Return of the Frozen Player

The martial artists surrounded the man who was carefully holding Seo Jun-Ho. They were different from the clumsy martial artists Seo Jun-Sik was dealing with in the capital. In the Four Divine Beasts, the number of members per unit was only fifty. However, they were the best strike force of the Murim Alliance.

“...”

The man glanced at the two hundred martial artists surrounding him. Four of them came forward and pressed him.

"I am Hwang Bo-Hyuk, the leader of the Blue Dragon Unit. That person is the public enemy of Murim, Seo Jun-Ho. He will be handled by the alliance from now on."

"If you refuse, we will have no choice but to think that you are his accomplice."

"Make a wise choice…"

The man shook his head. Hwang Bo-Hyukr’s eyebrows wriggled.

"You will help the public enemy of Murim? So you do not mind being considered on his side.”

"Since you demand punishment, it can’t be helped."

The unit leaders pulled out their weapons and ordered, "Attack!"

"He is an enemy protecting the public enemy of Murim, who has harmed hundreds of lives! Don't hesitate!"

The martial artists charged at the man with sword ki. The man glanced at them and gently moved one foot. As the man’s Inventory opened, hundreds of cold weapons fell to the floor.

‘Weapons?’

‘Foolish. Does he think such a cheap method can stall for time?"

The martial artists snorted and swung their weapons.

“…!”

"W-what!"

Hundreds of weapons rose like living creatures and started dancing. These weapons covered with sword ki were more than enough to deal with hundreds of martial artists.

"Is this sorcery?!"

"They aren’t that fast! Spread out and push…!”

The martial artist who was yelling flew back as if he had been hit by a dump truck. A Player would have noticed at once that the man’s skill was an absolutely uncommon level of ‘telekinesis’.

“…”

The man looked down at Seo Jun-Ho, whose body temperature was gradually dropping. Treatment was urgently needed. No matter how useful his skill was in battles against a crowd of enemies, this was the 5th Floor. His skill had a clear limit because he couldn’t recover his magic here.

"Uaaak!"

"U-ugh…”

In the face of the brutal attacks, martial artists fell one by one in a spray of blood. He was different from Seo Jun-Ho. The man didn’t discriminate between those who simply followed orders and those giving out those orders. For him, both sides were the same.

"What is this shitty situation?!"

After witnessing the death of their subordinates, the unit leaders rushed forward with burning eyes.

“...”

It was dangerous to let them get close. As such, the man stomped, and hundreds of weapons gathered together to form a huge ring.

"Weapon Hell.”

The ring spun like a merry-go-round. At first, it spun rather slowly, but it spun faster and faster until it was fast enough to scare just about anyone.

Whoooong!

The spinning ring shrieked as it tore everything that made contact with it into pieces. It wasn’t strange since the ring was big and sharp.

"Damn it, retreat!"

"Don't approach!"

"It'll be a meaningless death!"

The unit leaders had no choice but to step back with their subordinates.

'Inventory, teleport scroll.'

After confirming their retreat, the man bit the magic scroll. He turned his head and tore it apart.

"U-unit Leader!"

"...Damn it."

The ring that created hell was quickly dismantled and sucked into the man's Inventory. And without a trace, the man and Seo Jun-Ho disappeared from the battlefield. Caught by surprise, the unit leaders bit their lips. In their lives, they had dealt with all kinds of strange attacks from martial artists, but the man just now was unprecedented.

"Whooo, that’s unfortunate.”

"Send a request to the alliance for additional support. We have to capture the public enemy of Murim."

"Don't forget to submit the description of the man we saw just now."

Neo City's best strike force, the Four Divine Beasts, was composed of two hundred martial artists. However, a single battle resulted in forty-seven deaths among their ranks.

***

Rattle, rattle.

Seo Jun-Ho slowly opened his eyes at the sound of bowls clashing. He could see a damp, mossy cave ceiling.

'I'm certain...’

After a moment's recollection, he sat up.

"Keuk!"

The wound in his abdomen split open, and blood permeated the tightly wrapped bandage. Enduring the bitter pain by gritting his teeth, he looked around.

‘Where am I?’

He had clearly been driven to the brink of death by Namgung Jincheon’s scheme. After barely managing to come to his senses, he had instinctively tried to get away.

‘And then I collapsed…’

How come he woke up in a cave? His memory in between was blank. He felt like he had seen something he shouldn't forget.

‘What was it?’

He frowned and browsed his memory for a while.

Splash, splash.

He then heard someone approaching him.

'Inventory.'

He took out White Dragon and prepared just in case.

Peek.

A helmet popped out. It was a Guy-Manuel Helmet.

- Hi.

Despite the welcome greeting, the light in Seo Jun-Ho's eyes dimmed.

"Yes, I remember now."

He finally remembered the one who saved him at the last moment and why he was so flustered upon seeing him.

Seo Jun-Ho asked without lowering his guard, "Why did you save me?"

He was part of a group of Players against Seo Jun-Ho and the Guild Master of the Labyrinth Guild, one of the two people behind Climb.

"Answer me, Mr. Shoot."

It was Mr. Shoot. In response, Shoot awkwardly displayed words on his LED panel.

- Hehe;; haha…

"Don't think about avoiding it. I know that Labyrinth is behind Climb along with Sky Soul."

- (; ¬_¬)

Shoot pretended as if he didn’t hear Seo Jun-Ho. He left the food table in the air and ran away. The table that floated over to Seo Jun-Ho had porridge made with care.

“…”

Seo Jun-Ho's eyes narrowed. He couldn't figure out why Shoot was doing this kind of favor for him.

