Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 115

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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 115
My eyes twitched reflexively as I read the System Message.
Target Detection effect?
Wait, could this mean…?
Can I find the Stage 5 Mutant Main Body whenever I want?
Filled with anticipation, I continued reading the message.
[Target Detection effect is generated for the Skill Frenzy.]
[When you designate a target, the sight acquisition function activates until the target is eliminated or the duration expires, allowing you to visually confirm the target’s location.]
Ding—!
[Frenzy Lv.2: For the 1 hour duration of the effect, you are immune to viruses and status abnormalities, and all physical abilities increase threefold.]
-While Frenzy is maintained, the Target Detection function can be used once, and the effect lasts for 30 minutes.
-Cooldown: 20 hours.
Reading the description, I couldn’t help but shout in triumph.
I threw both arms up and let out a cheer, and Do Sohee beside me looked at me with startled eyes.
“Sir, what’s wrong? You’re scaring me.”
“Oh, sorry.”
I calmed my excitement, closed the skill description, and checked my remaining points.
[Points Held: 220,814]
[Coins Held: 4]
With 220,000 points… can’t I strengthen Frenzy one more time?
“Enhance Frenzy.”
[Consuming 200,000 points to enhance the Skill ‘Frenzy’.]
Ding—!
[Frenzy Lv.3: For the 1 hour duration of the effect, you are immune to viruses and status abnormalities, and all physical abilities increase threefold.]
-While Frenzy is maintained, the Target Detection function can be used three times, and each effect lasts for 30 minutes.
-Cooldown: 12 hours.
No new effects were generated, but the cooldown decreased by 8 hours.
I can use Frenzy every 12 hours now.
This is insane.
I should have enhanced Frenzy from the start.
I had been relying too heavily on memory, missing out on the new possibilities.
Though I’d spent over a million points in an instant, I felt no regret.
Just thinking about the changes to Balhwa and Frenzy made me smile involuntarily.
The Target Detection effect alone was incredible, and the cooldown reduction was absurdly generous.
Why is Gaia suddenly being so good to me?
I was even starting to feel suspicious.
“Sir.”
“Hmm?”
Looking at Do Sohee beside me, she asked with an awkward expression.
“Did you get your weapon repaired?”
A weapon?
What kind of weapon.
My mind wasn’t working smoothly, too caught up in the excitement of the Skill transformation.
I tilted my head at Do Sohee’s question.
“The Twin Blades. I don’t think I’ve taken them out since I grabbed the hilt.”
Ah, right.
The Twin Blades I’d lost at the riverside apartment because of Euitaejong.
After clearing the Emergency Episode, I’d retrieved the Twin Blades on the way back to the Safe House.
Since only the hilt remained, I needed to repair them, but I’d forgotten.
“I should get them repaired when we arrive. Thanks for reminding me—I’d completely forgotten.”
“Let’s repair them at a rest stop later.”
“Yeah, let’s do that.”
With so many children on the bus, there would definitely be someone who needed to use the restroom.
I’d ask them to repair the Twin Blades then and check out my changed Skills as well.
How had the group managed all these Points?
They must have reinforced the modified vehicle with the Makers’ legendary Skills, so they probably hadn’t used Points.
I’d have to ask about that later too.
“Get some rest.”
Park Sangil’s voice followed from the driver’s seat.
When I looked at him, Park Sangil glanced back through the rearview mirror as he spoke.
“If anything happens, I’ll wake you, so just relax.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Managing your stamina is important too. You drank a lot yesterday—get some rest.”
Everyone else would have hangovers.
But I didn’t.
Because of my passive Regeneration Skill, the intoxication faded quickly and there was no hangover.
Yet both Jo Yunhwan and Do Sohee told me to rest.
Unable to resist, I leaned my upper body against the chair’s backrest and closed my eyes.
Dopamine from the Skill transformation was still flooding through me.
I couldn’t hide the smile spreading across my lips.

* * *
Thump— thump—
How much time had passed?
I opened my eyes, which had been closed against the jolting sensation.
I’d only meant to rest my eyes for a moment, but I’d fallen asleep without realizing it.
Given how stiff my entire body felt, it seemed we’d come quite far.
