Return of the Frozen Player

“…”

Seo Jun-Ho’s eyes were closed in the middle of the training room. However, he was constantly moving while holding an iron sword.

- Kieecck!

An imaginary Janabi jumped at him at speeds he once felt were the fastest in the world.

'But it isn’t that fast anymore...'

Seo Jun-Ho appeared behind Janabi and casually hurled a flower.

Crackle!

- Kiaaaaak!

When Janabi disappeared after being struck by Moon Eye, something popped out from the other side of the training room.

- You will die under these million thorns!

This time, Erebo shot out a million thorns. Seo Jun-Ho let go of the iron sword without hesitation and took out the Sawtooth Sword. He looked at the thorns flying toward him. Once upon a time, he was afraid of these thorns.

‘Black Moon Martial Arts Second Skill: Silent Flash Wave.’

With Overclocking on top of it, Seo Jun-Ho danced across the thorns and quickly beheaded Erebo before the latter could even take out all of the million thorns.

- I will be the Martial God...

When it came to Namgung Jincheon, he simply beat the former to a pulp.

"Huk, huk.”

It was an ultra-high-intensity image training where he confronted the strongest opponents he had ever encountered in chronological order. However, the end was always the same.

- Speeecteeer!

The moment he saw the Heavenly Demon’s hand reaching over to him while being enveloped in an immense amount of demonic energy—

"Huk!"

Seo Jun-Ho sharply exhaled and flung his eyes open. The imaginary Heavenly Demon scattered like a lie, and he laid down on the floor of the training room, which had long gotten damp with his sweat.

"It doesn't work..."

He could easily beat the Heavenly Demon he met in that stadium on Earth. However, he couldn’t see any possibility of winning against the Heavenly Demon after the latter had absorbed the neigong chips of Neo City.

‘Right now, he’s probably in the middle of recovering…’’

Seo Jun-Ho picked up a towel and wiped the sweat off of his have

"Three hours, seventeen minutes, fifty-four seconds. It's getting faster."

"In the end, they’re just images made from the data in my memory, and I have already beaten them as well."

The Frost Queen was enjoying her time with her own tea table set up in the corner of the training room.

Seo Jun-Ho glanced at her with slightly narrowed eyes and asked, “Your contractor is training so hard here, so why is it that you never think about doing something as well?”

"Hmm." The Frost Queen looked at the ceiling for a moment before smiling. “I don’t?"

"Yes, you don’t. Good for you.”

"Well, the whole world knows that I’m good. In the first place, I don’t really need training because I’m already strong."

"Oh, yes, I’m sure,” said Seo Jun-Ho. He heard that line so many times now that he didn’t even want to dispute it anymore.

"By the way, what do you think?”

"About what?"

"What should I do to get stronger from here?" Seo Jun-Ho asked, clenching his fists.

"Well. Just level up, drink elixirs, replace your equipment, and acquire new skills."

"What a carefree answer…”

"Actually, you’re being impatient." The Frost Queen sipped her tea and replied, "In my eyes, there’s no way you’ll grow explosively even if you train hard.”

“I know..."

Seo Jun-Ho was aware that he was being impatient here. However, he was too anxious that he had to do something about it. He felt that he should fight stronger opponents to become stronger as soon as possible.

‘This thing and the nightmares are probably a matter of the heart, not the mind.’

It was probably why Hero's Mind (EX) did not activate.

"By the way, that fox is late…"

"Huh? What?"

As soon as Seo Jun-Ho blinked and asked, his Vita vibrated. Seo Jun-Ho saw that a message had arrived, so he immediately opened it.

[It's your vacation, so you'll keep your promise this time, right?]

The sender was Gong Ju-Ha.

Seo Jun-Ho muttered, "Oh, right.”

He had been pushing back his promise to buy her a delicious meal, and it had been almost two years since then.

‘I made that promise in Las Vegas.’

He thought about it and found that he had been a bit too much.

"Shoot, I'm in the middle of training." Seo Jun-Ho scratched his cheek and pondered about what he should do.

The Frost Queen saw that and said, "What? Is something the matter?"

"Team Leader Gong wants me to keep my promise. You know, that promise to treat her to a meal."

