Return of the Frozen Player

District 34 was a high-end commercial district close to the center of Trium.

It was comparable to Beverly Hills on Earth.

‘So this is District 34…’

Leisure and romance overflowed on the streets, and everyone in the district was all smiles as they shopped and engaged in small talk with each other.

The atmosphere was completely different from the atmosphere of District 57.

‘They look happy.’

In Trium, successful people were affiliated with vampires in one way or another and whether they liked it or not. In other words, the people laughing and chatting here were either servants of vampires or their entire household was under a vampire.

‘…’

Seo Jun-Ho looked at them silently. From now on, he was going to impersonate a vampire apostle. The hot sun was shining overhead, but it didn't matter. Vampires who couldn't overcome the sun couldn't even be treated as apostles.

<Artisan Tailoring>

It was a tailor shop, and it was a particularly expensive tailor shop that the vampire apostles frequented.

‘It’s the perfect place to test things out…’

The doorkeeper opened the door, and the clerk inside greeted Seo Jun-Ho with a smile.

"Welcome, Sir."

"Call Zhang."

What emerged from Seo Jun-Ho’s mouth wasn’t his voice.

"I-I will relay your message."

The Art of Voice Changing was one of the basic martial arts skills that Seo Jun-Ho had seen in the Sect Record Chip. Seo Jun-Ho thought that it was both easy to learn and useful, so he decided to learn it.

Seo Jun-Ho was satisfied with its effects.

‘This would have been perfect if I learned Transfiguration to change my face and physique…’ Unfortunately, he decided not to learn Transfiguration because it would take a lot of time and effort.

"D-did you call me...?”

Zhang, the owner of the tailor shop, walked up with an awkward smile. He was a tailor who had made several clothes for the vampire apostles before.

There was a reason why Seo Jun-Ho visited Zhang today.

'If I can't even deceive this guy, there’s no way I can deceive the other apostles.'

Seo Jun-Ho wanted to see if Zhang would become suspicious of him.

Seo Jun-Ho spoke, "I need a suit. Make me one."

"Y-yes."

Zhang didn't know who he was, but Zhang took out the tape measure without hesitation. People with such high-handed attitudes were usually difficult to treat recklessly.

‘Who is he? Is he a noble? A politician? Maybe he's a budding entrepreneur…’

Zhang's eyes trembled as he measured Seo Jun-Ho without thinking.

'H-he’s cold...’

Seo Jun-Ho’s skin was as cold as ice. Zhang’s eyes quickly became dyed with fear as he looked at Seo Jun-Ho.

‘H-he’s a vampire. He can walk outside in broad daylight, so he must be...’

Tremble.

His hands holding the tape measure started trembling. Having tailored for other vampire apostles over and over again, he was sure that Seo Jun-Ho had to be a vampire apostle, at the very least.

"Is there a problem?" asked Seo Jun-Ho with a languid look.

Zhang shook his head. "N-no! There is no problem…!"

He took Seo Jun-Ho's measurement like lightning and wiped away the sweat dripping down his face.

“Is there a style that you want?”

"You figure it out yourself."

"I-I understand."

Seo Jun-Ho then handed over a bunch of bills that he had gotten from Obi's house.

Zhang hurriedly waved his hand. "Please, you don’t have to..."

"Just take it. I picked them up on the way.”

"Hahaha. Then, I will receive them with gratitude."

Seo Jun-Ho’s polite attitude only made Zhang even more convinced that Seo Jun-Ho was a vampire apostle.

Seo Jun-Ho glanced at the clock on the wall and asked, "How long will it take?"

"I-it should be done in eight hours."

"Good." Seo Jun-Ho muttered. He sat on the sofa in the inner waiting room and added, "Call me once you're done."

"Yes, yes…" Zhang muttered meekly. He closed the black curtains of the waiting room before walking out.

At the sight, Seo Jun-Ho smiled. 'It seems that imitating a vampire isn’t as hard as I thought...’

It seemed that he wouldn’t have a hard time imitating the vampires. He had roughly dropped his body temperature using Frost, but even someone like Zhang, who had measured the bodies of many apostles before, didn’t manage to find something off.

It seemed that infiltrating Eden wouldn’t be a huge problem.

