Seo Jun-Ho paused and dug through his memories.
‘Had she always been regressing with me?’
No...
The Frost Queen he had always seen in this scene was small and cute. She was in her pre-evolution state, and she had no idea about the regressions as well.
‘So that means this is the first time she came back with me...’
To be fair, the 5th regression did have many changes. The Frost Queen had evolved, they met the Manager of the Administrative Team, and he could now activate Overclocking at a hundred percent output.
‘This should be connected to her evolution...’
He recalled the words of the Spirit King of Fire, Ignis. “The souls of a Spirit and their Contractor are intertwined.”
‘So, does that mean our connection grew stronger after she evolved?’
Seo Jun-Ho sighed. Now that there was someone he could share his memories with, his loneliness was bound to be more endurable, so he should be elated by it. But right now, he couldn’t afford to be happy.
‘I should have kept my mouth shut.’
When he was dying, why did he tell her about the Spirit Crystal of all things?
‘And even if I die again, she’ll stay the same. There’s no solution.’
While he was sighing over and over, Wei Chun-Hak distributed the hotel key cards.
“Let’s all wash up for now and meet up at the restaurant.”
Once the party members left, Seo Jun-Ho carefully approached the Frost Queen.
“Hey...”
He rubbed her shoulder, trying to gauge her reaction, but when she turned her head, there was a blank expression on her face.
Her cold eyes felt like they were piercing his soul.
“Contractor, be honest with me. Did you truly feed me that rock?”
‘Ummm.’
Seo Jun-Ho let out a small grunt.
To be honest, he thought that he might be able to cover it up if he lied. If he told her he said that just to tease her, she would probably let it go.
‘But I shouldn’t do that...’
Seo Jun-Ho knew he shouldn’t lie in a situation like this. After all, she was his comrade, just like his friends.
He nodded. “I’m sorry. I did.”
“...”
The Frost Queen looked like she was slapped in the face. It seemed that she truly felt betrayed because her eyes welled up with tears.
She then poked his chest with her finger several times. “Really, what is wrong with you? You tricked me into eating a Spirit Crystal? Do you really think I made a contract with you for you to do that? I even told you I didn’t want to eat it.”
Seo Jun-Ho felt guilty and stood still as he quietly accepted his punishment.
After venting her anger for a long time, the Frost Queen squeezed her hands into fists and trembled with rage. “Ugh! I won’t forget this!”
Then, she stomped out of the restaurant, fuming. As he watched her disappear, Seo Jun-Ho let out a heavy sigh.
“I’m screwed...”
How would he solve this?
He could only think of one person whom he could talk with about this.
***
“You said Frost is really pissed at you?” Gilberto leaned against a window and took a sip of his coffee. He gave a soft smile and said, “If that’s the case, you did well coming to me. That was very smart of you. Despite how I look, I’m a father after all.”
“So, what do you think I need to do so she won’t be mad anymore?”
“Hm. Well, first...” Gilberto suddenly stopped. He thought for a moment, and his face quickly fell as he muttered, “...All I know is how to change diapers.”
“Makes sense.”
Gilberto got trapped in the ice when Arthur was still a newborn baby, and he was all grown up when Gilberto came back. Of course, he would have no idea how to raise a child.
Seo Jun-Ho sighed and stood up. “I shouldn’t have come to you. I’ll go talk to Skaya.”
“W-wait! I’m sure I’m better than her. Just trust me this once.”
Gilberto’s eyes furrowed. He was still a father, so he didn’t like to hear he was worse than Skaya.
“Then, tell me. Frost is really pissed at me; how should I handle this?”
“Didn’t you say she likes cake and tea?”
“She’s not going to eat anything I give her,” Seo Jun-Ho said glumly as he sat back down. Since the matter about putting Spirit Crystal shavings into her cake and tea had gotten out of the bag, there was no way she would eat any food he gave her now.
“I think we’re doing this in the wrong order. First, tell me the whole story about what happened.”
