Level 4 Human in a Ruined World - Chapter 42

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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 42 12. Strange World (6)

“Wh… what’s happening?”

Even as Myeong-ho asked this, he was already shifting into reverse gear.

In this world where he was nothing more than prey, all inexplicable phenomena were targets to be avoided.

Therefore, he didn’t particularly want to know why the Mutant and Mungyeong First Sword had formed an alliance.

It might be valuable information, but it certainly wouldn’t help with immediate survival… no, it would clearly be a threat instead.

‘Risk my life out of curiosity? That’s insane.’

Just as Myeong-ho was about to slam the accelerator in reverse, Young-woo in the passenger seat spoke up.

“Wait. I need to get out.”

“What?”

Myeong-ho looked back with an expression asking what he was talking about, but instead of answering, Young-woo opened the passenger door.

Click.

Immediately, the sounds from the scene over there came shooting into the vehicle.

-Graaaah!

-Kraaak!

Those sounds were mostly Orcs screaming and falling, and the actual battle situation was tilting toward the mysterious duo.

That made sense since one of the duo was a Day 2 Mutant, and the other was a First Sword with 96 defenses.

Young-woo, on the other hand.

「The current Gyeongbuk First Sword is ‘Jung Young-woo07’. 1st generation, 0 defenses.」

Since becoming Gyeongbuk First Sword, he had never killed anyone, so his defense count was only 0.

Even adding all his defense battles from his Gumi First Sword days, it couldn’t compare to 96.

But what immediately caught Young-woo’s attention was the reason this duo had formed.

‘If he’s fought 96 defense battles, it’s not like he accidentally became First Sword… so why is he cooperating with a Mutant?’

Young-woo observed the two ‘figures’ who were reducing the Orcs at a very rapid pace.

The blue Orc who appeared to be a Day 2 Mutant was 5 meters tall, and judging by how Orcs flew away like paper whenever he swung his arms, his strength seemed tremendous too.

And the Martial Prowess of Mungyeong First Sword moving like lightning nearby was also impressive.

Swish!

Just from his lightning-fast sword speed and optimized movements, you could feel he was familiar with the Hologram Guide.

In other words, this wasn’t a picture of one side submitting due to weakness.

‘Did they agree to deal with the Orcs first for now? No. This still doesn’t make sense. Even if not the First Sword, there’d be no benefit for the Mutant.’

Of course, since Mutants were essentially human too, there was plenty of room for unconventional choices.

Maybe he chose to become a Mutant but his anger disappeared when he actually returned, or perhaps he was originally an eccentric person?

‘…Or maybe they just knew each other.’

If it was the latter, he’d most likely have to face both of them simultaneously.

‘I might end up fighting 1 against 2 again if I’m not careful.’

Swish.

When Young-woo touched the whistle hanging around his neck, a tooltip appeared in his vision.

「Amber Whistle」 – Legendary Necklace

【Calls a friend.】

|Young-tae.

Then a notice followed that the summoning function couldn’t be used.

「You have 0 friend summons remaining for today.」

The whistle’s basic usage count was 2 times.

But Young-woo had already exhausted all his uses.

Once when he first obtained the whistle, and once during the battle with Sangju First Sword.

Moreover, the reason he used the whistle in Sangju was to face both the First Sword and Mutant at once.

But now he was encountering a similar… no, an even more bizarre situation in the very next city.

‘Back then it was individual combat, but this time there’s a high chance I’ll have to face both simultaneously.’

Therefore, if he was going to fight anyway, this had to be the perfect ambush timing for Young-woo.

-Aim for the back!

-Kraaak!

Right now, the Orcs were distracting the two strong fighters’ attention.

If he struck now, he could catch one of them off guard with ‘Golden Punishment’s’ pain effect and use that as a foundation to fight advantageously.

But Young-woo.

“….”

Even seeing the Orcs reduced to single digits, he didn’t rush into battle.

He knew that the moment he launched an ambush, any other possible options would be completely blocked.

