Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 120

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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 120
Both my arms were soaked from the water that Park Sangil and Park Sanghun had sprayed.
As I stared at the water clinging to my arms and alternated my gaze between the Park brothers, Sanghun handed me a tissue while coughing incessantly.
Meanwhile, Park Sangil simply turned his head away without saying a word.
This man… was laughing again, holding it in.
Song Junhyeok seemed embarrassed by the alliance’s name, his face flushing as he spoke.
“It’s a bit embarrassing.”
“Not at all. These things happen.”
So they had named the alliance “Baek Doyun’s Wish.”
They said I was their fan, and it was true.
Bae Hyeonseok also seemed uncomfortable, scratching his forehead with an awkward expression.
“Heh heh, you’re all just joking around with the name, aren’t you?”
Meanwhile, Elder Chulmin laughed heartily, his expression warm and pleased.
Hong Yeonhui appeared to be quietly laughing to herself, her head bowed low.
Bae Hyeonseok then opened his mouth to speak.
“We chose that name hoping that if we ever encounter Baek Doyun, we might be able to join forces together.”
“A wise choice… pfft!”
As Park Sangil began speaking but then burst into laughter, Park Sangha beside him struck his forearm and furrowed his brow.
“My apologies. My brother laughs quite easily.”
“No, I think it’s a bit… childish too.”
“It’s intuitive and good.”
Park Sangha continued the conversation with a faint smile.
“So if you’ve formed an alliance, should I understand that you’ve completed an emergency episode?”
“Yes. Things were quite intense here as well.”
“I would appreciate it if you could share the details.”
As Park Sangha spoke calmly, Bae Hyeonseok took a sip of warm water and recounted in detail what had happened in this place.

* * *
When No Way Home’s background was first updated, the survivors here were summoned to the middle of a main road, just like in Seoul.
Being a new city, the roads including the alleys were meticulously cleaned.
Moving to avoid the rain posed no difficulty, but they suffered greatly because of the zombies lining the streets.
This made sense—with the roads laid out so cleanly, the likelihood of being detected by zombies would have been high.
Initially, many people panicked, but they rallied around Bae Hyeonseok and Song Junhyeok, who were among the Three Elders.
Of course, since strange people exist everywhere, there were many complications along the way.
“Then the apartment designated as a Safe House is here?”
Park Sangil, who had been listening quietly, asked. Bae Hyeonseok shook his head and continued.
“No. The designated Safe House is over there, between Sinseo-dong and Gaksan-dong.”
“Where is that?”
“It’s a bit further from your destination.”
Your destination, then….
The place where Costco and the Brain Research Institute are located.
That’s apparently Sinseo-dong.
Then Jo Yunhwan cautiously raised his right hand and asked.
“Wait. Aren’t Safe Houses generated centered around subway stations?”
“Pardon?”
“In Seoul, that was the case. Safe Houses were often selected in two locations facing opposite directions from a subway station.”
“I see.”
“There’s no subway station here, is there?”
No subway station?
Of course, even in Seoul, Safe Houses weren’t always selected with a subway station in between, but it happened roughly 90% of the time.
Upon hearing Jo Yunhwan’s words, I looked at Bae Hyeonseok, and he nodded readily.
“That’s correct. I’ve been puzzled by that myself. There were reports that a subway would come between Sinseo-dong and Gaksan-dong, but it was never completed.”
Then Park Sanghun, standing nearby, asked with a sullen expression.
“Isn’t it because the setting is 2030?”
“I believe so as well.”
Bae Hyeonseok answered Park Sanghun’s question and continued.
“You all seem to understand already.”
….
“This isn’t the world we lived in. It’s Earth in 2030.”
….
“Many buildings and public facilities that remained in the planning stages have already been completed. There are cases where restaurants I frequented have become different shops.”
“Seoul was like that too.”
“So I thought—perhaps the zombie virus didn’t appear naturally either, but rather through someone’s mistake or intentional act.”
At Bae Hyeonseok’s words, I interlaced my fingers and asked.
“May I ask a personal question?”
“Yes, please.”
“Are you perhaps a research institute employee?”
“I was a senior researcher.”
Everyone wore expressions of surprise at Bae Hyeonseok’s answer.