'Mr. Shoot, a mysterious man.’

He was an unknown man whose information had never been leaked. As such, Seo Jun-Ho found it even more surprising why such an enigmatic man had helped him.

‘Was his skill a kind of telekinesis?’

Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t help but frown when he thought about the reason why Shoot easily revealed his skill.

There was a note next to the bowl of porridge.

- If you don't eat the porridge quickly, it will get cold. But it is just a natural phenomenon.

“…”

What?

Seo Jun-Ho didn’t lift his spoon, and Keen Intuition spoke.

- I think it's fine. I don’t feel any danger from it.

"Really?"

- But that guy… I feel like you know him.

"I know that person?" asked Seo Jun-Ho in surprise while holding the spoon. He wasn’t familiar with any telekinesis users.

- I feel like that, but I'm not sure.

"What the heck?"

‘Why are you so useless?’

Seo Jun-Ho didn’t say those words out loud as his stomach growled.

‘Let's eat first.’

He scooped up the porridge and ate it, and the smell of savory rice filled his mouth.

"It's tasty..."

The food was better than he thought. Seo Jun-Ho quickly emptied the bowl of porridge and checked his condition.

‘What a mess.’

Namgung Jincheon had prepared such a nasty bomb. The bomb he had prepared was so strong it demolished an entire building. It was almost a miracle that Seo Jun-Ho was still alive despite taking a direct hit from such a bomb.

'If Keen Intuition’s warning were a bit late...’

The mere thought of it made him dizzy. He would have definitely disappeared without a trace. Belated regret settled in Seo Jun-Ho's eyes.

‘I forgot because I was wearing a mask in Murim.’

Neo City was a city that used technology much more futuristic than Earth. Of course, the power of weapons such as bombs would easily exceed an Earthling’s expectations. In addition, Seo Jun-Ho realized one more thing.

‘Namgung Jincheon, he really only has one step left."

There were some rules in this city. For example, coffins and Murim went hand in hand. In that context, it was stated that the only ones who could handle firearms were the imperial family. But this time, the taboo was broken.

‘Namgung Jincheon has approached the System Chip.’

Fortunately, the System Chip’s security hadn’t been completely breached just yet. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be holding his breath and hiding like this.

‘Damn it.’

Seo Jun-Ho clenched his fist at his helplessness. The wound on his left arm healed thanks to Cell Regeneration. However, it seemed like it would take two more days to heal all his abdominal wounds.

‘The most important thing is magic...’

He gathered as much magic as he could to protect himself from the bomb. He even put up several walls of ice. As a result, his magic plummeted to only six percent out of a hundred. His future looked bleak. There were still more than two weeks left until he received more field credits. He only had around five hundred field credits remaining, so his situation was dire.

"Ah."

Realizing something belatedly, Seo Jun-Ho opened his Inventory and took out Wisoso.

- Uh, Uuuh!

- (ू˃̣̣̣̣̣̣︿˂̣̣̣̣̣̣ )

The frightened Wisoso opened their eyes cautiously upon being shaken.

- Huh? Young Hero Seo?

"Yes, it's me."

- What about that explosion? What about the Queen?

He couldn't summon the Frost Queen right now.

‘I don't have enough magic.’

Once summoned, she would have to use his mental strength. She would have been a huge help in that fight if it weren’t for the explosion sending her back to the Spirit World.

- Wait, let me check our location first.

Wisoso accessed the Internet, checked something, and then spun around.

- Oh, my god. This is outside the city!

"…What?"

- Do you still remember the landfill where we last met? This place is a lot farther from the city than the landfill.

Seo Jun-Ho's eyes quivered. There was a simple reason why there were no people living outside Neo City. It was all because of a terrible gas outside the walls all year round.

‘Is this why?’

Could it be that Shoot brought him here to abandon him since he had no more magic?

‘Then the porridge just now...’

The last supper?

Feeling a sense of urgency, Seo Jun-Ho jumped up from his seat. But contrary to his expectations, Shoot slowly approached him with a big box floating behind him.

- Self-isolation.

"What?"

Seo Jun-Ho looked at the box on the floor. He saw that it contained water, rations, and oxygen masks.

"Why are you helping me?"

- Same path.

“We’re walking on the same path?”

Shoot fixed his clothes and opened his system window.

[5th floor, Neo City's Dimensional Elevator has been destroyed.]

[A Dimensional Elevator has been randomly installed.]

Shoot shared the location of the new Dimensional Elevator with Seo Jun-Ho. After getting ready to leave, Shoot looked at Seo Jun-Ho one last time.

- IT'S LATE BUT WELCOME BACK. MY HERO.

After showing that sentence, Shoot tore a magic scroll and disappeared.

Seo Jun-Ho seemed dissatisfied as he stared at the empty place where Shoot had been standing.

"What the hell is with that guy?"

Seo Jun-Ho thought he was an enemy, but he suddenly saved him. Seo Jun-Ho thought they would have a war of nerves, but didn’t he act like an obedient subordinate? And what did he say before he disappeared?

‘What does he mean by my hero?’ When he recalled those cringey words, Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t help but think that Shoot could truly be someone he was familiar with in the past.

‘I have a few guesses, but they couldn’t have possibly saved me from that place.’

Seo Jun-Ho scratched his head and tightened the bandage on his abdomen. Once the wound healed, Seo Jun-Ho decided to devote himself to training. If he were to return to the city just like this, the Murim Alliance would simply capture him.

There was only one way to turn the tables.

‘I have to get stronger here.’

Black Moon Martial Arts. He had to master it no matter what. With his eyes closed, Seo Jun-Ho reflected on Cheon-Gwang’s teachings.