Options like dialogue, for instance.

‘Is this why the system diagnosed me as a troublemaker?’

Step, step.

Young-woo just walked forward at a moderate pace without even drawing his sword.

-Sp-spare me!

-Wait!

Thanks to this, the Mutant and First Sword duo could finish off even the Orcs who had lost momentum and started fleeing without any interference, and they only noticed the uninvited guest afterward.

「Oh.」

“Huh?”

The eyes of the blue Orc and white-haired old man who spotted Young-woo widened simultaneously.

Just then, the corpses of Orcs scattered everywhere disappeared while spewing out Karma, making the encounter between both sides look even more dramatic.

Whoosh!

Crimson Coins scattering in all directions.

Some of them even rolled to Young-woo’s feet, and sure enough, seeing this made Mungyeong First Sword Jang Chun-yong’s white eyebrows twitch.

“….”

It meant don’t touch the spoils of war.

『Mungyeong First Sword』

The First Sword title glowing as brilliantly as the old man’s sharp gaze.

Looking at his opponent’s title, Young-woo slowly spread both arms.

Primarily, it was to show he had no intention to fight, but there was also an intent to prevent Jang Chun-yong from immediately collecting the coins.

If he ended up fighting those two, he planned to take them after the battle was finished.

“Is there some story behind this? This is my first time seeing such a case.”

Young-woo asked this while glancing sideways at the Mutant behind Jang Chun-yong.

Then a very familiar name entered his vision.

[Actor Jang Dae-myeong]

‘Ah… Jang Dae-myeong was from Mungyeong.’

Jang Dae-myeong, 49-year-old male.

He had built his position by making his face known as a villain specialist actor for a full 15 years, but was expelled from the film industry after causing a hit-and-run incident 2 years ago.

Adding to this, the fact that Jang Dae-myeong was heavily intoxicated when the incident occurred, and additional circumstances that the victim might have lived if emergency treatment had been given right after the accident became known, leading to a flood of public criticism.

Of course, Jang Dae-myeong was sentenced to prison time at trial, but public anger didn’t easily subside and continued to circulate on the internet and elsewhere, which is why Young-woo clearly remembered the name Jang Dae-myeong.

‘So he ended up being a purge target… Well, I suppose that’s natural.’

Although the first filtering had purged far more unlikable celebrities than vicious criminals, Jang Dae-myeong was somewhat different in nature.

While he may not have driven with the malice of a serial killer at the time, he had still hit someone, and by avoiding responsibility for it, hadn’t he ultimately committed murder?

Moreover, drunk driving is murder by willful negligence, but hit-and-run is just plain murder, Young-woo thought.

So the moment he learned that the identity of Mungyeong City’s mutant was Jang Dae-myeong, his curiosity disappeared, as did the generosity that had made him want to try talking first.

At least in this case, he thought the man deserved to die.

‘Damn, I should have just attacked him earlier.’

Only now did he regret cunningly letting that golden opportunity slip away.

And Young-woo’s thoughts were clearly revealed through his eyes.

No, to be precise, it should be said that Mungyeong First Sword Jang Chun-yong16’s tremendous experience had noticed this.

“You seem to recognize our boy, so I’ll tell you in advance – I’m Dae-myeong’s father. That should also answer your question about what our story is.”

“…I thought as much.”

He had already guessed as much from seeing they shared the same surname.

Young-woo nodded and pressed his lips tightly together.

It was because he had read a lot into those two lines the other man had spoken.

Jang Chun-yong16, who looked to be at least eighty years old.

Before receiving that identification number and title, he too would have been just another ordinary old man.

Then suddenly the reset began, and he would have watched in real time as the public judged even his imprisoned son once again…

‘Did he know his son would return here? Or was he just trying to get revenge on the world…?’

In any case, the old man who had Jang Dae-myeong as a son had ultimately become the Mungyeong First Sword.

The fact that Jang Chun-yong’s defensive record of 96 victories now looked different was certainly no mistake.

