I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 614

"Indeed, after about a week, the commotion has certainly decreased quite a bit. In some ways, though, it's just the beginning..."

"Hahh...!"

"Ugh, nghh..."

"Please...!"

As June passes and July approaches, the sunlight grows stronger. The number of tents visible through the penthouse’s large glass window, looking over the Ttukseom Hangang Park forest, steadily increases with each passing day. Along with that, the number of people ordering delivery also rises accordingly.

Since becoming an Awakened, my physical abilities have noticeably increased, my sociability has grown, and I've become much more active. Maybe it's because of that, but I kind of wanted to take a walk around the Han River for the first time in a while...

But right now, it was time to give some rest to my friends who were making strange noises in front of me.

"Alright, it's a 5-minute break starting now. You’re all doing great."

"Waaah...!"

"Ugh, don’t fall!"

"I thought once I had my tail, I could easily do everything you do, Eugene-sensei, but it’s not that simple..."

"Did you think it would be easy?"

Srrr.

I turned my body slowly in the swivel chair, looking outside, then turned back. Three tails of different colors appeared before me. The 20kg dumbbells hanging from them slowly dropped to the floor with my command.

Harmonie, Dice, and our first editor who had changed her name to Park Hye-jeong — originally Park Hyun-seok — were all drenched in sweat.

What was going on here was some sort of resistance and tail-strengthening exercise. Tails could be considered muscle mass, and in other words, these guys, who had recently become Awakened, still couldn’t use their tails as freely as I could.

So I had to help them learn to use them.

"Make a heart with your tail, grab things like I do, pull out grenades and throw them, wrap people up and lift them. You all wanted to do this, so I'm just offering the curriculum as I always do. If you follow along quickly, you might catch up, at least at the tip of your toes."

"Ugh, I wanna get out of here!"

"Those who wish for a tail must endure its weight... Heh, nothing comes without struggle."

"But do we really have to hold this position, like we’re doing squats?"

"You don’t have to do it exactly like that."

I stood up from the swivel chair.

I then headed toward the dumbbell room, which had various weights. There, I casually wrapped my tail around a 70kg dumbbell and easily lifted it. I made my way over to the trio of newly-awakened beings.

I grabbed the dumbbell with my tail, even bouncing it a few times in the air before catching it again. I could even do this while reading a book a couple of years ago. I can still do it now.

Anyway, what I wanted to show them was simple.

"If you can do this kind of thing naturally in your everyday life, it doesn't matter how your posture is. You can do it while eating, while exercising... but if you can't, what should you do?"

"Ugh, this may be awkward to say, but Eugene, you really seem obsessed with fitness."

"I'm not obsessed with fitness, you all are just too weak. That’s something that needs to be pointed out."

They were whining after barely being able to lift a 20kg dumbbell with their tails for even 5 minutes.

At my level now, I could probably carry that dumbbell for 24 hours in combat without issue. Of course, there would be many tasks to do with the tail during actual combat, so that scenario wouldn’t actually happen, but...

As we chatted and laughed, 5 minutes passed, and the trio dove back into the torturous exercise. A tail should be as firm and resilient as mine. Their tails... they felt more like soft toothpaste tubes.

This time, I decided to interrupt them and spoke to one of them, who was desperately holding on.

"So, how has our editor been doing lately? I remember you met someone from around here recently... your expression looks good, so I guess there was no big problem?"

"Oh, yes. My parents came around here. They've been sending me pictures of myself for the past few days so that it wouldn't be awkward when we meet for the first time. And just two days ago... it got resolved. I cried so much that my eyes still hurt."

"Dice and Harmonie cried a lot too, after seeing the editor’s family issue being resolved, but things are much better now."

"You’re the only one who’s completely emotionally dry, Eugene! Ugh!"

"Let’s just call it being realistic."

Someone has to be the one to bring reality into the conversation.

Talking during exercise, especially when lifting weights, is usually not a great idea. But in cases like this, when it’s not just about heavy lifting, it could actually help distract from the fatigue.

It was like preparing for the pain to come. Since I kept talking, they managed to push through the designated 5-minute break without too much trouble.

The three of them, now dripping with sweat, threw the dumbbells onto the mat I had set up and were vigorously drinking water. I watched them absentmindedly as my goal for today was the former editor.

"Are you planning to continue broadcasting?"

"Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve been away from editing for a whole week, so..."

