Chapter 12: Body Check -2

The special forces unit under the United States Navy Special Warfare Command had to be familiar with water.

However, as the overall defense capability of the United States fragmented, every operator, even if they belonged to the Army, was required to have multi-domain capabilities beyond their specialties.

At least that was the case for me.

After the United States was easily incapacitated by a virus, and the flames of war moved to the mainland, numerous tactical aspects that had never been experienced before were revealed, and they could largely be categorized into two:

Urban warfare and infiltration warfare along the coastal areas.

During my approximately four-year tenure as an operator, the first three years were primarily urban warfare, during which the United States stabilized its mainland affairs by piling up mountains of corpses of countless talents.

And when the urgent fires were extinguished, it became apparent to the world that the naval forces of adversary nations were continuously lurking in coastal areas.

Accordingly, at the time when I had only been an operator for just over three years,

I had to simultaneously undergo extensive training for infiltrating numerous enemy warships and conducting sabotage operations.

And fortunately,

───Splash!

“…Hooah.”

I could adapt to the underwater environment faster than anyone else.

As I surfaced and checked the flexible band on my wrist, I noticed it was glowing green, indicating that data collection to confirm the movement and resistance of my tail in the water had been completed.

I signaled to the supervising personnel and emerged from the swimming pool.

It had been about four hours since I arrived here.

The schedule, which began precisely at twelve in the afternoon when I arrived at the company building, didn’t seem to go smoothly from the start.

Part of it was due to the fact that there weren’t many people using this system to the extent that the supervising personnel had to seek my consent beforehand… but still.

[Error: Skeletal muscle mass calculation failed.]

[Error: No match found. Body outline and weight do not match.]

No, why is this machine acting up? Just a moment…

I’m sorry, could you wait a bit until the measurement values come out, please?

Or,

Is there something wrong with the physics engine? No, it’s just the values we provided. What? If we input them as they are, it sounds like cheating, what does that mean?

…Yes, yes. We will convey the simulation results to that person as soon as we receive them. So, is it to confirm if such behavior is actually possible?

Yes, please list the requests and send them. Once we check them all, we’ll deliver them in real-time, right?

Yes. Understood.

…I’m sorry, but do you happen to like exercising?

It was because of incidents like these.

Though it was difficult to discern the exact details, just by eavesdropping on the conversations, one could guess what had happened to some extent.

However, despite the conversations taking such forms, there weren’t any significant issues with the operation, and thus, around 1:30 PM,

I headed towards the densely packed internal welfare facilities and infrastructure located underground.

Though it’s hard to explain in detail, essentially, it was a place where various facilities such as restaurants, fitness clubs, swimming pools, and lounges were gathered for the employees.

So, if you’re wondering what I did there,

Wow, wow, wow… how is this even possible for a person?

…I thought I was quite dedicated to the company gym, but this is something else.

I exercised again.

It’s difficult to enumerate them one by one, but to put it briefly… I confirmed through numerous exercises how closely the results of the simulator, which were based on the analysis of muscle density and skeletal muscle mass, matched with the actual performance, primarily focusing on cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, and various bodyweight exercises, rather than anaerobic exercises.

For those still curious, let me explain,

…Are you not tired?

Haah, still quite, manageable… I suppose!

As always, wearing the weighted vest to simulate the weight of combat gear and running around for over 30 minutes.

Ugh, the vibrations, the vibrations, agh…!

You volunteered as the casualty, so please bear with it a little longer.

Executing various methods of casualty evacuation under the guise of transporting the wounded for several tens of minutes,

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that we attempted actions that are realistically possible in the game.

Although, that’s precisely why we came here in the first place.

Anyway, through various demonstrations lasting over an hour, most of the necessary data was collected,

Simultaneously, it was easy to prove that the conjectures, beyond common knowledge, emerging from the simulation center were all feasible in reality.

Unfortunately, all of this preparation was solely for my sake – there were many other tasks to attend to.

For instance,

—!!!

How long do we have to keep doing this!

I can’t hear you!

Reproducing only a small part of the HALO process through PlayStation to analyze tail movements in the air,

Wow, you’re skilled in combat too. Did you learn somewhere?

…Yes, I learned somewhere.

Multiple demonstrations of how to use it, especially when entering the fray, were shown.

Although it’s a secret that shouldn’t be disclosed, as it’s a mixture of close quarters combat techniques learned directly from USSOCOM units,

It didn’t matter much as it would be hard for ordinary people to understand what they were seeing.

Some adjustments were made according to my style.

