The Main Characters That Only I Know

Chapter 287:

Chapter 287

Thanks to Wimuhyeok’s sacrifice, the 10th dimensional world that occurred at Gwanghwamun Square in Seoul was resolved without much trouble.

There was a process of large-scale evacuation, just in case, but the property damage caused by the 10th dimensional world was negligible compared to what could have happened.

The public praised this incident as the miracle of Gwanghwamun.

The only loss that came with this event was that Wimuhyeok, the rank 1 collector, became weaker.

On the contrary, his reputation spread throughout the world, as he bravely jumped into the 10th dimensional world alone, even though he knew he would lose his power. The hospital where he was resting was still crowded with people who wished for his recovery.

Among them were foreign journalists and broadcasters who wanted to interview him, making it difficult for the hospital staff to work.

“It seems like they don’t know that it’s more burdensome for us when they swarm like that.”

Yu-hyun joked as he looked down at the crowd below the glass window of the private room.

Wimuhyeok, who was lying on the hospital bed, did not answer. He felt that it would be cruel to blame them with his own mouth, since they came to see him out of concern.

“So how are you feeling?”

“How do you think? Compared to before, I feel like I’m carrying a lump of lead in my whole body. I wonder how I survived back then. I’m sure I thought I was still strong even then.”

“But thanks to you, we were able to prevent the situation from getting worse.”

“You probably know everything that I know. You should know that what I did was not out of heroism.”

“But that’s how it turned out. Those people don’t know anything about the hidden truth. In their eyes, you just showed a noble self-sacrifice and saved everyone.”

In fact, he didn’t save those people.

But among the thousands of people gathered below, there was not a single person who knew that.

“What does it matter if they don’t know? It’s none of my business now.”

“Is that so?”

“And not everyone is ignorant. One person. As long as one person knows, that’s enough for me.”

“I guess so.”

Yu-hyun smiled and put the fruit basket he brought as a visit on Wimuhyeok’s side.

“Do you like fruit?”

“I prefer meat, but I also eat fruit well.”

“I also secretly put some meat under the fruit.”

“Then that’s very good.”

Wimuhyeok didn’t look sad at all for losing his power. Rather, he looked relieved as if he had gotten rid of most of the burden he had been carrying.

He used to be expressionless and stern, but now he even made some jokes and smiled.

“So what are you going to do from now on? You must have some money saved up, are you going to retire and live comfortably?”

“No. I’ll start over.”

Yu-hyun widened his eyes in surprise at his answer.

The man who had fought the phantoms out of duty rather than anyone else said he would start his collector work again.

As if he expected that reaction, Wimuhyeok shrugged his shoulders.

“What can I do? I can’t just waste my time doing nothing.”

“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”

“I’m fine. The standard of being okay is different for everyone.”

“But your power…”

“I’m still an awakened collector even if I lost my power. Even if I’m weaker than before, there are still collectors who are weaker than me in reality. If I don’t do anything, wouldn’t that be a waste of manpower?”

Wimuhyeok had lost more than half of his power.

He had reached level 93, and losing half of his power was huge.

Of course, his level didn’t exactly drop by half, and he was still around level 65.

But considering what he had before, level 65 was ridiculously weak.

He went from being a top-class collector to a mediocre one.

And no one forced him to fight again.

Rather, they would beg him to rest if they thought about what he had done.

“You don’t have to take responsibility for anything.”

“This is not something that others force me to do, but something that I choose myself. And I won’t change my mind about it.”

“It will be hard for you.”

“That will be the consequence of my choice.”

“…”

Yu-hyun realized that this man’s decision was firm.

He was trying to stand up again after going through such an ordeal and such a sorrow.

He didn’t feel moved by his sight, since he had already walked too many roads himself.

But he could admire him. He knew that people were selfish, and giving up on that was never an easy choice.

“Why. Are you going to stop me?”

“Of course not.”

Yu-hyun chuckled and shook his head.

“I’m rather going to cheer for you. Anyone who overcomes all the hardships and rises up deserves applause. Stopping such a person is something that only a scoundrel would do.”

“Have you seen such a person?”

“…Yes, well. I do know one person like that.”

