Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 36

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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 036
I had planned to test this once before moving on to the second episode anyway.
Since reality wasn’t completely identical to No Way Home, I needed to bridge the gap between what I knew and what actually existed.
Unlike my original plan to use Frenzy only after accounting for the possibility of losing consciousness, I ended up using it recklessly given the circumstances.
Still, now that I understand the realistic risks, I can be more careful going forward.
“Ugh! Don’t press there… I told you not to press there….”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Uhyeok’s expression was tense.
The pain had mostly subsided, and the woman holding the baseball bat had disappeared from my field of vision.
I looked at this man named Uhyeok and asked him.
“Where is this place?”
“Pardon?”
“The location here.”
“That’s… difficult to tell you. It would be like revealing our shelter’s location.”
“A shelter?”
“Huh? No, I mean a hideout.”
“Is this place a shelter?”
“Uh… Sister!”
Uhyeok stopped treating me and called out to the woman who had disappeared.
I tried to grab him urgently, but my body still wasn’t capable of moving.
A shelter.
Perhaps they simply referred to their residential area as a shelter.
But for anyone who had played No Way Home, that was a different story.
A Shelter was… a refuge for those who couldn’t enter the Safe House.
You could invest points to construct defensive positions or reinforce them.
In the long term, it was actually a place you could make even safer than the Safe House.
However, since maintenance costs were incurred, I hadn’t chosen the Shelter route.
What if there was a No Way Home Player here, and they anticipated from the start that the Safe House would become the target of all survivors and Mutants, preparing from this location instead?
Then things would be different.
Just from watching Uhyeok panic and change his words to hideout, I could tell this place was a real Shelter.
Shortly after, as the woman with the baseball bat approached, Uhyeok even stammered as he spoke.
“I, I said Shelter, sister. What do I do?”
“….”
Then the woman’s brow furrowed deeply.
It was rude to say, but Uhyeok was the type of man who fit the description of being dead weight.
The woman glared at my face, then let out a deep sigh and pressed her temples gently.
After a moment, she spoke as if exhausted.
“Since you already said Shelter, you must have figured it out.”
“….”
“Let’s be honest with each other. You’re a Player, aren’t you?”
“Are you a Player too?”
“Yeah. How far have you cleared?”
Clear record?
Was she asking how many episodes I’d completed?
After a brief moment of thought, I answered while looking at her.
“The fourth episode. I got stuck at The Weeping Wall.”
“Bullshit.”
She snorted and crouched down in front of me.
The woman continued speaking with a yawn that split her mouth wide, as if exhausted.
“Right, it must be burdensome to reveal all your information.”
“….”
“It’s you, isn’t it? The one who successfully activated a Safe House.”
“Where is this? It’s Haengdang-dong, right?”
“It’s Majang-dong.”
“Majang-dong?”
Majang-dong, located to the northeast of Haengdang-dong.
I’d come all the way here?
The woman stared at my face with half-lidded eyes, then tilted her head and asked.
“Are you a Buster?”
Continuing to evade or hesitate in my answers wouldn’t be wise either.
It would only increase our mutual suspicion.
“Yeah. What about you?”
“Shooter.”
“Why not Buster?”
“How would I pick such garbage in reality?”
“….”
“This isn’t a game—it’s reality. Don’t you know most people who aim for the late game die early on?”
“….”
“You’ve got guts, surviving this long as a Buster.”
The woman laughed flatly and stood up, then spoke to Uhyeok while looking at him.
“Keep treating him.”
“Huh? N-Noona, are you sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“The way he hunts zombies was absolutely… insane.”
“He’s insane, alright. Genuinely insane.”
“But you want me to treat him?”
“He’s insane in a good way.”
The woman laughed flatly, shoved both hands into her pants pockets, and sat down on a wooden chair beside her.
“What’s your name?”
“Baek Doyun.”
“Nice to meet you. I’m Hong Yeonhui.”
She appeared to be around my age—at most, perhaps a year or two older.
Hong Yeonhui asked while crossing one leg as she sat.
“How did you end up here?”
“I used a skill with risks.”
“Frenzy?”
“…!”
At the mention of Frenzy, my expression grew even more startled, and Hong Yeonhui asked with an awkward smile.
