Park Jin-ho dismissed Seo Ji-woo’s proposal without a second thought and turned back to his hunt.
Collaboration? He was already busy enough. There was no need to even consider it. He could handle the monsters perfectly well on his own; joining forces with anyone would only slow him down.
Still, he mused, it wasn't a bad thing that Ma Kyung-rok's right-hand man lived on his floor. Although the future had changed slightly, it wasn't enough to cause any real concern. The smaller branches of fate could shift at any time. As long as the main trunk of the timeline held firm, everything was fine.
When I return to reality, I’ll need to confirm if that man with Seo Ji-woo is who I think he is, Park Jin-ho thought. The method was simple enough. He just had to find out if the man—bodyguard or not—was named An Sang-cheol.
If it is An Sang-cheol, then I have an easy way to approach Ma Kyung-rok. He wouldn't act on it immediately, of course. It wasn't yet time to make that connection, which was another reason he’d rejected her offer. What mattered right now was leveling up.
Park Jin-ho plunged back into the forest. Hobgoblins rushed him, their crude weapons swinging wildly, but they couldn't land a single blow. He was a phantom, weaving through their clumsy lunges with practiced agility. Their deaths were swift and certain.
[Current Kill Count: 60/100]
[All stats increased by 60% due to the Haksal-ui Rune effect.]
His stats were already 1.6 times higher than when he started. The Haksal-ui Rune is undeniably useful, as long as I can keep the stacks building.
Just then, five more monsters burst from the undergrowth. To Park Jin-ho, they were just another source of experience, but he couldn't help but smile as he felt his power swell with each kill.
[You have defeated the San-goe!]
[Experience point 3x buff is applied.]
[Experience point +7.2%]
[Current Kill Count: 65/100]
[All stats increased by 65% due to the Haksal-ui Rune effect.]
[You have leveled up!]
[You have reached level 10.]
[You can now use the store.]
[The job change condition has been met.]
[You have received a hidden sub-quest!]
Park Jin-ho immediately checked the new quest.
Change job before voting time.
Find and acquire a job item!
Success Reward: 50% discount coupon for today’s item!
Most players would be stumped. Find a job item? How? What was the point of a job, anyway? The category existed in their status windows, so they knew it was a feature, but few would understand its importance or how to unlock it. Getting a job was always the right choice, a fact obvious to anyone with even a passing familiarity with games—which described most people between fifteen and twenty-nine.
The real problem wasn't knowing that jobs existed, but knowing how to acquire a job item.
At first, I was lost too, he remembered. I thought they were just random drops from monsters.
And they were, but the drop rate was abysmally low. The real method was to meet specific, hidden conditions. For example, to become a warrior, a player had to kill thirty monsters within an hour after raising their strength stat to ten. To get a berserker item, one had to fight while bleeding for an extended period. An assassin had to successfully ambush a certain number of enemies from behind.
In a way, a person’s job reflected their natural tendencies. In his first life, Park Jin-ho had become a Sanyangkkun, an item earned after countless hours of tracking monsters through the woods, striking, and then retreating.
But I no longer need to be a hunter.
He had no need to grind for that item again. He’d already acquired a far better one in the previous round.
Park Jin-ho opened his inventory, took out the Cheon-sa's Blood, and spoke its activation word.
Light erupted from the vial, and a message materialized before his eyes.
[You have used a job-change item. Please choose carefully, as your job cannot be changed.]
[Do you want to change your class to Sasin? Y/N]
He answered without a moment of hesitation.
Instantly, a golden light enveloped him. The radiance was intense enough to be blinding, but it vanished as quickly as it had appeared. A new series of messages scrolled through his mind.
[Congratulations! You have changed your class to Sasin.]
[As a job-change reward, you have obtained the Scythe of the Sasin and the Rune of the Sasin.]
[The obtained rune is automatically inscribed into the player's body!]
[You have learned the Grim Reaper-exclusive skill, Injang of Sawang-ui!]
[The next skill can be learned automatically upon reaching level 20.]
A weapon, a rune, and a skill. It was a generous reward, but the good news didn't end there.
[Your rank has increased from Cho-bo to Su-ryeon-ja.]
[You have completed a sub-quest!]
[You have received a 50% discount coupon for today's item!]
The game had several ranks: Cho-bo (Lv. 1), Su-ryeon-ja (Lv. 10), Jeong-ye (Lv. 20), Jeon-mun-ga (Lv. 40), Go-su (Lv. 60), and Dae-ga (Lv. 99). By changing his job, Park Jin-ho had officially ascended to Su-ryeon-ja.
Ranking up came with a host of benefits. It unlocked new skills, strengthened existing ones, and allowed access to more powerful equipment. But without a job, a player was forever stuck at the Cho-bo level. It was the single most essential element for growth.
The flood of rewards was almost overwhelming, but the system notifications weren't finished yet.
The reward for being the first to change jobs had yet to be revealed.