Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 61

—————
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 061
A dull thud echoed through the heavy downpour.
They weren’t attacking us.
The middle-aged man began indiscriminately beating the remnants of the organization tied with rope.
Seeing this, the survivors watching the situation also picked up blunt weapons and started pummeling the organization’s remnants.
The more they struck, the more savage the beating became, rather than subsiding.
The rage that had been suppressed all this time was erupting.
“Everyone, everyone, just a moment!”
When Park Sangil tried to calm them, the middle-aged man who had picked up a weapon first glared at him, breathing heavily.
“These bastards aren’t human. They’re beasts!”
“I understand. We can finish them later, but first, please tell us what we need to know.”
The middle-aged man threw a steel pipe dripping with blood onto the ground as he spoke.
“Five Makers form a party, and you just need to kill all but one.”
“What?”
“If you form a party with people who have the same ability, when only one survives, the unique survivor benefit activates and lets you awaken one piece of equipment.”
….
“That bastard Yun Taeseong… strengthened his equipment that way.”
Such a method existed?
This was my first time hearing about it.
When I was playing No Way Home, it was naturally advantageous to form a five-person party with characters each having different abilities.
Since there was no reason to form a five-person party with people of the same ability, I had never even attempted it.
The one who died on Gaewun Mountain had tried such a thing and knew that if only one person survived, there was a unique survivor benefit.
He had told Yun Taeseong about it.
So Yun Taeseong… just how many Makers had he killed?
To perform the first enhancement on one piece of equipment, four Makers had to die.
Chest protector, upper arm protector, forearm protector, thigh protector, shin protector.
Five protective gear areas in total.
And if you include the weapon, that’s six pieces.
If one area’s enhancement required four lives… then enhancing all areas to the first level would require twenty-four lives.
“So if he did second-stage enhancement, he killed forty-eight people?”
When I asked while looking at the people, the middle-aged man’s face flushed red and he ground his teeth as he spoke.
“If it were that easy, we wouldn’t have been dragged here like this.”
“What?”
“To do second-stage enhancement… you have to bind the people who received the unique survivor effect into another party.”
….
“And then you kill them again until only one remains.”
Was he insane?
He killed over a hundred Makers?
The ones I met on Gaewun Mountain said the Maker bloodline had dried up, and now I understood why that had to be the case.
When Park Sangil looked at the organization’s remnants still clinging to life, they gazed back at him and pleaded.
“Ha, if we surrender… they said they’d spare us if we surrender…!”
“Sob… please, don’t do this. I had no choice if I wanted to live… sob….”
Some were trembling in fear and had soiled themselves, others had tears streaming down their faces, and still others sat collapsed with vacant stares.
Park Sangil looked at this pathetic group and spoke.
“So, you spared them?”
“….”
“Did you spare the people who begged for their lives? Did you?”
“Sob….”
“This life is finished.”
Park Sangil gestured to the Makers to continue.
As the beating resumed, Park Sangil climbed into Vehicle 2 without looking back.
“What are you doing! Everyone get in!”
Park Sangil calling to his companions outside.
There was something I needed to collect before leaving, so I hurried over to Yun Taeseong’s corpse.
I tried to strip his equipment.
Ding—!
[This equipment is bound to Player Yun Taeseong.]
“Yun Taeseong is dead. The binding should be released.”
[Equipment created through the Sole Survivor benefit cannot be unbound once bound.]
A benefit granted to the lone survivor.
Equipment made untouchable by anyone else, designed to encourage survival until the very end.
I never thought someone would exploit it like this… even the system probably didn’t anticipate it.
Still, just in case, I gripped the long weapon Yun Taeseong had been holding.
[This is a weapon with durability damage. Repairs are needed.]
“So I can take this one, right?”
If I can’t even claim the armor, it would be unfair to lose the weapon too.
As if understanding my frustration, a positive message appeared before my eyes.
[This is an unbound weapon.]
It works.
When the user dies, the weapon can be claimed.
