A clean hospital room. Kim Ryujun slowly opened his eyes.

‘Where am I.’

“Ugh!”

As Kim Ryujun tried to sit up, he clutched his abdomen, a horrific pain searing through him.

“What the hell happened.”

Kim Ryujun couldn’t make sense of the situation.

Where was he, and why was he like this?

Rubbing his forehead, he scowled—and then it all came rushing back.

“That’s right! The PVP!”

In an instant, Kim Ryujun’s face went paper-white.

“Don’t tell me I lost?”

He couldn’t remember the moment itself.

He clearly recalled the arrow flying toward him, but the instant of impact was a blank, like a cut in a film reel.

‘No… no way!!!’

Scrambling through his memories, one fact surfaced.

[Victory Reward: All held Gold is transferred to the opponent.]

Kim Ryujun frantically opened his Inventory.

‘Not yet!!!’

This was a PVP staking his entire fortune. He hadn’t agreed to it lightly.

The Gaia System had a certain sense of fairness, after all.

All your Gold goes to the other side? That’s a brutally unfair condition.

If someone with 100 Gold challenged a PVP, the most they could lose was 100 Gold, right?

That’s why the System had a restriction.

A rule that someone with 100 Gold couldn’t take more than 100 Gold from their opponent.

‘Please, please!!!’

Kim Ryujun clasped his hands together in a prayer, his eyes fixed on the Gold window in his Inventory.

‘…..’

A bead of cold sweat dripped from Kim Ryujun’s chin.

[Holdings: 0 Gold]

The gold he’d saved up for his job change—all of it, stripped away.

“No!!!”

Kim Ryujun’s scream of despair echoed through the hospital building.

***

“Hah… hah…”

Hwang Taeseong sprinted down the street, not daring to look back.

‘What do I do… Am I really going to get caught like this?’

Hwang Taeseong was growing more terrified by the second.

The Ha Gangwoo he’d seen was a raving psychopath, pure and simple. The moment he was grabbed, he might end up suffering that same brutal torture all over again.

Inside the Tower, he’d held on with the hope that he’d heal eventually, but not here.

‘I have to run!’

The memory of that time made his head spin, but it also drove him to flee farther.

He sprinted mindlessly until he reached a deserted spot.

“Hah… hah… This should be far enough…”

Hwang Taeseong collapsed under a tree, a good distance from the Scenario zone, gasping for breath.

The moment he let out a sigh of relief—

“I think you need to go a little farther.”

A chilling voice came from behind him.

Instantly, goosebumps rippled across Hwang Taeseong’s entire body.

‘No… No way.’

Slowly, he turned his head to look back—

“AHHH!!!”

The psychopath. Ha Gangwoo was standing there.

Startled, Hwang Taeseong fell flat on the ground.

Prostrate on the dirt, he frantically rubbed his hands together.

“It… It wasn’t me who ordered it… I swear… I’ll do anything you say… Just please, spare my life…”

‘Hm…’

Ha Gangwoo looked down at Hwang Taeseong with cold eyes.

‘Was he always like this?’

Up until the torture, he’d been a vicious bastard with murder in his eyes.

The light in his gaze had dimmed right before death, but who knew the effect would be this thorough? No need to bother with him further.

‘Perfect timing.’

Ha Gangwoo crouched down with a sinister smile.

He met Hwang Taeseong’s eyes as he lay groveling, and murmured quietly.

“You’ll do anything?”

“Yes? Yes!”

He’d been needing someone to handle a tedious task. Just the right person had shown up.

Ha Gangwoo activated Lucifel’s Ring.

Ding-

[Demonization has been used.]

In an instant, black smoke enveloped his entire body, and a gleam settled in his eyes.

“Look up.”

Ha Gangwoo’s commanding voice made Hwang Taeseong slowly raise his head.

“Eeek!!!”

Black sclera, red pupils—meeting the eyes of a Demonfolk, Hwang Taeseong flinched and scrambled backward.

“Pl… Please… spare me…”

Ha Gangwoo slowly spoke to the trembling Hwang Taeseong. The sight of Seongdae, transformed into a demon, only heightened the terror.

“I need a favor.”

And so, Ha Gangwoo’s first ally was born.

***

“Then I’ll be going now. I’ll… I’ll contact you within a week!”

