Chapter 6: I’ll Be Your Operator from Now On (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 6: I’ll Be Your Operator from Now On (2)
A mysterious girl with silver hair.
Though this was the first time I had seen her in person, I knew this child well.
"Hello, Yoon A-young."
"Don't you dare say my name so casually."
She gritted her teeth, her face contorting as if the mere sound of her name coming from my mouth was loathsome. Since she was naturally beautiful, even that fierce expression had its own charm.
Yoon A-young. She was someone I couldn't possibly not know.
She was the most anticipated prospect in the near-bankrupt Breakline. Unlike me, with my black hair, the fact that her hair color had changed upon awakening was proof of her immense potential.
While getting a handle on the clan, I had researched all the affiliated heroes, so I had seen her photo in her files many times.
And she also happened to have a significant ill-fated history with the body's original owner.
Yoon A-young, who barely reached my shoulder, glared up at me with wide, piercing eyes.
"You're not even a hero, so why are you loitering around the training ground? You're the one who ran away, so what are you trying to pull now?"
She was a good kid at heart, so that was the extent of her sarcasm.
In the memories left behind, Yoon A-young had always been kind to the body's owner, greeting him with a bright, refreshing smile. She was his junior by one year.
Before he started being bullied, the original owner had a fairly bright personality, and he had spent a lot of time with Yoon A-young since middle school.
The problem was what happened afterward.
She had given up on going to a professional hero training institution just to join a small-time shop like Breakline. These institutions were sometimes called universities or academies, but their official name was Aegis—the Shield of Humanity.
Yoon A-young had been scouted for Aegis since she was young due to her recognized talent, but she gave it all up for the original owner and came to this clan instead.
They had promised to be heroes together, but the original owner retired pathetically after his very first battle.
Left alone, Yoon A-young continued her life as a hero at Breakline, constantly trying to persuade him to return.
But judging by the way she was looking at me now—as if she wanted to kill me—it was easy to see how that relationship had ended.
Seriously, you bastard, how did you live your life?
In truth, there were plenty of other heroes in Breakline who had bad blood with me. Park Sung-jun had used the original owner as a selling point to recruit them, only for him to act like a total stranger once they joined. It would be weirder if they weren't furious.
Of course, I didn't particularly feel like pitying girls who joined a clan like this just for one guy.
However, this girl had grown up sharing dreams with him only to be betrayed, so I felt a bit sorry for her.
"I just came to practice my marksmanship. And I see you've stopped calling me 'Senior'?"
"Senior? You should be grateful I'm even calling you 'you.' I'm holding back the urge to punch you in the face right this second."
"If it'll make you feel better, go ahead and take a few swings. Just try not to kill me."
With my current stats, I’d probably die if I took a direct hit from her, but I was curious to test my Magic Bullet practice, so I made the offer.
Yoon A-young clenched and unclenched her fists several times, suppressing her rage, before letting out a heavy, frustrated sigh.
"Just get out of the training ground. Don't upset the other heroes."
It seemed there were more people with pent-up resentment toward the original owner than I had anticipated.
"Is it the other heroes who are upset? Or is it you?"
"Why would I care about you?! Just get out! You're distracting people from their training!"
Her voice grew louder, as if I had hit a nerve.
I shouldn't have poked her.
Damn it, I really need to fix this habit of being snarky that I picked up from Colonel Park.
"This is the Tactical Support Team's training ground. I won't loiter where the heroes train, so don't worry."
Yoon A-young glared at me for a moment longer before turning on her heel and walking away.
I thought she’d nitpick more, but that was surprisingly brief.
To an old man with plenty of life experience, it looked like she still had feelings for the original owner. Well, the fact that she was still here when she could easily transfer to another clan meant she still had lingering attachments.
I watched the door she exited through for a moment before returning to my practice.
In the game, characters came with their skills already perfected, so I had underestimated it. This was harder than I thought.
Cramming mana efficiently into a small surface area required considerable technique. It had nothing to do with the total amount of mana. It depended entirely on how well I could control it and use it as if it were an extension of my own body.
I thought I’d master it quickly given my decades of experience and Mana Detection skill, but reality and ideals were two different things.
"If I carve a magic circle onto the bullets beforehand, the effect might increase..."
I put the gun down and sat, lost in thought.
Pre-etching magic circles into the bullets would increase their power and require less concentration. However, I’d only be able to use the specific magic carved into them, meaning I’d have to constantly swap bullets to match the situation.
If I were going to do that, a revolver would be better.
Besides, carving a magic circle onto every single bullet? I’d have to spend half my life just making ammunition. I could never do that.
