CHAPTER 157: DRUNKEN REFLECTION

Half-naked, Averie stood in front of the mirror, his hair wet.

The reflected expression was one of sultry exhaustion.

His skin looked sickly ashen, with black circles under his eyes.

He thought he looked sick and that the reflection kept drunkenly swerving.

It made Averie nauseous.

Or perhaps, he was so sleep-deprived that every delusion felt real.

He stroked his chest.

A third Peccatum tattoo was engraved on the pale skin.

He looked back on the conversation he had with Lucifer.

"You want me to give you something?" The Warden of Hell frowned. "Would consolation do?"

"Be reasonable."

Stroking his chin, the ancient being mulled over it.

He suddenly turned to Averie. "What will you offer in return?"

"What do you want?"

The actor blinked into the void, and he was back to reality, back to his mirror.

It was getting difficult to maintain a certain level of lucidity. He couldn’t tell what he was doing or which limb he was moving.

But one thought kept swirling constantly in his head.

’Was it a good choice? It wasn’t a mistake, was it?’

It was tiring.

***

Months passed by in a hurry, and soon, it was January.

After spending a considerable amount of time filming, recording, and completing the tedious post-production tasks, Averie returned to Seoul.

"Get your legs off me, Averie."

"That’s not happening. You’re the finest cushion in this room."

"Why are you so immature?"

"Get me an apartment if you have a problem with it."

They had gone back to living together as Hyerin couldn’t find a safe enough apartment in Seoul for the actor.

"You’ll be recognized wherever you go," the girl complained. "Maybe, we should have stayed in London."

"We’ll have to go back eventually. I couldn’t endure a minute longer."

"You praised its dreary atmosphere before. What about that?"

"I got fed up."

Min-Ha removed the lint roller, checked his suit, and gave him a thumbs up.

"All done."

Averie looked at himself in the mirror. He looked a little more sophisticated than usual.

His hair was neatly done, and his air was gentle.

He got into the car, and within half an hour, they were at the premiere of a movie.

"It’s been a while."

The first one to greet him was Ellie Arnold.

She was in a light yellow gown and high heels.

Averie had heard from her before how much she hated wearing heels.

’Suppose everyone has to make concessions.’

She locked arms and took him away from the two ladies, who took the car around to the theater’s parking space.

It was the premiere of a movie that Averie couldn’t even remember the name of. He didn’t really find it appealing to be there. He only came for Ellie, his friend and BSPH co-star.

"I didn’t think you would accept the invitation," she said.

"My dearest friend forced it down my throat, babbling about supporting a friend and whatnot."

"Did you not want to be here with me?"

"Look around us."

She turned and found a dazzling number of camera flashes.

"Every time I open my mouth, I become a PR disaster. They will scandalize even the way I walk, and she seriously sent me to pose with my former co-star?"

The flashes did not stop for even a second.

"I don’t think we have ever been pictured together outside of BSPH events and filming. They will have a field day with that."

Aveire cleared his throat.

"Oh, no, look," he exaggerated. "Those two are together; something must be going on between them. Let’s make a provocative headline."

Ellie smiled. "Is that all you were worried about?"

Averie narrowed his eyes.

’What else am I supposed to worry about?’

Honestly, he had no idea how to answer that. It felt like she was demanding toll on a road he did not want to travel.

Averie did not think long.

"With the murder still unsolved, I didn’t want to drag you into that sort of gossip."

"Oh, so it was for my sake, then?"

’Why is she being such a tease all of a sudden?’ Averie wondered. ’Ah, she is playing her character. Am I the only normal celebrity in this world?’

***

In her dark room, Writer Sophie Moon had been studying the handwritten notes of her diary.

At first glance, although it seemed as though she was researching for her next script, she was in fact lost in her most recent work.

Binsfeld’s Seven Princes of Hell.

But something had been bugging her.

She continued reading the roughly written plot.

The show revolves around the seven brothers of an organized crime family and their internal struggle for power. Each captain represents a prince of Hell, in turn embodying their sin.

"I scribbled this after waking up from a nightmare, didn’t I?"

