Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 31

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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 031
Gwak Cheolmin nodded silently.
If the Mutant in Building 121 had caught the scent of five corpses with severed limbs and tracked it here, it would have passed Building 118 along the way.
There was no guarantee it wouldn’t have been discovered.
“Can you determine how many have entered?”
“I’m afraid not. The status board doesn’t display exact numbers.”
There were three Water Demons between Building 111 and Building 104, but the status board only showed a warning about danger.
When we captured the Euitaejong before, it too only displayed a danger warning.
The Safe House status board didn’t reveal enemy counts.
Park Sangil spoke while looking at Gwak Cheolmin.
“I think it would be wise to conduct reconnaissance.”
“I’m not certain whether going out to confirm is the wisest choice.”
“Have you forgotten about the Euitaejong? Those creatures can climb outer walls.”
“…”
“If an Euitaejong reaches where we are, we lose any chance to escape.”
“Is there a possibility it’s not an Euitaejong?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean the type of Mutant. The ones we saw in Building 104 earlier weren’t Euitaejong, were they?”
Only Park Sangil had heard the explanation about Mutants.
Park Sangha and Park Sanghun knew only the basics.
‘Is it right to keep this secret?’
The thought crossed Park Sangil’s mind.
How much longer should he hide from them that Baek Doyun possessed information about the future?
He had explained it as if Baek Doyun knew the general framework, but he hadn’t shared such detailed information.
Park Sangil swallowed dryly before speaking.
“I don’t know everything clearly either. Doyun doesn’t know everything either.”
“…”
“What we’ve heard from Doyun are only Water Demons, Severed Species, Euitaejong, and Resonance Species.”
“So there are more besides those?”
“We’ve heard there are more. But Doyun said the aggressive Mutants are Water Demons, Euitaejong, and Severed Species.”
Gwak Cheolmin’s expression grew serious as he crossed his arms, and after a moment, he sighed and opened his mouth.
“Let’s send people with Shooter abilities to conduct reconnaissance.”
“No. It’s safer if people wearing protective gear move around.”
As Gwak Cheolmin nodded, the two hurried up to the top floor where the rest of the group was.
When they opened the entrance and entered the living room, the people who had heard the current situation from Park Sanghun each offered their thoughts.
“Doyun lured a Mutant?! You sent him alone?”
“What happened? A Mutant all of a sudden?”
“Is Doyun okay?”
Everyone was worried about Baek Doyun.
Park Sangil briefly summarized the current situation, then brought up the matter of the Mutant in Building 121.
The people in the living room swallowed hard and their expressions grew serious.
“I think it would be best for those wearing protective gear to move to Building 121 and check the situation. What do you all think?”
“Just because you’re wearing protective gear doesn’t make you invincible? It’s dangerous! I’m coming too.”
Lee Kwanghyun rolled up his sleeves and stepped forward, but his wife grabbed his arm with an anxious expression.
“What are you going to do without even a weapon?”
“So you’re just going to hide here? Aren’t you ashamed to face Suhan and Haneul?”
Kim Suhan and Kang Haneul, who had received protective gear.
He seemed bothered by putting high school students at the forefront.
Park Sangil calmed Lee Kwanghyun and spoke.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but we need someone here who can maintain visual surveillance. Please stay here.”
“But…”
“This is a high-rise building. If the Mutant that entered the Safe House is a Resonance Species, maintaining visual surveillance is critical.”
“…”
“Those who chose the Shooter ability should each take one window and monitor the outside situation. Those with protective gear will go to Building 121.”
As Park Sangil organized the situation, Park Sangha stood up from his seat and began putting on his equipment, asking a question.
“You’re saying we should go check first, right?”
“That’s right.”
“What if that thing moves to Building 118?”
“Then we fight.”
Park Sangil answered firmly, and Park Sangha quietly stroked his chin, lost in thought.
Before long, he carefully opened his mouth.
“What if… the thing in Building 121 doesn’t come here.”
“Then we avoid the fight.”
“It could go toward Doyun’s side instead of coming here.”
“…”
“I think it would be better if we dealt with the Mutant in Building 121.”
“…”
Park Sangil gave no answer.
I understand well enough what Park Sangha is saying.
To lighten Baek Doyun’s burden.
