“Whoa~! It’s so cool!!!”

Mimic threw her arms wide and sprinted ahead.

Gangwoo followed, scanning the surroundings.

“Personal coaching for Mage-class aptitude right here!!!”

“Tailored Tank training—get your fit tested!!!”

Dedicated courses for the Tower of Job Change kicked off the clamor.

“Buying weapons! Spare gear is a must at the Tower. Stop by and take a look!!”

“Enchanter-specific equipment for sale! If you’re going Enchanter, Lyloite Mineral is non-negotiable!!!”

Shops of every kind packed the area tight.

Sleek high-rises, old-world stone buildings.

It was so modern and sprawling you’d never guess it sat in the middle of a desert.

‘Amazing.’

But the most amazing thing of all were those Artifacts.

Pillars shaped like Moai statues were planted all around the commercial district.

‘Artifacts?’

Hadn’t it been sweltering—barely breathable—the moment he’d stepped off the bus?

Yet once he entered the market, it felt like walking into an air-conditioned store: cool and crisp.

All thanks to those Moai-shaped Artifacts.

Gangwoo stopped mid-stride to gaze at the enormous tower straight ahead.

‘An aptitude test…’

The Tower of Job Change. The most important crossroads for any Player—the place that granted the class you’d carry for life.

[DLC—Book of Job Change: Ruin][M]

Grade: S

Description: DLC—Ruin has been released!!! A tome containing the power of the Destroyer of Chaos, Ruin. A Destroyer whose strength rivals the Lord of Chaos. Absorb his might and lead all enemies to ruin!

Effects

– Acquires the job-change quest: ‘Path of Ruin the Destroyer.’

Back when he’d first held the Book of Job Change, he’d thought he wouldn’t need to enter the Tower.

But—

[DLC—Book of Job Change: Ruin [M] has been retrieved from Inventory.]

*Shiiiiiiik—*

A single black book sucked into Ha Gangwoo’s grip with a soft *thump.*

There were conditions to using the Book of Job Change.

*Ding-*

[Cannot use the Book of Job Change.]

[Clear the aptitude test at the Tower of Job Change first!]

[Job-Change Requirements]

– Combat Power: S-Rank or higher

– Sense: S-Rank or higher

– Good-Evil Alignment: S-Rank or higher

The job-change conditions.

Terms he’d never heard before—Combat Power, Sense—and each came with the bar set at S-Rank or higher.

‘What the hell is this?’

He was curious at first, but a quick search on the internet cleared things up without much trouble.

-Player Encyclopedia-

[Aptitude Test]

A test conducted in the Tower of Job Change. Various exams assign ranks across multiple categories.

Categories

-Combat Power

-Dexterity

-Judgment

-Sense

-Good-Evil

-Talent

Divided into a total of 6 tiers, the items for each test are…:

A truly detailed list of information was laid out.

Data accumulated over a whopping 20 years. It even mentioned the existence of Hidden jobs.

‘No Good-Evil, though.’

But there was a small problem.

[Job Change Conditions]

-Combat Power: S-Rank or higher

-Sense: S-Rank or higher

-Good-Evil: S-Rank or higher

The ‘Good-Evil’ listed in Ruin’s job-change conditions wasn’t written anywhere on the internet.

‘A new category? Or did they just not bother writing it down because it’s useless?’

As if scraping together 50 billion wasn’t hard enough, now this condition was tacked on, giving him a headache.

Ha Gangwoo kept pondering over the Good-Evil category, then let out a deep sigh.

‘Haa… let’s just move on.’

It was something he’d find out the moment he entered the tower anyway.

Ha Gangwoo tucked the Book of Job Change into his Inventory and kept walking.

“Selling B-Grade items! Got set pieces too, take a look!”

“I’ll Enchant your gear! Upgrade your items!!!”

‘Not as good as the Workshop District.’

Ha Gangwoo looked over the items around him, feeling a flicker of interest.

[Bidride Rifle – Grade: C– Price: 8,530,000 Gold]

[Chill Hammer – Grade: B- Price: 67,350,000 Gold]

Mostly C-Grade and B-Grade items; well, if the Workshop District was the stage for graduated Players, this was the area dealing with Newbies coming for job changes.

The quality was bound to be relatively lower.

But maybe it was because his wallet was fat.

‘Cheap.’

A 67 million Gold item, the Chill Hammer, even looked cheap.

Well.

[Gold Held: 277,501,215,000 Gold]

With a whopping 270 billion Gold in hand, would spending a few tens of millions even make a dent? That’s why Ha Gangwoo’s eyes sparkled.

And luckily, there was some gear he needed.

‘Should I buy a set of armor or something?’