As I stretched and looked ahead, the vehicle was pulling into a rest stop.
So that’s what caused the jolt—we’d hit a speed bump.
“Where is this?”
“You’re awake?”
Park Sangil glanced back slightly.
He spoke while looking at the sign displayed at the rest stop.
“Seonsan Rest Stop.”
“Seonsan?”
If it was Seonsan… we were almost there, weren’t we?
From Seonsan Rest Stop to Daegu would take about an hour.
That meant we’d driven for nearly two hours and forty minutes without stopping….
I’d slept so deeply that someone could have carried me away without my noticing.
As I blinked and looked straight ahead, Jo Yunhwan, who was in the passenger seat, spoke.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Ah… yes.”
“Park Sangil drives so smoothly that I dozed off too.”
There was almost no wind noise, and I couldn’t feel the unevenness of the road surface.
I wasn’t sure if it was the modified vehicle’s superior performance or Park Sangil’s exceptional driving skill.
I washed my face with dry hands and spoke while looking around.
“I’m sorry, Sangil. I was supposed to guide us using the 3D terrain map, but I fell asleep.”
“It’s fine. I used to find my way without GPS just fine back in the day.”
“You’re not from the GPS generation?”
“When I got my license, backup cameras were only in expensive cars. Finding my way without GPS was nothing.”
Park Sangil spoke with a hearty laugh.
I’d thought there wasn’t much of an age difference between us, but his mention of cars without backup cameras made me feel the generational gap.
“What about the zombies?”
“There are a few. I’ll run them over and then stop.”
“Understood.”
Park Sangil smoothly turned the steering wheel with his left hand while picking up the radio with his right.
“This is Vehicle 1. We’ll handle the zombies and then stop. Bus, park in front of the restroom, and Vehicles 2 and 3, park on both sides of the bus.”
In response to Park Sangil’s instructions, the group’s acknowledgments came through the radio one by one.
For safety, the bus parked directly in front of the restroom, and two small vehicles parked on either side.
Crash! Crunch— thud!
Park Sangil ran over the zombies near the gas station and smoking area while calmly surveying his surroundings.
“Gasp! W-what’s happening?!”
Do Sohee, who had been sleeping beside me, jolted awake with her eyes wide open.
“It’s fine, go back to sleep.”
“Huh? Oh, um?”
“I took care of the zombies.”
“Ah….”
“Do you need to use the restroom?”
“The restroom?”
Do Sohee, still half-asleep, glanced around with drowsy eyes before nodding instead of answering.
Park Sangil leisurely scanned left and right, confirming there were no more zombies, then gently turned the steering wheel.
As I exited Vehicle 1 parked in front of the bus, the words “Seonsan Rest Area” came into view beyond the humid moisture and thick fog.
“Wait here.”
Park Sangha’s voice echoed from in front of the bus.
Park Sangha entered the restroom with Park Youngsu, both carrying crossbows at the ready.
Elder Chulmin and Park Sanghun followed behind them, gripping their curved swords.
There were few zombies outside, but the situation indoors was unknown.
When reality became No Way Home and everyone was summoned onto the streets, Gaia’s arbitrarily placed zombies still existed.
In the early days after the world’s collapse, I dealt with countless street zombies in Haengdang-dong.
All of those were zombies placed by Gaia.
There was a high probability that such zombies existed at the rest area as well.
“You can come in!”
Park Sanghun’s voice rang out from the restroom.
Kim Heejoo and Kim Miyeon, standing in front of the bus, spoke while holding the children’s hands.
“Only those who need to use the restroom should come out holding hands with us. Everyone understands, right?”
“Yes~”
Children adapted to this ruined world.
Not a single child rushed outside without permission.
Only the children who needed to use the restroom held hands with Kim Heejoo, Kim Miyeon, and Lee Kwanghyun as they headed to the restroom.
Park Sanghun, emerging from the restroom afterward, scratched the bridge of his nose and asked.
“The smell is no joke.”
“Is it a corpse?”
“No, it’s ammonia.”
Ammonia smell—it was a foul odor that frequently arose from unsanitary restrooms.
I headed into the restroom myself to relieve myself as well.
“Ugh… damn.”
