Level 4 Human in a Ruined World - Chapter 29

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 29 10. Villain War (3)

After parting with the Bag Merchant, Young-woo ran down the road at an even faster pace than before.

He wanted to confirm as quickly as possible whether human trafficking was really taking place in this city.

Thud!

After passing several farmhouses, rice fields, and livestock barns, the surrounding scenery gradually became more urban.

A gas station appeared, buildings with glass facades began to show, and convenience stores revealed themselves.

And it was at this point that Young-woo felt a tremendous sense of unease.

From when the convenience stores appeared, he could encounter people again, and they all uniformly raised their hands upon seeing Young-woo.

“…?”

It was a gesture like hailing a taxi. Even more strangely, they all stood only by the roadside as if there was some kind of rule.

‘What’s this?’

Just in his immediate field of vision, there were no less than seven ‘people with raised hands.’

Young-woo stopped in front of a man standing at the closest spot.

Before Young-woo could say anything, the other person spoke first.

“Are you looking for people?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Then let me introduce myself first. My name is Kim Tae-hong. Daily wage of 2,000 karma, holding positions, carrying luggage, collecting items… I’ll do anything within my capabilities.”

This man named Kim Tae-hong pronounced his lines cleanly without a single mistake.

“Daily wage means… you’ll help me all day long?”

“Yes. That’s right. If you allow me to stay overnight, I wouldn’t refuse either.”

Staying overnight meant sharing a room for the night.

In other words, if the employer wanted to use the rented room alone, he would find his own way to survive from that point on.

‘This is much more independent than I imagined.’

Young-woo tilted his head.

This seemed more like a personal business than human trafficking.

Of course, in the sense of selling one’s labor, it could be expressed as ‘selling one’s body.’

As Young-woo was examining the fairly sturdy man’s body, an unexpected line came from the other person.

“Um… however, there’s one condition.”

“What is it?”

“As I mentioned, I’m grateful for the overnight invitation, but sleeping together is not allowed, and I won’t go near Namseong-dong either.”

“What?”

Young-woo asked back in surprise, then realized the man had already stepped back when he saw Young-woo scanning his body.

‘Ah, he thought something was strange when he saw me looking over his body.’

What else could it mean that overnight stays were okay but sleeping together wasn’t?

It meant he was willing to earn 2,000 karma with his body, but he wouldn’t sell his chastity.

‘Then what does not going to Namseong-dong mean?’

Young-woo immediately asked.

“No, I’m not interested in sleeping arrangements or anything like that. What’s Namseong-dong? Is there something there?”

“…?”

This time the man showed a surprised expression.

“Are you not from this area? Namseong-dong has the City Hall.”

“Ah, City Hall.”

Young-woo understood immediately.

City Hall. The main residence of the Sangju First Sword and the place where human trafficking was said to be actively conducted.

For this man who conducted conservative trading, City Hall had to be a dangerous area.

“So the reason you don’t go to City Hall is.”

“Because it becomes dangerous for both of us.”

It probably meant that even influential people wealthy enough to buy and use people couldn’t guarantee safety at City Hall.

At this point, Young-woo became even more curious about what was happening at City Hall.

“Don’t tell me you’re heading to Namseong-dong?”

When the man asked this, Young-woo just nodded silently.

Then the expressions of other ‘job seekers’ who had been subtly approaching to take the man’s place all stiffened at once.

“…It seems like everyone here won’t go near City Hall.”

At Young-woo’s words, the man scratched his forehead and said.

“Anyone in their right mind would generally feel that way.”

“Then let me ask just one thing before I go.”

“Yes, yes. Please ask.”

“Is the payment upfront? Or after? Actually, if the other party decides to, they could easily not pay at all.”

“That’s right. So it’s essentially left to the conscience of the paying party.”

“That’s really ridiculous.”

“Well, did the world becoming like this make sense in the first place? We’re just doing this because there’s no other way for now.”

