Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 7

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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 007
When I arrived at the 4th floor villa where I’d hidden my wife and child, Park Sangil dropped the long kitchen knife he’d been gripping and choked back tears.
He’d confirmed his wife and son were safe, and the emotions welling up inside him were overwhelming.
The family embraced each other, tears of joy streaming down their faces.
Only then, his mind at ease, did Park Sangil turn to look at me and speak.
“Thank you. Truly… I’m so grateful.”
“Save the thanks for when we’re somewhere safer. This place isn’t secure.”
Then Park Sangha, standing behind him, tilted his head and asked.
“Is there somewhere safe?”
“I have a place where I’ve cleared out the zombies. Let’s head there.”
Without further explanation, I led them through the rain toward my hideout.
About three minutes of walking?
They tensed when they saw the dozen or so zombies on the first floor.
I gestured for them to stay quiet, pressing my index finger to my lips and motioning them to follow.
They moved silently behind me as we entered the villa.
The moment we reached the main unit on the 4th floor, I tossed my wet padded jacket onto the balcony and checked outside the window.
I saw neither other survivors nor zombies.
Still, just to be safe, I covered the window with curtains.
The books I’d taped around my forearms and shins to protect them were soaked and falling apart.
They were only hindering my movement, so I tore them all off.
Now my limbs felt slightly lighter.
When I removed my gloves and examined my fingers and the backs of my hands, I could see the skin was swollen and red.
It was fortunate the gloves hadn’t torn.
“Now, explain yourself.”
A man’s voice from behind.
I turned my head, and Park Sangil’s face came into view.
Just moments ago he’d been choking back tears of gratitude, but now his expression showed a certain wariness.
He seemed to be guarding against the possibility that I might have other intentions.
Had he been betrayed by other survivors before?
I’m not naturally gifted at conversation, but with everyone on edge, I needed to ease the tension.
I took a deep breath and asked in a calm voice.
“Is that your son?”
When I gestured toward the child, the man nodded while pulling the woman and child behind him.
Why was he so cautious?
It seemed my display of beating down zombies had been quite shocking to him.
“I have no intention of attacking. Don’t be on guard. And right now, we need to work together.”
“….”
“You’ve all checked the episodes, haven’t you? We don’t have much time left. The first main episode will start soon.”
“How can you be so calm about this?”
“Do I seem calm to you?”
I showed the blisters on my palm with a bitter smile.
Lips turned violet from prolonged exposure to rain, and a gaunt face.
That was what I looked like now.
The man scanned me from head to toe, swallowed hard, and asked.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Baek Doyun. You’re Park Sangil, aren’t you?”
“…Yes.”
“The people behind me are family.”
Park Sangil glanced at Park Sangha beside him.
Then Park Sangha spoke with a bitter smile.
“I told you. This person saved not just my brother and Sanghun, but also me, my sister-in-law, and Kyeongeo.”
“….”
Yes, I understood Park Sangil’s position.
He was being cautious because of the thought that I might harm his family.
I sighed and spoke calmly.
“If you want to protect your family, listen carefully to what I’m about to say.”

