The Main Characters That Only I Know

Chapter 50

Yu-hyun and Kang Hye-rim, who didn’t have a car yet, took the bus to their destination.

Kang Hye-rim, who was holding a sword, was enough to attract the attention of the people on the bus, but no one was surprised.

Already, through the past 10 years, collectors had completely blended into society.

There were some people who recognized Kang Hye-rim and asked for her autograph, but there was no more trouble than that.

When she finally got a chance to breathe, Kang Hye-rim, who sat next to Yu-hyun, asked cautiously.

“Yu-hyun-ssi, you seem very amazing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just. Everything? You’re a teller, but different from other tellers, and you even seem to have a hidden past that others don’t know.”

“That’s a misunderstanding.”

“No way.”

Yu-hyun denied it, but Kang Hye-rim knew.

That Yu-hyun was hiding something.

The fact that he still didn’t tell her meant that she hadn’t met his expectations yet. 

She felt sorry for that, but she didn’t blame Yu-hyun.

“So who are these benefactors we’re going to meet? They must be very impressive people if you call them benefactors.”

“…”

What kind of person are you, Yu-hyun couldn’t help but close his mouth at that question.

His mother was a middle manager who was recognized at the company. 

On the other hand, his father was a novelist who always stayed in his room and wrote.

The image of his parents that Yu-hyun remembered was different from that of a typical family.

His father was weak and his mother was strong.

But if he was asked who was less or worse among them, he couldn’t answer. 

After all, they were both very precious people in his life.

“Yes. They are very impressive people.”

So Yu-hyun had no choice but to answer like that.

His parents were different from him. 

They had their own firm talents and they didn’t bend for their goals.

“Really, they must be amazing people.”

“Hehe.”

Kang Hye-rim was curious about who the people Yu-hyun praised so much were. 

But more than that, she felt a strange jealousy towards them.

Yu-hyun-ssi’s past that I don’t know.

Every word of his stimulated Kang Hye-rim’s heart roughly.

Yu-hyun, who didn’t know her inner thoughts, felt her gaze and coughed to change the topic.

“By the way, I’m curious about something. Do you have a family?”

Yu-hyun wondered about that. 

He thought of Choi Doyoon’s mother and his own family and naturally wondered what kind of people Kang Hye-rim’s family were.

He could have found out about her past through her book. 

But instead of secretly reading it, he asked Kang Hye-rim directly.

He felt guilty about sneaking a peek at the information window of his colleague who would be with him in the future. 

He smiled bitterly at his own attitude.

‘It’s funny. I don’t care about killing people, but I feel guilty about digging up their past.’

Kang Hye-rim, who didn’t know his inner thoughts, smiled brightly and said.

“Oh, are you asking me because you’re interested in me? Hehe”

“There you go again. If you don’t want to answer, don’t.”

“No, I’m happy. Um. Family relations.”

Holding the sword he gave her tightly, Kang Hye-rim said without hesitation.

“I don’t have any.”

“…What?”

“I don’t have a family. Oh, I used to have one. I don’t even remember my dad’s face though. Maybe he ran away after giving birth to me.”

“…”

“So maybe that’s why my mom abused me terribly. She hit me and said I wasn’t her child. And then later she couldn’t overcome her depression and hanged herself.”

Kang Hye-rim still remembered what happened then.

The scene that came vividly to her mind when she closed her eyes.

She came home at sunset because she would get scolded if she stayed at home. 

She opened the door carefully and muttered ‘I’m home’ in a crawling voice and looked up.

What she saw was her mother’s corpse hanging from the ceiling with the red sky at dusk behind her.

The rest of the process was nothing special. 

She went to an orphanage because she had no parents and became timid because of the abuse she had received since childhood.

That timid attitude brought more bullying from others and it was a vicious cycle.

“So I don’t have anything like a family now.”

Yu-hyun’s expression hardened in an instant.

Even though he had been through a terrible world for 10 years, what Kang Hye-rim had experienced was not something to be taken lightly.

But Kang Hye-rim didn’t care about the heavy atmosphere and just told him her history.

As if she was so happy that Yu-hyun was curious about her.

“Hyerim-ssi…”

“Yes? Why?”

Kang Hye-rim looked like she really didn’t know why Yu-hyun called her.

Yu-hyun looked at her for a moment and then shook his head.

“No. It’s nothing. You must have had a hard time, Hyerim-ssi.”

“Hehe. Well, I used to think that way. But now it’s different. It’s all thanks to you, Yu-hyun-ssi.”

“Thanks to me.”

“If it weren’t for you, I would still be the old loser with my head down. Thanks to you, I realized what my talent is and what I want to do.”

As he listened to her words, Yu-hyun realized that she was twisted somewhere.

She seemed to lack the sadness or pain that a normal person should have. 

As if those hellish days were nothing, Kang Hye-rim just smiled.

He felt a strange sense of alienation from her attitude, which was different from the sword master he knew.

‘Like a person who is about to break.’

The sword master he knew would never be like this.

At that moment.

Yu-hyun shook his head.

‘Am I in a position to talk about others?’

If a person was mentally twisted, the most serious thing would be himself.

Besides, comparing the old sword master and the current Kang Hye-rim was meaningless.

He didn’t even know what the real appearance of the old sword master was.

So there was no need to be disappointed or compare.

There was only one thing he knew for sure.

She was unstable and could collapse at any time, but depending on how he treated her in the future, she could change as much as she wanted.

The old sword master must have been a righteous person because he was with good people in the past.

But Yoo Hyun had no intention of raising her kindly.

He thought it was not enough to be simply kind, considering what would happen in the future.

