"It's been so long since I left the airport, and already there are articles coming out one by one."
"Reporters are fast, no matter what country. If it weren't for the youngest's help, it would've been quite annoying from the start."
"Hehe, this isn't that hard. I've received so much help."
I just left the airport, got on Yeongjong Bridge, and entered Incheon Metropolitan City.
The sun was slowly setting beyond the horizon because the days were getting shorter, and the roads were groaning from the terrible traffic jam caused by office workers leaving work. Fortunately, the car Olivia and I were in was a business sedan with driverless technology - the S-Class - that didn't require anyone to drive, so it didn't matter much.
The world where autonomous driving is widespread is so convenient.
Anyway, in the meantime, Olivia grabbed my hand from the driver's seat and quietly opened her mouth.
“You returned home alive and well, Eugene....”
“...That’s right. It just so happened.”
She closed her mouth at those words.
Thinking back, the fact that my memory came back late meant that I also realized late that I had returned home safely. I had been so touched when I met the Dagger team last winter and reported my return, but I never thought I would feel that way again now. It was truly overwhelming.
Come to think of it, when the fact that I was alive was slowly being announced to the other world, this guy was going to come right away... but unfortunately, Task Force Laser was busy fighting the Artemis drones at the time, so we didn’t have time to properly say hello.
The only proper greeting was actually the evening after the end-of-war speech, and everyone cried a lot at that time. I just couldn’t stop crying over my conquest. Now that I think about it, it was truly astral.
If it was like that in other worlds, then I could probably figure out why this person suddenly came to Korea.
The inside of the car was quiet.
We both just held hands and kept our mouths shut, and I looked outside, lost in the past. In the meantime, I rolled my eyes and looked at Olivia. She didn’t cry or anything, just a little red in the corners of her eyes.
I heard that when I was listed as MIA after the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant operation - of course, by other world standards - she cried a lot. But that was actually something that made even the Dagger team feel heartbroken, so I think that’s understandable.
Olivia’s exhalation was unusually loud.
“...Is this where you were supposed to be?”
“Yes.”
“This is a much better world than I remember.”
I nodded instead of answering.
It had been a little less than three weeks since this gentleman had regained his memories and sent me his first email. That amount of time... was enough to bridge the gap between the two worlds in terms of knowledge, but it was difficult to just accept it as ‘Oh, that’s right.’
What on earth is a manifester, not a mutant? Why did Russia collapse once and then rebuild? Why did China break into seven parts? Why was Henry, who was the president of another world, preparing to become president here? What on earth is the game called Dark Zone?
Furthermore, in the case of Nana, Shark, Polar Bear, and others, they had been soldiers before they regained their memories, so even so, this gentleman... was suddenly working in the fashion industry. It was understandable that he was confused.
Since the work hours overlapped, it would still take more than an hour to get home, but it was easy to guess that there were so many stories to tell that the time would feel so short.
Our eyes crossed.
"Your expression has improved a lot. In the past, you used to make an expression that looked like you would break if you were provoked."
"...Was it that much?"
"Because of you, Nana, Bear, and Shark read mental therapy books that were not even in your fortune, but you were the only one who didn't know."
"Thank you."
I thought there would be one or two behind-the-scenes stories that I didn't know, and it was as expected.
However, if it's regrettable, at least today, it was more important to relieve the curiosity and grumbling of this person who flew all the way to Korea than to satisfy my curiosity, so I was the one who spoke the most, and Olivia was the listener.
She was really curious about many things.
"Those two...young friends are your disciples?"
"You're talking about Dice and Harmony, right?"
"Oh, I think that was the name. To be honest, I haven't even seen 1/20 of the edited video uploaded to your space yet. If I'm not mistaken, it seems like you got involved in a suspicious game called Dark Zone and ended up becoming a pro-gamer."
"It just happened that way."
What should I say?
People who know my past sometimes ask me why I became a pro-gamer.
It wasn't that I didn't understand. If I had acted only to solve the proposition of uncovering the secrets hidden in this world, I wouldn't have needed to win the ticket to the final championship, I could have just headed straight to the United States.
However, truth usually doesn't exist alone, but is like a thread created by countless causes and effects, and in order to grasp the overall picture and fully understand the truth, you had to understand the causes and effects behind it.
Furthermore, sometimes, some truths required mental preparation before listening... .