* * *
I explained that this world was based on a game, and that game’s name was No Way Home.
Since insurance was necessary, I only revealed the broad strokes and didn’t go into details.
I explained only to a level they could reasonably understand.
Park Sangil asked with disbelief, raising the corners of his eyes.
“You’re telling me to believe such nonsense?”
“Does it make sense that we were suddenly summoned to the street?”
“….”
“And what about the zombies?”
Park Sangil swept back his bangs with a troubled expression.
Then Park Sangha beside Park Sangil opened his mouth.
“Brother, what this guy is saying doesn’t seem wrong.”
“…What’s your evidence?”
“What he said matches exactly with what I confirmed in the phone message.”
Park Sangha wiped the moisture from his glasses and asked me.
“You said your name is Baek Doyun?”
“Yes.”
“Could you tell me more details about what you mentioned earlier?”
“Which part are you curious about?”
“So… you’re saying we’re inside a game right now?”
“Not inside a game, but it seems to be terraformed based on one.”
Park Sangha quietly stroked his chin, organizing his thoughts.
Not long after, he sniffled and asked.
“Then… does Baek Doyun know about the episodes that will unfold after this?”
“Yes.”
“How much do you know?”
“Enough to survive until the end.”
Enough to survive until the end.
I’d rephrased my way of saying I’d seen the ending.
When I answered honestly, the man on the far right spoke up this time.
The youngest of their group.
Was his name Park Sanghun?
“If you’ve survived until the end… doesn’t that mean you’ve seen the ending? Then you also know how to end this situation?”
“If this proceeds as a game scenario… yes, I know how to end it.”
Park Sanghun looked back and forth between Park Sangil and Park Sangha as he spoke.
“Older brothers, wouldn’t it be better if we traveled together with this person?”
Park Sangil stared directly at my face and asked.
“Isn’t it reckless to reveal such information so easily?”
“There’s nothing to gain by hiding it.”
“…”
“I can’t clear all the episodes alone anyway. I need your help.”
“…”
“I need party members to progress through the episodes, and ultimately, I need reliable allies to survive until the very end.”
For someone like me who chose the Buster ability, it was true that good companions were necessary to increase survival rates in the early episodes.
Above all, as we progress further… episodes appear that I absolutely cannot clear alone.
Episodes that can only be cleared through party play.
Park Sangil still regarded me with suspicious eyes.
“We met ten minutes ago… what about us made you think we’d be reliable party members? Rather than suspicion… it feels a bit burdensome.”
“You brought a child with you.”
“…”
“I like people with a sense of responsibility. I hate selfish humans too. Doesn’t that verify everything? Combat ability, guts, mental fortitude, and character.”
“You’ve probably noticed, but we’re family. In an emergency, we might abandon you—don’t you worry about that?”
Park Sangil raised the corners of his eyes and stared directly at my face.
I actually liked that he voiced such a concern.
It meant he was suspicious of me.
Suspicion is good.
It means you want to understand the other person.
If you didn’t want to understand someone, you wouldn’t even suspect them.
Blind faith, blind belief—that was the truly dangerous act.
So I smiled contentedly and spoke.
“I know. That’s why I like it even more.”
“Like it even more?”
“Because I know it won’t happen.”
“Do you think we’re incapable of it?”
“Yes. Because I know how it ends.”
“….”
“Why do you think I revealed this fact?”
“….”
“I need you all, and you need me to survive.”
“….”
I spoke matter-of-factly with my arms crossed, and Park Sangil swallowed hard before asking.
“How are we supposed to believe that? There’s no evidence whatsoever that you know the ending.”
“First Episode Safe House.”
“…What?”
“It’s the name of the episode that begins tomorrow morning.”
I shrugged and spoke as if it were nothing.
At my composed demeanor, the second and youngest brothers began watching the eldest’s expression.
Park Sangha, the second brother, grabbed Park Sangil’s arm and spoke.
“Brother, I understand being cautious… but this person saved us.”
“….”
“Do we really need to doubt them further? It’s like demanding payment from someone who rescued us.”
“I don’t want anything from this person, so what payment are you talking about? If we’re going to keep traveling together, there can’t be deception between us.”
“It’s not about trust or distrust. It’s a symbiotic relationship.”
“….”
“We’re a party with no possibility of betraying each other, and this person has the information to guide us safely.”
When Park Sangil offered no rebuttal, Park Sangha tilted his head and asked.
“You saw this person take down zombies too, didn’t you, brother?”
“….”
“Do you think an ordinary person could do that? They can be so decisive because they have information and know which direction we need to go.”
“….”
“And if they wanted to attack us, they wouldn’t have saved us in the first place.”
At Park Sangha’s explanation, Park Sangil slowly nodded.
Park Sangha continued speaking.
“Even if a dangerous situation arises, we can’t abandon this person because of the information.”
“….”
“They know that too, which is why they only told us the general outline.”
“….”
“Don’t you see? There’s no better symbiotic relationship than this.”
Yes, that’s right.
That’s why I revealed the fact that I’ve seen the ending.
Whether they believe it or not is their problem.
If they can’t trust me, they can leave.
This was my way.
Park Sangha laid out the current situation clearly.
Park Sangil hesitated for a moment, then exhaled a long sigh and splashed water on his face.
It wasn’t hard to understand why Park Sangil in particular carried such wariness and hostility.
‘He has a wife and children.’
And as the eldest son, his sense of responsibility would be all the heavier.
I appreciated both his sense of responsibility and his cautious demeanor toward strangers.
If he became an ally, he’d certainly make a reliable partner.
But the person who truly caught my attention was…
‘The second son is wise.’
He grasped situations quickly.
A man who remained calm and delivered rational answers without panic.
Exactly the kind of person survival demanded.
And then there was the youngest, Park Sanghun, who could mediate between the eldest and second sons.
As I stared blankly at Park Sanghun, he noticed my gaze and smiled warmly before speaking.
“Oh, I’m late with my introduction. I’m Park Sanghun.”
“I’m Baek Doyun.”
“How old are you, Baek Doyun?”
“Twenty-eight.”
“What?! We’re the same age.”
“Is that so?”
So Park Sanghun was my age, the second son Park Sangha was thirty-three, and the eldest Park Sangil was thirty-five.
They’d gathered at Park Sangil’s house for a family trip when this situation struck.
From what they said about their hometown not being Seoul, it seemed their parents were elsewhere.
Well, there was no need to pry into their family affairs in detail, so I simply nodded along.
Then the woman standing behind Park Sangil spoke up.
“Kyeongeo, you should greet him.”
“….”
A child looking terrified at the sight of a stranger.
But when the child’s mother smiled gently and stroked the child’s head, the child stepped forward and greeted me.
“…Hello.”
“What’s your name, little friend?”
“Park Kyeongeo….”
“Nice to meet you. Uncle’s name is Baek Doyun.”
As I smiled warmly at the child, the child’s cheeks flushed pink and hid behind the mother.
A shy child, then.
Kyeongeo’s mother gave a wry smile and spoke.
“I’m Kim Heejoo.”
“Pleased to meet you.”
“I heard earlier that you know how to end this situation?”
“Yes.”
“You mentioned that once the emergency episode ends, the first main episode begins, right? The Safe House?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Is that place really safe?”
“We need to go through a process to make it safe. Since reality serves as the backdrop, we can’t predict the margin of error between the game and reality.”
The question carried both genuine curiosity and skepticism—a desire to verify whether I truly knew what lay ahead.
There was no need to hide anything now that we’d decided to be in this together.
I stuffed both hands into my pants pockets and spoke.
“The reason I want to be with you all is because of the second episode.”
“The second episode?”
“The second episode is about recruiting allies.”
“….”
“Once survivors gather at the Safe House, the next episode involves recruiting companions.”
“Then… we should be able to clear the second episode pretty quickly too.”
Park Sangil, who had been listening to the conversation, looked at my face and asked.
“Can we speak casually?”
“Yes. Everyone, feel free.”
“What character class did you choose?”
“Buster.”
“Bus… what?”
“Buster.”
“There’s a class like that?”
They don’t know about Buster?
It should have been in the character descriptions.
Yet no one here had ever heard of the Buster class.
‘Could it be.’
Perhaps… people who know nothing about No Way Home can’t select Buster?
It seemed the system had locked out that choice—probably because someone ignorant of the game would obviously die early on if they picked it.

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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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