Fenrir Translations
"Beep!"
"Ugh...!"
"Quick reactions don’t matter if your accuracy is low."
Yujin’s day was getting longer.
Ever since she started streaming, her popularity had been gradually increasing, and then it skyrocketed like a rocket. From small tasks like managing content and YourSpace to bigger responsibilities like the AP tournaments and SSM. Little by little, the weight of these responsibilities began to pile up on her shoulders due to personal choices.
The sound of gunfire still echoed in her ears. She could almost picture the layout of the shooting range with her eyes closed by now. Yujin was still at the shooting range—but the person in front of her wasn’t Harmony. The shimmering golden hair and blue eyes indicated that Yujin was now welcoming her second guest of the day.
Dice.
A few hours ago, the private lesson with Harmony had simply been a favor from Yujin. But this time was different. The title "SSM Temporary Coach" printed on her business card wasn’t just for show. Even though the ink might have dried, the work didn’t lessen.
With the KSM and Asian qualifiers fast approaching, Yujin had to ensure that those she taught performed well. Especially since Dice was one of the 100 selected to advance to the Korea Selection Match alongside her.
Dice’s sharp blue eyes followed the red dot of the sight, locking onto the target beyond it. A series of shots rang out, but far fewer of them hit the head than expected. Shooting while performing tactical maneuvers was notoriously difficult, as everyone knew.
But the sharp-eyed figure standing next to Dice didn’t seem to care. Either she refused to acknowledge the difficulty, or she did but simply thought, "So what?" Either way, it didn’t matter much. In the end, she was simply following the curriculum that Yujin had carefully crafted.
Tactical shooting while moving.
The distance from the enemy ranged randomly from 10 to 40 meters.
Valid hit zones: knees, hips, heart, neck, and head—areas that could cause serious injury or instant death if hit.
The optic mounted on the Picatinny rail was randomized after each shot.
Up to five dud rounds were randomly placed in the magazine.
──Tututung! Click!
"Hah...!"
A malfunction.
Dice instinctively drew her pistol—this time, using iron sights. The random nature of the guns, optics, and settings in Apex Predator mode forced players to master a wide variety of firearms. Though even pro-gamers rarely went to such lengths, it was necessary in this mode.
The reason was simple. Opening a box would produce a fully assembled gun, so even if you found a weapon you weren’t familiar with, you could just grab another box or pick up guns from the ground nearby.
Thus, the AP meta focused on mastering a few main weapons and looting until you found one of them.
The reason for explaining all this? The temporary coach of SSM clearly wasn’t a fan of the current meta.
-[Alert: Shooting session complete.]
-[Alert: Weapon Group // AR - SIG MCX // Shots fired - 31 // Dud rounds - 3 // … // ………]
-[Alert: Score: 73 // Target score: 85]
-[Alert: Click "More" to view details on weapon accessories, accuracy, hit locations, and other information.]
"Ughhh..."
Dice felt like she was dying.
But the training program crafted by that pesky coach was terrifyingly effective. It instantly pinpointed areas of weakness and suggested the fastest way to address them.
After that, it was just a matter of repetition.
When it came to physical skills, that was up to each individual to work on. But every three days, everyone gathered for lectures and practical exercises on tactics and strategy. It was well-known that Yujin had analyzed dozens of players and distributed customized training programs—not just within SSM, but everywhere.
Anyway, with enough hard work, her score crept up by one point at a time, but she was still 12 points away from the target.
Dice slumped into a chair.
"I’m dying."
"That’s how people grow. You’ve improved a bit since Monday. Take a 10-minute break, and then we’ll move on to your main weapon group."
Dice nodded.
Though the coach had expressed some disagreement with focusing on just a few main weapons, she understood the difference between committing to one thing and maximizing its potential. Simply put, the coach was just preparing for every possible “what if” scenario.
As she brought the water bottle to her lips, a wave of refreshing, artificial coolness washed over her. The sweet and tangy taste hit her tongue, instantly waking her up.
What should I say next?
"This Friday, the team is holding a celebration event. Will you come?"
"A celebration?"
"Yeah, since you joined, the team’s average performance has improved. Officially, it’s to boost morale ahead of KSM and KTM—Korea Team Match, which is like the duo and squad versions of KSM. But yeah, that’s the excuse. I’m not going, though."
"I probably won’t either."
And with that, the conversation ended.
Yujin understood. No matter how brief the interaction, you inevitably learned a bit about each other’s circumstances. Just as she wouldn’t attend the event because of her gender exposure issues, the coach likely had her own reasons.
Her imagination wandered a bit, wondering if the coach’s reason was something like a special forces background, but that was just speculation.
Before she could follow that thought, the coach asked another question.
"You didn’t know the team’s performance has improved?"
"Why am I always the last to know?"
"Haha, even I can miss things sometimes."
What a peculiar person.
Instead of focusing on the outcome, she seemed more interested in doing things because she believed they should be done. That’s why she taught not only every pro-gamer but also the trainees at SSM without worrying too much about what results they’d achieve.
But, well, that wasn’t a bad thing. The world’s full of all kinds of people, and if someone doesn’t know something, they just need to be taught.
"Though you didn’t qualify for KSM, SSM players have been doing slightly better in the AP matches. But since you probably wouldn’t know how SSM performed last year, I can send you some comparison data if you’re curious."
