Return of the Frozen Player

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There was nothing in the room.
It was free of all noise and disruptions.
Seo Jun-Ho was sitting in the lotus position with his eyes closed, locked in a deep meditative state.

[You…How could you do this to me?!]

[Because I love you! I did it for love!]

Meanwhile, the Frost Queen was lying on the bed, watching a drama with earphones.

“Phew.” Just then, Seo Jun-Ho ended his long meditation and slowly opened his eyes.
They seemed to glint, briefly lighting up the goshiwon room.

“You scared me.” The Frost Queen flinched and took out her earphones.
“Are you awake, Contractor?”

“Yeah.
I feel like I had just woken up from a deep sleep.”

“You didn’t fall asleep while meditating, did you?” she accused.

“It’s just a figure of speech.
I did it properly.” He grinned and stood from his seat.
He tapped on Vita and nodded.
“It has been three hundred and sixty-four days.
We’ll be going back in just a few minutes.”

“This was the longest year of my life.”

“It wasn’t that bad, though.” He gripped his hands into fists.
It was hard to put into words just how much he had learned.
“Maybe that’s why I feel a bit sad about leaving.” He actually wished he could be trapped here for about two or three more years.
“Should I ask him to extend my stay for another month?”

“Contractor, this is not a karaoke place.”[3]

“…Yeah, I suppose it wouldn’t be possible.” Players’ Skills weren’t all-powerful.
Even though the skill had trapped him here for one year, it probably came with various restrictions.

‘Time probably flows differently here, and he probably can’t use it consecutively.’ 

It was time to go back now.
It had been a while since he had trained like this, and it brought back good memories of the past.
However, he couldn’t stay here forever.
There were too many people who needed his help, and there were too many pesky fiends out there as well.

“I hope… The Port Lane mission isn’t over yet.” However, he wasn’t worried about the two friends he had left behind.
He trusted them.
They weren’t weaklings who needed his help.
They were comrades who always had his back.
“And to be honest, I want to fight.”

His heart thumped.
He wanted to test out his new techniques, the same way someone would test out a new sword.
He hadn’t been able to test them out in this tiny goshiwon, but he would be able to test them out in an open area.

“Now that I think about it, that bastard told me he’d see me again.” He grinned.
Gu Shi-On had probably meant to be cocky, as he didn’t think he would actually see Seo Jun-Ho again.

‘I’m excited to see his face when he sees me again.’ 

Clack! 

The door to the goshiwon had been locked all year, but now, it finally made a clicking sound.
Seo Jun-Ho looked back at the small room, feeling like a weight had lifted off his shoulders.

“The room is still as empty as always.”

“Let us go.
I do not wish to come here again.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

He grabbed the doorknob while the Frost Queen stood next to him.

He pulled it open.
Through the door's crack, he could see the bright light of the sunset.

***

Gilberto frowned.

‘This is hard…’ 

He and Skaya had taken out all the fiends who had infiltrated the downtown area.
After that, they turned their attention to the fiends at the beach, who were fighting an unrecognizable monster.
There were eighteen of them in total. [4]

‘The Pride and the Despair Squadron, right?’ The fiends were probably part of one of these two Squadrons—that was probably why he was having difficulty sniping them.

‘If there were only one or two of them like before, I could just shoot a guided projectile…’ 

However, there were more than ten powerful enemies, and each of their skills managed to block his attacks.
As soon as a bullet left his gun, it was rendered useless.

‘Not even silent bullets or guided bullets are working on them.’ 

Gilberto checked how much magic power he had left.
His expression turned determined.

“Skaya, do you hear me?”

[Yeah, but I’m busy right now! Help me out, at least!] She was occupied with using flight magic over the ocean.
There were three squadron members that had been assigned to take her down, as they couldn’t abandon the hunt.

“I’m gonna start using stronger bullets.”

[Wait, you can do that? Why do I feel like I haven’t seen them till now?]

“…I got a new weapon, you see.” Gilberto lowered his sniper rifle and took out the one Seo Jun-Ho had given him.
It was as light as the first time he had held it in his hands.
But unlike swords or spears, the weight of a gun wasn’t an indicator of its strength.
“It’s my first time using it in battle, so I don’t think I’ll have full control over it.”

But it would be much more useful than just sitting around and doing nothing.

“Stand by.
I’m saying this again, but it’s my first time using this.” He didn’t know just how destructive his attack would be.
Gilberto put his eye up to the scope and aimed toward the ocean.
At the end of the horizon, the fiends looked like tiny flies.

‘As for magic power… I’ll put in about eighty-percent.’ 

Even though it was his first time using this technique, he had to put enough power into the attack.
Most of his magic power was instantly poured into the body of the gun.
It was enough to make him feel anemic, and his head spun from the side effects.

“Ugh.” Gilberto pulled himself together.
He bit his lip so hard that it bled.
His trembling hands eventually stilled.

‘Gotta keep still…’ 

The only thing moving was his hair in the wind.

‘And calm my breath…’ 

It would be a big mistake to assume that a sniper would have a small lung capacity.
Gilberto could hold more air in his lungs than most Players.

‘And standby…’ 

The gun was trembling ever so slightly, but it soon came to a complete stop.
He looked more like a statue than a human being.
Gilberto didn’t even blink a single time as he waited.

Waiting was his favorite part of sniping.

‘Take the bait…’ 

He waited very patiently, like a skilled fisherman waiting for fish to bite.

Click. 

He pulled the trigger.

The gray bullet drew a smooth arc in the air as it silently flew to the horizon.

1.
Lit.
“Old monster” ☜

2.
She uses old-fashioned slang ☜

3.
When you go to a karaoke place, you can ask to extend your stay whenever you want. ☜

4.
The raws stated 13, but the numbers in the following chapters didn’t add up, so we took the liberty to change it. ☜

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