Return of the Frozen Player

The eyes of the man on the sofa were closed. He was meditating to make sure his heart would always be away from distraction.

Tap, tap, tap!

Something kept flying into his head.

“…”

He slowly opened his dark obsidian-like eyes, and they were full of dissatisfaction.

Upon receiving that look, Son Chae-Won replied, "Woo-Joong, Kim Woo-Joong."

"First, don't throw popcorn at me." Kim Woo-Joong shook the popcorn off his hair and warned her seriously. "Second, I can't forgive the onion-flavored ones, especially because the powder gets on me."

"What should I do? I think I’ll throw them again to you because it’s funny how you’re trying to stand your ground in front of me." Son Chae-Won smirked and put popcorn in her mouth as she continued. "And why is our guild’s ace so angry?"

“…”

Kim Woo-Joong closed his mouth tightly, and Son Chae-Won's eyes became round.

"What, are you upset because you got hit by popcorn a little bit?"

"I'm not upset about that, no. I'm not upset in the first place," he murmured, turning away his frowning face. "…People are being too much.”

"Ah, I see. You're like this because of Specter-nim."

"The path he has been taking is the path of noble sacrifice. How can people do that to him?”

"Why? I'm actually rather impressed. It seems that people will curse you less as long as you’re a hero of mankind."

"Less?" Kim Woo-Joong's eyebrows twitched. "Are you saying that because you have no idea that there are 981 new malicious comments on the major portal articles just today?"

"No, I didn't know. You... you counted all of them?” Just how much free time did he spend browsing the Internet? Son Chae-Won continued with an incredulous look. "Well, first of all, the people cursing at Specter right now can be divided into three categories.”

She extended three fingers.

"One is journalists. Either they have been bribed, or they’re writing provocative articles to earn money.”

"The second is the bereaved family?"

"That's right. Those who had just lost their families will naturally be unable to think straight.”

Kim Woo-Joong understood. However, there were simply too many articles attacking Specter.

"What's the last one?"

"What do you think? They're just haters." Son Chae-Won shrugged and said, "Think of it like this. How will people react if you or Shin Sung-Hyun are rumored to have killed hundreds of players?"

“…”

Kim Woo-Joong thought calmly.

"I don't know. Maybe people will curse at me like this."

"That’s obvious. But you'll get a lot more, a lot more and worse curses than what Specter-nim is receiving right now.”

People had always been envious of the members of the Big 6. Envy would become yearning and respect once the person in question matured, but it could easily become a twisted kind of jealousy with a bit of manipulation.

"Specter-nim is a hero who saved mankind many times before, so people are holding back their judgment."

The world would always curse one for a single mistake even if one had done things well hundreds of times before. In addition, Specter was accused of killing hundreds of people. Son Chae-Won truly couldn’t help but admire Specter’s influence on the world.

“…” Upon seeing that Kim Woo-Joong still looked grumpy, she lightly soothed him by saying, "Woo-Joong, humans are emotional animals."

People easily sympathized with others, and they were easily influenced by emotions. As such, emotions were double-edged swords.

"The ones leading the protests are the bereaved families."

The bereaved families needed a subject for their resentment rather than the truth. The Murim Alliance and Climb took advantage of that and gave them what they needed.

“Shim Deok-Gu responded well. He didn’t carelessly touch the beehive."

"A beehive..."

Kim Woo-Joong nodded slightly.

"The public opinion would have been worse if Shim Deok-Gu responded strongly to the protestors."

However, Kim Woo-Joong still felt that what the bereaved families were doing was too much. Unfortunately, people tend to extend their hands to the weak.

"Yes, and it is exactly what the enemy wants."

Shim Deok-Gu accurately grasped the opponent's plot, so he endured for a month. The people out there had started portraying his friend as a murderer and villain, but he persevered.

"A month is a long time.”

It was long enough for people to stop caring about what wasn’t their business. At the same time, it was long enough for the bereaved families to recover their minds to some extent.

"Have you heard about today’s plan? The plan is pretty great, so you don’t have to worry that much about it."

"In that case, I won’t worry, but…" Kim Woo-Joong started. He didn’t really like what was going on.

"It makes me think of a sand castle,” he said.

How many times had Specter saved the world? He sparked hope in the dark days of the Gates. He killed the Frost Queen, who terrorized everyone. He killed Janabi to announce a new beginning and wiped out the Fiend Association from the land. He even decided to abandon his life to save the citizens by confronting the Heavenly Demon, and he also endured seventeen years of regression to eventually kill Erebo.

"He has been walking on that kind of path."

However, Specter’s achievements were being ignored for over a month now, at least on the Internet. It didn’t matter whether those opinions came from those who had been bribed or those haters who united under the banner of envy and jealousy, Kim Woo-Joong didn’t like what they were doing at all.

"…He’ll be hurt if he comes back later and sees those things on the Internet.”

“Um, are you his mother? Why are you worried about that?”

"It’s not that I’m his mom."

"Hmm?"

“I’m…” Kim Woo-Joong opened and closed his lips a few times. However, he closed his eyes again, unable to speak.

‘Considering he came all the way to visit me in the hospital back then...’

He was a friend, right? Maybe they were friends.

***

Shim Deok-Gu thought that public opinion should be reversed before anything else.

‘I can't show him this kind of scene when he comes down after being rescued.’

Seo Jun-Ho had always been on a difficult path. He could get deeply disappointed after being criticized by those whom he had been protecting with all his heart and body.

