The Ruined World Was Mistaken for a Game

Translator: Dreamscribe

The game had begun!

Jinwoo pulled up an Information Window displaying various zones of the Island of Evil and attached cameras to the ones worth watching. For easy viewing, he even made a list sorted by Evil Karma, highest first. Then he added a status display where the Kill Log, Assists, and more could be seen.

The viewers were many.

Every Vengeful Spirit that Jinwoo carried on his back was watching intently. And Jinwoo had granted broadcast access to the Arsilan residents who came from the Dimensional Realm. Perhaps he had connected the communications between the Sanctuary, the Dimensional Realm, and Arsilan for this very day.

-??

-Oh!

-What's this?

-A broadcast!?

Watching the broadcast placed viewers under the influence of the Authority of Time, making time flow more slowly for them.

Those rescued from the Dimensional Realm had adapted to Arsilan and were living happy days. Adapting wasn't difficult.

Arsilan was a place where even the Heroes from Earth adapted with ease. It was that open, a place where many races lived side by side. Though they came from another dimensional realm, in the eyes of the Arsilan people they were simply another race to live alongside.

Even now, many Slaves were being rescued. The Nobles hooked on Reist World and RL brought the Slaves in and offered them up on their own. Since the price was determined by their condition, there were even High Nobles who escorted the Slaves over with the utmost care.

Those who hadn't yet gone to Arsilan and remained in the space Jinwoo had prepared were watching the broadcast too.

Deep resentment hung in the air.

The very ones who had invaded their homelands and ordered the massacres were right there on the Island of Evil. The Vengeful Spirits stared at the Information Window with eyes full of hatred and rage.

-Oooh! It's starting!

-Lol one of them is holding a carrot.

-Brothers and sisters! Check your Good Karma points and try donating! You can even interfere with them!

The response was excellent.

Naturally, the resentment and hatred toward the Kalsus Dimensional Empire hadn't disappeared, but was carved deep into their souls. In that state, no matter how much joy Jinwoo offered, they couldn't truly feel it. They would go on living in pain, like a wound that never healed.

Already, the resentment was beginning to thin.

When everyone packed into the Capsules had landed on the Island of Evil, Jinwoo nodded and rose from his seat.

"Well then...."

Jinwoo had certainly promised to spare the last survivor and even grant a reward. But he had never said that this one person would be among them.

-Wow! Truly our Evil God!

-That's our Evil God for you!

-Lmao they're so screwed.

-Lololol jackpot!

Looking at the chat, it seemed they had adapted a little too well. They'd already been corrupted by the Heroes. Jinwoo chuckled and descended onto the Island of Evil.

He moved toward the weakest-looking one nearby.

A man holding a wooden club came into view.

He was a typical scholar, small-framed and wearing glasses. He was crouched in a corner, trembling, and one look was enough to tell he wouldn't survive long.

Dvelos Hateka, Director of the Imperial Dimensional Technology Research Institute.

Recently, he had been researching the phenomena that occurred when dozens of dimensions were incinerated simultaneously. He had already carried out several such experiments, so his Evil Karma count was tremendously high.

"What do you think? Should we go with this one?"

-Perfect choice.

-Let's gooo!

-Seems fitting.

-Excellent judgment!

[Raphne has donated 200 Good Karma Points!]

*Please give him the most painful punishment possible!

Dvelos's infamy ran extremely deep.

Countless of their kin had been experimented on at the Research Institute, subjected even to vivisection and organ extraction. Jinwoo, satisfied with the pouring donations, wore a deep smile on his lips.

Thump, thump!

He walked toward Dvelos, who was hiding in the corner of an abandoned building. As the footsteps echoed loudly, Dvelos curled his body up as tightly as he could and even held his breath.

Jinwoo stared at the spot where he was hiding, then deliberately pretended to walk off in another direction.

Hearing the footsteps fade, Dvelos relaxed and let out a deep sigh. That was when it happened.

"How do you expect to survive like this?"

"Aaa, AAAAGH!"

At the voice suddenly coming from beside him, he screamed and fell backward. Dvelos trembled violently as he lifted his head to look at Jinwoo. Since Jinwoo still wore Reist's appearance, he recognized him at once.

"Y-Your Highness..., n-no, the E-Evil God...."

Dvelos was engulfed in such extreme terror that he could barely breathe.

"I suppose I should run an experiment of my own."

A live experiment.

Jinwoo waved his hand, and a fist-sized lump of flesh materialized. Thread-like nerve bundles were tangled through it, and it slowly divided, becoming two.

The moment Dvelos saw the slowly dividing lump of flesh, he sensed his own fate.

