Common Day

Here's a sudden topic to bring up, but my schedule had changed considerably since I moved back to where I originally lived. In a way, it was only natural. All the facilities that had shaped the previous me had vanished completely.

The training grounds, shooting ranges, kill houses, and hood boxes that had transformed me from a merely strong civilian into an excellent, top-tier killing weapon—along with countless other training facilities—all of those could now only be found in virtual reality.

Still, if I truly missed them, I wouldn't have chosen Dark Zone. To be specific, I probably would've joined some PMC or a deployed unit. Whether that was even possible was another matter entirely.

...No, maybe if I hadn't chosen to log in here, I would've just gone through each day breathing and surviving. Killing someone, even in a virtual space... I'd actually wanted to stop doing that by now.

Anyway, to get back to the point, the reason my schedule had changed was precisely this.

If I'd been in the old days, things would've been different. My life in America had been divided simply into days with operations and days without. On days without operations, both I and everyone else would just sleep in comfortably.

Training or whatever—after a few real combat deployments, both skill and physical condition naturally declined. Why bother training in your free time when you're already exhausted to death?

"...Ugh, I'm sleepy."

My mornings were ordinary if anything, and fast if you counted them that way.

6:55 AM was my standard wake-up time. After getting up, I'd wander around the house a bit and the sleep would naturally wear off. Unlike when I was in America, I was waking up far too early. Maybe it was because I had excess stamina to burn.

Around seven, I'd quickly handle breakfast. Of course, "quick" was by my standards—a 2,000-calorie shake with an entire chocolate cake blended into it would be... well, by normal people's standards, it was something else entirely.

Anyway, I'd start the day by chugging that down. Since my daily calorie burn was a baseline of 4,000, and could easily spike to 7,000 with even a little exercise, I had no choice but to eat like this.

While I sipped it, I checked the computer that was still struggling to recover my overdue money.

At this point, I figured I wouldn't have any more trouble making a living.

I considered whether to rent more servers or purchase additional computing equipment, did a bit of web surfing, and then closed the screen to begin studying my specialty.

Today it was sniping.

I'd construct a simulation based on memorized ballistics tables and firing data, run it, and then verify it directly through the Icarus gear to check where things had gone wrong.

The gear could break down at any time, so I couldn't rely on it alone. Especially when the enemy had a jammer, extremely troublesome situations arose frequently, so I always had to be careful—extra careful.

Wracking my brain and working hard like that, before I knew it, it was nearly 11 AM. I grabbed my stiffened body and did a quick stretch.

Now it was time to prepare for the fitness club.

"Nice weather."

I opened the door and stepped outside—the sunlight was blazing. In contrast to the blizzard raging inside Dark Zone, reality was in summer. Due to the 1:3 time ratio, the in-game seasons changed every month.

Maybe because the sun was at its highest, there were... still quite a few people walking around outside. Seoul was just like that, I guess. I lightly brushed off the lingering stares and entered the building, stepping into the elevator.

The counter was immediately visible as soon as the doors opened.

A sight I'd grown familiar with.

"Oh my, Eugene-ssi."

"Hello. Not many people today."

"Well, it's the mealtime rush, so it's naturally quieter. Isn't that better for you, Eugene-ssi?"

"Actually, yes, it is."

Saying that, I went into the locker room and changed only my top. They didn't refuse to provide pants here, but they didn't fit my body because of my tail.

I walked out lightly, and there they were, waiting like the Avengers to help me exercise. Two people today? I was grateful for the exercise assistance, but it also made me feel a bit apologetic.

They always ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠said it was fine whenever I reacted like this, but... anyway, today I set my muscles on fire once again.

Starting with simple bodyweight exercises, the intensity of my workout rose almost vertically, and as always, sweat poured down like rain and body fat burned away.

Whether I even had body fat to burn was another question, but regardless.

Between sets, I'd check if any messages had come in. In truth, messages piling up was a given, and this was closer to replying to overdue responses.

Lately, the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠person I was mainly talking to was, of course, Harmony.

I realized I still hadn't given her my account info.

Actually, I'd been putting it off because it ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was a hassle, but with parts 2 and 3 already out, it felt wrong to keep stalling, so I immediately got my fingers moving.

The number 1 next to the text vanished in an instant. Streamers gave off a strong impression of being busy, but apparently that wasn't always the case. Or maybe this person was just particularly interested in me.

Between chatting and exercising, two hours slipped away before I knew it.

I left the gym with a sweat-soaked body and headed home.

Since I hadn't brought a spare set of clothes, I'd have to wear the sweat-drenched ones again after showering.