Wi Muhyuk didn’t ask any further, sensing that there was something in Yu-hyun’s reaction.

“Anyway, I want to do what I have to do from now on. That way, I won’t be ashamed of my daughter.”

“You’re already an admirable person who has nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I’ll work harder. More, more.”

“You can do it.”

Yu-hyun said that, but he couldn’t help thinking about the harshness of this reality.

He was a person who was strict with himself and worked harder than anyone else, but could there be a complete salvation in his life?

Unless his family came back to life, his wound would remain forever.

The wound would heal, but the scar would remain, and the fact that he suffered because of the wound would not be erased.

In the end, this mark of pain was something that could not be compensated by any reward.

For him, and for himself.

But he had to cheer him up.

“Cheer up. You’ve done it once, so it should be easier than others, right?”

“Compared to starting from scratch, it would be much better.”

“That’s enough. You don’t look too bad either, so I’ll go now.”

“Take care.”

Yu-hyun disappeared as if he melted into thin air. He used Descartes’ power to cross over to another world that was invisible to others.

Wi Muhyuk saw that for the second time. The first time was when Yu-hyun suddenly appeared out of nowhere, saying he came to visit him.

‘What kind of power is that?’

He thought his insight was not dead, but he couldn’t read it even with that. It was a strange power beyond his comprehension.

But rather than feeling anxious about it, he felt more relieved.

At least he wouldn’t use such power for vain purposes.

Wi Muhyuk soon opened one of the books in the quiet hospital room.

***

Yu-hyun could see what was happening outside as he crossed the boundary of another dimension.

He had put out the fire on his feet thanks to Wi Muhyuk, but that didn’t mean this big incident was over.

But just when he thought things had calmed down a bit lately, the religious groups started to make noise again.

They said this was God’s trial, and that this country was being punished.

They gathered at Gwanghwamun Square, waving the national flag and claiming that this place was where God left his mark. They staged a radical protest.

‘What kind of god do they think they are waving the flag for?’

More than anything, the conflict between ordinary people and collectors that had been building up before using Text Shredder was not completely resolved by one sacrifice of Wi Muhyuk.

At least for now, no one dared to say anything because of the action of the rank 1 who stepped up barefooted, but sooner or later people who had negative thoughts about collectors would start to speak up.

Then the era of conflict and hatred would come again.

Yu-hyun thought he had no way to stop that. He couldn’t be some giant dictator who ruled over the earth and manipulated people’s emotions as he pleased.

He was already doing enough by making sure this earth didn’t fall apart.

‘But I can’t just leave it alone.’

If this situation had occurred naturally, he couldn’t touch it either, but if there were someone behind it who instigated it, then it would be a different story.

It didn’t spread too much for now, but if it continued like this, there was a high possibility that terrorist activities by religious groups would happen again like last time.

They wouldn’t even know what they were doing wrong, and they would shout out the names of gods.

As if that were some kind of pardon.

‘Do they know that those gods don’t care about them at all?’

Rather, they would be angry if they knew that their names were used for crimes.

He knew why the previous earth had collapsed, but he wondered if there wasn’t a little bit of sin in the Divine Spirits for despising humans.

Yu-hyun thought so as he returned to the Management building.

He deactivated Descartes’ power and entered inside. Seo Sumin, who had been waiting for him after receiving a signal in advance, greeted him.

“Welcome back. Did anything happen?”

“Nothing happened to me. How was your class today?”

“What more could be fine? It’s nothing more than a formal process to fill in the minimum days.”

“I see.”

“But it wasn’t too bad spending time with Yura after a long time.”

Seo Sumin had officially become a collector by receiving a special privilege, but that didn’t mean she could graduate from the academy early.

She still had to enter the mental realm with her partner as a premise, and above all, she had to complete the minimum education at the academy.

Compared to others who went to school every day, it was only two days a week at most, and that was only for 2-3 hours, but it was still annoying.

Just like not liking going to school after becoming a college student, even though he had been in school from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. when he was a high school student.

“Well, the instructor doesn’t touch me anymore, so I don’t care. But it’s a shame. I can’t see the instructor who comes out and asks for a favor shamelessly because I got a special privilege.”

