The Main Characters That Only I Know

Chapter 303:

Silence spread like a morning fog among the audience.

None of the tellers showed any shock or surprise or strong reaction.

The tellers gathered in this court were all qualified enough to be here.

They were not easily startled by anything and rather accepted things boldly.

However, apart from not being surprised, they were interested in Demiarios’s statement.

“Demiarios, head of department. Is that true?”

The first one to ask was Celestina, head of department.

She twisted her lips and glared at Demiarios with a tense gaze.

“If you uttered that without any evidence, you will have to take responsibility. You know that there is nothing more dangerous than false accusation among us, right?”

He wouldn’t have gambled without confidence.

Moreover, the chairman, who could be called the king of the headquarters, was here in this court.

He wouldn’t have spread a false rumor out of vanity in such a place.

“Then what is that ugly face? And what is your evidence?”

The next one to ask was Utata, head of the inspection department.

He had been eager to get back at Demiarios since he lost Shamat.

The faint redness of his white hair was evidence that he still maintained a spark of anger.

Another teller answered instead of Utata’s question.

“Let’s hear it first. He must have enough evidence to call us all here, right?”

“Garas.”

Utata stared at Garas, head of department, who spoke mockingly.

Garas was half-crocodile and half-human, and he was also a head of the inspection department, in charge of a different department, and an enemy who often clashed with Utata.

Garas sent a friendly look to Demiarios.

“Well. Demiarios, head of department. Tell us. What is the great news?”

Some other heads nodded in agreement with Garas.

Celestina, Galiaz, and Utata frowned at the sight.

The number of tellers who sided with Demiarios was unusual.

‘They are all wary of Kang Yu-hyun.’

Celestina knew what was on the minds of the senior executives gathered in this court.

How could she not? She had suffered the same things before she became a head of department.

Kang Yu-hyun’s talent as the youngest deputy head was enough to threaten them. Moreover, Yu-hyun, who belonged to nowhere, had the potential to become a new line without having to hold someone’s line.

For them, Kang Yu-hyun was a dangerous element who would bring a new wind of change to the stagnant Celestial Corporation.

‘And, the chairman has no intention of stopping it.’

Lotfiout’s way had always been like that. He treated those who survived and proved themselves accordingly, but he had no mercy for those who failed.

He was not the type to favor or flatter anyone.

Rather, Lotfiout was the most interested in watching the situation.

Demiarios’s momentum was boosted by that.

“Kang Yu-hyun teller has manipulated the story.”

A heavy blow from the start.

Before anyone could react to that, Demiarios explained it.

“Haven’t you thought it was strange before? All the stories that Kang Yu-hyun teller did were things that everyone said were impossible.”

Demiarios said that and floated evidence in the air.

There were images of all kinds of worlds that Yu-hyun had passed through so far.

“I know. There is nothing completely impossible. Maybe the first time, or even the next time, it was possible because of luck or skill. But that’s only once or twice. But look at this. How many times did Kang Yu-hyun teller do this?”

A lot.

Too many.

Stories that others thought were impossible, trials that everyone claimed would fail.

Yu-hyun jumped over them as if to show them and proved his skills.

Usually when you see such a spectacle, you can’t help but think that Yu-hyun is really amazing.

But not at this moment, not in this place. Everyone here knew how hard those stories were.

“Hmm. Can you do that more than five times in a row?”

“It’s okay until the first two times. But it’s a bit strange if you keep winning like that.”

Celestina heard those voices in her ears one by one.

She realized what was going on.

As far as she knew, Yu-hyun’s success was all thanks to his skills.

He turned the extreme probability that others thought was impossible into success several times.

It was close to a miracle.

Yes. It was so close to a miracle that it could be doubted.

‘Demiarios.’

Galiaz also pondered over Demiarios’s claim with his arms crossed.

He didn’t want to admit it, but his claim seemed plausible at first glance.

It was more natural to think that there was some external intervention than to think that the success of 0.0001% probability really happened.

Success seemed impressive, but if it continued, people couldn’t accept it as pure success.

Demiarios stimulated the doubt that they had to have.

‘Yu-hyun. How are you going to deal with this?’

Galiaz couldn’t abandon Yu-hyun here.

He was nominally retired from the front line, so he was only allowed to watch.

His sunken gaze was still fixed on Yu-hyun, who stood still.

‘This is ridiculous. I’ve been had.’

Yu-hyun wondered what Demiarios was trying to do by setting up this situation, but he was impressed by how sharply he attacked.

Demiarios was right.

Yu-hyun’s success was not just due to luck or skill.

He did have luck and skill, but he also had the advantage of knowing what would happen in the future because he had returned from it.

The knowledge that others didn’t have from before his return was his biggest weapon. But it had backfired on him.

Demiarios didn’t know that Yu-hyun had returned.

He just pointed out the doubts he had about what Yu-hyun had done and pursued them relentlessly.

From Yu-hyun’s perspective, the premise that ‘he had to succeed because he knew everything’ was not something that others could accept.

“What do you say? Can you refute me?”

Demiarios’ face was like that of an octopus, so Yu-hyun couldn’t catch his subtle expressions, but now it was different.

Demiarios was confident of his victory.

Yu-hyun looked around lightly.

Everyone was looking at him as if he was already a criminal.

Even if he wasn’t a criminal, they would rather have him be one.

They had to step on the sprout that was rising fast from below.

‘Interesting.’

