I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 224 – Before The Final Championship

“…Ugh.”

My body felt heavy.

As the power of my mind, which had been turned off for a moment, switched back on, my senses returned. When I struggled to open my eyes, I saw not the ceiling but the walls of a luxurious hotel. The time was 9 AM. I had slept in deeply. As soon as this realization hit me, various sensations started to flood my body.

The first thing I noticed was an unnatural heaviness. A strangely heavy feeling from my tail—Dice had somehow moved down there and was hugging my tail like a pillow while floating in dreamland. In the past, he would have been an avid fan of bamboo pillows.

However, the real spectacle was elsewhere.

“…What is this?”

Not vertically, but horizontally, Harmony had her feet resting on my body and was sound asleep. The weight I felt on my body turned out to be Harmony lying perpendicularly across me. It was quite the sight. This was beyond absurd.

With a head that wasn’t functioning well, I did some simple calculations. Since we went to bed around 1:30 AM, I had already gotten a decent amount of sleep. But considering I had been heavily soaked in alcohol last night, it might be better to rest a bit more.

Of course, I didn’t think I needed any more sleep, so I decided to get up and wash first. Waiting until everyone woke up would only cause a bottleneck before checkout time.

But that was easier said than done.

On the contrary, there were all sorts of twists and turns.

“No way….”

“Just hug the pillow you were using.”

After sneaking my tail out, I handed Dice the pillow he had been using, and gently placed Harmony back into a seemingly normal sleeping position.

I did some light stretching and filled the bath. Stripping down and stepping in, I let the water from the shower above hit me and went through my usual routine. Only after several rounds of lathering and rinsing my body and hair could I relax in the bath.

After spending roughly 40 minutes in the bathroom, I came out to find the two of them sitting on the bed, dozing off. I grabbed some drinks from the fridge and handed them over. They gulped them down thirstily.

With a ‘Phew,’ the two began to look more alive.

“…What time is it now?”

“It’s almost 10. Be careful on the floor if you’re going to wash up. It’s a bit slippery because I washed earlier.”

“Okay….”

But it seemed my warning wasn’t just needless worry. As soon as Harmony took her first step into the bathroom, she made a dramatic sound and slipped. Luckily, I was secretly following her, so she didn’t hit anything. In short, I caught her with my tail.

A bewildered sound reached my ears, but I tapped her back with my tail and added,

“I told you it was slippery.”

“Y-Yeah… I’ll be more careful next time.”

“You better be.”

With Harmony’s sudden mishap waking her up instantly, I didn’t need to keep an eye on her anymore, so I decided to have a conversation with Dice while she showered.

The topic was already decided.

Dice spoke first.

“The North American scrim will start soon. What preparations should we make to survive the fierce competition this time? Do you have any ideas?”

“If you have data from this year’s scrims, give it to me. I can only make judgments based on sufficient data.”

“Umm… I think I have last year’s game footage.”

With a messy look, Dice got up and headed to the computer provided in the room. Unfortunately, despite it being the mid-2030s, the computer was still agonizingly slow. It seemed that even in a high-end hotel, IT progress was slow.

She logged into the SSM Entertainment site. A new site that wasn’t accessible to the general public appeared upon logging in. Navigating skillfully, she found last year’s data and clicked on a video.

From the dreadful mechanical groans of a computer that seemed to have been overworked for years, the video finally started playing. It wasn’t very long. It was from Dice’s first-person perspective.

“Judging by the movements, it’s definitely from last year.”

“It’s still quite fresh. But now that I’m showing you, it feels a bit embarrassing.”

Watching in silence followed.

She added that it was one of her better games, and I focused on its content. Since Dice’s skills had significantly improved since then, I didn’t need to watch her closely. Instead, I focused on the foreign users she was competing against.

I had already heard a bit about the scrim for the Final Championship preparation. It was a match involving the second teams worldwide and those who didn’t make it to the Final Championship. Overall, it seemed similar to the scrim we did before the Asian qualifiers.

However, the difference between this and the Asian qualifiers was,

───Ratatatatata!

“Hmm.”

“This is when I had a skirmish with Wiseman from the UK. I barely won that one, but I don’t remember it well.”

“It’s quite relaxed. Their movements are very professional, only exerting effort when necessary, which is why they get counterattacked and almost lose. That’s not good.”

“…Yeah?”

“In short, if they hadn’t held back, you would have had some bullet holes by now.”

I pressed my finger lightly on Dice’s head as I said that.

The UK, huh? It seemed like they were from the SAS, but I wasn’t sure. The reason was simple—special forces have similar goals, so they undergo convergent evolution at the highest tiers. Their movements and professionalism become similar.

Other than external indicators like high ready or low ready positions that show whether the special forces belong to the army or navy, identifying their affiliation just by their movements is… questionable. Maybe someone like Owens could manage it.

Anyways, the viewing was abruptly interrupted.

───Click!

“…Huh? Huh? Wait, what’s wrong with the computer?”

“It crashed. Seriously.”

“Why are you acting like it’s my fault!”

In the end, it was an overload ending.

Although it automatically restarted 10 minutes later, we decided to give up. Fortunately, upon inquiry, we found out that the computers in this line of rooms were in bad condition and were not recommended for use.

Just in time, Harmony also came out, so I kindly escorted Dice to the bathroom. The rest was simple. We packed our bags and tidied up, ready to check out at any time, and chatted with Harmony until the last person finished.

About 30 minutes passed, and just before 11 AM, Dice emerged from the shower, fully prepared. The three of us were wrapping up our hotel vacation.

Unfortunately, breakfast time was over, so we agreed to go to a nearby all-you-can-eat BBQ restaurant.

And on the way there, my phone buzzed.

