Return of the Frozen Player

"God damn it? Where’s the exit!?"

"Tell the Administrator to come out! There must be an Administrator!"

"Hey, open your eyes and get it together."

"What? What a funny bastard. Do you want to die?"

As the confusion intensified, the Players started showing increasingly violent tendencies. It was a situation where it seemed like a torrent would pour out if someone turned on the tap.

Clatter.

Dozens of Players started flocking over to the vacant lot.

"Hey, hey, look over there."

"Look at what?! We’re so busy looking for an exit—Huk!"

"… Are they going to hold a world summit or something here?"

Just as sparrows couldn't pass by a mill, the surviving journalists couldn't just pass by this situation.

Click, click!

The sounds of camera shutters could be heard here and there.

‘This is crazy! Big 5 and the Guild Masters of the major guilds are gathered together.’

‘Even all of the Nine Heavens except Yuri Alekseyev have gathered.’

‘If someone said that they’re trying to conquer the Earth with that force, I’d believe them.’

‘To be able to force all those forces to come out at once...’

‘It's no exaggeration to say that Specter has regained all his past influence by now.’

Receiving the attention of the crowd, Seo Jun-Ho looked quite different from usual. It was all because he was wearing a mask right now.

‘It's the Specter mask. He doesn’t have to wear that anymore for people to know that he’s Specter, so why is he wearing that all of a sudden?’

‘It's probably not just a performance to show off.’

‘Is there a deeper meaning behind it?’

As the Guild's masters and the Nine Heavens started wondering, Specter finally spoke, "I'll put it bluntly. Let us join forces."

Ah! At that moment, the Guild Masters nodded without realizing it. They finally realized why Seo Jun-Ho was wearing the Specter mask.

‘That guy speaks informally when he wears a mask.’

‘Does he mean that it's a waste of time to persuade people and coordinate everyone’s thoughts while trying to be respectful to everyone?"

‘That mask looks comfortable. Should I get one?’

Specter continued, "I think you all know roughly what's going on, but we can't calm if we are scattered.”

"We were actually thinking about what to do, but thank you for taking the bullet," said Master Son Chae-Won of the Silent Moon with a smile.

Those who were pretty smart had already noticed the secret of the 5.5th Floor. Of course, there were some exceptions.

"Hey, Mr. Specter. I have no idea what this is about, can you explain it to me?" asked Milphage, the Mercenary King.

At that, Seo Jun-Ho briefed everyone.

"…In short, you're saying that it's highly likely that the demons did this, right?”

"As of now, yes."

"And they're going to use the System to stir up chaos?"

"At the moment, that has the highest chance of coming true."

"Whooo. I was literally blind. I survived thanks to you."

Upon learning the truth, Milphage started looking at the situation differently.

‘...I see. So that’s what the girl from Silent Moon meant by taking the bullet.’

This was not a matter that would end simply by noticing the secrets of the 5.5th Floor and the looming threat. A single Guild's power wouldn't be able to put a stop to the disturbance that hundreds of thousands of Players were making.

‘In the end, everyone has to work together to solve this problem.’

‘The question is, which Guild will be the center point for other guilds to unite around?’

‘The status of the Guild that solves this situation will rise ridiculously.’

‘If Specter hadn't called us to save face, we would have had a hell of a mental battle.’

'It's certainly convenient to be able to skip such a cumbersome procedure.’

Shin Sung-Hyun pondered for a while and asked, "But even if we gather as many people as we can, it will only be about three thousand people. Will we be able to control hundreds of thousands?"

"No." Specter nailed it home. It was the cold reality. There was a limit regardless of how strong the elites were.

"Then isn’t it meaningless for us to get together like this?"

"It’s not. If we can't control hundreds of thousands, we just have to reduce their numbers."

“…!” Shin Sung-Hyun seemed nervous as he asked, "Don't tell me that you have a dangerous idea—”

"I know what you're thinking, but you got it wrong." Specter looked back at Skaya and said, "Skaya, it's not hard to put the Players to sleep with magic, is it?”

"Yeah, it’s easy. Especially if they are beginners with low magic resistance, Sleep magic works well on them."

"Ah!"

The Guild Masters could finally see the outline of the operation.

"They’re novices anyway, so we’re going to put them to sleep so that they won’t go on a rampage.”

"Indeed, most of the hundreds of thousands gathered here are novice Players, so magic will work well on them."

"It's a good—no, it’s impressive."

"Then, we should quickly gather the mages who know how to use Sleep magic from each Guild.”

The plan proceeded quickly because these were people who could infer ten things when told just one thing. It was not long before the entire arcade center was covered with the sound of snoring. Of course, it wasn’t a solo stage with only mages being active. There were many Players aside from them who could put someone to sleep with their skill.

"Hey. Don't you think our vision is getting kinda blurry? I think I can see something like fog."

"Huh? You, too? I thought I was the only one with blurry vision… Haaa, I'm suddenly sleepy."

"Everyone sleep well. We will find the exit while you play in dreamland.”

In particular, Gasman of the Goblin Guild played the biggest role. The sleeping gas coming from his body could easily put the Players to sleep. Of course, not everything went smoothly.

