Return of the Frozen Player

“Is this the guy? The 2nd Floor’s Floor Master?”

“A humanoid insect…The appearance is a little off-putting.”

Skaya and Gilberto each expressed their thoughts.

Shim Deok-Gu had already seen Janabi before, and he spoke, “The hide is tougher than any monster. You should be able to use it to make some gear.”

“I don’t really need equipment,” Seo Jun-Ho said.

“What? Then why did you bother coming here?”

“To use Confession of the Dead.”

“Oh, right. You have that.”

Seo Jun-Ho placed his hand on Janabi’s head, which was covered with frost.

[Confession of the Dead has been activated.]

[Janabi’s memories are being replayed.]

“...?!”

When the desired video appeared, Seo Jun-Ho’s face was shocked.

‘What…is this?’

He trembled, eyes transfixed on the long, hard-to-pronounce number in front of him.

[00:00:00/36,389,041:00:18]

“Thirty-six million three hundred eighty-nine thousand forty-one hours and eighteen seconds…?” He turned to Skaya. She realized why he was looking at her and responded.

“4,154 years.”

“...That’s insane.”

“Can’t you guys speak in a way that other people can understand?” Shim Deok-Gu said. He looked frustrated, unable to follow the flow of their conversation.

At that, Seo Jun-Ho tapped the video with his finger. “I don’t believe it, but this little hologram window has 4,154 years’ worth of video content in it.”

“...What? 4,154 years?”

“Isn’t it ridiculous? I feel the same way.”

As Seo Jun-Ho looked at the video again, the look in his eyes deepened.

‘As far as I know, Janabi’s only a few weeks old at most.’

He had risen to the rank of king after killing the queen.

However, he had thousands of years\' worth of memories…

It was clearly a mistake.

‘...No, wait.’

The gears quickly started to turn in his head. If the ‘evolution’ he had demonstrated during the battle was related to his skill, it made sense.

“Did he eat the queen’s brain…?”

Of course, there was no point in making hypotheses. What mattered were the results, not the process.

At that, Seo Jun-Ho let out a sigh of relief.

‘That means I really almost died.’

Janabi probably wasn\'t able to absorb all the memories. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have acted so naively during the battle.

‘I suppose not even Janabi could easily accommodate all these memories.’

So, he ended up sealing the memories deep within his consciousness.

For now, that was what Seo Jun-Ho could deduce.

“I didn’t expect this, but…”

If he just looked at the results, it wasn’t bad. Actually, this was better.

‘It’s like I’ve opened Pandora’s box.’

He stared at the video for a second and then turned to the other three. “Are you all ready to watch?”

“...”

“...”

No one spoke. They had probably realized what it meant to watch this video.

“Sigh, what else can we do? Let’s watch it.” Shim Deok-Gu was the first to answer, and his face seemed determined as he spoke.

This video would show how Janabi’s ancestors had come to migrate to Frontier. It might even contain clues on why Earth had become like this.

“I’m playing it.”

Seo Jun-Ho’s waiting finger clicked on the play button.

***

[32,727,260:00:44/36,389,041:00:18]

Bzzz, bzzzzz!

The worker bees Seo Jun-Ho had seen in Blackfield were working hard, flying around the flower field. They were gathering honey to offer to the queen.

[...]

The queen was sitting in the highest area, watching over as her people worked.

[Krr? Krrrk!]

Just then, a worker bee hefting a sack of honey pointed up to the sky. The queen unwittingly turned her head, and she went stiff, like a toy that had run out of battery.

A giant red meteor… No, a wall was falling toward them.

[K-Krree!]

Everyone, run!

At the queen’s order, the worker bees scattered in all different directions. The wasps, who had combat abilities, struck the ‘wall’ with their stingers, trying to protect her.

And then, the courageous wasps were burnt to death—not even their ashes remained.

The worker bees running away met a similar end.

And thus, the nameless planet met its futile end.

