The Main Characters That Only I Know

A blast of flame that melted the door and the hinges filled their sight.

Before the scorching heat of the fire could swallow Yu-hyun and Kang Yura.

Yu-hyun stepped forward and immediately circulated his inner power. In an instant, a black aura spread around him and tore apart the wave of fire that was crashing down on them.

“Are you both okay?”

“Yeah. I am… Ah! Seoryeon unnie!”

Shocked by the explosion, Kang Yura hastily ran into the room.

The inside of the office, where the explosion originated, was a complete mess. Everything around them was melted beyond recognition, not just charred black.

Kang Yura desperately searched the surroundings for Baek Seo-ryeon.

“Kang Yura. Calm down first.”

“Seoryeon is not here. Look. Only the office was blown up. I didn’t feel any human presence inside before we entered.”

“R-really…”

Kang Yura regained her senses and realized that there was no one’s corpse inside the explosion site. She sighed in relief.

Yu-hyun comforted Kang Hye-rim, who was scared, and stroked her chin.

“The important thing is who did this…”

As he muttered that, the people from the central administration who heard the explosion rushed in.

Most of them were combat troops equipped with armor and weapons.

They pointed their weapons at Yu-hyun as soon as they entered the ruined office.

“You terrorist bastard. You have some guts. How dare you cause a terror in Old Town in the early morning.”

“W-wait! He’s not the culprit! We just arrived here a moment ago!”

Kang Yura tried to defend Yu-hyun, but they didn’t listen to her at all.

“What’s going on here!”

At that moment, a sharp voice came from beyond the corridor. A woman appeared, pushing through the crowd.

Kang Yura saw her and shouted her name with joy, as if she saw a savior.

“Seoryeon unnie!”

The woman who appeared was Baek Seo-ryeon, who had changed a lot from five years ago.

She was still recognizable, but she had also changed a lot.

She used to have a naive vibe of a rookie in society, but now she had a cold demeanor of a professional.

She looked so similar to what he saw at the end of his previous life, that he realized that Baek Seo-ryeon was indeed the same person he knew.

“Yura? And who’s next to you…”

Baek Seo-ryeon’s eyes widened when she saw Yu-hyun.

Yu-hyun didn’t expect to reunite with her in such a situation, so he gave her a bitter smile and waved his hand.

Baek Seo-ryeon looked at Kang Hye-rim next to Yu-hyun and then glared at him with a chilly expression.

“Kang Yura. Come here right now.”

“Unnie?”

“Hurry up, it’s an order.”

“W-why…”

Yu-hyun felt that something was wrong with the situation and gently pushed Kang Yura’s back.

“Go. Hurry.”

“Oppa?”

“The situation is not good. Just do as she says for now.”

Kang Yura nodded her head with a flustered face and approached Baek Seo-ryeon.

Baek Seo-ryeon pulled Kang Yura behind her and crossed her arms, staring at Yu-hyun.

“I don’t think you have any excuse.”

“…”

“Take them both away. I’ll interrogate them myself.”

The security team moved and captured Yu-hyun.

Someone tried to touch Kang Hye-rim, but she showed a clear sign of dislike and resisted.

Before Yu-hyun could say anything, Baek Seo-ryeon spoke first.

“I’ll take her with me. Focus on that man.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Yu-hyun looked surprised by her words. Did she spare Kang Hye-rim?

He didn’t have time to ask as he was dragged away by the security team.

***

“This is unfair!”

In front of Yu-hyun, who was locked up in a detention cell, Kang Yura exploded with anger.

“Oppa didn’t do anything wrong! He just got caught at the worst possible timing! And we almost got hurt by the explosion here! I have to give unnie a piece of my mind!”

“I’m fine.”

“You’re not angry? How can you be so cold to someone you haven’t seen in five years?”

“Seoryeon-ssi must have her reasons.”

“I still can’t accept it.”

Kang Yura was so indignant.

As she was ranting, the iron door at the end of the corridor opened and Baek Seo-ryeon entered with her subordinates.

“Everyone, stay outside. I have something to check by myself.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The subordinates nodded and retreated. Baek Seo-ryeon then looked at Kang Yura with a cold voice.

“Yura, you too. Go out for a while.”

“Unnie! Please explain what’s going on! Why did you lock up Yu-hyun oppa?”

“I have nothing to say to you. I have something to talk with Yu-hyun-ssi alone, so clear the space.”

“…!”

Kang Yura bit her lip and glared at Baek Seo-ryeon as she left.

The thick iron door closed again, and the detention room became dark without any light.

Baek Seo-ryeon sat on a prepared chair and faced Yu-hyun across the room.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yes, it has. Seoryeon-ssi. I didn’t wish for this kind of meeting. Did you get what you wanted?”

“…You seem to have figured it out to some extent.”

Yu-hyun nodded honestly.

He couldn’t help but notice that she deliberately made this situation where they were left alone.

“How is Hyerim-ssi?”

“I left her with Baek-hyo for now. Don’t worry. I made sure no one can touch her.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“…What happened, exactly?”

Baek Seo-ryeon couldn’t help but ask, unable to adapt to the changed appearance of Kang Hye-rim.

“What do you mean?”

“Unnie, I mean… She was called the Black Thunder Lord, right? After you disappeared, she changed completely, and now she looks like…”

“A child?”

Baek Seo-ryeon nodded. It was a strange thing indeed, that Kang Hye-rim, who was known as the Black Thunder Lord until recently, had turned into a child in her absence.

