Return of the Frozen Player

There was a demon sitting upright on a massive throne made of the bones and flesh of those who had fallen by his hand.

The demon’s eyes fluttered open as he asked, “Is it done?”

He was extremely exhausted. It couldn’t be helped because he had just summoned a Player from several floors below them. The goat horns on his head trembled uncontrollably as he sat there on the throne.

“Blegh!” he vomited dead, black blood, and his eyes grew hazy.

He had to make holes in the impregnable System protecting the Players so that he could kidnap his target. He knew that he would suffer some kind of backlash, but he didn’t know that the price he would end up paying would be this huge.

‘I have to lay low and recuperate in the next six months.’

He closed his eyes to make a decision.A few moments later, he opened his eyes once more and muttered into the air, “Haran.”

“Yes, Gorgon.”

Gorgon’s right-hand man appeared in front of him like a ghost with his head bowed.

“I shall lock down the southern region for the next six months.”

“Shall I tell the demons to cease their external activities as well?”

“That would be wise.”

“…”

‘Six months…’ Haran fell into deep contemplation. After thinking for a while, Haran couldn’t help but ask, “Forgive my impudence, but why are you willing to take on such a loss?”

Haran couldn’t understand why Gorgon had decided to throw away his life in the next six months just to kill a mere human. Gorgon had always been a calculating and scheming demon, so there was no way he wouldn’t know the consequences.

Gorgon stared deeply at Haran before answering, “I don’t know. It was just a feeling. I felt like I have to kill him no matter how expensive the price I would have to pay.”

“…”

Haran lowered his head without saying anything. He had always been good at reading the emotions of others, so he could sense that Gorgon was feeling wary—threatened to be exact.

‘Has his intuition evolved to the point of clairvoyance?’

Gorgon had brushed it off as a mere feeling, but his intuition was the reason he became a count in the first place.

Haran gulped and said, “I suppose we should start looking for him.”

“Kill him on sight,” Gorgon said coldly.

Haran couldn’t sense any hesitation in Gorgon’s words, and Gorgon’s attitude made him bow even deeper.

***

Reiji was lying on a sofa with a blanket wrapped around her.

“…!” Reiji’s eyes shot open when a rift in space appeared in front of her.

A man in a gray suit emerged from the rift and said, “Reiji.”

“Cut the crap and sit down.” Reiji sat up and casually placed a cigarette between her teeth. She lit it up and took a few puffs before exhaling a cloud of smoke from between her lips.

Gray was seriously impressed by her steadfast and relaxed attitude.

“I’m surprised to see you so calm even after what happened.”

“I knew that someone would be able to poke holes in the System one day, and that day finally arrived today. Anyway, who was it?”

“We analyzed the traces, and we believe that Count Gorgon was directly involved.”

“That elusive piece of shit? Was he aiming for the World Tree again?”

“No, his target isn’t one of us. However, he kidnapped a player up to the 9th Floor.”

“Geez, you scared me.” Reiji snickered. She leaned back against the sofa and crossed her legs. She even placed an arm over the sofa before saying, “I guess that bastard was bored.”

To think that he would actually go that far to kidnap a Player. Reiji thought about it, but he couldn’t find anyone else who would benefit from Count Gorgon’s actions.

After all, Count Gorgon’s actions of poking holes in the System were basically akin to revealing the System’s vulnerabilities, which meant that the holes could be patched up.

In addition, they would be able to update the System.

“That’s great. Analyze the holes he had made and patch them all up. Once we’re done, I bet he won’t be able to pull that shit again.”

“Yes, I heard that the higher-ups are already taking care of it.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Reiji nodded lightly and took a few quick puffs at her cigarette. After exhaling a massive cloud of smoke, she blinked and looked at Gray with clear suspicion in her eyes.

“Why did you even come here?” she asked.

“The Player who got kidnapped is Seo Jun-Ho,” replied Gray.

Reiji furrowed her brows. She looked like she couldn’t believe her own ears as she leaned forward with perked ears and asked once more, “What? Who did you say they kidnapped?

“Seo Jun-Ho.”

“Seo Jun-Ho? Are you talking about that Seo Jun-Ho, who was born in Korea on June 6, 1999? That Seo Jun-Ho?”

