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“Yes, yes?”

Lee Jae-soon was taken aback by the shocking words of the unnamed assailant.

“W-what do you mean? Firewood? Burnt firewood…?”

“Just what I said. If burnt firewood has turned to ashes, then it can’t be turned back, can it?”

The assailant spoke calmly, as if delivering a death sentence. He asserted that the notebook could no longer be used while watching the despair spread across the journalist’s face with an unyielding gaze.

“W-what should I do? What am I supposed to do?!”

“Ha ha ha. Why are you asking me?”

The assailant said with a wink.

“I gave you a gift, and you used it. That’s all there is to it. What more is there to add?”

“What do you mean by that?! If you give me something like this…!”

Lee Jae-soon shouted angrily at Jinseong, who seemed to be treating it like someone else’s problem.

But as soon as he yelled, he realized what he had done, shutting his mouth in shock and cautiously glancing at the assailant, worried he might be angry.

Only after he confirmed that the assailant continued to smile did Lee Jae-soon carefully speak again.

“Uh, ahem. Um, what should I call you, sir?”

“Call me that.”

“Sir, I really need that, uh, notebook. I genuinely need it, so could you please help me? Huh?”

“Ha ha ha. Did I not say? How can you turn burnt firewood back to its original state?”

“N-no, what do you mean burnt firewood?! It looks perfectly fine here…!”

Lee Jae-soon raised his voice a little as he grew more frustrated with the assailant’s insistence that it couldn’t be helped.

“Hey. If the shell is whole, does that mean it’s really whole?”

“That… no, isn’t it…?”

“When firewood is put in the stove and burned, the firewood turns to ash, but the stove is intact. But do you truly believe that is genuinely intact?”

The assailant explained the essence in a way Lee Jae-soon could understand.

What looks okay is merely a shell.

What matters is the essence contained within it.

And the ‘essence’ within that notebook is something that no longer can be recycled or returned.

He spoke just as if stating a fact.

Then Lee Jae-soon briefly lowered his gaze, appearing to be in despair.

But as if a thought struck him, he shot his gaze back up and asked.

“Wait, wait! Sir! Is there anything exactly like that notebook?!”

“Something exactly like that?”

The assailant answered Lee Jae-soon’s question.

“There is none.”

He said firmly.

But Lee Jae-soon didn’t give up.

“Then, um, something similar! Yes, any similar item will do! It doesn’t even have to look like the notebook. As long as it possesses similar power, please, sir!”

“Ha ha ha. Something similar, you say. There is none of that either.”

But the assailant countered with words completely opposite to Lee Jae-soon’s hopes.

“Tell me this. Where do you think it would be easy to find something like that?”

“Ah… it won’t be easy. But, but!”

“But?”

“Didn’t you, sir, have something similar?!”

Lee Jae-soon cried out as if he might burst into tears.

But the assailant, seemingly unmoved by that outcry, nodded stiffly and spoke in the same tone as before.

“Indeed, I did.”

That was right.

He definitely had it.

“I had it, and I even gave it to you. Yes, that’s correct.”

“Then…!”

“But what does that matter? I only had one to give you. There are no more.”

“N-no, what do you mean…!”

Lee Jae-soon cried out desperately.

“If that’s the case, please! Help me! Find something even similar! I really… yes! Money, money! I will give you money! I will give you all my possessions—the entirety of my assets! So, can you please help me?!”

“Ha ha ha.”

“I may look this way, but I do have some money saved up! It may not be in the billions, but it’s a few million! Isn’t that a significant amount? If you find something similar for me, I will give you all of it! Yes! Can’t you do that for me?!”

“Ha ha ha.”

The assailant appeared indifferent to the journalist’s offer of money.

It was as if watching a child hold out a stone, saying, ‘I worked really hard for this, so can I have just one piece of bread?’

Lee Jae-soon realized the assailant showed no interest in his offer of money.

“Ah, then…! If money doesn’t work… how about a house?! Yes! I have a house in the countryside under my name! It’s worth quite a bit, because it’s in a nice area with great scenery and good air! I will just give it to you!”

“Ha ha ha.”

“Don’t you like the house? Then how about information? I am a rising journalist! I can get a lot of valuable information. If there’s anything you want, I will do my best to obtain it!”

“Ha ha.”

“Do you need an article? I can mobilize all my connections and abilities to write a great article for you. A few of my articles could bring in wealthy people coming to you with bags of money!”

Lee Jae-soon proposed with all he had.

Everything he could offer.

Everything he had.

Everything he could do.

He presented it all to Jinseong with a desperate attitude.