And more than that, she was curious about what Yu-hyun had been doing for the past five years, and how he came to be called the Lord of Books.

She had so many questions.

“Didn’t you know everything from the Union’s information? You seemed to be called a deputy director.”

“I don’t know everything. And Hyerim unnie became like that because of you, right?”

“Yes.”

“Please tell me. What happened to unnie?”

“I was going to tell you everything when I met you.”

Yu-hyun explained what had happened between him and Kang Hye-rim.

He also told her everything about how he had gone missing for five years.

Baek Seo-ryeon’s expression twisted into sadness for the first time after hearing his story.

“…I’m sorry. I should have taken care of unnie better.”

“It’s not your fault. It’s mine. If I hadn’t disappeared then, Hyerim-ssi wouldn’t have become like this.”

“It’s all Mara Papayas’ fault. Yu-hyun-ssi, you actually saved Hyerim unnie from getting worse.”

“Saved…her?”

Maybe that’s how it looked to others. But was this really salvation for Kang Hye-rim?

She died by the hand of the person she loved, and then resurrected by his hand again. Was this life really what she wanted?

Now her reason was not fully restored, but what if she collected her stories and regained her old self… How would she react then?

“Well, that’s not important. So, Seoryeon-ssi, what’s going on here?”

“There was a terrorist attack.”

“I saw that. Has this been happening before?”

“Not on this scale. There were some minor incidents, but never targeting the central administration so blatantly.”

A terrorist attack in Old Town, let alone in the Union itself. What was going on?

Yu-hyun couldn’t understand it. The Union was supposed to be the most ideal place for the weak to live in the mixed world, at least in his opinion.

Could it be that there was a faction that wanted to overthrow the alliance?

“Who are they?”

“From what we’ve learned, they are insiders who borrowed the power of an external force.”

“Insiders?”

“What did you feel when you saw the alliance, Mr. Yu-hyun?”

“I haven’t seen everything about the alliance, but I thought it was not a bad place for non-Divine Spiritual beings to live in the mixed world. Various races were living together in harmony.”

“That’s right. But you know, Mr. Yu-hyun, that even on Earth, where there were only humans, there were conflicts and discrimination. What do you think would happen when beings of completely different races gather together?”

“…There must be many problems that are not visible on the surface. No, maybe not. There would be constant clashes in many ways.”

“That’s it. Naturally, there are those who are dissatisfied with this situation and cause various troubles.”

“So some of those factions used an external force to carry out a terrorist attack? Where is this external force from?”

“Olympus and Asgard.”

“…”

Yu-hyun was slightly taken aback by the unexpected names.

He thought that the external force would be just another lord or a regular saint army, but he was surprised to hear two names of great saint armies.

“That’s very surprising.”

“Olympus has always been a place full of ambition.”

“What about Asgard?”

“They are not easy either. You know about the Norse legend, Mr. Yu-hyun. They use valkyries to train and raise warriors called einherjar for the upcoming war.”

“…Then Olympus is similar.”

Both great saint armies were the most active in preparing for the impending war.

Could it be that they planned to swallow up the alliance after giving them external support and settling the situation?

He felt that the incident was bigger than he had thought.

“More importantly, the situation of the alliance is not so clean either. How long do you think the alliance has been established, Mr. Yu-hyun?”

“…Well, I guess it existed before Earth joined.”

“That’s right. So even before we joined the alliance, it existed. The Earth faction has gained a big position in the alliance, but the problem is the other factions that have existed before.”

Baek Seo Ryeon explained that the alliance was composed of five factions.

One of them was the Earth faction, which had recently risen in value the fastest.

There were quite a lot of transcendent-level strong people among the Earthlings, and one of the executors was Choi Do-yoon from Earth.

And what about Seo Sumin? She was not well known to the general public, but the upper echelons of the alliance were well aware of her strength.

“But there are five factions. What about the other four?”

“Three out of four are not bad. One is a faction maintained by elves, dwarves, and beastmen from Midland. They are basically a place that pursues harmony.”

“It’s what people usually call a fantasy world.”

“Yes. Another one is a place called Zhongtianmeng (中天盟) from Wulin. They also value righteousness and cooperation, so they generally get along well with other places. But they are also quite aggressive in fighting, so they often cause minor accidents.”

“I see.”

“Another one is called Foreigner, a place where races with very unique appearances gather. You can think of it as a gathering of minority races.”

Earth, Midland, Zhongtianmeng, Foreigner.

These four factions were relatively friendly with each other.

“The last one is a problem.”

“…That’s right. It’s called Salio Empire.”

“Salio Empire?”

Yu-hyun glanced at Baekryeon.

Baekryeon, who had been listening quietly, also reacted.

[Hey? That’s where I was created?]

‘Didn’t it perish?’

[It did. Maybe they’re calling it that now… because it’s a new faction that keeps that name.]

He thought that might be possible, but he needed to hear more from Baek Seo Ryeon.

“What kind of place is Salio Empire?”

“It’s a place that uses both magic and science, and raises excellent warriors, literally a place that is passionate about conquest and war. And it’s also the place with the largest military force among the five factions. They advocate genetic supremacy, claiming that superior beings should rule over inferior ones.”

“I can tell that there is a big problem with them just by hearing their ideology.”

“Salio’s momentum is not good lately. They have always wanted to make the alliance their own and rule over it. They have been restrained by our Earth faction recently and have been restricted in their movements, but that’s over now. The work they have been doing under water is becoming more and more blatant.”

Salio, which valued blood and war, had the ambition to swallow up all other factions and stand at the head of the alliance.