“Yes, they kidnapped Specter.”

“…”

The cloud of smoke instantly vanished, and beyond the smoke was Reiji’s face full of anger. The previous calm and collected Reiji couldn’t be seen anymore.

“You should have told me that earlier! Do you want to die or something?!” exclaimed Reiji.

“You just told me to get to the point, and no, I do not wish to die,” replied Gray.

Hooo.

Reiji threw the cigarette away and covered her face with both of her hands. The smell of nicotine in the air cleared her head.

‘I knew it! I knew that bastard wouldn’t do something as crazy as poking holes in the System if there were nothing for him to gain,’ Reiji said to herself.

In addition, Reiji knew well why he targeted Seo Jun-Ho. Count Gorgon was famous for his intuition, after all. Count Gorgon had to have sensed some kind of danger from Seo Jun-Ho. In other words, Seo Jun-Ho’s existence alone threatened him.

Reiji calmly put on her jacket and stood up

Gray looked at her with confusion. “Where are you going?”

“I’m going up the 9th Floor.”

“You can’t…!” Gray exclaimed.

“What, you want us to get on our knees and pray for his safety instead?”

No. never. She would never do that, and she wouldn’t just stand here.

After all, Seo Jun-Ho was the VVIP customer who would speed up her retirement.

“But according to the rules—”

“A Floor Administrator cannot directly harm a demon. I know that very well.” Reiji’s eyes flashed dangerously. “I will bring my customer down from that floor peacefully.”

She wasn’t even trying to hide her killing intent, so it was funny how she mentioned peacefully bringing her customer down from the 9th Floor. What about her work?

“I can just use my PTO[1].”

Reiji brushed past Gray as she walked away.

Gray simply watched her go.

‘I’m pretty sure that she has already exhausted her PTO,’ Gray inwardly lampooned.

***

Cough, cough!

Seo Jun-Ho violently coughed up phlegm mixed with blood as he woke up. He opened his tired eyes and saw a dark ceiling. He looked around and noticed that he was in a place resembling a cave.

His breathing was rough as he recalled what happened before he lost consciousness.

“I’m going to press six, okay? I’m actually going to do it.”

The moment Gong Ju-Ha’s trembling finger pressed the button that would take them up to the 6th Floor. A portal opened and abruptly swallowed him.

Seo Jun-Ho didn’t have any memories of what happened afterward, as he had lost consciousness upon being swallowed by the portal.

‘Damn it…!’

Before anything else, he had to figure out what was going on. He also had to figure out what happened to his friends and his location.

“Argh!”

He sat up with great effort, and he looked like a corpse rising from the dead. He had sustained injuries that were so severe that he broke out into a cold sweat, even though he simply raised his torso.

“Huff huff!”

He sat still for a second to catch his breath. However, the cave was suddenly illuminated with a soft light.

“Huh? You can’t get up yet!” shouted a young man holding a candle.

He rushed into the cave and forced Seo Jun-Ho to lie back down.

The brown-haired man definitely saw the resentment in Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes because he revealed an apologetic look.

“I could swear that your bones were fractured and dislocated all over just yesterday. I had no idea that you have such an extraordinary recovery speed. Still, you will have to stay down for the meantime.”

“…And you are?”

“My name is Tess. I’m the doctor at this Farm.”

‘That’s a language I have never heard before.’

Seo Jun-Ho glanced at the Vita on his left wrist. It seemed that the real-time translation feature that Yeon had installed on his Vita was still working.

Meanwhile, Tess carefully inspected him with his mouth agape.

“Your bones are set, and the fractures are gone. What are you made of? Are you a half?”

“Half?”

“A half demon half human because some demons have weird taste, you know?”

“I’m definitely not a half.”

“Oh, well. I suppose they aren’t very common. I guess you were just born with your extraordinary recovery speed, then. You should thank your lucky stars.”

Seo Jun-Ho didn’t miss the momentary look of disappointment that flickered past Tess’ face.

Tess peeked over his shoulder and whispered, “I’m telling you this out of caution, but I advise that you live here with your head down as much as possible.”

“What?”

