Chapter 1
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Ability to Covet Others' Talents
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“Honey, believe me...”
A beautiful woman pleaded with her husband, her face etched with exhaustion.
Her trembling voice brimmed with raw, heartfelt affection.
“Enough! Please, just stop... Have you ever loved me, even for a single moment...?”
But the man presumed to be her husband shouted back, his face rigid with tension.
His features twisted in profound betrayal.
It was heartbreaking to see him convinced of his wife's infidelity yet clinging to a shred of hope amid the pain.
The woman, who had sunk to the floor in desperate anguish, slowly rose to her feet.
In that brief second or so.
Her face transformed in an instant.
The pleading wife's expression peeled away like a mask.
And on the face of the woman standing tall and straight, nothing remained but perfect blankness.
Not just a cold detachment, but an utterly inorganic expression devoid of even the faintest fragment of emotion.
She worked her lips slowly, as if choosing her words.
“......”
Everyone gathered on set held their breath, watching her.
The silence was suffocating, until her red lips parted.
“Sorry.”
An expression utterly devoid of remorse. A voice as cold and monotonous as a machine.
As the husband reeled in shock at confronting his wife's true face for the first time.
The woman casually drew a pistol with natural poise and aimed it at the chest of the man who had been her husband.
Her arm extended, gripping the gun.
Her body motionless, breath held—no movement at all except the finger pulling the trigger.
Bang-.
Her shoulder jerked slightly, absorbing the recoil like a real gunshot.
Even though it was just a prop gun in the actress's hand.
In that moment, everyone watching the scene swore they heard the deafening crack of gunfire echoing in their ears.
An auditory hallucination.
The way her head, shoulder, and even the subtle twist of her waist absorbed the impact—it was as if she had actually fired.
Her performance was so lifelike that it pulled everyone in completely.
“Cut! That's a wrap!”
Only after the director called the okay did the staff exhale and whisper among themselves.
“Whew... My heart's racing just watching.”
“Damn, Son Sia's insane.”
“How does she do it every time? That acting's too real—even the camera can't capture it properly...”
Even though most of the staff were veterans who'd seen it all on countless shoots, they couldn't help holding their breath every time Son Sia entered the frame.
Her acting made them forget it was a set. Everyone was swept up in Son Sia's violent aura.
The set of the movie Don't Look for Me.
“Great work, everyone!”
“Wooo! Great work!”
It was the moment they'd finally wrapped up the five-month shoot.
“Good job!”
Clunk-.
I opened the van door for Son Sia, the lead actress in this film.
Thud-.
As the door closed, the faint smile on Son Sia's face melted away.
Her expression shifted in an instant to one laced with fatigue and irritation. She said curtly,
“Coffee.”
I handed her one right away, as if I'd been waiting.
“......”
Son Sia stared at the coffee in her hand for a moment, then grimaced and spat,
“Fuck. The ice is all melted.”
“S-sorry. It takes time to grab coffee, and I didn't know when we'd wrap...”
“Ugh, Oppa. If this is all you're good for and you can't even do this right, what's the point?”
“Sorry, sorry! I'll swing by and get a fresh one on the way!”
“Sigh. Oppa, tell them I can't make the wrap party—headache's killing me.”
“Got it.”
Son Sia closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat as if the conversation was over. I hurried out of the van.
My name is Jung Woo-jin.
As Son Sia's dedicated personal manager in my first year on the job, I rushed over to the staff, bowing at ninety degrees and thanking them for their hard work.
From all the shoots, we knew each other's faces, so no need for introductions.
“Lighting director, great work!”
“Ah, Son Sia’s manager, you too.”
“Thank you!”
But the set was still littered with tangled cables—a hazardous spot.
Stumble-.
I felt my foot catch on something, and my vision flipped upside down.
Thud-.
More dizzying than painful.
Then my vision went completely black.
Senses faded, leaving only consciousness adrift in pitch-black void.
A massive presence loomed.
A chilling sensation, like my soul freezing over.
From the abyss, two inverted crescent moons floated up.
Blood-red crescents. No—eyes of some entity.
‘......’
No words, no thoughts possible.
Then a resonant echo shook my soul.
A grand yet eerie sound, like the song of whales.
Frozen in place, I stared at the entity's crimson eyes.
Or rather, I couldn't look away.
The ongoing eerie resonance was incomprehensible, yet its meaning etched crystal-clear into my mind.
[Do you desire it? Power.]
‘...What.’
[Power to covet. I shall grant it. Small being.]
‘What the hell are you...’
[Mammon, my name. I propose to you—an irresistible deal.]
‘What...?’
The moment I tried to think, say it so I can understand.
A dizzying haze overtook my mind as a stream of information forcibly implanted itself.
- Amaimon (hereinafter 'Party A') and Jung Woo-jin (hereinafter 'Party B') hereby enter into the following contract.
It began like a standard contract form, detailing the 'power' it would provide me—and how to use it.
‘This is insane...!’
In simple terms, the gist was the ability to covet others' talents.
‘If I had this power... Maybe even I could...’
As if sensing my desire, the crimson crescent before me curved more wickedly.
[You can become it. An actor with overwhelming talent surpassing any human.]
‘......’
I wanted to act. I wanted to be an actor. I wanted the spotlight, the fame, to make it big.
Effort?
I'd thrown myself into it desperately enough.
Scraped together every penny from my meager means for acting lessons, booked practice rooms to train my body and run lines all day. Went to auditions even while living off cup ramen.
But talent existed in this world.
If acting skill scaled purely with practice, how great would that be—but the world didn't work that way.
I wasn't dismissing others' hard work.
But it was an undeniable fact.
Those with talent improve through practice; those without don't, no matter how much they grind.
Eventually, that reality caught up to me. I quit acting and joined a management company as a personal manager.
That was then.
Now, a chance to become an actor had appeared.
A chance to become an actor with 'overwhelming talent,' as this Mammon entity promised.
‘The price...’
It was specified in the contract.
- In exchange, Party B shall receive quests proposed by Party A. Party A will offer rewards corresponding to the quests, and Party B may refuse quests at their own discretion.
‘What the...’
This ridiculously one-sided contract—what was it?
There was nothing I stood to lose.
Mammon gives me quests; completing them gets rewards, refusing them is fine, right?
[Indeed.]
The resonance echoing in my head felt viscerally wrong, triggering instinctive revulsion, but I couldn't refuse this deal.
‘How do I seal the contract...?’
[Reach out. Your hand.]
I extended my hand toward the invisible abyss.
‘Gasp?!’
The texture of icy, rigid exoskeleton met my palm.
Then consciousness sank once more into the depths.
“Huh...?”
I jolted awake, springing to my feet.
The Don't Look for Me set.
The lighting director was approaching. He gripped my shoulder and asked,
“You okay? Back with us?”
I bowed hastily to him.
“Y-yes! I'm fine. Just tripped for a second. Sorry!”
Next to the lighting director hovered a block of text.
- Currently covet-able talent: Stilted English Conversation (D-)
⤷ Condition: Push 'Hwang Jin-cheol' from behind to make him fall.
I didn't know his name before, but now I did.
Hwang Jin-cheol, the lighting director, looked at me with concern.
“Alright. Be careful. Sets are dangerous.”
“Thank you! I will!”
As Hwang Jin-cheol walked away, I stood still in the middle of the set.
I scanned the staff one by one.
Their names were visible.
And... the talents I could covet from them...
They began to appear.