Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 38

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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 038
“Are you alright?”
Han Hye-ri nodded while wiping away her tears.
I calmed Han Hye-ri down and helped her to her feet.
Han Hye-ri’s condition was concerning, but I was also worried about the group in Building 118.
There were children there, after all.
With no time to waste, I carried Han Hye-ri on my back and ran toward Building 118.
“Hye-ri, you’re a Shooter, right?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me if you see anything on the way.”
“Yes.”

* * *
Thwack! Crack! Smack, bang!
“Hit them more! Beat them harder!”
Men were beating the three brothers, Gwak Cheolmin, and Lee Kwanghyun, who were bound with rope.
The man who appeared to be their leader swung his aching fist with a sneer.
“Ha! You bastard… looks like you don’t even have the strength to struggle anymore, huh?”
“…”
“You were making such a fuss out there?”
“…”
“Twenty of my men died because of you, you bastard.”
“You… die too… you bas…”
Thwack!
As Park Sangil tried to curse, the man threw a punch directly at him.
“Ha! Look at these guys’ durability!”
“…”
The man seemed to be enjoying this, grinning widely as he spoke.
“Hey, struggle more. It’s boring when you’re all limp like that.”
“…”
“Ah, what a dull bastard.”
Park Sangil’s face was caked with blood.
The man stared intently at Park Sangil’s face, then as if something amusing had occurred to him, he laughed with a “pfft!” and opened his mouth.
“Hey, aren’t you curious what happens next?”
“…”
“I’m going to slowly torture you all to death from now on.”
“…”
“But I noticed there are quite a few young ones here?”
At the mention of young ones, Park Sangil’s eyes widened fiercely as he glared at the man.
“Oh, ooh! That’s it. That’s exactly the look I wanted!”
“Touch them, and you won’t make it back alive.”
“Puhaha! Who said anything about going back? This place is mine now.”
“You bastard…”
“Puhah! Hey, don’t worry. I’ll treat you real nice.”
“…”
“We don’t need the men, so kill them all—huh?”
The man snapped his fingers at a colleague behind him, as if remembering something he’d forgotten.
“Hey, didn’t we have someone with unusual tastes among us?”
“That bastard died at the intersection.”
“Ah, is that so?”
The man looked at Park Sangil with a regretful expression.
“What a shame. We had someone who liked kids like you, but apparently he’s already dead?”
“…”
“You’ll just have to die.”
Bang!
At that moment, a man burst through the front door.
“Park Sangil!”
A fighter pulling off a 3-versus-500 feat.
It was Jo Yunhwan, who had gone to the adjacent building to find food.
Blood was already smeared across Jo Yunhwan’s hands.
Jo Yunhwan had fought his way up, dealing with every scrap of trash he encountered using only his fists.
“L-Leader…! That bastard…!”
Several men groaning in pain became visible beyond the entrance.
The man called Leader furrowed his brow and asked, looking at Park Sangil.
“Is that hulking thing another friend of yours?”
“…”
Park Sangil stared at Jo Yunhwan with swollen, half-closed eyes.
Deep wounds covered Jo Yunhwan’s hands and arms.
Wounds that looked like he’d been slashed by a blade multiple times already.
Regardless, the man who appeared to be the Leader shouted to his subordinates behind him.
“What are you all doing?! Kill that bastard!”
At the Leader’s command, a dozen or so men in the living room rushed at Jo Yunhwan simultaneously.
Even for Jo Yunhwan, who could fight 3 against 500, the numbers were overwhelming.
Yet even as he was beaten with clubs, Jo Yunhwan resisted fiercely.
For this timid Jo Yunhwan to be consumed by such rage…
“Where’s my niece?! Where’s my Yeon-ah?!”
A seven-year-old girl.
When Jo Yunhwan couldn’t find his niece, his eyes went wild.
Crack!
“Gack…!”
A wooden club struck Jo Yunhwan’s head as he struggled fiercely against his captors.
It had caught him at the temple—I could see his eyes glaze over.
Unable to hold on any longer, Jo Yunhwan collapsed onto the living room floor.
But the beatings from the thugs didn’t stop.
Park Sangil ground his teeth audibly as he spoke.
“Stop… Stop it!”
