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It was not known why Ki Yoon Jae became a villain. The original novel was written in the main character’s first-person POV, so the only information available was what the main character had found out, and I had no choice but to make guesses from it.
Anyway, Ki Yoon Jae was born without a gift and therefore could not use any abilities.
Looks, money, power…
It must have been painful for Ki Yoon Jae who had never wanted for anything
So, he gathered people with abilities.
I personally think it’s a bit interesting. He created a guild and inducted people with his own hands.
This was possible because the Sungwoon Group, which supported Ki Yoon Jae, practically ruled the Republic of Korea.
What’s wrong with the setting?
Don’t ask me, I also don’t know either. Such a third-rate novel…
I wouldn’t have read it if I knew I’d transmigrate after a single complaint.
If I had known this would happen, I would have read something else.
…It’s too late to regret it now.
‘Are we already here?’
The grayish light illuminating the landscape gradually faded and one’s view became clearer as the buildings stopped blocking their sight.
The buildings, which seemed to become smaller and smaller, disappeared until they transformed into rice fields. And soon, we reached a quiet traditional Korean house.
I don’t know where it is, but Ki Yoon Jae’s family’s house…
Rather, it was more like an expensive, high class traditional house.
The car stopped, the attendant opened the door, and I got out of the car. As soon as I got off, Ki Hyun Joo, who was in another car, quickly ran over to me.
“Since they are all here today… Most of the time, you should just answer with ‘yes’. Don’t be so hard on the elders.”
“…I know.”
I don’t know what the meeting is for, but I just want to stay still.
After responding in the affirmative, he asked a few more times if I was satisfied with my response. It was only when Ki Hyun Joo was ahead of me that I showed my annoyed face.
As I walked behind her, people followed behind me, too. I glanced back and saw other people besides Jung Yi Joon, who had sat next to me.
‘Oh…’
After waiting for a while, name tags appeared above their heads one by one.
[Ha Eun Seo] [Ha Hyun Seo] [Kwon Jae Hyuk]
No names popped up other than those three.
‘Is there any difference in their importance?’
Among the suit-wearing attendants he gathered, three of them were Ki Yoon Jae’s friends.
They were supporting characters in the original story…
I think the other attendants might be extras.
The trio’s reactions were different when I glanced back.
Ha Eun Seo flinched out of surprise and Ha Hyun Seo smiled brightly.
‘Kwon Jae Hyuk…’
He just kept his eyes open as if something had happened without changing his facial expression, so I avoided his gaze without realizing it.
As soon as I crossed the yard after Ki Hyun Joo and entered the building that appeared to be a separate house, something appeared in front of my eyes…
[Would you like to start the tutorial?]
[Yes.]
What is this? The only option is yes. It annoyed me a bit, so I tried to ignore it. It seemed to be forcing me, so I couldn’t ignore it in the end.
‘A tutorial in a game… It’s to help the player.’
I was determined that this might be a sign of help for me.
‘Yes.’
As I pretended to fix my clothes, I stretched my hand slightly and pressed the option. The words that appeared in front of my eyes scattered like dust, and the word ‘Tutorial’ was engraved in one corner of my view.
[<Tutorial 1. Family Gathering> Enter.]
As soon as the system messages came to my mind, Ki Hyun Joo stopped walking. Looking at the sliding door covered with thin window paper, Ki Hyun Joo opened his mouth.
“Elders, I brought Yoon Jae-nim.”
She called me Yoon Jae-nim, but her age wasn’t that different from mine. In fact, Ki Hyun Joo is two years older than Ki Yoon Jae… But there was a reason why she used honorifics with me even though we were related by blood.
‘Main family and branch family…’
That’s the only reason she’s inferior to me, the person without a gift.
It’s not because I’m more capable, but because I am part of a superior bloodline. Thanks to this, the successor’s position naturally followed.
‘Maybe that’s why? So she too…’
I focused more on my thoughts as I looked at the back of her shiny hair. It was then that I heard a sound from the inside that it could’ve been either groaning or coughing.
As soon as she heard the sound, Ki Hyun Joo opened the sliding door and hid herself in a corner as if she wasn’t supposed to be seen.
The door opened to reveal a sitting table with food occupied by middle-aged and a group elderly people.
An old man, sitting at the head of the table, smiled as name tags began appearing above the head of the room’s occupants.
“Come here, Yoon Jae.”
Above of his head was written [Ki Jae Mu] . He was the grandfather of Ki Yoon Jae and the head of this group.
I bowed my head and stepped inside.
“Hello.”
“Right, come on, sit down.”
I sat in the only empty seat and looked around again, but I couldn’t see anyone who appeared even close to my age.
Maybe they weren’t fit to be in here.