"Don’t worry about that. With more than ten editors now... the environment has changed, but you haven't lost your options. It’s important to clearly understand the difference between those two things and think it through."

"True, the environment has changed, but I haven’t lost my options..."

I was glad that they understood. Whether they took my words in the right way, I didn’t know. But at least I felt like I had helped.

After that, we finished the 6th set. They all followed the exercises well, though it was something they had never done before. Tomorrow, they would probably be too sore to move their tails, but we’d save that for tomorrow’s fun.

Thankfully, the house had at least 4 showers, so there were no problems. Dice and Harmonie quickly disappeared, saying they were going to take a shower. I appreciated that.

Thus, the private talk began.

"I was reviewing the meme's origin while the editor was resting. Well, if you want, I can stream with you or anyone else anytime... And the editing skills didn’t vanish, so you can still continue as an editor. That hologram idol thing too."

"Really?"

"Strictly speaking, it wasn’t because of me that things turned out this way, but what does it matter? As your employer, I have an obligation to provide the conveniences and support outlined in the contract. And... it seems things have gone pretty well."

There was a brief silence.

I didn’t know how the editor would take my words, but I spoke up anyway.

"A lot has been resolved. It’s not all over yet, but the big hurdles have been crossed. Maybe it’s time to start doing what you want to do."

"...What I want to do?"

"Originally, the character was created as a sort of... surrogate satisfaction, or maybe an impossible dream. In any case, something like that. If that’s how it was created, then you’ve suffered enough. Maybe it’s time to enjoy yourself a little."

At that moment, their eyes shifted slightly.

Until now, they had been listening in a somewhat dazed state, but now they looked... unsure, yet expectant, and avoided eye contact.

I might have been speaking irresponsibly since I wasn’t fully involved in this situation, but... well, if most of the obstacles have been overcome, why not try doing what you want?

Of course, everything isn’t over yet. There’s the family issue, the friend issue, and college... But thinking about it another way, maybe getting some mental stability first could help handle those things more smoothly later.

I’m here to help with that.

And of course, our editor... understood it clearly.

"Ah, but... I do really want to do a collaboration with you, Eugene-sensei, but last time I missed the scheduled game with another hologram idol, so... I think I need to resolve that first."

"That’s a good idea. Being able to tie up loose ends is an important virtue."

It seemed like I had good luck when it came to meeting responsible people. Finding someone like that was not easy.

Fortunately, my mental therapy had worked, and our editor seemed to have regained their strength, so things were looking better.

Now, I should send them off to shower... but just as I was thinking that, they suddenly spoke.

"Ah, but... um. I don’t know if I should say this..."

"Go ahead. What is it?"

"Well, the hologram idols I was supposed to game with the other day have somewhat unique concepts..."

"...?"

With that, they pulled out their phone and showed me the screen—

"...Ack."

"I don’t know if I should thank you for this, but apparently, thanks to you, there’s been a boom in reptiles in the hologram idol scene... and now everyone's avatars look like..."

As they said that, the screen showed a variety of virtual avatars all resembling reptiles.

I don’t know why, but my head started throbbing again. What’s with all these reptile enthusiasts?

...I guess I’ll have to check it out later.

"Well, that’s how it happened. So we rescheduled for today, two days later."

"Wow, really? Did that person suddenly become an EM rank? They must have really strong mental fortitude... No, maybe it’s just that they haven’t changed much. I’m curious what they’re like in real life..."

"The Master’s Space shows them well. I heard EM rank changes can be pretty intense... maybe only the appearance changed."

In early July, inside a private room in virtual reality, three users, each with an incredibly unique appearance that would be impossible in reality, were talking while looking at the screen in front of them.

A woman with long green hair that reached down to her waist, dressed in a free-spirited explorer-like outfit, and a feathered snake tail extending from her backside.

A woman with red hair, wearing a blue hood.

A woman who looked almost like a dragon, with blue hair flowing from beneath her horns, her hair loosely tied into a ponytail, wearing a tracksuit, looking like a carefree person, with a tiny but flashy brooch on her head.

On top of their heads, the word "StellaUnivers" rotated, and their names were embroidered on their outfits: Sonia Eutero, Dendrobia Salus, Evelyn Dreamweaver.

These were the hologram idols that were supposed to collaborate with Eugene's first editor nine days ago, but that had fallen through.

