Chapter 12
I racked my brain for a good name for my library, but nothing came to mind.
âShould I go with something provocative like the other tellers? No, whatever name I choose, it will be overshadowed by those libraries.â
It was easy to attract attention with a catchy name when most names were plain, but now everyone was trying to stand out with flashy names.
It was a losing game.
It was like being normal in a land of cyclops.
I looked around at the other libraries, hoping to find some inspiration.
My colleagues who had just finished their induction ceremony had already set up their libraries and were showing their stories.
They had very few viewers, maybe three at most, or just one at the minimum.
They were tiny libraries.
I logged into one of them to check it out, and the viewers were not very impressed.
[Shadkarâs First Survivor 100TP donation!]
[What is this? This is the weirdest thing Iâve ever seen.]
[Proud Dragon 100TP donation!]
[This is so low quality. I came here out of curiosity because itâs a new library, but Iâm leaving now.]
[Drunkard of the Tavern 100TP donation!]
[Lololol just close your library.]
The message window was full of hate comments.
And they were not even indirect messages, they were direct messages that cost TP.
The spirits were mocking the teller and the collector, and of course, the collectorâs face was sour as he watched them live.
Excessive criticism and personal attacks.
But they couldnât kick them out because they were the only viewers they had.
The teller of this library must have been holding back tears and catering to their whims.
The first impression was everything, or at least half of it.
The spirits who came to this library out of curiosity would also be influenced by these reactions.
The chances of them staying were slim.
âThatâs what happens when you sign a contract with a pathetic collector.â
The collectorâs level was indeed low.
It was natural that his skills were lacking since he didnât have a contractor.
In that sense, I was lucky.
I had found a hidden gem in Kang Hye-rim.
âIf you mess up the first button, you can never succeed.â
The spirits who shot TP at them now would soon lose interest and leave the library.
Then the library would be doomed with no visitors.
âThen there are only two paths for the teller to choose.â
The first one was to give up their library rights and join another teller who ran a bigger library.
The other one was to starve to death without TP and disappear with their library.
From this world.
Most tellers chose the first option.
They would rather work under someone else and do all kinds of chores, but at least they wouldnât die of hunger.
That was the common sense of the tellers.
Watching that scene live, I thought that I could have ended up like that if I made a wrong move.
âIâm lucky in that regard.â
I decided not to name my library yet and pressed the [Create Library] button.
[Mission Success!]
[You have acquired a personal library]
[You have acquired the Managerâs Room]
[You can now move to the Managerâs Room whenever you want]
A small fanfare sound that only I could hear and a message that my library was created were delivered to me.
I knew what the Managerâs Room was, but that wasnât important right now.
âKang Hye-rim.â
âYes.â
âFirst of all, you did well by changing your weapon to a sword and practicing as I advised.â
âHehe. Thank you.â
âBut in the end, what matters is whether you can produce results. Kang Hye-rim. Are you ready to swing your sword?â
âHuh?â
She wasnât stupid, she must have understood what I meant by that.
Swinging your sword.
It wasnât just practicing in the air.
Kang Hye-rim had to start working as a collector for real.
Thatâs why I told her to change her weapon. đŻđđźâŻđžâŻđŁđâŽđ·âŻđ”.đ€đđ
âRight now?â
She asked incredulously, as if she didnât expect me to say that so soon.
âHye-rim. You know that we tellers sign contracts with collectors and show stories, right?â
âYes.â
âShowing stories means showing stories. We tellers find suitable contractors and show their stories to the spirits. Let me ask you this. What exactly are the stories we are trying to show?â
âUh, wellâŠâ
She hesitated to answer.
She probably hadnât thought much about it before.
Kang Hye-rim thought for a moment and answered.
âThe life of a collector?â
âWell, thatâs close, but too broad. Actually, there is no single definition of a story. Some spirits are curious about the world where collectors live. They are interested in their lives and history. Some spirits like stories that make them think. Some spirits enjoy the fun things that collectors show them.â
In other words, there were different genres of stories.
Some collectors showed adventures of exploring the unknown, some showed cooking and eating various dishes.
History, philosophy, entertainment, etc.
But among these genres, there was one that was overwhelmingly popular.
âThat is the heroâs tale.â
âHero⊠tale?â
The story of a hero. Their birth and success.
It was the genre that the spirits loved the most.
âKang Hye-rim. You will be the protagonist of a heroâs tale.â
âMe, me? Can I do that?â
âYou can. And I will make it happen for you.â
Well, I said it was a heroâs tale, but it was actually simple.
Go inside the gate, defeat the monsters there, and grow steadily.
That was the basic framework of a heroâs tale.
But simple things were hard, and many tellers who tried this genre failed to succeed. It was not easy to overcome the obstacles in front of them.
âIâm still very low in collector rank. Iâm only a ninth-grade subordinateâŠâ
A ninth-grade subordinate was the lowest of the 18 ranks of Korean collectors, starting from first-grade regular.
It was equivalent to F rank in alphabetical order.
âIt doesnât matter.â
She was low-ranked because she hadnât fully awakened her talent yet.
