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> [Identifying 3 intersecting causal conflicts.]
> [Proposal: Establish spacetime coordinates for connection re-establishment. Power supply for Artificial Probability Fixer activation. Minimum two high-grade field operatives required.]
> [Causal connection point identified: Smartphone in possession, including 24 files with filename 20250314_0004.jpg.]
> [Two top-tier field operatives deployed and neutralizing.]
> [Artificial Probability Fixer Anchor linkage complete.]
> […….]
> [Two field operatives and ■■■, original causality return identified.]
> [Record: Success]
Thud.
A heavy object struck the floor. Yet the sound was so faint it seemed impossible to believe — barely enough to fill the modest interior of the room.
The clatter of equipment colliding followed, but even that quickly subsided. A silence so thick you could hear someone breathing pressed down on the air.
Only the sound of metal scraping against metal lingered in the ears.
───Whoosh.
And from within that stillness, a single figure emerged.
Long black hair slipping naturally between the gaps of a plate frame, dust settling softly atop it. Pointed ears protruding sharply from the mass, a faint bullet-shaped hairpin visible above them. A sharp jawline rising above a black neck warmer. Skin of luminous whiteness contrasting starkly with the glossy dark hair, lips slightly parted. A faint, shallow breath escaping between them.
She stood in the center of a living space that was neatly arranged yet felt desolate in the absence of its owner. Instead of the machine gun she usually favored, she had drawn a pistol from its holster, and in her other hand she held a tactical knife.
But.
"…What?"
This was a space she knew.
The sight she had tried to forget, yet which grew sharper and more vivid the more desperate her life became — it stood before her eyes. Combat techniques carved into her body, reason honed to a blade's edge to maintain composure in any situation — none of it could stop the longing that crashed over her like a tidal wave.
The deep blue irises behind her sight trembled. Emotions so intense they made breathing difficult surged upward, and the muzzle of her gun dipped downward.
"…H-how…" The words escaped her without her realizing it.
She prayed this was not a dream.
If it was a dream, she prayed she would never wake.
For four years cast into a hell that had manifested in the real world, these memories had grown faint at times but never once completely vanished. Her lips were pressed so tightly that blood seeped from the puncture of her sharp fangs, yet the desperation was so overwhelming she could barely feel the pain.
The smell of gunpowder that always hung in the air. The dust of shattered urban ruins. The scent of concrete. The burning odor that not even winter's cold wind could mask. The sound of gunfire that echoed in her ears without a single day's break… All of it was gone.
Her body, which had seemed on the verge of collapse, began to tremble violently.
───Swish.
She carefully gathered her shaking hands and peeled off the mechanic's wear gloves she had been wearing. The way she stroked the furniture while spitting out fragments that had failed to become words was almost pitiful.
Her grip tightened on the pale white surface, as if she refused to let go of the sight she had barely managed to take in. Tears began to fall, drop by drop, onto that white skin.
She wept silently. She wept soundlessly, her chest heaving as if it would tear apart. She had to weep. On a certain winter day, she had once cried out loud — and the mob that came at the sound of her tears, she had been forced to kill.
In a place where she was not even permitted to cry freely, she had had to learn how to weep as quietly as possible.
But.
"…Hhh, hhh, ugh… hhh, haaah…!"
At least today, she couldn't hold it back.
Even the strength to move left her legs, and she collapsed to her knees before the entrance. The torrent of violent emotion breached the dam, transforming her sobs into wailing.
She tried to cover her face with her hands, but the tears flowed endlessly. The emotions and pain accumulated over four years, mixed into her cries — no single person could possibly suppress that much by their own will.
───Beep!
Light flickered from her wrist as she wailed there, gasping for breath.
A flood of information surged forward.
> Network disconnection confirmed. Information Control and Regional-Uniting Support System, hereafter Icarus System, rebooting…
> Reboot complete. Data aggregation initiated.
> Identifying accessible networks. Attempting linkage between satellite network and possessed electronic devices, data pairing…
> Connection established.
Countless characters flickered before her eyes, appearing and vanishing in rapid succession.