But… Baek Doyun spoke confidently that he had a plan, that he had a way.
I worried that if I stepped in carelessly, it might disrupt his plan.
As Park Sangil hesitated, Park Sangha gripped his lowered sword and spoke to the group.
“Those of you going on reconnaissance now—come out prepared to kill the Mutant in Building 121.”
“…”
“If you’re going out with a half-hearted mindset, stay here.”
At that, Kim Suhan, Kang Haneul, and Gwak Cheolmin stepped forward toward the shoe cabinet.
Gwak Cheolmin spoke as he put on his water-soaked shoes.
“I left that kind of weak-spirited thinking back at elementary school.”
“…”
“Isn’t everyone in the same boat?”
As Gwak Cheolmin looked at the people in the living room, they all nodded with renewed determination.
Gwak Cheolmin opened a storage cabinet and gathered the Molotov cocktails, rope, and other supplies inside.
Gwak Cheolmin prepared for every conceivable scenario.
Park Sangil observed the elite team now ready and exhaled sharply before speaking.
“Let’s go.”

* * *
The three brothers, Gwak Cheolmin, Kim Suhan, and Kang Haneul advanced through the heavy rain toward Building 121.
As they climbed the slope, they moved with meticulous caution, using vegetation, trees, and the outer walls to avoid detection by the enemy’s gaze.
When Park Sangil at the front suddenly stopped in alarm, those following him instinctively placed their hands on their sword hilts.
“Is it an Euitaejong?”
Gwak Cheolmin’s question came from behind.
Park Sangil shook his head, his eyes narrowed as he stared straight ahead.
Uncertain despite his scrutiny, he asked those behind him.
“Do you see the basketball court in front of Building 121?”
Gwak Cheolmin moved beside Park Sangil and, upon seeing the entity on the basketball court, tilted his head in confusion.
“What kind of mutant is that…?”
Its appearance was no different from human.
It wasn’t whimpering like a Water Demon, nor was it one of those Resonance Species called Eye Monsters.
Had an Euitaejong entered the Safe House in human form?
Or… was that a Severing Species?
Since I hadn’t heard from Baek Doyun about the appearance of a Severing Species, I couldn’t make a hasty judgment.
After brief deliberation, Park Sangil turned to address the group.
“I’ll go check it out.”
“What do you mean you’ll check? If we’re going, we all go together.”
As Gwak Cheolmin spoke as if it made no sense, Park Sangha beside him also nodded.
“That thing might launch a preemptive attack. We should all go together.”
Then Park Sanghun, who had been listening quietly, asked as if he couldn’t understand.
“Wait, I think everyone’s confused—didn’t we come here to scout?”
“…”
“Why force a fight? If that thing shows signs of moving toward Building 118, we can just follow it.”
“If that thing cuts straight through, how are we supposed to follow?”
With a human body, one cannot move directly from Building 121 to Building 118 in a single leap.
How would anyone walk down a cliff?
One would have to circle back around the slope the way we came up.
This apartment complex had undergone leveling work, but it didn’t apply to all buildings.
Since the leveling was done in tiers, Building 121, positioned at the relatively highest elevation, could overlook all the other buildings.
Therefore, only a mutant could move in a straight line from here to Building 118.
Park Sanghun still seemed troubled, his expression bitter as he asked.
“Isn’t it too risky for us to fight each other when we don’t even have information about the Mutant?”
Park Sangha asked in a calm voice from beside him.
“So what do you suggest?”
“Let’s observe the situation until Doyun returns.”
“Can’t you do anything without Doyun?”
“No, that’s not what I mean…”
“Are you going to leave everything to Doyun?”
“…”
“We need to do something too. We’re not an endangered species—how long are we going to be protected?”
“No, what I’m saying is we should do what we’re capable of. That thing isn’t something we can handle.”
“…”
“Doyun said it himself, didn’t he? Life or death depends on what kind of Mutant you encounter early on.”
Park Sanghun’s point was reasonable, so Park Sangha didn’t argue further.
Instead, he looked at Park Sangil and asked.
“What do you think, hyung?”
Park Sangil gazed at his curved sword with a contemplative expression, then gripped the hilt firmly and spoke.
