The Main Characters That Only I Know

Chapter 254:

An abandoned building on the outskirts of the city, where people had no interest.

A group of people gathered in the dark ruins, where even light could not enter properly.

“So, you don’t know where you dropped one of the precious seeds?”

“Th-that is…”

One of them, a bald man, knelt down and sweated profusely.

In front of him was the leader of this group, who wore a robe with a hood. No, he was not just a leader.

He was the founder of Unleashed, a terrorist group that had a notorious reputation in the world.

“I’m disappointed. You were supposed to be careful with the transport, but you made such a trivial mistake.”

Unleashed’s boss, Jun Cheng-woon, stood up from his seat.

“Please forgive me! Please! Next time, next time I won’t do this again!”

“Anyone can regret after making a mistake.”

“N-no! I’m serious! Please…”

Jun Cheng-woon did not answer and approached his subordinate who made the blunder.

The man’s face turned pale. He felt like Jun Cheng-woon was looking at him with contempt in the darkness that he could not see.

This is the end.

The moment he thought that, Jun Cheng-woon’s hand landed on his shoulder.

“So, be more careful from now on.”

“Huh? You’re not going to kill me?”

“It’s just one seed. Your mistake deserves to be punished, but I won’t take your life for that. Comrades are precious.”

“Ah.”

The subordinate let out a sigh of relief without realizing it.

He had done many things since he joined Unleashed, and he was not fazed by anything.

But Jun Cheng-woon was different. He was someone who would make him fear even if he saw himself.

He was cruel, cold-blooded, and meticulous to the point of being creepy.

Such a man usually did not forgive his subordinates’ mistakes.

So he was prepared to die, but Jun Cheng-woon surprisingly spared him.

He felt a surge of emotion throughout his body and shed tears.

“Sob! Th-thank you!”

He vowed sincerely on the spot that he would follow Jun Cheng-woon with his life if it was for him.

“I expect better performance from you next time.”

“Y-yes!”

“Go ahead.”

The subordinate got up from his seat and disappeared as if he was running away.

One of Jun Cheng-woon’s subordinates who watched the scene cautiously asked him.

“Are you sure you don’t need to discipline him?”

“If I kill them for failing, who will follow us sincerely? Sometimes it’s necessary to have magnanimity to embrace their failures. Besides, losing one seed is not that big of a loss.”

The important thing was each person’s manpower.

Jun Cheng-woon was certainly disappointed and angry with his subordinate who made a mistake.

But he suppressed his emotions.

“I want to create a world for collectors, but is it right for me to kill collectors? I wish for the arrival of a true world, not to become a dictator of that world.”

“…I’m sorry for saying something unnecessary.”

“It’s okay.”

“Then what about the seed? Don’t we need to recover it? At least?”

“No. I don’t dwell on what I’ve already lost. Rather, we might expose our tail if we try to find it.”

“But…”

“The important thing is not to be attached to what has passed, but what we do and how we do it in the future. We have a lot to do. You know that, right?”

“Yes. For the sake of a new world.”

“That’s right. Everyone else can go too. It’s busy time.”

They all nodded and left their seats.

Jun Cheng-woon, who was left alone, took off his hood. His long blue hair flowed down.

He had a sharp face and looked sharply at the air.

“Come out.”

“You’re still rude as ever, contractor.”

The one who appeared in front of Jun Cheng-woon was a black-robed being who emitted an ominous aura.

It was Exodus’s Teller.

“I need more seeds.”

“What did you say?”

“What we have now is not enough. And you know that too, right? That seed is low-quality. That’s why you gave it to us willingly.”

“What do you want?”

“At least ten seeds of intermediate stories. And one seed of a high-level story.”

“You’re crazy. Even for us, that’s not something we can easily give you.”

“Then let’s end this deal here and now.”

A blue glow burst out from inside the black robe. Jin Cheong-woon laughed and did not avoid his gaze.

Ordinary collectors would feel quite pressured by that kind of look.

But for Jin Cheong-woon, who had experienced many things on his way here, it was laughable.

