Return of the Frozen Player

“Sorry to disappoint, but my feet can’t talk.”

Once he stepped back, the youthful robotic voice sounded much clearer.

- Why are you standing there like an idiot? Since you have moved your foot, hurry up and take me out!

Seo Jun-Ho gestured at the Frost Queen with his hand. “Frost, let’s go.”

“Yes.”

- You, stop right there! I said stop! E-excuse me! Please stop![1]

The grumbling voice had become desperate, and it made Seo Jun-Ho stop.

The Frost Queen sulked. “It is a bother. I think it will talk a lot, too.”

Seo Jun-Ho resisted the urge to say, ‘don’t you talk a lot as well?’ and turned around.

“Let’s hear what it has to say first. I think it’s a survivor from the Demonic Cult.” He couldn’t just leave them here. He dug through the machine parts, and eventually, he found the owner of the voice.

“A ball?”

It was exactly the size of a basketball. No more, no less. The robot ball had a hard and cold surface. The LED face blinked and glared at Seo Jun-Ho.

- `⌒´

“It is glaring at you. What an amusing toy.”

When the Frost Queen giggled in amusement, the ball turned to her.

- How impudent. How dare you refer to me as a toy?

“Wow, that’s fascinating. It talks exactly like someone I know.”

“I-I am not as rude as this thing….”

Rules for thee but not for me.

Blushing a little, the Frost Queen lifted the ball into the air with her hands.

- How dare you! Let go of me at once!

“Speak. Who are you?”

- This is a warning. Place me down politely, or you will regret it.[2]

The Frost Queen frowned. “Contractor, the manner of its speech disturbs me.”

“Oh, yeah, it’s pretty annoying whenever people talk like that.”

“?” The Frost Queen looked at him with narrowed eyes. Then, she started shaking the ball up and down.

- D-do not shake me! My brain will be shaken!

“You are incorrect. Your brain is fastened securely within this ball.”

- You savage woman!

“...”

Savage woman?

The Frost Queen’s eyes grew cold, and she shook the ball even faster.

- U-urp…!

The machine couldn’t throw up, but the Frost Queen stopped shaking it when it started quivering.

“Huff. Huff. Contractor, this lump of metal is needlessly heavy. My arms are aching,” she complained.

“Your arms would hurt even if you shook a plastic bottle that hard.” Seo Jun-Ho took the ball from her. “That’s enough joking around. Who are you?”

- J-just a moment…I feel unwell…

Tap tap.

Seo Jun-Ho patted its back, and the ball seemed to recover.

- Phew. You asked me who I am?

“Yeah.” Seo Jun-Ho seemed uninterested. The look in his eyes implied that he would just break the machine if it weren’t of much significance.

It startled the ball, and it answered immediately.

- I-I am the Small Heavenly Demon.

“Small Heavenly Demon?”

- ...

The LED face turned to the side and looked at the dead Heavenly Demon with regret.

- The man over there is my father.

“Makes sense.” So that was why its name was ‘Small Heavenly Demon’.

The ball turned back to Jun-Ho.

- Would you close my father’s eyes? Please.

“Yeah, sure.” Seo Jun-Ho closed the Heavenly Demon’s vengeful eyes.

- ( •́ ̯•｡̀ )

The Small Heavenly Demon looked at its father with sorrow.

- Thank you.

It said genuinely.

“In return, can I ask you something?”

- I will allow it.

“His body was part machine, but he was still human. So why are you… a ball?” he asked.

- ...

The Small Heavenly Demon closed its eyes, seemingly pondering something. However, its voice sounded bitter when it answered.

- I am sorry, but I will not answer that. It would be better for you not to know.

The Frost Queen and Seo Jun-Ho exchanged looks.

‘This…’

‘Has a story behind it...’

They were curious, but they had a strong feeling that if they asked, they would get tangled in something troublesome.

‘Sorry.’ Seo Jun-Ho decided to let it go. He decided to ask about the ‘Beta Neigong Chip’ instead.

- Partner. Personally, I very much wish to listen to his story.

“Look here, inner voice. The Contractor has to focus on his vengeance. Do not involve him in your own affairs.”[3]

- What a strange woman. Who are you speaking to?

- Just go home and eat cake. The adults are talking.

The spirit, the intuition, and the robot ball prattled on at each other. It was total chaos.