I gripped the sword Yun Taeseong had been using.
[You have acquired a Dual-Bladed Sword +2.]
[The Dual-Bladed Sword is currently equipment enhanced 2 times.]
[When using the Dual-Bladed Sword, your strength increases by 1.2x.]
A dual-bladed sword and a curved sword.
The curved sword is inevitably outmatched in length and surface area.
That’s the difference between a two-handed and one-handed blade.
But it felt excessively heavy, so that must be because it’s a +2 weapon.
Yun Taeseong’s strength was probably somewhere between 80 and 85.
With such a man wielding this weapon, it possessed the same force as someone with 100 strength would wield.
“Doyun! Come on!”
Kim Suhan calling me from Vehicle 1.
The Makers, still venting their fury, were unleashing volleys of gunfire at the remnants of the organization.
Leaving them behind, I hurried aboard Vehicle 1.
Crackle—
—Heading straight back?
Park Sangil’s voice crackled through the radio.
“We need to head back immediately. It’s not like we’re searching for survivors or hunting for hideouts.”
—There seem to be more of those organization bastards scattered outside. Should we do a quick sweep on the way?
True enough, there would be more Hunters out there hunting the Makers.
These were the ones who’d descended all the way to Design Plaza, so their operational range would far exceed our imagination.
“Then let’s do a proper check and head back.”
—Let’s hunt some Zombies while we move. We need to rack up some Points.
“Roger that.”
Right, it’s best to hunt when we can fully utilize the modified vehicle’s performance.
Someone might grumble that we’re taking it easy.
So what?
Honey exists to be taken, and you take it while you can.
With each Episode, the world changes at a pace incomparable to No Way Home.
If we don’t grow quickly enough to match that pace, there may come a moment when we fall behind the system’s speed.
Crackle—
—Doyun, I’ll report to the Safe House for now.
Park Sanghun’s voice came through the radio.
He said he’d report that we’d eliminated the organization’s leader and that both Party 1 and Party 2 were safe.
The defensive team waiting there might worry, so giving them advance notice seemed wise.
“Do that.”
—Okay! Now let’s hunt at our leisure and head back!

* * *
A man gazed at the steady drizzle falling from the sky.
His broken glasses were getting in the way, so he sighed and removed them.
The man gripped the balcony railing and exhaled a long breath.
“Mr. Park Sangha.”
Han Hye-ri’s voice reached Park Sangha from behind as he looked out the window.
When Park Sangha turned his head, Han Hye-ri stood beside him and gazed out the window.
“It’ll keep raining until the end of the second episode, right?”
“That’s what Doyun said, so I’d assume so.”
“How does this world look to your eyes, sir?”
A faint blue light swirled within Han Hye-ri’s pupils.
Before awakening, she didn’t have this characteristic, but it was a trait that appeared in Shooters after awakening.
Previously, it was merely at the level of securing a field of vision, but now her eyesight had improved as if she’d become Mongolian.
To Park Sangha’s eyes, the world was shrouded in thick mist, but to Han Hye-ri’s eyes, everything was crystal clear.
She could even see individual raindrops falling with perfect clarity, making it impossible to gauge just how much the Shooters’ dynamic vision had improved.
Park Sangha spoke with a faint smile, watching the falling rain.
“It’s a shame I can’t give him Points.”
“Sir?”
“Doyun, I mean. League Members can exchange Points with each other, but Doyun’s an exception.”
“Why is that?”
When Baek Doyun was pushing through equipment upgrades and modifications via Point exchanges, he tried to give Points to Park Sangha as well.
But when Baek Doyun saw the message that appeared before his eyes, Park Sangha refused.
[Buster’s ability resists the Point trading function!]
[Buster can conduct Point trades at 80% reduced value. Do you wish to proceed?]
Buster’s ability even resisted Point trading.
While protective gear effects applied at 50% reduction, Point trading was resisted by 80%.
If Baek Doyun sent 1,000 Points, Park Sangha would only receive 200 Points.