Of course, I didn't know that a year ago, but I may have vaguely and instinctively known that it was absolutely necessary to build some kind of mental support rather than just jumping right in without any prior research.
Many people know that Harmony and Dice consider me a strong refuge, but not many people know that I consider them a refuge as well.
"I wondered why those cute kids followed you around, and that's why. The youngest is now raising new youngests, which is really touching...."
"Dice is being eyed by a polar bear, and Harmony by a shark, so the future is pretty bleak... Maybe when I go to America at the end of this year, those two might come out on leave from the military and attack my two cute disciples."
"What other behind-the-scenes story is there...?"
"You haven't even watched 1/20 of my channel videos yet? You should refrain from spoilers."
"...Saying that here. You're being mean, youngest."
It's my fault again, really.
Anyway, if I've only seen 5%... I'd probably be pushing the main mission with Harmony by now. Thinking about it now, they're vague memories. Thinking about it that way, this guy probably doesn't know why Mr. Logan is obsessed with Dice, and he probably doesn't know why Harmony became friends with sharks.
Since I've organized the edited videos in chronological order while managing the channel, there's a high chance that I'll slowly learn more if I watch them one by one. Plus, this person is more energetic than the average person even if he doesn't sleep much, so I guess I can watch the videos diligently even while I'm in dreamland.
Before that, he'd probably ask me first, saying that it's easier and faster to just type GG and listen to me.
And as expected, before 10 minutes had passed, he asked me to tell him the story, saying, 'I'd rather just be spoiled.'
"It was common in the past training camps to not let them sleep if they didn't achieve a certain goal. Don't you think it would be okay to talk all night for the first time in a while?"
"Oh, man. I'll have to shock them and force them to sleep."
"...Icarus Gear is cheating, right?"
"Since that cheat is on my left wrist, it shouldn't be called cheating, but a proper price."
And so, Olivia became a squirrel, and I was finally able to beat this guy at least once.
As expected, it's Icarus Gear, its performance is certain.
"Laurentina, Logan! I can't believe I'm seeing you again like this! How have you all been?"
"The youngest of us brought this chatty chicken head. This is the end of the world."
"It's really late, Ollie."
"Do you think I'm late because I want to be late!?"
11 PM, Cheongdam-dong.
It was a truly bizarre moment when mutants who were considered rare to see even once in their lives - even though half of them were holograms - gathered in one place, and all the mutant members of the team gathered.
To be exact, not everyone, but everyone based on the field operators.
Anyway, it was truly a blessing that they had moved to a place where they could guarantee complete privacy. If not, there would have been a lot of noise around.
Didn't you hear? Anyway, the two seniors were busy teasing Olivia as soon as the call was connected.
The reasons were various, but the biggest reason was one.
"I've never been to Dark Zone, I haven't been able to reclaim America with the youngest, and I haven't seen the youngest in Mecca. Even being late is like this, it's a work of art."
"How can you throw a right hook when we've only been on the phone for so long? To someone who's already a true bird."
"Eugene, I'm already so heartbroken..."
Oh my, it hasn't even been 5 minutes since we started, and if you're already like that... .
Mr. Logan, who played the father, and Ms. Laurentina, who played the uncle, were holding hands and beating Olivia, who used to be the mother, until the dust flew on a rainy day. Of course, it was only the beginning when these people regained their memories, so it was understandable.
Logan had already competed in the Final Championship last year, and Shark had watched the Apex Predator main event with all of the Polar Bear and Dagger teams. There was no need to explain anything after that. Logan had just summarized it very clearly.
Anyway, this guy hugged me with an “uh-huh” sound. As always, physical contact could heal a lot of things... In fact, it was really useful in New York back in the day, really.
Originally, my face was supposed to be buried in this guy’s chest, but I didn’t know it would be the other way around.
“So, what is our youngest planning to do with that latecomer?”
“You shouldn’t ask him that. That chickenhead must have come to Korea because he has something he wants to do. He even spread rumors on SNS that he’s going to Korea.”
“...Nothing in particular?”
“Wow.”
That was exactly what he said.
Well, even so, Logan and Laurentina were both like that. They didn't necessarily go on a trip with a plan. It was something I could look into slowly.
