Return of the Frozen Player

There were only about twenty booths in total in the empty area.

“Isn’t it weird? It would be advantageous for anyone to make their own game. I can’t believe there are only twenty games,” Skaya commented.”

“You’re right. I’m sure there’s a reason for this,” Seo Jun-Ho agreed.

The list of rules gave them the answer.

1. Any Player can create their own game after paying 3,000 points.

2. If you become a game master, you cannot refuse a game with a Player.

3. If a game master loses three games in a row, they will lose their right to be a game master.

The rules were very simple. At the same time, they explained why there were so few booths.

‘It costs 3,000 points to create a game, and you’ll lose it if you lose three times in a row.’

Just those two rules explained everything. In other words, the twenty people who were still brazenly running their booths were all veterans in their own games.

‘And the game masters here can’t refuse a game with us.’

At the very least, they could actually play a game instead of being excluded like before.

The first booth the two of them walked up to was the one boasting a 94% win rate.

“Alright, alright, this is an easy game. Easy. If you win, you’ll gain three times the number of points you bet. Three times!”

The game master was shuffling his cards with a friendly smile on his face. He explained the rules to the onlookers, “Each player will take a card and place it on their forehead so their opponent can see it. You make a bet if you think your card is higher after looking at your opponent’s card. That’s all. Easy, right?”

“So it’s Indian poker,” Skaya muttered.

“You know this game?” asked Seo Jun-Ho.

“I played it a few times when I was young, and it’s not that hard. Since you play with a single deck of cards, you just need to memorize your card and your opponent’s card at each turn. You can win easily by inferring what cards you have based on that.”

“I guess you need a good memory.” Seo Jun-Ho knew that he had a pretty good memory, but it was nothing compared to Skaya’s memory. “Do you want to play, then?”

“No.” Surprisingly, Skaya shook her head. “I’m talking about regular Indian poker. There’s no way that the game master has been winning so far just with his memory. If that’s the case, then he wouldn’t have a 94% win rate.”

“That’s true.”

“That’s why I think it would be better if you played this one.”

“Me?”

“Because…” Skaya looked around and grinned. “She’s here, isn’t she? Our cute little Queen?”

“I never leave my subjects behind, such as you.”

Just as Skaya said, the Frost Queen was there, making herself only visible to Seo Jun-Ho.

‘Yeah, if Frost reads my opponent’s hand and tells me, there’s no way I can lose.’ It was a strategy that guaranteed victory. In fact, it was a proven method, as he had already tried it once at a gambling parlor in Frontier.

“Okay. I’ll play.”

“Do you want me to lend you points? If you win though, you have to pay me back twice the amount.”

“Sure.”

When Seo Jun-Ho sat down confidently, the game master’s eyes narrowed.

“To think that Specter would come to my booth… It’s a great honor.”

Seo Jun-Ho nodded coolly and bet all 3,700 of his points.

At that, the game master’s lip curled a little. “Oh, now that I think about it, your achievements on the 5th Floor were very admirable. There were so many articles about your feats as well.”

“Let’s play.”

“Yes, yes. We shall. But before that…” The game master pressed a button that was on his booth. When he did, black smoke that only the two of them could see appeared around them. “It’s only right for me to make my own preparations, right? I can’t just play a game against a Spirit user without any precautions.”

“...”

This meant that the game master had seen the news. Seo Jun-Ho had no other choice but to reveal the Frost Queen on the 5th Floor, so the news about him being a Spirit user became widespread.

“Apparently, game masters like me can use their points to upgrade their booths like this. In other words, we can take countermeasures against other Players’ tricks beforehand.”

“I see.”

The game masters couldn’t reject any Player who wanted to play with them, so they had this feature for the sake of balance.

‘It can’t be helped.’ Seo Jun-Ho looked around, but all he saw was black smoke. He couldn’t hear nor see the Frost Queen. The only way he could win here was by relying wholly on his own skills.

“Okay, I’m putting them in.”

At that, the gamemaster put two decks of cards into a machine that looked like a toaster. When he did, a thwap sound could be heard as the cards were shuffled, and the machine dispensed a deck of cards in front of each player.

