NoveLight ™
"Mr. Eugene! Please look here!"
"Mecha Byam is alive!"
"Did you get a third one this time?!"
"It seems like none of you are planning to listen to what I'm saying."
St. Petersburg, Russia, Lachta Center.
Inside the briefing room, with its impressive floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city, dozens of people had gathered. There were twenty national team players, including Harmony and Dice, along with coaches, staff, and myself standing at the podium.
This view had become quite familiar by now. Of course, that didn’t mean I knew exactly why I was standing at the podium. If anything, I was more likely dragged here after the first day of the Asian qualifiers.
While briefly analyzing the plays of each pro gamer and pointing out strengths and weaknesses was a separate matter, it seemed like they just wanted to have me stand here and hear a few kind words. Maybe they thought I was some kind of snake-shaped totem.
At this point, it’s more like faith. Faith.
Having gone through many such opportunities over the past two years, I had gotten used to them. Honestly, my body wasn’t even shaking at this kind of thing anymore.
I carefully raised my hand to calm them down. I honestly couldn’t tell whether they were my obsessive fans or people here for the competition. Of course, I had wielded the carrot and stick to the point where even regular players had transformed into the former.
Anyway, what they had to say was painfully predictable.
"I know very well why you all have me up here. Debriefing and feedback? You just want to hear what happened in the U.S., don’t you?"
"How did you know?"
"But Mr. Eugene knew that too, and still came here!"
"...Ugh."
I couldn’t deny it.
In any case, there wasn’t much that could be considered problematic. After all, most of the players gathered here—well, not most, but nearly four or five of them—were the ones who made it to this point last year as well. In other words, they knew exactly how fast I could give them accurate feedback.
Probably, the foreign players staying upstairs or downstairs were really getting their debriefings... but, well, it’s not like I’d been here more than a few hours, and I wasn’t in the mood to get to work just yet.
Traveling around overseas could really wear you out mentally.
The stray thoughts ended there.
It was time to toss them the carrot they were looking for.
"Well, the thing you’re all most curious about must be the Mecha Byams. Is there anyone here who hasn’t seen the official notice posted on the Dark Zone official website?"
"..."
"It looks like no one has. Anyway, what you saw is correct. We brought it straight from the game. They decided to use the hologram-integrated humanoids that Disney World is storing for the new Incursion ad, and I agreed to it."
"So does that mean Mecha Eugene will really appear later?"
"From what I’ve heard, Icarus plans to make Mecha Eugene the second face of Dark Zone, so I guess we’ll be seeing him like that in the future too."
Of course, putting him as the face and launching the product were entirely separate matters.
It’s hard to say whether it was surprising, but people tended to forget that this Mecha Eugene was a creation based entirely on me. The release and all of that would be decided by me in the end.
Anyway, I didn’t plan to remind them of that right now, especially since they were all more interested in... other things, so let’s move on.
The thing they were all likely the most curious about.
Harmony raised her hand and then asked:
"Is it possible to capture... no, recruit the third one for the next Incursion coming out next week, Mr. Eugene?"
"Well, I don’t know. I guess we’ll have to see. I can’t say for sure, but I don’t think it’s guaranteed this time."
At that, everyone's expressions turned completely confused.
A non-answer. But Harmony and Dice, who had been thinking about Jin and Rain, didn’t know how to respond to the addition I made, and I didn’t feel the need to correct them.
I had already mentioned this to Olivia, who knew the details. I told her that, even if we managed to rescue the other world through the Burning Donkey Operation, that "official" world wouldn’t apply in the Dark Zone game.
Moreover—
"I don’t even know what kind of story the new Incursion will have. It’s actually pretty common. It was the same with Operation Ouroboros... I’m not involved in the story, you see."
I didn’t know anything about it this time either.
Although, if I were to think back on the story I predicted personally, it would probably be something like this in the game: Mav didn’t plan to escape on his own, and would likely continue Artemis’s mission through a dead-man switch.
If that happens, Mav would probably appear as the final boss without any twists, and maybe after defeating him, we could recruit him. What happens after that, I don’t know.