'I won't let him see such a thing no matter what.’

Shim Deok-Gu, who was looking down at the outside of the building with cold eyes, checked the time.

3 PM.

The hour hand had just pointed at 6 AM GMT.

"It should have started by now.”

Articles were indiscriminately uploaded to web portals around the world. All the articles were related to Seo Jun-Ho. However, the contents of the article illuminated a completely different aspect than before.

[New York Players reporter Dan Choke and 2,138 others. Bribery worth hundreds of millions of won from Sky Soul Guild.]

[Sky Soul Guild, suspected of violating the Gate monopoly law.]

[World Player Association. Subpoena issued to Sky Soul Guild for special threat.]

[The second son of the Sky Soul Guild, Tenmei Ryo's power tripping and assault video.]

…

The corners of Shim Deok-Gu's mouth went up. These were the fangs. They were sharp fangs that would plunge into the neck of the Sky Soul Guild at once.

‘I’m glad we aren’t Mr. Shoot’s enemy…’

Shoot had opened Pandora's box, and it contained all manner of evil he had secretly collected over the past decades. By now, the Sky Soul Guild should have received the sudden one-two punch, and they were definitely going mad.

"They'll likely prepare counter articles along with a wave of counterattack."

‘Do it… You have to do it no matter what.’

Shim Deok-Gu smiled fiercely and prayed.

***

"What kind of mess is this?!”

Tenmei Yugo hollered with disapproval. The leaders of the Sky Soul Guild gathered in the conference room of his home and had their heads lowered without saying a word.

"Ryo!"

"Yes, yes, Father."

Tenmei Ryo jumped up like a spring and immediately bowed his head.

Slap!

He was slapped in the face, but he quickly straightened back up as if nothing happened.

"Just how do you handle things normally that such a video got leaked?"

"I am sorry, I will have it deleted somehow..."

"Delete? You’ll have it deleted somehow?"

Tenmei Yugo poked Tenmei Ryo in the chest. Such action was more humiliating than getting beaten up because Tenmei Yugo was basically trampling on his pride.

“You’re going to delete the video that hundreds of millions of people had definitely seen by now? For what? To show everyone that you’re guilty?”

“I was short-sighted…”

Tenmei Ryo trembled with his mouth shut. It wasn’t just because he was humiliated in front of many people at the old age of 40. It was also because he was worried that he might not be able to inherit the inheritance due to this incident.

Tenmei Yugo warned. "If this brings the power of the family and the guild to the ground, I want you to know that it will be over for you as well."

"Yes..."

The conference room was silent. No one even dared to breathe because they didn't want to go against Tenmei Yugo. It was obvious that Tenmei Yugo had firmly dominated the family and the guilds of Japan with his imposing bearing over the past few decades.

"Tell me what we can do."

“…”

The executives only looked at each other without saying anything, so Tenmei Yugo slammed his hand into the desk.

"Are you all deaf? Have you all forgotten how to speak?!”

"I-it is not like there is no way out."

The frightened executives started expressing their opinions one by one. After a few hours, Tenmei Yugo's anger subsided somewhat.

"So, we should only apologize for the small things, then hide. As for the rest, we pretend that we’re innocent?"

"Yes. The controversy over the second young master's power trip will fade after a few years of hiding."

"And during that time, we can recover our image by revealing our volunteer work through media outlets."

"At the same time, we should accuse Seo Jun-Ho even more as a murderer to distract the people."

"Hmm."

Tenmei Yugo was lost in thought. Dozens of people had put their heads together, but there was still no way to escape from this ambush unscathed.

‘Throw away what should be thrown, and take only what is necessary.’

As always, Tenmei Yugo made a reasonable judgment.

"Ryo."

"Y-yes, Father."

"I'll set a date for the conference. You will have to apologize for your mistakes and hide."

"Father... “ Tenmei Ryo looked as if he was about to cry. He knew that with Tenmei Yugo’s personality, the latter would surely abandon him if he couldn’t make a comeback.

"Why do you look like you're about to cry when you haven’t done anything good? Did I create this mess?! Huh?!"

Ryo bit his lip at Tenmei Yugo’s roar and lowered his head.

"…I will follow your advice."

"Of course, you should."

His younger brother had just been abandoned like an old shoe, but the eldest son, Tenmei Oga, didn’t even bat an eye as he said, "I will prepare a rebuttal article."

"Do you really think that something half-assed will work?”

"I will go to the 5th Floor."

"Why there?"

When Tenmei Yugo showed interest, Tenmei Oga expressed his confidence.

"I plan to meet with the Murim Alliance to gather evidence. Evidence from there will be even more convincing."

"Hmm."

It wasn’t a bad idea. The Murim Alliance had also lost hundreds of martial artists, so they should cooperate that much.

"I'll give you two days. Go ahead."

"Yes."

When the meeting ended, Tenmei Oga secretly went up to the 5th Floor through the Sky Soul Guild’s exclusive Dimensional Elevator.

Tenmei Yugo sat down and gnashed his teeth while looking at the updated articles.

"Fucking pigs. How dare they bite their master?"

He memorized the media characters and celebrities tearing the Sky Soul Guild apart.

‘The great Sky Soul won't fall down from this much rain and wind.’

It had always been the case for hundreds of years now. They had persevered through any kind of repression and eventually won.

Tenmei Yugo's eyes glistened with killing intent.

‘Once this typhoon passes and Sky Soul stands tall once again.’

They would have to face his anger head-on.