Guild Grunts and Glitchy Greetings

The Adventurer's Guild shop was a chaotic symphony of sights and smells. Racks of weaponry lined the walls, gleaming under the flickering light of enchanted lanterns. Dusty shelves overflowed with potions, scrolls, and strange artifacts that hummed with barely contained magical energy. The air was thick with the aroma of leather, steel, and something vaguely… fungal. Jin-woo wrinkled his nose. It smelled like a programmer's convention, but with more swords and significantly less deodorant.

Behind a cluttered counter, a burly man with a beard that could rival a small gnome sat polishing a rather large axe. He wore a leather apron stained with what Jin-woo sincerely hoped was just dirt. This, Jin-woo assumed, was the guild master.

He approached the counter cautiously, trying to avoid stepping on any of the… questionable… items scattered across the floor. "Excuse me," he said. "I saw your sign. 'Now Hiring.'"

The burly man grunted, setting down his axe with a resounding clang. He looked Jin-woo up and down, his eyes lingering on his decidedly non-adventurer-like attire. "You're looking for work?" he asked, his voice gruff.

"Yes," Jin-woo replied. "I'm… uh… interested in joining the guild."

The man chuckled, a deep, rumbling sound. "You? An adventurer? You look like you'd be more comfortable behind a desk than facing a goblin horde."

"I'm… adaptable," Jin-woo said, trying to project an air of confidence he definitely didn't feel. "And I have… certain skills."

"Skills?" the man repeated, raising a bushy eyebrow. "What kind of skills?"

"I'm… a programmer," Jin-woo said.

The man stared at him blankly. "A… programmer?" he repeated. "What's that?"

Jin-woo sighed. He was starting to realize that explaining his profession to people in this world was going to be a recurring challenge. "I… I work with… code," he explained. "I… solve problems. I'm good at… fixing things."

The man frowned. "Fixing things?" he repeated. "Like… broken swords? Because we have plenty of those."

"No," Jin-woo said. "More like… magical… things. I can… uh… debug… spells."

The man stared at him for a long moment, his expression unreadable. Then, he burst out laughing. It was a loud, booming laugh that echoed through the shop.

"Debug spells?" he repeated, wiping a tear from his eye. "That's the funniest thing I've heard all day!"

Jin-woo gritted his teeth. He was starting to regret his decision to come to this guild. He was clearly out of his element.

"Look," he said, trying to maintain his composure. "I'm serious. I have… unique abilities. I can… manipulate magic in ways you wouldn't believe."

The man chuckled again. "Sure you can, kid," he said. "Just like I can breathe underwater and fly to the moon."

Jin-woo sighed. He knew he wasn't going to convince this guy with words. He needed proof.

He closed his eyes, focusing on the tingling sensation in his hands. He whispered, "Fireball_v1.2_beta_fix."

A small ball of fire materialized in his palm, flickering and dancing. The man's laughter died down, his eyes widening in surprise.

"What… the…?" he stammered.

Jin-woo grinned. "See?" he said. "I told you I had skills."

The man stared at the fireball, his jaw hanging open. He cautiously reached out a hand, as if to touch it, then quickly pulled it back.

"You… you can do magic?" he asked, his voice filled with awe.

Jin-woo nodded. "Yeah," he said. "I can."

The man's eyes gleamed. "Well, I'll be," he muttered. "You're not just a programmer, you're a… a mage!"

"Yeah, I guess so," Jin-woo said.

The man grinned. "Well, then," he said. "You're hired!"

Jin-woo blinked. "Just like that?" he asked.

"Just like that," the man confirmed. "We've been needing someone with… your… unique skills. We've been having some trouble with… a particularly nasty enchantment on our coffee machine. It keeps summoning… sentient foam."

Jin-woo sighed. Of course. His first job as an adventurer was going to be debugging a coffee machine. He had a feeling that this was going to be a long, and very strange, career.