I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 482

–––Vroom!

“The drone’s performance is pretty impressive. I have the feeling we’ll run out of all the rounds before we even hit it…”

“Haha, of course. It’ll be tough with just two miniguns. Hopefully, this gives you a taste of what Navy sailors felt like back in WWII.”

A drone soaring through the sky at several hundred kilometers per hour.

It wasn’t really a drone, but more like a miniaturized airplane, and its speed reflected that. As it zipped through the sunny Hawaiian sky, a rather annoying whirring sound echoed. One might wonder if it was purposely making that noise.

The drone’s operator, Mr. Rack, was diligently controlling the device to ensure it stayed within an acceptable altitude and range. Naturally, if the drone flew too high or strayed too far, the U.S. military stationed in Hawaii would definitely take notice.

To prevent that disaster, they’d already reached out in advance and received the necessary permissions.

Now, it was just time to shoot and hit it.

“We’ve got four drones prepared. They weren’t too expensive, so feel free to shoot as much as you want. The cost of the rounds to shoot them down will probably exceed the price of the drones themselves.”

“Did you hear that, everyone? Get ready.”

Wow, trigger-happy!!!
This is going to be so fun hahaha
This is what happens when ridiculously rich people get serious about guns hahaha
Two miniguns? Did they bring like 50,000 rounds or something? hahaha
Just the money they’ve spent preparing for the shooting alone must be over 200 million... crazy ??
While everyone was sporting excited expressions, they checked the shooting angles for their guns.

Ahead of them lay a high mountain range, and the area was remote enough that they could shoot in any direction without worrying about hitting anything—provided they didn’t point their guns in a completely ridiculous direction. Even at a 45-degree angle, the nearest populated area was more than 12 km away.

So, the angle for firing the machine guns was actually pretty straightforward.

Around seven people took their positions, checking their machine guns.

Loren and Eugene were each holding a minigun for the viewers’ enjoyment, while Harmonie and Dice were preparing to shoot the Browning M2 and the MG338, respectively. One of the gun shop staff members who had joined them was ready to take the KPV.

There were some other light machine guns like the FN Minimi and M249 mixed in, but they were no match for the other heavy machine guns they had brought along in terms of firepower… though honestly, no one seemed too concerned about that.

Anyway, that didn’t matter much, as they’d be rotating shooters anyway.

With a "click," the linked ammo belts were loaded into the chamber of the machine guns, and the drone slowly started to move forward.

After making a quick turn, it crossed from left to right in the line of fire—

–––Boom!

The deafening sound of gunfire rang in their ears.

The tracer rounds are intense hahaha
Even in reality, there’s someone shooting a minigun hahaha
Two awakened individuals shooting miniguns? How do you even deal with that!!!???
Living point: That’s not a microgun, they’re shooting 7.62mm rounds
Forearm strength, insane hahaha
With a firm grip on the minigun, Eugene forced the gun down, which was trying to lift into the air. A cloud of gunpowder smoke and flames erupted right in front of him as tracer rounds mixed in, revealing the trajectory of the minigun’s rounds. It was like a giant whip cracking through the air, two laser-like beams painting the sky in horizontal strokes.

The shooting continued from both the left and right. The linked ammo belts were sucked into the chamber like waves crashing onto the shore. On the opposite side, shell casings and clips were ejecting in rapid succession, piling up on the right side of the shooters like a sandcastle on the beach.

Despite over 200 rounds per second filling the air, the drone—like a stubborn target—continued to zip back and forth, easily weaving through the massive zone of destruction.

And then, the shooting stopped.

“We’re making another pass. Get ready.”

“This time, we’re really going to hit it.”

“Haha, it won’t be easy.”

A thick cloud of gunpowder smoke hung in the air.

But unlike the others around him, Eugene’s eyes were linked to the Icarus Augmented Reality lens, which automatically adjusted and highlighted predictive shots as the drone’s trajectory was analyzed. After a few more passes, he would be able to take that drone down with his shots.

The drone completed its turn and began flying from right to left.

With a firm push of his left arm and both feet planted firmly on the ground, Eugene pressed the button with his right hand.

Hundreds of shell casings clattered to the ground.

