Player of a Ruined World - Chapter 9

—————
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 009
I returned to the hideout late at night and ate the ramen Kim Heejoo had prepared for me.
“Please have some too, Doyun.”
“Thank you. And please, feel free to speak casually with me.”
“Ah… should I?”
Kim Heejoo smiled bitterly and ladled ramen into my bowl.
As I ate silently, she placed kimchi on top and spoke.
“Thank you for saving our family today.”
“…”
“From now on, please take good care of my Sangil and the young masters. If there’s anything you’d like to eat, just tell me anytime. I’ll do my best to find the ingredients and make it for you.”
Feeling the weight of her words, I simply nodded while eating my ramen.
But wait—Sangil?
Are they the same age?
I swallowed the ramen I’d been chewing and looked at Kim Heejoo and Park Sangil before asking.
“Are you two the same age?”
“Us? Yeah, same department in college.”
The two, who had graduated from the same program, had apparently married after a long relationship.
And then came their blessing.
Park Kyeongeo.
Kyeongeo sat beside Park Sangil, blowing on her ramen.
Park Sangil gazed at her warmly and stroked her head.
That sight… looked sad to me.
Not because I pitied Kyeongeo, but because I saw my younger self overlapping with her.
I wanted to sit around the dinner table with my parents and eat together.
I wanted to receive praise from my father and have pleasant conversations.
The children I envied most in the world were those who complained to their mothers about side dishes at sports days.
If my mother ever came looking for me someday, I decided I wouldn’t complain about side dishes.
I held onto that thought until I graduated middle school.
For me… it was a dream I could never achieve in this lifetime.
“Doyun.”
“Yes?”
“You’re not eating more? Give me your bowl.”
Park Sangil took my rice bowl and ladled more ramen into it with a spoon.
“Eat up. You need to eat to have strength.”
“…”
“How is it? It’s delicious, right? Heejoo may not be great at other things, but she really makes excellent ramen.”
At that, Kim Heejoo’s eyebrows twitched and she smiled with a dangerous glint in her eyes.
“May not be great at other things…?”
“Oh…”
“Everything I make is delicious, isn’t it?”
“Y-yes, that’s right. It’s all delicious. Everything our Heejoo makes is delicious.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Absolutely.”
Park Sangil buried his face in his rice bowl, slurping down the ramen ravenously.
Park Sangha quietly observed the situation before bursting into hearty laughter.
“Haha! Sister-in-law, this is so delicious! I can feel all my fatigue melting away.”
“Is that so? I’m glad.”
The youngest, Park Sanghun, watched his older brothers and kept giving enthusiastic thumbs up.
Watching them, I felt an inexplicable bitterness settle in my chest.
A feeling of not being able to blend into this warm atmosphere.
Something that doesn’t suit me….
The feeling of gazing at an affectionate scene.
As I tried to eat my ramen in silence, a small, delicate hand holding a spoon and fork gently approached my rice bowl.
Someone placed kimchi on top of my ramen.
When I looked up, Kyeongeo was staring at me with sparkling, wide eyes.
“…Is this for me?”
Kyeongeo nodded silently.
Was she copying what her mother did?
I smiled weakly and took a bite of the kimchi and ramen together, and Kyeongeo grinned brightly before nestling into her mother’s arms.
Kim Heejoo seemed surprised by Kyeongeo’s action and asked her with a gentle smile.
“Did Kyeongeo put kimchi on Uncle Doyun’s ramen?”
“Yes!”
“Good job. Now ask your uncle if it tastes good.”
Kyeongeo twisted her upper body shyly and asked me.
“Uncle Doyun! Does it taste good?”
“It tastes wonderful. Maybe because Kyeongeo gave it to me?”
“Then one more!”
Kyeongeo laughed brightly and placed another piece of kimchi on my rice bowl.
When I ate it deliciously again, Kyeongeo giggled with delight.
Kim Heejoo held Kyeongeo in her arms and spoke.
“She’s usually shy and doesn’t do things like this often, but it seems she’s taken a liking to Doyun.”
“….”
Not knowing what to say, I scratched my sideburn, and Park Sangil, who had been observing the situation, smiled warmly.