Golden letters that looked almost reverent at first glance. But they were invisible to her — she was lying face-down, eyes closed, spewing forth her grief. The interior was far too cleanly arranged for a space where people lived. On the smoothly cleaned floor, the footprints she had left while walking remained.
Footprints of old concrete, dust, metal fragments, and blood mixed together. Things that could never coexist with a place called "home."
That was what told the story of where she had walked.
She had left so much behind.
She had abandoned things a person should never have to leave behind, and had learned the skill of killing people simply because she didn't want to die. She had accepted the fact that she would never return, and had etched into her bones sensations she should never have grown accustomed to.
It had taken barely a few years for the roughly twenty years of her past to be crushed into nothing.
Memories she didn't want to forget and memories she wanted to forget churned together, twisting her already confused mind further. The memory of shooting until the smell of gunpowder no longer left her body. The memory of taking another person's life for the first time. Blood flowing over accumulated snow. Eyes and lives gradually scattering away.
The Milky Way visible above a clear sky. The countless people she had resolved to protect. Teammates she could trust, and the youngest member she wanted to take care of even more.
The self-loathing she felt upon realizing she was still alive — more than the fact that she had killed enemies. The praise she received from the lives she had saved. The sense of duty that filled the gradually numbing heart.
All of it was colliding chaotically.
Every one of those emotions was dissolving into the tears that soaked the sleeve of her military uniform.
Among all the terrible things in this world, and yet — all the moments that had shone within that darkness.
She couldn't even understand why she was crying. There were simply too many things she had left behind in that place to simply rejoice at her return.
But one thing was certain.
The final line appeared before her eyes.
"Welcome home, Eugene."
She would no longer have to suffer.
Personal data updating…
Operator Name: Lee Eugene.
Origin/Hometown: Unknown…… → Republic of Korea, Seoul.
Age: Unknown…… → 24.
Record: Unknown.
Height: 171cm.
Weight: ■■■kg.
[D+1700. Return]
The Information Control and Regional-Uniting Support System — Icarus — is a classified agency directly under the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, established pursuant to Presidential Directive 51. Its mandate is the continuity and anti-terrorism protection of critical government facilities during wartime or disaster scenarios, encompassing information and communications infrastructure, power generation, gas and petroleum, banking and finance, transportation and water supply, and emergency medical systems.
Through multi-dimensional simulations, the U.S. government assessed how nationwide chaos — whether caused by nuclear attack, pandemic, terrorism, cult activity, or even undefined neurotoxic gas leaks — might paralyze government functions, and sought methods to overcome the resulting total systemic failure of the United States.
The Icarus System and its subordinate Tactical Support Bureau operatives were born from this effort. Their primary objective is the preservation and reconstruction of essential government functions necessary to end chaos. To this end, they hold unrestricted access to hidden panic rooms, fortified safe houses, and armories concealed throughout society.
Furthermore, to ensure smooth operational support for deployed personnel, these protocols can bypass and penetrate various electronic security standards distributed throughout the United States, including those of the government itself. This authority remains valid even after the crisis has ended, or after government functions have recovered to more than 30% of normal capacity.
This persists until a separate commander-in-chief's order is issued, or until a direct order is transmitted from within the top five of the presidential line of succession.
[Excerpted]
Icarus operatives are typically selected from members of the U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) with extensive urban combat experience, prioritizing those who hold a clear vision and have demonstrated exceptional dedication and contribution to the nation. Their locations are tracked in real time as long as they possess their devices, and Fallen — rogue operatives — are subject to immediate elimination.
However, in Category 3 or higher situations — that is, when the casualty rate of deployed Icarus operatives reaches 20% or more, constituting a total-loss determination — new operatives may be recruited with the recommendation and approval of existing personnel. These candidates must arrive at HQ as quickly as possible, undergo physical testing, and be evaluated for deployment eligibility.
Unlike other personnel who complete various training programs for breaching hostile foreign terrain, Icarus operatives are required to possess extraordinarily strong cardiopulmonary endurance and physical conditioning that cannot be compared to other operatives. They must prioritize mastery of countless firearms, basic and advanced explosives, enemy communications jamming and network establishment, forensics and psychology, government building structures and vulnerabilities, protective methods, and advanced/elite CQB.