<strong>───Tududududu!</strong>


    <strong>"The ne is so spacious inside, and it’s just the two of us flying. It feels like a waste of space."</strong>


    <strong>"But flying with others packed in tightly wouldn''t be great either."</strong>@@novelbin@@


    <strong>"That''s true."</strong>


    On the flight path to Washington D.C., a prototype tiltrotor aircraft, following the lineage of the V-22 Osprey, was slicing through the sky at a speed of 780 km/h. The view outside the window was nearly pitch-ck. Only asionally could a light be seen, and even then, it was so faint that you had to strain your eyes to make it out.


    We were flying a route that took us through New York, Phdelphia, Baltimore, and on to Washington D.C., which meant that even these massive cities had lost their lights, underscoring just how close humanity was to falling into the abyss.


    There were 7 minutes and 31 seconds left until we reached the drop zone. It was time to exin the current situation to Harmony, who, as usual, didn’t fully grasp what was going on.


    <strong>"Do you know why we’re heading to Washington D.C.?"</strong>


    <strong>"Well, kinda... Isn''t it just to expand the Icarus faction''s influence? The game’s story is really poorly exined."</strong>


    <strong>"You''re not entirely wrong."</strong>


    <strong>"Which part? The former or thetter?"</strong>


    <strong>"Thetter."</strong>


    What can I say? The story, as experienced by an operator who joined Icarus after the protocol was issued, tended to prioritize realism over immersion. In other words, it didn’t spell out the entire story in a straightforward manner.


    Actually, to be more precise, the game did provide all the details. However, it was far from a simple, linear story that anyone could easily follow. Instead, most of the backstory had to be pieced together through collectibles and briefing files sent by Icarus.


    Piecing together the backstory like a puzzle is something that can definitely be prizing.


    <strong>"Should I exin it at a middle school level or a high school level?"</strong>


    <strong>"...Is there no elementary school level?"</strong>


    <strong>"Then I might need to buy you a picture book first."</strong>


    <ul>


    <li><em>LOL</em></li>


    <li><em>Aww, baby Harmony… Feed me with a spoon…</em></li>


    <li><em>I want to smack her, lol</em></li>


    <li><em>Hot take: It''s actually somewhat linear.</em></li>


    <li><em>What good is being linear if you have to hunt down everything yourself, lol</em></li>


    </ul>


    Ignoring Harmony’s bright red ears, I thought of an easy way to exin the situation. Back in the day, failing to properly summarize briefings would get me in serious trouble, so I had no choice but to get good at it. My English skills improved a lot back then, too.


    Anyway, I decided on a high school-level exnation.


    <strong>"The U.S. is vast, and within it are a lot of cities. Icarus is originally a branch of the Department of Homnd Security, so it has influence in almost every city. But if we prioritize the most important locations, New York and Washington D.C. are at the top. And Washington D.C. is a bit more critical. Do you know why?"</strong>


    <strong>"Uh… because all the important government offices are concentrated there?"</strong>


    <strong>"Correct."</strong>


    The IRS. The Capitol Building. The Pentagon and DARPA. The NASA headquarters. And, most importantly, the White House. Of course, there are countless other facilities there as well, too many to list. Washington D.C. is packed with crucial sites, which is why it has been called the heart of America instead of New York.


    <strong>"Normally, the capital should be the most heavily defended ce during any kind of crisis, but a virus is apletely different story. And when the pandemic started, as the virus spread rapidly, what happened as countless people tried to flee the heart of America?"</strong>


    <strong>"...I don’t get a good feeling about this."</strong>


    <strong>"They were all ughtered. Even high-ranking officials trying to escape and operators with inadequate equipment who attempted to contain the situation in its early stages—all of them were wiped out. The virus wasn’t exactly selective about its victims."</strong>


    <strong>"Oh."</strong>


    And it would’ve been rtively manageable if that were the only issue. But the situation spiraled out of control when mysterious EMP stster identified as caused by non-explosive maic field bombs—started going off all over Washington.


    In a situation that was already chaotic, power outages and fires broke out, turning the capital intoplete pandemonium. It only took three days for the city to be a massive graveyard.


    <strong>"Communications with Washington D.C. headquarters werepletely destroyed. The U.S. spent nearly two million dors per person to train its countless special forces operatives, and now less than half of them remain."</strong>


    <strong>"Did they all die?"</strong>


    <strong>"Half of them died, and a quarter became warlords, mercenaries, or something worse. The rest are probably in hiding."</strong>


    <strong>"So we''re going there to reim the city from those guys."</strong>


    <strong>"That’s the gist of it."</strong>


    A mission briefing appeared in the air. I didn''t expect this type of presentation—a mission briefing right before a HALO jump. The objective was the Department of Homnd Security headquarters, located below the Smithsonian Institution’s office and to the right of the Federal Courthouse.