“Let’s begin. We will each get 50 chips to bet with.” The game master looked impatient. He hurriedly distributed the chips, drew a card, and placed it on his forehead.

‘Hehe. I got this.’

His lips were already twitching as he tried his best to hold back a smile.

Specter was a Hero that many people respected. He was someone that a criminal like the game master would never get the chance to see personally. The thought of bringing such a man to his knees made him feel a strange sense of ecstasy and excitement.

‘There will be articles calling me the man who defeated Specter, and there will definitely be a deluge of interview requests for me.’ He was a third-rate human being who went around playing in illegal underground gambling parlors, but even someone like him could completely turn their life around.

There were two reasons why he was so sure of his victory.

‘Okay, Specter-nim. Please go ahead and read my hand.’

He had a total of two Skills.

One of them was Prize in the Mirror (F), and the other was Mind Reading (C).

‘Even though it’s just for a moment, Prize in the Mirror lets me see through the eyes of the target.’ In other words, he could see both the hand of his opponent as well as his own. This was a game that he couldn’t lose even if he wanted to lose.

‘Of course, there are Players that are immune to this Skill.’

In that case, Mind Reading (C) would come into play. He had two ways to win, so he had an overwhelmingly high win rate.

“Hm.” After pondering over something for a long time, Specter finally placed his card on his forehead.

And that was where the problems started for the game master...

“...?”

The game master blinked and spoke, “Um, Specter-nim? You won’t be able to bet if you don’t look at my card.”

“Is it against the rules?”

“N-No, it’s not like that…”

The gamemaster trembled. ‘What kind of crazy bastard plays Indian poker with their eyes closed?!’

He was taken aback by his opponent’s strange behavior, but he quickly composed himself.

‘No, this is good.’ Specter was not going to look at his cards. In other words, he couldn’t count the cards. At that, the smile finally returned to his face. ‘He’s going to dig his own grave after trying to take countermeasures against my Skill.’

Specter made such a stupid choice that it made the game master doubt if he truly was the world-famous hero.

“How many chips will you bet?” he asked.

“All in,” Specter replied.

“...!”

The game master flinched. ‘Dammit. There’s no way he can count the cards without looking at them, but he’s actually this confident despite that.’

He thought for a second and sighed. “I fold.”

He didn’t bet, so he only lost one chip. When Specter put down his card, the game master checked both of their cards.

‘I had the seven of hearts, and Specter had the eight of clovers.’ A small shiver ran down his spine. ‘His luck is incredibly good.’

If he had gone all in without knowing any better, he would have lost without being able to do anything.

The game master let out a sigh of relief and nodded. ‘I suppose I’ll just lose a bit in the beginning.’ He was the only one who could count cards anyway, so the longer this went on, his chances of winning would be higher.

Certainly, that was correct in theory…

“Good game.”

“...?”

The black smoke surrounding the two of them faded into nothing. It meant that the game was over.

By the time the game master pulled himself together, he had already lost all fifty chips.

“H-How?” he asked. It was an innocent question. How was Specter able to make such precise calculations without looking at his card a single time?

Specter scratched his cheek and shrugged. “Call it intuition, I guess?”

***

The game masters in the empty area were strong. However, they didn’t have a hundred percent win rate. After all, there was no such thing as a perfect Player.

“Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. You two sure live up to your name.”

“Of course, we do.”

The 5 Heroes were at the peak of Players. In other words, it would be difficult for other Players to trick Seo Jun-Ho and Skaya with Skills.

Skaya and Seo Jun-Ho accumulated more points than what they ever owned after spending just thirty minutes among the game masters.

“We get three times the points we bet if we won, so it was really easy for us to earn points,” Skaya said.

“Yeah. But…”

The problem was that the game masters closed their booths after thirty minutes. They were scared that the two of them would keep playing. In the end, the empty area really became an empty area.

[In 5 seconds, Players in the 10th percentile of points will be forcefully sent to the ‘Underground Octagon’.]

[If you lose in the ‘Underground Octagon,’ you will receive the Title ‘Loser’ and be expelled from Arcade Center.]

