Return of the Frozen Player

The Blue Guild was a decently sized guild with 40 Players. It had been 10 years since the guild opened, and it had its own history. However, there had never been a time when the guild stood out.

"That’s why it should be now…"

The four guild members chasing Seo Jun-Ho made a firm pledge.

“Since the Guild Master was lucky enough to get an A-grade skill book, now is the time for our Guild’s reputation to reach its peak.”

"When the Guild becomes famous, more Players will want to join us…”

"And there’ll also be more money…”

"And I'm sure people's gazes toward us will be filled with envy…"

Most people had no idea that a Guild called the Blue Guild existed in this world. Fortunately, their Guild Master had acquired an A-grade skill book, so it was now time for their medium-sized Guild to make a name for itself.

"But are we okay by ourselves? Of course, all we have to do is stall for time, but…”

"It's okay. We're not even going to fight him, just buying time. Can we not even do that?"

"We're over level 95. That's a piece of cake."

A Guild member said in a triumphant voice, "I did a little research last night, and I noticed that he can’t do us any harm."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"It’s because Seo Jun-Ho is famous…"

Seo Jun-Ho was a promising individual known to the world as Specter’s proxy.

"You've heard the phrase 'one has to act according to one's position,' right?”

"That's….”

They had heard that phrase so many times their ears felt like they would grow callous. The other Guild members began to listen to him.

“A famous player like Seo Jun-Ho can never attack others recklessly. Have you ever heard of a Player from the Big 6 going around doing crazy things?"

"…No?"

"I definitely haven’t…"

"Me neither…"

"Right? They aren’t considered noble for no reason. They have to live a disciplined and principled life."

The Big 6 were like that, but what about Specter’s proxy? He probably had to live thinking about the ramifications of every action he would take.

"In a word, the moment he makes a mistake, Specter-nim’s face will be ruined. I reckon he must have taken his time thinking about taking this Quest.”

"Wow, I can't live like that…"

"It's better to live freely; his way of life’s suffocating."

The Guild members shook their heads. They became more comfortable with what they were about to do.

"Anyway, that means as long as we don't cross the line, Seo Jun-Ho can't hurt us?"

"Well, if he kills us and buries us in a place like this, no one would know, but Seo Jun-Ho’s not a fiend, he won’t do something like that.”

"Yeah, there's no reason for him to do that."

This was why the man was so confident. Of course, this wasn’t the sole reason for his confidence.

"In addition, when I looked through some old articles, I noticed that Seo Jun-Ho’s basically a bit of a pushover."

"That guy?"

"He doesn’t look like a pushover at all."

"Haha, you think so, right? But no! He's a very righteous man to the point that he would save people even inside a Gate."

Gates were the perfect place to discover the true nature of humans since it was impossible to find out what was going on inside a Gate from the outside.

"If he’s righteous to the extent that he’s willing to save people there, then say no more."

"Phew, I was scared because I thought this was a dangerous mission again.”

"Don't be afraid, we just have to stall for time."

The other Guild members, including the Guildmaster, were already on the summit to hunt for the mutant troll.

“Most importantly, we won't have to face him directly.”

"Well, stalling for time is simple…"

"Yeah, we have this guy with us after all."

The eyes of the three turned toward the remaining one. Upon receiving the gazes of his comrades, the Guild member shrugged and nodded. "Don't worry, everyone. Shall we make it a relaxing and enjoyable hike?"

***

Glance, glance.

From on top of Seo Jun-Ho’s shoulders, the Frost Queen looked back. While tilting her head, she pulled Seo Jun-Ho's hair. "Contractor, you’ve noticed them, right?"

"Four." Walking silently, Seo Jun-Ho looked back and said, “They’re maintaining a distance of about 200 meters. I wonder what their purpose is?"

"Roadway robbery?"

"Hmm… That’s a possibility. They've been after me since I left town.”

The Blue Guild members thought they were doing high-quality tracking, but they were just dancing on Seo Jun-Ho's palm.

"What are you going to do?"

"There's no need to worry. I'll take care of them if they cross the line, otherwise, I’ll leave them be."

Someone with an umbrella didn’t have to worry about when it would rain. Likewise, those confident in their own skills didn’t have to waste energy worrying about the movements of trash.

"What's more important are those guys…” Seo Jun-Ho's narrowed eyes aimed at the summit.

There was a sticky and unpleasant energy from there. It was an energy that Seo Jun-Ho had already felt several times by now.

"This… is it perhaps a marble-eating monster?"

Seo Jun-Ho nodded at the Frost Queen’s words. The marble-eating monster that she was referring to was a monster implanted with a demon jade.

"The energy itself seems similar, but I'm not sure, because there’s a subtle difference.”

In fact, he felt something was off from the time he received the mutant troll Quest. He knew that fiends were using demon jades to strengthen monsters.

"It doesn’t change anything, though…"

Seo Jun-Ho climbed the mountain to hunt. Whether the monster had been implanted with a demon jade or not, he just had to hunt it.

“…”

After climbing the mountain for about 10 minutes, Seo Jun-Ho discovered something strange.

"This tree, I think I’ve seen it before."

"Certainly, I also remember this tree because it looks strange," agreed the Frost Queen.

It was especially memorable because it was a unique type of tree that grew in a Y-shape. The surrounding terrain also felt similar to earlier.

“The presence of those people from the back has disappeared."

They were by no means powerful enough to hide their presence from Seo Jun-Ho and the Frost Queen. As such, there was one conclusion that could be reached in this situation.

"It's a skill."

