Going Solo

The ones who had been waiting most desperately for the next chapter of God's Warrior — the day-one viewers and the game's established fanbase — hurled down a storm of indignation.

Those who had come purely to admire Seyul's appearance insisted that the stream itself was gift enough, and showered her with goodwill.

Whether they were criticizing or complimenting, though, most viewers shared one thing in common: they had no idea what game it was. After all, they had swarmed in the moment the stream started without checking a thing.

When Seyul launched the new game, the title popped up on screen for everyone to see. Fans of that particular game glanced at her viewer count, assumed she must be a big-name streamer, and came flooding in. Quite a crowd gathered and started chattering among themselves, at which point the original viewers finally caught on to what the game was.

Untouchable. A game in the military FPS genre. It wasn't as mainstream as God's Warrior, but it had a devoted legion of enthusiast fans, so most people had at least heard the name.

The moment the narration ended, the helicopter soaring across the sky touched down on an island — a covert island somewhere in the South Pacific, where, according to the setting, Untouchable made its headquarters. True to its nature as a private military company, the HQ looked less like an office building and more like a full military base. At least a hundred armed personnel were stationed around the structure, rifles in hand.

The helicopter descended right into the middle of them all, and out stepped the protagonist — the player character said to have come seeking the company. Seyul emerged slowly onto the tarmac.

The instant she appeared, laughter erupted from every corner of the chat. The protagonist of this game was, by design, a former soldier — and accordingly, the player's default look was about as military as it could get: green camouflage pants, a green short-sleeved tee, and a set of dog tags hanging around the neck.

The problem was that this outfit clashed with Seyul to an almost catastrophic degree. A tiny girl standing in the one-hundred-forty-centimeter range, with long silver hair and a straight-out-of-fantasy looks — on her, a military uniform wasn't just ill-fitting. It sank below the level of a half-hearted cosplay.

Even the original viewers, still fuming over the betrayal, found their anger dissolving into laughter.

The newcomers who had come for Untouchable looked at Seyul's appearance — so utterly mismatched with the game's grim atmosphere — and began to worry.

But this one's pretty good, isn't it?

Regardless of what everyone else thought, Seyul herself was quite satisfied. She had originally started gaming out of homesickness for the other world, but somewhere along the way she'd genuinely come to enjoy the games themselves. On impulse she had bought Untouchable out of curiosity about what other games might be out there, and at least for now, it was living up to expectations.

Come to think of it, I used to play this genre a lot back in the day.

The reason she had specifically picked a military title like Untouchable was simply that the genre felt familiar. Having bought it on genre alone and knowing nothing else about it, Seyul waited expectantly to see what would unfold.

"Good to meet you, Seyul!"

As she stepped down from the helicopter and walked forward, a welcoming voice rang out. Ahead of her stood a man — flanked by an escort of roughly a dozen soldiers, apparently in his forties. A Black soldier whose physique remained impressively solid despite his age.

Lieutenant Colonel Heat. The name was tied to the game's title itself — he was the second-in-command of Untouchable, the in-story organization that gave the game its name, and the NPC the player would see more than anyone else.

"Do you still remember me? It's been a long time since those hellish forty-nine days we spent in Afkan."

He was also, by design, an old acquaintance of the protagonist — which was why he greeted Seyul as if they knew each other. And at that very moment, the chat window vanished under another wave of howling laughter.

Seyul looked younger than even a middle school girl. Being grilled about Afkan on top of that made it physically impossible to take any of this seriously.

"We never crossed paths again after that, but I did hear word of you."

Lieutenant Colonel Heat, blissfully unaware that the entire internet was cackling at him, delivered his scripted lines with perfect fidelity to his role.

"Word is that you too were betrayed by those damned higher-ups."

"As were you?"

"That's right. I was discarded as well."

To Seyul's feigned surprise, Heat replied with bitter gloom.

"It was this very Untouchable that took me in. ...In truth, it was I who recommended you. When I heard news of what had become of you, I simply couldn't leave you to rot."

"I appreciate that."

Seyul offered a suitably noncommittal response. She didn't fully grasp the setup yet, but judging from his manner of speech, the man was clearly a superior officer — which meant she ought to show at least a token of courtesy.

It's not like I've never enlisted before.

She had briefly served in a military once, back in the other world — the army of the nation where Seyul had first appeared. It had happened more or less by accident: an incident broke out, exactly as it might in any otherworld fantasy novel, and Seyul resolved it with her jaw-dropping prowess. The kingdom that witnessed it had dangled a noble title to reel her in, so she'd operated with officer's treatment from the very start. Drawing on that old experience, she put together a passable imitation of military decorum.

"If I join this organization, what exactly will I be expected to do?"