Seo Jun-Ho started to feel dizzy, so he quickly made a decision. “Enough! If Intuition is so adamant about it, we should listen to it.” He gently rocked the Small Heavenly Demon. “I don’t know what your story is, but just tell me without holding back. We’re the only ones here anyway.

- You may regret it.

“If I do, that’s on me.”

- What a fool…

He scoffed. The Small Heavenly Demon went silent for a moment before telling its story.

***

They[4] were cursed. They wondered if it was the curse of a god envious of their great talent.

“Is there nothing we can do?”

“No. If we wish to treat this disease, we would have to replace their veins, their heart, their bones, their intestines—we would have to replace everything in their body.”

Another dead end. The finest doctor in the Demonic Cult had just pronounced a death sentence. The Heavenly Demon felt like a stake was being buried into his chest.

“Leave.”

“By your will.”

Once the doctor left, he looked down at his one and only child. “...Did you hear that?”

“Yes.”

“You can no longer use martial arts.”

“It is not over yet,” the Small Heavenly Demon snapped. “Did you not hear the doctor? It will be possible if we replace everything in my body.”

“...” The Heavenly Demon looked at his stubborn child. “You know better than anyone else that it is not possible with mere cyborg technology.”

This was not a problem that could be resolved by simply replacing a few parts of the body with machinery. They had to give the Small Heavenly Demon new veins, a new heart, and new bones. It was a massive procedure that was impossible even with Neo City’s technology.

“It would only be possible to attempt this in the Aeon Empire. And even then, 99 out of 100 patients would die.”

“Then I just have to survive.”

“I heard that even those who survived are suffering side effects.”

“Why do you keep insisting that I give up?” The Small Heavenly Demon felt a wretched sense of betrayal. They looked at their father with resentment. “Father, you were the one who said that you wished to change this city and this world.”

“...” The Heavenly Demon wordlessly turned away. Outside the window, there was a city full of holograms and neon signs of all different colors. “My heart has not changed.”

This city was rotten. It was rotten and decaying, and it was beyond the point of no return.

“This city devours all those who dream.”

A small minority monopolized wealth and the community. They enjoyed the highest level of medical technology, and they could even cheat death.

“It has already been one hundred years since we last had hope.”

In other words, this city had continuously devolved over the last century. Taxes were still shooting up to no end. The people with no affinity for martial arts had no other choice but to turn their bodies into machines so they would not labor themselves to death. And even then, their debts were still stacking up. They would have to spend their whole lives working to pay off their debts until they died.

“This is all because of the emperor.”

The ruler who was supposed to watch over his people had gone mad. A non-aggression pact between the Murim Alliance and the Imperial Palace? Bullshit. He was holding the Murim Alliance in his hands and was committing all sorts of heinous acts.

“It is difficult to cut off a rotting limb.”

It was difficult, but someone had to do it. The Heavenly Demon made the decision to break through the sky himself rather than wait for inevitable destruction. And he had a skill that allowed him to dare to have such a dream.

“...” The Heavenly Demon closed his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

People thought that the Small Heavenly Demon had a weak constitution because they resembled their mother, but that was only half the story.

“Your mother and I only passed onto you the weakest parts of ourselves.”

“Please don’t say that.” The Small Heavenly Demon’s face turned grim. “I will get the surgery. I will become healthy and change the world with you, Father.”

“...”

The Heavenly Demon was proud, and he was thankful to the Small Heavenly Demon. However, there was no parent in the world who would urge their child to die for their own dreams.

“Your father will change the city,” he assured.

“...I know that your chronic illness worsens by the day.” The Small Heavenly Demon wasn’t an idiot. In the same way that this city couldn’t be treated because it was rotten to the core, his father’s illness had also already progressed to the point of no return. “Father, your dream is not yours alone.”

It was also the dream of the hundreds of millions of Neo City citizens. They had always been dreaming of a city where anyone could shape their own future and carry hope in their hearts.

“Please, let me help you achieve your dream.”

“...”

No parent could win against their child. And the Heavenly Demon was a father.

***

“...” Seo Jun-Ho’s face was dark when the story ended.

And The Frost Queen was actually crying. “Sniff, I am sorry. I was not aware that you were in such a pitiful situation, and I shook you like that…”

- Ahem. A person of virtue generously forgives others’ transgressions, so don’t cry. If you do, then I will also…Sniff.

Their emotions welled up, and the Small Heavenly Demon also started crying.

While the two of them were bawling, Seo Jun-Ho was sorting through his thoughts.

‘So, the Small Heavenly Demon’s body is currently in the Aeon Empire.’

