"Ugh…."
12 PM.
I had slept deeply. I could have slept more, but my stomach was crying out for food. Anyway, this body sends imdiate feedback when I don’t eat, which is quite annoying. After downing a glass of high-calorie shake I had prepared before bed, I felt sowhat alive—it was based on a Chicago cake shake.
To maintain my basal tabolic rate, I had to drink sothing like this three tis a day. Of course, it wasn’t about my active tabolic rate; it was strictly my basal tabolic rate. It was quite the ss. The local bakery would have prepared a chocolate cake for just by my entering. Just a few months ago, I was still hearing, “Student, if you eat like that, it’ll be a disaster….”
Now, they prepare it without a word.
"What should I eat for lunch?"
Since I had been away from ho for three weeks, there was nothing edible in the fridge. Food doesn’t spoil in three weeks, but I purposely didn’t stock up on anything, just in case. In short, there was nothing to eat at ho.
Let’s order sothing for the main al. I should do so grocery shopping later.
I ordered about two hamburgers and flopped onto the sofa. There were quite a few things I needed to do.
"Let’s see."
First, I needed to check my accumulated emails. It wasn’t just about new ssages; I also had to review the important emails that had been moved to a separate folder and had gone unread. Things like sponsorships, collaboration requests, or guest invitations. Of course, they were all decent offers, as the emails had already been filtered through a law firm.
Among them were also a couple of ga advertisents. One was for a mobile ga that didn’t look appealing at all, so it went straight to the trash. The second one was for a fantasy ga that, while not as popular as Dark Zone, had a considerable fan base… should I call it that? Anyway, it was a ga where users fought while wielding lee weapons.
Unlike other strears, I wasn’t a partner strear or a Dark Zone ambassador, so it seed they reached out via email. Of course, I felt a bit hesitant to jump right in, but I planned to give it a try either solo or during a stream later.
Besides that, there were quite a few requests for collaborations and guest appearances, and many were from food channels. I had received food sponsorships in the past, and perhaps that was why they were reaching out now. There was even a list of foods that could be prepared.
I thought that might be alright. Since I couldn’t accommodate everyone’s requests, I decided to hold off for a mont. The most important things at this point were coordinating the One Chip Challenge collaboration with Harmony and Dais and scheduling with Rorentina and Logan.
If I couldn’t reach a decent agreent, it might be difficult to include guests. Of course, the other side might also be engaged in different content by then, so I wouldn’t expect too much.
Ding!
Well, since I thought of it, should I contact them?
The Icarus Gear quietly activated. A hologram floated in the air, and the ssage was automatically typed. I created a new room for just Logan and Rorentina and sent a silent ssage asking when they thought they’d be available. Naturally, there was no imdiate response. It was currently 1 AM in Arica, a ti when most people were sleeping.
If that was the case, I would just lighten their load for later.
"What was the last mission I did before departing…?"
Operation Northsphere, Black Division, Caduceus, and Apollyon had all been completed, so the last one must have been the Lost Archive operation.
Thinking about it, the naming sense for missions in Arica was quite random. Just from hearing them, one couldn’t guess the contents at all. It seed more like the beginning of a paragraph or the one might find when opening a random fantasy novel rather than a mission na.
Anyway, it was unclear what mission would co next. But given the passage of ti, it seed likely to be either Operation Chariot or Bluefield. The forr was a cleanup operation on the xico border—otherwise known as annihilating all encountered enemies—and the latter was the final operation to eradicate all Russian influence remaining in the Northeast U.S.
If that were the case, I could assu both and start moving from now. There was still plenty of ti before the hamburgers arrived, so it wouldn’t be a problem to take it easy.
"Operation Chariot… thinking back, how did we do that?"
After boarding the transport plane in New York and landing at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Louisiana, we took a helicopter to Houston for local reconnaissance. From there, it was endless helicopter travel, rounding up the drug cartels that crossed over from xico.
As I recall, this was when the kill count for our Team Dagger literally skyrocketed. Over the course of the operation, which lasted fifteen days, we turned nearly 9,000 people into cold corpses. The Gulf Cartel near San Antonio and Houston, as well as the Sinaloa Cartel, which controlled most of the border region, were practically dismantled.
Of course, about a quarter of that was close-quarters kills.
Anyway, the operation crossing from east to west along the U.S.-xico border to San Diego was Operation Chariot. The na indicated that it involved a full-on charge, hence the title.