“Oh, camaraderie? Is that what this is?”
“He’s unconscious! Stop!”
“I don’t want to?”
The man who appeared to be the leader watched with a constant smirk as the fallen Jo Yunhwan was beaten into a pulp.
Crash!!
At that moment, a thunderous sound from the staircase froze everyone in place.
Boom— Boom— Crash!!
A series of deafening sounds.
“What is that? What’s making that noise?”
Among those beating Jo Yunhwan, a voice rose questioning the source of the sound.
The man who appeared to be the leader looked toward the entrance, then spoke to a subordinate beside him.
“Hey, go check it out.”
“Huh? Me, me?”
“Or should I go?”
As the leader furrowed his brow and glared, the subordinate grumbled and walked toward the entrance.
Boom—! Crash!! Crack!!
The sounds drew steadily closer.
With each impact against the walls, dust fell from the ceiling, and gentle tremors rippled across the living room floor.
“Ha… Haha! Hahaha!”
Park Sangil, still bound, recognized the source of the sound and began laughing heartily.
The leader then furrowed his brow and grabbed Park Sangil by the hair.
“What’s so funny, you bastard?”
“You’re… all finished now.”
“…What?”
“He’s back.”
At Park Sangil’s words, Park Sangha and Park Sanghun, who had been hanging their heads, slowly lifted them.
Blood was dripping steadily from both their heads as well.
As the three brothers all curled their lips upward, the man who appeared to be the leader struck their cheeks and shouted.
“What’s! So! Funny! You! Bastards!”
“….”
“Who is it? Who’s coming!”
“Who else… The Protagonist.”
Crash!!!
A thunderous sound now heard from directly below.
What kind of weapon would even produce a sound like that?
The leader of the thugs swallowed hard, staring at the entrance.
A human figure gradually came into view.
It was Baek Doyun, supporting Han Hye-ri as he climbed the stairs.
“What, what is this? Just one guy?”
The villains exchanged bewildered glances with one another.
Despite there being only one of him, no one dared rush forward recklessly.
He had no weapons, and he’d even climbed all the way up here while supporting a woman.
And yet… Baek Doyun was drenched in blood from head to toe.
Not his own blood, but someone else’s.

* * *
The remaining villains were all at the top.
Roughly a dozen or so.
If this continues…
Wait? Hold on, the numbers don’t add up.
“Where are the other two?”
The thugs gave no answer.
Right, I hadn’t expected them to answer anyway.
“Hye-ri, sit here for a moment.”
Since I’d need to face multiple opponents at once, fighting while supporting Han Hye-ri would be difficult.
I sat Han Hye-ri down on the stairs and rotated both my wrists, keeping my eyes on the thugs.
My own bones weren’t completely healed either.
I’d received treatment from Uhyeok at the shelter, but that was only a temporary measure.
If I pushed too hard, the fractured bones could shatter at any moment.
But no matter how unhealed my bones were, no one would feel burdened breaking a stick.
Whoosh—Crash!!!
I grabbed the nearest thug’s face and smashed it straight into the wall.
The sound of a skull cracking echoed through the vibrations of the wall.
The thugs, realizing the source of the explosion, scattered in panic toward the shoe cabinet.
“Close it, close it!”
“Hurry and close it, you bastard!”
The thugs screamed to shut the door.
Just before the door closed, I grabbed the entrance and wrenched it open with force.
“Ahhhhh!”
The thugs holding the doorknob tumbled forward in front of me.
They looked up at me in terror.
I raised my right foot high and asked them a question.
“Ever played whack-a-mole?”
“Eeek…!”
Crack!! Crunch— Thud!! Splat!! Bang!!
In the blink of an eye, I disposed of the fallen men and turned my gaze toward those inside.
The three Park brothers bound by rope, their bodies reduced to pulp, along with Elderly Grandfather and Lee Kwanghyun came into view.
How much force does it take to reduce a person to such a state?
Well… not that I have any room to talk.
The living room where we’d all laughed together over ramen was now stained with blood—whose, I couldn’t even tell.
Muddy footprints were scattered everywhere.
The space where children played and rolled around was now covered in all manner of filth.
“Who… told you to wear shoes inside?”
