He stopped for a moment to catch his breath, thinking he had run quite a distance.

"Hoo… hoo…"

With some leeway now, he started to worry about what had happened to the others.

'Jo Chan-ho, that bastard… I hope he's dead, but he's probably fine… I can't imagine him dying just because he couldn't handle a monster or two.'

The problem was the others. Kim So-young, who was attacked by the monsters first, had no chance of survival. She was undoubtedly their meal by now.

"Hyung, your arm…"

"…It's fine, it's not torn off, just a slight injury. Let's move slowly to another location."

Come to think of it, he remembered hearing an alert about obtaining a job when he killed the monster earlier, so he opened his status window.

[ Job: You can choose a job. Please select from the list below.

Swordsman (Common Grade) – A swordsman fights with a sword. Strength, Stamina, and Agility increase by 1.

Shieldbearer (Common Grade) – A shieldbearer serves as a frontline defender protecting allies with a shield. Strength, Stamina, and Resistance increase by 1.

Dark Mage (Common Grade) – Unlike regular mages, dark mages follow a different path. While regular mages focus on elemental magic, dark mages specialize in necromancy, dark magic, chimera creation, and curses. Additionally, depending on personal ability, dark mages can form contracts with demons. Magic increases by 3.

Archer (Common Grade) – Archers use bows for long-range attacks and are responsible for trap detection and tracking. Strength increases by 1, Agility increases by 2.

Alchemist (Common Grade) – Alchemists create potions and craft unique elixirs through alchemy. Magic increases by 3. ]

It seemed that instead of being forcibly assigned a job, multiple choices appeared, allowing him to select one. The problem was that none of the jobs were suitable for him.

First, Warrior and Shieldbearer were out. While he had gained a slight increase in stats, likely from fighting the monster earlier, his weak physique made wielding a sword or using a shield to protect allies unrealistic.

As for Alchemist… he wasn’t sure. It might be useful after the tutorial, but right now, he needed combat skills to survive. Choosing it was just risky. After all, survival was the priority now.

'In the end, it's either Archer or Dark Mage?'

But both had issues.

He didn’t have a bow or arrows, and since he had never handled a bow before, becoming an archer seemed impractical. While less dangerous than being a Swordsman or Shieldbearer, he had never even visited an archery range on Earth, making the decision uncertain.

‘Dark Mage… might actually be better. The fact that it's a dark mage instead of a normal mage is concerning, but except for Yu-hyun, none of the people I've met so far have had magic stats.’

This suggested that Yu-hyun was special, but having zero magic stats didn't necessarily mean he couldn't learn magic. Choosing Dark Mage would also increase his magic stat.

"Oppa… are you okay?"

"I'm fine… I'm just thinking over my job selection. It’s not automatically assigned—I have to choose."

Yu-rim and Yu-hyun looked surprised. They must not have known about this since they hadn’t obtained jobs yet. He himself didn’t realize how the system worked until he checked the alert.

"It seems killing a monster grants you a job, I got the alert right after I killed one."

"Then does that mean Yu-hyun and I can also get jobs?"

"Yeah… Once I pick mine, let’s see if we can take down a monster together."

If they each helped weaken a monster, then Yu-rim and Yu-hyun could take turns dealing the finishing blow.

But first, he had to choose his job.

'Fuck… I have no idea what to pick, can't it give me more hints?'

No matter how much he thought about it, he still didn’t want to choose Swordsman, Shieldbearer, or Archer. His starting point was different from the others.

Dark Mage seemed like the better option, allowing him to start from the same baseline as everyone else.

The issue was that it was a Dark Mage, not a regular Mage. Why did the job selection include Dark Mage but not a standard Mage?

'No point in overthinking it—I won’t figure it out.'

After much deliberation, he finally chose Dark Mage.

[ Congratulations. You have successfully advanced to Dark Mage. Your Magic stat has permanently increased by 3. Additionally, unique traits related to Dark Mage have been generated. ]

[ Name: Lee Yun-seong ]

[ Age: 26 ]

[ Job: Dark Mage (Common Grade) ]

[ Title: None ]

[ Unique Trait ]

Scout (Grade Under Evaluation) – Allows viewing and storing other people's status windows. However, the target's unique traits or abilities may prevent detection. More functions will unlock as the grade increases.

[ Skills ]

Basic Dark Magic (Common Grade)

Basic Necromancy (Common Grade)

Basic Chimera Research (Common Grade)

Basic Curse Magic (Common Grade)

Understanding of Magic (Common Grade)

[ Stats ]

Strength - 12 Agility - 12

Stamina - 11 Luck - 14

Magic - 03 Resistance - 10

"Urgh!"

Suddenly, a mild headache struck as knowledge related to Dark Magic entered his mind.

'So this is how I gain access to Dark Magic?'

It felt as if a textbook's contents were forcibly pushed into his brain. His head throbbed, but the pain slowly subsided.

'Flame.'

As he imagined casting a spell, black flames flickered into existence on his hand. The flames were black, likely because he was a Dark Mage.

"Wow!"

Yu-hyun gasped in awe. Yu-rim, also shocked, widened her eyes in amazement.

"Oppa… did you become a mage?"

"Yeah… technically, a Dark Mage. But I don’t think I can use my abilities too much, even just keeping the flames going makes my head hurt."