The stench was so pungent it stung the nose.
The children and Lee Kwanghyun were all grimacing.
I held my breath and quickly finished my business before leaving.
Was it because heavy rain had poured down for an extended period, and the fog that lingered even after it stopped?
Even so, this was excessive.
Not even a season has passed, yet it’s come to this.
I stepped outside and ventilated my lungs with fresh air, then surveyed the interior of the rest stop.
There was a chance a zombie might sense activity and emerge from inside.
Creak— creak creak—
Whether the hinges were rusted or the frame had warped, the glass door wouldn’t slide properly.
I forced it open about halfway and stepped inside, where the dim silhouette of a food court came into view.
A musty dust smell mingled with the haze.
The food court showed no particular signs of activity.
The kitchen area was equally still, as were the convenience store and café.
When I swiped my finger across a grayish table, a thick layer of dust came away.
That’s when doubt struck me first.
Heavy fog meant high humidity.
But could dust really accumulate this much in just a few months?
The bathroom stench was so foul it seemed like years of neglect….
“Doyun, what are you doing over there?”
Park Sangil’s voice came from behind me.
I looked around the interior and asked.
“Hyung, doesn’t something feel off?”
“Off how?”
“This place feels like… no one’s set foot here in a very long time.”
Park Sangil examined the interior and looked toward me, speaking.
“You’re right, it looks like it’s been abandoned for years.”
“It’s so desolate….”
“Seoul has a lot of people though.”
Park Sangil cut off my words and walked toward the café in the corner of the rest stop.
He checked if the machine was operational, and when it showed no response, he clicked his tongue in disappointment.
“More people means more zombies, and since they keep moving around, dust wouldn’t have time to accumulate.”
“You mean Seoul?”
“Yeah. Meanwhile, this place has been abandoned for so long. That’s why it’s like this.”
Even so, it still seemed odd.
I scratched my forehead and asked.
“Did you notice anything strange on the way here?”
“Something strange?”
“Yes. Parked vehicles or zombie attacks.”
“There were plenty of parked vehicles, but not so congested that we couldn’t navigate around them.”
“There were no zombies?”
“There were. They were probably zombies that had been trapped in parked cars and got out.”
That doesn’t make sense.
Why would there be people in parked cars?
Shouldn’t they be summoned on the streets based on their registered addresses?
After all, no one would have their address listed as being on a highway.
Then were the zombies on the highway ones that Gaia arbitrarily spawned?
‘No matter how I think about it, something feels off.’
I couldn’t explain this sense of incongruity.
Or perhaps… was I just anxious about heading to an unfamiliar place?
“What? Something wrong?”
“No, it’s not that… I’m not sure why, but I just feel uneasy.”
“It’s probably because we’re almost at our destination.”
….
“Once we enter the city, there will be plenty of zombies and mutants again.”
Instead of answering, I nodded, and Park Sangil spoke while checking a regional map placed in the corner of the rest stop.
“We’re at Seonsan Rest Stop right now… if we go a bit further, we’ll reach Gumi.”
“We’re not entering the city, right?”
“Right, we keep on the highway. No need to go into Gumi specifically—we just stay on the highway toward Daegu… huh?”
At that moment, Park Sangil’s gaze fixed on a certain point on the map, and his expression turned blank.
He stood there with his mouth hanging open, eyes blinking vacantly.
I approached his side to examine the map.
[July 15, 2030]
A date was written on the edge of the map.
A map wasn’t food, so it couldn’t have an expiration date.
That was clearly a manufacturing date.
‘Wait a moment.’
Then suddenly, something I’d completely forgotten about came back to me.
Early in the game, when I was being tested for survival qualifications while dealing with zombies in the villa at Haengdang-dong.
I remembered the instant ramen package I’d found in the kitchen back then.
A ramen package with a manufacturing date marked as 2030.
“Sangil, find a calendar. Look for a calendar.”
“A calendar?”
Seeing his bewildered expression, I searched through the corners of the rest stop ahead of him.
“Doyun, over here!”
Park Sangil’s voice called out from near the café.
I approached him, and there it was—a large calendar hanging on the wall.
A calendar frozen on October 2030.

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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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