I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 99 ­ Hijacking

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There’s a saying that even a school dog can recite poetry after three years.

It means that over time, you adapt to anything, but maybe not enough time had passed yet. Yoo Jin’s editor was still struggling to find his footing.

This was evident by Yoo Jin’s countless legendary moments, the kind that most people would be lucky to witness once every three days, occurring in every single broadcast. He ran Yoo Jin’s fan space himself and was also a Dark Zone player, so he understood better than anyone.

No matter where the clips were sent, domestically or abroad, they always racked up at least the highest views of all time.

The so-called montages or clips titled “epic moments” couldn’t compare—put nicely, it was creative play; put harshly, it was something that left you dizzy.

With such clips pouring out every broadcast, it was impossible for him to handle it alone. Of course, a neatly edited 10-minute video was scheduled to go up on her channel soon, but it couldn’t help but be delayed.

The method he chose was simple.

­[Living Point: If you’re cornered, kill all the enemies to survive.]

Yourspace Shorts.

It was to immediately upload short edited videos, barely one to two minutes long, after each broadcast.

Short clips of about one minute, maybe two if they were a bit longer, could be edited and reviewed within two to three hours. This had a significant advantage—first, it kept subscribers from getting bored by uploading something, anything.

And secondly, by only posting the climax parts, it forcibly injected curiosity into many viewers’ minds.

Naturally, this also had the effect of increasing Yoo Jin’s streaming viewers.

= I’ve watched this about fifteen times, and I still don’t know what’s happening, but it’s crazy. What is this, seriously?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

ㄴ Ah…you don’t know…? Really…you know nothing yet….

ㄴ I’m dying of curiosity!!!!!!!!!!

ㄴ This is a suspiciously good Snowballing Anaconda lol

= Who knew you could use an armored buggy like this?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

ㄴ If anyone could predict this, they’d be a master at stock day trading, seriously.

ㄴ Really good at the big picture….

ㄴ Why are only you guys enjoying this? Show me too! I want to see Yoo Jin too!

ㄴ No, go away~ Only people like us, who have no life, can enjoy this~

= It’s hard to believe that Yoo Jin didn’t exist in this world just a month ago.

ㄴ How did people live a month ago? Without anything this fun?

ㄴ So trueㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

= I’ll hold my breath until the edited version comes out.

ㄴ This person’s already dead….

ㄴ Editor, what are you doing? Work faster!!! Do you want us to die of thirst?!?

ㄴ A suspiciously good editor at managing situations…

= Who would watch this just for the climax parts? I’m so pissed. I’m going to watch the entire broadcast from the beginning now.

ㄴㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

ㄴ Another victim heads towards Yoo Jin’s broadcast….

ㄴ Do they really market things this infuriatingly? I’m going to go punish them right now.

ㄴ Is this that viral marketing thing?

= This is totally awesome and I’ve never seen anything like this XD truly brilliant and full of sparkling explosion. Wanna know how it could be

ㄴ Anyone find English comment?

ㄴ I just came here cuz of my random yourspace algorithm and it was worth it Lmao

ㄴ Agree with that XD

ㄴ How did you even find this placeㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

“Maybe because of the gunpowder, the air outside feels unusually refreshing.”

“…Yes. I bet it does.”

“It was a joke.”

­Is it normal to see a certain major who loves the smell of napalm in the morning in a teacher?

Too much.

The world had truly become tough. Has the world where my jokes don’t land finally arrived? In the past, everyone would chuckle when I made a joke… Was it just politeness back then too?

Anyway, I wasn’t a bad person who forced others to laugh. Rather than asking them to laugh at my jokes, I would just slightly frown.

The surroundings were a total mess. Burnt and scorched buildings and floors, debris, small flames still crackling and sputtering. And among them, countless bodies were sprawled. They weren’t described gruesomely, though.

The surprise grenade attack that hit while all the enemies were off guard was enough to send everyone within the blast radius to the afterlife. The vehicle was sturdy enough to endure additional gunfire.

