Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 46

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Player of the Ruined World – Episode 046
After I finished explaining the situation in this area and details about those people calling themselves an organization in Seongbuk-gu, Park Sangil opened his mouth with a bitter expression.
“The world’s gone completely insane. There are lunatics like that in Seongbuk-gu?”
“Yes. It’s a close distance.”
“Do you know the exact location?”
“I heard they couldn’t determine that much.”
“Then… what do you mean by sending the people who shot at us to Majang-dong?”
Ah, now that I think about it, I never told the group about Majang-dong.
After briefly explaining about the Majang-dong Shelter, Elderly Grandfather Gwak Cheolmin folded his arms and asked.
“If people like that exist… it might be good to have them join our league someday. What do you think, Doyun?”
“I think the same way. However, since we’re short on Whispers right now, recruiting Whispers comes first.”
“Hmm… no matter how good a person is, ability takes priority in this age. That hasn’t changed then or now.”
The Elder shook his head with a bitter smile.
Bang!
“Doyun!”
Following that, Park Sangha and Park Sanghun entered, asking me what happened and wanting to hear the full story.
Explaining everything here would take too long, so I looked at Elder Chulmin and asked.
“Elder, would you be able to move right now?”
“No problem.”
“Then let’s change locations first and talk over some food.”

* * *
When we arrived at the villa, I could see a note placed on the table.
-I apologize for my rudeness. Please accept my sincere apologies. I hope your party remains safe.
A short and concise message.
Elder Chulmin looked at the note and spoke while smacking his lips.
“They’re not completely hopeless after all.”
I had worried that Elder Chulmin might be sharpening the blades of revenge, but that wasn’t the case at all.
They say one kind word pays a thousand debts, and it seems that’s true.
“Elder, you’re not even angry?”
When Kim Suhan asked from behind, Elder Chulmin burst into hearty laughter and answered.
“I would have pulled the trigger too.”
“Sir?”
“The trigger. A stranger entered where my family was. How could I just sit still?”
“…”
“Since there was a misunderstanding between us, we should understand and move past it. What else can we do?”
Kim Suhan kept exclaiming in admiration, giving two thumbs up.
It seems he greatly respects Elder Chulmin for forgiving the other party despite being shot.
That aside, the students behind Elder Chulmin are carrying something heavy in both hands.
“Elder, what are the students carrying?”
“Ah, this. Waiting around in the park got tedious, so I asked the students to gather it for me.”
When I tilted my head in confusion, Elder Chulmin handed me a heavy oil canister.
“We need something bigger and more spectacular than flares to lure the zombies, don’t we?”
“That’s… gasoline, isn’t it?”
“Gasoline, yes. We extracted as much as we could from the parked vehicles.”
There were four 40-liter canisters.
When did he manage to extract all of this?
“Since you said you’d lure the zombies to the building, if we spread this while moving, it’ll make escaping easier later.”
At Elder Chulmin’s words, I quietly stroked my chin.
It was a good idea, but…
‘Can we actually run while carrying these?’
They’d be quite heavy.
So I called Kim Suhan and Kang Haneul, who were behind us.
“Suhan, Haneul—can you two run while carrying these?”
“This much is a piece of cake…”
Kim Suhan grasped the oil canister with confidence, but quickly fell silent.
“You want us to… run while carrying these?”
“You don’t think you can?”
“Thanks to our stats, it’s not impossible, but running at full speed seems absolutely impossible.”
“Do you think you can run faster than the zombies?”
“I’d have to try to know for sure.”
“I need a definite answer.”
When I looked at him seriously, Kim Suhan mimicked running while holding a 40-liter canister in each hand.
With confidence from his increased stats, Kim Suhan nodded.
“I think it’s possible.”
“Okay.”
After briefly explaining our approach for what was to come, I hurried to prepare the meal.
We all gathered in the living room and filled our stomachs with canned food and snacks.
Elder Chulmin said he felt incomplete without soup, so he dissolved miso paste in a pot from the kitchen to make a miso broth.