‘Still.’

He decided that it would be best to do his best for her in the future.

“Hyerim.”

“Yes. Yoo Hyun.”

“It’s okay.”

Yoo Hyun said to Kang Hye-rim, who was looking at the scenery outside the window.

“I won’t abandon or leave you, at least.”

That was the best thing he could say for now.

But for Kang Hye-rim, that was like scratching the anxiety that was buried deep in her heart.

She opened her eyes wide and then smiled brightly.

“Yes! Me too!”

Just as Yoo Hyun said he would do his best for her, she had more than that feeling for him.

Yoo Hyun was her light and her reason for living.

So she was willing to accept any painful thing for him. 

Even if it meant giving up her life.

In the end, this was the relationship between a twisted teller and a twisted collector.

The story of two wounded people who licked each other’s wounds.

***

The scenery I saw after getting off at the bus stop was enough to remind me of my past memories that I had forgotten.

‘The place where I used to live.’

The neighborhood where my whole family lived happily before my father passed away.

I felt indescribable when I realized that I was standing in the place of my memories that I thought I would never see again.

“Is this it?”

“Yes. This is it. Let’s walk for a while.”

I wanted to walk around the neighborhood a little before going to see my parents.

Every time I walked on the road, every time I checked the surroundings, I felt like the puzzle of memory was falling into place one by one.

Yeah. That’s right. I used to play here all the time in the past.

The PC room that I used to visit often when I was young. 

The bakery that my mother liked. 

The academy street that I really hated and the food cart where I often snacked.

Everything was the same as before.

But the me in my memory was 14 years old. 

But now it was different.

Even if everything around me was the same.

Only, I was different.

‘I used to spend some time here at this playground too.’

I looked at the empty playground near the shopping district and immersed myself in memories.

I always hung around at the playground because I hated going to school at this time of day.

I hated it so much back then, but now that I think about it, it was a moment that I missed so much.

Whenever I did that, my mother would find me like a ghost and scold me.

“Hey! Kang Yura! You skipped school again, didn’t you?!”

Yeah. Like this voice.

“…Huh?”

For a moment, I couldn’t help but be surprised. 

Not far away, there was a person who looked exactly like my mother in my memory walking towards me.

But she wasn’t calling me. 

When I turned my head, I saw a girl sitting on a swing in the playground. 

She looked at her mother with an annoyed expression.

As soon as I saw her, I had a hard time accepting this situation properly.

The one who always used to be there in my memory was me in middle school. 

Who is she? 

Surely, she must know her mother by looking at how they bickered with each other.

‘Oh. Is that… how it was.’

I definitely went back to the past.

But in that case, there is a contradiction. 

Human Kang Yu-Hyun and Teller Kang Yu-Hyun exist at the same time in the same time period.

But reality wasn’t like that.

There was no Kang Yu-Hyun here.

Instead, there was only a girl named Kang Yura here.

“Phew. Didn’t I tell you? Those who run away from their own affairs never succeed.”

“Ah, I know. Stop nagging me. People are watching.”

“Don’t be conscious of other people’s eyes. Just be more confident in yourself.”

My mother was exactly as she was in my memory. 

Her confident attitude and unwavering eyes. 

Her own firm belief as well.

I stared at her as if bewitched by her sight.

Maybe because I looked too intently, our eyes met with each other’s mother’s eyes.

“Excuse me.”

“I’m sorry. We were too loud, weren’t we?”

My mother apologized to me first. 

I couldn’t help but clench my fist at her behavior of looking at me like a stranger.

‘Yeah, what did I expect in the first place.’

There is no Kang Yoo Hyun here. 

Instead, there is only Kang Yura. 

There was already another owner in the place where I should have been. 

Even so, I was tied to the past memories that had passed.

If my mother heard that, she would have snorted and scolded me.

But unlike me, my mother looked a little curious about me.

“Excuse me, have we met somewhere before?”

“Mom. What are you talking about?”

“You look like someone I know.”

“Look like who?”

Kang Yura also looked at my face intently. 

Despite her young age, she had a warmth and vitality like a freshly bloomed flower bud.

Maybe because she resembled her mother, she was definitely beautiful even though she had not lost her baby fat.

“Oh? Now that you mention it, you’re right? You look like dad. Sir, do you know our dad? That’s weird. Dad doesn’t have any brothers.”

“Kang Yura. It’s rude to ask that to someone you don’t know. I’m sorry. My daughter is very talkative.”

“No, it’s okay.”

“Oh. Your voice is kind of similar too? Look mom!”

“Yura, you. Can’t you stay still?”

I scratched my head as I watched the two mothers and daughters arguing. 

So, the female me. 

Kang Yura was right. 

I originally looked like my father.

Exactly, I looked like my father in appearance, and my mother in eyes.

Kang Yura, who was suspiciously looking at me, soon turned her eyes to Hyerim, who was standing next to me blankly. 

At that moment, her eyes sparkled with tremendous momentum.

“Wow, wow wow. Is this real?”

“Why?”

“Mom. Look at that. That person is that person.”

“That person? Who is that?”

“You know! The person I told you before. Geomhu!”

“That person?”

Kang Yura recognized Hye-rim. 

She didn’t expect to meet the real Geomhu, so she was overly excited. 

As soon as I saw her, I realized that she was similar to me too.

She was also very knowledgeable about collectors.

“Can I get your autograph please?”

“Autograph?”

Hyerim sent me a look of what to do. 

I was a bit embarrassed and met the eyes of Shin Eunsook, who was her mother.

I can’t help it.

“Don’t you want to talk for a while since this is fate?”