“Who would touch a student who is stronger than himself?”

“That’s true.”

“I thought there would be at least one person with such a Divine Spirit. Besides that, the instructors seemed very busy. They said there was a lot of friction with the ordinary people lately, right?”

“What, did something happen?”

“No, nothing happened, but they said there were more incidents that could have caused trouble lately. There are more cases of quarrels with ordinary people. So they told me to avoid any confrontation and leave the place if it ever happens.”

“That’s the best thing to do. Even if we are students, we are prospective collectors. If we clash with ordinary people, we won’t see a good outcome.”

“Tsk. When I see that, I feel like people are living hard. If it were where I used to live, ordinary people wouldn’t dare to open their mouths to the nobodies.”

“This is a place where you can freely speak your mind. They don’t care because they don’t suffer much from doing that.”

Seo Sumin knew that too, but she couldn’t help being annoyed and changed the subject.

“So why did you call me? If you say this training is too hard, I won’t spare you.”

“You don’t have to worry about that.”

“Shall we move first then? You’re going to that Wonderland you mentioned before, right?”

“Yes. Relax your body and get ready.”

Yu-hyun immediately put on Aporia’s mask and activated Descartes’ power.

He had used it several times already, but every time he felt it, he thought that this Wonderland was very useful.

He could freely enter and exit a space that could handle his excessively strong power, whenever and wherever he wanted.

‘I wonder if I’m using it more than Laplace or Maxwell.’

Then the remaining three eyes of Aporia’s mask blinked and twinkled.

It was the other three demons whining, sharing Yu-hyun’s thoughts.

‘I know. I’m not neglecting you guys, so don’t be like that.’

They seemed relieved and the twinkling eyes returned to normal. Seo Sumin, who had been watching the scene curiously, asked.

“I’ve been wondering about this for a long time, but if the mask has four eyes, does it have four visions?”

“No, not really. And having four eyes doesn’t mean my vision is expanded either.”

These eyes were actually symbols of each demon’s power. Yu-hyun paid more attention to their symbolism than seeing someone with them.

Seo Sumin let it go as if she wasn’t really curious about it.

“So, since we’re here, you’re going to get some proper guidance, right?”

“Ah, there’s something I need to tell you in advance about that.”

“What is it?”

“You don’t have to teach me any more about the forms or types of the techniques you taught me.”

“What?”

“I’ve already figured them all out.”

Yu-hyun was sincere, but Seo Sumin didn’t take it that way.

Her white hair fluttered and she emitted an angry aura.

“Oh? Does that mean I can take it as you’re looking down on this lesson?”

“No. That’s not what I mean.”

“Then what do you mean? Depending on your answer, this instructor might become a devil today. There’s no chance of becoming an angel, so don’t get your hopes up.”

“Well, how should I put this…”

Yu-hyun explained the singularity he gained when his body awakened.

His body achieved by Darwin’s physique could naturally perform any action he saw with his eyes, even if it was just a gesture.

He had already mastered all the postures through the forms he hadn’t properly taught Seo Sumin.

Seo Sumin listened quietly and still reacted skeptically.

“Is that possible? It was something I only heard of in legends where I lived.”

“It is because it works.”

“Show me then. If I’m not satisfied, you’ll have to brace yourself.”

“You won’t have to worry about that.”

Yu-hyun took a stance in front of Seo Sumin and used the most basic technique of One Flower (災花).

Countless petals of strong energy adorned the air and tore the space apart.

It was so impressive that even Seo Sumin couldn’t find any fault with it.

“I’ve heard about it, but it’s really amazing to see it in person.”

“Didn’t I tell you so?”

“But even though you asked me for advice, you called me here… You must be aware of your shortcomings too, right?”

Yu-hyun nodded at her accurate remark.

“As expected, did you notice?”

“I created this technique myself, of course I noticed. Yeah, sure, the technique itself was perfect as you performed it with your body. But your mind is still immature.”

“My mind?”

“You still can’t handle your mind yet, so it’s natural that you feel a subtle lack of something.”

What else did he need to use the technique, besides using his body and energy?

Seo Sumin opened her mouth as if she had seen through Yu-hyun’s concern.

“We call it ‘will’.”