Return of the Frozen Player-Chapter 278: The Queen in Anguish (3)

[Absorption rate is 99.999%...]

[Absorption rate is 100%.]

[Congratulations, you have fully absorbed Janabi’s nucleus.]

[A new skill, ‘Cell Regeneration (A)’, has been acquired.]

The second nucleus absorption was over. As Seo Jun-Ho slowly opened his eyes, his friend in a wig waved his hand.

"Jun-Ho! Are you awake?"

"...Three days, right?"

"Yeah, it has been exactly seventy-two hours, so don't worry."

That was a relief. Truly a relief. He had already checked the nucleus’s data through the appraisal, but he was nervous since he had gotten burned before. With a sigh of relief, he confirmed the skills he possessed.

<Possessed Skills>

Frost (EX), Watchguard of Darkness (S), Hunter's Night (A), Confession of the Dead (A), Hero's Mind (S), Weapon Mastery (S), Keen Intuition (A), Cell Regeneration (A), Cold Tolerance (B), Circuit Strengthening (B), Thunder Resistance (C)

There was certainly a new skill. In fact, he already knew even before he looked at his status window that his body was being healed.

'...It's a fascinating feeling.’

He thought he had an inkling of how Rahmadat normally felt. He couldn’t regenerate as quickly as Rahmadat, but he could feel the cells’ active regeneration.

‘It’s like an itchy feeling.’

After closing his eyes for a while and feeling the recovery of his body, he said, "At this rate, a week...”

"A week? Do you think you’ll recover in that time?"

"I should recover by then.”

"...Whew, that’s one burden gone."

Shim Deok-Gu had been standing all this time, and he was finally able to sit when he heard that. When the Guild Master of Silver Constellation Christine Lewis had sentenced Seo Jun-Ho to a year of recuperation, everything seemed bleak.

"The intention's different, but just think of this as a vacation and have a good rest."

"Can I even do that?" Seo Jun-Ho smiled and asked for a favor. "I’ll read the Heavenly Demon’s memory as soon as I get well in a week. Please arrange it for me."

“...”

Without knowing that the corner of his smiling friend's mouth had cracked, Seo Jun-Ho smiled like a fool.

"I should be able to get a lot of information about the Fiend Association from his memory. If we know where they're based, we'll be able to make a clean sweep of the remnants.”

This time, he would finish what he couldn’t complete twenty-six years ago.

"This time, I’m not going to let a single one of them go."

It didn’t matter even if there were fiends hidden under the radar just like before because this time, he had the ‘Confession of the Dead.’ He was going to hunt, hunt, and hunt the fiends without sparing a single one.

‘So that even if I were to disappear again, the fiends will never be able to reemerge.’

While Seo Jun-Ho was dreaming of a happy future, Shim Deok-Gu was smiling helplessly as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water on him.

"The heavens are so funny. How come we always end up in situations like this?" said Shim Deok-Gu.

"What are you talking about?"

"We always end up with you being injured to the point that you can’t even move your body, and the healthy me always tells you the bad news in the midst of it all."

Shim Deok-Gu’s fists resting on his thighs trembled. He felt like he was going to cry because he felt he was pathetic.

‘What’s the point of it all if he always has to sacrifice himself to succeed?’

Doing such things to succeed would only mess things up in the long run...

Seo Jun-Ho looked at his friend's gloomy face and asked in a firm voice, "Bad news?”

"...Whew." He wondered where to start and how to explain. In the end, Shim Deok-Gu moistened his dry lips with his tongue and said in a calm voice, "The Magician of Death ran away with the Heavenly Demon’s body."

"Shit."

Seo Jun-Ho closed his eyes and mouth tight. He thought that only harsh words would come out if he spoke. After being silent for quite a while, he finally spoke, "Give me more details."

"On the day the Heavenly Demon fell...”

After hearing the explanation from Shim Deok-Gu, Seo Jun-Ho still ended up closing his eyes. His thoughts were complicated as if they were tangled threads.

‘To think he’d take Heavenly Demon’s dead body... But why? Why did he take it?’