As I asked in a voice dripping with killing intent, the one who appeared to be their leader stepped forward with a dry gulp.
He gripped a sashimi knife and pointed it at me, then forced his lips upward into a smile and spoke.
“Heh, heh… look at this bastard?”
“….”
“Are you that Protagonist or whatever, you son of a bitch?”
Protagonist?
That was the nickname Park Sangha had given me.
I glanced sideways at Park Sangha’s face.
His teeth were broken, his glasses shattered.
Several of his fingers were broken, and blood dripped from his mouth.
It boils.
This rage—with every drop of blood in my body burning—how was I supposed to contain it?
I stared at the man holding the knife and asked.
“Was it you?”
“Yeah! I did it! These bastards, I was just teaching them a lesson——”
Rip, Slash—!!!
It happened in an instant.
Everyone in the living room froze at the gruesome sight unfolding before them.
In a blink, I closed the distance and grabbed his filthy mouth.
And… I tore his lower jaw clean off.
“…!!”
The dangling tongue was utterly repulsive.
He collapsed without even managing a scream of agony.
The remaining men in the living room, seeing this, felt their legs give out and crumpled to the floor, wringing their hands like flies.
“P-please spare us. W-we were wrong!”
“N-never again! We’ll never do this again!”
“I-I just want to live! I had no choice but to follow that bastard’s orders! I’m innocent!”
“We won’t do this again either! We’ll live righteously!”
Yes, they begged for their lives like this, swearing they’d live righteously, so I should spare them——
“right?”
Rip— Crack!! Splat!! Crunch— Splat!!
I cleared out every thug in the living room and freed my companions from their bonds.
“Is everyone alright?”
“Heejoo… Heejoo first….”
The name flowed weakly from Park Sangil’s lips.
His wife, Kim Heejoo.
Now that I thought about it, Kim Heejoo and the other children weren’t visible.
“Sir… over there….”
Han Hye-ri, who had been sitting on the stairs, was now pointing to the adjacent unit from in front of the entrance.
Was she indicating the next room?
After confirming everyone was still breathing, I hurried toward the opposite entrance.
As I roughly threw open the entrance, I found Kim Heejoo, Lee Kwanghyun’s Wife, and the children huddled together in the living room.
They were all sitting bound with rope.
The high school and middle school students had clearly taken a beating—their faces were all smeared with blood.
Children under ten years old were tied up without any resistance, their tears streaming down like chicken droppings.
The moment I rushed into the living room.
“Doyun, watch out!”
Kim Heejoo screamed.
Thwack—! Thud!
Simultaneously, I felt an impact on the back of my head.
And a sharp pain shot through my side.
As I lowered my head, I could see a sashimi knife embedded three centimeters deep in my side.
Following the hand gripping the knife with my gaze, I saw the bewildered face of a man.
“W-why isn’t it going in…?!”
My Epidermis stat was 110.
Skin that wouldn’t tear even if a person in a frenzy bit it with all their strength.
Naturally, there was no way a sashimi knife could embed itself deeply in my skin.
Even if it were a freshly sharpened blade, this was a knife already dulled from being swung multiple times, wasn’t it?
“You should have sharpened your blade.”
“…!”
I grabbed both men by the face and dragged them straight out through the entrance.
I couldn’t crush their skulls in front of the children.
While the situation was urgent, it wasn’t so critical that I needed to resort to that.
As I dragged the men out like luggage, they began screaming and thrashing about.
I hurled both of them down the emergency exit.
Crash!! Crack!!
Two thunderous sounds echoed from the stairwell.
After that… no more screams were heard.
Ding—!
[Congratulations! You have eliminated all enemies that attacked the Safe House!]
[Please form an Alliance to receive your clear reward!]
Now is not the time to check rewards or confirmations.
I closed the System Message before me and began freeing the people bound by ropes.
“Is everyone okay? Are you alright too, Heejoo?”
“Waaahhhhh…!”
Kim Suhan collapsed into my arms, weeping uncontrollably.
I patted Kim Suhan’s back while checking the condition of the others.
There were far too many injured people.
I felt ashamed of myself for rejoicing over the points I had acquired in bulk after using Frenzy.
In that moment, something became more important to me than points.

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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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