The Main Characters That Only I Know

“What are you doing?”

“Ah!”

Yoo Dae-rin was startled by Yu-hyun’s approach and quickly pulled away from Kang Hye-rim.

Kang Hye-rim looked disappointed and clenched and unclenched her hands several times.

Yu-hyun wondered how to deal with the strange scene in front of him.

Yoo Dae-rin, who met Yu-hyun’s gaze, froze and hastily explained.

“This, this is because… I thought it might be dangerous if I got involved in the fight…”

“So you protected her?”

“Well, you could say that.”

The other person was the Black Thunder Lord, Kang Hye-rim.

She might not be now, but until recently, she was a nightmare that reigned over the outskirts of the mixed world.

It was absurd to worry about such a person.

But Yoo Dae-rin couldn’t stand still when she saw Yu-hyun’s expression as he fought far away.

It looked so pitiful.

Yes. It was all because of her meddling. She had always been like that.

That’s why she had a good reputation in Lindel, and people called her the Little Lord with affection.

Kang Hye-rim didn’t guard against Yoo Dae-rin.

When she came over with concern, she hugged her like a doll and even stroked her.

Yeah, maybe this was better.

Yoo Dae-rin sighed in Kang Hye-rim’s arms and put up with her childishness.

That was what happened just before. But who would have thought that the Book Pile Lord would win the fight and come back.

She was half-giving up and thinking that he was dead, but Yoo Dae-rin’s worry was met with a completely different answer.

“Thank you. For protecting Hye-rim.”

“Huh? What?”

Yu-hyun spoke honestly and Yoo Dae-rin widened her eyes in surprise.

She didn’t expect him to answer like that.

“Are you surprised?”

“No, well… I didn’t do it to get a thank you. Wait a minute. What about the executor? Did you kill him?!”

The fight that had just happened was so fierce that one of them had to die to end it.

But, Yu-hyun came back so unscathed that Yoo Dae-rin had to assume the worst.

“I didn’t kill him.”

“Really?”

“Why would I lie?”

Yu-hyun reached out his hand to Kang Hye-rim.

Kang Hye-rim, who looked reluctant to leave Yoo Dae-rin, quickly ran over to Yu-hyun and grabbed his hand.

“Let’s go, Hye-rim.”

“Wait a minute. Are you really leaving? Where to?”

“I agreed to go where Executor Choi Do-yoon sends me. If I go, it will be deeper inside, yeah. He said to go to Old Town if I want to find people.”

“Old Town? Hmm. It’s one of the best cities in the Union, so it’s not a bad choice.”

“Then.”

“Wait!”

“What now?”

“The direction of Old Town is over there. If you go straight along that road, you’ll see more cities. You have to pass through them to get to Old Town. So take this.”

Yoo Dae-rin said that and threw something like a tile to Yu-hyun. Yu-hyun caught it.

“It’s a pass and a permit that shows you have the approval of the lord. If you have it, you won’t get into trouble in the cities you’ll visit later. You’ll still get some stares though.”

“…Why are you doing this for me?”

“Huh? No, well… Just because. I’m sorry for doubting you at first, and for causing this big trouble by calling the executor.”

Yoo Dae-rin fidgeted with her fingers as if she was nervous.

Yu-hyun smiled and shook his head at her worried expression.

“I’m not angry. You did what you had to do as the lord of the city you protect.”

“Still…”

“And that’s enough for paying me back for protecting Hye-rim and giving me the pass. You don’t have to keep it in your mind anymore.”

“You… You’re really a good guy, aren’t you?”

Yoo Dae-rin’s eyes sparkled at Yu-hyun’s generous attitude.

He had such incredible power that he could win against an executor, but he didn’t boast or show off his broad-mindedness as a lord.

That was exactly the ideal lord that she had always dreamed of.

Of course, Yu-hyun wasn’t really a lord since he didn’t rule over anyone, but rather that aspect made him more impressive.

“Maybe we’ll meet again if we have fate. Well then.”

“Uh, okay! Bye! I hope you find the person you’re looking for!”

Yoo Dae-rin waved her cute arms at Yu-hyun and Kang Hye-rim.