“Hey. Exodus’s teller. What was your name again?”

“Ubratra.”

“Yeah, Ubratra. Let’s make one thing clear here. I’m not your subordinate. And you’re not mine either. We’re in a relationship of equal contract. And you’re the ones who came to me first to make a contract.”

For the collectors of Unleashed, who had few proper tellers in secret agreement with the Pentagram department, the tellers of Exodus were welcome people.

Collectors needed the patronage of the Divine Spirits through the tellers’ stories to become stronger.

Collectors without tellers could still earn points, but the amount they could get was significantly less than the effort they put in.

Conversely, the tellers of Exodus also had a hard time finding proper collectors on Earth.

The stories they usually showed were all cruel and stimulating. Most collectors wanted Pentagram tellers, not Exodus tellers.

Naturally, the Exodus tellers had no choice but to pay attention to the Unleashed collectors.

People who terrorized the world with weapons and killed people. Who could be more suited to their stories than them?

“We made a contract because we both needed each other. You don’t want this peaceful era either, and neither do we.”

“But ten seeds of intermediate stories and one seed of a high-level story are too excessive demands.”

“It’s not excessive. Have you heard the recent stories? The collectors who are active in Korea, where we are now, have become more alert than before. No, should I call them workers now?”

Ubratra’s glow dimmed at Jin Cheong-woon’s words.

He knew what he was talking about.

The Pentagram department, which had been secretly agreeing with them, had made several mistakes and lost a lot of Earth’s shares, and as a result, the proportion that Exodus should have originally occupied had decreased significantly.

That was a painful blunder, but after the second Phantasm Shock, some collectors started calling themselves workers and became more enthusiastic about clearing the World of Thought.

That was not a pleasant thing for Ubratra.

The collectors on Earth should be lazy. The World of Thought should be maintained and continue to grow. That way, the Divine Spirits would lose interest in this world, and they would rule over the abandoned Earth.

That was the original plan and operation, but it all failed.

Because of a single teller.

“So what do you want us to do?”

“Whether we like it or not, we’re business allies, so we have to take some expenses into account. Look. We have to fight not only with the Association but also with the workers from now on. You know that too, right?”

Ubratra didn’t want to admit it, but he was convinced by Jin Cheong-woon’s words.

It was the same on this side.

Without Jin Cheong-woon, who wished for Unleashed, they would have had a hard time setting foot on Earth as Exodus members.

So they had no choice but to support Unleashed as much as possible from behind.

“…I’ll try my best.”

“That’s enough. We won’t ask for more than that.”

“Just one thing. What are you going to do with high-quality seeds? Just cause chaos in the world?”

“No. I have one person in mind.”

“Who?”

“Military God.”

There was nothing to hide. Jin Cheong-woon honestly told him.

“First of all, I need to tie up his feet.”

“…I see. It’s none of our business what you do or how you do it. I got it. I’ll try to get the seeds as soon as possible.”

“I’m counting on you.”

Ubratra disappeared as if he melted into thin air.

Jin Cheong-woon’s eyes kept looking at where Ubratra had disappeared.

No one knew yet that Unleashed and Exodus had joined hands.

***

“Huff! Huff! Ugh. I’m dying.”

White Flower Management’s training room.

Yoo Young-min sat down on his spot soaked in sweat and gasped for breath.

When was the last time he did such hard training?

Even when he went to the gym and got PT sometimes, it wasn’t this bad.

“Hey. You’re already exhausted and collapsed. Get up. It’s not over yet.”

“Sa, save me.”

Seo Sumin, who was wearing a black training suit, scolded him.

It was supposed to be a training that only Yu Hyun participated in.

The problem was Yoo Young-min’s curiosity about Military God.

Yoo Young-min had joined the training with a casual thought of learning a martial art, but he soon felt like he was going through hell as he endured the brutal physical training that pushed him to the edge of life and death.

“Why me? What about Yu-hyun?”

Yoo Young-min felt unfairly treated and grabbed Yu-hyun’s arm.