Then again, I am here…
‘It’s because Ki Yoon Jae is the successor.’
A cold sweat ran down my back. I can’t believe I had this meeting before I got used to being Ki Yoon Jae…
What happens if they find out that I’m not Ki Yoon Jae? Just imagining it gave me goosebumps.
At that moment, a system message popped up in front of me again with a ringing sound.
[I will be your informant. Information can be obtained through acquisition, combination, and analogy.]
By the time I finished reading the system messages, words began to float near the head of Ki Jae Mu, who sat at the table’s head, with a ringing sound.
[We’ll provide a special guide to help the player understand. The words floating on a person are things that are related to them. Acquire the words and combine them.]
I looked through the words with my eyes. Then the words became cards and floated in front of me.
[Sungwoon Group] [Head] [Pride] [Top]
‘Let’s see… Sungwoon Group, the Head.’
It was a few words. When I combined the information according to the guidance of the tutorial while pretending to eat, the character Encyclopedia was unlocked.
[Character Encyclopedia]
[Ki Jae Mu: The head of the Sungwoon Group. The second generation conglomerate who contributed to making the Sungwoon Group bigger.]
Well… To be honest, I already knew that, so I’m trying to put together some other information.
“So, is what you’re doing going well?”
I was embarrassed for a moment by the sudden question.
“…Pardon?”
“That guild or whatever. Come to think of it, it looks like the preparation is all set?”
In response to those words, I tried to search my memory of the original story. Has Ki Yoon Jae not made the guild yet?
In fact, it hadn’t been long since people with abilities had shown up. The first appeared ten years ago and that number had been increasing since then, but they have been exposed to the private sector for less than three years.
At first, not many gifted people were being born making them the minority, so most of them were experimented on at Area 51’s Research Center in the United States. Those who had been lucky enough to not get caught created a pseudoscientific religion based on their abilities to disrupt society.
In the beginning, those with abilities were only the few people who found abnormalities in their bodies. After all, they were ordinary people before their awakenings. And even if they found out, most of them grew up with media such as cartoons and movies related to gifted people. So if someone knew about their ability, they would either be taken to the Research Center or share their secrets with only those close to them.
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Thanks to this fact, the United States’ concealment efforts were successful. Ironically, the first person to come out to the public as a gifted person was an American. It all started when a 13-year-old child awakened his ability and uploaded it online in an attempt to become a YouTuber.
The startled U.S. government hastily erased the video, but tens of millions of people had already seen it. There were cases where people testified that they had an ability, and the number of known gifted people exploded. So, the U.S. government could no longer cover it with the palm of their hands.
Thus, the existence of the gifted people was revealed to the world, and it was also revealed that the power of the pseudoscientific religion was not the power of God.
However, although the powers that were revealed were great, they were not comparable in any way to that of Superman. At first, countries and companies tried to do something with them, but they decided that they were like chicken ribs1 and not worth investing in. Thanks to this, Ki Yoon Jae could aim for the gap. When everyone went out with their hands, it was not enough to grab them, so he scraped away what they had left behind.
By the time monsters began to appear, no country or guild except the United States was as good as Ki Yoon Jae’s.
‘Excluding the U.S. government’s Glory Guild, Ki Yoon Jae had the largest guild.’
Still, the monsters hadn’t appeared yet. Even if they showed up, their numbers would be small, so there would be no harm done to the public. In the original book, people mistook monsters as abnormal wild boars or mutant cattle that appeared by chance.
Sometimes, there were many unusual things found, but there was still a thick wall of reality to mix fantasy with people’s perceptions. They thought that the creatures were like the Loch Ness Monster, otherwise known as Nessie2.
For this reason, the current perception of these gifted people was that it was difficult to find a proper and worthy use for them.
They were like chicken ribs because as powerful as they were, they were also difficult to handle.
Is it possible for us to put them in the sideshow when we don’t have any monsters to deal with yet?
The perception of gifted people is so embedded, and the reason why Ki Yoon Jae was able to create a guild with them was not a big deal thanks to the infinite love of Ki Jae Mu. His young grandson and successor said he’s going to ‘play pretend’. Which grandfather would say no?
When I tried to answer Ki Jae Mu’s questions, I received an affectionate look as his grandson.
T/N: Actually, I’m not too sure using ‘Play Pretend’ there. At first, I was going to use ‘Play House’. So the korean words have two meanings. But, in my understanding I think what Author means here ‘play house’ is I think it’s ‘his guild’? Well, if anyone have opinion do comment below. Thank you!
Footnotes
Used to describe something or some situation that doesn’t really have a lot of value or benefit but still don’t want to be discarded for different reasons.The Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie, is a creature in Scottish folklore that is said to inhabit Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. It is often described as large, long-necked, and with one or more humps protruding from the water.