***

“Leader. Why did you let that guy go?”

After the situation was settled, Jamila couldn’t help but ask Choi Do-yoon why he let Yu-hyun go.

If Choi Do-yoon wanted to, he could have prevented Yu-hyun from leaving Lindel.

Or he could have forced him to accompany him and keep an eye on him.

But Choi Do-yoon didn’t make any of those choices and just let Yu-hyun go.

It was a choice that no executor would ever make.

Especially Choi Do-yoon, who was famous for being the most inflexible among the executors. Jamila, who worked as his team member, couldn’t understand it.

“It doesn’t matter. He said it himself. He won’t cause any trouble or move around freely in this place.”

Before Jamila could ask how he was so sure, Gu Seo-yoon opened her mouth.

“Did you know?”

“What are you talking about?”

“About his past life, or rather, his dream…”

“A dream, huh.”

That might not be a wrong way to put it.

Actually, Choi Do-yoon didn’t fully remember his past life.

He brought up the conversation from his past life to Yu-hyun because he also read some fragmentary information in his dreams.

He had some memories that made him different from his past self, but he wasn’t the same person either.

His memories were very fragmentary.

But when he faced Yu-hyun, Choi Do-yoon decided to become his past self.

“My mother received his help.”

There was one person that Choi Do-yoon cherished, even though he seemed like he wouldn’t bleed even if stabbed.

As soon as he returned to Earth before joining the mixed world, Choi Do-yoon went to find his mother without looking back.

He never forgot his family since the day he was swept away by the vanishing to another world.

He was worried that something might have happened to them while he was gone and when he went to find his mother, she welcomed him as if she had been waiting for him.

At a small snack bar that still had traces of the old days.

“Mom…right?”

“Yes.”

His mother told him a lot of stories.

Especially, the name Kang Yu-hyun was mentioned the most.

She said that without his help, she wouldn’t have been able to keep her faith that her son would come back alive for so long.

She said that she wouldn’t have been able to protect the shop that had their memories together.

“He was the one who helped me.”

Choi Do-yoon knew that he and Yu-hyun weren’t on good terms in his past life.

His past self only valued people’s worth and lived accordingly.

He was originally a cold-hearted person and became a broken person after his mother passed away.

Of course, he had many enemies and Yu-hyun could be considered one of them.

Choi Do-yoon had enough reason to take revenge on him.

But he helped his mother even though he could have taken revenge.

Not only that, but he also told her that he was alive and gave her hope.

“What a funny story. Helping the family of the person you hate the most.”

To his past self, Yu-hyun was just a slightly useful person, nothing more or less.

He valued him for his innate tact and sense, and his brain for gathering information.

He wasn’t a suitable talent for combat at all.

But was that really all there was to Yu-hyun?

Now that he thought about it again, Choi Do-yoon wondered if Yu-hyun’s true nature wasn’t something else.

Even in that hopeless world, the flame burning inside Yu-hyun’s eyes never went out.

“So I let him go. Because I owed him a favor.”

The moment he saw the lord of books, Choi Do-yoon recognized who Yu-hyun was.

The benefactor that his mother talked about.

And the man who had a bad fate with him in his past life.

So he pretended to be his past self.

He provoked him with fragmentary memories and fought with him.

“In the end, I lost though.”

“Did you have to fight? Couldn’t you have solved it with dialogue…”

“He wasn’t in a state to do that.”

Choi Do-yoon had seen a lot of things. He crossed countless worlds from being swept away by the vanishing to being called a sword god in another world.

He couldn’t count how many bonds he had made along the way.

To Choi Do-yoon’s eyes, Yu-hyun looked like a glass cup on the verge of breaking.

If something touched him lightly, he would crumble without any strength, and never be able to recover.

Choi Do-yoon deliberately provoked Yu-hyun.

He wanted to express his emotions. To release some of the pain that he had bottled up inside.

“If you let it all out, you’ll feel much better than before.”

He didn’t care if he died in that fight.

He owed him a favor, and he thought that any way of repaying it would be enough.

But Yu-hyun didn’t kill him.

