I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 209 – Harmony Disaster

“-Great job today. See you tomorrow!”

“Thank you so much for your hard work. You’re always so diligent in teaching us.”

“Haha, not at all. It’s a new experience.”

Bow.

The four people bowed to each other before disappearing one by one with sparkling effects. Some logged out completely, while others stayed online.

The Cartographer was among the latter.

The other three, it seemed, were not.

‘I wonder how this streamers’ competition will turn out…’

Sitting in an empty shooting range chair, I checked the stack of papers that had somehow appeared in my hands. Each word and sentence bore the marks of countless trials and errors and the effort I had put in to overcome them.

The new rule for the streamers’ competition: the top player teams up with the bottom three to enhance individual skills. Of course, contact with professional gamers was possible separately.

But teaching… Teaching was a completely different story from playing as I wanted without any thought. Even though I had connections with Russ, a second-tier pro gamer coach, it was not easy to follow in the footsteps of someone who had built up their experience over several weeks.

Meetings between those who had never taught and those who had never tried to improve their skills by learning from someone were bound to encounter difficulty after difficulty.

“How is Manager Kim’s team doing, I wonder? Ah, I shouldn’t be asking this kind of thing.”

-Fact: It’s all similar

-Don’t stress too much, it’s not an official competition, just a friendly match

-They’re in chaos too lol have you ever seen a well-run group project?

-Just practice squad leader stuff, Kato, you noob

-8 days is enough lol

Eight days.

My gaze stopped on one point in the chat that scrolled up smoothly. Well. Could it really be? Eight days might seem like enough to do anything, but conversely, it might not be enough to accomplish anything.

To be honest, I had something else I wanted to say. However, as I mentioned, the streamers’ competition was essentially a friendly match among streamers. Although there was prize money depending on wins and rankings, the event was more of a festival than a competition.

But does everything in the world run solely on logic and reason? Quite the opposite, if anything. It was a festival, but the desire to win naturally existed. Especially since it was my first time taking on the role of squad leader and instructor, I wanted to achieve at least some good results for my team members.

Meanwhile, it was past eight o’clock in the evening in reality.

Having had an early and light dinner three hours ago, I was feeling a bit hungry. Although I could cut off my senses since I was in virtual reality, doing so might lead to binge eating after the broadcast ended due to the hunger that would hit me.

In any case, no matter how much embellishment I added, it was time to take a break. Leaving the shooting range, I returned to my VR personal booth, sat in a chair, and opened my mouth.

“Domination mode requires a lot more attention than I thought. Maybe it’s because the system is completely different from Escape from Unknown.”

Indeed, the Dark Zone could be described as a multi-genre FPS.

This game, which had bought and operated the rights to numerous FPS games that swept the past, ran various PVP modes, including tactical FPS, battle royale, territory capture, and survival, among others. Each mode even had its own pro teams.

Of course, the nature of each mode was vastly different. They were so different that they could be considered entirely separate games – even I, the Cartographer, had switched from the survival mode, Escape from Unknown, back to AP and then ventured into the territory capture mode, Domination.

The first two were done because I wanted to.

Anyway, I digress.

In conclusion, I needed to get more accustomed to this mode.

“Should I try ranked games in Domination? With eight days left, it’s not too late… Today, I’ll just finish the placement tests. When the host announces the map list tomorrow, I’ll focus on that.”

-What is this? A hint for part 2??????

-Haha, sitting down immediately lolololol

-Is he asking us to give him a mission? Is he aiming for TIER 2 here too???????

-I can hear the wallets of the dark mission villains opening from hereㄷㄷ

-Haha, I’ll just watch (while opening wallet)

A mission, huh. But now was not the time.

I turned off the mission function very naturally, leaving the viewers’ uproar behind, took a sip of water in reality, checked the rank system briefly, and reviewed the roster for the upcoming streamers’ competition again. There were both familiar and unfamiliar nicknames. I had heard of all of them, though.

Among them, one nickname caught my eye.

And simultaneously, a donation came in.

-Did you see this?

“PikimchiStewStock, thank you for the donation. What kind of video is this-”

A video filled my vision.

The nickname I had just seen on the roster. On one shoulder of an avatar that did not suit the battlefield at all, the camera focused on a patch engraved with the word “Harmony.” And next, a SOF rank patch was removed from the shoulder, proving the player’s mature skills or even beyond that.

At that moment, the ICARUS gear activated, and the newly attached rank patch shone tactically, emitting a mechanical voice into the air.

-[Notification: Operator profile updated. Codename Harmony.]

-[Notification: The ICARUS network officially certifies that this operator is now part of TIER 2.]

My brain started working busily.

Top 0.1% skill level. The heavens. The true transcendence where only those who knew each other continued to meet. The minimum requirement when seriously considering joining a pro team. The basic condition for setting the game as one’s career….

But the nickname patch on the shoulder indicated that the donor, who had just sent the donation, was scheduled to participate in the streamers’ competition and, moreover, was a member of the squad to which the Cartographer belonged – Domination, where a small squad of three squads formed a team.

The first reaction triggered was a hollow laugh.

The second was the firing of memories.

‘Harmony, this person was surely….’

From our team.

Before debating whether this was possible, the question, not processed by the brain, came out of my mouth first.

“…When did this happen?”

