I Became the Guardian of Big Shots in the Game

[Main Story Cleared!]
[Congratulations! You have completed all quests in the main story!]
“Phew~ I’m done.”
Eugene stretched in the dark room.
It was the moment he cleared the final challenge of ‘Clearing the Main Story 1000 times in a row’.
He pressed the ‘Return to Lobby’ button without hesitation, and with a playful animation, he returned to the title screen.
[Isilium Legend Maker]
The fantasy open-world game ‘Isilium Legend Maker’ boasts high freedom.
Players can choose playable characters ranging from kings and nobles, knights to merchants, commoners, and even slaves.
“This one was tough. Getting the ‘Key Figure in the Great War’ title as a slave isn’t something just anyone can do.”

There are two ways to clear the main story.
First, follow the flow of time and fulfill quest conditions while writing your own story in the Great War that occurs three years later.
Second, become a guardian and support an NPC to become the protagonist of the story.
Starting as a slave means just getting freed is a task, so there’s no time or money to sponsor others.
Since becoming a sponsor was out of the question, he started as a gladiator, then became a mercenary and a knight to achieve the conditions directly.

For about two months.
Eugene, who had been playing like a madman,
felt empty after achieving all the challenge tasks.
“I guess I’ll write a certification post for completing 100% of the challenges.”
So, as a means to fill that emptiness,
Just as he was about to capture the screen to write a post on the community,
[Congratulations on achieving 100% Challenge The First!]
A message arrived on his portal account.

[A special reward has arrived! Loginnowtoreceiveyourreward!Log in now to receive your reward!Loginnowtoreceiveyourreward!]
“What’s this spam message?”
The sender’s account was labeled ‘unknown‘, looking so suspicious that it seemed like clicking it would instantly hack his account.
Eugene, who didn’t have good memories of the ads plastered all over the portal and spam emails piling up in his inbox, was about to close the message window, but.
“Huh?”
No matter how much he clicked the mouse, the X wouldn’t close.
“Oh, come on. I was just going to take a screenshot, write a certification post, and go to sleep.”
The computer was completely unresponsive.
Even after rebooting, somehow the suspicious message window popped up first.
“Ah, geez.”
Eugene had no choice but to click on the message.
He usually kept all PC security features on, so there shouldn’t be any big problems.
Fortunately, it wasn’t a malicious virus or a threatening message using personal information as leverage.
[A special reward has arrived!]
[Spin the wheel!]
“I hope this isn’t some gambling site ad?”
Since he was trapped in a window that couldn’t be exited without clicking,
Eugene clicked the yellow button in the center of the wheel with a tsk.
Ding-a-ling-a-ling!
The wheel spun frantically before pointing to one spot.
[Random Trait Assigned!]
[Trait: Charming Person (One-time use)]
[Description: Have you heard of love at first sight? You are that kind of person! The first person you meet will have infinite goodwill towards you. They will die at your command and dedicate their entire life to living for you.]
“What is this saying.”
[Now spin the slot for stat distribution!]
With an uneasy feeling, Eugene pulled the slot machine with his mouse.

Drrrrrr!
[Name: Ethan]
[Status: Commoner]
[Age: 16]
[Detailed Stats: Health(20), Mana(20), Strength(5), Agility(5), Mana Sensitivity(5), Divine Adaptability(5), Luck(50), Composure(999)]
“Wow, this is a completely useless character.”
The slave starting point he had just finished looked like a fairy in comparison.
The stats were not just unbalanced, but downright miserable to the point where it was impossible to play proactively.
Ability scores that were utterly unsuitable for becoming a tier 1 job like knight, mage, or priest.
Somehow he got a bit of useful luck and maxed out useless composure.
“Wait a minute. This looks familiar-”
Eugene wondered where he had seen this before, then realized
it was similar to the original character creation screen of .
A message saying ‘Applying assigned stats’ and a ‘Please wait a moment’ window appeared and disappeared.
Finally, the appearance of a decent-looking male character with auto-completed customization appeared.
“Why are they making me create a character?”
As if answering his question, the message window
output new text.
[New challenge! Entering the 1001st round!]
[Don’t be afraid when an unfamiliar environment unfolds before your eyes!]
[There’s no point in being scared, as there’s no family or friends nearby to help you anyway!]
“What is this-”
Before he could finish speaking,
Engulfed by darkness that suddenly burst out of the monitor,
Eugene lost consciousness.
He never got to write that certification post for 100% challenge completion he so wanted.

