Return of the Frozen Player - Chapter 74
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At the Edge of Paradise (2)
âKeuh⊠KukukuâŠâ
Torres laughed as he died. He stopped breathing.
âŠThe fuck? Did he go crazy?
Seo Jun-ho stared at him. His eyes were still open, as if he refused to go.
âThatâs a good look for you. Keep it that way.â Seo Jun-ho wiped the blood off Black Dragon Fang using Torresâs clothes, then held out his hand to the corpseâs forehead.
âConfession of the dead.â
[The Confession of the Dead has begun.]
Seo Jun-ho sat down on the floor as the Memory Projection appeared before him. The Frost Queen tilted her head.
âIs this one of the âdramasâ you were referring to?â
âNo⊠This is your first time seeing this, isnât it?â He briefly explained the skill, and she quickly became interested.
âOh my! So this mystical skill allows you to look at the life of the target?â
âYeah. I can get a lot of info on the fiends with this. Heâs not the end of the trail.â Torres was likely one of the smallest fish.
Iâll comb through all the memories and find something useful.
He started the playback from the very beginningâfrom Torresâs adolescence.
So he didnât have a good childhood. As an adult, he worked as a player, but his skill had its limits. That was when his inferiority complex had begun.
âHe became a fiend ten years ago and acted as a spy.â
âTo think that he sold out his own comrades⊠He is a heartless human.â
After that, he became involved in big scandals on the 2nd floor.
âThis bastard was involved in the Player Disappearance Case and the Phantom Village incident?â
They were some of the biggest scandals to have occurred. Torres used his skill to manipulate peopleâs minds and caused confusion in the investigations.
âAnd then he received his position in Paradise as a reward.â After building the trust of the Fiend Association for ten years, he had become the director of the orphanage a few months ago.
Something usefulâŠ
Seo Jun-hoâs eyes shifted, taking in every little detail from the playback.
âThere are eight high executives in the Fiend Association.â But thereâs nothing about the President, and Torres didnât know anything about the members even though he was the director of Paradise. How? Just how big are they?
He started to realize just how cautious the Fiend Association was. After Specter had burned their roots, they had decided to go completely undercover. All he knew about their hierarchy was that the members received orders from the eight executives.
This isnât good. Thereâs less info than I thought.
The useless man didnât even know where the Association was located. The only executive that he knew was âChefâ.
âContractor, is a âchefâ not a person who cooks?â
âYeah, it means the same thing here⊠Itâs just a weird nickname.â He changed the timestamp to the day Torres had become the director.
* * *
Knock, knock.
Torres knocked on the directorâs office, his face tense.
â âCome in.â
Torres entered the room and bowed deeply.
âItâs an honor to meet you, Roxanne-nim!â
âJust call me Chef. Are you Torres?â She was looking out the window.
âYes, Chef! I am the new director of Paradise!â
His energetic responses were like that of a new recruit.
âWhat are your skills?â
âI can manipulate the mind. Itâs A-rank.â
âReally? It sounds delicious.â She turned around, but her face wasnât visible due to the harsh backlighting.
âMmphâŠ!â As he met Chefâs eyes, Torres kneeled while dripping with cold sweat. It was something fiends did when they met another who was much stronger than them.
âNo need to be so nervous. I just want a taste.â She laughed, a small orb floating in front of her. She opened her mouth wide and swallowed it in one gulp. âMmâŠÂ What a peculiar taste.â
She gave a satisfied nod and took out a notebook from the drawer, writing something down. âI wonder what ingredients I need to create such a taste⊠It may be possible with what I have nowâŠâ
She was deep in thought for a while, but she finally closed it. âI think Iâve found a useful recipe. Thank you for giving me such a good ingredient.â
âO-of course.â
âAs for your compensation⊠Yes. Let me tell you something interesting.â She leaned perched on the windowsill. âTorres. When do you think Paradise was founded?â
âAs far as I know, it was created around 24 years ago.â
âPrecisely. And do you know why it was made?â
âUm⊠Wasnât it to cultivate powerful fiends?â
Chef smiled and shook her head. âTo make good food, you need good ingredients. Itâs the same for fiends.â She tapped on the window with her fingernail. âLook at the children running around. They are talented rubbish that we found on the streets. Do you think such substandard ingredients can become strong even if we feed them the best demon blood?â
ââŠI donât think so.â
âExactly. They arenât players. Even if we feed them the blood, theyâll only become half-rate fiends.â
She opened a thick book sitting on the desk. âIn the last 24 years, Paradise has successfully created 2,985 fiends. 1,898 were 3rd-grade items that couldnât even awaken their abilities. 1,082 2nd-grade items could do so. And only five 1st-grade items became notably powerful.â
âAh, and one of them was Nazad-nimâs disciple, the Skeleton Mage.â
âYes. In the four years that Iâve been overseeing Paradise, he is the only 1st-grade item that has been created.â There was a sense of pride in her voice. She closed the book. âIt seems that weâve strayed from our original topic.â
âIâm still listening.â Torres swallowed. His heart pounded at the thought of learning secrets that no other fiends would know.
