I Awakened With My Dark History - Chapter 14

========== CHAPTER 14 ==========

I swallowed dryly, unable to hide my nervousness.

Baek Mun-il approached my side and asked.

“Support, can you do it?”

“I’ll give it a try.”

Because if I don’t, I feel like I’ll die.

Upon hearing my answer, Baek Mun-il stepped on the railing and leaped toward the stage.

In that brief moment, a thin voice was heard from the smoke that had taken shape.

“[Those who have not yet fallen asleep…]”

Jjeo-eong―!!

Before the thin voice could even finish its sentence, a massive block of ice trapped the smoke with a loud noise.

Following that, he created an ice spear in mid-air and pierced the smoke, ice and all.

Seeing that sight, I had a question about Baek Mun-il’s earlier inquiry.

‘I… don’t seem necessary. Why did he ask if I could provide support?’

I blinked, watching him.

He landed on the stage and looked back at me.

He waved his hand at me as if telling me to hurry up and come over.

“Over here.”

“Isn’t it over?”

“No, it’s not.”

As I spread my wings and descended onto the stage, Baek Mun-il tapped the ice as if to show me.

Il-leong―

At his gesture of tapping the ice, the black smoke gathered and then dispersed, making its presence known.

“It’s likely not the main body. The main body must be somewhere else. We have to deal with that to make it disappear.”

“Is that really a thing?”

To think it stays alive as long as the main body exists, even after being trapped in ice and pierced by an ice spear like that.

Seeing a trope I only ever saw in comics be possible in reality left me dumbfounded.

Was this how the Turtle felt when he heard the Rabbit say he’d left his liver behind?

Recognizing my shock, Baek Mun-il laughed silently.

The Synchronization Rate crept up.

Fine, I get it. I look like a clueless idiot? It’s because I’m a beginner. Please, have some understanding.

I barely managed to compose my expression and calmly analyzed the situation.

“Then how do we find the main body? There’s no way to know which one it is. Should we just smash everything in sight?”

If we did that, wouldn’t Hunket file a lawsuit for damages?

Of course, I could also file a lawsuit against Hunket for wrongful death during work.

Then wouldn’t a settlement be possible?

While I was playing out a legal battle with Hunket and even finalizing a settlement in my head, Baek Mun-il shook his head.

“We need to find where this smoke is flowing from. And given the ‘sleep’ connection, it’s likely an item related to that.”

“Ah, then.”

I hopped over to the audience seats and snatched the catalog from the hand of a fallen person.

“Wouldn’t it be in here?”

Perhaps he hadn’t thought of the catalog, as Baek Mun-il muttered an “Oh” from behind me.

Pallak― Pallak―

“Found it. It’s the Succubus’s Tiara. I think this is the problem.”

When I flipped the catalog to show him, Baek Mun-il confirmed the shape of the tiara, adorned with gold and red jewels.

He gave a short nod and immediately went inside the stage.

I also stepped back onto the stage to follow him.

I must have gotten used to the wings, as flying around felt easy.

Just as I was about to push the inner curtain and go inside, the black smoke trapped in the ice rippled ominously.

‘Why is it doing that?’

Through the gaps in the smoke trapped inside the ice, I saw the shape of red lips curling into a smirk.

Along with that, Baek Mun-il’s voice was heard from inside the stage.

“Yes, it’s here, just like you said. The Succubus’s Tiara.”

I reflexively turned toward Baek Mun-il.

In his hand, a tiara shaped like black thorns with dark red jewels had already appeared.

While he was tilting his head, examining the tiara, my eyes caught what was behind him.

“But seeing as I can’t feel any magic power, it seems…”

“Duck!”

I shouted at him and stretched my hand forward.

“Block it!”

Ah, this damn activation phrase.

“Flower Spirits, block it!”

Forgetting even my embarrassment, I hurriedly shouted again along with the activation phrase.

Even so, the wood forming the stage floor rose up as if coming back to life, shielding his back.

Udeuk!

However, its attack pierced through the wood and flew straight at Baek Mun-il.

“Ha.”

Baek Mun-il quickly dealt with the attack rushing toward him.

He kicked off the remains of the wood, instantly creating distance, and erected an ice barrier to block the attack.

Kagagak―

“What the!”

“Over there! That person!”

Before I could even point my finger and shout, Baek Mun-il’s eyes were already fixed on that person.

The employee, staggering as they stood up, lifted their head and looked at us.