"P-please, have mercy...."

Those who had become his test subjects had begged for mercy too, but Dvelos had smiled and proceeded with his experiments.

The hands of the Vengeful Spirits who were once Dvelos's test subjects rose from Jinwoo's shadow and seized him.

"Smile."

"Ha, hahaha...."

At Jinwoo's word, Dvelos forced out a laugh.

Jinwoo laughed along with him, then drove the lump of flesh into Dvelos's chest.

"Aaa, AAAAAGH!"

Every nerve in Dvelos's body connected to the lump of flesh, and then, as if being devoured by a slime, his body melted and was sucked in. Dvelos and the lump of flesh had become one.

The lump of flesh had no eyes, no nose, no mouth.

It could feel nothing but sensation.

[Gah, GAAAAAAAAAH!]

When the flesh began to divide, Dvelos writhed in agony. Only hollow screams, cried out through his soul, echoed through the air. Every divided lump of flesh was connected to Dvelos's soul. The more the lumps multiplied, the more his pain doubled.

"That should do it."

The laughter of the Vengeful Spirits could be heard.

Yes, this is what a game should be!

Jinwoo gazed at the lump of flesh, then transformed into Dvelos's likeness. Once he put on the half-cracked glasses, he became a perfect Dvelos!

"Now then, shall we enjoy ourselves?"

Jinwoo remembered having fun with battle royale FPS games back in the day. He went into the abandoned building and came out with various supplies. Luckily, he even found a pistol.

"Oh."

The First Kill came in.

Two of them had gotten into a scuffle over food and one had bashed the other's head in with a rock, and the name of the freshly dead evildoer immediately appeared on the Information Window. As if that were the trigger, battles broke out all across the Island of Evil.

With as many as eight thousand evildoers around, factions naturally formed, and teams appeared. Surviving to the very end and only then deciding the winner offered the best odds of staying alive.

Jinwoo spread out the map through the Information Window and assessed the situation.

The Minister who had once been a Knight Order commander was putting on the best performance. He had already gathered capable people and formed a team, killing every survivor they found on sight.

[The Black Sea approaches. Evacuate to the Safe Zone.]

The Black Sea that surrounded the Island of Evil overflowed and poured inland. It looked as if it were devouring the island. Its speed was so tremendous that anyone caught near it could not escape.

"GYAAAAAH!"

What moved the Black Sea were the hands of countless Vengeful Spirits. The hands stretched out, seizing the evildoers near the Black Sea. They dragged them straight down into the black waters and tore their bodies apart.

As the island steadily shrank, more battles broke out.

Jinwoo leisurely watched the situation unfold, then headed toward the evildoers who had formed the most powerful team.

He drove a car toward them, and as he neared, bullets rained down. When smoke billowed from the car's engine, Jinwoo turned the wheel and crashed into a tree.

He opened the car door and stepped out with both hands raised.

"AAAAH! Don't shoot!"

When Jinwoo shouted that, the evildoers approached with guns trained on him. They were the ones teamed up with the Minister. All of them were former knights, so their movements were remarkably agile.

There looked to be about fifty of them.

"P-please spare me! I'll do anything! I, I have very useful information!"

As Jinwoo pleaded desperately, on the verge of tears, they stared at him for a moment, then bound him with rope and dragged him to an abandoned building.

-Lol

-Nice acting.

-Truly the almighty Evil God!

Jinwoo gladly played the clown for the Vengeful Spirits.

He'd never had any divine dignity to begin with.

If it could bring joy to wounded, good-hearted souls, he could do far more than this. That was Lee Jinwoo, CEO of FS Games.

Jinwoo was dragged before the Minister.

He was the Minister in charge of national defense for the Empire's northern region. A man who stood so high that he was hard to encounter even in the Sanctuary was now clawing to survive on the Island of Evil.

"Director Dvelos, I see."

"M-Minister!"

Dvelos and the Minister had spoken a few times before. The Minister leveled a bloodstained sword at Jinwoo's throat.

"You're useless here. Why should I let you live?"

"I, I have information!"

"Hmm...."

Jinwoo pulled a map from his coat.

It was a map he'd made up on the spot.

"A map?"

"Yes! A-and I know where the ones who seized the food are. There's enough food there to last three days with plenty to spare!"

All the Minister and his subordinates had was a single bottle of water. At the mention of food, the Minister's eyes lit up with greed.

"That information, is it certain?"

"Yes, even the car I drove here was secretly taken from them. There are roughly sixty people there, and...."

There were canned goods in the food warehouse.

Another force had seized that place, and Jinwoo was luring these men toward it.