Back then, it had been a bizarre experience. After all, she hadn’t been in the habit of such late activities.

She continued reading.

They arrive at the graveyard for their father’s third death anniversary.

When proud Lucifer refuses to apologize to Satan for offending him at the family dinner—right after the ceremony, when all of them had gathered for the first time in three years—Satan storms out of the room.

Satan thinks he has had enough of Lucifer’s tyranny and controlling nature. He decides to revolt and tries to convince the others to side with him.

Beelzebub and Belphegor refuse and stay loyal to Lucifer.

Lucifer, proud beyond measure, refuses to entertain Satan’s ’childish whims.’ He believes that if left alone, like a child asking for attention, Satan will settle down. His pride does not allow him to question his brothers’ loyalty. ’They are no threat to me.’

Satan convinces Mammon to side with him by appealing to his greed, promising him far more than what Lucifer offered.

Asmodeus refuses to take part in the struggle for power, which angers Satan.

"The finished script turned out far more refined."

Lost in thought, she wiped her glasses, trying to remember the details of that nightmare.

"It isn’t coming back..."

Leviathan, who was always envious of Asmodeus for his carnal freedom, brothels, and gambling dens, approaches Satan, offering his support on condition that the latter help the former in killing Asmodeus.

Mammon readily agrees with the plan, coveting Asmodeus’s brothels and gambling dens.

Satan’s anger, Leviathan’s envy, and Mammon’s greed caused the three to conspire and execute Asmodeus.

Now left with the matter of dividing their earnings, Leviathan and Mammon both make their claim on the gambling dens.

Meanwhile, one of Asmodeus’s lovers, unable to contact him, goes to his mansion and discovers it ransacked and his body.

Appalled by the death of Asmodeus and offended by the open revolt, Lucifer rushes to Satan’s home alongside Beelzebub.

Taken by surprise, the threesome struggles against the intruders.

Belphegor, slothful as always, arrives an hour late to the struggle, only to find both sides dead. Lucifer seemed to have been the last one to bleed out.

Police arrive as Belphegor is trying to escape. Seeing as escape is impossible and knowing that he is an accessory, he chooses to commit suicide by shooting himself through the roof of his mouth.

The last scene is malevolent music playing as the camera cuts to the fresh bodies of the six brothers, colored red and blue in the dark of the night by the light of the police cars.

She sighed.

"It is my handwriting."

But it felt like someone else had written it.

It was an odd feeling.

She flipped the pages and read the outline for the first episode.

Episode 1 introduces the characters.

It’s a rainy day.

Lucifer is speaking with the Altobelli mafia captain from America.

They are discussing business, which ends up in the captain insulting Lucifer and his family, saying a quarter Italian is not Italian enough to call themselves a mafia family.

Lucifer shows him the exit and calls for his right-hand man to take care of him.

Asmodeus kills a man who hasn’t paid back his dues.

He enters his house and covets his wife. The next two scenes show his subordinates getting rid of the body and melting the revolver.

He returns to his mansion.

Handing over his coat, one of the servants informs him that a guest is waiting for him.

He climbs the majestic stairs to the second floor, where his study is located. This scene is shot in one continuous take. The wife of the man he just killed is waiting for him.

She tells him that ’it is wrong’ what they have been doing, implying an impure relationship. Meanwhile, he is taking off his suit and tie. Up till this point, his face isn’t shown—only his delicate movements.

From now on, he starts his magic, seducing the woman who doesn’t know that she has become a widow.

The writer visibly cringed. "What do you mean by magic?"

This is the scene where he first shows his sensuous nature. He plays an antique record player and starts leading the reluctant woman in a dance, ending up with her falling for his temptation.

One of the shots later shows both in bed, half-naked. He says he has an appointment and gets out of bed.

It shows the death anniversary and ends with the tense family dinner scene where Satan leaves in anger after killing a maid. After everyone else leaves, Asmodeus dances with the dead body.

Again, it was rough.

"But that’s how this goes. It’s normal."

Yet something kept bothering her about it.

Something was wrong with the idea that came to her out of nowhere.