Level 4 Human in a Ruined World - Chapter 61

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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 61 17. Troublemaker First Sword (2)

‘….’

Young-woo’s expression hardened after confirming that the Scared Cat was pointing at the Advertiser’s mark.

「Scared Cat」 – Epic Compass

【Points to threatening targets.】

【–Empty Slot–】

According to this item’s tooltip, when there’s a ‘threatening target’ nearby, the cat awakens and points to the target.

It probably means to prepare for the threat.

But what exactly does ‘threat’ mean here?

Generally, it would mean a strong target or an opponent with hostile intent, but from Young-woo’s experience, this item didn’t operate on such simple principles.

Wasn’t this clear from when he encountered Shin Young-ju, the original owner of this item?

At that time, Young-woo had neither the intention nor the ability to fight Shin Young-ju, but the Scared Cat marked him as a threatening target, changing the situation.

Eventually, Shin Young-ju, who had been continuously wary of Young-woo, launched a surprise attack, and in the end….

‘I lived and Shin Young-ju died.’

However, if she hadn’t attacked first, Young-woo would never have drawn his sword.

After all, he had felt nothing but respect for Shin Young-ju, who had been supporting Chungju City, far from thinking of harming her.

In other words, if this compass hadn’t pointed to Young-woo at that time, Shin Young-ju might not have suffered any harm.

Of course, since Young-woo ended up killing Shin Young-ju in the end, the Scared Cat was ultimately right.

No, it became right.

Kwaaaa…!

A sound close to a roar could be heard from beyond the crimson sky covering Icheon City.

The Advertiser had definitely come much closer.

And around this time, another group of bicycle processions passed by Young-woo and Jong-su along the edge of the road.

Some glanced back at the particularly conspicuous white foreign car, but most kept their eyes fixed ahead as if they wanted to escape this place as quickly as possible.

“We’re almost there.”

Jong-su said quietly while checking the back seat through the rearview mirror.

Young-woo looked through the car window at the dark red light pillar indicating the Advertiser’s arrival point.

Gooo….

A mark so massive it couldn’t be compared to those of monsters or mutants.

This one was closer to a tornado than a light pillar.

“The Icheon First Sword might be around here. So if you see anyone suspicious, stop the car early.”

While their safety was also a concern, it was primarily an instruction out of worry that this car, which needed to deliver a gift to the Advertiser, might get damaged.

Jong-su turned around with a face that said ‘that’s unlikely.’

“Even if they’re a First Sword… wouldn’t they have run away after seeing that?”

This was quite a reasonable opinion.

Unlike monsters or mutants, this light pillar had appeared without warning, and only Young-woo could see the timer.

In other words, from the perspective of Icheon citizens including the First Sword, an unidentified massive mark had fallen over their heads.

They couldn’t know whether a mutant would appear where that mark landed, or something even worse. Therefore, it was natural for humans to instinctively flee first.

However, Young-woo’s thoughts were a bit different.

“You saw it on the way here, right? All the First Swords were wiped out.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

Jong-su nodded.

Since leaving Chungju, they had passed through two regions – Eumseong and Yeoju – but both places had their First Swords eliminated.

Either their titles were stolen by other regional First Swords heading to Seoul, or they were killed by First Swords who came down from Seoul looking for mutants.

“But here, the First Sword is still properly guarding their territory. And this is the closest city to Seoul among all the ones we’ve seen.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

Jong-su finally nodded in understanding.

Whether the First Sword who devoured Eumseong and Yeoju was from Seoul or someone heading to Seoul, they couldn’t handle Icheon.

“The Icheon First Sword is probably not an ordinary person.”

Young-woo said this while looking at the ‘Scared Cat.’

He thought that maybe what this thing was pointing to wasn’t the Advertiser, but the Icheon First Sword.

And if that was really the case….

Screech!

“…!”

Before Young-woo could finish his thought, Jong-su slammed the brakes and stopped the car.

Then he pressed his chest close to the tightly gripped steering wheel and carefully observed the scene ahead.

“Hyung-nim, that over there seems…?”

Jong-su made an uncertain sound.

That was understandable since the number of people now in sight reached several hundred.

Because the Advertiser’s mark had landed right in the middle of an apartment complex, countless people were frantically fleeing.

Except for two people standing idly near the apartment entrance.

And it was precisely this duo that made Jong-su step on the brakes.

Swish.

When Jong-su habitually reached for his scabbard, Young-woo tapped the driver’s seat.

“What are you going to do by drawing your sword? This is someone that other First Swords couldn’t touch.”

“Well, that’s….”

“Jong-su, wait here. I want to resolve this through dialogue if possible.”

Of course, Young-woo wasn’t confident about this statement either.

* * *

Kwaaaa…!

When the red sky flashed once more, the evacuating residents screamed in terror.

They would probably never return to Icheon again.

Whether they died swept away by the abnormal weather somewhere on the national highway, or safely reached another city and survived.

“Damn, what the hell is all this.”

The 44-year-old man, Kim Byeong-cheol139, was dejected.

He could no longer find trust in the eyes of the residents passing by him.

They clearly thought that even a First Sword couldn’t handle this situation.

And there was considerable merit to that assessment.

“….”

Even Byeong-cheol himself had no idea what was happening right now.

“It’s probably a mutant, right? There’s nothing else that could come besides that, is there?”

Seeing Byeong-cheol’s face harden, the man next to him spoke in a respectful tone.

This man in police uniform was 28-year-old Kwon Tae-young.

