I am restarting this game as a worn and torn newbie
After learning 15 miserable years of his life as a failed gamer was one long nightmare, Lee Eojin is glad to be a newbie again.Vowing not to repeat the same mistakes, Eojin starts anew as the hotshot, Old-timer. He’s conquering monsters, getting sweet gear, and making enough dough to set himself up for life. Loved by fans and hated by foes, both old and new, will Eojin break the game and triumph, or will the game break him once again?
Worn and Torn Newbie is a manhwa written by Bonui, which initially wrote as a light novel and was adapted into a webtoon in 2020.
Worn and Torn Newbie provides examples of:
- Bait-and-Switch Boss / Trick Boss: Several quests feature these. For example, the boss "Crying Galatea" is a statue that is indestructible and only becomes vulnerable when attacking, which occurs when no player looks at it. In other words, players would need to fight by looking at her indirectly (using the reflection of a shield for example) or keeping their eyes closed during battle. And to make matters worse, the boss still has a second phase where the attacks are even more aggressive and difficult to dodge, and now looking at it causes pretrification.
- Butt-Monkey: Eojin was that in the original timeline and making sure he doesn't become that is one of his main goals in the new timeline.
- Despair Event Horizon: After making one last bad gamble on DEM and ruining his last chance to start his life over, Eojin genuinely regrets having dedicated his life to DEM, despite loving the game with all his heart. Lucky for him, that's when the Mental Time Travel happens.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Zodiac Bundybale. In the original timeline he is a serial killer who killed several people in real life. In the new timeline this hasn't changed, but it is indicated that the deaths he caused involve something related to the DEM. Eojin, even with all the knowledge he has about the game and future events, has no idea what his goal is, only that it will hurt a lot of people. As a result, whenever Eojin meets Zodiac in the game, he tries to kill him to stop whatever he is trying to do.
- Guide Dang It!: Enforced in Deux Ex Machina. Due to the game's AI system making Non-Player Character and enemies create quests and dungeons on their own, not even the Game Master know their exact locations and conditions to finish the quests, which made some quests so obscure and difficult to complete that players took years to finish in the original timeline.
- The Gambling Addict: Eojin is definitely one. This trait combined with him being a game addict to DEM caused him to make several investments both in-game and in real life that led him to financial ruin in the original timeline. And even after getting a second chance to start over, Eojin often continues to gamble, only the main difference is that he now has enough knowledge and experience about DEM and players that he hardly ever misses the gamble he does.
- Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game: Deux Ex Machina or DEM, is a long-running immersive fantasy MMO that has seen better days. After 15 years since its release, having suffered from various crises and controversies, almost the entire player base has moved on, with Eojin being one of the few who continues to dedicate himself to the game. After resetting and coming back when DEM was just released, Eojin makes it one of his goals to make sure the game he loves so much won't be ruined this time around.
- Mental Time Travel: The initial premise of the series. After ruining his last chance to pay off his debts and start his life over, Eojin's mind ends up getting felt 13 years back in time. His mind is put into his past self where he has just woken up after having complications while experiencing the DEM Beta. Deciding to use his knowledge of the game and future events to monopolize items and have a better life, Eojin becomes one of the best and most famous/controversial players in DEM.
- Meaningful Name: Eojin chose to use the DEM username of "Stagnant Water", which is a Korean slang to refer to people who obsess over a game for too long. Since Eojin continued to play DEM for fifteen years in the original timeline, the name is indeed fitting.
- Not Distracted by the Sexy: Lampshaded by Eonji when he, while disguised as Madongwang, is the target of seduction attempts by Yoo Da-Hee, trying to convince him to join her guild. No longer feeling attracted to her due to what he went through in the original timeline, he leaves after cleaning her car's ashtray. Ironically, this small gesture would start Yoo Da-Hee to fall in love with Madongwang.
- Serial Killer: Zodiac Bundybale is one, being the most infamous DEM player in the original timeline for having killed several players in real life for unknown reasons. Preventing him from doing that again becomes one of Eojin's goals in the new timeline.
- Sunk Cost Fallacy: The reason why Eojin had his life ruined in the original timeline. Eojin could sell the weapon he strengthened to pay off his debts, but he decides to continue strengthening the sword even though the chances of success were very low (0.00000012% chance). The sword broke and he lost everything he invested much to his despair. Lucky for him that was the moment he returned to the past.
