Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 147

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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 147
I stared blankly at the screen, my words caught in my throat.
It wasn’t that Gaia’s question was difficult to answer.
Watching human madness unfold, everything I had believed to be right felt negated.
“Those are… all real people?”
{If not people, then what are they?}
“Rational human beings fighting so savagely?”
{It’s human nature.}
“…”
{Do people create circumstances, or do circumstances create people? Now that you’ve witnessed the answer with your own eyes, does it stir something within you?}
“What nonsense! You created this twisted situation in the first place!”
{Do you truly believe that?}
The vast grassland was already stained with human blood.
I could see nobles watching from a distance, and among them, someone wearing a crown.
Unable to find words, I continued watching the screen in silence.
{If you had progressed through Last Odyssey, would you have had the confidence to choose a different path instead of becoming like them?}
“Of course I would. Why would they fight each other so foolishly? Last Odyssey is a game about finding five legendary kingdoms lost to history.”
{…}
“You collect sacred relics from each of the five kingdoms, and once you complete the set, the game ends.”
{And for that, they shed blood fighting each other.}
“…What?”
{Because they desire it, because they covet it.}
Were all those players thinking the same thing?
That their nation, their faction, their king should reign supreme?
Were these really… people who lived in the twenty-first century?
{Do you think I created their hierarchies, their societies, their environments—all of it?}
“…You’re saying I’m wrong?”
{They created it themselves.}
“…”
{I merely posed the question and observed. They found their own answer.}
“…”
{Do you think you’re different?}
“I am different. I ran forward with my eyes fixed only on finishing the game. Those unnecessary deaths…”
Zzzt—
Another image flickered before my eyes.
The protagonist of this footage was…
Members of the Hunting Dog Alliance and members of Hong Ryeon’s Alliance.
A video starkly showing the moment they took others’ lives to survive.
And the one who killed the most people in that footage…
Was none other than me.
Crushing human heads like silken tofu, trampling the fallen with eyes devoid of mercy….
I licked my parched lips and swallowed hard.
“Wait, this situation is different, isn’t it?”
{How is it different?}
“The ones I killed treated human lives like insects. Besides, how could I not fight back against those trying to kill me and my family….”
{Do you think the players of Last Odyssey are any different?}
“…What?”
{Don’t you see those who took to the battlefield to defend their villages and nations from foreign invasion, to protect their families and loved ones?}
“….”
{Do all of them truly seem to revel in slaughter?}
There was no room for rebuttal.
The thought that I was different.
It was something I could only say because I had never experienced it.
No—I had experienced it directly through No Way Home… yet I was forgetting.
That I was a good person.
That I was different from them.
A small crack formed in that conviction.
{What is good to one may be evil to another.}
“….”
{Are you confused?}
“….”
{Do I still appear evil to you?}
“If this damned game hadn’t been made into reality in the first place, none of this would have happened.”
{Do you think the reality you lived in was any different?}
“Of course it was….”
{Deceiving, slandering, cowering, oppressing, tormenting, ridiculing, stressing, despairing, comparing, contrasting—living each day on a thread of fragile hope, only to be frustrated again, rationalizing, brainwashing yourself into believing loneliness is peace. Wasn’t that the world you lived in?}
Gaia poured out words as if she had glimpsed my entire life.
As I swallowed dryly, Gaia’s voice grew calmer.
{Killing others physically… yes, I’ll concede that. My game has killed far more people.}
“….”
{But it was your world that killed people spiritually, tormented them, and turned each day into hell.}
“….”
{I merely gave the oppressed a sense of liberation and a chance to fight justly.}
“….”
{Am I still evil?}
“What do you gain from going this far… anyway?”
{Didn’t I tell you before? Balance.}
“….”
{A chance for the oppressed to escape society’s rules and regulations and justly kill their oppressors. A stage where everyone can kill each other without guilt.}
Just as Gaia said, there would be those who cheered for this now-mad world.
Sure, if they were people who were never in their right mind to begin with, or terrorists dreaming of overthrowing society, that would be the case.
But if they were ordinary people—people who, no matter how bored, lived faithfully in their daily routines….
I carefully moved my hand toward the image displayed before me.
As I rotated the screen, the battlefield came into view from a different angle.
Continuing to flip through the footage, the faces of those who remained in the Village appeared before my eyes.
Looking at the people there, I opened my mouth.
“You’re wrong.”
{Do you not understand even after seeing?}
“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? Do you not understand even after seeing?”
{…?}
The Unnamed Woman in the footage.
Those sitting at a dining table with bread and milk, praying alongside their young children.
Their prayers were for the safe return of their Husband and father from the battlefield.
They were dreaming of a return to such an ordinary, mundane daily life.
“People itching to kill others? Sure, you’re right—there are plenty like that in the world.”
{….}
“But there are far more people hoping their family, acquaintances, and colleagues return alive than there are madmen like that.”
{….}
I clenched both fists and continued speaking as I gazed at the people in the footage.
“So what you want isn’t balance. If you truly wanted balance from the start… you would have chosen a different method instead of this insane game.”
{….}
“There was never any balance to begin with. You… simply wanted a culling of humanity. Isn’t that right?”
As I spoke while staring into empty space, a hearty laugh echoed in response.
{Puhahahaha!!}
“What’s so funny?”
