Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 5

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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 005
Am I being overly sensitive?
I’m not sure whether to say the egg feels light or hollow inside.
To verify, I placed a plate on the table and cracked the egg onto it.
Crack! Splatter—
“…What is this?”
It was rotten.
The color was off, and the stench was unbearable.
‘Wait, then….’
I hurriedly checked the ramen package.
Upon seeing the expiration date printed on the package, my jaw dropped.
“What on earth….”
The world I came from was the mid-2020s.
So why… is this manufactured in 2030?
Did I read it wrong?
But it clearly shows the manufacturing date, not the expiration date.
‘Is that why the buildings are different?’
The Lottery Shop had become a snack restaurant, and the Hardware Store’s location had transformed into a Cafe.
Could the reason be connected to the ramen’s manufacturing date I’m looking at right now?
Then the world where zombies appeared….
“This is the future?”
Was No Way Home a game set in the future?
I usually make it a point to check the manual, but I didn’t go so far as to read the game’s background description.
I can’t know for certain, but if No Way Home’s world is set in 2030… then this situation makes perfect sense.
Growl—
My stomach feels like it’s touching my spine.
“Ugh… forget it.”
Whether it’s 2030 or whatever, I need to fill my stomach first.
Having not eaten a single meal since morning and moved my body relentlessly, I needed to eat something to survive.
I devoured the ramen hastily.
After eating my fill of ramen, I slept like the dead for about an hour.
Waking from that deep sleep, my body felt light and refreshed.
I’ve rested enough—time for round two.
I got up and began preparing to head out.
I covered my limbs with notebooks and magazines, then changed into clean padding that hadn’t gotten wet in the rain and clean walker shoes.
The wet leather gloves are uncomfortable, but I must wear them to prevent accidents from being bitten.
“Phew… Let’s go, let’s go!”
I really don’t want to move, and I’m terrified of going outside, but to survive I have no choice but to go out and hunt zombies.
I whipped myself against my laziness, slapped my cheeks several times to regain focus.

* * *
[Time Limit: 17 hours]
Six hours of sound sleep each day, and the rest devoted entirely to hunting zombies.
No need for work preparations, project planning, or gathering presentation materials.
I ate mechanically and beat zombies down mechanically.
Of course, each encounter with the undead often meant life-or-death moments.
“Show me my stats.”
[Current Stats: Vitality 28, Strength 20, Agility 20, Endurance 5]
[Available Points: 12]
In just two days, I’d earned a staggering 1,300 points.
I used those points to raise Vitality by 8 and Strength by 5.
As hunting sessions grew longer, I felt myself straining, so I invested in Strength instead of Agility.
I’d crushed so many zombie skulls that even the aluminum bat had dented.
Fortunately, while taking a brief rest in a Villa during my hunt, I’d found another baseball bat, allowing me to switch weapons.
The current time was 1 PM.
With 12 more hours to hunt, my goal for today was to raise Vitality to 30.
After preparing to leave, I stepped out into the pouring rain.
Whoooosh—
“Grrrr….”
About a dozen zombies were still clustered roughly 30 meters away from the Villa 1st Floor.
It would be nice if I could handle that many grouped together, but facing 15 alone was beyond my capacity.
Using narrow terrain might make it possible, but….
‘There’s no need to push myself.’
Just as I’d been doing, it was safer to target solitary zombies or small groups of three or four.
Fighting multiple zombies at once meant stamina drain I couldn’t ignore.
I’d cleared mostly the north and east over the past two days, so today I planned to move westward.
I deliberately avoided the south because of the Shin OO Apartments—I didn’t want to risk encountering survivors.
I pulled out my 3D terrain map and checked the western direction.
Haengdang Station, located 400 meters from here.
Come to think of it, I hadn’t checked the subway station yet.
Would there be many zombies in the subway?
I should clear the surface first, and if I have energy left, explore underground.
“Grrrr… Kaaack!”
