Level 4 Human in a Ruined World - Chapter 56

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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 56 15. Oddball (3)

“Money…?”

Jong-su, who had been looking at Young-woo with a bewildered expression, soon grasped the situation and regained his composure.

From the circumstances, it was clear that the Gyeongbuk First Sword before him was in trouble due to lack of cash.

So Jong-su reflexively started to ask how much was needed, then quickly changed his words.

“You’d be surprised if you knew? I have quite a lot with me.”

As Jong-su said this and lowered the backpack he was carrying to the floor, an unusual sound came out.

Clatter.

The sound of metal objects rubbing against each other inside the backpack was quite loud.

And the one most surprised by this was none other than Young-woo.

In fact, 69,000 karma might be small money to him, but wouldn’t it be a life-or-death fortune for most people?

On top of that, carrying around that much money in cash instead of investing it in ability stats…? It was something that would normally be difficult to happen.

“…How much is that?”

When Young-woo asked curiously, Jong-su opened his backpack and showed him a handful of crimson coins.

“114,000.”

An amount that far exceeded the ‘remaining balance’ Young-woo needed.

“My goodness. Why do you carry around so much cash?”

“There’s no guarantee I’ll encounter monsters at any time, so I prepare plenty in advance. If it looks like I’m going to fight a strong opponent, I can immediately spend it on ability stats.”

“Then do you also lend to others in emergencies? About 69,000.”

At Young-woo’s request, Jong-su gave a sticky smile.

“Hehe, that’s quite a large amount, isn’t it? Would it help a lot if I lent it to you?”

“I can buy one more piece of equipment.”

At Young-woo’s words, Jong-su shrugged and stepped back a few paces from his backpack.

It meant to take as much as he wanted.

Then the Golden Goblin standing at Young-woo’s feet flinched when it saw the coins in the backpack.

-Kit.

Its eyes kept being drawn instinctively, but it was holding back because its master’s command hadn’t been given.

“Can you select and bring coins? If you can, bring exactly 69,000 karma.”

Soon Young-woo pointed at the backpack and ordered, and as soon as his words ended, the goblin shot out drawing a golden trajectory.

Tap tap!

As seen before, it was incredibly fast movement.

The creature snatched the backpack in the blink of an eye, opened its subspace pocket, and poured in the crimson coins.

Swoosh!

At first glance, it seemed to be pouring coins without counting, but the creature returned the backpack to its original position as soon as it had taken exactly 69,000.

-Kiit.

The goblin’s gesture seemed to say to check the holdings.

Indeed, Young-woo’s total cash amount was now 940,000 karma.

The exact amount that would leave not a penny after buying the helmet and shoes.

“Thank you so much. Thanks to you…”

Young-woo’s gaze unconsciously turned to the product list.

3 ― 「Vanguard」 – Relic Helmet

【This helmet will not be damaged.】

◇ 310,000 karma

4 ― 「Mirage」 – Unique Shoes

【30% chance of Detection Evasion.】

◇ 630,000 karma

Until now, both pieces of equipment had only existed as blue text.

Flash!

Soon after Young-woo confirmed the purchase, a change occurred.

Whoooosh…!

An unusual sound began coming from somewhere in the sky.

“Huh?”

“…!”

It was a sound similar to when Early Bird first fell down, so both Young-woo and Jong-su looked up at the sky, and soon they saw it.

Flaaaash!

The sight of two very thin light pillars coming straight down toward Young-woo.

“…Ugh!”

While the startled Young-woo was shrinking back, the light pillars that came down from the sky grazed past him, emitting tremendous heat.

Whoosh!

“Uh.”

The heat was enough to make Jong-su, who was nearby, step back, but Young-woo himself was fine.

However, if there was something that became a bit uncomfortable.

‘Ah.’

From right after the light pillars passed, he felt a slight pressure on his head and feet.

Since Young-woo had already purchased equipment several times, he could immediately understand what had happened.

‘Each merchant has slightly different ways of equipping gear.’

When Young-woo felt around near his cheek, he indeed touched cold metal.

On his feet were shoes made of silver-white metallic material, which despite their appearance were so light that he could barely feel their weight.

‘If it’s unique-level equipment… it won’t tear from running, right?’

Looking at the shoes, Young-woo had practical concerns first.

Meanwhile, Jong-su was staring at the appearance of Gyeongbuk First Sword, who had become even more ridiculous-looking than before thanks to the helmet and shoes.

“Hyung-nim.”

“Yes.”

“Equipment Concealment… don’t you have that kind of ability?”

“Why? Do I look that strange?”

“Yes. Quite a lot.”

Jong-su looked Young-woo up and down again and nodded.

And rightly so, as Young-woo was currently wearing a black cloak over the training suit he had on at the factory dormitory, with a crude-looking bronze helmet on his head.

He even had a snake, golden bracelet, and gloves on his arms.

Adding the iron belt with two swords and silver-white shoes made him look beyond strange to downright bizarre.

“I think I finally understand why games have skins and such. Shin Young-ju was at least tolerable, but you’re quite extreme, hyung-nim.”

“It can’t be helped. I can’t wear less equipment just to look good. Still, isn’t it better than being barefoot?”

“I’m not sure. I really don’t know.”

Jong-su made an expression of genuine uncertainty and walked toward the car he had driven.

“Anyway, you’re done with business here, right? I don’t like staring at those things all day.”

