I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun

Chapter 43 – Before On Air

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“La la la la, la la la… Ah, ah. Mic check. Mic check. Hello, this is Harmony.”

-Haha

-Haha (means Hi from Harmony)

-Are we on 3x speed today too? Love it lololol

-What? Does this mean she’s doing Dark Zone? Is the Dark Zone hegemony arriving?

-I can’t believe this noonim is going to make something other than a shitty game her main content

In real-time, it was 8 PM.

As Harmony’s broadcast started, numerous viewers flocked in. Messages poured in like waves from the two chat windows visible beyond the screen.

One was from viewers connected through virtual reality at the same speed as Harmony’s broadcast, and the other was from those watching the broadcast in real-time.

Recently, a function had been developed that allowed those connected through VR to watch videos at the same speed as those on reality devices through real-time rendering, but it was still at a point where adjustments were needed.

The viewer count, which had been rising rapidly, reached 5,000, and then the growth began to slow down slightly.

By playing Dark Zone, Harmony had managed to attract a stable number of viewers, securing several tens of percent more viewers than usual despite it being quite sudden.

It was uncertain whether these viewers would fully immerse themselves in the broadcast, but it didn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things.

“Well… I’m not sure about Dark Zone. If I do play, I might either play solo today or recruit some members from the cafe to push some missions together.”

Following this, she continued with a calm explanation of the situation.

Having spent several days closely working with Yoo Jin, she quickly grasped the current public sentiment and addressed it accordingly.

Though the chat quickly became noisy, this was inevitable. The reason she started today’s broadcast was to provide a clear answer to this matter.

Before things could spiral out of control, she quickly spoke up.

“For now, this is just a simple talk time before the gameplay starts, so I have some news to share with you. Rest assured, there’s nothing wrong between us…”

A brief gesture.

In response to her action, a few photos and what seemed to be some documents appeared in the air. And a link visible on the far right.

As the chat filled with question marks and descended into confusion, the streamer began to explain in a composed voice, pouring oil onto the fire.

“Some of you might be curious about what this is. Simply put… this is a statement directly delivered to Yoo Jin from ICARUS International. You’ll all be able to see it in a few days, but I got permission from the person involved to show it to you first.”

The first page was enlarged.

The faint engraving of the phoenix, the mark of ICARUS International, covered the entire paper, with large black letters boasting strong visibility written over it.

An absolute format that no one could dispute.

The content written there was clear.

– [RE: Dark Zone User: Regarding Yoo Jin’s Use of Illegal Programs]

– [We have received numerous inquiries at our customer service center regarding this matter over the past few days, but we would like to inform you that, based on an analysis of movement and behavior logs, we have not found any attempts to use illegal programs.]

– [Furthermore, to ensure thorough verification, we conducted tests with our own devices and found no evidence of any illegal program involvement during these processes and results.]

– [The physical examination and test processes were recorded as evidence, with the user’s appearance overlaid with an avatar to protect personal privacy.]

– [Additional details…]

Back when Dark Zone was still connected to the internet network.

There was a time when the number of hacks was too numerous to count, and there were more hack users than types of hacks, but due to numerous patches, they were all sunk and never returned.

Even users who adamantly denied it had no choice but to crumble before the statement, “If you’re so confident, come to the headquarters and prove it yourself.”

Thus, paradoxically, the verification sent directly from the headquarters held unmatched authority and reliability.

-?????????????????????

-No way? She really went to the headquarters to prove it?

-Yoo Jin wins! Yoo Jin wins! Yoo Jin wins! Yoo Jin wins! Yoo Jin wins!

-I’ve never seen anyone go this far lolololol

-Hack parrots utterly destroyed! Hack parrots utterly destroyed!

Although it took more time than expected to comprehend as most of it was text, the result was more than worth it.

Seeing the chat reaction flow as expected, Harmony spoke up.

“Alright, I can’t show you all of this here, but the reason I brought this up today is that Yoo Jin will turn on her broadcast in a few days to show this to you directly.

Additionally, ICARUS employees will appear to testify that Yoo Jin is not a hacker, so please look forward to it.”

A brief silence—of course, the chat was still in chaos.

At this point, it would be usual for donations or questions to come in, but surprisingly, there weren’t any.

So, Harmony preemptively answered the questions she anticipated.

“The reason I’m mentioning this on my broadcast is simple: it’s nearly impossible for Yoo Jin to go around officially explaining it herself, right?

Even if she promotes it on the site, it would take a lot of time, so I decided to explain it myself. In a way, it’s mutually beneficial.”