The deafening roar reverberated as the rounds from the minigun slowly began to close the gap with the erratically moving drone. Even as the rounds flew, the Icarus-Hologram lens, synced with Eugene’s retina, calculated the drone’s predicted flight path and displayed percentages in the air.

It wasn’t just about displaying random data; it processed countless variables in real-time, including the drone’s wing angles, engine output, wind speed, and direction, showing where the drone was likely to fly.

In the meantime, Eugene’s and Loren’s shot patterns began to overlap slightly. It seemed that Loren had noticed what Eugene was up to and, rather than confronting him, she was subtly mimicking his trajectory—or, to put it less kindly, she was riding on his coattails.

But it didn’t really matter.

“….”

With a press of the button, Eugene unleashed more than 600 rounds from the minigun.

As the second pass began, everyone stopped shooting and took a moment to reload. But this was the end. The drone was likely to be shattered by bullets as it crossed the front of their line, and after that, they would switch to different guns.

A haze of heat and gunpowder smoke filled the air, and as the drone made its turn again, the first to fire was, naturally, the minigun.

With a noise reminiscent of an electric chainsaw, two streams of bullets were unleashed, followed by five different machine guns from the squad, each vomiting flames from their barrels.

The drone, still flying arrogantly through the sky, continued its journey.

But this time, they weren’t going to let it pass.

–––Vroom!

“…Huh? Oh! It’s falling!”

“No, it’s not falling. It’s being torn apart mid-air!”

Oh my god hahaha
Eugene! Eugene! Eugene! Eugene! Eugene! Eugene!
He actually shattered it hahaha
That’s terrifying hahaha
Scary fact: He was controlling the recoil with the minigun and just blasted it to pieces
Thunk.

As soon as the drone was hit, its speed dropped drastically, but they didn’t let it fall to the ground. After pouring hundreds of rounds into its predicted trajectory, the drone disintegrated into several pieces before hitting the ground, turning into something like Swiss cheese.

Only then did Eugene release his grip on the minigun and respond to the applause starting to echo around him. Meanwhile, one of the staff who hadn’t participated in the shooting brought over a tripod, setting the minigun up on it for a more stable shot.

Now it was time to shuffle the guns.

“Are you going to take the KPV now?”

“Of course.”

“Alright, new recruits. Come on over. Now that we’re in Hawaii, you’ve got to shoot a minigun at least once. Be careful, though, it has more recoil than you’d think.”

“…Are we really in Hawaii?”

“It feels like we’ve come to Hawaii just to see the sights, even though we’ve only been here for two days.”

“If it weren’t for the clothes I brought as a backup, and the lack of a shower at the indoor shooting range, I might’ve been showering at the hotel by now... It finally feels like a vacation. Just a few hours ago, I thought we were here for training.”

“But you had fun, didn’t you?”

“…Yeah.”

The night in Hawaii is long.

Yesterday, as they were heading to the hotel by car, the streets seemed empty, but tonight, they were walking on foot, their feet hitting the bustling, hot sidewalks. Even though it was October, the off-peak season, it was still impressive how crowded it was with both tourists and locals.

In reality, Hawaii has an average temperature of 20 to 30 degrees Celsius throughout the year, so whether you visit during summer or any other season, it’s pretty much the same, and there are always crowds. But now, being right in the middle of the crowd, it felt much more real.

Of course, they couldn’t fully immerse themselves in the tourist atmosphere. They had to keep an eye on the drone’s live feed, watching for any faces of the people passing by or for any store signs to make sure the mosaic filter was properly applied.

After all, about 2.1 million people were watching their broadcast right now.

“Be careful of pickpockets, and as you walk around, make sure to check where we might have dinner. Food trucks are fine, and so are restaurants.”

“…But honestly, I’m not sure if we’ll even have time to eat dinner. Wow.”

At that moment, a group of people casually approached them.

By this point, there was no one around who didn’t know what was going on with the crowd. Everyone pulled out a pen from their pockets—of course, it was for autographs. Given how large their presence was in the Dark Zone, it wasn’t surprising that people would ask for signatures.

About one-third of the crowd were locals watching the broadcast live, while the rest were tourists.

