I Awakened as a Dark History - Chapter 61

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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 61
The Airport was packed with reporters.
Despite Airport personnel and security guards creating a passage and controlling the crowd, the terminal was still teeming with bodies.
“Daria Gorden is coming out!”
At someone’s shout, the camera shutters erupted in unison. But it wasn’t only cameras.
Live anchors, journalists’ questions, cheers—all tangled together into chaos.
The customs door finally opened, and a dark-skinned woman emerged.
Her long hair gathered into a neat bun, she moved with the sharp, commanding presence of a true Hunter.
Indifferent to the clamor around her, she strode forward through the open corridor.
“Ms. Gorden, why have you come to Korea?”
“Will you be clearing Dungeons in Korea?”
“The Rock Cradle Core appeared in Korea recently—is that the reason for your visit?”
The journalists hurled questions at her, but they received no answers in return.
All they could get from Daria Gorden was a handful of photographs of minimal informational value.
Her swift passage through the Airport came to a halt only when someone appeared.
“Good day, Ms. Gorden. I am Seo Il-hak, Chairman of the Korean Hunter Association. It is a pleasure to meet you.”
For the first time, Daria Gorden called forward her interpreter.
The crowd waited to hear Daria Gorden speak for the first time.
The interpreter listened intently to her words before stepping forward.
“It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Daria Gorden.”
Following the interpreter’s words, Daria Gorden extended her hand.
Seo Il-hak shook it lightly.
The interpreter’s words continued on.
“I have come to Korea on personal business, but I am also willing to clear Dungeons. Should Korea have any Dungeons that cannot be cleared, please inform me.”
Daria Gorden smiled faintly and added a few more words.
“I wish to be of assistance in Dungeon clearance.”
Seo Il-hak received her words with a light smile.
“I am grateful for your consideration. We will provide that information at an appropriate time.”
Daria Gorden listened to Seo Il-hak’s reply through her interpreter and nodded.
A satisfied smile played at the corners of her mouth.
She slipped away from the Airport while the reporters’ hands were still busy with their cameras.
A car waiting for Daria Gorden picked her up and drove off.
The reporters left behind at the Airport, reluctant to see her go, cornered Seo Il-hak.
“Chairman, do you know why Ms. Gorden has visited?”
“Chairman Seo, please say a few words.”
Seo Il-hak pushed past them, moving quickly toward the exit.
As they persisted in blocking his path, there was only one thing Seo Il-hak could say.
“Ms. Gorden’s reason for entry is personal business, so the Association has no information on it.”
* * *
“Ms. Daria Gorden has come all this way to request that you sell her the Stone Tablet.”
“Oh…….”
I looked back and forth between the person standing before me and their business card.
I wanted nothing more than to pull out my Mobile Phone and check the news again.
Was the person standing right in front of me really who I thought they were?
‘Daria Gorden?’
I ran through every descriptor attached to Daria Gorden’s name in my mind.
Indian-American. Former member of Doctors Without Borders.
Current number-one Hunter in the world.
‘The Dungeon Destroyer.’
Before I could even finish cycling through all those titles, Daria Gorden’s interpreter moved.
“First, this is the amount Ms. Daria Gorden is prepared to pay as compensation for the Stone Tablet.”
“Ah, yes, of course.”
I awkwardly received a check.
‘How much is written on it?’
My heart pounding, I checked the writing on the check.
“…….”
There were no numbers on the check.
More precisely: no amount was filled in.
Was this a joke?
It probably wasn’t.
The interpreter, noticing my trembling gaze, spoke again.
“Ms. Daria Gorden will pay whatever amount you write down there.”
A genuine blank check.
A piece of paper that had no business existing in the hands of an ordinary citizen like me lay before my eyes.
Afraid the check might wrinkle, I set the paper down on the table with shaking hands.
Even the Hunter staff seemed unprepared for this situation, unable to compose their expressions.
I forced myself to speak, struggling for the right words.
“Ahem. Well! No, that item, you see. It’s certainly a fine object…… though I can’t quite say that either. Ahem! In any case, it’s not the Rock Cradle Core, and you’re definitely paying money for that stone tablet, right?”
I tried my hardest to sound composed, but it wasn’t working.
Even as I spoke, my throat caught and I coughed several times.
I could only hope that Daria Gorden didn’t think me a wholly contemptible human being.
“That stone tablet—it can’t be interpreted and it has no effect. I simply don’t understand why you’d offer such a large sum for something like that.”
The interpreter relayed my meaning directly to Daria Gorden.
Daria Gorden considered for a moment, then said something to the interpreter.
The interpreter wore a troubled expression as she spoke with Daria Gorden, then turned her gaze back to me.
“She says she’d like to speak with you alone for a moment.”
“Without the interpreter?”
“Yes, I’ll need to step out, and the staff as well. Would that be alright?”
That part was fine, but I scratched my cheek with a troubled look on my face.
“Won’t we have trouble communicating?”
As if she already knew my concern, Daria Gorden pulled something from her bag and handed it to me.
As I took it without thinking, the interpreter explained.
“It’s an AI Translator Device. If you put that on and continue your conversation, it should work fine.”
Looking like a wireless earphone, Daria Gorden put it on first, hooking it over her ear.
The interpreter and staff left right away.
I had no choice but to insert the earphone into my ear.
With a brief beep as the earphone powered on, the AI’s voice reached my ear.
