I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 183 – Before The Day

“…Yes. I’m on site right now. We’ve just finished checking the progress and collecting data. We’re working in four teams on three shifts. Yes, yes. It should be wrapped up within a day or two. There are no issues with the photo zone, fan meeting booth, program information board, and the food and beverage booth connections.”

Yongsan E-Sports Stadium.

In a space filled with clean yet surrealistic interiors, countless workers were busy with the final touches. Amidst them, one particularly striking individual in a well-tailored suit moved around. A drone cam hovered around him like a puppy, and he held a small data plate in his hand, with an employee badge featuring a black phoenix emblem hanging around his neck. It was clear to anyone that he was an Icarus employee there for the final inspection. His constant communication with someone added to that perception.

He had many places to visit today. It was Wednesday, and by now, the Korean second team should be facing a full-on offensive from the Chinese first team. Everyone was busy in their respective positions.

It had been four weeks since twenty national representatives were selected through KSM. Thousands to tens of thousands of people from various fields had worked hard to transform the stadium into a venue worthy of a continental-scale competition under the name of Icarus.

From remodeling the existing interior, replacing internal panels and billboards, and refurbishing public facilities to producing an unimaginable variety of individual products, arranging related facilities, and constructing booths—managing the schedules of national players and inviting foreign representatives was a minor task compared to the scale of hosting the event.

Moreover, these were just the basics—it was because the Yongsan E-Sports Stadium was woefully small to be considered a venue fit for a scale encompassing Korea, Japan, China, Russia, and Taiwan.

I mean, really. Even if we put all our soul into it, the maximum capacity was just 10,000 seats.

‘…Wouldn’t it have been better to rent a place like the World Cup Stadium or Jamsil Olympic Main Stadium?’

However, on the flip side, it was impossible to build such facilities and network lines in a massive venue to maintain the ping and establish a data server that could handle millions of simultaneous connections within just four weeks.

Maybe if we had three times as much time.

Anyway, Icarus solved this in a rather bizarre way—by using holograms again. But now, the scale was different—they plastered hologram plates all over the stadium walls to create the illusion of tens of thousands of spectators.

With many accessing via VR, it wouldn’t be much different.

Of course, there were other cutting-edge technologies included, making it possible to experience the virtual world in reality. But how could one person grasp all the details of that?

In conclusion, Icarus managed to set up the infrastructure within four weeks to allow the hundreds of thousands of people coming and going on Saturday and Sunday to smoothly watch the games.

The combination of money, manpower, and technology made the impossible possible.

“…I wonder how many people are doing the same thing as me today.”

Naturally, the stadium alone couldn’t accommodate all the people expected to gather on the event day, so the surrounding infrastructure had to rely on nearby facilities.

Including myself, probably over fifty employees were roaming around, performing the final checks. It was a grueling task. Still, there was some consolation—confirming how things were actually progressing brought some peace of mind.

Furthermore, this allowed me to make some rough predictions.

‘…Saturday is going to be a complete mess.’

Considering the current progress and the quality of the infrastructure, if everything worked properly, Yongsan would be flooded with people, leaving no room to move.

Given that Dark Zone had only been serviced for five years and E-Sports had been launched for three, the popularity was expected to last for at least ten more years, far from reaching its peak. The Asian preliminaries on Saturday would be a hot topic no matter what.

Maybe this year would see such a crowd that next year’s preliminaries would be held solely in virtual reality. Or, as I thought earlier, they might be held in a place like the World Cup Stadium, which can accommodate over 70,000 people… But next year, it will be held in Russia, so they’ll handle that.

It felt like the number of concerns doubled every year.

───Hiss!

He bought a bottle of drink from a store inside the stadium and sat down, opening the cap. The refreshing sound was followed by a sweet scent.

As he felt the fizz of the soda down his throat, he muttered to himself.

“It’ll work out somehow…”

For now, I should focus on cheering for the Korean team.

That was the best conclusion he could come to.

“Ha.”

Text and more text.

Photos, videos, charts, and graphs were embedded densely, making it look like an elaborate thesis. But it wasn’t a thesis. Instead, it was a play analysis file of foreign countries, written in a tone as professional or even more than a thesis.