When he opened his eyes after passing through a long darkness,
-Cicada! Cicada! Cicada! Cicada!
Eugene was lying in a dense forest.
The cicada sounds were so loud that he opened his eyes in a daze.
“…Is this a dream?”
-He slapped his cheek hard, but couldn’t wake up.
Before long, Eugene couldn’t help but have an ominous thought.
That was because,
“This is that guy from earlier, isn’t it?”
His reflection in a small spring he found nearby looked exactly like ‘Ethan’, the man he had seen in the original character creation screen.
“This is bullshit, really shi-, haa.”
He was about to pour out curses like monsoon rain as usual, but soon calmed down.
It was because his composure stat had been maxed out during stat distribution.
Eugene, now Ethan, first searched his pockets.
“A pouch with 20 gold coins, and here…”
A card with his brief information written on it.
Facing the miserable stats again made his mouth taste more bitter than eating 99% cocoa chocolate.
“I wonder if I can get out of here when I clear this?”
Just before losing consciousness,
The message clearly said it was entering the 1001st round.
So maybe he could escape when it ends.
Thinking this, Ethan’s mind raced even faster.
“Let’s assume this is the world of .”
A barbaric land where the anachronistic relic of the class system is alive and well.
A medieval fantasy-style world where knights, mages, and priests use mysterious powers.
The clear condition is to follow the main story, meet the requirements, and see the ending.
What could Ethan do to achieve that?
The answer came quickly.
“I can’t do anything with these stats.”
With a basic health of 20, lower than the standard 100, combat jobs were impossible.
With minimum mana sensitivity and divine adaptability, being a mage or cleric was out of the question too.
Then,
“Since it’s impossible to clear directly. How about trying the guardian play after a long time?”
There are two ways to clear, and I don’t need to see the ending myself.
The playstyle of becoming a guardian, nurturing promising seedlings, and using them as chess pieces.
Ethan had practically memorized the personal information of characters destined for greatness.
Recruiting them shouldn’t be difficult.
“Then what I need right away is…”
Money.
Becoming a sponsor for knights, mages, or priests,
It’s a task that requires more money than one might think.
“Alright. Let’s go with that.”
Due to his high composure, Ethan was calmly making life plans despite being dropped in an unfamiliar forest.
Lastly,
“First, let’s find some people. I have no idea where this is.”
All he lacked was money and information about his starting location.
He couldn’t even guess which region of the continent this dense forest might be in.
He just hoped this wasn’t the ‘Forbidden Forest’.
“Starting in a restricted area with these stats would be…”
That would be like telling him to die.
As he pushed through the undergrowth and moved between trees,
Ethan was able to discover a small path.
‘Is this a path people use? If I follow it, I should come across a village.’
-With such hopeful thoughts,
While also preparing for encounters with monsters,
Ethan started walking.

The Forbidden Forest is always quiet.
The reason for the silence was simple.
It’s because people stopped coming due to the legend that ‘if you enter the forest, you can’t get out.’
Stories of never meeting again with companions who entered the forest out of curiosity have spread widely across the continent in various versions.
Some say it’s because the most dangerous monsters in the world live there.
Others claim it’s an ominous land cursed by the gods.
“Hmm hmm~”
In such an eerie and dangerous forest,
There was a girl picking medicinal herbs while humming.
A girl with attractive silver hair and red eyes.
Below her hair tied back once, her smooth neckline was revealed,
And beads of sweat, evidence of diligent labor, rolled down.
Rare medicinal ingredients were found all over the forest where human footsteps had long ceased.
Like the ‘Docile Mandrake’ the girl had just dug up, for example.
“Always so cute.”
She gently covered the sleeping mandrake with a soft cloth she had prepared in advance,
And just as she was about to take a light step to find new herbs,
Her sensitive ears reacted to a rustling sound.
It wasn’t a rabbit or pheasant.
The sound of a larger creature stepping on branches.
‘Mr. Bear should be napping in his cave at this time. And it wasn’t as heavy a sound as that…’
The girl erased her presence and moved towards the source of the sound.
‘Oh my.’
A man with jet-black hair.
Someone who shouldn’t be in the forest.
‘An outsider?’
To make matters worse, the direction he was heading was towards the girl’s village.
The girl gently put down her basket,
And drew the dagger at her waist in a reverse grip.
“How pitiful.”
Not knowing what fate awaited him,
He was trotting towards his death.
It was truly pathetic.