The ‘those things’ Jong-su mentioned were the unnamed weapon merchant from Cheok and Mediator Kubu.

Whatever their roles and origins, in Jong-su’s eyes they were equally disgusting aliens.

“Yes. Let’s go. We’ve delayed too much time.”

Young-woo said this to Jong-su, then bowed his head toward the two aliens in farewell.

Then not only Kubu but even the Giant Wheel responded.

―May you continue to live.

-Krrrk.

* * *

5:56 PM.

While driving on the road for quite some time, the regional status window changed.

|You are currently staying in the region ‘Eumseong’.

|There is no First Sword in this region.

“Huh.”

“Oh, what’s this.”

Young-woo and Jong-su were both surprised at the same time.

Eumseong, like Chungju, was also absent of a First Sword.

“Doesn’t that mean another First Sword has been through there too?”

At Jong-su’s question, Young-woo nodded.

“Yes. That message only appears when the Eumseong First Sword title itself has been absorbed by another region and disappeared.”

In other words, there was another person moving around collecting titles.

Of course, looking at it nationally, it might have been a common occurrence.

It was natural in a way for a First Sword who had completely cleared their home territory to move in search of other mutants.

And in that process, it was inevitable to compete with other First Swords they encountered.

Even before fighting over who would kill the mutants, there were cases where they would pick fights because they coveted the opponent’s equipment.

For Young-woo, Chungju First Sword Shin Young-ju was such a case.

“Is the next region Eumseong by any chance?”

Since the regional status window remained fixed on Eumseong, he asked this, and Jong-su looked at the signboard ahead.

“No. We’re heading to Yeoju… but it seems Eumseong region was in between.”

And indeed, not long after, the current region display changed to ‘Yeoju’.

The problem was.

|You are currently staying in the region ‘Yeoju’.

|There is no First Sword in this region.

“…!”

“Huh?”

Both were shocked by the unexpected situation.

“What, what’s this place. Is someone going around killing everyone…?”

The smile completely disappeared from Jong-su’s face.

He had a premonition that from here on, it would be a series of ominous events.

Young-woo was also tense at the atmosphere that was quite different from before, but quickly regained his composure.

“Eumseong is in Chungcheongbuk-do, and Yeoju is in Gyeonggi-do, right?”

“Yes…? Oh, that’s right. Correct.”

“Then it could be that different people went through each place. There should be a Chungbuk First Sword and Gyeonggi First Sword somewhere.”

“Isn’t that an even more terrible situation…?”

“Just looking at how I’m the Gyeongbuk First Sword… it’s something that could have happened.”

Young-woo looked out the car window with eyes full of wariness.

This side was originally a Grade 4 human and relatively not specialized in combat.

Nevertheless, thanks to some luck and courage at crucial moments, he had become the Gyeongbuk First Sword.

So what about other types of people?

For instance, unknown serial killers or violent criminals who weren’t eliminated in the first filtering stage, or natural Grade 1 humans.

‘Seeing that the titles from the outer regions are already swept clean, there must be tremendous powerhouses roaming around inside.’

He felt a sense of déjà vu.

It reminded him of the Exchange Office on the first day of reset, where he couldn’t find an escape route because it was full of robbers everywhere.

“Should we continue? We’ll enter Yeoju soon. After that is Icheon.”

When Jong-su asked for confirmation, Young-woo stroked the two swords at his waist with his palm.

“We have to keep going. That’s why we bought all this equipment.”

“Yes. Then I’ll trust you and step on it.”

As Jong-su pressed the accelerator hard, the scenery outside the window rushed backward even faster.

Vroooom!

The highway to Yeoju was quite clean with almost no cars blocking the way, so the two were able to see the milestone indicating the start of Yeoju City’s jurisdiction not long after.

“Oh, now we’re in Yeoju.”

Of course, since there were only hills around, it didn’t feel real that they had arrived in the next region.

The only building nearby was a small rest stop they had just passed.

“Really desolate. Is it because everyone’s dead?”

The moment Jong-su said this half-jokingly, half-seriously.

Vroooooom…!

A completely different, very fierce engine sound was heard.

The direction of the sound was from behind.

“Oh shit, foreign cars.”

Jong-su, who quickly checked the rear through the rearview mirror, let out a hollow laugh.

Young-woo also caught sight of the ‘foreign cars’ Jong-su mentioned through the rear window.

Vroooooom!

‘Are they crazy bastards.’

Jong-su wasn’t talking nonsense.

Two Audi convertibles were really making loud noises as they rushed toward them. The colors were also eye-catching – white and yellow.

“They must have been waiting at that rest stop earlier? What the hell is going on in this neighborhood?”

The vehicle the two were riding was an old Sonata.

Jong-su, who knew this better than anyone, glanced at Young-woo’s abdomen and said.

“Hyung, we’re about to be caught.”

It meant they would soon be overtaken because their car was slow.

And it was also asking if combat would be possible when that time came.

At this, Young-woo took out the Epic grade compass ‘Scared Cat’ from his pocket.

「Scared Cat」 – Epic Compass

【Points to threatening targets.】

【–Empty Slot–】

Then he put the compass back and instructed his partner.

“Stop the car. Let’s fight now.”

Grade 4 Human in the Ruined World (Serial)

Author │ Oetu

Publisher │ Kim Ju-hyeong

Published by │ J-Plus Media Co., Ltd.

Marketing │ Han Jae-hyeok

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

Email │ [email protected]

Homepage │ 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 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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