Beep—

The video played a long beeping noise and changed to a black screen.

‘Did the queen die?’

Seo Jun-Ho quickly fast-forwarded the video.

[Kree?]

When the queen opened her eyes again, she was in an unfamiliar place resembling a laboratory. Beyond the glass wall, two men were watching her while conversing.

[They’re an extinct protected species?]

pαndα nᴏνê|,сòМ [Why else would they order us to restore it?]

[That’s true… Let’s just put it in a Gate and go home.]

The screen went black again.

Once the queen pulled herself together, the first thing she did was hunt. After entering the Gate, she ate, laid eggs, and repeated this over and over again.

‘I see.’

Like this, she created a family again.

Later, the Gate opened, and the queen led her bees in search of a land with an abundance of food.

It was where the Magic Tower was being built.

‘So this is what happened.’

The bees hadn’t had enough food to eat in the Gate, so they started to viciously devour the mages and workers building the Magic Tower.

‘And the Archmage gave up the tower and sealed them in Blackfield.’

This happened 312 years ago.

“...”

“...”

Even after the video ended, the four people didn’t speak. The contents had given them much to think about.

The first to speak was Seo Jun-Ho, “There isn’t too much we can use here. Their case was too unique.”

“Yeah. They revived her because they were an extinct protected species and put her in a Gate. That seemed like a special case to me,” Gilberto agreed.

“That’s definitely the case. The Gates we have cleared kept sending out goblins and orcs until we got tired of them,” Skaya said.

Still, it wasn’t as if they hadn’t learned anything.

“We still got two pieces of information.”

“The first is that Gates with extinct protected species are from different planets.”

“And I suppose the second is that the ones who manage it look like humans.”

Yes, humans. The two men who watched the queen from beyond the glass wall definitely looked human.

“Just who are they?”

“No idea. I guess they’re gods or something. We can’t even begin to guess what kind of technology they have,” Skaya said.

They had revived a dead organism and created a Gate in a different dimension. Even if the world ended and their own planet was remade, this was impossible with earthly means.

“...Hm.” Shim Deok-Gu had been quiet the whole time, but he finally spoke, “For now, let’s keep what we saw today a secret. Don’t tell anyone about this.”

“That would be good,” Seo Jun-Ho said. They didn’t have any concrete information to go around telling others. Even if they did, it would only give netizens a good topic to gossip about.

“...Let’s go back for now.”

The four people returned to the Player’s Association.

***

Skaya and Gilberto each disappeared to their assigned rooms. However, instead of going to his home in the building, Seo Jun-Ho went to the executive office instead.

“You’re here. Sit.”

Shim Deok-Gu had seemed like he wanted to speak to him before they parted ways, and Seo Jun-Ho understood why he had called him over.

“The reason I called you over separately…”

“I know. It’s because of the fiends, right?” Seo Jun-Ho said.

“Your head… Huh?” Deok-Gu looked confused for a second, but he quickly nodded.

“My head?”

“Oh, uh… Yeah! I think there are a lot of people who are after your head.” Shim Deok-Gu tapped on his Vita and pulled up a hologram photo. It showed a barren land with nothing in it. “You’ve heard of Outland before, right?”

“It’s the land where the empire’s power doesn’t reach.”

“That’s right. It’s a land with no laws and no masters.” Shim Deok-Gu swiped to the next photo. It displayed a long line of people.

“...What kind of crazy bastards are moving to Outland?” Seo Jun-Ho asked.

“They’re not moving, but they’re crazy, alright.” He zoomed in on the picture, and Seo Jun-Ho squinted.

“...Wait, they’re not people?”

“They’re the so-called undead.”

The entire line was made up of corpses. Seo Jun-Ho looked at him, waiting for an explanation.

“Jun-Ho.” Shim Deok-Gu’s voice became somber. “Nazad Hallow has started to make a move.”

“...”

The third Heaven Nazad Hallow was a necromancer known as the King of Corpses.

