not sure if we’ll get to hear it then."

"Want to make a bet? I’m not telling you."

"If I’m betting on a win, I won’t make the bet."

"Too bad... Well, maybe we’ll know someday, or maybe not."

Of course, the latter was more likely.

So, if you happen to be quietly listening among these tens of thousands of viewers, I hope you’ll eventually share it with us — the unspoken fragments of that thought soon faded into the quiet night sky of late September.

The two of them continued their evening like that.

"…Ah, the creator of Archetype. I don’t know what to say."

"Why are you so nervous?"

"Nervous… is this what nervous feels like?"

"Hey, comfort me too. I’m nervous too."

Meanwhile, Eugene was busy chastising the two Mecha-crybabies.

It was just another day.

"Ahem, communication program activation, logic circuit cooling, please wait a moment."

"Take all the time you need. It’s nice to meet you. I’m the future mother of Jin."

"Um… Master. I don’t have the linguistic knowledge of honorifics. What should I say?"

"…Should we come back later, Mom?"

In the deep underground of Icarus International’s headquarters in Two Bridges, Manhattan, New York, Eugene, with the help of two unknown people, used her powers to connect two different worlds and brought two more Mecha Biyamis.

At that moment, Eugene’s parents, who had been waiting for them dressed in neat suits, burst out laughing at the chaotic scene.

The two of them, who had worked for years in senior positions at a multinational corporation, were seeing such clumsy yet incredibly cute beings for the first time.

The curiosity about who Jin and Rain were had completely disappeared.

With the calm professionalism befitting their titles, they had planned to ask sharp questions, but from the start, their plans were completely derailed.

"...Hmm. So, those two are Jin and Rain? Which one is Jin, and which one is Rain?"

"The one glowing turquoise is Jin, and the one glowing blue is Rain."

"Now I get it. Since they look identical, it makes sense to tell them apart by color."

Of course, there was no real need to distinguish them by color; they were clearly different.

Their faces and body types might have been the same, but it wasn’t a problem at all. Jin, with her absent-minded yet timid expression, embodied the humanoid stereotype while still having a very human quality. Rain, on the other hand, was closer to a person with a machine-like body.

But the real point was that there was no need for them to even take the time to meet these two humanoids face-to-face.

Without hesitation, they reached out first.

"...What is this?"

"It’s a handshake. You hold hands to exchange friendly feelings."

"…So, we just hold hands like this?"

"Yes."

Jin and Rain cautiously reached out and shook hands with the two of them.

The temperature was not that of artificial human warmth created by the artificial core in their chests, but instead the genuine warmth of blood. Though their extremities felt a bit cooler than 36.5°C, the sensation of their hands meeting was unlike anything they could describe.

And so, Jin and Rain thought — as they’d heard from Archetype, her creators, or her "parents," had called them here for some reason.

What were they supposed to say? What would these creators want to hear from them?

But since neither Jin nor Rain had ever experienced a situation like this before, they had no algorithm to solve such a problem.

And that was exactly why Eugene’s parents asked them one question, which after a moment of thought, they cautiously answered.

The two humanoids took another step forward.

"…The reason you want to go outside with Archetype? It’s simple. She gave me a second life. I never felt this way in Artemis, and it became a turning point I could never have experienced otherwise."

They thought that wanting to walk with Archetype wasn’t an impossible request.

Jin started to speak, and everyone’s eyes shifted toward her. Even Eugene and Rain hadn’t expected her to answer so vividly — and for that reason, Eugene’s parents read between the lines of her words.

At the very least, Jin was someone who loved their daughter more than anyone else.

If that’s the case, there was no reason to refuse.

"Then, what about Rain?"

"Huh, me?"

A brief moment of panic.

But she was confident in her drama skills, and she calmly spoke, recounting all of her experiences.

She even dropped the forced honorifics and spoke plainly.

"...It took him six tries to convince me. Not only that, he even barged into my base to save me. Then he completely wiped out Artemis. Wanting to go with someone like that... it might be an unreasonable request, but it’s not strange."

Then, silence.

But at that moment, as Jin and Rain held hands with Eugene’s parents, they both immediately sensed the smiles forming on their faces.

At the sound of a small chuckle, the two couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter.

Eugene and her family spoke.

"…I think that’s enough. They’re harmless, really."

"I thought so. It’s a great answer. Thank you, both."

"Eh, um...?"

"I honestly wanted to ask you, but there’s no need. You’re Jin and Rain, right? From the moment you hesitated earlier, I knew you weren’t going to hurt our daughter."

Did it really turn out that way?

The two humanoids wondered, but since they had passed the test, they decided to enjoy the feeling of warmth spreading through their bodies.

The meeting, which had been expected to last over 30 minutes, ended, and Eugene’s parents left, telling them that they’d soon be able to walk outside with their daughter.

The final conversation continued.

"I didn’t expect our daughter to bring a granddaughter for Chuseok."

"...Granddaughter?"

"Oh, you’re such a fool. Anyway, Jin, enjoy your trip to Hawaii. Let’s have a meal together soon."

"Ah, yes. We’ll do that."

And then, a hug.

Thus, the stormy time came to an end, and when Eugene’s parents disappeared into the distance, Rain spoke to Eugene, who was still dazed.

"...Your creator is an indescribable person."

"This time, I agree."

"Well, at least we got approval. That’s a relief."

Well, that’s true.

Of course, Eugene had long given up on understanding the situation and decided not to explain further.

Jin and Rain’s successful debut in Eugene’s world had happened months ago.

"...Where does this person even get these unbelievable things from?"

"Don’t bother being curious."

Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers away, at the Think Tank headquarters in Washington, D.C., they were once again pondering how to handle the dropped bomb.

It was only a few days before Eugene’s group was set to leave for their trip.