The Main Characters That Only I Know

Chapter 15

As I expected.

No, more than I expected, Kang Hye-rim fought well.

‘She already reached the deepest part of the mine.’

I vaguely thought it would happen, but Kang Hye-rim’s growth rate surpassed my expectations.

I was proud of having a better eye than others after rolling around with Choi Do-yoon for 10 years in the apocalypse, but I guess a sword master is a sword master after all.

I didn’t regret that my eyes were wrong, or feel sorry for it.

Rather, I was happy that the contractor I chose showed a performance beyond my expectations.

How could I not be happy?

[Acquired points: 2,050TP]

I was confident that I would wake up laughing even in my sleep if I saw the huge amount of points that came to me.

A part of the sponsorship that Kang Hye-rim earned, and the library fee that I earned through the viewership of the library.

It was a feat achieved in just 3 hours after opening the library.

‘Besides, this is not even the end of the settlement.’

I put away my interest in the points and looked at Kang Hye-rim beyond the screen.

She reached the deepest part of the mine and took a break to catch her breath.

No matter how much she went crazy with the power of her trait, today was her first battle.

Her body couldn’t keep up with her trait’s power.

‘Should I also give her some physical training later? For now, is this it?’

I came out of [The Observer’s Room] and approached her.

She was panting for breath, but when she saw me, she smiled brightly like a puppy greeting its owner.

“Don’t get up yet, just sit down and rest for a while.”

“Heh. Heh. Ah, yes.”

“How was it? How did it feel to wield a sword?”

“Hoo. It was awesome.”

Kang Hye-rim answered with a flush on her face despite being quite exhausted.

I glanced at her book.

Her book, which had been a dull brown color, was now a much brighter bronze color.

The story and history that she achieved in this Mental Realm changed her book.

But it was still far away.

Her potential was huge.

There was still a lot left to reach there.

“This is the last step.”

She nodded her head with a determined will at my words.

She crossed the boundary line and reached the heart of the mine.

Kang Hye-rim had no hesitation, and the kobolds couldn’t stop her.

They eventually switched their stance and ran away from Kang Hye-rim.

Deeper inside, deeper down.

And this was their final place.

“They’re probably all gathered here waiting for you.”

They were phantasms that used tools.

They had basic intelligence.

They wouldn’t be stupid enough to rush at Kang Hye-rim recklessly.

So they must have gathered all their remaining forces and set up a siege at their final place.

“Judging by their movements, it seems like they have a leader.”

There was a king of the kobold pack that had ruled this mine for a long time.

The fight would be harder if there was a commander. I subtly warned her about that.

“What will you do? Will you stop here?”

I asked her respectfully, respecting her thoughts.

She heard my words and widened her eyes, then burst into laughter with a ‘pah!’.

“Kukukuk. Yu-hyun-ssi. You’re joking right now, right?”

“Did it sound like that?”

“I’ve come this far, I have to go all the way. You’re not going to pretend you don’t know me after making me cross that boundary line, are you?”

“How could I do that? I take responsibility for what I say. So are you going?”

“I can’t eat it but I want it.”

She seemed to have recovered some of her strength, as she grabbed her sword and got up.

Her eyes were burning with an intense will that I had never seen before.

If she had shown even a little hesitation, I would have tried to dissuade her somehow, but it didn’t seem necessary if she was so eager.

“But it could be dangerous, so we need to set a goal first. Do you know how to clear this Mental Realm?”

“Yes. Well, I did get some training.”

“Then it’s easy to explain. The clear condition for this Mental Realm is subjugation. It’s best to kill all the kobold pack, but considering the size inside, you should aim for the leader first.”

The Mental Realm was a space where [stories] were realized as reality.

Of course, there were various genres of stories, and the ways to clear them differed accordingly.

Sometimes you had to perform a given role.

Sometimes you had to uncover the hidden source of the story.

Sometimes you had to remove the core that composed the story.

Among them, subjugation, which only required defeating a specific phantasm, was the simplest one.

‘It’s no wonder that the government doesn’t care much about clearing the Mental Realm. The good thing is that the kobold pack in this mine is simple to clear.’

The clear condition for this Mental Realm was to kill the king of the kobold pack.

And that was something that Kang Hye-rim could do by herself without me having to advise her.

‘She still lacks the basics, but this is enough for now.’

I trusted her potential and skills more than my eye.

“Then, can we go now?”

“Oh, before that. You need to change your weapon.”

I pointed at the sword that Kang Hye-rim was holding.

The sword that was given for free was chipped and worn from the rough battle.

“It will break in the middle if you go like that. It’s not very good quality to begin with, since you got it for free.”

“Uh… then what do I do now?”

Kang Hye-rim, who was excited, didn’t expect this and asked me in a quivering voice.

She showed a power that was not inferior to anyone when she held a sword, but without a sword, she turned into a shy and timid lady like when I first met her.

“Ah. You don’t have to worry about that.”

I smiled and opened a catalog made of holograms in front of her.

Kang Hye-rim looked at it and widened her eyes, looking back and forth between me and the catalog list.

What is this look?

“You earned some points while you were coming here, right?”

The list I showed was swords that she could buy with the money she earned.

“This is when you use it, when else are you going to use it?”

By the way, there was another way for tellers to make money.

It was when their contracted collectors bought something from [Dimensional Shop], they received some incentive from it.

When they showed their stories, tellers and collectors were in a mutually beneficial relationship.

But now, at this moment, Kang Hye-rim and I were completely strangers.

“Eh, what?”

“Come on. Choose. I knew this would happen, so I picked out only the ones that are efficient at a reasonable level. I’m still a collector who made a contract with you, so I won’t rip you off.”

