Under the guidance of the snow woman, Si-woo entered the castle and his eyes were drawn to a large frame.
A painting made of ice, depicting a family of four.
Despite being made of ice, the delicate details of the people in the painting were apparent.
As Si-woo stared at the people in the painting, he suddenly furrowed his brows.
At first glance, it seemed like an ordinary painting.
A harmonious family of four.
A father with a serious expression, his hand resting on the shoulders of his wife and son.
The mother, holding the daughter’s hand in place of her husband, who lacked a hand.
A brother and sister sitting together on a chair, smiling happily.
As Si-woo continued to gaze at the family photo that anyone would see as a warm, loving family, he suddenly realized the source of his discomfort.
“Wait a minute?”
The colors of the picture in the ice frame were indiscernible.
Yet, Si-woo immediately recognized something.
“Glacia isn’t there?”
Of the two women in the painting, none of them resembled Glacia.
Following the snow women’s guidance, Si-woo arrived at the guest room and began to organize the information he had gathered so far.
‘First of all, the real owner of this gate is definitely Glacia.’
However, the information scattered throughout the gate.
The stories people told all seemed to reject Glacia.
It was as if she was a character who shouldn’t even exist in this place.
Even in this castle, created by Glacia and the snow women, there was no trace of Glacia’s information.
No matter how much of a hidden boss she might be, there was far too little information about her.
‘A gate is a different world.’
This means the world beyond the gate is a separate world from Earth.
If that’s the case, it’s only natural for someone’s story to exist in that world.
It’s just that it hasn’t been observed.
Just like how many people are writing their own stories, in the world beyond the gate, countless lives are writing their own stories as well.
Even something as commonly seen as an F-rank gate, a goblin settlement, isn’t exactly the same as any other gate; there are always slight differences.
Even in goblins, who don’t even show a hint of rationality, there are unique bonds and connections.
Even if they were all born as the same kind of goblin, some of them evolved in distinct ways.
Goblins such as Goblin Magicians, Goblin Knights, Goblin Thieves, and so on.
Even though they are categorized as the same kind of goblin, there are monsters that emerge as separate entities.
This is the reason behind it.
“If it’s a hidden boss, there should definitely be some hint, even if it’s not obvious.”
There are various ways to conquer a gate.
Even if the solution is not simply to kill, there are still many ways to clear it.
One of those methods might be to charm the monsters, right?
While organizing his thoughts as a form of self-rationalization, a thought suddenly crossed Si-woo’s mind.
“A hero, huh…”
Though he dismissed it casually, Si-woo had never met Glacia before.
He had never entered a gate up until now.
If he had met a noblewoman from a medieval setting even once, it wouldn’t be something easy to forget.
Yet, Glacia had shown him affection.
Even before she used the power of allure.
That wasn’t the only odd thing about it.
“The reaction to the surname Drake… and the family painting with the central staircase.”
Lastly, the way she called him a hero, despite not knowing the reason.
“There’s no correlation, though…”
The only thing that could be speculated was the identity of the devil worshiper.
‘One of the people in that family picture with the surname Drake must be related to this.’
The true owner of this gate must have been Glacia.
But until certain conditions were met, Glacia had not revealed herself.
No matter how powerful a monster is, if it cannot properly fulfill the role of a boss, it cannot be chosen as the end boss.
Si-woo speculated that the gate might not have had the will to do that.
‘Originally, Glacia was supposed to take on the role of the end boss, but instead, the devil worshiper took that role.’
And now, with Si-woo’s appearance, the role of the end boss, the boss monster role, has been passed to Glacia.
‘Then the sequence of events fits together.’
The devil worshiper, who was originally the boss monster, abandoning the boss room, the mansion, and coming to confront them.
The sudden appearance of Glacia, who then moved to this ice castle under the pretext of an invitation.
‘It triggered the conditions for a boss monster to act.’
A boss can only act within the boss room.
This was common knowledge inside the gate.
“Well, up until this point, it wasn’t too difficult of a deduction.”
As expected, the connection between Glacia, the devil worshiper, and finally, the snow women, still eluded him.
The fact that they appeared in the same gate suggested some kind of connection, but…
“The rest is the problem.”
He still couldn’t find a connection point.
Si-woo sighed as he quickly downed the cold water the snow women had prepared for him.
“Really, if I had just a little more information, it would be easier to strategize.”
As he thought about Glacia, he suddenly felt a presence from afar.
A chill, similar yet different from that of the snow women.
The presence of Glacia, walking down from the top floor to the drawing room, made Si-woo push all the thoughts that had been filling his mind to the back.
When a guest arrives, focus only on them.
Don’t get distracted or break the illusion by thinking of other guests.
The words he had learned during his time as a host came back to him after a long while.
Creeeak.
With the incomparable high price of survival paid by the guest, Si-woo smiled.
“You’ve been waiting a long time, haven’t you?”
She had changed.
Glacia’s atmosphere had shifted so much that it almost gave the illusion of a transformation.
Gone was the awkwardness and madness, replaced by a faint smile.
The dress, which had no exposure, gave off an aura of purity.
Her hair, once wild and fear-inducing in the wind, now calmly settled, revealing a graceful beauty.
She now looked more like a noble young lady than a monster.
“Have you had any discomfort, Hero?”
“Not at all, Lady Glacia.”
However, excessive remarks could be harmful instead.
With a smile similar to the one from earlier, Glacia stood up and lightly bowed.
She exaggerated her movements but made sure not to make the other person feel burdened.
As Si-woo sat back down and took a sip of the remaining cold water, Glacia sat beside him with an even brighter smile than before.
“Hehe, I’m glad to hear that you are satisfied, Hero.”
To make Glacia feel more at ease, Si-woo extended his arm.
The action a woman sitting next to him would take was always the same.
Smoothly.
“Hehe.”
Glacia, who seized the opportunity, gently wrapped her arms around Si-woo’s arm like a doll.
Then, she rested her head lightly on his shoulder.
The expression on Glacia’s face as she basked in Si-woo’s warmth was far brighter than before.
“Lady Glacia, is this enough for you, just staying like this?”
“Yes, of course. I’ve been waiting for this moment my entire life.”
“But being like this is something you could do anytime, right?”
It was impossible to defeat Glacia with brute force in this gate.
The scale itself was too different.
At the very least, if the monster’s demonic energy even slightly began to erode Glacia’s soul, Si-woo would not stand a chance.
But conversely, if there was no demonic energy from the monster, Glacia could be dealt with.
“You said you’ve been waiting for me, Lady Glacia.”
“Yes, for years, I’ve been waiting for you to come to me, feeling as though my very consciousness was fading.”
Glacia’s memory was incomplete.
Because of this, Si-woo didn’t ask her why.
“So, is there something you’d like to do with me?”
“Something… I’d like to do with you?”
At Si-woo’s question, Glacia paused her actions.
She had lived on with the sole belief that she must wait for the Hero, her memory of everything else having long faded away.
‘Sorry, Glacia…’
“…Ah.”
A voice echoed in her mind.
She didn’t remember who it belonged to.
Sadness and a bit of hatred remained in her heart, festering.
“One thing… I’ve always wanted to try.”
That lingering bitterness must have vanished.
The pain, lost with the fading memory, responded to Si-woo’s voice, and Glacia leaned in, as though this might be her only chance.
Standing up from her seat, Glacia swallowed. Hiding her trembling heart desperately, she finally managed to speak the words that had been lingering in her heart.
“Hero… Would you dance with me?”
Si-woo stood up and carefully took her extended hand.
With his warmth transferred through his hand, Glacia’s eyes widened, her grip tightening around his hand.
“Yes, gladly.”
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