-[Streamer 'Eugene' // ON AIR]

-[Please turn on the subtitles // Starting Dark Zone with a friend]

"Friend? Why a friend all of a sudden? Is it Harmony and Dice? Or are Logan and Lorentina coming out?"

"If those people were here, wouldn’t it say ‘Shark’ and ‘Polar Bear’ in the title? Maybe they brought someone new with them."

"What’s the subtitle function?"

October 23rd, Monday.

Since Eugene wasn’t a full-time streamer, his streams were relatively irregular, but once a broadcast began, a terrifying number of viewers—over a hundred million—flocked in.

However, today was slightly different from usual. It was because of the stream title.

As soon as the viewers saw the title, they realized that the "friend" wasn’t referring to Logan or Lorentina, who often appeared as cameos and had cult-like popularity, nor was it referring to Harmony and Dice, who had become inseparable from Eugene.

If it were any of them, the title wouldn’t have been like this.

Just like a person can’t resist rushing into an open bathroom when they have a stomach ache, many viewers, almost hypnotized, clicked into Eugene’s stream.

At the same time, a few system messages appeared on the screen.

-[Notification: Detected language 'English'.]

-[Notification: Subtitles function activated.]

A calm voice, one after another.

One was the familiar voice of Eugene. Her voice was not thin, but slightly lower, yet incomparably clear—however, today, there was another voice mixed in, a voice no one in the audience had ever heard before.

A calm voice, different from Eugene’s. It wasn’t deep, but rather slightly thin, as if the air was mixed in with the sound. Yet, it was a firm tone, with no impression of weakness.

The viewers' attention shifted to someone standing next to Eugene, preparing something.

Brownish hair, suspiciously spiky on top, yellow eyes like pumpkin—not the vegetable—shaped like a carving, sharp eyes, though not as much as Eugene’s. The person seemed to resemble a bird.

Next to them was Eugene, with the ruins of summer New York surrounding them.

However, the distinctive structure visible above them—those who had seen the Brooklyn Bridge connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan would have quickly realized—suddenly, they were... in the tutorial.

To confirm this, Eugene, who had been leaving viewers hanging for a few minutes while the stream was on, let out a breath and finally spoke.

In English.

"…Hello, everyone. This is Eugene. It seems like it’s been about three days since I last streamed. The reason I’m streaming in English suddenly is simple—today’s guest can’t speak a word of Korean, so I hope you understand."

-Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest? Guest?

-Once again, you’ve completely misled the expectations of the viewers, teacher, lol

-Your English pronunciation is amazing, haha

-Who’s the guest???? What’s their username??????

-Fact: If this is really Eugene’s friend, there’s a high chance their avatar looks exactly like them in real life.

-Stop typing on the keyboard, everyone, lol

A lot of information appeared on the UI.

The username "OliviaNL." The phrase "Tutorial in progress." And the word <HARDCORE> hovering above both characters’ heads. All of this allowed the viewers to quickly deduce what was happening.

Moreover, just recently, Icarus International had announced that they would improve the difficulty of the tutorial. It was the first improvement in six years.

This broke the long-standing notion that missions could only be done solo if you couldn’t meet anyone in the safe house. This was solidified by Eugene standing with a guest before the tutorial even began.

A clear way to make sure the viewers understood the tutorial had changed.

Unlike Eugene, who had already finished preparing, the guest, who seemed a bit slow at first, began to move more quickly.

Adjusting the stock of the .50 Beowulf Tactical rifle in their hands, inserting the magazine, and briefly adjusting the sights. With a click, the bolt moved forward, and a round was chambered. The movement was surprisingly precise.

Exhaling a breath, Olivia spoke.

"This should be good. It’s been a while, so I’m a bit rusty. I hope I don’t trip up while moving... Can you back me up?"

"Of course. If you have time, please greet the viewers."

"Wow, so many people are actually here just to watch you... the world is full of surprises, after all. Anyway... hello, everyone. You can call me Olivia."

