Return of the Frozen Player

Bang! Bam!

Loud explosions kept filling their ears as if there was an ongoing air raid.

One of the members of Specter’s rescue party chewed on his lip. “Just how… How did it turn into a battlefield so fast?!”

“Y-Yeah. When we left, it wasn’t like this,” Gong Ju-Ha said with a stupefied look.

Like the other Player said, the city was a battlefield. Nothing more, nothing less. To make matters worse, Seo Jun-Ho and Seo Jun-Sik weren’t in good shape either.

‘They’ve been exposed to the toxic gas for too long.’

All their healer could do was slow down the spread of the poison. Their lungs and innards were already poisoned. That was why Seo Jun-Sik was being carried on a Player’s back—he couldn’t even walk on his own anymore.

‘We’ll need a healer who’s much more skilled, considering their current state.’

Thankfully, she knew a person with such skills.

‘The Saintess. Miss Cha Si-Eun.’

Gong Ju-Ha rapidly typed on her Vita.

[Princess! You’ve returned!]

[In-Ho, I’m in a rush right now. Tell me where the Saintess is right now!]

[Oh, no. He must not be in good shape. The Saintess is currently near the twin buildings in the west.]

“Give me a second!

Gong Ju-Ha ran forward and hopped up the building’s walls like a rabbit until she reached the roof.

‘The twin buildings in the west… I can’t see them from here.’

Eventually, she found the twin buildings and her eyes darkened.

It was too far.

They were in the east—they were on the opposite side.

Gong Ju-Ha returned to the party and shook her head. “We have no other choice but to simply run all the way to the west.”

“Let’s hurry!”

“If we run as fast as we can, we should be able to arrive in thirty minutes!”

The party members’ minds started to grow urgent. However, just as they turned a corner, dozens of robots started approaching them.

Creak. Creak.

“Dammit. What are these bastards?”

“...Leave them to me. Go,” Gong Ju-Ha said, tying her hair into a ponytail.

“Captain Gong, are you saying you can take all of them by yourself? Shouldn’t more of us stay behind?”

“If too many people stay behind, their conditions could get even worse,” she shot back.

There wasn’t anything they could do about it. But just as they were about to leave, the streetlamp in the alleyway bent like taffy, blocking the robots from getting to them.

“This way! Hurry!” A youthful-looking Player waved to them from the other side.

“Wait, you’re…”

The other Players didn’t know him, but Gong Ju-Ha did. She had seen him in a conference room at the Korean Player Association.

‘Arthur Green.’ He was the son of Mr. Gilberto, who was a member of the 5 Heroes. He was no doubt an ally.

“Follow him! He’s on our side!” she yelled.

By the time the robots broke through the streetlamp, not even a single ant could be seen.

“...”

***

“A moving house? What an amazing skill.”

“Heh. Thank you.”

The party was able to reach the western side in an instant and meet up with Cha Si-En thanks to River’s Moving House.

“Miss Si-Eun, please just heal them both for now. Don’t ask questions for now,” Gong Ju-Ha said.

“...I-I understand.” She really wanted to ask why there were two Seo Jun-Hos. However, she quickly placed her hand on each of their foreheads and started healing them both.

Fwoosh!

A bright light spread from their foreheads and ran all throughout their bodies. In an instant, their poisoned organs were healed, and the color returned to their faces.

“Kaff! Kaff!”

Seo Jun-Sik coughed and sat straight up. “Goddammit, that hurt as much as getting heartburn from chicken.”

“...”

Meanwhile, Jun-Ho calmly stood up and peeked outside the door of the infirmary.

Bang! Bam!

All throughout the city, the Players were fighting the Immortal Army. Who was losing, then? The Players or the Army?

Unfortunately, it was neither of them.

“Waah! Waaaah!”

“Don’t cry, baby.”

“...Sigh. We hadn’t even paid off our mortgage yet. What are we supposed to do now?”

“Still, we’re lucky that they are protecting us. The Earthlings, was it?”

The citizens were the ones who were losing the most. They were forced out onto the streets once the buildings started collapsing from the crossfire.

