◈ Episode 50. Frost (1)
Shinhwa Group.
To Baek Iseol, Shinhwa was a towering mountain she would someday have to bring down.
If she couldn’t bring it down from below.
Then it was a mountain she would have to climb to the summit and topple from there.
“That vicious bitch.”
That was what Baek Iseol’s mother had been called.
Because Baek Iseol was her father’s—no, Chairman Baek’s—child by another woman.
It was unfair.
Chairman Baek was the one who had done wrong, yet her mother was the one people pointed fingers at.
It was unreasonable.
And in the end, her mother, who had suffered from depression, passed away.
—Please live quietly, Seol-ah.
At a funeral hall where not a single person came to pay respects.
Chairman Baek had said that.
But she couldn’t do that.
Because Baek Iseol could not endure that injustice.
They called her a vicious bitch, did they?
Then I, who inherited the blood of that vicious bitch.
With the poison flowing through this bloodline.
Would have to poison Shinhwa and kill it before this resentment could be appeased.
In that sense, the Cataclysm was an opportunity.
No, it was fate.
Arcana, which she had once begun to escape from reality.
That very Arcana had become reality.
Baek Iseol did not let that fate slip by.
She walked into the tiger’s den called Shinhwa of her own accord.
And before long, she earned Chairman Baek’s recognition.──────[Exclusive] Shinhwa Group Chairman Baek Juseong: “Baek Iseol is my daughter.”──────She became the master of Shinhwa Guild.
Shinhwa Guild became an official affiliate of Shinhwa Group.
Was she happy about that?
Unfortunately, her revenge was only just beginning.……
Yes, that was certainly how it was supposed to be.‘What am I doing right now?’It felt as though she had sunk into her subconscious.
The only times she came to her senses.
Were when someone spoke to her.
“How does it feel? Do you think you’re getting closer and closer to your goal, my lady?”
The view from the hotel.
She could see her own face reflected in the window.……
That was definitely her.
And yet she could not move a single thing as she wished.
Not even the fingers stroking her face reflected in the glass.
She couldn’t even utter a single word.
As if mocking Baek Iseol, the voice continued.
“Of course, it might be a little different from the method you had in mind. But what can you do, even if you regret it? It’s far too late to take it back now.”……
At those words, she remembered.
That’s right, the one occupying her body was a demon.
The succubus she had encountered in the Rift.
The memories of that day slowly returned.
The Rift raid had failed.
A demon-type monster.
No one had expected such a variable.
Twinge—Baek Iseol looked at the guild members pointing their swords at her.
Every one of them had fallen victim to the succubus’s status abnormality.
Was she going to die like this?
Baek Iseol gritted her teeth.……
She couldn’t die like this.
Her revenge had only just begun.
Baek Iseol clenched her fist.‘Even if I have to sell my soul to a demon……!’To that Baek Iseol, the demon whispered.
“What an enraptured gaze. I like it.”[Intermediate Demon, Succubus, is watching you.][Your Mentality is too low.][Status Abnormality: Possession has occurred.]
However, Baek Iseol was mistaken.
About what kind of beings demons were.
Sell her soul, did she say?
Setting aside any notion of a deal.
To demons, humans were all the same.
Insignificant creatures toyed with by deceit.
In other words, regret would do her no good.
Only then did Baek Iseol realize it.‘……
It wasn’t just once or twice.’Yes, realizing that her body had been stolen by a demon.
Falling into despair, then sinking back into her subconscious.
She had repeated that process dozens of times.
That drove Baek Iseol into an even deeper sense of helplessness.
So deep that next time, she might not even be able to hear the demon’s voice…….
“Indeed, befitting a lowly demon.”‘……?’But what was this voice?
Not a lowly human, but a demon……?
It was the voice of a man, not the succubus.
Had even the succubus been flustered?
Because of that agitation, Baek Iseol, who had been asleep in her subconscious, awakened.
And Baek Iseol saw him too.
An unwavering, upright posture.
“……
Wh-what are you talking about?”
As if the demon’s temptations could not even reach his ears.
“Th-this is impossible!!”
Hoyeol, hunting the demon.
“Aaaagh!!”
Baek Iseol could not put the feeling into words.……
Satisfying?
No, it was far from an emotion like that.
After all, wasn’t she also in a state where her breath was fading away along with the demon?
So she felt a complex emotion that was difficult to describe.