"If you send it, I’ll take a look."
"Oh, and did you know AP’s duo and squad qualifiers started on Monday? Surprisingly, the SSM players have been performing quite well. Are you experienced in small squad or platoon-based combat? Higher-ups might start asking soon."
"I’ve been busy helping a student this week..."
Ah.
That small green cat... or rather, the streamer. Everyone knew she’d been sticking close to Yujin. I got curious enough to check out YourSpace myself, and now it’s one of the channels I follow.
Her name was Harmony, right? A streamer with a mint-green cat-human avatar that perfectly matched her playful, mischievous gaze. She always joined Yujin during main missions, so she was quite famous among pro-gamers for her skills.
"Are you two close? Like a student and a friend?"
"Yeah, something like that."
Yujin smiled softly as she added:
"She follows me well, and it’s actually kind of fun."
Vroom!
"Hehe, let’s go! Everyone, fasten your seatbelts!"
"Ahhh! Who thought it was a good idea to let Harmony drive?!"
Of course, Harmony was having the time of her life in Conquest mode.
"I’ll guide you inside, Ms. Harmony."
"Please come in, we’ve prepared a seat for you."
"What would you like to drink or eat?"
"What... what is this!?"
It was the second Thursday of September, 3 PM. The second day of the "Bonk Hammer Brotherhood" collab featuring Harmony had begun. As soon as she logged in, Kimstone, Limit, and Hotteok kicked off their playful roleplay.
Once Harmony’s half-panicked reaction passed, they moved on to the second planned content for the day—Conquest mode, also known as large-scale domination.
Unlike yesterday’s small, specialized operator gameplay, this mode featured full-scale war, with the U.S. military facing off in large battles against enemy nations.
Although skills were still present, players entered the mode as regular infantry, which meant they no longer had access to things like nanomachine barriers. In other words, they couldn’t charge recklessly as they had before.
Since Harmony had already researched the content for Conquest and the upcoming PVE mode after training with Yujin, there was no need for pre-game briefings like yesterday.
So, the stream started, and the four streamers found themselves relaxing at a location on-screen, waiting for the matchmaking to finish.
"Hello, hello, dear viewers. As you know, today is the second day of the Bonk Hammer collab. Yesterday, I explained the general flow of the content, and today will be similar. Viewer participation is welcome, and since the match has 128 participants, there’s a good chance you’ll get in!"
"But if anyone trolls maliciously, they’ll be banned on the spot, just so you know."
As the number of participants increased, and controlling them all became harder, the risk of stream sniping also grew. Of course, they could turn off the viewer IDs, but since the premise of the stream was viewer participation, they couldn’t do that.
At this point, the usually quiet Hotteok finally spoke up.
"I think it’s time we let Harmony be the squad leader..."
"True, we should follow the orders of the better player."
"I’m with Limit on this."
Wait, what?
Public opinion flipped like a switch. Harmony glanced around, but no one disagreed. Just then, a thought flashed through her mind. She needed to steer the conversation before the viewers jumped on the bandwagon.
"So, we should follow the better player's lead, right?"
"Ooh, are we going to see Harmony’s first command as squad leader?"
"In that case, Limit should be the squad leader."
"...Excuse me?"
It was a game of hot potato, with the ball flying in unexpected directions. Limit, suddenly faced with the prospect of being the squad leader, widened his eyes, but by then, Kimstone, Harmony, and Hotteok had already formed a silent alliance.
"Why? Didn’t you just say we should follow the best player?"
"Hey, hey! What are you talking about all of a sudden!?"
"As expected from Harmony. Once you’ve been a squad leader, it shows."
"You damn troublemakers!"
<LevelRune has donated 1,000 KRW!>
"Did you also learn wind-style diversion techniques from Teacher Yujin? LOL."
"That pitch came in smooth!"
"At this rate, you could start your own martial arts school."
"Slipped out of that like a snake..."
"Snake? Are we talking about Yujin now?"
With Limit reluctantly forced into the squad leader role and the viewers finally catching on, absurd squad nicknames like "Princess Squad" began floating around—a princess with three bodyguards.
Before Limit could protest any further, the game matched, and Harmony’s first large-scale battle was about to begin.
The voice briefing changed to a deeper, gruffer tone, indicating that the squad was no longer fighting for Icarus but the U.S. military.
-[Overlord: You are being deployed to a city in Korea with a large central park. Crush enemy resistance and secure strategic objectives. Good luck.]
The game was set to start in 30 seconds, and the squad found themselves seated in an open-topped armored buggy. In Harmony’s mind, an image of an Icarus buggy from Artemis flashed by—there wasn’t much difference in design.
The class system hadn’t changed much either. Limit, now the squad leader, sat in the back. Kimstone readied his grenade launcher, while Hotteok moved to take the wheel—but Harmony had already claimed the driver’s seat.
The white tiger avatar twitched her ears, looking surprised.
"Wait, I was going to drive."
"Support Limit from the passenger seat. I’ll drive."
"Driving? Oh no, we’re going to crash straight into the central pond. You barely passed your driving test!"
"Ha-ha, don’t worry. I drove with Teacher Yujin beside me not too long ago."
"...Really?"
But none of them noticed the strange gleam in Harmony’s eyes.
"No one’s getting out until we crash."
"..."
Her second trigger was driving.
And that, too, was Yujin’s fault.