I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 206 – Handheld Minigun

“Wow, it’s a mess. A total mess…”

“You’re watching something only you understand again.”

“No, I’m watching the broadcast with Dice and Yoo Jin, what’s wrong with that?”

“What?”

When there are too many people, there are bound to be all sorts, and when that number exceeds a hundred thousand, the probability and frequency of it rise even more.

And as it surpassed 110,000, reaching 120,000, even counting one number per second would take 33 hours and 20 minutes. Among such overwhelming numbers, there were naturally all sorts of people – including AP pro gamers watching the broadcast without revealing themselves.

While Yoo Jin followed Harmony’s lead to also become a streamer, Dice, who met her during the preliminary rank scrims and became close, has recently started to appear on broadcasts as well.

Of course, those who knew her well predicted that Dice wouldn’t start streaming, but regardless, curiosity was still there.

And so, the viewership of streamers’ broadcasts gradually became a part of everyday life rather than a temporary trend.

“Practice for the competition? Are these guys having a tournament?”

“I don’t know. They say it’s a tournament among streamers, but I’m not sure either.”

The initial interest was mild, but gradually, the focus shifted to the broadcasts themselves.

Most were drawn in by curiosity about Yoo Jin and Dice’s gameplay, but over time, the interest waned. There were several complex reasons for this, but a major one was that they were pro gamers.

If you watched the continuous play of Yoo Jin and Dice, whom you tuned in to at least get close to, it would be more than enough to last a week.

Even if you couldn’t imitate them, you already knew their play style well. In other words, you were tired of watching them so much.

There were a few conclusions one could draw from this, but one of them was-

“…Oh, this one’s pretty good though? Good judgment. Shoots well too. Is this what they call a skilled streamer?”

“Don’t ask me. I’m seeing this for the first time today too.”

“Damn it…”

Viewership flow into Harmony’s broadcast.

Tricky’s system, which displays the channels with the most viewers at the top, was showing Harmony’s channel just below Yoo Jin’s. People tend to follow recommendations and suggestions rather than trying something new in an unknown field, and they entered Harmony’s room without much resistance.

Thus, they naturally encountered the streamer. Although still clumsy and unpolished, and lacking basic skills, the streamer’s play had a faint hint of Yoo Jin.

For those who knew that Yoo Jin and Harmony had some sort of relationship, it wasn’t a problem at all. However, for those who didn’t know, this fact piqued their curiosity significantly.

And as a result, there were things like this.

<(GEARUP)GDKID has donated 10,000 won!>

– Is this person a skilled streamer? This is my first time watching today.

“Ah, thank you so much for the donation… Oh, I’m too busy right now, I’ll read it later!”

– Ha??????moni????is a skilled????streamer???

– Fact) This Noknyangi almost dropped the magazine on the floor even with an assist two months ago.

– Wow, a donation from GearUp lolololololololol

– Now they’ve even bought pro gamers? lololololol

– Seriously, if it were just two months ago, I’d have told you to shut up lol

– Now she’s even being called skilled by pros. Wow, it’s really overwhelming.

A devastating misunderstanding caused by not knowing what kind of broadcasts Harmony used to do. For those hardcore fans who watched her broadcast from the beginning, the statement was laughable.

Even just six months ago, a donation like this would have flooded the chat with sarcastic comments or calls to stop bribing. However, in just these two months, Harmony had honed her skills to the point where such a comment could be taken seriously.

And indeed, her gameplay was not bad even from a pro gamer’s perspective.

“The minigun is pointing this way! Move positions!”

Classifying threats not checked by the squad, sharing it through the UI, and identifying and eliminating elements that hindered the fulfillment of the detailed commands given to the squad members. This allowed the squad to move and shoot to achieve the objective set by the squad leader.

Even though many commands were missed due to the ever-changing battlefield, and there were many that Harmony herself couldn’t handle, all of this was taken into consideration. Though it was no exaggeration to say it was her first time as a squad leader, the battlefield leadership skills learned from Yoo Jin over her shoulder were being fully demonstrated.