Still, it was only the first day. Just knowing it was possible was a huge step forward. It would get better with more refinement and practice.
After that, I practically lived at the shooting range.
Before work, I exercised at the training center. Once at work, I’d pretend to do some tasks before heading to the range to increase my proficiency.
"Your accuracy has risen to 95% now. That's incredible."
Sung Hee-na, the Tactical Support Team Leader, praised me while looking at the target board.
Since I came here as regularly as if I were clocking in, we had become quite close. She was a woman with a toned physique and a strong gaze that suited her short black hair, but to be honest, she was a bit of a nuisance.
Since this was a society that was kind to men, she would watch over me every time I came to the range. But I’d fired plenty of guns back in the military.
Modern weapons might seem useless because they don't work well against monsters, but in my previous world, monsters weren't the only enemies. We had to compete with neighboring countries, and armed conflicts were frequent.
What happens when you hand guns to Awakened individuals whose physical capabilities are dozens of times higher than a normal person's and send them to war? Unless they're facing another Awakened, even the lowest-ranked Awakened becomes a killing machine.
"It's only because you taught me so well, Team Leader."
"No, even I don't get 95% accuracy at Level 3. As expected of a former hero... Ah... I'm sorry."
Sung Hee-na cut herself off, looking flustered as she apologized.
It couldn't be helped, given the label I carried of being a hero who ran away.
"It's fine. It's true that I'm a former hero."
When I spoke as if it were nothing, Sung Hee-na let out a sigh of relief and smiled brightly.
Despite her tough appearance, she had a very gentle personality. She could have used 'teaching' as an excuse to touch me, but unlike Kim Yun-ah, she didn't commit any sexual harassment.
Perhaps embarrassed about peaking in front of her subordinates, Kim Yun-ah had been avoiding me lately. Her harassment had been one of the few joys of my work life, so it was a bit of a shame. I’d have to find an opportunity to give her another 'lesson.'
"Shall we move up to Level 4 then?"
"No, I'll keep practicing until I hit 100% accuracy before moving on."
If I couldn't even hit the clumsily moving Level 3 targets perfectly, there was no reason for my Magic Bullets to exist. If I tried to shoot a heal at an ally and hit a monster instead, it would be a catastrophe.
It wasn't just a matter of efficiency; it was a matter of reliability. If my allies couldn't trust me as their supporter, the formation would crumble, and the mindless rushing tactics typical of this world would begin.
Unless I increased my accuracy to a pathological degree, I couldn't use this support method.
I continued to practice after that, but in the end, I couldn't hit 100%.
"That's a shame."
Sung Hee-na gave a bitter smile as she processed the target with the single missed shot.
"I guess I need to work harder."
"But it's 99%. You're almost there."
Seeing my disappointment, Sung Hee-na tried to comfort me.
Honestly, I hadn't thought much of it, but her kindness was starting to move me. I looked at her profile as she tidied up and spoke.
"If I hit 100% accuracy, will you grant me a wish?"
Even as I said it, I wondered what kind of line that was. It was clearly a move to flirt, but it was so uncool. Usually, the person helping should be the one saying that, so it felt weird coming from me.
But Sung Hee-na didn't seem to find it strange at all. She blinked, looked at me blankly for a moment, and then nodded.
"Yes, I'll grant you whatever you want, Manager."
Hey, don't give a firm 'yes' without knowing what I'm going to ask.
No matter how I looked at it, she seemed to be saying that because she saw me as innocent. You know, like a manga heroine saying, "Senior, if I get first place, please grant me one wish."
Looking at her eyes, there was nothing suggestive in them; if anything, she looked at me as if I were cute. If we weren't at work, she looked ready to pat my head.
"You promised."
"Yes, I promised."
You promised. No taking it back later.
I left the shooting range, thinking I should schedule my next practice session right before the end of the workday.
"I wondered why you were practicing shooting, and it turns out you were just trying to wag your tail at a woman?"
Yoon A-young was standing near the exit with her arms crossed, glaring at me.
I suppose seeing me come and go from the training ground while practicing with Sung Hee-na had caught her attention. Her expression was cold, but I couldn't help but smile, thinking about how long she must have waited there just to say that.
It was cute seeing her lean against the wall, looking at me as if she had cornered me.
"What are you smiling for? You didn't do anything good."
"You're cute."
"What?"
Yoon A-young's face contorted.
Um... I stepped on a landmine.
In those games full of otaku sensibilities, the characters would get flustered and blush when the protagonist called them cute. Why was this so different from the game?
