The Main Characters That Only I Know

Chapter 22:

Chapter 22

“Damn! You’ll pay for this!”

Jinpoong left with a clichéd remark, as if he was running away.

I glared at the spot where he disappeared for a while, then shook my head. 

I had expected that those guys would get in my way someday, but it was faster than I thought.

‘Well. That means my actions were impressive enough to make them greedy.’

Right now, I was a floating existence that did not belong to any department.

There was a rumor that I had awakened my appearance at the same time as the start of the first step mission, but I was not yet attractive enough to be taken by them.

However, through the two recent showings, I had shown my presence.

A beautiful female collector who uses a sword, Kang Hye-rim.

A teller who has an exclusive contract with Kang Hye-rim and shows her showings, Kang Yu-Hyun.

A formidable newcomer who had over 100 viewers and three-digit subscribers with only two showings.

As soon as the rumor spread, it was inevitable that the departments that had been quiet until now would move.

‘It’s because I was so tempting that even the senior executives with heavy asses wanted me. But I didn’t expect them to send such an unqualified guy to call me.’

Jinpoong was a pathetic teller no matter how I looked at him.

It was amazing that he was still staying in his place in Celestial Corporation, which made competition its biggest driving force. 

In a way, it showed how powerful his department was to keep him in his position, but I didn’t think so.

‘If you look at how arrogant he is, even though he’s just in charge of the department’s chores, you can tell what kind of personality the higher-ups have.’

Arrogant and self-conceited bastards. 

The upper water was murky, how could the lower water be clear?

I tried to get along with other tellers as much as possible, but they crossed the line too much.

I vowed not to live miserably like before.

I wanted to succeed more than anyone else, to have bigger dreams, and to keep moving forward.

I vowed that.

‘It was something I had to do sooner or later anyway.’

It doesn’t get solved by just bending over. 

There are fights that can’t be avoided in the world.

I didn’t want to bleed and get hurt, so I didn’t want to run away before fighting anymore.

I had to fight if necessary, and if I fought, I would do my best.

With the intention of killing or being killed

I let it go with words for now, but considering Jinpoong’s personality, he would surely harbor ill feelings and try to hinder me. 

Maybe his department ‘Pentagram’ would take some action against me.

So I needed to grow my library as quickly as possible to prepare for that.

‘Moreover, the Pentagram department…’

Regardless of Jinpoong, or maybe related to him anyway.

The reason why I refused his offer was not only because Jinpoong was arrogant and his words and actions were very unpleasant, but also because of the department he belonged to.

‘The followers of the end.’

The Pentagram department.

Among the eight departments in the showing room, they proudly occupied one of them. 

They were one of the noisy ones who had been active after the earth had reached its end.

I still remembered it.

‘Even though they lost most of their showing rights on earth to other places, they showed their showings in the end as if they were proud.’

Celestial Corporation was in charge of showing on earth before the end.

But after the earth met its end, Celestial Corporation lost its showing rights and transferred most of them to another organization.

That place was Exodos.

One of the three major teller organizations that encompassed the hybrid system.

Celestial Corporation.

Exodos.

And Comedy Troupe.

Among them, Exodos was my target of hatred.

They were an organization that only dug into one genre obsessively while Celestial Corporation showed various genres for the quality of showing.

What they wanted was tragedy.

Exodos was a place that praised despair and misery that unfolded in hell.

‘The terrible disaster and massacre that took place under the name of ordeal were nothing but devices to make their showings stand out.’

Dark. 

Cruel. 

Sinister.

The stories that Exodos’ tellers showed were always like that.

And yet, the Pentagram department maintained their showings in Exodos’ gap. 

Considering that most of the headquarters’ departments withdrew, Pentagram must have had some connection with Exodos.

‘Damn them.’

Not all tellers were bad, but Exodos was different.

They were literally psychopaths who had worn out their emotions and seeds that spread death. 

They were the enemies I had to eliminate, and of course Pentagram was also my enemy.

That’s why I refused Jinpoong’s offer.

I didn’t want to have anything to do with those disgusting guys.

‘Maybe other departments will reach out to me too. Maybe they’re after Kang Hye-rim, not me.’

When those guys start moving, I’ll be busier.

‘So before that, I’ll secure my position as a teller.’

The tellers who run huge libraries won’t bother me yet. 

They might show interest or send their underlings to recruit me, but they will act passively.

They care about their appearance and won’t do anything that looks bad.

‘I still have time. The first goal is to fully awaken Kang Hye-rim’s characteristics.’

I had already finished the plan for that in my head.

However, there were a lot of things to prepare before starting the process. 

I needed to earn more points, and I needed to sort out Kang Hye-rim’s vague mental state.

“I need to move as soon as possible.”

I sighed softly and moved back to her goshiwon where Kang Hye-rim was.

“Hmm. Uh-huh. Yep.”

Kang Hye-rim didn’t even notice that I had arrived, and she was still touching her wings of Icarus in front of the mirror and making strange poses.

Was she trying to find the most attractive posture she could think of?

