The Soul Keeper - Chapter 4: An Unavoidable Offer

One day, I – a high schooler – found a paperback in the hospital. The “Disease Coexistence Journal” was its title. It was a diary that my classmate, Sakura Yamauchi, had written in secret. Inside, it was written that due to her pancreatic disease, her days were numbered. And thus, I coincidentally went from Just-a-Classmate to a Secret-Knowing-Classmate. It was as if I were being drawn to her, who was my polar opposite. However, the world presented the girl that was already suffering from an illness with an equally cruel reality…

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“Well, well, well, it looks like someone has missed the memo,” I chuckled, as I stared into his bewildered eyes.“You, my friend, are in the land of fiction, where everything is just... make-believe.” I snorted.“What are you talking about?” he asked, still trying to make sense of my words.“ I'm talking about the fact that we are characters in a freaking novel!”“The woman you foolishly slept with is one of the main characters!” I sneered, finding humour in his predicament.“...”,“You know the story, don't you?” he demanded, his tone sharp. “Write it out or give me the gist of it.”“Sigh…”'How does he accept things so easily?' I thought.“So, let me get this straight,” I began, frustration seeping into my voice. “The novel we're in doesn't even have a proper conclusion, and there are five women playing lead roles along with a man who is the protagonist. Sun-Jung, a boy from my class, is the protagonist and Ruby here, is supposed to be the villain as the heir to the devil's throne.”---------------------------------------------------------Meet Kael Hashirae, the mysterious and richest man in the world. Despite his incredible power, he is humble and compassionate towards those in need. But everything changes when he falls in love with a mysterious girl, and his world is turned upside down. Join Kael on his journey as he navigates through love, power, and the unknown in this world of captivating incomplete novel.---------------------------------------------------------[Sometimes the purest good is drawn from the vilest evil ]The concept of human nature has been questioned numerous times throughout history. Debates on the issue have come and gone, but the underlying question still remains on the minds of societies across the globe :“Are humans generally filled with an innate sense goodness and light or are we debase creatures at heart continuously tainted with the stains of vice?”'Human Beings', a self-centred kind of mortals believed or should I say still believe that a good heart or performing good deeds will lead them towards the path of enlightenment.This whole concept seemed funny to me, because beings that don't know what enlightenment is talk about path towards the same while hiding their desires deep inside them.---------------------------------------------------------Maybe it's time to change my ways,The lure of money, power, and fame has lost its blaze.Being a King is more than just a scheme,I've found peace in music, money, and meditation, it seems.If only I could recall why I began this quest,Seeds in my pocket, but the garden's a distant nest.But I won't give up until I find my way,Planting trees to harvest bats for the big leagues, I'll play.

Poison — a cold-blooded assassin, abandoned by his family and cast into the shadows of the underworld. He lived without purpose... until a supreme being took notice.Just like that, everything changed.---In a world of swords and magic, rumors spread of a strange, otherworldly café. A place where both mages and ordinary people can enter foreign realms, fight legendary battles, and return with enhanced magical power and understanding.But there’s one rule whispered by all who know of it:Never offend the owner.He may look lazy, uninterested, and far too calm...But those who challenge him are never seen the same way again.They become “special slaves” — forever bound by punishment and magic, trapped in service to a man far more terrifying than he appears.---He owns the café. He controls the worlds. And now, he’s just getting started.

Tong Huaqiong transmigrated to ancient times into the body of the malicious widow Tong Dajiao and witnessed the execution scene where the malicious widow and her children were wiped out. She returned to the year Tong Dajiao had just become a widow.At the age of forty, she was already a grandmother, embodying the roles of both a wicked stepmother and mother-in-law. Naturally, the children she raised were bad bamboo shoots.The only slight comfort she felt was that, as a widow, she didn't have to serve an old husband.In this transmigration story, she lacked all the golden fingers like systems or noble birth.She didn't even have the chance to rise through marriage. Who could a widow marry? Especially with a bunch of burdens.She could only rely on herself and her bunch of bad bamboos at home.Revitalize the family reputation, correct the children's behavior.Treat stepchildren, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters kindly, dismiss the plan of her youngest son to sell his granddaughter to a wealthy family in exchange for tuition fees, force the youngest son to strive through education on his own, use a stick to awaken the second son from being lazy and spoiled to becoming the family's backbone, and rid the youngest daughter of laziness, greed, and love-brain.Reclaim wasteland and plant crops using modern scientific knowledge, turning saline-alkali land into fertile fields, leading the whole family towards a moderately prosperous life; start a business from street vending, selling steamed buns, pastries, marinated dishes, raising pigs, beekeeping... gradually expanding their commercial territory.