Return of the Frozen Player

[Hey, hey! What’s this? This cute girl~]

[This is the… first sponsorship in my life?]

[The cuteness is 100 million points out of 100 points. That\'s my conclusion.]

[Is she an elf? Her ears are pointed.]

[I\'ll favorite this broadcast. Kukukuku.]

…

"Mmm?"

The Frost Queen gave a light groan and frowned as if she had seen a bug. Hundreds or maybe thousands of comments popped up when she clicked on the comment window. An ordinary person may not have been able to read it all properly, but she wasn’t an ordinary person. The Frost Queen read all the comments in a flash and pondered.

‘What is this situation?’

Just where did these comments come from, and what was cute? The Frost Queen stared at the comment window and muttered, "What the heck is so cute... I do not…”

Once again, comments were posted at an explosive pace.

[What, what, did the doll just read the comments?]

[Communication! Communication! Communication! Communication!]

[Haha, you idiots. It\'s no use even if you type in the chat for 100 days. The comments are coming up so fast that I doubt she can even read them.]

The Frost Queen blinked.

‘But I am reading everything…’

However, she didn\'t bother to voice that thought. For some reason, she had a hunch that it would get really tiresome the moment she said it.

‘Watching the situation calmly...’

It seemed that the unknown creature called comment was watching her right now. Realizing that, the Frost Queen\'s eyebrows trembled.

‘I do not feel any presence… Just where is it?’

When she turned her head to the side, it said she was cute. When she glared at a tree because it was suspicious, it said that her eyes were cute.

‘Am I being watched?’

Unable to locate the watcher, the Frost Queen shouted, waving her arms, "D-do not look at me without my permission! Go away!"

However, that was like pouring oil on a wildfire. The comments got hotter, with some saying that she was cute even when she was upset. The Frost Queen felt scared all of a sudden, and she began to run away while covering her face with her arms.

"Ah, do not look! Go away!”

However, the comments were still there. Even when she got angry, requested, or tried to negotiate, the other party didn\'t listen to her at all. It just kept saying that she was cute.

‘Cute? I am cute?’

The Frost Queen stopped in place. She felt like the comments were teasing her.

‘Nonsense!’

She had never been told by anyone else but her parents that she was cute. Oh, except for one person.

‘There are so many comments like that scary woman, Skaya...’

Old memories flashed through her mind.

***

It was during the Frost Queen\'s childhood when a big banquet was held to celebrate her birthday. Foreign envoys, as well as domestic representatives, had come to congratulate her.

"Huh-huh, the princess of Niflheim is always so cu…”

"Yes, the only joy of this old man these days is to see Your Highness grow up.”

"Oh, how cu...”

"In the world, she is probably the cutes…”

"Hey, what do you mean the world? Our princess is the cutes… in the universe…”

The idiotic ministers opened their mouths and praised the princess for being the cutest in the universe. Then, the Frost Queen, who had overheard herself being talked about, approached them with a twinkle in her eyes. The little girl looked up at the grandpas and asked, "What did you just say?"

"Yes, yes?"

"Were you not just talking about me? Am I... cute?”

"No, that\'s...”

The foreign envoys and the ministers were embarrassed. It could be considered rude to confirm that a princess of a country was secretly being described as cute.

A tactful minister came up and spoke, "W-we were just talking about how Your Highness was as imposing as a ghost."[1]

"…I am as imposing as a ghost? Not cute?”

"Yes! Your Highness is not cute at all! Rather, Your Highness is as imposing as His Majesty."

"Hmm… I see…”

Frost left with a slightly hurt expression. When she left, the ministers breathed a sigh of relief.

"Whew, I guess Her Highness really doesn\'t like being told that she’s cute."

"That must be it, considering that she came all the way here to make a fuss. If we had said the truth, she would have punished us.”

"I don\'t think we should ever say this in the princess’ earshot again."

"Let\'s just think of it in our heads—in our heads."

"Not just between us, but let\'s keep the others in the loop as well."

After that day, rumors circulated that the Frost Queen hated being told she was cute.

***

“Ah." the Frost Queen came to her senses and shook her hand in a hurry. "Get away, get away, disappear, go disappear."

After shaking the Community window for a long time, the Community window finally recognized her voice and disappeared. The live broadcast naturally ended, and the comment window vanished.

"Phew..."

The Frost Queen wiped the cold sweat on her forehead with her sleeve.

‘This is the first time I have encountered this kind of enemy. As expected, this world is full of the unknowns.’

Sitting on the wooden floor, where the cool wind was blowing, she once again turned on the Community window. She was afraid that the comment window would appear once again if she filmed a video, so she looked around the other bulletin boards.

"What?"

Her eyes grew large.

[Did anyone see that live broadcast just now with Seo Jun-Ho\'s ID?]

[Who in the world was that? A hidden daughter?]

[No, her ears were pointed. Maybe, he visited a hidden elf village.]

[Aha. Because he has a cute elf, he made her do a broadcast to get points?]

[Then, he achieved his goal. Just how much did he earn?]

[I don\'t know, but... How the hell did he get into a village of those stubborn elves?]

…

It didn\'t take long for Frost Queen to realize her mistake.

‘I... I was seen by tens of thousands of people?’

Aside from the fact that her face was leaked, her identity as a Spirit may have been discovered.

\'If they found out...’

When she thought about how she would get scolded by her contractor, who had been trying his best to hide the fact that she was a Spirit, the frightened child’s body trembled; her eyes quickly got moist.

Sniffle, sniffle.

While the Frost Queen was shedding tears on the wooden floor, the Thunder God came out of the room since he was done treating Seo Jun-Ho. He stared in the direction where the sobbing Frost Queen sat.

"…Sniffle."

