The metallic sound of a click echoed in the man’s mind.
That sound was like the brakes being released.
The brakes named fear and worry.
Anger is like fire; it consumes everything in its path, growing in size and devouring fear, driving one to reckless actions.
Lee Jae-soon was no exception.
After being insulted by a senior in a crowded place, thoughts of giving that damn bastard a taste of his own medicine swirled in his mind.
“I will succeed no matter what!”
He had to demonstrate his greatness to those colleagues who looked at him as if he were lacking.
He needed to show that arrogant senior who treated him like a fool what he was truly capable of.
And in the end, he would have to curse his own incompetence for not recognizing his abilities and coldly push aside any begging for forgiveness, forcing himself to swim in despair.
He would rise above those damn losers and snatch up wealth and honor.
Yes.
No matter how frightening or unsettling it may be.
Even if it was an unknown object, not knowing what it is, what power it holds, or what cost he may need to pay.
With this burning anger, he was ready to put aside his worries and fears and use it without hesitation.
Resolve.
Courage born from that resolve.
Courage to use a creepy object given by an unnamed assailant without fear!
Courage to act on the unsettling request to make a sacrifice without hesitation!
Courage to go to a place he deserved by any means necessary, showing the rightful path of a power holder!
“Damn bastards!”
Lee Jae-soon held his notebook tightly and stepped outside.
Fortunately, no one was there to stop him.
Not after what just happened.
He was able to walk out without any hindrance.
Once outside, he headed towards the flower bed.
It was infested with ants, so clueless that they could crawl up his body at any moment. He began searching for the hole in the wall, and soon discovered countless ants coming and going from a small hole.
『 Rule 1. Offer a sacrifice to gain information. 』
Offer a sacrifice.
Then, you shall gain information.
‘Sacrifice…’
So, what is the “sacrifice” that needs to be offered?
Gold and treasure?
Another person?
Rare flowers and plants?
A gigantic tree?
Or perhaps, should he dedicate the land itself?
‘Sacrifices are consumables.’
The dictionary says a sacrifice is an object offered through rituals or ceremonies, a consumable that can only be used once.
Typically, this includes food and life.
Food rots and spoils when not consumed, losing its value, while life, once extinguished, becomes a cold corpse.
Perhaps the ephemeral nature is the essence of a sacrifice.
Is there a purer form of worship and veneration than giving up something precious and erasing it from the world?
Like luxury where wastefulness becomes a virtue, sacrifices may hold the same trait.
Using something valuable merely as an ingredient for a ritual.
Offering something precious instead of treating it with care as a venerated object.
‘Right. A sacrifice must involve a life…’
That is why the man sought out an ant nest.
To offer ants as a sacrifice.
He chose ants for two reasons.
Firstly, he didn’t know what information the notebook would give him.
There was no telling how significant the information from the notebook could be, but offering ‘life’ would carry a great risk if it turned out to be trivial compared to the effort he put in. Livestock like pigs or cows were far too expensive for him, making his wallet cry, so he would have to choose something like a cat or dog instead.
But doing so would risk animal cruelty charges and would socially tarnish his reputation.
Killing cute and small animals for sacrifices would undoubtedly classify him as a wonderful wannabe murderer with anti-social tendencies.
As a journalist who needed to build connections, such rumors would lead him to his downfall.
His job relied on overcoming psychological barriers to extract information, yet he would end up creating thicker barriers instead of thinning them.
The normal methods of being a journalist would become impossible.
Secondly, he had no idea what the notebook truly was.
If he offered something precious right from the start, it could curse him or raise his demands, leaving him dirt poor if it only wanted high-value items.
Thinking about that…
Offering something valuable at the start would be foolish.
That is why he settled on ants.
They were easy to collect.
Their capture required effort, showing at least some sincerity.
They were alive, so they fit the criteria for a sacrifice.
‘But how should I offer them?’
Here’s the problem.
It was fine to choose ants as a sacrifice, but he had no clue how to actually offer them.
For plants, he could crush them or extract juice, and for animals, he could simply place them in an open mouth…
Lee Jae-soon pondered while staring at the notebook.
Then, as if the notebook understood his dilemma, it began to change.
A black dot suddenly appeared on the first page of the notebook, spreading like a drop of paint in water, growing larger and extending in all directions. It wriggled like a living creature, settling onto the line, and slowly formed into letters.
『 Rule 2. Place the sacrifice on top of the notebook. 』
『 Rule 3. The quality of information is closely related to the sacrifice. 』
‘Damn it.’
Lee Jae-soon felt goosebumps at those rising words.
It felt like this cursed notebook could read his thoughts.
But despite the chills, he also felt a surge of belief.
With such a power, if he properly offered his “sacrifice,” surely he would receive genuine information in return.
Lee Jae-soon swallowed hard and placed the notebook on the ground. He began to pick up worker ants one by one and placed them on the notebook. However, the ants climbed off as if nothing was wrong and scurried about, moving away from the notebook. Realizing he needed to do more than simply place them there, Lee Jae-soon grasped this quickly.
Pop.
He started to crush the worker ants one by one with his thumb. He then began to scrape the crushed corpses with his nails and place them on the notebook.
It might have looked like a child cruelly playing with ants…
But Lee Jae-soon performed this entire series of actions with a very reverent and serious demeanor.
Until the notebook was satisfied with the “sacrifice.”
Until the notebook exhibited some change due to the offering.
Continuously.
And so, after killing hundreds of ants and placing them on the notebook.
Finally, a change occurred in the notebook.
Flap.
The pages of the notebook flipped on their own.
Even without a breeze, the notebook turned its pages as if it were alive, and on a page stained with muck, letters began to form slowly.
Written in a disgusting color that seemed to be made from the juice of the ant corpses.
『 Actor Jung Hoon-sang could see ghosts since childhood. 』
Information.
The very ‘information’ Lee Jae-soon longed for.
But instead of joy, Lee Jae-soon frowned at the words he saw.
‘What am I supposed to do with this crap…?’
What does it matter that actor Jung Hoon-sang could see ghosts?
Since childhood?
What does that even mean?
‘I didn’t expect anything grand, but this is a bit much…’
He hadn’t wished for monumental information, like the truth behind a scandal involving a celebrity or some colossal corruption scandal shaking the nation.
But given the price of a sacrifice, he had expected information worth at least a front-page feature.
But what did he get?
Information about a mere actor?
And not even a scandal worth gossiping about on a variety show, just some trivial detail.
Lee Jae-soon felt his spirits deflate as he stared at the information written in the notebook.
‘Ha. Damn it.’
『 Rule 3. The quality of information is closely related to the sacrifice. 』
But Lee Jae-soon didn’t get too disappointed.
After all, he confirmed that the wording in the notebook was real.
And he had the thought that the information being so trivial wasn’t the notebook’s fault, but his sacrifice, being mere ants.
‘Right. This is the real deal. An artifact that gives information when a sacrifice is made. Next time, I just need to offer something a bit bigger, like a hamster or a bird…’
In the future, offering small animals that are easy to kill—and that could easily be explained away as having died or gone missing—would be perfect.
Lee Jae-soon carefully tucked the notebook into his arms like a treasure.
No longer was this notebook a cursed object or a creepy item.
Having confirmed that it worked, it was now his treasure.
A treasure he could never trade for anything else.
