“Samuel Robert Grant sir, you’re way too drunk—did you forget the way home?” Ethan said with a smile.

Samuel Robert Grant waved the now-empty bottle in his hand carelessly. “Cut the crap! I’m perfectly sober! Booze! Bring it over, now!”

Ethan crouched down. “Samuel Robert Grant sir, I’d like to ask you to do something.” He placed the video camera next to Samuel Robert Grant. “Help me sell this.”

“Bastard!” Samuel Robert Grant suddenly shouted, then paused and burped. “You think I’m a junk collector or something? Looking down on me, huh?!”

Ethan ignored him, stood up, and walked into the bookstore. “I suggest you take it to the shopping street on the south side of the city and try a few video stores. Someone should take it, and you’ll get a better price than selling it for scrap.”

Samuel Robert Grant was still mumbling in a daze. “Hey! Bastard, can’t you hear me talking to you?”

At this point, Ethan already had one foot inside. He leaned halfway out the door and turned his head. “Oh, right, please get it done by tomorrow afternoon. All the money from the sale is yours, and you can come to my shop for an extra reward.”

Before he finished speaking, the bookstore door had already closed.

And the drunk outside, after sobering up a bit, picked up the video camera from the ground and accepted the deal.

…………

On December 8th, half an hour before Henry Clark arrived at the bookstore.

“Hey, kid, that junk you tossed me yesterday is already sold. You said there was an extra reward, right?” Samuel Robert Grant got straight to the point as soon as he entered.

Ethan smiled. “Heh… I really appreciate people who get right to the point.” He tossed the book he was reading onto the table. “Unfortunately, I can’t give you more drinking money like you imagined.” He gestured with his hand. “This is the extra reward. You can take it.”

Samuel Robert Grant didn’t even bother to touch the book. “What the hell? Bastard, are you messing with me?! What use is a book anyway!” He turned to leave, cursing under his breath. “Damn it, made me come here for nothing.”

Ethan rested his hands behind his head. “Are you sure you want to give up the reward you earned from this deal, Samuel Robert Grant sir?”

Samuel Robert Grant walked out without looking back. “That’s right, you little bastard, keep it to wipe your nose.”

The next second, Ethan burst out laughing like a madman.

Samuel Robert Grant stopped in his tracks. “Are you nuts? Idiot.”

Ethan shook his head, gradually calming down, and took a sip of coffee. “Sigh… If we’re talking about idiots, there really is one in this room…” He looked up at the ceiling. “Took a bad check from someone to throw a boxing match, got found out, and because the other guy had powerful connections, nothing happened to him, but your own career was ruined. Then you started drinking and gambling, racked up debts, your wife ended up committing suicide, and you left Tokyo with your young son to live a ‘happy’ life in utter poverty.” His gaze dropped, meeting the furious eyes of Samuel Robert Grant. “Tell me, isn’t someone like that an idiot?”

Samuel Robert Grant suddenly exploded, flipping the table and grabbing Ethan by the collar, lifting him up. “Who are you?! Who told you all that?!”

Ethan tilted his head, still smiling, completely unfazed. “Heh… It’s all written in that book.”

Samuel Robert Grant let go of Ethan and turned to grab the book on the table, but some unknown force from behind lifted him up and threw him three meters away. He landed on the cluster of square tables in the center of the room, sending the already mountain-like piles of books scattering everywhere, though the tables themselves didn’t collapse.

Strangely, Samuel Robert Grant didn’t feel any pain. It was as if he were just an object, picked up and set down, not thrown to the ground.

Ethan calmly settled back into his sofa, propping his feet up on the desk so that his heels pressed down on the black-covered book.

“Samuel Robert Grant sir, there are two things I need to remind you of. First, even if you’re an idiot, your memory isn’t so bad that you’d forget what just happened. So, you should remember that you already gave up my reward. Since you chose to give something up, if you want to get it back, you’ll have to pay a price. Otherwise, even if I really use it to wipe my nose, it has nothing to do with you.

Second, don’t ever climb over my desk. This desk is like a boundary line. In recent years, everyone who’s chosen to cross it has been chopped up and fed to pigs.”

Samuel Robert Grant got down from the table and stood alertly. “What the hell did you just do?”

Ethan replied, “That’s not important. What matters is, I’ve shown you that violence won’t solve anything here. So, let’s talk business. You just need to do one small thing for me, and you can have this book.” As he spoke, he pulled his feet back under the desk, picked up the book, opened it at random, and placed a page in front of Samuel Robert Grant.

“Consider this a chance to check the goods first, so you’ll believe that the contents of this book are real and not something I made up.”