Creating stairs out of the bodies of the dead to advance to point B, the opponents piled up the dead bodies to block the way to point B. Even if it wasn’t exactly to that extent, the continuous intense combat extended beyond seconds to minutes.

A battle happening at point B with minimum defense forces left. The number ratio was 10 for Harmony’s team and 9 for the opponent. Even the number of rounds consumed per second by all of them was in the hundreds.

However, what none of them expected,

-[Notification: Sector B has entered a neutral state.]

“Block it! We need to blow up the minigun!”

“No time for that-!”

– Wow lololololololololol

– We broke through! We broke through! We broke through! We broke through! We broke through!

– Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go~~~

– These guys shoot an action movie every time they get bored, seriously lol

– Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony! Harmony!

Harmony’s squad broke through the strict siege and poured into B.

The chaotic battle had begun.

-[Notification: You have died.]

-[Notification: Respawn in 00:00:56.]

“We really fought desperately…”

– But you still took down two on your own lol

– You did really well, it’s okay.

– Fought like a possessed person lolololololol

– What on earth did Yoo Jin turn Harmony into?

– Please stop being so good! Bring back the innocent Harmony of the past!!!

Whew.

Harmony, lying flat on her back, let out a big breath in the place where dead users waited to respawn. It was frustrating. If only Yoo Jin had come with her… No, if she had, they would have easily pushed through B.

But that wasn’t the goal today. Yoo Jin wasn’t here to help her in the streamer competition, and even if she called her to push through, it wouldn’t help her improve her skills.

That’s why she had asked Yoo Jin and Dice to avoid the main conflict zones on purpose. Those two were probably causing chaos in A and C right now.

However, it was time to let go of that thought.

Now it was time to push through B.

“We’re definitely lacking in endurance. Plus, the enemies keep respawning near B…”

“From their perspective, if they lose B, they’re in trouble, so they’ll desperately defend it. Still, we almost had it. I think they nearly detonated the minigun when we pushed to the last point.”

“Yeah, I saw that too.”

While they were talking, I checked the map.

Seventeen out of twenty-four members from both teams had been taken out sequentially. Specifically, our team, excluding Yoo Jin and Dice, was waiting to respawn, while seven members from the enemy team had also disappeared.

Thus, the situation began to change.

First, our previous main base, A, was being captured. Yoo Jin and Dice had circled around to capture C. The enemy team had sent the remaining forces to A, which we had previously held, to prevent being trapped at B due to our capture of A and C.

However, A had not been fully captured yet. Several of our teammates who had died earlier respawned near A and were fighting there. Similarly, C was not completely captured either. Hence, the expected respawn point was near A.

I organized my thoughts and added,

“Let’s clear A, gather everyone, and push. This time, we should call in the separate squad to help push B.”

“What? I thought you were going to keep moving separately?”

“The battle zones won’t overlap, so it should be fine. We need to time it right. If we leave it alone, those two might just push B by themselves.”

– Koits has a harsh evaluation of Dice and Yoo Jin wwwwwwwww

– ‘Human Bulldozer Combo’

– But we have an armored car lolololololol

– If we had asked them to push, B would’ve been taken already

– It’s funnier because he says it so nonchalantly lolololololol

Saying that, I expanded the voice chat to the entire team. Since it was a private room created for this streamer competition, everyone followed my instructions without complaint.

I stepped on the snowy ground again. As mentioned earlier, the respawn point was near A. About three enemies were identified, holding out fiercely inside A. But when a total of eight of us, including my squad, charged in at once, they were helplessly taken down.

Playing it a bit safe to avoid casualties took some time, but we managed to create a breach in the enemy’s defense by eliminating three of them.

Once again, we had ten members, and the enemies had nine.

I spoke into the intercom to the teacher,

“We’re about to retake B. Please time your entry accordingly. We’re placing higher tactical importance on retaking B. Estimated arrival time is three minutes.”