However, one person—Park Sangha—looked calm, as if he had anticipated this.
Finding that curious, Bae Hyeonseok looked at Park Sangha and asked.
“How did you know I was a researcher?”
“An ordinary person would regard this situation as divine whimsy rather than approach it scientifically.”
“Isn’t it the opposite? Ordinary people would seem more likely to approach it scientifically.”
“The game creator is Gaia. Moreover, system windows are appearing right before everyone’s eyes.”
“….”
“This is a situation where divine whimsy or caprice would be more plausible than scientific reasoning.”
I nodded in agreement with Park Sangha’s words.
There would be few people approaching this situation scientifically.
Park Sangha looked at Bae Hyeonseok and asked.
“So, is there a virus you can predict?”
“I don’t know when the virus began spreading, but if human civilization collapsed this quickly without time to respond… there is one possibility I can predict.”
Bae Hyeonseok provided two examples.
The possibility it spread as powder, like the previous pandemic.
The second was transmission through insects.
Everyone wore puzzled expressions at the word insects.
A scenario of human extinction caused by insects.
Such an epidemic, I’d never heard of….
Wait, no.
Now that I think about it, isn’t there an obvious example?
Following this, Elder Chulmin, who had been sitting on the living room floor, spoke.
“Mosquitoes.”
Yes, mosquitoes.
Malaria, dengue fever, Zika virus, chikungunya, Japanese encephalitis, yellow fever, West Nile fever, and more.
There were far too many deadly viruses transmitted by mosquitoes.
Bae Hyeonseok nodded, as if Elder Chulmin’s words were the correct answer.
“That’s right. I’m considering mosquitoes as the highest possibility.”
“So there were experiments related to mosquitoes in the world we used to live in?”
“There were always many experiments related to mosquitoes.”
“Then was the zombie virus intentionally created?”
“No, quite the opposite.”
“The opposite means… the world became like this because of experiments conducted for human advancement?”
“Yes. I don’t know the details, but… I once heard about it from a colleague who was active in the Middle East.”
“What do you mean.”
Bae Hyeonseok began to speak but hesitated.
As I stared intently, his tightly closed lips opened after a moment.
“From now on… this is under embargo.”
“There’s nowhere else to discuss this.”
“I heard there were side effects during the primate testing phase.”
“Side effects?”
“Yes, I didn’t pay much attention at the time… but what I vaguely heard back then bears a striking resemblance to the current zombie virus’s behavior.”
Unlike us, who had been beating down zombies and mutants all this time, Bae Hyeonseok had been thinking of practical solutions.
I’d always assumed that clearing every episode would be the end of it, but Bae Hyeonseok’s words made me reconsider.
After all, to see the game’s ending, we’d need to develop a vaccine.
Bae Hyeonseok continued speaking.
“That’s why I wanted to meet Baek Doyun.”
“Me?”
“Because you’ve seen the ending. I thought you might know the answer, or at least could provide some hints.”
“Me?”
Me? For what?
With a bewildered expression, Bae Hyeonseok stared intently at my face and asked.
“You’ve seen the ending of No Way Home. Don’t you have any information related to vaccine development?”
“…”
“If it really is a mosquito-related disease, there should be a solution. We received materials related to the side effects back then.”
“Did you research that aspect?”
“Yes. It was data related to changes in brain function. That’s why I need confirmation. Please share the information.”
The real reason Bae Hyeonseok had been waiting for Baek Doyun.
He needed the information I possessed.
I quietly stroked my chin and recalled the true ending of No Way Home.
In the game… the NPCs handled vaccine development.
When you found the research facility, there were clues from the lead researcher who spearheaded vaccine development, and protecting him after finding him was the thirteenth episode.
All I did was capture the Zombie King and prevent various mutants and zombies from destroying the research facility.
So there must be hints in the conversations I had with NPCs…
Being a Korean who couldn’t resist skipping dialogue when game cutscenes got too long, I couldn’t clearly recall what the NPC had said.
“Can’t you remember anything?”
Bae Hyeonseok’s follow-up question.
I wanted to meet his expectations, but right now I couldn’t think of…
Ah, there is one thing.
“In No Way Home’s research facility… there was a bald lead researcher. He was a very cheerful person, and he told me he’d make me impotent.”