She asked about the game's broad objective first. Not that she had the slightest intention of doing whatever she was told — she was simply curious.

And when the answer came back, Seyul felt as if she'd been cracked over the back of the head with a soju bottle.

"Terrorism."

"What?"

"I said — terrorism against the current international order."

An ambush of terrorism talk, straight out of nowhere! While Seyul's expression gradually hardened, Heat carried on, entirely unbothered.

"The whole 'private military company' act is nothing but a mask. Untouchable's true purpose is retribution against an unjust world."

"Unjust in what way?"

"Do you truly not know?!"

Heat flared up at Seyul's deadpan question.

"Look at the state of you! You gave everything to your country, and it tossed you aside like a worn-out rag! You think that happened to you alone? It did not. It happened to every soul in this place — and it's happening, right this very moment, to every soldier on the face of this earth!"

"...."

"Country, people, family. You didn't hesitate to stain these hands with blood for all of them. And what came back in return? A nation that treats the soldier who bled for it as a convenient disposable part. Citizens who loathe and look down on the men and women in uniform. A wife who takes another man into her bed while her husband is off fighting a war for his country. Not one damn thing came back the way it should have!"

Heat delivered his tirade in full voice. And it was true — this was precisely the kind of organization Untouchable was, utterly unlike the factions a protagonist usually joined. A gathering of soldiers discarded by their nations, united for one purpose: vengeance against modern society.

"The current system is rotten. Through terror, we intend to condemn the international order of today and tear it down. We will build a new world — one where the strong who shed their blood in battle receive the treatment they deserve. Untouchable! Just as the name promises, we will become something no one can lay a hand on!"

Having laid out his purpose, Heat extended his hand toward Seyul.

"Ordinarily we would never reveal our true intentions so openly to a newcomer. But I respect you as a comrade, so I've told you everything. What say you? Won't you join hands with us and change this filthy world? Together, we take our revenge on the nation that threw us away!"

The invitation was polite on its face. The reality was rather different. The soldiers standing by around him racked their rifles in perfect unison — a silent threat: refuse, and die where you stand. Turn down the offer and it was an instant game over. And so every player had no choice but to accept, join Untouchable, and follow the script. That was the game's proper storyline.

Whether the player broke under the coercion or genuinely came to sympathize with the ideology, whoever joined Untouchable went on to carry out every manner of terror plot at the organization's command. The tragedies and dark comedies that unfolded along the way — and the torment the player felt — were the very things that had earned this game its place among the masterpieces.

The Untouchable fans worried that Seyul would quit partway through. Not one of them imagined she would refuse the offer outright. With more than a dozen rifles aimed at her face, no sane player said no — or so they believed.

The veterans who had watched her from the beginning thought otherwise. And events unfolded exactly as they expected.

"No."

With the muzzles of a dozen rifles pointed at her, Seyul declared her refusal loud and proud. Lieutenant Colonel Heat's face went cold as a sheet of ice.

"Why? Aren't you filled with rage? Don't you want your revenge—"

"Don't misunderstand. I never said I wouldn't take revenge."

"...What?"

"I simply have no intention of doing it hand-in-hand with the likes of you."

Seyul thought it through. In her original other world, the nation she had belonged to had never once betrayed her. They had used her, certainly — but they'd never dared turn on her openly. But had her nation turned its back on her? Seyul, whose thinking had shifted during her time with God's Warrior, knew exactly what she would have done.

"If my country truly cast me out, then any revenge for it is something I settle on my own!"

Alone. Borrowing no one's strength. The words left her without a moment's hesitation, and Heat's face went slack with disbelief.

"Alone? Against a nation?"

"That's what I said."

"Are you in your right mind? No single individual can stand against a state! No — 'state' is putting it mildly. You'd effectively be making the entire international order your enemy, and you'd do it alone? You mean to fight the whole world by yourself?"

"Obviously!"

The answer came back in less than a second.

"I borrow no one's power. If I walk my own path, then revenge, too, is mine and mine alone to carry out — even if the whole world ends up on the list. However regrettable, I would have no choice but to fight."

The girl who had sworn she would walk her own path, uncontrolled by anyone's hand, could hardly crawl under someone else's command the moment her ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enemy proved too powerful. That would be a comedy beyond parody. And so Seyul held that revenge, like everything else, was something she had to see through on her own.

Besides — call it revenge or what have you, in the end it was still terrorism. Murder dressed up as resolve, slaughtering innocents in the name of seeing one's will done. She already found it distasteful enough just being told what to do; if the assignment was terror, there was only one answer.

"Revenge against the international order can wait. Right now, I have some loudmouths shooting off nonsense that need a lesson in manners."

Resolved to gut-wrench yet another ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠game story she couldn't stomach, Seyul's eyes gleamed with a cold, dangerous light.