Anyway, the operation method was simple.

After deflecting the enemy’s attack and inducing a temporary deadlock, wrapping legs with the tail and throwing, or swiftly passing by and tripping with the tail.

It was a highly simplified explanation, but that was the essence.

And back to square one.

In addition to the refreshing sensation of water entering the body, the sweat from the numerous exercises performed two hours ago soaked the body thoroughly.

No need to visit the fitness club today.

Water droplets falling along the contours of the body. Every step left footprints resembling soles made of water.

As if trying to erase all traces left by the swimming pool, hot water from the showerhead washed from head to toe.

The slightly cooled body regained its normal temperature.

With long hair retaining much water unless dried it after the shower, it was better to squeeze out some moisture to prevent damage.

After that, drying the hair and body with a towel finally began.

Trying to eliminate as much moisture as possible from every part of the body, warm and dry air blew from all sides in the dry room.

Confirming that even the hair was completely dry, all the swimming gear borrowed from the facility was returned to its place.

The flexible band that was worn on the wrist was briefly put down to the side.

Opening the locker, I suddenly thought, as I put on the clothes I wore here one by one, is this it?

There seemed to be more to do than I had thought, but on the other hand, it didn’t feel like I had accomplished anything substantial.

What should I call this feeling?

…Shin-gyo-dae?

No, that’s not it.

Anyway, I got lost in thoughts for the first time in a very long time. When was the last time I thought about such trivial things as the main focus?

…At least it was impossible during the 4 years and 8 months I spent there.

The first few months were spent surviving in the coldest metropolis, and then by chance, I took a test after helping out an operator.

For the next few months, it felt like I was living in shooting ranges and kill houses.

When I was fully engaged, I went to every place that needed an operator, and before I knew it, three years had passed.

And when it was time to take a breather, I received endless maritime training.

***

“You seem to be in a good mood. What’s up?”

“It’s nothing much, I just enjoy swimming and I quite like water.”

“Ahaha, I see.”

Before I knew it, there were two people in front of me.

Having only seen them for a few hours, I found myself quite familiar with the two and had various conversations.

“Excuse me, but… is the reason you like water reflected in your physical characteristics?”

“You’re making a simple thing sound complicated.”

“Whether externally or internally, working in a department that handles many meetings… I tend to avoid making judgments based on the physical characteristics and individual tendencies of manifestors.”

“You’re working hard.”

There were all sorts of things.

“Well… yes. Anyway, perhaps it’s because I’m from the Anaconda side, but I enjoy swimming.”

“Really? That’s interesting…”

…I didn’t know what my image was in this world, or whether I was a manifestor or not, but it was quite overwhelming to meet people who were fascinated by my everyday life and have a conversation with them.

To me, it’s just a simple routine.

Will I receive applause just for breathing someday?

Feeling like I’ve become the protagonist of some otherworldly novel I read a long time ago,

“…As notified in advance, today’s inspection ends here. Afterwards, all we have to do is retrieve the sensor and discuss the connector.”

“I thought you wouldn’t have to retrieve it since you attached it to your body, right?”

“To more accurately understand the resistance received while the body is moving and the movement of muscles… that’s what they say. It’s difficult for us to say since we just received the contact.”

They do all sorts of things.

I just hoped it would be helpful later on.

“Then, can I remove it myself?”

“Oh, we’ll use a machine to remove it. We need to accurately identify the attached position.”

“I see.”

Then, excluding me, the two exchanged glances.

Then it turned into a conversation and a kind of sitcom.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Remove it gently.”

“Me!?”

“Then should I be the one to remove the sensor attached to the female customer?”

“…Senior tends to say things that make you want to hit him even if they’re right.”

Still, in one way or another, the two seemed quite close.

Anyway, that was that, and this was this,

Han Seolah from the Promotion department, who had to remove the sensor attached to my body because her gender matched mine, ended up pinching her senior colleague’s side.

And then.

“Don’t worry, it doesn’t hurt at all.”

“….”

“…Ah.”

…It seemed like she was trying to reassure me in her own way, but there was something subtle about her tone. It felt like being a little kid going for a vaccination.

Anyway, in the end, she had to endure my gaze, similar to that of a fish-eyed curry enthusiast celebrity.

It was fortunate that she didn’t seem to realize what strange thing she had said.

New data mixture confirmed.

Confirming storage location… EA/RK/KW/CC FA THS CINCD INDX E.

Data cross-verification completed.

Current Match rate 99.2196%.

Compiling pre-submitted information….

Waiting for valid operator code input.