“I thought that I should let you know. This is the first time he’s been spotted in several months,” Shim Deok-Gu said.

“...Yeah, I suppose we do have a history.” Seo Jun-Ho had killed Nazad’s student Arma in Las Vegas. Moreover, the Aura Buff Ring that Nazad had gifted to his student was currently sitting on his own finger.

“You said that Kal Signer had received orders from Nazad Hallow to bring you in.”

“He must hate me a lot. I wish he liked me more. Hmph.”

“...Tch.” Shim Deok-Gu made a disgusted face and swiped to the next picture. “He’s not the only one.”

“Huh?”

“On both Earth and Frontier, the fiends have started to hide their movements.”

“...Impossible. They can do that?” Seo Jun-Ho’s face became as serious as Shim Deok-Gu’s.

“That’s the problem. They’ve been doing something they’re not supposed to be able to do,” he said.

“But who would order… Oh.” Seo Jun-Ho finally realized why Shim Deok-Gu was telling him to be careful. “It’s the Heavenly Demon.”

“...The six years he promised had passed a few months ago,” Shim Deok-Gu said.

“I think the last time he was seen was about a year ago.”

“He hasn’t been spotted since then, so he must be training.” After staying quiet for so long, the fact that the Heavenly Demon had started to move meant that his preparations were finished.

“What kind of large-scale disaster is he planning?” Seo Jun-Ho wondered.

“We don’t know, but either way, it won’t be good for us,” Deok-Gu said.

“Yeah, those bastards have never been good for anything.”

Shim Deok-Gu considered something before he spoke carefully. “About that. I think it would be best to wake the other two as fast as possible.”

“I’m going to. That’s actually why I came down here,” Seo Jun-Ho said casually. “But I don’t think it’ll be possible to wake both of them at the same time.”

“Huh? Was training under the Thunder God still not enough?”

“Personally, I don’t think I’ll get the stat penalty anymore from melting the ice.” His understanding of the Frost skill had improved so much that it was incomparable to when he had freed Gilberto. “But whenever I remove a seal, there’s a cooldown time of 90 days before I can use it again.”

When he freed Skaya and Gilberto, the stat penalty had decreased, but the 90-day limit remained.

“90 days…” Shim Deok-Gu fell deep into thought. He seemed to be thinking about who would be the better option if they could only free one Hero.

“Why are you thinking about that? I’ve already decided,” Seo Jun-Ho said.

“Really? Who?”

“It’s…” Seo Jun-Ho gestured to Shim Deok-Gu to come closer, and he whispered in the latter’s ear. “...Whoever I want.”

“Dammit!” Shim Deok-Gu angrily brushed off his ear, and Seo Jun-Ho stood up, laughing.

“The others should have gotten enough rest by now, so I’ll have to head to Skaya’s Lair soon enough.”

“W-wait!” As Seo Jun-Ho was about to leave to go to the bathroom, Shim Deok-Gu called out to him urgently.

“What is it?” Seo Jun-Ho said with a mischievous smirk. He deliberately tucked his hair behind his ear as well.

Shim Deok-Gu was trembling furiously, and he was blushing red all the way down to his neck. He squeezed his eyes shut. “How… Did you… Grow… Your hair… Out.”

“Oh right, our little Deok-Gu is bald, right?”

“Hey! Either tell me straight or just leave!”

“Your hyungnim will tell you,” Seo Jun-Ho said as if he were doing him a favor. “Body transformation.”

“...What?”

“If you go through a body transformation, you’ll also have luscious locks.”

Shim Deok-Gu blinked dumbly. “Isn’t that the thing we read in murim novels back when we were kids…?”

“Yeah, but it’s different from what I expected.”

“...”

“I was also the first one to do it.” After giving him those tips, Seo Jun-Ho left the room while gripping his stomach in laughter.

“...”

Left alone in the room, Shim Deok-Gu slowly closed his eyes.

Today, the wig on his head felt heavier than usual.