I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 612

"Eugene-ssi, I’ll go in now."

"Normally, you'd contact me beforehand before opening the door."

"But you’re the one who gave me the door lock number saying I can come in anytime…"

"Alright, alright."

June 22nd, Cheongdam-dong, Seoul.

The once stark and plain interior of Eugene’s penthouse now had a much more refined atmosphere. Standing at the entrance, Dice discreetly kicked off her slippers and walked down the corridor towards the living room. The sunlight outside was still bright, but there was a subtle weariness etched across Dice’s face.

Of course, she wasn’t truly that tired. Eugene, who had been sitting on the plush sofa reading a book, knew well that Dice had simply… fallen victim to a food coma. Sitting next to her, Dice grabbed the swaying Biyam-tail and pulled it.

After some time, Dice finally laid her head down on the tail, using it as a pillow.

It was truly a strange sight.

"When did this start happening? Is it more comfortable like this?"

"If only Eugene-ssi didn’t fart… ack!"

"Shall I take your tail away?"

"Oh no, I misspoke, misspoke. Just a light joke… aaaaack!"

Dice desperately flailed, and Eugene sighed dramatically as though defeated, but eventually returned the tail.

Dice, who had been nodding off, now let out deep breaths and drifted into a deep sleep. Eugene glanced at her for a moment, then resumed reading her book. This had become one of her new routines as of late.

How did it come to this? Eugene had long since given up on pondering that. Cautiously, she closed her book and, without making a sound, secretly took a photo of Dice, who was still sleeping soundly with the tail as her pillow, and sent it to Harmony.

Within seconds, messages flooded in. However, since Harmony would be busy with a collaborative stream from the evening onward, Eugene only chuckled to herself and sent a few replies.

After about two hours, Eugene felt a stronger vibration from her tail, signaling Dice was waking up.

She opened her mouth.

"You should wake up soon. If you eat and sleep right away, you’ll turn into a pig."

"…How do you always know exactly when I wake up?"

"You’ll know when you get a tail too."

"I really want a tail…"

Of course, that was impossible, and Dice, still fixing her bedhead, sat up on the sofa.

A cold glass of water was waiting for her on the table, and Eugene wrapped her tail around the glass and handed it to Dice. As the cold water slid down her throat, a spark of vitality returned to Dice’s groggy eyes.

Leaning back against the sofa, Dice sighed and muttered.

"Ugh, I need to stop this habit of eating and going straight to bed."

"Well, if you stop using my tail as a pillow, that might help."

"Then I’d have no reason to come into Eugene-ssi’s house."

"I’d let you in even without a reason, just tell me to come over whenever. Who wouldn’t listen?"

But Dice muttered something under her breath and quickly stopped herself. Then, as if something had occurred to her, she spoke up again.

"It’s 5 PM now… in about two hours, Mina will be here, right? What do you think we’ll eat today? I sometimes think it would be nice if there were better places to eat around here, like in the basement or the lobby."

"Just order something."

"But sometimes you want something fresh and hot, right? The bar on the top floor only serves a few snacks."

"After having lunch and taking a nap, thinking about dinner already? I’m going to have to drag you to the gym later."

"Ugh, not that—!"

Of course, Dice didn’t win this argument.

Regardless, Eugene had already finished reading one book, slapped it shut, and with a perfect flick, threw it across the room, slipping it perfectly into an empty space.

Dice looked at her in disbelief and shook her head, then suddenly seemed to remember something and spoke up.

"Oh right. Speaking of the stream, I came to ask you about something today."

"What’s that?"

"You know… the first editor. What is he doing these days? Do you know if you gave him permission?"

"Oh, that. I gave him permission, yes. I told him I wouldn’t do any promotions, but I did let him say he’s my editor. He said he wanted to do it on his own, so I didn’t stop him. Besides, it’s fun to watch others become influencers in their own way."

"...If Eugene-ssi gave permission, then it must be fine. I never thought you’d allow something like that."

"I did think long and hard about it when I first heard about it."

At the same time, Dice displayed something in the air.

What appeared on the screen was… hard to describe. It was an avatar that looked nothing like anything you’d expect in real life, moving and broadcasting within virtual reality — and it was a character that resembled Biyam, but more than that, it looked completely different in terms of the props and hair.

The avatar had white hair down to the waist, reminiscent of Logan, with a black veil casually thrown over it. Underneath that, there were glowing red eyes, and the side was completely exposed, leaving nothing to cover the thighs. It resembled a sexy nun’s habit, if you could describe it that way.

But the most unique feature was the long white snake tail extending from behind.

"I kind of have a guess as to the inspiration… it’s probably Bai She (White Snake), right?"

"Yeah. But it looks like the outfit’s changed a lot since the last time I saw it. I guess I’ll have to ask them later."

"No, no, that’s not what’s important! This person is Eugene-ssi’s first editor!"

Eugene couldn’t help but think that this person wasn’t really intending to solve anything seriously.

Anyway, that wasn’t the point. The first editor was acting as a kind of… virtual space creator, or in other words, a holographic idol, and Dice had only recently realized this.

