I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 475

[Tricky Personal Site - Eugene]

[Notice] The broadcast start time may be delayed due to personal circumstances

<Picture of a heart made with a tail>
I’ll try to turn it on as soon as possible.
Thank you for waiting and I apologize.

To make up for it, I'll give you all a heart tail...

[All Comments] [Sorted by date]

= Wow, hahahaha!
= Can you do the I-challenge after being 12 hours late? I'll beg you for it!!??
? Haha, genius?
? I want to do the challenge of putting a drink on the tactical pouch…
? These guys are going to break their heads hahahaha!
= Heart tail! Heart tail! Heart tail! Heart tail! Heart tail! Heart tail!
= But seriously, how huge was the personal issue that delayed the broadcast???
? Did terrorists land in Hawaii or something?
? LOL, that’s the only excuse I’d accept hahaha!
? First ever terrorist extermination stream, whoa!
? Are you crazy?
= If there was a zombie outbreak in Korea, I think they could take care of it by themselves in half a day, but this "personal issue" is making me so curious hahaha!
= I’m keeping an eye on the news, wondering if something happened in Hawaii haha.
? Maybe a hostage situation or simultaneous terrorist attacks?
? Heading to Hawaii for shooting (real-life training).
= Wow, the tail heart is really cute!
= Seriously, what were they thinking to make a heart with the tail hahaha!
...

"… Uh, um..."
"I saw last year's partner streamer competition and the Final Championship. I should've put the medal around your neck myself, but unfortunately, I couldn't."
"Y-Your parents…?"

Uh, um, uh.

The waves crashing outside, the breathtaking view that most of the world would never see, the emerald-colored sea, and the cloudless sky... none of these could distract Harmony and Dice from what they were feeling. All they could see was Eugene, whose eyes were darting away.

The moment their hands met, warmth radiated. Harmony and Dice, who had just awkwardly put the business cards into their pockets, exchanged a brief handshake and scanned each other's faces instinctively.

And, of course, Eugene’s face, which they had seen many times before, was also under scrutiny.

At that moment, a thought crossed their minds.

'... Somehow, they look quite alike.'

Eugene's mother, Lee So-yeon, looked like a sharp beauty even at a glance.
There were subtle wrinkles, but rather than trying to hide them, she adorned them with a natural elegance. Her features embodied grace and composure, and her sharp eyes left a lasting impression.

What could they say? It was somewhat impolite, but she resembled the charismatic, villainous middle-aged women often seen in dramas, who wouldn’t lose their composure even in their final moments and would leave a more lasting impression than the protagonists.

But there she was, standing in front of Harmony and Dice.

Maybe this was what Eugene would look like when she grew older, they thought.

"… Wow, you both look so much like Eugene."
"Do we? Well, of course, whose daughter is she? Blood can’t be denied, hehe."

It seemed they genuinely liked it. And thanks to that, the initial tense atmosphere that Harmony and Dice had felt began to melt away.

Eugene's parents were navigators of one of the largest companies in the world, which was always ranked in the top 20 of the Fortune 500. Harmony and Dice had thought they would be completely different, living in a world far from ordinary people, but as it turned out, they were surprisingly kind and as ordinary as anyone else, experiencing the same ups and downs of life.

Of course, that wasn’t all.

"Wait a minute. Why is our daughter’s face so red? Is she sick?"
"… No, it's nothing like that."
"You still turn red when complimented in public, huh? Just like when you were younger."
"Ugh, stop it!"

What should they say?
It seemed like Eugene's parents had intentionally set this up to tease Eugene, and the situation quickly turned in a direction they hadn’t expected — specifically, teasing Eugene.

As the tension eased from the room, the attention shifted to where Lauren Tina was.

"Should we call you Miss Lauren Tina?"
"Just call me Lauren."
"You don’t seem that surprised."
"I already heard it from the youngest."

Ah.

At that moment, Eugene’s parents nodded as if they now understood.

The atmosphere, which had gone from tense to warm in an instant, was short-lived. After just a few minutes, Eugene's parents spoke with a hint of regret.

"Unfortunately, we won’t be able to join you for a meal today. We have a lot of work to do, but maybe we can have a proper meal before we head back to Korea."
"We’ll meet again on the last day."

"Are you leaving already...?"
"Unfortunately."

And then, Eugene's parents pulled something out of their pockets.

The reactions were varied. Dice and Harmony dropped their jaws and blushed, while Lauren Tina chuckled. Eugene, on the other hand, blushed like a tomato and complained about why they were showing this.

What was it, you ask?

"Mom! Why are you showing pictures of me as a little kid all of a sudden!?"
"Isn’t it a shame not to show off such a cute daughter?"
"Wow, really, really cute!"
"I have no regrets in life..."
"Hehe, so cute. I’d love to show Logan this, but unfortunately..."

Of course, the photos were shown but not distributed.

After a brief meeting of only 10 minutes, the previously tense atmosphere melted into a warm and soft handshake. Harmony and Dice were clearly moved, and they watched as Eugene and her parents shared a heartfelt hug before parting ways.

It was hard to explain, but they could now understand why Eugene seemed so accustomed to living alone.

The table was set for six, but as soon as the two left, the chairs were adjusted to match, and appetizers began to arrive. Since all the meals had already been paid for, the waiter simply mentioned they could eat whenever they liked.

As the onion soup arrived, Harmony and Dice, who had never really spoken openly before, added something to Eugene.