[Equipment Window]

Weapon: Barzel’s Appetite+10

Weapon:

Helmet:

Top: Casual Suit Top

Bottom: Casual Suit Bottom

Belt: Gravity Belt

Shoes: Brown Leather Shoes

Necklace: Asrul’s Lust+10

Ring: Luminel Ring

Ring: Lucifel’s Ring+10

Ring: Warp Ring

Bracelet: Reins’ Armlet

Bracelet:

Right now, he was wearing a Costume, a neat uniform.

But the armor underneath the Costume was in very poor shape.

[Black Suit Top]

Grade: C

Durability: 20/20

Crafted by: Anita Via

Defense: 31

Vitality: +41

Description: A suit made from Bidrazil webbing. Its elasticity is exceptional, offering a supremely comfortable fit.

He’d bought this practical suit from Anita Via before the auction.

Now he understood why Anita Via lived in the grip of poverty.

As an item, it wasn’t bad. For everyday wear, it was extremely comfortable, and it came with decent Defense and Vitality stats.

But once you stepped into a hunt—the Player’s true calling—nothing was more useless.

Its effects were barely half those of an average C-grade item.

That was why Ha Gangwoo’s eyes gravitated to the armor. His next destination was the Tower of Job Change, and a trial awaited.

He wanted to enter with his best gear.

‘Maybe around two hundred million.’

Ha Gangwoo eyed a suit of armor that caught his interest and licked his lips.

A set item: top, pants, boots—all B-grade, each piece with its own bonus.

All together, it was a whopping two hundred million Gold.

‘Cheap.’

Just three days ago, he would have balked at anything over a hundred million.

Now that price felt like a steal. A fat wallet really did change your spending habits.

Gangwoo deliberated for a long moment, then shook his head.

‘Wasteful.’

No matter how much money he had, Gold wasn’t infinite. He was already tempted to blow it on impulse—he needed self-control.

Besides, his combat power was already maxed out.

Gangwoo looked down at Barzel’s Appetite on his hand. A blue aura coiled around the ring of alien darkness.

From Barzel’s Appetite to Lucifel’s Ring—both ???-grade items were upgraded to +10 Enhancement.

For ???-grade gear, each Enhancement attempt cost 20 million Gold.

An amount that would make anyone’s hands shake with every single try.

But maybe it was because he’d acquired so much Gold?

Clang!!

Each 20-million Gold attempt felt cheap, and before he knew it—after a relentless streak of upgrades—5 billion Gold had evaporated in an instant.

And from that frenzy of Enhancement, he’d learned one thing.

‘+11 is out of the question.’

Enhancing ???-grade gear was brutally difficult.

Flash!!!

Perfect Hammering required striking the flash of light the moment it appeared during the hammer blow.

But on ???-grade gear, the light moved at an almost impossible speed, with a maddening, erratic pattern.

Clang!!!

He’d swung the hammer roughly a thousand times, but he’d landed Perfect Hammering maybe ten.

So he’d given up.

Just as Gangwoo was recalling that moment of Enhancement—

“Master! Eat this!!!”

Mimic held something out with her small hands. It was a bowl of patbingsu piled high with red bean paste and assorted fruit cubes.

Judging by the red bean and condensed milk smeared around her mouth, she’d already polished off one bowl before bringing another.

Gangwoo stared blankly at the shaved ice.

*Gulp.*

Mimic swallowed hard at the shaved ice. She’d already polished off one bowl, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

“You eat it.”

“It’s Master’s!*Slurp*”

She said she was giving it up, but her salivary glands had other ideas.

“Don’t worry about me. You eat it.”

Ha Gangwoo stroked Mimic’s head. It was fine.

“Okay!”

Mimic broke into a wide grin and dug into the shaved ice with a gulp.

‘She sure knows how to eat.’

Was this what it felt like to keep a pet? Just watching her eat brought a smile to his face.

Ha Gangwoo was wearing a satisfied grin as he watched Mimic, right at that moment—

*Ziiing-*

His phone buzzed in his pocket.

[Jo Seunghyun]

It was a call from Jo Seunghyun.

“Hyung-nim! It’s me, Seunghyun!”

“Yeah, I know, I saved your number back then. What’s up?”

“I just cleared Scenario 1! I was wondering if you’re at the Tower of Job Change too, so we could go in together.”

Ha Gangwoo scratched his cheek at Jo Seunghyun’s words.

‘Cleared it already?’

He’d taken a detour. Arriving at the crafting district, then the Costume repair items, Enhancement, the auction—

On top of that, training Mimic before coming here had eaten up a fair amount of time.

But he figured it didn’t matter.

