Return of the Frozen Player

“Yes, and a huge marshmallow fell on my face.” The Frost Queen stretched her arms as far as possible to describe the size of the marshmallow.

She approached Seo Jun-Ho, who was busy cooking breakfast and said, “Contractor. Interpret my dream for me.”

“...”

‘What is there to interpret about a dream about a marshmallow? She probably had that dream when I pinched her nose in her sleep.’

Seo Jun-Sik chuckled and said, “It’s just a random dream. I bet it’s meaningless.”

“Is that so… I thought it had a meaning…” muttered the Frost Queen, looking sad.

Seo Jun-Ho held out a plate to her and said, “Stop the nonsense. Let’s eat.”

“Oh, a bunny!” The Frost Queen’s eyes sparkled upon seeing the bunny-shaped toast.

“Thanks for the meal. I already know that it’s going to taste as good as it looks. Can you hand me the strawberry jam?”

“Here’s your jam. Jun-Sik, help yourself as well.”

“Thanks, Original. Wait… Huh?”

Jun-Sik blinked upon looking at the dish in front of him. He stared alternatingly between his dish and the Frost Queen’s dish.

“What is this?” asked Seo Jun-Sik while staring at Seo Jun-Ho.

“What do you mean?”

Clank, clank!

Seo Jun-Sik tapped his plate with a fork. His plate contained nothing but the leftovers of the Frost Queen’s bread after Seo Jun-Ho cut it into a specific shape.

“Where’s my bunny toast? I don’t really eat this part of the bread, you know…”

“Oh, you want a bunny, too? Are you sure?”

Seo Jun-Sik closed his mouth upon seeing Seo Jun-Ho’s glare with a butter knife in his hand. Seo Jun-Sik smiled awkwardly and shook his head. “Hahaha. No, I actually love this part. It tastes great when dipped in coffee.”

The peaceful breakfast commenced and soon ended.

Just in time, Rahmadat’s voice echoed outside the door.

“Jun-Ho, are you still asleep? Wake up! It’s time for a meeting!”

“I’m already awake. All right, let’s go.”

***

Seo Jun-Ho entered the conference room with his friends and swept his gaze across the participants. Kim Woo-Joong was absent because he was still asleep.

However, there was a new participant.

‘A failure.’

The new participant was the turtle-looking village chief. The Players surreptitiously glancing at the turtle-looking village chief made it clear that the village chief wasn’t exactly welcome here.

Seo Jun-Ho’s gaze deepened. ‘Gilberto told me that they are truly angry at the emperor, but… it does not necessarily prove that they’re allies.’

Seo Jun-Ho decided to take this meeting as an opportunity to figure out the failures’ intentions.

“Hmm?” Seo Jun-Ho noticed that the Players’ gazes on him seemed warmer than usual.

Seo Jun-Ho turned to look at Skaya and asked, “Did something happen? Everyone’s morale is high for some reason.”

“What’s up with that?” Skaya seemed disgusted as she said, “Are you asking me to compliment you?”

However, it seemed that Seo Jun-Ho was truly clueless, so she explained, “You brought the Sword Saint back, and everyone is grateful to you for that.”

The Players were worried that Kim Woo-Joong had perished during Operation Gulat, so it wasn’t strange that their morale shot through the roof upon hearing that Specter had brought an intact Kim Woo-Joong back to the ice castle.

“These people were also not that willing to go out there and look for the Sword Saint.”

“Hm, is that so?”

‘This is an unexpected boon. The Players’ morale has been consistently plummeting since we arrived here, so it’s rare to see them so happy.’

“Jun-Ho-nim. Are we going to talk about the power plant today?”

Seo Jun-Ho nodded at Shin Sung-Hyun’s question.

“That’s right. The man over there will—”

“Please call me turtle chief.”

“Yes, Turtle Chief over there will help us,” said Seo Jun-Ho.

Everyone’s eyes landed on the village chief.

“The official name of the power plant is Float Force Power Plant. I’m sure you already know from the name, but it produces Force for the stability of this continent.”

“How is Force even made,” Shin Sung-Hyun asked.

Power plants on Earth used thermal energy, wind energy, hydroelectric energy, and nuclear energy to produce power. However, Shin Sung-Hyun didn’t think that those natural resources were capable of producing Force.

The village chief explained, “It’s a facility that converts magic in the air into Force, but I heard that criminals are forced to work there.”

“Does that mean that it also serves as a kind of prison?”

“It’s not that simple. It would be more correct to consider it an independent area.”

“An independent area?”

The village chief nodded at Gilberto’s question.

“Float City is the second largest city of the empire.”

“The second largest city?”

The Players were surprised. Of course, cities near power plants were common, but they didn’t expect Float City to be the second largest city of the empire.

“Babylon, Float, and Gulat. Ninety percent of the Overminds reside in these three cities.”

“How many Overminds live in Float City?”

“I think it should be roughly fifteen thousand, but it should be more than that if we take into account the imperial knights stationed in Float City.”

‘That’s a lot.’

The enemies were more numerous than the Players expected, and their expressions grew dim at the thought of fighting so many enemies.

“You have to be wary of the Devil of the Power Plant.”

“The Devil of the Power Plant? What do you mean?”

“I’m not too sure about the details either,” the village chief shook his head and said, “I’ve heard of many rumors about a monster called the Devil, and it’s a monster that is apparently protecting the Float Force Power Plant.”

“Hm, I see…” Shin Sung-Hyun nodded twice before staring deeply at the village chief. “I thought you were trapped over the past thousand years. Why is it that you seem awfully familiar with the power plant when it’s on the other side of the continent?”

The atmosphere in the conference room changed dramatically.

The village chief remained calm, despite the pressure boring down on him.