When great forces collided, the weak would always suffer the most.

“Tsk.” Seo Jun-Sik looked over Seo Jun-Ho’s shoulder and clicked his tongue. He could feel everything his original could feel.

“Hey, Jun-Sik.”

“Yeah. Yeah?”

“You’re all better now, right?”

“Yup, yup.”

“Then, let’s get going.”

“Yup.”

Too many people had suffered, and too many people had been sacrificed to save them.

It was about time for them to repay those people.

“Specter-nim. It was only for a short amount of time, but it was an honor to serve you.”

“We will return to battle as well.”

Seo Jun-Ho looked into the eyes of each of the Players who brought him here. “Thank you so much.”

“A-Ahem. I’m a little embarrassed.”

“I never thought the savior of humanity would thank me. I’m gonna brag about that once we go back.”

“On the contrary, we should be the ones thanking you. You created a world where people didn’t have to live in fear.”

A world where people didn’t have to live in fear…

A crying child caught Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes. “We’re still a long way off.”

He suddenly remembered the Emperor’s words.

“I want a world where everyone can dream and achieve what they want.”

That was the world he wanted to create. But right now, things were the exact opposite.

‘Namgung Jincheon…’

No matter how he thought about it, and no matter how much he thought about it, there was only one answer.

‘You must die.’

Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes became placid.

***

“Ugh, dammit!” A Player cursed as his sword broke in half. He had been worried because he still hadn’t gotten used to using a sword aura just yet, but he had never thought that it would be this bad.

‘I’m gonna die.’

The spear ripped through the air, aiming for his head.

However, it never reached him.

“...Huff. Huff.” The robot froze in place. A bullet had pierced its head, shattering the chip.

Click.

Gilberto loaded another bullet.

“You’re here,” he said, not bothering to turn around.

“Yeah. Sorry, I’m late,” said a familiar voice.

A small smile filled Gilberto’s face at his friend’s return. “...It’s not like this is the first time you’ve done something like that. All that matters is that you got back safely.

Bang!

He sniped another robot. “Do you want me to explain them to you?”

“I got the gist of it from Miss Si-Eun. She said that they’re even more dogged than the cockroaches.”

“Ah, yes. They’re damnable creatures.” Gilberto turned around, putting down his rifle. “So, what do you need me to do?”

As always, he was ready to follow whatever Seo Jun-Ho suggested.

Seo Jun-Ho grinned.

“Gilbe, you’re good with a bow, aren’t you?”

***

The Guild Master of Red Tower, Choi Han-Young, was pushed back. His eyes were crinkled because his pride was hurt.

‘...They’re strong.’

The Immortal Army they were fighting right now was by no means weak. Each robot was as strong, or even 1.5 times as strong as an individual Player on the 5th floor.

‘We can’t sense magic from them as well, and they just keep coming because they don’t get tired like us.’

Perhaps that was why the Players felt so overwhelmed. Because they knew that if they didn’t precisely destroy the chips in their heads, the battle would drag out forever.

‘So, it’s really a question of which happens first. Either the Players will run out of stamina, or we have to kill them all before then…’

Things were bad.

The Players were exhausted from the fight with Namgung Jincheon. They didn’t manage to get a proper break because they had to fight the Immortal Army immediately afterward.

‘If we’d just had half a day—no, even five hours to rest…’

They wouldn’t be breathing so hard, and they wouldn’t be so exhausted.

“Guh!”

He kept getting pushed back by the robot’s longsword. It was a mere difference in strength. When he glanced around, he saw that Cha Min-Woo from the Cheong-Hae Guild wasn’t doing much better.

“Looks like you’re struggling too, eh?”

“...I don’t even have the energy to talk. But if you do…”

Clang!

Cha Min-Woo charged at the robot as fast as lightning, knocking it over. He ripped off its head and pulled out the chip.

“Hoo. Save your strength so you can take down at least one more.” Whenever they killed one robot, twenty more would pour down from the sky.

“Guild Master.”

“Are we not going to retreat?”

