Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 29

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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 029
Park Sangil’s eyes widened as he belatedly recalled the conversation from the underground parking garage.
“If a person drinks that… what happens to them?”
“Consider it as having a tracking device installed in your body.”
“…!”
I furrowed my brow and spoke to the male student.
“Happy now? Got stronger, didn’t you?”
The male student’s expression grew confused, then he forced a bitter smile.
“Sir, calm down. Why are you suddenly acting like this?”
“Calm down?! Because of you, we’re all going to die!”
“…What?”
In this desperate situation, I spoke with urgency.
“That essence you drank. It’s not a character awakening, you pathetic fool.”
The male student’s lips flapped uselessly like a fish.
He couldn’t accept the reality.
“That’s… that can’t be. It can’t be true? My physical stats clearly increased by 10 each…”
“That’s not a character awakening!”
“What would you know, sir! I’ve played this game before!”
“You quit at the Wall of Lamentation—what experience do you have?!”
“No…!”
“Just to gain 10 stats, you’ve essentially thrown everyone here to their deaths!”
I grabbed the male student by the collar and dragged him toward the entrance.
They say half-knowledge is the most dangerous thing.
This situation was exactly what that meant.
I couldn’t kill these people here.
If I did, the Mutants nearby would know this place was the last transmission point.
By driving these scent-emitting creatures far away, I could divert the Mutants’ attention.
Park Sangil and Park Sanghun, who had been observing the situation, also seized the Survivors in the living room.
“Let go, let go, you bastard!”
As the middle-aged man resisted roughly, Park Sangil threw a punch at his face without hesitation.
Crack!
“Gack!”
Blood streamed from the middle-aged man’s nose.
But….
“Huh, huh? Huh?!”
The blood flowing from his nose was not human.
A deep green, like vegetable juice.
Though drinking the essence from the Mutant Egg wouldn’t transform them into Mutants, their veins now carried Mutant blood.
That was why all their physical abilities had increased by 10.
In other words, they had become neither human nor monster—something in between.
“Kyaaaaaaah!!”
The young woman sitting in the living room screamed at the sight of the greenish blood.
The middle-aged man wiped away the viscous fluid dripping from his nose with a vacant expression.
“No, no way. This can’t be… it can’t be…”
The blood vessels in the middle-aged man’s eyes burst, and thick veins bulged across his forehead.
“That bastard…! That son of a bitch deceived us!!”
The middle-aged man lunged at the male student with blazing eyes.
Did he think the male student had lied to him?
No one here had spoken falsehoods.
There were only ignorant humans.
Crack!
“Ugh!”
When Park Sangil struck the middle-aged man’s neck, he rolled his eyes back and collapsed on the spot.
Five people standing with blank expressions as if their souls had left their bodies.
No, four people excluding the middle-aged man.
“Bind them all and bring them out.”
As I grabbed the male student and stepped toward the entrance first, the survivors in the living room began to struggle desperately.
When faced with death, no one would simply accept their fate.
But their physical abilities were no match for our group.
The moment our party subdued them, Park Sangil produced some packing tape from who knows where.
He wrapped the polypropylene cord around their wrists and dragged them out, bound so they could no longer resist.
Inhumane or not, I didn’t care.
They were no longer human anyway.
As I moved toward the common entrance, I continued to think.
There had been several strange points during my conversation with the male student.
The Mutant at Dae O Apartment had successfully hatched, and that’s why it came to Han O Apartment where we are.
I thought the Mutant followed willingly because of Euitaejong, but it might have been because of their scent.
More than 30 hours had already passed since these people entered Han O Apartment.
I couldn’t know how quickly or how far the scent of viscous fluid spreads in reality… but there might already be Mutants that have caught the scent and are approaching this place.
Most of all, what troubled me was…
‘What kind of egg nest’s fluid did they drink?’
What kind of egg nest’s fluid had they consumed?
As I mentioned before, the Mutant at Dae O Apartment successfully hatched and came over here.
Dae O Apartment… didn’t have just one Mutant egg nest?
“Let go, let go of this!”
