“Isn’t it obvious? Everything I am is there.”

I’d spent my whole life acting. I loved acting—I thought it was what I was born to do. I never doubted, not even once, that I’d keep acting until the day I died.

Of course it would hurt. Of course I’d miss it.

“I figured you’d say that.”

Dorman seemed like he’d already expected the answer. Still wearing that faintly amused expression, he nodded very slowly.

“Then... if you had a chance to go back, would you take it?”

“Are you going to keep asking stupid questions? What—are you picking a fight? Why do you keep scratching at people with something you know is impossible?”

“Haha.”

He laughed again.

He was really weird today. I didn’t know why he kept saying pointless things.

Did he hear something outside?

I shot him a hard, suspicious look, but he acted like he had nothing else to say. He just smiled blandly and stood up.

*****

“Gah—! You piece of shit!”

The man who’d been sprawled on the floor jerked himself upright.

He rubbed at his head. Thick red blood smeared his hand.

“Fuck! You—!”

Rage twisting his eyes, he caught sight of someone.

A woman in her mid-thirties.

She looked awful too. Her hair was loose and tangled, her clothes ripped to shreds.

Between the torn fabric, her body was covered in bruises and cuts.

“Hey! You stupid bitch!”

But the moment he saw her, he spat curses. Like he’d lost his mind today—she’d actually fought back for the first time a moment ago, against his beating.

He hadn’t expected resistance. He’d stumbled, slipped on an empty liquor bottle rolling on the floor, and gone down hard.

And to make it worse, he must’ve hit his head on the table. He’d blacked out for a bit, then come to just now—and the fury surged up his throat.

How dare she lay a hand on her husband?

“You won’t come to your senses until you die today!”

He strode toward her.

She’d probably been getting hit less lately—that’s why she thought she could rebel. Fine. Today, he’d finish it.

“Hm?”

But something felt off.

Normally, one shout from him and she’d be shaking. Now she didn’t even react—she just sat there with the same blank expression, like she hadn’t heard a thing.

Had she already gotten so scared she’d snapped?

“Hey! You’re ignoring your husband—”

He stopped mid-yell.

Only then did he notice what was right there.

Someone was collapsed on the floor, bleeding heavily.

The second he recognized the face, his mouth fell open.

“Why am I—...”

Because the one lying there was him.

“W-what is this?!”

Panic finally hit. He whipped his head around, scanning the room. But no one responded. Not a single person.

“Hey! What the hell is going on?!”

Out of habit, he swung at the woman—

And nothing happened.

His hand passed straight through her body.

“N-no way...”

His face went blank again.

“Don’t tell me... I’m dead?”

The confusion curdled into hollow disbelief.

And that hollow disbelief turned into anger.

Because the one who’d shoved him down just now had been that bitch.

“Y-you dare—!”

Just then, the woman who’d been slumped on the floor slowly stood and walked somewhere.

The kitchen.

Was she seriously thinking about eating at a time like this?

He screamed and spewed filth at her, but she reappeared a moment later—

With a knife in her hand.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing—!”

Before he could even finish, she drove the knife into her own body.

“Hii—!”

He staggered backward on instinct, stunned—

“Y-you!”

But then he saw it.

Like him, she peeled free of her body, turning into a soul.

He charged at her immediately.

“Arkville. Thirty-eight.”

He froze.

A voice he didn’t recognize cut through the air. At that sound, it was like his whole body had locked up—every movement stopped dead.

He turned his head slowly.

Two men he’d never seen before were standing there. One of them spoke again.

“Arkville. Thirty-eight. Is that correct?”

“W-who are you?”

“Answer.”

“......! Y-yes. That’s right.”

The flat voice made Arkville’s body tremble for no reason. He couldn’t resist. Not even a little.

Beside him, the other man—who’d been silent until now—stepped toward the newly freed woman with a faint smile.

“Thirty-three. Are you Ms. Anz?”

“...Yes.”

The woman nodded weakly a beat late, as if she’d already given up on everything.

The man moved closer and took her limp hand, patting it gently.

“You’ve been through a lot.”

At those words, the woman jerked her head up to stare at him. Her eyes shook nonstop, like she had nowhere to put them.