I kept watching until she finally blew a hand kiss to herself in the mirror, then I closed my eyes and said.

“Whew. That’s enough embarrassment for today.”

“Eek?! When did you come? You didn’t see everything, did you?”

“Everything? Everything, you say? Don’t tell me you did something worse than that voodoo-like behavior before I came?”

“V-voodoo? It’s not voodoo…”

She protested timidly, and I felt a headache coming on. 

Someone was thinking about the future and wringing their brains out, but the human being who was a collector was doing this.

But then again, once I entered the world of thought, she played a role beyond my expectations, so I couldn’t say anything.

I suppressed the rising sense of shame and said.

“Whew. Please do it moderately. I’m afraid other people will see you.”

“Oh, that’s okay. I can show you because it’s you, Yu-Hyun.”

“Don’t you have to show me less if you think of me?”

She keeps saying things that could cause trouble.

Anyway, this was not the time for this.

“Miss Hye-rim. Have you been to the association?”

“Not yet. Why?”

“You need to renew your rank as a collector soon. You can’t stay as a 9th grade forever. You’ll earn more money if your rank goes up.”

Kang Hye-rim had already reached the stage where she could use sword energy. 

She defeated a boss-level fantasy creature, the Minotaur, by herself, and cleared two worlds of thought that others couldn’t.

Besides the intrinsic reward for clearing the world of thought, she could also get a reward from the state.

‘Of course, whether they’ll give it up easily is another problem.’

She might get fooled if she went alone, so I had to move with her.

I needed to look around there anyway to find a management, so it was killing two birds with one stone.

“Let’s go right away since we’ve decided.”

“Okay!”

***

As soon as Kang Hye-rim and I entered the association, the eyes were on us. 

No, to be precise, they were on Kang Hye-rim.

“What? Was there such a collector?”

“She has an ominous aura. She doesn’t look like an ordinary collector by her appearance.”

“More than anything, she’s very pretty.”

Kang Hye-rim’s appearance was enough to attract people’s attention. 

She was that attractive. 

Most people looked at her and wondered who she was.

Her lips tightly closed and only looking straight ahead, she looked like a sword master who was hard to approach by ordinary people. 

But I knew. 

The corners of her mouth twitched whenever she heard compliments about herself.

If I hadn’t warned her beforehand, she might have taken out her wings of Icarus and showed off.

I glared at her with a look that said not to do anything stupid, and led her to the counter of the association.

“Hello, how can I help you?”

The female staff who was in charge of the reception desk greeted Kang Hye-rim and me. 

Her eyes were on Kang Hye-rim, and she looked frozen by her charismatic appearance. 

I know how you feel. 

I felt that way in my previous life too.

“We came to get the reward for clearing the world of thought.”

“What? The world of thought?”

“Wait a minute. Don’t tell me you’re the one who…”

When I mentioned the world of thought, the other collectors who were interested reacted sensitively.

They had been curious until a moment ago, but now they changed to wary and jealous eyes.

“That’s crazy. They crossed the boundary line and cleared the world of thought.”

“Did they lose their sight because of their fame? Tsk tsk. They won’t last long with that selfish mindset.”

The people gathered here knew what it meant to clear the world of thought.

We crossed the ‘boundary line’.

That ‘boundary line’ meant an unwritten agreement that everyone should share moderately.

‘Kang Hye-rim would be considered a kind of heretic who broke the frame they had been living in.’

But I didn’t care about their eyes or opinions. 

What did they know, who only lived in the given reality?

The receptionist asked cautiously.

“Aren’t there any other colleagues with you?”

“No. She cleared it by herself.”

“What?!”

“That’s impossible.”

They exclaimed in disbelief when they heard that she did it alone. 

The receptionist also felt that and stuttered.

“Wh-what is your collector grade?”

“9th grade.”

“Huh!”

“9th grade? That’s unbelievable. I thought she was at least 5th grade by her looks.”

They sighed and laughed mockingly at the grade that came out of my mouth. 

I checked Kang Hye-rim just in case, but her expression didn’t change. 

She didn’t seem to care at all. 

I ignored those who badmouthed us and asked the receptionist.

“Is there a problem? It’s a right that anyone can claim regardless of their grade to request a reward for clearing the world of thought.”

“Yes. That’s right. I’ve contacted the person in charge now, so could you please wait a moment?”

“I can’t help it.”

Kang Hye-rim and I sat down in an empty seat nearby. 

The eyes around us still didn’t leave us.

I acted as if I was relaxed, and Kang Hye-rim sat still and maintained a straight posture.

As we kept our confident attitude, the ones who became more nervous were the spectators.

‘Hmm. It’s about time someone steps up.’

I looked around the collectors with a sidelong glance and measured the timing in my mind.

That was when it happened.

“If I heard it right.”

Someone stepped out of the crowd and stood in front of Kang Hye-rim and me. 

He was a muscular man with broad shoulders.

“Are these scammers coming in and acting as they please?”

He smiled with his teeth exposed, looking at us. 

I smiled inwardly.

Yeah. 

It would be boring without guys like this.