“This skill is more useless than I thought,” Seo Jun-Ho said, criticizing Gu Shi-On's skill. All it did was lock him up in a goshiwon. 

“Back when I did the Cave of Trials, I couldn’t even move my body,” he muttered while stretching.

“Why do you speak like an old man?”

“I’m just trying to make a point.” Compared to what he had gone through in the Cave of Trials, this was child’s play. “Though, I’ll have to admit that there are some parts that surprised me.”

Seo Jun-Ho looked around the room, a little excited.

‘So this is the rumored goshiwon…’ 

It was the smallest room he had ever seen in his 26 years of living. The owner must’ve been a practitioner of minimalism, as there was barely any furniture.

Actually, there was only one.

‘The bed.’

That was it. There was no bathroom, kitchen, terrace, living room, or closet.

“Hm.” The Frost Queen had been excited at first because she’d only ever seen it on TV, but her excitement had quickly worn off. It only lasted a second, and her eyes darkened when she realized they would have to live here. As a queen, she had never lived in such a cramped space.

“This room is very small. It’s smaller than the place the Association gave you…”

“Hey, that was a penthouse. It’s more than two hundred pyeong.” Even his bathroom was a lot bigger than this place. Seo Jun-Ho clicked his tongue and sat down at the edge of the bed. “...There’s nothing to do, so I might as well train.”

“Even in this situation?”

“Especially because we’re in this situation.” He shrugged. “What else could I do in an empty room like this?” The only things he could do in such a small space were meditation, yoga, or stretching. It wasn’t quite big enough to do intense exercise.

“Hm, it has been a while since you’ve said something admirable. So what kind of training will you do?”

“Do you know what hometeu is?”[1]

“Hometeu? T-The British detective that wears a beret?”

“That’s Holmes.” Seo Jun-Ho stretched his arms out and sharply inhaled. He placed them on the ground and pushed his body up as straight as a tree. “I meant home training. It’s a type of exercise designed to let people work out at home.”

“...Is it effective?”

“Very. For most people, at least.” But Seo Jun-Ho was a Player, and his body had been conditioned to its peak. Unless he set his mind to it, it wouldn’t help him at all. “If I do this about three thousand times, I bet even I will be a little worn out.” Still doing a handstand, Seo Jun-Ho did a push-up. It would’ve been difficult for an average person, but his breath was as even as a sleeping child’s.

“So this will help you?” The Frost Queen asked haughtily, watching him with doubtful eyes.

“Just you wait. If I start with 3,000 today, I’ll be able to do 3,500 in a week.”

***

“...” The Frost Queen looked deeply disappointed in her Contractor.

“...Why isn’t this working?” Seo Jun-Ho was locked deep in thought. He had done home training for a whole week at a high intensity that only Players could keep up with. He had expected to see results in a week, but there was nothing.

“I think… It is because of this place we are in,” the Frost Queen whispered, looking up at the ceiling of the goshiwon. That was the only possibility. Even she had been impressed by the level of his workouts in the past week.

“I was wondering why I couldn’t feel my muscles growing.”

“You can feel that?”

“Yeah. They become all squishy, and then they start to itch and burn.”

“...Hm, I suppose it is possible for you.” The Frost Queen continued, looking a little tired. “I suppose that if you do not get hungry and do not experience physiological phenomena, then you cannot build muscles…”

“This sucks.” Seo Jun-Ho sulked as he looked around. “In other words, time is completely frozen here.” There was no use in training his stamina here. “I suppose the only kind of training that will help would be mental or skill training.”

“...It can’t be helped.” The Frost Queen cleared her throat. “You should study the Frost skill,” she said seriously.

“Hm. That’s not a bad idea.” He nodded. That was the best kind of training he could do here.

‘If I wanted to, I could also practice with Watchguard of Darkness…’ 

But he couldn’t forget that this space belonged to Gu Shi-On. He might even be able to listen in on their conversations.

Seo Jun-Ho exchanged a look with the Frost Queen before she spoke, “But how am I supposed to train? I can basically do everything now.”

“Huh? Do everything? You? Ha! Don’t make me laugh.” She covered her mouth as she giggled and looked at him like he was being ridiculous. “Other than using a great amount of magic power to freeze your opponents, what can you do?”

“I can make ice spears and ice walls.”

“My, how impressive. Would you like a star?”