“Your face says it really was Frenzy. I wasn’t sure, so I was planning to ask once you woke up.”
“You know about Frenzy?”
“Why are you so surprised? I’ve played as a Buster in No Way Home too, so of course I know.”
There was someone else who had pushed their Epidermis stat past 100?
“You pushed your Epidermis stat… to 100?”
“Do you think you’re the only one who experiments with different things while playing?”
“….”
“I’m different from those Yanben players. They just follow standard routes and read strategy guides written by others—there’s no way they’d know anything.”
“….”
“Why would you listen to advice from people who’ve never even cleared the game?”
Hong Yeonhui scoffed and spoke as if it were obvious.
“Then… why didn’t you use Buster if you knew that?”
“I already told you. You can’t survive the early game.”
“….”
“What good is it if you die early, even if you get stronger later?”
“That’s true.”
“You’ve got guts. How did you kill zombies and survive with just 5 stats?”
There was no need to tell her everything.
Since Hong Yeonhui had also received rewards from playing No Way Home, she’d understand even if I kept it vague.
“I got lucky.”
“You met decent party members?”
Decent people.
The memory of us all gathered in the living room, eating ramen and laughing together, surfaced in my mind.
A sense of belonging I’d never felt before in my life.
That feeling of belonging suddenly flooded back into my thoughts.
When I didn’t answer, Hong Yeonhui shrugged and made a sullen expression.
“Is this a sensitive question?”
“What?”
“Asking about your comrades. Your expression was ambiguous.”
“….”
“Anyway, once the treatment is done, I hope you’ll go back. Will you do that?”
If she was willing to let me go without fuss, that worked fine for me.
I nodded, and Hong Yeonhui stared intently at my face without asking anything else.
She gazed at me without blinking, her stare heavy and uncomfortable.
What’s this about? Does she want something from me?
“Baek Doyun.”
“Yeah?”
“Would you ever consider joining our Shelter?”
I thought she was going to threaten me into absolute silence about the Shelter’s location, but instead she was making a recruitment offer out of nowhere?
I raised my eyebrows, and Hong Yeonhui smiled contentedly as she spoke.
“I have a pretty good eye for people.”
“When did you get that chance to judge?”
“I’m looking at you right now.”
“….”
“This game has so many different kinds of endings, you know? I think it would be good for us to share information we know.”
“Isn’t that trusting people too easily?”
“Ha! I suppose it could look that way.”
Hong Yeonhui smiled bitterly, resting her chin on one hand.
Crash—!
At that moment, the sound of something spilling came from the Parking Lot Emergency Exit.
Without anyone saying who should go first, we both turned our heads.
An unnamed girl was pouting her lower lip as she stared at the noodles she had spilled.
As Hong Yeonhui rushed over, the girl spoke through tears streaming down her face like chicken droppings.
“Sister….”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Are you hurt?”
“I brought noodles for you, sister, but… sniff….”
The child cried silently, wiping away tears without making a sound.
Hong Yeonhui looked at the noodles scattered on the floor, then picked up the part that hadn’t gotten dirty and put it in her mouth.
“Mmm, delicious. Must be because my little friend here brought it for me.”
“Sister, that’s dirty. You shouldn’t eat it.”
“It’s fine, there’s the five-second rule.”
Then Uhyeok, who had been treating my wound, spoke with a startled expression.
“Miss, please stop eating things off the floor! Five seconds is nonsense!”
“Shut it. Want to die?”
“It’s not even candy, it’s noodles….”
“It doesn’t matter. Once it goes in the stomach, it’s all the same.”
“You’ll get a stomachache that way!”
“Is it your stomach? It’s my stomach, man.”
Hong Yeonhui had a carefree personality.
Even Baek Doyun couldn’t help but admire Hong Yeonhui’s boldness.
Beyond her personality, Hong Yeonhui was also a survivor who stayed with the children.
If I had met Hong Yeonhui early on… wouldn’t she have become a comrade like Park Sangil?
I looked at Hong Yeonhui and asked.
“Is your party sufficient?”
“Huh?”
“You’ll need survivors with different abilities, right? Given the Shelter’s constraints, you probably don’t have many people. Is your current setup enough?”
