Level 4 Human in a Ruined World - Chapter 48

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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 48 14. The Judge Who Holds a Longsword (1)

‘What is this now.’

He had just achieved the ‘Advertising Model’ Achievement, and as a follow-up measure, a timer appeared indicating that an advertiser was coming.

So what could this mean?

‘Is this really that advertisement? Then the certificate I used earlier was….’

Young-woo recalled the Ancient Certificate ‘Morning Star’ that had now disappeared without a trace.

It was a terrible thought, but no matter how much he thought about it, circumstantially it seemed like ‘Morning Star’ referred to a rising star in the advertising world.

In other words, crushing the certificate a moment ago had promoted him somewhere. That there was a great model here seeking an advertiser.

“….”

Young-woo was quite flustered by this unintended development, but he knew well that once the timer had appeared, there was no turning back. From experience.

‘Having met an alien merchant, there’s no reason I can’t take on an advertisement….’

Young-woo spoke boldly to himself, but couldn’t help the fine trembling at his fingertips.

It was because he felt a completely different type of unfamiliarity and fear from the countless obstacles he had overcome so far.

Advertisement… If something in the universe knew how to advertise, who exactly was advertising what and why?

And how would they want to advertise? Through a mere human, no less.

“….”

Young-woo stopped his pointless worrying and checked the timer.

|Until advertiser arrival: 04:28:19

In about 4 hours and 28 minutes, the entity called an advertiser would arrive.

‘This time there’s no marker either. Don’t tell me this advertiser is coming to find me directly?’

Young-woo looked around the clear sky.

Well, since the arrival time was a full 4 hours away, it wouldn’t make sense for the advertiser to appear where the certificate was used.

No, that shouldn’t happen.

They couldn’t afford to sit here peacefully.

“….”

Eventually, Young-woo gestured toward Myeong-ho after a moment’s consideration.

“Myeong-ho, start the engine. Let’s head to Chungju for now.”

* * *

Vrooom…!

Inside the vehicle that began racing down the road toward Chungju.

Myeong-ho pretended to concentrate on driving with his gaze fixed forward as usual, and Myeong-ae stared endlessly out the car window with lifeless eyes.

And the new figure in this vehicle, the tall man.

“…Um, Young-woo sir.”

Unable to bear the silence that had lasted several minutes, he spoke with difficulty.

Young-woo, who had been looking at the Goblin at his feet, turned his gaze toward him.

“You can just call me Young-woo.”

“Ah, yes. Young-woo.”

“Come to think of it, we haven’t even introduced ourselves yet.”

“Ah…! That’s right.”

The man’s expression relaxed as if he felt somewhat relieved after hearing Young-woo’s words.

“Sorry, things were so hectic. As you know, I’m Jung Young-woo….”

After saying this much, Young-woo glanced at Myeong-ae who was sitting pressed against the opposite side of the back seat.

“….”

As expected, a cold wind was blowing.

Given the situation, it would be difficult to expect a cheerful self-introduction.

“This is Choi Myeong-ae… and the person driving now is her son.”

When Young-woo gestured alternately between Myeong-ae and Myeong-ho, Myeong-ho quickly greeted him.

“I’m Jung Myeong-ho. Please take care of me.”

“Ah, yes. I’m Kim Jong-su. I’m a native of Andong, and I’m twenty-nine this year.”

Kim Jong-su. Despite the intimidating presence from his tall frame, he was the youngest in the assembly.

“How old are you two? You’re all my seniors, right?”

Jong-su asked cautiously, craning his neck down.

The tone was so casual it was hard to believe this was a conversation between people each carrying a sword at their waist.

“I’m thirty-four.”

“Oh, you really are my senior.”

When Young-woo revealed his age, Jong-su stroked his chest as if relieved.

Then Myeong-ho, who had been reading the room, belatedly revealed his age.

“Ah… I’m a bit older. Thirty-seven.”

“Oh my, you’re the eldest brother.”

Jong-su then joked that driving shouldn’t be the youngest’s job, trying his best to warm up the atmosphere.

Having essentially risked his life to join this party, he was doing his best to become an official member.

So Young-woo had to ask.

“Jong-su, why did you follow us here? The situation wasn’t bad when you were with your colleagues either.”

At Young-woo’s words, Jong-su’s expression, which had been cheerfully smiling, stiffened for a moment before relaxing again.

“Ah, that.”

Then Jong-su began with a strange story.

“Are we in the midst of extinction?”

“…?”

Everyone in the car, including Young-woo, furrowed their brows at the sudden topic.

However, Jong-su continued regardless.

“Practically speaking, we should consider it almost extinct. Humanity was nearly halved on the first day. Plus, most things turned to stone.”

The first day.

He must be talking about that first day when they brought down celebrities through voting and committed remote murders while the masses threw Death Strikes at each other.

Myeong-ho, who had been silent until now, spoke up.

“But half are still alive.”

Myeong-ho’s tone suggested there was still hope.

Jong-su, however, shook his head.

“It’s probably not even half now. Most would have died to monsters or bandits.”

“…So? Are you saying that remaining half will all die eventually too?”

“Actually, I thought that way until recently….”

Jong-su looked at Young-woo after saying this much.

“After seeing Young-woo hyung, my thinking changed. The world isn’t in the midst of extinction, it’s just changing.”

“Just changing?”

Myeong-ho asked back, but Jong-su’s gaze remained on Young-woo.

“Yes. It’s just that from now on, instead of going to work, we’ll hunt monsters to earn money.”

“….”

Myeong-ho couldn’t easily continue speaking.

For him, who didn’t even have the combat power to face monsters, this was a thought he could never accept.