The man gave a hollow laugh.

And seeing this laugh, Young-woo unconsciously thought about taking out a coin from his backpack to give him.

Half sympathy, half gratitude for the information.

However, that thought didn’t translate into actual action.

Selfishly, when it came to actually doing it, he felt it was a waste.

Wasn’t this someone he’d never see again after parting? So why bother?

“….”

Young-woo bowed his head to the man and nearby people in greeting, then stepped back onto the road leading to Namseong-dong.

While thinking that they would be unlikely to survive until tomorrow.

When even he, the First Sword of Gumi, was being so stingy, what person would deliberately pay wages to someone weaker than themselves?

It was a moment when he realized what specific problems ‘lawlessness’ could cause.

* * *

After parting with the man and continuing to run on the road, Young-woo soon encountered another group of people.

Again, they were of various genders and ages, and they raised their hands high as soon as Young-woo entered their line of sight.

However, the types and categories of services they offered were somewhat different.

Some were peddlers selling petrified items, while others specialized only in ‘item collection,’ which was one of the services offered by the man he met earlier.

If you told them the desired item and meeting place, they would search the entire city to find it.

Of course, even if they found the item, there was no guarantee they’d return alive, so it was work done at the risk of their lives.

‘The worst case would be finding the item and coming back only to have the trading partner pull a sword on them.’

Anyway, the lines of job seekers continued to appear.

Until Young-woo encountered a sign that read ‘Namseong-dong.’

「Namseong-dong 2km」

‘Almost there.’

Young-woo stood facing the sign and glanced back.

The line of job seekers along the roadside that seemed endless just moments ago was now nowhere to be seen.

Everyone was reluctant to stay near Namseong-dong.

‘They’re this afraid? Then the city can’t be maintained like this.’

At this rate, it would only be a matter of time before the job seekers in the city’s outskirts either died from inability to pay taxes or left for other cities.

The population would drastically decrease.

Of course, given the structure of this world where the only goods were supplied through monster and mutant hunting, whether the population decreased or not wouldn’t be a big problem for the strong’s survival.

They could live affluently by appropriately distributing and consuming the resources remaining in the city among themselves.

Whoosh!

Soon, what appeared to be the downtown area of Namseong-dong came into Young-woo’s view.

Only then could he see the traces of last night’s battle.

Shattered stone walls, corpses scattered everywhere, blood stains that had hardened to black.

If there was a difference from Gimcheon City, it was that the number of corpses in Sangju City was incomparably fewer.

Although those who had gone out Monster Hunting probably weren’t fighting to reduce casualties, in any case, the strong ones in Sangju City were far more capable than those in Gimcheon City.

‘Hmm.’

Going a little further inside, even the few corpses disappeared and a relatively clean landscape unfolded.

And it was then that Young-woo heard that sound for the first time.

Beeeep!

The sound of a car horn.

“…?”

This sound that came from behind Young-woo’s head was really from a car.

When he turned around, a pure white foreign car was running with its engine on, making angry sounds.

‘A car…? They’re driving around in a car?’

Young-woo instinctively thought the other party must be Sangju First Sword.

Reset day 2.

At this point when only one Mutant per region had appeared, who else would dare indulge in the luxury of ‘purchasing’ a passenger car?

‘Unless it was someone who monopolized 3 million Karma.’

Just as Young-woo was drawing up his Fighting Spirit and about to pull out Early Bird from his waist, the horn sounded once more from the white passenger car.

Beeeeeep!

Then the driver’s seat window opened and some woman poked her head out.

“What’s this? Won’t you get out of the way?”

Sleek designer sunglasses caught his eye, as sharp as her shrill voice.

Real sunglasses, not made of stone.

In some ways, they were an even greater luxury than the passenger car.

‘What the hell is this bitch.’

As Young-woo stared at his opponent, shocked by the fresh outfit, the woman in the vehicle flung open the driver’s door.