Judging by the conversation Dice and I had earlier, I could roughly guess the content.

-Bzzz!

“What’s that? What came?”

“Yeah. Something came.”

It was an inquiry about participating in scrim practice.

Of course, not participating was not an option.

Time to pester Dice again.

—

November.

A few weeks after the grand finale of the Asian qualifiers, the days were now seeing highs of around 15 degrees, and you could occasionally see your breath in the mornings.

In the meantime, in Seoul, preparations were underway for the Apex Predator soloing—Final Championship.

After the Asian qualifiers, we lubricated our skills, which had been without any refinement, and shook off our complacency to prepare for the next challenge. Especially this scrim, which could be just as important, or slightly less than, the Asian qualifiers, the interest in the five people who would head to the U.S. at the end of December was enormous.

Of course, two out of the five were complete exceptions.

‘Can’t we just leave everything to Yoo Jin?’

It was rare to hear such remarks these days. Professional teams would have been fuming, and while there were rebuttals to that notion, leaving a lot to Yoo Jin wasn’t an unattractive option.

As always, the world ran on money, and businessmen were always eager to reduce costs wherever they could. That’s why the accounting teams scrutinized the value of the coaching staff and managers, ensuring they were worth their regular paychecks.

However, those at the forefront of change moved quickly, and many had already reassembled a task force optimized to support Yoo Jin as it was time to bring her back.

It took only three days to align all the gears.

It was two days before the scrim officially started.

And then-

“There are significantly fewer people.”

Yoo Jin, unaffiliated.

Dice from SSM Entertainment.

Ink from Xi Impressive.

Gambit from Clear Sky.

Michael from Reaper Infected.

From 100 to 20, and now down to five, through the qualifiers and the KSM and Asian qualifiers. Just as there is always a lower bottom, there is always a higher top, and it doesn’t stop until the last remaining victor is determined.

The fact that only five people remained proved this.

Of course, if you included those heading to the duo and squad matches, the total number of people heading to the U.S. would be thirteen, but they were not competitors. Only these five were competitors—though they might find it ridiculous, outwardly, it was true.

Yoo Jin began to speak.

“You all probably guessed, but the scrim is coming up soon. And I think everyone here is wondering what kind of preparations are needed.”

She waved her hand. Simultaneously, a pyramid-shaped diagram appeared in the air. It was divided into the top 20% and the bottom 80%, settling into

everyone’s retinas.

She was talking about potential future competitors.

“Japan, Russia, parts of Europe, and the U.S. Don’t bother looking at the rest. Not everyone who gathers from around the world has the same skill level. So, you only need to pay attention to these twenty.”

It was a rather grandiose statement for someone who had never reached the Final Championship, but none of those present refuted Yoo Jin’s words. And they took it as a matter of course.

Only one person in the world could achieve such results. That person was standing before them.

“Then, you might be wondering if you can hold your own against these twenty. Or—”

Can you gain an advantage over them?

It was a fundamental question that had never been resolved since the launch of Apex Predator, and one that remained an insurmountable, solid wall. It was a fundamental question buried much deeper than various secondary issues like conditioning and jet lag adjustment.

After a brief pause, Yoo Jin subtly shifted the topic. It was simple. She had spent the last few days gathering information about last year’s Final Championship—though it sounded like a casual remark, the four present roughly understood what she meant.

From her perspective, it might have seemed simple, but she had likely spent the better part of those ten days analyzing data.

And soon enough, almost as casually, Yoo Jin briefly mentioned the solution through a Socratic method.

“I’ll give you a simple question. What exists in the Dark Zone but not in reality?”

“…The shield system?”

“That’s a good analysis. But it’s something a bit different.”

There was only one conclusion.

Michael, who had been silently observing, hesitantly raised his hand and added in an unsure voice.

“Skills… right?”

“Correct.”

And simultaneously, a clear sign of correctness.

All eyes turned in one direction, and as a smile spread across her face, Yoo Jin waved her hand again to display a result.

A capture of a part of last year’s game. The frequency of skill usage. Countless other data points. But soon, they all compressed into one conclusion.

As everyone began to vaguely grasp what Yoo Jin was getting at, she spoke again.

“Even a simple glance at this graph shows that the reliance on skills sharply declines as you go into the top 20%. This result is quite straightforward, combining two factors. What are they? If you guess correctly, I’ll give you a small gift.”

“Me!”

“I’ll answer! Just let me!”

Such enthusiasm was gratifying.

With a subtle smile, Yoo Jin chose one of them. The first was Ink from Xi Impressive. But it wasn’t the desired answer.

After about three minutes of discussion and debate, the four of them finally narrowed down the answer.

“Good effort. Though it’s not the right answer, Gambit came the closest. As a small gift, I’ll give you a special curriculum with a bit more of my effort. Use it well.”

“Wow, uh… um….”

“Wow, are you hesitating here? I would’ve bowed right away.”

“Seriously, so mean.”

Leaving the suddenly bombarded Gambit behind, Yoo Jin spoke again.

“The top 20% I mentioned build their principles of action based on existing knowledge and experience rather than innovative attempts. And as I said, skills do not exist in reality.”

“Does that mean….”

“Yes.”

All the diagrams floating in the air disappeared, and all the skills existing in the Dark Zone began to float in the air.

The answer was clear.

“Skills will be a significant variable in this Final Championship and take you higher—by now, I believe you understand what I’m saying.”

Of course.

Although nothing more was said, the four present were quick to predict that their futures would not be so happy.

Yoo Jin’s mouth opened, and the surrounding environment changed. At some point, their outfits had also changed.

A clear voice echoed.

“Time is precious, so let’s begin immediately.”

Excellent results are always forged through countless trials.