Hwang Taeseong bowed deeply at a 90-degree angle. He still seemed spooked, but that level of fear was just right.

Ha Gangwoo waved his hand dismissively, and Hwang Taeseong hurried away.

‘Perfect.’

Ha Gangwoo watched Hwang Taeseong vanish into the distance.

What he’d asked Taeseong to do was simple.

“Put together a list of Healing-type Players. If you can dig up their Traits too, even better. Handle it well, and this never happened.”

He could’ve found out himself, but he wanted to use his time efficiently.

A chaebol heir’s information network — it might even ferret out those hard-to-pin-down Traits.

‘Let’s finish what I was doing.’

With a satisfied expression, Ha Gangwoo called up the item he’d stowed in his Inventory.

[You have summoned Clean Box 4X4 from your Inventory.]

A fifty-centimeter-square box snapped into existence above his palm, then settled into it.

The transparent liquid inside had turned cloudy.

‘Is it done?’

Ha Gangwoo pulled out the Costume he’d soaked in it. A pleasant floral scent wafted up.

“Not bad.”

The Costume from the Clean Box was as pristine as new — and not even damp.

He equipped it immediately. The stifling confinement of steel armor fell away, leaving his body light and free.

‘Yeah, this is way more comfortable.’

Pleased with the feel, he patted the black hoodie. Each pat released another whiff of that floral scent past his nose.

‘Let’s check it out quick.’

Ha Gangwoo flopped down onto a convenient rock.

Up until that ball had smashed into his face, his mood had been rock-bottom. But looking at the results now, it couldn’t be better.

[Gold Held: 511,078,410 G]

“Holy shit.”

The five-hundred-million-Gold deposit he’d spent nearly half of.

All recovered in a single PvP match.

‘The Refresh cooldown was just about up anyway. Perfect timing.’

A self-satisfied smile curling his lips, Ha Gangwoo opened his Inventory to check his items.

Inventory (10/10)

[Madness of Temperance]

[RuneTail’s Necklace]

[Warp Altar x1]

[Rupicel Mineral x1]

[Mid-Grade HP Recovery Potion x3]

[DLC — Book of Job Change: Blood Devil]

[Wooden Arrow x18]

[Celeritra]

[Shortbow]

[Luminel Ring]

He wanted to hit the DLC Shop’s Refresh button right that second, but he had priorities.

Namely, the SSS Rank reward for clearing the Scenario.

‘A ring?’

The reward item was a ring.

He checked the effects of his new acquisition, the Luminel Ring.

[Luminel Ring]

Grade: B

Durability: 60/60

Mana: +110

Vitality: +120

Description: A ring boasting an antique design.

‘A B-Grade item.’

Maybe he’d gotten his hopes up because it was an SSS Rank reward. A little disappointing, sure. But the difficulty of Scenario 1–1 was F to E Grade.

Considering that, this was insane compensation.

Ha Gangwoo decided to reframe it as a good thing.

The attached Mana was a whopping 110, and Vitality was 120 — both crazy numbers.

‘I was running low on Mana anyway. This fits perfectly.’

Ha Gangwoo slid the Luminel Ring onto his finger, then swept a hand across his brow.

‘Hm.’

Ring: [Warp Ring]

Ring: [Lucifel’s Ring]

Even with the Luminel Ring fitted, only the rings he’d already been wearing remained active.

‘Which one do I drop.’

It looked like he’d have to remove one of the rings currently on his fingers.

After a moment’s deliberation, Ha Gangwoo stowed one of them into his Inventory.

‘No choice.’

[You have placed the Warp Ring in your Inventory.]

Both the Warp Ring and Lucifel’s Ring were broken-tier items, but the Warp Ring was useless in combat. If one had to go, it was the Warp Ring.

Ding-

[You have equipped the Luminel Ring.]

Ha Gangwoo opened his Status Window and checked his MP.

[Ha Gangwoo]

Level: 36

HP: 3020/3020

MP: 242/242

‘Feels good.’

Satisfaction crept across Ha Gangwoo’s face.

Under the Gaia System, skills scaled damage with accumulated Mana. MP was power, plain and simple.

His MP, which had been sorely lacking, now hovered at 240, with a recovery rate of 2 per second.

‘Guess I don’t have to worry about mana anymore.’

Of all the skills Ha Gangwoo had, Seismic Stomp consumed the most Mana.

