“Last time, when Yujin went on a business trip to Washington, she asked Monimoni if she wanted to try out as an SSM trainee, and now it seems she’s really preparing an offer.”

“…Monimoni?”

“That’s a nickname I gave her. Cute, right?”

Snicker.

Yujin smiled and lightly tapped Dice on the head with her tail.

After the Final Championship, the partner streamer tournament followed. Unlike Mikael, Gambit, and Ink, who had returned early, Yujin and Dice entered the lounge where the players were staying after their matches, waiting for Harmony while also watching the games.

Feeling an odd sensation above her head, Dice raised her hand to grab the tail, but it was impossible for an ordinary person’s fragile body to handle the sturdy tail of a player. The moment Yujin put a little strength into it, Dice began to be dragged along with her chair.

In response, Dice slapped it, and only then did Yujin stop her playful antics, a smile still on her lips.

During this, Yujin continued her line of questioning.

“Minah is a pro gamer now. I can’t imagine it. The person who used to drop magazines on the floor even with action corrections…”

“Who hasn’t been there? I was similar when I started too. You probably did well from the beginning, so saying anything would just be a waste of breath.”

Dice subtly placed her tail on her lap, playfully fidgeting with it as she desperately tried to change the topic. It was a transparent ploy, but Yujin simply chuckled again, allowing Dice to play with her tail, and the topic returned to the original focus without major issues.

The main agenda, of course, was about Harmony’s skills. Yujin was curious about the conversations Dice and Minah had while she was away. While she was interested only in teaching, she didn’t really know the extent of Minah’s skills.

Dice added with a smile.

“Objectively speaking, it’s not that outstanding. If she were to circulate documents as an offline trainee, she’d pass without issue. But because of her gender, they’d undoubtedly pass her and pour in all sorts of support from every team…”

“...You didn’t need to say that, but hearing you say it makes it seem like you’ve had a similar experience.”

“Of course. Even though Dark Zone has opened up the path to pro-gamer status regardless of gender, it still feels somewhat barren for women here…”

Though the conversation momentarily veered off in another direction, Dice smoothly continued.

“Anyway, to get back to the point, based solely on the objective indicators so far, that’s what I’m saying. Minah was originally a streamer, so she probably hasn’t prepared any portfolio or anything. Her external activities really only go as far as the Domination Mode TIER 1.”

“What about in reality?”

“To someone who wins about 3 out of 10 times against me when we face off directly, would it even make sense to stick a trainee label on her…?”

Yujin pondered this, wondering if that wasn’t a small number, but Dice chuckled and added,

“If there’s a trainee who can win around 30% after fighting against the first team about ten times, they’d likely be at least at the top level of the second team and have a high chance of immediately belonging to the first team.”

“Ahh.”

“...But, you wouldn’t be interested in that, considering you’ve been called the nightmare of pro gamers since the qualifiers.”

Once again, was this how things would unfold?

Yujin gave a wry smile and added that she might as well just play with her tail, making Dice turn into a squishy mess in an instant.

However, curiosity doesn’t extinguish that easily, especially when it comes to a domain that one may not know but finds intriguing; the questions stubbornly burned on, spreading like wildfire. Yujin signaled with her eyes for her to keep discussing related topics, and Dice opened her mouth, as she expected.

“So if I were to make a specific evaluation… If she had gone to the Asian qualifiers, she would probably barely make it through to elimination based on her skills. Unless you filled in her slightly lacking parts.”

“Since it’s not her main profession, there’s no reason for that.”

“True.”

In short, if it were her main profession, it meant she could manage to get on a flight to New York, even if it was tight.

While Dice organized her thoughts for a moment, she burst into a ridiculous laugh.

“There are countless users who are too lacking in skills to even get to the Asian qualifiers, even if they want to.”

“Let’s leave that part to others. I think you’ve already done enough to train the next generation.”

“…I suppose Yujin will definitely miss the entry next year, so they’ll try to recruit Harmony no matter what happens. To nurture the next generation that can achieve feats comparable to this year with just four people…”

“I might have set the bar too high. But at least there won’t be Logan next year, so you can rest easy.”

“That’s reassuring to hear.”

Rather, without Logan and Yujin, there might even be remarks about it being boring.

The impulse to smack this damn snake coursed down Dice’s spine, but even if she did, it wouldn’t inflict any damage on Yujin. Plus, there were matches scheduled for tomorrow and the day after… she didn’t want to see her suffer too much in the games.

Of course, there was always room to add words.

“Yujin, even if I hit you, it wouldn’t hurt, so can I hit you just once?”

“Let that slide. It hurts my heart. Even if you’re active as a streamer, I’ll help you as far as I can reach.”

“That’s a narrow pass. You can’t set people’s expectations this high and then retire leisurely.”

Indeed, the pen is mightier than the sword.

It didn’t take long for Dice, who poured truckloads of sarcastic jokes at Yujin, to refocus on the screen.

The game was heading toward its finale. And Harmony had entered the final safe zone with a staggering kill count of 8. From this point on, it was essentially the real beginning, but neither of the two watching in the room thought for a second that Harmony would be eliminated.

Naturally, Dice and Yujin’s conversation also half-heartedly treated Harmony’s victory as a foregone conclusion.

“It’ll be ending soon. If what you told me is true, it seems to be placed in the same context as the Final Championship…”

“One match on Wednesday, one on Thursday, and the last match on Friday. The only difference is the number of matches.”

“The return time to the accommodation will be delayed by about an hour.”

