Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 48

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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 048
My stamina and agility stats were still not high enough, so the rebound after using skills was severe.
I could only hope that the stamina stat I’d raised to 65 would hold out.
“When I open the door, run immediately.”
“…Yes.”
Kim Suhan nodded with an expressionless face.
He knew better than anyone that there was no other choice.
Yet he seemed to feel self-loathing at the realization that there was nothing he could do about it.
I ruffled Kim Suhan’s hair and spoke.
“Don’t lose heart. You did really well today.”
“Brother…”
“Let’s hold on until the end.”
Clang—!!
As I threw the door open with all my strength, the Water Demon hurled itself backward in that split second.
I had planned to crush its nose bridge with the iron door, but its reaction speed was extraordinary.
“Huk… ugh…”
“Don’t split.”
Tap!
I opened my eyes wide and dove into the Water Demon like an arrow.
As I widened my eyes, the Water Demon’s unguarded lower jaw came into view.
Focusing on its jaw, I unleashed an uppercut with all my strength.
Crack—!!!
The Water Demon soared about 20 centimeters into the air with the sound of brick shattering.
“Run!!”
I shouted to the group behind me, and Kim Suhan, Kang Haneul, and Hwang Anbae ran toward the exit with all their might.
Several Zombies reacted to the fleeing group, so I dove into them like an arrow and turned their faces to pulp.
Thud—!!! Crack!!
The exhilaration of smashing skulls with my fists.
Since my curved sword didn’t work on the Water Demon, I fought with my fists, and the thrilling sensation I felt when striking the Zombies was indescribable.
The group safely escaped through the entrance.
After confirming everyone had left, I hurriedly turned to look back at where the Water Demon had been.
“…?”
It was nowhere to be seen.
Could it have followed the group…?
“Kyaaaaaah!!”
It hadn’t followed the group.
It had been targeting me from behind, concealing its presence.
I hadn’t noticed at all because of the chaos around me.
Clinging to my back, the creature raked its fingers—sharp as awls—across my face and upper body.
Rip—
I quickly grabbed the creature’s hair.
Crash!!
I slammed it straight down onto the ground.
Most people would be gasping for breath and rigid like a plaster statue, but the Water Demon thrashed its arms the moment it hit the ground.
An attack aimed precisely at my Achilles tendon.
I hastily widened the distance and kept my eyes on the Water Demon.
The impact wasn’t entirely without effect—blood was flowing from its eyes, nose, and mouth.
Blood from the mouth meant something was wrong with its lungs, yet this creature was desperately struggling to its feet despite such a condition.
“Kack-hack! Hack!!”
“Kack-aaaaack!!”
At that moment, several zombies began charging at the Water Demon, treating it as an enemy.
Splurt! Thud!
The Water Demon pierced the charging zombies with needle-like fingers, then licked its blood-soaked fingers with its tongue.
Simultaneously, it looked at my face and chest, raising the corners of its mouth.
I reflexively lowered my head to look at my chest.
They say wounds on your body hurt the moment you see them with your eyes.
“Damn it…”
My protective gear was torn in several places, and blood was flowing from my chest down to my abdomen.
Even my cheek had a gash, and I felt a stinging pain from between my brows to the tip of my nose.
My epidermis stat was 110, yet I still got wounded.
So it really is specialized in attacks.
As I clenched both fists and watched the creature, the Water Demon lowered its upper body as if about to charge.
“Grrrrr…”
It took a charging stance, then suddenly wrenched its lower jaw wide open.
Seeing its lower jaw tear open so wide it could swallow a human head in one bite, I widened my eyes and covered both ears.
“Shrieeeeeeek!!!”
A shriek similar to the sound of slaughtering a pig, but far sharper and more tearing.
The mutants in No Way Home each had their own distinctive traits.
Among them, the Water Demon was… a creature specialized in sound.
Prolonged exposure to its cry caused mental confusion, and hearing its tearing shriek caused auditory paralysis and loss of balance.
This was because the impact reached all the way to the cochlea.
