"How long has it been since we left the airport? Already, articles are starting to pop up here and there."
"The reporters are always quick, no matter the country. Without your help, this could've been a real headache from the start."
Just as we were leaving the airport, heading onto the Yeongjong Bridge, entering Incheon City, the sun was setting over the horizon, and the road was filled with the dreadful traffic congestion caused by commuting office workers. Luckily, the car Olivia and I were in was an autonomous driving business sedan—an S-Class—so it didn’t matter much, but the traffic situation was still unpleasant.
A world where self-driving is common certainly makes life easier.
Anyway, during this, Olivia took my hand from the driver’s seat and spoke quietly.
"You made it back home alive, Eugene..."
"...Yeah, somehow. But it’s a good thing."
At those words, she fell silent.
Thinking back, the fact that I had returned home safely meant that I hadn’t realized it until later. When I first met the Dagger team and reported back last winter, I felt deeply moved. To feel that emotion again, now, was unexpectedly overwhelming.
When the news that I was alive began to spread in the other world, this person also tried to come over immediately. Unfortunately, at that time, Task Force Laser had been caught up in shadow surveillance and joining the battlefield in the western U.S., so there was no time to properly greet each other.
The proper greeting, in fact, was at the end of the war, when she joined the Dagger team in lifting me up in celebration. Looking back, that moment felt astral in the truest sense.
If that was how it was in the other world, it made sense why she had come to Korea now.
A silence filled the car.
Still holding my hand, both of us kept quiet, and I stared out the window, lost in thought. Every so often, I would glance at Olivia. She only had slightly red eyes but wasn’t crying.
I heard that when I was marked as MIA after the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant operation, she cried a lot—though that was from the perspective of the other world. Still, I could understand why, as the whole Dagger team was in deep sorrow over it.
Olivia sighed loudly.
"...This is where you were meant to be, huh?"
"Yeah."
"It's a much better world than I remembered."
Instead of answering, I just nodded.
It had been just under three weeks since Olivia sent me her first email after regaining her memories. At this point, a few weeks felt like enough time to bridge the knowledge gap between the two worlds, but accepting it all as "Oh, I see" was still far from easy.
What exactly was a mutant? Why did Russia collapse once and then rebuild? Why did China break into seven pieces? Why was Henry, who was the president in the other world, preparing to become president here? What was this game called Dark Zone?
Moreover, people like me, Lorentina, and Logan had been soldiers even before regaining our memories, so we had that foundation, but she... she had suddenly been working in the fashion industry. I could understand why she was so confused.
The rush hour traffic meant that it would take over an hour to reach home, but I could easily guess that the time would feel fleeting as we had a lot to talk about.
Our eyes met.
"Your expression has improved a lot. The old you... you used to have a face that looked like it would break if someone even lightly touched it."
"...Was I really like that?"
"Because of you, me, Bear, and Shark had to read mental therapy books we never imagined we would. And you didn't even know about it."
"Thanks."
I had a feeling there would be a behind-the-scenes story or two that I didn’t know, and as expected, there was.
But, as disappointing as it was, today wasn’t about satisfying my curiosity. It was more about answering Olivia's questions and soothing her frustrations, so I ended up doing most of the talking, and Olivia became the listener.
She had many questions.
"So those... young friends, are they your trainees?"
"You're talking about Dice and Harmony, right?"
"Ah, that’s their names, I think. Honestly, I still haven't watched even one-twentieth of the edited videos uploaded to your YourSpace. If I’m not mistaken, it seems like you got dragged into becoming a pro gamer while playing some suspicious game called Dark Zone."
"It just turned out that way."
What should I say?
People who knew my past sometimes asked me why I became a pro gamer.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t understand why. If my only goal was to uncover hidden secrets in this world, I didn’t need to enter the Final Championship—I could’ve just gone straight to the U.S.
But usually, the truth isn’t something that exists alone. It’s like a tangled ball of threads made from many causes. To understand the full picture and the truth, you need to understand the causes behind it too.
Sometimes, some truths require mental preparation before hearing them...
Of course, the past me didn’t know that, but I had at least vaguely, instinctively understood that it was necessary to build some kind of mental support before diving in without any prior research.
Many people knew that Harmony and Dice saw me as a firm sanctuary, but few knew that I also considered them a sanctuary.
"Those cute kids, I wondered why they followed you around like that. So that’s why... You’ve grown enough to raise new trainees now. This is so emotional."
"DICE is the polar bear, and Harmony is the shark, so the future seems pretty grim... but when we go to the U.S. at the end of this year, those two might just take leave from the army and come attack my adorable little trainees."
"I’m sure there’s some behind-the-scenes story here..."
"You said you haven’t even watched one-twentieth of my videos yet? Spoilers should be avoided."
"...To say it like that. You’re evil, Junior."
Again, it’s my fault, honestly.
Anyway, if she’s only seen 5%, I guess at this point I’m pushing the main mission forward with Harmony. Thinking back, those were nostalgic memories. I’m sure she doesn’t even know why Logan is so obsessed with Dice, or why Harmony became friends with the shark.
Since I manage the channel and edit videos in chronological order, she’ll probably figure it out slowly as she watches them. Besides, even if she sleeps less than most people, she’s still quite energetic, so maybe she’ll watch the videos while I’m off to dreamland.
But of course, she’ll probably be the first to ask me for spoilers.
And sure enough, it didn’t take 10 minutes before she asked for spoilers, saying, "It’s better to just get spoiled."