Seismic Stomp wasn’t a technique that compressed Mana—it expelled it.

‘I’m curious.’

His Mana, which had been around 100, had more than doubled. Just how much stronger had he gotten?

Ha Gangwoo decided to test it by using a full-power Seismic Stomp right then and there.

He sprang to his feet and stood on the barren earth.

Then he planted his weight into his right leg.

‘Seismic Stomp.’

The moment he voiced the Activation Word, he channeled his maximum Mana into his right leg along with a heavy, crushing pressure.

And then—

Ding-

[You have consumed 242 MP.]

A brief dizziness washed over him.

Clang!!!!!!!

The earth screamed.

Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa—

A crater roughly twenty meters wide erupted around Ha Gangwoo.

Ha Gangwoo clenched both fists.

‘This is insane!’

All he’d done was acquire a single item, yet the effect was this devastating. What could he even say?

As expected, the higher the grade, the more blatantly broken the item.

And if he threw Demonization into the mix on top of this, his MP would effortlessly clear 400.

‘Should I try it?’

The power of a Seismic Stomp with 400 MP. He was curious, but he decided to put the experiment off for another time.

He’d already wasted precious time on PVP, hadn’t he?

He wanted to get into the next Scenario as fast as possible.

‘Still, I need to do a Refresh.’

Ha Gangwoo plopped back down onto the rock.

As important as the Scenario was, the top priority was the DLC Shop’s Refresh.

‘Wonder what’ll show up.’

Given the performance of the DLC products so far, he couldn’t help but feel anticipation.

Thump, thump.

Listening to his heart pound with expectation, he clicked the Refresh button.

Ding-

[Loading new DLC Shop inventory.]

[DLC Shop]

DLC-Anvil [E] — 50,000,000 Gold

DLC – Book of Job Change: Legendary Blacksmith – 200,000,000 Gold

DLC – Warehouse Mimic! – 70,000,000 Gold

Ha Gangwoo scanned the list slowly, his eyes dragging across each entry.

“What’s this?”

His expression shifted to curiosity as he fixed on one item.

[DLC – Book of Job Change: Legendary Blacksmith – 200,000,000 Gold]

Two hundred million Gold. A staggering price.

The most expensive DLC product yet.

He clicked open the details.

[DLC – Book of Job Change: Legendary Blacksmith]

Grade: A

Description: DLC – Legendary Blacksmith is now available! A tome containing the secret arts of Stoss, the legendary blacksmith. True to the title of “Legendary,” this class offers not only crafting but also Enhancement abilities—enjoy the Gaia System with a versatile skill set.

-Job Change Quest: Acquires ‘Stoss’ Teachings’.

Quantity: 1

Purchase Price: 200,000,000 Gold

‘Blacksmith?’

He stroked his chin, sorting through the information.

‘Crafting, Enhancement. Looks good on paper.’

The title of Legendary Blacksmith alone promised crafted items with phenomenal effects.

A class that could turn serious profit if handled right.

‘Hmm…’

But Gangwoo’s brow furrowed. No matter how good it was, you could only hold one class.

What he wanted was combat-oriented.

Blacksmith didn’t sit right with him.

‘Pass for now.’

He moved on to the next item.

[DLC – Anvil [E]]

Grade: B

Description: Released in celebration of Enhancement Day! Tired of trekking to get repairs? Sick of the long wait times? Then buy this anvil. Repairs are easy, fast, and convenient. (Caution! Blade-type weapons only.)

-1 Anvil [E] provided.

-1 Anvil [E] dedicated hammer provided.

Quantity: 1

Purchase Price: 50,000,000 Gold

“Nice!”

Just reading it felt right. Repairs—a constant pain in the ass.

Items lost durability with every use; when it hit zero, they lost their luster entirely.

But with this item, that headache vanished.

‘Too bad it’s blade-type only.’

Even so, it was worth it.

Most weapons had blades. His own Celeritra was a bladed weapon.

‘Buy it.’

Ding-

[You have purchased DLC – Anvil [E].]

The moment the purchase went through, light coalesced before Gangwoo.

A plain-looking anvil and hammer materialized with a soft *pop*.

‘How do I use this?’

The urge to test it surged, but he had nothing needing repair.

‘Store it for now.’

He touched the anvil and hammer, calling forth the Activation Word.

