“…” The Thunder God looked straight at the man in front of him.
Two months had passed. It was a long time for some, while it was short for others.
“Are ya goin’ now?” he asked.
“Yes. I think I’ve been away for too long,” Seo Jun-Ho said.
Other Players were already active on the 3rd floor. If he didn’t want to fall behind, he would have to start picking up his pace.
“Hm.” The Thunder God looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. “Goodbye.”
“…Yes, sir. Please take care of yourself.”
“Ya rascal, it’s ten years too early for ya to be worryin’ about meh.”
In the last several weeks that they had spent together, there had been some small changes among the three men. Firstly, Seo Jun-Ho had started to call the Thunder God ‘sir’.
“Be careful on your way down. And contact us if anything happens,” Baek Geon-Woo said.
“I’ll do that.”
Baek Geon-Woo had also started to speak casually to him.
Seo Jun-Ho collected all his things and took a moment to look around the residence. It felt like he had only been here for a few days, but he knew that he had stayed here for quite a long time. ．
‘That’s probably because I was happy.’
He had trained his body from the ground up after losing everything, and he fought from the moment he woke up to the moment he went to sleep. He didn’t know about other people, but he had fit right in here.
“Then, I’m leaving for real now.”
“…Will ya come again if ya get bored?”
“Yes. Next time I come here, I’ll bring the alcohol that you like, sir. The expensive kind.”
“I’ll be looking forward to it.”
The Thunder God and Baek Geon-Woo watched as Seo Jun-Ho walked leisurely away until he became a dot and disappeared into the distance.
“Hoo…”?The Thunder God let out a light sigh as Seo Jun-Ho disappeared out of sight.
“Why are you sighing? You said you do not like it because it’s bad luck. Are you worried?”
“…Not at all.” The Thunder God gave a faint smile and turned around. “I know that he’ll do well, so why should I? Ya should be worryin’ ‘bout yerself.”
“Ahem.”
“Today, we’re gonna get right back into the focus trainin’ that we haven’t been able to do.”
“I will prepare myself.”
Though Seo Jun-Ho was gone, their daily lives remained the same—the same as the sky.
***
“Dammit, why can’t we win?”
“Ugh… Isn’t he a gunslinger?”
“And I have physical enhancement abilities, so why can’t I beat him in close combat?”
“I call bullshit on it being a result of hard work. Isn’t he just a genius?”
Several people were sprawled out over the training room, complaining to each other.
“Are you talking behind Gilbe’s back right now?”
“Can this even be considered that?”
“Yeah, so what? How many months have we been training? We want to go up to the 3rd floor too, but he won’t let us.”
“Then it must be your fault for not being trustworthy enough.”
“What did you say, you bastard?”
Someone had been saying grating things from earlier. They all turned to the voice, annoyed.
“S-S-Spec…!”
“T-t-t…”
“My name isn’t S-s-spec, it’s Specter.”
He was squatting, having approached them at some point. He stood slowly. “I told you to train hard, but you’re just insulting my friend behind his back.”
“N-no, Specter-nim. How is that talking behind his back?”
“We were just making some minor… complaints about how we’re not making enough progress as we’d like.”
“To be honest, we’re grateful for the mere fact that Gilberto-nim is training us.”
“That’s right. Actually, Arthur’s the most frustrated.”
“…What? Hey. What are you talking about?”
When faced with something fearsome, it was natural for a friend to become a sacrifice a mere minute later. Arthur’s comrades had betrayed and pushed him forward, right under Specter’s nose.
“S-Specter-nim. It’s not…” Arthur’s face was full of fear. He was scared that they would receive that hellish training again.
“Well, I get it.” Unexpectedly, Specter started to nod slowly. “I understand how you all feel.”
“…Really?” Arthur’s eyes widened. He had expected the bomb to explode.
‘This is weird. Uncle has never been the understanding type.’