“Of course.”

They both chuckled softly, but Dice spoke up first.

“I’m serious about being able to take Harmony away if it comes to that, so please do your best until then.”

“Of course.”

The match was nearing its end.

It was the moment when the Final Championship was entering its mid-to-late phase.

Meanwhile,

“Is this all the area where pulse technology can be applied?”

“To be precise, this is the area where a downgraded version of the current technology is applied. With this level of versatility, it could easily break into markets that haven’t felt the need to use such technologies until now.”

Surrounding detection technology for autonomous vehicles, inspection technology for all kinds of exports and imports, and so on…

The executives of the think tank there were well aware of how the technologies developed for war changed and influenced society.

6 days.

It was a remarkably short time for something to change, but if there were a clear vision, drive, and world-class experts to handle it, the story would be different.

And there were hundreds of individuals who could rise to the top in any area they were placed, armed only with their knowledge, experience, and skills. They tirelessly mobilized all the connections and skills they had built up, even losing sleep.

The executives in charge of management secured funding for company activities through venture capital they already had some connections with beforehand. The engineering division downgraded and modified the technology Yujin had given them, running simulations to obtain results and create a portfolio from that.

The hastily put together portfolio and presentation made in just over three days was shown to the venture capitalists who entered the briefing room of the think tank while Yujin was busy roaming through a virtual map, and they looked at the screen with skepticism.

And—

“Wow, what the hell….”

“Good heavens.”

“Is this really possible?”

Unrestrained praises poured out.

It was an expected result. While they might not be as good as the engineers of the think tank, the three venture capitalists visiting the company were also seasoned professionals in that area.

Thus, they could tell—the company was fundamentally different from those that tried to adorn their unfounded fantasies with all sorts of plausible nonsense and flashy briefing files.

The theoretical robustness that left no room for criticism was secondary; the solid numbers derived from meticulously repeated calculations and the many video materials that seemed to back it up—of course, those came from Yujin’s Icarus gear.

So they briefly fell silent and then cautiously asked.

“Please tell me that what we’re facing isn’t the technology of a defense contractor whose confidentiality period has expired?”

“Haha.”

Only a brief chuckle returned, but those who were already in the room had shared a deep connection with the think tank executives beforehand—these executives were seated in their positions through recommendations from none other than the Secretary of Defense and other high-ranking officials.

In other words, even if the examiners said that, there was no real reason for them to dig into the source of the technology, nor could they. It was essentially a game of go-stop half-set-up, but the one thing that differed was that the think tank had cards beyond imagination.

At that point, the three representatives of the examiners, who had come to make light guesses about the investment amount just by looking at the portfolio, began to turn their brains wildly.

Having sifted through the wheat from the chaff of companies for over a decade, they immediately intuited the fact that they could not miss this clear opportunity.

“Then, I’ll step out of the briefing room for a moment. Feel free to discuss without worry, as there are no listening devices or recorders here.”

Normally, someone would crack a joke about how to believe that, but in their situation, such a mindset had evaporated.

The conversation ended much faster than the engineers and executives had anticipated. The fact that three people responsible for the VC's operations had come was enough to signal the end, but what those who visited confirmed was beyond that.

They would probably fill Manhattan with venture capitalists and investors looking to line up with the think tank within a year.

“...What should we do?”

“The management here will anyway leave it to a trustworthy facility. Given that the software and hardware are already robustly established, the important question will be less about ‘which facility will excellently implement this technology?’ and more about ‘which place has heavier lips?’”

“That makes sense. There’s a slight concern about the operational method of the company and the form of equity ownership, but the guarantor is still a guarantor.”

Janet Harper.

The Iron Lady.

Although her term was nearly up, she was still the U.S. Secretary of Defense, with countless connections and pipelines. Countless reliable associates and partners had built up the unlisted company known as the think tank.

The owner and technology provider of the think tank, who only had the code name E, seemed unbelievable, but if numerous people guaranteed the individual’s certainty and future based on the technology confirmed with their own eyes, there was no reason not to walk.

Someone added with a small laugh.

“Just a day or two after finishing up the annual performance and distributing incentives, and it looks like there will be large investments showing up on the financial statements starting from the New Year…”

“I believe we’ll be able to recover all the investment costs by this time next year at the earliest or by the same time next year at the latest.”

“Or it might be even sooner than that. So how much should we make the first investment?”

“Let’s start with around 30 million. We’ll continue to increase it as we gauge how the branches extend. That should definitely open up breathing room.”

Of course, the unit was in dollars.

After that, discussions about bundles of cash continued, and their conversation flowed without hindrance.

The possibility of failure did not exist in their minds. Instead, the problem was the need for manpower to handle the contracts that would come pouring in like a tidal wave and the expansion of facilities to prepare for it.

Essentially, what they had to do was provide appropriate advice on how to scale the company weekly or monthly as they visited the think tank. One of them imagined a dollar-lit future and repeatedly drank from the beverages placed in the briefing room.

After that, it was simple.

“Here’s to a good collaboration.”

“Of course.”

A solid handshake followed between several executives and the representatives of the examiners.

Leaving behind those who walked out of the building with the lightest of steps, someone sent a text somewhere with a small smile on their face.

And—

• [--- : Sufficient initial investment secured from VC. Activating the think tank.]

 

“What are you doing, Yujin?”

“Oh, I was just checking a text for a moment.”

Something…something is starting…

At some point, Yujin thought that she should go see exactly what was happening at the think tank.