Which One Do I Pick? (1)

Yubaek. The small office they had yet to move out of.

This is insane.

Chip in hand, freshly pulled from the recording equipment, Yoo Jia still couldn't wrap her head around it. Baek Jinwoo had strolled out of the Tower in barely ten minutes without so much as a scratch, and the two of them had even made short work of a galbitang dinner on the way back—yet none of it felt real.

Even for Jinugod, that's too much.

Clearing floor 10 in ten minutes? Really?

Between mouthfuls of galbitang, Yoo Jia had drawn up a contract through the System.

"Boss, I'm dying of curiosity here."

"What on earth did he do in there to walk out in ten minutes? Can't we just watch it already?"

The staff were giddy at the prospect of the recording. Yoo Jia was no different.

Rumor had it the floor 10 boss, the Cyclops, was an absolute monster.

Every player who'd crawled back out of that place alive told the same story: the S-grade monster radiated a presence no ordinary dungeon could hope to match. The weak-minded would wet themselves at the mere sight of its form, frozen solid, unable to form a single thought.

"...Well then, shall we play it?"

"Yes!"

"Hurry, please!"

Swallowing past a dry throat, Yoo Jia carefully slotted the chip into the device.

And then—

— GROOOOOOAAAR!

From the very first second, the Cyclops's earth-shaking roar punched clean through the screen.

"Ho—holy crap."

"...So that's the Cyclops."

They weren't even seeing the real thing—just 3D footage—and already their knees were turning to water. What must it feel like for a player meeting that thing face to face?

"Wow, that's terrifying. You couldn't pay me enough to play this game. How is anyone supposed to deal with that?"

"Look at my arm here. See the goosebumps? Ugh, just watching gives me the shivers."

Kim Byeongjin and Hwang Taeseop clucked back and forth, making a proper fuss of it.

The video rolled on. Baek Jinwoo's summons burst out of the gate—and right up until the moment those summons started getting hammered black and blue by ghouls—

"Things aren't looking great, are they?"

"No, they really aren't. And he ended this in ten minutes? How, exactly?"

They couldn't make sense of it. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Only Yoo Jia kept her eyes trained on Ramba and Hungyo.

Summons that talk.

Ramba, moreover, was kitted out in ultra-expensive graduation runes—the best of the best. Those two were the real Baek Jinwoo. Until they moved, his true strength would stay hidden.

And before long—

— My Lord, I shall begin moving now!

The moment Hungyo shot forward—

"Huh?"

"D-did you just hear that? The summon spoke!"

The staff reacted exactly as Yoo Jia had that morning: jaws hanging open, pupils blown wide.

Ugh.

Yoo Jia shook her head. Was that what I looked like in front of Jinwoo this morning? The thought sent a faint chill down her spine. She'd wanted to look composed in front of him, of all people.

"Don't forget—you've all agreed to keep this confidential."

"You knew about this, Boss?"

"I only found out this morning myself."

"...!"

"Let's save that for later. Keep watching."

Yoo Jia focused on the screen. Just how strong were Ramba and Hungyo, that they could put down that unthinkable, nightmarish beast in ten minutes flat?

The answer arrived before long.

"...!"

"...!"

Hungyo, weaving with fluid, lethal grace, only grew faster—until he was carving the colossal monster apart in the blink of an eye.

"Wh-what kind of impossible summon is that?"

"His movements are incredibly supple. How is he dodging those attacks like—gah? Wh-why is he suddenly that fast?!"

Baek Jinwoo's gameplay, once finally laid bare, was shock incarnate. The kind of thing that would gnaw at a man forever—having seen it and being unable to tell a soul.

No—

even if he did tell them, would anyone believe it?

"That sword-wielding summon could pass for an S-grade, surely?"

"...Heh. Stunning. I'd believe you if you called it a bug."

Yoo Jia couldn't close her hanging jaw either.

...So this is Jinugod's power?

It was a sight that let her glimpse, at last, why the world's rankers had feared Jinugod so deeply. A player not even half a year into the game, throwing around this much force? Give it a few more years and the world's balance of power would flip on its head. South Korea, buried at the bottom of the deep, would break the surface—and the whole world would sing Baek Jinwoo's praises.

Just like Rachel's now.

— GROOOOAAAR!

At last, the video closed on Pokryongi's clean finishing blow.

Kzzzt!

The screen cut to static, and even after a good long while, the three figures said nothing. Their brains were taking their sweet time accepting reality!

"What on earth... is Baek Jinwoo?"

"I work alongside the man, and I still can't figure him out. How does anyone end up like that...?"

"Even Korea's rank 1 isn't at that level, is he?"

Yoo Jia snorted a laugh at Hwang Taeseop's question.

Korea's rank 1? Please.

Even the world's rank 1 couldn't pull off what they'd just watched.

"Wow, at this point he's practically—"

Kim Byeongjin marveled, then pressed on.

"Wouldn't you believe it if someone told you this was the legendary return of Jinugod?"

"..."

Kim Byeongjin and Hwang Taeseop locked eyes.

Jinugod. That word... it clung to the roof of the mouth, somehow.