"If we don’t hit certain goals, we don’t let you sleep. That was common in past training camps. How about we chat all night this time?"
"Oh, really? You want to shock me and keep me awake? You know, if you’d been with me in New York, we would've done 12-hour 2v2 simulations until I couldn’t speak anymore."
"How long has it been since we started talking and already you’re throwing a light hook? You know I’m a real scaredy-cat."
"Yujin, I’m already in too much pain..."
Oh no, it’s been less than 5 minutes, and this is happening already.
Logan, playing the fatherly role, and Lorentina, always the playful uncle, were relentlessly mocking Olivia, who had always been the maternal figure. They had been the first to regain their memories, so this was understandable.
After all, Logan had participated in last year's Final Championship, and Lorentina had watched the Apex Predator finals with the entire Dagger team, so there was no need for further explanation. Logan just neatly summarized it.
Meanwhile, Olivia gave a dramatic sigh and threw herself onto me. Physical contact had always been quite therapeutic for us... it really had been helpful, especially back in New York.
"So, what do you plan to do with this latecomer?"
"You shouldn’t ask her. She must have wanted something, that’s why this chatterbox came all the way to Korea. She was spreading the word on social media that she was coming to Korea."
"...I don’t really have anything planned."
"Wow."
Just as she said.
But still, Logan and Lorentina didn’t mind. It wasn’t always about having a plan when traveling. It could be figured out slowly.
But the important part was, my schedule was pretty tight. I had to leave for the U.S. before November, and because of that, I wouldn’t be able to take care of Harmony, Dice, and the other 20 national representatives during the Asia qualifiers in Russia.
So, as a trade-off, I was pushing my national team friends to their limits in-game, but unfortunately, Olivia had never experienced Dark Zone in this world, even though she had been connected to VR before.
It wasn’t hard to get a connection device, but...
I told her this point bluntly.
"Game, game, game... you’ve never played it before. Are you sure it’s okay? You’re not taking up my time, right?"
"Actually, I think everyone will be happy when Olivia joins. As soon as she appears on the stream, not only the national team friends but also the viewers will love it."
"Are you talking about your stream with an average viewership of almost 1.8 million?"
"Of course."
At that, Olivia buried her face in my chest, muttering, "More than 50% of my followers are watching live..."
She often grumbled about why she was working in fashion, but when it came time to step away, she hesitated... Anyway, I decided to leave it to her to figure out later. Ultimately, I could tell she didn’t have much resistance.
Though she did show some uncertainty at the end, saying, "I’m not sure if my body’s ready..." the polar bear and shark had already blocked her retreat.
"Wait, what did you do in Hawaii?"
"You were shooting with a .50 caliber sniper rifle, firing it nonstop, and even using an NTW-20. And now you’re acting weak? If I was next to you, I would've given you a flick to the side."
"Wait, you shot with a 20mm rifle, but you didn’t upload it to SNS, so how did you know?"
"Junior told me."
"Yujin!"
"Ah, don’t shout at me in my stomach. It’s ticklish."
Whenever Olivia enters the conversation, it always goes haywire, just like before.
But there was no real problem.
Last year, I made pro gamers who were scheduled for the Asian qualifiers fight against general public and high-level streamers with a handicap, so having just one observer wasn’t a big issue.
However, training observations and streaming appearances had to be strictly separated—there were many restrictions on broadcasting the national team’s training—so for now, I planned to let Olivia taste Dark Zone first.
And in my personal opinion... her muscle memory had likely returned along with her memories. Otherwise, there’s no way her recoil control would have been perfect while firing that Barrett indiscriminately.
But why is she acting so timid now?
The shark and polar bear, clearly frustrated, spoke again.
"Yujin, if she keeps talking nonsense, just toss her in the device. I get that she’s still figuring things out after regaining her memories, but it’s frustrating seeing her being so indecisive after coming all the way to Korea."
"If it were New York, we’d have been doing 2v2 mock battles for 12 hours straight until she couldn’t talk anymore. She’s acting like this because she’s getting comfortable. You know what I mean, Junior?"
"They’re too harsh..."
"Of course. Don’t worry, I’ll start her off with Dark Zone tomorrow."
It wasn’t impossible to understand.
When I first came back... I was happy, but I spent a lot of time wondering what I should do next, and I jumped into Dark Zone with no information.
But as Matthew 7:7 says, "Knock, and the door will be opened." In other words, if you don’t knock, nothing will open. Since she didn’t know exactly what she wanted yet, I’d have to forcibly grab her hand and knock on the Dark Zone door with joy.
Based on my personal experience, I knew that her hesitation wouldn’t last more than five minutes.
I’m already curious about her reaction when she grabs the gun, switches the joystick, and blows a hole in the enemy’s head.
How much time passed? Olivia fell from my lap with a sigh, leaning against the sofa.
"...Yeah. You have to hit things to know, right? I’ve lived the past 35 years just buried in books, so my mind’s a bit soft now. It’s time to sharpen up again. Shooting’s what I do best."
"Good thinking. You’re finally starting to change from the chick to the Olivia I know."
"Now you have a look that’s worth seeing."
As she said, her eyes, which had been slightly dull before, were now beginning to sparkle.
Just then, a "ding dong" sound echoed, and a message popped up in front of me—it was about the emergency delivery of the VR connection device via drone. There was probably a box sitting on the balcony outside, with the wind blowing wildly.
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It was my first gift for the Olivia who had regained her memories.
"Are you ready to enter the world of gunpowder now?"
She didn’t answer, but that in itself was her answer.
Tomorrow was certainly something to look forward to.