The Frost Queen looked up at him with her puffy eyes. The Thunder God went his way as if nothing had happened.

‘What should I do?’

Sitting on the floor and contemplating for a long time, the Frost Queen slightly bit her lower lip. A monarch of a nation had to take responsibility for what she had done. She forced her foot into her contractor\'s room.

"Oh, you\'re here? Look at this!" Seo Jun-Ho shouted with a bright expression. Thanks to the elixirs, moving his body was no longer an issue. "An elixir really is a good medicine. I can\'t believe it managed to treat such a broken body to such an extent in just four days. Isn\'t it amazing?”

"Mmhm..."

"I\'ve made a ton of tea and cakes to celebrate the fact that I can now get up. I\'m sorry I couldn\'t make it for you in the meantime.”

"Mmmm..."

"Come on, eat it. Eat it. You really wanted to eat it, right?”

When he held out a cake and gave her a fork, the Frost Queen cut the end of the cake. And when she brought the cake to her mouth and nibbled on it, water began to fall from her eyes once again.

\'It\'s delicious...\'

Her contractor even prepared a delicious cake for her, but she had done nothing but cause damage. Amidst the guilt and shame, she started crying.

"...Hey, are you crying? Why, why are you crying? Does it taste bad?"

When the confused Seo Jun-Ho asked, the Frost Queen cried even louder and apologized, "I\'m sorry, Contractor, I-I… by mistake... broadcasted... a lot of comments… uwaaahhh."

"What? What are you talking about?"

Seo Jun-Ho received the Community window that she held out and quickly scanned the bulletin board.

‘She did a live broadcast? Frost did?’

With a frown on his face, he quickly watched a video of the Frost Queen’s live broadcast.

“…”

After contemplating for a while, he breathed a sigh of relief.

\'There was no slip of the tongue. It seems like everyone’s thinking that she’s an elf.\'

No one thought she was a Spirit. That was because very few Players had actually ever seen a spirit. Even if a Spirit user saw Frost, it would be unreasonable to think that she was a Spirit. Regardless of who had seen her, she was just a cute girl on the outside.

‘But making a mistake like this is clearly wrong. I have to scold her so that she doesn\'t make this mistake again...’

Seo Jun-Ho stiffened his resolve, but—

[Current PP: 537,185.]

"Huh?"

After making a sound as if the air had rushed out of his lungs, Seo Jun-Ho stared blankly.

‘My PP is 500,000? Why?’

The last time he earned PP was the match with Gong Ju-Ha. At that time, he won and got 800,000 points, all of which were used at the Administrator’s Shop.

‘So why do I still have 500,000 left?’

Confused, Seo Jun-Ho checked the PP transaction details.

[‘3vs5,000’ sponsored 40,000 PP.]

[‘10 Years as a Cosu’ sponsored 30,000 PP.]

[\'Cute Hunter’ sponsored 57,000 PP.]

[‘What Should I Make as My Nickname’ sponsored 1,500 PP.]

…

The entirety of 500,000+ PP came in today and in only forty minutes. It was during the time when the Frost Queen was in the middle of her live broadcast.

“…”

Of course, Seo Jun-Ho\'s video was still being sold. However, rather than selling well, it was selling steadily. It wasn\'t to the point of selling like a ‘bestseller.’

\'Wait a minute...\'

Seo Jun-Ho stroked his chin and thought. It was 500,000 PP in just forty minutes. The 800,000 PP he had earned from working himself to death over several days in the matching board felt like it was in vain. If he were determined to use the Frost Queen as the face of his videos, it wouldn’t be difficult to get millions of PP.

\'But... that\'s it.’

Seo Jun-Ho drew the line cleanly.

‘There\'s no reason to take risks when I don\'t need PP urgently.’

One time was fine. In fact, even now, most of the responses were just, ‘She was so cute earlier~ I want to have a daughter like that later.’

‘But if I keep it up, I’m bound to make a mistake eventually.’

The penalty that he would have to bear was too great if the Frost Queen was discovered to be a Spirit. Especially since some people had skills that worked great against Spirits. There was only one thing Seo Jun-Ho was concerned about.

‘It doesn’t matter if it’s anyone else, but it\'s a problem if someone with a skill like that is a fiend.’

If something were to happen to the Frost Queen, it would put a brake on his growth as well. After all, her growth was his own growth.

‘Ted Ruid, the world\'s greatest Spirit user said so.’

The higher the Spirit’s rank was, the stronger they were. The Frost Queen was currently a Low Spirit…[1] No, she was showing outstanding skills despite being a Grade 2 Arch Spirit.

‘I’m sure she’s going to show even greater power when she reaches Common, High, or maybe even Arch.’

ραпdα nᴏνê|(сòm) In short, it meant that her potential was great. He couldn’t let anything happen to her because of his petty greed.

Stroke, stroke.

"…Sniffle?"

Seo Jun-Ho gently stroked the top of the Frost Queen’s head. After sobbing for a long time, she carefully raised her head.

"Everyone makes mistakes. You just have to make sure not to repeat the same mistake. You know what I\'m saying, right?”

"Yeah..."

Her tension suddenly eased when she realized that her contractor had forgiven her.

Growl.

She felt hungry as the tension loosened. With a slightly reddened face, the Frost Queen happily ate the cake.

‘Is she cute?’

Seo Jun-Ho looked at the Frost Queen without her mask for a while, then smirked.

‘They’re right. She\'s pretty cute.’

He lay on his side and supported his head with one arm while proudly looking at the Frost Queen enjoying her cake.

530,000 PP. That was too much to give her a hard time.

1. The first character for cute (귀여운) and ghost (귀신) sounds the same in Korean. ☜

1. just in case everyone had already forgotten, the spirit grades are as follows: Lesser, Low, Common, High, Arch