“Well, you see...”
Seo Jun-Ho explained the events of the 5th regression. After he was done with the whole story, Gilberto frowned.
“A countless number of regressions, you say... You’ve gotten yourself tangled up in something quite troublesome again, Jun-Ho.”
“That’s the fifth time you’ve said that to me, so forget it. Just give me advice about Frost.”
“Hm.” Gilberto shrugged and took a sip of his lukewarm coffee. “There’s no need to worry about it. Just wait for a week—just one week.”
“What will change after that?” Seo Jun-Ho didn’t understand.
Gilberto grinned. “Who knows? You’ll see by then.”
***
“Contractor is a liar. I can’t trust him... H-He’s evil!”
The Frost Queen fumed as she stomped around the hallway while spitting out the worst insults she could remember. After stomping around for a long time, she fanned her face with her hand.
‘I am thirsty.’ At times like this, drinking a cool beverage would be heavenly.
She licked her lips. ‘...The fried rice and lemonade Contractor made were delicious.’
No, this was wrong. The Frost Queen shook her head.
“Seeing how delicious they were, I am certain that he also placed that rock in them.” The Frost Queen gulped and made her way to the cafeteria.
She dug around the fridge, but all she found were coffee beans and raw ingredients. There were no yummy beverages.
“All they have is Cola and Sprite, I see...”
She sighed as she looked at the sodas inside. She didn’t like the way carbonated beverages stung her throat, so she didn’t drink them often.
‘I prefer well-brewed tea.’ She recalled the others. ‘That girl Mio certainly looks like she would be good at brewing tea...’
Unfortunately, she still hadn’t apologized for freezing her yet, so she couldn’t just shamelessly go up to Mio and ask her to brew some tea.
‘Rahmadat doesn’t look like he knows anything about tea.’
Then, she recalled what Gilberto and Skaya often drank.
“...No. I still do not want to go to that girl.”
Skaya had damaged her dignity as a queen. The Frost Queen shook her head. In the end, she took out a can of Sprite and gulped it down.
“Ack, it stings.” This was why she often drank carbonated beverages only when she was eating chicken, pizza, or hamburgers. The Frost Queen stared at the can, unsatisfied.
***
ραпdα nᴏνɐ| сom “What? The queen evolved?” Skaya whipped around. “How much has she grown?”
“She looks like she’s around 12 or so. She’s all grown up now.”
The Frost Queen was no longer the Frost who would sit on his head nor the Frost who toddled around like a kindergartener. Now, there was only the Frost Queen who was as frightfully furious as a girl going through puberty.
“Why didn’t I know that?” Skaya wondered.
“That’s because she’s always invisible in front of you.”
“Why?”
“...”
Seo Jun-Ho couldn’t tell her that it was because the Frost Queen found her to be very annoying to deal with.
“I dunno. She easily gets embarrassed, after all,” he responded.
“I see. So, did you bring her up so you could brag?” Skaya asked.
“Of course not. Do you remember what I said when everyone was there?”
“About all the regressions?”
“Yeah.” As always, Seo Jun-Ho gathered the party members and explained his situation. “Now, I have to raise my Overclocking output again.”
“So you don’t keep it when you come back to the past?”
“Yeah. I don’t have Magic Resistance at the moment.” Whenever he regressed, he wouldn’t get to keep his new skills, stats, and levels.
And there was one more thing...
‘...I don’t have the Spirit Crystal powder either.’ The powder he had used in the 5th regression had disappeared without a trace. It seemed that it hadn’t reset because the Frost Queen had already used it to evolve to the next stage.
‘It’s like the marbles.’
Similarly, after using the broken vending machine, he hadn’t been able to use the working ones even when he went back to the past. He wasn’t sure what those two had in common yet, but he didn’t have time to investigate them in depth.
“I’ve already done it once, so it’ll probably take a lot less time than last time. However, I have to start training now.”
“So you’re telling me to take care of Frost while you’re doing that?”
