I Awakened as a Dark History - Chapter 36

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 36
Ah! You said you wouldn’t get tangled up with me anymore!
Why are you appearing right in front of me?
Please, let fate’s pranks stay confined to streaming services!
I squeezed my eyes shut for a moment.
When I opened them again, I hoped he’d vanished, but he remained exactly where he was.
I swallowed a sigh.
‘I should’ve come to Hunket tomorrow instead of today.’
The fact that I’d come here because of the Basilisk’s Mana Stone sale and issues related to the Stone Monument at the altar was beyond my control.
Regret seeped deep into my bones. But regret was regret, and the situation was what it was.
Left with no choice, I stepped to the left to slip past him.
Whoosh.
And he blocked my path in exactly the same way.
When I moved the other direction, it was the same.
How many times did we repeat this dance?
‘Damn it.’
I finally looked up.
Our eyes met—Yu Hoyeon seemed to be studying me carefully.
“Is there something you need?”
Yu Hoyeon didn’t answer right away. After hesitating for a while, he spoke in a quieter voice than he did on broadcast.
At my reaction, Yu Hoyeon raised his voice slightly.
“Are you hurt……?”
“Sorry?”
As I responded with confusion, Yu Hoyeon’s expression hardened a bit.
He spoke again in a louder voice.
“Are you hurt? Anywhere?”
At first, I didn’t understand what he was asking.
But then the circumstances of our last meeting came back to me.
The attack by criminal Hunters and his Skill Instability had certainly put me in danger.
He was asking again, recalling that situation.
“Thank you for your concern. Fortunately, I’m not hurt anywhere.”
At my answer, relief washed across Yu Hoyeon’s face.
I’d thought his first impression was poor and I didn’t want to see him again, but unexpectedly, I no longer felt a bad impression coming from him.
‘Did his hostile attitude and cryptic words happen because of Skill Instability? Have I been judging him too harshly?’
Perhaps his hostility and strange words weren’t genuine towards me at all.
As that thought took root, my heart eased a little.
In the end, I decided to put his mind at ease.
“I’ve heard the circumstances from the Hunter Association director. You don’t need to worry about it.”
Yu Hoyeon still seemed to have more to say, hesitating.
As I looked at him curiously, Yu Hoyeon spoke again.
“And there’s been no trouble or injuries caused by someone else?”
What kind of question was that?
“No, of course not.”
I answered matter-of-factly. And immediately turned the question back on him.
“But why are you asking that?”
Yu Hoyeon looked flustered by my counter-question.
Like someone who’d made a slip of the tongue, he covered his mouth with one hand and managed to answer.
“Just…… I’ve heard there are people like that. Hunters who are forcibly taken and suffer.”
I’d never heard such a story before, and my eyes widened.
“Really? Is that a common rumor among Hunters? I haven’t heard it before…… Where would I go to find information like that?”
Now that I thought about it, I remembered the people I’d met on the Gamja App had told me not to reveal that I was a beginner.
Was that worry the reason for such caution?
I furrowed my brow with concern. Then Yu Hoyeon rolled his eyes.
“I don’t know. I didn’t really hear it from anywhere—I saw it. And sometimes I’ve heard about it.”
As Yu Hoyeon said that, his expression became vacant.
A faint yellow light seemed to flicker in his pupils.
Something felt like it was about to surface in my memory, but it wasn’t important right now.
A sinister feeling crept up my spine.
‘Wasn’t this the same feeling as when his Skill Instability flared up before?’
It didn’t seem like a good sign that Yu Hoyeon was digging through his memories.
I quickly cut off his train of thought.
“Right! Why does that matter anyway! We just have to be careful!”
As I raised my voice sharply, even the passersby turned to look at me.
I was embarrassed a moment too late and covered my face with one hand.
But I’d succeeded in pulling Yu Hoyeon’s attention back to me.
He rubbed his eyes and asked in bewilderment.
“I’m currently…?”
I hurried him along to avoid the stares of those around us.
Yu Hoyeon followed naturally behind me.
I only released him once we’d reached the corner elevator, away from wandering eyes.
“Yes, it seems your Skill Instability is still acting up. Didn’t a Hunter from the Hunter Association come with you?”
It didn’t seem like the sort of thing they’d leave unattended—someone who could spiral out of control at any moment because of their skill.
Yu Hoyeon nodded at my point.
“They did come with me. But there were too many people and I lost them. That’s why I was waiting on the first floor, and then I saw you and came over.”
He paused to catch his breath.
“Seeing you clearly like this, with a sound mind—it’s the first time. At first, I thought another Delusion had started.”
I felt something odd in his words and furrowed my brow slightly.
“But didn’t we first meet just a few days ago?”
“That’s true. But not for me.”
Yu Hoyeon answered firmly.
“I have one skill I can’t control. Normally it’s no problem at all, but when I use the skill strongly, I end up getting caught in it instead.”
It must have been a personal matter, yet he didn’t hesitate.
I couldn’t bring myself to interrupt him in the face of such sudden oversharing.
