“Wow, our company building is huge.”

SSM Headquarters.

A tall building rose high toward the sky in front of me. Rarely, the dazzling sunlight pouring down from a cloudless winter sky reflected off the building's glass windows, shining brilliantly. Despite the harsh sunlight, the weather was the coldest it had been in recent times. The biting cold wind hitting my face was intense.

And in front of it stood me—Dais. It was a building I hadn’t seen in a long time. Since January began, I had been seeing the exterior of this new office once a day, but now it didn’t look cool at all; it felt like just a bag full of work to be done.

Anyway, by this time, I could reasonably guess why I was here. It was work again. Of course, this time it was a bit different.

I wasn’t here for a broadcast; I was here to meet with another team.

“Ugh, it’s cold.”

However, inside the building was the complete opposite of the cold outside.

As I opened the door and stepped inside, a sweet lavender scent accompanied warm air that rushed in. Although I had worn Ugg boots because the weather was freezing, the building’s heating was so strong that I felt like I would start sweating in just a few minutes.

After walking a little further in and sitting down in a chair, I took off my fluffy winter hat and the scarf wrapped around my neck, placing them aside. Then, I pulled out a pair of shoes that I had kept in a zip bag from my bag. Stowing away the Ugg boots, fluffy hat, and scarf made me feel significantly lighter.

However, even while tidying up, there were still people recognizing me.

“Oh, Ye-rin! You’re here again today. What brings you here this time?”

“I came because the Fallen team wanted to have a meeting. How have you been?”

“We’re always managing the entry personnel in the lobby, so nothing major happens here. Have a great day today. You know where the luggage storage is, right?”

“Yes. I’ve been here quite a few times.”

A sensor gate that resembled an airport gate welcomed me. The concept of scanning employee IDs and entering like in the past had long since disappeared. Just passing through the gate completed the scan, allowing me to enter.

As I moved inside, areas not open to outsiders appeared. For instance, the break room, cafeteria, dessert shop, and others. Sometimes, when they were publicly opened, they also served as reception areas, so the facilities were good; it was a place frequently used by public figures and celebrities.

In other words, it was a space where it was quite easy to run into such people.

And just as I said, with some time left before the meeting, I ordered a snack and hot chocolate from the cafe—since I was also an SSM employee, I received a 50% discount on facility usage. Once again, I bumped into a male group whose faces occasionally appeared on TV.

“Welcome, sir!”

“Are you doing well these days?”

“No, what kind of greeting is that?”

What were these people’s names again? I didn’t quite remember the group name, but I distinctly recalled them from the Dark Zone mock battle they did when they appeared on a talk show, where they turned everyone into Swiss cheese.

But fortunately, everyone wore name tags with their group and activity names clearly displayed, so I successfully pretended to know them without revealing my ignorance. Moreover, since I had been gradually studying a bit about the male groups and girl groups under SSM to avoid seeming clueless about them.

Anyway, these were the ones who had shown great respect towards me after getting thoroughly beaten in the scream.

“Oh, so… to be honest, I don’t really know what you guys have been up to lately. I hope everything goes as you wish in the new year.”

“Your conversation topic drift is an art.”

“Usually around this time, everyone is preparing new year’s greetings for YouSpace, attending events, or receiving personal training, so I can’t help it.”

“Haha, it’s the same for us.”

Then, rustle.

I had no idea where it came from, but a CD popped out.

“This is our Signal 50’s new album. Please take care of it!”

“Hey, hey, stop him. He gives a CD to everyone he meets. It looks like some kind of pyramid scheme.”

“Even the way he sneaks it in is an art form, seriously.”

…What is it about being an idol?

Anyway, there was an unexpected mini talk show. Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, this allowed me to fill about 40 minutes of free time before the meeting—though as it went on, it got a bit too busy, and I almost missed the elevator.

In fact, one of the staff asked if it would be okay to edit it in a vlog format and upload it to the official channel. I said I would give my approval or disapproval after seeing the final product later. As mentioned earlier, I was also an employee here, and since the male group over there was in the same position, I thought it would be a kind of mutual benefit if they gained a little more fame, so that felt about right.

In any case, with such a subtle result behind me, I boarded the elevator. With a swoosh, the high-speed elevator shot up to the 30th floor.

