Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 101

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Player of the Ruined World – Episode 101
We climbed the stairs without pause.
By the time we passed the 50th floor and reached the 70th, 80th, and finally the 100th floor, Park Sangil and Kim Suhan had begun sweating profusely.
“Wait, let’s rest here for a moment.”
Park Sangil, who suggested we rest, tried to open the emergency exit door visible to the side on the 100th floor.
I grabbed his arm.
“Why the door?”
“I feel like I’m dying from climbing only stairs. The air here feels thin.”
“…”
“I’m even developing claustrophobia that I never had before.”
Then Kim Suhan, who was behind us, sat down on the stairs and spoke.
“Brother, I think I’m developing acrophobia too.”
The stairwell wasn’t structured to connect directly to the observation deck in one go, so we had to find different emergency exits and move through them periodically.
Yet they were struggling this much.
However, since my stamina and mentality were roughly three times higher than my companions’, I couldn’t blame them further.
With no choice, I opened the emergency exit on the 100th floor and stepped outside briefly.
I checked the surroundings ahead first, then gestured for the group to come out.
Park Sangil asked while surveying both sides of the corridor.
“Is this a hotel?”
“Yes. From the 76th to the 101st floor, it’s a hotel.”
“Wow… so this is that place I’ve only heard about. The hotel with an incredible view. I heard it costs a fortune per night.”
The eyes of the man who had been gasping for breath moments ago cleared up.
I confirmed there was no one in the corridor, then turned the doorknob of a guest room visible nearby.
Click—
As expected, all locks were already disengaged.
I pushed open the door, which moved smoothly and heavily, and surveyed the interior, confirming the pristine appearance of an accommodation facility.
“Both of you rest here for a moment.”
“Where are you going?”
“It’s strange that we haven’t encountered a single Mutant so far. I’ll look around briefly and come back.”
“We’re fine. Let’s rest for just a minute and go together.”
They said it was fine, but their breathing was still ragged.
Since Kim Suhan, already sitting on the bed, had fatigue written all over his face, I checked the room number and spoke.
“It’s fine, rest for a bit. I’ll come back up in five minutes.”
Click—
I closed the door and walked along the corridor.
From the 1st to the 5th floor, Zombies and Mutant Zombies swarmed everywhere, but as we climbed higher, their numbers decreased significantly.
I had confirmed floor information on the way up, which allowed me to deduce the reason.
From the 42nd to the 71st floor was the L Tower, used as residential space.
Since that area had a different entrance, it was natural we had no connection with it.
Moreover, from the 71st to the 101st floor served as a hotel, so there were inevitably fewer Zombies compared to the lower floors.
In other words, most of the Zombies were distributed between the basement and the 41st floor.
There was one thing that bothered me.
‘They went all the way up to the observation deck.’
The Enhanced Jokers said there were traces of the research facility at the observation deck.
That meant there were Mutant Zombies that had climbed to the observation deck as well.
Since I couldn’t know how many more there might be, I planned to at least figure out their numbers while my companions rested.
Finding traces of the research facility would be even better.
Thump, thump.
I checked the entire 100th floor with my hand loosely gripping the curved blade, but still found no traces of Mutant Zombies.
Were the three Enhanced Jokers I dealt with on the lower floors all there was?
With that thought, I opened the emergency stairwell and headed further up.
The 101st, 102nd, and 103rd floors.
After continuing to check the conditions beyond the emergency stairwell, I finally reached the L Tower observation deck.
A wide horizontal window.
Beyond it lay the view of Seoul.
For a moment, I returned to childlike wonder, and an exclamation escaped my lips before I could help it.
If I had come here before… I would have seen Seoul brimming with vitality, not this hazy world as it is now.
I shook my head vigorously and pulled myself away from the reverie.
This wasn’t the time to think about such things.
‘First, the research facility traces.’
I thoroughly searched each floor of the observation deck to find traces.
