Return of the Frozen Player

“...”

The Frost Queen pouted at her contractor.

It was all because he left her out and was only talking with Keen Intuition.

They were talking about a scam, but the Frost Queen couldn’t understand it.

‘What is a scam…? I know what spam is, and it’s super delicious.’

The Frost Queen recalled having spam a few times when the contractor made her rice, spam, and Korean egg roll for a meal. However, she had a feeling that what the contractor and Keen Intuition were talking about wasn’t food.

“Keen Intuition. When did you notice?”

- I felt that something was off when I read the hints earlier.

“Ah. You, too?”

‘Why are they only talking to each other? They’re so rude.’

The Frost Queen glared at her contractor with narrowed eyes.

Finally, Seo Jun-Ho turned to the Frost Queen and said, “Oh, we should explain this to Frost as well.”

“Hmph, hmm!” The Frost Queen harumphed with a look that seemed to convey that she wasn’t interested in their conversation at all. She looked like she wouldn’t listen even if he willingly explained.

“Well, as you wish.”

“First of all, look at these messages.”

Seo Jun-Ho pulled up the system log.

[Welcome to the Maze of Exiles.]

[The Players have been divided fairly into 30 teams, and the Players must escape within the next 24 hours.]

[The goal of this evil maze is to kill intruders by misleading them, so please keep that in mind.]

[There are hints hidden in multiple places; please use them wisely.]

The Frost Queen read the messages and asked, “Aren’t these the messages that popped up when you first entered the maze?”

“Yes. Don’t you think something is strange?”

‘I don’t see anything weird at all.’ However, the Frost Queen didn’t want to lose her face in front of Keen Intuition. The Frost Queen gasped lightly and exclaimed, “Oh, that? That’s what you were talking about all along?”

“You noticed it, too?”

“Hah. I’ve lost track of how many times I told you this, but I am a graduate of the imperial academy at the top of my class and—sigh. I don’t need to explain longer, do I?” The Frost Queen raised her chin. “I’ve already noticed, but everyone may have different views and interpretations. So tell me how you interpreted this, Contractor.”

- You’re making me laugh. You know absolutely nothing.

Keen Intuition snorted and continued.

- Read the first sentence again.

“The first sentence? That’s… welcome to the maze of exiles?”

- That’s right. I didn’t think much of it when I first read it, but it feels very strange now that I’m reading it again.”

First of all, there was no reason for the System to welcome the Players to the maze. Seo Jun-Ho himself had never been welcomed by the system even once throughout his long career as a Player.

It was his first time receiving a welcome message from the System.

“Hang on. Then, what did you mean by this is a huge scam?”

- By scam, I’m not talking about phishing scams. It’s more like fraud, to be accurate. In other words, the maze has been impersonating the System.

“...Give me a second. But don’t you think it’s weird?” The Frost Queen pointed out.

“The Players have been divided fairly into thirty teams, and the Players must escape within the next twenty-four hours. Contractor, you found out that there’s an imposter in every team after reading that sentence, am I right?”

“I did.”

“If the maze is impersonating the System, then why would it even bother revealing that fact…?”

- Tsk, tsk.

Keen Intuition clicked his tongue.

- You are shallow-minded, Spirit.

“Excuse me? What did you say?”

- The best place to hide a tree is in a forest, and you should cover your lies with truths if you want your lie to succeed.

“...Are you saying that they hid lies among the truths?”

Seo Jun-Ho nodded at the Frost Queen’s question.

“Intuition is right. In fact, I didn’t even think about doubting the System messages because they revealed the existence of monsters among the teams.”

It was only natural for Seo Jun-Ho to think so because he believed that the System messages were on the Player’s side.

“However, the maze had made a critical mistake. The hint showed only the facts I already knew.”

- And that was when we felt a sense of incongruity.

“...They gave you lots of truths so that you won’t think that the hints are lies.”

“Bingo.”

The maze had thoroughly planned everything out, but it also became the impetus for the maze’s defeat. Seo Jun-Ho had always been the type of man to be overly suspicious about things, not to mention he had Keen Intuition on his side.

