The Frozen Player Returns

ren’t players.
Even if we feed them the blood, they’ll only become half-rate fiends.”

She opened a thick book sitting on the desk.
“In the last 24 years, Paradise has successfully created 2,985 fiends.
1,898 were 3rd-grade items that couldn’t even awaken their abilities.
1,082 2nd-grade items could do so.
And only five 1st-grade items became notably powerful.”

“Ah, and one of them was Nazad-nim’s disciple, the Skeleton Mage.”

“Yes.
In the four years that I’ve been overseeing Paradise, he is the only 1st-grade item that has been created.” There was a sense of pride in her voice.
She closed the book.
“It seems that we’ve strayed from our original topic.”

’

“I’m still listening.” Torres swallowed.
His heart pounded at the thought of learning secrets that no other fiends would know. 

“24 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.
That’s how great Specter’s effect was.
Their fear could not be erased in just a year.”

“As 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 skill—Watchguard of Darkness.”

“…W-wait.
So Paradise was founded to create the second Specter?” Torres was shocked.
He never even imagined that it was for such a reason.

“Pfft, 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?”

“…If we combined it with Demonic energy, that person would become the strongest fiend in history.”

“That’s it.” Chef clapped.
“So 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%.
That’s why I came down to the 1st floor.
I can’t leave everything to chance.
I came to create a Darkness skill myself. 

“Ah…!” Torres exclaimed.
“So you plan to use Perfect Taste (S).”

“Bingo.” 

Chef could materialize others’ 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 ‘cook’ a new skill that was higher in rank.
In theory, she could even create her own S-rank skill. 

“But all food has an expiration date.” She sighed.
“F-rank skills only last two months.” Even if she copied them, they would disappear after that time.
She kidnapped children every two months because she always needed fresh ingredients.

“This place was truly paradise for me,” she said, stroking the desk with her delicate fingers.
“It’s hard to find a place with as many fresh ingredients as we have here.”

“Then… since you’re returning to the 2nd floor, does that mean you’ve succeeded?” Torres asked carefully.
She’d 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.
“I failed to recreate Watchguard of Darkness.
The most similar one was the Shadow element.”

“Ah…! I did hear that you granted the abilities of the Shadow Brothers.”

“It was still a failure.
Compared to Specter’s skill, they’re no better than trash.” 

She suddenly started to laugh.
“Fufu, it’s simple.
I no longer need to waste my time here.”

“Is that because Specter has returned?”

’

“Of course.
Rather than trying to create a skill on the 1st floor, it’s much easier to wait on the 2nd floor until he comes up.” She expected it to be easy to recreate Watchguard of Darkness once she had a taste. 

“Ahh, I wonder how it’ll taste… I’m already excited.”

She trembled as she licked her lips. 

* * *

“…Stop skill use,” 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?

“They made thousands of children into fiends…”

Because of him. 

“Dammit all!” He punched the wall, gritting his teeth.
It didn’t relieve any of his anger. 

“Contractor… it is not your fault,” she said gently. 

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“I still feel like shit.”

Reality wasn’t always so sweet.
And this time, it made his entire mouth go dry. 

“Once you become a fiend…” You couldn’t go back.
He’d discovered this while hunting countless fiends in the past, and Deok-gu had confirmed that it still wasn’t possible. 

Then, all those children who suffered because of me… The children…

He had to end it with his own hands, even if he didn’t want to.