Even though he might have left a grudge behind, the man chose to spare his life.

Choi Do-yoon didn’t think that was stupid. Rather, he deeply accepted that such an action was the man’s strength.

“I’ve never seen you care so much about someone, Doyoon.”

“Maybe so.”

Choi Do-yoon nodded without denying Gu Seoyoon’s teasing remark.

He was grateful to the man who saved his mother, but more than that, he felt a sense of atonement for what he had done to him in his previous life.

Even if he was different from who he was then, it wouldn’t have been the same for him.

“But isn’t that the same for you?”

“Th-that is…”

Gu Seoyoon trailed off at Choi Do-yoon’s piercing words.

In fact, she also remembered that she had something with Yu-hyun in her previous life.

She didn’t know if it was her past life or something that would happen in the future, but… she was aware that she had hurt him badly.

She wanted to apologize to him when she met him, but when she saw his gloomy face, which was different from before, she couldn’t say anything as if something was stuck in her throat.

In the end, all she said was about Seo Sumin and Yura.

“I should apologize too. Yes. I can understand your actions now.”

“As long as you understand, that’s enough.”

“Are you okay, though? You should focus on recovering.”

“I guess I need some rest.”

Choi Do-yoon said that and spotted Yoo Daein, who was seeing off Yu-hyun and returning to Lindel.

“I’ll stay in Lindel for a while.”

Yoo Daein shivered as if she felt something, even though she couldn’t have heard him.

She stopped and looked around, and soon found Choi Do-yoon and widened her eyes.

He felt sorry for the smallest lord, but he had to rely on her.

***

Yu-hyun headed to the inner area of the alliance with a pass that Yoo Daein gave him.

He easily found a place to stay for the night in the city.

The next morning, he and Kang Hye-rim left the city and headed to Old Town.

They arrived at Old Town when the sun was burning red in the evening sky.

The first impression of Old Town was that it was a huge city.

[Wow. It’s big.]

Old Town was incomparable to Lindel and other cities that they had visited before.

It was no wonder that it was one of the largest cities in the alliance territory.

He could see high-rise buildings that he had seen on Earth.

He wondered if he could find anyone in this place where there were so many people walking around.

Yu-hyun decided to find a place to stay first.

And more than that, Kang Hye-rim was whining and pulling his clothes because she was hungry.

There were many inns with a wooden scent in Old Town, where modern buildings and buildings from various worlds harmonized.

Yu-hyun picked one that looked clean.

“Here. The food is ready. Please eat before it gets cold.”

The ordered food filled the table.

Kang Hye-rim ate the food as if she had been waiting for this moment.

It was a rare sight in Old Town to see a grown woman with such an appetite.

The guests who stayed at the inn looked at Yu-hyun and Kang Hye-rim.

“Who are they? Travelers?”

“They have an amazing appetite. They must be skilled if they can eat like that.”

Some of them murmured as they shared drinks while Kang Hye-rim’s meal was almost over.

Yu-hyun also ate more than usual because it had been a long time since he had eaten so peacefully without being disturbed.

He thought that this kind of small peace was not bad considering what would happen in the future. As he thought so,

Bang!

The inn’s door opened roughly and a group of people came in.

“Huh? What’s with the guards?”

“Did some criminal sneak in?”

The ones who came in were the guards who were called the protectors of Old Town.

Among the sturdy men wearing silver armor, a woman showed herself.

“I heard that the Lord of Books visited this place.”

Yu-hyun sighed softly at those words.

He was in a situation where there was no peace for a tree with many branches.

Even if Yudarin had a pass, it was inevitable that the city would be on alert when two people of lord-level entered such a large city.

Yu-hyun got up from his seat right away, and all eyes in the restaurant turned to him.

“What do you want?”

As he said that and looked at the uninvited guests, Yu-hyun recognized one of them and widened his eyes.

“Huh?”

“As expected…”

The woman who seemed to be the captain of the guard smiled broadly as she identified Yu-hyun.

“Brother, I was right.”

“…Kang Yura?”

Kang Yura, who was like another self to him.

She had grown splendidly in the five years and came to meet Yu-hyun.