The winner was most likely to come from either the Minister's team or the team controlling the food warehouse. Both were filled with people of superior physique who knew how to handle weapons.

-Ah! So this is like that Balance Patch thing!

-A balance patch?

-Gotta have one or it's no fun.

Bringing the two forces into contact early was a matter of balancing the game.

"If you're lying, I will kill you painfully."

"It's true! I saw it clearly with my own two eyes!"

The Minister put Jinwoo at the front and led his forces to the food warehouse. Just as Jinwoo had said, a force occupied it. When the Minister gestured, his subordinates untied Jinwoo's bonds.

"M-may I join you as well?"

"Your head should prove useful. Follow quietly."

"Yes! I'll keep my mouth shut!"

When Jinwoo spoke in a trembling voice, the Minister nodded. The Minister planned the operation carefully. They would infiltrate through the sewer connected to the warehouse and launch a surprise attack. Jinwoo followed them into the warehouse.

Every one of the evildoers was struggling to survive by any means necessary.

With agony worse than death awaiting them, they were all desperate.

Just as they had slipped in and were about to begin the ambush.

Jinwoo deliberately stepped backward onto an empty can lying on the floor.

CLATTER!

The empty can went flying and rolled noisily across the floor.

It was the kind of cliché scene straight out of a movie. Unfortunately for them, this was reality.

"Who's there!"

"Huk! Over there...!"

The people inside the warehouse spotted the Minister and his subordinates. With the ambush a failure, both sides rushed out and fell into a standoff. The leader of the force occupying the warehouse was a High Noble.

"Wait! There's plenty of food. There's no need for us to fight each other this early."

"Hmm...."

When the High Noble said that, the Minister nodded.

Taking losses here would only benefit everyone else. They had ten more days to endure, and a serious injury meant immediate elimination.

"True enough."

"Good to see reason prevails. Why not cooperate instead? We work together until the final day, then decide the winner among ourselves."

If these two forces joined, barring anything unexpected, they could make it to the very end. The High Noble and the Minister sized up each other's forces and sensed as much.

The tension eased and the mood softened.

The Minister nodded and was just about to signal his men to lower their weapons.

A grin!

Jinwoo's lips split into a long grin. He drew a gun from his Subspace and aimed it at the High Noble.

BANG!

He pulled the trigger before anyone could react.

A gaping hole opened in the High Noble's head. The man never realized what had happened to him. He tried to speak, but no words came out. As his consciousness faded, his body toppled backward.

"Haha! Minister, did you see that? I did it! I landed the headshot just like you ordered! Look at that bastard's head, blown wide open! Now let's clean them all up, just as planned!"

The Minister and his subordinates stood there blank-faced, unable to process the sudden turn of events. No one would do such a thing here unless they were insane.

"Die! Hahaha!"

As Jinwoo laughed like a madman and sprayed bullets forward, the force that had followed the High Noble came to their senses and responded.

"K-kill them!"

"Shoot!"

"AAAAAH!"

Battle erupted between the two sides.

Jinwoo erased his presence and slipped to the rear, and no one could find him.

-Lololol this is hilarious.

-Now THIS is gaming!

-Nice trolling!

-I can't handle gore so thanks for the censoring.

There was screen censoring for the viewers.

Scenes of heads bursting or organs spilling out were replaced with something like fireworks going off.

Anyone who wanted to see the real thing could turn the filter off, but it wasn't recommended. Jinwoo wanted to show them only good things, only fun things.

"Guhk!"

"Aagh!"

It was an all-out dogfight.

When the bullets ran dry, they pulled out clubs and daggers and lunged at one another.

The viewers and the Vengeful Spirits were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

The ones who had once looked down on all dimensions from on high were now flung into the pit called the Island of Evil, rolling in the dirt like beasts, and it was immensely satisfying.

Jinwoo cast Illusion Magic on the building's exits so no one could flee outside.

"Haah! Haah!"

"Urgh!"

"Dvelos! You son of a bitch...!"

They fought on and on until the sun went down.

The Minister's side won, but only ten of them survived. And even those ten all bore wounds great and small.

"Wow! You won!"

Jinwoo watched the exhausted evildoers while munching on canned food from the warehouse.

"You, you...!"

The Minister's face flushed red with rage boiling over, his expression twisting like a demon's. The other evildoers were the same. Just as the Minister and the evildoers were about to lunge at Jinwoo.

[Night falls on the Island of Evil.]

A warning tone sounded from their bracelets, and an Information Window appeared.

[Nightmare Night begins. Prepare yourselves.]

*Monsters will spawn within the Safe Zone.

*Remaining in the same spot for more than 10 minutes will draw monsters to you.