“We are speaking for the first time, one-on-one. This is Daria Gorden.”
The AI’s translation, formal and stilted, echoed in my ear.
I trusted the translation and returned her greeting.
“Ah, I’m Ha Cho-eun.”
Daria Gorden extended her hand again.
I took it and shook it gently.
The moment she released my hand, as if the greeting were finished, she broached the main topic.
“I’m curious why you withdrew the sale of the stone tablet.”
I’d expected Daria Gorden to press me into selling the tablet, but she zeroed in on an unexpected angle first.
Should I tell her I withdrew it because I could read the inscriptions?
I didn’t feel inclined to be that honest.
I couldn’t begin to guess what someone of Daria Gorden’s stature could want with the tablet.
“Ah, there’s no particular reason. My friend…… told me I didn’t have to sell it.”
“Even with a buyer willing to purchase it, you will not sell?”
I nodded.
Daria Gorden crossed her arms for a moment, tapping her finger against her arm.
Soon, her expression settled into determination, and she spoke.
“I want to meet that person.”
“My friend?”
“I want to ask them properly why they won’t sell the tablet.”
Daria Gorden moved her hand through the air.
I knew now what such a gesture meant.
A Subspace Item.
Following Daria Gorden’s gesture, the stone tablet appeared in empty space.
It was remarkably similar to the one I possessed.
But it wasn’t just one.
I read the tablets one by one as they materialized on the table.
They resembled the stone tablet I owned.
All of them had characters I could read, though scattered and incomplete.
[■■’s ■ is ■■ ■ed
In ■■■ ■age, there is a ■■■■ method written in ■■.
By ■■■■ ■, ■■■■]
If all the inscriptions on the tablets meant the same thing, it seemed possible to piece together the complete contents by combining the characters across all of them.
‘My Stone Tablet’s contents seem different from this one, but if I play it right, maybe there’s a way to make it work….’
That’s where my thoughts reached before I swallowed hard.
Why was Daria Gorden collecting these Stone Tablets?
At my questioning gaze, Daria Gorden answered calmly.
“I can read some of the writing on these. That is why I collect them. I am curious whether that person can do the same.”
I knew it!
I tightened my lips to keep my alarm from showing.
Daria Gorden could read the script on these Stone Tablets and was collecting them to interpret them.
I forced myself to look away from the Stone Tablet’s inscriptions and raised my head.
“What would change if your friend could read this? I’m curious why you seem so keen on meeting them.”
Daria Gorden looked as though she were deliberating whether to tell me.
She furrowed her brow in silence, wrestling with the decision, before finally opening up.
“I wish to cooperate with that person. Together we will destroy all Dungeons. And eliminate their existence entirely.”
“Pardon? But you’re a Hunter.”
Daria Gorden smiled without saying anything.
Before that smile, I realized I’d asked a foolish question.
The very purpose of a Hunter was to clear Dungeons and make them disappear.
There was no reason needed for a Hunter to eliminate Dungeons from existence.
But I had my own excuse.
‘If there are no Dungeons, wouldn’t I lose my job as a Hunter too? That doesn’t seem to bother them.’
In this harsh modern world, unemployment is about as bleak as it gets.
‘Did they already earn enough money to live on for the rest of their life?’
I shook my head vigorously to pull my wandering thoughts back on track.
“I see. So you’re trying to make it so Dungeons never appear again, right?”
“Correct. We will completely eliminate all damage caused by Dungeons.”
It was an ambition befitting the world’s number-one ranked Hunter.
However, there were two blind spots in her vision.
One was that I was the very person who could read the Stone Tablets, and the other was that I was nothing more than an ordinary civilian.
I had no confidence I could devote all my strength to destroying Dungeons at her command.
Hesitating, I searched for a way to evade her will.
“Do you really need someone who can read this to destroy Dungeons? You can eliminate them without it, can’t you?”
Daria Gorden shook her head as though my words were wrong.
“It is necessary. I cannot tell you why yet. I must first confirm your abilities before speaking.”
Was it a sense of duty as a Hunter? Daria Gorden’s will seemed unshakeable.
She was not someone like me who simply found herself in a situation and dealt with Dungeons passively.
With that thought, Yu Ho-yeon’s face inexplicably came to mind.
‘Is this the kind of Hunter he dreams of?’
So that must be why he was so sincere about saving people.
And when I messed that up, he got angry.
I wondered if I should hand over the Stone Tablet to Daria Gorden right now.
Wouldn’t it be wasting the Stone Tablet for me to keep holding it without any drive?
“That friend of mine would probably say you can just sell the Stone Tablet.”
“Are you refusing to meet in person?”
I couldn’t exactly tell her I was already standing right in front of her.
I scratched my head with an awkward smile.
“I’ll ask them about it.”
As though waiting for those words, Daria Gorden pulled a business card from her pocket and held it out to me.
How many times was this now—receiving business cards from people who seemed to live in a different world?
I took the card, neatly printed with only a name, phone number, and email.
“Please contact me.”
“Ah, yes. But about the Stone Tablet….”
The blank check I was holding awkwardly still felt burdensome.
Yet Daria Gorden did not take it back from me.
“I will receive it from your friend. Please convey the check as well.”
The heavy demand was delivered with such awkward, translated AI-voice precision that it felt oppressive.
I tucked the check and business card into my pocket.
The stiff check and card, like a pea beneath twenty layers of quilts, chafed uncomfortably against me.

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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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