In the game, hearing the Water Demon’s shriek made the screen shake violently left and right, making it difficult to control the character properly.
In reality… from the moment the cochlea ruptured, there would be no resistance possible.
Even with both hands covering my ears, I heard tinnitus and my skull was ringing.
The surrounding zombies also couldn’t run straight and were staggering left and right.
Zombies don’t feel pain, but they still have cochleae.
How did I catch this thing during my Frenzy state before?
I have no memory of it, so there’s no way to know.
During Frenzy, was I immune to the zombie virus and attacks causing mental confusion?
No, even so, there’s no way to prevent the eardrums from rupturing.
So that means… the Water Demon was eliminated before it could even scream.
I shook my head vigorously and clenched my fists once more.
There’s a stark difference between then and now.
Back then, I needed to use both Balhwa and Frenzy to face those creatures.
Now, Balhwa alone is sufficient.
Boom!!
As I kicked off the ground and charged forward like a tidal wave, the creature’s eyes widened to the size of lanterns at the unexpected speed, and it hurled itself to the left.
‘Predictable.’
I already know the creature’s evasion pattern.
Through several exchanges with it, I’ve noticed it tends to move leftward when evading.
Tap-tap-tap!
I quickly adjusted my footwork and changed direction, simultaneously twisting my upper body and raising my right arm.
“Try dodging this.”
Crash!!!!
I brought my fist down directly onto the Water Demon’s crown.
Its skull caved in with a single blow, and I felt the texture of brain matter at my fingertips.
I withdrew my hand while furrowing my brow.
[Mutant eliminated.]
[500 Points awarded.]
A points message materialized before my eyes.
Thanks to excessively raising my strength, using Balhwa now allowed me to crush even a Mutant’s bones.
The increase in strength was also related to increased bone density, so my bones no longer fractured.
Now that I thought about it… I couldn’t even fathom how violently I must have raged in my Frenzy state.
My bones had fractured even in that state.
“Grrrrgh… ugh….”
I could see Zombies collapsed on the ground retching because their eardrums had burst, and others repeatedly rising and falling.
With their vestibular systems shattered, their vision would spin chaotically and their stomachs would churn.
Even Zombies would struggle to run in such a condition.
I decided to deal with the creatures here later and hurried out of the building before Balhwa wore off.
There was only one destination.
The Design Plaza where the colossal Zombie awaited.

* * *
The building’s convoluted structure made it difficult to locate the group.
However, the cacophony echoing from within allowed me to find them before long.
Screeeeeech—!
The familiar sound accompanied by crimson light flooding my vision.
With flares illuminating the area, I spotted the group locked in combat with Zombies charging down the stairs from the 2nd Floor.
I drew my curved blade from its sheath and plunged directly into the throng of Zombies.
Slash! Thwack! Crunch! Pop—Slash!
One with each step.
Zombie heads severing with every stride.
“D-Doyun hyung! It’s Doyun hyung!”
Kim Suhan’s voice called out from above.
The group turned in unison toward me, their expressions vacant with shock.
A world brought to ruin.
A realm teeming with Zombies.
For those whose sole objective was survival, something unimaginable.
A display of what true hunting meant.
Everyone swallowed hard at the massacre unfolding before their eyes.
After swiftly clearing the Zombies clogging the stairwell and reaching the 2nd Floor, Park Sangil stared at my face and gasped.
“Y-your face… what’s wrong with it?!”
What’s wrong with my face—that was harsh.
I laughed weakly in response.
“I’m fine. More importantly, nearby—”
Ding—!
[Balhwa’s duration has ended.]
The System Message materialized before my eyes just as I finished speaking.
As the heat enveloping my entire body dissipated, pain surged through me and tinnitus rang in my ears.
Dizziness made me stagger, pressing my forehead, and the three brothers and Elderly Grandfather Kwak Cheolmin quickly supported me and laid me on the ground.
“What on earth is happening?!”
“I’m… fine. It’s just rebound—”
Even with 65 Vitality, 30 Agility, and 50 Mentality, I couldn’t withstand it.
