LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 26 - Guild Tour (1)
‘Some players possess unique abilities, which is considered to be rare. So, what is the difference between unique abilities and skills? The main difference is that unique abilities are one-of-a-kind, exclusive to the player who has them. While skills derived from unique abilities can also be special, common skills…’
“Status Window.”
Ding!
Name: Kim Baram
Age: 17
Stats
Strength: 27
Agility: 24
Stamina: 30
Magic: 20
Charm: 51
Luck: 55
Skills
Unique Ability
Current VP: 2400 VP
It had been three days since Kim Baram’s first mission with the Fixer Clan.
In those three days, he accumulated a total of 2400 VP without using the
Of course, there were no stat increases from those two days of grueling training either.
‘I don’t even expect there to be an increase anymore. This body is definitely useless.’
True to his reputation as an infuriating character, Kim Baram had miraculously not gained even a single stat point from his training sessions.
If not for the huge stat boosts from the synergy effect of the Solar Ginseng and Evercold Ice, which increased his strength, agility, stamina, and magic by 10 each, he might have actually collapsed from frustration by now.
‘If I keep earning so little VP today, I’ll be in deep trouble…’
It was Wednesday, the day of the guild tour for the afternoon class.
At the Academy, there were eight first-year classes, from Class 1 to Class 8. Normally, the guild tours would run for the next eight weeks, with each class visiting one of the eight major guilds in South Korea on a rotating basis.
‘But in reality, because of the upcoming events, this will only go on for four weeks.’
‘Ah, this is so boring. When will it end? I hope we get to go on the guild tour soon. I wonder which guild our class is going to today.’
‘I think we’re probably going to one of the five guilds in the Seoul area. Classes 6, 7, and 8 went straight to guilds outside the capital today, so they didn’t even have morning classes — they left right away.’
As Kim Baram absentmindedly listened to the theory professor’s lecture, his mind wandered to thoughts of the guild tour. He overheard Lee Hwayong and Kim Byeonghoon whispering about the guild tour as well.
The Eight Major Guilds of Korea
As Lee Hwayong mentioned, the five guilds in the Seoul metropolitan area were: Salvation, White Flower, Tower of Truth, Geumseong, and First. The guilds located outside the capital were Sacred Heart in Daejeon, Sea Cloud in Busan, and Geumseong in Damyang.
The first guild our class visited today was the White Flower Guild.
Although it wasn’t as strong in combat power as Salvation, the strongest guild in South Korea, the White Flower Guild was renowned for its intelligence network, considered one of the best in the world.
Especially its leader, Baek Arin, who was described as a stunning beauty and possessed not only her unique ability but also an extraordinary skill called “Absolute Memory.” However, despite hundreds of iterations, Baek Arin had never appeared during today’s guild tour in any of them.
‘The tours always ends with us just wandering around the guild, looking at things.’
It was so uneventful that even the protagonist, Han Suyeon, once pretended to be sick to skip the tour out of boredom, repeating this excuse over many loops of the storyline.
As Kim Baram racked his brain, wondering if there was any other way to earn more VP besides this guild tour, he glanced over at Ko Jooyeon, sitting next to him.
For some reason, she had a gentle smile on her face, her small hands gripping a pen as she busily wrote something in her notebook.
But for some reason, Kim Baram had a hunch that what she was writing wasn’t related to the lecture.
‘What’s she writing so diligently?’
Unable to suppress his curiosity, Kim Baram stretched his neck to sneak a peek at her notebook.
What he saw wasn’t notes, but cute drawings — one of a rabbit’s face, and another of a funny-looking monkey.
‘Pfft! Not words, but drawings? She’s pretty good, though.’
As he chuckled to himself quietly, admiring her doodles, Ko Jooyeon must have sensed Kim Baram’s gaze. She looked up at him, her gray eyes locking onto his.
Zap!
The moment their eyes met, she shot him a sharp glare, her piercing gaze sending a chill up and down his spine.
She immediately pulled the notebook away from his view and even covered the drawings with her arm before speaking in a small but firm voice.
“Don’t look.”
Embarrassed at being caught sneaking a peek, Kim Baram scratched his cheek and nodded.
As he turned away, trying to refocus on the lecture, he noticed something unusual — Ko Jooyeon’s ears were turning red.
Switching his gaze between her flushed ears and the open window, Kim Baram thought to himself.
‘It’s spring, but it’s still a little chilly, huh? It seems like Ko Jooyeon is sensitive to the cold.’
***
{First POV}
“Welcome, Academy students, to White Flower Guild. I’m Kim Sunah, and I’ll be your guide today. Pleased to meet you.”
That fortune-teller… Wait, why is she here?
Standing in front of me with a warm smile was Kim Sunah, the same woman I had met on Sunday after finishing my mission. I couldn’t hide my surprise.