About twenty out of forty-seven people vanished in three seconds.

Then, six more who were firing back became polygons a bit later, and the large explosion from Harmony’s small sticky bomb took about four more with it.

Thus, seventeen remained. However, Harmony and I didn’t just sit around sucking our thumbs. We opened the bulkhead and fired while the enemies were disoriented, so it wasn’t that difficult to handle the rest.

Crow fled with a few subordinates, leaving zero combatants here.

“We wiped out a whole company in under three minutes with just the two of us. It seems like the circumstances coincidentally aligned well, so that’s fortunate.”

“…Did you ride the vehicle because of this?”

“Who knows. They were wrong to loiter near the vehicle we hijacked.”

­Of course, it’s all the enemies’ fault^^

­This is the first time I’ve felt sorry for Artemis while playing the game.

­Crow, you bastard, running away like a cowardㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

­How did the ones hit by the grenades escape???????

­If they didn’t run, the story wouldn’t progressㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

It was an unavoidable fact.

Everyone knew not to loiter with fire near a powder magazine, whether they realized it or not. This used to happen quite often in the past. Urban combat zones were always filled with crazy amounts of booby traps.

No matter what others said, surviving and achieving the objective was the priority. First was survival, second was the mission. Since we achieved both in this battle, we could discuss the process during the debrief.

At least, I had repeated this schedule for four years and two months—the first six months were spent surviving, learning English, and getting to know other survivors—so much so that worrying about every detail felt odd.

My brain was already discussing the next objective.

As the necessary memories flashed back, I recalled that according to Artemis’s IFF results, there were about eighty people deployed here.

We had dealt with around fifteen enemies at the reserve power facility and forty-five of the forty-seven waiting outside. Therefore, only a platoon-sized force remained in this large facility.

The red triangles indicating enemies were scattered throughout the nuclear power plant, but the highest density was, unsurprisingly, the main control center.

The enemies had already been significantly reduced.

“Is there any issue with your weapon?”

“Just a moment.”

Click.

Removing the magazine, clearing the chamber, firing. If there was no issue, checking the charging handle. If still no issue, verifying zero. After weapon inspection, checking spare magazines, remaining bullets, grenades, and others on the plate carrier.

It didn’t take long since it was routine.

But unfortunately, there was nothing nearby worth riding. The armored buggy we used a few minutes ago was…well.

“…Wow. It’s unrecognizable.”

“It’s devastated.”

What should I say?

It was blackened, severely twisted, with a few shattered metal frames and a crushed engine scattered around. The floor and walls were significantly damaged by the explosion, and it didn’t look good.

It was a short but memorable time.

There was no time to linger. I signaled to move on foot and displayed the path to the main control center. It was about a 400-meter walk, but it wouldn’t take long.

The high-powered grenade launcher significantly shortened the time. Luckily, it seemed we could finish the mission in time.

“Let’s go.”

She had somewhat caught up to my pace.

Though there was still much to work on, we had plenty of time. There wouldn’t be life-or-death situations like before.

We headed to the main control center, with her trotting along behind me.

Humans are creatures that don’t always align with the word “reason.”

It was easy to guess when this was most relevant—naturally, people rely on instinct when cornered.

At critical moments, they pull the trigger or press the detonation button in a fit of rage. They set fire to the fuse of irreversible foolishness. Unlike a fuse that can be cut, actions driven by instinct can’t be undone.

Normally, this isn’t that dangerous. Even a terrorist wrapping themselves in explosives and trying to press the detonation button could be neutralized with precise shooting.

But inside a nuclear power plant’s control center, with ten cornered individuals, the story changes.

I wasn’t an expert on the power plant’s structure, but if they went crazy and started pouring grenades, rockets, or chain gun fire into the internal containment vessel, I could predict the results wouldn’t be good.

Thus, there was no room for negotiation with these terrorists.

───Boom!

A heavy recoil hit my shoulder.