“...Forget it.” He looked a little offended. “You tell me then. What kind of training do you want me to do?”

“There is only one thing that I desire. I wish for you to use my skill more creatively.”

“Creatively?” Seo Jun-Ho tilted his head. “But all the techniques I’ve learned are from you.”

She had used those techniques when he fought her at the Queen’s Nest 26 years ago. They had become the foundation of the techniques he was currently using with Frost.

“How many more times must I tell you? I was in a weakened state.”

“Yeah, sure. You probably want to think that way.” But how could he believe her? Even though it had only been for a little bit, she had been powerful enough to freeze an entire ocean.

‘And she’s saying that she’d lost most of her powers back then?’ 

When he saw her using the Frost skill every once in a while, he had to admit that her fine control over magic was exceptional. However, he couldn’t believe her grandiose lies.

“Stop lying and bragging. Just give me an answer.”

“Hmph. Picture your skill.”

“My skill?” He thought of Watchguard of Darkness.

“Do you only ever use it to rip your opponents apart?” she asked.

“Well, that’s what I usually do…” But it wasn’t always the case. Depending on what he was doing, he used it in different ways.

‘Wait, no. I developed it to the point that I could use it in different situations.’ 

Night Walking concealed his sounds, scents, and even traces of his existence. Shadow Step enabled him to travel to any shadow he could see. The Curtain of Darkness enabled him to create an isolated space his opponents couldn’t see through. He had developed all these techniques to make up for his shortcomings.

‘But I could only do that because I had the darkness element.’ 

He wasn’t quite sure how he was supposed to use the ice element. “It’s not like I can travel across different pieces of ice that I can see.”

“You speak the obvious.” The Frost Queen seemed exasperated. “You need to study more theory instead of working on your skill directly.”

“Yeah, I also thought of that.” Seo Jun-Ho reached into his Inventory and took a stack of comics and novels. “I have movies on Vita too.”

“...Are you giving up on your training?” she asked, disappointed.

Seo Jun-Ho smiled and shook his head. “Frost, do you want to know something funny?”

“Speak...”

“Once upon a time, Gates started to appear, and Players started to awaken their skills.”

“It must have been chaotic…”

“It was complete pandemonium.” Because no one knew what to do, they were clumsy with their skills, and many people died as a result. Even many of those who had good skills ended up dying because they didn’t know how to use them. “It sounds ridiculous, but many people started to seek out those in certain occupations. Do you know what occupation are those?”

“Hm. Special forces? Boxing champions?”

“Wrong on both counts. They started to look for comic and novel authors, movie directors, and game developers.”

“...?” The Frost Queen tilted her head in confusion. “But why? They are not remotely related to Players or Gates.”

“Why not? They had already known about skills even before the world changed.” They had to come up with powers their characters would use and then come up with ideas for how they would use them. “And most importantly… They had this.” Seo Jun-Ho tapped his temple. “Those people have broad imaginations…”

A creative person could come up with new applications that Players had never even thought of. For that reason, Players sought them out when they felt stuck.

“I was one of those people.” Seo Jun-Ho waved his comic book. “I got a lot of inspiration from comics, novels, movies, and so on. They actually helped me improve.”

“T-that’s ridiculous…” The Frost Queen was shocked. But after she took a moment to think about it, she nodded. “I see. It must have been quite… No, it must have been very helpful.” 

She had watched a lot of dramas and movies. “I have also seen a few scenes in movies and such that could be applied with my skill.”

“See?” Seo Jun-Ho chuckled and laid down on the bed. “I’m gonna study some theory now. You should rest.”

“...Contractor, you are actually studying, right?”

“Yes, of course...”

“...” She didn’t look convinced. She understood what he was doing in her head, but seeing him on the bed and laughing at a comic book felt…

‘Something… Something does not sit right with me…’ 

It felt like there was a heavy boulder on her heart.

Then she realized.

‘Ah, so this is how the mothers in dramas feel when they watch their children play when they’re supposed to be studying.’

She finally understood why they always looked so annoyed.

“Sigh…” The Frost Queen let out a light sigh.

‘We did not rely on those things back in my day…’

They would have a moment of enlightenment while fighting vicious monsters in the mountains, or they could meditate as they fought against the bitter cold in the snowfields on their own.

“It’s easy for kids to get stronger nowadays…”

She wished that this had been the case for her.

1. Short for “home training”. ☜