The employee’s face was blank, as if their soul had left, and their eyes were unfocused.

Even to someone like me who didn’t know much, it was clear they were being controlled by something.

He moved staggeringly like a zombie.

As black smoke flowed from his body, the black smoke trapped in the ice rippled violently, as if in sync with it.

Empowered, the smoke began to make cracks in the ice like thorny vines and burrow through the gaps.

A cracking, ominous sound spread rapidly.

Kwachang―!

Soon after, the ice shattered and flew in all directions.

Baek Mun-il dodged toward the audience seats, and I flew quickly to get out of the range of the debris.

While I caught my breath, Baek Mun-il created an ice spear and immediately rushed onto the stage.

Unlike before, the black smoke spread wide and thin, scattering among the people who had fainted.

But his target wasn’t the smoke.

He threw the ice spear at the employee.

I reflexively shouted.

“Guild Leader, that person…!”

Jjeo-eong!

The moment the ice spear touched the employee, it spread out in all directions.

In an instant, the ice spear turned into a net and caught the employee.

Baek Mun-il didn’t stop there. His foot slammed into the floor with a “Kung―!”

Then, mist carrying cold air spread from his feet, mingling with the smoke.

The mist pushed the smoke back, tossing and turning as if fighting for territory.

I vaguely realized he had shown something impressive, but at the same time, I couldn’t understand why it was impressive.

As I just kept blinking, Baek Mun-il approached me.

“I’m keeping it from seeping into people for now, but I can’t hold the smoke for long. This kind of application consumes a lot of magic power. Healer.”

Should I be impressed by his skill application of creating mist from ice and his delicate control?

Lost in such thoughts, I reacted a bit late to Baek Mun-il’s call.

“Y-yes?”

“Do you happen to have a debuff removal skill?”

I rolled my eyes to check the Synchronization Rate.

I don’t know when it went up, but the Synchronization Rate was already at 65%.

Still 25% short.

“Uh, ah, yet? I don’t have one.”

“Yet?”

Baek Mun-il furrowed his brows slightly.

I spoke vaguely on purpose, so it shouldn’t be easy to figure out my skill’s ability…

“A conditional skill?”

…Oh, it is possible.

“Um, well, yes, that’s right.”

As I mumbled in affirmation, Baek Mun-il looked at me as if looking at something pitiful.

“Let’s pretend I don’t know it’s conditional.”

“…No. It’s fine. You can just keep knowing. It’s hard if we don’t know each other’s abilities when we’re fighting together.”

Baek Mun-il laughed, his shoulders shaking.

“That’s true. The problem is there are many people these days who can’t do that. I wish my guild members would learn a thing or two.”

Thanks for that. In that case, could you stop thinking of me as a naive idiot? The Synchronization Rate keeps going up.

I muttered my unspeakable complaints only to myself.

Baek Mun-il immediately hardened his expression and glared at the smoke crawling inside the performance hall.

“Dream Demons have the ability to return even if their physical body in reality is destroyed, as long as they are inside someone’s dream. Even if this tiara is the main body, it means that as long as it’s inside a dream, even this isn’t the main body.”

Saying that, he grumbled that Dream Demons were annoying for that reason.

It wasn’t a very dignified look for a guild leader.

The MC near the stage and the people in the front row began to stagger to their feet.

Their eyes were still unfocused.

Baek Mun-il urged me on with a slightly faster tone.

“So, debuff removal is the priority. If you tell me the conditions, I’ll fulfill them. What are the conditions? Usually, for a healer, the condition would be something like an ally’s injury.”

“Ah, my conditions are a bit different.”

I started off as if I were about to tell him the skill conditions, then brought up something else.

“I’m sorry for misunderstanding earlier that you were attacking the controlled employee. I didn’t think that you, the Haje Guild Leader who is more of a veteran than me, would have known first.”

A look of “Suddenly?” appeared on Baek Mun-il’s face.

But separate from that, my apology was effective.

In a tense situation, I sincerely apologized for something that didn’t even need an apology.

That was a naive and kind action. …And a bit stupid, too.

And so.

‘This is it!’

The Synchronization Rate shot up at once.

“So, I’ll remove the debuff now so there won’t be any more misunderstandings.”

It’s not about sincerely fitting the setting, but just having the other person perceive me according to the ‘setting’.

Thinking that way made this ability feel a bit more comfortable.

I smiled and briefly called out the skill name.

“Blooming.”