The woman I had mistaken for a cult recruiter turned out to be a character from the novel after all.
Kim Sunah.
She was an A-rank player affiliated with the White Flower Guild, but due to her unique ability, she wasn’t well-known to the public, so she didn’t have a title. However, she had a nickname within the guild.
They called her the “Monster Rookie.”
At this point in time, Kim Sunah had only recently joined the White Flower Guild.
Thanks to her youthful appearance, she had earned the nickname “Monster Rookie,” a name that reflected her impressive abilities.
While her individual combat power wasn’t particularly high, she excelled in missions involving intelligence gathering, infiltration, and villain assassinations, all through her unique ability. In the future, she would become one of Baek Arin’s closest aides.
Also, something worthy of note was that Kim Sunah’s unique ability was [Assimilation].
Kim Sunah‘s unique ability allowed her to assimilate into her surroundings. The most overpowered aspect of this ability was that, unlike other stealth-related skills or abilities, it left no physical presence. In other words, when Kim Sunah used [Assimilation], she became truly invincible. Neither physical nor magical attacks could affect her in this state.
Additionally, her assimilation into the environment was so perfect that, unless someone possessed a high-level detection skill or ability, they wouldn’t be able to detect her.
‘Even Cha Joohyuk [Hyper Senses], which could detect most stealth abilities in the story, had trouble sensing Kim Sunah’s [Assimilation].’
However, as with any overpowered ability, there were clear drawbacks.
The first limitation was that while she was assimilated, Kim Sunah couldn’t physically interact with others. This meant she couldn’t attack or touch anyone while using the ability.
As a result, in the story, she mainly used her unique ability for infiltration and information gathering. In combat, she often had to ambush her opponents from behind.
The second drawback, common to most stealth-based abilities, was that maintaining [Assimilation] consumed a large amount of magic. Fortunately, though her physical stats were a bit lower than other A-rank players, Kim Sunah’s magic stat was considerably high, which helped offset this disadvantage.
‘But that’s not the important part right now.’
Kim Baram shifted his gaze to Han Suyeon, who, for some reason, was fully engaged in the guild tour today.
As expected, Han Suyeon was visibly taken aback when she realized that Kim Sunah was leading the tour. It was understandable — Kim Sunah had never been the guide for any guild tour in the original storyline.
‘Could it be that Kim Sunah was chosen to guide us today because of me?’
It wasn’t impossible. After all, he had met Kim Sunah just a few days ago on Sunday.
‘Come to think of it, why did Kim Sunah approach me on Sunday…? Could it be…?’
Ding!
[Skill
[Considering the fact that a high-ranking player like Kim Sunah is leading the guild tour and recalling the events of Sunday, it’s clear that Kim Sunah has fallen for Kim Baram.]
Seeing the message, Kim Baram couldn’t help but smile. It seemed like the name of his skill should be changed from ‘Amateur Deduction’ to ‘Sharp Deduction.’
Admiring the sheer brilliance of his deduction skills, he raised one corner of my mouth and looked at Kim Sunah with a sly gaze as she continued her explanation.
‘Hmph! It’s unbelievable how much of a heartbreaker I am.’
However, the moment Kim Sunah’s eyes met his, her face immediately scrunched up, and she began glaring at Kim Baram with clear contempt in her eyes.
Caught off guard by her sharp stare, Kim Baram instinctively averted his gaze and thought to himself.
‘Oh, I guess not. She seems to dislike me instead… But why?’
***
Three days earlier.
Kim Sunah lay on her bed, thinking back to what had happened earlier.
[Y-you have a nice aura!]
Thud, thud!
Even in retrospect, Kim Sunah cringed at her own awkward line.
Embarrassed by how suspicious she must have seemed, she kicked her blanket in utter frustration.
On top of that, she felt a mixture of shame and anger at Kim Baram’s cold rejection. He treated her like a salesperson.
‘Still, he didn’t have to brush me off so harshly without even hearing me out!’
She couldn’t let things end like this.
More importantly, she couldn’t accept failing the mission entrusted to her by Baek Arin, the leader of the White Flower Guild and the person she respected the most.
It was time to show what the “Monster Rookie” of the White Flower Guild could do.
Having made up her mind, Kim Sunah jumped out of bed with newfound determination, letting out a sharp breath.
“[Assimilation].”
As Kim Sunah activated her ability, her body gradually disappeared, perfectly blending into the surroundings.
After confirming that her ability was working, she walked straight toward Kim Baram’s house next door.
Swish!
Like a ghost with no physical form, she effortlessly passed through the wall.
Successfully infiltrating Kim Baram’s room, Kim Sunah stood over him, getting ready to observe.
And Kim Baram was…
… Lying on his bed with his belly exposed, drooling in his sleep.
“Mm… Wild ginseng…”
“…”