If this had to be designed and filled with content manually using a keyboard and computer, it would have taken weeks, but with the thought-text converter and ICARUS Gear, it could be created and modified in real time.

If all functions were operated at maximum and there was enough content to activate those functions, it was possible to produce a page per minute, including creation, correction, and editing.

Of course, that meant I had to do a lot of hard labor.

───Gulp.

“Haa.”

I poured sugars and calories into my mouth. How should I put it? Is this the feeling my channel editors experience daily?

Unlike them, who drink coffee milk or energy drinks with high caffeine content, I comfortably drank a high-calorie shake packed with sugars and calories. I wasn’t a fan of coffee and hadn’t had much even in New York.

Back then, to stay awake, I used caffeine pills, combat stimulants, adrenaline, and norepinephrine. When I was on support for five days without proper sleep, I thought I might die of exhaustion.

It was better now than back then.

Tadadak.

Finishing one section, I moved on to the next. I excluded all the sensitive and classified information that wouldn’t leave my head, but I filled in less important and general information densely.

I was currently analyzing the overall movements of the Chinese Federation. Specifically, I was comparing and contrasting them with the China I remembered, focusing on the differences. Of course, since the People’s Republic of China no longer existed, there was no need to write about that.

In detailed terms, ‘It’s not something to worry about too much at the first-team level if you’re just a bit cautious.’

-[…Overall, the combat style of the Chinese Federation is linear. However, a more significant weakness is the inconsistent individual combat strength of first-team users. To put it simply in terms of ranking, China selected twenty players from those ranked between fourth and thirty-fifth….]

Even while writing, thoughts continued.

This would be distributed to first-team coaches and each team’s coaches, so it naturally didn’t include disparaging remarks about other countries. What I wrote here—though it was borderline disparagement—had its reasons.

First, the establishment of special forces was about thirty years later than in the United States or Europe, leading to a lack of experience. This was also true for China in the original history. Such snowballing had contributed to this point.

Secondly, there was no unified command in special forces, often operating individually. This was also true in the original history, and it was even worse now that the country was divided into seven.

Looking at China’s performance over the past two years gave a rough answer. They were fourth the year before last and third last year. It meant they were essentially on par with Taiwan.

“Next…”

Russia.

Frankly speaking, data on China and Russia had long been automatically imprinted in my mind and body. I had met countless representatives from the former in California and from the latter in New York and Washington.

It was a bit much to say, but I was confident I could identify them in a blind test.

Therefore, the analysis of these countries was swift. Russia was undoubtedly stronger than China. Instead of the traditional Russian characteristics I remembered, their maneuvers now had a significant Western influence. It wasn’t just about stolen curricula from spies.

This might have been because this version of Russia had once completely collapsed and was rebuilt with Western aid. Compared to the original Russia that constantly meddled in Eastern Europe, it had become quite tame.

Thus, writing the section on Russia took longer than expected.

-[…While Russia’s combat style retains the Slavic wildness, the method of expression is unclear. This is presumed to be due to continuous exchange and development with the Western world. Therefore, we must pay particular attention to close-quarter combat with them….]

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, my concentration was remarkable. Or rather, it had become remarkable. The US military’s course training, which transformed people into human weapons through all sorts of methods, included such a concentration enhancement program.

It was about acting with complete focus on the objective, using a sort of semi-hypnotic state. Here, the task was writing a distribution curriculum, and I centered my thoughts on it, continuing the same action without noticing the passage of time.

Next was Japan.

The country most influenced by the US. After WWII ended and the emperor system was dismantled, Japan was reborn as a republic with aid from the world’s wealthiest country, imbued with American influence in many areas, especially special forces.

Evidence of this was that Japan’s representative SOF, the Special Operations Group, was originally modeled after Delta. The continuous tactical exchanges up to the present were not just hearsay. The Japanese first team I saw on Thursday certainly aligned with that notion. If we faced them now, it would be a fierce battle. Perhaps we’d be slightly at a disadvantage.

Of course, this was from the perspective of adjusting the curriculum. Personally, there wasn’t much of an issue.

