There were generally two ways to change Jobs in RPG games.
Either meet the requirements needed for a Job Change through Quests and the like.
Or have your Class decided from the moment you created your character.
In DDO’s case, it was closer to the former.
With a bit of neglect thrown in.
“‘Freely forge your destiny.’ It sounds nice, calling it forging your destiny, but does it not just mean we are supposed to figure it out ourselves? Still, I actually like this better.”
The Quest description had made it clear.
There were countless Jobs in Dream World Online, and players were to freely forge their own destinies.
In other words, meeting a Job NPC in a major city and changing into an ordinary Class was not the only option.
There could be other routes.
Like Hidden Jobs.
For DDO, which pursued freedom rather than being bound by convention, it was entirely plausible.
“I will look through the community when I have time and prepare thoroughly. I do not know when or how I will run into one.”
Rough decided to sell off items he did not need and buy items that looked useful.
Like most other RPG games, DDO had a trading system.
It was called the Dream World Online Integrated Auction.
“First of all…”
Rough checked his Inventory.
“Poison-Infused Revolver. I think I can sell this.”
At this point, it was equipment that was practically endgame-tier.
However, it was not particularly useful to Rough.
Firearms, like bows, were non-targeting weapons.
Because DDO reproduced all five real-world senses and interactions almost perfectly—
Using a firearm required following a complicated process: inserting a magazine loaded with bullets, chambering a round, aiming, and firing.
On top of that, targets in DDO moved absurdly quickly.
Kiting had demonstrated an almost 100% hit rate even under such unfavorable conditions, but—
‘That is him. Maybe it is because I am getting older, but I cannot do it to that extent. This is useless to me, so it is better to sell it.’
After several battles, Rough had become certain.
He could not do it.
Still, he was sure he could sell it to another player for a high price.
“Let us see. I do not know the market price, so I will list it as an auction. A 24-hour listing, with a starting bid of… 1,000 Gold? That should be reasonable.”
After registering the item for sale, Rough suddenly had a brilliant idea.
What was his Personal Trait?
It was a cheat-like ability that let him uncover every hidden option on an item.
If he used that ability well, he could secure items with Hidden Options among those currently listed on the Auction.
No one but him would be able to recognize an item’s true value.
Was the Rusty Iron Sword he had obtained from the Tournament not proof of that?
He could even buy items cheaply, make them grow, then sell them again at a high price.
Surely, no one would sell a low-performance item for an exorbitant price before it had grown.
And even if they did—
‘Who the hell would pay that much for such a piece-of-shit item, you dumb bastard?’
They would likely only be mocked.
“Kuahahaha! DDO is a fucking great game!”
Rough roared as he reset the Auction category to show only Equipment Items.
“…Huh?”
Then his expression stiffened.
“The Equipment Item listings… 30,000 pages? How long would it take to check all of these?”
Since tens or even hundreds of millions of users played the game, the amount of merchandise on the Auction was beyond imagination.
At this rate, listings would probably increase faster than he could check them.
Furthermore—
“They are selling a Level 1 Blunt Wooden Sword for 500 Gold? Who would buy this? Are they just hoping some sucker bites?”
There were countless cases of people deliberately listing items at inflated prices in hopes someone would make a mistake.
“…Ah, damn. My eyes hurt. Forget it.”
Rough shut his eyes tightly and closed the Auction UI.
“Either way, I am done sorting my items. I have work tomorrow, so I will stop here for today.”
Rough logged out, leaving his regrets behind.
He still had to do what he had to do.
***
The next morning.
“Uuugh…”
Rough—no, Namgung Jun—boarded the subway with a face worn out by fatigue.
It took roughly forty minutes to get to the subway station near his company.
Namgung Jun planned to use that spare time to look up information that might help with the Job Change Quest.
After accessing the community, Namgung Jun typed Job into the search bar.
[Why are the Jobs in this game so lacking?]
-If you broadly divide the combat Classes, there are only six: Warrior, Mage, Rogue, Martial Artist, Archer, and Shooter. Why even add the Second Weapon System at this point? I seriously do not get it.
┗[Then go non-combat if you do not like it.]
┗[Is that not the charm of it?]
┗[It is only the First Job Change. They will probably become more specialized from the Second Job Change onward.]
┗[I have not changed Jobs yet. How hard is the Job Change Quest?]
┗[Easy. It is piss-easy.]
┗[? I thought it was pretty difficult.]
┗[That is because you are an idiot lol.]
Some said the Job Change Quest was easy.
Others found it difficult.
‘Maybe because the freedom is so high, it varies wildly from player to player.’
Tilting his head, Namgung Jun moved on to the next post.
[Which Job is good?]
-Is Warrior still the best? Or a ranged damage dealer?
┗[Ranged Jobs are good. Definitely pick one.]
┗[Nope. Do not listen to this bastard. Pick something else.]
┗[? Why?]
┗[Skills get some degree of correction, but normal attacks do not. They are fucking hard to hit with. Buff normal attacks already, you Necton Up bastards.]
┗[Can you not just hit them?]