“That’s not something you need to worry about.”
“It seems like you haven’t found a Maker yet.”
“….”
“Or is it that you lack Points, making equipment crafting difficult?”
When I asked matter-of-factly, Hong Yeonhui laughed as if it were absurd.
“What, are you worried about me?”
“Let’s merge.”
“…Huh?”
“My companions and your companions—let’s unite them together.”
When I spoke calmly, Hong Yeonhui hesitated for a moment, her arms crossed.
But soon she waved her hand and spoke.
“It’s an interesting proposal, but you’ve seen it yourself, haven’t you?”
“Seen what?”
“We’re not exactly a helpful combination. I hate being dead weight.”
She even had a conscience?
I liked her even more.
“I have a plan.”
“What kind of plan?”
“I’m going to make the Walking Daddy from the fourth episode—the Zombie King—my ally.”
When I stated it bluntly, Hong Yeonhui’s expression went blank.
Not long after, she burst into hearty laughter.
“Puhaha! Hey, are you aspiring to be a comedian?”
“What’s so funny?”
“Do you think that’s possible? If it were that easy….”
Hong Yeonhui trailed off, then asked with a suddenly serious expression.
“Are you serious?”
Instead of answering, I stared at her intently, and Hong Yeonhui swallowed hard before asking.
“What’s the method?”
“In exchange, tell me the number and character composition of your team members.”
“….”
Hong Yeonhui fell into contemplation, her lips pressed firmly shut.
She probably found it burdensome to reveal everything.
For about a minute, we simply stared at each other in silence.
Finally, Hong Yeonhui let out a long sigh and spoke.
“Phew, I was almost tempted. No, forget it. I can’t participate in such an absurd plan.”
“Whether it makes sense or not is something we’ll have to see….”
“If you can manage it, then do the same.”
“….”
“I’m not the type to hate crazy plans, but right now I’m not alone.”
Hong Yeonhui smiled warmly while stroking the young girl’s head beside her.
It seems certain that Hong Yeonhui is the owner of this Shelter.
Unfortunately, going any further from here would be a burden for both of us.
Accepting someone requires that much sense of responsibility.
Hong Yeonhui continued speaking while licking her lips.
“You know you’ll have to abandon the Safe House eventually, right?”
“I know.”
“It’ll proceed differently than in the game. In the game, the Safe House was destroyed because of Mutants, but that won’t happen in reality.”
Hong Yeonhui spoke seriously while looking at my face.
“Be careful of people. In reality, it’ll be destroyed because of people.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Hong Yeonhui looked at Uhyeok and asked.
“How long do you think the treatment will take?”
“Complete recovery will take quite a while. I think it’ll need at least another hour….”
“What about now? Can he move around at a basic level?”
“Movement is possible, but the bones haven’t fully set yet….”
“That’s enough. You’re satisfied with that, right?”
She’s already decided and is asking for my opinion.
I have no intention of staying here and receiving treatment either.
Since I learned that being bitten by a Zombie doesn’t pierce my flesh, it won’t be too late to return to the Safe House and receive treatment there.
If it gets any later….
‘They’ll worry.’
So this is what it feels like to have a place to return to.
Feeling oddly embarrassed, I rubbed the back of my neck and spoke.
“Thank you for treating me, Uhyeok.”
“Huh? Ah… Yes.”
“Take care of yourself.”
“Yes! You… Um….”
“It’s Baek Doyun.”
“Ah, yes. You take care too, Baek Doyun.”
After a brief exchange of greetings, I checked my physical condition.
There are still many sore and tingling areas, but this is manageable for movement.
“Hey!”
Hong Yeonhui’s voice from behind my back.
When I turned my head, Hong Yeonhui threw me a steel pipe.
As I caught the steel pipe with both hands, Hong Yeonhui waved her hand casually and spoke.
“You need a weapon. That’s thanks enough.”
“Thank you.”
“I told you, no need for thanks.”
“I’ll repay this debt someday.”
“Debt? What’s your ex-girlfriend’s name?”
Hong Yeonhui walked toward the emergency exit, cracking jokes to herself and bursting into laughter alone.
She had an oddly middle-aged quality to her.

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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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