Former Ranker's Newbie Life

Chun Ji-Hyun hovered outside Do-Jin’s room in her pajamas, hesitating about whether to go in or not.

Should I wake him up now?

Thirty minutes until midnight wasn’t exactly a good time to barge in, but he’d been sleeping for fifteen hours straight now. If she went to bed now, Do-Jin might wake up sometime in the middle of the night.

Although I already left the food out, I’m more worried that he might sleep straight through until morning.

If she went to sleep and woke up only to find Do-Jin still out cold, that would mean he had slept for more than twenty hours. Adding on the time he’d spent in the capsule, the thought of leaving him alone was unsettling.

“Fine. I’m at least going to watch you eat before I sleep.” After agonizing over it, Chun Ji-Hyun decided to wake him up. “Do-Jin, wake up.”

“Ugh...”

“You slept like a corpse. Get up, eat something, then go back to sleep.”

“How long was I out?”

“More than fifteen hours.”

That was more than enough sleep by any standard. Do-Jin didn’t resist and pushed himself upright. It wasn’t just his mind that felt foggy. The whole world seemed blurry. Even so, being woken by someone shaking him was still better than sleeping until things got worse.

Do-Jin sat at the table and quietly ate the food Chun Ji-Hyun had prepared, chewing and swallowing without complaint. Seeing the darkness outside and his manager still in her pajamas, he could tell why she had woken him up.

“I’ll clean up myself, so go to bed. You couldn’t even go home after work because of me. I’m sorry.”

“Why are you saying something like that now? This place is practically my home anyway, so stop worrying about it. I don’t waste time commuting, so it is honestly convenient.”

Whether Chun Ji-Hyun truly felt that way or not, those words multiplied his guilt two, maybe three times over.

“If you’re not trying to make me feel even worse on purpose, just go to bed already. I feel guilty enough as it is.”

“What are you talking about? Being your manager is basically the easiest job in the industry. I honestly feel awkward making money this easily.”

Even as she said that, Chun Ji-Hyun stepped aside to let him eat in peace.

There really are a lot of good people around, Do-Jin thought.

Compared to his previous life, though even thinking that way made him feel guilty, these people were far more than he deserved. Their relationship may have worked because the exchange of benefits was clear on both sides, but the world was still full of people who only wanted to take. Finding someone who tried to return consideration in proportion to what they received was an incredible stroke of luck. Do-Jin understood that better than anyone.

“Now that I think about it, I really am lucky this time.” That thought slipped out without him even realizing it.

I had been lucky in reality, and I had been lucky in the game too.

Everything up to now had lined up, but this time especially, countless factors had overlapped just right and let them stop Galante in what felt like nothing short of a miracle. As his thoughts continued, Do-Jin naturally grew curious about the rewards Galante must have left behind. He picked up his phone, which he had completely ignored while sleeping like a log.

Do-Jin was certain that Theresa and the others who joined the raid had definitely talked about it. After checking, it seemed the entire raid force had received a shared reward called Random Trait Selection Points. The group chat they had used for announcements was full of messages showing off the traits everyone had pulled.

So no relics dropped?

The equipment rewards capped out at S-rank. Since they had forced an early kill, the rewards didn’t feel especially impactful.

Maybe that’s because we ended it at the instance dungeon stage.

Do-Jin finished his meal quickly. A gamer’s instincts were never satisfied with indirect confirmation alone. He needed to see exactly what had gone into his own character. Even though lying back down in the capsule right after eating made him feel a little guilty, given the situation, he decided to log in briefly just to check.

No, it’s not in here... no... level-up? Not right now.

He flicked past the trivial stuff without hesitation.

[Reward settlement in progress.]

[The flow of fate has changed.]

Something finally caught his eye among the piled-up notifications.

[You have twisted a predetermined fate.]

[The completion conditions for the Great Achievement, One Who Twisted Fate, have been fulfilled.]

[You have created distortion sufficient to alter the flow of the world’s fate.]

[As a reward for achieving One Who Twisted Fate, a clue toward becoming a Pioneer of Fate will seek you out.]

The achievement, whose completion gauge had slowly filled each time he resolved a fate-related quest, had finally been completed. The reward, however, was strange. It wasn’t a trait, an item, a stat, or even something he could claim right away.

Did it say a clue would seek me out?