“I’m counting on you. But don’t bother her too much.”
“Just trust me.”
Seo Jun-Ho looked at her doubtfully. When he eventually left, Skaya grinned.
***
“I am thirsty,” the Frost Queen muttered as she sat crouched down in the hallway. It had already been a week since she drank the Contractor’s black tea. She even tried making the tea by herself, but it had been bitter and astringent. “I wish to drink tea. Good tea.”
She had even considered returning to her Contractor under the guise of forgiving him, but she didn’t want to hurt her pride. In the end, she had decided to simply acquire a new servant.
“It has been some time since I saw you, Skaya Killi—”
“Frooooost! I missed youuuuu!”
“D-do not touch me! Step back!” She barely managed to remove Skaya, who had rushed over and stuck to her like gum. The Frost Queen cleared her throat. “Ahem. Have you been well?”
“Of course,” Skaya replied, beaming, “I’ve always wanted a little sister, so I’m really happy.”
The Frost Queen wasn’t sure why Skaya was treating her like one, but that wasn’t important to her right now. “I am here as a guest today, so make me a cup of tea.”
“O-of course.” Skaya was afraid that the Frost Queen would leave, so she rushed to make some tea. “You like black tea, right? These are the finest tea leaves the royal family of Frontier drinks.”
“Ooh...” The Frost Queen’s eyes sparkled, and she took a sip, full of anticipation.
However, her face instantly fell.
“W-what’s wrong? Is it bad?”
“This isn’t it...”
The tea her Contractor made tasted much more vibrant and delicate. Yes, it was as if it were cleansing her very soul...
“Is this truly the best tea leaves?” she asked.
“Yeah. It was super expensive... Does it taste weird?” Skaya took a sip of her own tea and tilted her head as she muttered a few times, “That’s weird. It tastes good to me.”
The Frost Queen watched and thought, ‘It seems that this is not a matter of the brewer’s talent.’
She then gently closed her eyes and fell into thought. The difference here was most likely because her cake and tea had been laced with a Spirit Crystal.
‘I am currently a Spirit. I do not necessarily have to eat or drink anything.’
In addition, she didn’t even need to sleep.
In that case, couldn’t she just live the rest of her life like this?
Her thoughts stopped there because she was hit with a realization.
‘I cannot!’
***
“Hooo...”
It was easy for someone to find their way down a path they had already taken. Seo Jun-Ho believed in this phrase ever since he awakened from the ice and was forced to start from Level 1.
“I must be a genius,” he remarked. It had only been a week, but he had already obtained high-level Magic Resistance, and he could even already stabilize Overclocking at ninety-five percent output.
‘It’s not as hard as before...’
It came to him naturally, like eating. If he kept going like this, it would only be a matter of time until he once again reached a hundred percent Overclocking output.
‘I have to hurry and reach it as soon as possible. Then, I’ll start hunting as soon as the party leaves the city.’
Seo Jun-Ho closed his eyes and recalled his battle with the cockroaches from the previous regression.
‘If I had escaped through the intersection, their siege would have loosened.’
‘It might have been better to use Moon Eye at the end rather than King’s Breath.’
‘Going straight for Erebo instead of hunting the cockroaches should also be an option.’
Dozens of new strategies and approaches crowded his head. The only thing left to do now was to personally go through each one and find better solutions.
‘In some ways... This might be even worse than the Cave of Trials.’
However, he wasn’t worried about it. He had Hero’s Mind (S), so his mind wouldn’t break even if he had to repeat the same thing hundreds of times.
‘And that’s not all...’
Seo Jun-Ho slowly opened his eyes from his meditation.
There was a polite knock, and someone carefully opened the door before sticking their head in.
Seo Jun-Ho stood up and smiled brightly. “You’re here?”
“...Yes.”
The wandering spirit who had run away for a week would also play a part in keeping him sane—the Frost Queen.
And just like that, Seo Jun-Ho died a hundred more times.
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