Chapter C.250: Black Dragon (3)

The Frost Queen was technologically inept. It had taken her half a month to figure out how to ‘play’ the video stored on the tablet. Of course, when it came to video editing, she was a genius, but that was different since the editing program would edit a video on its own if you just gave it a voice command. Anyway, the technologically illiterate Frost Queen now had access to Seo Jun-Ho's Player Community window.

"…Can you really watch a video alone?"

"Yeah! Was I not the one who played videos on the tablet?"

The reason for her confident voice was unknown, but her chin rose. The very confident Frost Queen raised her hand. In front of the hand, a hologram window dangled.

"I'm just saying, just in case… But if you press everything randomly, I might get in trouble."

"Do not worry. When have I made things difficult for you?”

'Plenty of times...’

Seo Jun-Ho simply smiled.

"Time for medicine. After today, ya should be able to move yer arms."

Just in time, the Thunder God came into the room, and the Frost Queen waved as she went out through the gap in the open door.

"I will use it well and give it back! Do not worry!"

The Frost Queen, who came giggling out of the room, sat on the wooden porch.

“Hmm..."

She bragged, but of course, the UI[1] of the tablet and the Player Community window was very different. Matching bulletin board, news bulletin board, video bulletin board, messenger, etc… The Community window had all the functions for the convenience of Players.

"Ah, video."

Having found what she wanted, the Frost Queen stretched out a small finger and pressed. Since she wasn’t Seo Jun-Ho himself, various system prompts came up.

[Player Seo Jun-Ho has temporarily granted Community access.]

[Player Seo Jun-Ho's Spirit, the Frost Queen has temporarily received the right to use Community.]

[Authenticating...]

"Huh...?"

The Frost Queen's eyes trembled slightly. She was only told that authority had to be transferred. She wasn’t told that she had to go through identity authentication.

“…”

She looked back, and treatment was in full swing in her contractor's room.

'My contractor is working hard to cure his sick body, so how can I ask about this...’

Her conscience didn’t allow it. In the end, she had to overcome the identity authentication procedures on her own. The Frost Queen slowly began to follow the demands of the Community window. It was like an old man touching a smartphone given by his child for the first time.

"Ah, hmm… A picture from the front…? Take off your glasses, lenses, masks… I should take off my mask, then?”

"Fingerprints and iris recognition...? Uhh, do I do this? Do I even have fingerprints?”

"Setting up a question? Where you were born... The name of the school you graduated from... Your first pet?”

"Prove that you're not a robot… Choose all the pictures of traffic lights? W-what are traffic lights...”

The identity authentication procedure was very tricky and difficult. She felt that it was more difficult than the entrance exam for the best academy in Niflheim.

‘Has Contractor… always solved these difficult problems?’

The Frost Queen couldn’t help but feel that Seo Jun-Ho was amazing. However, she was the Frost Queen of Niflheim. After two hours of struggling, she finally completed the authentication procedures.

Stretch!

The Frost Queen stretched her clenched fist high into the sky. She looked like a champion.

"Well done, me...”

All of a sudden, she felt weak and exhausted. However, she couldn't fall down. Having acquired the right to play, she began to play with the Community window in earnest.

"Oh, Contractor has a subscription."

She first skimmed through the month-long accumulated paid news bulletin.

[Specter, Seo Jun-Ho, and Gong Ju-Ha's fantastic trio! Janabi, 2nd floor Floor Master, eliminated.]

[The cogs of the world that had stopped have begun to spin once more. The 3rd floor, Balbortan, has totally opened!]

[Players whose levels are 100 or higher can climb to the 3rd floor.]

[Festival vibes throughout Earth and Frontier. The human race will not be defeated.]

[Big 6, ‘It's an honor to be at a historical site,’ modest reviews, and plans to attack the 3rd floor.]

[The hero of mankind, Specter, suddenly disappears after eliminating Janabi. How far does his mystery go?]

[Player Gong Ju-Ha and Seo Jun-Ho are estimated to need more than 20 weeks of treatment.]

"Ohh…"

The Frost Queen was slightly surprised. She had no idea because she was living with Seo Jun-Ho, but for the past month, mankind had literally been in a festive mood. Laughing, talking, eating, drinking... Wherever two or three people gathered, everyone was talking about the 3rd floor. Moreover, their discussion always included Specter, Gong Ju-Ha, and Seo Jun-Ho.

'They really were mentioned a lot.'

Looking around the bulletin board, she was slightly impressed, as compliments for her contractor were incessant. However, the more she read the posts and comments, the more her discomfort accumulated little by little.

‘…’

It wasn’t difficult to know why. After all, it was a feeling she had experienced several times.

‘Gong Ju-Ha and Contractor were on the verge of death, but…’

The Big 6 had participated in the attack, and they were doing what they had to do without showing off. So, the Frost Queen disliked the noisy people who weren’t even there. There was even an article about Seo Jun-Ho and Gong Ju-Ha—it stated that it had been confirmed that their treatment would last more than twenty weeks. Despite that, there wasn’t much warmth, words of consolation, or concern.

"What do they mean that mankind will not be defeated…”

It wasn’t humanity that had emerged victorious. The one who won was her contractor, who had entered Blackfield with the Big 6. As such, she didn’t like seeing these noisy people because they acted excited as if it was their achievement.

"Tsk. Humans who don't know how to appreciate..."