He didn’t think Isaac Dvor had done it due to loyalty. In the first place, the fiends were the kind of people who could never unite as one.

'Then...'

Seo Jun-Ho's slightly opened eyes shone. There was no need to think even further, as there were only two reasons why Isaac Dvor had done such a thing.

"There’s something he wants to hide and something he wants to acquire."

"You thought the same thing as I did."

Those two reasons were most likely true.

"One is to prevent us from extracting information about the fiends through the Heavenly Demon."

"And the other is if they have a skill they can use on the dead, like the Confession of the Dead."

Regardless of the reasons, the fiends had achieved both by collecting the dead Heavenly Demon. So could this even be called a victory for the Players?

Seo Jun-Ho asked, "How many people were killed in this incident?”

"...It’s being tallied."

“...”

Hah.

Seo Jun-Ho couldn't help letting out a dry laugh. It had been almost a week since he had become the owner of this bed. Yet, they were still counting the casualties.

‘How many... Just how many casualties...’

In addition to the casualties, those vicious fiends destroyed many cities, buildings, and economies.

‘Including the losses invisible to the eye... we can never call this a victory.’

He could see why the media were using the word ‘victory’ so loudly as if they wanted to brainwash the people. If they hadn’t done so, the people might have been unable to endure it. They had to make people think that the pain and despair would disappear with the dawn and that there was a bright future ahead of them. That way, the people would live today while looking forward to tomorrow.

"The great victory, how ridiculous...”

It was a victory achieved through injuries. The Fiend Association had lost only one leader and tens of thousands of fiends at best, but mankind had to endure indelible wounds and suffering.

“...”

Seo Jun-Ho’s blood was boiling. It was boiling to the point that he wanted to explode.

"Five days..."

Seo Jun-Ho closed his eyes. From this moment, he was rejecting the vacation. He began to maximize the effect of his new skill, Cell Regeneration (A), by focusing all his senses on it.

"I'll recover in five days."

To him, a week felt like too much of a waste.

***

"Yo..."

Five days later, Rahmadat came after being called. Entering the hospital room, he leaned against the door and smiled. "Is it okay for a patient to move like that already?"

"...If you don't move, your body will go stiff."

Whoosh, whoosh.

Seo Jun-Ho had one hand on his back while he was doing a handstand with only his index and middle finger. He went down slowly from his handstand then came back up. Warming up only to the point of feeling good, Seo Jun-Ho straightened his posture.

"And who are you calling a patient? I’m done being one. It wasn’t fun."

On the surface, Specter was still in the hospital due to the aftereffects of his battle with the Heavenly Demon. The reason for this show was simple.

‘The Heavenly Demon is dead. The Big 6 said they checked and had confirmed it several times.’

As such, there were only three Heavens in the Fiend Association now—

The third Heaven, Nazad Hallow.

The fifth Heaven, Isaac Dvor.

The eighth Heaven, Valencia Citrin.

‘An injured Specter is a good bait to catch those three.’

If he could use his injuries as bait, he would use it without hesitation. Seo Jun-Ho had decided to take this opportunity to root out the Fiend Association.

"Wait a minute. I'll go change."

As Seo Jun-Ho headed to the bathroom with his sportswear, Rahmadat looked around the hospital room. "Hmm?" Then, he found something looking up at him and found it interesting. "Oh, are you perhaps the Frost Queen?"

"People with bad manners always seem to call me without the ‘nim’."

"Hahaha. What a funny kid."

The Frost Queen was already prepared to leave the hospital room.

The backpack on her back contained as many as two sets of black tea and cake that Seo Jun-Ho had made as soon as he woke up, making it her No. 1 treasure.

"All right, if you want it that much, I'll call you that, Frost Queen-nim. Come closer."

"...Huh, huh?"

The Frost Queen had a rare look of embarrassment. He had definitely put ‘nim’ at the end, but it sounded a little weird. However, even as she tilted her head like something wasn’t quite right... She still walked in front of him.

"Why are you calling me?"

"Heave-ho, You're really the Floor Master of that Nest?"