I had thought the observation deck was just one floor, but it wasn’t.
The L Tower observation deck spanned from the 117th to the 123rd floor.
Fortunately, the space narrowed as I went higher, and thanks to the open views, it wasn’t difficult to check the interior.
As I was checking the 123rd floor lounge,
“Huh?”
At the cafe in the highest place beneath the sky, I discovered something gleaming softly.
Following the light into the cafe, a single box placed in front of the coffee machine caught my eye.
“This is exactly like the game.”
I thought there might be something special in reality, but there was a box with the exact same shape as the ones I’d seen at No Way Home.
With a sense of relief, I carefully opened the box.
Ding!
[You have discovered Research Facility Trace #1.]
Along with this message, I could see a scroll inside the box.
When I unrolled the scroll, I found a half-torn photograph and densely written text.
Two years after the X Virus consumed the world, we finally succeeded in developing an antibody with immunity to the X Virus.
As an antibody to put an end to the era of the X Virus that led the world to destruction, we decided to call this antibody the ‘Omega Antibody.’
While it’s not yet at a level suitable for human administration, we observed notable changes in a Beagle infected with the X Virus.
Its aggression dropped significantly, and gradually its rationality returned, reaching a level where training was possible.
We named this Beagle ‘Alpha,’ and we plan to monitor its progress and proceed toward human administration of the Omega Antibody.
The scroll contained nothing more beyond this point.
Marked as #1, if I confirmed the World Cup Stadium and Incheon Airport, I would be able to identify both the research results and the location of the laboratory.
I couldn’t say the search was entirely fruitless, but I couldn’t hide my inner disappointment.
No Way Home had also designated three locations in the twelfth episode, instructing me to verify all of them.
At designated locations, there would be information about research results and clues revealing the laboratory’s whereabouts.
I had planned to identify the laboratory’s location in advance and devise a route, but L Tower only contained explanations about the research process.
The next location was….
As I initially thought, it seemed best to head to Incheon Airport.
The fact that an airport was among the three locations where I could find traces of the laboratory… it seemed like an instruction to travel to the laboratory by plane.
Whoosh—
At that moment, a chilling presence made me hastily lift my head.
Just now… something seemed to have passed by?
Crouched in front of the coffee machine, I couldn’t confirm it visually, but I distinctly felt something moving from left to right.
I lifted my head with startled eyes, but nothing entered my vision.
‘What was that?’
This was the 123rd floor.
It wasn’t a height where someone could accidentally climb up, and if a Mutant were here, I couldn’t have missed hearing its footsteps.
But the presence I felt moments ago….
‘There were no footsteps.’
I only had the sensation that something existed, but I neither saw it with my eyes nor heard it with my ears.
I could sense it instinctively.
That something was here, and that something was not an ally.
The killing intent I felt momentarily and the tension that made my palms sweat were ringing an alarm, warning me not to let my guard down.
Just as I was gathering the photographs and scroll from the box in front of me to place them in my inventory.
Screech—
I could clearly make out letters emerging from the bottom of the scroll.
I thought of it as the antibody of hope that would suppress the X Virus crisis.
Certainly… certainly the research on beagles had been successful.
The experiments on humans also yielded effective results, and I could confirm that the experimental subject’s eyes returned to those of a human.
Communication became possible, and cognitive function was confirmed to return.
But the moment the first meal was consumed, the experimental subject’s body began to reject it.
The X Virus we thought had disappeared possessed a far more vicious and tenacious vitality than we imagined.
The experimental subject showed an even more violent reaction than before, transforming into another entity that had never been confirmed until now.
Through the previous antibody experiment, we had already created six species of Mutants.
Would our research truly bring positive effects to humanity?
Or were we accelerating the collapse of civilization instead? Sleepless nights deepened in self-reproach.
Our research… yielded only the adverse effect of creating a seventh Mutant.
Upon reading the letters written on the scroll, I reflexively swallowed dry saliva.
