The Main Characters That Only I Know

In the vast darkness of space, where even starlight had been snuffed out.

As if by some prearranged pact, entities bearing immense presences appeared one after another.

The first to arrive was a sophisticated city floating atop a massive rock island. Vast grounds and skyscrapers soared high into the sky, shifting and eventually forming the shape of a gigantic being.

The King of Stories.

Lotfiout, Chairman of Celestial Corporation.

[Looks like I’m the first to arrive.]

In response to his voice, something else broke through the space, revealing itself.

It was a massive cathedral. The towering spires, aimed toward the heavens, resembled a crown crafted for someone.

Curiously, spires extended downward from beneath the cathedral as well.

Between the spires, dark statues could be seen, all with their eyes closed and hands clasped in prayer.

It was a scene that should have been reverent, yet its sight alone brought a sense of bleakness—a sight that showed the true nature of Exodus, one of the three great organizations of the Tellers.

[You've arrived. Catharsis.]

The cathedral responded to Lotfiout's words. From the center of the upward-reaching spire, a black shadow suddenly rose, forming a shape.

[You arrived early, Lotfiout.]

Catharsis, the Pope of Exodus.

He was dressed in a mantle, or mantum, which, unlike the widely known white mantle, was jet-black.

The three-tiered tiara on his head, resembling a black crown, was a dark skull with red gleaming eyes.

Perhaps to maintain his devotion, he held his hands together in prayer.

Lotfiout inwardly mocked him. Was there any contradiction more ironic than that—a figure who adored despair the most, assuming the guise of a benevolent cleric?

[What about Damcheon?]

[That guy is always late.]

Before their conversation ended, the final King of Stories arrived at the scene.

Piiiriririri.

A peculiar sound reverberated through space. Even though sound shouldn’t carry in a place without air, the two Kings of Stories heard it louder than anything else.

What had started as a faint sound gradually grew, until it shook the surrounding space.

Lotfiout frowned.

[Still as noisy as ever when he appears.]

The space split open to the sides, and ownerless instruments began to emerge in a line.

Horns, bugles, trumpets, and pipes—countless wind and percussion instruments floated in the air, playing noisily.

Gongs rang, trumpets blared, and stringed instruments hummed.

Simultaneously, vibrant colored cloths fluttered, scattering brilliant hues around.

The cloths spread open like a grand curtain, then parted wide to each side. A magnificent and huge palanquin emerged from within.

The ears were bombarded with noisy instruments, while eyes dazzled at the colorful display.

[The king has arrived!]

A booming voice resonated from inside the palanquin, and at the same time, the grand music stopped.

A giant, who looked like a beast, leapt out of the palanquin’s interior. Instantly, countless instruments, cloth fragments, and the palanquin itself were sucked into his body like a vortex.

Wearing a grotesquely distorted mask, the giant exaggeratedly flared the royal robe he wore.

[Oh. You all arrived early.]

Damcheon, the King of Stories and the leader of the Comedy Troupe.

Arriving the loudest and most extravagantly, he showed no sign of remorse toward his brothers, who had arrived before him.

[You're always so shameless, despite being late.]

[Oh dear. Was my performance too much for our chronically melancholic brother?]

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Catharsis retorted sharply, while Damcheon rebutted without backing down.

Lotfiout watched their clash with amusement, as it was a common occurrence.

Although they were born under the hand of their father, Logos, their relationship was worse than that of sworn enemies.

They had frequently planted spies in each other’s organizations, attempting to overthrow one another. The fact that they were gathered here was itself a miracle.

If not for the upcoming time of harvest, they wouldn’t have gathered at all.

[Hmph. Still, only three of us ended up gathering. Quite disappointing. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if all five of us gathered one last time, especially with the world about to end?]

[Oello decided to differ from us in beliefs.]

Lotfiout answered Damcheon’s question.

He had met Oello after closing the company’s doors and had grasped what thoughts and ideology Oello harbored.

Though Oello hadn’t outright declared his opposition to their father, sometimes things were evident even without words.

[And the traitor Praytion won’t be coming here either, I suppose.]

[Too bad. I thought we might finally have all five of us brothers together.]