“The situation is too dire.”

“...”

Choi Han-Young wordlessly looked up at the sky. His eyes were full of fatigue, and his breathing had long grown ragged.

‘What would you do, Hero?’

Currently, they were fighting in the east.

“N-Noona…”

“Hush! Be quiet. We can’t bother them.”

The houses in the slums were dilapidated, but now, they had been completely destroyed, forcing many adults and children onto the streets.

‘If we retreat now, they will die.’

They had already seen it a few times. They didn’t know why, but the robots never killed Players.

‘But they hold no regard for the citizens here…’

The robots killed anyone else who appeared in their line of sight—as if the citizens here were worthless.

‘Sure, I don’t have any personal connection with them.’

Actually, he wasn’t sure if he could call them human in the first place, considering that parts of their bodies had long been replaced with machinery. In other words, he had nothing in common with them.

‘But...’

He knew that the 5 Heroes would protect them. Even if they could live comfortably, the 5 Heroes would risk their lives to fight for the weak. They had shown everyone how the powerful should use their power.

‘You taught me this. So I will follow…’

Choi Han-Young parried a robot’s claymore and cut off both its arms.

Slice!

He cut off the bastard’s head and raised it up high in the air.

“Uwaaaaah! Hold on for a little longer! Reinforcements will come once they’re done cleaning up!”

It was just for show. They were deluding themselves into believing that they would survive if they just held out and that other Players would come to help them.

“...”

However, it actually happened.

Just as the Players exhausted all their mental and physical energy and were about to give up…

“You fought well.”

The reinforcements arrived…

The Players cheered at the sight of him.

“T-The Nine Heavens! It’s Kim Woo-Joong of the Nine Heavens!”

“The Sword Saint of Silent Moon has come to help us!”

“Player Kim Woo-Joong will fight with us!”

They looked at him with eyes full of belief. Still, Kim Woo-Joong wordlessly swung his sword.

The Players had been fighting the robots on their own, and the robots seemed extremely powerful in front of the other Players, but they couldn’t even withstand three strikes from the Sword Saint.

“Huh? That’s weird. I definitely heard that this side needed help.”

Another ally!

The Players’ heads turned to the other side.

And the man standing there was none other than Specter himself.

“S-S-Specter! Specter-nim has returned!”

“The rescue team succeeded!”

“We have two of the Nine Heavens here!”

“Kill these bastards!”

Once their morale was boosted, the Players’ movements changed. Earlier, they had been fighting with the belief that they would never be able to turn the tides no matter how hard they fought, but now, even if they didn’t manage to do so—even if they didn’t succeed completely, they knew that there were people here to support them. The knowledge made all the difference.

“Ah.” Kim Woo-Joong noticed Seo Jun-Ho, expecting to see the latter’s eyes filled with the same brilliance as always.

He suddenly stopped. Something was different.

Seo Jun-Ho had always been an approachable person, but he still drew a clear line.

‘But now…’

He was different. He didn’t know why Seo Jun-Ho had a change of heart, but his hair was slicked back, and the line was no longer there.

To put it harshly, he looked a little bit like an endearing idiot.

‘If I take this opportunity…’

Shouldn’t he be able to speak to him naturally like they were friends?

Kim Woo-Joong kicked the robot he was fighting in the knee and slapped its head with the back of his hand as it doubled over.

“Goodness, I didn’t think that the head would go flying so far with just a slap of my hand. I never even considered it.”

Kim Woo-Joong smoothly made his way toward Seo Jun-Ho and made a surprised face.

“Wait, Seo Jun-Ho? When did you return? -yo?”[1]

His subtle pronunciation was perfect.

At that, Specter whirled around. He stared at Kim Woo-Joong and spoke. “Um, I don’t really like being called Jun-Ho.”

“...”

Kim Woo-Joong’s face and eyes were as expressionless as always.

Clang! Bang! Crrrang!

He crushed the robots’ heads over and over.

Nonstop…

1. Woo-Joong says the formal parts of the sentence very quietly, like he’s testing the waters. Lol. ☜