Chapter 67
“I need to add one more collector.”
My bombshell statement, which I made in the office, froze Kang Hye-rim, who was playing with Baekhyo.
She turned her head slightly, as if she wondered if she had heard me wrong, and sent me a look of disbelief.
I didn’t need to explain what I said.
“I need one more collector.”
“No, you don’t have to say it twice.”
Seoryeon, who was organizing some documents, sighed and said,
“Look. Your sister is shocked too.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Whatever. You need one more collector. There are many reasons that come to mind.”
I nodded.
I had been promoted from a regular employee to an assistant manager.
I couldn’t have the promotion ceremony yet, so I was stuck at assistant manager (provisional), but I already received the benefits of an assistant manager.
One of the benefits given to an assistant manager-level teller was that I could increase the number of collectors I could contract with.
A regular employee could only choose one collector, but an assistant manager could increase that number to four.
And as the number of collectors increased, naturally, the size of the library and the number of spirits who came to see it also increased.
The amount of points I earned would change.
“Anyway, I’m going to be an assistant manager soon. And White Flower Management has also settled in a stable position, so I need to add one more person.”
“I agree with you, Yu-hyun. As for me.”
Seoryeon’s gaze naturally went to Kang Hye-rim.
“Yoo, Yu-hyun. You’re kidding, right?”
Kang Hye-rim looked like she couldn’t believe what she heard.
She was panicking.
“You’re bringing in a new collector instead of me?”
“Yes.”
“No!”
In the end, Kang Hye-rim screamed. Baekhyo, who was startled by her scream, opened his already big eyes even wider and flew to my shoulder as if he was escaping.
Oh dear, our Baekhyo was scared.
“What do you mean no?”
“You’re tired of me, aren’t you? You said you only needed me!”
“I never said that much.”
Even though I corrected her wrong words, she didn’t seem to listen.
She acted like a tragic heroine who was betrayed by the person she trusted.
She couldn’t accept the reality.
Sigh.
This is a headache.
“Hye-rim. Even if I choose another collector, I won’t abandon you or anything.”
“But your interest in me will decrease! It’s like when the first child who monopolized the parents’ love loses their attention when the second child is born!”
“I need to clear up some misunderstandings. First. I’m your business partner, not your parent. Second. You never monopolized my love in the first place.”
“Liar! You deceived me!”
“Ah, really.”
Since she wouldn’t listen, I grabbed her head with my hand and pressed it down.
“Ouch!”
“Listen. This is necessary for you too.”
“For me?”
“You can’t go around the world of thoughts with just the two of us forever. Right now it’s fine, but later on it will be hard to clear bigger worlds of thoughtss with just two people.”
There are some worlds of thoughtss that require multiple people to move together in order to clear them.
Just look at the Siege of Constantinople.
Didn’t almost 50 collectors enter there?
We cleared it with just the two of us thanks to Kang Hye-rim’s fully awakened ability, but I don’t think we can do that again.
Of course, we need more party members for stability and flexibility.
“Well, it’s not urgent right now. We can do enough with just the two of us for now, so I’m going to take my time looking for a second one. But someday we’ll have to find someone else anyway.”
“Whine.”
It doesn’t change even if you’re sad.
The spirits might enjoy watching our story for now, but if this continues, they’ll get bored.
We can’t show them a good show with just Kang Hye-rim and me forever.
We need new faces to refresh their interest.
“So who are you thinking of choosing?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
I answered Seoryeon’s question like that.
I became an assistant manager much faster than expected.
All I cared about was how to grow my library and show them a proper show.
I didn’t think about finding a second and third collector after becoming an assistant manager.
So I didn’t have a solid plan.
‘Well, if I use my ability to read books, I can at least choose someone basic.’
But I still wanted to get someone who was verified by my future knowledge.
The problem was that there was no one I could choose at this timing.
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The most likely candidates were Bang Sang, who was called the Miracle Generation with Kang Hye-rim in my previous life, and Flame Knight.