However, there was something else important, and the first of them was that my schedule was quite busy. I had to leave for the US before November, and because of that, I couldn't take care of 20 people including Harmony and Dice during the adaptation period for the Asian preliminary round held in Russia.
So in return, I was working hard and pushing my national team friends until I left, but this was done in-game, and unfortunately, this person had never played Dark Zone before, although he had accessed virtual reality before.
Although there were plenty of access devices available.
So when I told him that fact without holding back,
"Games, games, games... I've never played them before. Is that okay? I'm not taking up your youngest's time, am I?"
"Rather, everyone will like it when Olivia appears. The moment she appears on the stream, not only the national team friends but also the viewers will like it much more."
"...Are you talking about your stream with an average viewership of 1.8 million?"
"Of course."
At those words, Olivia buried her face in my stomach and muttered, '50% more people than my followers are watching the live broadcast...'
This person, on the outside, is always grumbling, 'Why am I working in the fashion industry?' but it seems regretful to let her go... Anyway, I was going to leave that part for her to decide later, and in the end, this person doesn't seem to have any particular aversion to it.
She showed an uncertain look until the end, saying, 'I don't know if she'll be okay because her body is stiff...', but the polar bear and shark blocked her escape route.
"What did the person who said that do in Hawaii?"
"You're standing there with a .50 caliber sniper rifle and shooting continuously, and you're pretending to be weak while shooting with an NTW-20. If you were right next to me, I would've stabbed you in the side."
"Wait a minute, you didn't even upload it on SNS that you shot with a 20mm, how did you know?"
"The youngest told me."
"Eugene!"
"Oh, don't yell at my stomach. It makes my stomach churn and tickle."
The moment Olivia intervenes, the conversation goes into chaos just like before.
Anyway, there weren't any major problems. Last year, they brought in a few pro gamers who were confirmed to be on the roster for the Asian qualifiers and had them fight against ordinary people and streamer experts with a handicap, but having just one person observe is not that much of a problem.
Of course, observing training and appearing on streams had to be strictly separated - there were many restrictions on streaming the national team's instruction - so I was going to give them a taste of the Dark Zone first.
And here's my personal opinion... if his memory came back, it means his muscle memory is also likely to be the same. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to perfectly control his recoil while shooting Barrett indiscriminately.
Why is he so nervous in the midst of all this?
The shark and polar bear were also quite frustrated, so they continued.
"Eugene, if Ollie keeps talking nonsense, just throw him into the connector. I understand that he doesn't know how to decide on a course since his memory came back only recently, but it's so frustrating to see him being so indecisive after coming all the way to Korea."
"If it were New York, I would have played 2:2 mock matches for 12 hours until he stopped talking nonsense, but he keeps talking nonsense because he's full. Do you know what I'm saying, youngest?"
"You're all too much..."
"Of course. Don't worry, I'll make you do Dark Zone all day tomorrow."
It's not impossible to understand.
When I first came back... I was happy to be back, but I was really worried about what I had to do next, and I went into Dark Zone without any information.
However, Matthew 7:7 says, 'Knock, and it will be opened to you.' In other words, nothing will open if you don't knock. Considering the fact that this guy doesn't know what he wants to do yet, you have to forcefully grab his hand and knock on the door called Dark Zone with enthusiasm.
And from my personal experience... This guy won't even be acting cool for 5 minutes.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.
I'm already curious about how he'll react when he grabs his gun, changes the trigger to rapid fire, and puts a hole in his enemy's head.
How long has it been since then? Olivia, who fell off my ship, sighed and leaned back on the sofa.
"...Yeah. You have to try something to know. I've been sitting at a desk for 35 years, so my mind has become a little soft, so it's time to sharpen my blade again. Shooting a gun is what I'm best at."
"I thought about it well. You're finally starting to change from that chicken-headed person to the Oli I knew."
"You're finally starting to look a little better."
Just like that.
The corners of his eyes, which had been slanted down just a moment ago, and his eyes, which had been a little dazed, were starting to come alive.
In the midst of that, a ding-dong sound came up before my eyes, and a message appeared - the emergency delivery of the VR interface via drone was complete. A box was probably sitting on the balcony where the wind was blowing by now.
It was my first gift for Olivia, who had come to her senses.
"Are you ready to leave for the world of gunpowder now?"
There was no answer, but that was the answer.
I was really looking forward to tomorrow.