The Main Characters That Only I Know

Chapter 68

“Who was that? The person you just talked to.”

“Yeah, she was really pretty.”

“She’s not a human. She’s a teller like me.”

I told them that the teller I had just called was my colleague. 

I felt a chill down my spine as I received their stares, and I somehow felt that I had to say that.

I couldn’t show them that I was flustered. 

I calmly and casually emphasized that she was my colleague.

“Really? She’s really your colleague?”

“Of course she is, do you think she’s fake? How many tellers do you think I know, since I’ve been working as a teller for such a short time?”

I spoke with a hint of resentment in my voice, and the two of them nodded reluctantly, even though they looked suspicious. 

They lost interest in Arisha, and I sighed in relief inwardly.

‘But the news is fast. I didn’t expect her to contact me right away.’

As I said before, rumors spread quickly among the tellers.

My colleague, the horned one. 

Or rather, the one who is now called Arisha, who is causing a sensation in a completely different dimension. 

She heard the rumor that I was promoted to Assistant Manager in the shortest time.

My name must have been circulating inside the Celestial Corporation for a long time.

[Your name is spreading in the mixed world.]

The Genesis system was telling me this right now.

Spreading my name was not bad. 

It meant that my reputation was growing, and more people would know about me.

The stories they share become a power for me.

This is the characteristic of the mixed world.

‘Well, if I had to point out a bad thing, maybe it’s that some people I don’t want to get involved with might take an interest in me?’

But, the real problem was something else.

I checked the teller board on Genesis Net. 

As a Assistant Manager (provisional), I could now freely roam around the Assistant Manager-level board, so I had a much wider range of boards to check.

The board was full of stories about me.

[Did you see that teller named Kang Yu-hyun? Is he still okay?]

[I know, right. How can a teller fight like that? I couldn’t do it.]

[But, it makes sense that he would get promoted in the shortest time by doing such crazy things.]

[It took me three years, but someone did it in a month. At this rate, won’t he become a manager before us?]

[If you’re jealous, why don’t you give up your protection too lol]

The reactions were varied. 

Some said I was amazing, some said I was crazy.

The hottest issue right now was all about me. 

But among the posts on the board, there were some that caught my attention.

[Hey. Did you see? Some of the regulars are doing crazy things lately.]

I thought they meant me by the regular who was doing crazy things, but when I checked the content, it was the opposite.

[You know that teller Kang Yu-hyun who gave up his protection and fought directly? He’s still doing that, right? Anyway, he did that and there’s a rumor that he’s going to get the Assistant Manager title in the shortest time. Now there’s a strange craze going on among the staff-levels. They’re all following Kang Yu-hyun.]

Below the post were comments like “Is that true?”, “I saw it too.”

“What, it was bound to happen anyway.”

[What? Are they all following you now?]

Bakryeon, who was looking at the board next to me, asked me and I nodded.

[Wow. That’s so unfair. How can they copy that?]

“It doesn’t matter if they copy it. It’s not like I patented giving up protection.”

It was an inevitable flow in some ways.

The spirits felt freshness from my actions, and that’s why my library could attract so much attention.

If I had failed, it would have been different, but since I succeeded greatly, it was enough to make the other tellers go crazy.

[You don’t seem angry at all.]

“There’s no need to be angry. Let them try if they can. Anyway, they won’t be able to succeed like me just by following me.”

Being the first has a lot of advantages. 

This works as a kind of first-mover effect, so when people think of a teller who gives up protection and fights, they will think of me from now on.

Those who are fascinated by my glory and follow me will only be able to follow my shadow at best, no matter how well or hard they do.

No, it’s a good thing if they can even follow my shadow.

“Don’t just think that this is the easiest way to succeed and try it. You’ll get yourself killed.”

[True. Not all the other tellers can fight like you. And you’re not normal, you’re special.]