I tossed the sweat-soaked clothes into the washing machine and, while thinking about what to eat for lunch today, took my first shower of the day. Just getting this far, I already felt like today had ended productively.

I shook all the water off my body and changed into fresh clothes.

Since the laundry had built up somewhat, I ran the washing machine once more, and while spinning pizza in the air fryer—my soulmate at this point—I checked the video.

"...The title is absolutely brilliant."

But there was something more important than that.

As the pizza cheese melted and released its primal aroma, I couldn't even turn my eyes away—and the reason was actually quite simple.

View count.

Since Friday was included, part 2, uploaded late at 11 PM the previous night, had already broken through 500,000 views in just twelve hours. Compared to other videos, the difference was stark.

Considering that her Dark Zone part 1 edited video had hit 700,000 views in about three days, this was an unprecedented rate of growth. And considering that other videos averaged around 200,000 views...

Remarkable.

"Ah, when did it all finish loading."

Today's lunch was a whole pizza.

Probably because I was at home, even 16K quality loaded incredibly fast, but I was getting pretty infected myself—I found myself checking the comments below the video before even watching it.

5,000.

That was a lot.

It was absolute chaos.

In truth, it was just one of the things I had to do. She had asked for my help, and Icarus's motto was to provide help to those who needed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it.

In a way, the mysterious two people's words to me—about helping others by forming a large team—might be coming true in a strange form.

Anyway, I enjoyed the videos, which ran a bit over 40 minutes, alongside a golden-brown pizza on the dining table.

The videos themselves were entertaining.

Except that I hadn't anticipated the aftermath would be so much bigger than expected.

"Hey! What were you... ugh, Min-ah. You should've made a separate room for that. The rewards are the same as a normal room if you just fill it with the right number of people... I'm so..."

"Ugh, it's fine. It's already over. I consulted with a lawyer today so you don't need to worry about every detail. And Eugene caught them anyway."

"Phew... Yeah. That's a relief. It is."

Check-in calls were coming in way too often.

From last night to this evening, a single call could be dozens, and if all of them started with "Are you okay?", I'd inevitably develop neurasthenia.

Still, it was clearly a better time than reliving those events. It wasn't bad to reconnect with friends and colleagues after a long while.

The colleague streamer Stone I was currently talking to... in a way, she was the very embodiment of a mother-in-law. But thinking about it the other way, she was saying this because she was worried about me.

"Still, it's good that it seems better than I thought. What are the others saying? Are they all worried like me?"

"Yeah, well... some people even asked if they could introduce me to a lawyer they know. I told them I'm fine. I want to handle it myself. I plan to deal with it as firmly as possible, so don't worry."

"Good, good. Yeah. I guess he really was stupid. Maybe he didn't know how severely violence in virtual reality is punished?"

"Maybe... I don't know, I don't really want to think about it. I'm planning to leave most of the rest to a litigation agent."

After a brief cough—something had gone down the wrong way—Harmony reset her throat with a cough and waited calmly for a response.

"Alright. Let's get a meal sometime."

"You too? Everyone who called to check on me this time said we should get a meal. Did I really go around without eating a single meal with other people?"

"Just think about what kind of karma you've been building with the people around you."

"What did I do?"

At most, I'd been recommending games like primitive people breaking through fields of grass and all sorts of jamminis, golf balls and Sky Kong Kong, climbing mountains with hammers, or games where you float in the air.

Just simple, cute games like that. Why was I getting this reaction?

Everyone just doesn't understand the true aesthetics of gaming.

"Wouldn't it be nice if I recommended the games I play to Eugene too?"

"You only pick the things you shouldn't do, don't you."

A brief silence.

Then the words continued.

"Yeah. Anyway... these days I only hear about you everywhere. I'm not usually the type to check other people's Yourspace, but have you checked the view counts for parts 2 and 3?"

"Huh? No. I haven't checked separately?"

"I figured you'd be like that given your personality. Go check it. It's completely insane. And it'd be good for you not to rely too much on that Eugene person for content."

"No, well. I know that. So I'm already thinking about what to do in-game going forward, so don't worry."

"...Well, you handle those things well on your own."

The voice coming through the phone was a bit relaxed, but within it lay concern and care for the person on the other end.

Anyway, that was that. As she'd told me, I logged into Yourspace. It was a familiar screen. Pushing past the countless notifications that never dropped below +99, I accessed my personal channel.

I didn't really need to sort by newest, but wanting to confirm it with my own two eyes, I pressed the video list and checked the two at the top.

...But.

"...Hey, wait a second."

"What is it? Why are you like that?"

"No, why is this..."

Why were both of them seven digits?

Those words swirled between Harmony's lips, which hadn't quite fallen shut.