Level 4 Human in a Ruined World - Chapter 54

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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 54 15. Oddball (1)

“Jong-su…”

Young-woo called out to the unexpected visitor with an uncertain voice.

Twenty-nine-year-old Andong native Kim Jong-su.

While they weren’t complete strangers anymore, they weren’t close enough to expect loyalty from each other either.

Also, thinking about it again, he wondered if having someone come would really help when his body was split in two.

“Hyung-nim, where are you? I can’t see you any… Ugh!”

Jong-su, who had finally arrived near the scene, came to an abrupt stop when he discovered Young-woo separated into upper and lower halves.

Screech!

Then, as if he couldn’t believe this situation, he stuck his head out of the driver’s seat to check again.

“…Hyung-nim?”

“Yes. I’m here.”

“Eek!”

Jong-su jumped out of the car in shock and stood there for a while, just blinking his eyes.

Nothing about this scene was ordinary.

A giant cockroach trapped inside light pillars, and a massive eyeball floating mysteriously in front of it… But even more chilling than those things was the fact that Young-woo, with his lower body severed, was alive and talking.

“How are you even alive?”

“I wonder that too. I guess people don’t die easily even in this state. Or maybe it’s because I put a lot of points into ability stats.”

“Even so, this doesn’t make sense. How long have you been like this?”

“Ah…”

Only then did Young-woo realize he had endured for an unreasonably long time.

And he could only understand the reason after opening his inventory window that he had left half-open earlier.

Flash!

「Slime Core」 – Mutant Bracelet

【Regeneration dramatically increases.】

Slime Core.

War spoils taken from Sangju First Sword Dokgo Se-hwan01.

The same Dokgo Se-hwan who had survived even with his head half-destroyed and his body torn apart vertically.

‘My goodness. So this was it.’

Who would have thought that “regeneration dramatically increases” meant this level of effect.

‘Could it be that if I stay like this, the severed parts will actually heal?’

It was a quite plausible assumption.

Normally, shouldn’t he have died long ago from excessive blood loss or shock?

Of course, the amount of blood already lost was considerable, but if he attempted to reconnect them now…

“Um, Jong-su.”

“Yes?”

“If it’s okay with you, could you bring my legs over and attach them below here?”

“…What?”

Jong-su made an expression like he’d seen a ghost at Young-woo’s request.

Then he showed something close to fear.

“If, if I do that, will your body actually reattach…?”

“Maybe.”

“…”

At Young-woo’s answer, Jong-su’s jaw dropped and his eyes trembled.

Then, seemingly greatly shocked, he opened and closed his mouth while grabbing Young-woo’s lower body with both hands.

“So… I just need to attach this for now?”

“Yes, for now.”

When the weakened Young-woo barely managed to nod, Jong-su nodded along with him.

Then he dragged Young-woo’s lower body near his upper body.

Slide, slide.

Now all that remained was to properly align the two severed surfaces.

But Jong-su suddenly stopped moving at this point.

“…”

“Jong-su?”

As the silence lasted longer than expected, Young-woo called Jong-su, and unlike before, a calm voice flowed from his mouth.

“What if I don’t attach it? Would you die like this?”

Of course.

Young-woo let out a big sigh.

“…Yes. That’s what would happen. But I won’t resent you even if you leave me to die. I would have thought the same thing if I were in your position.”

“Right. If I hadn’t come here, hyung-nim would have inevitably died of thirst or been killed by some bastard.”

Jong-su said this while glancing at the Early Bird attached to his belt.

Then he shifted his gaze toward the Alien Merchant and Mediator Kubu, who were still emanating a terrifying presence.

“You can’t imagine how strange I’m feeling right now.”

As Jong-su made a big movement after saying this, Young-woo thought he was finally going to draw his sword and squeezed his eyes shut.

However, what Jong-su actually did was simply reattach Young-woo’s lower body.

Plop.

“You’re really saying it’ll attach by itself just by putting it together like this? Shit… I don’t think I can live sanely in this kind of world.”

Though Jong-su muttered doubtfully, Young-woo could feel something happening before he even finished speaking.

“Hup.”

It was because a burning sensation surged from where Jong-su had attached his lower body.

Of course, he couldn’t tell whether his body was actually reattaching or if an infection was progressing.

“Um… just to be sure, did you match the front and back properly?”

When Young-woo asked out of concern, Jong-su looked blank for a moment then chuckled.

“You can see for yourself when you get up later.”

And at this moment.

“Kup.”

Shin Young-ju, who had been lying like dead until now, twitched his finger one last time and truly died.

「You have acquired Chungju First Sword through merger!」

The title merger message appearing in Young-woo’s vision was proof of that.

Following that, System Messages announcing the title status appeared in succession.

…You have reached 1 title in the Chungbuk region.

…You possess 4 titles in the Gyeongbuk region.

「The current Gyeongbuk First Sword is ‘Jung Young-woo07’. 1st generation, 2 defenses.」

‘Ah, titles from different regions are collected separately.’