-Wow, lol

-What… what… Teacher… Her chest is about to break through the bulletproof vest, lol

-Wow, look at her upper body about to burst, lol

-From this point, Olivia is officially part of the team! Anyone who insults Olivia is insulting me, haha

-Why do Eugene’s friends always have such explosive figures? This is nothing like dynamite, lol

Her face was similar in size to Eugene’s, maybe a bit larger, but the proportions were overwhelming—her height was more than 10 cm taller, a discrepancy so vast it seemed physically impossible in the real world.

However, viewers, having seen similar results before, were impressed but not stunned. If you combined Logan and Lorentina’s heights and halved them, it would be about 187 cm. Standing together, they could make even grown men seem like dwarfs.

Within minutes, the chat exploded in flames, and the number of viewers surpassed 2 million, rising rapidly to 2.2 million.

Yet, as always, Eugene didn’t pay any attention to the numbers and began speaking.

"Since we’re in hardcore mode with two people, it’s going to be a pretty rough road. Starting from Brooklyn, far from Central Park, adds to that. But I think we’ll be fine."

"...Yeah. Let’s go."

In their hands were the most primal forms of violence.

Although the distance to be covered had been reduced, it was still around 10 km. Even though the game had compressed the scale, this point was the furthest from Central Park among all the spawn points, and viewers were starting to notice the <HARDCORE> markers above their heads.

The humid wind, the stench of water from the East River, the cracked and overgrown asphalt roads that had long since been abandoned, the trash bags and the rusted and shattered cars.

Once all preparations were complete, the two activated the Icarus Gear on their wrists and began moving forward cautiously, scanning the surroundings.

Eugene, moving forward as though familiar with the process, and Olivia, although her movements were less familiar, began to move with increasingly precise control.

Hundreds of thousands of viewers started watching their every move.

The moment Olivia stepped into Dark Zone for the first time.

-Chiikk!

"Shikker mine batch."

"The enemy squad is about to scatter... Got them."

-Just as expected, lol

-If it’s Eugene’s friend, of course, they must be from a special forces background... I thought so...

-Check out that perfect accuracy on the single shot, haha

-Didn’t they say the tutorial difficulty was reduced? Then why do the enemies look like that???

-They're both in hardcore mode, haha

The moment the trigger was pulled, the bullet moved.

When it hit the firing pin, the explosive process unfolded. The gunpowder in the shell turned into flame, the explosion pushed the projectile with force, sending it through the barrel. At the same time, the piston retreated, and the empty shell was ejected.

Olivia unconsciously thought that the process of the bullet being fired mirrored the emotions and situation she was feeling. The trigger was pulled by Eugene, and she was the bullet that was hit. The gunpowder filled the casing—the memories sparked and flared.

Trigger pulled.

The memories and muscle memory that had been forgotten, and that she had no choice but to forget, began to resurface, igniting with intense response. The body was catching up to the memory.

One shot.

The blood in this world wasn’t red; it was yellow, and the depiction of death was far simpler. Yet, the overwhelming realism, and the flashbacks that followed, overwhelmed Olivia.

Every second, the rust covering her dull blade disappeared, and the once-blunt edge transformed into a sharp blade capable of cutting anything.

Eugene knew this better than anyone, and now, unlike when she first stepped into Dark Zone, Olivia was engaging in battle in a completely different manner than when she first met Harmony.

"We’ll advance to the white car ahead."

"Good. Go ahead, I’ve got your back."

They trusted each other.

They trusted their lives to each other.

It was cooperative play they had performed countless times in the past—and succeeded.

If Dice or Harmony were in Olivia’s place, Eugene would have rushed forward with heavy footsteps, but the thoughts that crossed her mind were constantly interrupted by her instincts, and even though she tried to push them away, they kept coming up with their own conclusions.

If she made loud footsteps, the enemy would hear it through their headsets, and at that moment, they would rise from cover to shoot at her, but Dice or Harmony would spot it and counter by killing the enemy.

...Despite teaching them so much, I wonder if they could perceive all these factors and apply them to the battle?

Combat involved countless layers of psychological strategy, and even though Eugene’s two students, who had worked with her for so long, might not be able to fully grasp everything in time.

But today, and with Eugene by her side, Olivia was able to.

