My Illusion Is Survival - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 2

“You’ve been waiting a long time.”

The end of my trembling voice cracked slightly.

Of course it was intentional acting, but it was also a reaction that flowed naturally due to extreme tension.

This performance could kill me if I made a mistake.

Even with this life-or-death acting, Azel still showed no particular reaction.

“Azel?”

As if finding this strange, I deliberately furrowed my brow and carefully called his name.

The friendly tone would give the feeling of reproaching him for not saying anything.

Sure enough, I got a reaction for the first time.

“Who are you?”

A monotone answer.

For a reaction to a stranger who knew his name, it was utterly bland.

But this was where it got important.

I had no intention of just letting Azel’s natural reaction slide.

“…What?”

At first, I had to express instinctive confusion as if I didn’t understand.

However, the more I mulled it over, the more I realized something was wrong.

I gradually mixed horror into the expression that had only contained bewilderment.

That series of processes couldn’t be too slow or too fast.

“Just now, what did you…”

I pretended to ask for confirmation again, deliberately trailing off.

As if realizing something, yet like someone who remembered words that should never be spoken, I hastily covered my mouth with both hands.

I held my breath as if desperately swallowing a scream. When I tensed up to my fingertips, my trembling hands transmitted to my lips.

‘Now!’

Finally, when a thick teardrop fell with a plop and grazed the back of my hand, I collapsed to the floor as if my legs had given out.

“You forgot. You forgot me.”

My voice broke and stuttered, sounding fragile enough to fade away even to my own ears.

“…So this was it. This was it.”

I didn’t forget to leave foreshadowing with words muttered like a soliloquy.

What the foreshadowing was for, I could think about from now on. They say K-drama scripts are usually all made this way too.

‘Or not. Is that what’s important right now?’

When I lowered my head, tears poured down and fell onto my thighs.

I felt a piercing gaze above my bowed head, but the current me had no time to feel embarrassed.

‘He’s probably dumbfounded. But this side has their life on the line!’

It was the first time in my life I’d acted so desperately.

Still pretending to be unable to recover from shock, I slowly raised my head to check his reaction and immediately met those red eyes.

What is that.

I could tell without hearing it.

Azel’s eyes looked like someone facing something incomprehensible.

‘At least he won’t just brush this off with “what is this,” so this isn’t bad.’

It was a bit embarrassing to be doing a one-man show alone, but everything was about momentum.

As I swallowed my tears, ignoring the piercing gaze, a faint crack appeared in Azel’s smooth brow.

I hoped that was evidence my acting was working.

Please, please, please!

“You,”

The moment I’d been waiting for.

Just as Azel’s mouth was finally opening.

“Azel Viotz!”

“…!”

An unwelcome guest appeared at the worst possible time.

“What are you scheming again!”

It was truly unexpected interference.

*

“Azel Viotz!”

Bellode had anticipated the current situation from the moment he heard news of a disturbance in Central Square.

Smashed stalls, scattered trinkets, even broken street trees.

For something Azel Viotz had caused, it wasn’t serious, but that was probably thanks to Bellode’s quick arrival.

Azel Viotz.

His enemy whom he hated endlessly.

The mysterious man who threatened his beloved Yulia and interfered with him at every turn.

As Bellode glared at Azel Viotz while barely suppressing his anger, something out of place caught the edge of his vision.

A strange pink-haired woman was somehow looking at him with fervent eyes.

‘Who is she?’

She was a rare beauty with lake-like eyes shimmering with tears and impressively flushed cheeks.

At first he thought she was crying because she was frightened by Azel Viotz’s rampage.

But the moment their eyes met, Bellode realized he was wrong.

‘No, why…?’

A woman he’d never seen before in his life was glaring at him as if he were her mortal enemy.

It was completely incomprehensible.

*

‘Is that bastard joking! Couldn’t he come just a little later!’

Even dropping your nose in cooked rice has its limits – I never expected that guy to appear at this timing.

Belrod Christian.

A faithful and ascetic holy knight with platinum hair and blue eyes.

He was practically the main male lead among the five male protagonists in this dating sim game, excluding Azel.

‘And he was also my favorite.’

I liked how he acted polite and refined on the outside but was actually a proud, jealous type when you got to know him.

‘Though what I liked most was his face, of course.’

But that was when my life wasn’t on the line. Right now, Bellode’s appearance was truly unwelcome.

Because Azel’s attention naturally turned to him with the appearance of an important male protagonist.

Just when Azel’s heavy lips were about to open, having my attention completely stolen made me furious enough to explode.

‘That unhelpful bastard! Bellode, you jerk! You were the worst even when I was playing the game! Ugh!’

If that pretty-faced fool wasn’t going to save my life, I’d gladly demote him from favorite to bottom tier.

Leaving the seemingly wronged Bellode behind, I quickly changed my expression and looked at Azel, but he was no longer looking at me.

‘Die, Bellode.’

While I was internally hurling childish insults I couldn’t voice aloud, the conversation between Azel and Bellode continued.

“Belrod Christian. You’re late.”

“Why did you suddenly appear here? What are you plotting this time!”

“The time has finally come.”

“The time has come?”

“The time to end this terrible curse.”

As the serious conversation continued, the oppressive aura emanating from Azel grew stronger.

It was a sense of unease.

The ominous atmosphere surrounding Azel made him feel like something that didn’t belong to reality.

“A curse?”

Perhaps Bellode felt the same thing, as his expression gradually hardened.

However, I was the only one who understood the meaning of Azel’s words.

Bellode didn’t even know that Azel was a regressor, let alone that this world was on the brink of destruction.

“A curse. What do you mean by that?”

Bellode asked once more, but there was no way Azel would answer.

Instead of answering, the dark red smoke surrounding Azel began to writhe.

He was finally awakening the power to destroy the world.

‘This is bad.’

As I let out that brief observation, figures in black robes began to appear one by one.

Azel’s subordinates.

“What the hell is this…!”

“Do not interfere with him.”

With that as their signal, they all rushed toward Bellode at once.

They were trying to prevent him from interfering with Azel’s awakening.

“You’re the ones who shouldn’t interfere!”

A battle broke out in an instant.

Meanwhile, excluded from all of this chaos, I seriously contemplated.

‘I just want to run away.’

I genuinely didn’t want to get involved in that mess.

‘But I can’t do that, can I…?’

With sorrowful eyes, I cursed the world and turned my head back toward Azel, just as our eyes met—his red pupils staring into mine.

It seemed he hadn’t completely forgotten about my existence after all.

However, for some reason, he looked even more annoyed than before.

‘This damn life.’

My motivation was already crushed, but now was the time for me to step forward.

‘Bellode can neither stop Azel’s awakening nor defeat an awakened Azel. That would be the same no matter who came here.’

In the tense standoff, I finally staggered to my feet.

‘The only fortunate thing is that Azel’s subordinates aren’t paying attention to me. Of course, that’s probably because they know I can’t cause any harm to Azel.’

It was such an obvious fact that it didn’t even hurt my pride.

But there was something they didn’t know.

I was a variable they were unaware of.

“Stop, Azel.”

I wiped away my tears defiantly and took a step toward Azel.

Unlike my trembling body, my firm voice rang out, drawing everyone’s attention to me.

However, there was no reason to care about their gazes.

After all, it was Azel who would determine the outcome of this story.

I looked only at Azel before me and resolutely opened my mouth.

“You can stop now.”

Azel’s awakening wasn’t complete yet.

Therefore, there was still enough time for the variable to act.

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