Which One to Pick (1)
Yoobaek.
A small office they still hadn't moved into yet.
'This is seriously insane.'
Yoo Jia still couldn't understand it, even now, holding a single chip she'd taken out of the recording equipment.
Even after Baek Jinwoo had casually come back within just ten minutes—then even neatly polished off a bowl of galbitang—none of it felt real.
'No matter if he's God Ji-nu or not…'
Clearing the 10th floor in ten minutes?
Seriously?
While eating the galbitang, Yoo Jia used the System's contract feature.
Yoo Jia, Kim Byungjin, Hwang Taeseop.
The three of them must never leak the recorded footage stored in this chip to anyone. If they violated it, they would be cursed by the System.
"CEO, I'm dying of curiosity."
"What the hell do you even do in there to come out in ten minutes? Can't we watch it already?"
The employees were buzzing, excited at the thought of seeing the recorded video. Yoo Jia was the same.
'Rumor says the 10th-floor boss, the Cyclops, is a monster of a monster…'
Every player who had survived that place said the same thing.
An S-rank monster had a pressure so overwhelming you couldn't see it in any ordinary dungeon.
Someone with weak mental fortitude would wet themselves just from seeing its form, unable to think at all.
"…Then shall we play the video?"
"Yes!"
"Hurry!"
Gulp.
After swallowing her dry saliva, Yoo Jia carefully inserted the chip into the device.
And then—
Gwooooooaaaaaarrrrr!
Right from the start, the Cyclops's monstrous roar burst through the screen.
"W-Whoah… what the hell."
"...That's the Cyclops."
It was only a 3D recording, not the real thing, yet it made their knees go weak.
What would it feel like to face that thing in person?
"Damn, that's terrifying. Even if you paid me, I don't think I could be a player. How do you deal with that?"
"Look at my arm. See the goosebumps? Jesus—just watching it makes my skin crawl."
Kim Byungjin and Hwang Taeseop made a fuss back and forth.
The video continued.
Baek Jinwoo's summons rushed out, and up until the moment they watched those summons get beaten around, they still thought—
"This doesn't look good."
"Yeah, it's really not. And he's supposed to finish this in ten minutes? How? Seriously?"
They couldn't understand.
Only Yoo Jia kept her eyes on Lamba and HunGyo.
A talking summon.
And Lamba, on top of that, was equipped with an ultra-expensive set of "endgame runes".
Those two were Baek Jinwoo's true core. Unless they moved, you couldn't see Baek Jinwoo's real power.
And before long—
—My lord, I will move soon!
"Ugh."
When HunGyo sprang forward—
"Huh?"
"D-Did you hear that just now? The summon is talking!"
The employees reacted exactly the way Yoo Jia had that morning— mouths hanging open, eyes wide.
Yoo Jia shook her head.
'Was I making that face in front of Jinwoo too?'
Thinking that gave her a slight chill. She wanted to look cool, at least.
"Don't forget. We agreed to keep this secret."
"CEO, you already knew?"
"I only found out this morning."
"…!"
"Anyway, we'll talk about that later. Let's keep watching."
Yoo Jia focused.
Just how strong were Lamba and HunGyo, that they could deal with that impossible, horrifying monster in ten minutes?
The answer came quickly.
"…!"
"…!"
HunGyo moved with razor agility—faster and faster—until, in the blink of an eye, he was butchering that massive monster.
"W-What kind of insane summon is that?!"
"His movement's unbelievably fluid! How is he dodging all that—huh?! W-Why is he so fast?!"
Baek Jinwoo's actual play footage, once they saw it, was pure shock.
It was the kind of thing you'd regret for life if you couldn't talk about it.
No—even if you did talk, who would believe it?
"That sword-wielding summon—what is he, an S-rank summon or something?"
"...Ha. This is unreal. I'd believe it even if you told me it was a bug."
Yoo Jia couldn't close her mouth either.
'…This is God Ji-nu's power?'