And the second operation was Bluefield. It involved sinking two Kuznetsov-class aircraft carriers and two Sturm-class destroyers into the sea. As far as I rember, since it was impossible to sink one with just one team, we had to split into at least two groups to capture both aircraft carriers simultaneously.
Naturally, the roughly 1,000 crew mbers left inside were all turned into fish food.
Once we had taken control of both, we would then demolish the network through the Icarus Gear and fire 30 of the 40 Granite missiles loaded onto both Kuznetsov-class carriers at the two Sturm-class destroyers, turning them into scrap tal, while the remaining 10 rounds would be fired at nearby Russian military bases and command centers, obliterating everything in sight.
Naturally, I was here because that mission had also been successfully completed.
"But I wonder if it will go as smoothly this ti."
The ten-mber Team Dagger had split into two units to infiltrate one aircraft carrier each, so it was possible. But I would need to take Logan, Rorentina, and… I wondered if Harmony would join too. In any case, infiltrating two aircraft carriers with just four people was practically a suicide mission.
On top of that, there was a sort of ti limit, aning we needed a minimally verified force. If I were to include Dais, that made five… and at least one more person with skills comparable to mine was needed. Otherwise, we would have to fill out the full ten mbers for the operation.
While I was thinking about this, a text suddenly ca in.
[Laurentina: Where did we leave off?]
Did this person not sleep?
It was unbelievable, but I promptly replied with quick and diligent answers.
[Eugene: We finished at Operation Lost Archive. The next mission will probably be Chariot or Bluefield.]
[Laurentina: I just woke up and have no idea what the missions are, so tell briefly.]
[Eugene: Chariot was an operation in hot xico, while Bluefield was about destroying all aircraft carriers. I think we’ll probably do the latter first….]
[Laurentina: Ah, what’s the problem?]
[Eugene: The number of people needed.]
A brief silence.
Then ca another ssage.
[Laurentina: Unless the youngest buys the senior officer a connection device or sothing, hehe.]
[Laurentina: (Emoticon of a shark laughing).]
Of course, I had more than enough resources to do that.
Chuckling, I added to the EnGram.
[Eugene: Logan, when you wake up, please let know your zip code for the senior officer.]
It seed the ti had finally co to involve the senior officer in the ga.
Laurentina laughed in the chat as if she had expected this, and I was no different. After a brief chuckle, Laurentina added a few more words. She ntioned that it seed she would be running around for about a week. After that, she said she would probably have so ti available.
Logan was sound asleep, so there was no response, but that ant I would need to try to align the schedule roughly for at least a week or two. If it didn’t work, I could ask Cirkin, who was currently on a monthly leave. As a subordinate commander, his skills were surely beyond average.
Thus, I roughly wrapped up the mission details as well.
Ding dong!
"Yes, I’m coming."
It was the arrival of the hamburger delivery.
As I opened the door and received the food, a single One Chip that had crossed over from Arica caught my eye on the table.
I realized that I didn’t have much ti left to use this.
It was probably ti to invite Harmony and Dais over for a New Year’s party under the pretext of a gathering. Thinking that, I left a greeting for Laurentina, who was going back to sleep, and then sent ssages to Harmony and Dais.
[Eugene: This weekend, I’m challenging the One Chip Challenge. Let’s collaborate then.]
With that, I sent the ssage to the group chat. I didn’t check for replies.
My long-awaited lunch was about to begin.
"…Finally, it has co…."
Around the sa ti, Harmony, who had woken up, checked her phone and let out a low groan.
But she couldn’t go alone.
She smiled and added.
[Harmony: Can I bring along my close friends? Hehehehe.]
Limit, Kim Stone, and Hodduk.
Pain is always more enjoyable when shared.
After sending that ssage to Yujin, Harmony’s next stop was the Pyeongmangchi Brothers’ group EnGram chatroom.
[Strear 'Harmony' // ON AIR]
[Dark Zone Gar finally returns to New York, yay~]
"Hey, teacher, don’t set the bar so high as a gar. Change the title, please!"
"Thank you, When the steam cos out of my head! Of course, I won’t change the title; I’m still a gar at heart…."
"Really? You?"
Why… had rumors about spread this far…?
I hadn’t even been a Dark Zone newbie for six months yet, and people were making such outrageous claims—though the mont I opened my mouth to refute, Limit, Hodduk, and Kim Stone all nodded. It was much closer to them nodding at the donations rather than my words.