As Young-woo lay on the floor looking at Shin Young-ju’s corpse, Jong-su spoke in a dry voice.

“This guy ended up picking a fight, huh? He was acting so gentle earlier.”

“He probably agonized until the end. He was someone with a lot to lose.”

As Young-woo said, Shin Young-ju had lost far too much as the price for his failed gamble.

Another mutant would descend on Chungju City tomorrow, and no matter how well-organized the system was, could they stop that monster without a First Sword?

‘Without a First Sword anymore, maintaining order will be difficult too.’

The regional status window, which should have contained the First Sword’s information, had now changed to something closer to a warning message.

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

|No First Sword exists in this area.

Even so, most citizens of Chungju wouldn’t be able to imagine it even after seeing that status window.

The fact that Chungju First Sword had gambled with the citizens’ lives as collateral.

Anyway, due to this incident, Chungju City would return to being a lawless zone again, and would likely end up being destroyed by mutants.

“How is it? Does your body seem to be healing up?”

Jong-su, feeling bored from waiting, sat down on the ground and asked.

Young-woo unconsciously raised his upper body to check the condition of his waist, then was startled.

“Huh.”

“…What?”

Jong-su’s eyes widened in the same way.

Because Young-woo’s upper body had straightened up, supported by his waist and abdomen.

Wasn’t this the same person whose upper and lower body had been separated just moments ago? This should have been impossible.

“What, what the hell.”

Jong-su recoiled in shock while still sitting, and Young-woo also lifted up his shirt with an expression of disbelief.

Swoosh.

Then he could see that although it wasn’t completely intact yet, the flesh at the severed area was clinging together.

“No way, this is.”

Even as Young-woo couldn’t continue his words, the healing continued to progress.

Then after a while, extreme hunger struck him.

Even his internal organs, which had lost function when his body was separated, were starting to operate again.

‘This… this actually works? If this happens, I can’t be considered human anymore.’

As Young-woo sat examining every corner of his body, the Golden Goblin that had been watching the situation from afar came running over hurriedly.

It had realized that Young-woo was recovering.

“This bastard.”

Jong-su frowned and pretended to kick, but the goblin paid no attention and put down a sack beside Young-woo.

-Keet.

“You’re quite the opportunist too.”

Young-woo looked at the goblin, which had suddenly become respectful, for a moment before turning his gaze to Jong-su.

“But Jong-su.”

“Yes.”

“Why did you save me? It was a chance to become First Sword.”

“That’s what I’m wondering too.”

At Young-woo’s words, Jong-su shrugged his nose.

Then he scanned Young-woo’s body, which was healing in real time, with his eyes.

“Well… if I had to give you a reason, I guess I wouldn’t want to live like this. Seeing your body actually reattach confirmed it for me.”

Like this… he must be referring to living in an ambiguous state like Young-woo now, neither human nor monster.

“I guess I’m quite the old-fashioned type. But if your body hadn’t reattached, I would have drawn my sword without hesitation. I’m not interested in being First Sword, but I always think getting stronger is right.”

An excessively honest statement.

So Young-woo actually felt relieved.

“There was also the option of just taking your equipment.”

“Yes. It’s not like I didn’t think about that… but even so, it would be hard to be stronger than you were when alive, right? So I chose to become your lifesaver instead.”

In other words, he didn’t want to live as a monster, so he decided to receive a monster’s protection.

“I can’t really relate, but I understand what you’re saying.”

Young-woo, saying this, had recovered his body to a reasonable extent in the meantime.

In other words, even if Jong-su changed his mind now, there was nothing he could do about it.

Of course, he wasn’t at the level where he could immediately fight other First Swords or mutants.

‘I’ll need to recuperate until I reach the next area.’

Fortunately, thanks to Jong-su getting a car, he would be able to rest even while moving.

‘Jong-su coming to find me was truly divine providence. Maybe it’s not my time to die yet.’

Young-woo unconsciously looked up at the sky.

Then he saw the clear sky and the timer hanging at the top of his vision.

|Time until advertiser arrival: 03:04:11

Quite a bit of time had passed while reattaching his body.

‘It’ll be in the 2-hour range soon. It’s tight.’

At this rate, he would meet the entity called an advertiser not long after entering the next area.

“You can keep driving, right?”

As Young-woo slowly got up and asked, Jong-su glanced at the car and asked back.

“Yes. Of course. Where are we going?”

“North… toward Seoul.”

“Then we’ll have to cross through Icheon or Yeoju.”

As if drawing a map, Jong-su waved his finger through the air.

And during that time, Young-woo searched the corpse of Shin Young-ju, who was lying face down with a hole in her chest.

Surprisingly, she didn’t have a single penny of cash, but instead…

‘My goodness.’

She had epic equipment that could only be bought by consuming a legendary Achievement.

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, Room 204 (Guro-dong, Daeryung Post Tower 1)

Email │ [email protected]

Homepage │ www.jayplemedia.com

ⓒCoat2023

※This work is published by JPL Media Co., Ltd. under contract with the copyright holder, and no part of this content may be used in any form or by any means without permission from the 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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