It was a scene that made her understand, at least a little, why the world's top rankers feared God Ji-nu so deeply.
A player who hadn't even been playing for half a year yet was putting out this level of power?
Give him just a few more years and the balance of the world would flip.
South Korea, once sunk deep underwater, would rise to the surface—and the whole world would praise Baek Jinwoo.
Just like they did Rachel right now.
Gwooooooaaaaaarrrrr!
In the end, the video finished with a clean final blow from Explosive Dragon Sorcerer.
Bzzzt—!
Even after the screen cut out and time passed, the three figures stayed silent for a long while. Their brains needed time to accept reality.
"What the hell… is he?"
Kim Byungjin muttered.
"Baek Jinwoo, I mean."
"We work with him every day, but I still don't get it. How can someone be like that…"
"Our country's rank #1 isn't even that strong, right?"
At Hwang Taeseop's question, Yoo Jia let out a small laugh.
'Domestic rank #1, my ass…'
Even the world rank #1 probably couldn't do that.
"Man, at this point…"
Kim Byungjin continued with a sigh,
"Wouldn't you believe it even if someone said it was the return of the legendary God Ji-nu?"
Kim Byungjin and Hwang Taeseop exchanged looks.
God Ji-nu.
The word stuck to the tongue.
God Ji-nu?
Jinwoo-god?
Ji-nu?
Jinwoo?
"…Huh?"
"Wait a second, CEO… God Ji-nu?"
At the pair's Dumb-and-Dumber reaction—
"Phew."
Yoo Jia let out a quiet sigh.
Yeah. That's the normal, reasonable conclusion.
Even if you wanted to hide it, you couldn't. Especially after agreeing to share that video information…
Honestly, wouldn't you have to be stupid not to notice?
"I'm not completely sure, but there's a very high chance. Like… 99.9% or more?"
In the end, Yoo Jia spoke her thoughts aloud.
"But I haven't brought it up to Baek Jinwoo, the player. And I won't. Unless he brings it up first, I'm going to keep pretending I don't know."
"Ah…"
"So you've known all along, CEO?"
"Yes."
Yoo Jia smiled softly.
"Now it feels real, right? What kind of company you left headquarters for—and ended up joining."
'Yoobaek' would become the world's greatest management company and a one-man guild.
Maybe even a group capable of easily surpassing Daeseong in corporate value.
So go ahead—be shocked as much as you want.
Because it looks like there'll be plenty more shocking things ahead. Build up some resistance.
* * *
A beautifully darkened evening.
Baek Jinwoo didn't head to the empty lot.
The place he went was none other than the Player Zone— the Enhancement Center.
'The rewards I got from the 10th floor are two.'
The list was as follows.
[King's Emblem (Bound) × 1]
[Ultimate Summoning Scroll × 1]
This is insane.
It was insane the first time he saw it, and it was still insane the second time.
The King's Emblem, sure. That was expected—an S-rank boss on each 10-floor interval always dropped it as a guaranteed material.
But—
'An Ultimate Summoning Scroll?!'
This was the highest-grade summoning scroll you could get in Battle of Summoners.
A scroll that could drop at an absurdly low rate only when you killed a Tower of Trials boss.
Even back in his God Ji-nu days, he hadn't managed to collect even ten of them.
'How much would this sell for?'
Out of curiosity, he checked the market, but he couldn't even find a measurable price. Plenty of people wanted to buy—but there was no one selling.
[B-rank: 94%]
[A-rank: 5%]
[S-rank: 1%]
A scroll that gave you a 1% chance of pulling an S-rank summon.
'Should I open it?'
Who knew—maybe that 1% would actually hit.
But Baek Jinwoo shook his head. There's no reason to open it right now.
If an S-rank came out, great—but the odds of not getting one were 99%. And besides, even raising the EX-rank summons he already had was overwhelming as it was.
'I'll keep it for now.'
