Seeking Advice: To Kill or Postpone the IB Dream?

Hi Fellow Monkeys, long-time reader first time poster here. Wanted advice or whether or not to accept an offer to delay recruiting for or give up on Investment Banking.

Preamble/Intro: 

I went to a non-target, did fuck all, got shit experience. At some point during the time COVID hit, I said fuck it let's go for IB. Did CFA L1 and went into a Search Fund (Mini-PE for those who don't know) and we acquired a company. Tried recruiting for IB while networking, did ~120 coffee chats half with bankers and half for places which I thought were stepping stones, got 1 interview, didn't make super-day. Wasn't entirely sure what I was doing wrong. It seems I'm a shitty networker.

Went to get a Masters of Finance, joined the investment fund and did one internship in Software M&A from a serial acquirer but had no transaction experience. After that, I got 6 internship interviews, 3 in IB, 2 in PE, 1 in Equity Research. Flunked all of them because I was just straight up too nervous or my background wasn't strong enough. Ended up getting an internship at a top Canadian VC. I haven't done the VC Internship yet but I (just) started recruiting for the period afterwards.

The Decision:

Got an offer in the Valuations Team for a 1 year contract at a top Pension Fund (think OTPP/OMERS). Was wondering if I should accept.

I've been talking to other people on the team and maybe a small portion transfer to banking, very few lateral. Pay is what it is but the pension fund is reputable and the role is technical. There is the option to stay and be promoted in the role and pay will eventually increase to be around banking but I imagine this would cut out any chance of IB because I would probably be too old by the time of the promotion. I think realistically my resume is strong enough to recruit for a boutique IB internship or something related to high finance. I'm at the age where I think 1-year is long stepping stone.

Essentially, I can accept the offer and have a long stepping stone or stay in this role because pension funds are a great place to work or decline to continue recruiting. By the time the contract ends, I'll be 27. I don't know whether to go for safety, postpone the dream or go for broke.