As I moved westward while checking my map, zombie sounds began echoing from various points in the Alley.
From the sounds alone, I could tell their numbers weren’t large.
I’d clear them all as I moved.
Gripping the baseball bat firmly, I headed straight toward the source of the sounds.
“Kaaack- Kaack!”
“Kaaah….”
“Tap-tap-tap- Crunch….”
As I drew closer, more voices began to sound like dissonance.
I could hear the grinding of teeth and the irregular splashing of footsteps.
There seemed to be more zombies than I expected, so I kept my body hidden behind the wall and carefully peeked out to count them first.
In that instant, my eyes widened in alarm and I hastily concealed myself again.
Though I couldn’t confirm the exact number, there were more than twenty zombies scanning left and right.
These creatures didn’t act without reason.
That behavior only happened when they were stimulated.
What was this? Who provoked the zombies?
Screeeech—
Following that, the sound of footsteps on rusty metal echoed.
I couldn’t pinpoint the exact location, but the sound wasn’t coming from near me.
“Kahahack! Haack!”
Upon hearing the sound, the zombies began rushing toward something in unison.
I peeked out again to observe the direction the zombies were moving.
“They’re coming! Run!”
“Big brother, that way!”
Human voices calling out from a distance.
Due to the poor visibility, I couldn’t see them with my own eyes, but whoever they were, survival would be difficult.
The grinding and clicking of teeth from the zombies was a sound they made when prey was nearby.
Through such sounds, they indicated the presence or absence of prey.
The scent of prey was in the vicinity, but they couldn’t confirm it visually—that’s what it meant.
Once they discovered prey, they would bare their throats and charge like that.
That sound would spread to the one beside them, then to the one beside that, and soon they’d all be chasing the prey in unison.
Leading around twenty of them meant that if more zombies gathered ahead, they would only increase, never decrease.
No Way Home players called this the resonance phenomenon of zombies.
There were many questions on Yanben about how to deal with the resonance phenomenon, and I always replied with comments like this.
-Give up and it’ll be easier.
Without fortune on my side, survival would be nearly impossible.
‘What a waste of points.’
It was unfortunate, but what could I do?
There was no benefit in pushing myself.
It seemed the zombies in this area had all been led away by the survivors who just fled… so should I hunt elsewhere?
At this rate, I should check out the subway station….
“Daddy!”
At that moment, a voice that jolted me awake rang out.
Where did that come from?
It sounded like it was nearby.
“Kyeongeo, shh.”
“Daddy… waaah, daddy….”
I unconsciously lifted my head.
Their voices… were coming from above my head.
Human figures came into view on the building rooftop.
An Unnamed Man held a child in his arms, and beside him I could make out an Unnamed Woman.
That man was unlikely to be the child’s father.
If he were the biological father, the child wouldn’t be desperately calling for his dad.
“Sister-in-law, Kyeongeo and I are here for now.”
“But how do we…?”
“If we stay like this, we’ll all die. We need to bring my brother.”
The man finished speaking and disappeared somewhere.
Sister-in-law? Brother?
Then that man was… the child’s uncle?
The voices I’d heard from a distance moments ago belonged to two men.
And one of them mentioned an older brother, didn’t he?
Three men, one woman, and one child… that combination meant…
‘Are they a Family?’
While I was thinking this, I began hearing zombie sounds from inside the villa.
At the same time, the sound of footsteps rushing up the stairs without hesitation.
I remained pressed flat against the building exterior wall, completely still.
This was definitely because the child’s scream had stimulated the zombies inside the building.
I’d thought all the zombies in the vicinity had followed the men, but that wasn’t the case.
Bang! Bang bang! Bang!
The sound of pounding on the iron door echoed.
I couldn’t see it, but I could tell it was the rooftop iron door being struck.
They weren’t simply pounding—they were hurling their bodies against the door.
“Sister-in-law, run! We can’t hold them much longer!”
“Where, where am I supposed to run to?!”