“If that’s your judgment.”

That was all she said, but I understood the implication well enough.

We were moving out.

Of course, naturally, the path was as – no, more difficult than before.

“The minigun’s position has changed!”

“That’s crazy. Detonate the EMP! We have to break through this time!”

“Roger. Detonating now!”

───Boom!

The EMP bomb, one of the tactical supplies only the squad leader could carry, activated. A formless electromagnetic pulse, different from a typical explosion, radiated from the spherical device.

It temporarily turned all electronic devices and operators under ICARUS’s wing back into ordinary soldiers. The minigun drooped, the UI became blurry, the intercom malfunctioned, and even the shields were disabled.

At this moment, the only thing to rely on was personal skill.

In a situation where a single lucky shot could send you back to the respawn area, I frantically identified enemies through binoculars. The built-in analog UI of ICARUS briefly marked the enemies’ directions.

I took a deep breath and placed my finger on the trigger. Having taken two enemies with me just a few minutes before dying, there was no way I’d falter now.

– Thud! Thud! Thud!

Smoke rose from the silencer with each pull of the trigger. The suppressed muzzle flash flickered. While it wasn’t like in the movies where one bullet took one life, I could take down at least one enemy every few shots.

Meanwhile, the EMP’s duration was running out. Normally, I should have informed Yoo Jin before detonating it, but… well, she would surely come. There was no need to worry about her.

How much time had passed since then?

‘Five friendly losses…’

Half of us were down, and we had taken two of the three terminals required to control B. But the enemy, cunningly, had set up the minigun on a high ground, providing suppressive fire over the last terminal.

Three figures in distinctive black uniforms stood out.

These must be the so-called Balkan Boys. Although I could only describe them as bizarre in many ways, it was clear they had prepared extensively to qualify and participate in this private room, mastering this tactic.

The EMP duration was converging to zero.

-[Warning: Primary threat reactivated.]

-[Warning: Additional enemies identified.]

“The minigun is reactivating! Take cover!”

Enemies respawned, and the minigun roared before spewing lead.

A green laser dazzler marking the minigun’s line of fire cut through the air ominously. However, knowing Yoo Jin wouldn’t be late, I closed my eyes tightly while in cover.

But before I could even do that, a split second ahead – bullets crossed the air horizontally, striking the ballistic camera multiple times. The minigun briefly turned its gaze to the side.

───Crash!

“Ack!”

Yoo Jin, who had stealthily approached from the opposite side of the high ground, closed in to a distance where the enemy couldn’t react and struck with the butt of her gun. Both the buttstock of the gun and the head polygons of the Balkan Boys member grotesquely twisted simultaneously.

Of course, Yoo Jin didn’t even seem to care – without even aiming properly, she fired her short assault rifle at the nearby enemies with one hand. Her fierce assault from behind tore the enemy formation to shreds.

However, through the reactivated UI, I saw that five more enemies were approaching again from the surroundings.

But-

“Teacher, five enemies are approaching from the north… uh…”

Clack.

With a chilling friction sound, the front ballistic armor plate floated into the air, and Yoo Jin… walked forward, holding the entire minigun. The large ammunition box and generator connected to the weapon made a bizarre noise as they were dragged along.

As she walked towards the opposite side of the high ground, precisely towards where the enemies were gathering in the north, she gradually disappeared from sight, and then.

───Brrrrrr!

“…I did ask for help, but not to this extent…”

– ????????????????

– What the heck is Teacher doing??????????????

– No way lolololololololololololol

– Breaking news) Yoo Jin is slaughtering

– I thought this was supposed to be a feedback stream! A feedback stream! A feedback stream!!!!!!!!

The sound like an engine idling, and the continuous unpleasant noise tearing through the air. I couldn’t see what was happening, but there was no need to see it.

Maybe Teacher is someone who needs to try everything she’s curious about, even if she’s embarrassed.

Seeing the six-letter English words filling the kill log in an instant, I quietly gave up understanding.

It was late autumn.