Seeing Yoon A-young looking genuinely angry, I averted my eyes.
She continued to glare at me with an aura that suggested I should be grateful I wasn't being beaten up, before clicking her tongue and turning away.
"Stop doing useless things and go back to where you ran away to. There's no place for you here."
Muttering something under her breath, Yoon A-young disappeared. I was admiring her small but firm-looking rear when she shot me another glare, forcing me to look away.
Being a hero, her senses were certainly sharp.
Incidents always occur when peace continues and one's mind becomes lax.
I had continued my practice and reached a point where I could achieve 100% accuracy, but since it was broad daylight, I intentionally missed the last shot. I was drinking coffee, wondering how to use my wish ticket with Sung Hee-na.
With a mug in one hand, I had intentionally gone over to Han Ju-hee's desk. I was playing the part of a capable employee, listening to her briefing on the list of B-rank heroes, when everyone's eyes turned toward the monitors on the wall.
Although it had nothing to do with HR, the clan members could monitor dungeon raids in real-time on those screens. When the employees couldn't take their eyes off the footage being broadcast by the Strategy Department, I turned my head to look up at the monitor as well.
On the screen, Yoon A-young was dragging an injured comrade away from a monster. I recognized it was a critical situation, but in this world where the Jewel of Life existed, I didn't feel much of an impact.
When I first arrived at the clan, I thought seeing heroes being mauled by monsters was horrific, but I was adapting well to this world.
I was just thinking, Ah, I guess this dungeon raid is a failure, when an employee muttered.
"They don't even have a Jewel... why did they push themselves so hard?"
No Jewel of Life?
I stared blankly at the shocking news. Seeing my expression, Han Ju-hee explained.
"If there's a red dot in the top left corner, it means they entered without using a Jewel of Life."
Just as she said, a red dot was blinking at the top of the screen.
The sound was muted so people could work, but I could roughly understand what she was shouting by the shape of her mouth. She was repeating the same word over and over, making it hard to miss.
She was desperately calling for an operator.
Unless it was a cave-like environment, the support team would use drones to observe the entire area and give tactical instructions to the heroes. Since the field was moved at the commander's discretion, it could be simple information relay or active command.
In this world, where melee attackers were the majority, most 'ops' consisted of direct command.
Watching Yoon A-young's face as she frantically called for an operator, I asked Han Ju-hee.
"Where is the operating room?"
I had never been there in this body, so I had no memory of it.
"I'll show you."
Han Ju-hee looked at my face for a moment before quickly standing up and guiding me to the place they called the situation room.
"Hero Yoon A-young! Listen carefully! The Manderus's weakness is the back of its neck! Aim for the back of the neck!"
"Where's the Clan Leader? Where are the B-rank heroes right now?!"
"They're all in the middle of dungeon raids, they can't make it back in time!"
"The back of the neck is the weakness!"
"Get me an operator who actually knows how to op! Even a C-rank is fine!"
"Since there's no hard skin on the back of the Manderus's neck..."
Haha, it's a total mess.
The situation room was in a panic, everyone shouting over each other. They were looking for B-rank heroes who weren't even there, and a parrot was acting as the operator, just repeating that the back of the neck was the weakness.
Did they think she was doing this because she didn't know the weakness? She was running away because she couldn't fight while protecting her comrade.
Perhaps because this place only managed low-rank dungeons, the average age of the staff was low. This is why you always need at least one veteran on standby.
Well—it's not like they didn't know that. It's a small clan; they probably just didn't have the manpower.
Seeing the chaotic situation room, Han Ju-hee looked flustered and kept glancing around anxiously.
Fortunately, it seemed the communication hadn't been cut off yet.
I checked the information displayed on the situation board and approached the parrot.
"I'm telling you, aim for the back of the ne—"
I snatched the headset from the parrot and put it on. Yoon A-young's urgent voice came through.
"I know that already! Stop just telling me to aim for the neck and—"
"Operator changed. Follow my instructions from now on."
"... ... Jeong Yeon-woo...?"
"Yes, it's me. I'm taking over the ops. Ah, Ms. Ju-hee, sorry, but could you get me a coffee? I can't leave my seat."
I placed my mug into the hands of the stunned Han Ju-hee.
The chaotic situation room fell silent, and I could feel everyone's eyes on me, but I ignored them and focused on the screen.
I smiled as I watched Yoon A-young, who was running for her life but now wore a bewildered expression upon hearing my voice.
This is the operating of a veteran with 15 years of command experience, so don't worry and just follow along.
And you, too, just earned me a wish ticket.