Chapter 3
Chapter 3
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 3
Chapter Title: The Ice Flower
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Uluk-.
A wave of nausea hit me. I could guess how the video I'd just watched, and this place itself, had come to be.
"Don't be too disappointed, though. You'll be remembered as a hero even after death."
Damn it.
'So that's what he meant.'
It dawned on me that maybe this guy was the one who had turned me into a hero in the records.
Lee Soo-hyuk was Blue Eyes. And Blue Zone was an allied guild, like the shadow of Blue Eyes.
With Blue Eyes gone, Blue Zone's future boiled down to two options.
Fall into oblivion, or rise to prominence in their place.
For Blue Zone to step into the light, Kim Il-su needed Blue Eyes' name and halo.
And this was the way to get it.
Heroizing Lee Soo-hyuk.
Reviving the privilege only the dead could enjoy.
"You goddamn bastard..."
A few people turned to look at Soo-hyuk as he muttered under his breath.
Strange glances. But with my stomach churning, I barely registered them this time.
Flick-.
Before the video even finished, Soo-hyuk turned away.
There was no reason to watch more. The longer I looked at his face, the more revulsion swelled inside me.
Thud, thud-.
Was it because my chest was boiling over?
I couldn't hear anything but my own footsteps.
The memorial hall was filled with photos, mementos, and videos related to Soo-hyuk, but I skimmed past them.
Heading deeper inside.
That's when it happened, as I ventured further into the memorial.
One thing stood out more than the rest, catching Soo-hyuk's eye.
In front of his own photo.
'Flowers?'
A huge pile of flowers left by visitors.
Clearly, not everyone had come empty-handed.
A single chrysanthemum bought on the way here.
One more wouldn't even stand out amid the overflowing tributes already placed before me.
It was an odd feeling.
That so many people remembered me.
Swish-.
He placed the flower in front of his photo.
It finally sank in.
Lee Soo-hyuk was dead. And twenty years had passed.
Everyone here remembered him.
As Soo-hyuk lingered in that strange mood...
"...?"
Amid the piled flowers.
A familiar mana signature caught his attention.
He reached in, rummaging through the blooms. Eyes bored into the back of his head, but now wasn't the time to care.
Buried among the chrysanthemums.
What Soo-hyuk found was an ice flower of unusually clear hue.
'No way...'
He reached out and picked up the ice flower. A biting chill seeped into his hand.
A chrysanthemum made of ice.
The moment he held it, Soo-hyuk's eyes widened as if they might tear.
'Si-woo. This is that guy's work.'
Flash-.
Soo-hyuk spun around.
He scoured the back of the memorial hall and its surroundings.
His heart pounded. The ice hadn't fully melted yet, so they couldn't have gone far.
Atop the clock tower overlooking the memorial.
A hunched old man gazed down at it.
"We managed to get through this year unscathed too."
"Yeah. I was sweating bullets again this time, you know."
Behind the old man.
A woman cloaked in a robe emerged from the shadows beneath the clock tower.
She nibbled on her plump red lips, looking dissatisfied.
"Do you have to leave something like that every time? I said just stick to chrysanthemums."
Whoosh-.
The skin of the old man's face peeled away.
The fake mask fell, revealing a young man's face.
Kim Si-woo.
He was a member of Blue Eyes, said to have died twenty years ago.
"You never know. He might come back alive and spot the flower I left."
"You still think that guy's alive?"
"We didn't see it with our own eyes, did we?"
The woman fell silent at Kim Si-woo's words.
Come to think of it, this wasn't the first such conversation. She'd accepted his responses like this several times before.
One problem, though.
"The issue is, Kim Il-su will find our location faster than we find him."
If Blue Zone discovered the ice Kim Si-woo had left first.
Probability-wise, that was far more likely.
Kim Il-su's survival was confirmed, while Soo-hyuk's chances were near zero.
But.
"Still, you never know."
Kim Si-woo bet everything on that slim "maybe," visiting this place every year on this day.
If—
Just if he was alive, he'd see the ice and come find them.
Step-.
Kim Si-woo brushed past the woman and slipped into the shadows.
She sighed deeply as he vanished quickly.
"If that guy were really alive, we wouldn't be hiding like this, you idiot..."
Another failed attempt to dissuade him this year.
Several hours of searching around the memorial turned up no sign of Kim Si-woo.
As dusk fell, Soo-hyuk finally gave up and returned to his lodging.
A cramped room, about four pyeong.
A small bed, desk, and chair were all that fit in Soo-hyuk's home.
Plop-.
Too exhausted to wash, he collapsed onto the bed.
The ice flower from the memorial.
Mana has unique shades, like fingerprints, varying from person to person.
No matter the size, that shade never changes.
And no amount of time could make me forget the mana of a friend I'd shared so many years with.
'He's alive.'
I'd thought they were all dead. But not him.
Kim Si-woo.
A Blue Eyes player, reported dead.
