I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 214 – Sad Frog Island

Becoming famous means drawing public curiosity.

This intensified even more after Yoo Jin entered the Dark Zone, as she passed through the tournament rank, preliminary rank, KSM, and the Asian preliminaries.

However, arousing curiosity and satisfying it are completely different matters – and unfortunately, Yoo Jin had no intention of addressing such curiosity, which only made the issue worse.

There was a reason for this.

Although the military career problem was being gradually resolved, even putting aside the fact that it was classified, there was no reason to broadcast such information everywhere.

In short, Yoo Jin was under no obligation to clear up the doubts of numerous viewers.

Water was accumulating, but the firmly closed valve showed no signs of opening.

However, the world is unpredictable.

Hints about Yoo Jin’s past, unknown even to Dice and Harmony, emerged from an unexpected direction.

Moreover, at this point, Yoo Jin’s YourSpace channel was soaring.

The massive snowball built solely through her skills had turned her into a channel operator with 1.5 million subscribers in just two months.

Of course, that wasn’t the end.

The title of achieving Omega rank in all main missions, which almost didn’t exist in the world, dedicated a significant portion of her subscriber base to international viewers, and this served as a medium for Logan’s interview to spread even more quickly domestically.

Perhaps the only thing the polar bear didn’t care about was the extent of the heat focused on Yoo Jin.

However, in the end, it meant that amid the unresponsive silence, a skipping stone bomb capable of breaking the dam struck out of nowhere.

Depending on the interpretation, the interview content, which could be magnified infinitely, was like a welcome rain for the millions who had been holding back, and as those who soaked up the waterfall on the cracked ground began to make various speculative statements, the Dark Zone-related sites began to burn.

Even the wildest interpretations fell short of uncovering Yoo Jin’s reality, but that didn’t matter.

The fact that there was a tremendously high probability she had actually been part of the U.S. military and roamed secret units not disclosed to the public was an irresistibly attractive prey.

Moreover, half a day later, Yoo Jin briefly mentioned Logan in an interview conducted hastily, which could be likened to a strong wind sweeping through a forest fire.

The flames began to rise.

It was a strangely warm day heading into November.

-[Notification: ‘Streamer Yoo Jin’ has started broadcasting.]

-[Notification: Current Status // ON AIR]

“It’s open! Go in!”

“Now-!”

Chaos and pandemonium ensued.

Traffic of nearly a hundred thousand people flocked to Yoo Jin’s broadcast at once. It was an enormous number, twice the usual. In addition to the regular viewers, there were piranha-like individuals from all directions who had flocked in to ask about the military career news.

The chat window skyrocketed. The number of messages was so overwhelming that it was impossible to read any individual chat, disappearing quickly up the scroll bar.

At that moment, the screen moved. Yoo Jin had briefly displayed today’s broadcast content. It was very short.

-[Part 1: Sad Frog Island]

-[Part 2: Briefly Dark Zone]

However, there was a warning below.

-[If the topic is continuously mentioned to the point where it disrupts the broadcast, a 3-day ban will be imposed without question, so please be aware.]

It was a bombshell statement.

At this point, disruptive trolls, who would not usually join, began pouring out all kinds of malicious comments, but unfortunately, the overwhelming number of viewers was their downfall. Before anyone could even read what they had written, the chat would scroll away.

While human eyes were slow, bots and auto-managers managing the chat did not miss any of it. Dozens of people were kicked out within moments, never to return. The reason for their ban was not worth mentioning.

After about five minutes, the viewers, which had peaked at 110,000, gradually stabilized at 99,853.

Meanwhile, the chat window was heating up in a different direction.

-Okay, just start the broadcastㅓㅓㅓㅓㅓㅓㅓㅓㅓㅓㅓ

-Where’s part 1! I’m sorry! Please start the broadcast!!!!!!!!

-Noona, please say something. We’ll behave better. We won’t mess around. Please don’t abandon us.

-They’re trimming the snake’s tail, you idiots. ㅋㅋ That’s what I think.

-Oh, suddenly I see the 꼴?루….

So where is Yoo Jin! – Chat messages asking roughly that began to dominate.

Conclusively, doing something else until the public opinion subsided was a very good move. Yoo Jin had long concluded that not saying anything about this topic was the best approach through her few months of broadcasting experience.

After all, the gathering of viewers was like a living organism, moving more with interest at the moment than logic and reason. In short, logically and reasonably stating, ‘I don’t want to talk about this topic, and I don’t have a reason to,’ would not be very effective.

Simply put, this was also akin to saying ‘Don’t think about an elephant.’ The more you say not to mention it, the more it lingers in your mind.

How much time had passed?

“Ah, ah. Is the screen clear? The game content for today… Yes. As I did occasionally last time, it’s Sad Frog Island. If you type in the chat once, your character will be linked.”

-Wow, it’s a reward game!

-Heuh, Heuh, Heuh, Heuh, Heuhㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Thrown off a cliff by Yoo Jin’s hands? I’d rather like that.

-There are only crazy people here, seriously ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Another crappy game? I’m going nutsㅋㅋ

The talk about military career had long disappeared.

Sad Frog Island was a game where characters could be synced through chatting. It was a platform game where viewers could directly hinder Yoo Jin’s progress. In short, it was a game where viewers could watch her gradually get frustrated for various reasons.

You could get punched, kicked, or even get smacked by the tail. There was a reason it was called a reward.

The sync began.