â24 years ago, the fiends that were in hiding went up to the Frontier and created the Association. But they were still cautious. Even though the Five Heroes were dead, they were afraid that they could come and kill them all. Thatâs how great Specterâs effect was. Their fear could not be erased in just a year.â
âAs the President watched the fiends live in fear, they decided that we needed power. Undefeatable, devastating power that could fight against the Five Heroes even if they returned! They all recalled the ability of a certain enemy they had faced, someone who had such overwhelming power. The strongest elemental skillâWatchguard of Darkness.â
ââŠW-wait. So Paradise was founded to create the second Specter?â Torres was shocked. He never even imagined that it was for such a reason.
âPfft, is it that hard to believe? Think about it. If we managed to obtain even half⊠No, even a fourth of that power, what would happen?â
ââŠIf we combined it with Demonic energy, that person would become the strongest fiend in history.â
âThatâs it.â Chef clapped. âSo the fiends worked around the clock, but all their experiments failed. The chance of talentless orphans awakening such a powerful skill is close to 0%. Thatâs why I came down to the 1st floor. I canât leave everything to chance. I came to create a Darkness skill myself.
âAhâŠ!â Torres exclaimed. âSo you plan to use Perfect Taste (S).â
âBingo.â
Chef could materialize othersâ skills and try them. If they were F-rank or lower, she could even use them herself. Not only that, she could combine the skills she combined to âcookâ a new skill that was higher in rank. In theory, she could even create her own S-rank skill.
âBut all food has an expiration date.â She sighed. âF-rank skills only last two months.â Even if she copied them, they would disappear after that time. She kidnapped children every two months because she always needed fresh ingredients.
âThis place was truly paradise for me,â she said, stroking the desk with her delicate fingers. âItâs hard to find a place with as many fresh ingredients as we have here.â
âThen⊠since youâre returning to the 2nd floor, does that mean youâve succeeded?â Torres asked carefully. Sheâd already been on the 1st floor for four years despite being an executive. It was impossible to guess how many skills she had cooked up during that time.
Chef shook her head. âI failed to recreate Watchguard of Darkness. The most similar one was the Shadow element.â
âAhâŠ! I did hear that you granted the abilities of the Shadow Brothers.â
âIt was still a failure. Compared to Specterâs skill, theyâre no better than trash.â
She suddenly started to laugh. âFufu, itâs simple. I no longer need to waste my time here.â
âIs that because Specter has returned?â
âOf course. Rather than trying to create a skill on the 1st floor, itâs much easier to wait on the 2nd floor until he comes up.â She expected it to be easy to recreate Watchguard of Darkness once she had a taste.
âAhh, I wonder how itâll taste⊠Iâm already excited.â
She trembled as she licked her lips.
ââŠStop skill use,â Seo Jun-ho whispered. He wiped his face with his hands. His thoughts were all jumbled after hearing the truth.
This fucking place⊠was made because of me?
He felt like a boulder had dropped on his chest. Paradise was founded to create a copycat of him?
âThey made thousands of children into fiendsâŠâ
Because of him.
âDammit all!â He punched the wall, gritting his teeth. It didnât relieve any of his anger.
âContractor⊠it is not your fault,â she said gently.
âI still feel like shit.â
Reality wasnât always so sweet. And this time, it made his entire mouth go dry.
âOnce you become a fiendâŠâ You couldnât go back. Heâd discovered this while hunting countless fiends in the past, and Deok-gu had confirmed that it still wasnât possible.
Then, all those children who suffered because of me⊠The childrenâŠ
He had to end it with his own hands, even if he didnât want to.