"What is this fog?! The Guild bastards are trying to put us to sleep and do something!"

"Everyone, raise your weapons! We can't just let them do what they want!"

The veteran Players who sensed something strange started protesting.

Milphage scratched his back with his halberd and asked, "Hmm, Mr. Specter. What should we do?”

"We overpower them with force."

The guild members moved quickly when the cold order was issued.

"Put your weapons down while we’re being nice!"

"Swing your weapon if you're confident, but prepare to give up your life."

After a fierce mental battle, the ordinary Players caved in. They didn’t think they could defeat the Big 5, major Guilds, and the 5 Heroes as enemies.

"…Wouldn’t such a coercive attitude be counterproductive?"

Cha Si-Eun was worried, but Specter shook his head firmly.

"Human beings are much smarter than you think. They’ll respect the strong who can kill them at any time more than the weak who only know how to whisper a hundred good words."

In fact, the Players didn't dare to attack them. Of course, that was accompanied by some degree of faith.

‘It’d be different if it were just the guilds, but the 5 Heroes are here.’

‘Well, if hundreds of thousands of people make a fuss to find an exit, there will be accidents, like a stampede.’

Time went on, and the Player’s vigilance lightened up as they started to calm down. It was then that a series of messages that further encouraged confusion appeared before everyone’s eyes.

[If you kill three other Players, you will return to Earth.]

[The time limit is three hours.]

[If you can't escape the Arcade Center in three hours, you will die.]

Looking at the messages, Specter’s eyes turned cold.

‘As expected…’

Specter saw that, and he became sure of it once again. This place was a huge ant hell to cut down the Players' forces.

"M-Master, what should we do?"

"If everyone is really going to die in three hours...”

Even those who knew that this was a trap momentarily lost their reasoning. Specter easily deduced why they were acting like that

'…They are being carried by the momentum.’

It had been more than thirty years since the Players started obediently following the words of the System. In the end, they were captured by its words. They were stuck in the mindset that they had to unconditionally follow the System.

‘The ones who schemed all this probably know that as well.’

No one would follow along if villains who were obviously evil appeared and ordered them to kill each other. However, the story would be different if the one giving the order was the System. It had always been like that, after all.

"Damn, kill someone else? But… That's murder.”

"H-hey. But if we don't kill, won't we die instead?"

"And the time limit is only three hours. After that, we're all dead!"

"What should we do?"

The Players who had just barely calmed down started to become flustered. However, the Guild members who were prepared in advance under Specter’s order approached them. This time, they persuaded them gently rather than in a high-handed manner.

"Come on, don't panic and put your weapons down."

"This is all just a trap by the demons."

"It's just a shallow trick to get us to kill each other. Don't fall for it."

With their quick response, not a single murder or attack occurred just yet, which surprised even the Guild Masters. Meanwhile, Son Chae-Won approached Specter.

"I heard that there was a fierce fight in the Octagon. I sent Woo-Joong and some guild members in the meantime.”

"The Underground Octagon?"

He wasn't really paying attention to that place. It was a place where even taking out weapons was prohibited aside from the two Octagon fighters.

‘A fierce fight in a place like that? What’s going on?’

As Specter frowned, his eyes found a man among the crowd.

"Hmm?"

It was Kim Woo-Joong.

‘But I'm sure he went underground just a while ago...’

Something felt strange. His hair suddenly stood on end, and blood rapidly circulated through his vessels. At the same time, his heart started pounding.

"Specter-nim?"

Letting Son Chae-Won's words flow past his ear, he slowly walked toward Kim Woo-Joong, pushing aside the others. As he got closer to Kim Woo-Joong—the vague sense of foreboding got clearer.

What was certain above all was the energy coming out of Kim Woo-Joong.

‘That's demonic energy...!’

He wasn’t Kim Woo-Joong. After confirming it, Specter did not hesitate.

‘Freeze!"

Seo Jun-Ho moved fast, but before his magic could reach Kim Woo-Joong.

Slice!

Kim Woo-Joong’s sword was faster.

“…!”

Freeze finally engulfed the area, and it created an astounding sight. Three heads rose into the sky in slow motion, and the heads definitely still hadn’t realized that they were already dead. Likewise, fountains of blood slowly bloomed from the stump of their necks.

Everyone stared blankly at the surreal sight.

"I killed three people as planned. Anyway, I’ll be going first. You guys should hurry up and follow the plan,” said Kim Woo-Joong. He was then engulfed in light and disappeared without a trace.

The Players were furious after being betrayed.

"As… planned?"

"The Guild bastards and the 5 Heroes... They tricked us.”

"Sword Saint Kim Woo-Joong killed three people!"

"They're trying to sacrifice us to return to Earth!"

Specter bit his lips. The cracks they had forcibly blocked were starting to grow bigger.

"W-wait! That wasn’t Woo-Joong! He's in the Underground Octagon—”

"Fuck, shut up! You think we'll be fooled twice?!”

"You won’t fool me as well! I have a family on Earth waiting for me!"

The sound of weapons being drawn could be heard as chaos descended among the Players.