‘The problem is that Flame Knight is already active in the US, so he must have a teller he contracted with, and I can’t find Bang Sang because I don’t know his identity.’
Especially now that I had given up [Genesis’s Protection], I had to run around with my own two legs to meet them.
It was a waste of time to move without a clear purpose.
‘But I need to pick one or two more soon.’
It was an unintended problem that arose from my library growing too fast.
If any other regular employee-level teller heard my worries, they would surely grab me by the collar.
[You know it well.]
‘It doesn’t change the fact that I need one more.’
[Why don’t you use your future knowledge?]
‘I know a lot of candidates. But the timing is the problem. Some of them haven’t awakened yet, and some of them have already awakened and belong to somewhere else. The timing is bad.’
[Hmm. How about nurturing those who will awaken early?]
‘The teller’s contract condition is that the other party has to be a collector. The contract before that is useless. Besides, if I offer a contract beforehand, wouldn’t they be suspicious?’
[Hmm. It’s a headache.]
‘Honestly, having just Hye-rim is enough to beat any other library, but I can’t just pick someone mediocre.’
A competent collector is beneficial for the library.
More importantly, the people I had to pick later had to be on par with Kang Hye-rim.
My goal was to prevent the end of the world by clearing the worlds of thoughts.
To do that, I needed high-level comrades.
[Sigh. You’re picky. And the situation is bad. What can you do?]
‘Well, I’ll try.’
[Do you have a plan?]
‘Yeah. I have one. The graduation ceremony is coming soon, right? It’s the period when a lot of newly awakened collectors flood the market.’
[You’re not going to choose a rookie, are you?]
‘I’m going to choose a gem.’
Baekryeon didn’t know that I had the ability to read other people’s books.
So he didn’t agree with me much when he heard me.
Well, he’ll see it soon.
‘There must be some. Those who don’t realize their talents and are not remembered by anyone.’
Not everyone who had a golden book succeeded.
Some people lived their lives without even knowing what their talents were.
Otherwise, there wouldn’t be people who were active after the end without being collectors.
‘In the end, it’s up to what you do. There are talents that you don’t notice in this peaceful era, but awaken in extreme situations.’
[Well, you can’t just sit still anyway. Good luck. I don’t know how long it will take.]
‘It probably won’t take too long.’
[Why are you so sure?]
I couldn’t help but smile at Baekryeon’s question.
‘It’s just a feeling.’𝗻𝗼𝘷𝑒𝘭𝗯𝓲𝒏.𝓃𝑒𝒕
***
“Boohoo. It’s so unfair. I was abandoned. I was really abandoned.”
I almost sighed when I saw Kang Hye-rim lying on the sofa and sobbing.
“Haah. Hye-rim. When did I abandon you?”
“You said you only needed me~.”
“I’ll get angry if you keep saying that.”
“Yes. I’m sorry.”
She finally sat up straight.
Well, it was true that she was shocked at first, but she didn’t really care that much.
But she was still acting like a spoiled child.
Let’s put aside the question of whether she can act like this at her age.
People are different.
“Hye-rim, you might have a junior soon, so if they come, please be nice to them. You’re also getting promoted soon, right? You’ll have to get used to being called senior.”
“Sen…ior?”
The word senior seemed to stimulate something in her, and her expression brightened up in an instant.
“Heh, heh. Senior, huh? Ahem. Well, it can’t be helped.”
Seoryeon and I exchanged glances and shook our heads as if we couldn’t stop her.
At least she didn’t show this silly side of her in front of the spirits or the public.
I just had to suffer a little more.
Beep!
“Hm?”
A message arrived suddenly.
Who sent it this time?
I checked it out, and it was from a teller, not a spirit.
‘It can’t be from Pentagram. Is it someone from another department trying to recruit me in advance?’
Well, everyone who knows knows about my shortest promotion to assistant manager. Of course, there are tellers who covet me who haven’t joined anywhere yet.
‘But they sent me a personal message. Usually they send something related to work.’