Still, ending like this was fortunate.
The first time I used Balhwa, I convulsed and lost consciousness, so this represented considerable progress.
“I’ll… just rest for a moment—”
“Sohee! Do Sohee!”
Park Sangil called out desperately for Do Sohee.
Do Sohee rushed over and gasped upon seeing my face.
“Huh?! W-what’s wrong with your face?”
My face?
What exactly was wrong with my face—?
“Treat me quickly!”
“Wait, just a moment. There’s bleeding in the chest and abdomen too. It’ll take too long if I do this alone.”
“Then?”
“We need more Healing Factors.”
“All Healing Factors from each party, come over here!”
Ah, I remember now.
I got slashed to pieces by a Water Demon.
The Water Demon’s fingers weren’t simply sharp like an awl at the tip.
They could carve away an enemy’s flesh like a blade.
No wonder I felt so dizzy—I’d lost far too much blood.
“Cough hack!!”
At that moment, the sound of Zombies echoing from the left direction.
They wouldn’t even grant me a moment’s rest.
As I tried to get up, Park Sangil pressed down on my shoulder and spoke.
“Rest.”
“….”
“Leave it to us until the treatment is finished.”
“But….”
“Trust us a little, will you?”
Park Sangil laughed lightly and stood up, grasping his curved sword as he spoke.
“Teams 2 and 3 hold the front! Team 4 watch the rear, and Team 1 focus on recovering stamina!”
Following Park Sangil’s orders, the group moved in perfect unison.
I watched their battle through blurred vision.
Without shields or any special weapons, the group simply slashed the Zombies’ heads with their curved swords.
Whether the Zombies’ physical abilities increased by 1.3 times or not, they were no match for a group already seasoned in Zombie hunting.
I laughed lightly and snorted, and Do Sohee in front of me wore a bewildered expression.
“Huh? Why, why are you like that? Are you okay?”
“Hm?”
“This isn’t a wound you should be laughing about, yet you suddenly laughed….”
“Ah, it’s not like that.”
“Laughing in a situation like this is scary.”
“Just… I remembered the old days.”
Suddenly, words that Park Sangha had once spoken came to mind.
-If you need help, tell me anytime. The people here aren’t the kind who don’t listen.
-Don’t try to bear it alone.
-I don’t know what kind of life you’ve lived, but the you I know is a good person.
-So don’t try to find reasons why you have to be bad.
I hadn’t thought deeply about it until now, but now I finally understand what Park Sangha meant.
That’s right—if I were truly a cold-hearted person… I wouldn’t have saved the three brothers, Kim Heejoo, and Kyeongeo in the first place.
Moreover, though it appeared I was distinguishing between those suited for combat and those who weren’t, in the end I made the choice to bring everyone along.
Even now, I sent the students ahead from the shopping mall first, and despite my body being in poor condition, I tried to help my companions.
To Park Sangha’s eyes, that was surely how I appeared.
As a good person.
But I know the truth.
I’m not a good person because of virtue—I’m simply conditioned to be this way.
As my body and mind grew weary, memories from the past flickered through my consciousness like a lantern show.
Memories I no longer wished to recall.
The memories of a weak, small child from my time in the orphanage.
Back then, I had to smile even when I didn’t want to.
I had to force myself to grin widely, because that way I’d be beaten less.
That’s how this habit was born.
Those who cried wanting their parents, or those who stared at the teachers with vacant, lifeless eyes—they were beaten for no reason, beaten more harshly.
Deemed unlovable and unlucky.
So whenever things went wrong, I found myself smiling without realizing it.
Smiling in hopes of being beaten less, smiling in hopes that the situation would improve.
This tiresome habit will never disappear until the moment I die.
Moreover, if I didn’t take action first, I’d be beaten or scolded all night, so I developed the habit of stepping forward and acting before anyone else when something happened.
So I don’t step forward because I’m good, or virtuous, or have a strong sense of responsibility.
I’m still just a child who doesn’t want to be beaten.

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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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