Return of the Frozen Player

Nourish Your Mind (1)

“…What do you think?” The subordinate carefully asked the man reading Seo Jun-ho’s interview. They watched Kal Signer silently, and he slowly nodded.

“I’m sure of one thing. This guy’s luck is damningly good.” Seo Jun-ho explained the conquest in great detail in his interview.

Seo Jun-ho had been shocked when he first went in.

…Well, it makes sense. No one would have guessed that a Gate with a dragon would be formatted as a maze. 

Generally, Gates with dragons were large, open spaces. But this time, it was a tight, narrow maze. It was something even Kal Signer hadn’t expected.

On top of that, it’s the type that separates them from the beginning… The worst. 

But the Gates that separated the teammates often had a pattern.

[I barely managed to escape from the twisting maze… That took me about five hours. And when I finally got out, there was an open space. And there were the Shadow Brothers’… c-corpses… and a dying dragon. If I’d only gotten out a little earlier… Sniff, it’s all because I wasn’t strong enough.]

Kal Signer’s face contorted even more. As Seo Jun-ho twisted the story even more, his teary face became detestable.

Hoo… The most frustrating thing is that it makes sense. Even if he’s strong for someone barely over level 10, the Shadow Brothers were stronger and would have come out earlier. 

And their superior skill had gotten them killed. They’d encountered the Nameless Dragon and fought without a moment to prepare.

In the end, it was mutual destruction. 

As ridiculous as it was, the weakest one had emerged last and lived.

“He really is lucky.”

“…It’s my first time seeing someone like this.”

“How shall we deal with the Las Vegas auction? It was originally assigned to the Shadow Brothers.”

“Ugh.” Talk about adding insult to injury. This year’s auction would feature the top-grade magic core, ‘Heaven’s Breath’. The Fiend Association’s executives had directly ordered for it to be retrieved. They had to get it no matter what.

“Fuck. The Shadow Brothers were perfect for the job…” Kal Signer looked like he had a headache.

If he didn’t figure this out, he would be in danger.

I sent the Shadow Brothers to find the Tempest Butterfly… out of my own judgement. When he’d given the command, he didn’t expect things to get this complicated. He’d thought that the brothers would be able to kill Seo Jun-ho easily, but they’d died because of the Gate’s unexpected pattern.

If I can’t retrieve Heaven’s Breath because of their absence… 

It would become an issue that would even affect the area around him.

Kal Signer seemed to have decided something as he spoke to his subordinate.

“Aren’t the Watchdogs coming to the 2nd floor?”

“Yes, the superior said their skills were wasted on the 1st floor. They were ordered to advance to the 2nd floor.”

“…Send them the order to push it off. I’ll leave the Las Vegas auction to them.”

“Huh? But Signer-nim, their summons…”

The executive who’d called the Watchdogs to the 2nd floor was of higher status than Signer. He was overstepping his authority. The Fiend Association was ruled by a single, powerful ruler, and no one would bat an eye even if Kal Signer’s head was cut off.

But he had no other options.

“Did you forget? The Fiend Association only cares about results and skill. I might get beaten a few times… but that’s better than losing Heaven’s Breath.”

His subordinate gulped.

He made sense. The Watchdogs were the strongest fiends on the 1st floor.

But if the Watchdogs fail… Their boss would definitely die, but they might die too. Their shoulders shook as they bowed their head.

(PR: “Their” and “they” both refer to the subordinate here.)

“I’ll tell them that they must succeed.”

“They won’t fail. The Watchdogs… It’s a waste for them to be on the 1st floor.”

The average level out of the three members was 53. Their level and skills no longer suited the 1st floor, so Kal Signer was sure that they would succeed.

* * *

“…What’s all this?” Seo Jun-ho stared blankly at the mountains of documents on the desk. Cha Si-eun poked her head out from behind it.

“They’re love calls for Jun-ho-nim. Personal commission requests.”

“…Why didn’t you sort them this time?” He asked, looking at the enormous pile of documents. She looked tired as she responded.

“…I worked hard to organize them.”

“There’s still this much after you sorted them?” Seo Jun-ho was shocked. Sure, clearing the Eastern Sea Gate was a great achievement. Now, South Korea was the first country in the world without Uncleared Gates. It was even deemed the first special safe zone.

“But still, I didn’t expect this much… I barely even helped in clearing the Gate.”