Anyway, lost in thought about how to conclude, I glanced at the current time.

The LED clock showed it was 11 PM.

“Three hours…”

After ending today’s broadcast early and having dinner, I had sat at the desk to focus, and three hours had flown by in an instant. Moreover, there was another hint that a lot of time had passed without needing to check the clock.

-[Notification: You have 7 missed calls and 22 unread messages from Dice.]

…Why did she call so many times?

I should have set up an automatic response for when I’m busy, but that was my oversight. I decided to finish the almost-completed file after handling this call – though I wondered what was so urgent.

I pressed the call button. Given how she had been waiting, the beep sounded only twice. Then a high-pitched voice followed.

“Why did you take so long to answer!?”

“Anyone would think I had been MIA for two days.”

“Well, actually, there’s no special reason. With the Asian preliminaries starting tomorrow, I just wanted to chat one last time. It’s nothing urgent, so if you’re busy, we can talk later.”

“For something not urgent, you tried contacting me almost thirty times.”

“Ugh.”

Anyway, I had plenty of time.

There didn’t seem to be a major issue, so I decided to continue the call.

“…Anyway, Yoo Jin, what do you think? Can Korea beat Japan and take first place this time?”

“Everyone will do their best. I think second place is certain. No matter what, we’ll have four players advancing to the finals. Ideally, it could be five.”

“But you’re not going to give up your spot in the finals, right? Neither will I. So, at most, it’ll be three people.”

“Bold of you.”

What should I say? It seemed I had instilled not just skills but also a rather unnecessary high pride.

We continued talking.

“Speaking of which, who else do you think will advance, Yoo Jin?”

“Well, Michael would have made it comfortably with another month. Those who went to the US with Dice last year are better off. The combination of curriculum and experience tends to yield significant results.”

“Oh, those guys. How about Gambit? He’s been in good form lately.”

“It depends on his performance tomorrow. Honestly, there’s no set answer on who will advance. It all comes down to how many unfavorable situations they encounter and how well they overcome them.”

“Right. I was just asking.”

Next came the second topic.

It wasn’t a difficult subject for Dice and me to discuss, but it was sensitive from an outsider’s perspective.

It was about our anonymity.

“Yoo Jin, you said you’d reveal your identity in mid-December, so you’ll use an avatar for the player introduction this time. Same here.”

“Right. It’s quite disappointing. It seems like it would be fun with all the people and excitement, but there are too many practical constraints. What about you, Dice?”

“I’ll just stay inside the stadium. The hologram projectors aren’t set up outside.”

“Hmm.”

I smiled lightly and sent a link. By now, it would have popped up in front of Dice’s eyes.

And, as expected, she reacted.

“…A mobile hologram projector? Portable? Wait, why do you have this!? Did you buy it!?”

“Harmony said she’d lend it to me for two days. I’ll get some fresh air during breaks. Let me know if you need it.”

“Damn it…”

Anyway, it would be practically useless in three months… or at least significantly less useful. So, a few hours ago, I had gently stopped Harmony from impulsively buying it when she asked, “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could walk around together with this?” Even if it’s for a day or two, spending tens to nearly a hundred thousand won just for that seemed a bit much.

Although Dice grumbled a lot, there wasn’t much I could do. I subtly suggested she meet Harmony tomorrow.

How much time had passed like that? A brief silence ensued.

Dice spoke first.

“Tomorrow’s the day. A few months ago, I wondered if I’d ever be back here. Life is unpredictable.”

“That’s how the world works.”

In both good and bad ways. Just look at my life.

But for now, let’s remember it in a good way.

There were many things to say, both important and trivial, but ultimately, I stood here nearly 50 days after returning. Although I could go to the US immediately, that was too results-oriented. One can’t live like that all the time.

I had come a long way, but it was worth it.

“Do well tomorrow. I need to finish the analysis file. I’ll send it within 30 minutes at most, so review it before sleeping.”

“Ugh, looks like I won’t be sleeping tonight.”

With that joke as the finale, the long yet short call ended.

Darkness and silence settled in, but the night before the Asian preliminaries was still long.