“Uh, um. But there’s something like a contractor discount, right?”

Instead of answering with words, I smiled broadly.

“Ah, ah.”

In the end, Kang Hye-rim had no choice but to choose a suitable sword from the catalog.

As soon as she bought something from [Dimensional Shop], her points were consumed and a sword appeared in the air.

It was a refined and elegant sword.

It was much better than the basic weapon she had used until a while ago.

However, Kang Hye-rim’s expression was not so good.

“Uuuu. Yu-hyun-ssi. That’s too much.”

“It’s because it’s me that you bought it at this level. Other collectors would be worse, if not less.”

So, always be grateful.

Human.

***

Krrrung!

The king of the kobold pack prepared to face the intruder with his subordinates.

When he first heard from his subordinates that there was an intruder, he thought they would just raid the outskirts of the mine as usual.

But that thought changed in an instant.

Just one person.

Only one person, but they crossed the boundary line that humans had drawn and entered the deepest part of the mine.

This had never happened before, so the king was flustered.

And he was angry.

This was his land.

His territory.

There should never be any invaders here.

But he was pushed back to this point by one person, and he felt his anger boil up.

He planned to crush that opponent in this final stronghold.

Krrrung!

He felt a presence from afar.

The light was dim, but the kobolds had very bright eyes because they lived in mines or labyrinths.

They easily noticed the intruder approaching.

The intruder was one person.

A slender woman.

But none of the kobolds here underestimated her.

They remembered how their comrades died every time she swung her sword like a demon.

If it weren’t for the king’s order, some of the kobolds would have already run away.

Kerk? Kerker?

And for some reason.

That intruder seemed to have a much more fierce aura than before.

“Sii.”

The intruder, Kang Hye-rim, glared at the kobold pack waiting for her.

To a third party’s perspective, it would seem like she was forcing herself to get angry with an innocent look that didn’t suit her, but the kobolds who saw her swordsmanship felt like they were facing a devil from hell.

“You’re all dead.”

Kang Hye-rim earned a lot of points.

The Divine Spirits responded well, and she was happy that she finally awakened her talent.

But she had to hunt down the kobolds excessively and her sword blade was almost gone, so she had no choice but to buy a new sword reluctantly.

Her mood that had been high also plummeted because of that.

Naturally, Kang Hye-rim’s anger was directed at the kobold pack.

“It’s all your fault that my sword broke!”

If the kobolds understood her words, they would have exploded with injustice.

But they didn’t know why Kang Hye-rim was angry, and they could only prepare to fight while being confused by the king’s order.

Krrrung!

The king, who was three times bigger than a normal kobold, held a pickaxe in each hand and growled.

He burned with hatred for Kang Hye-rim who threatened his domain.

But Kang Hye-rim also didn’t back down and glared at him.

She lost her points because of that kobold, so she wanted to make up for it with him.

Watching that scene from afar, I licked my lips and shook my head.

“Well. It’s good for me if she motivates herself like that.”

As soon as my words ended, Kang Hye-rim rushed towards the kobold pack.

***

[You have cleared the Mental Realm ‘Anvar Mountain Range Kobold Mine’.]

[You have acquired 2,000TP.]

[An unbelievable achievement! You cleared the Mental Realm by yourself.]

[You have acquired an additional 1,000TP.]

[The story of the kobolds sticks to you.]

[You have acquired the skill ‘Bright Eyes’.]

[You have acquired 582TP.]

[Your stats increase.]

[You have acquired some by-products related to the Mental Realm.]

…

Kang Hye-rim must have been dizzy by now from seeing the system windows popping up and disappearing in front of her eyes.

It didn’t take long for Kang Hye-rim to sweep away all the kobolds.

She swept them all away as if she was enjoying her new sword, and finally brought down the king as well.

The Divine Spirits went crazy with enthusiasm at her great achievement, and they sponsored points to Kang Hye-rim.

And some of the Divine Spirits even sent me personal messages saying they wanted to become subscribers of my library.

[Current viewers: 34]

[Current subscribers: 22]

[Settled sponsorship amount: 4,230TP]

[Sub-mission-10 viewers achieved!]

[You have acquired 300TP as a reward.]

[Sub-mission-5 subscribers achieved!]

[You have acquired 500TP as a reward.]

[Sub-mission-15 subscribers achieved!]

[You have acquired…]

I also swept up my bangs lightly as I looked at the rising message windows.

My eyes were busy too.

A huge amount of points came to me, and some of the Divine Spirits who were moved by the story I showed signed up for subscriptions.

‘But, this is not the end.’

The rumor would spread.

The rumor about Kang Yu-hyun teller and Kang Hye-rim collector.

New guests would keep coming to confirm and prove it.

“Was the first start a moderate success?”

The Mental Realm disappeared.

Kang Hye-rim’s body was moved back to reality, and the letters that built the Mental Realm were absorbed into her body.

It was the process of converting the accumulated text of the kobold mine into points.

But not all the text went to Kang Hye-rim.

Some of it crossed the space and came to [The Observer’s Room] where I was.

I reached out my hand.

The clump of text gathered on my hand and soon turned into a book.

On the cover of the book was [Sword Empress Chronicles], which I wrote as the name of my library.

The first story I created.

And the first story I showed.

I walked to one side of [The Observer’s Room].

There was an empty white bookshelf there.

I proudly put my first book on the shelf.

The bookshelf was wide.

And there was only one book on it right now.

Compared to this empty space, one book was pitiful.

But someday.

‘I’ll fill this bookshelf.’

It wasn’t just the story of the next five years.

After that, I looked further into the future.

The story of a more distant future where the apocalypse didn’t come.

The story of a new world that I couldn’t reach in my previous life.

‘My story is just beginning.’