The male student began to struggle, trying to shake off my grip.
The male student’s strength had increased by 10 after drinking the fluid, but my strength was already 25.
With the protective gear equipped, it increased by another 5.
I shook the male student by his collar and asked.
“Hey, just answer me one thing.”
“Ugh…!”
“Where did you drink the essence from?”
“Huh?!”
“The essence that leaked from the egg. Dae O Apartment didn’t have just one egg, did it?”
“We need the Mutant alive to cross over here, so what kind of idiot drinks all the essence?!”
“…”
“I just made tiny scratches and sucked it dry!”
Filthy bastards.
They extracted essence from that egg?
Without killing the Mutant?
Ah, now I understand.
‘That’s why.’
Euitaejong’s size seemed oddly small.
It wasn’t because he was a Mutant from the first episode.
He was born premature after they drained his essence.
Whoooosh—!
As I stepped outside through the common entrance, the Survivors’ desperate cries for help were swallowed by the sound of rain.
Their voices no longer reached my ears.
All I could think about was driving them out immediately.
I was frustrated I couldn’t kill them right here.
“Sangil! Are you following?!”
I shouted while turning back in the downpour, and Park Sangil dragged the Middle-aged Man along by the armpits, yelling back.
“Coming! This bastard’s damn heavy!”
It was difficult to ask for visual confirmation in these conditions.
Tap—
Then Kim Suhan approached my side.
“Sir, I’ll brief you on the situation.”
“Are you a Shooter?”
“Yes. Didn’t I mention it?”
Right, five out of ten high schoolers were Shooters.
“Sorry, I keep forgetting since Sangil’s always up front.”
“Oh no, that’s fine. It happens.”
“So Suhan, you’re a Shooter, and what’s Haneul’s class?”
“Kang Haneul is a Maker.”
Chulmil Grandfather’s character ability was Shooter too, if I recall correctly.
The elite team had three Shooters.
Park Sanghun’s class was Whisper, and once I figured out how to awaken character abilities later, it would likely become the most combat-effective combination.
I’d like to have a Healer too, but would it be good to add that one Middle School Student to our party?
‘I’ll think about that later.’
I organized my thoughts and followed Kim Suhan into the rain.
Heading toward the apartment’s main entrance, I had to raise my voice and occasionally resort to violence against the Survivors who were desperately struggling like madmen.
Thanks to my companions, I didn’t have to use violence myself.
Kang Haneul struck the Male Student in my stead.
I’d been inwardly worried that Kang Haneul, being taciturn, wouldn’t fit in with our group, but that concern proved entirely unfounded.
He was simply a man of few words.
“Sob… Waaah… Please save me. Please, please…”
The Male Student collapsed on the spot, sobbing and wailing, then grabbed my leg and began pleading desperately.
There might not be any Zombies nearby, but making such a loud noise like this… it was actually grating on my nerves.
“Shut up. Because of you, everyone here…”
“We haven’t even seen a Mutant appear yet!”
“What? You bastard, still…”
“Evidence, do you have evidence?! Do you have any proof that Mutants swarm when you drink the essence from a Mutant Egg?!”
“Sigh.”
“You said you haven’t even played the game! You’ve only survived thanks to your friend!”
“…”
“Connections, if you have connections, they’d know a way! Bring your friend, bring your friend here!”
This bastard just wouldn’t shut up.
I raised my right hand high and slapped the Male Student across the cheek.
Crack!
The sound of the slap echoed across the area, piercing through the heavy downpour.
Kim Suhan and Kang Haneul, who had been watching, froze in place.
“Wow… did you hear that?”
“That stung.”
The slap was so loud that Kim Suhan and Kang Haneul wore dumbfounded expressions.
Regardless, I looked down at the dazed Male Student and spoke.
“I’m the one with connections, you dimwitted bastard.”
“…!”
“There’s no way for you to survive. The price you pay for hoping against the odds… you’ll have to pay with your life.”
The Male Student, hearing that there was no answer, neither struggled nor made any more noise.