Thwung!

"Krack...!"

"Cherkaf! Damn!"

-Wow, haha

-The newbie you guys expected? That’s not happening, lol

-Hardcore mode (meaning the enemies are facing their hardcore fate)

-Check out Olivia’s insane enemy identification speed and aiming, haha

-Now I see she’s firing the Beowulf, this is no joke, haha

Overwhelming power.

The fact that the NIJ III level armor couldn’t be pierced didn’t matter. As soon as the shot hit the head, the neck bone broke, and the bullets punched through the armor, leaving broken ribs to puncture the lung—such intense force combined with precise targeting brought about an astonishing result.

A squad of 10 Russian landing infantrymen, better armed than regular base guards, their formation shattered like plastic in front of a birthday cake.

All of it was torn apart like paper.

But the talk about Olivia’s skills didn’t last long.

With a soul-piercing scream, one man flew through the air, falling into the East River beneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Technically, Eugene had thrown him into the river, but it looked like he was flying.

"…Oh, my."

-Excuse me, that person just flew through the air, lol

-Now she’s doing crazy stuff without even hiding it, lol

-Olivia’s losing her composure, ww

-This is ridiculous, haha

As the chains that bound them slowly unraveled, their true colors were revealed.

Eugene’s chains were nothing but his own face, and the fact that he was a mutant—this had been made public before he left for the U.S. last year. In fact, his physical abilities had long been revealed through physical exams and Glory & Honor 1:300.

Even Olivia, who hadn’t seen many of Eugene’s YourSpace videos, could easily recall the uproar from back then.

...Though it was a little dizzying to watch her so openly behave like this.

But aside from that, within 20 minutes, the end of the Brooklyn Bridge was in sight.

After taking out several squads, they had reached Manhattan in almost no time—roughly the same amount of time it would take to walk from Brooklyn to Manhattan without any interference.

The bridge was covered in bodies and golden blood.

Manhattan, visible beyond the bridge, was eerily quiet.

"…Did I ever tell you my workplace was here?"

"No. But I think I get what you’re trying to say."

A cloudless, bright day.

However, under the sun, the many towering skyscrapers cast long shadows that reminded one more of a massive coffin or gravestone than the grandeur of New York, and the many viewers, who had been chatting excitedly just moments ago, were now speechless, only able to type short responses.

Dark Zone.

A game considered by many to realistically depict the virus apocalypse and the desolate, fallen world it caused.

Eugene glanced at Olivia with a complicated expression.

Her lips were tightly pressed, her brows slightly furrowed. She exhaled deeply, repeatedly clenching and unclenching her left hand. In that moment, she wasn’t in Dark Zone anymore—she was back in the New York that had been lost. Memories and reality blended in her eyes.

With the sound of footsteps, Eugene and Olivia stepped into Manhattan.

But for them, that was where their memories ended.

A notification popped up in front of them.

-[Notification: Jamming detected, reason unknown.]

-[Notification: It is unlikely that internal security in Lower Manhattan can be maintained. Troops are to withdraw or initiate stealth operations. Safe houses and Central Park HQ to begin lockdown.]

-[Notification: The entire Lower Manhattan area is now designated as 'Aesthetic Zone' under HQ control.]

"…I’ve never seen something like this before."

"Oh, this..."

-Hahaha

-Aesthetic Zone... Harmony... dropping the magazine... Ugh...

-Didn’t they say the tutorial difficulty was eased? Then why do the enemies look like that???

-They're both in hardcore mode, haha

Eugene laughed in disbelief and, unable to contain her laughter, added to Olivia.

"It’s no big deal. Just break every head you see, and it’s over."

"You always say that. Well, that works."

A year ago, as prey, and now, as the hunter.

A bizarre reenactment was about to begin.

"Wow, this is such a memory."

"Oh, I saw that! The magazine drop... Ugh, wait!"

"Go!"

Meanwhile, somewhere in virtual reality.

Harmony, with a truly complicated expression, and Dice, with a gleaming curiosity in his eyes, were eating popcorn, watching Eugene’s stream as she caused yet another incident.

The world truly was strange.