“I’ve been watching your broadcast, Eugene. The shooting with moving targets from earlier today was incredible. I also enjoy shooting, and I hope I’ll have the chance to experience something as fun as that one day.”

“The broker who appeared on the broadcast helped a lot. If I ever have enough money and time, I’d love to experience such a great time like you did.”

“Haha, thanks for the encouragement. And the great autograph too!”

Eugene wrote a simple greeting and signature on a post-it-sized piece of paper.

It was a repeat, again and again. This happened barely ten minutes after they stepped out onto the street. Unfortunately, since their goal for today was to enjoy some sightseeing and have dinner in Hawaii, they couldn’t give autographs to everyone in the crowd.

But there was one person in their group who remained completely unbothered.

“Just so you know, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ask for autographs from Senior Loren. Please keep that in mind.”

“Ah, looks like the youngest is working hard again. Thank you.”

Christopher "Specter" Loren.

Now, they were only calling him by his first name, but Eugene had never once referred to him by his full name. In fact, everything about him—his handwriting, his height, his age—was classified. Even accessing this information was restricted to authorized personnel in SOCOM.

Similarly, Loren had appeared countless times on Eugene’s broadcast, but he had never revealed what organization he was affiliated with. The only thing he’d ever mentioned was, “Eugene was once my junior.”

‘...Normally, someone like him wouldn’t even be able to show his face on a broadcast.’

The reason Loren could appear on Eugene’s broadcast with his face visible was simple.

Reverse-information transmission.

Ironically, the more Loren appeared on the stream, the more the viewers’ speculation about which organization he belonged to grew even more unclear. This uncertainty was fueled by disorganized public opinion created by people working in intelligence agencies in both Korea and the U.S., which only made things more obscure.

It was a kind of high-risk, high-return strategy.

Eugene speculated that the team from “Snakekeeper” in Korea, including Nakasona, was likely crawling through Korean public opinion related to him or Loren right now, analyzing it with secret connections to the U.S. Cyber Command.

Meanwhile, the drone cam had been muted, and Eugene spoke in a quiet, more private manner to Loren, sharing a few sensitive topics.

“Wouldn’t it have been nice to bring a few sheets of ‘paper’ that the guys in Pakistan use often?”

“You mean the paper that automatically erases after an hour... Hmm, it’s better not to leave any room for that. Honestly, we’re on thin ice as it is.”

“Well, I’m not just tagging along for no reason. I’ve got a few tasks that are pretty tough to explain to the youngest, which I’m working on under the condition of coming to Hawaii.”

“Things like inspecting local infrastructure, updating network relays, and data transmission software…”

“...I can’t hide it, huh? You can guess about that much. There are some U.S. military friends who might want to use the opportunity of the youngest’s Hawaii visit as a cover to do something.”

Hmm.

Well, if that’s the case, then it was what it was. Ultimately, Loren appearing on the broadcast had its own set of interests tied to it. As long as no accidents happened, the trip would go smoothly, leaving only pleasant memories.

With the conversation flowing, Loren began to bring up some things she had been holding back.

“The humanoid project for the youngest, the one that’s being pushed now—isn’t it about extracting the AI from the game world?”

“That’s right. It’s more like the beam projector from that other world is being projected here.”

“I figured as much.”

Loren took a deep breath before continuing.

“Let’s stop with the grim talk. The two new juniors are in a bit of a tough spot.”

At that moment, her eyes turned sharply forward.

Somehow, Harmonie and Dice were now surrounded by a crowd of people, all eagerly asking for autographs. As Eugene’s eyes met theirs, they both waved enthusiastically, signaling that they needed help. It seemed like they were in a bit of trouble.

With a sly smile, Eugene cut through the crowd, deactivating the noise barrier and added:

“Well done, you two.”

“Where have you been? Oh wow.”

“Alright, let’s go, our new juniors. We haven’t even had dinner yet.”

7:30 PM.

While Hotteok, Limit, and Stone were waiting for their flight to Hawaii, tangled up like Vienna sausages, Eugene and the others felt the heat of Hawaii’s tourist spot for the first time in two days.

It was only 30 minutes before all the tourists in the area began to crowd into the spot they were occupying.