NoveLight ™
"Ugh…."
12 PM.
I had slept deeply. I could have slept more, but my stomach was crying out for food. Anyway, this body sends immediate feedback when I don’t eat, which is quite annoying. After downing a glass of high-calorie shake I had prepared before bed, I felt somewhat alive—it was based on a Chicago cake shake.
To maintain my basal metabolic rate, I had to drink something like this three times a day. Of course, it wasn’t about my active metabolic rate; it was strictly my basal metabolic rate. It was quite the mess. The local bakery would have prepared a chocolate cake for me just by my entering. Just a few months ago, I was still hearing, “Student, if you eat like that, it’ll be a disaster….”
Now, they prepare it without a word.
"What should I eat for lunch?"
Since I had been away from home for three weeks, there was nothing edible in the fridge. Food doesn’t spoil in three weeks, but I purposely didn’t stock up on anything, just in case. In short, there was nothing to eat at home.
Let’s order something for the main meal. I should do some grocery shopping later.
I ordered about two hamburgers and flopped onto the sofa. There were quite a few things I needed to do.
"Let’s see."
First, I needed to check my accumulated emails. It wasn’t just about new messages; I also had to review the important emails that had been moved to a separate folder and had gone unread. Things like sponsorships, collaboration requests, or guest invitations. Of course, they were all decent offers, as the emails had already been filtered through a law firm.
Among them were also a couple of game advertisements. One was for a mobile game that didn’t look appealing at all, so it went straight to the trash. The second one was for a fantasy game that, while not as popular as Dark Zone, had a considerable fan base… should I call it that? Anyway, it was a game where users fought while wielding melee weapons.
Unlike other streamers, I wasn’t a partner streamer or a Dark Zone ambassador, so it seemed they reached out via email. Of course, I felt a bit hesitant to jump right in, but I planned to give it a try either solo or during a stream later.
Besides that, there were quite a few requests for collaborations and guest appearances, and many were from food channels. I had received food sponsorships in the past, and perhaps that was why they were reaching out now. There was even a list of foods that could be prepared.
I thought that might be alright. Since I couldn’t accommodate everyone’s requests, I decided to hold off for a moment. The most important things at this point were coordinating the One Chip Challenge collaboration with Harmony and Dais and scheduling with Rorentina and Logan.
If I couldn’t reach a decent agreement, it might be difficult to include guests. Of course, the other side might also be engaged in different content by then, so I wouldn’t expect too much.
Ding!
Well, since I thought of it, should I contact them?
The Icarus Gear quietly activated. A hologram floated in the air, and the message was automatically typed. I created a new room for just Logan and Rorentina and sent a silent message asking when they thought they’d be available. Naturally, there was no immediate response. It was currently 1 AM in America, a time when most people were sleeping.
If that was the case, I would just lighten their load for later.
"What was the last mission I did before departing…?"
Operation Northsphere, Black Division, Caduceus, and Apollyon had all been completed, so the last one must have been the Lost Archive operation.
Thinking about it, the naming sense for missions in America was quite random. Just from hearing them, one couldn’t guess the contents at all. It seemed more like the beginning of a paragraph or theme one might find when opening a random fantasy novel rather than a mission name.
Anyway, it was unclear what mission would come next. But given the passage of time, it seemed likely to be either Operation Chariot or Bluefield. The former was a cleanup operation on the Mexico border—otherwise known as annihilating all encountered enemies—and the latter was the final operation to eradicate all Russian influence remaining in the Northeast U.S.
If that were the case, I could assume both and start moving from now. There was still plenty of time before the hamburgers arrived, so it wouldn’t be a problem to take it easy.
"Operation Chariot… thinking back, how did we do that?"
After boarding the transport plane in New York and landing at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport in Louisiana, we took a helicopter to Houston for local reconnaissance. From there, it was endless helicopter travel, rounding up the drug cartels that crossed over from Mexico.
As I recall, this was when the kill count for our Team Dagger literally skyrocketed. Over the course of the operation, which lasted fifteen days, we turned nearly 9,000 people into cold corpses. The Gulf Cartel near San Antonio and Houston, as well as the Sinaloa Cartel, which controlled most of the border region, were practically dismantled.
Of course, about a quarter of that was close-quarters kills.
Anyway, the operation crossing from east to west along the U.S.-Mexico border to San Diego was Operation Chariot. The name indicated that it involved a full-on charge, hence the title.
And the second operation was Bluefield. It involved sinking two Kuznetsov-class aircraft carriers and two Sturm-class destroyers into the sea. As far as I remember, since it was impossible to sink one with just one team, we had to split into at least two groups to capture both aircraft carriers simultaneously.
Naturally, the roughly 1,000 crew members left inside were all turned into fish food.
Once we had taken control of both, we would then demolish the network through the Icarus Gear and fire 30 of the 40 Granite missiles loaded onto both Kuznetsov-class carriers at the two Sturm-class destroyers, turning them into scrap metal, while the remaining 10 rounds would be fired at nearby Russian military bases and command centers, obliterating everything in sight.
Naturally, I was here because that mission had also been successfully completed.
"But I wonder if it will go as smoothly this time."
The ten-member Team Dagger had split into two units to infiltrate one aircraft carrier each, so it was possible. But I would need to take Logan, Rorentina, and… I wondered if Harmony would join too. In any case, infiltrating two aircraft carriers with just four people was practically a suicide mission.
On top of that, there was a sort of time limit, meaning we needed a minimally verified force. If I were to include Dais, that made five… and at least one more person with skills comparable to mine was needed. Otherwise, we would have to fill out the full ten members for the operation.
While I was thinking about this, a text suddenly came in.
Did this person not sleep?
