The Main Characters That Only I Know

Chapter 20:

Chapter 20

In my previous life, many collectors had attempted to clear the Labyrinth of Crete.

However, none of them succeeded, no matter what clan or team they belonged to.

‘Why is that?’

Was it because they couldn’t defeat the Minotaur, the owner of the labyrinth? 

Did they run away in fear of its presence? 

Or did they get lost and couldn’t find the entrance they came from?

No.

‘It was because they never found the proper way to clear it.’

Even if they killed the Minotaur, even if they followed the thread back to the entrance.

The Labyrinth of Crete still remained, mocking them for their failure.

And when the labyrinth was forgotten by the public, one day, a collector discovered the way to clear it.

‘And he took the hidden piece that was concealed here, along with a huge reward.’

He was originally a scavenger. 

He sneaked in after secretly confirming that other collectors had killed the Minotaur, hoping to find something valuable. 

He was nothing more than a petty thief.

What did he find that allowed him to clear this place by himself?

“This is it.”

I picked up one of the feathers that had fallen on the floor and said.

“The way to clear this labyrinth is not by hunting. It’s by escaping from this maze. Using this.”

“A feather? But if you want to escape, you can just follow the thread that we unraveled on our way here…”

“That’s true, but that’s more like going back to where we came from. Hye-rim. A labyrinth or a maze should have a different entrance and exit.”

“Then where is the exit?”

“Over there.”

I pointed my finger at the hole in the ceiling.

It was a hole that was 30 meters high.

“That’s the exit of Crete.”

“…I don’t get it.”

Kang Hye-rim didn’t understand. 

And neither did the other spirits who were listening to our conversation intently.

I explained kindly to satisfy their curiosity.

“Do you know about Daedalus?”

“He’s the creator of this labyrinth, I heard.”

“He was a genius inventor. He made this complex maze, after all. But the problem was, there was someone who escaped from this labyrinth that no one was supposed to escape from.”

It was the hero Theseus.

With Ariadne’s help, Theseus killed the Minotaur and escaped from Crete.

The problem was that Ariadne used the thread method that Daedalus himself had taught her.

“King Minos was furious and locked up Daedalus and his son Icarus in the labyrinth. He burned the blueprint and they couldn’t use the thread method either. Daedalus and his son were doomed to live here forever.”

But Daedalus found an amazing way to escape.

“Ah!”

This story was so famous that Kang Hye-rim seemed to realize it and exclaimed.

“Wings!”

“That’s right. Daedalus collected the feathers that fell from above and glued them together with wax, creating wings that could fly in the sky.”

With those wings, the father and son escaped from the inescapable labyrinth.

“That’s the condition for clearing this world.”

[Most spirits are amazed by your knowledge.]

[You received 500TP as a donation.]

As expected.

Spirits liked intellectual satisfaction as well as visual pleasure. 

I took advantage of that and used my future knowledge to explain, and thanks to that I earned some points.

Now that I found the clear condition, everything else was easy. 

Kang Hye-rim gathered all the feathers scattered around in one place.

Then something surprising happened.

Paaah!

The feather pieces started to merge together with light.

The dull brown feathers became one and turned into a pure white color.

What appeared was a pair of wings. 

The feathers scattered here were actually hidden pieces.

[Icarus’ Wings]

The wings used by Icarus, who fell while aiming for the sky. 

They contain his will and help the user fly in the sky.

Grade: Rare

-You can use [Flight] once a day.

-Charm and agility slightly increased

[Flight]

-You can fly in the sky. You can’t go above a certain altitude. It lasts for 30 minutes.

It was an item that made my mouth drop open.

The grade was rare, which was not easy to find, and it helped me fly in the sky.

Of course, considering the original story, there were limitations to flying as well. 

But being able to fly for 30 minutes was like giving Kang Hye-rim another possibility.

‘It might come in handy for aerial combat.’

I clapped my hands sincerely and said.

“Congratulations. You got a hidden piece.”

Hidden Piece

A rare item that is not sold in [Dimensional Shop], and can only be obtained through worlds. 

The grades vary, but their effects are usually superior to those of the same level items.

“Wow.”

Kang Hye-rim couldn’t believe that she had gotten a hidden piece that she had only heard of in rumors. 

She covered her mouth with her hand. Then she looked at me and tried to manage her expression.

I nodded at her and made a gesture with my mouth.

‘You have to say what I told you before.’

“…”

She knew what I was talking about. 

That’s why she looked at me.

Under my subtle pressure, Kang Hye-rim hesitated for a moment, then coughed and put on a serious face.

“I was lucky.”

The promised line.

***

[You cleared the world ‘Labyrinth of Crete’.]

[You obtained 4,000TP.]

[Incredible achievement! You cleared the world by yourself.]

[You obtained an additional 1,500TP.]

[The story of the world of thought reaches you.]

[You have acquired the ‘Terrain Detection’ skill.]

[Your stats have increased.]

Kang Hye-rim escaped the labyrinth with Icarus’ wings, and at the same time, the world of thought disappeared as if it collapsed.

She received more points and texts than the previous kobold mine. 

Some of the texts that composed the world of thought were absorbed into Kang Hye-rim’s body.

And I also acquired some texts and completed the second book of [The Swordmaster Chronicles].

‘But more important than the reward for clearing the world of thought is the fact that I proved my library to the spirits properly.’