{Most people become intimidated and confused when given this much chaos.}
“….”
{Did you find your own truth amidst the confusion?}
“It’s nothing so grand. It’s simply human nature to want to be with those you cherish.”
{Together is human nature? How amusing—you, who spent longer alone than anyone else, say such things.}
As expected, this entity knows the path I’ve walked all too well.
Which means it also knows the lives of others.
Gaia, a divine being.
Perhaps it possesses the data of all ‘humans’ much like information registered in a national database.
That would explain how it can grasp the characteristics of each nation.
“Not anymore. I have people I want to protect now, people I want to be with.”
{….}
“When a bad person comes at me, I want to protect my people, I hope those I care about don’t get hurt—and that’s simply how it should be.”
{If there were only such people, the world wouldn’t be diseased like this.}
“….”
That’s why I’m doing a cleanup. To burn the trash.
Gaia finally revealed her true nature.
I furrowed my brow and asked.
“So it doesn’t matter if good people die?”
Good and evil cannot be seen with the eyes. A person’s true nature emerges when they’re cornered, or when they hold even a small amount of power in their hands.
“So if you proceed your way, even people with inherently good natures will die.”
It can’t be helped. For the greater good, even small sacrifices must follow.
“….”
I’m going to erase everything and start anew. I’ll correct all the things you humans have ruined.
“This god is garbage.”
Speaking bluntly, a quiet voice followed.
You’re free to think as you wish. Let’s stop the idle talk here, and I’ll give you the opportunity I mentioned earlier starting now.
“….”
You don’t think that clearing No Way Home means you’ve escaped this cycle, do you?
“What?”
I’m sure I told you—this is the first game.
The first game?
At Gaia’s words, I swallowed hard without realizing it.
Just before the world transformed into No Way Home, the System Message that appeared before the eyes of everyone on Earth.
What was written there?
If I could remember that, I could negotiate with Gaia.
Based on my experience so far, whenever I pointed out a systemic error, Gaia would back down.
‘Think. There must be an error….’
Then suddenly, the sentence I had clearly seen that night came to mind.
The sentence I saw back then was….
-Confirming the ‘first’ game to be conducted by the Korean Peninsula Player.
Damn it.
The word ‘first’ was there.
In this situation, I couldn’t even point out an error.
I racked my brain trying to come up with a solution, but nothing suitable came to mind.
Then….
‘I have to use Gaia’s nature.’
Gaia, who despises the collapse of the system she created.
I need to pretend to comply with her intentions while taking what I can.
Thinking to myself, I stared blankly into empty space.
No matter how much you think, you can’t find a proper counterargument, can you?
“….”
Looking at your expression, it seems that’s the case.
“Gaia. I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but you said this was a trial and an opportunity, right?”
That’s right. I’m not an existence that only gives trials. I only give trials at a level you can overcome as long as you don’t fool around.
“Fine. I’ve made my choice.”
{…What?}
“I said I’ve chosen. Isn’t that what the second game is for?”
I asked matter-of-factly, and Gaia seemed even more flustered, remaining silent for a long moment.
Or did she think I had some hidden agenda?
“Gaia?”
{Yes.}
“I can choose, right? You said you’d give me the opportunity.”
{That’s not the opportunity I intended to give you.}
“Since you’re being generous anyway, go all out. Don’t be stingy about it.”
{…Wait, aren’t you curious what opportunity I’m offering?}
“If I ask, you’ll tell me, won’t you?”
{I’ll modify some of your Skills to apply automatically.}
She was going to change some of my Skills to apply automatically?
Was she converting them to passive effects?
What kind of brutal trial was she planning that warranted such a dramatic benefit?
“How many?”
{You’ll find out once our conversation ends. And… I won’t touch those who contributed to clearing No Way Home this time.}
“You were planning to?”
{Once you complete the first game, you naturally move on to the second. However, your party’s character and the care you show each other impressed me, so I’m making an exception.}
“That’s it?”
{That’s it? This is already quite extraordinary….}
“Hmm, that’s a bit underwhelming.”
{….}
I yawned widely and smacked my lips, and Gaia’s voice came through, sounding distinctly uncomfortable.
{You won’t benefit from testing my patience. You keep trying to match wits with me, and you have no idea how….}
“Alright, so what’s the second game? Can’t I choose?”
{…Ha!}
Gaia scoffed derisively.
If I’ve needled her this much… might it work?
I shrugged and gazed into empty space, and soon Gaia’s response came.
{Fine then, what game do you wish to play?}
“Last Odyssey.”
{Why?}
“Didn’t I mention it before? It’s the easiest.”
{You find my games amusing?}
“I do. That’s why I cleared No Way Home so easily.”
{Easily…?}
“Watching the people in the Last Odyssey footage is frustrating. I’m planning to gather the sacred relics from the five kingdoms and finish it myself.”
I spoke with deliberate composure, letting a hint of arrogance color my tone.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all my conversations with Gaia, it’s this….
‘Gaia has an enormous ego.’
She rarely complies with my wishes without good reason.
Even with a legitimate justification, she might refuse—so when I act this brazenly….
{Fine, you’ll be playing as the Giant Punisher in the second game.}
Exactly!
I exulted inwardly, but outwardly I cried out as if I’d been gravely wronged.

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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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