It was unbelievable, but I promptly replied with quick and diligent answers.
A brief silence.
Then came another message.
Of course, I had more than enough resources to do that.
Chuckling, I added to the EnGram.
It seemed the time had finally come to involve the senior officer in the game.
Laurentina laughed in the chat as if she had expected this, and I was no different. After a brief chuckle, Laurentina added a few more words. She mentioned that it seemed she would be running around for about a week. After that, she said she would probably have some time available.
Logan was sound asleep, so there was no response, but that meant I would need to try to align the schedule roughly for at least a week or two. If it didn’t work, I could ask Cirkin, who was currently on a monthly leave. As a subordinate commander, his skills were surely beyond average.
Thus, I roughly wrapped up the mission details as well.
Ding dong!
"Yes, I’m coming."
It was the arrival of the hamburger delivery.
As I opened the door and received the food, a single One Chip that had crossed over from America caught my eye on the table.
I realized that I didn’t have much time left to use this.
It was probably time to invite Harmony and Dais over for a New Year’s party under the pretext of a gathering. Thinking that, I left a greeting for Laurentina, who was going back to sleep, and then sent messages to Harmony and Dais.
With that, I sent the message to the group chat. I didn’t check for replies.
My long-awaited lunch was about to begin.
"…Finally, it has come…."
Around the same time, Harmony, who had woken up, checked her phone and let out a low groan.
But she couldn’t go alone.
She smiled and added.
Limit, Kim Stone, and Hodduk.
Pain is always more enjoyable when shared.
After sending that message to Yujin, Harmony’s next stop was the Pyeongmangchi Brothers’ group EnGram chatroom.
<When the steam comes out of my head, I’m boiling hot! donated 5,000 won!>
"Thank you, When the steam comes out of my head! Of course, I won’t change the title; I’m still a gamer at heart…."
"Really? You?"
Why… had rumors about me spread this far…?
I hadn’t even been a Dark Zone newbie for six months yet, and people were making such outrageous claims—though the moment I opened my mouth to refute, Limit, Hodduk, and Kim Stone all nodded. It was much closer to them nodding at the donations rather than my words.
The tens of thousands of viewers in the chat didn’t seem to have any intention of taking my words seriously. The three in front of me didn’t seem inclined to do so either.
"Why would I? I still have a long way to go."
"Stop it, Harmony…."
"You’re going to end up missing the streamer friendly match happening in early January because of you."
"Ugh."
I had basic awareness. I didn’t completely miss the fact that all this was due to my skills having risen significantly. While I stood unashamedly before the viewers, the reality had to be faced.
Of course, I hadn’t anticipated that the result of facing that reality would be a full inbox of club recruitment offers.
But it was something I needed to think about, whether I wanted to outright refuse to become a pro gamer. Life is always unpredictable, and if I continued to maintain my skills, the offers would keep coming in.
Anyway, everyone was aware of that fact. Although I hadn’t stated it outright, various clubs had made their New Year’s operational plans public in January, and among them, the repeated mentions of recruiting talented individuals were noticeable. And I was the first to be directly taught by Yujin, even before Dais.
"So, I just have to work hard to give advice, right?"
"You’re not advising; you’re putting them through harsh training."
"But if I don’t do that, how can we win?"
"Is this Harmony, or is it Yujin’s clone…?"
Ah, right.
Speaking of Yujin, I suddenly remembered the avatar I had received as a gift last time.
I quickly went into the avatar adjustment section and equipped "that." As the skirt fluttered up, a green tail began to wriggle. With everyone’s eyes widening in surprise, I proudly announced.
"I have this avatar too!"
"Pfft!"
"With cat ears on my head and a snake tail on my butt, this is the end times. Truly the end times."
"Hey! Gross! Put it away quickly!"
"Ugh…."
Yujin’s tail attached to her butt looked great and beautiful, but why was mine like this?
Anyway, I remembered that Dais had mentioned it during a stream with Yujin at some point, and now I too had made that connection, so maybe the three of us were bonded through our tails—while I pondered such nonsensical thoughts, I speculated that perhaps this avatar might become a trending accessory for skilled players someday.
While I was excitedly chatting with the Pyeongmangchi crew after a long time,
<My dog ate almonds! donated 5,000 won!>
"Hi…."
Of course, no one could change our teacher’s stubbornness. After observing the chat a little more closely, I saw that she had directly mentioned that “If you wait for about three days, everyone will be able to hear it.”
If that’s the case, what can I do? I’ll just have to wait for three days.
Of course, I said that without a single mistake, and I again received the title of Yujin MK.2. Fortunately, I was now able to accept that as a compliment.
Anyway, after the mention of Yujin, the topic naturally flowed in that direction.
"By the way, about the One Chip Challenge, why did Yujin suddenly get into that?"
"Someone gave it to me as a gift while I was in America. It would be a waste to throw it away, and she mentioned doing it as a prize at the New Year’s party."
"What’s so special about it that it became a prize…?"
"I got a replica Icarus wristwatch as a reward for clearing the hardcore mode last time."
"Huh."
In that instant, the expressions of Limit and Hodduk changed.
Both suddenly started searching for something on the internet, and when I peeked at the contents, I saw—
"How to build tolerance to spiciness… oh my."
"How could you endure this!"
"Listen well, Harmony. No one can endure the rewards for hardcore mode."
"Ugh."
It seemed quite trivial to me, but I wondered what was so great about it.
I opened my mouth in disbelief.
"If I wore the Baxter I got for being first in the partner streamer tournament, you’d go crazy."
"…?"
…Did I go too far?
I realized that I had experienced an “I can’t believe I’m looking at this strange person” gaze that I had never seen in my life before.
This was all Yujin’s fault.
thanks