This wavers between a 3 to a 3.5. There are some lovely character moments, particularly with Jinwoo's affection for his soldiers, his affection for Jinho, and healing his mother, which is one of the most poignant parts of the story, focusing on how hard Jinwoo has been working to protect and raise his sister and support himself in the absence of his parents, despite the fact that he's been raising a teenager since he was a teenager, and it just highlights the whole tragedy of the situation, and finally has someone who can do something about it recognize the burden he's been carrying. The conclusion of the Jeju Island raid is also still decently enjoyable, if a bit less punchy than the manhwa adaptation made it. The best joke in the series is probably in this book, too, which is when Jinwoo tries to name his guild "Masturbation Guild", and has absolutely zero clue why this is a problem, because he doesn't realize what "Solo Play" also means. There's an additional element to this in the novel, when Jinah also seemingly has no idea that's what it means: she just doesn't think the name makes sense. They truly are related.

There's also the incredibly random relationship between Jinwoo and Haein. It's just... not built up well at all. It's kind of cute in the way that two awkward, introverted people who aren't that great at socializing can be when getting into a relationship in a novel. But it feels so forced, and a lot of this novel is a lot of Jinwoo's not great sides poking out. Not necessarily his complete social unawareness, but at times he's just mean, and that's aggravating. It doesn't help that the novel tries to narratively excuse his Just That Special protagonist status, which is just poor writing. The manhwa softened some of this, improving flow and focusing more on Jinwoo's relationship with his mother, and her relationship with Jinah, and the anime is also focusing more on Jinwoo's relationship with Jinah. The novel is unfortunately just painful at times.

All in all, it's interesting, development-wise, and features some of the best moments and some of the weakest moments in the series thus far. Looking forward to volume 5. ( )