Jinugod? Jinwoogod? Jinu? Jinwoo?

"...Huh?"

"Hold on, Boss... Jinugod?"

At their Dumb-and-Dumber reaction—

"Whew."

Yoo Jia let out a quiet sigh. Right. That's what a normal thought process looks like.

She couldn't have hidden it even if she'd wanted to. Not after they'd agreed to share the video's contents. Honestly, not knowing would have made them the fools.

"I can't say for certain, but the odds are overwhelmingly high. Call it 99.9 percent or better?"

In the end, Yoo Jia laid her cards on the table.

"That said, I haven't mentioned any of this to Player Baek Jinwoo, and I don't intend to. Not ever. Until he brings it up first, we all play dumb."

"Ah..."

"So you knew from the very start, Boss?"

"Yes."

Yoo Jia smiled, warm and easy.

"Starting to sink in now, isn't it? What kind of company you all left headquarters to join."

Yubaek would become the world's finest management agency and a one-man guild. Perhaps an organization whose value would leave Daesung in the dust. So go ahead—be amazed, everyone. There was plenty more shock where that came from; they'd best start building up a tolerance.

Evening fell in a beautiful blaze of sunset. Baek Jinwoo did not head for the empty lot.

His destination was none other than the Player Zone—the Crafting Center.

Two rewards from floor 10 this time.

The list ran as follows:

Insane.

Insane on the first look, and insane again on the second.

The King's Proof, well—that much was only expected. A guaranteed drop ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠material from the S-grade boss waiting at every ten-floor milestone.

But an Ultimate Summoning Scroll!

This was the highest grade of summoning scroll in Battle of Summoners—the scroll that dropped from Tower of Ordeal bosses at a mercilessly low rate. Even back in his Jinugod days, he'd never managed to farm so much as ten of them.

How much would it fetch?

Curious, he'd wandered the player market, but no price could be measured at all. Buyers were everywhere; sellers, nowhere.

A scroll that could pull an S-grade summon at a 1 percent chance.

Tear it open?

Who knew—maybe the 1 percent would smile on him and drop an S-grade.

But Baek Jinwoo shook his head.

No reason to open it now. He'd be grateful for an S-grade, sure, but there was a 99 percent chance it wouldn't come. Besides, raising the EX-grades he already had was more than enough to keep him busy.

I'll hold onto it for now.

He'd glimpsed a post about someone buying one on the overseas market for 500 billion won, but he couldn't be bothered. A few months ago, Baek Jinwoo would have sprinted straight out to sell it; these days, his appetite for money was quietly fading. If anything, runes and rare summons caught his eye more than cash did.

In any case, the reason Baek Jinwoo had come to the Crafting Center wasn't to tear the Ultimate Summoning Scroll. It was to craft a Guaranteed Summoning Scroll (B-grade).

Got the Proof today, and the Supreme Summoning Scrolls were left over from before. Baek Ajin had purchased the ten High-grade Summoning Scrolls and the ten World Tree Leaves. Materials handed over, he'd come straight to the Crafting Center.

"Whew."

Synthesis Center, Reinforcement Center, Crafting Center. Only their type differed; in form, they were all but identical.

"Let's get right to it."

Baek Jinwoo slotted the blueprint and the materials into their compartments, one by one, in order.

"Insane."

What was he supposed to do if the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠materials got destroyed? This game really could be downright cruel. Did it have any idea what those materials were worth? How hard they'd been to get? Supreme Summoning Scrolls went for whatever the seller dared to ask, the ten High-grade Scrolls had cost a full 30 million won, and the King's Proof was character-bound—no amount of money could buy one anywhere in the world.

But then, what could he do? There was no other way. If it had to be done, it had to be done.

"Yes."

Light wove through a medley of sound effects, brightening and brightening until—

Flash!

"Haaagh!"

Baek Jinwoo let out the breath he'd been holding. More than joy, it was relief. If that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had failed? Ugh. He didn't even want to imagine it, so he wouldn't.

Touching down at the darkened empty lot atop his wyvern, Baek Jinwoo let out a long breath. The reason he'd come here instead of home was exactly one: to pull a summon.

Might as well tear it open.

There was one thing he needed to confirm above all else. Whether an EX-grade summon could be pulled!

Shreeeek!

Baek Jinwoo tore the scroll without hesitation.

Shhhrrrrr!

That was the moment. A sea of summon cards unfurled across his vision. Even a rough glance put the count well past ten thousand. And every last one of them was B-grade?

Find one in this? How?

The summon he desired. Eyes closed, Baek Jinwoo called two to mind.

A death reaper threading through the battlefield with a frost-blue scythe in hand—the Gale Slayer. And a blacksmith, white beard whipping, driving a massive hammer down onto his anvil—the Rune Dwarf.

Shhhk, shhhrrrr!

The instant he pictured them, the drifting cards sorted themselves in a heartbeat, leaving only two behind.

"...!"

And on those two cards, the writing was unmistakable:

There it is!

That settled it. The Guaranteed Summoning Scroll could pull EX-grades too.

The only problem was—which summon to choose.

"Right. Which one do I pick?"

And so began the dilemma of a lifetime.