Though several months had passed, the Watchguards could still clearly remember the instructor from hell.
So much terror…
So much fear…
So much pain!
“I’m just saying that I think I understand your struggles because I just recently came back from training. Something like that,” Specter said.
“…You train too?”
“Players have to train until they retire if they don’t want to fall behind,” he answered.
“I didn’t know that…”
“I will bear that in mind.”
“Yeah. Don’t forget it, you lazy heads.” Specter grinned and looked around. “So, where’s Gilbe?”
“Break time is almost over, so he should be coming back soon…”
“Huh?”
Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.
“Good timing,” Specter said to Gilberto. His friend stared in shock when he saw him.
***
“Tell me what happened,” Gilberto demanded.
“What about?”
“…I heard the rumors.” Many rumors had spread after Seo Jun-Ho’s refusal of treatment and subsequent disappearance after his battle with Janabi. Some said that his injuries were light and that he went off to hunt, while others said that he had died. “Do you know how worried I was?”
“Worried? About me? I’ve told you multiple times in the past that it’s a waste of energy to do that.”
“Still! You were injured so badly after killing Janabi, and they said it would take at least half a year for you to recover. And you disappeared after that, too. It’s only natural—”
“I went to train.”
“Train? Why would you train in that situation…”
“Because I couldn’t just spend half a year recuperating,” Seo Jun-Ho said, his face serious. “I’ll fill you in on the details once we meet up with Skaya.”
“…Alright.” Gilberto unconsciously placed a pipe between his teeth, then paused. “I should quit smoking too.”
The pipe broke in half in his hands. The smell of smoke could easily lead monsters and fiends to him, and Gilberto knew that this wasn’t a game anymore.
“What are your plans now?” he asked Jun-Ho.
“I’m going to go to Earth for now,” he answered.
“Earth?”
“I want to check out Janabi’s corpse, and the fiends have been acting weird recently. And above all…”
Their eyes met. Gilberto nodded wordlessly.
He seemed a bit excited, which was uncharacteristic of him. “We’ll need Skaya.”
“Yeah, she’s the only one who knows where the Lair is.”
The Lair where their two remaining comrades were hidden. To get there, they would need their tomboyish Archmage.
***
The Magic Tower had been founded hundreds of years ago in Blackfield by the first Archmage. It was a society of mages that all mages in Frontier dreamed of joining.
Alchemy, training, research, and discussion! The Magic Tower was a repository of knowledge that the mages had gathered over hundreds of years. It had ten floors in total.
“Sigh,?I failed the 3rd-floor entrance exam again.”
“If you fail one more time, you need to go back to the 1st floor, right?”
“I’m gonna work my butt off the next time I take it. The books on the 1st floor are barely any better than what you can find outside the tower…”
The test of academics and combat! Only those who passed it could receive the right to reside on a higher floor. The Magic Tower was a meticulous, thorough meritocracy.
“Yaaaawn!”?A girl let out a yawn. She had fallen asleep while reading a book and hadn’t even turned the lights off.
Her name was Skaya Killiland. She was a newbie among newbies, having entered the tower not even three months ago.
However, there weren’t many mages in the tower who could look down on her.
“Oh, I think I had a test at 7 PM today…”
After all, she had broken the record for taking the shortest time to reach the 6th floor; she was a so-called “genius mage.” Even the Master of the Magic Tower had given her high praise, saying that he had never seen such talent in the last ten years.
The girl that everyone envied wiped the drool on her chin with the old book and stood up.
“Huh? I got a message?” She opened Community, and her eyes sparkled when she saw it. “Oh my! Wow. Who’s this?”
It was a message from her friend who had gone off the grid for two months. She was so excited to hear from him that she wanted to hit his head right away.
“…I should give him a good smack.”
After she was done packing her bags, she stepped out into the hallway, where another mage recognized her.
“Good afternoon, Miss Skaya. Are you going to take your exam?”