It was understandable, since while he was constantly tortured by the physical exercises, Yu-hyun was just sitting quietly and meditating.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Kang Yu-hyun Teller-nim has already achieved a perfect balance of his body, so he doesn’t need to do anything else.”

“What?”

“People can’t judge by appearances alone. And you still have the strength to lie down on the floor? Shame on you. Squats, 300 more!”

“No, please!”

Yoo Young-min wanted to run away, but he couldn’t escape from Seo Sumin’s grip. He hated to admit it, but she was much stronger than him.

Resistance was futile, and in the end, Yoo Young-min had no choice but to move as she said, with tears in his eyes.

It was hard, but as Seo Sumin said, he still had the energy to move his body.

Seo Sumin’s eyes could see through the opponent’s condition clearly.

She noticed that Yoo Young-min still had some room left, and she calculated that she could squeeze him more until his limit.

“One! Two!”

“Ugh!”

“Your voice is too low! One! Two!”

“O-one! T-two!”

At that moment, Kwon Jia, who had just entered the training room, saw them.

“Oh, Jia-nim, you’re here?”

“Yeah. But what’s that…?”

“Soo-min-nim said she would personally train the youngest one. So they’re doing that right now.”

Yu-hyun said that while shaping the black energy on his palm into the form he wanted.

He had mastered the energy of Heavenly Demon Black Sky Divine Art, and his next step was to control it freely.

Heavenly Demon Black Sky Divine Art was a violent and powerful energy, so it was difficult to control it. He had to be able to manipulate it as he wished before he could enter the real stage of Chosik.

“I see.”

“By the way, please take care of the mental education for the collector. He needs to know what to do and how to do it in this mental realm. You should also instill some sense of danger in him.”

“Me?”

Kwon Jia showed a clear expression of dislike.

She had become more expressive than before.

“If you don’t do it, I don’t have anyone else I can trust. Please.”

“Well… if you say so. I can’t refuse.”

“You’ll do it?”

“…Fine.”

Kwon Jia, the Infinite Regressor who had once amazed everyone.

She had become an easy person for Yu-hyun alone.

“It’s over.”

Yoo Young-min, who had used up all his strength, was lying on the ground like a corpse, and Seo Sumin came back to Yu-hyun with a satisfied expression.

“It’s done.”

“So what do you think after seeing him yourself?”

“He’s not bad.”

Seo Sumin didn’t just torture Yoo Young-min. Her eyes and senses were more accurate than anyone else’s.

Her role was to assess Yoo Young-min’s potential.

And this was the result.

“His talent itself is not bad. Of course, it’s not outstanding either. But he has something else that’s unusual.”

“What is it?”

“He has a knack for it.”

What Seo Sumin felt while teaching Yoo Young-min was his flexible way of thinking.

“A knack?”

“It means he doesn’t just blindly follow things like an idiot. But he doesn’t have the talent to intuitively grasp everything either. He tries his best to think and find the best thing he can do at the moment. That’s his knack. And of course, that’s also a necessary skill for a person.”

The fact that he had endured Seo Sumin’s training that was impossible for a normal person proved it.

Yu-hyun nodded as if he understood.

Kang Hye-rim, who had innate talent.

Kwon Jia, who pushed herself with hard work.

And Yoo Young-min, who had a knack for things.

‘Somehow, I’ve gathered some very unique collectors.’

Sword Emperor, Infinite Regressor, Reincarnated HeavenlyHeavenly, Extra Possessor.

It would be hard to gather them even if he tried.

But with this, Yu-hyun had almost completed the perfect picture he had in mind.

Then, his phone rang.

The caller was Choi Joongmo.

“Yes, Joongmo-nim. What’s up?”

[Did you hear the news?]

“What news?”

[According to our information network, the Unleashed have started to move in earnest.]

And at the same time.

Thump.

The golden light inside Yu-hyun’s body beat fiercely.

“So you’re contacting me because you need my help?”

[We won’t just talk. We’ll make sure to reward you.]

“Then, sure.”

He had to face them sooner or later.

And since they were paying him, Yu-hyun accepted it with a happy heart.