“It tastes bland without ingredients.”
It would be nice to have tofu, red pepper powder, zucchini, clams, and other things to enrich the broth and add texture, but that was asking too much.
After finishing the meal and cleaning up, darkness had settled outside the windows.
Looking at the students’ faces, I saw no signs of exhaustion.
Was it because they’d rested well for about two hours?
Or was it their youth giving them good recovery?
“Sangil’s Hyung.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you see any zombies or people moving outside?”
“No, the area’s clear.”
Then… it’s time to move.
I exhaled sharply and looked back at my companions.
“Everyone, please focus.”
As I called out to them, they all turned their attention to my voice.
“First, Party One will enter and use flares and gasoline to lure the zombies. Once the zombies follow the light into the building, that’s when we’ll hunt the giant zombie.”
“When should we use the stakes and rope?”
Kang Haneul’s question.
A good one.
“Those who purchased stakes should connect two stakes together with rope.”
After tying the rope, my companions checked multiple times to ensure it was secure.
“We’ll drive those stakes into the giant zombie’s lower and upper body.”
“Drive stakes into the zombie?”
Park Sangil’s expression grew uncertain, as if he couldn’t quite visualize the situation.
From here on, elements only those who played No Way Home would know began to appear.
“The stakes purchased from the Point Shop have special properties. Once driven in, they won’t come out until the user removes them.”
“Even other people can’t pull them out?”
“That’s right. Other survivors who aren’t party members cannot remove them. Since we’ve formed a League, only League Members will be able to pull them out.”
Then Park Sangha raised his hand and asked.
“So if we just drive stakes into the giant zombie’s body, it won’t be able to struggle at all?”
“Yes. As long as the rope doesn’t break, it will be completely defenseless. We’ll need to finish it during that window.”
“We have guns now—can’t we just shoot it?”
“We don’t yet know how tough the giant zombie’s skin and bones are. I can’t guarantee that .38 caliber bullets will pierce through in one shot.”
“….”
“Besides, if we fire guns, the zombies we lured with flares will come swarming back. We’ll lose our escape route.”
Fighting multiple zombies in darkness was essentially suicide.
It wasn’t easy for me, so what about my companions?
There would definitely be casualties.
Since no more questions came, I gripped my hwarang and spoke.
“If there are no more questions, let’s move out immediately. Everyone, be careful not to scatter.”
“Yes!”
“Let’s go.”

* * *
Dongdaemun History and Culture Park Station.
A place that once captivated the world’s attention with its beautiful architecture, and across from it stood a massive shopping mall—a location where crowds never ceased to flow.
“Haa… kah-hack!”
“Crack- crack-crack-”
Now it had become a dead city, filled with the anguished shrieks of zombies.
“Doyun hyung, it’s dangerous to go any deeper from here.”
“How many are there?”
“I can’t tell. Just the ones I can see number in the hundreds.”
Where there are people, there are zombies.
According to Kim Suhan, the main road was absolutely swarming with them.
Breaking through here would be suicide.
I turned to Do Sohee behind me and spoke.
“Sohee, you join Elder Chulmin’s party.”
“I’m also in Party 1. I’ll go with you.”
“We’re going into a zombie den to lure them out. Are you confident you can run?”
“….”
Do Sohee’s expression was filled with disappointment for some reason.
I’d meant it as consideration, but she didn’t seem to take it that way.
Had she taken pride in becoming the healing factor of Party 1?
I could see she was trying hard to blend in with Party 1—during the daytime fights with zombies, even on the slide.
But there was something Do Sohee needed to understand.
Trying hard and being good at something are different things.
Stepping forward because you can is fundamentally different from forcing yourself forward when you’re not confident.
After a moment’s consideration, I called over Park Sangha and Han Hye-ri from Party 3.
“Sangha hyung, please look after Sohee.”
“Got it.”
“And Hye-ri.”
“Yes?”
“Take care of Sohee.”