┗[Fuck you. Anyway, avoid ranged Classes.]
‘That is true.’
Namgung Jun agreed with the comment telling people to avoid ranged Classes as he reflected on what had happened the previous day.
The mysterious user, Kiting.
His meeting with him had been intensely memorable.
There were many strange things about the man.
Even his appearance was unusual—a beautiful young boy.
One could say he had simply customized himself that way, but—
DDO did not allow character customization.
That did not mean it reflected one’s real appearance exactly, either.
Otherwise, there was a chance it could be abused for crimes.
It only used one’s real appearance as a loose reference.
And that was not the only strange thing.
-This is troublesome. There was nothing like that last time.
During the battle against the Adult Basilisk.
He had muttered something meaningful to himself.
He sounded as if he had experienced Basilisk’s Nest in the past.
‘Honestly, reincarnation, regression, or transmigration is impossible.’
There was no way something like that could be possible.
‘Then what is he? Ah, is he a Necton Up employee? That seems plausible.’
If he were a Necton Up employee, he might have played the game for internal QA before its release.
‘No. Then there is no way he would not have known about the Hidden Boss appearing… I do not know. If I meet him again later, I can ask him then.’
Namgung Jun waved his hand, shaking off the distracting thoughts.
‘More importantly, is that all the information there is about the Job Change Quest?’
Perhaps because DDO was a newly released game, and specialized information had not yet been systematically organized, it was difficult to find anything useful about Job Changes.
There was still quite a bit of time before he reached his destination.
Since he had nothing else to do, Namgung Jun decided to browse the trending posts.
The hottest trending post in the community was a screenshot uploaded by a user.
It showed the World Message that had appeared only in the Myel Region after he had defeated the Adult Basilisk the previous day.
‘…Huh? That is me?’
After seeing himself mentioned on the community, Namgung Jun could not simply pass it by.
Curious about the reactions, he savored each comment one by one.
The overwhelming majority of them envied him.
‘Hehehe!’
Feeling good, Namgung Jun grinned like a pervert.
As he mindlessly scrolled through the comments, he soon arrived at the station where he needed to get off.
Just as he got off the subway and was about to turn off his smartphone screen—
Bzzz!
A notification arrived from the app linked to DDO, accompanied by a small vibration.
[The auction price for Poison-Infused Revolver has been updated.]
[The new auction price for Poison-Infused Revolver is 6,500 Gold.]
“…!”
Namgung Jun stopped in his tracks.
‘S-Si-Six thousand five hundred Gold? That would be over 65 million won in cash?’
With a single item sale, he had earned the annual salary of an employee at a major corporation.
Moreover, the auction would continue for twenty-four hours, so there was more than enough room for the price to rise further.
“Am I still half-asleep?”
Namgung Jun stood still and stared blankly into space.
He rubbed his eyes and looked at his smartphone again, but it still showed 6,500 Gold.
It was not a mistake.
‘Wow, to suddenly get this much money…’
Namgung Jun was dumbfounded.
‘Then… do I really need to keep being an intern? I feel like I could quit the company and just play DDO?’
Of course, it was too early to make that decision right away.
The reason DDO’s Gold exchange rate was absurdly high right now was because DDO was a popular new game that had just launched.
The value of in-game currency tended to go insane in games like that.
‘As time passes, Gold production will increase, and the exchange rate will slowly fall. It probably will not crash, though. Then the company…’
For the first time, Namgung Jun began considering quitting his job.
***
In front of what appeared to be a ruined city.
With a flash—
Two players dressed like beggars appeared.
It seemed they had been forcibly teleported out from inside the city.
“What? Did we fail again?”
“…Yes, Guild Master.”
“What about the NPC who went in with you?”
“He died.”
“Haah.”
The boy called Guild Master shut his eyes tightly and let out a deep sigh.
“We must have spent well over ten thousand Gold by now, yet we have nothing to show for it.”
“I have no excuse.”
“Argh! I am going crazy wondering what kind of reward that Dungeon will give! I want to go in, but we only get one chance! Should we just grab anyone and try going in?”
The boy, whose eyes had nearly gone wild, turned toward the city entrance.
The Guild Members beside him desperately tried to stop him.
“Oh, Guild Master! Please hold yourself back!”
“Guild Master! Calm down, and could you take a look at this?”
One Guild Member sent him a link through chat.
It was a trending post on a community site.
Rough’s World Message had been translated into French.
“Oh? They killed a Hidden Boss? But where is Asente?”
“It is not far from here.”
“Hmm. I think we might be able to clear the Dungeon if we challenge it with these people.”
Anticipation shone in the boy’s eyes.
“I have decided. I will go meet them myself, and if they seem capable, I will persuade them. Tell me the coordinates of Asente.”
Turning his back, the boy headed out of the city without hesitation.
“G-Guild Master! What if persuasion does not work?”
A Guild Member’s worried voice came from behind him.
“What cannot be solved with money?”
The boy turned around, lightly tossing and catching a heavy pouch of Gold as he smiled confidently.
“Anyway, I will be back soon, so make sure no one gets in during that time. Keep the place completely locked down.”