When the door opened, a stylish corridor and workplace appeared. Since I had only been wandering around the program filming booths and various recording studios, this was the second time I had been to the place where the Dark Zone’s pro team was located. Perhaps that was why it felt quite unfamiliar.

In truth, I found it a bit odd that the game section within SSM Entertainment wasn’t completely separate, but they had mentioned they would integrate all teams under SSM into a building dedicated to managing the gaming sector near Seongsu-dong within a year, so I figured it would work out somehow.

Anyway, while I was lost in such thoughts, I arrived before I knew it.

─── Beep!

With that sound, the door opened, revealing a completely different space from the one I had just passed through.

It felt as if another small building had been erected inside the building. However, the interior was similar to the Apex Predator team’s office located near Gangnam, where I was now. It was truly designed as if that was the image of a professional gamer.

As I entered a little further and opened the door, many people welcomed me with applause.

“Wow, Dais-senpai is here!”

“Nice to meet you, senpai!”

“…Is this the greeting meta these days?”

Why were they playing the senpai game here, something I hadn’t even done in middle or high school?

I slowly scanned the faces. I had felt this the last time as well, but it was clear that because the Dark Zone PvP events formed intersections, there were hardly any strangers among them. Everyone probably had at least once practiced against the Apex Predator.

Of course, I hadn’t. I later learned that those who were exceptionally skilled didn’t need to go through various experiences to determine their roles. It seemed a bit self-congratulatory, but it was true.

In any case, the reason I had come here today was nothing special.

“I won’t take long, but I’ve prepared plenty of feedback, so everyone, please be ready.”

Temporary Coach.

Like a snake tail resting comfortably on my chest, that title was what the sticker affixed to me today read. In truth, it wasn’t an impossible personnel transfer, though it wasn’t entirely expected either. Particularly, since Fallen could use skills during matches like in Apex Predator... and to be honest, the proportion of skill use was much higher than in AP, so it made sense.

However, it would have made more sense for me to learn the skill operation methods from the Fallen team, yet this time, the situation was completely reversed. And the reason was obvious. It was because of that snake tail.

In short, I had been too reckless with my skills during the Final Championship.

And unfortunately for them, they had learned a lot from that person, so they were also set to face some consequences.

• Thud!

 

“…Huh?”

“Is this an encyclopedia?”

“It’s a collection of skill operation methods and feedback. Please read it thoroughly.”

Of course, the contents of the four bundles of paper boasting over 300 sheets were all different.

Moreover, since Fallen used a portion of the Apex Predator’s map to create their own map, I had plenty to talk about.

Training the juniors left behind after the retired Eugene.

“There’s no training that can’t be handled, and there are no limits that can’t be crossed.”

“Wow, the person who received 1.5 billion in performance pay is really different.”

“Can I run away?”

“Close the door. The curriculum begins.”

With a heavy sound, the door closed.

My busy new year, and the preparations for numerous competitions this year, had thus begun.

Meanwhile,

“Eugene, the video of the one-chip challenge we did last time has finished editing. Would you like to watch it?”

“Later. I have a bit of work to do.”

“Oh, right.”

Eugene was quite busy managing the channel after a long time.

“Ugh.”

When a person is engrossed in unfamiliar tasks, they pay more attention and focus, leading to greater mental fatigue than usual—I was currently experiencing what that meant in real time. Dozens of windows floating in the air blinked at me as if urging me to finish my tasks.

Fidgeting with the Icarus gear. But even that wasn’t omnipotent. Since I was handling the Icarus gear in a way I hadn’t normally dealt with, the progress of my work was slower than usual.

Perhaps because I was using my head in such an unusual way, I felt a craving for something sweet. As always, I prepared a special Eugene shake, set it down on the table, and sank deeply into my chair, exhaling for a moment.

So, what was this about?

“...I guess running a YouSpace channel isn’t really my forte…”

Just as that thought crossed my mind, I was currently rearranging the channel into a more efficient and decent format.

In simpler terms, here’s how it was—there was only one channel under my name, yet with about nine editors, the planned uploads were stacking up to at least one or two videos every day. If I just let them upload as they came in, my channel would likely become... some kind of new video saturation state.

To resolve that somehow, I was communicating in real-time with the YouSpace channel management side about separating the channel. It had only been less than half a year since it was created, but with thousands of videos piling up, just separating them through playlists wouldn’t solve the issue.