But this flower was the surest proof he lived.
Lying on the bed, Soo-hyuk activated his Player Kit again.
A kit with not a single contact saved.
For now, its only use for Soo-hyuk was searching.
Search term: Kim Si-woo.
Just in case there was any news on him.
But.
'Nothing.'
No trace of him being alive anywhere.
Thud-.
He tossed the kit onto the bedside table and turned to the half-melted ice flower.
A living person hiding away. For twenty whole years.
All that remained of his traces was this single flower in my hand.
"What are you up to, man?"
Was Kim Si-woo the only survivor?
Or all four I'd blasted away with the Feather Fan? Or just some of them? I couldn't know for sure.
I wanted to reach out, but I couldn't.
To contact via Player Kit, you needed their fingerprint registered.
But one thing was certain.
Beyond revenge on Kim Il-su and the allied guilds, now I had reason to climb higher.
"No, whatever. What does it matter what he's doing?"
Soo-hyuk smiled brightly for the first time today.
Brothers like family, all dead—or so I'd thought—in a world crawling with scum I needed to kill. Reborn alone amid that isolation and burning rage.
Now, that loneliness and fury began to melt away, bit by bit.
Yeah.
What he's doing doesn't matter.
What matters is he's alive somewhere—
'As long as they're alive, we can meet again.'
All I could do for them now was one thing.
Pray that the others besides Kim Si-woo were alive too.
'Contacting them right now would be dangerous.'
Back at his lodging, Soo-hyuk calmed himself and assessed the situation.
'If he's hiding, there's a reason. Me approaching now would just draw more eyes.'
Soo-hyuk planned to climb up.
He knew his own abilities objectively. Restarting the climb would draw attention, no doubt.
And reaching out to vanished Kim Si-woo in that spotlight?
It'd catch Blue Zone and the other guilds' eyes for sure.
'First, regain my power.'
Two days from now.
Then the Tutorial would start, restoring his Player status.
Soo-hyuk sat up on the bed.
He thought about what lay ahead.
The answer was set.
'If I could just handle Lightning properly, things wouldn't have gone that far.'
Lightning.
Soo-hyuk's strongest weapon.
The greater the power, the more damage it inflicted on the user. Lightning was a double-edged sword—sharper and harder than any other.
Of course.
It was the sharpest, most powerful blade in this tower.
"...Stamina's the only way, huh."
To withstand Lightning's backlash, Soo-hyuk had layered his body with stamina-boosting skills and items.
No surprise there.
A problem unsolved even by the 8th floor wouldn't yield to a couple days of pondering.
"The Tutorial..."
Soo-hyuk looked up at the ceiling.
The most basic test, evaluating a Player's potential from the start.
Recalling its contents, he muttered.
"Wonder how far I can go."
Every Player wonders it at least once.
The Tutorial.
If I went back now, how far could I reach?
A pipe dream for Players, impossible in reality. But Soo-hyuk's situation matched that fantasy perfectly.
'Back then, it was 25 stages.'
25 was a record.
Even now, with Tutorial info widespread, only two Players had beaten it.
But.
'Climbing again won't be hard.'
That wasn't enough.
'I need to do better.'
Soo-hyuk's gaze shifted to the sword in the room's corner.
With the Tutorial looming, its previous owner had prepared a weapon in advance.
He reached out and gripped it. A familiar sensation spread from his fingertips through his body.
Shing-.
The blade slid out smoothly.
Not a great sword, but that made it feel like a true fresh start.
"Gotta... do well."
Just the Tutorial.
But from now on, he had to approach every trial with desperation.
Simply climbing wasn't enough.
From the Tutorial upward, he needed near-perfect scores on every test ahead.
Swish-.
Soo-hyuk's eyes turned to the mask tossed on the desk.
The enemy he'd face from here on wasn't anyone else.
It was that guy.
For two days, Soo-hyuk acclimated to his body.
Suddenly heavier. Feet leaden, sword heavy in hand.
Two days sufficed to adapt to the stats.
"Hmmm..."
Over those two days.
Soo-hyuk swung his sword repeatedly in the hunting grounds near the village, moving his body.
He encountered a few low-level monsters that spawned nearby.
And the result?
"Why'd you let yourself get beat up so much with a body like this?"
This body was solid.
All stats over 10. Concentration at 14, mana awakened before even doing the Tutorial.
On paper, pure talent.
He'd just squandered it.
"Nice."
Compared to my old self, it was as good or better—no complaints.
These days, Player academies offered pro training pre-Tutorial. Natural outcome.
I'd griped at first, but now I could see objectively.
This new body was excellent.
Chirp, chirp-.
Birds sang in Soo-hyuk's ears as he'd been out since early dawn.
Sweating just right, he looked up.
Body warmed perfectly, fatigue-free. Senses sharpened from the morning.
'It's starting.'
The day of the Tutorial dawned.
Lee Soo-hyuk.
His day of return.