Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 39

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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 039
Hong Yeonhui was right when she spoke to me at the shelter.
This isn’t a game.
It’s reality.
I checked each injured member of my group one by one and laid them down on the living room floor.
The middle school students had taken their share of hits too—their faces were swollen in multiple places.
“Are you all okay?”
“The others are hurt worse than us.”
Rather than treating their own wounds first, the middle school students methodically tended to those with more serious injuries.
They must be in considerable pain and discomfort, yet these kids are truly admirable.
When I asked what happened, Kim Suhan wiped away tears streaming down his face and spoke.
“You disappeared, and we kept searching for you. Where were you all this time?”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t leave by choice. It wasn’t my decision….”
“Was it because of a skill?”
I looked surprised at Kim Suhan’s question.
How did he know?
“Uncle Park Sangha said it. He thought you used a skill we didn’t know about.”
“Ah….”
“We realized it when we caught Euitaejong. We definitely received help, but I started wondering—was it really you who saved me?”
I caught Euitaejong?
I used Frenzy and lost consciousness, so I have no memory of it.
Kim Suhan continued speaking.
Apparently, I beat Euitaejong down.
Well, with Frenzy active and my strength raised to 90, it would be difficult but certainly possible to beat him down.
And if I maintained Balhwa on top of that…it would be more than feasible.
‘So that’s why all my bones are broken.’
I overdid it.
Elderly Grandfather Gwak Cheolmin warned me not to push myself, yet I pushed myself again anyway.
Kim Suhan continued speaking.
“After that… we kept searching for you.”
“….”
“Uncle Park Sangha and Grandfather Chulmil said you must be unconscious somewhere, that we had to find you….”
If I had told the group that my skin doesn’t tear even when bitten by zombies….
Then they wouldn’t have come looking for me.
Then… then we wouldn’t have encountered those murderers outside.
If I hadn’t kept secrets from them….
As I lowered my head, weighed down by complicated emotions, Kim Suhan wiped his tears and spoke.
“I’m sorry, hyung.”
“…What?”
“We almost lost to those bastards and nearly gave up the Safe House.”
“No, you have nothing to apologize for….”
At that, the high school students in the living room approached me one after another.
They apologized, saying they were sorry, that they hadn’t been strong enough.
Flustered by their words, I told them to stop, and Kang Haneul, who had been silent for a while, finally spoke.
“If we hadn’t hesitated… the Elders would still be alive right now.”
“….”
“They look similar on the outside, but killing a Zombie and killing a person are….”
Kang Haneul trembled violently, his fists clenched tight.
He had hesitated when the moment came to kill a person.
Had that hesitation… held back the Elders?
How could killing a person ever be easy for the Elders either?
This… is no one’s fault.
If anything, it’s my fault for leaving without any explanation.
Someone would say it.
If I hadn’t used Frenzy, the Survivors here would have been wiped out long ago.
That’s also true.
But….
Wasn’t there a better choice?
The world we live in is always a series of choices, and it always leaves us with regrets.
As I bit my lower lip and said nothing, Park Sangil, lying in the living room, slowly raised his right hand.
Looking at him, he was gesturing weakly for me to come closer.
I carefully approached his side, and Park Sangil motioned for me to come even closer.
His voice didn’t seem to be working properly.
As I brought my ear near, I heard Park Sangil’s hoarse, cracked voice.
“It’s not… your fault.”
“…!”
He saw right through what I was feeling.
I flinched reflexively, and Park Sangil continued speaking.
“Those children… it’s not their fault either.”
“….”
“It’s not… anyone’s… fault.”
“Brother….”
“Don’t… carry guilt.”
If only I had come a little earlier.
If I had made a different choice instead of using Frenzy.
If I had explained the skill Frenzy to my companions beforehand.
Countless regrets by the name of “what if” wandered through my mind.
Park Sangil’s words that silenced them all at once.
Tug—
Park Sangil grabbed my collar and looked me straight in the eye as he spoke.
“Don’t… blame yourself.”
“….”
“It’s not… time to look back yet.”
Not the time to look back.
An indescribable surge of emotion wrapped around my heart.
“Doyun.”
Park Sangha, lying beside Park Sangil, called out to me.
When I looked at him, Park Sangha smiled brightly despite his swollen face and spoke.
“If you really feel sorry… then you say goodbye to the Elders for us.”
“Okay.”
“They’re still… out there in the rain.”
The last image of the Elders I saw at the intersection.
I got up from my seat and spoke to the Middle School Students.
“You guys, I’m counting on you to treat them.”
“Yes! Leave it to us.”
As I headed straight for the entrance, Kim Suhan followed behind me, gripping my side.
“You should get treated first.”
“You didn’t get treated either.”
“….”
“How are you going to move everyone alone? Let’s go together.”
Then Kang Haneul came out following Kim Suhan.
Though Kang Haneul’s expression usually showed no emotion, this time I could see it clearly.
A sense of apology toward the Elders.
The desire to repay that debt, even slightly, was evident in his bloodshot eyes.
As I silently looked at Kim Suhan and Kang Haneul, Kim Suhan scratched the bridge of his nose and spoke.
“And hyung… you can’t see well ahead anyway.”
“Got it. Let’s go together.”
As the three of us headed for the stairs, Han Hye-ri, who had been sitting there, jumped to her feet.
“I’m going too.”
Han Hye-ri, with her broken teeth, had a pronounced lisp.
She seemed to be trying to say she wanted to go with us.
I shook my head.
“Hye-ri, you can’t. You need to get treated right now.”
Then Han Hye-ri pouted, though not quite seriously.
With a dejected expression, she shook her shoulders in displeasure.
If I didn’t take her now… would Han Hye-ri carry that burden in her heart for the rest of her life?
“…Can you manage?”
“Yes.”
Since she said she could, I didn’t object further.
And so the four of us headed toward the intersection where the Elders were.

