Chapter 10
Chapter 10
It was practically the first time I saw the golden book in person.
It was a bit different from Kang Hye-rim’s.
Her book had a golden light, but the cover was nothing more than bronze.
But this book was different.
The cover and the light it emitted.
It was dazzling, like the radiance of the sun.
The distance between me and the owner of the book got closer.
His appearance, which was not well seen because of the halo of the book, gradually became clearer. I opened my eyes wide as I confirmed his appearance.
‘A dragonkin.’
The owner of the golden book was a dragonkin from Choro.
He also noticed me and twitched his eyes.
“Hmm? This is a strange thing. I didn’t expect a guest to come to this place.”
He was different from the other tellers in his attire.
He wore a white robe that was puffy, and he wore a hat that covered his horns.
From the gap of his hat, white hair like a mane flowed down to his back, and he had a long beard under his chin.
Dragonkin were a rare race to see in the mixed world.
They were very strong and noble because they inherited the blood of dragons, and they had a small population.
But the teller in front of me had taken the form of a dragonkin.
The appearance that a teller took did not explain all of their qualities, but.
‘I’ve never seen such a dazzling book.’
The light that the book emitted was the value of the story that the book owner had.
But that book was not just gold, but brilliant gold.
Considering that there were different levels of light depending on the intensity, even among gold, it seemed to be one of the best.
‘And it’s huge.’
The dragonkin’s book was huge.
The books of tellers who claimed to have lived for a long time were thick enough to resemble an encyclopedia.
But I realized something new here.
The more great books did not become thicker, but bigger.
At this point, can I call that thing a book?
Wouldn’t it be smaller than the giant scriptures that ancient sages used?
As soon as I saw that book, I had no choice but to intuitively feel it.
‘I can’t read that book.’
It was the same as when I met Satan’s avatar.
The difference in class.
As soon as I saw that book, I had no choice but to feel it painfully.
“What are you exactly? This place is not where people usually come.”
I came to my senses at the question thrown by the dragonkin and answered right away.
“I’m a new employee who just joined.”
“Huh. A new employee?”
The dragonkin looked at me incredulously, rolling his eyes and scanning me from head to toe.
It was a familiar reaction, so I didn’t mind it.
“Haha, this is funny. I was rude. I didn’t know I would meet the protagonist of the rumor in person.”
Did he also know about me?
“No, it’s okay. I’m used to it now.”
“You look confident. That’s good to see. If I had met you without knowing anything, I would have mistaken you for a mid-level teller. But what are you doing here? This place is not very popular anymore.”
“The banquet hall where the entrance ceremony is held is so crowded, so I came here looking for a quieter place.”
As soon as I said it, I wondered if it was a bit rude, but it didn’t seem like that from his reaction.
“Hahaha! That’s right. This place is very quiet indeed. Too quiet to be a problem.”
“Well, anyway, I came here out of curiosity since this place is called an archive. I wondered if there was anything to see.”
“Well. There are many things to see. But it’s a bit strange. These days young tellers use Genesis System.”
That was true.
Compared to this place full of cabinets, it was much more convenient.
And besides, all the materials here were also on Genesis System, so there was no reason to come here.
“I’m still new, so I can’t use System well. And besides, you can’t check all the information there either.”
I admitted that System had convenience, but there were many restrictions hidden under its shadow.
A teller like me who just became an employee was not allowed to access proper information.
This side also applied grades, and you had to have a high rank to get better information.
“Still, well, I came here out of curiosity.”
“You’re very honest.”
“I don’t think there’s any need to lie.”
At my answer, the dragonkin’s eyes toward me became more colorful.
If he looked at me as an interesting guy from the beginning, then this time he seemed to look at me more closely.
Did he see me again?
So I asked him back instead of just answering questions.
“Sir, what are you doing here?”
The dragonkin was surprised by the word sir, opened his eyes wide, and then laughed softly.
“What am I doing here? This is my workplace, so I’m here.”
“Do you work here?”
I thought the accounting office was in charge of managing the records, so was he from the accounting office?
As if he understood the meaning of my gaze, he shook his head.
“No. This place is where every room has given up on management. So I volunteered to take care of it. Well, I used to be a big shot in the past. But now I’m retired. But I still have to work, so I’m managing this place.”
‘Retired.’
Did someone with such a book retire?
He looked like he could jump into active duty right away.
And more than anything, judging by the brightness and intensity of that book, this dragonkin must have had an extraordinary past.
‘Wouldn’t he be at least a director? I can’t judge rashly since I haven’t met a director yet, but he seems to be in the top ranks in the Celestial Corporation by the look of it.’