While Yoo Jin navigated the obstacles installed on the island’s cliffs, countless sad frogs were falling from the sky. They could either help with the game or block the way to hinder the progress.

Of course, the vast majority did the latter.

Viewers were always like that.

“Communicate-!”

“Hug me! Hug me! Hu-ugh, eugh…!”

“Oh, really!”

Above their heads were IDs. Hundreds of frogs, each with different looks taken from individual users’ avatars, surrounded Yoo Jin. Of course, the frogs couldn’t touch Yoo Jin’s avatar, and their voices could only be heard intermittently.

Even if they fell off cliffs or got hit by obstacles, there was no sense of touch. This was a game without sensory functions.

Still, it was more than enough to interfere with the streamer.

───Bang!

“Ahhhhh!”

“Ugh, this is an industry reward… Kyaak, I’m falling!”

“Teacher, come quickly! We’ve cleared the path for you!”

Every time Yoo Jin swung her arms, dozens of frogs flew through the air. Her appearance was worthy of being called a human bulldozer, causing even the most fearless to hesitate for a moment.

Meanwhile, viewers on the map were fiercely fighting among themselves, divided into two camps: those who wanted to help Yoo Jin and those who wanted to mess with her. It was a choice between living short and intensely or helping and being abandoned at the end of the map.

Of course, in very rare cases, Yoo Jin might take someone along.

And that instance happened right before her eyes.

“…?”

Among all the IDs jumbled with English and numbers, there was a frog with yellow hair composed solely of four English capital letters watching Yoo Jin from afar. As soon as their eyes met, the frog hurriedly looked away.

How did they get in here? Yoo Jin briefly thought, but soon she used her session master authority to forcibly change the frog avatar to a regular SD one. The frog was too ugly.

Yoo Jin, who kicked away the approaching frogs, walked towards the bewildered person – of course, Dice. Yoo Jin lifted Dice with a puzzled expression.

The SD-Dice, who wore an embarrassed expression, mumbled softly.

“…Well, I came in because I was bored and saw you were streaming….”

“Of course, you did.”

-ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-What is this ㅋㅋㅋ

-If I get to Dice’s level, can Yoo Jin pick me up too???? Should I start preparing for next year’s AP tournament??????

-No, you can’tㅎ

-Wow, Dice is so lucky ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Yoo Jin, who was kneading the chubby cheeks of SD-Dice, soon designated her as a pair and started overcoming obstacles together.

At the same time, she set up a secret voice channel.

A conversation not broadcasted began.

“I thought you’d ask, but surprisingly you didn’t.”

“If it’s something you want to keep from me… There must be a reason, so I didn’t ask. I was curious, but it wasn’t something to ask easily, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

If that’s the reason, then the same might apply to Harmony.

But when I checked through the UI, she was broadcasting separately. Each had their reasons. The consideration from Dice and Harmony was very appreciated… Though, if it were just the two of them, I wouldn’t mind receiving questions.

Again, they are very considerate people. Full of thoughtfulness.

However, separate from that, if you

want to hear the truth, you need to be prepared accordingly.

“If you really want to hear it, at least complete interrogation avoidance and keyword suppression training first. Bring a confidentiality agreement too. It’s not something to hear lightly.”

“Gasp, uh….”

The unvarnished truth and sincerity. My past was something that not even the most extreme of the hundred thousand predictions could handle, and even adjusted to this world, it was the same.

Not knowing what would happen if I revealed it, it was better to leave the story in fantasy.

Meanwhile, Dice, who had been thinking for a moment, added.

“…Then the things you taught us until now….”

“…Don’t infer any further.”

It took two months to reach the thought that maybe I had taught things that shouldn’t be taught. But as a kind of excuse, there was a way to rationalize it.

“Anyway, you won’t be able to use it in reality, right? And you can’t even replicate it.”

“…Now that I think about it, that’s true. You can’t reproduce it even a bit in reality.”

Bang.

Bang, bang.

Even if one out of a hundred was picked, it would be a thousand frogs. Dice and I stepped, kicked, and pushed away the endlessly falling frogs.

Of course, clearing what was in front didn’t make the platform game, which this lousy game borrowed, any easier. The traps and game progress method in this place were optimized to torment people, and this was more than enough to turn Dice and me, who had little talent in anything but FPS games, into Pat and Mat.

For example,

“Yoo Jin! Hold my hand!”

“What hand! I’m going to jump, so get ready-uhak!”

“Oh, Yoo Jin-!”

Clang!

With a refreshing sound, I collided with a giant spinning log obstacle and flew far away. I soared dozens of meters, fell off a cliff, and dove into the seawater below, where my avatar scattered into polygons.

Of course, the reverse could also happen.

“Yoo Jin, hug me! I’m going to jump now!”

“Alright. But you have to jump well.”

“Of course, I will-”

───Crack!

“Oh, oh!? Ah, Yoo Jin-!”

“Geez.”

Splash.

Due to the sin of lingering too long on the decaying platform, Dice fell off the cliff and dived into the seawater below, where the man-eating crabs swarmed… No, she fell into the seawater and respawned far behind, only to be caught by the frog army.

It took Dice three more minutes to return to her original position, and during that time, I felt like an anti-aircraft gun, shooting down the frogs falling from the sky in real-time.

While she struggled with obstacles for a long time, I pondered whether it would have been better to play a cooperative game if I had known Dice was coming.

Of course, by then, the viewers had long forgotten their initial purpose.

It was according to plan.