“A seventh?”
Excluding Mutant Zombies, there were only six species of Mutants in the official No Way Home setting.
A seventh Mutant, you say?
Suddenly, I found myself recalling the twelfth episode of No Way Home that I had experienced before.
Two new species of Mutant Zombies appearing in the twelfth episode.
Creepers and Jokers.
Obtaining information from the research facility while confronting them was the original main objective of the twelfth episode.
But what if the “new” being spoken of here refers to it from a Player’s perspective?
If that’s the case….
It means a new Mutant that even Players have never encountered is appearing.
A Mutant I don’t know.
A Mutant I’ve never experienced.
A Mutant with no data whatsoever exists here.
I rose carefully from my position, gripping the crescent blade in my hand.
Let me sharpen all five senses and focus intently.
Tick—
‘To the right.’
I turned my head toward the faint sound coming from the right direction.
“…!”
Shock rendered me speechless.
Something was peeking out from behind the wall, its face barely visible.
But… the face was far too large.
About three times the size of an ordinary person’s.
Hair reaching perhaps three meters in length, and enormous eyes that the eyelids couldn’t fully cover stared at me.
No curiosity, no wariness, no aggression was visible.
With eyes whose thoughts I couldn’t decipher, it gazed at me without the slightest movement.
My body had gone rigid, and I couldn’t easily take a step back.
The seventh Mutant newly appearing in the twelfth episode.
Would it be stronger than a Stage 4 Mutant?
What if it’s comparable to Stage 5?
What Skills does that creature possess?
What are its physical abilities?
With no information whatsoever, even I, who had surpassed the system’s maximum stats, felt fear.
Whoosh—
As I remained motionless, the creature that had been showing only half its face fully revealed itself.
‘What is that.’
The body was barely different from a human standing around 180 centimeters tall.
Only the face was three times larger, the appearance seemed feminine, and the hair was excessively long.
The creature tilted its enormous head repeatedly, then extended a hand toward me and spoke.
“Give.”
A Mutant demanding something from me in a low, gravelly voice.
Give what?
Coming to my senses belatedly, I checked which skills were currently available.
All skills except Whirlwind and Strike were usable.
Gripping the curved blade, I watched the creature as it flicked its right hand and spoke.
“Give.”
“….”
“Give. Give.”
What does it want?
As I slowly backed away while keeping my eyes on the creature, the Mutant’s hair that had been dragging across the floor began to move like a serpent.
It’s controlling its hair?
What, does its hair have muscles or something?
Each strand began moving as if it were a living organism.
Then this creature’s weapon is….
‘Its hair.’
The writhing hair crept slowly toward me.
The moment the hair reached the bridge of my nose, the creature’s mouth opened again.
“Give. That.”
“…!”
The creature’s hair was pointing at my face.
It wanted my head?
Hearing that, I swung the curved blade with all my might.
Clang—!
I clearly struck the hair away, but sparks flew from the blade and I felt the sensation of cutting through hard steel.
Startled by this, I created distance between us.
Whoosh!
Surprised itself, the creature hurriedly fled behind the wall?
Was this its first encounter with a human?
If so… had it been just as cautious as I was?
Though I couldn’t determine its exact level, this creature freely controlled hair that couldn’t be cut by my curved blade.
If such a creature moves toward where my companions are….
‘It’s dangerous.’
No matter what, I had to deal with it here.
With that single thought, I urgently chased after the creature’s footsteps.
Whoooosh—! Wheeeeee—!
Stairs with a cutting wind came into view.
The Mutant had gone out to the outdoor stairs.
The cutting wind blowing from a height exceeding 120 floors was severe enough to make standing upright difficult.
“Damn….”
A curse escaped my lips.
Should I really be following it?
My heart pounded frantically.
But… to catch a tiger, you have to enter its den.
I steeled my trembling limbs and followed the Mutant’s trail.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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