The two combined their prowess and found the truth.

“In other words, the maze wanted us to believe that we would just be expelled and given another chance even if we failed to clear the maze in time.”

The goal of the evil maze was to kill all intruders.

Therefore, the Players would initially try their best to clear the maze.

However, what would the Players do upon receiving a hint that they would simply be expelled downstairs if they were to fail the mission? Naturally, the exhausted Players would have enough justification to give up on clearing the maze.

“So if time runs out, the Players won’t be expelled downstairs. Is that what you believe, Contractor?”

“I believe so. I think that they’ll just die,” Seo Jun-Ho said frankly, “After all, the maze has prepared many things to distract the players.”

The maze was ever-changing, and there was even an imposter among the teams. In addition, there was also a rule that would reduce the remaining time by twelve minutes every time a Player perished.

“The Players will definitely get impatient upon seeing the diminishing time.”

Impatience could lead to mistakes, which would then lead to irreversible situations.

“Upon realizing that they don’t have much time left, they’ll just give up.” After all, they had another chance, according to what the System message had told them from one of the hints. It was a type of insurance for the Players.

With that insurance in mind, there was a high chance that the hardworking Players would just give up clearing the maze because the System had told them that they would simply be expelled.

“Hmm. Well, that’s bad. We’re in big trouble.”

“We’re in big trouble because the messages have deluded us.”

Seo Jun-Ho could still remember how the maze managed to distract him by making sure that he would focus on helping the Players by identifying the monsters among the many teams.

“If you really think about it, it’s impossible to escape this maze.”

The maze was ever-changing, so the maze could just constantly move to prevent the Players from escaping for as long as it wanted.

“In short, this maze was designed to make sure that Players won’t be able to escape from it.”

“...Then, what are we supposed to do?”

“What do you mean? We already know that the System messages are fake.”

In other words, they just had to doubt the other System messages that they had seen so far in this maze.

“The walls of the maze…”

Seo Jun-Ho retrieved White Dragon and looked around.

“...Is it really impossible to destroy them?!”

Thumpppp!

When Seo Jun-Ho’s words fell, the walls suddenly converged from both sides to crush Seo Jun-Ho.

***

[You cannot escape the Maze of Exiles. Please go down.]

~

Seo Jun-Ho had already confirmed that he couldn’t go beyond the clouds because a transparent wall was blocking the way, along with a System message.

“Nilbas Perry attacked the wall, and he said that it’s being protected by the System.”

“Ah!” The Frost Queen shouted upon realizing something. “A scam! That was a fraud!”

“Exactly.”

After confirming that the maze had been impersonating the System, the other System messages that he had seen so far also lost their credibility.

“I think that was the maze’s desperate act.”

‘It was a desperate act to prevent the players from doubting the maze and to keep them away from the truth.’

Seo Jun-Ho thought that perhaps it was for a similar reason that the maze kept on trying to keep him away from the walls.

“Black Moon Martial Arts...”

Crashhhh!

The walls on both sides rushed at breakneck speeds to Seo Jun-Ho, and it was clear that they were determined to crush the latter.

Seo Jun-Ho took a stance with White Dragon and muttered, “Black Moon Martial Arts Final Skill: Black Moon.”

The darkness which burst from the spearhead devoured the world, and the walls were no exception.

Bangggg!

The walls dramatically slowed down as System messages constantly popped up in front of Seo Jun-Ho.

~

[The walls of the maze cannot be destroyed. Please stop the attack.]

[The walls of the maze cannot be destroyed. Please stop the attack.]

[The walls of the maze cannot be destroyed. Please stop the attack.]

…

~

Seo Jun-Ho smiled and ignored the messages.

“You’ve deceived me once, but I can still call that a mistake, but I’ll be stupid if I get deceived twice.”

Seo Jun-Ho confidently unleashed even more magic.

He looked like he was trying to break the entire world.

Crashhhhh! Crack!

A sound similar to breaking glass echoed, and the fraudulent messages that filled Seo Jun-Ho’s sight also shattered into countless fragments.

“Contractor! The walls are…!”

Crumble!