After wrapping up, Harmony closed Just Chatting and added.

“So, today, I’m not sure if I’ll play Dark Zone. I’ll start with a warm-up game, check the time, and then decide.”

And then, the game began.

A bizarrely overflowing dot aesthetic. Following the strange in-game visuals, a unicorn of unusual appearance stood on the ground.

With the entirely purple horizon and the chat atmosphere becoming bizarre in the background, the game started.

“So! Today’s warm-up game is… controlling each leg of a unicorn with the keyboard to reach the destination in Horse Run! I found this fresh, crappy game while browsing the internet recently! Let’s get started───!”

-?

-?????

-Who recommended this weird game to her again?????????

-At this point, she genuinely enjoys it… truly a connoisseur of crappy games….

-Please, stop playing such games……….

-Noonim? No matter what, isn’t this too much? We were wrong, so could you please take this money and calm down?

“Ah, Hoguwat! Thank you for the 40,000 won donation!”

Then she continued.

“But your donations will be well used not only for paying the editor’s salary, rent, food, phone bills, and savings but also for purchasing such crappy games. Thank you very much for the donations today!”

-Madwoman… madwoman… madwoman… madwoman… madwoman….

Only a single donation represented the inner thoughts of all viewers.

Of course, she maintained the viewers’ discipline by enjoying the crappy game for over five hours, and it was needless to say that this was merely the prelude to her broadcast.

“I’ve never prepared for a broadcast like this before.”

“It’s a good experience in its own way. It’ll be fun, you know?”

How did it come to this?

I didn’t know how, but as the broadcast approached, I found it quite absurd. I just followed the instructions of those mysterious people and played the game, and in just about ten days, so much had happened….

A lot, indeed. It was ironic in its own way.

Still, I didn’t feel nervous. I’d been through far too much to be shaken by this.

If there had been any doubts within me, it might have been different… That’s why I checked every little detail while wandering around the ICARUS building these past few days.

As a result, of course, there were no traces of illegal programs—specifically hacks. Was there any chance of finding such traces?

The employees even found it curious that hack accusations were still surfacing, so there was no need for further explanation.

Harmony, checking something, added to me.

“Seeing that the server allocation came out, I guess you applied for streamer status. Do you plan to broadcast in the future?”

“If I don’t have anything else to do, it might be a good idea.”

If I lived in the U.S., I might have run a shooting range or joined a tactical consulting firm, but unfortunately, this was Korea.

…Meanwhile, Harmony’s expression was odd. Specifically, she looked very expectant. I had made the comment casually, so why?

“So, when will your broadcast time be? Will you have a fixed schedule?”

“You’re going too far.”

“I think it would be pretty good….”

Then she continued.

“I’m only saying this because it’s just the two of us… but honestly, it would be better for me if Yoo Jin could become independent as a streamer. Right now, my broadcast could be said to depend on one user.”

“That’s true.”

“Even though VR games have made things better, there used to be situations where people would complain about why there was a fixed member for viewer participation…”

This must be the hardships of a streamer. There’s a lot to consider.

If I were to broadcast, I would certainly need to prepare thoroughly in such areas. Perhaps I wasn’t serious about my answers because I was aware of this.

In a room that was literally empty, furniture appeared at Harmony’s gesture, and a microphone appeared. It wasn’t her first time doing this.

While I was quite surprised internally, I forced myself to accept it and only stopped her when I felt something was too much.

As time passed, my room was gradually transformed into something resembling a heavily modified version of itself.

I wondered if it

would be okay to start my first broadcast in such a room visual… If it seemed odd later, I could just purchase and apply a good interior design.

“There should be two more chairs for the other two people.”

“Oh, right. For the ICARUS employees, you said? How did you get them…”

“I got to know them during the physical examination.”

“Ah, you mentioned visiting their building.”

Something seemed off about our conversation….

But there was no need to correct it right now. I was curious about her reaction when she found out the truth later.

Although we had exchanged numbers and talked quite a bit, to confess now, I hadn’t even made a single call.

Anyway, I decided to leave that for later. The broadcast preparation was done.

The mint-colored cat, satisfied, looked at me and continued.

“It’s all done. There won’t be any big problems even if you start broadcasting right now. I’ll tell you the finer settings gradually, so feel free to ask if you have any questions.”

“Thanks to you, I’ve received a lot of help. Thank you.”

“I’ve received a lot of help too, so don’t feel burdened by this natural kindness.”

I simply nodded in response.

It was a day not far from the broadcast.

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