“…Excuse me?”
Everyone stared at my face with blank expressions.
I rubbed the back of my neck and continued.
“Since the character talked so much, I skipped most of the dialogue. The line that caught my eye was about making something impotent.”
“Make what impotent?”
At Park Sangil’s question, I shrugged and answered.
“In the current situation, wouldn’t it be about making mosquitoes impotent?”
“Can you even do that?”
“I’m not entirely certain either. I just have a vague recollection of a mosquito illustration on one of the research lab computers…”
My uncertainty caused my words to trail off.
Everyone in our group regarded me with bitter expressions, or glanced toward Bae Hyeonseok.
But one person.
Bae Hyeonseok stared at me with wide eyes, his expression blank.
Had he figured something out?
Song Junhyeok, standing beside Bae Hyeonseok, then looked at him and asked.
“Sir, isn’t this what you predicted?”
“Exactly. That was really the problem.”
Hearing their exchange, Park Sangil, who had been leaning against the sofa, straightened his upper body and asked.
“Is there something you’ve figured out?”
“Yes. There’s a project that’s been ongoing for quite some time.”
“A project?”
“It was a mosquito eradication project.”
At Bae Hyeonseok’s words, everyone gathered in the living room held their breath and listened intently to his explanation.
“I’m sure you all know that mosquitoes have killed more humans throughout history than any other creature.”
“….”
“There are so many diseases transmitted by mosquitoes. And that’s what led to the start of… the mosquito eradication project.”
“You’re trying to kill every mosquito on Earth?”
“That’s just how it sounds, but we’re not eradicating all mosquitoes. We’re only eradicating the ones that bite humans.”
There are specific types of mosquitoes that bite humans?
Hearing this for the first time, I stared blankly at Bae Hyeonseok.
Bae Hyeonseok scanned our group’s expressions, then scratched his sideburns as he continued.
“Mosquitoes aren’t just one species. Each region has different characteristics and appearances, and also…”
“Could you give us a brief explanation instead?”
I interrupted him with a wry smile.
Bae Hyeonseok paused briefly, then exhaled deeply before speaking.
“To get to the point… there was research being conducted to prevent dengue fever transmission.”
“Dengue fever?”
“Yes, using something called Wolbachia bacteria… in simple terms, it renders male mosquitoes sterile.”
“…!”
So “rendering sterile” wasn’t a metaphor—it literally meant exactly that.
Seeing my interest, Bae Hyeonseok continued.
“This was already showing results in the world we came from.”
“It already existed?!”
“Yes. It actually showed effects in Australia. After that, various research projects proceeded. The idea came up to eliminate all infectious diseases transmitted by mosquitoes.”
“Wow….”
“Among those, what many researchers thought was impossible was malaria.”
“It’s the same virus, so Wolbachia bacteria doesn’t work on it?”
“Malaria isn’t a virus. It’s a protozoan.”
What on earth is a protozoan?
The moment my eyes blinked, Bae Hyeonseok continued with an embarrassed expression.
“A protozoan is a relatively simple parasitic organism that is unicellular.”
“So malaria isn’t caused by a virus but by parasites?”
“Yes. When mosquitoes draw blood, they secrete saliva to prevent the blood from clotting.”
“Their saliva….”
“That saliva acts as an anticoagulant, and it’s called hirudin. Because of that, itching occurs and the virus is transmitted.”
“Ah….”
“So if a mosquito infected with malaria draws blood?”
“Then the person gets malaria.”
“Exactly.”
With his clear explanation, even I, who knew nothing, could easily understand.
I was also learning for the first time that mosquitoes infected with the malaria parasite were called malaria mosquitoes.
Bae Hyeonseok took a sip of warm water and continued.
“Several problems arose in that process.”
“What kind of problems…?”
“Greed brought disaster. Instead of finding breakthroughs individually, research began on creating an invincible vaccine that would destroy all viruses at once.”
“So problems occurred when they tried to eliminate both parasites and viruses simultaneously?”
“Yes. I mentioned earlier about a colleague who was active in the Middle East, didn’t I?”
“Yes. You said there were side effects during the primate testing phase….”
“Yes, that was… the side effect of the project I told you about.”
….
“It was Project X.”

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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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