“Can’t you understand what I’m saying? Should I just run you over?”

With a click, the high heels containing the woman’s feet touched the road.

And seeing this, Young-woo belatedly realized.

The fact that what he was facing now wasn’t Sangju First Sword.

‘She’s wearing shoes and isn’t carrying weapons.’

Decisively, even after seeing that he was barefoot, she showed no signs of recognition.

It meant she didn’t know that there could be cases where one ‘couldn’t’ wear shoes.

In other words, that woman had never possessed superhuman-level stats.

Then it made even less sense.

How could someone who wasn’t even First Sword indulge in such luxury?

“….”

Young-woo looked at the woman who wasn’t even wearing a Simple Scabbard around her waist and asked.

“What’s your relationship with Sangju First Sword? Family? Or a lover?”

“What?”

Bewilderment momentarily appeared on the woman’s face that had been full of irritation.

Then she immediately regained her venomous expression and shot back.

“You, where did you come from, bastard? You seem to have no basic sense.”

The woman clearly saw Early Bird hanging at Young-woo’s waist but wasn’t intimidated at all.

And the reason for that was none other than in the passenger car’s back seat.

Clunk.

This time the back seat doors of the white vehicle opened in succession, so Young-woo shifted his gaze there.

Then he saw two sturdy men getting out, each holding an Early Bird.

‘There were Bodyguards.’

What the woman relied on wasn’t just the First Sword’s halo.

However, when the two swordsmen actually saw Young-woo’s appearance with their eyes, they just made reluctant expressions and couldn’t immediately resort to force.

They recognized it at once. That their opponent wasn’t ordinary.

These men didn’t seem to fully understand the meaning of bare feet either, but they seemed to have noticed that the Golden Flash Young-woo wore on his hand wasn’t an ordinary item.

“…What are you doing?”

When the two men just hesitated, the woman’s angry command fell, and one of the Bodyguards carefully opened his mouth.

“He seems to be a foreigner who doesn’t know well… Let’s just let it slide nicely. There’s no need to see blood….”

“What?”

Sure enough, the woman flew into a rage and pointed at Young-woo.

“Won’t you quickly get rid of that bastard? If you guys can’t handle this, know that you’ll die when we get back.”

“….”

Surprisingly, the woman’s threat was effective.

Because the two Bodyguards looked at Young-woo with eyes that seemed reluctant.

At this, Young-woo slowly drew Early Bird and said.

“Are you that scared of that woman? Or are you afraid of Sangju First Sword?”

Then the Bodyguards also took Combat Stance and recited their lines.

“We’re sorry about this. This is the only way we have to make a living right now.”

“There are no hard feelings.”

Both the apology and the claim of no hard feelings would be sincere.

So Young-woo also sincerely delivered his final ultimatum.

“Put down your weapons and leave This Area. Then I won’t chase you. Don’t die a dog’s death for nothing.”

However, since he had spoken while hiding his title, from their perspective it would only seem like provocation.

“…Ha. What?”

“This bastard is making me feel emotions I didn’t have.”

Finally the Bodyguards threateningly readjusted their grip on Early Bird and showed Killing Intent, and Young-woo accordingly filled his pupils with golden light.

Flash!

Soon Golden Wave burst out centered on Young-woo.

“…!”

At this moment, not only the two Bodyguards but even the woman could clearly understand who they had encountered.

Grade 4 Human of the Ruined World (Serial)

Author │ Oetu

Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyeong

Published by │ J-Plus Media Co., Ltd.

Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok

Address │ 288 Digital-ro, Guro-gu, Seoul City, Room 204 (Guro-dong, Daeryung Post Tower 1)

Email │ [email protected]

Website │ www.jayplemedia.com

ⓒOetu2023

※This work is published by J-Plus Media Co., Ltd. according to a contract with the copyright holder, and the content cannot be used in any form or by any means without permission from our company and the author.

Violation of this may result in criminal and civil legal liability.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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