He'd briefly seen posts on overseas markets offering 500 billion won for one, but it didn't feel worth it.
A few months ago, he would've rushed to sell it immediately, but now his desire for money was gradually fading.
If anything, he found himself more drawn to runes, or summons with true rarity.
Anyway.
The reason Baek Jinwoo came to the Workshop wasn't to tear open the Ultimate Summoning Scroll, but to craft a "Guaranteed Summoning Scroll" (B-rank).
[Blueprint]
[Grade: B-rank]
[Craftable: "Guaranteed Summoning Scroll" (B-rank)]
[Crafts a summoning scroll that guarantees you will pull the B-rank summon you want.]
[Required Materials: King's Emblem (Bound) × 1, Top-grade Summoning Scroll × 3, Advanced Summoning Scroll × 10, World Tree Leaf × 10]
'I got the emblem today, and I kept the top-grade scrolls from last time…'
Baek Ajin had already bought the ten Advanced Summoning Scrolls and ten World Tree Leaves.
Baek Jinwoo took them over and came straight to the Workshop.
[Welcome to the Workshop.]
[Craft a great item using a blueprint!]
"Hoo."
Fusion Center, Enhancement Center, Workshop—different categories, but the overall structure was pretty similar.
"Let's do this."
Baek Jinwoo slotted the blueprint and materials into the appropriate spaces in order.
[Would you like to craft "Guaranteed Summoning Scroll" (B-rank)?]
[Craft Success Rate: 80%]
[Be careful!]
[If you fail, materials may be destroyed!]
[Y/N]
"Damn it."
What was he supposed to do if it got destroyed? Sometimes this game was brutally cruel.
And those materials weren't cheap.
The top-grade summoning scrolls were "name your price", and the ten advanced summoning scrolls alone had cost him thirty million won.
And the King's Emblem was a bound item—he couldn't just go buy another one anywhere.
But still.
What choice did he have? There was no other way. If the game said open it, then open it.
"Yes."
[Drumroll! Dugu dugu dugu!]
[Crafting in progress!]
Light mixed with various sound effects grew brighter and brighter, until—
Flash!
[Success!]
[Congratulations!]
[You have obtained "Guaranteed Summoning Scroll" (B-rank)!]
"Kh—huh!"
Baek Jinwoo exhaled the breath he'd been holding.
More than happiness, he felt relief. Because if that had failed…
'Ugh.'
He didn't even want to imagine it—so he stopped.
* * *
After riding a wyvern and arriving at a dim, empty lot, Baek Jinwoo let out a slow breath.
There was only one reason he'd come here instead of going home: to pull a summon.
'Should I tear it open?'
There was something he had to confirm first—whether it was possible to pull an EX-rank summon with this.
Riiip!
Baek Jinwoo decisively tore the summoning scroll.
[Using "Guaranteed Summoning Scroll" (B-rank)!]
[Player "Baek Jinwoo" will select a summon!]
Shrrrk—!
That was the moment.
Countless summon cards unfolded across his field of vision. Even at a glance, there had to be tens of thousands of them.
'And all of these are B-rank?'
You're telling me to find it in here? How?
[Think of the summon you want!]
The summon he wanted…
With his eyes closed, Baek Jinwoo pictured two summons.
A reaper of death, Gale Slayer—scythe gleaming coldly as it swept across the battlefield.
And—
A blacksmith, Rune Dwarf—white beard flying as he brought down a massive hammer onto an anvil.
Shrrk, shrrrk!
The instant Baek Jinwoo imagined them, the floating cards snapped into order—and in the end, only two cards remained.
"…!"
And on those cards, the names were clearly written.
[Gale Slayer (EX-rank)]
[Rune Dwarf (EX-rank)]
'Yes.'
Now it was certain.
Even a Guaranteed Summoning Scroll could pull an EX-rank.
The problem was—
Which one should he choose?
"Yeah… which one do I pick?"
The dilemma of a lifetime had begun.
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