The Returning Commander of the Gacha Game

Chapter 1 – Commander, Memory Chamber? Room?

Once, I heard something like this from a friend.

During his military service, there was one annoying senior and one asshole senior.

When the annoying senior was discharged, everyone rolled out the mat for him, but when the asshole senior left, no one even paid attention.

The former had a foul mouth but did his work well, and since he maintained certain boundaries, he felt like a tough friend.

The latter was incompetent and had a terrible personality, making him someone they didn’t even want to associate with.

The lesson from this story is that people need to have both a certain level of competence and character.

If either one is significantly lacking, it would be quite difficult to form deep relationships in society.

A person who constantly causes trouble and curses whenever you meet them—if someone like that were in your company… would you want to approach them? I don’t think so.

In that sense, the person who was the commander before I possessed this body seems… remarkable in many ways.

Whether it’s their reputation or professional capabilities.

Because otherwise…

‘Commander… why are you so late….’

…there’s no way a mere subordinate would give such an intense welcome.

It would be better if all this were just pretense or flattery.

The unsettling strength in the hands embracing me, the uniform getting damp with someone else’s tears… these make it impossible for me to dismiss her actions as something so trivial.

‘…Commander, what kind of boss were you?’

If you were going to leave, you could have at least left some instructions.

How could you run away without making a manual? Your successor is at a loss.

Well… even if such a thing existed, I wouldn’t be able to see it now that I’ve been thrown straight into the field. It’s unfair.

No matter how much I’ve seen the story, that’s literally just the storyline.

I might know the work procedures or the direction they pursued, but there’s no way to know about everyday life. Even if I did know, I couldn’t perfectly recreate it.

The fortunate thing is that I didn’t possess this body immediately… there was a gap period before I possessed it.

…based on the circumstances, at least.

Anyway, if someone asks me about any changes from before, I can make something up.

I could say I’ve had a change of heart while organizing my thoughts during that time. That’s fortunate.

Yes, it’s fortunate, but…

‘When is she going to let go…?’

Unable to do anything, I looked at the source of this subtle pressure.

A maid with light brown hair, burying her face in the nape of my neck and sobbing for a long time.

At first glance, one might think she’s just an unusual maid, but that’s far from the truth.

What kind of game is Firma?

It’s a modern setting where a certain country with a red flag—large in territory but morally bankrupt—has shattered into multiple pieces, creating chaos.

It’s not quite an apocalypse, but it means that the weak struggle to survive.

Wearing a maid outfit in such a world? And in a military company, no less?

Well, giving the benefit of the doubt, it could happen, but…

Once you realize this is inside a gacha game… you’ll see it differently.

‘This girl is at least a captain-level officer….’

A 5-star member of Firma, which is both the title of the game and the name of this company. Her name is Rielli.

Her position is forward attacker, and her role is the head of the company’s security team.

Since 6-star was the highest rank in the game, you’d think the tier just below would be hard to obtain, but that wasn’t the case.

You’d get it automatically just by progressing through the story a bit.

And when you say ‘company bodyguard,’ it sounds a bit strange…

If I remember correctly, according to the setting, they were responsible not only for protection but also for managing all aspects of the commander’s daily life.

That’s why users nicknamed Rielli’s unit the ‘Maid Guard Corps.’

…Now that I’ve explained it, she sounds exactly like a traditional maid. Those game company bastards, did they plan this all along?

Anyway, for something given away for free, she had decent illustrations and fairly good performance, so she was quite popular.

Of course, as you play the game, she gets relatively lower priority due to power inflation, but she remained a ray of light for newbies nonetheless. I also relied on her quite a bit.

‘Hic…sob…’

…And now that same character is crying in my arms.

No, you weren’t this type of character at all.

I remember that in the story, she wasn’t particularly affectionate and showed little facial expression—the typical stoic maid position.

Meanwhile, her outfit is so revealing in various places that you’d question if it’s really a maid uniform, creating such a huge gap that there must be a truckload of fan art capitalizing on it…

Oh, is that not important? Anyway.

How should I handle this? Things went wrong before I could even get started.