“The Maker’s weapons reduce the Mutant’s regenerative ability, right?”
“That’s right.”
“In tight spaces, we struggled to engage, but this is a basketball court. If it becomes a prolonged fight, we have the advantage in numbers.”
“Open spaces are advantageous, right?”
“When we took down the Euitaejong before, Doyun charged in first and created space for us to engage.”
“…”
“Since this place is wide open on all sides, if we can just disperse the Mutant’s attention well, we can handle it.”
Park Sangha swept back his rain-soaked hair and gripped his curved sword as he spoke.
“Then let’s try it.”
With everyone’s agreement, Park Sangil moved toward the basketball court, sword hilt firmly in hand.
Splash—splash splash.
He didn’t hide his presence at all, walking openly toward the basketball court.
As if to say openly: here’s your prey.
The creature in the basketball court turned its head at the sound of footsteps, regarding the scout team with an expression devoid of any emotion.
That gaze was so chillingly cold that Park Sangil swallowed hard and gripped his curved sword with both hands.
Then the creature tilted its head, staring at the blade.
Was it showing curiosity?
Park Sangil observed the creature’s behavior carefully, then spoke to his companions behind him.
“It resembles the Euitaejong.”
“End it quickly then.”
Gwak Cheolmin pushed off the ground with his sword hilt gripped and charged forward.
Gwak Cheolmin swung his curved sword at the Mutant in the basketball court, eyes wide open.
Whoosh—
In that instant, the creature that had been there moments before vanished as if it were a lie.
No, it didn’t disappear—it would be more accurate to say it melted away.
“Where… where did it go?”
As Gwak Cheolmin stared at the ground with a blank expression, the three Park brothers, Kim Suhan, and Kang Haneul widened their eyes and scanned the basketball court.
Park Sangil had seen it clearly.
The creature dissolving like liquid.
“Watch the ground! It’s somewhere here!”
At Park Sangil’s shout, everyone gripped their curved swords and took defensive positions.
“What? There!”
Kim Suhan, who had been scanning the ground without blinking, pointed at something with his finger.
There was a puddle pooling there.
One might assume the puddle formed from the heavy rain, but the problem was that the puddle was moving ever so slightly.
Upon discovering this anomalous puddle, Park Sangil rushed forward without hesitation.
Simultaneously, he swung his curved sword toward the puddle.
Thwack!
The blade tore through the urethane floor and embedded itself in the ground.
Was it just an ordinary puddle?
“There it is!”
This time Gwak Cheolmin shouted and rushed toward the corner of the basketball court.
Unlike the rainwater flowing to the right, a puddle moving solely to the left.
Thwack!
Again, only the intact urethane floor was torn up.
While everyone panicked, Park Sangha lifted his head and looked around.
“Middle brother, what are you doing?! Aren’t you searching?”
Regardless of what Park Sanghun said, Park Sangha narrowed his eyes and gazed at the apartment windows around them.
Finding it difficult to check all the windows due to limited visibility, he called to Kim Suhan beside him.
“Suhan, if you see any human silhouettes in the windows, let me know.”
“The windows?”
“The real body is elsewhere.”
In that brief moment, Park Sangha formed a hypothesis.
The distance between the puddle Kim Suhan found and the puddle Gwak Cheolmin found was eight meters.
A puddle that travels eight meters in less than two seconds cannot exist.
Especially since it was discovered moving in the opposite direction of the water flow.
Then there was only one answer.
The human form on the basketball court was bait.
A human shape made of liquid.
‘This isn’t a Mutant we know.’
The story Baek Doyun had told me came to mind.
No Way Home contained six types of Mutants.
If the Mutant here wasn’t an Euitaejong, Resonance Species, Water Demon, or Severing Species, there was only one answer.
It had to be one of the two remaining Mutant types I hadn’t heard about from Baek Doyun.
Park Sangha gripped the curved blade as he spoke.
“If we can just find the main body, we can handle it.”
“H-how can you be so sure about that?”
When Kim Suhan asked with an anxious voice, Park Sangha swallowed hard before answering.
“Doyun already warned us about what we need to be careful with at the start. The fact that it’s creating bait like this means its combat power is inferior.”
“Then…”
“We need to find the main body. Find it and deal with it here.”

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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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