"I absolutely hate people who do not keep their promises.”

"I don't like them, either.”

"Then, what are you thinking about?"

The Frost Queen got up, came close, and held out her hand.

"Give me my clothes."

“…”

It had to be known that it had been quite a while since the Frost Queen treated his Inventory as a closet.

***

Badump, badump.

Gong Ju-Ha looked at the hand mirror with her round eyes.

‘I hope there's nothing weird on my face.’

When she received that call from Shim Deok-Gu, the President of the Korean Player Association, she had been wondering about what it was about. However, when she heard the whole story, she hastily nodded and agreed.

‘I had no idea that Specter-nim was going through that kind of hardship.’

She had no idea about what kind of life the 5 Heroes had been living, considering that they always put other people first before themselves. Of course, Gong Ju-Ha had gotten a glimpse of their lives by reading books about them.

‘He needs to take a rest.’

She couldn’t believe that he had been training every day during every Player’s golden vacation. Upon hearing the news, Gong Ju-Ha immediately sent a message to Seo Jun-Ho, saying that he should keep his promise to buy her a meal.

"Oh, but why am I nervous?"

It wasn’t even a date. It was just keeping an old promise between friends.

'Wait, are we even friends?'

Technically, it would be more accurate that they had a fan-idol relationship, and when she thought that way, her heart started to beat wildly against her chest.

‘Aaaahhh…!’

To think she was about to have a meal with her long-cherished Specter.

Gong Ju-Ha's legs started trembling. She had imagined that scene a few times in the past before going to bed. She thought about what she would ask him if she could have time between just the two of them.

‘I wanted to hear about what happened during the Moscow terrorist attacks, and I should also ask about the Battle of Egypt, as well as the operation to recapture London.’

Her heart was pounding; she felt like it would be a one-on-one fan meeting.

"Your friends have arrived."

"Oh, yes!"

Gong Ju-Ha jumped to her feet at the waiter's words.

‘Wait, what friends?’

She tilted her head and saw two men, along with a young girl.

‘Jun-Ho-nim's Spirit…’

And two Specters?

***

What happened to the one-on-one fan meeting she had been imagining in her head? Of course, it vanished for quite a while now.

"What’s the occasion? Why did you call me for something like this."

"Well, you had a hard time on the 5th Floor."

If it weren't for Seo Jun-Sik, he would have jumped at the Heavenly Demon without looking back. When he thought about it like that, Seo Jun-Sik definitely saved his life.

"Huhu, the Original is actually acting like a human?."

"I want to order a cake, mille-feuille, and egg tarts."

"What, you’re going to start with dessert?"

"I like cake."

They were busy chatting among themselves to the point that Gong Ju-Ha found it awkward to interrupt them.

‘Huh.’

If the painting she painted in her head was a portrait, this was an abstract painting.

The slightly depressed Gong Ju-Ha blinked when he realized that the three were staring at her. "Ah? W-what?"

"Are you not going to order?" asked the Frost Queen.

"Ah, an order! Well, then I'll just take course A."

"Are you kidding? What course A?" Seo Jun-Sik was furious. "If you’re going to eat something cheap, then you shouldn’t have come to such a super luxurious restaurant. Go with the most expensive special course!"

"…I'm the one who’s going to pay, so why are you showing off?"

"I mean, there's no sushi in course A. Isn't that a loss?"

Two identical-looking men quarreled, and in the midst of that, The Frost Queen was ordering eagerly with a determination to eat all the desserts in the restaurant.

‘Haha…’ For some reason, Gong Ju-Ha felt warm at the ridiculous scene.

‘I've confirmed it many times, but he really is still the same.’

In private, the Hero was just like her. Thinking about it like that, the distance she felt between the two of them seemed to have been greatly reduced.

Gong Ju-Ha finally recovered her wits and raised her hand.

“Excuse me! Specter-nim, can I ask you about this and that?"

"What is it?"

"As you may know, I'm originally a fan of you, Specter-nim. I have a lot of questions I always wanted to ask you. First of all, in Moscow...”