It would be delivered if the procedure was successful. If it failed, well—the Small Heavenly Demon would have to spend the rest of their life in that ball.

‘Even though everyone kept talking about the Aeon Empire, I couldn’t really get a good grasp of it… But now, I understand.’

The Aeon Empire had miraculous medical technology and were able to move the Small Heavenly Demon’s soul into the ball to minimize the stress on their body.

‘Who knew such incredible technology existed?’

Seo Jun-Ho wondered if the Aeon Empire could even produce clones.

“So, according to you, the Murim Alliance and the emperor are the bad guys,” he said.

- It is a matter of perspective. All they do is sacrifice the people so that they can live in luxury.

The majority of the people were sacrificing their lives so that the minority could live comfortably.

“Do you know more secrets about the Murim Alliance? Something related to their bounty missions?”

- I don’t know, but it seems that they are issued regularly. It is only natural that there are so many criminals in such a cruel world.

“Hm.”

Seo Jun-Ho suspected that the Murim Alliance had a secret that was connected to his target. He could feel it instinctively. Unfortunately, his intuition had a high batting rate.

“Yeah, something smells fishy,” he admitted.

However, he couldn’t just label them as evil just from the Small Heavenly Demon’s story. As such, Seo Jun-Ho decided to melt into the city and experience the people’s suffering himself.

‘I will have to be prepared to kill the Heavenly Demon and the executives anyway.’

For the time being, his first priority was to hide and get a grasp on the situation.

“Oh, and there’s one more thing I want to ask,” he said.

- Speak.

“It’s about the Beta Neigong Chip.”

- ...!

The Small Heavenly Demon’s LED face flickered in panic.

- W-where did you hear…

“I read part of your father’s memories.”

- I did not know that such a ghastly martial arts technique existed.

Well, it wasn’t exactly martial arts.

“I just need to know one thing. Is it real?” he asked.

- ...It no doubt exists.

“Then where the hell did you guys find it?”

The Small Heavenly Demon sighed.

- It was nothing short of a coincidence. My father was at the imperial library, frustrated with the corruption of the world. Out of sheer luck, he found the Chip.

“Wait. The imperial library?”

- Were you not aware? Before my father founded the Demonic Cult, he was a soldier affiliated with the Imperial Palace. He observed corruption right before his eyes and realized that the city was rotten.

They said people would never see what was right under their noses. However, Seo Jun-Ho had never expected that such an item would be at the imperial library.

- Do you believe my story?”

“I haven’t decided yet.”

Seo Jun-Ho slowly turned to the city. He had to face that city if he wanted to know if the Small Heavenly Demon was telling the truth.

‘And I should start to get ready.’

If his own Heavenly Demon truly had the Beta Neigong Chip containing three thousand gapja of neigong, he couldn’t possibly win by ordinary means.

‘And the fastest way to increase my chance of winning…’

It would be using the ‘Alpha Neigong Chip’ shared by the Imperial Palace and the Murim Alliance.

‘To do that, I have to check if what he said was true.’

If he ever came to the same conclusion as the Small Heavenly Demon, he would steal the Alpha Neigong Chip without hesitation.

“Now that I think about it, I haven’t asked you for your name yet,” Seo Jun-Ho said.

- Are you not aware of common courtesy? In these situations, it is polite to give your name first.

“Hey, the way you talk sounds really familiar. Anyway, my name is Seo Jun-Ho. Seo. Jun. Ho. Got it?

- Seo Jun-Ho…

The Small Heavenly Demon repeated the name a few times and spoke hesitantly.

- M-my name is Wisoso. Do not forget my name.

Soso—to shine brilliantly.[5]

Seo Jun-Ho smiled warmly. “It’s a fine name.”

1. It goes from speaking like it’s better than Seo Jun-Ho and Frost to speaking respectfully.

2. It uses the same elevated pronoun as Frost to refer to itself.

3. The term she calls him by has no English equivalent, but it refers to inner evil thoughts/desires.

4. Previously, ‘it’ was used for the Small Heavenly Demon, but since the demon is humanized now, we have gone with singular ‘they’ as the gender is not revealed yet.

5. ’So’ (昭) means ‘bright’ and ‘to shine’. It also means ‘to reveal’ or ‘to shine a light upon’. ’Wi’ (衛) means ‘to protect’. Wisoso’s name is likely meant to be interpreted as ‘to protect a brilliant light’ or ‘guardian of a brilliant light’