I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 142 – Déjà vu

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“The event match has concluded! We will have a 10-minute break before the remaining four matches of Saturday continue!”

A mountain is a mountain, water is water, and who am I and where am I?

Until last year, I was going back and forth between the first and second divisions. After diligently attending lectures, I suddenly became a KSM contestant? If an advertisement was like this, it would be criticized as viral or false advertising… Or not? There are worse advertisements out there.

Anyway, I was vaguely wandering the boundary between reality and dream. A person, who would normally be difficult to even look up at, tapped me on the back.

“What are you doing, Ruming? You need to prepare for the match.”

“Oh, yes. I should.”

Dice.

In other words, the driving force of SSM.

Or, it wouldn’t be much different to call her the lifeline.

I always wondered how such a skilled person ended up tied to a lousy team. If SSM had been a little less greedy during last year’s contract renewal period, this person might have ended up in places like TK1 or Xi.

The reason for saying this was simple: it was due to the scale of the lower league within SSM, which was both a strength and a weakness of the team. In short, compared to other teams, SSM invested relatively less in the first team but invested a lot in scouting talents. Dice was discovered through this talent scouting.

Of course, this system meant that part of the money that could have gone to the first team members was instead used as a foundation for scouting, so the support for those who got better and moved up was rather lacking compared to other teams.

Anyway,

“You’ll be moving up soon too, won’t you?”

“I wonder if I can… I don’t think the reckless plan will work like it did earlier. But I’ll still give it my all.”

Should this be called modesty?

Anyway, 10 minutes. After these 10 minutes, we would be separated into individual spaces again. Now, we could talk like this only because we belonged to the same team, but it was impossible to talk to pro-gamers from other teams.

The next map hadn’t been decided yet. But it was roughly predictable. From this year, we had to play one match on each map both on Saturday and Sunday.

In the first set, there was the port city Tannhäuser, the NBV desert base, the Kalamaransk nuclear waste disposal site, and the California liquefied gas storage facility.

Then, the remaining maps were the Aurora Power Plant, the high-value research facility, the Poplar Ridge Correctional Facility, and the Atakaya volcanic island. Each of these four areas had truly unique gimmicks, such as maps with and without Revolution, maps with and without high-altitude drops.

How should I put it?

“Do you think if I blow everything up, I might find some answers?”

“At first, it caught them off guard, but it won’t work now. The remaining maps don’t have those kinds of gimmicks… Maybe the Aurora Power Plant does. Anyway, you can’t just act recklessly like me.”

“That’s true. Haha.”

“You shouldn’t agree to that!”

“Oh.”

Of course, it was a slip of the tongue.

But to put it negatively, Dice could be said to act thoughtlessly, but to put it positively… No, in fact, Dice was a living joker. She fooled her enemies with unpredictable moves. Because of her tricky movements, she had been in the spotlight since last year.

Though she was utterly smashed by Yoo Jin later… Yoo Jin’s adhesive style shattered such molds once and then rebirthed them more firmly than before.

So… what should I do?

If Dice had such a specialty, what could be said about my style?

That was the biggest concern clouding my mind recently.

“Don’t get too obsessed with that. Even in the fourth match, what I did wasn’t intentional. I just got cornered and set everything on fire to escape.”

“…That’s a pretty intense way to put it.”

“Oh, anyway. In the end, the basics are important. Just remember what I taught you. The right to stand here is not given by others but created by yourself. Whether you are confident in your skills or not, the enemy won’t wait for you.”

“That’s true.”

Did I make it too obvious?

But I couldn’t help my curiosity. Playing safe could be an advantage, but this was KSM. Simply playing it safe wouldn’t guarantee high scores.

However, it was too regrettable to aim for next year. Since I had come this far, I had to learn more. Yoo Jin and Dice might not be here next year. AP was such a game.

Of course, it didn’t make sense that those two would be eliminated due to their skills. It was more realistic to think they would take a break after reaching the top… But,

A year was a very long time.

“I don’t have much to say. Just focus on the basics. At least you should be able to shoot as well as Yoo Jin.”

“How could I do that?”

“Well, true. Anyway, what I mean is… Just do what you were taught. It’s not the time to establish your style. It’s already challenging to incorporate what you’ve learned into your skills, so don’t set too big of a goal.”

A simple answer that was coldly accurate.

I knew too. In just 10 minutes, there wouldn’t be a magical event to overturn my past steps or significantly improve my skills. I knew that coming this far was just a stroke of luck. And I still lacked many things to go further up.

Thinking like that was indeed a bit disheartening.

So I asked,

“Is following Yoo Jin coach worth it?”

What would she answer?

How big was the gap between Dice and Yoo Jin?

And she gave an answer exactly as expected.

“Follow what? That person is dragging me along by the scruff of my neck. It’s killing me.”

“Ahaha.”

Indeed.

As expected, I couldn’t help but laugh.

There was still a long way to go.

[Alert: Juggernaut patrol is commencing. Identity verification will begin shortly, so carry appropriate identification. Non-compliance will result in immediate elimination.]

“So, it’s this map after all.”

The beginning of everything.

The beginning of the scrim.

Although the beginning might have been hosted by Xi Impressive, Yoo Jin headed to SSM. On this map, through Dice. It was no wonder that I felt a certain nostalgia every time I played on this map.