‘I'm looking forward to it.’

He couldn’t help but wonder how many vampire apostles would be there. Seo Jun-Ho closed his eyes in anticipation of the upcoming gathering.

***

Zhang completed the suit in seven hours and twenty minutes. He even prepared a pair of shoes that completely matched the suit.

"You did well. I like it."

"T-thank you!"

Zhang clasped his hands tightly and answered with a deeply touched expression. He was glad to know another vampire apostle because vampire apostles were one of the most influential figures in this city.

"Please come again!"

"I'll think about it."

Seo Jun-Ho departed the tailor shop and raised his head.

The setting sky was slowly turning red.

‘It said that I will have to go to number seven.’

He walked straight to the mansion according to the instructions. While walking, Seo Jun-Ho took out Specter’s mask from his Inventory and attached some colorful feathers to it.

‘I can use this at a masquerade, right?’

Why not? This was a mask as well. Seo Jun-Ho was proud of his mask, and he even decorated it because he liked it. When he arrived at the mansion, two guard vampires greeted him at the entrance.

"Welcome."

"Can you please show us your invitation?"

“…” Seo Jun-Ho flashed the black envelope that contained the invitation, and that should have been enough. However, the two vampires looked at each other for a moment before speaking.

"Um... Is that perhaps the only mask you have?"

"We also provide rentals."

"Is there something wrong with my mask?"

The guards hesitated. Eventually, they took out a mask and showed it to him.

"You have to wear a mask that covers only the area around your eyes. It’s like this."

Seo Jun-Ho saw that the mask was a typical masquerade mask that one would find on the Internet if one were to look up masquerade masks.

Seo Jun-Ho tried his best to hide the awkwardness he was feeling as he reached out and said, "Give it to me. I'll wear it on the way."

"T-thank you!"

The guards seemed relieved as they opened the door for him.

As Seo Jun-Ho walked down the long hallway, he couldn’t help but mutter, "Is there something wrong with my mask?"

He even decorated it with red, blue, and pink feathers. His mask was also a popular item on Earth.

‘These people are ignorant of what looks cool. If I were on Earth, taking out this mask alone will…’

As he reminisced, Seo Jun-Ho changed his mask with a sullen face. He eventually arrived at a door at the end of the long hallway, and upon entering the door, he saw a hall illuminated by colorful chandeliers.

— ♪♬♩

There was a sweet melody in the air, and Seo Jun-Ho could hear conversations around him.

"Have you heard? Astaneca went bust last night."

"It apparently burned down because of an accident, but was it really an accident?"

"No way. I’m sure those dogs are the culprit."

Vampires with wine glasses were talking while wearing colorful masks.

Seo Jun-Ho took a wine glass from a servant carrying a tray and walked slowly throughout the hall, and his eyes scanned his surroundings.

‘Seventy-two...’

He counted seventy-two people. Aside from the servants, musicians, and the small fries, there were a total of forty-six vampire apostles in the hall.

‘According to Obi's memory, there should be a hundred apostles in Trium.’

There were only a hundred apostles because Tepes had purposely limited the number of apostles a clan could have to twenty-five. It was all to prevent the rapid increase in the number of apostles.

Of course, the official numbers were a hundred, but the True Vampires could be rearing more than twenty-five apostles each.

‘Assuming that the official numbers are real…’

The number of vampire apostles here was nearly half of the entire vampire apostle population of Trium. If he were to exaggerate, most of the city's core power had gathered in this hall.

Seo Jun-Ho pondered. '...Can I do it?’

Honestly, he didn’t expect that there would be this many vampire apostles. In Obi's memory, at most, there should have been only around twenty vampire apostles here.

However, it seemed that more vampire apostles attended than usual because they wanted to learn more information about what happened to Astaneca.

'I can think about it slowly.’

He would deal with them if possible. Otherwise, he would just retreat. With a frown, Seo Jun-Ho tried to moisten his throat with the wine in his hand.

‘Wait…’

It was not wine but blood—human blood.

He returned the wine glass to a servant who was passing by.

"Does it not suit your taste?”

"I saw a bug coming out of the glass.”

"Oh, my! I will get you another glass."