‘Store’

Ziiing-

[Inventory slots insufficient.]

‘Huh?! Slots full?’

Gangwoo immediately opened his inventory to check.

Inventory (10/10)

[Madness of Temperance]

[Runetail’s Necklace]

[Warp Altar x1]

[Rupicel Mineral x1]

[Mid-Grade HP Recovery Potion x3]

[DLC-Book of Job Change: Blood Devil]

[Wooden Arrow x18]

[Celeritra]

[Shortbow]

[Warp Ring]

His Inventory, which had always looked so roomy, was now completely full.

But a faint smile touched Ha Gangwoo’s lips.

‘Perfect.’

The reason was right in front of him — this DLC.

[DLC-Warehouse Mimic!]

Grade: B

Description: A new DLC — Warehouse Mimic — is now available. Always been frustrated by your cramped Inventory? Then try this DLC. The Mimic will store items for you. What’s more, the Mimic is your valued companion. Not only item storage, but also a pickup function! Enjoy more convenient item storage.

– 1 Mimic issued.

Quantity: 1

Purchase Price: 70,000,000 Gold

A warehouse you could slot items into, just like that.

But something nagged at him.

‘A warehouse is a warehouse, but… a Mimic?’

Seventy million Gold for an item that, from the description alone, was a warehouse-function DLC.

Yet the wording felt off. A *companion*. Still, he didn’t need to hesitate over a feature he needed.

Ding-

[You have purchased DLC-Warehouse Mimic!]

Ha Gangwoo bought the product on the spot.

The moment the purchase went through, a small box — about half the size of a smartphone — popped into view before him.

A wooden box, the kind with a lid that opened like a music box.

“This is the warehouse?”

Ha Gangwoo tilted his head, picking up the tiny box. No matter how he looked at it, it seemed far too small to store anything.

[Mimic]

Grade: ???

Description: The Mimic is both a warehouse and your companion. Feed it well, and it will show you loyalty that lasts until your death.

[The Mimic is a companion that requires Link.]

(TIP — Feed the Mimic your blood.)

‘Blood? A companion?’

Questions swirled in his mind, but this DLC cost a full seventy million Gold. It *had* to deliver.

‘So I’m supposed to give it blood.’

Ha Gangwoo opened his palm and summoned Celeritra.

‘First time I’ve had to hurt myself.’

Ever since his Vitality had shot up, he’d never deliberately wounded his own body.

‘Will it even cut?’

A sudden curiosity rose in him.

He remembered hearing that Players could get hit by a truck and be totally fine.

Now that he *was* a Player, he’d never exactly tested it — so he had no real sense of it.

Ha Gangwoo slowly placed Celeritra’s blade against his finger.

A finely honed edge. Even a light swing sent a faint hum through the air.

Gradually applying pressure, he dragged the blade across the skin of his fingertip.

*Kriiiik* — a strange, grating sound.

‘Interesting.’

The corner of Ha Gangwoo’s mouth curled up.

As the razor-sharp blade swept across his skin…

At first, the hide simply shifted with the direction of the force, pushed along by the steel.

Just as it seemed the blade would cut through, something caught it—a sensation like hitting a wall. Then, as if slicing through tough rubber, the skin refused to part.

‘Does the System protect you once you pass a certain threshold?’

It only kicked in the moment direct Damage was about to land on a Player, it seemed.

‘Strength won’t cut it.’

He dragged the blade with all his might, but the skin held firm, like trying to saw through thick rubber with a plastic knife.

What he needed was technique.

Summoning the feel of slicing jelly, Gangwoo drew the blade across his finger with a swift shhk—

And crimson blood dripped from the wound.

Without hesitation, Gangwoo opened the Mimic’s lid and let the droplets fall inside.

Ding-

[The Mimic follows you!]

In an instant, the Mimic’s body began to tremble violently.

A box the size of half a smartphone at best. Its lid swung open, and it started to move.

Mik!

“Huh?”

The wooden box was making sounds.

Ding-

[Mimic has connected with Mr. Ha.]

[Mimic]

Grade: ???

Description: Mimic is both a warehouse and your companion. Feed it well, and it will show you loyalty unto death.

[Link: Ha Gangwoo]

-Mimic’s Status Window has been opened.

Gangwoo had acquired an unexpected pet.