On one hand, she understood their reactions. She had experienced it many times before she became the Queen of Niflheim. For example, the victory of her corps had become the victory of the kingdom. Even when she was seriously injured and groaning on a sickbed, a festival had taken place along with a band's performance on the street.

‘Every world is the same.’

The person who had sacrificed themselves was different from those enjoying the victory. Feeling uncomfortable for no reason, the Frost Queen exited the news bulletin board. She wanted to play like a child, but as if cold water had been poured on her heart, she didn’t want to play anymore.

“…”

The Frost Queen closed her eyes for a moment.

‘I have been acting too much like a child these days.’

She strongly felt that she shouldn’t be like this. Her contractor was silently moving forward, but she felt like she was regressing.

"Okay, let's practice." She nodded. The main goal was to regain the strong charisma she had when she first met her contractor.

‘Well, first of all, I need to practice acting with my facial expressions...’

Looking for a mirror, she was in tears. There wasn't a single clear pond around, let alone a mirror.

"Ah."

However, beggars couldn’t be choosers. She quickly found a way.

‘Filming...’

Wasn't it simple if she just used a video as a mirror?

"Hmm, press this...”

[Do you want to start filming? Yes/No.]

"Yes."

[Do you want to use the default filter? Yes/No.]

"Yes."

[Do you want to save to the gallery right after filming the video? Yes/No.]

"What, why are there so many? Yesyesyesyesyesyes!"

The Frost Queen skipped all the questions that stood in her way. A proud look filled her face. However, she had no idea that—

[Live broadcast has started.]

—She had made a mistake.

***

Silence.

pαпᵈα-nᴏνɐ|·сóМ Nowadays, the Player community was in a decline. It felt like a storm had ravaged the place and no repairs had been made ever since.

[Oh, I'm bored.]

[Is there any fun news these days?]

[Rather than looking for fun news here, it’d be more helpful to go out and complete another quest, you know?]

[Yea~ Even if I play like this all day, my level and salary are higher than yours~]

[He's a cosu, but he’s talking about salary, lol.]

Cosu was short for ‘community and jobless.’ These people roamed the Community boards from the moment they opened their eyes to the moment they closed them to sleep. This was obvious, but there were only a few decent Players among them. However, there was a certain percentage of them who belonged to the 'press.’

"Oh, hell, my performance is rock bottom these days. Is there really nothing?"

This was the case for Himal, the reporter who wrote the comment, ‘Is there any fun news these days?’. About a month ago, Specter’s great performance resulted in the opening of the 3rd floor. As a result, mankind had the busiest month of the past few decades. At first, it was an anonymous bulletin board that was explosively popular, as it was used to find information about the 3rd floor…

‘The bulletin boards are all dead. They're all dead.'

Unless they were a nobody, everyone had already gone up to the 3rd floor with a goal. Some had started to speed up their hunting and Quests on the 2nd floor to get to the 3rd floor. Since all these people had been working hard to find a way to leave the 2nd floor, the bulletin boards had become really desolate these days.

"Should I just ask to be transferred to the 1st floor...”

Drooped like laundry on his office chair, he listlessly refreshed the Community window.

"Hmm?"

It was then when a strange notification appeared in his Community window.

[Sonny-nim has started a live broadcast.]

"Sonny? Who had this nickname again?"

Himal began to search his notebook. The Players he was following were only those who usually became headlines.

"Oh, what?”

His eyes opened wide when he discovered the owner of the ID, Sonny.

‘This, it’s Seo Jun-Ho's ID?’

However, his mind quickly spun.

‘Strange. It was confirmed that Seo Jun-Ho needs more than twenty weeks of treatment.’

Not even four weeks had passed since then, let alone twenty weeks. Of course, there was no way that such a person would do a live broadcast.

‘Ah, maybe he’s trying to do a talk show from the hospital?’

There were people like that sometimes. Those who would do live broadcasts just to enjoy the company of other Players.

‘I didn't think he had that kind of personality. How unexpected.’

Smirking, Himal entered Sonny's broadcast without thinking. And after a while, he grabbed at his chest.

"Ugghhhhh…!"

The cutest girl in the world, he swore, was there.

* * *

"Hmm... Was it this?"

‘Hmph!’

The Frost Queen looked sulky.

"No, no. That's definitely the look of a sulky kid."

She was working very hard with her mask off. It was because of her determination to regain her charismatic old self again and to be respected by her contractor once more.

"In the end, you have even come to the grave...”

After practicing hard for about thirty minutes, the Frost Queen eventually succeeded in restoring her old expression. Now, she had an expression and eyes that exuded frostiness. But then dust entered her eyes.

"Ah, it tickles."

Rubbing her eyes with a slightly uncomfortable look, she noticed something by chance.

"Hmm?"

At the bottom right of the video, heart-shaped emoticons were popping up like crazy.

Anxiety began to climb up her spine.

‘I don't know why, but I feel like I shouldn't press it...’

She felt like she would be happy for the rest of her life if she remained ignorant about the meaning of those hearts. However, it felt uncomfortable to just ignore those like this. Eventually, she gulped her saliva and slowly reached out. Finally, her finger touched the heart-covered button called ‘comment window.’

1. UI is user interface. ☜

Castor & Sangwoo's Thoughts

Yojj: I’m dead from how cute she is

Veela: Agreed…

penguin: Frost-chan