*A Doppelganger will appear wherever 3 or more people gather.

Flinch!

Everyone froze.

They had thought survival was simply a matter of avoiding the Black Sea, but a hidden rule had emerged. Nightmare Night had begun, injecting sharp tension into a game that might otherwise grow dull.

[Souls with strong resentment may inhabit the monsters spawned on the Island of Evil.]

The Vengeful Spirits could join this magnificent hunting ground as monsters. It was information the evildoers didn't know.

"M-monsters?"

"D-don't tell me...."

KYEEEEEK!

KYEK!

The shrieking cries of Corrupted Goblins rang out from beyond the building.

"Haha! This is the problem with stupid people."

Jinwoo looked over the terror-stricken faces of the evildoers, then bolted outside as if fleeing.

"Get that bastard!"

"But there are m-monsters outside...."

"Didn't you see the rules? Staying here is no different!"

The Minister and the evildoers began chasing after Jinwoo. The moment they stepped outside, they could see red eyes flickering in the darkness. Corrupted Goblins.

Jinwoo had already fled quite a distance away.

"L-let's run for now."

"That way!"

They all fled madly from the Corrupted Goblins. Spotting a shabby house, they rushed inside and bolted the door.

"Haah, haah!"

"Whew...."

The Minister had slumped to the floor, panting heavily, when it happened.

"Huk!"

"H-holy...!"

"Huh?"

The evildoers stared at the Minister, their faces gone pale.

The Minister frowned. He was about to ask what was wrong, when....

"What's the matter?"

His own voice came from right beside him.

The Minister flinched in shock and looked to the side. A being that looked exactly like him was standing right there. That being was likewise staring at the Minister in horror.

"AGH! Wh-what the!"

"AAAAGH! It's a monster!"

The two of them screamed in shock at each other.

The evildoers frantically drew daggers and blunt weapons, pointing them at the two Ministers.

"I, I'm the real one!"

"No! Th-this thing is the monster!"

Everything was identical.

From personality to expressions, habits, every inch of their bodies, all of it was the same. There was no telling them apart.

"F-fuck!"

"Just kill them both!"

There was no loyalty among evildoers.

Only one person could win anyway. Even if it meant killing both, taking the monster down with them was the best option. The evildoers stabbed with daggers and battered with blunt weapons until both Ministers were dead.

SQUELCH! THWACK!

Heads burst and limbs flew off.

Only when the bodies were reduced to pulp did the attacks finally stop. The evildoers panted heavily and at last felt relief.

Unfortunately, that was the worst possible choice. A Doppelganger that killed off the real one would hide its identity until the very last moment. But if both were killed like this, it would transform into its most vicious form.

CREEEAK!

The pulverized Minister's head twisted around, and its mouth opened.

"Wrong. Wrong. Wrong."

At the distorted voice, the evildoers flinched and stumbled backward.

Shhhk!

The corpse rose to its feet.

The evildoers attacked, but the body swelled larger and larger until it became a massive slime.

"Ugh, UWAAGH!"

"Aagh!"

"S-spare...."

It grew until it filled the entire room and kept growing, crushing the evildoers to death. When every evildoer at the scene was gone, the Doppelganger melted away and disappeared.

Jinwoo lounged on the rooftop of the tallest building, Information Windows open, savoring the view. Screams echoed across the entire Island of Evil.

The first night.

More than four thousand evildoers died in agony.

[Hand 7,323,2... has had their resentment resolved and ascends to the Soul Moon.]

*Thank you. Thanks to you, my heart is finally at peace! I will always pray for Arsilan.

[Ear 6,421,3... departs for the Soul Moon amidst joy.]

*I have avenged my family. Now I can leave without regrets. I love you.

[Mouth 4,323,2... expresses gratitude and melts into the Soul Moon.]

*I'd like to stay a little longer, but I'd only be a burden, wouldn't I? Thank you for taking away my pain.

The souls whose resentment had been fully resolved left Jinwoo's shadow and soared high into the sky. They crossed over the Dimensional Wall and traversed the Dimensional Realm.

The souls, restored to their original forms, became shining comets and poured down beautifully toward Arsilan.

-Wow! Look at the sky!

-So pretty!

-Even the Heroes came out to watch.

Arsilan was in an uproar.

The countless comets filling Arsilan's sky turned into particles of light and settled beautifully over every corner of the world.

A smile rose to Jinwoo's lips.

He felt as though the pain of the Vengeful Spirits he carried had grown just a little bit lighter.

"Guess I'll get some sleep."

It felt like tonight, for the first time in a long while, he would sleep soundly.

*****

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