Whenever she asked something, Specter would recall what happened and explain the events in detail. The stories were something even the Frost Queen didn't know, so they listened intently together with ears perked.

"Oh, I'm so happy!”

Hearing the behind-the-scenes stories of the hero she admired, Gong Ju-Ha was overwhelmed with emotions. Those stories weren’t something one could hear even with money. And in a timely manner, the main dishes started arriving in front of them.

"Thank you for the food!"

"Thanks for the food."

"Thanks for the food."

The meal was excellent and delicious. The meal was about to end with no hiccups whatsoever, but…

Tak.

"Hmm?"

Seo Jun-Ho and Seo Jun-Sik's chopsticks picked up the final salmon sushi at the same time. The two looked at each other with displeased eyes.

"Hey, I grabbed this first.”

"What, how can you be faster than me when you only have half of my stats?”

"I moved earlier than you, that’s why!"

"Jun-Sik, do you want to eat egg sushi over there while I’m being nice, or do you want to get unsummoned?"

"Oh, shit… You're evil.”

Seo Jun-Sik knelt down to absolute power and retrieved his chopsticks with drooping eyes. He stared directly at the salmon sushi without looking away even once. It was clear that he really wanted to have it.

"Stop watching, my stomach is going to start hurting at this rate."

The sushi eventually slid down Seo Jun-Ho's throat, and Seo Jun-Sik's gaze fell onto the white tablecloth.

Gong Ju-Ha felt sorry seeing him like that, so she stealthily pointed at her own sushi.

"Um, would you like some of mine? It's tuna sushi, but...”

"Oh? Can I?”

If someone saw Seo Jun-Sik right now, they would think that he won the lottery. Seo Jun-Sik carefully brought the tuna sushi over to his place with shining eyes. He looked as if he were holding a newborn baby.

Seeing that, Seo Jun-Ho momentarily stopped chewing and said, "Miss Ju-Ha, if you keep doing that, he'll develop bad habits."

"Shut up, you scoundrel!"

Seo Jun-Ho smirked. "Oh, you want me to shut up? I’m a scoundrel? I guess I will have to recall my clone, then.”

"Please, no, and I'm sorry.” After saying that, Seo Jun-Sik hurriedly stuffed the tuna sushi into his mouth, afraid that Seo Jun-Ho would recall him before he could do so.

"Sniff! It's so good."

Drip, drip.

Seo Jun-Ho sighed when he saw Seo Jun-Sik crying.

"Whew, we look the same, so please don't cry while eating sushi.”

"I’m crying because it’s so delicious. What can I do?"

"What does delicious food have to do with crying?"

"It's so good it’s making me cry."

"It’s that good?"

Seo Jun-Ho chewed the sushi carefully. Certainly, it was delicious.

‘Could it be that I changed a bit too much?’ thought Seo Jun-Ho.

His tastes and how he handled his emotions seemed to have changed a bit too much. It was probably because he had spent such a long time on the 4th Floor. The thought of it made his appetite disappear.

"Huh?” Seo Jun-Sik stared wide-eyed at Seo Jun-Ho. The Original, whose personality seemed to be a mixture of a dog and a demon, gave him some more sushi. At that, he became instinctively afraid.

"I-if I eat this, will I get recalled?”

"No. You find it delicious, right? I’m just giving you more to eat."

"…Thank you. You know I'm always loyal to you, right?”

"No idea."

At that, Seo Jun-Sik finally ate the sushi with a look of delight.

The Frost Queen and Seo Jun-Ho smirked.

"Mmm, hehe." Gong Ju-Ha also smiled at the sight. All of a sudden, she remembered the promise in Las Vegas two years ago. Seo Jun-Ho promised to take her out to eat, but she didn’t expect that it would be like this.

‘Well, this isn’t bad as well.’

Wasn’t there a saying about the more, the merrier? As long as they were happy, it was fine.

Gong Ju-Ha stared at the overjoyed Seo Jun-Sik and asked, “Shall we order another plate of sushi?"

"Original, be nice to her from now on.”

"You do you. I have always been nice to her.”

"Um, can I have a parfait as well?"

For the first time in a while, Seo Jun-Ho enjoyed the moment and forgot about the Heavenly Demon.