Han Hye-ri, called over unexpectedly, just blinked as she looked at Do Sohee.
Regardless of anyone else, entrusting Do Sohee to Han Hye-ri was the best approach at this moment.
Intelligent and with excellent judgment, Han Hye-ri.
She was the high school student who, alongside Kim Suhan and Kang Haneul, always stepped forward first to solve problems.
Even such a capable Han Hye-ri had experienced hitting a wall.
She’d once carried the guilt of wanting to do well, trying her best, only to be caught by an unexpected variable and put everyone in danger.
I had no doubt that such a Han Hye-ri would be able to teach Do Sohee well.
After organizing the situation, I called over Kim Suhan, Kang Haneul, and the male student who had joined Party 1.
“What’s your name again?”
“I’m Hwang Anbae.”
“You’re a high school student?”
“Yes? Ah, yes. People often tell me I look like a grandfather because of my name.”
“I don’t think it’s because of your name.”
“…Pardon?”
“Just kidding.”
Hwang Anbae.
Chulmil Grandfather actually had a younger-sounding name than him.
Besides, looking at just his face, he seemed more like my hyung than I did.
Anyway, I looked at Hwang Anbae and asked.
“You said you’re a Maker too, right?”
“Yes, I’ve crafted protective gear and weapons, so I’m confident I can fight well now.”
The Makers had gathered at the playground and thrown themselves into crafting equipment, and by now most people were equipped with their own weapons and protective gear.
Only three people lacked equipment.
Once this battle ended, everyone would be equipped with Maker gear, completing a formidable league.
Moreover, with the second awakening already completed, it would become a powerful party that shouldn’t exist at this point in time.
“Are you good at running?”
“Yes, I can do 100 meters in 12.5 seconds.”
For a normal person, 12.5 seconds is exceptionally fast.
With the No Way Home character ability modifiers on top of that, he’d be even faster now.
I packed the flares I’d received from the group into my bag and spoke to Kim Suhan.
“Suhan, our lives depend on you.”
“Yes?”
“You need to guide us well. From now on, we’re going to run continuously without stopping until we use up all the flares.”
Kim Suhan swallowed hard, tension gripping him.
I patted Kim Suhan’s shoulder and spoke.
“Don’t worry about it. Just run while avoiding the zombies as much as possible.”
“Yes!”
“Haneul and Anbae, keep up and don’t fall behind. And you two are in charge of the gasoline.”
“We’re in charge of the gasoline?”
“Once we enter the building, you’ll need to keep spraying it while running. Don’t worry about any zombies that come at you—I’ll handle them.”
“Yes.”
Finally, I looked at the three brothers beside me and Elderly Grandfather Gwak Cheolmin.
“When I give the signal, run.”
“Where to?”
“That curved building across the way? The one with the statue?”
“That’s quite a distance. Can you even see that far?”
Park Sangil asked with curiosity, and I answered with a slight smile.
“No, I can’t see it, but I remember it.”
“Ah, right.”
“Based on the coordinates from the 3D terrain map, the giant zombie should be inside that building.”
Park Sangil nodded repeatedly.
Then Park Sangha, who had been listening to the explanation, tilted his head in confusion.
“So there are zombies inside that building too?”
“Yes. There likely are. We’ll use the flare to lure the ones outside as far away as possible, and we’ll have to deal with the ones inside ourselves.”
“This won’t be easy.”
“We need to enter all at once without anyone falling behind. It might be difficult to lure all the zombies away.”
The group nodded with serious expressions.
In the past, they would have complained first—questioning if it was fair, if this was really a game, how they could possibly fight such monsters—but they had experienced so much.
But through all they had endured, they had come to understand.
Complaining changed nothing, and when problems arose, they had to break through them themselves.
Failure to break through meant only elimination.
“When we enter the building, Sanghun, let me know. You can use the Whisper ability, right?”
“We practiced it earlier. I can do it.”
“Good, then… let’s begin.”
Snap!

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————