Chapter 2

Aria snorted sharply when she saw that string of sentences; she hadn’t expected Rowan to write such childish jokes in his notebook.

“What the heck is this? I thought there was something important in his notebook,” Aria said, feeling cheated after she’d gotten so invested in it.

“And on top of that, there’s absolutely nothing else in this notebook! That damn Rowan really wanted to mess with me!”

Aria had already flipped through the next few pages of the notebook, but she didn’t find anything else there.

“Well then, don’t blame me for getting back at you for this unfunny joke of yours,” Aria muttered softly with a smirk.

Reaching into her bag for a pen, Aria began writing her name beneath Rowan’s, which had been crossed out.

“Aria Evercrest,” Aria murmured softly as she wrote her full name on a page of the notebook.

That was when Aria realized her jade bracelet was vibrating violently again, as if it wanted to slip from her wrist.

A cold breeze began to blow against Aria’s body, even though no windows were open.

Aria turned to her right and saw no one there, but she could sense something staring at her from that direction.

Instantly, a chill began to spread throughout Aria’s body. Whether it was just her imagination or not, Aria felt the temperature in her apartment drop drastically the moment she wrote her name in the notebook.

“Damn! What the hell is this?” Aria glanced around warily.

Gritting her teeth tightly, Aria pulled her hand to her chest and clutched it tightly.

She was forced to do so because the reaction from her jade bracelet was truly terrifying her right now.

“Isn’t this some kind of joke?” Aria couldn’t help but think this.

That was when Aria accidentally glanced at the notebook and suddenly fell silent, her eyes wide with disbelief.

‘By the Deaths: The Guide to Hunt the Broken Souls.’

Aria swore that those words hadn’t been there at first, and now they appeared right below her name in pale red ink.

Still unable to believe what she was seeing, Aria rubbed her eyes several times before glancing back at the strange notebook.

“It’s really written there,” Aria murmured softly.

Aria reached out to touch the words; she could still feel the sensation of wet ink from them.

This indicated that the words had just been written there.

Aria jumped in surprise when she felt the jade bracelet on her wrist, which had initially stopped vibrating, begin to shake violently again the moment her hand touched the line of text.

Up until now, Aria had never believed in supernatural powers, but after what she was going through right now, she realized that all of it could very well be real.

Just like this time, Aria was certain that another entity was here, in her apartment with her.

Somehow, that entity seemed to want to reveal its presence through Rowan’s notebook.

“So this isn’t just a joke?” With trembling hands, Aria tried to turn to the next page of the notebook.

Aria pulled her hand back and covered her mouth, so shocked was she by what she saw.

A sketch of a truly terrifying monster was clearly visible inside the notebook.

Even though the image was just a sketch, Aria could feel a thick, murderous aura as she stared into the eyes of the bull-shaped monster.

“What does this say?” Aria’s focus shifted to the detailed description beneath the monster’s sketch.

With her hand, Aria slowly tried to read the explanation about the monster’s sketch.

“Broken souls? Why does this notebook keep mentioning this?”

Even though fear was beginning to take hold of her, Aria couldn’t stop herself from being curious.

Page after page, Aria kept flipping through the book, reading the series of terrifying sketches along with the information contained about each monster.

And Aria became increasingly convinced that what were referred to as “Broken Souls” were monsters that had been killed by people who called themselves “Death.”

“How many monsters have they killed? I just can’t wrap my head around the fact that something this terrifying lives in the same world as me,” said Aria, still in disbelief at what she was seeing.

Aria’s hand hadn’t stopped turning the pages of the notebook; the longer she looked, the faster her hand moved.

Finally, her hand froze mid-air when her eyes caught something familiar.

“Rowan?” Aria found Rowan’s name listed among the details of several monster sketches in the notebook.

Three years ago, Rowan had been implicated in a murder case, though he was ultimately found not guilty due to his dementia.

However, the detectives still suspected him, which was another reason why Aria’s superior had ordered her to investigate the old man’s death.

“There are many parts of this information I don’t understand. But it seems like Rowan really isn’t the killer,” Aria said after carefully reading through the information.

There, Aria once again came across the phrase “Broken Souls” and a mention of an attack by a group she’d never heard of before.

Aria intended to gather more information from the next page. However, the next page was simply a blank page, either still unfilled or waiting to be filled by a new master.

“Where am I supposed to find the answers if this is the case?” Aria ran her fingers through her hair in frustration upon realizing this.

After reading the entire notebook, Aria became even more convinced that Rowan’s death wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

“Calm down, Aria, calm down.” Aria slowly took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled.

“Let’s recap from the beginning. This book only reveals the truth to its master; after I wrote my name, I was able to see its contents.”

“That means I’m now the new master of this book.”

Having reached that conclusion, Aria tilted her head as if remembering something important.

“In that case, I can do anything with this notebook. I guess I should try that,” Aria muttered with a smirk.

Slowly, Aria picked up her pen again and began writing something in the book.

“Who are you, really?”

Aria waited a few moments after writing her question.

And sure enough, it didn’t take long before her writing vanished and was replaced by a series of new sentences answering her question.

“A guide that will lead you to immortality, so that you won’t be afraid when facing death.”