Chapter 4. 25 Years Later (3)
[Bringer of Spring]
Grade: S
Description: A Title given to the master of the starting floor, the one who has defeated the Frost Queen
Effect: Stamina and magic recovery rate increased by 500%. When moving up a Floor, all stats will increase by 30.
“...”
Seo Jun-Ho trembled in silence. He read over the Title’s effects several times.
‘These are the effects?’
He thought that his stats would increase just a bit, like what happened with Skaya.
‘This is crazy. It’s on a completely different level.’
To be honest, the 500% recovery rate for stamina and magic would be nice to have, but he could live without it. However, the second effect was different.
“All stats will increase by 30 every time I move up a Floor…”
In other words, the effect would activate whenever he went up a Floor with the Dimensional Elevator. Assuming that he could reach the 10th Floor, all his stats would increase by at least 270 by then.
“Oh my god!”
Jun-Ho shivered as he pictured his unimaginable stats. When he defeated the Frost Queen, his highest stat had been speed, which was at 225, and his lowest had been magic, which was at 183.
‘Even then, they were pretty high, but if all my stats are over 270…’
His eyes sparkled. 270 was the minimum. If he got a lot of items and leveled up a lot…
‘And if I can recover my old stats…’
He pictured the Frost Queen. She had an enormous amount of magic, and every time she waved her hand, the entire land would freeze over.
‘I can get that power…No, I can get even stronger than that.’
At that level, melting the ice statues would be a piece of cake.
“...”
Seo Jun-Ho sorted his thoughts and stared at the four ice statues in front of him. After standing there for a long time, he quietly left the morgue. When he stepped out of the museum, his eyes were filled with a newfound determination.
‘10th Floor? Easy.’
Was he trying to reach the last floor to save humanity? Or perhaps to save the world?
“Bullshit.”
Seo Jun-Ho knew better than everyone else just how selfish he was. He had but one reason to return to being a Player.
‘I’m going to free my friends from the ice.’
That was all.
He buried this promise deep into his heart.
***
The next day, Shim Deok-Gu visited him at the hospital.
“What?! You’re going back to being a Player?” Shim Deok-Gu’s eyes grew wide in surprise when he heard the unexpected news. Seo Jun-Ho looked up from his hearty seolleongtang.[1]
“Why are you so surprised? There’s really nothing that I can do aside from being a Player.”
“It’s just too sudden. Are you really the same guy who always complained about wanting to retire?” Shim Deok-Gu asked.
“I changed my mind.” Seo Jun-Ho responded.
“Still…I don’t think it’s a great idea.”
Seo Jun-Ho had expected Shim Deok-Gu to welcome him with open arms. He put down his spoon. “Why not?” he asked.
“First, I wish you’d rest a bit. I know how hard you’ve worked because I was next to you the whole time. You’ve done more than enough. Put down the torch, and find something else that you want to do.”
Nag, nag, nag. All Shim Deok-Gu did was nag. But Seo Jun-Ho knew better than anyone else that his friend only ever did it for his sake. He felt warmth blossoming in his chest and he couldn’t help but smile.
“What’s the second reason?” he asked.
“The fiends.”
“Huh? They came back?”
“...”
The silence answered his question. Seo Jun-Ho quickly realized what was going on.
“Well, it would be more surprising if they hadn’t come back since they’re as tough as cockroaches.”
Fiends had no interest in clearing Gates or hunting monsters. They used their skills to commit crimes, murder, and inspire terror in society.
“The fiends have been causing all sorts of trouble these days,” Shim Deok-Gu explained.
“How fun. They were too scared to show their faces when I was around.”
“That was back then.”
28 years ago, all the fiends in the world would hide their traces because they were afraid of Seo Jun-Ho and the 5 Heroes. The fiends would hide in the shadows because they knew that they had no place as long as the Heroes were around.
“But things changed after the 2nd Floor opened. We don’t have CCTVs or satellites in Frontier.”
In other words, they had no means to survey and suppress fiends.
Shim Deok-Gu looked squarely at his friend. “The 5 Heroes also disappeared.”
“They must be having the time of their lives right now.”
“I don’t know how they’ve kept it in for so long, but they’re getting crazier by the day.”
The object of their fear was gone. With no one to put them into their own places by force, the fiends were able to run around and do whatever they wanted.
“I think I understand why you don’t want me to come back,” Seo Jun-Ho slowly nodded as he said this. If Shim Deok-Gu’s words were true, Seo Jun-Ho could die anywhere, at any time. The fiends had been training for 25 years, and he would be nothing but prey in their eyes.
“Do they… still hate me that much?” He asked carefully.
“Do you even need to ask? They were probably the happiest ones to hear about your return because they can kill you now.”
‘Dammit.’
Jun-Ho scrunched his nose. He’d wanted to level up comfortably while enjoying the privileges of being a Hero, but now things were more complicated.
“So, that’s why you should just retire. The only way you can go back to being a Player is if you throw away Specter’s mask and name…But you have no reason to do that. You’ll be treated like a king wherever you go, and the best Players will be guarding you 24/7.”
“...The 10th Floor. You see, I have to go there.”
“Why?” Deok-Gu looked utterly confused. By now, the Seo Jun-Ho he knew would have been creating a schedule to collect all the rewards he deserved for saving the world.
“Do you have another way to clear the volcanic region on the 3rd Floor?” Seo Jun-Ho asked.
“I told you yesterday. There’s only one solution.”
“And what if I said I had the solution?”
“...”
Shim Deok-Gu’s eyebrows furrowed. His friend wouldn’t joke about a topic like this.
Thus, he asked, “Explain it to me. In detail.”