“Besides, the ones who are trying to follow me now have even less thought. Normal tellers calculate and worry a lot about the disadvantages they get when they give up their protection. But they followed me right away? They’re just idiots who think they’ll succeed if they follow me without thinking.”

It’s not for nothing that the ones who are following me now are all regulars.

Even if they’re at the Assistant Manager level, they know how absurd what I did was, and they don’t dare to follow me.

It’s a crazy thing to do, to refuse the benefits you’ve been getting and even give up your life.

[But, you did that crazy thing.]

“I didn’t do it without thinking on the spot. I thought and worried a lot, and I prepared in advance by saving up points in case something happened. If I didn’t have enough points in the first battle, I would have died too, right? You’ll see, soon enough. They’ll come to their senses.”

My prediction was spot on.

I didn’t have to wait for a few days. 

The teller board was noisy already.

[Huh? Yu-hyun. This is…]

“Yeah. As expected, an accident happened.”

A teller who followed me and gave up his protection and fought with a sword in the world of thoughts died.

A spirit who witnessed the incident saved the scene and uploaded it to the Genesis Network, and it became a hot topic.

-Ahh! S-save me!

-What, what are you doing? Don’t run away!

-Shut up! You’re a collector, what are you doing? Fight!

-You crazy! Why did you do this when you can’t even fight…! Gah!

-No, no!

The screen was shaky and the sound was loud, but it was clear what had happened.

The two of them went into the world of thoughts together, trying to follow me and Hye-rim, and both the collector and the teller died.

The corpse of the dead collector fell to the ground, and the teller disappeared without leaving a body, turning into text.

They didn’t die fighting bravely, they died miserably running away in fear.

[Wow… This is serious.]

“I told you. Let them try if they can. This is normal, after all?”

I didn’t feel much sympathy for the teller and collector who died. 

It was obvious that they had challenged without proper preparation.

And there was also a difference in collectors. 

Hye-rim was an amazing genius who had three protagonist-level traits. 

But that collector was nothing more than an average level at best.

They were different from me from the start, not only in their mindset but also in their starting point.

“Even if I told them not to follow me, they would do it anyway. It’s better to just leave them alone. Let them try if they can, and see how well they do. The result is this.”

And that video was enough to pour cold water on the staff-level tellers who had hoped for nothing by looking at me.

[That’s right, that was something we shouldn’t have followed.]

[No, that’s what I said. You’re screwed if you give up your protection.]

[Then why is Kang Yu-hyun fine?]

[He must have prepared really hard beforehand. He’s just on a different level when he fights.]

[He’s just a talented genius. We normal tellers will get torn apart if we follow him.]

[Ah, I’m screwed. I gave up my protection.]

[Lololololol You got what you deserved? You tried to get rich quick and failed?]

[Life… gone…]

[Ah, shut up. I’m pissed enough already.]

[Good luck to those who gave up their protection lolololol That won’t be restored, right? You need at least a director-level to apply for official restoration in the system, do you have that kind of backing?]

[It’s not 되 but 돼 (it means ‘do’ or ‘can’ in Korean). Learn some grammar.]

[Why not 되 (it means ‘become’ or ‘happen’ in Korean)?]

[Gross;;]

[No, that’s what I’ve been telling you idiots. You’re screwed if you give up your protection.]

[Why did Kang Yu-hyun teller do that?]

[He’s crazy.]

The comments on the post were quite rude. 

This was not only the case for the employee board, but also for the Assistant Manager board. 

However, unlike the employee board that accepted the seriousness of the situation, the Assistant Manager side was a bit more cold and rational.

[Well, I knew it would end up like this. Genesis Protection is not something you can give up easily.]

[If anyone could succeed by giving up Genesis Protection, everyone would have done it. It was strange to give up Genesis Protection who had protected us until now.]

[Anyway, they say we’ll see the results soon. In the end, only those who can do it will do it.]

[At least, some of them who had false hopes will come to their senses now.]

‘Is this what they mean by having some experience and skill as a Assistant Manager?’