[Those who betrayed Father don’t deserve to be called brothers.]

Catharsis flared up.

Even though they were five brothers, they weren’t all the same. Just as the organizations they led had different natures, the Kings of Stories themselves all had different personalities.

Among them, Catharsis revered and idolized their father, Logos, more than anyone else.

To Catharsis, Oello and Praytion, who betrayed their father and sided with the lowly creations, were unacceptable evils.

[Yes. Catharsis, you’ve always worshipped Father to an excessive degree.]

[We’re all his sons and creations. Isn’t that why we’ve gathered here?]

[Me? I came simply because it seemed interesting.]

In contrast to Catharsis, Damcheon acted purely on his preferences and interests.

He had gathered here because he could witness the most entertaining battle up close.

His respect for their father, or the fate of the world decided in the upcoming war, didn’t concern him at all.

All that mattered was that a fight was going to happen and that he could enjoy it thoroughly.

What would happen afterward? It didn’t matter. Even if he died, as long as he could revel in the moment.

[Isn’t that right, Lotfiout?]

[Don’t lump me together with you.]

[You’re as stiff as ever.]

If Catharsis represented fanaticism and Damcheon pure hedonism, then Lotfiout was the embodiment of cold reason.

He always made decisions based on whether something was profitable or not.

He was here because he judged that siding with their father would be advantageous.

[But something strange happened. We all stopped what we were doing for the time of harvest, didn’t we? We gave up our joyous storytelling, retrieved our archives, and discarded everything. But one archive still remained.]

[Exactly.]

Catharsis agreed with Damcheon’s opinion.

An event that would ordinarily never happen.

As much as Damcheon questioned it, there was a part that made Catharsis suspicious, and he glared fiercely at Lotfiout.

[Lotfiout, didn’t you retrieve all the archives?]

[I did.]

[Then what was that archive that Satan recently used? Wasn’t it an archive belonging to your Celestial Corporation?]

As if a cup of water had overflowed, malice seeped from Catharsis, directed at Lotfiout.

If it turned out that he truly betrayed their father, Catharsis intended to settle it here and now with a powerful resolve, mixed with a killing intent.

[Hmph. That’s ridiculous. It was originally our property, but not anymore.]

[It ‘was’ your property?]

[A Teller who owned that archive quit, so I just left it with him. It’s no longer in the possession of the head office; he’s no longer an employee of our corporation, so it’s not our archive anymore.]

[But you gave that archive to him. And why didn’t you retrieve it, knowing that?]

[Because the Teller who held that archive disappeared. I assumed he was dead, and naturally thought the archive would have vanished as well. Who could have predicted that someone thought dead would suddenly return and do this?]

[Do you consider that an answer!]

Catharsis bellowed in anger, but Lotfiout remained unmoved.

He responded with a calm demeanor as if to assert that he was entirely innocent.

[Haha. Well, it’s hard to predict situations like that.]

Damcheon shrugged as if understanding Lotfiout’s position.

Lotfiout narrowed his eyes.

[Surprising. That you would accept it so easily.]

[It’s not about acceptance. I also heard about what happened then. You mentioned a Teller named Kang Yu-hyun, right? The unprecedented genius who emerged in your corporation like a comet.]

[That’s correct.]

[Well, I heard that after Kang Yu-hyun quit, he joined hands with Oello. Then about five years ago, he suddenly disappeared. He was supposedly swept up in a massive explosion on a place called Earth? It wouldn’t be strange to think he was dead. While it’s surprising he’s returned, I can understand.]

[What do you understand?]

[That you, Lotfiout, wouldn’t have foreseen all this and deliberately left the archive rights with him, fully aware, without retrieving it. It’s all coincidence, an unavoidable fate. Isn’t that so?]

[…]

Lotfiout’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Damcheon, who was smirking at him.

A sly snake of a guy. Though Damcheon claimed to understand Lotfiout’s stance, he wasn’t foolish enough to take his words at face value.

Unlike the excessively stubborn Catharsis, Damcheon was disconcerting in his way.

However, Lotfiout, as a King of Stories who had lived through the ages, didn’t betray any emotional

turmoil.

There was no evidence, only conjecture based on suspicion.