-In-game, six hours ago lololololol

-Fact: Now ranked 3rd in TIER 2

-Someone stop this person lolololololol

-Kato, at this rate, you’ll lose your spot!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Not Harmony, but a natural disasterwwwwwwwwwwwwww

It happened longer ago than I thought.

Six hours ago in-game would be two hours in real life.

He laughed, unsure if it was a hollow laugh or just laughter. Yoo Jin’s shadow, in a different form, was gradually taking over the streamers’ competition. But he laughed because the shadow wasn’t cast in his direction.

“Heh.”

– Why is he like this, lololol
– Koits suddenly went mad after seeing one donation wwwwwwwwwwwww
– This is madness, lol
– What’ll happen if he’s already lost it before the competition even starts, lol
– The saying ‘laughing when you’re in pain means you’re elite’ can be disproved by Kato

Of course, he didn’t care what the chat was saying. The more sharp spears, the better, and unlike him, who still hadn’t properly adapted to Domination mode – Harmony would be the battering ram that smashed all obstacles in this streamers’ competition.

Just thinking that made him feel much more at ease.

Even though he hadn’t eaten anything, it felt as sweet as if he had eaten popcorn.

“…How is it?”

“Hmm….”

Silence.

Sunday at 10 PM, late at night after Harmony’s broadcast had ended. The results of all the engagements she had been checking while raising her tier through ranked games. Several sheets of paper containing feedback on all those match results.

They were in my hands.

Harmony’s tail and ears twitched back and forth. Watching her ears move slightly with her emotions was amusing, but I couldn’t keep her waiting any longer – to spoil a bit, there wasn’t a big problem. That was the conclusion.

From now on, it was time to evaluate her based on maturity rather than basic operation.

“Just listen casually to what I’m saying now. It’s not something you can try immediately.”

“Okay.”

“Mina, why do you think a squad operates?”

“Um… To achieve tactical objectives?”

“That’s right.”

I put the paper down.

Personally, this was more than adequate by my standards. Considering I didn’t have much experience as a squad leader in the past… If it were Owens sitting here, he could probably talk for three hours straight about improvements, but conversely, I was not Owens.

The reason was simple. In the past few days, Harmony had developed quite good squad management skills by my standards; as I mentioned indirectly earlier, there wasn’t much to teach about basic operations now.

To explain easily, think of it as the process of carving a statue.

The rough shape was already there. But just as it takes much more delicate touches to reveal the features and bring out the statue’s unique characteristics, she now needed to go through advanced procedures.

Therefore, my feedback would be limited to that extent.

“A squad can be both a sturdy shield and a sharp spear, depending on how it’s managed. It’s up to the squad leader’s ability to achieve that goal. Reading the rapidly changing battlefield situation and adjusting the squad accordingly. That part is still lacking.”

“Ah….”

At that moment, her ears drooped slightly. She seemed to get a bit downcast. It’s troublesome if she’s already like this before I even finish talking.

I continued speaking gently.

“But to put it another way, that’s the only thing to point out. If there were problems with basic squad operations, I wouldn’t even bring this up.”

“Huh?”

“In simple terms, what I just mentioned are areas for improvement at an advanced level. In other words, at the basic level, there’s not much to criticize.”

“Ah, really!?”

I nodded slightly.

Of course, what I taught Harmony was just a very limited scope of squad operation. Not all wars in this world are like Domination mode, and when I was roaming around New York, a squad leader was literally like a captain.

A captain who had to navigate an extremely dangerous sea without any information about currents, wind, or waves, with just a few crew members.

In that sense, Domination mode is really simple. That’s why Harmony could raise her skills to a certain level within a short period.

Considering that I was really only specialized in a limited area, Harmony and I weren’t all that different.

“I’m glad… If I got a lot of criticism, I was going to practice until dawn.”

“You don’t have to work that hard.”

“Hehe, being evaluated by you constantly over the past few days made me feel like I shouldn’t stay still….”

“….”

…Maybe I had remodeled Harmony too severely. It might have gone too far to call it a good thing.

But if she’s satisfied, isn’t that enough? Maybe not.

Anyway, feedback continued, but as mentioned above, the points to address were limited to minor areas. Even after that, there wasn’t much to talk about, so the conversation naturally shifted to other topics.

Thus, the discussion first moved on to what kind of curriculum would be carried out in the remaining week.

“I watched the broadcast today. Since your tier has risen significantly over the past three days, it might be better to reduce the focus on ranked games. Opening private games again and practicing squad operations would be effective.”

“Ah. Is everyone capable of keeping up now?”

“Unfortunately, not yet. If you continue individual practice and enhance your capabilities as a squad member over the next week, you’ll achieve good results in the competition.”

“Darn… I should’ve contacted you earlier. I tried to do it alone for no reason.”

Anyway, we had various conversations.

The topic that flowed smoothly eventually turned to real-life matters.

“By the way, do you have any free days coming up? We should have a celebration party sometime. I know a good hotel. I have a discount code, and they’re really good at party services. What do you think?”

“Hmm.”

He checked his schedule briefly.

But he checked his watch – not a planner.

It was vibrating brightly.

“I have some things to do for a while, so maybe after the competition ends.”

“Oh, do you have something going on?”

“Yes.”

Ding-dong.

A notification from the ICARUS network, indicating a message. A polite bell rang from the wristwatch.

“I expect to have some visitors soon.”

Leaving the puzzled Harmony behind, I reset the schedule for tomorrow morning.

It seemed like I would be taking a break from exercise for the first time in a while.