“But in the end, you’re the only one who survived. Luck is also a skill for players.”

“…Touché.” Slowly nodding, Seo Jun-ho looked at the mountain of documents in disgust. “So, you wanted to show me these because you wanted me to choose?”

“Yes. I’ve picked out the best ones by taking into consideration the commissioner, compensation, and difficulty.”

“Ugh. I got it.”

“And…” Cha Si-eun took a step toward Seo Jun-ho.

“Wh-what is it?” She stared closely at him and gave a look of dissatisfaction.

“As I thought, you need to get your hair done. I’ve noticed it for a while now, but it’s a lot more obvious in the pictures from yesterday’s press conference. Your hair is too messy right now.”

“…I’m not a celebrity or anything. Is it really necessary?”

“Yes!” She shouted with a determined voice. She tapped on her Vita and pulled up a window for reference. It was a list of profiles of the current star players. Not all of them were as handsome or pretty as celebrities, but it was clear that they were all well-maintained.

“Some of them aren’t even as big as you. But at least they don’t look lame in their official photos.”

“Lame…” Seo Jun-ho muttered sullenly. He picked up the mirror on the desk and looked at his hair.

…Yeah, it’s gotten a lot longer. It had already been a month since he’d emerged from the ice. His hair had kept growing, and it looked messy.

“You’re planning to rest today, correct?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Then please go to the salon on this business card and get your hair cut.” Seo Jun-ho took the card and sighed. At times like this, he missed being Specter.

Now I get why my friends always complained about makeup. 

Whenever the Five Heroes held a press conference, he always had to listen to their grumbling. Of course, he always wore his mask and had never gotten his makeup done before.

“You should go home early too, then.”

“…Really?”

“I can’t imagine how much you worked if this is the result of sorting the commissions. Go home for today.”

She looked the happiest he’d ever seen her.

“Thank you!” Cha Si-eun bowed and quickly dashed out of the room, leaving Seo Jun-ho alone.

“Wow, she sure is happy.” He reached into a drawer and put on a face mask. There were too many people that recognized him now.

Seo Jun-ho studied his freshly-cut hair in the elevator mirror, looking satisfied.

“You handsome bastard.” If someone heard him, they’d call him a narcissist and look at him weirdly, but they wouldn’t be able to deny it. He really did look good with his voluminous swallow perm.

Getting a haircut is pretty refreshing. In the past, he’d go to a nearby hair salon whenever he felt like his hair got too long. It was run by an old lady who was always chewing gum and had a dog with a tail that was dyed pink.

“You take some, you lose some.” When he was Specter, no one would recognize him if he simply took off the mask. But now, it was different.

He was Korea’s young hero and a rising player. He’d made the country into a special safe zone and was just as good as the other star players.

Well, it’s just annoying for me. He grumbled as he sighed and put his face mask back on before the elevator opened again. He went out into a crowded street and hailed a taxi to go to a manhwa bang*.

(TN: ‘Manhwa room’, you pay to sit in a quiet space and read the manhwa/books that they have. Usually quite cheap and often offer snacks/drinks.)

“It’s nice to relieve stress like this every once in a while.”

He’d done that often when he was Specter. When you lived your whole life training and fighting, you needed to breathe every once in a while.

Ring! Seo Jun-ho entered the manhwa bang and started to pick out some novels.

This place never has any customers. I wonder if they’ll go under. This was only the third time he’d come here, but it was easy to guess why that was the case.

There’s a lot of luxurious book cafes these days. Those places were like cafes or restaurants and offered coffee, drinks, and good food. On the other hand, this was a classic manhwa bang that only offered ramen, frozen dumplings, and fish cake bars.

Well, it’s better for me if there aren’t any customers. He pulled off his mask and found himself a spot in a corner.

“Huh?” He paused. He’d thought that there weren’t any customers, but there was an occupant. She was wearing a sloppy gym suit, and there was a hair roller in her windblown hair. She was blowing on the ramen in one hand, but her focus was on the novel in the other. It wasn’t the skill of a manhwa bang newbie.

She noticed his presence behind her and glanced up. When she saw him, she started coughing as if she were poisoned.

“Urk… cough, cough!” She placed her chopsticks down at the speed of light and hid her face behind the book.

The book was enough to cover her entire face—perhaps because it was small—but it was too late.

“…Secretary Cha?” Seo Jun-ho asked awkwardly.