Level 4 Human in a Ruined World

Chapter 72

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

Chapter 72: Karma (1)

“……”

As Yeongwoo picked up the fountain pen and stared blankly, Jongsu and dozens of Women alliance members crowded around him.

The world had changed a lot in just a few days.

Now it wasn’t strange to see bizarrely shaped swords coming out as loot, but finding writing instruments was a surprising occurrence.

“Brother, is that also equipment…?”

When Jongsu asked this, Yeongwoo’s head slowly nodded up and down.

“Yes. That’s right.”

In Yeongwoo’s view now, there was a tooltip similar to any other equipment.

The only unusual thing was that this fountain pen wasn’t a weapon.

「Wanted Poster」 – Unique

【Searching for what you desire.】

|Father

‘Searching for what you desire? Is it similar to my compass?’

Yeongwoo glanced at the blue-green snake wrapped around his wrist, then shifted his gaze forward again.

‘Wait, what’s this? Father…?’

|Father

To Yeongwoo, it was an abstract word.

But wasn’t that word attached to the tooltip of the fountain pen, which searches for what you desire?

“……”

Lost in thought for a moment, Yeongwoo soon felt a tingling sensation in his ears.

Given the circumstances, this was a trace left by Gyeongbuk’s Strongest Sword (Advance), the previous owner of the fountain pen.

He had been searching for his father from somewhere in Gyeongbuk, while inflicting harm on numerous people.

‘Crazy.’

Of course, in this world, many killings were unavoidable to survive.

But the previous owner of the fountain pen that Yeongwoo had faced directly was someone with more than just a survival instinct; he possessed evil beyond that.

So he wasn’t pitied.

Rather, the deceased parents were the ones to be pitied.

‘Anyway, seeing that father is registered in this equipment, it seems that at least one of the parents was alive somewhere.’

Yeongwoo picked up the fountain pen, dripping dry comments like an orphan.

Tap.

Then an arrow pointing northwest appeared in his view.

‘Huh…?’

This was probably the direction where the target registered in this equipment, the deceased Gyeongbuk’s Strongest Sword Advance’s father, was.

And then.

Sizzle.

Suddenly, the arrow twisted, and a system message appeared.

「Data change detected. Would you like to update the results?」

“……!”

Thump.

Feeling a tingling sensation inside his chest, Yeongwoo barely managed to exhale.

The appearance of this message now meant that it was asking if he wanted to try finding his father this time.

‘What if… if my father doesn’t exist? What happens then? Will the result not update and be nullified?’

As someone with no positive experiences regarding parents, Yeongwoo couldn’t help but entertain negative thoughts.

But wouldn’t that be a loss?

‘At worst, I might just lose the arrow I’m seeing now.’

Since he had no intention of searching for someone else’s father, there was only one conclusion.

‘Fine. Update the result.’

As Yeongwoo permitted the update, the fountain pen, the “Wanted Poster,” in his hand shone brightly.

Ah!

Then the arrow in Yeongwoo’s distorted vision returned to its original shape.

Swoosh.

This time, it pointed to the north.

“Huh?”

As Yeongwoo exclaimed in surprise at the unexpected result, everyone around him, who had been watching him without understanding a word, also took a step back.

“What’s going on, brother?”

Among them, Jongsu was the only one who stepped forward.

Yeongwoo looked at him and said quietly.

“Looks like my father is alive somewhere.”

Then he added, “My mother is dead.”

***

Mother is dead.

The basis for Yeongwoo’s conclusion was his achievements.

Among the achievements he possessed, there were some related to the life and death of his parents.

[Complete Orphan]

|Find and eliminate your parents. (1/2)

An achievement with a crazy content of finding and eliminating the remaining parent.

When he first saw this, all Yeongwoo could know was that one of the parents was still alive.

And now, after a few days, he confirmed that the ‘one’ still alive was his father.

“Father.”

Yeongwoo silently whispered the three-syllable word.

Just a presence he knew in concept.

But as the thought that his father really existed and that he might even meet him someday crossed his mind, indescribable emotions overwhelmed him.

Anticipation?

Fear?

Regret…?

It could be all three.

‘Then… When did my mother die? Was she already out of this world before the reset?’

Yeongwoo recalled his original destiny record from the first day of the reset.

[Father]: Grade 6 Extra

[Mother]: Grade 1 Supporting Role

According to the destiny record, his father’s grade was 6, while his mother’s was an impressive 1.

However, contrary to the grades, it was his father who was still alive.

What could have happened?

And why?

‘Why did you abandon me?’

As Yeongwoo raised his empty gaze, he noticed Jongsu, who was wearing a worried expression.

“Are you… feeling better now?”

“Ah.”

Upon hearing Jongsu’s words and looking around, Yeongwoo felt that the situation was gradually being sorted out.

The Women alliance members who had surrounded him until a moment ago were now returning to the motel on the other side to take care of the bodies.

Of course, the culprit behind all of this, Gyeongbuk’s Strongest Sword (Advance), was left as he was, with his throat slit.

“They’re amazing, those people.”

As Yeongwoo watched the people bustling around, Jongsu shrugged his shoulders.

“People dying in the world these days isn’t anything special. And above all…”

Jongsu paused for a moment before continuing.

“They don’t have the power to make any other choice. So isn’t it best to focus on damage control?”

“……?”