My library, and the story I showed, [The Swordmaster Chronicles].

The protagonist who continues it, Kang Hye-rim, and me, Kang Yu-hyun, the teller who assists her.

From today on, the spirits would have engraved us clearly.

‘The performance I showed when I defeated the minotaur this time was great.’

The awakening of sword energy.

Thanks to that, she defeated a boss-level fantasy creature that was hard to deal with alone.

That alone was enough to captivate the spirits who were in my library at that time. 

Besides, Kang Hye-rim was a beauty who made your eyes pop out if you only looked at her appearance.

Of course, she had enough support from some spirits.

‘It was worth investing points. Is this it?’

Rather, she earned more than she invested.

I opened the system window and checked the status of my library.

[Maximum viewers: 162]

[Current subscribers: 112]

My story had a maximum of 162 visitors today, and already over 100 subscribers who were impressed by my story. 

Thanks to that, I achieved the sub-mission quickly and earned a lot of extra points.

Some of the points that Kang Hye-rim earned, the viewers who came into my library, and the revenue generated by subscribing.

Considering all these things, the points I currently have are a whopping 40,240TP

Even after deducting the text that goes out to maintain my existence as a teller, the maintenance cost of the library, and the points taken by Celestial Stock Company.

I earned that much with just two storys.

‘Amazing.’

How hard would it have been to earn 40,000 points when the end came?

It would have been easy for someone like Choi Do-yoon who did everything by himself, but for an ordinary person like me, those 40,000 points were no different from a fortune.

But I earned that much with just two stories.

‘If my library, which is only an employee level, earns that much, how much do tellers with higher ranks like deputy manager, manager or director earn?’

Besides, as you can see from Kang Hye-rim’s case, it was much easier to earn points before the end.

After the end, you had to do your best to earn one point.

Considering that the level of collectors now is far below my expectations.

‘The collectors now lack a sense of urgency.’

The environment given was much more abundant now, but the difference in level was clearly miserable.

They became lazy in their souls because they were intoxicated by superficial peace.

‘But it will change. I won’t let it be like this.’

Now I had only taken the second step of that grand plan.

But even if it was just two footprints, they were quite large and deep, so the attention around me was growing.

Ring. Ring.

Even now, personal messages were coming to me through [Genesis Network].

Most of them were from viewers who had seen my story at least once. 

They sent me love calls for a simple reason.

‘They want to be sponsors of my library.’

Most tellers make sponsorship contracts with spirits. 

It was much more helpful to have a solid halo behind you than nothing.

The benefits outweighed the losses that would occur in the distant future.

But not me. 

My library was not at a level that could be squeezed by ‘just’ those spirits.

‘I even rejected Satan’s offer from Pandemonium’s Great Warlord. How can I care about 3rd or 3.5th generation spirits?’

Most of the mail came from spirits whose names I didn’t know. 

But among them, there were some from famous warlords.

Among them were some familiar names that were engraved in my memory even after the end.

But I closed the message window without hesitation.

‘There is no need to pay attention to spirits who are not interested in being sponsors in the first place.’

Now I had to focus on raising my first collector.

With that in mind, I glanced at Kang Hye-rim.

The place where I am now is Kang Hye-rim’s narrow room in a boarding house.

In that cramped room, Kang Hye-rim was showing off her appearance while shaking Icarus’ wings.

“Hehehe. How is it, Mr. Yu-hyun? Cool, right?”

She seemed to like the wings on her back, and she kept asking me for my opinion.

She was really angelic with her well-dressed appearance and white wings on her back.

“Yes, yes. It’s cool.”

But I knew her original personality, so I answered coldly.

She didn’t notice and kept showing off.

“Ahem. I’m a proper collector now. And when I think of the points I earned this time, I’m not the same as before.”

Kang Hye-rim had been in that state since she cleared the Labyrinth of Crete.

I felt it before, but I knew for sure today.

‘She has a good goal of being honest with her desires, but she has a self-praising style. Maybe it’s a backlash from living modestly and timidly in the past.’

Anyway, Kang Hye-rim had done a great job to get here, so I couldn’t say anything.

She knew that too, and she was intoxicated by her changed appearance.

“How is it? Mr. Yu-hyun? Am I pretty? Attractive?”

“…Can you please stop?”

“Are you shy? Are you playing hard to get? Come on. You can be honest with me.”

“Why are you asking me, a teller?”

“Huhuhu~~. I have an appearance that appeals to spirits too. You like me too, but you’re pretending not to, right? How is it? How is it?”

She even posed sexily, which she wasn’t used to.

I brushed off the goosebumps on my arm and said sternly.

“Stop it. It’s really disgusting and I want to punch you.”

“That’s mean!”

She sank at my cold words.

But this was just the beginning. 

Maybe later she would resurrect and attack me again.

It was annoying to stay like this, so I decided to change the topic.

“Let’s stop the nonsense and I’ll tell you about the future.”

“Nonsense…”

She said as if she was hurt.

I ignored her reaction and continued.

“Now you have made a name for yourself. And you earned a lot of points. You are a part of this world unlike me, a teller, so you need to establish your foundation here.”

“Foundation?”

“Yes.”

Something that collectors needed but I didn’t.

“Let’s get a manager.”

She needed someone to take care of her in reality.

And I knew who would be perfect for that role.