Unlike the regular employees who refused to acknowledge me, the Assistant Manager-level tellers seemed to recognize my achievements. 

Of course, there were a few who didn’t. 

They said that my success was purely because I tried something new and got lucky.

But even those who claimed that shut their mouths when they saw the accident that happened this time, and they tended to admit me as a result.

‘Maybe, even the manager-level ones are on alert about this.’

I unintentionally brought a big problem, but honestly, it wasn’t my fault.

It was the problem of those who followed me because they liked what I did. 

No one knows how much I thought and worked hard to get here.

“It’s still a good thing in the end.”

There would be more collectors who would look at me differently because of this incident.

This incident would spread widely among the collectors. 

Eventually, no matter how much they copied me, they couldn’t beat the original taste. 

The collectors’ attention would naturally focus on me.

“I wish I could check their board.”

[Why don’t you ask some of your close friends among the collectors?]

“I’m a bit hesitant to ask them about this.”

They weren’t really close to begin with, and their level was too high to ask them to check some board content for me.

Besides, their position was also important, so I didn’t want to risk getting on their bad side with such a trivial request.

Surely, they would try to take advantage of me if I asked them for a small favor?

[…You’re having a hard time.]

“Thanks for understanding. Anyway, this is it for this matter. I need to get ready to leave soon.”

[They just arrived over there.]

I was alone in the office of White Flower Management right now. 

The other two went to get ready for an interview.

Seoryeon had been arranging the time for an interview with a magazine’s staff since before, and the date was set a few days ago. 

And today was the day of the interview.

Of course, they needed to dress up properly for the interview, so Seoryeon took Hye-rim to a makeup shop.

“We’re here.”

“Ah. Did you arrive?”

Unlike Seoryeon who entered confidently, Hye-rim looked very embarrassed and couldn’t lift her head.

“Hey, really. Unnie. Lift your head up. You did your makeup for once, so you have to show it off.”

“Well, it’s embarrassing.”

Hye-rim probably felt a strange sense of alienation from spending money on beautifying herself, since she had never done it properly before. 

More than that, she seemed to be uncomfortable with her appearance that became more glamorous than usual.

Seoryeon grabbed Hye-rim’s shoulders tightly and said.

“Unnie.”

“Uh, yes?”

“I know how you feel, unnie. But listen. I spent tens of thousands of won of my blood money to make you look pretty today. Do you know how much that is? That’s enough to use public transportation more than 100 times, or buy boxes of cup noodles and stack them on one side of the wall.”

As she said that, Seoryeon’s eyes looked as if they were going to be sucked in by emptiness.

[So why should we enjoy ourselves, when unnie is already like this? Huh? Unnie. Answer me.]

“Okay, okay! I’ll do it properly! I said I’ll do it properly!”

“Ah. That’s good then.”

Seoryeon quickly returned to normal. 

But just a moment ago, her expression, when she spent her blood money for her sake, was so terrifying… Even I, who had experienced the end of the world, shivered at the sight.

I should never make Seoryeon angry from now on.

“How, how is it?”

Hye-rim approached me and asked shyly. 

I quietly looked at her appearance.

Instead of the clothes she usually wore, which lacked any power, the white clothes that looked a bit more glamorous made her look like a fairy in a winged dress.

The calm makeup that gave off a dignified vibe, and the neatly arranged hair that flowed down.

Honestly speaking, she looked dozens of times prettier than when I dressed her up before.

“It’s good. It suits you very well.”

“Re, really?”

“Yes. Really. I knew you were pretty before, but today you’re even more so.”

“Heh, hehe.”

Hye-rim seemed to regain her confidence at my compliment, and smiled again.

Seoryeon, who was watching the scene from the side, muttered to me in disbelief, “Wow. You’re such a player.”

But I ignored her words.

“Alright. We’re done with the preparation. Let’s go.”

The first step of making Geomhu a famous person was right now.