The Main Characters That Only I Know

Chapter 448:

“Who are you?”

“Well, who could I be? Why don’t you try guessing?”

I lifted my head.

I shouldn’t have been able to see anything in the darkness, but strangely enough, I could see the person who had spoken to me very clearly.

He resembled me. Almost as if I were looking into a mirror.

He was, quite literally, me.

But he wasn’t me.

“What the hell. Who are you?”

“Oh, come on. We’ve been together all this time, and you still don’t know me?”

“We’ve been together all this time?”

“Think back. When you died and began again as a Teller. And all the way up to here. Who’s the one who has never once left your side?”

I forced my frozen mind to start working again.

Pushing my sluggish thoughts to their limits, I tried to guess the identity of the person before me, the one who looked just like me.

He’d already given me plenty of hints. Since he said he’d been with me from the beginning, when I first started as a Teller, the range of possibilities was extremely narrow.

In fact, there was only one answer.

“You, you’re a Fragment of the Codex, aren’t you?”

“Correct.”

He smiled at me, with a face identical to mine. His expression somehow annoyed me, but I couldn’t hide my curiosity.

A Fragment of the Codex, standing in front of me. What was going on? Could Logos have sent him on purpose?

Maybe it was something he hadn’t managed to retrieve. Perhaps, now that my life was nearing its end, the Fragment that had remained with me was revealing itself.

I felt a bit surprised, but not enough to stir any deep emotion.

So, what did it matter?

“It’s all over now anyway.”

“All over?”

“Yes. Over. I can’t leave this place.”

“Well, that’s a disappointment. Why did you come all this way, then?”

That question, piercing deep into me, stirred a flash of irritation.

“Shut up. You’re just a Fragment from Logos’ book. Go back to your creator, or did you come here to mock me? Is it that pathetic for a mere fragment to act as its former master?”

“Master, huh. Well, I guess you could see it that way. But aren’t you curious? About why I appeared before you here?”

“I don’t care.”

“That’s quite a bitter response. But you’re curious, aren’t you?”

I tried to ignore his words, but the Fragment held on to me, as if letting go was not an option.

“You’re someone with a deep curiosity and a relentless desire to explore.”

“What do you know about me?”

“I know a lot. The unfortunate extra who was ignored by the world. The dreamer who wanted to show his true self on the stage, lit by the spotlight that everyone watched.”

“......!”

Every word that came from his mouth was describing me.

“The savior of Constantinople. The liberator of the underworld. The man who understood the heart of the Eternal Returner. The Teller who rose faster than anyone else. The harpooner who defeated the sea devil.”

“You...”

The me I knew.

The me I didn’t know.

All those stories, those parts of the past that I thought had been lost in the darkness.

They came pouring out from him.

“The squire of a great knight. And the last knight who carried on his will. The savior who brought spring to a frozen planet. The Book Pile Lord who freed people from a tyrant.”

“......”

“All of them are you. Oh, and lastly, the savior of the world, standing against Logos.”

“I am not some savior.”

Just look at me.

I lost the fight against Logos. Here I was, giving up and sitting down.

How could someone in this pitiful state be called a savior?

No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn’t escape this dark world Logos had created. I was just a frog in a well.

Was true salvation even possible in this world?

What did all my efforts amount to, if even this process I was going through now was just content in a book written by Logos?

I no longer had the conviction that I could accomplish anything.

“So you’re giving up?”

“I’m just saying it’s impossible.”

“Is it really impossible?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Just that you should face the real reality.”

I sneered at his words, but he only smiled, the opposite of me in temperament, even if he looked the same on the outside.

Step. Step.

Each time he walked around me, his footsteps echoed.

“I am, indeed, no more than a Fragment of the Codex. A small piece that fell from a page of a book written by Logos. I can’t resist Logos, the owner of the book, and, as you say, I might be drawn back to him at any moment.”

Even now, he said, Logos was calling him.

He was honest about it.

“But I came here to you, not because Logos sent me, but of my own will.”

“......”

“I see it in your eyes. You’re asking why, aren’t you? Why would I abandon my creator, Logos, and come to see you in this miserable state? It’s pointless, really.”

Or maybe it wasn’t pointless.

He gave a wry smile, as if finding his situation amusing.

“You know, Yu-hyun, I liked your story.”

“......”

I didn’t answer. Instead, I braced my shaking legs and took a step forward.

“Go, Sancho! Grab the stars with your hands!”

The Knight’s hand pressed against my back.

“Ha! Go like a man! No one can deny you’re the man of the sea who took down Moby Dick!”

“Thank you for letting me meet my grandson.”

Captain Ahab and Captain Nemo’s voices gave strength to my legs.

My body was starting to move, slowly but surely.

“Our Constantinople will always remember you.”

“Hey, what are you dawdling for? Your goal is right in front of you. So go.”

Dragases cheered me on, and Frechen encouraged me in his own way.

And finally,

“Go on, Brother.”

Suh-ha, the poor child who had died by my hand.

She was pulling me forward by the hand.

“Achieve the dreams you’ve wished for.”

With those words, she let go of my hand.

My body moved forward, as if I had no other choice but to keep going.

So I ran.

Swinging my arms, gasping for breath, I pushed my once-still body to move.

One by one,

the people from my precious memories flashed past me and disappeared beyond the darkness.

“Take care, my dear friend.”

The last thing I heard was the Fragment’s farewell.

A Fragment, something that was merely someone’s possession, had, by watching my story, come to think of me as a friend.

Thump.

I ran. I squeezed every ounce of strength from my muscles and swung my arms, running.

What happened to everyone?

I almost turned back without realizing it, but I held it back with all my strength.

I couldn’t turn back. I had come this far without stopping.

Just for a moment, I’d wanted to rest, nearly to the point of giving up.

I’d thought I was tired. That I wanted to stop. That impossible things were just that—impossible.

But that shouldn’t have been.

“Hah. Hah.”

I ran through the darkness. I forced my once-still body to move.

Now I couldn’t stop.

Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t.

All the paths I had walked.

All the countless bonds I had formed.

They were still pushing me forward.

“Hah. Hah.”

Even this endless darkness was just a passing phase.

Casting aside fear, I embraced this world as well.

Acknowledging that there wasn’t just light in the world but also darkness, without rejecting it.

And then, things began to change.

The bone-chilling cold receded, replaced by a gentle warmth.

‘This place isn’t a world that exists to devour anyone.’

Running without stopping, I lifted my gaze.

A space I thought was nothing but darkness

turned into a new scene the moment I accepted it.

‘It’s beautiful.’

It was a sky filled with stars.

A vast, silver scene etched across the universe.

The remains of stars shining in vibrant colors.

A masterpiece crafted from countless tiny grains of dust.

The constellations of stars created a flow.

From the past to the present.

And from the present to the future.

All the stars were moving forward, toward the future.

‘I see.’

This place was the culmination of all the ages and all the traces of the universe, stacked and layered to form the flow of the world.

And this world had always been with us.

When we looked up at the dark night sky, the countless stars filling our eyes,

even in that darkness, we had never been alone.

Each of these stars was a milestone on my path, built by history and time.

So, let’s go.

There’s still a story I need to show.

To those who believe in me, those I couldn’t walk with and left behind, and even those I have yet to meet in the future.

For them. And for me.

Let’s move forward.

To the end of this story.