“Everyone knows what a horse is, even if they haven’t seen one, you know?”

“I don’t think it’s as simple as that.”

‘Good job, Sung-Hyun. Keep pushing him.’

Seo Jun-Ho wordlessly observed the two with crossed arms.

“Hm…” The village chief swept his gaze across the Players before staring at Seo Jun-Ho. “I walked all the way here upon hearing that you needed information and an ally.”

“I’m sorry, but I think the question is valid.”

“I agree. I guess honesty is the foundation of trust.” The village chief put his cane down and put his palms facing up on the desk. “If you want to know that bad, then let me show you this strange trick of mine.”

“...”

The Players’ eyes sharpened.

They got ready to cut the village chief down if he did something reckless.

Splash!

“...!”

“Jun-Ho-nim!”

The Players jumped out of their seats when two beams of water emerged from the village chief’s opened palms. They waited for Seo Jun-Ho’s order, but the latter remained calm.

“Calm down.”

Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t feel any hostility from the village chief. Soon, the two beams of water coalesced into a single ball of water that floated about in front of them.

“This is my ability—Magical Spring Water.”

“What does it do?”

“Why don’t you check it out for yourself?”

The Players warily stared at the ball of water, and they soon noticed an image in the water.

“A city?”

They saw a city with a grayish landscape. The entire city resembled a steel mill, and white smoke rose from all over the city. Workers in their coveralls were roaming the streets.

“You are looking at Float City, the City of Iron and Force.”

“...So your ability is long-distance surveillance?”

Seo Jun-Ho let his guard down and apologized. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“I apologize for accusing you as well.”

“No, it’s fine. I would have been disappointed if you hadn’t doubted me.”

The village chief smiled. He thought that a strict but competent group was better as an ally rather than a kind but incompetent group.

“Let me tell you another strange rumor that’s been floating around the city recently.”

“A strange rumor? What is it?”

“Apart from the Devil, the residents of Float are apparently going missing these days.”

“Hm? Missing?” Rahmadat leaned against his chair and said casually, “The crazy emperor must have been converting everyone he hates as labor for the power plant.”

“Perhaps, but the rumor has made everyone on edge in the city.”

“I guess the security has been tightened.” The fastest way to quell the anxiety of a city’s residents was to increase the number of patrols.

Skaya had been wordlessly staring at the city for quite a while now, and she finally spoke, “What should we do? Since the power plant is the entire city, it will be difficult for us to launch an all-out attack. It also hasn’t been that long since we attacked Gulat, so they are definitely still wary about us.”

“Hmm.

Seo Jun-Ho also didn’t expect the power plant’s scale. The Overminds he had encountered so far had no detailed information about the power plant.

‘...Perhaps the Overmind emperor did something...’

The Overmind emperor had possessed Ceylonso to talk to Seo Jun-Ho. In other words, it shouldn’t be that difficult for him to erase a few memories. After all, he could even possess a corpse.

“Jun-Ho-nim, what are your plans?” asked Shin Sung-Hyun.

“It will indeed be difficult to go all-out. However, the city’s scale will allow us to conduct a certain operation.”

“Is it what I think it is?” Rahmadat grinned.

The Players got anxious upon seeing Rahmadat’s grin.

“Um, Jun-Ho-nim. Can you please elaborate?”

“All right. It’s not that difficult as well.”

‘The best place to hide a tree is in a forest, while the best place to hide humans is in a city.’

“I will select a few elites. We’ll infiltrate the city while disguising as Overminds.”

“Hmm. Wouldn’t that be too dangerous?”

“Of course, that’s a given. However, this is the best course of action considering our current situation.”

Someone had to attract the Overmind emperor’s attention.

Seo Jun-Ho’s plan was to leave such roles to the other Players and failures.

“Please launch attacks through guerilla warfare once we start.”

“That’s easy.”

“All right, let’s come up with a strategy.”

The conference room soon grew busy.

***

Kineos sat on his throne while listening to his vassal’s reports.

“The next item on the agenda is…”

He was finding it difficult to focus today for some reason.

‘Why can’t I focus?’

Kineos swept his gaze across the throne room.

His bored eyes soon discovered why he couldn’t focus.

“There aren’t many of them left.”

“The people’s repeated—I’m sorry?”

The old man who was reporting to the Overmind emperor asked back with a surprised face. As far as he remembered, this was the first time the Overmind emperor stopped him from reporting.

“Most of them have gone…”

“What is—oh, I see.” The old man smiled bitterly.

Fifteen days ago, the throne room was filled with many vassals.

‘But there aren’t many vassals remaining...’

They obviously died at the hands of the Players.

‘Perhaps that’s why the large throne room feels bigger than it really is….’

The voices were louder, and the huge gap between the kneeling vassals made the throne room look even more desolate.

“You can stop now. I don’t really think that your report is important.”

“But, Your Majesty! The people are requesting—”

“Do you really think that I care about such things?”

Flinch.

The old man trembled when Kineos took off his mask for the first time in a thousand years. “I don’t care about any of those. What I want to know is if you have already discovered where the Players are located.”

“...Not yet, Your Majesty. However, we are done searching the west, south, and east.”

‘So they must be in the north...’

Kineos stared at the huge map in the throne room and said, “I think I know where those filthy rats are hiding.”

Kineos presumed that they had to be hiding somewhere in the snowfield.

‘Things will get annoying once they start moving. I have to get rid of them at once.’

Kineos decisively spoke, “Black Tower Master Pilgrim Gaunessia.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Pilgrim Gaunessia exclaimed with his head lowered.

Kineos’ eyes flashed golden as he stared at the huge map. “I order you to install the ultra-wide blockade magic—Black Coffin. Isolate the snowfields and the mountain ranges up north.”

Black Coffin was none other than Blackfield.