Naturally, I didn’t share all of this with the players. I just mentioned, "Maybe the third one will appear as the final boss?"
The reactions were varied.
"...Wait, is it okay to promote the final boss like that?"
"I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it."
By that logic, Jin and Rain were once considered final bosses too.
Strictly speaking, Jin and Rain were different cases than Mav... but, well, I didn’t care much about a question that wasn’t that serious.
Moreover, most of the questions popping up now were really just the kind that didn’t touch on the core... In other words, they were the kinds of questions you’d expect from a shelter for super cowards.
So I spoke up.
"Why are you all beating around the bush? You just want to see Mecha Byam, right? Just hang in there for another week."
"Eh."
"And by the way, for those who cleared Operation Ouroboros in the Unknown Area, there will be extra interactions available with Team, Laser Team, and Mecha Eugene. So, if you want to enjoy the game more, you might want to try that."
At the same time, I saw Harmony and Dice’s eyes sparkle.
I didn’t miss that opportunity and added:
"As I mentioned during the conversation with Kato last time, there will be something else for those who clear the extermination difficulty mission, so don’t worry."
"Oh yeah!"
"Mecha Byam is the best... Hehe..."
Harmony, Dice, and even Blooming.
Their smiles were so wide it seemed they were about to stretch all the way to their ears. I had expected it, so it didn’t bother me.
Anyway, despite that, the Q&A continued. It felt like a Q&A with some Dark Zone official staff... but honestly, they probably had me up here just to hear stories like this again, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Game stories, Disney World visit stories, sniper competition stories. It didn’t seem like there was much substance, but I made sure to prepare them so that everyone could get some kind of lesson.
For example—
"...Now, let’s focus on this scene from the official streaming sent out by the Ministry of Defense. As you can see, to make a long-range sniper shot, you have to consider a lot of variables..."
"But doesn’t Mr. Eugene dodge bullets sometimes?"
"Ugh, seriously."
Unfortunately, it was true, so I had nothing to say.
I tried to ignore Dice’s words and continued talking about this and that—like the importance of rest during Disney World, or... well, there wasn’t much to say about the game stories.
Can this really be called a debriefing? It felt more like a talk show. In the end, the debriefing, which had lasted about 1 hour and 20 minutes, ended with me saying, "I’ll send individual feedback in a private chat room later."
The players dispersed into their rooms, wearing comfortable clothes, while I headed to mine.
"Oh, by the way, Mr. Eugene, please take this."
"What’s this?"
"It’s a letter... I think? They also gave me a business card. It came from somewhere called Camp Henry. I thought it was from some military unit related to you."
"You took it without knowing what it was?"
"Well, it had the Lachta Center temporary entry pass around the neck, and they’d checked it thoroughly—like for radiation detection and other strange tests—so I thought it was fine. I thought maybe it had some confidential stuff in it."
"...Confidential, huh. I guess it could be, in a way."
E PLURIBUS UNUM, "Out of many, one."
Underneath the white paper was a faintly stamped eagle emblem, one that could only be seen by those with sharp eyesight.
I chuckled softly, scanned the letter with the Icarus Gear, and tucked it into my pocket as I added:
"Thanks. Oh, and I saw the post-its on the wall."
"Oh, you saw those? I was debating what to write, but since they said they’d arrive in a day or two, I just wrote something short. Did you see what it said?"
"Wouldn’t you have seen it? Stop hanging onto Mecha Byam so much. You’re gonna wear out your tail."
"Hehe."
We had a short conversation, and I checked the very brief words in the hologram on the letter.
The sender: Henry Michael Brayton, President-elect of the U.S.
The message was...
'...Why is this person making such a big deal just to ask me for a meal?'
Meeting in December for dinner, and sending someone all the way here just for that.
Such a strange person.
"By the way, Mina. I noticed that since you started doing both cardio and strength training, your weight has changed, and your posture has improved. Your boots aren’t any different, but it seems your movement sound is louder than usual. Please be more mindful of the noise during movement."
"...Eh, um."