But the assailant merely smiled faintly and brushed off his words, offering no positive signal.

That demeanor felt both empty and sinister, perhaps due to the ominous air surrounding him.

“…Sir? Surely not…”

An overwhelming sense of foreboding wrapped around Lee Jae-soon coldly.

“Surely you don’t mean… souls, or something…?”

Lee Jae-soon mustered his courage against the overwhelming dread and barely managed to voice his question.

And then.

“Ha ha, a soul, you say.”

Hearing the word ‘soul’ elicited a reaction from the assailant, filling Lee Jae-soon with horror.

“Indeed, young one. Soul, soul….”

“Gasp….”

“Hun and Baek, Baek and spirit, spirit and soul… a soul!”

The assailant grinned as he firmly held both of Lee Jae-soon’s shoulders.

The sensation sent shivers down his spine, like being caught by a bug the size of a person.

“Young one, are you truly willing to sell your soul?”

“Gasp, n-no! I just— made a slip of the tongue!”

“No, I saw it! I saw resolve in your eyes. I observed your determination to part with your most valuable possession; I saw that resolve clearly.”

The assailant made a chilling sound like scratching metal.

His irises seemed to glow in a blue flame of fear, flickering about, while the ghostly fires on the edges split and formed what looked like the hands of a dried corpse.

Those blue flames’ hands reflected Lee Jae-soon’s terrified face like smooth glass.

“I made a mistake! I made a slip of the tongue! I won’t sell my soul!”

“Ha ha ha.”

Lee Jae-soon was engulfed in terrifying fear.

The unnamed assailant before him truly seemed like he might extract his soul.

He struggled desperately to move his legs, trying to stand.

But his loose legs and unresponsive waist didn’t obey his commands. Moreover, the assailant’s grip on his shoulders held him down, preventing his escape, making it impossible for him to rise.

Thus, he could only awkwardly wiggle his bottom.

A futile struggle.

The assailant merely watched that futile struggle in silence, only tightening his grip until Lee Jae-soon finally expended all his energy and slumped down.

At last, the assailant spoke.

“Hey, young man. Why are you so frightened?”

“W-well….”

“Come now. Young man. I don’t need your soul.”

The assailant spoke as if to reassure Lee Jae-soon.

But the jerky tone of his voice only intensified Lee Jae-soon’s unease.

“Something unquantifiable and something valueless are the same. Your soul may be priceless to you, yet to me, it holds no value. Hence, I have no need for your soul.”

He seemed to be trying to convey that he meant no harm.

Yet, Lee Jae-soon’s mind caught onto another hidden meaning in those words.

‘There is no statement that you can’t trade a soul…?’

The assailant made it clear that Lee Jae-soon’s soul held no value to him.

There was no denial of the possibility of taking the soul, nor any statement against trading it.

Simply the value.

He merely spoke of the worth of Lee Jae-soon’s soul.

Lee Jae-soon felt even more terror over that fact.

A being before him could very well take his soul, given just a thought.

‘Shit, shit.’

With an appearance that could hardly be judged as human.

A being that could take a human soul if it so wished.

It wielded a peculiar power over objects.

Is this a person?

More like a monster.

“And let me tell you. I had no intention of making a deal with you at all.”

“W-what do you mean by that…?”

“If I accept a price, then it would no longer be a gift.”

The assailant tilted his bug-like golden mask.

“A gift is something given without expecting anything in return. Hmph. And I want nothing from you. Yes, I desire nothing from you. I’m not a merchant; I won’t fetch you something in return for payment; I’m not a petty person; I won’t demand recompense for a favor offered. And I shall not— yes, at least I will not entertain giving you another gift.”

That’s all there is to it.

The assailant stated so.

“Sir! What is this? When you first gave me the notebook, you said if I wanted another gift, I should come here! You told me to come here!”

“Yes, that I did.”

“Then why say something different now?!”

“Different, you say.”

He replied to Lee Jae-soon’s apparent challenging tone.

“It’s not contradictory at all. I don’t intend to give you a gift, but if you earn the goodwill of others, you could receive gifts from them.”

“Y-yes?”

Lee Jae-soon rolled his eyes as he stared at the golden mask.

Was it because he was in a dim place?

“You, you see. If you were ready to even sell your soul, then it should be easy to earn goodwill and receive gifts.”

The mask.

That bug-like golden mask.

“I command you to do as I say. Hmph. Call them, buy their goodwill, and receive gifts. If you do so, you might just obtain what you desire.”

That cold, hard mask…

Hadn’t it just smiled?

 

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