He was a new patrol officer at Icheon Police Station.

And the original profession of Icheon First Sword Kim Byeong-cheol139, whom this rookie police officer served, was also.

“I can’t even do police work anymore.”

Icheon Police Station Chief, Inspector Kim Byeong-cheol.

He too had been deliberately wearing his police uniform while active to show citizens that law enforcement still existed.

However, just as his uniform quickly tore and wore out from rough combat, the public safety he tried so hard to protect became meaningless within two days.

What meaning could there be in being a police officer in a city without citizens?

Even if he found a new city, if such incidents could happen again and again in the future….

“….”

While Byeong-cheol looked up at the dark red light pillar with a dejected expression, Tae-young, who had been looking around, opened his mouth wide.

“Ch-Chief?”

“…What is it this time?”

In a situation where the city had practically disintegrated, what more could there be to be surprised about?

Byeong-cheol turned his head following Tae-young’s gaze with an indifferent expression, but soon made the same face as a rookie police officer.

“…?”

In the distance, he could see a man covered head to toe in gold accessories getting out of a white Audi.

“What the hell.”

It was quite different from what he had imagined, but it seemed the apocalypse had indeed come.

Byeong-cheol looked at the bizarrely dressed man in his thirties approaching from the other side, with the swirling dark red light pillars behind him.

Then Tae-young placed his hand on his belt and spoke in a frightened voice.

“He, he has quite a lot of equipment, doesn’t he?”

“That’s right. This one feels different.”

Byeong-cheol wrinkled his nose and took a deep breath.

He was now looking at the smallest-bodied yet most heavily equipped outsider among all who had visited this place so far.

‘How many did he kill? First Swords, no less.’

There were three main ways to obtain ‘equipment’ in this world.

Kill mutants, murder those who killed mutants, or gather a lot of money to meet a merchant.

However, since it had been less than a day since merchants appeared, to have that much equipment, he would have had to kill First Swords.

And one or two wouldn’t have been enough.

And indeed, that bastard hadn’t stayed in his own territory but had deliberately come here to Icheon.

It was definitely no mistake. Even now, he could see the regional status with just a glance.

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

|This region’s First Sword is ‘Kim Byeong-cheol139’. 2nd generation, 6 defenses.

In other words.

‘This time too, he came to kill the First Sword… to kill me.’

It was a situation that would normally be frightening, but Byeong-cheol had something he trusted.

And that was.

Swish.

The .38 caliber revolver hanging diagonally at his waist.

A real gun, not a stone one.

Petrification release cost 1 million, 200,000 per bullet.

To obtain this lethal weapon, he had spent almost all of the 3 million reward he got from killing mutants.

He had bought two of them and given one to rookie officer Kwon Tae-young.

This was both a courtesy and a token of trust for the only officer who had returned to the police box on the first day of the reset.

Of course, it was also true that he needed a partner with sufficient firepower.

“You still have one shot left, right?”

When Byeong-cheol asked without taking his eyes off the golden outsider, Tae-young quickly nodded.

“Yes. I have one shot left.”

“I only have one shot left too. So we need to shoot carefully. When the time comes, aim precisely.”

“Yes, yes! Of course!”

The initial five bullets were now down to just two.

Over the past two days, countless strong opponents including First Swords had invaded.

Fortunately, most retreated upon seeing the de-petrified guns, but for the very few who persisted to the end, they had no choice but to use expensive bullets.

‘First Sword or whatever, as long as they’re human, they can’t dodge bullets. And that applies to you too.’

Byeong-cheol clenched his teeth and slowly drew his gun with his right hand.

He hoped this opponent would also retreat obediently.

If a new mutant appeared from the light pillar behind them, they might need to use bullets on it.

Clank, clank.

Soon the metallic footsteps of the golden outsider began to be heard.

The distance between them was getting closer.

It also meant the shooting accuracy of the Icheon police side was increasing.

Clank, clank!

Eventually the distance between both sides narrowed to about 15 meters, and at this point Byeong-cheol aimed his gun at the opponent and shouted.

“Stop right there! If you move even one more step, I’ll open fire!”

In coordination, Tae-young also moved diagonally and aimed his gun at the opponent. This was to reduce escape angles. He was implementing a kind of fire network.

“….”

Then the golden outsider, Jung Young-woo07, who had been looking back and forth between the two police officers with a somewhat surprised expression, very slowly raised both arms.

“Are you police officers? There seems to be some misunderstanding. I didn’t come here to harm anyone….”

In the middle of Young-woo’s words, a spine-chilling roar echoed from within the undulating sky.

Grooooooan…!

At the strange sound that was like both a giant beast’s cry and a ship’s horn, all three people raised their gazes to the sky.

And simultaneously.

“Huk.”

“Eok?”

“…!”

Their pupils dilated to the maximum and were colored with rainbow hues.

Finally the red sky opened and dozens of giant heads were descending, coiling around the light pillars.

These heads were intricately woven together with neural networks emitting rainbow light, each screaming in incomprehensible sounds.

“Wh, what is that…?”

The moment Byeong-cheol muttered to himself at the sight beyond imagination, Tae-young, who had been standing diagonally, suddenly vomited.

“Uurgh…!”

His brain couldn’t accept the situation itself and began to malfunction.

“Kw, Kwon Tae-young…!”

When the panicked Byeong-cheol called out his partner’s name, the golden outsider who had been in his line of sight spoke up.

“It seems I’ve unintentionally caused you great trouble. That… is my advertiser.”

4th Grade 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]

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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