Yeongwoo cocked his head in confusion before understanding.

What Jongsu meant was that they had actively intervened to cover up the argument.

In fact, strictly speaking, the casualties on the Women alliance’s side were all caused by Yeongwoo.

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]

If he hadn’t stayed in this motel, there wouldn’t have been a reason for the Strongest Sword to come here.

However, as seen in this fight, Strongest Sword’s power was beyond imagination.

That’s why the Women alliance didn’t even demand an apology from Yeongwoo, despite losing many comrades because of him.

If the relationship with him, who was also Gyeongbuk’s Strongest Sword, soured any further, they might even lose the few remaining comrades.

‘Ha.’

After organizing his thoughts up to this point, Yeongwoo let out a bitter smile.

He had never been the subject of fear to anyone before, so he didn’t know how to act in situations like this.

Then, Jongsu, who had belonged to the strong side in the previous world, offered his own alternative.

“What’s done is done. We can’t help it now. How about taking care of the remaining authority figures here?”

With a swift movement, he pointed to where the authority figure, Kwon Taeyoung, was sitting.

In front of him was probably the body of Kim Byeongcheol, the Strongest Sword in this era.

Upon this suggestion, Yeongwoo stood up and headed towards the motel.

Then, the Women alliance members who were attending to the bodies started to look at Yeongwoo one by one.

“……”

The first emotion conveyed was fear, followed by a subtle hint of anger.

“Are you leaving now?”

Soon after, Seong Yerin, who had spotted him, came forward to intercept her colleagues’ stares.

However, it was also meant as a farewell.

“Living as a Strongest Sword isn’t easy, is it? Where are you planning to go?”

Seeing how she was trying to deflect the situation, it seemed she was hoping for him to leave soon.

“I’m heading to Seoul.”

“Seoul? Going to a more dangerous place. But I can’t cheer you on for that, you know?”

Seong Yerin said with a joking tone, but her sincerity was evident.

Yeongwoo knew that behind her was the motel turned into a sea of blood.

He bowed deeply as he acknowledged it.

“It might seem meaningless now, but… I sincerely apologize.”

Upon this, Seong Yerin raised her eyebrows slightly and stepped back.

“It’s okay. It’s not like apologizing will bring back the dead.”

This was something Yeongwoo agreed with.

So, he was thinking about one more thing.

And that was…

Click.

The weapon stained with the most blood from the Cheoin-gu Women alliance members, the “Ashen Thorn.”

「Ashen Thorn」 – Mutation Spear

【Significantly increases stabbing power.】

“This isn’t an apology. As you can see, if I had fought alone, I wouldn’t have won. So, this is for all of you.”

“Oh, this is…”

This time, Seong Yerin’s reaction was a bit different.

Unlike the volatile apology earlier, this was a tangible reward that could help with their future survival.

Snap!

Seong Yerin hastily grabbed the thorn Yeongwoo was offering.

“I’m really grateful for this. Honestly, you didn’t need to do this much from your perspective.”

It meant that even if he was a Strongest Sword, he could have killed everyone here and still survived.

Of course, Yeongwoo didn’t blindly accept losses.

As he mentioned before, the Women alliance’s participation had shifted the tide of the battle, and he had enough weapons in his possession.

Already having two variant weapons, he had no more space left on his belt.

“I don’t particularly enjoy being indebted. But this time, I truly owe you.”

Yeongwoo bowed again to Seong Yerin and her colleagues.

Suddenly, something unexpected happened.

Bzzt!

An achievement was accomplished.

[Achievement Accomplished: Idealist]

|Achievement Grade: Epic

|Rank Achieved: First

「Within one week of reset, give equipment of relic grade or higher to others for free.」

‘What…?’

It was an achievement of Epic grade.

It turned out that achieving the achievement had been accomplished just now when Yeongwoo handed the thorn to Seong Yerin.

‘In this world, you have to do things that you’d never imagine to accomplish achievements.’

Since this wasn’t listed in the recommended achievement list, it was quite a significant gain.

「There is 1 unclaimed achievement reward.」

「Would you like to claim the reward?」

Following this notification, Yeongwoo immediately claimed the reward.

“Claim.”

Bzzt!

As Yeongwoo approved the claim, the text in front of him disappeared frighteningly, and a clear sound echoed in the air.

Ting!

Then, a ring suddenly materialized and dropped.

“Huh.”

Seeing this, Seong Yerin was surprised, her mouth gaping open.

In the meantime, Yeongwoo swiftly grabbed the ring.

Thud.

「Idealist」 – Epic Ring

【All stats increase by 100 per achieved achievement】

“Ah…!”

After seeing the tooltip of the ring, Yeongwoo almost let out a sound instinctively but managed to hold back.

This was an equipment perfectly optimized for him, given his 12 achievements, and the system recognized him as a ‘stubborn’ person, as evidenced by his achievements:

[Your achievement tendency is “Stubborn.”]

||Completed achievements: 5

‘Five… With one ring, I gained 2,000 in stats.’

It was unbelievable.

And indeed, a string of absurd stat increase notifications appeared.

「Strength has increased from the original 700 to 1,200.」

「Endurance has increased from the original 350 to 850.」

「Durability has increased from the original 550 to 1,050.」

「Sensory has increased from the original 100 to 600.」

[Translator – Night]

[Proofreader – Gun]