“The king here is a half. He’s merciless. If anyone shows even the tiniest hint of rebelling, he kills them without hesitation,” explained Tess with a voice filled with concern.

“You possess an extraordinary recovery speed, so I’m sure you’ve made quite a name for yourself at your previous Farm. However, he’s still a half. You’re my patient, and I don’t want to see you die, especially when I had just painstakingly saved you…”

“Even if you don’t like it, you should live with your head down from now on,” said Tess.

“I don’t understand a single word you’re saying,” replied Seo Jun-Ho.

“Ah, you’re pretending to be an amnesiac? That’s cute.” Tess smirked.

After saying that, Tess got ready to leave. However, before he could even turn around, Seo Jun-Ho stopped him by saying, “By any chance, was there anyone else aside from me?”

“Yes, there’s a total of seven workers, including you, this time, but—”

“…!” Seo Jun-Ho abruptly shot up and grabbed the hem of Tess’ sleeve.

“Where are they?” Tess turned pale, surprised by the firmness of Seo Jun-Ho’s voice.

“T-they’re laying right there, as you can see…” Tess pointed with his chin.

Seo Jun-Ho scanned the people next to him. They were all dressed in rags.

‘I’ve never seen any of them before.’ Seo Jun-Ho let out a sigh of relief. ‘Does that mean that I’m the only one who got brought here?’

He had no idea whether that was a great thing or not.

The deflated Seo Jun-Ho let go of Tess’ sleeve and apologized. “I’m sorry.”

“Ahem, you did scare me a bit, but it’s fine.”

“And I should have said this earlier, but thank you for treating me.”

“…Geez, this is the first time anyone has ever thanked me for that,” Tess chuckled.

Afterward, he told Seo Jun-Ho that he would be back in three hours and disappeared.

The cave was enveloped in darkness once more.

Seo Jun-Ho tried to make sense of the situation while lying down.

‘Thanks to Cell Regeneration and the Vermillion Fruit, it would only be a matter of time until I’m all better.”

Crack, crack…

Even while he was contemplating, his bones were moving back into their own places and were repairing themselves.

‘Were my injuries caused by the force of the portal?’

Portals could injure people, but the force depended on how far the other end of the portal was located.

‘Just how far did that portal take me for it to break all the bones in my body?’

Seo Jun-Ho opened the event logs to look for answers.

[This is the 9th Floor.]

[Bringer of Spring’s effect has been activated. All stats increased by 30.]

The answer was there. However, he couldn’t wrap his head around it.

The 9th Floor…

Seo Jun-Ho chuckled hollowly. It seemed that he had skipped the 6th, 7th, and 8th Floors to arrive directly on the 9th Floor. Even worse, he had no idea what happened and why he was here on the 9th Floor.

Just in case, he opened the Community window and made a post. However, there were no other Players on the 9th Floor, so no one could really reply to him.

‘Most importantly, I’m completely out of magic.’

It seemed that the exhaustion of his magic was part of the repercussion of being forcibly transported to the 9th Floor.

Seo Jun-Ho would have brushed this off. After all, his magic recovery rate was extraordinary, and he could also borrow magic from his surroundings using the Black Moon Heart Method.

‘But I can’t…’

He closed his eyes and desperately looked around, but he couldn’t find even a trace of magic around him. Since magic was non-existent, then his extraordinary magic recovery rate was useless.

Seo Jun-Ho’s heart dropped.

‘Is magic regulated here like in Neo City?’

The only magic he could sense was coming from the battery of his Vita. He could absorb it and gain a minuscule amount of magic, but doing that would mean that he wouldn’t be able to use Vita anymore.

‘Then, the only thing I can do right now is…’

Seo Jun-Ho had no other choice but to recover from his injuries and find a way to restore his magic once he had recovered.

Having made a decision, Seo Jun-Ho immediately grabbed his ankles and twisted them.

Crack!

“Argh…!” Seo Jun-Ho let out a subdued groan. It was painful but a bit refreshing at the same time. Most people wouldn’t be able to set their bones to their correct position, but Seo Jun-Ho was an exception.

‘I have Hero’s Mind, after all…’

Crack, crack!

The sound of bones clicking into place echoed for quite a while in the dark cave.

1. Paid Time Off ☜