However, Eugene had already known where this all came from. It was one of those bizarre, half-joking comments that appeared in the group chat under the name "Eugene’s Squad" — "I want to become a white-haired TS Biyam nun and collaborate with Eugene-sensei!" This absurd idea was born from the chat, and it had become a kind of meme.

It had started with something simple — a donation or a chat filled with the words "I want to become a white-haired TS Biyam nun and collaborate with Eugene" — and surprisingly, it became quite popular. Now, it was a meme.

Someone might have even taken it seriously, but considering it originated from Eugene’s stream, it had an unstable foundation. That meant no one had attempted it yet.

Plus, if someone did, they might get a stern reprimand from Eugene.

In any case, what had once seemed like a joke had actually been taken seriously by Eugene’s first editor.

"Already… 200,000 subscribers after just four months of activity? Isn’t that too much?"

Of course, when considering it, it made sense.

He had appeared on Eugene’s stream a few times, casually doing interviews, and as Biyam’s editor, he had edited and posted hundreds of videos, showing perseverance and wit in pulling out the fun in each edit.

Additionally, Eugene’s employer had said, "I wouldn’t do a collaboration right away, but I don’t mind sharing some stories," and his colleagues, excited by the idea, had set things up for him.

And of course, his colleagues were illustrators and editors — people who could expertly handle all kinds of editing tools.

In short, even if you ignored the activity name, it was only a matter of time before an avatar of quality far surpassing the usual virtual idols would be completed.

And so, the debut of this "monster rookie" was confirmed.

For the person involved, it was utterly baffling.

"Since there’s nothing else to do, I guess I’ll just live stream editing today…"

Click, click.

If the previous broadcast was personal, now it was time for work. Just a few minutes ago, he had been exploring Dark Zone with holographic idols he had never met before, but now, it was back to his real job.

While balancing, he didn’t want to leave his current job for anything.

After a few minutes, the broadcast title was set:

<Nun is working on edits...>

The food had been ordered, and he put his connection device back around his neck before lying down in a different position on the bed.

In an instant, the view changed, and he was now in front of at least five monitors. Four of them were part of a huge screen, and the small monitor next to it was used for the chat window.

A few seconds later, the broadcast began.

"Hello, everyone. It’s been just 30 minutes, right? As you can see, this broadcast is not about confession but about serving the Lord. Feel free to chat, but please maintain some decorum."

-?Repent?
-?Repent?
-Iris Nun 2 broadcasts a day lol
-Isn’t the nun’s main job mass? Why is she editing???
-The goddess is Ouroboros, so it’s fine, lol

<Eugene(Official) donates 10,000 won to the Lord... thanks for your grace.>

"I came because two people told me to, are you going to keep this concept? Seriously?? Wanna get shrimp bent?"

"Ah, no, that’s not it. Lord, I mean... Boss. It’s the character concept, so... yeah."

-LOL
-OMG, the nun concept is gone!!!!!!
-The goddess herself came and gave a hard time, lol
-What’s with the goddess making the nun kneel, lol
-Biyam, are you going to start a hologram idol agency? lol

The broadcast didn’t go smoothly at first.

Normally, he had 900 steady viewers during his IRL broadcasts—just after 4 months! But as soon as the donation announcement from Eugene got out, the viewers doubled in minutes.

But, Sister Beatricia, and Eugene’s first editor, were busy explaining themselves, and the chat was filled with comments like "the person behind the avatar has appeared"—everyone knew who was controlling the avatar.

Naturally, Eugene’s chat was on fire, and it was filled with mockery.

A few minutes later, the room calmed down.

He continued his work, cutting and pasting video, adding effects and memes, adjusting sound levels, and mixing in reverb when necessary.

Currently, he was editing a vlog of Eugene and others, showing what they had been up to since the Final Championship last year. It was a pretty straightforward and easy-to-watch format.

After some time, he finally finished editing the rough cut of the vlog, which was about 20 minutes long.

He checked the list of viewers at the top, including Eugene, Dice, Harmony, and the others, and then checked the time before stretching back.

"Aah, 1,500 viewers tuned in for a quiet stream. Anyway, I’ve shown you what the nun is up to when not on-air. I’ll take off the concept for now. Next time, we’ll meet more devoutly. See you!"

-Bye nun~~~
-Now, that’s over!
-Stop with the "off-the-record" nonsense lol
-She always talks like a nun during gaming, now she’s talking like a person, lol
-That’s... because she’s a hologram idol....

Beep.

He naturally ended the broadcast, tidied up his food, did a quick workout, then took a shower.

By the time it was nearing midnight, he checked the time and lay down in bed. After his cardio workout, a cold sweat drenched his body.

'Tomorrow, I’ll be doing a joint broadcast with a hologram idol from Stella Universe and then check the video I edited today... after that, I’ll tweak it a little more.'

He fell into a deep sleep—

"…Huh?"

"Ahhh! It’s done! It’s really done!!"

"Huh? Really? Really!?"

"...Sigh."

One morning, when three Biyam fans woke up one after another from their dreams, they realized they had transformed into Biyam manifestors in their beds.

It had been three minutes before Eugene’s mind broke down.