“No. I’m not gonna take the exam.”
“…What? Why?” The mage was taken aback. She loved to have discussions about magic. The mage was under the impression that she would be able to easily pass the test.
“I have to go break my friend’s ttukbaegi.”
“Ttuk… baegi?”
“Yes. I’ll see you later. See ya.”
“W-wait! Miss Skaya! Please tell me what a ttukbaegi is!”
After she left the Magic Tower, it was said that debates on the meaning of “ttukbaegi” became popular for a while.
***
“Yo, you’re…”
“Ttukbaegi!”
As soon as she saw Seo Jun-Ho, she immediately cast a spell. In the past, he would have been barely able to block it with Watchguard of Darkness.
‘Freeze.’
When Skaya saw that the large hammer had stopped before it hit Seo Jun-Ho’s skull, she frowned in disapproval.
“Hey, even at my level, my skull would actually break if you hit me with that,” he said.
“I was planning to break it for real. Because you’re mean.”
“…Jesus.” A shiver went down his spine. Seo Jun-Ho carefully grabbed the handle of the hammer and threw it far, far, away.
Skaya squinted. “I haven’t seen you in a few months, but you’ve picked up another weird skill. What was that?”
“The power to freeze.”
“Damn you, you spoiled elemental!”
Even though Gilberto was watching the situation unfold in silence, he had the same thought. Darkness’s ability to break through defenses was ridiculous enough, but Seo Jun-Ho had gained yet another ability.
“Let’s talk on the way,” Jun-Ho said.
“What about your head?”
“…Can’t you just let me go?”
“Only if you promise to stay in touch with us from now on.”
“I promise.”
“Alright. Now hand over the Frost Queen as an apology.”
“Here.” Seo Jun-Ho handed her over without hesitation. He was only able to commit such an atrocious act because she was still sleeping. It was the first time she had slept for over a month.
“Nn…nn!” Even while sleeping, the Frost Queen’s face scrunched as if she was having a nightmare when Skaya hugged her.
“Geez, why are you so cute… Look how squishy your cheeks are. But it seems like she isn’t running away today.”
“She must be hibernating or something,” Seo Jun-Ho said.
.
“I see… Then that means that if I can get her to sleep like this, I can carry her around whenever I want…” Skaya muttered to herself.
Jun-Ho ignored her and took the lead. He was headed toward the Dimensional Elevator.
Their destination was Earth.
“Hey, Jun-Ho. Where did you train? It seems like you’ve accomplished a lot,” Gilberto said.
“I trained in the highest summit of the Wailing Mountains with the Thunder God.”
“…Makes sense.” Gilberto understood immediately. After all, the Thunder God was considered the strongest Player alive. “Is he strong?”
“Yes,” Seo Jun-Ho said firmly. “To be honest…I don’t know if I’d be able to win against him even if I used Watchguard of Darkness.”
“What a monster.”
“Well, it’s been 25…No, it’s been 26 years.”
Once the three of them arrived on Earth, Skaya’s magic was replaced by the president of the Korean Player Association.
“Hey, you bastard! Let me break your head in! Just once, please!”
“…Ugh, I’m getting goosebumps.”
So that was why people say birds of a feather flock together. It took 30 minutes to simply calm Shim Deok-Gu down after he ran around waving a frying pan, saying he would break Seo Jun-Ho’s head.
“Hoo, hoo.”?It took a long time for Shim Deok-Gu to catch his breath. After that, he led the three others to a familiar place.
“This is…”
It was the Seoul History Museum. The 5 Heroes had been asleep here merely two years ago.
“Janabi’s corpse is being preserved here,” Shim Deok-Gu said.
As he opened the door and stepped into a familiar walk-in freezer, Seo Jun-Ho scowled. Even though it was his first time seeing Janabi in two months, it still felt unpleasant.
1. This is a traditional Korean earthenware pot. It’s a euphemism for head/skull.