He could pressure Lotfiout all he wanted with that alone.

[Tch. No fun.]

At Lotfiout’s indifferent reaction, Damcheon clicked his tongue.

He had tried to provoke a response but to no avail.

‘Well, I suppose that’s enough interference. The main act hasn’t even started yet.’

No matter what anyone said, the reason the three Kings of Stories gathered here was to witness the impending great war.

Having amassed stories from the beginning of the world, it was only fitting to witness the end as well.

If there was one remaining obstacle, it was the two brothers who hadn’t joined them here.

‘Would it matter whether they’re here or not?’

Damcheon thought little of it.

* * *

“So, in the end, Father—no, Logos—was the source of all this trouble.”

Having heard the truth from Praytion, Oello still wore a shocked expression.

There was a difference between having a vague suspicion and hearing the undeniable truth.

It was Logos, not Praytion, who tore apart the Codex, specifically the pages of this universe, and instigated all of this chaos.

Attempting to conceal information by discarding all archives.

Eliminating those who spread information before the time of harvest through the Foundation.

“What will you do now?”

“…What do you mean?”

“Knowing this truth, will you still stand against Logos?”

Oello shot a piercing glare at Yoo-hyun, who met his gaze with a smooth smile.

“Am I insane to back out now? What, did you think I was scared?”

“Wasn’t it?”

“You’ve got some nerve, talking back… No, it’s not.”

“Glad to hear that.”

Oello started to say something but then pursed his lips, eventually giving up on speaking.

Instead, he slapped Praytion’s laughing head from behind.

“Why are you hitting me?”

“Because you laughed.”

“Can’t I laugh?”

“No, you can’t.”

Praytion grumbled inwardly at the unreasonable treatment from his brother.

“Kang Yu-hyun.”

“Yes, Oello.”

“So… do you think we can confront Logos with our current strength?”

“At first, I thought the Allied Forces’ strength was decent, but judging by the size of the armies siding with Logos, it doesn’t look easy.”

Moreover, the Foundation under Logos’s command posed a greater threat than any other army.

The Elohim, endlessly pouring out, and the twelve senators whose power rivaled that of the First Generation Divine Spirits.

Above all, there was no guarantee that Logos himself wouldn’t intervene.

“Doesn’t it look that way to you, Oello?”

“Yes. The scale alone is concerning, but even if beings with such conflicting tendencies united under one purpose, true cooperation would be nearly impossible. If we face them at Armageddon as we are now, I’d say our odds of winning are at best 40 percent.”

“Sixty-forty, huh. Still, it’s not completely hopeless.”

“We’re fighting for the fate of the world. Even with a 90 percent chance, it’s uneasy; at 40 percent, it’s far from ideal. And now it looks like almost everyone has gathered. Strengthening our forces any further… might be impossible.”

Although they had assembled an unprecedented scale, Oello found it insufficient.

They needed more power. If only they could gather a force equivalent to another of the great armies…

“There is one option.”

“What?”

“There are allies who could strengthen our side.”

“There are still such beings? I thought no neutral armies or holy forces remained.”

“It’s not one of the great armies.”

“What do you mean…?”

“They’re arriving right now.”

Oello turned to the sky Yoo-hyun was looking at, where dark storm clouds were gathering.

Storm clouds, at this time of a clear day?

‘No, they’re not storm clouds.’

What he thought were storm clouds was a mass gathering in black.

As it drew closer, Oello felt the hair on his body stand on end.

“You… What exactly did you summon?”

“The Bookworms.”

As the black cloud approached, massive beings bearing stories began descending one by one around them.

Mythical monsters and colossal beasts of terrifying forms.

Entities that, by merely existing, decomposed the surrounding landscape, establishing themselves as calamities within the mixed realms.

They all bowed their heads toward Yoo-hyun.

Oello looked at Yoo-hyun with disbelief.

He had expected a new force to join the Alliance, but Bookworms?

And, even more incredibly, these uncontrollable monsters were all pledging their loyalty to Yoo-hyun.

How on earth…

“The former rulers of the previous universe who bear a grudge against Logos will fight alongside us.”

Yoo-hyun’s unwavering voice echoed clearly into Oello’s ear.