I’m confused. I’m confused, and a thousand thoughts are racing through my mind… but for now, I decided to do what I could in this urgent situation.

As for my reasoning… honestly, first, overthinking won’t solve anything right now, and second, even if I slip up a little, my position can easily cover for it.

And above all else…

…when someone is crying so bitterly, it feels wrong to be calculating in front of them.

‘Um… Rielli?’

‘Hic… what is it…?’

‘I understand how you feel… but can we talk for a moment?’

…Let’s start by taking the first step again.

—–

First, I needed to start by gathering information.

I doubt it would be that simple, but there’s a possibility that events in this world differ completely from the original work… so information gathering wasn’t an option but a necessity.

I need to collect as much as possible and compare what I can.

Having been possessed like this, I can’t afford to be complacent about what might happen next.

At the very least, I don’t want to be caught off guard and take a bullet to the back of my head.

With that in mind… I decided to establish the fastest way to obtain information.

‘You’ve… lost your memory?’

‘That’s what happened.’

After waiting for Rielli to stop crying, I boldly declared it.

I said I had no memory.

Fortunately, I remember where this place is and all your names and faces, but I don’t really know how we’ve been living.

‘…It’s not exactly a lie, right?’

I feel a bit guilty, like I’m scamming them, but I’m not technically lying?

After all… the information I know is limited to what I’ve seen through gameplay.

I devoured everything from the main story to the sub-stories, and spent hundreds of thousands of won each month rolling gachas until I collected almost all the available characters…

But even so, there’s no way I could know how the ‘Commander’ lived their private life.

There’s nothing I can do about it. How would I know?

‘…the game company didn’t release it.’

…I wanted to know too.

Anyway, it looks like I’ll have to act as a commander even though it’s not in my destiny….

For the work-related parts, I’ll learn as I go like a parachuted newbie, and for everything else, I already know all their faces, so I should be able to manage somehow.

They know the ‘Commander’ who isn’t me, but that’s not a big problem.

Up to this point, these are things that even I, not the ‘Commander’ in the game, can do.

However, the problem is….

‘Even if I’m found out… I won’t die, right?’

Wait. Let’s assume that I go crazy here and confess the truth.

I’m actually a man from another world, and the place you live in is just a world inside a screen!

I don’t know where your Commander went, and it’s not my business!

…if I said that, what would happen?

Would they clap their hands and nicely believe me saying, ‘Oh, I see’?

‘…of course not.’

…Not only would they not believe me, but the best-case scenario would be getting locked up in a psychiatric ward.

Then I wouldn’t be able to go outside and would be stuck in a room until I die.

I don’t really want to live such a caged life.

…Of course, I don’t mean I want to die. That would be the worst.

I’ve always hated dead endings with lines like ‘You’re not my Commander!’ both before and after this possession.

Even if it was just a game or manga, I hated it, oh my goodness.

Now I’m about to experience that myself? Is this for real?

…For that reason, I chose the relatively stable option.

Unless a way back suddenly falls from the sky, there’s no need to take unnecessary risks.

I should choose the path that gives me less of a headache. There’s no second chance in life.

Either way, it’s troublesome if I’m found out, but this is fine as long as I’m careful with what I say.

If I just keep my mouth shut, the probability of getting struck by lightning is higher than getting shot to death.

…Should I consider this hopeful? Anyway.

‘This should be enough to buy time, right?’

Amnesia. What a beautiful excuse.

With this, I can extract information from anyone. Since I don’t even have memories as a Commander, it’s not really a lie, is it?

Something seems suspicious? Then what can you do about it?

It’s natural that I’m different from usual. I have amnesia, remember?

Moreover, based on what I’ve seen in the game and Rielli’s intense reaction…

Rielli seems to have built a strong trust relationship with the ‘Commander,’ so she’ll probably only tell me the facts as she knows them.

I feel a bit sorry for deceiving her, but please understand. Without this, I have no way to survive.

‘The Commander… has amnesia…?’

‘Uh… Rielli?’

‘Then… things that couldn’t be done before… maybe…?’

…Rielli returned to the expression I knew and continued to mutter something.

Wouldn’t something like that be fine anyway?

Or not.