* * *
To the south of Han Apartment lay Daehyeon Mountain Park.
I brought the Elders there and offered sincere prayers for their eternal rest.
The high school students bid them farewell with tears.
I couldn’t know exactly what happened at that intersection, but even without asking deeply, I could see that these young people survived thanks to the Elders’ sacrifice.
The students’ tears seemed to speak for what transpired at that scene, for the Elders’ hearts.
Thanks to the tireless care of the Middle School Students and Kim Heejoo, our entire group was able to recover from our wounds.
The Elders’ absence remained unhealed, but we would all carry their final moments in our hearts as we moved forward.
Four days passed in what felt like the blink of an eye.
And then came the breaking dawn.
Ding—!
[Four days of rest have ended!]
[Beginning the second main episode: Ally Recruitment (#2-0).]
[#2-0 Ally Recruitment]
[All Survivors are requested to form parties to increase survival rates.]
[Survivors who form parties may share acquired points.]
[Party size is limited to a maximum of 5 members.]
[Find your desired allies within the time limit and form a party!]
[Time limit: 24 hours]
[Current party members: 1/5]
[Clear reward: 500 points]
[Failure penalty: -]
In No Way Home, the second episode was a breather episode.
You had to converse with other characters, learn about their personal stories, and build intimacy.
But reality was different.
‘It’s a choice between surviving together or abandoning everything.’
I sat on the emergency stairwell, contemplating the System Message that appeared before my eyes.
In No Way Home, it was an episode where you gathered characters with different abilities to form a party.
I thought this condition would remain unchanged.
That’s why I had judged Park Sangil’s Family, who each possessed different abilities, to be suitable.
In the game, the time limit seemed to be two more days, but in reality it was only 24 hours.
It’s called ally recruitment, but in truth this is….
‘A choice between remaining human or descending into a murderer.’
It would depend on what circumstances people found themselves in.
Some would recruit allies and continue playing, while others in desperate situations would abandon everything and even abandon their humanity.
Just like the murderers who had attacked our Safe House.
While we were proceeding with the Safe House activation, the System said that Survivors in other regions had undergone an emergency episode.
The emergency episode was called: Every Man for Himself.
Many people’s minds had likely been corrupted through stealing from each other, killing each other, and dying.
They’ll keep targeting the Safe House.
After all, they won’t find prey as delicious as what’s here.
In that case, perhaps….
‘I’d better prepare the third episode quickly.’
Then suddenly, something I’d forgotten came to mind.
Hadn’t I also completed an emergency episode?
There was a reward I hadn’t received yet.
“Emergency episode reward.”
[Clear Reward: Alliance Formation + 500 Points distributed to all alliance members]
“What’s an alliance? I don’t think No Way Home had this feature.”
[You can bind multiple parties into a single alliance.]
[Parties belonging to an alliance can share all points, and points acquired by a specific party can be received by all members belonging to the alliance.]
So… if I gain 1 point, everyone in the alliance receives 1 point?
And if someone else gains 1 point, I get it too?
“That’s insane.”
What an incredible feature.
An alliance… it was a feature commonly seen in mobile games.
In the early stages of games, you could easily find people who spent money and joined strong alliances.
The top-ranked alliance on the server would monopolize all resources and often build walls to prevent newcomers from catching up.
Did they apply mobile game mechanics to No Way Home?
The fact that they implemented such a useful feature in reality….
‘Doesn’t that mean the difficulty is getting harder?’
Mutants already appeared in the first episode.
I couldn’t shake off this uneasy feeling.
“Doyun.”
Park Sangil entered through the emergency stairwell.
As I looked up, Park Sangil checked the System Message and asked.
“So the second episode is about recruiting allies, like you said.”
“Fortunately, the overall framework of the episode seems unchanged.”
“But there’s a personnel limit?”
“Yes. That’s why I said it wouldn’t be easy to bring everyone along.”
“….”
“But a solution has emerged.”
“A solution?”
“I got a reward from dealing with those trash who attacked the Safe House.”
Park Sangil crossed his arms and waited for my answer.
I stood up and spoke with a wry smile.
“Should we talk about it over breakfast?”
“Good idea. I was just about to call you down to eat anyway.”
Park Sangil linked his arm with mine and said let’s go.
Since the incident days ago, the group’s behavior and demeanor seemed to have become more subdued than before.
I couldn’t tell if they were beginning to adapt to this ruined world, or if their hearts still ached from the absence of the Elders.
Perhaps… it was the latter?
Though no one showed it outwardly, the circumstances from that time—difficult as they were to accept—remained etched in their minds and bones.
Who our true enemy was.
Who we were truly fighting against.
It was a time for each of us to accept this reality with cold clarity.

* * *
“An alliance, you say?”
“Yes. I was planning to form parties of five and move separately, but if we can establish an alliance, we should be able to grow more safely.”
In the past, everyone would have brightened with joy, but now the group simply nodded with serious expressions.
The way we approached situations had changed.
Whether this was a positive or negative change, I couldn’t say.
Kim Suhan set down his chopsticks and asked me.
“Then… do we still need to form parties of five first?”
“That’s right.”
“Doyun, do you have a composition in mind… composition? I’m not even sure if that’s the right word for it….”
“Whatever you call it.”
“Do you have a composition in mind?”
A composition in mind?
Of course I do.
“Me, Suhan, and Haneul are fixed members for now. I’d like one middle school student with a Healing Factor ability to join our party.”
“Excluding me?”
Park Sangil beside me wore a disappointed expression, so I smiled thinly and explained.
“We have 36 people total. You need to serve as a party leader as well.”

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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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