He’d learned Enhancement in the crafting district and made enough money to last a lifetime, hadn’t he?

Yet hearing that Seunghyun was already at the Tower of Job Change made him feel like he was falling behind.

Ha Gangwoo forced himself to focus and answered Seunghyun.

“Where are you now?”

“Three hours until I reach the Tower of Job Change!”

Ha Gangwoo was lost in thought for a moment.

‘Should I do it together?’

The Tower of Job Change was a section that didn’t need a Party, after all—there was no real need to team up.

‘I’m curious, though.’

Then a sudden curiosity struck him.

Ha Gangwoo had been training Mimic nonstop for about three days after the auction ended.

He’d originally planned to just teach her a few hours and leave,

*Whoosh—Clang!!!*

But Mimic swung her sword with no hesitation,

*Shink-*

“Whoa~! I cut it!!!”

and found joy in cutting down her target.

She learned so fast, too. Teaching her was actually fun.

And that’s why Ha Gangwoo’s curiosity surged.

Just how good was Mimic, really?

“I’m actually at the Tower of Job Change too. I’ll wait for you at the Association.”

Ha Gangwoo made his decision on the spot.

There was a bigger reason than just going into the Tower of Job Change with Jo Seunghyun, though.

“Whoa! Awesome! Yes sir! I’ll get there as fast as I can!!!!!”

Jo Seunghyun was overjoyed, making a fuss.

[Call ended.]

And with that, the brief call ended.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes!!!”

And so Ha Gangwoo, along with Mimic, made his way to the Association building.

***

*Clang! Thud! Thud!*

“Fuck!!”

A strike filled with rage.

A sharp sword split the air, arcing through it.

Hwang Taeseong slammed the training dummy, his face twisting into a scowl.

‘Why does this feel so fucking off?’

Hwang Taeseong had always lived an elite life.

Awakened at five. Enrolled in the Player Academy.

Always first—until he met Kang Seongbin. The elite everyone looked up to. The top 0.1%. An aristocrat’s life.

And that elite was now running errands for some nobody he’d never even heard of.

Where had it all gone wrong?

By now, he should have long finished the Tower of Job Change and cleared Scenario 2’s zone.

Instead, he’d wasted time chasing useless healer information and only now entered the Tower.

And there was still that annoying business of identifying his Trait left to do. But Taeseong’s patience had reached its limit.

Crash!!!

‘Kill me if you’re going to!’

Taeseong was checking the healer’s level for the 1,402nd time when it hit him.

‘Why the hell am I looking for this?’

The reality crashed in, and his mind snapped.

‘Just kill him?’

Taeseong ground his teeth, rage burning in his chest.

Killing him himself wasn’t possible, but the methods were endless.

Wasn’t this a world where enough money could make a person disappear, no problem?

And Taeseong had never lacked money since he was five.

He immediately looked into it.

From famous contract agencies to the grimy back-alley market.

“Sorry.”

“Anyone tied to the Association is off-limits.”

An L-Grade Player under the Association’s protection. Even the contract agencies turned him down, no matter how low the level.

No matter how much he dug, no answer came. Taeseong gave up on everything.

‘Kill me if you’re going to!’

He’d rather be dead than keep playing errand boy.

Whish— Smash!!!!

Taeseong was pounding a training dummy in a fit of rage when—

“Holy shit! Ha Gangwoo’s here!”

“Who’s Ha Gangwoo?”

“You don’t know the L-Grade Player? Word is he came to the Tower of Job Change today!”

A flinch!!!

The voices of nearby Players reached Taeseong’s ears. Clench! He froze mid-swing.

Gulp—

Hadn’t he just thought about letting himself get killed?

Shiver—

But just hearing the name made his arms tremble.

‘No way. Is he coming here? What if he does?’

Was it because there was still unfinished business? The anxiety was unbearable. If they met face-to-face, what would he even say?

Taeseong was swallowed by fear for a moment, then—

“You pathetic bastard!”

Thwack!!!

—he smacked his own head, forcing himself back to his senses.

What was there to be scared of, that just a name did this to him? Rage flared up instantly.

Taeseong bit his lip hard, seething with fury, when—

A man walked up to him.

“If you have time, would you like to spar?”

A man with a decent height and fairly good equipment.

‘What the hell? Who’s this guy?’

Pissed off as he was, and now someone was suddenly asking for a spar? He was about to refuse.

Grin—

But Hwang Taeseong steadied his resolve.

‘Good timing.’

Didn’t smashing something always clear the frustration? That’s why he’d been beating the dummies. And now here was someone volunteering for a sparring match.

A wicked smile curled across Hwang Taeseong’s face as he answered.

“Fine.”