Still, one thing was certain.‘……
Thank you, at least.’She was grateful to Hoyeol.
The atrocities of the succubus that surfaced in her memory.
They were truly enough to make her want to vomit.
Just the fact that she no longer had to behave so disgracefully.
Made dying feel worthwhile.
Yes, just as she thought that…….
“……?”
Scratch, scratch—A steady sound reached her ears.
This was something she had only heard when signing documents…….
Yes, the sound of a sharp pen nib scraping across paper.‘……
What is it?’Whatever it was.
It was strange to think of it as the first sound she’d hear after falling into hell.
Soon, Baek Iseol slowly opened her eyelids.
What came into her view was, as expected, Hoyeol.
As if nothing had happened.
In the same unchanging posture as before.
Hoyeol was writing something down.
Baek Iseol blinked several times and realized the truth.
I don’t know how, but I’m alive.
Once she realized that fact, she became aware of her own situation.‘……
Oh no.’The fact that she had been possessed by a succubus.
And even if that had been the reason, the fact that she had tried to behave so disgracefully.
Hoyeol knew everything about her.
Setting gratitude aside, it was only natural that she felt embarrassed.‘I need to get up.’Baek Iseol was wiggling her toes and gauging the situation when—
“Have you come to your senses?”
“……!”
Hoyeol spoke to her.
Baek Iseol reflexively looked at Hoyeol, then flinched.
“……
Yes. Thank you.”
And yet there was not the slightest disturbance in his posture.……
To the point that she wondered if he had eyes on the side of his head.
In that state, Hoyeol continued speaking.
“We shall discuss the details later.”
……
The details?
A quick assessment of the situation.
Baek Iseol’s mind began to turn.
At least one fortunate thing was that she was used to negotiations like this.
So she was quick to sort out her position.‘……
I have no choice but to be dragged along.’Hoyeol knew her shameful secret.
As if that were not enough, he was her benefactor who had even saved her life.
Think of it as the price of my life.
Baek Iseol prepared herself to accept any kind of deal.
She opened her mouth calmly.
“You may say anything, right now.”
However, making all that effort to think proved meaningless.
What came back was a question she had not expected at all.
“Are you not the one in a position to present something?”
“……?”
That was what it meant to truly hold the upper hand.
“I have yet to hear your proposal. What investment and risks Shinhwa Guild is willing to bear in order to participate in the reconstruction of the Yusra Kingdom. At our next meeting, make sure you present that clearly.”
“……!”
Not hiding despicably behind someone else.
Nor resorting to obvious petty tricks.
It was, in every sense, the bearing of a noble.
At Hoyeol’s words, Baek Iseol nodded.
“I understand.”
To think she had arbitrarily misunderstood and misjudged such a person.
With gratitude and apology in her voice.
Baek Iseol continued.
“In that case, I will return with a proposal that contains my sincerity.”*
The Natural Enemy relationship had not activated.
In other words, I was in a state with a screw loose.
On top of that, I was using an unfamiliar combat style called Sword Aura Emission.
So I had no choice but to struggle against a monster that was, at most, level 350.
And just a single one at that.
Of course, considering my level, even that was impressive.
But compared to the levels of the demon-type monsters I had defeated until now, it was definitely low.
Because of that, my level had remained at 230.
Compared to other players, that probably wasn’t slow at all.‘I’ve already learned the taste of meat.’But maybe because I knew that taste.
I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
However.[Name: Granfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo][Class: Demon Hunter][Level: 238][Stats]
Strength: 38 / Agility: 42 / Magic Power: 180 / Luck: 3[Available Points: 8]
I had defeated the demon possessing Baek Iseol.
And as a result, my level had shot up by 8 all at once……!
Spoils or whatever else, I couldn’t help but be delighted.
As expected, I had to hunt demons.
There was probably no one else whose calling suited Demon Hunter as perfectly as mine did.‘In any case, more than praising myself.’Demon-type monsters.
Once again, I realized how vicious they were.
Demons were certainly different from ordinary monsters.
Even if a Rift collapsed and they came pouring out.
Depending on the situation, there might be no way to notice them.‘Because they can simply possess humans.’Why, even the weakest low-ranking demon, the imp.
Could easily possess a player, couldn’t it?
Just like what happened to Nam Cheolmin.‘As if that weren’t enough, the stronger demons become, the more despicable they get.’At least imps made it obvious enough for others to notice.