“Our Kyeongeo has approved of you as an uncle.”
“Pardon?”
“She doesn’t even talk to people she’s uncomfortable with. The fact that she called you uncle means she’s taken a liking to you.”
“Ha ha….”
Should I be happy about being approved by Kyeongeo?
Unfamiliar with this kind of situation, I moved my lips instead of saying anything else.
Then Park Sangha, observing the situation, smiled warmly and spoke.
“I’m counting on you from now on, Doyun.”
“Ah, yes. I… as well.”
People smiling warmly as they looked at me.
For some reason, my chest tightened, so I buried my face in my rice bowl and gulped down the ramen hastily.
A feeling I’d never experienced before… strange yet warm.
It was a sense of belonging.

* * *
Ding—!
The next morning, a clear bell chime rang in my ears, snapping me awake.
Half-asleep, I raised my upper body, and a System Message appeared before my eyes.
[The time limit for the urgent episode ‘Right to Survive’ has ended.]
[Clear reward of 1,000 points has been granted!]
[Searching for the survivor who eliminated the most zombies.]
Ding—!
[Congratulations! Bonus points of 1,000 have been awarded to ‘Baek Doyun’ for eliminating 1,519 zombies over 72 hours!]
Ding—!
[The first main episode Safe House Entry (#1-0) is now beginning.]
[#1-0 Safe House Entry]
[There are a total of 4 safe houses for survivors belonging to Seongdong-gu.]
[Han O Apartment and Dae O Apartment adjacent to Haengdang Station.]
[Ssang O Apartment and OO Apartment adjacent to Ttukseom Station.]
[Please enter your desired safe house within the time limit.]
[Time limit: 12 hours]
[Clear reward: 500 points]
[Failure: -]
Too much information flooded in all at once after waking up.
I blinked my eyes and got out of bed.
Knock, knock—
“Doyun, you awake?”
“Ah, yes. Hyung.”
“Did you see the message too?”
As I opened the door and stepped into the living room, Park Sangil was scratching his disheveled hair while staring at the System Message.
“Just like you said, the safe house episode has started.”
Park Sangil alternated his gaze between the message and my face with curiosity.
Then he stared intently at my face before bursting out with a laugh and speaking.
“Hey, looks like you ate way too much ramen.”
“Huh?”
“Your face is super swollen, man.”
Was it the fatigue combined with the ramen?
Looking at my reflection in the mirror, my eyes were so swollen that my pupils were nearly covered.
As I laughed awkwardly and scratched my eyebrows, I spotted Park Sangha and Park Sanghun emerging from the adjacent room.
“What is this? A 12-hour time limit? And if it’s Han O Apartment and Dae O Apartment… they’re incredibly close from here.”
Park Sangha spoke while analyzing the System Message.
As he said, Han O Apartment and Dae O Apartment were large apartment complexes located right in front of Haengdang Station.
Just 400 meters away from here.
Moreover, the path to get there was already cleared from yesterday.
Without hesitation, I told the group.
“We need to go there first.”
“What’s the point of going quickly?”
“There will be a first clear reward.”
Since I received a first clear reward after completing the starting episode, the first episode should be the same.
The time limit is 12 hours.
Since the following second episode isn’t particularly dangerous either, I need to secure that first clear reward.
But there was one thing bothering me.
The number #1-0 displayed in the System Message.
In No Way Home, the first episode was just the first episode—it never had numbers attached like this.
Could there be differences from what I know?
‘Perhaps the information I have has become more detailed.’
Thinking about it won’t give me answers.
I’ll only find clues by confirming it with my own eyes.
As I began preparing to leave hurriedly, everyone shook their heads vigorously and shook off their drowsiness.
“Heejoo, wake up Kyeongeo!”
Park Sangil woke up Kim Heejoo and Kyeongeo in the master bedroom and told them they needed to leave immediately.
Kim Heejoo began preparing to leave without asking why.
Everyone moved quickly without a single person falling behind.
The more I see them, the more I like them.
I gripped the baseball bat I had set down and loosened my body with several deep breaths.
