──Clink!

Brrrrrrrrr!

The sound that echoed through the New York skyline was more akin to a chainsaw than gunfire. The six spinning barrels of the minigun unleashed a fiery barrage, and hundreds of supersonic bullets scattered death in all directions, their terrifying green laser dazzler ominously sweeping across the ground.

Yujin gritted his teeth. Although the recoil would normally make such a weapon impossible for even the most robust of men to wield, his superhuman physical abilities allowed him to keep both the minigun’s recoil and accuracy in check, unleashing a lethal spray of bullets on the five enemies approaching from the northern quadrant.

As he held down the trigger, the ammo count dwindled faster than the eye could follow. The others looked on, stunned.

“Is he… a Terminator or something?”

-??????????????????????????????????????
-“Where are this man’s limits? Where are this man’s limits?”
-“He's not even human! How can you measure his limits?”
-“I bet the Balkan Squad is freaking out right now.”
-“Yo, is this guy a space marine?”

With VR’s widespread popularity, all sorts of outrageous plays that were impossible in real life became commonplace, and wielding a minigun solo was one of those stunts that strength-boosted players tried once in a while. But seeing it in action, particularly in a mode like Domination, was a sight no one expected, and the hundreds of thousands of viewers were collectively stunned.

On top of that, the viewers on Yujin’s stream had the perfect first-person perspective, a clear view of his rampage. Clipped recordings of his crazy antics quickly flooded the chat with intense reactions.

“Pfft—!”

Naturally, the one who took the brunt of this spectacle was his editor, watching in real-time with a dumbfounded grin. Just a few seconds ago, they’d been calmly watching from behind the scenes, but Yujin’s sudden escalation had thrown them for a loop. They all knew that, given his real-life capabilities, he was indeed capable of such feats.

The VR-to-real-world broadcast delay correction, which they had set to three times the speed to keep up with the stream, caused a storm of reactions among the editor and thumbnail artist as they tried to process what they were seeing. The thumbnail artist could already envision how to portray this spectacle.

“...You know, he really is a natural entertainer.”

Though Yujin would likely deny it, sometimes highly rational behavior looked downright bizarre from the outside. And it was the editor’s job to polish that spectacle, make it even more engaging and thrilling for the audience.

The editor was already bookmarking moments for the highlight reel.

Meanwhile...

‘...I only intended to help a little. But one thing led to another, and… here we are.’

Brrrrrr.

As the muzzle flames danced around him, Yujin let out a silent sigh. It was a situation of his own making.

“Wow, we won!”

“Well, not exactly. And I think you know why.”

“Yes…”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t a proper win.

In the end, DICE and I did manage to take back Sector B, but the situation in that area wasn’t great. We had around five allies left, but the enemies had chosen to delay us tactically, so even though we had almost full control of B, we would’ve lost it soon enough.

The enemies were smart, and our team was weak. Harmony probably realized that the more skilled the enemy, the less likely it is that half-baked tactics will work. The answer is always to improve individual skill, judgment, and tactics, which Harmony had started to grasp.

It wasn’t just about being weak; it was about being unable to kill quickly enough. In Domination mode, you respawn near the sectors you control, so charging headlong into B was a poor strategy.

“...So, I hope you learned something from this experience.”

“Yes. I feel like my eyes have been opened. I guess you really have to put aside personal pride in a fight…”

“Exactly.”

Nodding, I added, “Before you execute a plan, make sure you can distinguish between rational goals and personal pride. Our minds are rarely as rational as we’d like them to be.”

In this case, a real win would’ve meant distributing six people each to A and C and trapping the enemies at B. But in reality, that would’ve left each player feeling like a coward. The urge to charge in at least once, however unfounded, often seems irresistible.

After a few minutes, we’d reached our conclusion. Harmony was doing fine as a squad leader, with only a lack of experience holding her back. Her team members, however, had a long way to go.

It was best not to air these opinions on stream, so I switched to mute and asked Dice to guide the three of them over to the shooting range for individual practice.

I then started a private chat with Harmony, given that some of this was best discussed off-camera.

“Based on what I’ve seen, Min-a should focus on basic squad tactics for now. Training with high-tier players is good for experience, but if the team is weak, learning efficiency drops.”