And so, Hwang Taeseong and the mysterious man began their PVP.

***

“Master, where are you going?”

Mimic licked her chocolate-stained lips and asked.

On the way to the Association, she’d already wolfed down two bowls of red-bean shaved ice, three ice creams, and five rice-skewers in a flash.

If she hadn’t run out of Gold, she’d probably still be wandering the market.

‘…’

Ha Gangwoo looked at Mimic and scratched his cheek.

‘Should I wipe it for her?’

Starting with chocolate, then the red bean she’d tasted for the first time, and even condensed milk—it was smeared all over her face and stuck thickly to her clothes.

For a moment, he wanted to change her clothes too, but—

‘She’ll just get them dirty again anyway.’

He decided to let it go.

Ha Gangwoo glanced at the Association building’s directory and moved his feet.

“I’m going to go practice swordsmanship.”

Originally, he’d planned to enter the Tower of Job Change immediately, but he’d promised to go with Jo Seunghyun.

That left three hours until Jo Seunghyun arrived—empty time.

The reason he was meeting Jo Seunghyun in the first place was to gauge Mimic’s level.

And if he was going to check her level, he might as well use the strongest combatant available.

Ha Gangwoo decided to spend the remaining time teaching Mimic more combat techniques.

“Wow~! Really?!”

“Ah!”

“This is so great!!! Ughk—”

Mimic beamed, then pulled a small dagger from her mouth.

“That’s dangerous. Take it out later.”

“Okay!”

At Ha Gangwoo’s single word, she stuffed the dagger back into her mouth.

“Hehehehe”

Mimic laughed brightly, following behind Ha Gangwoo.

‘Fun.’

Ha Gangwoo glanced back at Mimic following him, a satisfied smile on his face.

Mimic didn’t have a skill like Weapon Mastery. But when he taught her, she grew.

There was something oddly enjoyable about it. Why did Mimic’s growth make him happy? The question flickered through his mind, but now he understood.

If Mimic’s level rose until she rivaled a proper max-level Player—what then?

She’d hunt for him while he lay around doing nothing, bring in Gold.

Just imagining it made Mimic’s current growth feel twice as satisfying.

Ha Gangwoo let the happy fantasy carry him as he reached the training room tucked into a corner of the Association.

*Whuum—* Crack!!!

A Player hammering training dummies, sharpening his swordsmanship.

*Whoosh—* Bang!!!

A woman testing her skills against moving targets, fire bursting from her palms.

“Whoa… That’s brutal.”

“Isn’t someone gonna die doing that?”

At the center of it all, a crowd packed around what looked like a sparring arena’s ring.

*Hiss—* Black smoke coiled thick around the sparring arena.

‘Hmm…’

Ha Gangwoo watched the smoke and walked toward the ring.

Black smoke filled the space around the ring, dense and nearly odorless.

The very instant the black smoke brushed against his nostrils.

Ding-

[You have resisted Black Smoke.]

A fierce light rippled through Asrul’s Lust.

‘Black Smoke?’

He was certain he’d seen this smoke before.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind-

Shunk—Thud!!!

A sickening sound rang out from the arena floor, and he spotted a familiar face among the chaos.

‘Hwang Taeseong.’

Hadn’t he said he was organizing his Traits with the healer list? Yet here he was, ignoring that and coming for a Job Change instead.

‘…’

Ha Gangwoo narrowed his eyes as he watched the sparring arena.

‘What is that?’

Hwang Taeseong, drenched in blood, stood before a man radiating an ominous aura.

That verdant glow carried a presence he’d felt somewhere before.

And the man was clearly no pushover.

Even though Hwang Taeseong was hardly a weak Player, he was in a sorry state.

Thud—

His left arm—who knew when it had been severed—spouted blood like a fountain; his face was pallid, his legs trembling uncontrollably.

“Hahahahahaha!!!”

The man with the verdant glow let out a chilling laugh.

“Haaah… haaah…”

Hwang Taeseong had already reached his limit.

The fight seemed decided, but then—Pat!

That man charged full-force, sword in hand.

As if facing a sworn enemy, he swung his blade without hesitation—Whish—

Left unchecked, Hwang Taeseong would die.

A madman running amok like this in broad daylight, inside the Association building.

Ha Gangwoo smirked, a flicker of interest in his eyes.

“Stop it!”

A woman, unable to bear the sight, stepped onto the sparring arena.

With considerable spirit, she blocked the madman’s path, but—Hwoong—his swift sword strike seemed invisible to her.

“Huh?”

She hesitated,

Hwoong-

Just as the sharp blade was about to descend on her head—

Clang!!!!!

A small, crimson dagger met the sword and held it fast.