But unfortunately this time… No, it wasn’t unfortunate. Rather fortunately, this time, no one would be blocking Dice’s path in advance selection. I might have been scared, but I wouldn’t give up.

But the problem was…

“No, why do they have only these kinds of guns?”

The 6P62 assault rifle that fired 12.7mm rounds.

The Barrett, which Yoo Jin used all day to grind down the Juggernaut in rapid fire. And not the regular size but the CQB compact version.

And also the ASh-12.7 she carried around. Come to think of it, Yoo Jin said the first place she entered was the high-power firearm storage, so she picked up anything from there?

Did she really carry these things around?

She really was crazy.

“The only decent thing to carry is this.”

A .50 Beowulf magazine.

It was a bullet with deadly power. Next to it was a gun based on the AR-15, just lying there. The fact that this was the best thing to carry was pathetic. Still, it was better than nothing.

After picking up the gun, I simply adjusted the stock position.

I hurriedly stuffed ten magazines into the pouches of the body armor I had roughly picked up earlier, and loaded one magazine into the chamber. With a click, the bullet slid into the chamber.

The magazine could hold fourteen rounds. The magazine was as long and curved as a banana, just like an AK magazine. I sighed, but what could I do? I would switch to something better later.

I needed to get used to the recoil of high-power firearms.

───Swoosh.

“…!”

As soon as I tried to go outside, I heard footsteps outside.

The sound of boots gradually slowed down and stopped in front of the door. A scenario quickly popped up in my mind. No one sane would clear the room without knowing who was inside.

Most likely, a grenade would come in first.

I stood directly in front of the only door leading outside, suppressing all sounds. Unless they knew there was someone inside, they wouldn’t shoot the door. Standing there wasn’t much of a problem.

The doorknob rattled, and the door opened very cautiously.

Specifically, just enough to throw in a grenade.

“No way.”

At that moment, I kicked the door open, burst out like a bullet, and fired at the enemy’s torso with the gun set to full-auto. The insane recoil made the barrel rise vertically as if a horse was kicking on my shoulder.

While barely controlling the recoil, I noticed a grenade in the enemy’s hand. Before I realized it, it had already dropped to the floor. I couldn’t avoid it. I had to take the hit.

───Boom!

“Ugh…!”

I crouched tightly, but the combination of grenade fragments and shockwave was utterly destructive. The nanomachine barrier was completely shattered. To make matters worse, I didn’t have many recovery items early on.

As I hurriedly collected my senses and looked around, I found the opponent already turned into a pile of items. There wasn’t much to pick up. This person didn’t have a good gun either. I barely managed to grab a few recovery items.

However, if I overlooked one thing,

“Ouch!”

Rat-a-tat.

The grenade sound traveled well in the building, and unlike the Tann

häuser or California Gas Storage Facility, this map was very narrow. It was natural for these two factors to create a chemical reaction.

Someone who had heard the grenade sound came running from a distant corridor and fired at me. At this point, I had so little health that even a few shots would eject me to the lobby.

The solution was simple.

Run.

“Oh, there’s no easy game…!”

I mumbled the obvious truth during one of the most difficult moments, running across the corridor.

The underground with its winding and twisted paths. The inside of the research facility was so complicated and dark that anyone who didn’t know the way would get lost. The ceiling was lined with red or white pipes leading somewhere, and the surroundings reeked of concrete.

Moreover, the doors installed occasionally on the walls were all covered with KEEP OUT signs that even someone who couldn’t read English could understand.

───Clang!

“Wow, they really follow?”

Normally, they wouldn’t follow, but they were persistent.

But on the other hand, it made sense. Currently, I had no nanomachine barrier, and they could easily get a kill by pushing cautiously. Next time, I should prepare better for grenades.

Dodging bullets flying from behind, I ran here and there through the dark corridor, remembering my first scrim. It was like this then too. The psychological battle in the 90-degree corridor, and I was miserably defeated by Yoo Jin afterward…

Wait.

Could I use this to my advantage?

­Click, click.

Simultaneously, the sound of footsteps on concrete stopped.

A grenade was already in my hand. I lost the first scrim because of the pin-clicking sound when I took out the grenade ­ but that wasn’t the point. Summarizing the current situation was most important.

We were in a 90-degree corridor standoff. The enemy seemed to have stopped as well. They were probably afraid of getting shot while turning the corner.

So… it was time for the second bait.

“…Whew….”

Very carefully, without making any sound, I removed the pin and cautiously released the safety, placing it right at the corner.

At the same time, I deliberately pulled out another grenade from my pouch. I used a wrist snap to make the pin click noisily ­ and this method was incredibly effective.

Like a rattlesnake.

­Thud, thud, thud!

Heavy boot sounds.

The enemy, seemingly experienced, rushed in as soon as they heard the clicking sound. The flashlight flickered right in front of me, closer than expected.

But what the enemy saw as they rounded the 90-degree corner wasn’t me.

A grenade about to explode was flickering before their eyes.

───Boom!

“Ugh.”

A cheerful noise. But the surprise wasn’t over.

With my finger on the trigger, I stepped out from behind the box where I was hiding and fed the staggering enemy a .50 caliber bullet. The enemy collapsed, turning into polygon chunks reminiscent of minced meat.

The second recoil control was not as difficult as before.

Thus, I earned my second kill.

Come to think of it, what did Yoo Jin say then?

“May you rest in peace… was it?”

What a unique taste.

Thus began the fifth match.

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