"Let’s see... What were we supposed to do today... we haven’t started streaming yet, right? If this goes out, the viewers will be mad that we didn’t prepare anything..."

"If you had just reviewed from the beginning, we wouldn’t be in this mess, idiot."

"Today should go fine... though we might need to be careful about what we say, I’m not sure about our bodies..."

"Evelyn, you wrote that you have a completely careless personality, but you’re actually very admirable in these kinds of situations..."

"Well! I don’t cross the line, at least."

As Evelyn proudly puffed out her chest, the scheduled time was approaching.

Unlike last time, when the collaboration had been canceled 6 hours before, today they had managed to set up this opportunity, and they continued to wait.

How much time had passed?

???Pop!

"They’re here—!"

"Iris-chan’s here!"

"We’ve been waiting for the Goddess!"

"She’s a nun, not a goddess. Please don’t call me that."

"...Ah, ah. Can you hear my voice well? There was an accident last time. Sorry I couldn’t make it."

"Well, it’s an accident, so it’s fine. Is today’s collab okay? Can we go on without any problems?"

"It’s fine. But I’m feeling a little dizzy, so doing RP might be a bit much today..."

RP, or role-playing.

Hologram idols usually have a certain character design, concept, and background, and though these weren’t usually that important, they often affected their speech patterns.

Iris, as a nun serving the Ouroboros god, usually spoke in a fake nun tone, but since her body had changed—how exactly, I wasn’t sure—it had only been 9 days since then.

The others had accepted this fact easily, and before they started streaming, they casually added a little comment.

"Well, let’s see... today we’re going to challenge a few high-difficulty missions, and then AP, right? Oh, and there’s that new pentasquad mode for five people..."

"Ugh, that’s hard and boring. There are too many people, so I just played normal games and only won once."

"...Right, that person was AP rank tier 2."

"Wait, Iris is tier 2 too? It’s low considering they’re under the Master, but judging by how hard she works, it seems like she doesn’t have time for personal training..."

With that, Iris glanced sideways but nodded slightly, signaling her agreement.

Meanwhile, Sonia threw a tantrum about how it would be harder with two tier 2 people in normal games, but, of course, she was completely ignored.

And then some time passed—

[Alert: Multi-streaming begins. // User recognition in progress... Sonia Eutero, Dendrobia Salus, Evelyn Dreamweaver, Iris Beatricia confirmed.]

[Alert: Chat window split. You can now check the viewers' reactions during gameplay using the user interface features.]

"Hello, it’s Sonia."

"Salus here! We’re trying again for the collab that got canceled last time!"

"Hello, everyone… I already introduced everyone, but it’s been a while. The whole Stella Universe class of 3rd years is here, and as you can see, today’s special guest is Iris, who couldn’t join last time... Hey, what’s with the expression?"

"Ah, did we start the stream? I still had some explaining to do."

• The third-year debutants are all here wwww
• Wow, so many reptiles! So many reptiles! So many reptiles!
• EM rank! EM rank! EM rank! EM rank!
• Be careful, if you talk about EM rank wrong, you’ll get kicked out
• I didn’t do it lol
• Iris is embarrassed lol

Iris suddenly felt everyone’s gaze turn toward her, and the sunlight shining through the leaves of the trees planted around Central Park HQ seemed to fragment and scatter, creating a beautiful sight.

And within that, a figure naturally appeared.

It was Eugene.

"...Gasp."

"Oh, mm-mmm..."

"Master, Master...?"

"What’s this? Eugene-sensei wanted to meet you all after hearing about you, so I was going to explain and ask if it’s okay to join, but I guess it’s too late now. Amen..."

-???????????????

• ????????????????????????????
• Speedwagon) Stella Universe 3rd years debuted based on avatars created riding the rising popularity of reptiles
• Thanks, Speedwagon!
• What are you doing calling him Master in front of him ????????????

Though clearly a woman, she gave off a sharp, blade-like feeling.

Every movement was clean and precise, her expression cold like ice. It was as if a lightning bolt or a single sword had been forged into a woman’s form, standing right there.

A chilling voice escaped her lips.

"I’ve heard that there are hologram idols modeled after reptiles, but this is the first time I’ve met them in person. It’s a pleasure."

"...I think I’m gonna pee myself."

"Don’t say things like that in a place like this..."

Among the nervous followers, the god had descended.

It was summer.