“Even in that horrible pain, you endured very well.”

“Th-that...”

“Yes. It was very hard, wasn’t it.”

It was the first kindness she’d ever heard.

Tears burst from her eyes all at once.

The man patted her hand again, warm and steady.

“When you go to the register, you’ll be judged. But don’t worry too much. Unlike what humans believe, God does not punish every suicide without exception.”

The order treated suicide as the greatest crime, but reality was different.

The reason behind the suicide mattered a great deal at judgment.

“Uh... ugh...”

The woman sobbed and nodded over and over.

“I hope you’ll be at peace from now on.”

He squeezed her hand once, firmly, then waved lightly.

Her form vanished in a rush of light.

“You, too, will be judged.”

“O-of course!”

Arkville had been staring blankly at the place she disappeared when the reaper’s cold voice dug into his ears.

He snapped back to himself and shouted, absurdly bold.

Come to think of it, why should he be afraid of them? They were nothing but things that carried off souls.

“If she gets judged and goes somewhere good after killing me, then I should too!”

At that brazen display, Reaper Habel added something—uncharacteristically.

“Originally, you were bound for hell with no judgment.”

“...What?”

H-hell? No judgment?

“But long ago, your wife offered God a sincere prayer for you. Because of that, you’re being judged at all.”

It wouldn’t change the fact that he was headed for hell anyway.

Habel swallowed the rest and flicked his hand at the man, who was now staring in shock.

In an instant, Arkville vanished as well.

The fear shaking in his eyes at the end wasn’t Habel’s problem.

“Senior!”

Once the guiding was finished, Reaper Kin hurried over, bright and cheerful as always, his face full of smiles.

“I’m so happy we got to work together again. I hope the next job is like this too—guiding two souls at the same location!”

“.......”

Even as Kin bubbled on, Habel didn’t react. He kept his silence, his gaze dull and detached.

“Is something wrong?”

Kin lowered his voice carefully.

Habel was always quiet, always heavy—but today, it seemed worse.

At least he usually returned greetings.

“I thought you’d be happy.”

“Me?”

Only then did Habel respond.

“Yes. I’ve been hearing really good news lately. They say Dorman is coming back soon. That’s a great thing!”

Among reapers, Administrator Dorman was fairly popular.

He was always upbeat, and unlike other administrators, he didn’t look down on reapers. He was flexible, too—he’d even helped reapers who got stuck in difficult situations.

So when he’d been removed long ago, everyone had been full of regret. Some had even organized a petition to save him.

It had been hard to believe. He was thorough, almost never made mistakes—so how could he commit ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) something as massive as placing a soul in the wrong body?

Some even claimed he’d grown sick of the job and deliberately caused a major incident to get himself thrown out.

Either way, after being removed and stepping away completely, he’d cleaned everything up—and now he was finally returning.

Anyone who needed to know already knew.

So why did Habel—who should’ve been happiest—look like this?

Even among reapers, Habel was famous. Senior, junior, superior—it didn’t matter. No one ever had a real conversation with him.

Not because of any particular reason.

He simply refused to engage.

No matter who spoke, he ignored them like he hadn’t heard.

And the only person he’d ever followed was Dorman.

“Is there... some kind of problem with Dorman coming back...?”

“He may not return.”

“What?”

“.......”

“No—why? What happened?”

It was never easy for someone who’d been removed to come back.

Dorman had been exceptional as an administrator—that was the only reason something like this was even possible.

But now it was falling apart? What could have happened?

“Did Dorman refuse?”

So that rumor had been true? That he’d hated being an administrator and intentionally caused a huge mistake to get kicked out?

But Habel looked like he didn’t want to talk about it anymore. His mouth set into a tight line.

‘Administrator Dorman! What are you saying right now?!’

‘What?’

‘You’re saying you’ll give up that opportunity—for a mere human?’

‘Not a mere human. A human whose life I ruined because of my mistake.’

‘Haven’t you paid enough for that already?! Then why—!’

‘“Enough.” Who decided that?’

‘Administrator Dorman!’

“.......”

Remembering the conversation he’d had with Dorman not long ago, Habel let out a long sigh without a sound.

Then he disappeared quietly from where he stood.