The tens of thousands of viewers in the chat didn’t seem to have any intention of taking my words seriously. The three in front of didn’t seem inclined to do so either.
"Why would I? I still have a long way to go."
"Stop it, Harmony…."
"You’re going to end up missing the strear friendly match happening in early January because of you."
"Ugh."
I had basic awareness. I didn’t completely miss the fact that all this was due to my skills having risen significantly. While I stood unashadly before the viewers, the reality had to be faced.
Of course, I hadn’t anticipated that the result of facing that reality would be a full inbox of club recruitnt offers.
But it was sothing I needed to think about, whether I wanted to outright refuse to beco a pro gar. Life is always unpredictable, and if I continued to maintain my skills, the offers would keep coming in.
Anyway, everyone was aware of that fact. Although I hadn’t stated it outright, various clubs had made their New Year’s operational plans public in January, and among them, the repeated ntions of recruiting talented individuals were noticeable. And I was the first to be directly taught by Yujin, even before Dais.
"So, I just have to work hard to give advice, right?"
"You’re not advising; you’re putting them through harsh training."
"But if I don’t do that, how can we win?"
"Is this Harmony, or is it Yujin’s clone…?"
Ah, right.
Speaking of Yujin, I suddenly rembered the avatar I had received as a gift last ti.
I quickly went into the avatar adjustnt section and equipped "that." As the skirt fluttered up, a green tail began to wriggle. With everyone’s eyes widening in surprise, I proudly announced.
"I have this avatar too!"
"Pfft!"
"With cat ears on my head and a snake tail on my butt, this is the end tis. Truly the end tis."
"Hey! Gross! Put it away quickly!"
"Ugh…."
"Ewwww, LOL!"
"Cat with a snake tail? I actually like it."
"The color coordination is so dizzying, LOL!"
"Why is Dais and Harmony matching their personal colors with the tail colors? LOL!"
"It would have been interesting if you didn’t have cat ears."
Yujin’s tail attached to her butt looked great and beautiful, but why was mine like this?
Anyway, I rembered that Dais had ntioned it during a stream with Yujin at so point, and now I too had made that connection, so maybe the three of us were bonded through our tails—while I pondered such nonsensical thoughts, I speculated that perhaps this avatar might beco a trending accessory for skilled players soday.
While I was excitedly chatting with the Pyeongmangchi crew after a long ti,
"Hey, teacher! You’re being too stingy with the stories about your ti in Arica!!!! I want to hear about the trophy ceremony, but you’re still talking about arriving at JFK Airport!!!!!!"
"Hi…."
Of course, no one could change our teacher’s stubbornness. After observing the chat a little more closely, I saw that she had directly ntioned that “If you wait for about three days, everyone will be able to hear it.”
If that’s the case, what can I do? I’ll just have to wait for three days.
Of course, I said that without a single mistake, and I again received the title of Yujin MK.2. Fortunately, I was now able to accept that as a complint.
Anyway, after the ntion of Yujin, the topic naturally flowed in that direction.
"By the way, about the One Chip Challenge, why did Yujin suddenly get into that?"
"Soone gave it to as a gift while I was in Arica. It would be a waste to throw it away, and she ntioned doing it as a prize at the New Year’s party."
"What’s so special about it that it beca a prize…?"
"I got a replica Icarus wristwatch as a reward for clearing the hardcore mode last ti."
"Huh."
In that instant, the expressions of Limit and Hodduk changed.
Both suddenly started searching for sothing on the internet, and when I peeked at the contents, I saw—
"How to build tolerance to spiciness… oh my."
"How could you endure this!"
"Listen well, Harmony. No one can endure the rewards for hardcore mode."
"Ugh."
It seed quite trivial to , but I wondered what was so great about it.
I opened my mouth in disbelief.
"If I wore the Baxter I got for being first in the partner strear tournant, you’d go crazy."
"…?"
"What is she even talking about? Hahaha!"
"Who’s offering a Porsche for the One Chip Challenge, you crazy person!"
"Seriously, are you not planning to involve viewer participation? I’ll go even with a numbed tongue, LOL!"
"A crazy person above a crazy person is showing up, "
"Wow, suddenly raising the stakes this high, LOL!"
…Did I go too far?
I realized that I had experienced an “I can’t believe I’m looking at this strange person” gaze that I had never seen in my life before.
This was all Yujin’s fault.
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