That meant it would either help him find the opening he needed for the next step, or bring that opening straight to him. In other words, it was a promise that more trouble was coming.

I mean, it’s not all bad.

One Who Twisted Fate had already given him plenty through its partial completion rewards, enough that a final bonus hardly felt necessary. However, being granted a chance to pursue an even higher-tier achievement would’ve been nice.

Whatever... Achievements aside, what did Galante leave behind?

For several reasons, the rewards didn’t feel as spectacular as those of a typical World Boss Raid. Since everyone seemed to have received the same thing, there was probably no variation based on contribution either. At most, there might be a trait point and some unfamiliar gear sitting in the equipment window.

With that in mind, he rapidly skimmed through the remaining messages while pulling up both his Status Window and Equipment Window.

[You made an unparalleled contribution to defeating the World Boss Venomhorn Dragon Galante!]

[We salute you for ultimately shattering a fate that resisted with overwhelming force. In honor of that feat, we will grant a special reward befitting you.]

[All remaining power of Venomhorn Dragon Galante will be imbued into the item Poison-infused Dragon Heart in your inventory.]

As Do-Jin read the ominous reward messages, his gaze locked onto the newly updated information. One section stood out as completely different from his previous Status Window. A different trait had taken the place where Mana Heart should have been.

[Your possessed item and possessed trait have been combined.]

[The trait has been converted and strengthened.]

[Trait Mana Heart has been removed.]

[Trait Dragon Heart has been created.]

Without even realizing it, Do-Jin had ended up with a dragon’s heart in place of his own. His body was made of pure mana, closer to a spirit’s than a human’s, and he possessed eyes inherited from the Vampire King. On top of all that, his heart now belonged to a dragon.

Even his traits were starting to reflect just how far he had drifted from anything human. Executor of Ruin let him kill things that were never supposed to die in the first place. Time Traveler let him claw his way through time itself, something just as merciless as fate, even if the rules were tight and unforgiving.

And then there’s the Grimoire of Truth on top of all that.

Do-Jin pulled up the message he had seen earlier.

[As a reward for achieving the Great Achievement One Who Twisted Fate, a clue toward becoming a Pioneer of Fate will seek you out.]

Before facing Galante, he had used the expression that the raid was a blade meant to kill Galante, and that he was the one who hammered and sharpened it.

If that was the case here, then what did that make him?

Am I the blade now?

Lostania was forging a blade meant to cut down a cruel fate that had already been decided.

Do-Jin recalled the Starsea Princess he had met at the very end of his previous life, just before turning back time and returning to the past. She had probably been the blade the world itself had chosen to save it.

So now that role falls to me.

It couldn’t have been that way from the beginning. As he kept playing the game and caused one incident after another, he must have shown enough potential that the world began placing its bets on him, little by little.

If that really is the case, then things are going to get a hell of a lot busier from here.

Do-Jin felt certain that many things would start coming his way, whether in the form of crises to resolve, new opportunities to seize, or outright disasters to avoid. He already had things he knew about that he needed to chase down, and dealing with those alone would take a ridiculous amount of effort.

At least I won’t be bored.

That aside, he should start by figuring out what exactly this newly acquired heart had changed.

***

Far from the place where Galante had met its end, a group was engaged in a quiet exchange.

“He’s... a Reginian.”

“Yes. We have not identified the exact sequence of events, but it appears a Reginian intervened and pushed the situation this far.”

They were members of the Cult of Ruin. For them, Galante’s resurrection and the chaos and damage it would have caused were matters of extreme importance.

“I can’t believe that Bella’s disgusting flailing would interfere with our long-cherished goal to this extent.”

“Even so, this incident should be viewed as a coincidence. The process of securing the materials was imperfect, and that caused the failure. It wasn’t a targeted move against us.”

“But in the end, we were exposed. This had to happen at a time like this, when we still cannot step into the open.”

“What do you intend to do?”

“If it were up to me, I would tear Bella’s dogs apart and kill every last one of them, but those Reginian bastards are monsters that come back even after being killed.”

“They really are monsters in every sense of the word.”

“We thought they were just immortal vermin. Now that we know they are genuinely troublesome monsters, we need to find a way to carve them out completely. Until then, we should avoid unnecessary friction.”

A dry wind swept through the area. Dressed in white, the Heralds of Ruin vanished as if they had never been there at all. The fate Do-Jin had altered was stirring once more.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!