It was as good as saying not to trade with Buster at all.
Park Sangha smacked his lips and spoke.
“The Buster character seems to have been designed with differentiation in mind.”
“Differentiation?”
“Doesn’t it seem like a character made for solo players?”
“Solo players…”
“People who find it uncomfortable to mesh with others, people who prefer being alone—those kinds of people.”
Han Hye-ri nodded silently.
When she first met Baek Doyun, he was Buster incarnate.
He acted alone, hunted Zombies, and grew steadily based on information he knew.
Even when traveling with others, he was reluctant to join them unless he could prove he could fight Zombies.
But Baek Doyun had begun to change as he mingled with people.
He came to know his true nature that he hadn’t been aware of, and learned how to harmonize with others.
Han Hye-ri glanced at Park Sangha, then cleared her throat lightly before speaking.
“…Doesn’t it feel burdensome?”
“Huh?”
“I mean Doyun. Since becoming the League Master, it seems like he’s carrying more responsibility or something…”
“….”
“He seems colder somehow.”
On the surface she appeared carefree, but Han Hye-ri was genuinely concerned about Baek Doyun.
Park Sangha gazed at Han Hye-ri with a contented smile.
“What, feeling sorry for Doyun?”
“Huh?! No, it’s not that he’s pitiful… it’s just… it seems like it might be weighing on him.”
“In what way?”
“When I look at Doyun, I get that feeling. He seems to smile well enough, but his expression doesn’t look genuinely happy.”
“….”
“It’s like I can’t read what he’s thinking? Like he’s constantly turning things over in his mind.”
At Han Hye-ri’s words, Park Sangha stroked his chin thoughtfully and exhaled a long breath.
“You want to know what Doyun’s thinking?”
“Rather than wanting to know… I’m just curious. What kind of thoughts does someone who leads everyone have?”
Han Hye-ri’s honest answer.
Park Sangha smiled brightly at her, as if impressed, and spoke.
“You’re a tsundere, Hye-ri.”
“Me?”
“If you’re worried, just ask him directly. Ask what he’s thinking.”
Han Hye-ri then waved her hands frantically, fidgeting with her bangs.
“Ugh, I hate that. People will get the wrong idea.”
“Wrong idea? What’s wrong with asking what he’s thinking?”
“The kids talk about Doyun a lot among themselves.”
“They talk about Doyun?”
“Yeah. Some of them have a bit of a crush on him.”
At the word “crush,” Park Sangha burst into hearty laughter, slapping his belly.
“Doyun’s that popular?”
“It’s just… well… he has that cool vibe? His expression and behavior are cold, but his words are warm, you know? It’s like he’s putting up walls but also not.”
“Well, that type of guy appeals to teenagers.”
“Not when you’re older?”
“When you’re older, someone easy to be around is the best. You’ve already got so much to worry about—the last thing you want is to have to worry about people too.”
Park Sangha smiled warmly at the students’ youthful innocence.
People often call him a bad man.
But Park Sangha knows the truth.
Baek Doyun is neither a bad man nor a cool man.
He’s simply an awkward man.
Awkward in expressing emotion, awkward in connecting with others.
That’s precisely why I felt the urge to care for him even more—he was that kind of man.
Park Sangha spoke with a faint smile playing at his lips.
“Hye-ri. We just need to follow along without burdening Doyun.”
“…Will that be enough?”
“It’s more than enough. Doyun won’t want us overstepping, and he won’t want us holding back either.”
“….”
“Matching Doyun’s pace. That’s all we need to do.”
“Just that alone…?”
As Han Hye-ri’s expression turned bitter, Park Sangha lightly tapped her arm and spoke.
“Why, you want to help with everything?”
“No, it’s just… I want to ease his burden a bit.”
“When Doyun truly feels burdened, he’ll tell us first.”
“….”
“When that moment comes, don’t forget what you’re feeling now. Then we can step forward with all our strength.”

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