I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 59 – Shooting Star

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Even without including the Dark Zone, the category of a broadcaster had become so broad that it was hard to encapsulate it with just one word.

With the advancement of the internet, people could access various content at any time with just their phones, leading to countless attempts to turn these people into viewers or subscribers.

There were cases where individuals gained fame simply as general game streamers, but the content that broadcasters could make their specialty truly existed in every direction.

Philosophy. Movie reviews. Game play. Cooking. Law. Advanced information needed to navigate society… The options had grown so vast that it was impossible to choose all of them, leading to the emergence of customized search and recommendation engines—algorithms.

Back to the point.

While the content and videos available on Yourspace weren’t the only ones, similarly countless channel operators and broadcasters each had vastly different tendencies.

However, while it was difficult to generalize, if there was a common goal among most of them, it was ultimately money and fame.

To make a living.

Because they had something they wanted to do.

There were numerous other reasons, but these ultimately converged into a few goals that could be counted on one’s fingers, creating a certain flow in their direction.

However, flipping this thinking slightly, the word “most” meant that there were also people who didn’t fall into this category.

For simple self-satisfaction.

To archive their past traces.

Even though their reasons were infinitely smaller in proportion compared to the former, there were still those who had their own reasons in this realm.

And moving further from this point, there were cases that were hard to understand with the logic circuits of people who had once been viewers.

One such case was streamers who did streaming but did not operate a Yourspace channel.

As always, the reasons for each of these cases were too many to count, but regardless of the reason, fans of these streamers often found themselves in a troublesome situation.

To rewatch the enjoyable parts of a live stream, they had to go through the full video, and couldn’t even expect cleverly edited clips easily found on other Yourspace channels.

If it wasn’t because they couldn’t afford to hire an editor, fans would be beyond frustrated.

And here was one such case.

[General] Yoo Jin, please create a channel for rewatching videos!!!!!!!!

I’m tired of going into tricky sites to find replays.

Please open a Yourspace channel!!!!!!!!!!!!

[All Comments] [Sorted by Date]

– Nah, not gonna happen~ If you’re mad, you edit them yourself~

– She does streaming as a hobby, why expect so much? Hahahahahahaha

ㄴ Is it a she or he?

ㄴ She is more appealing, so I believe she’s a woman.

ㄴ Oh, you idiots, hahahahahahahaha

– If you search for Dark Zone Yoo Jin on YS, some clips come up, isn’t that enough?

ㄴ [Original Poster] If that’s enough for you, are you even human?

ㄴ True, hahaha

– What’s frustrating is that this guy doesn’t even consider hiring an editor, hahahahaha

ㄴ So true.

– There should be a law against rich, leisurely people from becoming streamers, dammit.

ㄴ Just force them to link with Yourspace, what’s so crazy about that? Hahaha

ㄴ These are the guys who burn the entire house because of a bedbug, haha.

Like a shooting star.

It appeared so suddenly, captivating those who saw it with just the fragments of light scattering across the sky—but never giving people the results they desired.

So the remaining people, like those chasing a rainbow, blindly followed the traces of Yoo Jin.

The hypothesis that she might be a Manifestor, based on a brief 30-minute Q&A and short communication broadcast during a live stream, and the somewhat feminine name Yoo Jin, which seemed derived from her own name.

Other than that, if there were things to note, it was the incredible physical abilities and athletic skills observable in a video edited with an avatar during an explanation broadcast about hacking.

This was why the hypothesis that she was a Manifestor, partially officially recognized, gained strength.

The level of scrutiny and criticism that poured in from all sides, worried about infringing the strict laws regarding Manifestors, had decreased a bit—and even started to diminish.

As always, curiosity only grows stronger the more it’s suppressed.

And precisely because of this, those who were curious about Yoo Jin hoped she would achieve excellent results in the Asian preliminaries.

Specifically, they hoped that if she advanced to the finals, she would have to actually move to the U.S. to avoid network delays, which might reveal some of her personal information.

Meanwhile,

“…No way, this person….”

Han Jin-hyuk.

A former shooting athlete, who still worked as a shooting range supervisor and instructor in Seoul.

And in other words, one of the very few people who had a guess about Yoo Jin’s identity.

Living life inevitably required going outside, and those who had seen Yoo Jin in person naturally existed in the world.

However, of those who had seen Yoo Jin and even talked to friends about seeing a Manifestor, how many would be playing the Dark Zone?

Han Jin-hyuk was one of the rare, almost unique, intersections of these groups.

It was impossible not to know.