    The first task was to find out what had been happening in the nation’s capital. As the mission began, the voice of the support operator filled my ears.


    <ul>


    <li><em>Finally in thete game, lol</em></li>


    <li><em>Something big ising! Something big ising!</em></li>


    <li><em>Fact: These two are locked on Very Hard difficulty.</em></li>


    <li><em>You need a four-person party from here on out, but they’re just charging in, lmao</em></li>


    <li><em>Into the mes of battle!!!</em></li>


    </ul>


    <strong>-[ISO: You’ve reached the objective. Let’s find out what kind of shitstorm has hit this dead city.]</strong>


    <strong>-[ISO: Good luck.]</strong>


    <strong>───Giiiiing!</strong>


    With a tense sound, the ramp door opened. A deafening wind and freezing gusts began to flood the aircraft’s interior. The slight warmth that had been in the cabin was sucked out in an instant, and sub-zero temperatures rushed in.


    My voice automatically rose to ovee the howling wind.


    <strong>"Ugh, the wind is too strong!"</strong>


    <strong>"Check the green light! Activate night vision! Set the auto-altimeter to 500 meters!"</strong>


    <strong>"Okay! Night vision on! Altimeter set to 500 meters!"</strong>


    <strong>Whoosh!</strong>


    The wind was so fierce it was hard to keep my eyes open as the pitch-ck darkness loomed below the ramp door. Jumping out felt less like exiting an aircraft and more like opening the door to a sealed-off ancient ruin, but night vision made the night as bright as day.


    There was an Icarus gear box lined up on the rail, packed with gear we’d need. I was on the left, Harmony on the right. We stood parallel to each other, facing the darkness. We checked our parachutes. Since this was a game, there was no chance of a malfunction.


    A grand BGM swelled, and various pieces of information popped up before my eyes.


    <strong>-[Notice: Moderate turbulence near the objective.]</strong>


    <strong>-[Notice: All Green.]</strong>


    <strong>"Dive, dive, dive!"</strong>


    <strong>"Yaaaah───!!!"</strong>


    <strong>Drurrrrr!</strong>


    With a strong push, I sent the gear box hurtling down into the darkness, piercing through Harmony’s scream as it plummeted to the ground.


    The Washington D.C. mission had begun.


    <strong>"It kinda feels like we''re doing the tutorial again. Doesn’t it?"</strong>


    <strong>"So, should I assume you n to troll as much as you did during the tutorial?"</strong>


    <strong>"Keep it up, and I’ll dodge you."</strong>


    <strong>"I’ll just piggyback you, then."</strong>


    <ul>


    <li><em>Oh, lol</em></li>


    <li><em>It doesn''t sound sweet when the teacher says it, does it??</em></li>


    <li><em>Not sweet, more like an emergency medevac</em></li>


    <li><em>Is she suggesting a fireman''s carry? lol</em></li>


    <li><em>Double shield on the back, lol</em></li>


    </ul>


    Tutorial.


    It hadn’t been that long since then, yet it felt so distant. Maybe it was because of how dense our schedule had been since.


    Anyway, the difference between here and New York was that, unlike thetter, which at least had generators providing some light, this ce had been hit by multiple electromaic pulses, plunging it intoplete darkness.


    The one silver lining was that it made navigating somewhat easier.


    Though, there were exceptions.


    <strong>"…There aren’t as many enemies around as I expected? I was thinking of the quarantine zone, but theck of anyone around is even scarier…"</strong>


    <strong>"At least New York has abundant resources. Here… it’s hard to find even a night vision scope. So enemies who roam at night naturally disappear. But…"</strong>


    That’s how it usually was.


    In a ce crammed with government offices like this, where would firearms or explosivese from? Walking through Washington D.C. meant you were within a 10-kilometer radius of the people who ruled the U.S. and the world.


    Those without permission couldn’t even carry a small folding knife here. By that logic, it was fair to assume that this area would turn into a bted melee zone.


    But on the flip side...


    <strong>-[Notice: Presence detected.]</strong>


    <strong>"Prepare forbat."</strong>


    <strong>"…Okay!"</strong>


    Those with ess to firearms in this cluster of government buildings were likely dangerous, experienced enemies.


    My hunch was right.


    <strong>───Swoosh!</strong>


    <strong>Bang.</strong>


    The airpressed and heated up in an instant, sending shockwaves in all directions. A missile. Or maybe a rocket. Thankfully, it missed by a hair. Instincts red to life.