“Isn’t there an emergency staircase?!”
“There, there isn’t!”
Urgent voices coming from above.
The child’s crying grew louder, and the child’s mother could do neither one thing nor the other.
Rationally speaking, whether they lived or died, the right choice was to leave immediately.
But I…
“Damn it…”
I couldn’t bring myself to walk away.
It wasn’t from fear, nor from some meager sense of justice or morality.
An utterly personal and sentimental reason.
The child’s desperate cries for his father overlapped with my distant memories.
Memories now as faded as an old Polaroid photograph.
Those people called my parents—I couldn’t remember their faces or their voices.
-Dad will be back soon.
They said they would come back.
They said they would return soon.
People who abandoned me alone at the zoo and left.
At six years old, I waited, clinging to their promise that they would return.
Until the sunset faded and the sun completely disappeared.
Until the ice cream melting in my hand made my palms sticky.
I thought my parents would come back after a hundred people passed.
I thought they would come back after two hundred people passed.
After three hundred people passed….
I waited endlessly, counting the people passing before me, counting and counting.
Watching children nestled in their parents’ arms as they viewed the animals.
Swallowing an inexplicable sadness.
My image from that time overlapped with the child’s voice calling out “Dad.”
Crunch—
My grip on the bat tightened.
Yes, this choice isn’t like me.
But….
‘The child is innocent.’
The heart of an abandoned child.
I know the feelings of a child left behind better than anyone.
Thud!
Before I could hesitate further, my body reacted first.
I rushed into the Villa 1st Floor and swung the baseball bat toward the staircase railing.
Clang—! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
As I relentlessly struck the railing, the sound of numerous footsteps thundering down the stairs echoed.
“Over here! You bastards!!”
The zombies that had climbed to the rooftop began tumbling down the stairs, tangled together.
“Kaaaaaagh!!”
“Graaaagh!!”
Creatures that craved my flesh indiscriminately, even with broken limbs and trampled by their own kind.
Having drawn enough attention, I bolted out of the building without looking back.
The entrance to the Villa 1st Floor was just wide enough for one person to pass through.
No matter how many zombies there were, I would eliminate them all here.
“Kaaagh!!”
The first zombie down the stairs rushed at me with wild eyes.
I held the baseball bat vertically and struck its crown with all my strength.
Crack!!
The creature collapsed limply with a sound like a watermelon splitting.
But no message appeared confirming the zombie’s elimination.
Only after I struck the back of its head again did the message appear.
[Zombie eliminated.]
[1 point awarded.]
“Gack—! Cough hack!!”
The system message obscured my vision.
I hastily dismissed the alert and swung my baseball bat relentlessly at the zombies stumbling out of the building in a tangled mass.
If I were to assign stat values to the average human’s strength and stamina, it would be around 4.
For someone who exercises regularly, perhaps 8 to 10.
If my recollection of No Way Home’s information is accurate, the initial zombies possess an average stat of 14.
But now, my strength alone is 20, and my stamina is 27.
I swung the aluminum bat without pause, crushing their skulls.
Crack—! Crunch— Smash!
In that moment, feeling pressure at my ankle, I glanced down to see a zombie with a half-caved skull gnawing at my foot.
I drove the aluminum bat into the creature’s nose bridge and stomped on its temple repeatedly.
Keeping the point message alert on blocked my vision, but turning it off led to situations like this.
If I’d been wearing ordinary sneakers, my life would have ended here.
But the shoes I wore were combat boots.
No matter how much a zombie gnawed, human teeth couldn’t pierce them.
Crash—!
At that moment, a window shattered, and a zombie plummeted directly above my head.
Too close.
There was no distance to evade.
The instant our eyes met, I felt a chill run down my spine.
That grotesque gaze hungering for my flesh.
I raised both arms to shield my face, eyes wide with alarm.
Crunch!
The zombie that burst through the window and leaped down sank its teeth directly into my forearm.

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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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