“You said you were looking for the Frost Queen’s nucleus, right?”
“Yeah. Do you have an idea about where it is?”
“Yup.” Slurp. Jun-Ho lifted the clay bowl and gulped down the broth before he continued. “Mm, it’s good.”
“Back to our conversation…What do you know?” Shim Deok-Gu asked.
“I ate it.” Seo Jun-Ho responded.
“Hey, this isn’t the time to be talking about seolleongtang…”
“I’m not talking about the seolleongtang.” Seo Jun-Ho looked at him.
Shim Deok-Gu blinked. “If you’re not talking about the seolleongtang…Wait, did you…?”
“Ahem.”
“You didn’t, right? You’re not telling me that you ate the Frost Queen’s nucleus, right?!” Shim Deok-Gu stood up, looking like he was about to rip Seo Jun-Ho’s stomach open.
“Hey, come on!” Seo Jun-Ho said, trying to calm him down. “You’re as impatient as always. Hear me out first.”
“Y-y-you…! You really ate it?!” Shim Deok-Gu shouted.
“Hey, it’s not like I ate it because I wanted to. I automatically started to absorb it when I touched it, so what was I supposed to do?” Seo Jun-Ho complained.
“...Ugh, my doctor told me to avoid stress.” Shim Deok-Gu laid his head back and massaged the back of his neck. He spoke a moment later with a haggard look. “You’re not the type of person to say something unnecessary. You do have a solution, right?”
“Yeah.” Jun-Ho nodded. “After I absorbed the nucleus, I got the Frost Skill.”
“...So you’re saying you can freeze the altar on the 3rd Floor with that?”
“I can.” Seo Jun-Ho was confident. It was an EX-rank Skill, after all. If it didn’t work, even the Frost Queen’s nucleus wouldn’t be enough.
“Phew, that’s a relief.” Shim Deok-Gu nodded in understanding. He didn’t doubt Seo Jun-Ho at all. After all, the latter had defeated the Frost Queen when everyone else said it would be impossible to do so. If his friend said it was possible, then it was definitely possible. At the same time, he understood why Seo Jun-Ho insisted on returning as a Player. “This is related to your comrades, right?”
“No one kept their promise to see me again. I have to wake them up and scold them all.”
“Is waking them up possible too?” Shim Deok-Gu asked.
“The System said it’s possible,” Seo Jun-Ho replied.
“Really? That’s good news!” Deok-Gu gave a wide smile and quickly started to do the calculations. It didn’t take him long to realize what Seo Jun-Ho wanted. “Now that I think about it, the doctors saw your face earlier, didn’t they?”
“9 of them saw my face, to be exact,” Seo Jun-Ho corrected.
“I happen to have a subordinate who can erase memories. We should take safety measures, just in case.”
Seo Jun-Ho liked talking to Shim Deok-Gu because his friend could read between the lines.
“Oh, right. My level was reset, so I’m level 1 right now.”
“...Your stats too?”
“Bingo.”
“Haaa, you always say the bad news last.” Shim Deok-Gu rubbed his aching forehead. He pulled himself together and tried to approach the matter optimistically. “Well, in a way, that’s good news. People will be expecting you to be as strong as before.”
“They probably couldn’t even imagine Specter being level 1,” Seo Jun-Ho agreed.
“No one will find out about that for the time being then,” Shim Deok-Gu concluded.
“You can get me a Player license with your authority, right?”
“Oh, that…” Shim Deok-Gu’s face darkened. “Since the 2nd Floor opened, the Guilds have become stronger than the worldwide Player Associations.”
“What? You can’t issue licenses anymore?”
“It’s not like that. When Players test for their license with the Association, people from Guilds will also participate in the evaluation. Players can only get their license if they get approval from the entire panel of judges. Even with my power, I can’t give you a free pass.”
“Tsk, that’s annoying.”
“If you think about how chaotic everything was back then, we’ve come a long way in establishing proper procedures. In a way, this could be an opportunity,” Shim Deok-Gu said with shining eyes. He spoke excitedly. “Think about it. If you want me to fully support you, you need to prove yourself first.”
“...Oh?”
In other words, Deok-Gu was telling him to score highest in the examination. If he proved that he was a skillful Player that caught even the Guilds’ eyes, then Shim Deok-Gu could give him unabashed support from the Association.
“Of course, you can’t use your Darkness skill. And if possible, keep Frost hidden too,” Shim Deok-Gu advised.
“I get Darkness, but why Frost?” Seo Jun-Ho asked.
“The fiends know that the key to clearing the 3rd Floor is a Skill associated with ice. Nothing good will come out of attracting their attention.”
“Alright, I got it.” Seo Jun-Ho stretched his neck as he lay on the hospital bed. “I’m excited…What kind of gear should I use for the exam?” He couldn’t use his high-grade weapons because of the level and stat requirements, so he had put them away in his inventory.
“You can choose your weapon on the day of the examination. All examinees have to use the same equipment, you see.”
“That’s fair.” Seo Jun-Ho grinned. “It’ll be refreshing to be evaluated after all that I’ve been through.”
“Don’t get too reckless. Anyway, I’ll create a bio for this Seo Jun-Ho character. Birthday, personal history, relationships… it seems that I’ll be busy for a while.” Shim Deok-Gu commented.
“How long will it take?” Seo Jun-Ho asked.
“About four days. When do you think you’ll be ready? In a month?” Shim Deok-Gu asked.
Jun-Ho looked confused when he heard that. What did he need all that time for?
“One week. That’ll be enough.”
1. An ox bone soup which is a local dish of Seoul. ☜