“Did you come all the way here to see our son?”

Eventually, Jang Chun-yong16 asked while threateningly raising the sword he had been resting on the floor.

‘Ah.’

His sword was indeed an Early Bird.

Young-woo carefully moved his hand to his waist while imagining what his opponent must have looked like desperately fighting through the Exchange Office’s fierce competition.

“I didn’t know your son would be here. I was just…”

Young-woo’s gaze turned toward Jang Dae-myeong, who stood like a mountain behind them.

However, he was looking back and forth between the outsider and his father with a terrified expression, completely different from when he had crushed the orcs earlier.

At least Jang Dae-myeong didn’t want to fight humans.

‘What…? They must know very well that they’d have a huge advantage if a fight started.’

The moment Young-woo looked puzzled, Jang Dae-myeong moved his blue jaw and opened his mouth.

“If you’re not here to kill me, then go on your way. We don’t want to fight humans either.”

“…!”

Having met relatively many mutants, Young-woo was all the more shocked.

“Then why… did you come back?”

When the flustered Young-woo uttered the fragmented sentence, Jang Dae-myeong gathered his large fingers and pointed at Jang Chun-yong16.

“Well, I came to see my father. I was also curious about what had happened to the world.”

The Jang Dae-myeong saying this didn’t seem filled with anger, nor did he look like he was out of his mind.

‘He really came back purely out of worry for his father…?’

Is this what filial piety is like?

For Young-woo, who had never had a father in his life, he could only understand it conceptually.

“If you’re hesitating, just go. Don’t throw away your precious life.”

Jang Chun-yong16, reading the conflict in Young-woo’s eyes, warned him once more.

The very fact that he had appeared here meant he had come looking for the mutant marker, didn’t it?

Therefore, Jang Chun-yong had also realized that the outsider before him was no ordinary person.

And indeed, Young-woo was a First Sword – not just any First Sword, but the Gyeongbuk First Sword.

Since he had the amber whistle, he needed to collect mutants, and to maintain his position as Gyeongbuk First Sword, he also had to keep collecting First Sword titles, and also…

‘If I let Jang Dae-myeong go like this, the Golden Rain Achievement will become too distant.’

[Golden Flood]

|Call down Golden Rain in 5 or more regions. (3/5)

Since Young-woo had chosen not to monopolize karma and thus had significantly lower ability stats compared to other First Swords, achieving the Golden Rain Achievement was extremely important.

“Even if I just pass through here, someone else will come targeting your son anyway.”

When Young-woo said this, Jang Chun-yong snorted.

“Ha! Isn’t that just an excuse? It sounds like you’re saying you came to harm my son too.”

“…I won’t deny it. It’s true that I’ve been searching for mutants. But I don’t want to harm your son.”

“Then what are you trying to do? This situation is getting uncomfortable.”

Jang Chun-yong’s words seemed to be true. An enormous killing intent had been rising in his eyes since earlier.

At this, Young-woo quickly extended his right hand toward Jang Dae-myeong.

“Mr. Jang Dae-myeong! Before coming here, didn’t you hear an explanation about the Return function?”

「…?」

Upon hearing Young-woo’s words, Jang Dae-myeong looked blank for a moment, then soon looked down at his own palm.

Then Jang Chun-yong, who had been emanating a fierce aura, also stepped back a couple of steps and looked worriedly at his son, who was 5 meters tall.

“What are you talking about? Return?”

「Ah. Don’t tell me.」

Eventually, Jang Dae-myeong remembered something.

Then he half-opened his palm and emitted a blue light.

Faaaat!

A door-shaped Return Mark was being generated in his hand.

‘As expected…!’

Young-woo’s eyes widened.

As expected, Jang Dae-myeong had also learned about Return – that is, the method of reconciliation with locals – before being sent here.

However.

Faat…!

Soon Jang Dae-myeong closed his palm again and erased the mark.

Then he looked straight at Young-woo and spoke with a slightly different atmosphere than before.

「But why should I go back?」

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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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