"It’s fine. I lost my appetite, so put it away.”

"I-I understand,” said the servant before nervously walking away.

Seo Jun-Ho crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

He closely observed the vampire apostles.

'They’re not much different from Obi.’

However, the vampire apostles each had their own unique ability. If their unique ability were to be compared to the Players, the vampire apostles' unique ability would be in between B-Grade and A-Grade.

‘Tsk, Obi's memory isn’t that useful because everyone’s eyes are covered here.’

If he could see their faces, he would be able to find their unique ability using Obi’s memory, which would allow him to plan accordingly.

While Seo Jun-Ho was in the middle of deep contemplation, a man wearing a butterfly mask appeared on the second floor.

- Clink, cliink! ~♪

He tapped the wine glass lightly with a teaspoon, and the music abruptly stopped.

Upon receiving everyone’s attention, the man in the butterfly mask smiled softly and said, "Nice to meet you, apostles. I’m glad to see that everyone is having fun.”

The vampires nodded and agreed.

The man in the butterfly mask continued. "It's been a long time since I’ve seen this many people here, and the reason you’ve gathered here is probably because something unfortunate happened last night.”

Yes, Astaneca burned down.

Seo Jun-Ho stared at the man as well, looking forward to what the man had to say.

"According to the investigation, a few wild dogs managed to crawl into the city."

"I knew it!"

"Tsk, to think that we would lose a pharmaceutical company to the dogs. How frustrating."

"If I had been there, I would have slaughtered them all."

The vampire apostles were furious because Astaneca’s Wolf Wine was valuable to them as well.

Seeing the furious vampire apostles, the man in the butterfly mask smiled.

"But you don't have to worry…” the man in the butterfly mask beckoned. A low-ranking vampire appeared with two briefcases. "Astaneca is gone, but the production of Wolf Wine will continue."

“…” Seo Jun-Ho slowly loosened his arms upon hearing that.

His brows hidden beneath the mask were furrowed.

‘No way…’

He was sure that he had destroyed every blueprint and production method that he had seen along with the werewolves. There was also no copy of the Wolf Wine production method according to what he had seen in Obi and Allen Schneiker’s memories.

In other words, the fire last night should have burned everything down.

"Come here."

The man in the butterfly mask beckoned his subordinate. He took a bottle out of a briefcase, and a crimson liquid could be seen swirling within the bottle.

"It’s Wolf Wine."

"Oh!"

"I thought the production method was lost?"

"That's a relief. As expected, the true Vampire-nims wouldn’t be so careless."

The vampire apostles were relieved.

The man in the butterfly mask spoke once again, "This is a much more effective and fast-acting version of what Astaneca used to make."

The vampire next to the man in the butterfly mask opened another briefcase.

There was a syringe inside the briefcase.

"If you inject this syringe into those wild dogs, their blood will become Wolf Wine."

“I-is it true?”

"Yes, it is. That’s why it’s revolutionary." The man in the butterfly mask smiled and continued. "He couldn't be here today, but let's give a round of applause to Chef for developing the revolutionary method of acquiring Wolf Wine."

Clap! Clap! Clap!

The hall soon became filled with applause, but Seo Jun-Ho's eyes turned cold.

‘Chef?’

If the man in the butterfly mask and Seo Jun-Ho were thinking of the same Chef, then that Chef was definitely capable of making Wolf Wine. After all, he was the one who made Paradise on Earth and attempted to create Watchguard of Darkness.

He had also attempted something similar to this on the 2nd Floor.

‘So he’s here on the 6th Floor.’

Seo Jun-Ho’s blood started boiling.

Unlike his cold eyes, however, Seo Jun-Ho was smiling.

'I'll see you soon.’

Seo Jun-Ho was sure that he would find some information about the Heavenly Demon upon killing Chef.

Meanwhile, one of the apostles raised their hand.

"Wait, is the new Wolf Wine really effective?"

"Yes, of course."

"How can we believe that?”

"Since you’re in doubt, let us do a demonstration. If I use this on myself, then it wouldn’t be credible enough, so let’s have someone...” The man in the butterfly mask scanned the vampire apostles with a smile, and his eyes met Seo Jun-Ho’s gaze.