The channels were set to be divided into roughly three: one for games, one for daily life, and the other for full video replays.

In fact, the most worrying one among them was the game channel. Should I run it normally, or split the game channel once more...? The reason was simple. Dark Zone itself had an overwhelmingly vast amount of content, and it wasn’t like I only played that game.

If I just split it into PvP and PvE, there was a slight uncertainty about whether I would keep playing Dark Zone, and even if that were the case, it would be awkward to have a space for the awful games I sometimes played, as suggested by Harmony.

It was also possible to consider uploading such strange game edit videos to the daily life channel, but the issue was that sometimes those videos turned out to have much greater potential than the Dark Zone videos.

“Ah, why do I have to be worrying about this...?”

Indeed, there was no lack of that feeling.

To be honest, this was something I had to finish before the Final Championship, but that fact didn’t help me at all now.

In any case, one thing was certain:

'I have to get into the Incursion mission as soon as possible.'

Because if I manage to separate it and later stop playing Dark Zone, the situation could get weird.

So, I’ll first sort out what’s certain. The full video upload channel and the daily life channel had to be created, and videos suitable for those categories were already being moved there. I had just announced that a few hours ago.

So then, only one question remained.

'Will I continue playing Dark Zone?'

To resolve this question, I needed to know what would happen after the Indian Point nuclear power plant mission ended. Just because it ended cleanly didn’t mean I would stop playing the game, and conversely, I might continue playing even if it ended in a complete mess, but anyway.

After pondering for a moment, I went to my contacts. There, I had the numbers of the people I met in the basement of the Icarus headquarters last time. Of course, the displayed numbers were not fixed even once and were spitting out random digits.

The call was successful, and the beep echoed.

How long had it been?

“I thought you’d contact me around this time.”

“You didn’t start with any kind of greeting that I expected.”

As he said, the start of the conversation veered into a direction that completely skipped any expectations.

Anyway, the people I was speaking to were the ones who had brought me back to this world and those I met in the basement of the Icarus headquarters last time. Perhaps the implicit tone in their voice hinted that they knew something.

That being said, I hadn’t expected to connect so quickly. My plan to calmly organize my thoughts while listening to the beep sound evaporated into thin air.

Then there was no reason to add any flowery language.

I threw the direct question.

“What happens after the Indian Point nuclear power plant mission ends?”

Of course, I had heard somewhat about it last time. The missions that arise after that would affect the world where I had “been.”

But thinking back on it, that was a rather vague answer. Moreover, after asking Logan, Laurentina, Owens, and several other memory holders, they had said they also didn’t know what happened after they held my funeral.

In short, what I wanted to ask was this.

“How did the world without me turn out after that?”

And how long did I wait?

I realized I was falling into a kind of fixed mindset.

“...To tell you one thing, worlds have different temporal flows. As was hinted at last time, the two worlds are not completely synchronized, and this applies to the flow of time as well.”

“Then the others… don’t remember the time after my funeral.”

“That’s correct. Therefore, we can only answer 'we don’t know' to your question, Eugene.”

In other words, that time was still 'nonexistent.'

Questions about time that did not yet exist, and answers to that. In society, such answers were referred to as 'predictions' or 'speculations.'

However, the explanation wasn’t over yet.

“But as Eugene resolves the Incursion missions, feedback will definitely arise in the place you 'were' in the past.”

“So in the end, it still falls within the realm of predictions.”

“That’s right. 'Still.'”

Still.

Hearing that, I chuckled.

After all, the task at hand was still quite clear.

“There’s a reason I need to dive into the mission as soon as possible.”

There was no one present who didn’t know that it was a positive affirmation.

Thus, the call ended, and I sank into my seat.

It seemed that I wasn’t the only one waiting for this weekend.

=[ICARUS Operator List]

• [Ablan Pletcher // Status: Active]

• [Adrian Sirtus // Status: KIA]

• [Anthony Owens // Status: Active]

• [Becua Kinsca // Status: Rogue]

• [Bechellan Craig // Status: Active]

• [Charles E. Virgil // Status: Patient]

• [Daniel Mohime // Status: MIA…]

 

.

.

.

.

• [Eugene Lee // Status: MIA…………….]

 

-> Reboot.

-> Adjusting……….

.

.

• [Eugene Lee // Status: <Return to Home>]