"Next, Dice. The habit of counting the rounds your opponent fired—try to break that. You can tell when they’re using linked rounds, but if they're using extended mags, you’ll get caught, and it's hard to see in urgent firefights."
"Can you actually see that?"
"If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t be sitting here."
It was, after all, a long-overdue Eugene School feedback time.
Time was approaching 11 PM, but the two who were wearing the snake pajamas modeled after me still weren’t ready to sleep. I still had a lot of feedback to give.
It had become quite trivial by now, but my first official job was as a temporary coach for SSM. Analyzing others to the point of tearing them apart was my job. In contrast, now... tactical analysis had just become one of the long tasks on my list, but since the opportunity had been given to me again...
This is actually fun.
I might have to admit it now. Maybe I have a sadistic side that enjoys torturing others...
"Are you having strange thoughts again, Eugene?"
"I wasn’t."
"Lie. When you’re thinking about something else, your eyes drop and you get that blank face."
"I’m not fooled by that."
"Ah."
I wouldn’t fall for basic interrogation tricks.
As expected, Eugene... I ignored the two who were making dumb comments and continued focusing on the video. No matter when I watch people moving, there are always one or two things that can be fixed. If Logan and Laurentina were here instead of the baby Byams, they would have had a word or two of feedback.
Continuing to analyze the video, I added:
"Now that I’m saying it, it’s a lot easier with Mina and Yerin around. Once you teach them properly, analyzing where the other players fall short becomes really simple."
"Ah... Now that I think about it, what was it called again? Convergent evolution? Is it something like that?"
"Exactly. Once you set a goal and a standard, comparing and analyzing becomes much easier... yeah, it’s like that."
They learned from me.
Seeing the same things, paying attention to the same things. Given that it’s almost been a year since the third final championship, foreign analysts would be considering that fact too. They’ll be aware of it.
But sometimes, even knowing something doesn’t change anything. Given that foreign players had happily kicked Mina and Yerin’s butts this year, that was even more true.
For a moment, my thoughts drifted in a different direction, but anyway, that was the feeling.
"By the way, Eugene, while we’re preparing for our match... will you be touring around St. Petersburg?"
"I guess that’s how it will be. I’ll probably see the match in detail, but outside of that, I don’t think so. Unless there’s still something I need to handle here."
Strictly speaking, I planned to enjoy a good rest in St. Petersburg.
If you ask me what I did at Disney World... well, that was quite a hectic schedule. Waking up at 6:30 AM, heading to the studio by 7:30, and wandering around the theme park until sunset, is that even a proper rest?
The sniper competition and Disney tour were over, and I was still adjusting to the time difference, so if I had time, I’d walk around outside, otherwise... just breathe and eat in the hotel.
Also, I’m not really fond of places like cathedrals, and with the snowstorm outside...
While having such trivial conversations, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
In fact, it was more like a forgotten thing suddenly coming back to me. I sent video messages to both of the two who were laughing and chatting on the bed.
And how much time had passed?
"No way, is this... a video letter?!"
"Wow! Mecha Byam sent a video letter!"
"The third one is missing, so it’s a bit disappointing, but I hope you understand that it can’t be helped. It’s only sent to those who cleared the extermination difficulty of Operation Ouroboros. Keep it well."
"Oh, of course. Ah, really, Jin and Rain are so cute..."
Half of that was true, but half was a lie.
By now, Blooming and Kato had probably received theirs. There was no need to send video letters to Laurentina and Logan since we’d been hanging out together recently. They could just ask me anytime if they wanted to see it.
Thinking that, I added:
"You’ll do well tomorrow, right?"
"Ah, full Mecha Byam power... If we don’t come first tomorrow, I’ll do the dogeza in front of the Mecha kids—ugh!"
"Who told you to do that?"
It’s funny how Dice still says such ridiculous things. I ignored him and continued analyzing.
The first day in St. Petersburg was passing in a truly ridiculous manner.
"...It’s here, guys. My lifespan has only one week left."
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, on a peninsula in East Asia, a large scythe was drawing ever closer to Kato's neck.