It wasn’t magic. To deploy illusion magic of this scale, you would need a very high-leveled magician.

'If there was a magician like that around there, there’s no way I wouldn't have noticed them.’

But he didn’t feel the presence of a magician capable of such large-scale illusion magic. Therefore, the current situation was likely to have been created by a Player's unique skill.

"Illusory World."

It was quite a rare skill that gave special suggestions or showed illusions to the target.

'Given the situation, did we fall into some kind of illusion barrier?’ 

Seo Jun-Ho was quite calm because he had faced skills like this a few times before.

"I’m a little surprised that you don't seem to be confused at all," the Frost Queen mentioned.

"I've dealt with fiends who had illusion barrier skills in the past. Usually, you just have to find the exit."

However, that was a method that you would only use when your opponent's level was similar to yours.

"But if it’s the current me right now…” Seo Jun-Ho slightly clenched his fist. The magic gathered at his fist began to cause tremors in the surroundings. "I can just break the barrier itself."

Booom!

The moment he smashed the Y-shaped tree in front of him, the world shattered like glass before completely collapsing.

"It's quite a useful skill. Is it B-grade?"

An illusion barrier skill was a very difficult and dangerous skill against someone who didn’t know how to handle it. Moreover, monsters would usually be created randomly in the illusory space to exhaust the opponent to death.

'The fact they didn’t do that… Do they not have any intentions of attacking?’

Regardless of the reason, it was a fact that his opponent touched him first. Seo Jun-Ho let out a light sigh then turned and lightly kicked off the ground.

***

"…What?"

"What’s what?”

What was what? The four Guild members repeated the same words like parrots. The most shocked of them all was the one who used his skill.

"H-He shattered my skill just like that?”

There had been quite a few people who had shattered his skill, the Illusion Field (B). However, Seo Jun-Ho was the first person to emerge from his skill in such a brutish way.

"This isn't something at the level of a rookie, is it?”

"What kind of rookie in the world can do such a brutish thing… He's at least a Ranker."

"How was he so low-key when he’s that strong?"

They realized that Seo Jun-Ho's abilities, which they had only read about in articles, were much better than they had expected.

"Wait a minute…"

A Guild member frowned.

"Where's Seo Jun-Ho?"

"What are you talking about? Over there… Huh?"

"I'm sure he was up there just a while ago…”

Seo Jun-Ho's figure had disappeared. The moment the Guild members swallowed their saliva as if they were possessed by a ghost, the man they were looking for slowly walked out from behind a tree behind them.

“…!”

“…!”

The aura they felt on their backs made them realize that they weren’t his match.

‘This is the aura of a Player who debuted just a year ago?’

"Damn it! I had a bad feeling when the Master said he'd let us do the easiest job ever…’

The Guild members could only move their eyes. But they knew that from Seo Jun-Ho's point of view, it would appear that they made the first move against him.

"Why did you do this?"

The Guild members slowly opened their mouths at Seo Jun-Ho's cold voice.

"Mr. Seo Jun-Ho, right? We didn't mean to harm you."

"Believe us…"

"We are the Guild members of the Blue Guild."

‘Blue Guild?’

Seo Jun-Ho felt like he had heard that Guild somewhere, but he couldn’t remember it.

"Has the Blue Guild and I personally interacted before?"

"Not that we know of…"

"So why?"

"That’s…"

The Blue Guild members' faces turned red. They knew that the order they received from their Guild Master to stall Seo Jun-Ho’s completion of the Quest was unethical.

"Oh, I remember now." The Frost Queen suddenly clapped her hands. “Have you forgotten what that bald man in Gilleon told you about how a Player Guild’s trying to suppress you?”

"Ahhh!" Seo Jun-Ho finally remembered. He heard from Ply that the Blue Guild was going out to hunt a mutant troll. "So you’re just disrupting your competitors?"

When Seo Jun-Ho revealed a look of shock due to how ridiculous the situation was, the Blue Guild members lowered their heads.

“We are ashamed…"

“We are sorry…"

Seo Jun-Ho discovered that they really didn’t mean any harm to him.

'It's detestable, but I can't blame them for that.’

Just as many Guilds and Players on the 1st floor competed fiercely for a Gate’s bidding rights, it seemed that there were also people on the 2nd floor who interfered with their competitors just to complete their Quests first.

‘It hurts my pride to ask for compensation over something like this.’

Seo Jun-Ho lightly sighed and waved his hand, gesturing to them to go away.

"You can go now, but be careful next time…”

– Chi-iiiiik

At that time, the walkie-talkie attached to the waist of the one with the illusion barrier skill emitted a noise.

– Finn! Finn! Are you down there?

"Oh, Vice Master-nim?" Finn’s eyes opened wide when he heard the voice coming from the walkie-talkie. "I'm halfway up the mountain right now."

– Emergency! Come up right now! We need to hold back that monster even for a moment!

"By monster, do you mean the mutant troll? If it's Master…”

– Most of the Guild fighters, including Master, were seriously injured! If we keep going like this, we'll be wiped out!

“…!”

The Blue Guild members' expressions hardened. Excluding them, their almost 40 Guild members had already climbed up the mountain. It was to hunt the monster that was known to have already eaten as many as 120 people so far.

‘But they’re on the verge of annihilation?’

'…No way.’

'Just… Just how strong is the mutant troll?'

While Finn’s mouth opened and closed in shock, someone snatched his walkie-talkie.

"Hey you, what’s the detailed description of where you are right now?" Seo Jun-Ho asked, looking at the Twin Mountains with a calm expression.