She had fired dozens of shots at the shooting range not long ago, and most of the bullets hit the 10-point mark.

Even just that was enough to be deeply engraved in one’s mind, and more so… her sleek and plump snake tail, unforgettable once seen.

She, who looked like an anaconda, must have been one of the most impressive experiences of his life.

But Yoo Jin…

“…This is a big deal.”

Of course, it might not be the case, but with a slight chance, Han Jin-hyuk might be almost the only person who knew the identity of the streamer Yoo Jin.

Naturally, he had no reason to spread this everywhere, nor could he.

Just spreading a little about a Manifestor’s identity would create discriminatory precedents, leading to immense legal penalties, and the government would likely directly manage her identity at that level.

In short, it meant that if she requested it from the state, all news, articles, and internet posts related to her could be erased.

He tossed and turned in bed before sitting up abruptly.

It felt as if he were wide awake.

Though it was nearly midnight… finding related information didn’t take long. There was already a freshly created entry for her on Tree Wiki.

The photo was replaced with an avatar picture, and the only personal information listed was the 171cm height that Yoo Jin herself had mentioned.

Seeing that avatar, Han Jin-hyuk burst into laughter in disbelief.

“Seriously, how did she put herself exactly into the avatar?”

Later on.

If her actual appearance were ever revealed… how surprised would those who were curious about Yoo Jin’s identity be, besides her many viewers?

At that moment, Yoo Jin’s physical ability verification video visible below the scroll was also absurd. It said the avatar was overlaid with her real movements; what irony was this?

It was an amusing kind of deception.

If revealed, it would be nothing short of a grand deception.

‘Anyway, the most screwed is someone like me…’

It was like walking down the street, picking up a document that had fallen on the ground, only to find the location of a hidden nuclear bomb written on it.

How many weeks or months would it take until he could at least talk about this story to others?

The fable of the king’s donkey ears suddenly flashed through his mind. At least the barber could confess in a cave; in today’s era… who knows. Should he bury his face in a pillow and scream?

With the night, his concerns deepened.

“Nice to meet you. Finally, we meet like this. Have you checked the scrim notice posted on the Xi private channel? Since briefing and debriefing are important…”

“Yes. There shouldn’t be any issues.”

Briefing and debriefing were part of my everyday life.

After each operation, reinforcing what went well and fixing any shortcomings or mistakes was a must on the same day. Overlooked parts could later become a well-honed blade that might cut into my neck.

A spacious auditorium-like space utilizing virtual reality. It was already teeming with dozens of people. Considering the scrim was about to start, there were still more people to come.

What to say, it felt like attending a university lecture.

“…Hello. I enjoy watching your streams…!”

“Oh, thank you.”

As soon as I sat in a nearby seat, those around greeted me.

Although I wasn’t much different from a few weeks ago, I had somehow become famous enough for others to recognize me.

The time to realize my change was too short and even felt non-existent. Only the results seemed to remain.

…Well, it was always like that. By now, it felt rather usual.

Considering I joined the tournament in the late stages, the Tier 2 competition I participated in did show more purposeful movement compared to earlier matches.

Of course, there was just the purpose. It didn’t mean they were good.

Considering that… I was curious about the contents of the scrim.

Meanwhile, other participants started to come in one by one.

There were nametags of the same color as the enforcer of Xi IMPRESSIVE who guided me, and also ones from TK1, SSM… to put it together, it seemed they belonged to specific teams.

In short, they were pro gamers of Dark Zone – Apex Predator.

…Given that, there were quite a few female avatars.

“Nice to meet you. Thank you for joining today’s scrim. For those who are new or have little experience in scrims, I will explain a few guidelines.

This scrim corresponds to the first match of part one, and a maximum of four parts will be held per day.

Part one is conducted without any tactics except for the debriefing, part two has a full tactical lecture. Part three is practice play with applied tactics and feedback, and part four is play with all applied.”

Having up to part four, that’s quite a lot.

I had checked today’s schedule and there shouldn’t be any major issues. The current time was around 10 a.m. in reality, and considering time acceleration, even twelve hours would only reach about 2 p.m.

The forced march would only be in the game.

“If you have any questions, we will take them during the debriefing. Let’s start the first game for practice. Is everyone ready?”

“Yes!”

“Yes!”

Amidst the mixed cheers, a participation message popped up signaling the preparation for the first scrim match.

Pressing the lightly glowing transparent ice-like message turned it green, indicating readiness.

It had begun.

“Alright, then. Let’s meet at the first debriefing!”

Thus.

With quite an impromptu and rapid-fire pace, my first scrim began.

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