[DING!]
[Acquired Job: Business Joker]
[Thank you for your purchase! You have successfully acquired the "Business Joker" Job!]
[DING!]
[You have acquired Business Joker's Skill Portfolio!]
[• Acquired Skill: Capital Drain]
[• Acquired Skill: Business Imitation]
[• Acquired Skill: Business Takeover]
[• Acquired Skill: Investment Manipulation]
The mechanical voice had echoed loudly in Jack's mind… just moments before his tormentor brought down his blade to execute him—!
In that fleeting moment, everything... had become slowed, as more and more information flooded his mind—
But he'd found his answer through that massive stream of information.
Jack Conrad had realized... that the only way for him to survive...
Was to fight back, with any means necessary—!
[POTENTIAL ARSENAL FOUND: 'Silver Crescent Katana'!]
The mechanical voice inside his had echoed once more, informing him of the beautiful—gorgeous blade of his tormentor—
[Do you wish to 'copy' the arsenal?]
The voice had asked for his permission...
But...
There was no need for Jack to answer it verbally—it already understood his wish...
Nay... his desire—!
["BUSINESS IMITATION!"]
[DING!]
[ARSENAL COPIED! You acquired the temporary Weapon Arsenal: Fake 'Silver Crescent Katana'!]
In that fleeting moment... Jack had called forth his newfound weapon... gripping its hilt firmly...
And slashed the hand of his tormentor—!
"AAAAAGHH—!!"
His tormentor howled in pain as the right hand wielding the 'true' weapon was cut off cleanly... by the 'fake' blade in Jack's still-attached right hand.
The debt collector then fell to his knees, clutching the severed stump that still spurted blood from it—
While Jack himself had risen from his own kneeling, with a newfound confidence he never knew existed within him...!
"You're not the only one with a 'card' to play~."
Jack twirled the ebony M-Card in his hand... flaunting it to the now-shocked and downed debt collector.
Not only that, he also played around with the new sword in his hand, but—
"Hmm... so it doesn't just fully replicate stuff for me, huh?"
He amusingly realized it wasn't a perfect carbon copy of the real one.
The katana in his hand was... shorter. While it held the same glint and beauty of the original, its length was clearly inferior.
"Haha~, can I even call it a katana?"
If anything, it resembled more of a 'wakizashi', the so-called short version of a katana. However...
"—Aaghh...! F-fuck...!!!"
"Well, it's sharp enough, I guess~."
...It did the job well enough, evident from the dismembered limb of his tormentor.
"Now then... look at you—so high and mighty just minutes ago, and now? Down on your knees, bleeding like a pig~."
Jack circled the kneeling debt collector with slow, deliberate steps.
The debt collector gritted his teeth; his breathing still ragged from the shock and blood loss, but he eventually looked up—only to find Jack staring down at him with a cocky smirk.
"Don't feel too bad. Not everyone gets to be humbled by a 'rat', you know~?"
But it wasn't Jack's expression that truly shocked him...
"T-that—?! I-is that—! "
It was... the glowing card in Jack's hand. Its ebony color was misleading, but the ethereal pressure it radiated was unmistakable...!
"—An M-Card…?!!"
Jack scoffed in response, before flashing a grin.
"Bingo~! But I wouldn't say it's the real deal like yours." He twirled the black card between his fingers as he kept pacing. "It's a defective one, I tell you. Didn't have anything for me to purchase other than some shady job class I'd thought was a joke."
"...W-what...?"
"But it turns out I was wrong. Almost dead wrong~. It turns out... this card is my very own 'Jack'pot~! Ahahaha~."
The debt collector was still in disbelief, hearing that the debt-ridden rat he'd personally threatened that very morning... was now in possession of his own M-Card.
"I gotta say... you did all that flexing earlier just to get 'clowned' by someone with a 'defective' card. Ain't that poetic?"
The debt collector's face twisted into fury.
"D-don't... get cocky...!"
Forcing himself up despite the blood gushing from the stump of his wrist, he hastily snatched his dirtied golden M-Card off the ground, gripping it tight with his remaining hand.
"Oh? You still got spirit after losing a hand?"
Jack raised a brow and tilted his head mockingly.
"Not a good idea, I tell you. Shit's expensive these days, so if I were you, I'd rush to a clinic before that arm gets infected—"
"SHUT UP!!!"
"...Not in the mood for advice, huh? Well, your loss."
"I'll kill you... I'm gonna kill you...!" the debt collector growled, his voice shaking with rage and pain.
Then...
The ground cracked beneath the collector's first step—!
"YOU'RE DEAD!!!"
He lunged forward, his remaining fist flying toward Jack's face with enough force to dent reinforced steel—
But Jack had already moved out, slipping past it with almost laughable ease, before then—
SHING—!
—He made a clean slash cut across the debt collector's side—!
"A-agh—! D-damn you...!!!"
The debt collector threw in another haymaker—
But Jack easily maneuvered out of it—! He was already behind him... before then delivering another shallow cut to the back—!
"Ghh—! Damn you!!!"
Jack kept dancing around him, slashing and dodging, his movements light and effortless... while his former tormentor grew sloppier by the second.
Blood loss was starting to get to him, with his complexion growing paler and paler...
"Ahaha~, maybe you should've invested on some 'vitality' stats instead of putting it all on strength."
"Ugh... shut up...!"
Jack's mocking had increased the intensity of the debt collector's recklessness, but... it was futile.
"All that strength... is kinda pointless if you can't even hit a rat like me, isn't it~?"
"SHUT UP!!!"
The debt collector snarled loudly, managing to throw one devastating punch that burst through the crumbling wall of the station—!
But of course, Jack had easily dodged it once again, and now... the debt collector's only hand was stuck inside the wall, caused by his own blunder again.
"You called me an idiot before, but aren't you even dumber than me?"
"Ugh...! D-damn it...!!!"
He tried to pry his hand off from the wall, but it proved to be difficult without the help of his already-severed hand.
"Hahaha~, now this is prime entertainment~!"
Jack laughed, clapping slowly with exaggerated amusement.
"Well then..." he stepped in closer to the struggling man before him, "let me show you how to invest your money properly. But first..."
And Jack placed his hand on the man's shoulder.
The debt collector froze, startled by the touch.
Jack's grin widened in response.
"Can I have my deposit back~?"
"...H-huh?"
["CAPITAL DRAIN!"]