“Oh… Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

“The priority is for her to learn how to operate a squad. I’ll handle the other three personally and drill the role of a squad member into them.”

“Wow!”

She looked delighted but then seemed hesitant. Maybe she was pitying the three who’d be under my wing soon.

When I caught her gaze, she quickly looked away.

“Well, all you can do is wish them luck.”

“I trust you, Yujin!”

“Save it.”

I flicked her forehead lightly and checked the time.

After a grueling six-hour Domination session, we were all spent. It was almost 8 PM in real life. I doubted we’d gather any more useful data from this game session, and Harmony looked exhausted. She’d been keeping up with an intense curriculum, so her stamina was impressive. Or maybe it was her willpower. Either way, I considered how to train her next.

With about ten days left until the streamer tournament, I had a bit of leeway. Harmony’s team would likely have three days to train individually, meaning they wouldn’t need to regroup until Monday. For Harmony…

“Until next Monday, try to hone your squad leadership skills. Whether through custom matches or ranked games, it doesn’t matter. Just keep playing as squad leader. I’ll support you over voice chat.”

“Right… now that I think about it, I haven’t played ranked since our last collaboration. Maybe I’ll do a couple of rounds off-stream.”

“That’s up to you.”

So the plan was set for Harmony’s team to hold off on our reunion until they were ready to handle the curriculum. As much as the 100,000 viewers would hate it, skill doesn’t improve overnight. For now, it was time to part ways.

Before signing off, Harmony announced she’d be stopping by my place soon with a cake to celebrate her winning the Asia preliminaries.

“We don’t have any set plans for future content, do we?” I said to the viewers.

Predictably, the chat exploded.

“But it would be a shame to end the stream here, so let’s talk a bit about the behind-the-scenes of the Asia preliminaries with Dice.”

The response was immediate.

-“Aaaahhhhhh! Unexpected treat!”
-“I’m ordering snacks. This is too good to miss!”
-“Ayyyy! Looks like I’m pulling an all-nighter tonight!”
-“Love this channel! The content is so rich!”

And Dice seemed more than willing to stick around.

As always, the crowd was easy to read.

“Ow, stop hitting my butt.”

“Who drags you into shooting games the moment you walk in the door?”

“Alright, alright.”

Smack! And then a dodge.

We were lying down, Dice stretching out with me, our hair slightly ruffled from the intense session. It was almost nine in the evening, and as she stretched, Dice spoke up.

“I’m hungry. Can we eat? I skipped dinner to eat here with you.”

“Oh, sure. What do you want to eat?”

“Pizza!”

“Pizza it is, then. Any particular toppings?”

She nodded enthusiastically, and before I knew it, I was ordering nearly $100 worth of pizzas and sides, set to arrive within 40 minutes.

It was going to be a nice little feast. As Dice wandered around my apartment, she made a casual comment.

“What do you think of my place?” I asked.

“It's just so… you. Very practical.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’m regretting asking.”

Maybe I’d have to visit Dice’s place next time. I thought I was living decently, but now I was curious about how others managed their living spaces.

Dice flopped down onto the couch and looked at me with an innocent expression.

“Is it true? Are you really burned out?”

“Huh? Oh, right. That’s actually why I came over here.”

“Then get it together, would you?”

“Only if you let me pet your tail.”

I sighed but slid over to let her snuggle against my tail. We started talking, and after a while, I realized that Dice wasn’t really experiencing burnout; it was more of a temporary lethargy. A few days of forced restlessness had likely driven her here, needing to be active to shake off the feeling of uselessness.

Once we confirmed that it wasn’t anything severe, the conversation turned lighthearted again, touching on future training plans. We kept chatting while waiting for the pizza delivery.

“Oh, I almost forgot!”

“What?”

“I brought something for you!”

She dashed over to the kitchen and retrieved something from under the table with a proud grin.

“Ta-da!”

She held up a bottle of wine. I groaned.

“You know, I didn’t expect pizza, but wine and cheesy bread sound like a perfect combo.”

I shook my head, watching her proudly present the bottle. It was at that moment that I regretted telling the interviewers I didn’t drink.