I grabbed the collapsed Male Student by his collar and headed toward the apartment’s main entrance.
“Sob… sob… sob…”
The sound of weeping tickled at my ears.
There was nothing else he could do but cry.
Of course, I had no intention of showing mercy just because he was crying.
He should blame his own ignorance, nothing else.
“Sob… sob…”
But… something about his weeping sounded strange.
No matter how young a student he was, his voice seemed far too sorrowful.
The moment I turned my head slightly to check the Male Student’s expression.
I found myself involuntarily stopping in my tracks.
The male student wasn’t crying.
He remained vacant, staring blankly at the ground.
I hastily raised my left hand to signal the group behind me to stop, and Kim Suhan beside me glanced around nervously before asking.
“Do you hear that too, hyung?”
“….”
“There seems to be a Survivor nearby.”
“Not a Survivor.”
“Pardon?”
“That’s not the sound a Survivor makes.”
“Then who….”
“Do you see any human figures around here?”
Kim Suhan wiped the rainwater from his face with his sleeve while scanning the surroundings.
I too remained vigilant and surveyed the area, but the thick fog obscured everything from view.
Without being a Shooter, visibility was limited to just twenty meters.
‘It’s close.’
The crying sound was coming from no great distance away.
If I continued listening to that sound, mental confusion would set in.
I turned back to the group and gestured.
I urged them to move back, to hurry with my hand signals.
Most wore expressions of confusion.
But one person.
Park Sangil laid the Unconscious Middle-aged Man on the ground and approached my side.
“Is this that thing you mentioned, Doyun?”
“Yes. There’s a Water Demon nearby.”
“I can hear the sound, but I can’t see anything.”
“Neither can I.”
“So a Mutant has appeared….”
Park Sangil looked back at the Five Survivors, swallowed hard, and spoke to the group.
“We should leave them here.”
At Park Sangil’s words, Park Sanghun, Kim Suhan, Kang Haneul, and Chulmil Grandfather couldn’t hide their bewilderment.
It seemed they were startled by the suddenness rather than feeling guilt about abandoning these people.
“Now listen, Sangil. This is inside the Safe House.”
At Chulmil Grandfather’s words, Park Sangil spoke with a troubled expression.
“The Mutant has already gotten inside.”
“…!”
“Since it’s searching for them, it would be best to leave them here.”
Chulmil Grandfather’s expression went blank for a moment, then he quickly regained his senses and pulled out a PP rope he’d stored in his bag.
Chulmil Grandfather always made sure to bring anything that might be useful.
He’d even brought the PP rope.
Grandfather began binding the ankles of the Five Survivors with the PP rope.
“Wait, wait! There’s no need to go this far!”
“You brought this upon yourselves.”
“Has the old man lost his mind? Are you telling us to die?!”
“Shut your mouth.”
Gwak Cheolmin took the initiative and bound the five survivors’ limbs.
The rest of the group held their entire bodies firmly to prevent them from struggling.
“Aaahhh! You bastards! You bastards!!”
The five survivors thrashed about, screaming at the top of their lungs.
Regardless of their protests, Gwak Cheolmin prioritized Kim Suhan and Kang Haneul first.
Gwak Cheolmin led the students back the way they had come.
Though he was harsh with the five survivors, the way he looked after the children first made him seem like a genuinely kindhearted grandfather.
Could we really just leave like this?
I didn’t know.
I couldn’t be certain how many Mutants had entered the Safe House, whether they would consume the five and return, or anything else.
One thing was certain—we couldn’t stay near them any longer.
We released the bait and retraced our steps.

* * *
We entered Building 106 next door instead of Building 105.
The best vantage point to visually confirm the fate of the five.
We opened a doorway on the 4th Floor and quickly gathered in front of the Living Room window.
In the distance, people with bound wrists and ankles writhed like pill bugs.
The male student with bound limbs bounced and tried to flee, but after a short distance, he fell and repeatedly struggled to his feet.
However, their futile thrashing subsided as a minute passed.
Not from physical exhaustion, but because the Water Demon’s cry had begun to induce delirium.

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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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