"P-put me down!”

"You’re very light. Hey, Frost Queen-nim, how much do you weigh?"

Being held between Rahmadat's thick forearm, the Frost Queen struggled in the air.

Just in time, Seo Jun-Ho came out of the bathroom after changing his clothes.

"Why are you bothering the kid?”

"I am not a kid!"

"Huhu, the way she talks is funny, and even though she’s so small, she’s unafraid.”

"S-small? Unafraid?"

Had there ever been such a humiliating moment while she was the Queen of Niflheim? The Frost Queen’s cheeks puffed out as her body trembled in anger. The moment she was on the verge of bursting with cold ice, Seo Jun-Ho snatched her from Rahmadat's hand and put her back on the floor.

"Stop bothering her. Even if she’s like that, she has been a massive help to me."

"Hmm, I see... I'm sure she has the ability. Since she's the one who had put us through so much trouble."

“...”

The angry Frost Queen suddenly became silent and looked at the floor of the hospital room. She would always have nothing to say whenever she heard those words.

Seo Jun-Ho bent his knees and looked at the Frost Queen. "Frost, have you apologized to Rahmadat yet?”

"I have not..."

"Then you should say something."

"Ha... Really, the way you speak...”

It sounded like Seo Jun-Ho was persuading a kindergartener. Even more annoying than that was that every time the Frost Queen heard that particular tone of voice, she would feel sad and teary-eyed.

‘Ugh, even though I am older.’

The heavy feelings made her shoulders droop. Afterward, she raised her head. Rahmadat was tall, so she couldn’t just raise her head; she had to raise it almost vertically. "...ry."

"Hmm? I couldn't hear you well because you’re far away.” Rahmadat lowered his body and smiled, showing his teeth. "Tell me again. I couldn’t hear it.”

"...I am sorry. It was my fault."

"Hmm! I got it!" Rahmadat gave a single nod in response.

The Frost Queen got more flustered. "Is that... it?"

"Hmm? What else do we need to do?"

Looking at Rahmadat’s ignorant expression, Seo Jun-Ho smiled softly.

"He's very simple, isn't he? He had always been like this.”

"One person apologized for their fault, and the other received the apology. What else do you need?" said Rahamadat. Rahmadat was simple and foolish, but strangely enough, the reason for his actions would often be logical.

"Weird humans...”

She would have nothing to say even if they resented or hated her. Skaya Killiland, Gilberto Green, Rahmadat Khalid, and... even her own contractor. Everyone was so nice that she didn’t know what to say. However, the Frost Queen didn't hate it.

***

"So, what do we have to check today?"

"It's a specification check on my regeneration skill.”

"Hmm. Come to think of it, I heard from Deok-Gu." Rahmadat, who had been given a rough explanation, grinned. "I heard you got a similar skill as me."

"It’s worse than yours."

Rahmadat shrugged at Seo Jun-Ho's affirmation.

“In short, you need something as a comparison."

"Right. I want to see how effective it is compared to your Super Regeneration.”

After speaking, Seo Jun-Ho grabbed a dagger and drew it across his forearm.

Drip! Drip!

He didn't let out even a little groan, even though he had cut deep enough to see the bone.

"...18.27 seconds."

"Well, it's definitely a little underperforming."

Rahmadat tilted his head, and after receiving the dagger thrown by Seo Jun-Ho, he cut his arm directly.

"2.58 seconds. The difference is bigger than I thought.”

"Why is it so slow when it’s A-grade?" Rahmadat looked confused. His Super Regeneration also didn’t start as an S-grade skill. "When I first got my skill, it was also an A-grade skill... I think it was still about ten seconds back then."

"Hmm, is this skill a bust?"

“But it’s a skill from the Floor Master, so how could it be a bust? Let’s experiment a bit more.”

While looking at the wound that had healed cleanly, Seo Jun-Ho continued to experiment using various parts of his body. The two men exchanged daggers and cut themselves together for two hours.

"...Ha, look at this."

Seo Jun-Ho revealed a look of interest for the first time since the experiment started.