    The enemies already knew our location. Normally, this would be a situation where retreat made sense, but the advanced technology of the Icarus Device pinpointed a sliver of possibility amidst the exponential odds.


    It immediately identified the location of the few operational remote-controlled devices in the area and the signals connected to them. Two straight lines connected like beams of light, marking the enemies'' positions.


    <strong>Gotcha.</strong>


    <strong>"Found them. They’re monitoring us from the balcony of the buildingplex to the right, above the rooftop garden. Take over theuncher. I’lly down suppressive fire so they can’t escape."</strong>


    <strong>"Shall I blow them away?"</strong>


    <strong>"Of course."</strong>


    Harmony grinned slyly. The enemies on the balcony moved in a well-coordinated, disciplined manner, scanning the surroundings. A tripod and sniper rifle—a standard setup. At least three enemies, possibly four.


    Letting them escape would cause endless headaches.


    <strong>-[Suggestion: Top Attack Mode]</strong>


    <strong>Thunk!</strong>


    I initiated the shot.


    At the sound of a single shot, three of them swiftly took cover, but the balcony wasn’t exactly a spacious area. Harmony, deftly manipting the missileuncher, shared the expected impact point.


    With a whoosh, the missile soared almost vertically. Strictly speaking, it followed a parabolic trajectory, but the arc was so steep that it seemed nearly straight.


    A heavy recoil pressed against my shoulder. The enemies, who had just taken over control of theuncher, suddenly realized that the rocket wasing toward them. They began to scatter, but at that moment, a .338 round pierced through their legs. They fell awkwardly, frantically trying to crawl away.


    The irony of a life being worth only 2,500 won was something else.


    <strong>───KABOOM!</strong>


    In that moment, the balcony exploded.


    It wasn’t arge space, and the missile was unnecessarily powerful. Thebination of these two factors created a new oue—destruction.


    The unusual sound and mes were followed by tons of rubble crashing down. It was a broken orchestra that you wouldn’t hear anywhere else.


    The darkness shuddered violently under the suddenmotion.


    <strong>"Three enemies neutralized. No further movement."</strong>


    <strong>"Let’s get out of here quickly. I’m not in the mood for more wee parties."</strong>


    <strong>Crunch.</strong>


    One minute into the engagement.


    Three enemies had been vaporized, and the explosion that copsed the balcony had dissipated into the night. The two of us left no trace, vanishing along a path no one had walked before.


    Only the biting winter wind remained, filling the silence as it always did.


    <strong>[Tricki Personal Community - Harmony]</strong>


    <strong>[General] Why is Nyang getting better and better????</strong>


    <strong><Clips of Calm Combat></strong>


    I used to see her trembling a bit, but now she just pushes through like it''s nothing. So scary, wow;;


    <strong>[All Comments][Sorted by Most Recent]</strong>


    =Isn’t it because Teacher Yujin does everything for her?


    ?You haven''t been watching the streamstely, lol


    ?That''s not true, she''s been matching Yujin''s support very welltely.


    ?Her skills have improved so much, lol


    =I want to see how good she really is, but she hasn''t been doing mission public matchestely.


    ?Right? Yujin is so overwhelming that it’s hard to tell how much she’s improved.


    ?She’s only been ying with the teacher these days, lol


    ?The mission difficulty isn''t shown, so we really have no idea.


    ?Ah, we’ll see how it goes soon, lol


    =They hinted at an uing coboration in today’s chat, so hang in there, lol


    ?Oh, lol


    ?Is it the Byongmangchi cob? We’re done for this weekend, lol


    ?Yeah, it''s next Wednesday~~~~


    ?Lol, I’m safe since I’m unemployed.


    ?Who’s employed here, lol


    =Her skills have skyrocketed in just a month, lol


    ?She’s probably the luckiest one, lol. Where else would you find a guide like Yujin?


    ?Fact: Yujin isn''t a guide, she''s a newbie like Harmony.


    ?Oh yeah, lol, I forgot.


    ?Newbie (who won first ce in Apex in a month)


    ?Insane, lol


    =But seriously, I''m jealous. It seems like she’s getting proper training.


    ?Right? Some mentors teach their mentees bad habits instead.


    ?There’s a reason the rating system exists, lol


    ?Why don’t I have such a cute teacher?????


    ?Lol, not for you~


    ?Damn it...


    <strong>Everyone, I’m currently working hard on new emotes, and I’m giving them out like crazy.</strong>


    <strong>Aren’t they cute?</strong>