The huge walls shattered, and as the thick cloud of dust rose from what remained of the walls, a loud roar shook the world.

- Grrrrrrrrr!

“Ughhh, my ears!” The Frost Queen started trembling as the loud noise hurt her ears.

When she could finally open her eyes, she was surprised at the sight in front of her.

“Huh?”

The walls of the maze were floating, and they started flying somewhere.

The walls eventually converged to create a giant.

~

[Gatekeeper Plutus the Exiled has appeared.]

~

‘I knew it, the maze itself is a monster. Wait, he’s not a Floor Master?’

Seo Jun-Ho had never seen a gatekeeper before, but he decided to set aside the questions for now.

The massive walls had disappeared, so the Players could finally see each other.

Seo Jun-Ho saw many Players in groups of twos and threes.

“Jun-Ho! Hey!”

Skaya was jumping up and down from afar, but she suddenly appeared in front of Seo Jun-Ho before the latter could react.

“Who is that big guy? Do you know him?” Skaya asked.

“...I do know something, but it’s a long story. I think we should kill him first,” Seo Jun-Ho answered.

“Hm. Then, let’s go say hello, shall we?” Skaya revealed a playful, villainous smile before pointing her finger gun at the giant. “You know, I actually wanted to ask you something.”

“Do you really have to ask right now?”

“Yes, but you have to see it first, and then you be the judge.”

A purple energy gathered at the tip of Skaya’s finger. It was the signature color of Chaos Magic, and it seemed to be throwing a tantrum as if it were annoyed.

However, Skaya didn’t mind it as she asked shyly, “If I were to shoot that musclehead with this, who do you think will win?”

“What kind of irrelevant—”

Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t finish his sentence.

Skaya’s Destruction Ray flew and instantly bore a hole in the giant’s neck.

Crashhhh!

The walls that made up the giant’s neck were destroyed in a blink of an eye, and Plutus staggered backward. Plutus couldn’t maintain his balance and collapsed on his butt. His enormous size created a huge cloud of dust that swallowed the Players.

“Keuk!”

The cloud of dust was so thick that no one could open their eyes and speak.

However, Skaya shouted, “What do you think will win? I’ll win, right? Right?!”

‘She’s talking even when all the dirt and dust are getting into her mouth? How relentless. Why aren’t there any normal people around me?’

Seo Jun-Ho gnashed his teeth and opened his eyes slightly.

Then, he sent his thoughts to Skaya through magic.

- I’ll answer your question later, so shoot your ray a few more times. It’s working very well against that monster.

- Huh? I can’t shoot it consecutively. It wouldn’t be called an ultimate move if I could do that, would it? I need a few more minutes before I can shoot it again.

When the cloud of dust finally vanished, Skaya said, “Huh? Jun-Ho. That guy recovered fast.”

The wall around Plutus’ neck, which had been dangling, had recovered without anyone realizing it. It wasn’t really strange because Plutus was capable of constantly moving around the walls with ease.

Crash! Thump!

The Players came to their senses and started attacking the giant.

‘But it’s not enough…’

The Players couldn’t deal any significant damage to Plutus, even though they were attacking Plutus at the same time.

‘I think we have to get rid of him in a single blow. It should be possible if Skaya attacked his weakness.’

Seo Jun-Ho was sure that Plutus couldn’t possibly remain intact after taking the brunt of Skaya’s Destruction Ray or Hydro Pump, especially if those ultimate moves struck his weakness.

‘But how are we supposed to find his weakness?’

“...Alba Mils.” Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes flashed. “Skaya. There should be a player named Alba Mils here. Please bring her here.”

“What does she look like?”

“She’s African-American with red curly hair. She’s wearing black leather armor.”

“Oh, I think I found her.”

Alba Mils suddenly appeared and fell on her bottom in front of them.

“What?! What just happened?!” Alba Mils looked around in confusion. It couldn’t be helped. After all, Skaya had abducted her without warning. “Where the heck am I—huh? Specter-nim?”

“Alba Mils. Listen carefully….” Seo Jun-Ho stared with a serious look at Alba before saying, “Let’s do business together.”