And he was stuck in this remote place, doing his work alone?
There must be something.
Maybe he was pushed to this place by the politics within the company.
The Celestial Corporation was different from the other two organizations, as it encouraged fierce competition.
“Right. Since we met like this, it must be fate. How about we have a conversation while walking?”
At his suggestion, I glanced at the remaining time.
I still had more than 15 minutes left, and there was no need to refuse, so I nodded.
It was better to talk to someone than to walk around this place that looked the same.
“By the way, you. If you’re a new employee who participated in the entrance ceremony, is it okay to be absent from there?”
“Attendance was mandatory, but it was up to me whether to stay there or leave in the middle.”
“…Do you usually run away?”
“People around me were so annoying. So I ran away.”
“Hahahaha!! Annoying! That’s an irrefutable word!”
As we talked, I felt that this old man had a rather cheerful personality.
His laughter and tone were like that, but more than anything, I liked that he had no formality.
If he had such a book, he would have pride in his high position, but he treated me very friendly, a new employee who met him for the first time today.
Thanks to that, I was able to relax a little.
“So, did you reject all the offers?”
“Yes. For now, I made excuses that I lacked ability or that I wasn’t ready yet. If I stayed there, they would bother me more.”
“I see. It must have been awkward for you to flatly refuse the offers from your seniors.”
“You know it well.”
“I was like that too when I was young. This is something we have in common. By the way, if you rejected all the offers, are you still in the Story Room?”
“Yes, I am. And I will be in the future.”
Of course, I didn’t intend to go to another department of the Story Room.
According to the information I got from the tellers’ books, each department was different, but basically each department was a small replica of the company.
The moment I entered there, I became the youngest and naturally had to follow the orders of my seniors in the same department.
‘Well, there are some advantages to that.’
But the disadvantages were terribly bigger than the advantages.
“Hmm. You don’t want to belong anywhere and choose to walk a hard path. Aren’t you afraid?”
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t.”
The old man and I continued our conversation without stopping walking.
“But I have a goal.”
I had a goal and a dream.
To rise high.
And to become a great being that others look up to.
To do that, I had to not be bound by anything and not be tied down anywhere, and just run forward.
The old man laughed softly at my answer.
“Is that so? You also have ‘desire’.”
“Desire?”
“Yes. We tellers are not born biologically, but created beings. Of course we have some abilities from birth, but we also have emptiness of not knowing what we should do or what we want to do.”
I listened attentively to his words, which I had never heard before in my previous life.
“So we are guided by the system or by senior tellers with higher ranks. But that’s fundamentally wrong. It’s not what we want ourselves, but what someone else tells us to do.”
“That’s right.”
“Most tellers are like that. But sometimes, very rarely, there are tellers like you who appear. Tellers who have a clear path in their hearts and are not swayed by anyone’s words. And those tellers all have a strong desire.”
I nodded my head.
Of course I was human in my previous life, and maybe it was different if I compared myself with those tellers who had desire.
But the old man meant me when he talked about those tellers.
The old man checked the time for a moment and clicked his tongue.
“It’s almost time for the entrance ceremony at the banquet hall to end. You don’t have much time left either?”
“Yes. About 10 minutes left.”
“Hmm. The guest who came to this room for a long time has desire and talent as a newcomer. This must be fate too. Follow me. Let me show you something interesting.”
The old man said so and increased his walking speed.
We arrived at the deepest part of the archive room.
And there I found a rather unique cabinet.
“What is that…?”
All cabinets were made of the same standard, but only that one was different from the others.
It was not a metal cabinet, but a wooden one that was rather more worn out.
And on that cabinet, the words [Hall of Fame] were written.
“What is that?”
“It’s a relic of the past that has been forgotten. Come on, follow me.”
The old man opened the old cabinet.
The opened cabinet split into left and right in an instant, creating a deep space inside as if it was expanding.
A space that was large enough for two people to enter was created.
A new space inside the space.
It was amazing.
There was a red carpet on the floor, and transparent glass galleries on both walls.
Wow!!
People’s cheers came from inside the gallery.
Inside the glass wall, I saw a hero holding a dazzling holy sword and receiving praise from the people.
It looked so vivid as if it was a real person moving that it caught my eye.
“What is that…?”
“The Legend of the Holy Sword. A very long time ago, the first story to enter this Hall of Fame. And this place has more than just the Legend of the Holy Sword.”
Along the long corridor, there were stories that stretched endlessly.
It was then that I realized what kind of place this Hall of Fame was.
“This is where the stories that had the greatest impact and response in the mixed world have been stored since the Celestial Corporation was founded.”
This place was the most glorious place for a teller in the Story Room.