In Baek Iseol’s case, quite some time had passed since she had been possessed by a demon, yet no one had noticed.
Scratch—I suddenly stopped writing and opened my mouth.
“You cause me grave inconvenience.”
In other words, Baek Iseol might not be an unusual case.
Even now, demons might be hiding their bodies throughout reality, throughout society.
“I shall make you pay properly for disturbing my research.”
……
Yes, even if I could overlook it.
There was no way Granfell would stand by and watch such a thing.
Well, in truth, it wasn’t a bad deal for me either.
Demon-type monsters were basically high-level.
And I was the natural enemy of those demon-type monsters.……
Should I actually be welcoming this reality?
I fell into that serious dilemma for only a moment.
Bzzzz—Suddenly, my smartphone vibrated.
“Flowing time is truly fleeting.”
Yes, it would feel strange if I skipped even a single day.
After that brief cringe-inducing line.
I checked the notification.
Hm, this was quite important.
At last, I put down the quill pen and opened an internet window.
I accessed the official Arcana homepage.
To check the newly released update....
The community was filled with players making a fuss in excitement.
—Work, Raymond, work, Raymond, and now he actually starts working lololololol—For real lol, did he finally come to his senses?
—Yeah, they need to do at least this much of an update for the balance to make sense lolLarge and small Rifts were still being generated and cleared without any particular updates.
But the balance adjustment of recent new update content had been a complete failure.
Count Ascura had already been too much.
But who could have expected a great evil wearing the mask of a treasure island to appear?
Even thinking back on the atmosphere then, it was truly dreadful.—For real, I thought Earth was going to end lol—If Lee Hoyeol hadn’t been there, we really might’ve been screwed lol—Just HomenSo it was only natural that the players cheered over the details of this new update.
This was an update like welcome rain in a drought.『A new region is coming to your side.
New Region, “Northern City, Frost,” has been added.』Frost.
It was a major city in the northern part of the Arcana Continent.
Yes, not a small village, but a major city.
There was good reason for the players’ enthusiastic reaction.
After all, major cities had various content, including shops and blacksmiths.
—The Yusra Kingdom is growing quickly, but…….
—No matter what, just one Yusra Kingdom isn’t enough lol—For real, the more cities there are, the betterThe influence of the major city Frost had been considerable even back when Arcana was still a game.
Thanks to that, rankers and large guilds had built up quite a bit of relationship value and influence in Frost.
“We must recover the ranking we lost to Gaon no matter what!”
“……
But Gaon had quite a reputation in Frost too, you know?”
“I don’t want to hear it. We must do it, no matter what. Even if it requires sacrifice!”
Not only players.
Government officials from various countries also sharpened their attention.
“We must quickly identify the location where it will appear.”
Frost.
A major Arcana city of immense value appearing within their nation’s territory?
Even if it couldn’t match the Magic Tower effect in South Korea, that alone was enough to expect an increase in national competitiveness.
The foremost experts on Arcana.
The AAU’s thoughts were not much different.
In the past, they had been Cosmo’s development team leaders.
Now, they were AAU branch directors.
In a video conference, they gathered their opinions like this.
“With Frost appearing after the Yusra Kingdom, perhaps this could become humanity’s counterattack from now on.”
“Well, in truth, maybe the counterattack has already begun? And the one standing at the very front is Lee Hoyeol. By the way, Director of the Korean branch. Do you really know nothing about Player Lee Hoyeol?”
“Seriously, stop asking me. I’m dying of curiosity too!”
They burst into laughter at his exaggerated complaint.
The atmosphere was warm and cheerful....
Yes, after checking the details of the new update.
The one who did not even twitch.
Was probably only me.
Was it because Frost’s appearance might weaken the influence of the Yusra Kingdom?
No, it was not for such a reason.
If not that.[The quest window blinking before my eyes]
Was it because I had realized before the other players that Frost was not a major city overflowing with dreams and hopes?
No, it was not for such a reason either.
This was simply Granfell’s lofty pride.『The first thing Granfell mastered as the next family head was not to be swayed by trivial matters.』As always, I opened my mouth with confidence.『No demonic temptation, deceit, or trial can put even a scratch on Granfell’s noble pride.』“Appearing simply because you were called makes you no different from a servant.”[Class Quest: Demon King Subjugation]
“Demon King.”