It repeated several times. It wasn’t a convenient area for engagement. Without Harmony’s pulse, it would’ve been extremely troublesome dealing with the guerrilla warfare within the complex internal structure.

Even if the battle wasn’t calm, the progress had to be.

Rather than recklessly charging, cutting off points one by one, the enemies would gradually lose their strength.

Meanwhile, hacking the facility’s security limited where Artemis PMC personnel could go. The fewer allies, the more dangerous their erratic actions would be—if this were reality.

Thankfully, they were just virtual polygons.

Stiff movements and mechanical actions, things real special forces wouldn’t do. Their rigid tactical maneuvers were good opportunities.

Harmony and I coordinated; one drew the enemy out of cover, and the other finished them off. Whether with grenades, sticky bombs, or grenade launchers, those who rushed out had their heads burst like watermelons.

Most enemies met their end within the crosshairs of my LPVO scope.

The front line shifted favorably as Artemis was pushed to a single point, nearing the end.

With the last one permanently turned into an abandoned polygon, Harmony and I realized that the mission had concluded, though not as dynamically as before.

A flash of light, and ISO’s voice echoed in my ears.

­[ISO: Impressive. To eliminate most of Artemis’s forces in this vast facility in such a short time. Those crazy PMCs won’t be able to send reinforcements here for a while.]

­[ISO: A nuclear power plant is a massive facility that can’t be ignored. Leaving it alone isn’t an option. If we neglect it, they might regroup and target this place again.]

­[ISO: We need to establish a foothold to monitor these critical power plants. As always, we need the overwhelming strength of excellent field agents like you.]

­[ISO: But for now, you should rest. I’ll send a helicopter to extract you, just like when you were deployed here. Deploy a smoke grenade at a suitable landing spot and wait. We’ll safely bring you back to HQ.]

“Oh, this was really tough.”

“Keeping up with the pace?”

Nod.

She nodded boldly. I couldn’t say anything to that. With not much time left until the preliminary rank, I had pushed a bit hard in this mission.

Harmony managing to somewhat keep up with my pace was, in a way, significant progress. Perhaps this was what people called a generational change.

In the end, becoming an operator required perseverance and mental strength. With those, one could naturally train under harsh schedules. In this game, that schedule was actual combat.

I wasn’t stingy with praise.

“You always work really hard. It’s never easy to keep up, but you’re managing to match the pace. If we keep working together, you’ll be able to handle at least one person’s share.”

“Wow, I’ve never received such praise before!”

­Harmony… being steadily refined again today…

­Skills seem to be improving rapidly, but why is it hard to feel???

­It’s because she’s always doing missions with the teacher, so it’s hard to tell if she’s good, obviouslyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

­Go play in public matches by yourself for a whileㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Or do it with Doll Sister

­Recently, Harmony has been cutting 2 minutes 10 seconds at the shooting range by herself;;

­Is this like getting into Seoul National University’s Physics Department, but your teacher is a Nobel Prize winner, so it’s hard to tell?

…Everyone’s in an uproar, seriously.

Anyway───it was finally time.

A glowing watch on my left wrist. EXP increased, receiving various rewards like blueprints, while Harmony took a short breath and asked me.

“Are we going to the next mission right away?”

“Oh, I don’t think so.”

“What?”

It seemed she had already forgotten what I said earlier.

I showed her the brightly shining watch.

With the light enveloping my body, I waved a little and added.

“I’ll be back!”

And my vision went dark.

The last thing I saw was her dumbfounded expression.

“…Such a strange person. Really.”

­Seriouslyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

­Is this why you rushed the mission?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

­Nominee for Brat of the Year: Yoo Jin

­Definitely a unique character you can’t find anywhere elseㅋㅋ

­Crazy girl, reallyㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

In the place where Yoo Jin had left temporarily,

Harmony, who had kept a blank expression for a few seconds, finally burst into a broad smile mixed with a bit of disbelief and muttered.

Anyway, as someone said, we were indeed a duo hard to find anywhere else.

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