"… Eugene's parents are really impressive people."
"Yeah, they are."

Of course, no one would misunderstand the weight of those words.

The start of this bizarre Hawaii trip had begun.

"…Oh, no. What is a person who should be guarding America doing here?"

"It’s been a while. Your joke skills have improved, Lac. How have you been?"

"I’m doing better than when I was rolling under the boss, haha. So, is this the famous subordinate who used to work with the boss?"

"As you can see."

After shaking hands and briefly hugging, the conversation turned to business.

In a place about 5km northwest of Icarus Residence, Hawaii's largest arms dealer, Firearms International, the owner—who was once under Lauren Tina’s command—greeted me.

For reference, Lauren Tina was nearly 40 years old, though her physical age was probably closer to early 20s.

Anyway, the stream was running, but since this was sensitive information, I had sent the drone cam to Harmony and Dice’s location earlier.

No need to worry; this conversation wouldn’t leak.

"Now that I’m asking, is this about the extremists you're going after? It’s the first time in 12 years of operation that I've been asked for a Barrett and a mini-gun-equipped vehicle, and the NTW-20 too."

"Well, the youngest… has a lot of money. She’s the type to try everything she wants. Anyway, she paid for everything, so it doesn’t matter."

"It cost $40,000 just to import that 20mm sniper rifle. With labor costs, it was $50,000 upfront. If it wasn’t for that, I would’ve rejected it right away."

Of course, when money hits the account, people move.

That said, the firearms for tomorrow's shooting were going to be extremely numerous. As expected, this wasn’t just about shooting; various tactical training would be included, so we had purchased two or three of the same firearms.

Of course, accessories for the firearms were separate.

The total cost for all the shooting was probably going to reach several hundred million, but that wasn’t a big deal. Given that the "YourSpace" channel had grown massively, that kind of expense would be covered in about two weeks.

Now, to get back to it.

Lac, whose surname was Lac and first name was John, was inspecting Harmony and Dice. He added, impressed:

"I never thought these kids, who probably only held prince’s gloves in their lives, would handle firearms so well. Where did they learn this?"

"Can you believe the blonde kid who looks like royalty beat Logan?"

"...Crazy. Looks like I’m going to have to learn from them at the shooting range later."

As he said, Harmony, who was handling a firearm for the first time—well, this was almost the second time for her—carefully examined the gun, making sure not to make rookie mistakes. They didn’t dry fire. They didn’t point the weapon at anyone, even if it wasn’t loaded. They didn’t put their fingers on the trigger when the gun was unloaded. Whether it was a handgun or a rifle, they were handling it like pros.

While Lac was giving a lecture on how the people who came into the gun shop—regardless of gender—misused firearms, he suddenly spoke.

"That brown-haired kid must have gone around with Lauren Tina quite often, huh? The other one seems to have gone with the subordinate."

"Had no choice but to keep teaching her how to handle high-ready. It just became second nature."

Harmony was taught high-ready, and Dice learned low-ready.

In simple terms, it was the difference between Navy SEAL tactics and Army Special Forces. The Navy Seals used high-ready more often for confined space operations, while I taught Dice the more common low-ready stance.

It wasn’t that the Navy and Army always used different stances, but the difference in teaching style was noticeable.

Lauren Tina added a comment:

"Our newbies, come over here. Let’s do a quick check-up fire."

"Can we do an attack fire?"

"Well, technically, it’s fine. Since you bought all the guns, we can fire them as much as we want, as long as we don’t go crazy and shoot nonstop."

Though, I added that when the guns break, my wallet wouldn’t be opening.

As Harmony and Dice reloaded the guns, Lac spoke again.

"Those huge boxes are being loaded onto the truck outside, aren't they?"

The boxes—about 30 kg each—were placed on the table. The sound of them opening revealed an incredible number of rounds. Not a single cheap round was in sight.

The ammo was all high-quality, precision-made, and there were 12,000 rounds, with about one-third for the mini-gun.

Though, that wasn’t the end of it.

"By now, trucks with body armor, knee pads, gloves, headsets, and hats are probably already loaded. Even though Hawaii is relatively cool, it’s going to be hot once we put everything on. You okay with that?"

"We’ll do it in the indoor range, so it’ll be fine. We'll blast the AC so hard, it’ll be freezing, no worries."

"We'll be observing too. Might need to bring a few blankets."

As the banter continued, the drone cam I sent over arrived.

The staff were struggling to load the large crates into the truck outside, and on the table, a massive sniper rifle—impossible to call just a sniper—appeared.

NTW-20.

The lady from South Africa had arrived.

"Wow."
"That’s a rifle that came from thousands of kilometers away. I don’t really understand why someone would shoot that, but well, I guess they applied for it because it’s possible. I’ll enjoy watching it. I’ll even post it on our YourSpace channel."

"Of course."

A man entered and struggled to carry the heavy sniper rifle, with a 20mm round—used in heavy machine guns—appearing in the cam.

If the .50 caliber looked like a marker, the 20mm round was more like a Powerade bottle—thick and imposing.

As expected, the viewers went wild.

"Haha, I’ve only seen this in the air force."
"So, are they really going to shoot that?"
"Feels like it could…?"
"Who would even try to follow this insane stuff, hahaha."

Harmony and Dice were giggling as they held the rounds near their faces.

Preparations were almost complete.

The two had arrived in Hawaii, but it felt like they had returned to the old New York.