I checked it out just in case, and a message window opened where I could talk face to face with the other person in real time.
It was a video call.
-Ah, what. Can you hear me?
A silver-haired beauty with dark skin was standing on the other side of the screen.
She spoke to me casually, but I felt like I had seen her somewhere before.
Who is she?
I don’t remember meeting a teller like her.
-I heard you’re going to be promoted to assistant manager soon.
“Huh? Oh.”
-What’s with that reaction? I thought of you and asked how you were doing. Anyway, congratulations.
She said that with a slightly embarrassed look, and there were horns on her forehead.
Wait, horns?
“You, don’t tell me… are you Horns?”
I suddenly recalled what had happened at the entrance ceremony.
The only colleague who approached me when I was quietly observing the situation in the banquet hall.
She was different from the other guys who couldn’t fully transform their appearance, she had two horns.
She had a rivalrous attitude towards me, and she shouted that she would show me later.
It was unexpected, so I remembered it.
Of course, Horns was not her real name. She didn’t even have a name back then.
But it seemed like my guess was not wrong, as she reacted violently from the other side of the screen.
-What?! What do you mean by Horns? I have a name, you know! It’s Arisha!
“Oh, oh. Okay. Sorry.”
-Hmph! You, your attitude really pisses me off!
I was very surprised.
Who would have thought that the little guy I met back then would turn into such a beauty.
Was that thing swaying behind her like a tail on the other side of the screen?
It looked like she had taken the form of a Red Demon (赤魔人).
‘Red Demons are a race that are well-known even in the mixed world, right? That means this beauty also has talent.’
Anyway, I was happy to see her after a long time, so I asked how she was doing.
“So. You’re also in the Story Room, right? How are you doing?”
-Me? Well, I’m lucky to get into a department and get help from my seniors.
“Oh really? Which sector are you in?”
-It’s a planet called Altairan. It’s a place where swords and magic exist.
She was working in a fantasy sector.
Well, usually my colleagues do stories on Earth, but it’s common to move to another sector with the help of other departments.
“You’re doing pretty well, huh?”
-Huh, huh! What do you think of me? Don’t be surprised when you hear this! Already, I have reached 500 viewers in my library!
“Oh.”
500 didn’t seem like much to me who had already surpassed 3,000, but it was actually an unbelievable number.
Having more than 500 viewers meant that she had an incredible amount of talent.
-Of course, it’s still not enough compared to you who got promoted already, but I’ll catch up soon!
Arisha shouted at me with a sneer from outside the screen.
I wondered if she could easily overcome the wall of 2,500 viewers, but it was nice to see her have big dreams.
“You must have found a good collector?”
-Well, something like that. He’s a nobleman in this world. He was called a loser before he made a contract with me, but after that, he changed completely. He’s not a loser anymore, he’s an elite!
“Huh?”
I felt like I had heard this somewhere before, and I asked him curiously.
“Don’t tell me, is he a count or a marquis or something?”
-Huh? What? How did you know? He’s from a count family.
“He was called a loser because he caused trouble in the past, but one day he suddenly came to his senses and became a different person, right? And everyone around him was surprised and stuff.”
-Huh? Uh, uh.
“And his father who used to ignore him finally praised him and was happy for him, and the lady from another noble family who he was engaged to also said that she didn’t believe the rumors and muttered to herself. And he was fat before but he lost weight and became handsome?”
-You, you what? How do you know all that?!
As expected.
This beauty Arisha had chosen the loser water protagonist.
I didn’t bother to answer her and just smiled playfully.
“Well, you picked a good guy. Good luck.”
-Shit! You, don’t think you won with just that!
“Okay. Take care. Let’s talk later when we have time.”
I ended the call with that.
I was quite happy to meet him unexpectedly.
After ending the call and resting for a while, Baekryeon and Hye-rim who had been quiet until now gave me a sidelong glance.
“Yu-hyun.”
“Who was that woman just now?”
Huh? Why are they suddenly acting like that?