He probably wouldn’t be able to cast many spells yet—his head throbbed too much. But he believed that with training, he would improve over time.

Bang!

I struck the charging monster with my shield, pushing it away.

"Yu-rim!"

Puk

"Kieeek! Keeek!"

The monster shrieked in pain as a dagger lodged into its side.

Crunch!

Swinging a blunt weapon, I shattered its legs, rendering it immobile as I pinned it down.

"Phew… Well done. When I block, you should attack like that. Let's keep doing it this way."

Perhaps because this was our first hunt rather than an attack against us, the initial tension was strong, but after doing it, it wasn’t that difficult.

"Yu-rim, now you have to finish it. Can you do it?"

"Y-Yes…"

Her hands trembled as she faced the reality of taking a life for the first time. She was only nineteen, so it wouldn’t be easy.

"Think of your brother. If you do well, he will follow your lead. It’s nothing hard. Have you ever killed an ant or a bug when you were little? Just think of it as killing a bug."

"...Yes."

Yu-rim tightly shut her eyes and thrust the dagger into the monster’s neck.

"...Hup."

"Kkeeeek!"

Sensing the metal piercing its flesh, the monster writhed and screamed for a while before gradually ceasing its movements.

"...It really does allow you to change jobs."

"Can you tell me what options are available?"

"...Hold on. Uh… Archer, Thief, and Spearman."

"Noona, wouldn’t Thief be the best? You’re already using a dagger."

[ Unique Trait ]

Quick Reflexes (Rank being assessed) - Permanently increases Agility by 3.

[ Stats ]

Strength - 11 Agility - 16

Stamina - 14 Luck - 13

Magic - 00 Resistance - 08

I agreed.

I wasn’t sure if she had ever held a bow, but her low Strength made Spearman an unlikely choice, while her high Agility suited her well. She had been using a dagger so far, and she didn’t seem to lack talent.

‘Her unique trait is Quick Reflexes, so Archer or Thief definitely suits her.’

I subtly suggested my opinion to her.

"I also think Thief is a good choice. Of course, it’s up to you."

"...I think Thief is the better option. Hold on… Ugh!"

Yu-rim grabbed her head, likely feeling the headache that came with the job change.

"...So this is how it feels."

[ Name: Lee Yu-rim ]

[ Age: 19 ]

[ Job: Thief (Common Rank) ]

[ Title: None ]

[ Unique Trait ]

Quick Reflexes (Rank being assessed) - Permanently increases Agility by 3.

[ Traits ]

Basic Dagger Mastery (Common Rank) - Slightly increases understanding of dagger techniques.

Basic Trap Disarmament (Common Rank) - Slightly increases understanding of trap disarmament.

Tracking (Common Rank) - Allows tracking of people or monsters.

[ Stats ]

Strength - 11 Agility - 18

Stamina - 14 Luck - 14

Magic - 00 Resistance - 08

‘Her Agility and Luck increased.’

I expected an increase in Agility due to her becoming a Thief, but I couldn’t understand why Luck had also gone up.

Luck was the most incomprehensible stat for me to understand at the moment.

Resistance seemed to function similarly to defense stats in games. Since my arm had been grabbed by a monster earlier, my own Resistance had increased significantly from its initial value.

"Alright, Yu-rim has successfully changed jobs, so now it’s Yu-hyun’s turn. Don’t worry too much, just do as Yu-rim did. Got it?"

"Yes… Hyung."

"Let’s start looking again. Everyone, follow me."

Since a monster could appear suddenly, I held my shield up in front as we carefully moved forward.

After about thirty minutes of cautious movement, something suddenly flew at my arm.

Whoosh.

Ting!

‘Damn, what was that?!’

I barely managed to block it with my shield in time. If I hadn’t, the arrow would have embedded itself in my arm.

My heart pounded wildly at the thought.

"Ah~ Can’t you aim properly? How could you miss that?"

"Ha… Shit, I didn’t expect him to block it."

Four men emerged from the bushes. Among them, I spotted the one who had fired the arrow at me.

‘Shit… They outnumber us.’

"...What do you want?"

"You’ve got food, right? Leave the food and get lost."

‘So it’s the food they’re after.’

Fighting wasn’t an option. We were three, they were four. Two of us were students, while all four of them were grown men.

Judging by the tattoos on their arms and their rough appearances, they probably weren’t upstanding citizens even back on Earth.

"Oppa… What do we do?"

"Hyung…"

Checking their status windows, none of them stood out too much. One of them had changed jobs, while the rest hadn’t, but their stats weren’t bad.

"......"

Yu-rim and Yu-hyun were both visibly nervous. They knew as well as I did that we had no chance of winning a fight.

"...I’ll give you half our food. We won’t fight or resist, so just let us go."

"No, leave it all and then get lost. This is already us being generous, be grateful we’re letting you go at all. We don’t want to fight either."

‘Shit… Do we really have to give them everything? If we do… then what next?’

If we lost all our food, we’d eventually have to take someone else’s to survive. But fighting now was almost certainly a losing battle.

"Boss, wait a second."

One of the men whispered something to their leader, who grinned after hearing him out.

"Hah… Alright. Listen, pal I got a new deal for ya. Leave all your food and the girl. Then you and the kid can leave unharmed we’re being extra generous now haha!"