He already knew that Celestial Corporation was like this, but facing it directly gave him a new feeling.

And what he realized anew was that even the most amazing tellers were emotional beings.

They accepted the suspicion that he drew from circumstantial evidence and intuition as if it were certain.

They didn’t have any transcendent cognitive abilities or brilliant reasoning skills.

“I heard what Demiarios said.”

So he had to play along with their level.

“I understand that you don’t like me hitting the jackpot repeatedly, and that you have doubts about me. It’s a coincidence when you win the lottery once, but it becomes inevitable when you win it several times.”

“That’s right.”

“But there is no clear evidence that all this happened inevitably. In the end, what Demiarios claimed was all speculation, wasn’t it? Did Demiarios think that the people who gathered here would be swayed by such a claim without any clear evidence?”

Yu-hyun deliberately praised the audience.

“They are all great people who can’t be compared to me. They have lived for a long time, experienced various things, won in competitions, and secured their firm positions.”

No one hates compliments.

Tellers were no exception.

Most of them pretended to be indifferent to Yu-hyun’s blatant praise, but they nodded inwardly.

“Do you think they would believe such a claim without ‘clear evidence’? That would be an insult to the people who are here.”

Yu-hyun didn’t properly refute Demiarios’ claim.

He didn’t intend to do so in the first place.

The more he tried to refute, the more he would fall into Demiarios’ trap. Then what should Yu-hyun do?

He had to fight fire with fire.

He couldn’t prove his innocence.

He wouldn’t either. Because his claim was wrong from the start.

The best way to counter an attack was not to defend, but to attack back.

The best way to counter a provocation was not to address the message, but to attack the messenger.

‘This kid.’

Demiarios narrowed his eyes.

Some tellers exclaimed ‘Yeah, right’ at Yu-hyun’s claim.

The atmosphere that he had barely pulled to his side shifted back to the other side.

But Demiarios had anticipated this situation as well.

He didn’t underestimate Yu-hyun from the beginning. He was determined to crush him thoroughly and do his best.

“Then let me ask you. How did you survive a near-death experience, withstand the attack of a second-generation Divine Spirit, and get all the connections from all kinds of unbelievable feats? You can’t answer. You have no choice. Because none of this is real.”

“Then I don’t know what you are so sure of.”

“Satan.”

As Demiarios uttered that name, murmurs arose from everywhere.

Satan.

The one who laughs in the darkest place.

The lord of the demon war.

His name was not to be taken lightly in the mixed world.

Even the tellers, who had hidden their true feelings until now, reacted to the name of Satan.

“Everyone here knows that you have a close relationship with Satan. And that he gave you a personal gift.”

“What’s wrong with receiving a gift?”

“It’s not the gift itself that matters. It’s what kind of gift it is. And I know what it is.”

Demiarios uttered the name of the gift.

“Laplace’s Demon.”

“…!”

“What did you say?”

Some of the tellers jumped up from their seats at his words.

The chairman, Lotfiout, who had been listening quietly, also twitched his eyes slightly.

“A power that knows everything from the past and present, and ultimately finds out the future. You received such a great story as a gift. Am I wrong?”

Yu-hyun had no idea where Demiarios got that information.

He had hidden Laplace’s power thoroughly.

He had never uttered Laplace’s name in front of anyone.

It was impossible to hide it completely, but he never expected him to bring up Laplace’s name.

Especially in this situation.

“Wait. If you have Laplace’s power, then you did everything knowing it.”

“But, is that possible? Doing something knowing what will happen is, essentially, manipulating the story to your liking.”

“Isn’t knowing and acting on it different? Knowing and succeeding are not exactly the same.”

“From the start, it’s unclear whether Laplace’s power itself is legitimate or not. This is ultimately something that can be argued either way.”

Opinions flew back and forth in an instant.

There was a fierce clash between the opinion that Yu-hyun’s actions were manipulation because he had Laplace’s power, and the opinion that knowing and leading it to success were separate things.

But this trial was bound to tilt to one side from the beginning.

As soon as Yu-hyun did not deny Laplace, he had given the other side a ‘pretext’ to tear him apart.

It didn’t matter what the truth was, or what the fair verdict was.

For most tellers, it was enough that they wanted Yu-hyun to fail.

‘The flow is tilting to one side.’

Yu-hyun felt like he could see the shape of the words in his eyes.

They spun fiercely and then flowed to one side.

The words merged with other words and turned into arrows that shot at Yu-hyun.

Demiarios approached Yu-hyun and whispered in a low voice that only he could hear.

“How do you feel now?”

“…”

“A life of always succeeding is like a curse. You don’t notice the failure lurking beneath your confidence that you can do anything. And the faster you run, the bigger the shock when you fall.”

“You’ve prepared a lot.”

“Are you still trying to act arrogant? Yes, I did. You don’t know how many enemies you’ve made on your way up to that position. You didn’t look down.”

“…”

“It’s not just me. I also received a lot of help from other people, along with the Divine Spirits.”

“I have a rough idea.”

“Haha. You might guess. But knowing won’t change anything.”

Demiarios backed away from Yu-hyun.

He smirked at Yu-hyun for the last time.

“You’re done.”

The verdict was given at the same time.

“Silence.”

The chairman Lotfiout opened his mouth, and the audience quieted down as if they had been lying until then.

Everyone’s eyes turned to the chairman as if they had agreed.

“I will make a decision.”