I stretched out my stiff shoulders and lower back, stood in front of the entrance, and spoke.
“Let’s move right away.”
I should use my points before moving.
“Invest 15 in stamina and 5 in strength.”
[You consume 2,000 points to increase stamina by 15 and strength by 5.]
[Current Stats: Stamina 45, Strength 25, Agility 20, Epidermis 5]
[Points Held: 19]
[Coins Held: 2]
As I checked my stats, I suddenly noticed the number of coins held displayed at the very bottom.
So emergency episodes also grant coins?
Since I can use the coin shop starting from 5 coins, at this rate I should be able to gather them soon.
“I’m ready.”
After confirming that Kim Heejoo and Kyeongeo had gathered at the entrance, I turned to face the group and spoke.
“We cleared out the zombies yesterday, so there shouldn’t be any immediate threats, but let’s all stay cautious just in case.”
“Got it.”
“Park Sangil will take point, I’ll follow right behind him. Kyeongeo and Kim Heejoo, Park Sangha and Park Sanghun will cover you from the rear.”
“Understood.”
After hearing their acknowledgments, I took a deep breath and opened the entrance door, stepping outside.
Whoooosh—
The torrential downpour continued relentlessly.
This rain… would continue falling until the second episode ended.
The distance from here to Haengdang Station was less than ten minutes on foot.
One thing that weighed on my mind…
‘The survivors at the elementary school.’
I’d heard there were numerous survivors at the elementary school right in front of Sangwangsimni Station.
If they ventured outside…
‘They’d move to the Dae O Apartment.’
They wouldn’t bother crossing the main road to come to the Han O Apartment.
From what the three brothers had told me, these were people we absolutely wanted to avoid.
So our destination was essentially predetermined.
“Do you know where we’re heading?”
“I do. Just follow my lead.”
Park Sangil carefully surveyed the surroundings as he advanced through the rain thick with mist.
Whoooosh—
After walking for about seven minutes through the pouring rain,
the silhouette of an apartment complex began to emerge through the hazy visibility.
A massive complex with over 2,000 units.
Haengdang Han O Apartment.
Just looking at the large shopping district that marked the apartment entrance, I couldn’t gauge how many zombies might be lurking here.
There seemed to be an enormous number…
We’d cleared the area up to Haengdang Station yesterday, but hadn’t ventured into the complex itself.
Surely hundreds of zombies were swarming throughout.
“This is the Han O Apartment.”
Park Sangil, leading the way, pointed to the entrance of the complex.
I nodded and spoke to everyone.
“Everyone come forward and line up in a single row.”
“A single row? How?”
“Line up horizontally.”
To receive all the initial rewards, we had to enter simultaneously.
Since we hadn’t formed a party yet.
We could only form a party once the second episode’s companion recruitment began, so we’d have to manage the inconvenience.
We lined up horizontally at the complex entrance and entered together on the count of three.
Crunch—
[You have entered the First Episode Safe House.]
[500 points awarded.]
[You are the first to enter a Safe House! Bonus points of 500 awarded.]
Ding—!
[A player has entered the Safe House.]
[First Episode Safe House entry has been updated to Safe House Construction.]
Ding—!
[#1-1 Safe House Construction]
[The current Safe House is not secure.]
[Eliminate all zombies within the Safe House.]
[Remaining zombies: 1,000/1,000]
[Time limit: 24 hours]
[Clear reward: 1,000 points]
[Failure: Safe House destruction]
[Your Safe House is Han O Apartment, Haengdang-dong, Seongdong-gu, Seoul.]
System Messages cascaded relentlessly across my vision.
I’d found the notation #1-0 peculiar, but now it made sense.
It was a linked quest.
The game had lumped everything together as the First Episode, but reality was far more granular in its divisions.
But still—kill a thousand zombies in twenty-four hours?
This was absurd.
I’d hunted 1,500 over four days, and now they wanted 1,000 in a single day.
Park Sangil’s Family stared at the System Message with expressions of disbelief.
Park Sangil brushed his rain-soaked hair back and asked me.
“A thousand in twenty-four hours. Is it possible?”
“We have to make it possible. There’s no other choice.”

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