The long-awaited ‘thinning’ finally started. When the time came, nearly all the Players stopped playing to go down to the basement.

“You can’t even pay money to see Players fight most of the time.”

“I’m excited.”

And there were as many cynical people as there were excited ones…

“But if they’re the Players in the 10th percentile in terms of points, they’re probably all weaklings, so...”

“It probably won’t be fun to watch.”

However, their assumptions couldn’t be further from the truth.

“Come onnnnn!”

The very first Player to step up to the octagon was a famous Player.

“I’m sure it was number three! There was a dice in there! I saw it with my own two eyes!”

“Sigh. This is why I told you not to gamble in the empty area…”

Gong Ju-Ha couldn’t hide her regret and frustration. Gong Ju-Ha kept complaining to Ha In-Ho, who was standing outside of the octagon.

“Okay. I forfeit.”

Her opponent directly surrendered before she could burn them to death. The audience was disappointed that her match fell through, but it was only for a moment. It was all because another famous Player stepped up to the octagon.

“Huh? Isn’t that the Vice Master of Bigfoot?”

“Wait, the same Bigfoot that’s aiming for a spot in the Big 6 ever since Sky Soul fell?”

“Bigfoot is aiming to be in the Big 6? The difference between them is way too big, though.”

“Shhh! Haven’t you heard the rumor that members of Bigfoot have horrible personalities? They’re huge lobbyists, too.”

“There are more big shots here than I expected...”

The so-called famous Player was the Vice Guild Master of the Bigfoot Guild, Daich. He had always been bad at games, and he was annoyed about the fact that he had to come here.

‘Dammit. I can’t believe I’m in the 10th percentile of points with trash like these.’ Gong Ju-Ha had appeared in the match before his, but he was still frustrated. ‘She’s only the Captain of Goblin’s Team 1, so I can obviously beat her.’

Well, if he were to fight one of the Nine Heavens like Shin Sung-Hyun, it would be a closer match.

Daich didn’t bother hiding his bad humor as he directly summoned sixty magic missiles. On top of that, he cast six powerful spells and put ten layers of magic on each projectile.

Cheers started coming from the audience.

“He’s multi-casting! With sixty magic missiles at that!”

“And each one has ten layers of magic. That isn’t easy!”

“Hm. Even though I don’t really like his personality, I admit that he’s skilled. The rumors were true.”

“I heard Skaya Killiland used 128 layers of magic on the 5th Floor, though.”

“Come on, that was just an exaggeration.”

‘What? 128 layers? Those idiots. It seems that they really believe everything they hear.’

Multi-casting and magic layering were totally different. Daich could cast sixty magic missiles at a time, but his limit was actually ten layers.

‘Even Skaya Killiland would only be able to do about fifteen layers or so. A hundred, my ass!’

The rumor was so ridiculous it ignited Daich’s fury, and he wanted to vent his anger as soon as possible.

And just in time, his opponent stepped up to the octagon.

“Ugh. I wasn’t able to play a single game after I lost to that bastard Jun-Ho.”

His opponent was a giant that looked more pissed than Daich.

Rahmadat Khali took a glance at Daich’s spell, and he scowled darkly. “Oh? It’s magic layering. One, two, three, four, five, six. What, are you a sixth-grader?”

“...What?”

“This is nothing compared to that nerd. She’s over tenth grade, you see?” He cracked his knuckles. “I’m in a really bad mood right now, so this might hurt a little.”

“You’re crazy! Can’t you see all this? You won’t be able to get close to me!”

“Is that so?” By the time the ten 10-layered magic missiles shot out toward Rahmadat, he had already made his way to Daich.

“Grit your teeth.”

“...!”

Crack!

“Guh!”

A fist as big as a pot lid struck him in the solar plexus, and he crumpled. He fell to the ground and started twitching like a frog. He looked at Rahmadat with resentment. “If you were going to hit me there… Why did you tell me to grit my teeth…”

“Oh, right. If you hadn’t done that, your spit would have gotten everywhere. It’s gross.”

The King of Destruction, Rahmadat Khali, surprisingly cared a lot about hygiene.