According to Jong-su’s claim, wasn’t Myeong-ho someone without the ability to earn money, a so-called incompetent person?

“Th, that’s…!”

When Myeong-ho finally got angry and tried to argue back, Jong-su immediately caught his words.

“This is reality. When taxes start being collected in earnest from tomorrow, people without abilities will have to get money somehow. Whether by begging or becoming someone’s slave.”

It was a grim prospect, but Young-woo had to agree with Jong-su’s thinking.

Without looking far, even today in Sangju City, people were commercializing and selling their own services as products.

“But I didn’t think so. I was confident I could handle most monsters. Then today, after meeting Young-woo hyung-nim, I realized one more thing.”

“…What’s that?”

This time Young-woo asked, and Jong-su’s gaze quickly swept over Young-woo’s entire body.

“While it’s true I have the ability to make money, just like office workers have bosses, people who hunt monsters must inevitably have bosses too.”

Then Jong-su pointed at Young-woo with an excessively cunning gesture.

“The masters who crush not only monsters but even mutants – the First Swords are the ultimate bosses. Hyung-nim, you could even threaten someone like me. From what I can see, you’re a person with real power.”

“….”

Even threaten someone like me… At this part, Young-woo thought that Jong-su must have either threatened others before or been threatened by a First Sword himself.

Otherwise, how could such an idea come so naturally?

‘Come to think of it, we met in Mungyeong, but Jong-su said he was a native of Andong.’

Andong was a region you could only reach from Mungyeong by passing through a couple of cities.

In other words, Jong-su had also experienced various things while leaving Andong and coming to Mungyeong.

“Well. As you know, there’s one First Sword per city, which means….”

He was about to say that he was just one among dozens of First Swords, but Jong-su’s eyes lit up, preventing Young-woo from continuing.

“Exactly! There are probably only a few dozen First Swords at most, right? Besides, hyung-nim, aren’t you someone who does business with aliens without batting an eye? You’re not an ordinary First Sword.”

“….”

It was certainly true, but it felt strangely distorted.

As the flustered Young-woo just moved his mouth wordlessly, Jong-su spoke up instead.

“That’s why I decided I need to follow behind hyung-nim and learn, even if it’s just for one day. I think hyung-nim is someone who will become great.”

In this world where all of humanity was dying, there could be no greater praise than this, but Young-woo wasn’t feeling very good since he had already glimpsed the cunning in Jong-su’s eyes.

“To say even just one day… we’re parting ways in Chungju.”

As Young-woo shifted his gaze to the car window ahead and spoke, Jong-su blinked for a moment, then took a deep breath.

“What, Chungju? Isn’t that where we’re heading right now?”

Just then, a sign pointing toward Chungju appeared on the road, and Myeong-ho, who was holding the steering wheel, also gave final confirmation.

“That’s right. My father is there… Young-woo said he’d accompany me to Chungju.”

“This shit….”

Jong-su barely swallowed the curse that was about to reflexively come out, then hurriedly asked Young-woo.

“Anyway, then you have time until you finish all your business in Chungju, right? You need to find Myeong-ho hyung-nim’s father and do something… other things too. Isn’t that right?”

At this, Young-woo recalled in his mind what he needed to do in Chungju.

‘First, I need to find and kill the mutant, and I’ll probably meet the Chungju First Sword in that process. Then I’ll wait for the merchant to appear and make contact….’

This time he didn’t have much spare Karma, but depending on Chungju City’s situation, he could sweep up monsters to cover the Karma cost.

‘Myeong-ho’s father… I wonder if he’s even alive. Since we can’t search the entire city together, if we don’t reunite immediately, I guess my role ends there.’

After organizing his thoughts to some extent, Young-woo opened his ability stats window.

『Character : Jung Young-woo07』

[Strength] 600 (19+581)

[Endurance] 350 (21+329)

[Durability] 550 (13+537)

[Sense] 100 (24+76)

* 1,000 Karma is consumed per ability stat point.

* Available Karma : 371,000

Contrary to Jong-su thinking Young-woo was probably the best among First Swords, his reality was that he was covering relatively poor ability stats with all kinds of equipment and ‘Gyeongbuk Sword Technique.’

It meant he could die anytime he met a truly strong opponent.

‘370,000 left… even if I meet the merchant, there’s not much I can buy.’

So how about investing money in ability stats or physical appearance first this time?

“….”

While Young-woo was lost in thought, Myeong-ho in the driver’s seat tilted his head and reported.

“Uh… we’re almost at the Chungju entry point now.”

It was a tone that felt slightly troubled.

Then Jong-su in the passenger seat also looked outside the window and showed a puzzled reaction.

“Huh, what’s this.”

By this time, Young-woo was also examining the distant view of Chungju City through the car window, so he could understand why their reactions were strange.

Current time: 3:46 PM.

Not a single light pillar was falling in Chungju.

‘Even setting aside monsters… have all the mutants been completely eliminated?’

If that were the case, Chungju City would have to be considered as having adapted to the ‘reset’ world in some way.

As Young-woo watched outside the window while feeling an inexplicable excitement, one light pillar that hadn’t been visible due to distance began to enter his field of vision.

“Ah.”

It was black.

It was a black light pillar indicating a merchant’s location.

There really were no mutants in Chungju. Someone had already killed the second-day mutant and even summoned a merchant.

And that person was probably.

Beep!

Eventually, as the vehicle approached the Chungju City entry point, the regional status notification changed.

|The area you are currently staying in is ‘Chungju’.

|This area’s First Sword is ‘Shin Young-ju22’. 3rd generation, 2 defenses.

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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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