“Instead of the skill’s power growing stronger, Delusion takes over.”
“I see…”
I answered without much interest, then something clicked.
“So you’re seeing me in that Delusion?”
Say no. Please say no.
“Yes.”
I nearly screamed.
Fortunately, my dignity as a working adult kept my mouth shut.
“Why?”
“…Because you’re someone worth it.”
“I’m not, though.”
…
What I’d only thought tumbled out of my mouth unbidden.
Yu Hoyeon blinked, startled, then finished what he was saying.
“I think of that Delusion as the past. But others say those things haven’t happened ‘yet’—that I’m glimpsing the future through the skill’s influence.”
If it was the ability to see the future, wasn’t that useful?
Yet I couldn’t voice such a thought before his dejected face.
“When I fall into Delusion, I can’t tell what’s real and what isn’t. To wake up from it, I have to forcibly sever the skill.”
The Hunter Association seemed to handle that.
Since this man was also S-rank, the Association Chairman, Seo Il-hak, would probably step in.
“And in that Delusion, I see you often. Which means you’re someone I need in the future.”
My resolve never to get tangled up with him shattered completely.
I felt as though I had a migraine that didn’t exist.
“But whether you can actually meet that need—I don’t know either.”
I think I do know.
My heart hardened like a steel wall again, as if the brief softening had been a lie.
Getting entangled with this man would only end badly.
Had he sensed my true feelings?
Yu Hoyeon’s eyes seemed to cool subtly as well.
Was he feeling the hostility toward me that he’d sensed in the Delusion again?
I grew anxious without meaning to.
“So I wanted to see you once. I was curious what you’d be like with a properly sound mind.”
Yu Hoyeon finished speaking with difficulty.
Fortunately, he didn’t show hostility the way he did when caught in Delusion, but that seemed to be the result of caution.
He was currently observing me carefully.
“Ah, yes.”
I answered briefly and kindly to avoid triggering his hostility.
To be honest, I wasn’t sure my tone had been kind enough, but fortunately Yu Hoyeon didn’t seem inclined to judge me on the spot.
I seized the opportunity to say goodbye, relief washing over me.
“Anyway, I need to head up to the ninth floor from here. I should get going.”
I pressed the elevator button deliberately, and Yu Hoyeon stepped back.
“Then I’ll be on my way too.”
He turned to leave, then paused.
“About my skill—you know how it brings on Delusion if I use it too hard.”
I tilted my head slightly, curious what he’d say next.
“We call it Delusion, but it feels like the me inside the delusion and the me right now are merging into one.”
Yu Hoyeon’s gaze met mine directly.
His eyes, empty of that yellow light, were strangely gentle.
“Don’t let yourself merge with the skill too much. Be careful.”
He left those words of concern hanging behind him and fled the scene like a man running from something.
The elevator arrived behind me with a soft ding.
‘I really can’t figure him out.’
I pushed down the tangle of thoughts rising in my chest and quickly pressed the button for the ninth floor.
* * *
The employee across the desk smiled with barely concealed discomfort.
I rubbed my chin as I looked over the email they’d handed me.
“So… what you’re saying is that no one accepted the Stone Monument interpretation request, but a collector who heard about it has expressed interest in buying it.”
“Yes, that’s correct. Unfortunately, this is the only response we’ve received, so I apologize for the limited information.”
The employee made sure to offer an explanation even as they spoke.
“It seems that while research into languages and items from Dungeons is quite active, we haven’t completed enough research to conduct proper translations yet.”
The employee pointed to several parts of the email with their fingers.
“Fortunately, the conditions listed in the purchase offer are quite favorable. We at Hunket will do our best to facilitate the transaction on the best possible terms. Would you be interested in selling right now?”
It was now certain that no one else could read the Stone Monument’s language.
Yet I could still read it, however fragmentary and incomplete.
I couldn’t find an answer for why only I could decipher it.
Selling the Stone Monument on favorable terms and forgetting about it would be one way out.
But something kept catching hold of me—a voice pulling at my heels.
‘It means you’re someone needed in the future.’
Was it because of my ability to interpret this Stone Monument that I’d become necessary?
If so, perhaps I should sell it off and be done with it.
Then there would be no reason for me to be tangled up with Yu Hoyeon.
‘No, I can’t be sure. Selling it might actually backfire and tangle me up with him even worse.’
To sell or not to sell—that was the question.
After thinking it over carefully, I chose to maintain the status quo.
Once you change your answer, it inevitably turns out wrong.
I could sell anytime, but retrieving it later would clearly be difficult.
It made more sense to observe the situation first, then sell.
“For now… please decline the offer. And cancel the interpretation request as well. I’d like to keep it for now.”
The employee’s expression fell at my decision.
It was probably frustrating to lose what could have been a mark in their record.
But the employee quickly composed themselves and smiled again.
“Understood. Then I’ll help you receive the payment for the Basilisk’s Mana Stone and confirm the cancellation of the request.”
I scrawled my name on the documents they pushed toward me.
Hoping, against all doubt, that this was the right choice.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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