Is this obsession with literature - or with your talent?

It was at this time that I chose the true black ink, which was the beginning of my long, long abyss. The time was Taisho. Karasuma Subaru, who wanted to be a novelist but broke his brush, is fed up with his life of being chased by debt collectors, and goes to a neighbor's house to borrow a brazier in order to commit charcoal briquette suicide.

However, the house next door is in the middle of a group of young novelists who are writing for a coterie magazine before the deadline. The organizer is Yagira Genpo, a star among young writers. Subaru's path to the abyss opens up when he is discovered by this devilish man who is both beautiful to look at and full of talent...

Karasuma...you're a writer, aren't you? Write. --Try to kill me with your pen.”