When she awakened her trait, she would be much higher than a ninth-grade subordinate.
âBut stillâŠâ
âIt doesnât matter.â
I cut her off firmly.
She had to trust me on this. I knew what I was doing.
I had a plan to make her a hero.
âYou have to believe in your own power, Ms. Kang Hye-rim. Of course, you donât know it yet. But if you do as I say, you will soon realize it. How amazing is the trait that you possess.â
âUh, um. Okay.â
In the end, Kang Hye-rim was the one who lost to my persuasion.
Kang Hye-rim grabbed a sword.
It was a mediocre weapon that was provided for free, but it wouldnât be a problem for her level.
Fortunately, the entrance to the world of ideas was not far away, so it didnât take long to get there.
âThere are not many people here.â
âThatâs because the entrance is in a remote place.â
I answered Kang Hye-rimâs words, but my eyes were fixed on somewhere else.
At the end of my sight, a white whirlwind was spinning in the air like a vortex.
âThatâs the entrance to the world of ideas.â
Before the material world Earth was incorporated into the mixed world, myths and legends were just fictional stories created by someone.
But since we entered the mixed world, everything changed completely.
It was because of the appearance of these worlds of ideas.
âA place that resembles the world that exists in actual history, or in legends, myths, and folktales that were only passed down by writing.â
Now, the stories of ancient times that had disappeared and were impossible to verify whether they were real or fake, became reality and manifested as a kind of subspace.
These worlds of ideas were the optimal places for collectors to be active.
âLetâs go in.â
âAh, yes.â
Kang Hye-rim entered the world of ideas through the entrance with her shoulders hunched.
The scenery changed in an instant.
The place we moved to was a mine.
The air that touched our skin was damp and dark because there was not much light.
The Anbar Mountainsâ Kobold Mine.
That was the name of this world of ideas.
Of course, it was not revealed yet, but in the future.
âAnd itâs also a place where beginners collectors usually come to farm points.â
It was not a bad place for Kang Hye-rimâs debut battle because the difficulty level was moderate.
âWhere is thisâŠ?â
âThis is the Kobold mine. Do you know about Kobold?â
âAh, yes.â
But knowing something in your head and experiencing it in reality were different.
Kang Hye-rim clenched her sword nervously.
She looked around with anxious eyes.
There was no one else in the dark mine except for her and me.
It was a place where people didnât come often.
Her tense appearance was pitiful, but this was also necessary.
I turned my eyes away from Kang Hye-rim and checked the status of my library.
<Title: Untitled> (Kang Yu-hyun)
[There is no introduction to the library.]
Current number of viewers: 0
Heroic Tales
I opened the library, but I didnât start writing seriously yet, so there were no customers. But that was over now.
I pressed the [Open Library] button.
[The library will be opened.]
Along with the message from the system window, my library went up on the list of writings on Genesis Network.
There were viewers who came in just after a short wait.
They were spirits who were looking for something interesting to watch.
[âLeader of Shaldralaâ has entered the library.]
[âDrunkard of Tavernâ has entered the library.]
[âInvestigator of Painâ has entered the library.]
The number of people who came in right away was three.
One of them had a familiar name.
âI thought who it was, but itâs that spirit who wrote bad comments in other rooms.â
Maybe he came in out of curiosity because a new room appeared.
He would bite me if I showed any flaws.
I greeted them with a smile for now.
âWelcome to my library. I am Kang Yu-hyun, an employee and owner of this library.â
[âLeader of Shaldralaâ says hurry up and show him your story.]
[âInvestigator of Painâ is displeased with the collectorâs scared look.]
They were all impatient.
They seemed to be looking for a way to judge and criticize me.
I shrugged my shoulders and said to Kang Hye-rim.
âMs. Hye-rim. Iâm going to enter the library management room and show the spirits your appearance. From now on, you have to fight on your own.â
âYesâŠâ
Kang Hye-rim answered with a trembling voice.
She seemed to have some determination, so she didnât cry.
âDonât worry. I told you over and over again. You can do it. So, just relax and do it lightly. Remember the feeling when you swung your sword in the empty lot. Just do it like that and youâll be fine.â
That was all I could advise her.
She would realize what I meant when she actually swung her sword.
I moved to my personal subspace right away.
This white room with a size of 6 pyeong was called [The Room of the Observer].
It was a personal subspace given to the teller who opened the library.
I could watch the collectorâs appearance and the spiritsâ reactions from a third-person perspective in this place.
Crack crack!
The sound of Kobold came from beyond the tunnel of the dark mine.
All kinds of mysteries and monsters that existed in the world of ideas were implemented by the power of the story that the world of ideas had.
And we called them fantasy entities.
Short for fantasy.
That Kobold was also a fantasy entity implemented by the story of this mine.
Crack!
The Kobold that showed up from the corner saw Kang Hye-rim and bared its teeth.
This first fight was important for Kang Hye-rim, but it was also the same for me.
I was also writing for the first time.
âIt begins.â
The Kobold on the screen ran towards Kang Hye-rim.